That God hath witnessed his displeasure against the sharp dealings of Authority by manifold Judgments he instances in burning Ships burning London c. But first Is he sure that this Government is worse then all Governments because England suffered such great things Christ says I tell you nay but they say Yea or nothing Luke 13. 1 2. Secondly Solomon thinks a man cannot know good or evil by what happens under the Sun but these know the Government evil by these Accidents Thirdly Did that Authour's familiar that he speaks of p. 86. give him a dark notice of the Interpretation of these Providences Fourthly Do not these men turn Polypus's and servire scenae having formerly told us Afflictions were a note of God's people are they now a note of the Devil's Well let them hear the Poet's curse Careat successibus opto c. 'T is a brave thought of Lucan Victrix causa diis placuit sed victa Catoni Sure a man may justifie God without condemning poor Abel for his misery Job's Piety should not be condemned because of his Misery Let him reade Eccl. 7. 10. and he must acknowledge it a foolish Argument 2. The second Reason common to them all is that Toleration must be granted to unite us and make us strong in War For answer first A combined Interest reconciles all men of Estates so far as to prosecute a just War in defence of life and estate and to secure themselves from forein Oppression Secondly Crouching to Male-contents at home disspirits Authority and hinders forein Conquests Thirdly Advancing dissenting Sectaries is a civil War where Ring-leaders are Generals Preachers Captains Congregations Camps and words at length proceed to blows Fourthly Toleration would increase both Papists and Fanaticks and being let loose and both increasing who can assure us they will not fall on both King and Parliament sooner then on any forein adversary especially while they smell so strong of Hacket's Principles to destroy Authority to make way for the Fifth Monarchy Fifthly All sober Protestants are reconciled already in the Act of Uniformity if other mens Consciences keep them from Obedience what will keep them from Disobedience but Laws duly executed Sixthly 'T is insolent for Subjects to stand on terms of Accommodations with Sovereigns especially the meanest of Subjects with the best of Princes No language so well becomes their mouths as Submission 3. The third Reason is There is no hurt in Conventiclers P. p. 10. Non-conformers are serious and painfull men D. P. p. 87. They are like Christ P. p. 69 70. Yea Christ 's brethren P. p. 71. Therefore grant them Liberty For answer first I hold my self excused from meddling with this Argument because these mens too late crimes have proclaimed a confutation to the world already Nor am I willing to rake into so stinking a dunghill being much more delighted in Charientisms then Sarcasms Onely I take leave to vindicate my Saviour from these foul aspersions Let these Authours shew me where or when Christ murthered his even tyrannicall Superiours Against what Authority did he take arms where did he teach Christians to turn from Prayers and tears to Sword and buckler when did he preach Subjects into the field against Sovereigns upon pain of Damnation cursing Meroz for being backward to set out c. as most of these Ministers here resembled to Christ did What incouragement did Christ ever give to Factions amongst those that professed Christianity My just zeal demands a blush from that Authour for belying our Saviour and saying he was like these Sectaries Besides Conventicling against Law is a sin of it self if they sinned not in their Conventicles For 't is a transgression of the Law of God mediately of man immediately The Civil Conscience is obliged by the Civil Law as well as the Spiritual by the Divine Law Nor is this a fansying two Consciences but one distinguished by its several Objects about which 't is exercised for the Conscience is mixta persona as well as the King and must be judge in all causes If you object that if Conscience be so bound to the Laws they must be just I answer first Untill they are clearly proved otherwise praesumptio est pro authoritate imponentis Secondly They that see them unjust presume themselves to have more wit then the Authority of the Nation that made them which cannot be said without pride D. P. p. 85. says well An Act passed on a thing doubted unlawfull makes it not presently lawfull yet sure the judgment of so many grave men may be a glorious Taper to illuminate and a strong Cable to bind the scrupling Conscience Thirdly The Laws are most probably just when the generality of good men practise them who have Inspection to discern Consciences to scruple Courage to oppose if they see cause and Curiosity enough to examine them The Scruplers therefore must esteem their Notions either Inspirations from God or Demonstrations quibus non potest subesse falsum or else must judge themselves infallible otherwise 't is notorious Insolence to prefer their own opinions of a Law before the Law it self and the common judgment