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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A67467	The life of Dr. Sanderson, late Bishop of Lincoln written by Izaak Walton ; to which is added, some short tracts or cases of conscience written by the said Bishop.	Walton, Izaak, 1593-1683.; Sanderson, Robert, 1587-1663. Judgment concerning submission to usurpers.; Sanderson, Robert, 1587-1663. Pax ecclesiae.; Hooker, Richard, 1553 or 4-1600. Sermon of Richard Hooker, author of those learned books of Ecclesiastical politie.; Sanderson, Robert, 1587-1663. Judgment in one view for the settlement of the church.; Sanderson, Robert, 1587-1663. Judicium Universitatis Oxoniensis. English.	1678 (1678)	Wing W667; ESTC R8226	137,878	542

hoc quisque est pessimus quo optimus si hoc ipsum quo est optimus ascribat sibi the more blest the more curst if we make his graces our own glory without imputation of all to him whatsoever we have we steal and the multiplication of Gods favours doth but aggravate the crime of our Sacriledge He knowing how prone we are to unthankfulness in this kind tempereth accordingly the means whereby it is his pleasure to do us good This is the reason why God would neither have Gideon to conquer without any Army nor yet to be furnish'd with too great an host This is the cause why as none of the promises of God do fail so the most are in such sort brought to pass that if we after consider the circuit wherein the steps of his Providence have gone the due consideration thereof cannot choose but draw from us the very self same words of astonishment which the blessed Apostle hath O the depth of the riches of the wisdom of God! How unsearchable are his counsels and his ways past finding out Let it therefore content us always to have his word for an absolute warrant we shall receive and find in the end it shall at length be opened unto you however or by what means leave it to God 3. Now our Lord groundeth every mans particular assurance touching this point upon the general Rule and Axiom of his Providence which hath ordained these effects to flow and issue out of these causes gifts of suits finding out of seeking help out of knocking a principle so generally true that on his part it never faileth For why it is the glory of God to give his very nature delighteth in it his mercies in the current through which they would pass may be dried up but at the head they never fail Men are soon weary both of granting and of hearing suits because our own insufficiency maketh us still affraid lest by benefiting of others we impoverish our selves We read of large and great proffers which Princes in their fond and vainglorious moods have poured forth as that of Herod and the like of Ahasuerus in the Book of Hester Ask what thou wilt though it reach to the half of my Kingdom I will give it thee which very words of profusion do argue that the ocean of no estate in this world doth so flow but it may be emptied He that promiseth half of his Kingdom foreseeth how that being gone the remainder is but a a moiety of that which was What we give we leave but what God bestoweth benefiteth us and from him it taketh nothing wherefore in his propositions there are no such fearful restraints his terms are general in regard of making Whatsoever ye ask the Father in my Name and general also in respect of persons whosoever asketh whosoever seeketh It is true St. Iames saith Ye ask and yet ye receive not because you ask amiss ye crave to the end ye might have to spend upon your own lusts The rich man sought Heaven but it was then when he felt Hell The Virgins knocked in vain because they overslipped their opportunity and when the time was to knock they slept But quaerite Dominum dum inveniri potest perform these duties in their due time and due sort Let there on our part be no stop and the bounty of God we know is such that he granteth over and above our desires Saul sought an Ass and found a Kingdom Solomon named wisdom and God gave Solomon wealth also by way of surpassing Thou hast prevented thy servant with blessings saith the Prophet David He asked life and thou gavest him long life even for ever and ever God a giver He giveth liberally and upbraideth none in any wise And therefore he better knoweth than we the best times and the best means and the best things wherein the good of our Souls consisteth FINIS Phil. 1.6 Chap. 3.17 Psal. 34.11 Psal. 1 30. Colos. 1.24 Ga. 6.2 Iob 31. * Theucidides Psal. 119. 147. Psal. 32.2 * Sir I pray note That all that follows in the Italian Character are Dr. Sanderson's own words excellently worthy but no where else extant and commend him as much as any thing you can say of him T.P. † Arriba † Rob. Boyle Esq. 1. Law Object 1. Answ. Object 2. Scandal 1 Sam. 2. 17.22 Exod. 21. 33 34. Object 3. Schism 1 Thess. 5. * Such an Oath as for Matter Persons and other Circumstances the like hath not been in any Age or Oath we read of in sacred or humane stories M. Nye Covenant with Narrative pag. 12. † Pactum est duorum pluriúmvs in idem placitum consensus L. 1. ff de Pactis * Whereas many of them have had an Oath administered unto them not warrantable by the Laws and Statutes of this Realm They do humbly pray that no man hereafter be compelled to take such an Oath All which they most humbly pray as their Rights and Liberties according to the Laws and Statutes of this Realm Petit. of Right 3. Carol. † It is declared 16 Jan. 1642. That the King cannot compell men to be sworn without an Act of Parliament Exact Collect. pag. 859 860. * Proclam of 9. Octob. 