The Characters of the Books the Authour hopes he hath fully answered are thus explained P. means the Book called A Proposition for the Safety of the King and Kingdome c. D. P. is the Book called A Defence of the Proposition D. R. is A second Discourse of the Religion of England L. C. A. is a Book called Liberty of Conscience asserted and vindicated M. I. is a Book called Liberty of Conscience the Magistrate's Interest ANARCHIE REVIVING OR THE Good old Cause on the Anvile BEING A Discovery of the present Design to retrive the late CONFUSIONS both of Church and State in several Essays for LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE By ABRAHAM PHILOTHEUS an English Protestant For the use of a Person of Honour Avolent quantum volunt paleae levis fidei quocunque afflatu Tentationum eò purior massa a frumenti in horrea Domini reponetur Tert. praescrip adv Haeret. LONDON Printed in the Year 1668. ANARCHIE REVIVING OR THE Good old Cause on the Anvile HONOURABLE SIR I Read the Books you sent me with some heed pretending some for the Interest of England others for the Safety of the King and Kingdome all for the publick Good which every good man would readily imbrace But in perusing the several Pleas I found the Question to be Whether the present Uniformity or former Toleration the present Order or former Confusions or at least a Mixture of these were the happiest Constitution for England So that what I expected to be an Olive-branch of Peace proved but a pricking Thorn fitted into a Crown to expose our Saviour and his Church a second time to vexation and pain 'T is strange that men should think a Parliament so glorious for forming a golden Scepter for Jupiter would be diverted to hammer out an iron Trident for Neptune Their Counsel like Barebone's Petition had suited another Rump whose Interest lay in breaking but not this present Parliament whose glory is to be Healers of their Nation Who-ever will search into the bottome of most of these mens Design shall find them while Cromwell and Vane are silenced with a Rope bold Advocates for the Good old Cause Some indeed speak the King fair but in as ambiguous language as the Covenant spake his Father as may be instanced in the Relative His and Le Roy le veult in the 87. page of the Proposition being when a keen sword shall be brought to decide the sense as intelligible of Deliverance onely expected from God as from the King And haply this and other Slip-knots were left on purpose to take the benefit of a Comma when time shall serve Others avouch plainly the Democratick Principles That Government rises from the People's Consent and is radically founded in them as the Authour of Liberty of Conscience asserteth p. 42. Not considering that in Adam's many hundred years Monarchy he never asked his Subjects Consent and had he not fallen he had prevented the French Design and continued Universal Monarch to the World's end And though the King hath prudently forbidden all publick Disputes concerning Prince and People's power this Authour ventures in many pages to circumscribe his Prince And for the Parliament though they are beholden to them for an Act of Oblivion whereby their forfeited Lives are secured yet so unkind are they that one of them professes himself not very carefull how he carries himself towards them Prop. pag. 4. he upbraids them for passing Acts against Innocent men p. 5. calling them Murtherers p. 74. and men of a hardy Conscience 't was too broad to say brawny p. 76. that esteemed trouble for sin a Romance and accusing them for incompetent Judges of a wounded Conscience as never acquainted with such things p. 77. he tells them the damned will cry out on their Acts as made to damn men p. 75. undertakes to convince the Parliament p. 19. And all of them strive to persuade them that their way will never doe with such like Rhetorick of which these Books are full Now for the Church besides their usual Crackers they constantly brand them with a formal spirit as may be seen in D. P. p. 16 73 106. not considering Saint Paul's description of formal men to be such as are traitorous heady high-minded creeping into widows houses and conventicling there of which I suppose none have confidence enough to charge the Episcopal Divines but these tender Consciences 'T was those he say 2 Tim. 3. 5. had a form of Godliness without the power But one of them runs a stranger Risque and accuses the great States-men or his Majestie 's Privy Council for not wise in several particulars 1. For not committing Sacrilege P. p. 48. That is for not taking Church-Revenues from Church-men 2. For not burying the Covenant fetched out of the Paw of the Northern Bear who first whelped it as honourably as the Jewish Worship that came from God P. p. 51. Thus is the Northern Thistle mated with the Olive of God's Temple 3. For not compounding for Episcopacy as if they had retrived the Committee for Sequestrations at Haberdashers-Hall And for the Bishops their sentence of Extirpation is past by him P. p. 51. who are farther threatned by them all but especially the Prop. p. 86. 'T is matter of sorrow to me that so sober a man as that Authour is should run out into such intemperate expressions against Authority especially the Presbyterians having declared in their Address to the King that every good man in things he conceives to be sins will be very tender of the honour of Superiours In a word all that advise the King compared to them are judged persons of mean counsell as the Prop. phrases it p. 46. You see these Icarus's upon the wing they hope to kiss the Sun if their wings be but fastned by an Act of Parliament Nor is their kindness to all these great Interests together much larger then to them distinct For they most scandalously reckon Church and State King Lords and Commons the true Representative of every individual person in England to be but a Party and match them with Presbyterians Independents Quakers or what other Party will pretend to Conscience Nay D. P. p. 57. affirms the Non-conformers to out-balance that is his word the Conformers so trifling a thing to them is a King in Parliament And farther D. R. p. 5. calls it an unhappy Errour when Parties speaking of the Episcopal take themselves to be the whole or equivalent and act accordingly Such ill Logick these men conceive it that the Legislative power of a Nation should swell into a conceit of being equivalent to some mushrome Sect. Surely thus to libell Governors is not the way to convert them to our humour unless we conceive them to be Spaniels made pliable by Abuses Can we guess these Writers of the Scottish Foot-mark that plead so hard for Syncretism a thing so hatefull to that Party that Love at Vxbridge Treaty would have no Peace for fear lest they should mix Light and
the Jesuites Order the very nurseries of Rebellion Are they not the seed-plot of damnable Doctrines Do they not slay the Souls of men with the Sword of the Spirit Is not verbum Domini amongst them as Bishop Laud observed but verbum diaboli Do they not poison the streams of the Sanctuary Yea doth not their very Advocate confess P. p. 57. that in them they speak against the Government and revile the Rulers of the people But this with him may deserve a blessing And thirdly Doth not their best Champion L. C. A. p. 48. judge that they ought to be compelled to Church to hear Sermons So that by their own confession the Magistrate may be bold to execute his Laws to that purpose Yea and doth not D. P. p. 20. declare they may lawfully be punished for disturbing the Ecclesiasticall order to the disquieting of the State 4. Their fourth Reason is They must have a Toleration because many thousaends P. p. 75. great numbers M. I. p. 9. the Non-conformers out-balance Conformers D. R. p. 28. and D. P. p. 57. I doubt these men are drunk with their opinion and see double or treble They swagger as if the Town were their own May they not be troubled with the Athenian Thrasylaus conceit that all they see is their own But first Themselves in their harangues amongst their feminine troups call themselves a despised little Flock Secondly The late Army alwaies held the spirit of this Nation to use their Cant an imposing spirit and therefore one Major Creed resolved in one of their Junto's to draw his Sword against a free Parliament as the common enemy to that Army-darling Liberty of Conscience Thirdly The most part of them are the Riffe-raffe of the Nation yet I say upon my conscience that I believe not above a seventh part of the people are inclined to Liberty of Conscience Fourthly If their Patron may be a witness in the Case L. C. A. p. 21. says The greatest part of men desire a visible Judge to save them the pains of tedious Enquiries Fifthly They have often tried and never could chuse a Parliament for that purpose which is a convincing evidence that they are not the major Vote Sixthly They carry great animosities against each other Seventhly