Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
conscience_n	law_n	obedience_n	obligation_n	1,036	5	9.4199	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A54406	A discourse of toleration in answer to a late book intitutled A discourse of the religion of England.	Perrinchief, Richard, 1623?-1673.	1668 (1668)	Wing P1593B; ESTC R36669	46,325	62

e. neither Commanded nor forbidden by God are therefore the proper matter for the Injunctions of the Magistrate Since we are Obliged to the things Commanded by God although the Magistrate do not Command yea though he doth Contradict and what God hath forbiden we are bound not to do though the Magistrate leave us to Our selves or Command the contrary and therefore a thing Indifferent is the most proper subject of the power of man therefore because it is so it cannot be concluded that it ought not to be enjoyn'd 2. If things long Disputed and Doubted may not be enjoyned then let them tell us what may for there is scarce any Truth which hath not had its Heresie contrary to it and therefore the Church may not enjoyn things necessary to Faith and Order which this Author in few lines before granted to her Besides Would not this Argument be as well urged by the Papists for their Cause hath been disputed even from the beginning of Luther's Reformation by several men of great Parts and Abilities that wanted not Pretensions to the Titles of Learned and Conscientious So also may the Socinians urge that the Points we hold against them have been Disputed almost from the beginning of the Reformation But yet the Author contends 't is not fit that the first should have a Toleration and I suppose he will be ashamed to pretend for the last But then he inquires What shall a man do that doubts of the things enjoyned seeing the Apostle saith He that doubts is damned if he eats because he eateth not of Faith To Doubt we answer doth suppose Arguments on both sides and in such case the Common Rule is the safest part is to be followed Now let all sober men judge whether it is not safer to keep the Peace and Unity of the Church which is so frequently and with so much Authority Commanded by Christ to be Obedient to the Higher Powers in those things which are proper matter for their Commands and wherein God himself hath determined nothing to Obey them that are over us in the Lord all which are clear and plain Duties then for a scruple or doubt of the Use of a thing that God hath left to humane Liberty which the Magistrate hath power to confine to cause Schisms in the Church Factions in the State Despise the Laws of Princes and the Government of the Church As for the Text of the Apostle He that doubts is c. It is an admonition given to the Jews that were become Christians that they should not do that in which the Church had not interposed her Authority by the Example of others which they themselves thought not lawful or did very much doubt whether it were so or no for he that did go against his own perswasion did condemn himself in that which his practice did seem to allow Therefore that Text doth not concern this Case at all The 2d attempt is That the Church not claiming an Infallibility cannot settle the Conscience by her sole Warrant but still leaves room for doubting and in prescribed Forms and Rites the Conscience that doth its office will interpose and concern it self c. I am willing to hope that the Discourser writ this in Ignorance and that he is not guilty of such portentous Malice that so he might destroy the Authority of the Church he did not fear to publish such an Opinion as would disturb all Government both in Families and in the State that would confound all Society and extirpate Feith and Justice from among the sons of men For if whosoever diselaims Infallibility cannot settle i. e. oblige for if it doth not signifie that it signifies nothing the Conscience Then neither the Laws of Kings nor the Commands of Fathers and Masters who dis●●● Infallibility are to be obeyed for Conscience sake or in the Lord but only as the power of the Superiour is able to enforce Obedience or Punishment No man likewise is obliged in Conscience to perform his Vows Promises and Contracts because when he made them he was not Infallible and being not so he cannot settle his own Conscience but leaves room for doubting and if he doubts as he applyes the Apostles Text he is damned if he does perform and therefore it will not be safe to perform them Thus this Mine that is wrought to blow up the Churches Authority will bury all Government and Common Honesty in the ruines of it Such are the goodly Doctrines whereby these men keep their Party close unto them and make them boggle at whatsoever the Magistrate requires from them as terrors to their Conscience If the Author thinks he hath secured himself from the shame of the absurd Consequences of this Opinion by that clause Her sole Warrant he is unjust and unfaithfully represents her Doctrine as if she pretended to binde the Conscience by her own Authority which is very false For when We hold That humane Laws of things not unlawful do oblige the Consciences of men subject to the Law-givers We do not refer the Obligation which is a necessity of Obedience to the matter of those Laws for that being in its nature Indifferent cannot be Necessary But to those commands of God which enjoyns us to be subject to the higher powers To obey them that are over us in the Lord. For those commands do of themselves and directly enforce a Necessity of Obedience to whatsoever humane Laws are not in themselves unlawful upon the penalty of God's displeasure For the Truth of which as it is easie to prove were it not to render the Discourse too long by interweaving Incidental Controversies so do we appeal to the Judgment of all sober Divines whatsoever We have for it the Testimony of Mr. Calvin the Founder of the Presbyterian Government and the Greatest Ornament that ever they had who though he disputes against Humane Constitutions yet meeting with the Objection raised from that Text We must be subject not only for Wrath but also for Conscience sake Answers by Distinguishing betwixt the Genus and Species For saith he although the particular Laws in themselves Cal. Institut l. 4 c. 10. sect 5. do not touch the Conscience yet are we Obliged by that General Command of God which commends unto us the Authority of Magistrates which is as much as we desire for if the Authority of Magistrates do either Directly or Indirectly in General or Particular by it self or by vertue of Gods Command bind the Conscience then must it needs be false which this Author saith that In prescribed Forms and Rites of Religion the Conscience that doth its office will interpose and concern it self c. For that Conscience which is guided by the fear of God will know its Office is to submit for God's Commands sake to what those that are over us in the Lord do carefully prescribe In the next place he brings in the Testimony of Woful Experience crying out No more of such Injunctions than needs must

