Moses to the Jews there arose a stout Question whether we were to Celebrate with the Jews on the fourteenth Moon or the Sunday following This matter though most unnecessary most vain yet caused as great a Combustion as ever was in the Church The West separating and refusing Communion with the East for many Years together In this Fantastical Hurry I cannot see but all the World were Schismaticks neither can any thing excuse them from that Imputation excepting only this that we charitably suppose that all Parties out of Conscience did what they did A thing which befell them through the Ignorance of their Guides for I will not say their malice and that through the just Judgment of God because through sloath and BLIND OBEDIENCE Men examined not the things which they were taught but like Beasts of Burthen patiently couched down and indifferently underwent whatsoever their Superiors laid upon them By the way by this you may plainly see the danger of our appeal unto Antiquity for resolution in Controverted points of Faith and how small Relief we are to expect from thence For if the discretion of the chiefest Guides and Directors of the Church did in a Point so trivial so inconsiderable so mainly fail them as not to see the Truth in a Subject wherein it is the greatest Marvel how they could avoid the sight of it can we without imputation of extream grosness and folly think so POOR SPIRITED persons competent Judges of the Questions now on Foot betwixt the Churches Pardon me I know not what Temptation drew that Note from me How these men will come off I can't tell they have ventured fairly and yet I think their case not hazard us at all you have them in three points plain First That relying upon the Clergy as Guardians of Truth to the People and the Peoples not examining the truth of things from them is not Apostolical but Apostatical Secondly That no Councils or Fathers ought to be the Rule or Judge of our Faith Thirdly That to save Souls every Man is a Priest that is the people are interressed in the Christian Ministry which is not tyed to Times Places Persons and Orders as under the Law but free to all that have obtained Mercy and Grace from God and therefore Peter calls the believers a Royal Priesthood So that every one is Priest to himself under the Gospel But all this I have mentioned with design if it be possible to beat men off that superstitious and dangerous Veneration they carry to the Names of Church Priesthood and Fathers as if they were to be sayed by them and not by Christ who is only Head and Saviour of the true Church And truly when I consider the wilde dependance some people have upon the Church whilst they know not what she is and make it a Principle not to Inquire I am amazed with what Confidence they expose their Souls This Principle it is and not Inquiry that makes men careless and unactive about their own Salvation But let none deceive themselves as they Sow they must Reap 'T is not to be saved to be within the Pale of any visible Church in the World That is putting an eternal Cheat upon our selves Ill things are Ill things within or without the pale that matters not and as Sin can't be Christened nor impiety reconciled to Christianity by no Arts of men so the Wages will be Death eternal Death To be therefore of the Church of which Christ is Head the redeemed regenerated Church of Christ is quite another thing then to be of any visible Society whatever for in all such Communions there are but too many that have no true Title to Christianity If then that Immaculate Church of which Christ is head be made up only of holy and regenerated Souls throughout the Societies of Christians this will adminster but little Comfort to those that presume upon their being within the Pale of the Visible Church But to proceed to those Scriptures that oppose themselves to humane Authority in matters of Faith c. There is one place of Scripture that is irreconcilable to Implicit Faith and Blind Obedience He that believeth hath the Witness In HIMSELF This general Rule respects no Persons 't is the Result of the Holy Ghost to all Believers Such have no need to go to Rome nor Winefried's Well to the Shrines of Saints the Priests nor the Church for a Proof of their Faith they have an Evidence nearer home they have the witness of their Faith and the Reason of their Hope IN THEMSELVES 'T is true this is a Private Judge but as it happens 't is one of the Holy Ghost's setting up of all things I confess most destructive to Papacy no doubt for here is a Judge in every man that sincerely believes to whom he must stand and fall in this and the other World For saith the same Apostle If our Heart condemn us God is greater then our Heart and knoweth all things Beloved if our Heart condemn us not then have we Confidence towards God The Witness in our selves discharges us The Spirit beareth Witness with our Spirits that weare the Châ—ldren of God and Sons of the