The argument is a poling argument where Sententiae numerantur non ponderantur says Plin. l. 2. ep 12. Eighthly Is it prudent to forbear the Cure because the Leprosie is spread all over the body A great Politician indeed advises Vir sapiens nunquam direxit brachia contra Torrentem but sure that advice is more Christian Tu nè cede malis c. Faction is a fire kindled in City and Country and P. p. 37. tells us the way to quench it is to let it alone thus also counsells M. I. p. 5. and D. P. p. 6. Well the Rump did so did that quench or rather increase it much more that is a convincing Experiment Errour is a Gangraene and will spread if permitted When these flouds break out they must be banked up Ninthly Neutrality loses both parts as Hen. 4. of France found to his sorrow He that hath no Enemy hath no Friend How should any think himself obliged for that favour that is given to all Bats are most despised because a middle between birds and beasts Tenthly Be the Sectaries never so many yet if Christians they must not disturb the Government Tertull found Christians to fill the Armies Markets Senate Courts and all yet they never opposed the then-persecuting Emperours To conclude I ever took King in Parliament to be the Strength as well as most capacious Interest of the Nation So that to affrighten them with numbers is a Bug-bear a threat to the Government and deserves correction 5. You must tolerate men for force will doe nothing upon Christians P. p. 13. Restraint makes Bedlams p. 30. A mere Command makes Disobedience p. 25. Violence unites them p. 38. Indulgence onely makes them throw off Errours p. 53. Conscience can't be touched L. C. A. p. 10. Force doth no good p. 29. Sword can't hinder Opinions M. I. p. 18 20. Force is an odious Superintendency over Consciences For answer first God appointed the Sword to be a terrour to evil-doers Rom. 13. 3. and I do not think these Authours can prove his Institutions frivolous or useless If the Sword can doe nothing S. Paul is mistaken who thought it would terrifie wicked men I hope notwithstanding their discourse they will avoid sin for fear of Hell Secondly That setting a Law forces Disobedience is an Objection that flies in the face of God as well as of the Parliament for God hath set a royal Law to mankind which he would never have done if the mere setting a Law forces Disobedience Thirdly Say that it did yet the Law may be holy just and good Rom. 7. 12. the Chain may be Gold though the Dog break his teeth on it Fourthly If they believe Indulgence will destroy the Sectaries why do they deny Liberty to the Papists Do they desire to make the Papists more obstinate by Persecution or will they use those weapons against them that they confess can't work upon Conscience will they unite them closer by acts of violence or are they so unmercifull as to deny the Papists the gentle means of recovery from their Errours or will Restraint onely cure Papists and Liberty Sectaries If Liberty would diminish numbers why must not the Papists be this way diminished At this Peep-hole one may see these men plead what they do not believe Fifthly If force will doe nothing how comes one of them to say the King of Japan rooted Christianity out of his Country by violence Sixthly But 't is too certain that force upon Conscience will doe much The ingenious Authour of the Inconveniences of Toleration gives two sad instances of it in Love and Jenkins But to avoid envy we will instance in S. Peter who abjured his Lord through fear of a Crucifixion And if force was so prevalent on so great a Saint what may it be on this giddy Rout whose tongue is their hardiest part Seventhly To feed the humour with Liberty can never be the way to cure it Eighthly The Heathen observed that Anaxagoras being fined five Talents and banished for asserting the Sun to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a globe of fire none ever affirmed it after Tully observes in his Nat. deor l. 1. that when the Philosophers saw Protagoras punished for saying De Diis neque ut sint neque ut non sint habeo dicere they were all for the future tardiores ad sententiam suam profitendam quippe cum poenam nec dubitatio effugere potuisset And who knows not but the death of Socrates laid the foundation of the Academicks and Scepticks So that none dar'd positively to assert the unity of the Godhead for a long time after Christ says in tribulation many will fall from the Truth and think we will none fall from their Errours Should
gentis bellicosissimae better when the Rebellious Army was on foot or 400 years before when Ireland Wales France Scotland c. were subdued by us But eighthly These men rightly account for Liberty of Conscience shewing that it is a more successfull device for the blowing up any Government then the Powder-Plot was But 't is a strange argument to commend it to the King because it murthered his Father and to the Parliament because it overturns Government 'T is certain 't is the most fatal Wild-fire of a Nation and a sworn enemy to all Government and its genuine issue are Factions and Dissensions whilst each party struggles to promote his way It distracts the vulgar who tend strongly to a Settlement and invites the Gentry into Faction to become the Head of that Party are most like to receive them It cuts off the Magistrate at the half leaving him no more of the Subject but the outward man And could we but see the face of it without a vizard we should discern it to be Vngovernableness One of these Advocates calls it the mad Earl of Warwick then Bedlam is fittest for it and thither the Honourable House of Commons having voted it for me let it goe Here I cannot but observe the pretty Artifice of the Prop. p. 60. persuading us to believe that if Liberty of Conscience be granted Episcopacie would drain all the Sects If Episcopacie could drain the Sects without an Act of Uniformity to assist it why not with it But alas a disease is infectious but so is not health we may get Heresies by contagion but seldome Truth S. August tells Boniface experientiâ edoctus nullâ re magìs quà m Severitate Donatistas Circumcelliones in officio contineri Sure these Seas of Errours never so much overflowed their Banks till the Rumpers pull'd up the Sluces and whether Liberty made our Factions dwindle let the world judge 'T is too true a Proverb Opportunity makes the Thief To set open the door is not the way to keep Errours out 8. Their eighth Reason is 'T is a sin to make men act against Conscience for Force either debauches Conscience or brings Persecution on mens bodies or estates either of which do make the Forcer guilty L.C.A. p. 45. 'T is a greater sin then lying stealing whoring c. P. p. 74. You were better stab him p. 73. He is damned that is made to doe what he thinks not lawfull and he may never recover his Conscience again p. 75. To this we answer first All this Argument is as strong for Toleration of Papists as for any else yet these men do unitedly deny liberty to them So that certainly they conceive it not a sin or else are content to damn themselves to suppress the Papists Secondly They know that Papists Quakers and Anabaptists do declare it against their Consciences to come to our Churches and hear our Sermons yet L. C. A. pag. 48. and elsewhere asserts that the Magistrate may without sin compell men to hear Sermons Did he therefore believe himself and this Argument to be true it did ill become him to give the Magistrate that direction If you force the Quaker to come to Church according to this Argument you debauch his Conscience c. Thirdly This Argument we are not concerned in for we plead not against liberty of believing or loving but of professing and practising Errours We say with Cic. to Marcellus l. 4. ep 9. Dicere fortasse quae sentias non licet tacere planè licet Were their Case that of the Roman Senate Senatus ad otium summum vel ad summum nefas vocaretur Plin. l. 8. ep 14. they might save their Consciences by doing nothing If the Libertines fansy it a false Doctrine they are required to believe let them hold their peace and all is well Laws can make men hide though not hate their Errours 'T is true Conscience ought not no nor cannot be touched but yet mens practices must not be allowed Thus Beza determines this Case Vt non sit punienda animi opinio neutiquam tamen ferenda est pestilens impia professio Conscience is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that can't be bound but mens lips may be sealed their tongues may be tied and their bodies moved from Conventicles to Church c. and that is all intended Fourthly If the Powers could or some men would make themselves act against the false suggestions of their Consciences they would find it a saving rather then a stabbing Act. For 't is a false suggestion that of M. I. p. 7. That he that is true to an erroneous Conscience is true to God for then are all the worshippers of Sun Moon and Stars true to God then was Adam