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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49408	Five sermons, preached before His Majesty at Whitehall, published severally by command, and now printed together, tending all to give satisfaction in certain points to such who have thereupon endeavoured to unsettle the state and government of the church by B. Lord Bishop of Ely.; Sermons. Selections	Laney, Benjamin, 1591-1675.; Laney, Benjamin, 1591-1675. Study of quiet.	1669 (1669)	Wing L342; Wing L351; Wing L352; ESTC R16949	80,355	196

for Supremacy the Conscience without scruple puts in for it against both and takes it for her right to be supreme in all causes as well Ecclesiastical as Civil There is great complaint in the world of domineering over the Conscience but have we not rather cause to complain of the domineering of the Conscience And if any list to see the Conscience acting all this we need go no further then our late times when the Conscience was loose for a while one would think Hell had broke loose so fill'd was on a sudden the Church with sects and the Common-wealth with confusion There is reason enough therefore to restrain the Conscience that acts all this if we knew how The next thing I undertook to shew is That there is no reason why it should have liberty and particularly not that which gives the fairest colour to it Neither the duty we owe to Truth which seems to have some right to liberty nor that we owe to the Will of God that nothing be done against the Conscience For the first Truth is that I confess which no consideration of peace may warrant us to desert for I could never be of that opinion That Truth in smaller matters may for Peace sake be either denied or prejudiced Magna est veritas etiam in minimis in Gods name let it prevail over all But then it must be Veritas in rebus not Veritas in intellectu For though Truth be defined to be a conformity of the understanding to the thing as it is indeed yet takes the name from both from the thing where Truth is originally and from the understanding where it is only represented Truth in that first reference to the thing admits no qualification things must be taken as they are be they never so small but as the things come to be represented to and entertained by the Understanding by reason of the mistakes and errours that may happen in that though Truth it self or Truth in the thing cannot yet my apprehension of it may both yield to better and may sometimes be waved for peace sake To argue from Truth in the thing to Truth in the apprehension only is a fallacy against the Rules of Reasoning we call it Petitio principii or a begging of the question If a Sectary should beg an alms I wish he may have it but he shall beg long ere it be granted him that he hath the Truth How then can he presume upon that truth to which he hath no other title but his own perswasion which can be no better then any mans else who is as strongly perswaded to the contrary And this is all the service that Truth can do the Conscience for liberty 2. The second thing whereupon the Conscience especially bears it self so high is the Will of God that nothing be done against the Conscience That no doubt is a great offence and made so by the greatest Authority Yet the same God that requires our obedience to the Conscience commands us likewise to obey our Parents our Princes and Governours and all these stand upon as good authority as the Conscience If we cannot reconcile our obedience to that with our obedience to these we may sin against God when we do not sin against the Conscience For though God hath erected a Tribunal in every mans breast and there set the Conscience to be a Judg of all our actions there be other Tribunals of Justice besides of Gods erection too and to which he hath subjected the very Conscience Ye must needs be subject Rom. 13. not only for wrath but also for conscience And after both these there is another Tribunal in Heaven to which all Judges Conscience and all must give an account one day For the Conscience is no Court of Record the Decrees and Acts passed there will be no good evidence at that Bar there all must be re-examined and tried over again Though I know nothing by my self saith S. Paul yet am I not thereby justified Though he could not charge his Conscience with any offence he knew a further trial must pass upon him before he could be absolved My Conscience indeed may be pleaded there in evidence against me as a Witness to condemn me but not as a Judg to absolve me It is a great mistake in the power and operation of the Conscience That it will condemn us if we do any thing against it the Text is clear for that but that it will absolve us for that we do according to it there is no Text I am sure for that We must then be tried by the Law and not by the Conscience For how the proceedings will be at that Bar we have a record Matth. 5. 