of man especially since Res judicata pro veritate accipitur is a necessary Rule in all Laws and surely to erre with Authority is to erre on the safer side Fourthly Admit the Law were unjust yet it binds for it binds not as just but as a Law it binds to suffering if not to doing Oaths may be Perjuries yet the Judge passes sentence upon them without scruple so that the Magistrate's Conscience is secured in the execution of the Laws upon Offenders resigning his judgment of the justice of those Laws to the Legislative power Fifthly Nor are Laws in a politick consideration such trifling things as these men fansie Petilius found a Book in Numa's grave expounding the Roman Superstitions but because by the Praetor's Oath they were found contrary to the present Establishment the Senate adjudged the Book to the flames so carefull were they to uphold the reverence of their Laws Demosth. orat in Aristog tells us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. and therefore not lightly to be contemned Du Moulin tells the ingenious Balsac though something in Laws be unjust 't is just to obey them for some States have thriven in obeying unjust Laws others in not obeying just have perished I wish these men of Aurelius the Emperour's modesty who reasonably resolves AEquius est me tot talium amicorum consilium quà m tot tales meam unius voluntatem sequi But how then shall these men answer S. Jude's description of Separatists v. 8. that they are despisers of Dominion and speak evil of Dignities 'T was once said Turpis est pars quae cum toto non convenit but now 't is the highest pitch of Piety to oppose Authority But secondly Is there no hurt in Conventicling Are they not the Trojan horses whence armed men issued forth to sack great Priam's Territories Are they not like
a Popish Principle But this is the old trick of the Puritan and too successfull as the late King and Church most sadly experimented to brand with the mark of Popery what-ever they had a mind to render odious to the People 2. Are they so kind to the Protestant Interest as they pretend to be See what a wipe another of them hath given it D. P. p. 109. affirming that the Protestant Principles lead directly to Separation a blacker stroak then which was never given it by the Pen of the most rancorous Papist Yet let him be pardoned for it since he doth but servire thesi For how can a Separatist prove himself a Protestant unless Protestantism lead to Separation Thus the AEthiopians paint the Apostles black that they may not seem unlike the Saints 3. What Settlement is that to Protestantism when Toleration shall muster up all its Sects to beard it in every Parish As well might Job's eldest Son 's House stand steddy when the violent Gusts wreak'd their spleen upon the four corners of it or the Ship be safe when winds and waves are permitted to toss her at their pleasure 4. 'T is strange Presumption and savours of but too large a stock of spiritual Pride to think they can settle Protestancy better then the most accurate Diligence of the great Council of this Land 5. Whom will they comprehend under the name of Protestants If all that protest against the Errours of the Church of Rome such are the Greek Churches such are the Muscovites yea such is the Turk himself If our Sects onely let them know that the most sober Protestants have esteemed them but as the Ascarides bred out of our Bodies but as Vermine on the Body Ecclesiastick they are reckoned amongst the ill humours with which our crazy Body is distempered Nor is it so heavily to be charged upon our Constitution since the purest bodies are not secured from the like Corruption The very Angelical State produced the blackest Devils If they mean the bulk of Protestants they are comprehended already If all this pother is made for a few silenced Ministers do they think the Protestant Religion lies choak'd while they are silenced is it so interwoven with their well-being that it cannot survive them Or are they such ill Sons that they will never let their Mother sleep till she hugs them in her arms Must not the Father of their Countrey rest till he hath given them satisfaction Must Parliaments withdraw their Acts to give these men their wills For as for the deluded People that follow them what can they scruple at Are they obliged to Oaths or Subscriptions are they tied to use any other Ceremony then what these Ministers acknowledge they may lawfully use and do they not many of them allow the imposition of those things that are for Decency and Order under Penalties so they be but small Hear D. R. p. 27. granting Governours authority to use humane Prudence the light of Nature and general rules of Scripture in ordering of their Church not requiring express Scripture for every Posture about Religious Worship And D. P. p. 85. acknowledges the Magistrate may be bold in exacting Conformity by lighter punishment which may serve to deterre the Factious and are not like to tempt a man truly consciencious to act against his Conscience if it boggle at all So that the Prop. did