19 Car. † Viz. In accounting Bishops Antichristian and indifferent Ceremonies unlawful * Viz. In making their Discipline and Government a mark of the true Church and the setting up thereof the erecting of the Throne of Christ. † Let us not be blamed if we call it Parliament Religion Parliament Gospel Parliament Faith Warding confut of Apology Part 6. Chap. 2 † Stat. 13. Eliz. 12. * Such Iurisdictions Priviledges Superiorities and Preheminences Spiritual and Ecclesiastical as by any c. for the Visitation of the Ecclesiastical State and Persons and for Reformation Order and Correction of the same and of all manner of Errours Heresies Schisms Abuses Offences contempts and Enormities shall for ever by Authority of this present Parliament be united and annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm An Act restoring to the Crown the ancient Jurisdiction c. 1 Eliz. 1. † Art 36. * give advantage to this Malignant party to traduce our Proceedings They infuse into the people that we mean to abolish all Church Government Remonst 15 Dec. 1641. Exact Collect. p. 19. The Lords and Commons do delare That they intend a due and necessary Reformation of the Government and Liturgy of the Church and to take away nothing in the one or in the other but what shall be evil and justly offensive or at least unnecessary and barthensome Declar. 9 Apr. 1642. Exact Coll. p. 135. † Statute of Carlisle 25 E. 1. recited 25 E. 3. † They infuse into the people that we mean to leave every man to his own fancy absolving him of that Obedience which he owes under God unto his Majesty whom we know to be entrusted with the Ecclesiastical Law as well as with the Temporal Exact Collect. ubi supra pag. 19. * That

of Obedience to our known Governours which is Debitum justitiae also and therefore more Obligatory than the other doth not impose that necessity upon us as hath been already shewn 2. Besides Arguments drawn from scandal in things neither unlawful nor setting the reason of Scandal aside inexpedient as they are subject to sundry frailties otherwise so they are manifestly of no weight at all when they are counterpois'd with the apparent danger of evil consequents on the other side For in such cases there is commonly equal danger if not rather something more of Scandal to be taken from the Example the quite contrary way We may see it in debating the point now in hand It is alledged on the one side That by laying aside the use of the Common Prayer men that are over scrupulous will be encourag'd to take a greater liberty in dispensing with the Laws to the despising both of Laws and Governours than they ought And why may it not by the same reason be as well alleg'd on the other side That by holding up a necessity of using the Common Prayer men that have tender Consciences may be induc'd to entertain scruples to their utter undoing and to the destruction of their people when they need not 3. But that in the third place which cometh up home to the business and taketh off the Objection clearly is this That in judging Cases of scandal we are not so much to look to the event what it is or may be as to the cause whence it cometh For sometimes there is given just cause of Scandal and yet no Scandal followeth because it is not taken Sometimes scandal is taken and yet no just cause given and sometimes there is both cause of Scandal given and Scandal taken thereat But no man is concern'd at any Scandal that happeneth to another by occasion of any thing done by him neither is chargeable with it farther than he is guilty of having given it If then we give Scandal to others and they take it not the whole guilt is ours and they are faultless If we give it and they take it we are to bear a share in the blame as they and that a deep share Vae homini Wo to the man by whome the offence cometh Matth. 18.7 But if they take offence when we give none it is a thing we cannot help and therefore the whole blame must lie upon them Wherefore if at any time any doubt shall arise in that case of Scandal How far forth the danger thereof may obligue us to the doing or not doing of any thing propos'd The Resolution will come on much the easier if we shall but rightly understand what it is to give Scandal or how many ways a man may become guilty of scandalizing another by his Example The ways as I conceive are but these four 1. When a man doth something before another which is in it self evil unlawful and sinful In which case neither the intension of him that doth it nor the event as to him that seeth it done is of any consideration For it matters not whether the doer hath an intention to draw the other into sin or not the very matter and substance of the action being evil and done before others is sufficient to render the doer guilty of having given Scandal though neither he had intention himself so to do nor was any other person actually scandaliz'd thereby because whatsoever is in its own nature evil is of it self and in its own nature scandalous and of ill Example Thus did Hophni and Phineas the Sons of Eli give Scandal by their wretched prophaneness and greediness about the Sacrifices of the Lord and their shameless abusing the Women And so did David also give great Scandal in the matter of Vriah 2 Sam. 12. 14. Here the Rule is Do nothing that is evil for fear of giving Scandal 2. The second way is when a man doth something before another with a direct intention and formal purpose of drawing him thereby to commit sin In which case neither the matter of the action nor the event is of any consideration For it makes no difference as to the sin of giving Scandal whether any man be effectually entic'd to commit sin or not thereby neither doth it make any difference whether the thing done were in it self unlawful or not so as it had an appearance of evil and from thence an aptitude to draw another by the doing of that by imitation which should be really and intrinsecally evil The wicked intention alone whatsoever the effect should be or what means soever should be us'd to promote it sufficeth to induce the guilt of giving Scandal upon the doer This was Ieroboam's sin in setting up the Calvos with a formal purpose and intention thereby for his own secular and ambitious ends to corrupt the purity of Religion and to draw the people unto Idolatrous Worship For which cause he is so often stigmatiz'd with it as a note of Infamy to stick by him whilst the World