true to God when he was beguiled to eat the forbidden fruit The truth is Conscience is indeed God's Officer but the Devil hath bribed it to his devotion and 't is no felony to thrust the Devil out of what he hath no right to But I have spoken to this part elsewhere Fifthly Say that Persecution were great Cruelty to them that are in Errour yet 't is better one then all to perish Surgeons never scruple cutting off one member to save all the rest 'T is certain Kindness to Errour is Cruelty to Truth Charity to the Wolf is Murther to the Sheep Permission to Conventicles is Persecution of the Church Indeed D. P. p. 114. tells you he pleads the Cause of our Lord i. e. that his Name may be blasphemed without fear of punishment that any Worship be it never so antiscripturall may be offered him without controul He farther adds that he and his Partner plead for mercy c. to wit that the Wolf may be gently dealt with who worries the Lambs in Christ's fold that the Serpent may be protected to seduce Adam to his Damnation Yet certainly 't is a sinfull patience to suffer God's Vineyard to be rooted out What glory is it to shew tenderness to the Weed that suppresseth the Corn He is no cruel Shepherd that kills the incurable Sheep to save the Flock from infection Haereseos says Erasmus in praef ad Hieron ep ea est insimulatio in qua tolerantem esse impietas sit non virtus Sixthly For Gamaliel's advice to let men alone Beza says ex veris principiis falsam elicit consequentiam and Calvin on the place upbraids him for a doting and deceitfull Counsellor Whose answers I leave with these Pleaders supposing they will be more gratefull then any I can give Seventhly to conclude This very Argument in the Magistrate's mouth rises up in judgment against all our opposers for supposing the Magistrate's Conscience commands him as it ought to doe to take care of the Honour of God to punish Blasphemy to nurse the Church to be a terrour to evil-doers to lay out his talent of Power for God to endeavour God's glory and the suppressing of sin If he should observe his Conscience he must punish these men if not
Darkness Christ and Belial together that is King and Parliament And the sagacious Sectaries generally conclude them to be of an Imposing spirit in regard Father Beza in his Haereticis morte mulctandis hath sentenced Hereticks to death and that Calvin took care to see Servetus safe into another world at Geneva by the light of his funerall Fire and Faggot which made poor Bellius Eleutherius and their fellows to style him virum sanguinarium a bloudy Edomite and Erastus to contrive another way for a Prynian Government Marquess Huntley Angus and Atholl will be Scottish evidence of their enmity to Toleration and no less speaks their glorious attempt for outing Bishops Root and Branch out of this Kingdom Besides they Covenant to bring the Churches of the three Kingdoms to the nighest Uniformity they can And in 1645. their Assembly gave the Parliament their Testimony against Toleration Not to omit that Rigid and Presbyterian are almost convertible terms in the vulgar Dictionary Nor indeed do some of them speak clear for a full Toleration for D. P. tells us p. 58. A Toleration not stated will break us more to pieces and doe nothing else and D. R. p. 87. pleads onely for a well-managed and limited Toleration yea he tells you p. 43. that the Non-conformers will never endure a Toleration that brings in Popery and M. I. p. 14. utterly excludes Papists from this fair Haven to sink in the Seas of Oppression Onely L. C. A. deals ingenuously and speaks out for all upbraiding the rest for consulting private Interest 'T is farther observed by many learned men That the Calvinisticall Party have ever strongly affected a Papal Dominion over mens Lives and Consciences And the Remonstrants observe in their Preface ad Antidotum That no man ever opposed that Party impunè nisi cum ei potestas opprimendi defuit like a Lion never guiltless but when his Nails are pared Which note haply caused Dr. Prideaux in his Fasciculus Controversiarum to propose that weighty Question An Suprematus Papalis vel Presbyterialis sit tolerabilior Which one of these Proctors for Liberty of Conscience justifies in English thus P. p. 63. I know no more danger in prevailing Popery then prevailing Presbyterianism as to mens Lives and Souls It seems he fansies both to be but Sampson's Foxes tied by the tails with Fire-brands to burn down the Harvest of Christ. And surely while thy cry out against Prelaticall Oppression the Lordly Bishops onely convicted and confuted Servetus the Spaniard in S. Paul's Church and so dismissed him to Divine Justice but the Geneva Discipline found Fire and faggot for him as soon as he came thither Which made Montfort draw Calvin's Picture not in a Gown and Cassock robes of Peace but in a Helmet Back and Breast belted and armed like a man of War So little doth Patience rule those sacred breasts when they have the Over-rule Which farther shews these zealous observers of Truth are but Time-servers while their Principles warp with their Condition But alas the Devil would turn Monk when he was sick and low A Scottish stomack is not so great that it scorns to ask for mercy Mr. Love's Submission and Mr. Jenkins's Petition both shew the Elephantiasis like the Gout never troubles them but when they are rich and great The Rump-Act of Aug. 1650. for Liberty of tender Consciences was against the Presbyterians Conscience and Preaching too and pronounced a great Sin in those daies yet now these Consciences can tack about and plead for that they once condemned why may they not tack a little farther to a compliance with the Laws under which they live If their Bread be wholesome being mixed in the Episcopal Batch why may they not without danger of poisoning eat all of the ancient and national Baking unless they will have something granted to make the world believe there was some colour for the late Rebellion which yet one of them confesses to be nothing and that Cause stark naught Prop. p. 45. though soon after to wit p. 65. as if he had offended his weak brethren he licks that Confession up again with a flat Contradiction averring the great Causes of it But to return what would these men have First and in general the establishment of the Protestant Religion in its full latitude as D. R. p. 3 c. onely L. C. A. seems to be more equal to all Religions and thinks p. 52. a limited Toleration pleaded for infers no more then that none are to be indulged but such as are punctually of their own belief and persuasion Yea so general is M. I. p. 10. that he would have no distinction used but that of Protestant and Papist in this Kingdom But what need this trouble 1. Is any other Religion established in this Kingdom then Reformed Christianity in D. R. p. 3. his sense or any thing settled beside the Protestant Religion True it is Accommodation or Toleration may settle something else but the present Establishment doth not For the settled Doctrine I think none will question it and for the Rites and Ceremonies none other are required but such as were settled by Law in the time of King Edward the Sixth as is positively expressed in the Rubrick before the Common Prayer and we think 't was not Popery he settled Indeed 't is true Imposition it self is look'd upon by some of these Pleaders for Liberty as Popish for M. I. tells us p. 12. That he that is for Imposition is a Protestant by mistake and will find himself at home in his Principles no-where but at Rome Now if this be justified then was Calvin a Papist who in his known Epistle to the Protector of England advises for the confining of desultory wits and brain-sick people in this Kingdom that one Form of Doctrine and Order should be drawn up to which every Parish-Priest should declare his full consent yea be bound by an Oath to follow inviolably Then was Luther a Papist who every-where pleads for a Form of Doctrine and Discipline to be established and imposed against the wild Sectaries of that Age. Melanchthon in his Church-Policy is so earnest for these Impositions that he thinks if these Church-Ordinances be taken away the Church it self is in danger And little less is confessed by D. R. p. 23. A Settlement must have all things needfull to Faith a good Life and godly Order who therefore pleads for a limited Toleration p. 8. Yet he would not take it well if you say he is at home onely at Rome And D. P. p. 16. grants the Church power to impose Ceremonies and thinks himself bound to submit to the Churche's judgement what Ceremonies are most convenient p. 17. yet esteems himself a Protestant 'T is well if that Synod Act. 15. can clear themselves from this Gentleman's imputation of Popery for offering to impose burthens upon the Church of Antioch in things indifferent verse the 28. A Principle equally imbraced by Protestants and Papists is very unreasonably called