well observe the people's heads were onely filled with empty fears with Panick surprizes and childish frights It remains therefore that these Ejected Ministers are in a great measure the Troublers of our Israel as was their Father's house ever since the Reformation God grant them a timely sight of it and true Repentance for it But alas how can that be while they hug themselves in the arms of their own Praises See how affectionately they commend each other for godly Prop. p. 79 80. and declare themselves the slain Witnesses and affirm themselves the most serious and painfull men of the Nation D. P. p. 87. and bestow their richest Garlands of Rhetorick upon each other ubi causa est ubi causa non est as Blondel says Ignatius pleads for Bishops Surely 't is not without contrivance that these men now fill the Press with their Pleas. They well know how ridiculous it would render the Parliament yea and Government it self to withdraw an Act settled with so much care and consultation back'd with printed Reasons and deep Resolutions to stand by it and therefore can have but little hope to obtain its Repeal without which notwithstanding D. P. declares all Reconciliation impossible If I may therefore have leave to guesse the cause it is to chear up the spirits of gasping Factions with vain hopes of what the subtil conclude to be hopeless Much artifice hath been used already to this purpose At first if great numbers would leave their places they promised that the Powers would soon restore them Then being willing to uphold their Party for want of better things they catch at the Rush of a fond Prophecy MDLLLVVII 1662. BarthoLo MaeVs fLet qIa DesIt Presbyter AngLVs MDLCVVVI 1666. ADVentV Laeta est sanCta MarIa tVo. During the operation of this Prophecy they remained pretty silent till the time elapsed and nothing effected they saw it necessary to spread a false report all the Country over of a Toleration prepared for them But words soon vanishing they turn to Printing to uphold languishing expectation So that they hold each other from Conformity by these Stratagems and call them Conscience but if the Parliament crouch not to them they must consult the Brazen head again what to say next I conceive not all these Advocates for Liberty of Conscience Presbyterians but some act under a vizard persuading themselves that if they can get in the Presbyterian Needle the long thred of Sectaries must necessarily follow after However they know that if pretence of Conscience can foil one Law it will at length foil every one it pleases to decry and that if a man can't save his Arm from cutting off nor can he save his Head When the Out-works are taken the rest can't long hold out If the royal Globe in the hand of Majesty be once struck out it will tumble to the bottome of the Throne And indeed they give occasion to suspect no less some of them pleading for the free admission of all persons to Government M. I. p. 17. desires that no man's opinion may advance him nor no man's opinion may prejudice him Another pleads for the restauration as well of Civil Ministers as Ecclesiastical P. p. 89. And whether he means the Rump-Parliament or the proscribed or pardoned Sword-men or fanaticall and disaffected Aldermen is a Question for you will find him to justifie that Cause p. 65. and highly to commend Cromwell as a Mortal eternallized p. 45. he esteems the Covenant as the Jewish Worship from God p. 49. and judges the Rumpers more publick-spirited men then this present Parliament And
thinks very honestly that the Church must judge if so they have judged already and so we may end this Dispute in a friendly agreement Having thus discharged the General cry of this deep-mouthed Pack come we to consider the Particulars Let them but enumerate what they would have and be their own Carvers and 't will amount to no less then the Good old Cause or rather more for they desire a Positive Law for Toleration as P. p. 69 70. L. C. A. p. 11. D. R. p. 8. c. while a general Praeterition served before And certainly that great Roman Orator was right Non enim idem est ferre si quid ferendum est probare si quid probandum non est Cic. fam Ep. l. 9. ep 6. Nor is this all but one of them would have all things taken away for which the people rebelled P. p. 65. judging it more reasonable that the Sovereign should conform to the Subject then the Subject to the Sovereign Which produces that Libyan Serpent Pareas Luc. Phars 1. 