all down before them that at last they put all in disorder and were themselves upon the brink of Destruction together with a confused Nation If therefore these be sufficient reasons to deny a Toleration to one Sect it will seem unequal if it should be granted to others that are no more innocent of the same Crimes So that this Author hath laid down grounds upon which Toleration is to be denied as well to the other Sectaries whom he pleads for as to the Papist The VIII IX and X. Sections of that Discourse is to shew that the Reformed Religion makes good Christians and good Subjects and it is the permanent Interest of this Kingdom that it ought to be settled in its full extent All which needs no Dispute if it be understood of The English Reformation established by Law which I conceive that Author intended but if it be meant of any Reformation of that Reformation he will finde it a difficulty to make others believe him but I will give him the most Charitable construction and so proceed to the rest SECT 13. That there is no Necessity of a Toleration nor any Intent to extirpate Dissenters but only Dissentions IN Sect. XI He brings his Arguments for the Necessity of Toleration which only can give a colour to it for Toleration is by the Confession of all one of those things that are not good in their own Nature The thing he asserts is That the Dissenters from the present Ecclesiastical Polity are as he phraseth it Momentous in the ballance of this Nation This he proves 1. By their Number They are saith he every where spread through City and Countrey they make no small part of all ranks and sorts of men c. The use of this Argument you must observe 1. Hath been one of the ancient Arts of all Dissenters In the Conference at Carthage the Donatists would needs have the names of all the Bishops of their Party read before they would admit any Conference To this very end that they might by their number daunt the Judge of the Cause and their Opposites In Queen Elizabeths time when the Dissenters were but in their beginnings yet Mr. Hooker tells us that they published the Musters they had made of their Party Preface to Eccl. Pelit and proclaimed them to amount to I know not how many thousands To the same purpose is the Number boasted of at this time But 2dly It is less terrible now then ever it was For though the Multitude of Dissenters be great yet their Divisions are no less which weaken them as to any undertaking Jealousies and divided Interests which are the issues of Dissentions in Opinions breed confusions in the Counsels of a Multitude and distract their Force and therefore this Argument hath the less strength to terrifie the Governors as was intended or to enforce a Necessity of Toleration The next argument is that the dissenting Ministers notwithstanding all Reproaches Provocations and Wishes do appeal to God that they dare not conform for Conscience sake and whatsoever their grounds of Dissent are they still hold out c. The force of this argument is as I take it that there is a necessity of a Toleration because the Dissenting Ministers will not conform But if this be a motive strong enough now it might have been then when the Covenant was pressed when so many thousand Ministers and both Vniversities in effect declared they did not dare for Conscience sake to take it and held it out all the time of Tyranny and yet there was then no thoughts of a Comprehensive Ordinance no Toleration nor Connivance unless it were of some very few whom their Relations covered from the fury of the Imposers Besides the Number of the Non-Conformists compared with those that do now conform and of those that under the Usurpers suffered for Conformity to the Laws are so inconsiderable that the Testimonies of a few ought not to come in ballance with the multitude on the other side Moreover though it should be granted that their Dissents are from Conscience etiher Scrupulous Dubious or Erroneous yet we cannot say their holding out is upon that account not as that Author saith against hopes of Indulgence but upon hopes of it For it is sufficiently known that about that time the Act of Uniformity was to be put in practise there was then spread abroad through the whole Nation a report that the King and Council would give an Indulgence that their friends at London had petitioned for it and that the surer way to obtain what they aimed at was to hold out from Conforming When as indeed there was nothing petition'd for but only an Indulgence for some few Ministers in London who pretended to have been very industrious for the Kings Return without any consideration of their Party in the Nation Yet this had the effect of truth for a time for it made many Ministers that were inclined to Conformity to neglect the Season when they should have done it And by this means were the greatest part of them trapann'd into Non-conformity For having lost their Livings and having so publickly declared against the Law the Shame of being too changeable and the Unprofitableness of returning made most of them hold out Though we can name some after they had given examples to others of slighting that Act did immediately by their Patrons favour in a new Presentation gain an institution by subscribing to what before they declared against and no year is without examples of some coming in to Conformity when they have opportunities of getting a Benefice by it While the others are almost every year abused to an Obstinacy by renewed hopes of Indulgence The third Argument is because the several Laws for Uniformity for regulating Corporations against Conventicles for the removal of Non-Conforming Ministers from Burroughs c. have not advanced the esteem acceptance of the Ecclesiastical State and the acquiescence of the people in it To this it is answered That these Laws have not their intended effect is not because the King and the Parliament were mistaken in their Counsels but in that those who were entrusted with the Execution have been unfaithfull in their Offices For it is too apparent how these Laws have not been executed to the ends for which they were made They have been sometimes interpreted contrary and beside the mindes of the Law-givers and the intent of the Law Many sober Justices of the Peace having done what their Oaths and the Law required of them have been discouraged in their D●ties having all their Acts reversed by others And when the Laws are not executed it is much worse than if they had never been made For they do more encourage the Wicked impunity hardens in sin and men sport with Laws that have no hand to ma●age them as with painted Thunderbolts The Righteous and Just are Ensnared by a Law that is not Executed for doing what that requires and yet not finding protection by it they