Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
conscience_n	according_a	good_a	rule_n	1,356	5	6.9517	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A33206	The Difference of the case, between the separation of Protestants from the Church of Rome, and the separation of Dissenters from the Church of England	Clagett, William, 1646-1688.; Williams, John, 1636?-1709.	1683 (1683)	Wing C4377; ESTC R12185	45,320	73

his Soul to look to it that the Cause of his Separation be Just For this is one of those Cases wherein a meer Perswasion of Conscience will not secure a Man acting according to it from sinning against God And from hence it is evident that this Plea that we cannot in Conscience hold Communion with the Church of Rome may in our mouths be a very good Plea against the Papists as without question it is if our Consciences are rightly informed as to the Points controverted between them and us But the same Plea in the mouths of the Dissenters against the Church of England may not be good as most certainly it is not if they are perswaded that our Church hath given them just Cause for their Separation when there is indeed no such matter And therefore we may at least hope that they will all of them now seriously apply themselves to consider the merits of the Cause between them and us which they are now in an especial manner bound to do since the Charity of the Ministers of this City hath made the doing of it easie to all Persons that will be at the Pains to Judge for themselves and that by bringing down the particular Questions in Controversy between them and us to the Capacity of Ordinary Christians And if they will not use this Opportunity that is given them to Consider these things they will have the more to Answer to God and they most of all that disswade them from it To conclude this Point whereas the Papists declaim against our Separation from them under pretence of Conscience as if this had shewn the way to all sorts of Sectaries to Separate from us upon the same pretence We hope that all Persons who are not willing to be deceived will be able to Distinguish between a misguided Conscience on the one hand and a well Informed Conscience on the other and then proceed to examine the Reasons of our Separation whether they be not Just and Necessary and if they find them so to be that they will acquit us from all their blame who Separate without such Reasons For it is very Foolish and unjust not to allow the pretence of Conscience to be good in any Case because it is not so in all Cases Surely if one Mans Conscience tell him that he may and ought to Rebel while himself does not believe that 't is Rebellion he is going about this hinders not but another Man may Lawfully and justly pretend Conscience for his Loyalty and Duty to the Government And though in some Places of the World there are Sovereign Princes who extend their Authority for the maintaining of Damnable Errors and the suppressing of Gods Holy Truth and all the while believe that they use their Power as they ought to do yet this shall not hinder but that Princes who believe and profess the true Religion and withal protect and encourage it with their Authority as much as they can being fully perswaded that so they ought to do that they I say shall for this receive Gods thanks and rewards while the former shall go without them In like manner Conscience may be pretended for Disobeying the just Laws of that Authority which God hath set in the World and in the Church but this shall not hinder his Plea from being good who pretends Conscience for refusing to Commit Idolatry though all the Powers under Heaven should require him so to do Men may by mistake think they do God good Service in murdering his Servants For this has been done by you of the Church of Rome And if in such Plain Cases as these your understandings have been so foully Corrupted it is not so greatly to be wondred at that the Judgments of other Men are so perverted by Interest and Passion as to believe themselves Countermanded by God in things required by their Superiors but in which it would not be their Sin but a Performance of their Duty to obey And yet I hope this Answer whether it be better to Obey God or Man Judge ye was once Truly and Pertinently made and may be so again And so much for the Difference of the Case with respect to Conscience which was the last thing to be considered And now I know that all this will signify very little to any Man that brings not an honest mind with him to Consider it or who had rather take his Opinions in these things upon Trust than be at the Pains to Judge for himself But why should a Man disparage himself so much as not to use that Understanding which God hath given him in matters that Concern his Salvation Why should he be such an Enemy to himself as not to let go a Dangerous mistake when he may enjoy the Truth instead of it if he will use Reasonable Diligence to Consider what is said on both sides Give me leave to put you in mind of your Duty in this Case in the Words of an Ancient Christian Writer In all matters of Practice and Duty it Concerns every Man to use his own Judgment and Discretion in searching for Truth and in weighing what is fit to be done rather then to be betrayed into Error and Sin by such a Credulous reliance upon others as if himself had not the Reason of a Man and were incapable of Consideration God has given to every Man his share of Wit both to find out some things by himself and to weigh those which he hears from others 'T is Natural to all men to love Wisdom and to desire the Knowledge of the Truth And they make Fools of themselves who without Discretion take the Words of their Leaders for all that they say and follow them more like Beasts than like Reasonable Creatures which words are not so to be taken as if it were Dishonourable or Dangerous to any Man to make use of the help of others in Learning the Truth For this were to destroy the use of the Ministry in the Church of Christ and to take away the benefit of mutual endeavours to lead one another into a right Understanding of our Duty But for all this it may be a very Foolish and Unmanly part and it may betray us into very Dangerous Errors not to use our own Judgment at all in matters of Sin and Duty and in Opinions leading to the one or the other but instead thereof to rely altogether upon their Authority whom we have taken for our Guides This is what we say both to the People of the Popish and of the Dissenting Party that if they would apply themselves with Ordinary Diligence and with a sincere mind to find out the Truth in thse Cases they would not meet with any great Difficulty to Perplex them in the way especially if they whose Authority they very much rely upon would speak as plainly and clearly to the Points in Question as without Vanity I may say we have hitherto done We do not desire them to stop their Ears against those

