a good Conscience then the contrary to it must be a brawny or hard Conscience now assume But a brawny or hard Conscience cannot be contrary to a tender Conscience ergo c. He that has nothing else to do with his time let him abuse it in answering such Syllogisms Ay! but says he this would be too contumelious to reproach all men but themselves with very admirable As if the noâ—…ions of words or things were to be taken from mens rash applications of them to themselves or others A tender Conscience would be a good Conscience though the Enquirer had the confidence to Monopolize all Tenderness to himself And a brawny Conscience will be an evil one though he should be so contumelious as to asperse all others but himself with it This way of Arguing is a shooe that will fit any mans foot serve any mans occasions as will as the owners A Tender Conscience cannot be an ignorant mind for it would be too presumptuous and Arrogant for those that reproach it to account themselves the only wise men on earth And then the contrary to it must be an inlightned mind and it would be too contumelious to reproach all the world for Fools but their own precious selves Use is the grand Master of words He that will speak as others spâ—…ak must either understand as they do or be content to be misunderstood A Tender Conscience amongst us of the Populace is Conscience under that Office of warning us of the danger of sin it Advises us to take the safer side in things dubious and rather avoid the smoak for fear of the Fire then with Empedocles rush into the smoak and find our ruine But the best of our Entertainment is yet behind for he will now read a very Learned Lecture to this Tender Conscience which in my weak judgment is monstrously absurd seeing he supposes his Auditors to be all Fools Men of ignorant minds or sickly understandings The business lyes here how a Tender Conscience must be qualified that it may enjoy it's Priviledges § 1. He that pleads for compassion upon the account of his weakness that is his Tenderness must be so ingenious as to submit himself to Instruction And if the Enquirer must be the Instructer He deserves to wear a Fools Coat for his pains for I would gladly learn that as the first Lecture what is the Nice and Critical difference between a Tender and a Compassionate Enquirer There are two points they say of wisdom the first that we be able to advise our selves the second that being Conscious of our own inability we be willing to submit to the advise of others wiser then our selves But this tender Conscience being such a widgeon it cannot be expected he should be guilty of such ingenuity § 2. He that pretends to tenderness of Conscience must make good his claim by being uniformly consciencious The plain meaning whereof is this That he that pretends to be a Fool must â—…qually maintain the Humour and carry on the Allegory of folly all the days of his life otherwise as he wisely observes it will be but Pharisaism To prove which deep Point he instances in David whose Heart smote him when he cut of the Skirt of Sauls garment but it would never have been called Tenderness of Conscience in David if at another time he should have attempted the life of Saul And what he says is very true if we take Tenderness of Conscience in it's true and proper acceptation but nothing more Ridiculous nay more dangerous should we according to his New Notion take a Tender Conscience for a weak understanding I ask Did Davids heart smite him when he cut of Sauls garment Yes But was it out of Tenderness of Conscience that it smote him why yes The Enquirâ—…r has just now told you so are you deaf Ay! But is a Tender Conscience nothing but an ignorant or uninstructed mind a sickly melancholy or superstitious understanding why should you be so importunate It can be nothing else The Enquirer has defined it so in plain English Why then this is in plain English the Doctrine under which his Auditors must be prepared for their priviledges That David being a Tender hearted that is a Tender headed Person through the Tenderness that is the slenderness of his crazed intellectuals coming under the distinct Consideration of Reflecting upon his own action in a melancholy and superstitious qualme rebuked himself for cutting of the Skirt of Sauls garment But by his good favour this is too severe a Censure of that Holy Act of David whose Tender Conscience after some surprizal being recovered and awakened severâ—…ly schooled him that he durst make so near an approach to the Destroying by the touching of the Lords Annointed But such glosses he might find in some old pair of Bandeleers Priscae vestigia fraudis Thus the Jews out of ignorance crucified Christ. 3. Act. 17. But when Conscience was well informed and sprinkled with that Blood which they had once shed when Grace had applied that to their Hearts which they rashly imprecated upon their Heads they were pricked in their Consciences and cried out Men and Brethren what shall we do It was ignorance that lead to that murder but a Conscience made Tender and reflecting upon their own act which caused them to repent of and turn from their sin The Rule indeed is a most excellent one in it self though wickedly applied in this particular He that claims the Priviledges of a Tender Conscience must make good his claim by being uniformly Consciencious For he that is Tender of eating a black-pudding and yet not tender of the blood of the Saints he that scruples the Omission of a Ceremony though his weak Brother perish by it yet never scruples to bear false witness nor to murder the reputation of another he that is tender of the Ceremonial Law of Man and yet makes no bonds of the Moral Law of God must not be allowed to plead this Priviledge Though any one may be allowed the priviledge of our Authors tender Conscience which is only this That if he holds any Land in Capite he shall be begg'd for a Fool. § 3. He that is truly Tender if he cannot do all that is Commanded yet will do all he can He that cannot bow at the Name of Iesus yet perhaps can stand up at the Creed But what now if this instance of his Tenderness be impertinent I question whether bowing at the naming of Iesus be Commanded However Dissenters are excused by this Reason from conforming to what they can unless it be matter of their ambition to be admitted in the Colledg of all Fools To do all we can to no purpose is small encouragement to the attempt we are denied Communion with the Church in all Ordinances unless we come up to all the Terms of Communion Now since it 's our apparent duty
suppose the things controverted though Lawful in their abstracted natures and what actions are not so yet to be really unlawful in their use upon a just ballancing of all Circumstances for we conceive many things Lawful out of worship which in worship are not so Many things Lawful when used without offence which are otherwise when they give offence to the weak Many things Lawful when Conscience is satisfied which are not so under it 's real dissatisfactions many things Lawful to be used under the power of which 't is sinful to be brought 2. We say not that Conscience makes a nullity in the Law but that under present Circumstances it will not suffer us to act But if we had said so we might perhaps have drunk in the Delusion from his own words so lately quoted Some higher Law of God or Reason by which my Conscience is guided hath in that case made a nullity in the Law of the Magistrate 3. His Reason Because sâ—…n is a Transgression of the Law Applied to the Law of God is true but when applied to the Law of Man is not of universal Truth sor neither is the transgression of a humane Law always a sâ—…n Nor at any time is it the formal Reason of sin but because such transgression of the humane Law transgresses some particular Law of God or at least that General Law to obey where we ought to do 2 His second Enquiry is What is a Tender Conscience And here that nothing sacred might escapâ—… the peâ—…ulancy of Priviledged Drolery he is in a Rapture of facetiousness and makes fine spout with poor Tender Conscience When Iosiah that great Pattern of all Royal virtues the great instance of ripe Grace in green years had heard the book of the Law read with those dreadful comminations thundred out against prevarication in that holy Law and had duly consider'd how his people had incurred the menaces by violating the praecepts thereof he rent his cloaths and went to Enquire of the Lord. who gives him this Answer Because thy heart was Tender and thou hast humbled thy self I also have heard thee saith the Lord 2. Kin. 22. 19. Wisdom it self has taught us That the man is happy that feareth always but he that hardens himself shall fall into mischief 28. Prov. 14. They that know the World is thick sown with snares and those snares baited with suitable temptations will see Reason to walk very cautelously towards the world and to maintain a Godly jealousy over themselves least they be surprized with the deceitfulness of sin But there are a daring sort of jolly Adventurers that fear no colours that will come up to the mouth of a Canon that neither regard Gods threatnings or warnings the Devils stratagems or the Ambuscadoes of the flesh but being fool-hardy make a mock of sin and all preciseness about it who think it a piece of gallantry to dance on the brink of that praecipice that hangs over the bottomless pit and can find no fitter essays of their valour and skill then how to come within a hairs-breadth of Hell and yet not tumble in And these are the men that fall into mischief This tenderness of heart being of so great price in the sight of God we must expect it will not escape long the severe lashes of virulent spirits but it will be difficult to persecute a thing so innocent before it be exposed and therefore they advise themselves from Amnon's example who first defiled and then reviled his Sister Tamar A tender Conscience saith this Compassionate Enquirer is nothing but either an ignorant or uninstructed mind or a sickly melancholy and superstitious understanding which he might more concisely have described without this vast expense of words A tender Conscienced person is one that has a soft place in 's Head or had he but spoke in plain English as he did in the Definition of Conscience He is a most profound Coxcomb They who preach this Doctrine to the World might with the same labour and almost equal honesty preach God out of the World for whoever would dethrone God from the