10. that leads with the Tail That Authour quarrells with the Age for striving to root out people's ill Principles rather then Princes ill practices God knows what the people may call ill Practices but we know a Roman sued at Law for not takâ—â— a Dagger deep enough into his Bowels with which his adversary strived to stab him It may in time be laid to the Prince and Parliament's charge that they buried not the Murther of the late King in honour and silence as well as now 't is that the Covenant was not so buried I will pursue this no farther lest it whet the Sword of justice too keen against this kind of Pleaders Now pray hear them branch their desires with some confusion into these ensuing Heads 1. They would have Tithes taken away or at least altered Israel was chidden for robbing God of Tithes and Offerings if these be Israelites let them apply it to themselves 'T is strange that hypocriticall Pharisees should boast of paying them and these strive against them Surely these mens Consciences grow in their Purse or Field that scruple at payments and so the Poet was right 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. How likes Cornelius Burges these Presbyterians that strive to baffle his whole Divine right with one Act of Parliament 'T was hard for a man to commit Sacrilege before according to Burges's notion but if these mens motions take place it will be impossible for the future so wise are these Pleaders to prevent sin Euseb. l. 4. praep and Dion Halic l. 1. tell us that the Pelasgi the Offspring of Phaleg as Bochartus well proves being under great Judgments sent to inquire of the Oracles whether they would be pacified with the Tenths of Men The Oracles answered they would But these men think to remove our Judgments by taking away the Tenths of Goods from God Where the Conscience scruples payments 't is a sign 't is tender of Profit rather then Piety and that People aim at saving their Purses rather then their Souls But this is the old complaint and Tithes are like the Chaldaeans in Rome alwaies proscribed yet alwaies there Thus Dogs of Scyrum alwaies bark against the Moon yet it still abides Tithes like the Church they sustain semper concussae nunquam excussae Yet let it be confessed that Tithes and Landlords Rents are the two great Grievances of this Nation 2. To prosecute the Good old Cause in Rank with Tithes are servile Tenures called Copy-holds O rare Saturnalia Lords must cease to be Lords that Tenants may be Free-holders Their ancient Rights must be parted withall not for Coyn but Clamour In other cases Causes make Complaints but here Complaints make Causes They hope to get Free-holds as Children do Rattles by crying for them Unjust men like not to continue their Lands on the Conditions they came by them Time that makes all things worse must make their Tenures better I may say of this Cause as Cicero did of Caesar's 't is causa sine causa The business is Jack will be a Gentleman as if a man could make a silk Purse of a Sow's ear 'T is pity these Saints throw not up their Estates as their Ministers their Livings because being Christ's free-men 't is against their Conscience to hold their Lands on humane Constitutions and servile Conditions 3. The third branch of the Good old Cause that the Proposition requires is the Register of Estates A thing often attempted but never effected the onely single thing that looks like just of all they plead for in which I wish them success Yet wants it not its Inconveniences that may make it unpassable Tacitus prefaces his Annals with a Story that the world was first oppressed with Tyrants at length with Laws A Court of Record in every County newly erected would increase Lawyers and Fees good store but whether Honesty would be increased time must shew This way leaves little room for Charity and cuts the sinews of Commerce which is Credit In a word humane Affairs are the Game Dealers are Gamesters and the design of Registring is to let the adversary over-see one's hand which spoils the Play I look on the design as hopeless because four hundred men will scarcely ever be found so intire but some will halt on that sore and can no more consent then proclaim themselves bankrupt 4. The fourth thing pleaded for by them is the damning all Pluralities that is silencing those Laws that stint Chaplains to Kings Dukes Earls Bishops c. in shovelling up as they phrase it Church-Livings I confess I believe the Clergie get more envy then profit by it besides that it doth much narrow their Interest Yet let it be considered that these Laws must be silenced to make a Non-conformist speak P. p. 54. Laws are such trifling things with them that they are as easie repealed as scribbled against These men think it no oppression to out men of a legal possession without their personal consent But why do these things now trouble Can't they remember their own practice but a while since Were not all the taking Preachers about London Pluralists that could procure entertainment Did not Mr. Vines spread his branches from Laurence Jury to Watton in Hertfordshire till he went off on a golden Bridge How much was Mr. Case noted for heaping Church-Living together Mr. R. V. held seldome fewer then S. Olave's Southwark and S. Edmond's Lombardstreet Mr. Jenkins Black-Friers and Christ-church Mr. Mayhew Kingston upon Thames and White-Chappel Mr. Griffith a modest man held the Charter-house and S. Bartholomew's behind the old Exchange But see the subtilty of these men to avoid the imputation of Pluralists they called themselves Lecturers as if that employment were neither a Cure of Souls nor a catering for the Purse 'T is well their Conscience and Credit both can be salved with a new word But Turpe est Doctori cum culpa c. The English Church brought not in