true Church not she that hath fatted her self with the Flesh of Saints and died her Garments in the Blood of Martyrs who hath Merchandized in the Souls of men but of that Church who is Crowned with Stars and Cloathed with the Sun and has the Moon under her Feet a Church of Light and Knowledge of Understanding and Truth and not of Implicite Faith and Blind Obedience one that tramples upon all Sublunary Glory and not she that makes her Pretences to Religion a Decoy to catch the World Of like Tendency is that notable Passage of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians Examine your selves whether ye be in the Faith prove your own selves Know ye not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be Reprobates Here is not a Word of the Pope nor an External Judge no humane Inquisition or Authority Examine your selves whether ye be in the Faith prove your own selves but which way shall we do this by Christ who is the great Light that shines in our Hearts to give us the Knowledge of God and our selves He that believes in him has the Witness in himself he is no Reprobate his Heart condemns him not To which I will add another Passage to the same Purpose in his Epistle to the Galatians But let every Man prove his own work then shall he have Rejoycing in himself alone and not in another FOR EVERY MAN SHALL BEAR HIS OWN BURDEN Here every man is enjoyned to turn Inquisitor upon himself and the Reason rendred shews the Justice of the thing because my Rejoycing must be in my self alone and not in another I stand and Fall to no man such as I sow I must reap at the Hand of God if Paul say true Mens Pardons are Vain and their
is but FIGMENT they have peremptorily concluded and confidently imposed upon others a Necessity of Entertaining Conclusions of that Nature and to strengthen themselves have broken out into Divisions and Factions opposing Man to Man Synod to Synod till the Peace of the Church vanished without all Possibility of Recall Hence arose those Ancient and many Separations amongst Christians Arianism Eutychianism Nestorianism Photinianism Sabellianism and many more both Antient and in our Time And as he hath told us one great Occasion of the Disease so he offers what follows for the Cure And were Liturgies sayes he and Publick Forms of Service so framed as that they admitted not of particular and private Fancies but contained only such things as in which all Christians do agree Schisms on Opinion were utterly vanished Whereas to load our Publick Forms with the Private Fancies upon which we differ is the most-soveraign Way to perpetuate Schism unto the World's End Remove from them whatsoever is scandalous to any Party and leave nothing but what all agree on and the Event shall be that the Publick Service and Honor of God shall no wayes suffer For to charge Churches and Liturgies with Things Unnecessary was the First Beginning of all Superstition If the spiritual Guides and Fathers of the Church would be a little sparing of Incumbring Churches with Superfluities and not over-rigid either in reviving Obsolete Customs or imposing New there were far less Danger of Schism or Superstition Mean while wheresoever false or suspected Opinions are made a piece of the Church Liturgy he that separates is not a Schismatick for it is alike Unlawful to make Profession of known or suspected Falshoods as to put in Practice Unlawful or Suspect Actions He further tells us in his Sermon of Dealing with Erring Christians That it is the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace and not the Identity or Oneness of Conceit which the Holy Ghost requires at the Hands of Christians A better Way my Conceit cannot reach unto then that we should be willing to think that these things which with some Shew of Probability we deduce from Scripture are at the best but Our Opinions For this peremptory Manner of setting down our Conclusions under this High Commanding Form of Necessary Truths is generally one of the greatest Causes which keeps the Churches this Day so fâ—r assunder whenas a Gratious Receiving of each other by Mutual Forbearance in this kind might peradventure in time bring them nearer together Thus much of this Great Man concerning Schism the Cause and Cure of it and for the Notion of Hereticks he will help us altogether as well For though they are generally taken for such as err in Judgment about Doctrines and Articles of Faith yet if this Man may have any Credit and perhaps none of his Profession has deserv'd more he tells us that Heresie is an Act of the Will not of Reason and is ind eeda Lye not a Mistake else sayes he how could that known Speech of Austin go for true Errare possum Haereticus esse nolo I may err but I am unwilling to be an Heretick And indeed this is no other than what Holy Scripture teacheth A Man that is an Heretick after the first and second Admonition reject knowing that he that is such is subverted and sinneth