a Popish Principle But this is the old trick of the Puritan and too successfull as the late King and Church most sadly experimented to brand with the mark of Popery what-ever they had a mind to render odious to the People 2. Are they so kind to the Protestant Interest as they pretend to be See what a wipe another of them hath given it D. P. p. 109. affirming that the Protestant Principles lead directly to Separation a blacker stroak then which was never given it by the Pen of the most rancorous Papist Yet let him be pardoned for it since he doth but servire thesi For how can a Separatist prove himself a Protestant unless Protestantism lead to Separation Thus the AEthiopians paint the Apostles black that they may not seem unlike the Saints 3. What Settlement is that to Protestantism when Toleration shall muster up all its Sects to beard it in every Parish As well might Job's eldest Son 's House stand steddy when the violent Gusts wreak'd their spleen upon the four corners of it or the Ship be safe when winds and waves are permitted to toss her at their pleasure 4. 'T is strange Presumption and savours of but too large a stock of spiritual Pride to think they can settle Protestancy better then the most accurate Diligence of the great Council of this Land 5. Whom will they comprehend under the name of Protestants If all that protest against the Errours of the Church of Rome such are the Greek Churches such are the Muscovites yea such is the Turk himself If our Sects onely let them know that the most sober Protestants have esteemed them but as the Ascarides bred out of our Bodies but as Vermine on the Body Ecclesiastick they are reckoned amongst the ill humours with which our crazy Body is distempered Nor is it so heavily to be charged upon our Constitution since the purest bodies are not secured from the like Corruption The very Angelical State produced the blackest Devils If they mean the bulk of Protestants they are comprehended already If all this pother is made for a few silenced Ministers do they think the Protestant Religion lies choak'd while they are silenced is it so interwoven with their well-being that it cannot survive them Or are they such ill Sons that they will never let their Mother sleep till she hugs them in her arms Must not the Father of their Countrey rest till he hath given them satisfaction Must Parliaments withdraw their Acts to give these men their wills For as for the deluded People that follow them what can they scruple at Are they obliged to Oaths or Subscriptions are they tied to use any other Ceremony then what these Ministers acknowledge they may lawfully use and do they not many of them allow the imposition of those things that are for Decency and Order under Penalties so they be but small Hear D. R. p. 27. granting Governours authority to use humane Prudence the light of Nature and general rules of Scripture in ordering of their Church not requiring express Scripture for every Posture about Religious Worship And D. P. p. 85. acknowledges the Magistrate may be bold in exacting Conformity by lighter punishment which may serve to deterre the Factious and are not like to tempt a man truly consciencious to act against his Conscience if it boggle at all So that the Prop. did well observe the people's heads were onely filled with empty fears with Panick surprizes and childish frights It remains therefore that these Ejected Ministers are in a great measure the Troublers of our Israel as was their Father's house ever since the Reformation God grant them a timely sight of it and true Repentance for it But alas how can that be while they hug themselves in the arms of their own Praises See how affectionately they commend each other for godly Prop. p. 79 80. and declare themselves the slain Witnesses and affirm themselves the most serious and painfull men of the Nation D. P. p. 87. and bestow their richest Garlands of Rhetorick upon each other ubi causa est ubi causa non est as Blondel says Ignatius pleads for Bishops Surely 't is not without contrivance that these men now fill the Press with their Pleas. They well know how ridiculous it would render the Parliament yea and Government it self to withdraw an Act settled with so much care and consultation back'd with printed Reasons and deep Resolutions to stand by it and therefore can have but little hope to obtain its Repeal without which notwithstanding D. P. declares all Reconciliation impossible If I may therefore have leave to guesse the cause it is to chear up the spirits of gasping Factions with vain hopes of what the subtil conclude to be hopeless Much artifice hath been used already to this purpose At first if great numbers would leave their places they promised that the Powers would soon restore them Then being willing to uphold their Party for want of better things they catch at the Rush of a fond Prophecy MDLLLVVII 1662. BarthoLo MaeVs fLet qIa DesIt Presbyter AngLVs MDLCVVVI 1666. ADVentV Laeta est sanCta MarIa tVo. During the operation of this Prophecy they remained pretty silent till the time elapsed and nothing effected they saw it necessary to spread a false report all the Country over of a Toleration prepared for them But words soon vanishing they turn to Printing to uphold languishing expectation So that they hold each other from Conformity by these Stratagems and call them Conscience but if the Parliament crouch not to them they must consult the Brazen head again what to say next I conceive not all these Advocates for Liberty of Conscience Presbyterians but some act under a vizard persuading themselves that if they can get in the Presbyterian Needle the long thred of Sectaries must necessarily follow after However they know that if pretence of Conscience can foil one Law it will at length foil every one it pleases to decry and that if a man can't save his Arm from cutting off nor can he save his Head When the Out-works are taken the rest can't long hold out If the royal Globe in the hand of Majesty be once struck out it will tumble to the bottome of the Throne And indeed they give occasion to suspect no less some of them pleading for the free admission of all persons to Government M. I. p. 17. desires that no man's opinion may advance him nor no man's opinion may prejudice him Another pleads for the restauration as well of Civil Ministers as Ecclesiastical P. p. 89. And whether he means the Rump-Parliament or the proscribed or pardoned Sword-men or fanaticall and disaffected Aldermen is a Question for you will find him to justifie that Cause p. 65. and highly to commend Cromwell as a Mortal eternallized p. 45. he esteems the Covenant as the Jewish Worship from God p. 49. and judges the Rumpers more publick-spirited men then this present Parliament And
Pluralities for before the Reformation no Pluralities were admitted nisi dispensatione Apostolicâ v. Lyndwood and since none were induced but by Act of Parliament And what forbids the Legislative Power to wit King Lords and Commons to allow the King Dukes Earls Chaplains c. more then one Living for the better managing that part they are to act about their Master's affairs and for the state of the Kingdome especially where the Lay-Gentry are so plentifully instated in Church-Livings for the upholding their Greatness Is a man onely therefore uncapable of more Church-Preferments because a Clergy-man But else the Non-conformers cannot find Livings Are they sure the present Occupiers being disseised that the Patrons will pin them on their backs Are not the Universities full of deserving men and must they be put by till God knows when or must they turn Non-conformers to get a Living 'T is pity such vast numbers of Expectants who may doe well should be slighted for those that have done ill 5. The fifth thing desired is that all may be allowed to preach and officiate that are in any Orders Here is a door opened to the Enthusiast whom the Spirit orders to the Quaker whom George Fox orders to the Independent whom the people order durante placito to the Presbyterian whom Aerius orders c. Here Nadir and Zenith are made to shake hands the two terms of Contradiction are here reconciled to wit potestas à Christo descendendo and à plebe ascendendo England must have a publick Ministry with private Orders or onely fansied ones Then must the Church prove a Poly-cephalist more dreadfull then the Stygian Cerberus 'T was judged malice in Sergius the third to re-ordain those that Formosus had advanced to holy Orders because he was Episcopus Portuensis and onely deprived of his Bishoprick by John the ninth not of his Episcopal Function But the Church in her great Synod judged the Presbyters of Colythus making in the Church of Alexandria to be no Presbyters and the Ordination a nullitie as is instanced in the case of Ischiras because he was no Bishop though he pretended himself to be one as also do these Non-conformers So likewise for the same cause were those Presbyters ordained by Maximus