lasteth being scarce ever-mention'd in the Scripture but with this addition Jeroboam the son of Nebat which made Israel to sin Here the Rule is Do nothing a good or evil with an intention to give Scandal 3. The third way is when a man doth something before another which in it self is not evil but indifferent and so according to the Rule of Christian Liberty lawful for him to do or not to do as he shall see cause yea and perhaps otherwise commodious and convenient for him to do yet whereas he probably foreseeth that others will take Scandal and be occasioned thereby to do evil In such a case if the thing to be done be not in some degree prudentially necessary for him to do but that he might without very great inconvenience or prejudice to himself or any third person leave it undone He is bound in Charity to his Brother's Soul for whom Christ died and for the avoiding of Scandal to abridge himself in the exercise of his Christian Liberty for that time so far as rather to suffer some inconvenience himself by the not doing of it than by the doing of it to cause his Brother to offend The very Case which is so often so largely and so earnestly insisted upon by St. Paul See Rom. 14.13,21 Rom. 15.1 3. 1 Cor. 87 13. 1 Cor. 9.12 15 19 22. 1 Cor. 10.23.33 Here the Rule is Do nothing that may be reasonably forborn whereat Scandal will be taken 4. The last way is when a man doth somthing before another which is not only lawful but according to the exigencies of present Circumstances pro hic nunc very behoofful and even prudentially necessary for him to do but foreseeth that the other will be like to make an ill use of it and take encouragement thereby to commit sin if he be not withal careful as much as possibly in him lieth to prevent the Scandal that may be taken thereat For Qui non prohibet

errour to think Ceremonies and Constitutions to be things meerly indifferent I mean in the general For howsoever every particular Ceremony be indifferent and every particular constitution arbitrary and alterable yet that there should be some Ceremonies it is necessary necessitate absoluta inasmuch as no outward work can be performed without ceremonial circumstances some or other and that there should be some constitutions concerning them it is also necessary though not simply and absolutely as the former yet ex hypothesi and necessitate convenientiae Otherwise since some Ceremonies must needs be used every Parish may every man would have his own fashion by himself as his humour led him whereof what other could be the issue but infinite distraction and unorderly confusion in the Church And again thirdly to return their weapon upon themselves if every restraint in indifferent things be injurious to Christian liberty then themselves are injurious no less by their negative restraint from some Ceremonies Wear not Cross not Kneel not c. than they would have the world believe our Church is by her positive restraint unto these Ceremonies of wearing and crossing and kneeling c. Let indifferent men judge nay let themselves that are parties judge whether is more injurious to Christian Liberty publick Authority by mature advice commanding what might be forborn or private spirits through humorous dislikes forbidding what may be used the whole Church imposing the use or a few Brethren requiring the forbearance of such things as are otherwise and in themselves equally indifferent for use for forbearance But they say our Church makes greater matters of ceremonies than thus and preferreth them even before the most necessary duties of preaching and administring the Sacraments inasmuch as they are imposed upon Ministers under pain of Suspension and Deprivation from their Ministerial Functions and Charges First for actual Deprivation I take it unconforming Ministers have no great cause to complain Our Church it is well known hath not always used that rigour she might have done Where she hath been forced to proceed as far as Deprivation she hath ordinarily by her fair and slow and compassionate proceeding therein sufficiently manifessed her unwillingness thereto and declare her self a Mother everyway indulgent enough to such ill-nurtured Children as will not be ruled by her Secondly those that are suspended or deprived suffer it but justly for their obstinacy and contempt For howsoever they would bear the world in hand that they are the only persecuted ones and that they suffer for their consciences yet in truth they do but abuse the credulity of the simple therein and herein as in many other things jump with the Papists whom they would seem above all others most abhorrent from For as Seminary Priests and Iesuits give it out that they suffer for Religion when the very truth is they are justlty executed for their prodigious Treasons and felonious or treacherous practices against lawful Princes and Estates So the Brethren pretend they are persecuted for their consciences when they are indeed but justly censured for thier obstinate and pertinacious contempt of lawful authority For it is not the refusal of these Ceremonies they are deprived for otherwise than as the matter wherein they shew their contempt It is the contempt it self which formerly and properly subjecteth them to just Ecclesiastical censure of Suspension or Deprivation And contempt of authority though in the smallest matter deserveth no small punishment all authority having been ever solicitous as it hath good reason above all things to vindicate and preserve it self from contempt by inflicting sharp punishments upon contemptuous persons in the smallest matters above all other sorts of offenders in any degree whatsoever Thus have we shewed and cleared the first and main difference betwixt the case of my Text and the case of our Church in regard of the matter the things whereabout they differed being every way indifferent ours not so The determination of Superiours may and ought to restrain us in the outward exercise of our Christian liberty We must submit our selves to every Ordinance of man saith St. Peter 1 Pet. 2. 