Pluralities for before the Reformation no Pluralities were admitted nisi dispensatione Apostolicâ v. Lyndwood and since none were induced but by Act of Parliament And what forbids the Legislative Power to wit King Lords and Commons to allow the King Dukes Earls Chaplains c. more then one Living for the better managing that part they are to act about their Master's affairs and for the state of the Kingdome especially where the Lay-Gentry are so plentifully instated in Church-Livings for the upholding their Greatness Is a man onely therefore uncapable of more Church-Preferments because a Clergy-man But else the Non-conformers cannot find Livings Are they sure the present Occupiers being disseised that the Patrons will pin them on their backs Are not the Universities full of deserving men and must they be put by till God knows when or must they turn Non-conformers to get a Living 'T is pity such vast numbers of Expectants who may doe well should be slighted for those that have done ill 5. The fifth thing desired is that all may be allowed to preach and officiate that are in any Orders Here is a door opened to the Enthusiast whom the Spirit orders to the Quaker whom George Fox orders to the Independent whom the people order durante placito to the Presbyterian whom Aerius orders c. Here Nadir and Zenith are made to shake hands the two terms of Contradiction are here reconciled to wit potestas à Christo descendendo and à plebe ascendendo England must have a publick Ministry with private Orders or onely fansied ones Then must the Church prove a Poly-cephalist more dreadfull then the Stygian Cerberus 'T was judged malice in Sergius the third to re-ordain those that Formosus had advanced to holy Orders because he was Episcopus Portuensis and onely deprived of his Bishoprick by John the ninth not of his Episcopal Function But the Church in her great Synod judged the Presbyters of Colythus making in the Church of Alexandria to be no Presbyters and the Ordination a nullitie as is instanced in the case of Ischiras because he was no Bishop though he pretended himself to be one as also do these Non-conformers So likewise for the same cause were those Presbyters ordained by Maximus pronounced no Presbyters by all the Fathers in the Council of Constantinople And 't were high temerity to establish that for good by a Law that hath been so often condemned by Law But here is nihil ad rhombum still for what peace can be expected from contrary Orders Is it not listing the Clergy in several battalia's one against another And what satisfaction will that give to the Scruple-house where five Parties are still forced to scruple at one Do not the whole Episcopal Church account Ordination by Presbyters or people or vain pretensions to the Spirit or by a Se-ordainer utterly uncanonicall And can their Conscience chuse but take offence at the allowance of it Or are they thought so tame that being offended they will make no noise about it 'T is pity they should fare the worse for their peaceableness Again Is the Presbyterian satisfied in Conscience to hear a Gifted Brother officiate that pretends to a Plebeian Ordination Do not both send a Quo Warranto after a wandring Star that says he was lighted by the Holy ghost Nor will this please the wild Sectarie who esteems Episcopal and Presbyterian Ordination in Simpson's language the greasie Palm of Antichrist and fansies a Priest in Orders the English Edition of the Pope Yet Luther in Com. in Galat. tells us men without Ordination quanquam quaedam salutaria afferunt nihil tamen aedificant for laborem eorum nunquam fortunat Deus And S. Cyp. unit Eccles. tells us that by the Sacraments of unordained men non tam purgantur quà m fordidantur i. e. the water of Baptizing fouls and the Bloud of the Supper stains I dread to think what 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Church our Mother will shed when more then a Jacob and Esau shall be permitted to struggle in her womb D. P. p. 36. hath found an expedient here consenting that the Bishops should impose hands on the Presbyterians already ordained to commend them non ad ministerium sed ad exercitium ministerii in any Parish to which they shall have a Title I conceive the missive words in Ordination may be so formed as to admit to Orders in the Episcopal sense and yet onely to emit in this Authour's sense but then first This provides but for a few Ministers and so is scarce worth the trouble Secondly 'T is very probable though the Non-conformers agree in this they will quarrell in something else Let me therefore remember them that Theodore Archbishop of Canterbury being sent by Vitalian to King Egbert about the year 668 and finding Ceadda not lawfully Ordained the good man understanding the errour said Si me nôsti Episcopatum non ritè suscepisse libenter ab officio recedo upon which Submission bene tandem consecratus in sedem Dorovernensem provehitur Bed Hist. Eccl. l. 