heart discovers but an impotent Ambition to pluck him down from his throne in Heaven But when they have run through all their vain methods to excusse his soveraignty God will maintain to himself an Authority in the Conscience Nay this will destroy the Magistrates power also in a while for whose sake the Contrivance is pretended for when subjects are once instructed so far to debauch conscience that though we judge an action sinful yet we may do it it will lead to this easy inference that though we judge the Magistrates Commands Lawful yet we may disobey them for as we say when men have got a hole in their hearts one concern will drop through after another without regret When the Italians would call any one Fool with an Emphasis they say He is a Christian Hence forwards when the Devil would shame his modester Servants from cowardise in sinning he has a nickname for them these are your men of tender Consciences And that which has been a Holy Engine of Gods wisdom to secure from sin shall now become the Devils Machine to flish raw novices in it That a tender Conscience is a good Conscience has been hetherto presumed by all our Divines and I never met with a Collect in the Liturgy of any Church that taught us to pray from the great plague of a tender Conscience Good Lord deliver us which yet if it be so great a judgment we may presume they would have done But the Enquirer is of another judgment and perhaps may proselite us with his Reasons 1. Reason Tenderness cannot be taken in the same Latitude with a good Conscience every good man has such a tenderness as to be affraid of sin and to decline the occasions of it If this argument has any strength in it it must be because every good man is a Fool But why I pray cannot a good and a tender Conscience meet in every good man Oh the Reason is this It would be too arrogant and presumptuous for those that plead the tenderness of their Consciences to suppose themselves the only men that make Conscience of what they do But if a tender Conscience be a good Conscience it will be nevertheless good because some unjustly pretend to it or others unjustly revile it Dissenters do not suppose themselves the only men that make a Conscience of what they do It suffices them to enjoy the peace of their own without daring to judge other mens Consciences 2. Reason Because says he Then the contrary to it must be a brawny Conscience Well! what hurt is there in that Soft and hard tender and callâ—…us sensible and brawny have been opposed before this dispute began a heart of stone is opposed to a heart of flesh and would it not be a way of Reasoning well-becoming a Rhethorician to argue a heart of flesh cannot possibly be a good heart the contrary to it then will be a stony heart The whole argument stands thus If a tender Conscience be
Melius Inquirendum Or A SOBER INQUIRIE Into the Reasonings of the Serious Inquirie Wherein The Inquirers Cavils against the Principles his Calumnies against the Preachings and practises Of the NON-CONFORMISTS Are Examined and refelled And St. Augustine the Synod of Dort and the Articles of the Church of England in the Quinquarticular points vindicated Prov. 18. 17. He that is first in his own Cause seemeth just but his Neighbour cometh and searcheth him out Printed 1678. To the Ever and much honoured S. K. Esquire Worthy Sir I Received yours which brought along with it both its own welcome the assurance of your restered health and continued Love and also my own entertainment The serious and Compassionate Inquirie I have now perused it with as much seriousness as 't was written and return'd it with mere clemency then it deserves and must confess my self cast down so much the lower by my disappointments upon the Reading it by how much the flattering title had rais'd me higher to expect from thence mere healing counsels I have read of a Polish Embassador in Queen Hizabeths dayes who at his landing whisper'd it abroad that his Embassy was Peace but when admitted to his Audience threatned a war Her Majesty with invincible patience attended the winding up of his long-winded Oration and then cries out Heu quam decepta fui Legatum expectavi Heraldum accepi I expected a Dove with an Olive branch in his mouth and I tread upon a snake with a menacing sting in his Tail Iust such another treat has your Inquirer given me The Title raised me on tip-tocs to see at length that famous weapon-salve which might consolidate the Churches bleeding wounds but the Book presents me with a weapon ready drawn to render them more wide and more incurable You see Real passion will not long conceal it self under feigned compassion Nemo diu egit Hypocritam A feaverish preternatural heat in the body usually breaks out at the Lips The Crocodiles tears are but a â—…ort formal Grace over his Prey and yet his importunate stomack thinks his throat cut till it be done You are pleas'd indeed to recommend it to me as an Irenic and when I said it had rather the meen of a Military Tactick a friend of ours a little inclinable to be witty replied it was neither the one nor the other but an innocent Game at Ticktack It 's come in fashion again I perceive to Lard lean discourses with grave sentences and therefore that you may not think I am cap't let me remember you of Seneca Infeliciter aegrotat â—…ui plus periculi à medico quam à morbo That Patients case must needs be desperate whose Physitian is a greater plague then his discase And that Church must certainly languish quae nee morbum ferre potest nee remedium that can neither endure the Remedy nor the Malady It 's a sad cheise whether we will die of our wound or our plaister And therefore your great Pretenders might do well to forbear their slighter Applications which do but exasperate the Humour for the more we tamper with improper Means the less success must we expect from those that are proper and proportionable I beseech you Sir answere me with mere seriousness and compassion then this gentleman makes inquiries can you once imagine these Dissenters so irreconciliably sallen out with themselves as to maintein an utter 〈◊〉 to be disputed cut of a prison into Liberty to be argued cut of poverty into plenty out of imminent danger into a safe Retreat Can you really believe them at such deadly sead with their own case and Repose such sworn enemies to their own peace as to be more ambitious of Ruine then 〈◊〉 are of self preservation That they should Court their Miseries with the same passionate Caresses that other 〈◊〉 do their Mistresses that they should run over one anothers Heads for the first grasp of Destruction as if they rod post all upon the switch and spur for a presentation to a warm parsonage that what ever prâ—…mises of fair and honest conveniences are offered yet they are so absurdly obstinate as to hold the Conclusion of self-created vexation Believe it Sir I know you believe it the Non conformists are Men as well as their Neighbours as apprehensive of Trouble as desireus of tranquility They have their Interests and honest concerns too on this side Another world Their backs must be cloathed their families must cat or die and as pudicitiâ formà so conscientiaÌ„ integritate in foro nil emitur A good conscience is not current coyne in this worlds markets It will not purchase one dish of meat though with a good stomack it makes most Excellent sawce and will make the soule a noble feast â—…lone You ought not therefore you cannot entertain a thought sâ—… unreasonable so uncharitable That any thing short of sinning against God and thereby exposing themselves to his displeasure any thing on this side polluting their Consciences and so making their best friend their worst enemy could be a temptation strong enough to prevail with them to expose to apparent hazard what ever they enjoy of accommodation to render their Lives desirable You might perhaps please your self with a thought That the Rhethorick of this Discourse would proselyte one of whose intellectuals you had just cause to think nothing but mean and Contemptible And had I found his Reasons as Cogene as his Style is fluent his Arguments as hard as his words are soft you could not despair of success upon Him who is ever ready to offer himself to be practis'd upon at the satisfaction office But he that would do his work throughly upon an impartial Inquirer must use Arguments of steel as well as words of Oile And the Main thing I complain of in his Declamations is that whilst we surfeit upon Rhetorick we are chapfallen for 〈◊〉 of Reason and the hungry Reader sits picking his teeth like a Spanish Don after an insipid salade as if he had dined upon the oxe at Bartholomew fair If ever you saw the sign of the Porter and Dwarf you have seen the true scale of proportion between his Mellifluous Language and pittiful argumentation And I am resolved that no Importunity shall prevail with me to Accept A well-measured sentence or Laboured period for a Syllogism where two gingling words stand for the propositions And a decent comely Cadence for the Conclusion But this I will freely own that since there is a necessity which yet we know no Reason for that the Nonconformists be Reviled it s some Comfort to be rail'd at in good Language and to meet with Dirty Matter wrapt up in clean linnen And since you will needs have my judgment of the style and dress I shall only say thus much Cum omnis Arrogantia est molesta illa Ingenii Eloquentiae est longè molestissima All Arrogance is indeed nauseous but that of wit and Rhethorick in a polemical treatise is a downright