being CONDEMNED OF HIMSELF Which is as much as to say that no body is an Heretick but he that gives the Lye to his own Conscience and is Self-condemned Which is not the Case of Men meerly Mistaken or who only err in Judgment And therefore the Term of Heretick is as Untruly as Uncharitably flung upon those that Conscientiously dissent either in point of Discipline OF Doctrine from any Society of Christians and it is not hard to observe that those who have best merited it have most liberally bestow'd it But to show you that neither true Schismatick who is One that unnecessarily and unwarrantably separates from that part of the Visible Church of which he was once a Member nor true Heretick who is a Wilful Subverter of True or an Introducer of false Doctrines a Self-condemned Person can ever shelter himself under this Common Confession of Christianity sincerely made Let us consider that who-ever so declares Jesus to be the Messiah and Anointed Saviour of God to Men must be supposed to believe all that of him with respect to which he is so called Now that for which he is so denominated is that which God sent him to do the Reason and End of his coming he could best tell who hath told us thus I am come that ye may have Life and that ye may have it more abundantly The World was as dead in Trespasses and Sins the guilt and defilement of Transgression had kill'd the Soul as to Spiritual Life and Motion and from under this powerful Death he came to redeem the Soul unto Life in short to restore Man from this Fearful Degeneracy his Disobedience to God had reduced him to The Way he took to accomplish this Blessed Work was First To preach Repentance and the Approach of the Kingdom of God which is his Rule and his Authority in the Hearts of men which brings us to the Second thing to be believed namely What he Taught 1. First his Doctrine led Men to Repentance Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand No Man could receive the Kingdom of God whilst he lived under the Kingdom and Power of Satan so that to Repent is not only to bring their Deeds to the Light which Christ exhorteth Men to but to forsake that which upon Examination appeared to be Evil. Wherefore I conclude that such as have not been acquainted with this Holy Repentance do not sincerely believe neither can Rightly confess Jesus to be the Christ the Son of God the Saviour of the World Therefore saith the Apostle Let him that nameth the Name of the Lord depart from Iniquity plainly implying that those do rather Prophane than Confess the Name of the Lord who do not Depart from their Iniquities And saith the Apostle in another place No man can call Jesus LORD but by the Holy Ghost Which opens to us the Nature of the True Confession to wit That the True Confession of Jesus to be both Lord and Christ is from such a Belief in the Heart as is the work of the Holy Ghost and those that do not Confess him or call upon him by Virtue of the Overshadowings of this Divine Spirit and Power are not truly Christians true Worshippers Believers and Disciples Furthermore they that receive Christ receive his Kingdom his Power and Authority in their Souls the strong Man that kept the house becomes bounâ— and his Goods spoil'd by this stronger man the LORD 's CHRIST who is come from Heaven to dwell in us and be the Hope of our Glory for so he was preached to the Gentiles This Kingdom the Apostle tells us stands in Righteousness Peace and Joy
Man the second Adam with his Holy Life and Works so shall the Fruits of his Spirit shine through us which are Love Joy Peace Long-suffering Patience Gentleness Faith Meekness Temperance for they that are Christ's have Crucified the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts They hear his Voice that leads them out of the Concupiscencies of this Vile World and they follow him and he gives unto them Eternal Life and a Stranger they will not follow The World the Flesh and the Devil make up this Stranger and those that are carried away by this Stranger are in an Unreconciled State to God and so dying must inevitably perish VVell then will be true Christians Have we Faith then let us take the Advice of that good man Peter Let us add to our Faith Virtue and to Virtue Knowledge and to Knowledge Temperance and to Temperance Patience and to Patience Godliness and to Godliness Brotherly-Kindness and to Brotherly-Kindness Charity For says he if these things be in you and abound they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ But he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see far off and hath forgotten that he was purged from his Old Sins Wherefore the rather Brethren give Diligence to make your Calling and Election sure for if ye do these things ye shall never fall For so an Entrance shall be ministred unto you abundantly into the Everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ The Fourth Great Ecclesiastical Evil is Preferring HUMANE