13. and it is necessary we should do so for so is the will of God ver 15. Neither is it against Christian liberty if we do so for we are still as free as before rather if we do not so we abuse our liberty for a cloak of maliciousness as it followeth there ver 16. And St. Paul telleth us we must needs be subject not only for fear because the Magistrate carrieth not the Sword in vain but also for conscience sake because the powers that are are ordained of God This duty so fully pressed and so uniformly by these two grand Apostles is most apparent in private societies In a family the Master or pater familias who is a kind of petty Monarch there hath authority to prescribe to his children and servants in the use of those indifferent things whereto yet they as Christians have as much liberty as he The servant though he be the Lord's free-man yet is limited in his diet lodging livery and many other things by his Master and he is to submit himself to his Master's appointment in these things though perhaps in his private affection he had rather his Master had appointed otherwise and perhaps withal in his private judgment doth verily think it fitter his Master should appoint otherwise If any man under colour of Christian liberty shall teach otherwise and exempt servants from the obedience of their Masters in such things St. Paul in a holy indignation inveigheth against such a man not without some bitterness in the last Chapter of his Epistle as one that is proud and knoweth nothing as he should do but doteth about questions and strife of words c. ver 3 5. Now look what power the Master hath over his Servants for the ordering of his family no doubt the same at the least if not much more hath the supreme Magistrate over his Subjects for the peace of the Commonwealth the Magistrate being pater patriae as the Master is pater familias Whosoever then shall interpret the determinations of Magistrates in the use of the Creatures to be contrary to the liberty of a Christian or under that colour shall exempt inferiours from their obedience to such determinations he must blame St. Paul nay he must blame the holy Ghost and not us if he hear from us that he is proud and knoweth nothing and doteth about unprofitable Questions Surely but that experience sheweth us it hath been so and the Scriptures have foretold us that it should be so that there should be differences and sidings and part-takings in the Church A man would wonder how it should ever sink into the hearts and heads of sober understanding men to deny either the power in Superiours to ordain or the necessity in Inferiours to obey Laws and Constitutions so restraining us in the use of the Ceratures Neither let any man cherish his

supernatural doctrine of faith and holiness which God hath revealed to his Church for the attainment of everlasting salvation whereupon they would impose upon Christian people that with an opinion of necessity many things which the Scriptures require not and that is a superstition These wry too much on the right hand ascribing to the holy Scripture such a kind of perfection as it cannot have of being the sole directour of all humane actions whatsoever whereupon they forbid unto Christian people and that under the name of sin sundry things which the holy Scripture condemneth not and that is a superstition too From which superstition proceedeth in the second place uncharitable censuring as evermore they that are the most superstitious are the most supercilious No such severe censurers of our blessed Saviour's person and actions as the superstitious Scribes and Phariseees were In this Chapter the special fault which the Apostle blameth in the weak ones who were somewhat superstitiously affected was their rash and uncharitable judging of their brethren And common and daily experience among our selves sheweth how freely some men spend their censures upon so many of their brethren as without scruple do any of those things which they upon false grounds have superstitiously condemned as utterly unlawful And then thirdly as unjust censures are commonly entertained with scorn and contumely they that so liberally condemn their brethren of prophaneness are by them again as freely slouted for their preciseness and so whiles both parties please themselves in their own ways they cease not mutually to provoke and scandalize and exasperate one the other pursuing their private spleens so far till they break out into open contentions and oppositions Thus it stood in the Roman Church when this Epistle was written They judged one another and despised one another to the great disturbance of the Churches peace which gave occasion to our Apostles whole discourse in this Chapter And how far the like censurings and despisings have embittered the spirits and whetted both the tongues and pens of learned men one against another in our own Church the stirs that have been long since raised and are still upheld by the factious opposers against our Ecclesiastical constitutions government and ceremonies will not suffer us to be ignorant Most of which stirs I verily perswade my self had been long ere this either wholly buried in silence or at leastwise prettily well quieted if the weakness and danger of the errour whereof we now speak had been more timely discovered and more fully and frequently made known to the world than it hath been Fourthly Let that Doctrine be once admitted and all humane authority will soon be despised The commands of Parents Masters and Princes which many times require both secrecy and expedition shall be taken into slow deliberation and the equity of them sifted by those that are bound to obey though they know no cause why so long as they know no cause to the contrary Delicata est obedientia quae transit in causam deliberativam It is a nice obedience in St. Bernard's judgment yea rather troublesome and odious that is over-curious in discussing the commands of