31. When the Son of Man shall come in his glory and all the holy Angels with him Then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory and before him shall be gathered all nations When the Court was set the Charge was given to those on the left hand I was an hungred and ye gave me no meat I was athirst and ye gave me no drink I was a stranger and ye took me not in naked and ye cloathed me not sick and in prison and ye visited me not To this Charge the Conscience no doubt confidently enough pleaded Not guilty Lord when saw wee thee an hungred or athirst or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister unto thee Their Conscience could accuse them of none of these things for all that the Sentence went against them upon a point of Law and Equity In that ye did it not to these saith the Judg ye did it not to me And for this they were condemned to eternal punishment If they that stand so much upon their consciences did seriously consider this they would find as little cause to desire that liberty as there is to grant it seeing it stands them in so little stead when they have most need of it for when they think their conscience shall answer for them they must then answer for their conscience and upon trial the conscience may prove the great offender Thus have I hitherto given you an account of some of the vulgar mistaken principles of Quiet which our Student is first to unlearn which are all but the patching up of a false deceitful peace condemned in the Politicks under the name of a Syncretismus when all the Factions in Crete joyn'd together in a common danger which lasted no longer then the cause of it like the bonds of a hard Frost that binds Earth and Water Sticks and Stones all together till the Sun comes to shine upon them and then they all presently return to their proper place and nature again But I fear I have run out all my time almost in these mistaken ways of peace I presume it will be a greater offence to leave you here now then to beg a little more time to set you in the right way though I shall not go beyond the office of

was his Brother of the half-blood and Joab his cosin-german You that are the Kings servants here in Court do not weigh the merit and honor of your places which you justly have by the pains and difficulty of your service which we know in many is little enough but by the greatness of the Master for whom you do it Children may be able to read the Book but not therefore fit to offer the Sacrifice They are troubled with the rude confused noise that is made by the people in answering to the Confessions and Psalms It seems their ears are as tender as their consciences and both alike out of tune For this is a Publick Sacrifice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Text i. e. a Confessing together Now there can be no communication of men together but by speech and therefore of necessity it must be the Fruit of our Lips But while we in obedience to that pray God to open our Lips they teach the people to shut them They take it very ill that they are silenced though they deserve it and yet stick not to silence the whole Congregation without any offence or fault of theirs They say it is an improper and impertinent Service We use such Hymns and Psalms for our Praises and Thanksgivings as are not proper and appliable to us For how can any one that is a Man say in the Magnificat Thou hast regarded the lowliness of thy handmaid Or how can it be seasonable for all especially young men to say in the Nunc dimittas Lord now let thy servant depart in peace For answer to this and the rest of that kind It is but turning to the Doctrine of the Text as we have done in all the rest The Liturgie is the Churches Publick Sacrifice of Praise and in that we are not only to give thanks for blessings immediately conferred upon our persons but upon us with the whole Church by the intervention of others For in the Blessed Virgin we do all partake of the grace done to her being taken to be the Mother of our Lord. And in old Simeon we rejoyce at the sight of that salvation which was a Light to us Gentiles as well as a glory to the people of Israel They are offended with the length of the Service which makes it not only tedious in it self but injurious also by hindring the Sermon To measure the length first If we lay our line to it you will not find it so It takes up but a very short part of the whole time which God has bestowed upon us of which enough we have and too much we take many times for our rest and sleep enough for our own necessary business and a good portion besides for our pleasures and lawful delights Can we think an hour or two spared out of all this too long for Gods service or a Lamb too much for him who has bestowed the whole flock upon us The tediousness which is caused by the length of the Service is cured by the end It must needs be a less trouble to us if we consider it to be an honor for God To say no more How can we think those Prayers too long in which we our selves sue for eternity Nevertheless if the length of the Liturgie should as they say prove a hinderance to Preaching I had so much the less to say for it But how that should be I understand not The Wise man assures us there is a time for all things and sure then there is a time for two things Prayer and Preaching both But possibly we may be so surprised that there is not time for both The Case of Conscience here will be which of them may best be spared The Prayers are to God the Sermons to us the Prayers for Gods honor the Sermons for our profit In this case I think I may safely leave every man to be his own Casuist and go on to the next It is defective and so a lame Sacrifice How inconsistent are their complaints and how hard are they to be pleased It is both too long and too short They mean it is too long in the whole and too short in the parts In the Confession of sins in the Thanksgivings in the Collects many material things omitted The Scriptures read in broken pieces and not in order These would not be counted defects if we consider their end and use in the Liturgie which