AUTHORITY above Reason and Truth This the next Evil which is the Last now to be considered to wit Propagation of Faith by Force Religion by Arms are the Two Legs upon which the false Church hath in all Ages under this degeneracy we find the Jewish Church at Christ's coming and he complains of it Ye teach for Doctrines the Traditions of men ye seek to kill me a man that has told you the Truth But I challenge the whole Account of Time and Records of the World which are come to the hands of this Age to tell me When where and by whom these Principles have been receiv'd improv'd and us'd with any sort of Proportion or Comparison with the Practice of that Church which has long prided her self with the Name of Catholick and Christian And yet I could wish nothing of these Two Ill Principles had found any place amongst us that call our selves Protestants for to them are properly owing most of that Ignorance Superstition Idolatry Animosity Persecution and Blood-shed that have been among Christians since the Christian Profession hath grown to any Power in the World I shall consider them severally respecting us and in their due Order with as much Brevity as well I can That Humane Authority hath been preferred above Reason and Truth that is That the Apprehensions Interpretations Conclusions and Injunctions of Men have been reputed the great Necessaries or Essentials to Salvation and Christian Commâ—ion insomuch as a Sober and Reasonable Dissent hath been too often over-rul'd not by VVeight of Argument or Evidence of Truth but by the Power and Numbers of Men in Ecclesiastical Office and Dignity is that I may say Modestly in some Degree true among us The First Church Evil reprehended in this Discourse may begin the Proof and give the first Witness upon this part of the Charge viz. That OPINIONS have been maâ—â— ARTICLES of Faith that is the CONSTRUCTIONS and CONCLUSIONS of MEN from Sacred VVrit and not the TEXT it self have been injoyn'd impos'd as ESSENTIAL to Eternal Salvation and External Christian Communion Insomuch as no Reason Scripture or purest Antiquity have suffer'd to prevail against such Determinations and too often not enough to excuse those that have pleaded for a Conscientious Dissent from them the Authors of them either resting upon the Authority of their own Judgments or conforming themselves to the Example of Ages less pure and clear I Conscientiously refuse to name Parties because I am tender of giving the least Offence but upon a Just Observance of those Revolutions of Protestancy that have been amongst us we may see with what Stiffness not to say Obstinacy several Models of Religion and Draughts of Creeds have been contended for I would beseech every Party in Christ's Name to look into it self for I don 't because such are best able if they will be Impartial and put no Cheat upon themselves to make the Application However I will name those Points about which the Authority of Man as it seems to me has been so Positive of God as to his Prescience and Predetermination Of Christ as to his Natures and Personality and the Extent of his Death and Intercession Of Free Will and Grace Of Faith and Works Of Perseverance and Falling away Of the Nature of the Church And Lastly of the Dignity and Power of the Clergy And if men please but to lay their Hands upon their Hearts and cast their Eyes upon the Scriptures if they will but use the Light that God has afforded them and bring such Debates and Results to the Test of that Light and the Sound Form of Words the Holy Ghost hath preserv'd amongst us I need not take the Employment upon me of pointing to Humane Authority among the several Parties of Protestants as to these points nothing will be clearer For it is about the Meaning of this and the Intention of that place of Scripture the Contest hath been and is and how to maintain and propagate those Conceits So that the falling out is in the Wood of our own Opinions and there the Contention is kindled that consumes all about our Ears O that we would be but impartial and see our over-plus to the Scriptures and retrench that redancy or keep it modestly for 't is an horrid thing that we Protestants should assume a Power of ranging our apprehensions with the Text and injoining our Imaginations for Indispensible Articles of Faith and Christian Communion But the next proof of the prevalency of Humane Authority amongst us Protestants is The great Power and Sway of the Clergy and the Peoples Reliance upon them for the Knowledge of Religion and the Way of Life and Salvation This is such plain Fact that almost every Parish proves it Is not Prophecy once the Church's now engrost by them and wholly in their hands Who dare publickly preach or pray that is not of that Class or Order Have not they only the Keys in keeping May any body else pretend to the Power of Absolution or Excommunication muchless to constitute Ministers Are not all Church Rites and Priviledges in their Custody don 't they make it their proper Inheritance Nay so much larger is their Empire then Caesars that only they begin with Births and end with Burials Men must pay them for Coming in and Going out of the World To pay for dying is hard Thus their Profits run to the Grave and that which is