pronounced no Presbyters by all the Fathers in the Council of Constantinople And 't were high temerity to establish that for good by a Law that hath been so often condemned by Law But here is nihil ad rhombum still for what peace can be expected from contrary Orders Is it not listing the Clergy in several battalia's one against another And what satisfaction will that give to the Scruple-house where five Parties are still forced to scruple at one Do not the whole Episcopal Church account Ordination by Presbyters or people or vain pretensions to the Spirit or by a Se-ordainer utterly uncanonicall And can their Conscience chuse but take offence at the allowance of it Or are they thought so tame that being offended they will make no noise about it 'T is pity they should fare the worse for their peaceableness Again Is the Presbyterian satisfied in Conscience to hear a Gifted Brother officiate that pretends to a Plebeian Ordination Do not both send a Quo Warranto after a wandring Star that says he was lighted by the Holy ghost Nor will this please the wild Sectarie who esteems Episcopal and Presbyterian Ordination in Simpson's language the greasie Palm of Antichrist and fansies a Priest in Orders the English Edition of the Pope Yet Luther in Com. in Galat. tells us men without Ordination quanquam quaedam salutaria afferunt nihil tamen aedificant for laborem eorum nunquam fortunat Deus And S. Cyp. unit Eccles. tells us that by the Sacraments of unordained men non tam purgantur quà m fordidantur i. e. the water of Baptizing fouls and the Bloud of the Supper stains I dread to think what 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Church our Mother will shed when more then a Jacob and Esau shall be permitted to struggle in her womb D. P. p. 36. hath found an expedient here consenting that the Bishops should impose hands on the Presbyterians already ordained to commend them non ad ministerium sed ad exercitium ministerii in any Parish to which they shall have a Title I conceive the missive words in Ordination may be so formed as to admit to Orders in the Episcopal sense and yet onely to emit in this Authour's sense but then first This provides but for a few Ministers and so is scarce worth the trouble Secondly 'T is very probable though the Non-conformers agree in this they will quarrell in something else Let me therefore remember them that Theodore Archbishop of Canterbury being sent by Vitalian to King Egbert about the year 668 and finding Ceadda not lawfully Ordained the good man understanding the errour said Si me nôsti Episcopatum non ritè suscepisse libenter ab officio recedo upon which Submission bene tandem consecratus in sedem Dorovernensem provehitur Bed Hist. Eccl. l. 4. c. 2. An excellent example of true Christian meekness 6. Their sixth Plea is for Liberty of Conscience a principal branch of the Good old Cause and intended to open the door of legal Restraint to those Legions of Devils that inhabit the fanatick Soul To effect which all these Authours strive eminus cominus trying every key in the bunch of their subtilties Not all of them so ingeniously as Bellius Clebergius or Sir H. Vane have done before them yet no less earnestly for aequa tentant iniqua they try by hook or by crook to break the door open And why not tentantes ad Trojam tandem pervenere Graeci He that never speaks never speeds They therefore bring a whole troup of Arguments to make room for it If you would know what this Liberty of Conscience is L. C. A. who most discreetly handles it tells you 't is A freedom to doe or omit as Conscience shall direct p. 11. so that his Question to be debated is How far men may be obliged to doe what they say is against their Conscience and How far men may be suffered to doe what they say their Conscience obligeth them to doe id ib. Now the granting this freedom by the Magistrate is called Toleration which D. R. p. 8. defines to be A permission of different waies of Religion without the line of the approved way So that in this latitude Liberty of Conscience looks like Hobbs his Leviathan a masterless Monster This one Law would make the world lawless and doe what is right in their own sight not in God's nor the Magistrate's therefore its Advocates shackle and trammel this wild beast some more some less First To save the King's life L. C. A. p. 14. conceives the Magistrate not bound to tolerate any thing destructive to his being But that if the Magistrate shall believe Toleration it self will destroy him The Authour of the Proposition plainly
affirms that Liberty of Conscience murther'd the late King and the Abettors of it were the greatest Enemies to this Prince's Return and settlement And 't is to be feared it hath not yet evaporated its venemous qualities Secondly Nor must the Magistrate tolerate moral Evils L. C. A. p. 50. Thirdly Nor any thing against common Light common Interest and natural good of mankind L. C. A. p. 49. We thank him for nothing without these Concessions the Magistrate like Serapis the AEgytian God might stand and hold his finger in his mouth and all Government were dissolved But fourthly D. R. p. 9. is more liberal and acknowledges the Magistrate not bound to tolerate dissensions nor any thing against the general Rules of Scripture in ordering the Church p. 27. But fifthly D. P. p. 85. exceeds all his Brethren and acknowledges the Magistrate may punish with lighter penalties any practice he esteems erroneous in Religion Having thus set down these mens Concessions which are onely to leave some work for the Magistrate that he may not like Epicurus's God sleep in intermundiis let me observe to you that these men jeast with us when they plead for Liberty of Conscience a thing so inseparable from the rational creature that no Padlock can confine it Conscience is so far out of gun-shot that the most murthering Cannon cannot reach it Conscience is subject to no Exile nor Imprisonment nor can a Rape be committed upon it The birds in the air or fishes in the sea are not more free So that the matter of our inquiry is Liberty of Action rather then Liberty of Conscience And so the Question will be whether the Magistrate be bound to let men doe in matters of Religion what they say their Consciences oblige them to or to let them forbear what they say their Consciences bind them to forbear In answer to which we say The Magistrate may not permit men to walk by the light of their private Consciences in matters of Religion First Because the Magistrate ought to be a terrour not a tolerator of evil-doers Rom. 13. but a man may pretend himself bound in Conscience to doe evil as the Jew most conscienciously blasphemes the name of Christ. To this L. C. A. p. 15. answers the Magistrate is onely authorized to punish moral evils The vanity of which will appear First by that Logical Rule Propositio indefinita in materia necessaria aequipollet universali Now all evils deserve a punishment as well spiritual as moral and many times spiritual evils are the greater therefore he is to be a terrour to them as well as to moral evils Secondly S. Paul justifies this explication 1 Tim. 1. 9. telling us the Law was made to punish not onely what is contrary to sound Reason but to sound Doctrine too Thirdly The Roman Magistrate though a Heathen had right to judge all Causes as well spiritual as civil as appears by S. Paul's appeal to him concerning the Resurrection of the dead about which he was called in question and referred the examination to Caesar. Secondly If a man may follow the dictates of his Conscience without controul he may kill Saints for God's cause John 16. 