is to be a Sacrifice of praise to God for that is sufficiently attained by them as they are there used It is true if we respect these duties in reference to their immediate proper effects the common Forms are insufficient for no man may presume of Remission of sins unless he confess to God the particulars wherein he hath offended Nor can be truly thankful to him for the blessings whereof he makes no particular acknowledgment Nor can attain to a full and clear knowledge of the Scriptures that reads not all and in order All this is easily granted But they are utterly mistaken in the use of a Liturgie that would have it to be a common store to furnish out every duty and vertue any further than to serve for the publick honoring and praising of God For if particulars should be named wherein all are not concerned how can they truly and heartily say Amen And likewise when some portions only of Scripture are read it is to suit the present occasion and solemnity And for particular Confessions and Thanksgivings if men were so well-affected and so well-acquainted with their own Souls as they should be when general words are used they may if they please reflect upon their own particulars and so render the Publick Service an advantage also to their private interest and profit I will add but one exception more They say it is a blind Sacrifice and edifies not To edifie is to contribute to the building of us up in faith or godliness and then not edifying the meaning must be that it is good for nothing And truly if it be so it is but reason we should part with it But possibly when they say It doth not edifie it may have some other meaning in it They may say it edifies not because they like it not or are not pleased and satisfied with the use of it or which is nearer the true meaning of the word there is nothing of instruction in it which they have not heard a thousand times before They who come to Prayers for these ends may indeed be disappointed because they come without their errant This is a Sacrifice for the praise and honor of God if it edifies that we have no cause to complain A Sermon I confess may fit our turns better in both these respects if it be as it should be It is no doubt a more pleasing entertainment of the time if it be to edifie our liking and fitter for instruction if it be to edifie our learning But then to say Divine Service doth not thus edifie is to

for though in speculation the Understanding is distinct from the Will yet in practise they are seldom severed For it is morally impossible that after a man hath conceived an opinion he should not be well pleased with it and have a will as occasion is to defend and propagate it too And when it is Voluntarium no doubt but it is Peccatum and when error grows to be a sin I know no reason why it may not be punished for interest reipublicae peccata puniri But for all that it is they say a great disturbance of quiet to be tied to assent to that we cannot know nor comprehend That 's a great mistake I know there is much exception taken to the too punctual definitions of some mysteries of the faith and particularly in the Creed commonly called by Athanasius where there are many particulars which they cannot know nor comprehend Whereas in truth it is not required of them they are not bound to know them but to believe them for it is the mercy of God that the defect of our knowledg may be supplyed by the knowledg of others for to believe is to see with other mens eyes as knowledg is with our own But may we safely trust others in that which so neerly concerns as a Creed Yes sure and it is as well the mercy as the command of God that we should trust those that watch over our souls yet still that must be to supply the defect of our knowledg not otherwise for the Church is not Lord of our Faith but helper of our Ignorance It supplies the defect of our sight it doth not put it out for if a man knows the contrary he is not bound to believe others for if he can see with his own eyes why shall he be tied to see with other mens But then we must distinguish betwixt not knowing the negative and a positive knowing the contrary for if we refuse to believe meerly because we do not know or understand we leave no place for Faith at all which is the benefit to see by others And for that positive knowledg which discharges us of believing others that we be not mistaken it is not every conjectural or probable perswasion will do it but certain knowledg and when that is we may safely learn from the Schools Ubi non est formido contrarii after diligent search and enquiry when there remains no scruple doubt or fear of the contrary when the understanding is fixed we are said to be certain If this knowledge will serve to discharge us of believing others every one that dissents will say he knows the contrary yea and if need be will swear to it too for that 's an expedient lately found out to obtain that liberty That they may be admitted to swear they know the contrary to that which is commanded Truly if they will say it and think so too whether they swear it or no I think we may safely absolve them from the guilt of disobedience but that must be in foro Conscientiae only and let them make the best use they can of that yet in foro externo we cannot for there the Judge must give sentence according to his knowledge and not according to the knowledge of the party if he will do justice And that course can be no good friend to Peace which is an enemy to Justice Though Errors may be punished