Ignorance ought to be the Mother of Devotion with none but those that cannot be devout upon better terms it is the glory of a man that he is Religious upon Reason and that his Duty and Sacrifice are not blind or forc'd but free and reasonable Truth upon Knowledge though vext with Schism wise and good men will chuse before Ignorant Religion with Uniformity Enough of this But this Notion of an Infallible Visible Judge is as false in Reason as in Fact For first it takes away the Use of every Man's Reason and it is a Contradiction to have any unless he were such an Interpreter and such a Judge as would conclude us by Conviction and not by Authority that would be the most Wellcome person in the World But to over-rule my own Sight to give the Lye to my own Understanding say Black is White and that Two and Three make Ten thus Subjugare intellectum in Obsequium fidei to yield my Understanding to such an In-evident Way of Faith nay which is worse to believe a Lye for so it is to them to whom the thing to be believed appears Untrue is most-Unreasonable If we must be Led it had been easier and better for us to have been born Blind we might have follow'd then the Dog and the Bell for we could not mend our selves but to see and to be Led and that in ways we see to be foul or wrong this is Anxious Here lies the Dispute and truly here the Question might fairly end Either put out our Eyes or let us use them but if we have Eyes for our Minds as well as for our Bodies I see no Reason why we should trust any man or men against the Eyes of our Understanding any more than we ought to confide in them against the Sense and Certainty of the Eyes of our Bodies Where is the poorest Mechanick that would be paid his Labour in Brass half Crowns for Silver by either Pope or Bishop and can we be so bruitish as to think our Nobler part void of Distinction about that Treasure which is of eternal Moment For though Peter was to feed the Sheep yet the Sheep were not to follow Peter but Christ My Sheep hear my Voice and follow me and a Stranger they will not follow Here is no Mediator betwixt Christ and his Sheep nor does any body else hear his Voice for them but they hear his Voice themselves And though the Shepherd may have many Servants yet he only is their Shepherd and they are only the Sheep of his Fold But there are three places of Scripture that come fresh into my Remembrance that are very pertinent to the present Occasion The first is this That which may be known of God is Manifest in Men for God hath shewed it unto them That is The Spirit of man being the Candle of the Lord God hath enlightned it to manifest unto Man what is necessary for him to know both of God and himself Here is no need of Wax-Candles or Tapers or a Visible Guide and Judge for â—e that believes has the Witness in himself Another Passage is this Be ye Followers of me even as I am also of Christ In which the Apostle is so far from setting himself up a Judge over the Church of Corinth that he makes his appeal to them concerning his Doctrine and Conversation bounding both with that of his Lord Jesus Christ and making them Judges of the Truth of his Conformity to that Example Be ye Followers of me How after what manner What! Absolutely without Examination must we believe thee without any Tryal and take what thou sayest for granted without any more to do no such thing Be ye Followers of me even as I also am of CHRIST I submit my self to be judg'd by you according to that Rule and all Men and Churches are to be thus measur'd that lay Claim to the Name of Christian The Third Passage is in his Second Epistle to the same Church of Corinth 't is this Therefore seeing we have this Ministry as we have received Mercy we faint not but have renounced the hidden things of Dishonesty not walking in Craftinesses nor handling the Word of God deceitfully but by manifestation of the Truth commending our selves to every man's Conscience in the sight of God Here is the Utmost Imposition the Apostle makes use of he requires not Men to receive him without Evidence and refers himself to that of their own Consciences in the Sight of God This was the Way of making Christians then and this is the Way of making and keeping Christians now Conscience in the best Sense has ever been allow'd to be a Bond upon Men in all Religions But that Religion which under Pretence of Authority would superceed Conscience and instead of making Men better the End of Religion makes them worse by confounding all Distinction betwixt Good and Evil and resolving all into an Implicite Faith and blind Obedience unto the Commands of a Visible Guide and