superiours boggling at every thing that is enjoyned requiring a why for every wherefore and unwilling to stir until the lawfulness and expediency of the thing commanded shall be demonstrated by some manifest reason or undoubted authority from the Scriptures Lastly The admitting of this Doctrine would cast such a snare upon men of weak judgments but tender consciences as they should never be able to unwind themselves again Mens daily occasions for themselves or friends and the necessities of common life require the doing of a thousand things within the compass of a few days for which it would puzzle the best Textman that liveth readily to bethink himself of a sentence in the Bible clear enough to satisfie a scrupulous conscience of the lawfulness and expediency of what he is about to do for which by hearkening to the rules of reason and discretion he might receive easie and speedy resolution In which cases if he should be bound to suspend his resolution delay to do that which his own reason would tell him were presently needful to be done until he could haply call to mind some precept or example of Scipture for his warrant what stops would it make in the course of his whole life what languishings in the duties of his calling how would it fill him with doubts and irresolutions lead him into a maze of uncertainties entangle him in a world of woful perplexities and without the great mercy of God and better instruction plunge him irrecoverably into the gulph of despair Since the chief end of the publication of the Gospel is to comfort the hearts and to revive and refresh the spirits of God's people with the glad tidings of liberty from the spirit of bondage and fear and of gracious acceptance with their God to anoint them with the oyl of gladness giving them beauty for ashes and instead of sackcloth girding them with joy we may well suspect that Doctrine not to be Evangelical which thus setteth the Consciences of men upon the rack tortureth them with continual fears and perplexities and prepareth them thereby unto hellish despair Quest. What are the dreadful consequences of scrupling some indifferent things Answ. Although difference of judgment should not alienate our affections one from another yet daily experience sheweth it doth By reason of that self-love and envy and other corruptions that abound in us it is rarely seen that those men are of one heart that are of two minds St. Paul found it so with the Romans in his time whilst some condemned that as unlawful which others practised as lawful they judged one another and despised one another perpetually And I doubt not but any of us that is any-whit-like acquainted with the wretched deceitfulness of man's heart may easily conclude how hard a thing it is if at all possible not to think somewhat hardly of those men that take the liberty to do such things as we judge unlawful As for example If we shall judge all walking into the fields discoursing occasionally on the occurrences of the times dressing of meat for dinner or supper or even moderate recreations on the Lord's day to be grievous prophanations of the Sabbath how can we chuse but judge those men that use them to be grievous prophaners of God's Sabbath And if such our judgment concerning these things should after prove to be erroneous then can it not be avoided but that such our judgment also concerning the persons must needs be uncharitable Secondly This mis-judging of things filleth the world with endless niceties and disputes to the great disturbance of the Churches peace which to every good man ought to be precious The multiplying of Books and writings Pro and Con and pursuing of arguments with heat and opposition doth rather lengthen than decide Controversies and instead of destroying the old begetteth

inexpediency of what they enjoyn in indifferent things wherein if there be a fault it must lie upon their account the necessity of obedience is to us a sufficient discharge in that behalf Only it were good we did remember that they are to give up that account to God only and not to us But after that things are once concluded and established by publick Authority Acts passed and Constitutions made concerning the same and the will and pleasure of the higher powers sufficiently made known thererein then for private men to put in their vie and with unseasonable diligence to call in question the decency or expediency of the things so established yea with intolerable pride to refuse obedience thereunto meerly upon this pretension that they are undecent or inexpedient is it self the most indecent and inexpedient thing that can be imagined For that the fear of offending a private brother is a thing not considerable in comparison of the duty of obedience to a publick Governour might be shown so apparently by sundry arguments if we had time to enlarge and illustrate them as might sufficiently convince the judgment of any man not wilfully obstinate in that point I shall only crave leave briefly to touch at some of them First then when Governours shall have appointed what seemed to them expedient and private men shall refuse to observe the same pretending it to be inexpedient who shall judge thereof Either they themselves that take the exceptions must be judges which is both unreasonable and preposterous or else every man must be his own judge which were to overthrow all Government and to bring in a confusion every man to do what is good in his own eyes or else the known Governours must judge and then you know what will follow even to submit and obey Secondly To allow men under the pretence of inexpediency and because of some offence that may be taken thereat to disobey Laws and Constitutions made by those that are in Authority were the next way to cut the sinews of all Authority and to bring both Magistrates and Laws into contempt For what Law ever was made or can be made so just and so reasonable but some man or other either did or might take offence thereat And what man that