yet it troubles the quiet of many that the omission of Forms and Ceremonies is more severely punished then some foul and scandalous crimes To this I answer First That they who object this are not to be trusted with the ballance of sins for we know how the Market went for them when they held the Scale Obedience to the King and the Laws and serving God according to them were the great scandalous crimes 2. Allowing it to be true as they say That omission of Forms and Ceremonies is by the Church more frequently and severely punished then greater faults But how greater It may be in their proper and natural guilt and obliquity according to which sentence shall be given at the day of Judgment and to death eternal But our earthly Tribunals are not erected to anticipate the day of Judgment to bring all sinners to trial for whatsoever they have committed in the flesh and according to the proper measure of their guilt but for a particular end and use that people while they live here in the world and in society may be kept in good order and quiet from doing or receiving injuries And to this end is the degree of their punishments commensurate Treason and Rebellion are more severely punished in the State then many other hainous crimes because they destroy the very foundation of government and Society And for the same reason a schismatical disobedience though but in matters of Form and Ceremony is pursued with more care and strictness because it destroys the very end for which the power is given the Church to punish which is the preservation of peace and unity For though the Pastors of the Church may and must by way of Instruction the better to prepare us for our account at the great and general Judgment give every sin the proper weight and measure of guilt that is by way of Instruction But by way of Correction the Church is bound up to certain causes and if they keep not their bounds they shall be sure to hear of a prohibition and those causes are especially such for which the power is only given That the peaceable orderly Worship and service of God be not disturbed For though they are ever telling us it is for trifles ceremonies or indifferent things it is but the same quarrel the Atheists have against God himself for being so much offended for an Apple a trifle which scarce any man that hath an Orchard would have been troubled with and one Answer will serve both in effect In that forbidden fruit Gods authority in commanding and Adams duty in obeying were symbolically engaged for him and his and there was venome enough in that to infect both The Rites and Ceremonies of the Church in like manner though not in like degree though in their opinion as inconsiderable as the paring of Adams apple yet when discord and disobedience is found with them there is poyson enough in that for the strongest antidote the Church doth at any time make use of Let not that therefore mislead or disturb our Student of Quiet Nor that which in the Fourth place they look at as another Expedient for Peace If fewer Points and Articles of Religion were defined that so the Church-door may be wider open to let in those whose dissent now troubles the peace of the Church It is fit I grant the Church-door should stand always open but for such as shall be fit to enter for it would be a dangerous thing to set any door so wide open to let in an enemy upon us But to what purpose would we have the

a Mercury to point the hand where it lies There is the Kings high-way to peace and the Students private way and both good in their kind With the Kings way I shall not meddle as being fitter matter for our thankfulness then instruction who hath already paved the way for us by wholsom Laws for that purpose But because oft-times Vitia sunt remediis fortiora the compulsory way by Law though always necessary is not always effectual to the Kings way we must add the Students also That every one in his particular makes it his care and business to contribute to it that it be an artificial studied peace to which not Fear only but Conscience of Duty and Religion obligeth us Now every good Student of any Science searches into the true and proper cause of things for Scire est per causas cognoscere If the cause of all division in the Church be differing in judgment nothing can cure that but a consent S. Paul therefore prescribes that for the remedy 1 Cor. 5. 10. That there be no divisions among you how may that be helped It follows But that ye be perfectly joyned together in the same mind and in the same judgment This is the true Apostolical Principle whereon we are to ground our Study of Quiet For all the fine things and sentences that are spoken for peace and quiet will little move those that are and may very well be confident they ought not howsoever have peace with Sin or Error Unless therefore we can be first perswaded that we ought not to charge the Church with either we do nothing for Peace This I confess is the great difficulty yet if this be not done there can be no hope of Peace And to do this I shall not send our Student to the Polemick School to convince him out of speculative Principles of Reason and Divinity for to that study some have not capacity others not leisure I shall only commend to him some practical Principles of Religion obvious to all and denied by none that out of them he may learn not to dissent from or condemn the Church of Error To prevent the passing that sentence let the Student 1. Study himself his own condition 2. Let him Study the