Judge is false it cannot be otherwise For to admire what Men don't know and to make it a Principle not to inquire is the last mark of Folly in the Believer and of Imposture in the Imposer To be short a Christian implies a Man and a Man implies Conscience and Understanding but he that has no Conscience not Understanding as he has not that has delivered them up to the Will of another Man is no Man and therefore no Christian I do beseech you Protestants of all Sorts to consider of the danger of this Principle with respect to Religion Of old'tw is the Fool that said in his Heart there is no God But now upon this Principle Men must be made Fools in order to believe Shall Folly which is the Shame if not the Curse of a Man be the Perfection of a Christian Christ indeed has advised us to become Little Children but never to become such Fools for as the Proverb is this is to be led by the Nose and not by our Wits You know that God hates the Sacrifice of Fools I will pray with the Spirit and with Understanding also saith the Apostle Let us commend that Testimony which we believe to be true to the Consciences of Men and let them have the Gospel priviledge of Examination Error only looses upon Trial. For if this had been the Way to Christianity with Reverence be it spoken God had not made our Condition better but worse For this translates our Faith and Dependence upon God to Man and the Possibility if not Probability of Man's erring exposes us to greater insecurity than before For where I never trusted I never could be deceived But if I must abandon my own Sense and Judgment and yield my self up to the Faith and Authority of another to say no more of the Blindness and La neness of such Belief and Devotion what Security can I have that the Man or Men whom I trust may not 〈◊〉 and deceive me and that
those that Persecute for Religion are Irreligious 2dly The next Cause of Persecution is the gross but general Mistake which People are under concerning the Nature of the Church Kingdom of Christ for the lamentable Worldliness of mens minds hath put them upon those Carnal Constructions which have made way for all the external Coertion and Violence used by bad and suffer'd by good Men on the score of Religion from the beginning And no wonder if ordinary Persons tumble upon this Construction when the Disciples of Jesus shew'd themselves so ill read in the Mysteries of his Kingdom that after all the Intimacy they had had with him they resrain'd not to ask When shall the Kingdom be restored to Israel They look't abroad had a Worldly Idea in their minds Jew like they waited for external Deliverance from the Power of the Romans rather then an Internal Salvation from the Dominion of Satan and interpreted that to Worldly loss and freedom which did relate to the loss and Redemption of the Soul but Jesus taught them better things yet so as not to deny or flatly discourage and rebuke them that though true might have been more then they could have borâ— therefore he winds off with them upon the Time and the Season of the thing knowing that the Time was at hand that they should be better taught and satisfied of the nature of his Kingdom unto which he referred them When the Spirit of Truth comes it shall lead you into all Truth c. That the Kingdom of Christ is not of this World has been before observed and the Reason is so great that all men of common Sense must allow it upon Christ's Principle for says he then would my Servants fight for me truly implying that because the Kingdoms of this World are evidently set up and maintained by Worldly Force and that he will have no Worldly Force used in the Business of his Kingdom therefore it is not of this World Consequently those that attempt to set up his Kingdom by Worldly Force or make that their Pretence to use it are none of his Servants they are truly but Men of this World such as seek an Earthly and not an Heavenly Kingdom themselves and not Christ Jesus Where by the way let me observe That though the Jews to engage Pilate the more easily to their side impeach't Christ of being an Eâ—â—e my to Casar they were Enemies and He a Friend to Caesar for he came to reform the Lives of Men to make them better Subjects to obey Caesar not for Fear but for Conscience sake so would Caesar's Provinec have been easie and safe But the Jews would have had him Caesar's Enemy one that should have forcibly rescued them from Caesar's Power they waited for a Captain General to begin the Revolt and with an high Hand to over bear and captive Caesar as he had done them and 't is more than probable that his Appearance being to another End they therefore rejected him their Heart being set upon this But to return Christ told his Disciples that he had chosen them out of the World how not to converse or live bodily in it no such matter but he had chosen or singled them from the Nature Spirit Glory Policy and Pomp of this World How Persons so qualified