those of the first Magnitude If indeed all men were soundly cudgell'd into one eâ—…n way of profession and practise they whose design it is to sleep out their dayes in ease might enjoy themselves and their Acquists over Conscience with more soft and delicate touches of carnal contentment dreaming all the while that the world is their own yet still the minds of men would sit as uneasy under â—…h Rigours as he that pinches his body with too straight a 〈◊〉 onely to recommend himself to acceptation by the new and obteining fashion And as we observe an uneasy suit soon becomes an old suite so they that sit pinch't under a straight laced Religious forme do but grumble and make sowâ—… faceâ—… waiting the good hour when they may fairly and honestly diseâ—… themselves of an ungrateful cumber What Advantage this Inquirer may promise to himself from 〈◊〉 a way of writing I cannot Divine The best use I conceivâ—… 〈◊〉 made of it is to support the evil Consciences of the 〈◊〉 of their fury aâ—… such tolerable rates that they may not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 souls in pieces for persecution for Religion â—…s an 〈◊〉 so abhorrent to the common sight of Mankind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thougâ—… for a while perhaps it may contract a Lethargick dâ—…ness yet will awake and mutter and grumble 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…ade a pandar to Coveteousness or malice a 〈◊〉 horse to base Revenge or to held a Candle to the Devil And when it shall begin to lowre and scold it 's no little gain that will make a sop for that barking Cerberus no small see will bribe it to hold its tongâ—…e But now in comes one of these plausible Declamations rending the principles of the Dissenters so silly their grounds so weak their lives so wicked their practises so ridiculous and yet of such treasonable and schismatical Tendencies which â—…uskes the clamour of Conscience and like the jogging of the Cradle rocks the pievish thing asleep again assoon as it begins to whimper Really Sir I cannot but exceedingly pitty and pray for a sort of persons of your own Quality who to their more refined Extract having added all the ornaments of posiâ—…e literature and those more graceful accomplishments fetcht 〈◊〉 by Travel and a frâ—… converse in the world besides that Honour which they have bravely won in the Field and creditably worn at home have yet their judgments so far imposed upon their spirits so imbitter'd by prejudices formed from misrepresentations as to become the instruments of other mens passions in executing those severities which their calmer thoughts and more sedate Advisements must needs Regret And though a true generosâ—… English Temper valiant but not cruel may confidently claime the Magnanimous Lyon Cui satis est prostrâ—…ss as the Embleme of Courage mixt with Clemency for his Crest yet some few of mâ—…re Rigid inclinations will depopulate and lay wast many a mile about them who when they behold an odd kind of Peace as the happy fruits of their cruelties applaud themselves for persons of deep judgment and great success â—…yling Desolation Universal quiet If you ask me why I have not underwritten my Name besides that you know it well enough without my subscription you may be pleas'd to Remember what you once told me That Though Truth needs no Maske she may want a helmet and seeing she desires no better do not grudge her the Covert of Darkness Innocency knows no guilt that should Dye her face with shame yet she apprehends danger which may make her Pale with fear Truth seeks no Corners as to the justice of her cause and yet she may seek a corner as to the injustice of her judge I am not conscious to my self of any evil Design but they who will call Preaching Prating will hardly scruple to call my Ears Hornes and I am not to be judge in the Case I am Confident you commiserate â—…ur hard fate and the unequal Termes our â—…ffing Antagonists impose upon us They chalenge us to a paper duel in the most provoking Language such as would set an edge upon the most obtuse coward If Modesty an ambition for peace or love of retiredness tempt us to decline the Combate we are then Posted up for Cowardise but if we awaken so much spirit as to take up the gauntlet and return the mildest Answere then Trusty R. gets it in the wind and immediately summons his Hamlets raises the whole posse Ecclesiae and Spiritual Militia upon us and strangles the helpless Infant in the Cradle A wary Answere may sometimes steal of the forme before it 's started then comes in Mr. Warden M. the common Hunt whistles out the whole pack of his infallible beagles pursues runs down catches the poor fugitive and then you know to seize a book is the most effectual way to Confute it If one in a thousand has the happy success to escape this Inquisition then the New Smectymnuan Divines or Convocation of the Coffee-house will reply upon it that they will if it was pend with becoming seriousness and gravity they have one Reply This is nothing but whining or Raving if the style be brisk't with a dash or so of facetiousness they have one word ready to Confute it This is Drollery Burlesque buffoonry A blank Imprimatur lay ready every week against poor Robin the doughty second of the Friendly debate and Ecclesiastical Polity creeps abroad and to all bis blasphemies obscaenities scurrilities ribaldries the priviledge underwrites This may be printed If Mr. Sh. goes big with some of his illegitimate Socinian foolcries A Chaplain waits at the door to midwife the brat into the World But if a piece comes out with little zeale for ceremonies though in vindication of the old Doctrine of the Ancient Church of England it expects nothing but Lydford Law first to be condemn'd and afterwards perhaps to be tryed Against all which I see no other remedy but silent complaints or it may be this short Rejoinder Tolle Legem fiat disputatio But I have already given you too much trouble what remains must be mine own to study to be Master of a calm serene submissive frame of heart which may enable me to suffer like a Christian for doing like a Christian And if after all I cannot escape the lash of virulent Tongues and violent hands yet at Least I may not fall under the severer stings of my own Conscience I shall not need to beg of you to give this Paper a Leasurely and impartial perusal 't is so Agreable to your own Nature and that strict Law which your own Wisdome has impos'd upon you Not to pass a final judgment upon any thing before you have duely weighed all things that as I cannot suspect you will decline your constant and fixed Method in my single Case so I can hardly prevail with my self to ask that as a favour which you in justice must needs grant I shall only beg the pardon of this interruption given to your important concernes and if
unchain the Devil and let him loose upon the Englisâ—… Protestants to exercise their Graces and correct their Follies he gave some of them Christian Courage to abide by the tryals to others of them Christian Wisdom to secure themselves by flighâ—… Had all fled the Truth had wanted Witnesses at home for the present had all stay'd the Truth had wanted Successors for the future they that fled found the Care of God attending them and the Mercy of God as a Harbinger going before them to provide them first a Room in the Hearts and then in the Houses of their Brethren Where being emanâ—…ipated from the prejudices of Inâ—…eterate Custom got from under the Dâ—…resse of Imposing Power humbled by afflictions and made more willing to bear the Yoke of Christ and finding the Reforming Churches a tolerable Counterpane of the New Testament Worship many of them not consulting with Flesh and Blood came off from Ceremonies content to Worship God with the same Measure of Decency prescribed and practised by Christ and his Apostles When therefore he tells us that those Fxiles received a Tincture of those other Rites before they had well imbibed or sufficiently understood the Reasons of the Church of England He says no more thaâ—… that the Rationale of the Liturgie and the Compassionate Enquiry were not then written for where else to find the Reasons of the Church for imposing Ceremonies I am yet to seek 2. A second Cause of this evil effect is The bad and incompetent provision made for a learned and able Ministry in the Corporations and generality of the great Parishes in England But before this Incompetency can possibly be remedied it must be known what is a Competency for a Learned Minister for some that are Learned enough are also Able to spend five times more than the people are worth or can spare Two things are here considerable which have exercised our Enquirers politick Head-piece The Grievance and the Redress of the Grievance 1. For the Grievance The multitude of Opinions that deform and trouble the Church are generally hatch'd and nursed in the Corporations and Market Towns Nay not only the dissatisfaction with the Rites and Ceremonies but the conâ—…ulsions and confusions of the State took their Origin from the bad Humours of thâ—…se greater Societies But how easily might all this mischief have been remedied had he pursued his own Primitive Rule of Reformation viz. Modelled the Rites and Government of the Church to the Humours and Customs of the People But his meaning was That Reformation should be accommodated to the Humours of the Villages where the people mind nothing of Religion as he thinks but not of the Market Towns where they are intent upon New Fashions But the Reader must look on these as the lesser sports of his Wit and the dilations of a pregnant Fancy for the true Reason of all the dissatisfaction about those Rites has been the want of good ground for them in the Word of God and the main cause of the troubles that have ensued thereupon has been the unreasonable and unseasonable imposition of them upon the Consciences of Men. But our Enquirer is otherwise minded and he imputes these Conâ—…ns and Confusions § 1. To the Fullness and Luxury of these great Towns Well! have a little patience till he can procure his Proclamation against Trade and to shut up the Shops and that will most effectually take down their Greace and humble their haughty Stomacks and they will grow tame and manageable But then another difficulty will arise how they should maintain a Learned and able Ministry and allow him such a Revenue as he shall confess to be a Competency but is not this inconvenience to be found in the Country Towns and Villages No! They are for the most part quiet and peaceably comply with establish'd Orders for they are tired with hard labour and never trouble themselves noâ—… others but apply themselves to Till the ground and earn their Breat with the sweat of their Brows Let them have liberty to be poor and pay their Tithes and they concern themselves little in Religion or the saving of their Souls they go by the old Rule Si Mundus vult vadere sicut vult Mundus debet vadere sicut vult These Creatures indeed will make fit materials for Uniformity to work upon you may put the Bridle in their Mouths and clap the Saddle on their Backs and ride them till they are broken winded and foundred and they will neither wince nor complain and yet there are some sowr Lads and knotty pieces amongst these too that will not budge a foot nor yield an Ace further than Conscience informed from the Word of God shall command them § 2. In these great