is disposed to disobey but may pretend one inexpediency or other wherewith to countenance out such his disobedience Thirdly It is agreed by consent of all that handle the matter of Scandal that we may not commit any sin whatsoever be it never so small for the avoiding of any scandal be it never so great But to disobey lawful Authority in lawful things is a sin against the fifth Commandment Therefore we may not redeem a scandal by such our disobedience nor refuse to do the thing commanded by such Authority whosoever should take offence thereat Fourthly Though lawfulness and unlawfulness be not yet expediency and inexpediency are as we heard capable of the degrees of more and less and then in all reason of two inexpedient things we are to do that which is less inexpedient for the avoiding of that which is more inexpedient Say then there be an inexpediency in doing the thing commanded by Authority when a brother is thereby offended is there not a greater inexpediency in not doing it when the Magistrate is thereby disobeyed Is it not more expedient and conducing to the common good that a publick Magistrate should be obeyed in a just command than that a private person should be gratified in a causless scruple Fifthly When by refusing obedience to the lawful commands of our Superiours we think to shun the offending of one or two weak brethren we do in truth incur thereby a far more grievous scandal by giving offence to hundreds of others whose Consciences by our disobedience will be emboldned to that whereto corrupt nature is but too too prone to affront the Magistrate and despise the Authority Lastly Where we are not able to discharge both debts of justice are to be payed before debts of charity Now the duty of obedience is debitum justitiae and a matter of right my Superiour may challenge it at my hands as his due and I do him wrong if I withhold it from him But the care of not giving offence is but debitum charitatis and a matter but of courtesie I am to perform it to my brother in love when I see cause but he cannot challenge it from me as his right nor can justly say I do him wrong if I neglect it It is therefore no more lawful for me to disobey the lawful command of a Superiour to prevent thereby the offence of one or a few brethren than it is lawful for me to do one man wrong to do another man a courtesie withal or than it is lawful for me to rob the Exchequer to relieve an Hospital I see not yet how any of these six Reasons can be fairly avoided and yet which would be considered if but any one of them hold good it is enough to carry the cause and therefore I hope there need be no more said in this matter To conclude then for the point of practice which is the main thing I aimed at in the choice of this Text and my whole Meditations thereon we may take our direction in these three Rules easie to be understood and remembred and not hard to be observed in our practice if we will but bring our good wills thereunto First If God command we must submit without any more ado and not trouble our selves about the expediency or so much as about the unlawfulness for both Abraham never disputed whether it were expedient for him nor yet whether it were lawful for him to sacrifice his Son or no when once it appeared to him that God would have it so Secondly If our Superiours endued with lawful Authority thereunto command us any thing we may and where we have just cause of doubt we ought to enquire into the unlawfulness thereof yet notwith such anxious curiosity as if we desired to find out some loop-hole whereby to evade but with such modest ingenuity as may witness to God and the World the unfeigned sincerity of our desires both to fear God and to honour those that he hath set over us And if having used ordinary moral diligence bonâ fide to inform our selves the best we can there appear no unlawfulness in it we are then also to submit and obey without any more ado never troubling our selves farther to enquire whether it be expedient yea or no. Let them that command us look to that for it is they must answer for it and not we But then thirdly where Authority hath left us free no command either of God or of those that are set ever us under God having prescribed any thing to us in that behalf there it is at our own liberty and choice to do as we shall think good Yet are we not left so loose as that we may do what we list

Faith and Manners at this day firmly believed and securely practiced by us when by the Socinians Anabaptists and other Sectaries we should be called upon for our proofs As namely sundry Orthodoxal Explications concerning the Trinity and Co-equality of the Persons in the Godhead against the Arians and other Hereticks the number use and efficacy of Sacraments the Baptizing of Infants National Churches the observation of the Lord's Day and even the Canon of Scripture it self Thirdly In respect of our selves we are not satisfied how it can stand with the Principles of Iustice Ingenuity and Humanity to require the extirpation of Episcopal Government unless it had been first clearly demonstrated to be unlawful to be sincerely and really endeavoured by us 1. Who have all of us who have taken any Degree by subscribing the 39 Articles testified our approbation of that Government one of those Articles affirming the very Book containing the Form of their Consecration to contain in it nothing contrary to the Word of God 2. Who have most of us viz. as many as have entred into the Ministery received Orders from their hands whom we should very ill requite for laying their hands upon us if we should now lay to our hands to root them up and cannot tell for what 3. Who have sundry of us since the beginning of this Parliament subscribed our Names to Petitions exhibited or intended to be exhibited to that High Court for the continuance of that Government which as we then did sincerely and really so we should with like sincerity and reality still not having met with any thing since to shew us