can make a Worldly Church or Kingdom unless they desert Christ's Doctrine is past my Skill to tell So that the Capacity that Christians stand in to Christ is Spiritual and not Worldly or Carnal and therefore not Carnal or Worldly but Spiritual Methods and Weapons only are to be used to inform or reclaim such as are Ignorant or DisobediÌ„ent And if we will give Antient Story credit we shall find that Worldly Weapons were never employed by the Christian Church till the became Worldly and so ceast to be truly Christian But why should I say the Church the most abused word in the World her Leaders have taught her to eâ—â— and that of believing as the Church believes is so far from being true in point of Faith as well as Reason that the Church her self his ever believed as the Clergy that is the Priests believed since that sort of Men have practised Distinction from and Superiority upon the Laity He that will peruse the Ecclesiastical Story delivered us by Eusebius Pamphili Secrates Scholasticns Evagrius Ruffinus Sozomen c. will find but too many and sad Instances of the Truth of this In short Peoples apprehending the Church and Kingdom of Christ to be Visible and Worldly like other Societies and Government have thought it not only to be Lawful but Necessary to use the Arts and Force of this World to support that Church and Kingdom especially since this Interest of Religion hath been embodied with that of the Civil Magistrate for from that time he hath been made Custos utriusque tabulae and such as offend though about Church Matters have been reputed Transgressors against the State and consequently the State interested in punishing the Offence Whereas had Christians remain'd in their primitive Simplicity and Purity in the Self-denying Patient and Suffering Doctrine of Christ Christianity had stood in Holy Living not in Worldly Regiment and its Compulsion would have been Love its Arms Reason and Truth and its utmost Rigour even to obstinate Enemies or Apostates but Renouncing of their Communion and that not till much Forbearance had been used to them To sum up all The Kingdoms of this World stand in outward Bodily and Civil Matters and here the Laws and Power of Men reich and are effectual But the Kingdom and Church of Christ that is chosen out of the World stands not in Bodily Exercise which the Apostle says profits little nor in Times nor Places but in Faith and that Worship which Christ tells us is in Spirit and in Truth to this no Worldly Compulsion can bring or force men 't is only the Power of that King of Righteousness whose Kingdom is in the Minds and Souls of the Just and he rules by the Law of his own free Spirit which like the Wind Bloweth where it listeth And as without this Spirit of Regeneration no man can be made a Member of Christs Church or Kingdom so neither is it in the Power of Man to command or give it and consequently all Worldly force employ'd to make men Members of Christs Church and Kingdom is unnatural and ineffectual I could be very large upon this point for 't is very fruitful and so much the cause of Persecution that if there were never another to be assign'd this were enough for upon due consideration it must needs meet with every mans Judgment and Experience I will here add the sense of memorable Hales of Eaton upon this subject When our Saviour in the Acts after his Resurrection was Discoursing to his Disciples concerning the Kingdom of God they presently brake forth into this Question Wilt thou now restore the Kingdom unto Israel Certainly this Question betrays their
new Religion neither suffer so ill an use to be made of such Dissents as to carry them beyond their true bounds for the meaning of those Arts of ill men is to set the People further off from one another then they really are and to aggrevate Differences in Judgment to Contrariety in affection and when they have once inflam'd them to Variance and Strife nothing can hinder Persecution but want of Power which being never wanted by the strongest side the weakest though truest is opprest not by Argument but Worldly Weapons The seventh and last Cause I shall now assign for Persecution is this That Holy living is become no test among us unless against the liver The Tree was once known by its Fruits 't is not so now the better Liver the more dangerous if not a Conformist this has made way for Persecution There was a time when Virtue was Venerable and good Men admired that 's derided and Opinion carries it He that can perswade his Conscience to comply with the times be he Vitious Knavish Cowardly any thing he is protected perhaps preferr'd A Man of Wisdom Sobriety and Ability to serve his King and Country if a Dissenter must be blown upon for a Phanatick a man of Faction of disloyal Principles and what not Rewards and Punishments are the Magistrates duty and the Governments interest and support Rewards are due to Virtue Punishments to Vice Let us not mistake