2. and believe himself bound in Conscience so to doe which haply was the case of Vennor and his Complices And 't was once S. Paul's who says He verily thought to wit in his Conscience that he ought to doe many things contrary to the way of Christ and did persecute from City to City But no Magistrate can discharge his Conscience by permitting men to kill their Neighbours for God's cause and questions in Religion 'T was Gallio's scandal that he drave men from the Judgment-seat and would not meddle in such matters Thirdly Every man is indispensably oblig'd to promote the glory of God and the Salvation of men with such talents as he hath received But the Magistrates talent is the civil Sword Therefore with it is he to propagate God's Worship and stop mens sins Advice and Admonition belong to every Christian Reproof and Censures to Church-officers but Correction of sin by the civil Sword is the Magistrate's propriety L. C. A. p. 24. acknowledges this Argument in the main but thinks he may serve God as a Magistrate by other powers then by the Sword yet confesses no instance can fully reach the explication of his notion p. 27. And no wonder since it must deny the Proposition or Assumption of this Syllogism both yet which are most evident Truths Fourthly The Magistrate's power is confessed by L. C. A. p. 12. to be paternall But a Father is bound to use the Rod to keep his child from damnation Therefore is the Father of the Countrey bound to use the Sword to keep his Subjects from damnation Magistrates govern not men as brute beasts but as indued with immortal Souls and therefore must use their power not onely for the safety of mens bodies but the Salvation of their Souls Fifthly The Magistrate is God's Shepherd as well as the Minister But Shepherds must destroy the Wolves that strive to break in to the Flock to devour it in their proper sphere the Minister by Church-Censures the Magistrate by temporal punishment Sixthly To multiply no more Arguments the last shall be ad hominem If these men believe 't is the will of God that every man should enjoy the practice of his Conscience why do they resist the will of God by denying this to the Papist Yet this they doe M. I. p. 14. D. R. p. 43 c. Hath God upon this general Charter for Liberty expresly excepted against the Papists or rather do not these Pleaders privately confess they believe not their own Arguments which haply prove stronger for the Papists then themselves as may be seen anon Indeed M. I. p. 14. says three things for the excluding Papists from this Privilege First Their giving no assurance of Fidelity But surely they have been more faithfull then these Sects in the late Rebellion and the Quakers and Anabaptists refuse to swear Fidelity as well as they c. Secondly By their Principles they can never be good Subjects 'T were well if these mens Principles were better If we are urged to it we shall make it appear that both halt on the same lame side Thirdly They themselves allow no Toleration D. P. p. 102. shall answer it O thou Argument thou art a vile naughty Argument the Lord rebuke thee Do not these men remember themselves guilty in the like kind that allowed no Toleration of Prelacie I am weary of these fooleries Can a man truly love God and yet sit patiently to hear his Name dishonoured when he hath power to suppress it Shall a Magistrate punish the injuries done to himself with all legal severities yet be so cool in God's Cause as not to unsheath his Sword Surely men never were permitted to doe what was right in their own sight but in times of Confusion when there was no King in Israel But when Asa had
obtained the Crown a Vote was made That whosoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel should be put to death whether small or great whether man or woman as you reade 2 Chron. 15. 13. And why should the Jew be more zealous for the honour of his God then is the Christian Moses that saw the Looseness contracted by Israel's bewildred estate tells them plainly You shall not doe as you doe this day every man what 's right in his own eyes or seems good in his own Conscience Is Conscience such aâ—nctâ—uary to damnable Doctrines that being got in there the Holiness of the place must defend them Can it be imagined that Head and Hand-sins must receive their punishment and onely Conscience-sins pass under Protection S. Paul says Rom. 13. 4. If thou dost evil be afraid of the powers but these men say If the greatest Blasphemies be committed against God be not afraid for the Magistrate hath no power to punish thee Be not afraid to bring in Doctrines of Devils for the Powers are bound to tolerate thee Break what Laws thou wilt and pretend 't is thy Conscience obliges thee to it and 't is a safe Plea that can't be over-ruled But well fare Charles the fifth that engraved on his Sword Custos utriusque Tabulae judging himself obliged to see the Laws of God executed as well as the Laws of the Land and to take care that Christ have his due as well as caesar his If you object That then the Magistrate if his Conscience should hap to be erroneous might persecute Piety I answer first So may he in civil Causes punish an innocent man if his judgment errs but that doth not annihilate his authority Secondly And we may as reasonably suspect an Angel will erre as the Magistrate since the Apostle's charge is to believe Angels no more then men in teaching another Gospel Gal. 1. 8. And thirdly If any be possessed with the spirit of infallibility 't is the Magistrate since the Scripture speaks more favourably of him then of the Jesuites Pope or the Quakers Spiritual man for Solomon saith Prov. 16. 10. A divine sentence is in the lips of a King his mouth transgresseth not in judgment He may be ignorant in some truths in Divinity but not in the weighty things of the Law And if his commands proceed about circumstantials and lesser things be they according to or dissonant from the truth the believer is obliged to be silent upon S. Paul's rule who saith Rom. 14. 22. Hast thou faith have it to thy self before God He must not flash his light in his brother's eyes and much less may he set a Church or Kingdom on fire with the scattering of it about And thus much D. P. p. 101. acknowledges The tolerated must not broach principles to the scandal of others much less then to the scandal of a Church And farther fourthly In some cases we are obliged to force our Consciences rather then resist Authority that by once passing that River of which it was so fearfull it may at length goe more boldly forward when commanded without many blows to make it enter Christ's sheep may be forced into green pastures where else they will stand boggling at the gate 'T is the Doctrine of a great Patriarch in these mens account I mean Ames l. 1. de Consc. in recollectionibus ad calcem libri additis Sect. 27. Licitum consultum est aliquando agere contra scrupulum aliquem Conscientiae And then methinks where Authority appears 't is a considerable circumstance to enforce especially considering that of Plin. to Trajan A Te exigetur ratio nos excusabit obsequium And Cassiodore speaks but the mind of the civil Law when he tells you Nimis iniquum est ut ipse patiatur dispendium qui imperium fecit alienum But then fifthly If Liberty must be granted then inclusivè as P. p. 62. grants Sovereigns must have their Liberty of Conscience as well as Subjects And then if their Consciences tie them to punish Errours what room is left for others Liberty Princes if consciencious are or may be as really obliged to the making and executing as others to the transgression of the Laws and then whose Conscience shall take place The Scripture enjoyns the Prince to punish Disobedience as well as it forbids the Subject to obey so that either the Consciences of Governours or governed must be oppressed Sixthly What should Sectaries doe with Liberty of Conscience that preach themselves a poor afflicted despised Flock and make Afflictions the note of a Child of God if not a note of the Church To grant them liberty were to divert their Afflictions and so unchurch them yea to stop up their way to Heaven which by false application of Scripture to all persons and times they hold must be through many tribulations Now to justifie their Doctrine they will find something else to quarrell with Authority about if you grant them Liberty and so pro thesauro carbones by long fishing you get a frog Seventhly The common Principles of the Sectaries can endure no Accommodation for they hold God's Flock a little Flock whom the Powers of this world must oppress and they must have a World to rail at and should you conform to them in every thing there needs no other argument for their deserting their own way as one of these Authours well observes in the instance of wearing short hair which the Non-conformers Consciences much urged them to till they saw Bishop Laud to commend it to all the Clergy then they changed their Consciences tackt about and wore all long hair The Sectaries are men of narrow spirits and love a little way They think multitudes can't go together but to doe evil and fansy huggling together like a Covy of Partridges in a field to be the onely Christian way Like John the Baptist they love to be in a desert or like a Hare to sit trembling alone in a bush and can't be brought like Doves or Sheep to feed in great Flocks Besides they have an irascible appetite in them which is naturally trained up like a true Bull-dog to bait Authority so that Oliver their great God-a-mighty could not save his Nose from their reproaches In a word Tacitus observes that evulgato Imperii Secreto alibi Imperaetorem fieri posse quà m Romae it taught every Legion to proclaim an Emperour for the future 'T is well if Obstinacy and Scrupling prevailing to overthrow one Law do not at length strive to overturn all and translate the whole Government to themselves I am of Scomberg's mind though in a far better cause That he that sees he can force any thing will at length believe he can force all and so is by Concession of one but invited to contend for another Now they try your patience the next time they will try their own courage But stay let us hear their Reasons for Liberty of Conscience The First is that in the Proposition p. 3 5 6.