Towns they have leasure to excogitate Novelties and Spirit and confidence to abet them and here there is great concourse of people where Notions are more easily started and Parties sooner formed for the defence of them Where the dividing Notions have been most started I cannot infallibly tell but I am sure the richest Corporations find themselves something else to do than to excogitate Ceremonies or other Novelties and whether Convocations have always sat in the great Towns or little Villages is easily determined § 3. The misery of all is That in these great Towns where was most need of the most liberal maintenance so pittiful a Pittance is left to the Curate or Minister that he can scarce afford himself Books to study nor perhaps Bread to eat without too servile a dependance upon the benevolence of his Richer Neighbours by which means either his Spirit is broken with Adversity or the dignity of his Office obscured or he tempted to a sordid â—…nnivance at or complyance with their follies and so like Esau sells his Birthright for 〈◊〉 Mess of Pottage The bottom of the Grievance in plain terms is this If the Clergy could but once procure a Revenue settled hard and faâ—…t upon them to their minds which what it is neither we nor perhaps themselves ever knew had they but more Wealth to support their Grandeur out of the hard labour of the poor drudging Moyls that tug hard night and day to get Bread had they but Midas his Option or Fortunatus his wishing 〈◊〉 that every thing they touch'd might be Gold they would then make the Bleâ—…-aprons Lacquey it and trot to the Courts by their Horse sides and it does them good but to imagine how they would firk their lazy Hides and curry the sâ—…abbed Humour of Non-conformity out of them Thus much of the Malady the Remedy follows 2. The Remedy of this insupportable Grievance in short is this That a Law be made that all Corporations Market Towns and great Parishes provide a Maintenance for the Vicars in proportion to London for till some such course be taken it will be in vain to expect that the Church of England or the best Laws of Religion should either obtain just Venâ—…ration or due Effect So far
year But if we speak with the Vulgar and take this Dignity for some external glory shining out in secular Lusire which is that currant signification which Custom the Master of the Mint has stampt upon It I doubt she will hold up her Head and not be dasht out of Countenance she can prodâ—… her purpuratos patres her Cardinals Princes fellows her Dignitaries she can produce you her Acolytes dancing attendance upon her Decans her Deacons footing it after her Priests her inferiour Clergy boâ—…ing before her mitred Prelates and alâ—… these orderly Reverencing their Metropolitan but then she boasts unmeasurably that she has an Ecclesiastical Head to be the Center of Union to all those so that whether you run up the scale from the poor Ostiary to the Exorcist and so upwards or down the Scale from the supream infallible Noddle moving all the inferiour Wyers she will brazen it out and never hang down her Head 3. The An ient Gravity of our Church reproves theirs I am sorry for the Honour of our Church which I truly Reverence that this Gentleman in vying with Rome should pitch upon those particulars wherein if we do excel and carry the day it will be no such Victory as to challenge a Triumph and yet such is the dubiousness of the case that perhaps we may lose the day I do not yet hear that Rome has disclaimed Antiquity to be one of the marks of the true Church and know something of her presumption in applying into her self Let any Antiquity short of Scripture Epocha be fixt upon and she will make a sorry shift to scramble through many a tiresome Century and scuffle to come as near the Apostolical days as some others Both sides I think have play'd at the game of Drop-father so long till they are weary and forced to confess that some things now in usage were unknown to the Fathers and many things practised by the Fathers which we have silently suffered to grow obsolete by desuetude I look upon these things as matters of course and form to look big and set the best foot before for if ever we confute Rome with an Army of hard words Decency Order Antiquity Gravity they must be such as the Word of God has made so It must be a Decency warranted by God himself either from the Light of Nature or Scripture an Order of Christs Establishment a Gravity exemplified from the Apostles and an Antiquity which was from the Beginning and when Scripture is once made sole Umpire in the Quarrel As the Church of England will certainly run the Papist out of all distance so the Non-conformist will begin to put in his stake and perhaps win the Plate § 2. If you ask how the Church of Rome undermines our Church he answers 1. She furnishes other parties with Arguments against it It were much easier to evince that the Euquirer has rather borrowed his Arguments from Rome then Rome lent one to the Non-conformists I think there 's not one Arrow he can shoot against them but I can shew him where 't was borrow'd or shotten from a Jesuites Quiver where was that Argument taken from Axes Halters Pillories Galleys Prisons Consiscations as some express it or as he more concisely Executing the Laws borrow'd but from Rome The Scripture knows it not the better sort of Heathens abhorr'd it Protestants disown it Papists only glory in it Uterejure tuo Caesar sectamque Lutheri Ense Rotâ Ponto Funibus igne Neca And whence was that argument for Active unlimited Obedience to all things commanded by the Church borrowed for though it becomes no mouth so well as his that can boast of Infallibility yet still we are pressed with the same Argument and in the last resort Publick Conscience must carry it I am sorry this imprudent person should give any one occasion to say further that some of us at home have furnisht Rome with Arguments against the Reformation Arguments from the Scripture Rome has none from the nature of the thing not one but some have put into their Hands a left-handed Dagger which does mischief enough it 's called Argumentum ad Hominem Thus when we are earnest with them to throw away their Oil and Cream they bid us throw away our Cross If we desire her to reform her Cowles and Copes she calls to us to reform our Surplice When we in a friendly way caution them not to feed upon the Devils flesh they answer As good eat his flesh as the Broth he was boiled in 2. She is all for blind Obedience at home but preaches up tenderness of Conscience abroad And what the difference is between blind Obedience and Obedience meerly on the account of the Command I would willingly learn And if any can shew us a better reason for the things commanded and enjoyned then that we shall return him thanks If I might now borrow the Enquirers place so long as whilst I propounded a few Enquiries I would immediately resign to him his Province § 1. If the enmity between the two Churches be so great as is pretended what was the reason that so many Stars of the first magnitude in this Orb were in Conjunction with the Dragons Tail why were they so ready to yield him his Western Patriarchate and all within the first four hundred years which will at once bring England under his Subjection though I much question whether the Grand Seignior will have so much good nature as to resign him the Eastern Patriarchate so easily § 2. If the Church of Rome be this Churches Enemy is she not then concerned to get more Churches to be her Friends It 's a wild Humour of some Church-men that they will disoblige all the world provoking every ones hand against themselves whilst their hand is against every one If Rome be an Enemy she is a potent malicious subtle and United Enemy and it concerns a Church not to be divided at home when her Enemies are united abroad and to combine with the forreign Protestants in Love were an excellent way to prevent the Combinations of Romes hatred § 3. It would be enquired If Rome be such an Enemy what should be that which provokes her wrath and indignation what that should be that makes the envious Snakes wherewith Antichrists head is periwigg'd to hiss and spit out their Venom Does she Storm and Rage because we have retained two or three of her fine Ceremonies that cannot be the Origin of her spight They are those things wherein the Church of England and Non-conformists are mutually agreed that Rome opposes this Church in and they are those things wherein this Church symbolizes with Rome wherein she differs most from the Non-conformists When the Heathens triumphed in the great feats of their Maximus Tyrius and Apollonius Tyanaeus the Christians answered That whatever good effect their Religion ever had upon the Lives of Men was owing to those Principles and Truths which it had in Common with Christianity Thus will Dissenters plead
say that they ought not to separate but when non-separation is sinful but then they say that non-separation may be sinful upon other accounts then the apparent breach of the divineLaw made the terms of entring into or continuing in communion for say they it is our sin if a Church retains some corroptions in it which prejudice edification and she shall resolve never to make any alteration in her worship or discipline nor make any further progress towards a through Reformation not to provide for my self elsewhere and having opportunity I sin if I take not accept not the advantage which providence offers me and wherein the word warrants me And yet he wonders that any doubt should be admitted in this Case Let me advise him to beware of Excessive wonderment they say it will make a man as lean as a rake but what 's the Cause of his admiration Why some think to wash their hands of the Imputation of Schism upon other terms as namely if a Church shall not require such terms of Communion as are Expresly sinful yet if she shall require indifferent unnecessary or at most suspected things that in this case there is enough to Excuse the person that shall separate from a participation of this sin There are some no doubt of that judgment and when I have praelibated a few things he shall have his full blow at them § 1. That when they joyn issue upon this point 't is not because they are satisfyed that the things required unto Communion as the antecedent conditions of it or to be practised in communion as the mattor of it are indifferent in their use and application for they are ready to maintain it upon equal laws before