our errour be ready to do the same again if we had the same hopes we then had the reception of such Petitions 4. Who hold some of us our livelyhood either in whole or part by those Titles of Deans Deans and Chapters c. mentioned in the Articles being Members of some Collegiate or Cathedral Churches And our memories will not readily serve us with any Example in this kind since the world began wherein any state or profession of men though convicted as we are not of a Crime that might deserve Deprivation were required to bind themselves by Oath sincerely and really to endeavour the rooting out of that in it self not unlawful together wherewith they must also root out themselves their Estates and Livelyhoods 5. Especially it being usual in most of the said Churches that such persons as are admitted Members thereof have a personal Oath administred unto them to maintain the Honour Immunities Liberties and Profits of the same and whilst they live to seek the good and not to do any thing to the hurt hindrance or prejudice thereof or in other words to the like effect Fourthly In respect of the Church of England we are not satisfied how we can swear to endeavour the extirpation of the established Government no necessity or just cause for so doing either offering it self or being offered to our Understandings 1. Since all Change of Government unavoidably bringeth with it besides those that are present and evident sundry other inconveniences which no wit of man can possibly foresee to provide against till late experience discover them We cannot be sure that the evils which may ensue upon the Change of this Government which hath been of so long continuance in this Kingdom is so deeply rooted in the Laws thereof and hath so near a conjunction with and so strong an influence upon the Civil Sate and Government as that the Change thereof must infer the necessity of a great alteration to be made in the other also may not be greater than the supposed evils whatsoever they are which by this Change are sought to be remedied For there are not yet any come to our knowledge of that desperate nature as not to be capable of other remedy than the utter extirpation of the whole Government it self 2. Whereas the House of Commons have remonstrated That it was far from their purpose or desire to abolish the Church Government but rather that all the Members of the Church of England should be regulated by such Rules of Order and Discipline as are established by Parliament and that it was Malignancy to infuse into the people that they had any oother meaning We are loth by consenting to the second Article to become guilty of such Infusion as may bring us within the compass and danger of the fourth Article of this Covenant 3. Since it hath been declared by sundry Acts of Parliament That the holy Church of England was founded in the state of Prelacy within the Realm of England we dare not by endeavouring the extirpation of Prelacy strike at the very foundation and thereby as much as in us lieth co-operate towards the ruine of this famous Church which in all conscience and duty we are bound with our utmost lawful power to uphold Lastly In respect of our Obligations to his Majesty by our Duty and Oaths we are not satisfied how we can swear to endeavour the extirpation of the Church Government by Law established without forfeiture of those Obligations 1. Having in the Oath of Supremacy acknowledged the King to be the only Supreme Governour in all Ecclesiastical Causes and over all Ecclesiastical Persons having bound our selves both in that Oath and by our Protestation To maintain the King's Honour Estate Iurisdictions and all manner of Rights it is clear to our Understandings that we cannot without disloyalty and injury to him and double Perjury to our selves take upon us without his consent to make any alteration in the Ecclesiastical Laws or Government much less to endeavour the extirpation thereof unless the imposers of this Covenant had a power and meaning which they have openly disclaimed to absolve us of that Obedience which under God we owe unto his Majesty whom they know to be intrusted with the Ecclesiastical Law 2. We cannot sincerely and really endeavour the extirpation of this Government without a sincere desire and real endeavour that his Majesty would grant his Royal Assent to such extirpation Which we are so far from desiring and endeavouring that we hold it our bounden duty by our daily prayers to beg at the hands of Almighty God that he would not for our sins suffer the King to do an act so prejudicial to his Honour and Conscience as to consent to the rooting out of that estate which by so many branches of his Coronation Oath he hath in such a solemn manner sworn by the assistance of God to his power to maintain and preserve 3. By the Laws of this Land the Collation of Bishopricks and Deanaries the fruits and profits of their Lands and Revenues during their vacancies the first fruits and yearly tenths out of all Ecclesiastical Promotions and sundry other Priviledges Profits and Emoluments arising out of the State Ecclesiastical are established in the Crown and are a considerable part of the Revenues thereof which by the