the Powers take that wicked example of the Rump and set up Committees and Sequestrations we should soon find our richest Zelots shrink Ninthly Beza openly protests coram Deo ipsius Angelis quas hodie corruptelas passim in Ecclesia Dei maximo cum luctu ferre cogimur eas omnes ab hac tanquam scaturigine exortas quòd Principes c. in his Haeret. mort puniendis pag. mihi 160. He found all the Schisms and Heresies of the Church to spring from the negligence of Princes in not taking care to punish them And doth not England see them to be the product of licencious times when there was no Rod of Discipline in the Magistrate's hand Tenthly 'T is true the Sword cannot force the Conscience proximately but it may remotely It cuts the body and thereby frights the Soul It works on the outward man by Passion but on the inward by Compassion It cannot keep men from believing but it may from publishing Errours It can confine the Infected from communication though it cannot drive out the Contagion L. C. A. p. 29. says we must not punish men for want of the Holy Ghost and supernatural Gifts True but we may for striving to poison their own Souls by coveting the Rats-bane of Heresies or for distilling their poison into other mens breasts But of this more anon 6. Their next Argument is The English Religion hath been under an ill name Serious men have ranked it with Popery P. p. 31. Non-conformers believe it because you persecute c. p. 34. To this I say I esteem it not worthy an answer being rather Railing then Reasoning and may be used against any way of Worship whatsoever Was Christianity the worse because Julian the Apostate called it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Christ the worse because ranked with Publicans and sinners or did not the Pharisees that reproached him look as grave as these serious men What if Pilate's malice will rank Christ with two Thieves on the Cross was he not therefore a child of God What if Cyprian be called Koprianus They that reckoned Popery and Prelacy all one reckoned also their Prince a Papist God grant they doe so no more Plato in Cratylo tells us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that gives a name ought first fully to understand the thing but most of them that ranked Popery and Prelacy together neither knew one nor the other May not the Papists as well judge them and us both that we hate the power of godliness in them because we persecute them as these do us Yea and may not the Quaker argue from the same Topick Yet 't is Idolatry we dislike in the Papist Atheism in the Quaker and Obstinacy in both Were these men true Gold yet may they be cast into the fire to purge out remaining Dross I know not what Protection God hath given to Errour Schism Pride Self-conceit Rebellion c. in the breast of an Hypocrite yea or real Saint more then in any other If the Magistrate must be a terrour to evil-doers then sure to spiritual evils because the greatest of all evils Nor are any the less to be punished because they call themselves the Godly Party since Authority proceeds on matters of fact and palpable evidence I leave this Objection as trifling and proceed to their 7. Which is That Liberty of Conscience raises Courage in Souldiers P. p. 45. It breeds generous spirits M. I. p. 8. The Sectaries Obstinacy is England 's best Courage It wrought all our Changes Prop. p. 46. It makes men for ever irreconcilable to all Impositions M. I. p. 13. To which I reply First It appears by the Omnipotency ascribed to Liberty of Conscience that it is the Sectaries God whom they adore not for his Justice but for his Power It is the best overturning Tool in nature and therefore its Advocates ought to be carefully looked to and timely suppressed Thirdly An Argument drawn from Strength against a Government is no better then a Threat I hope tonant sine fulmine their Threats are but Crackers Fourthly To grant all that is true in this Argument it amounts to no more then that the Devil is strongest when he fights from that Fort called Conscience Men thus possest with a spiritual frenzie are alwaies stronger and more mischievous then at other times But must we make a League with the Devil to be of the stronger side Fifthly I confess this Liberty is a terrible thing for no man knows what to call his own while this Freedom is in use So true is that Maxime Cui plus licet quà m par est vult plus quà m licet Give the Slave a Sword and he will slash his Master Sixthly The Pleaders are deceived with that usual fallacy of non causa pro causa For 't is a strong presumption of being God's people and favoured by him that raises valour to so great a pitch and this is a stale trick in the world All Nations consulted their Gods by Birds Intrails c. gave their Souldiers some Omen or other of divine favour which made them presume of Victory and so to run any hazard whatsoever What made Severus's Souldiers so undaunted but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he told them he had The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 made Constantine to be the Great and his Souldiers invincible 'T was Cato's errour that he would not deceive himself and Souldiers with a fine story brought from the Oracle of Delphos where he was and much urged by his Army to inquire for want of which they were conquered before they fought whereas some pious cheat would have made them more terrible then Bellona her self Curtius observes that it much furthered Alexander's Conquests that he was voiced to be the Son of Jupiter Hammon 'T was the strong conceit of Saintship in Oliver and his deluded Army grounded on these Ministers encouragements their Officers frequent and fiery Prayers and their high pretence to Responses from Heaven that joyned with good Suits of Armour and the City Purse made that Army so mettlesome Toleration was scarcely pretended in their most bloudy conflicts but was the Itch of an insolent Army too highly pamper'd with Loyal bloud Again seventhly The Turks are a valiant people in War and Cromwell was but a Pygmy to Mahomet the great yet none will say Turks are for Liberty of Conscience And surely the Roman valour hath left monuments of its Greatness in a very large tract of the world yet none opposed Liberty of Conscience more then they in their most flourishing times if you will believe Liv. Dec. 4. l. 9. who says A Romanae reip initiis negotium fuisse Magistratibus datum ut sacra externa fieri vetarent Sacrificulos vatésque foro circo urbe prohiberent vaticinos libros conquirerent combureréntque omnem disciplinam sacrificandi praeterquam more Romano abolerent If these mean it restrictively of England let them tell us whether we deserved the name
he sins against his Conscience and so wasts it that he may never recover it more So that these men were better stab him to the heart then thus to force him upon Damnation for neglect of his Duty Thus are trifling disputes returned upon the head of undiscerning and therefore forward men See this Case in Edw. 6. who being urged vehemently by Cranmer and Gardiner with Charles the Emperour to permit the Mass to his Sister Mary he would not for his life they press the Suit he wept and desired them to forbear they also wept saying He had more Religion in his little finger then they in their whole bodies as Sir Richard Baker reports in Vita Edvard 6. The occasion of this trouble to the young King was a Resolution given by Cranmer before he forbad the Mass to his Sister That to wink at sin in hope of return with patience was no sin but wholly to wink after long patience or to give permission to sin was sin And indeed 't was very true for demisè ac facilè pati probantis speciem habeat says Cic. ep 3. ad Brutum If now our adversaries Argument stand good it concludes stronger for the Magistrate then for the Subject 9. Their next reason is Force is no weapon of Christ's institution L.C.A. p. 30. and therefore not to be used 'T is unproportionate to the malady to beat the body for the Soul's fault a Lion or a Dog may thus convert as well as men L. C. A. p. 36. The Apostles never took this way id p. 40. nor is any service acceptable to God but willing service id p. 39. nor can force ever settle the Gospell id p. 47. To this I answer first Force may be lawfully used though not commanded if it be not forbidden else nothing were indifferent D. R. p. 15. denies Non-conformers to hold indifferent things unlawfull Secondly That the rod of Correction is not of Divine institution I think no sober man will assert David ventures to call it God's Rod Ps. 23. 4. and Mic. 6. 9. tells us 't is a preacher of God's mission Hear ye the Rod and who hath appointed it S. Ber. will tell them the will of God is that the Priest should smite gladio oris and the Prince ore gladii Thirdly That the Rod should doe no good is yet more strange since the Scripture every-where asserts that in mens affliction they will seek God early and certainly one way and the best to chastise men is by the Sword of the Magistrate Fourthly That Lions and Dogs may thus reduce men to better manners is no question when God shall sanctifie a danger that shall befall men by those Beasts an instance of which you have 2 King 17. 