equal Judges that they are sinful in their use antecedent to their imposition but the true reasons why they use this place are 1. Ex abundanti thinking that their very outworks are impregnable against his batteries 2. Out of respect to this Church which they highly honour and reverence her too much then to charge her flatly with sinful impositions and therefore do offer this state of the question and are hardly capable of so much incivility to so considerable a body and so great a part of the visible Catholick Church unless the importunity of some modest men did extort that answer from them 3. They doubt whether some Churchmen will be Masters of so much patience as to bear freedome though temperateness of speech which is absolutely necessary to the manadging the Controversy when thus stated and have reason to fear that some who provoke them to assert the sinfulness of the terms will make such an Assertion an unpardonable sin not to be expiated without if with Martyrdom § 2. When he states the question about things suspected to be sinful I hope he will give them the common civility to draw up their own plea in their own terms and to â—…xpâ—…ane what they mean by suspected things in the question because they are not compelled to maintain Every proposition which he in his well known charity shall obtrude upon them A practâ—…se thâ—…n may be taken upon suspicion of sinfulness two wayes first upon light slighty trivial grounds of suspicion which have no wâ—…ight with a serious and rational Considerer Or 2dly upon violent presumptions such as may sâ—…agger a person of good judgment and diligence and 't is these that they are willing to argue it with him whether if a Church shall impose such things as the terms of Communion with her as have or do or may puzzle judicious persons about their Lawfulness and cannot clear it up to their Consciences that they are Lawful yet they may not forbear Communion in this Case § 3. They desire the same justice in Explaning themselves about the term indifferent A thing may be indifferent in its own nature which is not so in its use as applyed to and practised in the Immediate worship and service of God If the things under debate be found upon diligent search to remain indifferent after they are vested with all their circumstances in Gods Worship they have no quarrel against them that I know of but if they be only indifferent in their own general nature they desire to be Excused if they dare not admit the consequence that therefore they must needs be so when used in Gods worship and then made the terms of Communion § 4. Unnecessary things may be either such as are absolutely unnecessary or such as are hypothetically so some things that are not absolutely and in themselves necessary yet may become necessary proâ—…ic nunc even antecedent to the interposition of the Churches Authority And Dissenters say that what ever the Church shall impose ought to be necessary either in it self or by concurrent Circumstances which when they shall conspire together may be by a Lawful Authority Enjoyned pro tempore that is so long as such necessity shall continue which when once removed the things ought to return into their former Classis of Indifferents § 5. When they deny the Churches power of imposing things Expresly sinful they deny also a power of imposing things sinful by just consequence They judge many things sinful which are not forbidden 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Scriptures and many things duties which are not Litterally and Syllabically commanded in the Scriptures They say not that the sign of the Crosse was ever by name prohibited but they say there are undoubted maximes laid down in the word from which it will undeniably follow that in its present station in the Church it is sinful And now he may when he pleases speak his three things which if they be pertinent and proved as strongly as they are spoken confidently I am content 1. His first say consists of a Conceâ—…ion and an Assertion § 1. His Concession I willingly acknowledge that such a Church as shall studiously or carelesly clog her communion with unnecessary burdensom and suspected conditions is very highly to blame that is the sins but that it became not him to tell her so and then I will venture to say a few words also 1. If it be the Churches sin to command unnecessary burdensom suspect Conditions It cannot be my duty to obey A Church may possibly sin in the manner of her Command and yet I not sin in doing the matter of the Command but when the sins in the Enjoyning I cannot conceive how it should be my sin not to give obedience for I look upon my duty as the result of the Churches Authority and wherein she has no Authority it will be impossible to find a foundation upon which to build my duty All Offices of Justice arise from that relation wherein he that claims and he that yeelds subjection stand to each other And where there 's no relation there can be no relative duty now in this case before us where the Church has no power to command nay where she sins if she commands so far she is none
fit Protestant or Papist and indeed any School-Boy that has a Theme or Declamation to compose That the Causes of separation from the Church of Rome were pregnant every way clear and evident we do therefore agree And that the Reasons of separation from the Church of England are not so great but then neither is the separation so great for as we agree in the fundamental Articles of Religion so we may quickly agree in all the rest when some of a more fiery temper will let their Mother Alone to exercise to all her Children such an Indulgence as is agreeable to their various Measures of light in lesser concerns But says our Author It 's quite otherwise in the Church of England For. 1. No man here parts with his faith upon Conformity But I am afraid they must part with it or they will hardly be accepted Their faith is that the Lord Christ is the only Lawgiver of his Church that the Scriptures are the adequate and Commensurate Rule of all Religious Worship and if they do not part with thus much of their faith they must live in a Contradiction to it but perhaps he may understand their faith better then they themselves 2. No man is bound to give away his Reason for Quietness sake Then I know who was mistaken p. 64. who tells us That since the peace of the Church often depends upon such points as Salvation does not and since in many of those every man is not a Competent judge but must either be in danger of being deceived himself and of troubling others or of necessity must trust some body else wiser then himself she recommends in such a case as the safer way for such private persons to comply with publick determinations And we may assure our selves of our Enquirers good nature in this particular who condemnes Virgilius for asserting the Antipodes though it were demonstrably true and the contrary impossible And then I am afraid we must sacrifice our Reason to Peace and rather subscribe like Brutes then run the risque of being perscuted like Men. 3. A man may be as holy and good as he will The goodness and holiness of a Christian lyes very much in using Holy Means for Holy Ends Gods Holy Ordinances in order to Holiness in the Habit and Complexion of the Soul He that may not use the means of Holiness when he will may not be as Holy as he will but as Holy as he can without them He that will use all the means of God in order to that great end it may possibly cost him more then he would willingly lose for any cause but that of righteousness Methought it was an odd sight t'other day to see a Grave Divine in his Canonical Habit marching With a Brace of Informers piping hot on either Hand the one like the Gizzard the other the Liver stuck under the wings of his Sacerdotal Habiliments from one of his Rectories to the other to give Disturbance to a Company of poor Innocent people that would have been a little more holy if they might when this is reformed I 'le believe that the more of Holiness appears the better Churchmen we are reputed 4. This Church keeps none of her Children in an uncomfortable estate of darkness for we must know that there 's a twofold estate of darkness a comfortable and an uncomfortable estate Now the Comfortable estate of darkness lyes in trusting others submitting our private to the publick wisdom this is that blessed state whereinto he would wish his best friends But the unconfortable state is that Remedy which is Practised in Spain and Italy for the Cure of Church Divisions An excellent Remedy it is but it comes too late to do any good here The difference between them was observed before either to be born blind or made blind to have no Conscience or prohibited to exercise it to have no eyes or not to use them and in my private opinion there 's no great comfort in either of them 5. She debars none of her Members of the comfort and priviledges of Christs Institutions Some that have struggled with a doubting Conscience have attested the contrary but however she may possibly debar some of those priviledges and comforts that would have been her Members because they dare not give the price she rates those priviledges and comforts at 6. She recommends the same Faith the same Siriptures that the Protestants are agreed in Yes but then she recommends those Ceremonies to boot in which Protestants neither are nor ever will be agreed in We do therefore seriously triumph that the Church of England with the Protestants are also fully and perfectly agreed that they have not only the same God and Christ but the same Object of Worship too though I know not wherein God and the object of worship differ the same way of Devotion in a known Tongue the same Sacraments the same Rule of Life which are all the great things wherein the Consciences of men are concerned To which I shall need to say no more but that we in the General profess our owning of all these and yet our differences be very considerable but let our Consciences be concerned about no other no other Sacraments no other Rule of Life no other Devotion and what is necessary to reduce all these into practice and I can assure him Dissenters will flock a pace into the bosome of the Church He promises us now that he will faithfully and briefly recite the matters in difference And I confess for brevity he has performed his promise well enough but for his fidelity the Dissentets sadly complain of him I shall therefore crave the liberty to use a little more prolixity and I shall endeavour to compensate it with much more fidelity to reciting the material points wherein we differ As § 1. Whether a Minister ordained according to the appointment of the Gospel to the exercise of the whole Ministerial work may without sin consent that a main part of his Office be statedly and totally taken out of his hands and his work Cantoned at the will of another § 2. Whether any Church has power from Christ to appoint in and over it self or Members any Officers specially distinct from those Christ hath ordained § 3. Whether any Church hath authority from Christ to institute any other Ordinances of fixed and constant use in the Church then Christ hath instituted § 4. Whether it be an apparent invasion of and open reproach to the Regal Office of Christ for any Society of his to institute either new Officers or new Offices for the Govorning and Administring that Society which the head hath not allowed § 5. Whether it be not the duty of every particular Church to conform all the worship and administration of Religion to the Laws of their Institution and that whatever is not so Conformed be not a Corruption which ought to be Reformed by those Laws § 6. Whether if a Church shall peremtorily refuse to remove such