Church against which he passeth sentence 3. Let him study the nature and quality of the things whereupon judgment is given 4. Let him consider well the manner of proceeding in judgment In all which we shall find some known Principle of Religion to direct us 1. First In the study of our selves and our own condition Religion teacheth us to have an humble lowly mean opinion of our selves and not without cause whether we respect our Understandings or our Affections Our Understandings are naturally weak imperfect short-sighted we know but in part the best of us and our Affections too are disloyal to our Understandings The heart of man saith the Prophet is deceitful above all things We have little reason then to trust our selves much in either He that is truly conscious of his own weakness or lameness will be content to be supported by others If we study this point well our own infirmities we should learn more willingly to assent to and take support from the Church Especially if in the second place we study that too whose Governors Religion likewise teaches us to obey For they watch over our souls Heb. 13. 17. If it be a good point of Religion in lowliness of mind to esteem others better then our selves Phil. 2. 3. it is Religion and Reason both to think our Governors wiser too for there is a presumption always in favour of them S. Paul gives it for a rule to Timothy Not to receive an accusation against an Elder but before two or three witnesses because it is to be presum'd on the part of Age and Authority to know more and offend less But when it comes to be the whole Eldership all our Governors joyntly the presumption is so much the stronger If we add this study to the former how little reason we have to trust our selves and how much we have to trust our Governors we will not rashly pass sentence against them if we have either Reason or Religion in us 3. And yet we have more work for our Student Let him in the third place consider the nature and quality of the things whereupon judgment is given how apt they are to deceive us Truth is many times so like an Error and Error comes so near to Truth that he had need be careful and circumspect that shall distinguish them in some cases And in others again Truth lies hid under many folds especially ambiguity of words the common cheat of all Students who are more often deceiv'd into opinions then convinc'd It is not strange to see so many go astray from the Church to whom the things of it are represented under the covert of false names when they hear the Government of it called Tyranny obedience slavery contempt courage licence liberty frenzy zeal order superstition How easily thus may simple people mistake their way and fall into the pit that 's cover'd over with shadows and false names of things When he hath studied this point well 4. Let him in the fourth place be well advised in what manner he proceeds in judgment and upon what evidence For allowing the Conscience to be a Judg it must not trespass upon the Rules of good Judicature as both sides must be heard impartially which is seldom done the Conscience must not be mis-led no more then other Judges by prejudice passion or favour for what can that judgment be worth which is perverted by any of these Now if we examine how most men come to pass sentence against the Church we shall find it to be upon very slight evidence It may be their Education they have been always brought up that way for Sects commonly run in a blood in a family Or they have been so taught they say by good men that indeed is the sum and upshot of the Faith of most that dissent the credit given to some weak private ignorant Instructer whose person they have in admiration without any great cause God knows whereas their private judgments because they are parties ought always to be suspected if we be wise and because against their Governors to be contemn'd if we be obedient All these well studied may make for peace when possibly Arguments and Disputes and Punishments too will not do it And yet if still none of these will make our Student quiet Let him in the last place make trial of a common remedy that prevails in all cases of difficulty Let him but study his own security the safest course and he shall find that better provided for in the Churches judgment then in his own for if he should erre in following the Church or his Governors for that is possible the greatest part of that guilt some say all I say only the greatest part must lie at their door

a good qualification in any for business yet give no right or Title to it Great knowledg and skill in the Laws will not set a man upon the Bench nor of Divinity in the Bishops Chair nor will the dexterous glib-gifted tongue put a man into the Pulpit There must be besides a Title and Commission to make them ours But must all the obligations we have to the Publick good and to Gods honour stoop to Commissions Titles and proprieties which are but the creatures and constitutions of men To this question I answer in the words of Job 13. 7. Will you speak wickedly for God and talk deceitfully for him It is deceitful talking to plead for God against himself for though it should be granted that the sorting of several employments and functions have something of man in them yet the confirmation and approbation of God makes it his and so divine for as God hath founded a divine Moral law upon the propriety of goods and possessions Thou shalt not steal yea Thou shalt not covet that which is anothers and yet it comes not to be anothers but by humane Laws So though different states of life and employments have somewhat in them by disposition of Law or our own choice yet upon them is also founded this moral duty to keep within those bounds For though men laid the Land-marks yet God commanded They should not be removed Deut. 19. 