sad distractions In the sixth Article we are altogether unsatisfied 1. The whole Article being grounded upon a supposition which hath not yet been evidenced to us viz. that this Cause meaning thereby or else we understand it not the joyning in this Covenant of mutual defence for the prosecution of the late War was the Cause of Religion Liberty and Peace of the Kingdoms and that it so much concerned the glory of God and the good of the Kingdoms and the honour of the King 2. If all the Premisses were so clear that we durst yield our free assent thereunto yet were they not sufficient to warrant to our Consciences what in this Article is required to be sworn of us unless we were as clearly satisfied concerning the lawfulness of the means to be used for the supporting of such a Cause For since evil may not be done that good may come thereof we cannot yet be perswaded That the Cause of Religion Liberty and Peace may be supported or the Glory of God the Good of the Kingdoms and the Honour of the King sought to be advanced by such means as to our best understandings are both improper for those Ends and destitute of all warrant from the Laws either of God or of this Realm Lastly in the Conclusion our hearts tremble to think that we should be required to pray that other Christian Churches might be encouraged by our example to joyn in the like Association and Covenant to free themselves from the Antichristian yoke c. Wherein 1. To omit that we do not know any Antichristian yoke under which we were held in these Kingdoms and from which we owe to this either War or Covenant our freedom unless by the Antichristian yoke be meant Episcopal Government which we hope no man that pretendeth to Truth and Charity will affirm 2. We do not yet see in the fruits of this Association or Covenant among our selves any thing so lovely as to invite us to desire much less to pray that other Christian Churches should follow our example herein 3. To pray to the purpose in the conclusion of the Covenant expressed seemeth to us all one in effect as to beseech Almighty God the God of Love and Peace 1. To take all love and peace out of the hearts of Christians and to set the whole Christian world in a combustion 2. To render the Reformed Religion and all Protestants odious to all the world 3. To provoke the Princes of Europe to use more severity towards those of the Reformed Religion if not for their own security to root them quite out of their several Dominions 4. The tyranny and yoke of Antichrist if laid upon the nooks of Subjects by their lawful Sovereigns is to be thrown off by Christian boldness in confessing the Truth and patient suffering for it not by taking up Arms or violent resisting of the Higher Powers §. VI. Some considerations concerning the meaning of the Covenant OUR aforesaid Scruples are much strengthened by these ensuing Considerations First That whereas no Oath which is contradictory to it self can be taken without Perjury because the one part of every contradiction must needs be false this Covenant either indeed containeth or at leastwise which to the point of Conscience is not much less effectual seemeth to us to contain sundry Contradictions as namely amongst others these 1. To preserve as it is without change and yet to reform and alter and not to preserve one and the same Reformed Religion 2. Absolutely and without exception to preserve and yet upon supposition to extirpate the self-same thing viz the present Religion of the Church of Scotland 3. To reform Church Government established in England and Ireland according to the Word of God and yet to extirpate that Government which we are perswaded to be according thereunto for the introducing of another whereof we are not so perswaded 4. To endeavour really the extirpation of Heresies Schisms and Prophaneness and yet withal to extirpate that Government in the Church the want of the due exercise whereof we conceive to have been one chief cause of the growth of the said evils and do believe the restoring and continuance thereof would be the most proper and effectual remedy 5. To preserve with our estates and lives the liberties of the Kingdom that is as in the Protestation is explained of the Subject and yet contrary to these liberties to submit to the imposition of this Covenant and of the Negative Oath not yet established by Laws and to put our lives and estates under the arbitrary power of such as may take away both from us when they please not only without but even against Law if they shall judge it convenient so to do Secondly We find in the Covenant sundry expressions of dark or doubtful construction whereunto we cannot swear in judgment till their sense be cleared and agreed upon As Who are the Common Enemies and which be the best Reformed Churches mentioned in the first Article Who in the fourth Article are to be accounted Malignants How far that phrase of hindring Reformation may be extended What is meant by the supreme Iudicatory of both the Kingdoms and sundry other Thirdly By the use that hath been made of this Covenant sometimes to purposes of dangerous consequence we are brought into some fears and jealousies lest by taking the same we should cast our selves into more snares than we are yet aware of For in the first Article 1. Whereas we are to endeavour the Reformation of Religion in this Kingdom in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government according to the Word of God and the example of the best Reformed Churches 1. The Reformation in Worship whereby we could not suppose any more was intended according to their former Declaration than a review of the Service-book that the translations might be in some places amended some alterations made in the Offices and Rubricks or at most some of the Ceremonies laid aside for the reasons of expediency and condescension hath produced an utter abolition of the whole form established without substituting any other certain form in the room thereof 2. The Reformation in point of Discipline and Government intended so far as by the overtures hitherto made we are able to judge is such as we conceive not to be according to the Word of God nor for any thing we know according to the example of any Church that ever was in the World best or worst since the Creation 2. In the second Article our grief and fears had been less if we could have observed the extirpation of Popery Heresie Schism and Prophaneness to have been as really intended and set on with as much speed and animosity as the extirpation of Prelacy and that which some call Superstition But when we see under the notions of rooting out Prelacy and Superstition so much quickness used to fetch in the Revenues of the Church and the sacred Utensils no otherwise guilty of Superstition for ought we know