Monsieur de la Motte In his late Motives to his conversion p. 108. 109. D'oâ—… vient done disent ils qu'il y a si peu de personnes qui quitent la Religion Romaine que de ceux qui l'ont quitée pour embrasser la Protestante on en voit une grando partie qui y retonrnent qui font comme on dit leur Recantation Whence comes it say the Romanists that so few quit the Roman Religion and that of those who have forsaken it to embrace that of the Protestant we see many that Return back and as we say make their Recantation To which he gives this Answer Ie pourrois â—…lleguer mille Raisons particuliers pour lesquelles plusiturs illustres Protestans ont 〈◊〉 Religion en France quin'est plus à la mode dit on â—…n ce Païs-là â—…nt embrassé la Romaine je dis seulement en general ce qu'il est facile de remarquer dans les particulieres que â—…'est l'interest qui les ment les retient qui les fait changer quiles empeche de rechanger I could give a thousand particular Reasons for which some eminâ—…nt Protestants have â—…uited their Religion in France which say they is Now no longer the mode in our Country and have Embraced the Romain Faith But I only say this in general which is very easy to Observe in the particulars That it is meer Interest that Allures them first and then fixes them That makes them change and then hinders them from a Rechange The pension of a thousand Crowns as he goes on which they promise to a Minister in Case he will renounce his calling is a most violent temptation § 3. I could tell the Enquirer of those that have deserted their station in the Church of England and have given their Reasons for it and embraced a persecuted Reformation I could tell him of many young Schollers eminent for piety and learning who have rather chosen a retired estate and mean Condition then those allurements which would make many a mouth water at them But let every man stand or fall to his own Master I am not qualified to judge either way but this I will say that whosoever shall Reason the one way or other will find his Argument Inconclusive and I have known so much in my small Observation and known some men too well then either to be much Confirmed in my judgment by their presence or stagger'd by their Absence 3 There are men of as clear understanding as good life and as Comfortable consciences in the society of this Church as are any There else to be found And if I should say there are Persons of as clear understanding as good life end as Comfortable consciences in the society of the Non-conformists as are any where else to be found I should discover a vanity equal to that of the Enquirer I cannot be of every mans Religion that is of a much clearer understanding then my self unless I resolve to be of twenty Contradictory Religions at once Nor can I judge it my duty to Imitate every one of a holy life further then in his Holiness Nor of every mans way that pretends to a Comfortable Conscience in his way because I see some fitch in Comfort to their Consciences from the greatest provocations or grossest delusions Besides it 's no part of the clearness of mens understandings to be wiser then the Scriptures or to study Reasons why they ought to destroy all that are not of the same Intellectual stature with themselves Nor does it add to their Holiness that they can persecute others whose lives are Holy Nor to the solid Comsort of their Consciences that they endeavour to weaken the Comfort of other mens and I will further add that since my own Conscience can only directly witness to my self it can never be allowed Credence with Another if I deny it its proper work and Office in Another But we have met with this Braggadochian Pyrgopolinias before whether the Reader is referred if at least he shall judge so inconsiderable a Trifle to merit further Consideration 4 The things objected against this Church are but at most disputable Matters because all wise and good men are not Agreed upon them but that which is sub judice and yet under dispute cannot be called evil till the dispute is ended and the decision made against it To which I crave leave to Answer 1. That then some of the greatest and most important points in Religion must be called disputable seeing all wise men and some good men are not Agreed upon them 2. If the matters he still sub judice and cannot be called evil till the dispute be ended why are the Non-conformists Executed before condemnation for I hope he arrogates no such partial Tribunal to himself that the things in controversy shall be reputed undecided when he would justify the one and yet decided when he would Condemn the other 3. We say the things are already decided by Scripture long ago if that may be Judge and if any other Judge be set up the Condemned party will appeal thether as the Highest Court of Judgment in matters relating to Conscience and the Immediate worship of God where alone they ought to be Judged 5 The things scrupled in this Church are such as the like may be found and Complained of in any Church of the whole world at least since the Apostles times To which I say 1. That I have been too much beaten to the Game then to be Overborn by the Enquirers Daring Confidence and do smoothly deny the Matter of Fact Many particular Churches may be found at this day where Mystical Ceremonies are not found much less made the Terms of Communion But he has two wide Creep holes at which he will escape 1. That we choose wath National Church we will It seems then A particular Church and a National Church are Terms that Measure each other And thus if we instance in the Ancient Albigenses Waldenses or the present French Churches he may reject the issue because they are not National Churches And all the Churches for three hundred years after Christ because they were not National 2. He will undertake this taske If he may have the History and knowledg of that Church whatever it be or was since the Apostles times as we have of this I Commend his discretion 〈◊〉 knows it difficult to get the Church-History of other National Churches so full as we have of our own 2. If the Churches in the Apostles times had none of these things now scrupled we shall rather chuse and such choise is our Duty to Conform to their patterns then any junior and more green-headed Constitutions They are the Apostolical times and Churches of whose constitutions we have infallible Records which we propound for our Exemplars and he will be tryed by Any Others if we will bate him them for which we thank him I am now expecting a serious Proposition and he
will bestow competent wisdom for the discharge of it but yet am I not to presume so unmeasurably of any ones wisdom as to resign up my Faith and Conscience with the disposal of Gods worship without more a do to it If God had given him Authority to determine these matters I should not have been concern'd to Question his wisdom Gods Command had superseded my little scruples and though he had miscarried in his prudential Decision I should have received the praise of subjection but till such Authority do appear I shall sâ—…t down on this side such prâ—…sumption though somewhat beyond despair If the Reader has any pitty left he may do charitably to bestow a little of it upon me that must be obliged to answer all the Sentences and Apothegms in wits-commonwealth and yet to this drudgery I shall patiently submit â—…ill I am quite tyred and then Resign this Province 1 It 's enough says he to warrant and require our obedient that the thing is the Command of our Superiour and not beyond the Sphâ—…re of his Authority That Religion is within the Magistratâ—… Sphâ—…re I have freely owned but not to all intents and purposes not to pluck up what God has planted not to plant what God has pluckt up Substantials and Circumstantials are all within his Sphaere but not to do what he pleased withal As all Persons with their Civil concerns are within the Magistrates Sphâ—…re their lives Liberties and estates all come under his cognizance and yet there are some great Lawyers and Loyal subjects who think they are not within his Sphâ—…re to dispose of them at pleasure so are all the conncerns of Religion within his Sphaere too to preserve not to destroy to propagate not to alter to encourage not to innovate in the worship of God for All power is for edification not destruction Every Christian has Religion within his sphaere that is he has a concern in it but no concern over and above it Tota Religio but not Totum Religionis as Totus Homo yet not Totum Hominis are within the reach of Magistracy He has a power to secure Religion Religion is therefore within his sphaere but he has none to make new Religion or a new part of Religion that therefore is out of his sphaere nor will it excuse me to God his word and my own conscience blindly to obey in every thing some whereof may be out of his sphaere because he has a power to command somethings which are within his sphaere The true Ancient Protestants of this Church with no less zeal then success defended the Princes Power and supremacy against all the claims of Rome and yet never ascribed such a power to him as might shackle Conscience and dispose of Religion at pleasure I shall give the Reader a tast from the learned Bishop Bilson who