there be no particular Warrant in Gods Word for them may not we for all this be sure that your Church requireth Men to do things which God hath particularly forbidden And if we be sure of this upon the plain Grounds of Reason and Scripture should we be afraid to reject your Communion in these things because another sort of Men are so unreasonably wilful as to reject our Communion for the sake of things that are nothing like to these What if they conceiving that our Forms of Prayer are not so Edifying that our Rites and Ceremonies are not so expedient but rather Vnlawful as being Human Inventions what I say if they lay so great a stress upon these things as to set up a Communion which they Fancy to be more refined and unexceptionable May they not be to blame in all this and yet the Church of England not be liable to blame but worthy of commendation for departing from you in your Latin Service your half Communion your Praying to Dead Men and Women your giving Divine Honors to a Wafer and your other Gross Superstitions and Idolatries Although our Church had not ordered her publick Worship so discreetly and carefully but that in sundry things it might be reformed to good purpose it might yet by no means be necessary for any of her Members to forsake her Communion but it would on the other hand be their great fault so to do so long as she holds forth all the necessary means of Salvation and requires nothing to be professed or to be done that is contrary to Gods Word But yet it would be necessary to renounce the profession of your Impious Errors and to forsake you in all things wherein your selves have departed from the plain Truths of Reason and Christianity and contradicted the plain Word and Laws of God Though it may happen that a Man may do so Foolishly as to run himself upon great inconvenience in forsaking his Habitation because there is some petty Disease reigning thereabouts which is known to endanger no Mans Life yet it may be Wisely done by another Man to run his Country when the Plague is raging in every corner of it especially if he could know that it were impossible for him to escape if he should tarry there any longer And yet I suppose you will not deny but the one as well as the other may pretend that he left his dwelling for the sake of better health and more safely But I hope you will grant that the later pretends this like a Wise-Man though the other does it like a Fool. The case we are upon is much what the same From you it was necessary to depart for the sake of greater purity but so it is not necessary for you or others to depart from us and yet others may take the same Plea into their mouths against us and we may not be able to help it though we can well shew that they have no good reason for it And thus much for the Difference of the Case with respect to Separation for greater purity 2. I proceed next to consider the Difference with respect to that common Question Who shall be the Judge The Church of Rome arrogating to her self an Infallibility in determining all Questions of Faith doth in pursuance of this claim deny private persons the Liberty of examining her Definitions by the Holy Scriptures and requireth them to acquiesce therein without more ado as there is great reason they should if indeed they have reason to believe her Infallible The Church of England pretendeth not to Infallibility But we say that she is not deceived in those points which she propounds to be believed as necessary to Salvation nor in rejecting those other Articles which the Roman Church propounds under that notion And agreeably to this pretence she hath Translated the Holy Scriptures into plain English which are the best means whereby to Judge if what she says be not true she not only alloweth the People to Read them but exhorteth and requireth them so to do and causeth them to be Publickly Read to the People in all Religious Assemblies By this means she traineth up her Members to an Ability of Judging according to their several Capacities not only concerning All that she teaches them to believe but also concerning All that she teaches them to do as their Duty to God or Man so that she does not bring them up as the Church of Rome Educates her Children to an Implicit Faith and a Blind Obedience But yet the Superiors of our Church do challenge a Right to Judge in some things for the People commited to their charge and will not allow that in those things they should Judge for themselves and they are All things that relate to Publick Order and which may without Sin be determined one way or another but are capable of a better or worse Determination that is All Indifferent things We say that things of this nature being determined by a Competent Authority ought without farther inquiry into the Reasons of such Determination to be done by all that are under that Authority As for the Peoples Faith in God and their Obedience to him in doing what he hath Commanded and avoiding what he hath Forbidden our Church does not resolve that into her own Authority but into those very Reasons upon which they that are in Authority do build their own Faith and Obedience which Reasons are included in the Holy Scriptures But as to her Appointments and Orders in all things neither injoined by God himself nor by him forbidden she expecteth Submission to them upon the Account of her own Authority and alloweth not us to Judge of the Expediency or Inexpediency of them before we will Conform our Practice to them All which is so to be understood that still her Authority in these things is supposed to be of God and the Duty of Submitting thereunto required in the general precepts of Obedience to Superiors But if any Man ask Who is to be Judge of things Indifferent as to a Mans practice whether his own Conscience or his Superior I Answer that as to a Man 's own practice himself is to be Judge what things are Indifferent and which consequently come within the compass of Human Authority to Determin For it is plain enough that by the same Rule which sheweth us what is Duty and what is Sin we come to Judge of what is Indifferent And therefore when we grant to Private Persons a Judgment of Discretion concerning Sin and Duty we cannot deny them the right to Judge what is neither Duty nor Sin but Indifferent which is the Sum of what the Author of the Case in behalf of Dissenters hath said upon that matter But then how can Authority pretend to abridge private Persons of Judging as to their own practice concerning Indifferent things To this I Answer in the Words of the same Author where he acknowledges his Adversary to have said well to those