4. c. 2. An excellent example of true Christian meekness 6. Their sixth Plea is for Liberty of Conscience a principal branch of the Good old Cause and intended to open the door of legal Restraint to those Legions of Devils that inhabit the fanatick Soul To effect which all these Authours strive eminus cominus trying every key in the bunch of their subtilties Not all of them so ingeniously as Bellius Clebergius or Sir H. Vane have done before them yet no less earnestly for aequa tentant iniqua they try by hook or by crook to break the door open And why not tentantes ad Trojam tandem pervenere Graeci He that never speaks never speeds They therefore bring a whole troup of Arguments to make room for it If you would know what this Liberty of Conscience is L. C. A. who most discreetly handles it tells you 't is A freedom to doe or omit as Conscience shall direct p. 11. so that his Question to be debated is How far men may be obliged to doe what they say is against their Conscience and How far men may be suffered to doe what they say their Conscience obligeth them to doe id ib. Now the granting this freedom by the Magistrate is called Toleration which D. R. p. 8. defines to be A permission of different waies of Religion without the line of the approved way So that in this latitude Liberty of Conscience looks like Hobbs his Leviathan a masterless Monster This one Law would make the world lawless and doe what is right in their own sight not in God's nor the Magistrate's therefore its Advocates shackle and trammel this wild beast some more some less First To save the King's life L. C. A. p. 14. conceives the Magistrate not bound to tolerate any thing destructive to his being But that if the Magistrate shall believe Toleration it self will destroy him The Authour of the Proposition plainly
affirms that Liberty of Conscience murther'd the late King and the Abettors of it were the greatest Enemies to this Prince's Return and settlement And 't is to be feared it hath not yet evaporated its venemous qualities Secondly Nor must the Magistrate tolerate moral Evils L. C. A. p. 50. Thirdly Nor any thing against common Light common Interest and natural good of mankind L. C. A. p. 49. We thank him for nothing without these Concessions the Magistrate like Serapis the AEgytian God might stand and hold his finger in his mouth and all Government were dissolved But fourthly D. R. p. 9. is more liberal and acknowledges the Magistrate not bound to tolerate dissensions nor any thing against the general Rules of Scripture in ordering the Church p. 27. But fifthly D. P. p. 85. exceeds all his Brethren and acknowledges the Magistrate may punish with lighter penalties any practice he esteems erroneous in Religion Having thus set down these mens Concessions which are onely to leave some work for the Magistrate that he may not like Epicurus's God sleep in intermundiis let me observe to you that these men jeast with us when they plead for Liberty of Conscience a thing so inseparable from the rational creature that no Padlock can confine it Conscience is so far out of gun-shot that the most murthering Cannon cannot reach it Conscience is subject to no Exile nor Imprisonment nor can a Rape be committed upon it The birds in the air or fishes in the sea are not more free So that the matter of our inquiry is Liberty of Action rather then Liberty of Conscience And so the Question will be whether the Magistrate be bound to let men doe in matters of Religion what they say their Consciences oblige them to or to let them forbear what they say their Consciences bind them to forbear In answer to which we say The Magistrate may not permit men to walk by the light of their private Consciences in matters of Religion First Because the Magistrate ought to be a terrour not a tolerator of evil-doers Rom. 13. but a man may pretend himself bound in Conscience to doe evil as the Jew most conscienciously blasphemes the name of Christ. To this L. C. A. p. 15. answers the Magistrate is onely authorized to punish moral evils The vanity of which will appear First by that Logical Rule Propositio indefinita in materia necessaria aequipollet universali Now all evils deserve a punishment as well spiritual as moral and many times spiritual evils are the greater therefore he is to be a terrour to them as well as to moral evils Secondly S. Paul justifies this explication 1 Tim. 1. 9. telling us the Law was made to punish not onely what is contrary to sound Reason but to sound Doctrine too Thirdly The Roman Magistrate though a Heathen had right to judge all Causes as well spiritual as civil as appears by S. Paul's appeal to him concerning the Resurrection of the dead about which he was called in question and referred the examination to Caesar. Secondly If a man may follow the dictates of his Conscience without controul he may kill Saints for God's cause John 16. 