dedicates his book to Q Eliz and it came abroad Cum Privilegio Dial p. 533 534 535. c. The Discourse is between a Papist and a Protestant Philander If the Queen establish any Religion you are bound by your â—…ath to obey it whatsoever it be Theophilus We must not rebel not take Armes against the Prince as you affirm you may but with reverence and humility serve God before the Prince Phil. Then is not the Prince supream Theo. Why so ' Phil. Your selves are Superiour you will serve whom you list Theo. As though to serve God according to his will were to serve whom we list and not whom all Princes and others ought to serve Phil. But you will be Iudges when God is well served and when â—…t Theo. If you can excuse us before God when you mislead us we will serve whom you appoint us otherwise if every Man shall answer for himself good Reason he be Master of his own Conscience in that which toucheth him so near and no man can excuse him for Phil. This is to make every private man supream Iudge of Religion Theo. The poorest wretch that is may be supream Governour of his own heart Princes rule the Publick and external actions of their Countries but not the Consciences of men Phil. Would you have such Confusion suffered in the Church that every Man should follow what he list Theo. I would not have such presumption and wickedness brought into the Church that Christ and his Word should be subjected to the wills or voices of Mortal men For though the whole World should pronounce against him or it God will be true and all men shall be lyars Phil. No more would we Theo Why then restrain you Truth to the Assemblies and sentences of Popes and Praelates as though they must be gently entreated and fairly offer'd by Christ before he might attempt or expect to recover his own Phil. We would have things done orderly Theo. Call you that Order where Christ shall stand without doors till your Clergy shall consent to bring him in Phil. God is not the Author of Confusion but of Peace Theo. It 's no Confusion for one Family yea for one Man to serve God though all the Families and men of the same Realm will not Ioshua said to the people If it seem evil to you to serve the Lord chuse you whom you will serve but I and my house will serve the Lord. Elias was left alone for any that he saw willing to serve God in Israel and yet abated not his Zeal Micheas alone opposed himself against 400. Prophets with what judicial Authority can you tell Amos neither spared Ieroboam the King not Amaziah the Priest and yet he was but a simple Heards-man and not so much as the Son of a Prophet Iohn Baptist had no Competent Jurisdiction over the Scribes and Pharisees that saâ—… in Moses his chair and yet he condemned them for a Generation of Vipers The Counsels where Peter Stephen Paul were convened accused and punisht lacked none of your Judicial formalities and yet the Apostles stoutly both resisted and condemned their Deliberative and Definitive sentences Phil. The Apostles Commission we know but yours we know not Theo. You cannot be Ignorant of ours if you know theirs so long as we preach the same Doctrine that they did we have the same power and Authority which they had keep your Competent Jurisdictions Judicial Cognitions and Legal Decisions to your self The Son of God first founded and still gathereth his Church by the mouths of his Preachers not by the summons of Consistories He that is sent to preach may not hold his tongue and tarry till my Lord the Pope and his Mitred Fathers can intend to meet and list to consent to the ruine as they think of their Dignities and Liberties Phil. Deshise you Counsels Theo. By no means so long as they be Counsels that is sober and free Conferences of Godly and learned Teachers but if they wax wanton against Christ and will not have the Truth received until they have consented we reject them as Conspiracies of the wicked which no Christian ought to
Reverence But will you suffer God to make Laws for his Church Phil. What else Theo. And may not every private Man embrace those Laws which God hath made whosoever say nay Phil. He must Theo. What if some Bishops will not agree they shall must the Prince and people cease to serve God till the Clergy be better minded Phil. In matters of Faith the Prince and lay-Lords have no voices Theo In making Laws they had Phil. True But Laws for Religion they might not prescribe Theo. No more might Bishops It 's only Gods Office to appoint how he will be served Phil. Gods will must be learned at the Mouths of the Bishops Theo. They must Teach leaving always the Liberty to the Prince and people to examine their Doctrine and avoid their errour and if they teach not Truth the Prince and people may expel them I shall now leave it to the Determination of the Impartial and unprejudiced Reader whether he that was then the Protestant would not now be the Fanatick and whether he that makes our Enquirers Objections would not have passed for a Catholick of the Roman edition in those days 2 Humility says he requiring that we think meanly and modestly of our own Reasons Charity that we judge favourably of anothers and Prudence that we think best of the Magistrates all these together make it our duty not only to obey but to do it with all chearfulness imaginable Ans. 1. No humility teaches me in the matters of eternal salvation to put out my own eyes to see with anothers spectacles my Neighbours eyes may be clearer and stronger then mine yet mine are mine own He that has better eyes then I has this happiness that he may direct himself better but yet he would direct me worse without the use of my own A Christians own Reason informed from Gods Word is the immediate guide of His steps in all acceptable obedience to and walking with God Blind obedience in this case is no obedience Humility teaches me to think my self a Man and therefore may err but not a Brute which cannot but err It neither teaches me to Revere any Creature as my God nor to despise my own Intellectuals as if I were a beast 2. Though Charity Command me to judge favourably of anothers spiritual estate for the present his eternal state for the future yet it Commands me not to neglect making provision for my own It Commands me to love another as my self and therefore nor above my self I cannot expect another should be true if I prove false to my own soul. It 's a blind charity and only fit for the Hospital that would make me of every mans Religion of whom it teaches me to judge favourably for at this rate I must be of twenty Religions and perhaps one half of them together by the ears with the other half Charity will heal the evil eye and make it good but not put it out 3. Charity teaches me to think best of the Magistrates Reason in Common Kingdoms but better of Scripture Reason in the territory's of Conscience And prudence will dictate to me that God who has placed him in his Political Orbe will provide an Intelligence to move that Sphaere regularly for Qua supranâ—…s nihil ad nâ—…s but no Prudence will teach me to espouse a Religion because 't is his but because it approves it self to the Test and touch-stone of all Religion the word of God I could learn better Divinity from an honest Heathen then this stuff Pliny has given us this Rule Cantissimi cujusque praceptum Quod dubitas ne feceris And Tully Quocirin benè praecipiunt qui vetant quicquam agere quod dubites aequum sit an iniquum They preach true Doctrine who warn you not to do any thing whereof you doubt whether it be good or evil And though such a prudence as he has described may contingently do me no great hurt at home yet it will make me a Papist in Italy a Mâ—…ssulman at the Port a Heatheen in China or rather every where just Nothing 3 It 's a Common mistake to think Charity and Compassion only due from Governurs to their inferiours in the frame and composure of their Laws for it 's due also from inferiours towards them and that they â—…ake a fair and canaid construction of their injâ—…nctions The duty is reciprocal without doubt but with great difference 〈◊〉 we pitty and pray for our Superiours under their burdens of Government and expect only pitty from them under our loads of subjection And though we account subjection no servile yoke yet 't is a yoke as Bernard in another case Dulce quidem conjâ—…gium est jugum sed tamen jugum And yet a compassionate tenderness towards inferiours in those things wherein God has tyed up Conscience is an abundant recompense for all that subjection we would willingly part with all that is properly our own to secure that which is properly Gods And though Magistrates are strictly above our pitty and compassion yet we hope we are not be low theirs If they call for our pitty in any case 't is to see them tormented with the importunate sollicitations of one part of their subjects to destroy the other As it must needs be an unspeakable affliction to a Father to be harrassed by some of his Children to Abnegate and disinherit the rest As 't is a great injury to the Son to endeavour to monopolize his beams to the Fountain to impropiate it's streams when the one would shine indifferently the other flow impartially towards all so is it a great Trouble to a generous Prince to have his favours intercepted his Royal grace under sequestration that he cannot equally influence the whole Body of which the grace of God has made him Head Nor do we dare to judge our Superiours but our selves Not their intentions but our own Actions which if we may not do better it were to be devested of these cumbersom Reasons of ours which therefore serve to encrease our misery because they teach us what it is to be Happy To make a candid interpretation of their Actions we own our Duty and as we suppose they steer by the light of their own judgments so we hope they will indulge us to Act by ours If we mistake we wrong our selves if our mistakes should wrong them we submit to correction If they mistake we must wait under the inconveniences of the effects of that mistake till the Father of Lights shall inspire other Counsels only let us Remember that it is the Princes Glory to be Rex Hominum non Asinorum nec Angelorum 4 The Scriptures says he call the Magistrates Masters of Restraint 18. Judg. 17. And it 's amongst their most glorious Titles the least of which if any may be called little we Revere And it will be their immortal honour to restrain wicked men from doing evil if they cannot restrain them from being evil It was a flower in Jobs Coronet 29. Ch. 17.
