Selected quad for the lemma: church_n
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A59546
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A discourse of conscience. The second part Concerning a doubting conscience.; Discourse concerning conscience. Part 2.
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Sharp, John, 1645-1714.
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1688
(1688)
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Wing S2974; ESTC R221827
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66,391
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76
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with any Impartial Conscientious Man out weigh all the Probabilities on the other side so long as they are not so great as to create a Perswasion and make it reasonable for him rather to Conform how strong soever his Doubt be about the Lawfulness of Conformity so long as it is but a Doubt than to continue in Separation Vide Third Proposition about a Double Doubt pag. 27. This is the Issue upon which we will try the Point before us and I refuse no indifferent Man that will but have the Patience to hear what we have to say to be Umpire between us and our Dissenting Brethren as to this Controversie In the first place let us suppose and admit that the man who hath these Doubts and Suspicions about the Lawfulness of our Established Worship doth really Doubt on the true side and that he would indeed be a Transgressor of the Law of God if he should Conform to it But then it must be admitted likewise that That Law of God which forbids these things in dispute is wonderfully obscurely declared There are no direct Prohibitions either in the Law of Nature or the Book of God about those things that are now Contested so that the unlawfulness of them is only to be concluded from Consequences And those Consequences likewise are so obscure that the Catholick Church from Christs time till our Reformation was wholly ignorant of them For though it doth appear that either these or the like Usages have always been in the Church Yet it doth not appear in all that compass of Time either that any Particular Church ever condemned them as sinful Or indeed that any Particular Christian did ever Separate from the Church upon the Account of them And even at this Day these Consequences by which they are proved unlawful are not discovered by our Governours either in Church or State. No nor by as Learned and Religious Divines of all Perswasions as any in the World. The most Divines by far the most and those as Pious and as Able as any are clearly of Opinion that there is nothing Unlawful in our Worship but that on the contrary all things therein prescribed are at least Innocent and free from sin if not Pure and Apostolical So that if it should at last prove that they are all mistaken Yet the Law of God which forbids these things being so very obscure and the Sense of it so hardly to be found out it is a great Presumption that a man may very innocently and inculpably be Ignorant of it And if so it will be a very little or no sin at all in him to act against it Because if it was not his Duty to know this Law it cannot be his Sin that his Practice is not according to it And if it was his Duty to know it yet it being so obscurely delivered and only to be gathered by such remote Consequences it can at most be but a Sin of Ignorance in an ordinary Person where so many of the best Guides are mistaken if he should transgress it And then farther This must likewise be considered That if Conformity to our Liturgy and Worship should prove a sin in any Instance Yet the Evil Consequences of it extend no farther than the Mans Person that is guilty of it There is no damage ariseth either to the Christian Religion or to the Publick Interest of the Kingdom by any mans being a Conformist But on the contrary as things stand with us Unity and Conformity to the Established way seem to bring a great advantage to both as I hinted before and to be a probable means to secure us from many Dangers with which our Reformed Religion and the Peace of the Kingdom is threatned Well but now on the other hand Let us suppose the contrary side of the Question to be true viz. That our Governours in this matter are in the Right and we are in the Wrong That there is nothing required of us in the Church of England as a Term of Communion but what is very Innocent and Lawful however it be our misfortune to Doubt that there is and in a zealous Indulgence to these Doubts we take the liberty to live in open disobedience to our Lawful Governours and to break the Unity of the Church into which we were Baptized I say admitting the thing to be thus what kind of Sin shall we be guilty of then Why certainly we are guilty of no less a Sin than causlesly dividing the Body of Christ against which we are o severely cautioned in the New Testament We are guilty of the Breach of as plain Laws as any are in the Bible viz. Of all those that oblige us to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace that Command us to Obey those that are over us in the Lord to be subject to the Higher Powers to submit to every Ordinance of man for the Lords sake to be subject not only for Wrath but for Conscience sake I say these plain Laws we disobey for Conscience sake and we disobey them too in such Instances where we have the whole Catholick Church of old and far the greatest and the best part of the present Church of a different Persasion from us Well but as if