2. and believe himself bound in Conscience so to doe which haply was the case of Vennor and his Complices And 't was once S. Paul's who says He verily thought to wit in his Conscience that he ought to doe many things contrary to the way of Christ and did persecute from City to City But no Magistrate can discharge his Conscience by permitting men to kill their Neighbours for God's cause and questions in Religion 'T was Gallio's scandal that he drave men from the Judgment-seat and would not meddle in such matters Thirdly Every man is indispensably oblig'd to promote the glory of God and the Salvation of men with such talents as he hath received But the Magistrates talent is the civil Sword Therefore with it is he to propagate God's Worship and stop mens sins Advice and Admonition belong to every Christian Reproof and Censures to Church-officers but Correction of sin by the civil Sword is the Magistrate's propriety L. C. A. p. 24. acknowledges this Argument in the main but thinks he may serve God as a Magistrate by other powers then by the Sword yet confesses no instance can fully reach the explication of his notion p. 27. And no wonder since it must deny the Proposition or Assumption of this Syllogism both yet which are most evident Truths Fourthly The Magistrate's power is confessed by L. C. A. p. 12. to be paternall But a Father is bound to use the Rod to keep his child from damnation Therefore is the Father of the Countrey bound to use the Sword to keep his Subjects from damnation Magistrates govern not men as brute beasts but as indued with immortal Souls and therefore must use their power not onely for the safety of mens bodies but the Salvation of their Souls Fifthly The Magistrate is God's Shepherd as well as the Minister But Shepherds must destroy the Wolves that strive to break in to the Flock to devour it in their proper sphere the Minister by Church-Censures the Magistrate by temporal punishment Sixthly To multiply no more Arguments the last shall be ad hominem If these men believe 't is the will of God that every man should enjoy the practice of his Conscience why do they resist the will of God by denying this to the Papist Yet this they doe M. I. p. 14. D. R. p. 43 c. Hath God upon this general Charter for Liberty expresly excepted against the Papists or rather do not these Pleaders privately confess they believe not their own Arguments which haply prove stronger for the Papists then themselves as may be seen anon Indeed M. I. p. 14. says three things for the excluding Papists from this Privilege First Their giving no assurance of Fidelity But surely they have been more faithfull then these Sects in the late Rebellion and the Quakers and Anabaptists refuse to swear Fidelity as well as they c. Secondly By their Principles they can never be good Subjects 'T were well if these mens Principles were better If we are urged to it we shall make it appear that both halt on the same lame side Thirdly They themselves allow no Toleration D. P. p. 102. shall answer it O thou Argument thou art a vile naughty Argument the Lord rebuke thee Do not these men remember themselves guilty in the like kind that allowed no Toleration of Prelacie I am weary of these fooleries Can a man truly love God and yet sit patiently to hear his Name dishonoured when he hath power to suppress it Shall a Magistrate punish the injuries done to himself with all legal severities yet be so cool in God's Cause as not to unsheath his Sword Surely men never were permitted to doe what was right in their own sight but in times of Confusion when there was no King in Israel But when Asa had
obtained the Crown a Vote was made That whosoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel should be put to death whether small or great whether man or woman as you reade 2 Chron. 15. 13. And why should the Jew be more zealous for the honour of his God then is the Christian Moses that saw the Looseness contracted by Israel's bewildred estate tells them plainly You shall not doe as you doe this day every man what 's right in his own eyes or seems good in his own Conscience Is Conscience such aâ—nctâ—uary to damnable Doctrines that being got in there the Holiness of the place must defend them Can it be imagined that Head and Hand-sins must receive their punishment and onely Conscience-sins pass under Protection S. Paul says Rom. 13. 4. If thou dost evil be afraid of the powers but these men say If the greatest Blasphemies be committed against God be not afraid for the Magistrate hath no power to punish thee Be not afraid to bring in Doctrines of Devils for the Powers are bound to tolerate thee Break what Laws thou wilt and pretend 't is thy Conscience obliges thee to it and 't is a safe Plea that can't be over-ruled But well fare Charles the fifth that engraved on his Sword Custos utriusque Tabulae judging himself obliged to see the Laws of God executed as well as the Laws of the Land and to take care that Christ have his due as well as caesar his If you object That then the Magistrate if his Conscience should hap to be erroneous might persecute Piety I answer first So may he in civil Causes punish an innocent man if his judgment errs but that doth not annihilate his authority Secondly And we may as reasonably suspect an Angel will erre as the Magistrate since the Apostle's charge is to believe Angels no more then men in teaching another Gospel Gal. 1. 