15. It is a kind of Burglary to break into another mans business as well as into another mans house or if you will not allow it to be theft to have anothers business found with you as it is to have anothers goods it is as ill as theft in S. Peter's opinion The Murtherer the Thief the Evil-doer the Busie-body there 's a Messe of them he puts them all alike together 1 Pet. 4. 15. To shut up this point If the glory of God and the publick Good and such like fair pretences might let us loose upon one anothers business it would quickly bring us round where we were to that confusion and disorder for remedy whereof the Apostle added this Lesson to the former We shall never learn to be quiet well unless we learn also to keep within our own business Yet I deny not but that Discord and Dissention have other causes besides for of Pride cometh contention saith Solomon Prov. 13. 10. And from covetousness saith S. James they desire and have not James 4. 2. It is true of other Lusts Wrath Revenge Envy Slander and Curiosity too break the peace too often and had need be bound to their good behaviour all Yet we may observe it That none of all these do actually any great mischief that way till they first bring it to this till it draws us from our own station and fling us upon some thing that is none of our own business THE truth of this will more fully be seen in the Third Part which comes next to be considered The Operation it hath had in the world by disturbing the Peace and Quiet of it Meum and Tuum hath not fill'd it with more Suits and Contentions in our Goods and Possessions than it hath in the actions and business of our lives What is our own and what is not our own To arraign all that are guilty of breaking this Rule in several kinds would ask a long process We will therefore take notice only here of the attempts upon Government and Religion by those whose business it was not because the most and greatest tempests and storms in the Christian World have blown from that Coast The Wars and Combustions over all Italy and Germany in the time of the Emperor HENRY the 4th had their beginning from hence Pope Hildebrand GREG. vij not content with that which his Charge and Office of Bishop allow'd him began to measure out to himself a Greatness equal to the City he serv'd in which had been Domicilium Imperii first brake in upon the Temporal Power not heard of before in the Church though then a Thousand years old Where for the better support of his Greatness he endeavoured to get into his Disposing all Church-Promotions and for that end call'd a Council at Rome of a few Bishops for his purpose and there Decreed all Patronages and Donations by Lay-men Princes not excepted to be void and of no effect in Law What could be expected from so Unjust a Decree but vehement Opposition and a bloody Dispute What troubles the same Patronage and Investiture of Bishops brought presently after into this Kingdom our Stories are full of But the angry Pope when he saw he could not quietly enjoy the Rights of the Crown falls fiercely upon the Crown it self and would be Master of that too and then he thought he should Rule to purpose for the Catholick Cause And for an Essay of this bold Usurp'd Power fairly Deposed the Emperor and absolv'd his Subjects of their Obedience This was certainly no Bishops business He may bless the Coronation not dispose of the Crown He may pray for a Godly and Peaceable Government under it not make a prey of it To absolve Penitents of their Sins is a Bishops work not of their Duties that is not to remit their Sins but to make them Sinners Now what was likely to be the effect of all this but that which hapned Wars and Combustions over the whole Empire Though that Pope did not long out-live that Feite of his yet his Successors and their Parasites have so ply'd the Cause ever since that time some directly some indirectly that the fire is not yet extinguished Now if the Pope met with some Princes that would not endure his Ranging thus in their Dominions but thought it high time to quit his Miter to secure their Crowns he may thank himself for it They may call it a Schism if they please but it is a Schism without a Sin That word will hurt none so much as the Cause●s and Authors of it For it is but reasonable and just That if the Pope would not know his business that Princes should know theirs This is my First Instance of the Troubles that by this means brake into the whole Church We need not go far from home for another We were in a sad case not long since in this Kingdom by a Civil War I meddle not with the fault let that sleep under the Act of Oblivion We may I trust without offence enquire into the cause of it What were they doing that gave us that disquiet Look upon the Standard set up for the War I mean the most Execrable COVENANT Quomodo legis how read you there was it not medling with business was none of their own They Covenanted first to extirpate the Government of the Church established by Law That Law with hands lifted up to Heaven they swore they would abolish The Legislative Power we know in whom it is to make or mend Laws it was none of their business In this they were certainly too