this was not enough What are the Consequences of this our Sin For by the Consequences of a sin the greatness of it is always to be estimated I speak as to the Material part of it with which we are here concerned Why they are most Terrible and Dreadful both with respect to our selves and others By this unnatural Separation we do for any thing we know put our selves out of the Communion of the Catholick Church and consequently out of the enjoyment of the ordinary means of Salvation We maintain and keep up Divisions and Disorders in the Church and lend a helping hand to all those Animosities and Hatreds all that bitter Contention and Strife and Uncharitableness which hath long torn the very Bowels of Christs Church and given occasion to that Deluge of Atheism and Profaneness and Impiety which hath over-spread the Face of it We put Affronts upon our Lawful Governours who should be in the place of God to us We give Scandal to all our Brethren that make a Conscience of living Peaceably and Piously And lastly as we offer a very fair Handle and Pretence to all Discontented and Factious men to Practice against the Best of Governments So we take the most effectual course to Ruine the Best Constituted Church in the World and with it the Reformed Religion in this Kingdom This now being the Nature and these being the Consequences of our Separation from the Established Church among us I leave it to any indifferent man to Determine whether any Doubt about the Lawfulness of our Communion though that Doubt be backed with greater Probabilities than do appear on the other side nay if you will with all the Probabilities that can consist with the nature of a Doubt can have weight enough to Ballance against such a Sin and such Consequences as Separation in our Case doth involve a man in I think there is no unconcerned Person but will pronounce that supposing where there are Doubts on both sides a man is to chuse that side on which there is the least appearance of Sin he is in this Case certainly bound to chuse Communion with the Established Church rather than Separation from it And that is all I Contenâ—â—â— for But now after all this is said it must be acknowledged that if there be any man who hath other apprehensions of these matters and that after a Consideration of all things that are to be said for or against Conformity it doth appear to him upon the whole matter both more probable that our Communion is sinful than that it is a Duty and withal that to Communicate with us will involve him in a greater sin and in worse Consequences than no continue in Separation I say if any man have so unfortunate an understanding as to make such an estimate of things we must acknowledge that according to all the Rules of a Doubting Conscience such a man is rather to continue a Non-conformist than to obey the Laws of the King and the Church But then let him look to it for his acting in this Case according to the best Rules of a Doubting Conscience will not as I said before at all acquit him either of the Guilt or Consequences of Criminal Schism and Disobedience Supposing that indeed he is all along under a mistake as we say he certainly is and that there is nothing required in our Communion that he might not honestly and lawfully comply with as there certainly is not Unless in the mean time the man fell into these mistakes without any fault of his and God Almighty who is the Judge of all mens Hearts and Circumstances doth know he had not means and opportunities to understand better FINIS ADVERTISEMENT 1. A Discourse concerning Conscience the first Part. Wherein an Account is given of the Nature and Rule and Obligation of it And the Case of those who Separate from the Communion of the Church of England as by Law Established upon this Pretence That it is against their Conference to joyn in it is stated and discussed 2. A Resolution of this Case viz. Whether it be Lawful to Seporate from the Publick Worship of God in the Parochial 〈◊〉 lies of England upon that new Pretence which some Men make of the Case being much 〈…〉 from what it was when the Puritans wrote against the Browâ—â—â—s and the Presbyters against the Independent 3. Resolution of two Cases of Conscience in two Discourses The First Of the Lawfulness of Compliance with all the Ceremonies of the Câ—â—â—â—s of England The Second Of the necessity of the use of Common-Prayer in Publick All Three Printed for Walter Kettilby
A DISCOURSE OF CONSCIENCE THE SECOND PART Concerning a Doubting Conscience LONDON Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishops-Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCLXXXVIII THE CASE OF A Doubting Conscience I Have in a former Discourse spoken to the case of those Dissenters who separate from the Established Church for this Reason That they are Perswaded that they cannot Lawfully joyn in our Communion I now come to speak to the Case of those who separate from us for a less Reason viz. Because they Doubt whether they may lawfully Communicate with us or no and so long as they thus Doubt they dare not come near us because they fear they should sin against God if they should do any Action with a doubting Conscience To this indeed a short Answer might be given from the former Discourse and that is this That let the Obligation of a Doubting Conscience be as great as we can reasonably suppose it yet if Communion with our Church as it is Established be really a Duty then a Mans Doubts concerning the Lawfulness of it will not make it cease to be so or justifie