8. And thirdly If any be possessed with the spirit of infallibility 't is the Magistrate since the Scripture speaks more favourably of him then of the Jesuites Pope or the Quakers Spiritual man for Solomon saith Prov. 16. 10. A divine sentence is in the lips of a King his mouth transgresseth not in judgment He may be ignorant in some truths in Divinity but not in the weighty things of the Law And if his commands proceed about circumstantials and lesser things be they according to or dissonant from the truth the believer is obliged to be silent upon S. Paul's rule who saith Rom. 14. 22. Hast thou faith have it to thy self before God He must not flash his light in his brother's eyes and much less may he set a Church or Kingdom on fire with the scattering of it about And thus much D. P. p. 101. acknowledges The tolerated must not broach principles to the scandal of others much less then to the scandal of a Church And farther fourthly In some cases we are obliged to force our Consciences rather then resist Authority that by once passing that River of which it was so fearfull it may at length goe more boldly forward when commanded without many blows to make it enter Christ's sheep may be forced into green pastures where else they will stand boggling at the gate 'T is the Doctrine of a great Patriarch in these mens account I mean Ames l. 1. de Consc. in recollectionibus ad calcem libri additis Sect. 27. Licitum consultum est aliquando agere contra scrupulum aliquem Conscientiae And then methinks where Authority appears 't is a considerable circumstance to enforce especially considering that of Plin. to Trajan A Te exigetur ratio nos excusabit obsequium And Cassiodore speaks but the mind of the civil Law when he tells you Nimis iniquum est ut ipse patiatur dispendium qui imperium fecit alienum But then fifthly If Liberty must be granted then inclusivè as P. p. 62. grants Sovereigns must have their Liberty of Conscience as well as Subjects And then if their Consciences tie them to punish Errours what room is left for others Liberty Princes if consciencious are or may be as really obliged to the making and executing as others to the transgression of the Laws and then whose Conscience shall take place The Scripture enjoyns the Prince to punish Disobedience as well as it forbids the Subject to obey so that either the Consciences of Governours or governed must be oppressed Sixthly What should Sectaries doe with Liberty of Conscience that preach themselves a poor afflicted despised Flock and make Afflictions the note of a Child of God if not a note of the Church To grant them liberty were to divert their Afflictions and so unchurch them yea to stop up their way to Heaven which by false application of Scripture to all persons and times they hold must be through many tribulations Now to justifie their Doctrine they will find something else to quarrell with Authority about if you grant them Liberty and so pro thesauro carbones by long fishing you get a frog Seventhly The common Principles of the Sectaries can endure no Accommodation for they hold God's Flock a little Flock whom the Powers of this world must oppress and they must have a World to rail at and should you conform to them in every thing there needs no other argument for their deserting their own way as one of these Authours well observes in the instance of wearing short hair which the Non-conformers Consciences much urged them to till they saw Bishop Laud to commend it to all the Clergy then they changed their Consciences tackt about and wore all long hair The Sectaries are men of narrow spirits and love a little way They think multitudes can't go together but to doe evil and fansy huggling together like a Covy of Partridges in a field to be the onely Christian way Like John the Baptist they love to be in a desert or like a Hare to sit trembling alone in a bush and can't be brought like Doves or Sheep to feed in great Flocks Besides they have an irascible appetite in them which is naturally trained up like a true Bull-dog to bait Authority so that Oliver their great God-a-mighty could not save his Nose from their reproaches In a word Tacitus observes that evulgato Imperii Secreto alibi Imperaetorem fieri posse quà m Romae it taught every Legion to proclaim an Emperour for the future 'T is well if Obstinacy and Scrupling prevailing to overthrow one Law do not at length strive to overturn all and translate the whole Government to themselves I am of Scomberg's mind though in a far better cause That he that sees he can force any thing will at length believe he can force all and so is by Concession of one but invited to contend for another Now they try your patience the next time they will try their own courage But stay let us hear their Reasons for Liberty of Conscience The First is that in the Proposition p. 3 5 6.