nor miscall things let Virtue be what it al. wayes was in Government good Manners sober Living and Vice ill Manners and ill Living Reduce all to this let such good Men have the â—miles and Rewards and such ill Men the Frowns and Punishments of the Government this ends Persecution and lays Opinion to sleep Ill men will make no more advantages by such Conformity nor good men no more suffer for want of it In short As that Religious Society deserves not the Protection of the Civil which is inconsistent with the Safety of it so those Societies of Christians that are not only not Destructive of the Civil Government but Lovers of it ought by the Civil Government to be secured from Ruin God Almighty open our Understandings pour out the Spirit of thorow Reformation upon us that we may be all Conscientiously Dispos'd to seek and pursue those things which make for Love Peace and Godliness that it may be well with us both here and forever For yet a little while and the Wicked shall not be yea thou shalt diligently consider his place and it shall not be but the Meek shall inherit the Earth and shall delight themselves in abundance of Peace The Wicked PLOTTETH against the Just and â—nasheth upon him with his Teeth the Lord shall laugh at him for he seeth that his Day is coming Psal 37. 10 11 12 13. The Judgment of King James King Charles the first about Persecution for Religion VVE find it asserted by King James in his Speech to the Parliament in the year 1609. who said That it is a pure Rule in Divinity That God never loves to plant his Church with Violence and Blood and furthermore said It was usually the Condition of Christians to be Persecuted but not to Persecute And we find the same things in substance asserted again by his Son King Charles the first in his Book known by the Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 printed for R. Royston as followeth Pag. 67. In his Prayer to God he said Thou seest how much Cruelty amongst Christians is acted under the colour of Religion as if we could not be Christians unless we Crucifie one another Pag. 28. Make them at length seriously to consider that nothing Violent and Injurious can be Religion Pag. 70. Nor is it so proper to hâ—w out Religious Reformations by the Sword as to pollish them by fair and equal Disputations among those that are most concerned in the Differences whom not Force but Reason ought to convince Sure in Matters of Religion those Truths gain most upon â—eâ—s Judgments and Consciences which are least urged with secular Violence which weakens Truth with Prejudices Pag. 115. It being an Office not only of Humanity rather to use Reason than Force but also of Christianity to seek Peace and ensue it Some Words of Advice from King Charles the first to the then Prince of Wales now King of England c. Pag. 165. My Counsel and Charge to you is That you seriously consider the former Real or Objected Miscarriages which might occasion my Troubles that you may avoid them c. Beware of Exasperating any Faction by the Crosness and Asperity of some mens Passions Humours and private Opinions imployed by you grounded only upon Differences in lesser matters which are but the Skirts and Suburbs of Religion wherein a charitable Connivance and Christian Toleration often dissipates their Strength when rougher Opposition fortifies and puts the Despised and Oppressed Party into such Combinations as may most enable them to get a full Revenge on those they count their Persecutors Pag. 166. Take heed that Outward Circumstances and Formalities of Religion devour not all Difficulties in printing have occasion'd some Faults which pray Excuse and Amend Page 8. line 18. after Quality add in saying p. 14 l. 10. was r. is p. 16. l. 5. these r those l. 27. Law r. Laws p 27. l 5 with r of p 29 l 31 of dele p. 33 l 1 hath r have p 39 l 10 r Salamin p 32 l 9 r who p 56 l 11 this r thy p 63 l 22 the dele l 31 and r if not p 78 l 20 r of your p 79 l 1 as dele l 26 r discord all c. p 82 l 3 whom r which p 83 l 1 r mutable state p 105 l 24 in r on p 11 1 l 1 r believeth p 118 l 2 preaching r packing p 120 l. 32 their r your p 132 l 8 r that impossible p 133 l 24 r Ages stood p 134 l 32 r have been p 137 l 6 they r she p 138 l 27 â—r the. p 139 l 9 r therefore l 16 read imbecil l 23 r Perfection p 140 l 28 r reject p 143 l 14 r for peace p 153 l 32 ciâ—il 1 personal p 156 l 13 ever r over l 30 r hurt p 178 l 7 Poper Judge p 183. l 11 the dale l 28 r and is it p 184 l 26 r let us p 185 l 14 those r three p 〈◊〉 l 22 intruded r intended p 202 l 4. r concerned p 208 l 17 r Proâ—… 16 r is it reasonable p 219 l 25 r undoing p 225 l 18 recerâ—… 〈◊〉 p 227 l 26 we r true p 229 l 29 r laid p 231 l 25â— and dele p 235 l 10 r Governments l 13 this r the. p 241 l 11 his r their l 22 refuse 〈◊〉 refuse p 244 l 3 r imprudent p 245 l 4 enslave r encrease THE END Isa 28. 1 3 7. Prov. 23. ver 29 30 31 32 33. Exod. 20. v. 4. Lev. 20 10.