his Separation from it For if a Mans setled Perswasion that an Action is unlawful will not ordinarily acquit him from Sin if he omit that Action supposing Gods Law hath commanded it as I there shew'd much less will a mans bare Doubt concerning the Lawfulness of an Action justifie his Omission of it in such a Case But because this Answer seems rather to cut the Knot than to unty it it is my meaning in the following Discourse particularly to examine and discuss this Plea of a Doubting Conscience and to shew what little force there is in it to keep any man from Conformity that would otherwise Conform Hoping that some Reader whose Case this is may by what he here finds offer'd toward his satisfaction either be prevail'd with to lay aside his Doubts in the matter of our Communion or at least be convinced that it is more reasonable and safe to communicate with us doubting as he doth than to continue in separation from us In handling this Case of a Doubting Conscience I shall observe the same Method I did in the former Discourse because indeed I cannot think of a better That is I shall endeavour to give an account of these four things I. Of the Nature of a Doubting Conscience and how it is distinguished from the other Kinds of Conscience II. Of the Rule of a Doubting Conscience or what Measures a man is to proceed by for the determining himself in a doubtful Case III. Of the Power that Human Laws Ecclesiastical or Civil have to Over-rule a mans Doubts in any matter IV. Of the Authority of a Doubting Conscience i. e. Whether at all or how far a man is Obliged by it These four Heads do I think take in all the Difficulties that are in the Case of a Doubting Conscience I. I begin with the first Head The Nature of a Doubting Conscience In speaking to which I shall Treat of these three things 1. Of Doubting in general 2. Of such Doubts as do affect or concern a Mans Conscience 3. Of the Difference between the Doubting Conscience and the Scrupulous 1. As to the first of these which is concerning the Nature of Doubting in general we may take Notice That a man is properly said to doubt when he cannot give his Assent to either part of a Contradiction that is cannot make a Judgment whether the thing he is considering be so or be not so but through the equal or at least fair probability that is on both sides of the Question continues irresolute and undetermined now perhaps he thinks this Side the more probable and by and by the other but he is uncertain as to both and cannot fix upon either So that a Doubting Mind is not more usually than properly resembled to a Ballance which by Reason of the equal Weight which is put into both Scales is not cast on either side but hangs in the same Posture or waves up and down without either Scale coming to the bottom Nevertheless in a doubtful Case a man may lean more to one side of the Question than the other and yet continue doubtful still Just as there may be so much more Weight put into one Scale than the other as will be sufficient to incline the Ballance more to that side while yet that Weight is not so considerable as to be able perfectly to turn it so as to carry down the Scale to the usual mark of Down-Weight and there to settle it There is indeed this difference between these two things that a Ballance through the exact equality of the Weights put into each Scale may be so poised as to hang perfectly in aequilibrio without inclination either way and continue so to do but it will be difficult if not impossible to put a Case or a Question where a mans Mind after all things considered is so perfectly indifferent to both sides of it as not to be more inclined to chuse one than the other When once there appears so much more Evidence on one side of the doubtful Case that the Mind is enabled to determine it self and to give a settled assent on that side then the man ceaseth to doubt any longer for that which was a Doubt before is now turned into a Perswasion And if it be a Case wherein Conscience is concern'd that which was before a Doubting Conscience is now chang'd into a Resolved Conscience Here to resume our former Comparison the Ballance no longer hangs in aequilibrio or moves unsetledly this way or that way but is plainly turned and fixed on one side It is true in this Case a man doth not always determine himself with the same degree of Perswasion or Satisfaction to his own Mind Sometimes the Evidence is so strong as to command an entire Assent of his Understanding an Assent so full that it hath not the least mixture of doubtfulness in it and this we call an Assurance or a full Perswasion At other times the Evidence may be of force enough to gain an Assent but yet not so strong an Assent as to exclude all Doubt of the contrary and this kind of Assent we call an Opinion or a probable Perswasion And something like this we may observe in the Ballance The Scale that preponderates is not always carried down with the same Force and Briskness but according as the Weight that turns the Ballance is greater or less so in proportion it may plainly be discern'd that the Scale descends either more strongly and nimbly or more weakly and slowly But still in both these Cases the man hath formed a Judgment of the Point the Ballance is turned and wherever this happens there is an end of the Doubt or Aequilibrium and consequently if it be in a Case that concerns a mans Conscience it ceases to be any longer a Doubting Conscience and becomes resolved and determined though perhaps not fully satisfied and