any man I do as much as in me by alter the nature of indifferent things For things sinful can never be done Duties must always be performed in due time and place and indifferent things should be indifferently used as present Circumstances invite Prudence and Charity to determine but when once they are predetermined I can no more do an indifferent thing then if it had been sinful or no more omit an indifferent act then if it had been necessary 3. By such a fixed predetermination of my liberty I ascribe more to man in his positive precepts then to God in his affirmative moral precepts for the Acts of such Commands may be suspended pro hic Nunc when they obstruct some great Good but in this case I must act uniformly without respect to circumstances let thousands be offended stumbled wounded in Conscience and prejudiced against Religion And in short by such Resignation of my liberty in is't exercise I have reduced my self to that imaginary Liberty of Opinion that dreaming freedom which the Lollards enjoyed in their Tower and the poor Protest ants in Bonners Cole-hole 7 When Christian Charity commands me to forbear the use of the thing which otherwise is within the Charter of Christian Liberty to use and at the same time the Christian Magistrate shall command me to to practise that very thing by a fixed Law I humbly conceive that Christian Charity ought to restrain my Liberty not to act rather then the Commands of the Magistrate enforce me to act 1. Because the restraint which Charity puts upon me will soon determine and â—…pire but the Command of the Magistrate is perpetual 2. The restraint which Charity puts upon me is internal and so agreable to and consistent with the greatest Freedom and Liberty but the restraint put upon me by the Magistrate is external and compulsory which comports not with my inward liberty for if he deals meerly by his will and authority that suits not with my reason and therefore has in it the nature of force But if the Magistrate should deal by Argument then when a stronger appears to act according to his precept then that drawn from the good of my Neighbour by Charity Christian Liberty may be free and yet obey provided always that that argument be taken from the nature of the thing commanded and not from the naked commands 3. The weak Christian for whose sake Charity commands me to forbear acting is one that cannot prevent his own weakness his stumbling scruples and aptness to be wounded but he that commands me to act may prevent recal or suspend his own Edict in that which in it's own nature is indifferent And God has commanded me not to offend my weak Brother by the use of indifferent things but he has no where commanded the Magistrate to impose indifferent things which become not some way or other necessary 4. It seems a most horrid thing to interpret Scriptures at this rate That I should be commanded to walk Charitably till I am commanded to walk uncharitably And forbidden to destroy him for whom Christ dyed by my indifferent things till I am enjoyned to destroy him Not to wound weak consciences till I am commanded to wound them Thus shall Moral precepts be avoyded by humane positive Laws which cannot be superseded by the Divine positive Laws And if one may be thus enervated the whole Dâ—…calogue has no firm station And thou shalt not make to thy self a graven Image may be eluded by this till we are commanded by Authority and I am somewhat confident the foundation laid by the Enquirer will bear that superstructure It is therefore a most approbrious and invidious charge with which he begins this discourse All that we have hetherto discoursed about the power of the Magistrate some think may be avoided by pleading the Magna Charta of Christian Liberty for though it may be pleaded against some power that may possibly be assumed yet against none wherewith he stands ' endowed by the Law of Nature or Scripture nor indeed against any useful power for the attaining the great ends of Government publick peace and tranquillity The Church of England in her avowed Doctrine asserts that Christ has ordained in his Church two Sacraments generally necessary to Salvation now we conceive that having a Right as Christians to all the Ordinances of Christ necessary to Salvation ChristianLiberty may plead the enjoyment of all thoseOrdinances upon those naked Terms Christ has offâ—…r'd them to Mankind This is our Maegna Charta And if any shall encumber that Communion with new clogs provisoes restrictions and limitations we plead our Petition of Right which if it be denyed us our Christian Liberty is so far violated Nor do we deny the Magistrate a Power about our Christian Liberty If any shall turn this Liberty into licenciousness he may restrain them Nay he may restrain the Liberty it self where God has not praeengaged us to restrain it And he will eminently employ his power for Christ when he exerts it to assert and vindicate to all his loyal Subjects the free use of that great Charter And if encroaching violence shall make a forcible entry upon that priviledge whereof we are in quiet and peaceable possession we shall complain of the force to him who will remove it and reinvest us in our Christian freehold whereof Christ has made the purchase with his own blood Two things there are which the Enquirer has lustily promised us and therefore we may confidently expect from him first that he will give us the true notion and secondly the due extent of Christian Liberty and he has freed his name pretty well for first he has made it a meer notion and then layd an extent upon it that is he has seized it into his own hands upon pretence for the Magistrates use 1 And first for his true notion for none cry stinking Mackerel there are two things also very considerable the liberality of his Concessions and the Policy of his Retractations He makes us fair lange Deeds but with a secret Power of Revocation frustrates all so that when we come to cast up our accounts we must say with that Bewildred Clyent in the Comadian when he had advised with his brace of Advocates Probèfecistis incertior sum multò quam duâ—…m 1 For his Concessions they are truly noble and generous and such as would heal us all § 1. Concession p. 88. When the Gospel was fully published then the aforesaid enclosure is laid open and all Nations invited into the Sociâ—…ty of the Church upon equal Terms neither party being bound to those nice Laws of Moses nor to any other but those plain and reasonable ones contained in the Gospel This is certainly the great year of Iubilee And will he not deserve to be shut out for ever that shall refuse so free an invitaâ—…ion Is he a reasonable Creature that refuses the plain and reasonable Terms of Communion contained in the Gospel what a
Iezabels Policy was to make Naboth more then he desired to be that he might be really less then he deserved to be 1. King 21. 9. Proclaim a Fast and set Naboth on high among the people and set two men Sons of Belial to bear false witness against him saying Thou didst blaspheme God and the King then carry him out and stone him that he may dye This Conscience says he is thought to have not only a priviledge but a kind of praerogative to carry with it an exemption from all humane Laws but especially Ecclesiastical it pretends to be Gods peculiar and exempt from any inferiour Cognizance Nay it looks like a Dictatorian Authority and seems to be Legibus soluta This they would make us believe can limit the Magistrate null Laws forbid execution and which is more change the very nature of things and make that good and holy which was wicked and rebellious before This can Canonize any Opinion Legitimate any Action warrant any extravagancy in the person that owns it Whatsoever he thinks can be no Heresy and whatsoever he does can be no sin In which charge he has sprinkled here and there a word of Truth for he that would be believed in a great falshood must be sure to intersperse some little verities Conscience is a most Absolute Monarch indeed if it has all these praerogatives but this is the great praerogatives of his own Conscience to bear salfe witness against his Neighbour and if we may call things by their proper Names by unworthy scandalous insinuations sinister reflexions and false accusations against Dissenters to provoke the Magistrate to proscribe them as Out-Laws But I answer § 1. The highest Immunities I ever met with ascribed to Conscience are in Bishop Saunderson a most Zealous stickler for Ceremonies Serm. on 14. Rom 23. There cannot says he be imagined a higher contempt of God then for a Man to despise the power of his own Conscience which is the highest under Heaven as being Gods most immediate Deputy for the Ordering his life and ways 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Could the Heathen say Conscience is a God to all men which is somewhat a higher Note then the Enquirer makes the Dissenters sing that it pretends to be Gods peculiar and is exempt from any inferiour Cognizance § 2. It 's a most injurious charge if applied to Non-conformists that Conscience can alter the nature of things make that good which was wicked and Rebellious before c. All they say in this particular is with Aâ—…es Thes. de Consc 18. Tanto vis est Conscientiae ut actionem suâ naturâ mediam efficiat Bonam vel malam suâ naturâ Bonam reddat malam quamvis illam quae suâ naturâ mala est non possit convertere in Bonam So great is the power of Conscience that it can make an Action in it self indifferent to become either good or evil viz. to the Person and an Action in it's own Nature good to become evil Although it cannot make that which is in it's own Nature evil to become good Which Powers are clearly ascribed to Conscience by the Apostle 1. The power to make an indifferent or good action in it self to become evil to him that judgeth it to be evil and yet will venture upon it 14. Rom. 14. To him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean to him it is unclean 2. It 's power to make an indifferent thing good using it to Gods Glory with all other due circumstances is clear also from 1. Tit. 15. Unto the pure all things are pure But that it can alter the nature of things that it can make an action evil in it self to become good that it can null Laws are such powers as no Casuists have ever attributed to it but those whose Consciences carry an exemption from any necessity of speaking truth when 't is in order to the Advancement of their cause But it is too common for men to charge others with the wickedness of their own thoughts and hearts and what was once their own Old Crime to make other mens New Accusations § 2. As to the Power of Conscience to excuse Errour from Heresy we say that there may be a material Heresy which is not formally so what a Man judges to be a real Truth though possibly it may be a dangerous Errour yet unless there was Prava Dispositie as the cause of that Errour or something of Obstinacy in the will in Adhaering to it Errour and Heterodoxy it is but Heresy it cannot be that is it will not Denominate the Person a Heretick Thus the Learned and judicious Mr. Hales Heresy is an act of the will not of the Reason and is indeed a lye not a mistake for else how could that saying of Austin be true Errare possum haereticus esse nolo I may possibly mistake but am resolved never to be an Heretick That is by a tenacious and obstinate abetting any mistake after Conviction There are three things which we are obliged to wait upon our Enquirer in 1. Whilst he entertains us with his discourse what Conscience is 2. What a Tender Conscience is 3. What priviledges or exemptions it may claim to 1 What Conscience is Now says he if men loved plain English and to understand what they say it is plainly this and no more a man 's own mind or understanding under the distinct consideration of reflecting upon himself his own actions and duty He may call this plain English if he pleases define and describe his own Conscience how he will but we poor people are edified much what as with the Rhemists Parasceve Azymes and Paraclete who seeing there was no remedy but they must Translate were resolved that few should be the wiser for the translation There are somethings that look oddly in this Description § 1. It seems very improper to assign the mind or understanding for the Genus of Conscience For Conscience is not a faculty but an Act seated in a faculty Or the exercise of the faculty of the understanding putting the will upon operation Thus that fore-mentioned Bishop ibid. The will of Man which is the Fountain whence all our Actions immediately flow should conform it self to the judgment of the Practique understanding as to it 's immediate Rule and yeeld it self to be guided by it And indeed the Office of Conscience is not only to judge what is good or evil according to those Notices it has of God from the light of Nature and Scripture nor only to take Cognizance whether the will has obey'd those Dictates of the practique understanding but to be a monitor and Counsellor nay a Commander to the will to act according to it's Discoveries of good or evil This is good therefore I charge thee to do it and this is evil therefore I command thee to avoid it § 2. It seems very defective in that it tells us of the mind reflecting upon actions and yet mentions not with Reference to whose Authority