25. the Lions that ravaged in Samaria made the people inquire out the true God Fifthly This thour acknowledges the Magistrate's Sword may drive men from moral evils and then what colour can there be to deny it in spiritual evils Sixthly We must remember them that this Argument is as true in the Papist's mouth against them as in their mouth against the Magistrate Seventhly They allow the body may be punished for the moral evils that the Soul commits yet think it unsuitable for spiritual evils Eighthly It was not in an ordinary way the Apostles duty to use the civil Sword in settling the Gospell for that was to invade the Magistrate's right yet we find S. Peter sentencing Ananias and Sapphira to death To which our Pleaders reply 't was extraordinary L.C.A. p. 3 4. I answer 't is true it was so in the manner of the punishment 1. because inflicted by a Priest 2. without visible means but in the matter it was not so for Lying is a moral evil And therefore 't is to be admired why the Authour should oppose it and so swerve from his own principles but I take it to be the product of a spirit of contradiction or the effect of sleepie oscitancy But had the offence been an errour in Conscience the punishment had been equally defensible Ninthly The Civil Sword is most proper to settle the Gospel as to the publick profession of it which is all contended for but 't is the Holy Ghost must assist to erect a throne for it in the heart Tenthly That forced service is unacceptable to God is very false for God sends afflictions upon men to force them into obedience he scourges his children to bring them home to him and then accepts their Devotions Thus Manasseh's chains bound him to his duty and yet God rewarded it with eternall life And though the service of compulsion be not so candid as that of a springing spontaneity yet 't is not so drossie as to be rejected But say it were yet is there ground enough for Force as S. August to Gaudent Ep. 2. l. 2. c. 17. Quòd autem vobis videtur invitos ad veritatem non esse cogendos erratis nescientes Scripturas nec virtutem Dei qui eos volentes facit dum coguntur inviti If the Magistrate's power bring their bodies God's power will bring their Souls If the Magistrate's Pole drive the Fish together God will encompass them in his Gospel-Net I see nothing more that is considerable left unanswered in either of these Authours unless it be That men are bound to follow an erroneous Conscience where the Director or Imposer is not infallible in his Prescriptions and therefore they ought to have their Liberty This is urged by L.C.A. p. 41 42. and proved by these parts 1. That we must try all things our selves 2. We must doe all things in Faith 3. That God will judge us according to our own talent of knowledge not the Magistrate's 4. A man's judgment is useless if he may not follow his own light 5. If we must follow the Magistrate's light all Idoll-worshippers will be excused id p. 43 44 46. To which I reply first These men do not believe this Argument to be true for if they did the Papist must follow an erroneous Conscience why then is he excluded from Toleration Yea it argues as strongly for the profession of Turcism Judaism Heathenism or any thing else as for Presbyterianism Secondly It argues as strongly for permission of Fifth-monarchists to murther the King if they believe in Conscience the destruction of earthly Powers is the way to advance the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. Thus is Hugh Peters justified for binding his King in chains and the Nobles in fetters of iron for in the execution of that Scripture-command he must have liberty to follow his Conscience Nay thirdly This Argument would justifie poor men in seising on the Estates of the rich if once their Consciences persuade them that the meek ought to inherit the earth Fourthly Who doubts but the Scripture is an infallible Director especially in the mouth of a Priest from whom God hath commanded us to inquire the Law Mal. 2. 7. because he is a messenger of the Lord of Hosts and who can
tell the mind of the Prince better then his Embassadour And therefore S. Paul charges the Hebrews c. 13. v. 7. to follow their faith that have the charge over them Fifthly The Jew was under the obligation of Conscience as well as the Christian yet no Liberty was granted to him to publish or practice what Opinion he pleased for Heb. 10. 28. he that despised Moses Law died without mercy under two or three witnesses and is the Gospell of less moment then Moses's Law But L. C. A. p. 33. replies a greater punishment even Damnation is inflicted for contempt of the Gospell Very true but so was it for contempt of the Law of Moses too The temporal Judge kills for Murther and the eternall Judge damns and so did they then for damnable Doctrines that murthered Souls Sixthly Men may use their judgment and follow their own light and try what they will onely let them keep it to themselves as Hester did her Religion in the Court of King Ahasuerus Seventhly This Argument is no less strong for the Magistrate to prosecute Dissenters if he believe in his Conscience that he is bound to promote the Glory of God to propagate Truth and to destroy those Boars and Foxes that strive to root up the Vine or to pick off the Grapes In a word to follow an erroneous Conscience is sin and for the Magistrate to indulge a man in sin is no less cruelty then that of King Philip to bring up his Wife's brother Alexander in all kind of Debaucheries that he might effeminate him and so deprive him of his Kingdome In this case S. Hieron Com. in Ezek. 18. would cry out and every good Christian with him Nolo talem misericordiam Domine Now then manum de tabula 't is time to conclude Onely I pray leave to propose to this present and Honourable Parliament the ensuing particulars which if they conduce not to quiet yet certainly not to quarrell if they have little of Mercury they shall have nothing of Mars in them and therefore I presume will be patiently heard by a Parliament whose Discretion vies with their Justice and both seem to be Conquerours A true Parliamentum pacificum Antipodes to the Parliamentum insannum Never any met with a more dreadfull Disease never any made a more perfect Cure A Parliament that have been infinitely provoked yet know no Passions but by their Names A Parliament that is like to verifie Lucian's Character of England Ver. hist. l. 2. that 't is Insula fortunata Campi Elysti When Julius Caesar entered it captus amoenitate loci redire noluit He resolved to live and die here With such a Parliament what Caesar would not take up the same Resolution Yet Carneades tells us wise men contrive Laws and fools judge of them and therefore no wonder if some repine that doat onely on Liberty of Conscience Let such hear that discreet Heathen telling them 'T is optimus Reip. status ubi nihil deest nisi licentia pereundi 'T is a happy want to be without temptation to sin Caesar in l. 3. Com. de bello Gallico observes every man to be a Rebell by nature Omnes homines naturâ libertati studere conditionem servitutis odisse In English No man would be ruled if he could rule Obedience is not of nature but of grace therefore 't is In bonos facile est imperium It must be Gold if superlatively ductile Which proves our seeming spiritual men to be too natural their temper is so ungovernable Authority had need wear Hedging-gloves when they meddle with these scratching Thorns These discontented spirits breath so hot in the face of Authority that they make the cheeks of their reputation blister But all sober men will consider how many and wide Differences this Parliament hath composed how many Swords they have sheathed how many Grievances they have removed how gently they have touched the strings of our Concord what pains they have taken to modell Oaths so as men might disown nothing but opposition to the Government and must needs declare That this Parliament under his MAJESTIE's influence have been the Healers of our Breaches and Restorers of paths to dwell in To continue the Parliament's candour and fidelity 't is humbly conceived necessary 1. To discountenance for the future as they have now done all attempts for the Lawlesness the Authours here answered plead for I need adde no Reasons their own in 1662. given to the KING are the Quintessence of the Nation 's Reason and therefore must be eternal Yet I may say 1. If Scrupling and Faction repeal Laws then are they acknowledged stronger or honester then the Government Secondly If Subjects see that Coyn pass for currant they will bid it for what-ever Law they take distast at 3. If the Parliament be unconstant to themselves men will judge their Acts not to be the product of great Judgment grave Counsels and good Conscience but rather of Levity and Humour especially when an Act shall be repealed that was settled with great debate printed Reasons and deep Resolutions to stand by it I conceive though a Parliament be acknowledged fallible yet an Act so carefully formed comes near an Infallibility 2. 'T is absolutely necessary for the Parliament to stand by the Liturgie 1. Because they have solemnly declared in their Act of Uniformity that it is comfortable to all Christians profitable to this Realm fruitfull in procuring God's blessings an honour to the Reformed Religion and the neglect of it scandalous and dangerous If this were true in 1662 't is no lesse in 1668. 2. In respect of the People's happiness who have the same means and way to Heaven with their Prince their Nobles the reverend Judges the most reverend Bishops Doctors and Learned men of the Land The meanest man sails to Heaven in the same Bottome with the greatest and wisest So that if men conscienciously use it all must swim or all sink together 3. In respect of the Ministry whose tender Consciences must needs otherwise be filled with great anxieties for fear lest their private parts skill reasoning wisedom and direction should not be sufficient to convey so many Souls as they have charge of safely to Heaven from which they are in a great measure delivered by the Liturgy the studied assistence of the whole Church of England by which their Flock is fed and guided in the same manner in their Devotions with the best accomplished man of the Kingdome men of the greatest parts having no higher way for the daily Sacrifice then they 4. In respect of the Papists who may justly complain of our Persecutions in this last Century of years for their not coming to our Worship since we our selves at last think it unfit for use Yea in so doing this Parliament would declare their Predecessors Persecutors and condemn all former Parliaments except the Rump as well as themselves for unconscionable Acts yea and with them condemn the very Reformed Religion in this Kingdome
5. In respect of the Consequences of such a change the sharpest Eye-fight being not able to reach the end of such an attempt It will well become a sober Parliament constituted of the most substantial and honest Gentry to leave the Church in such a Constitution as she had in the most flourishing times of our former Princes leaving it to Rumpers and others of the like audacious Consciences to bring in Sacrilege Confusion Errours Schisms Blasphemies Civil wars c. and so to entail Tortures to their Consciences Stains on their Reputations Curses on their Families and Consumptions on their Estates Which God avert 3. The Parliament will find all Salvo's to make way for an Accommodation utterly pernicious 1. Because they accuse the Laws as too rigid 2. Salvo's oblige none to obey but Quicunque vult 3. The disobedient seem equally innocent with the obedient and more consciencious 4. They permit a Party against the Laws and proclaim variety of judgments 5. Changing men from compliance with the Law to the benefit of a Salvo will be called Conversion in a little time by scrupling Preachers 6. All Salvo's are virtual Repeals of a Law 4. 'T is certainly necessary thatx the Parliament stand fast to the Government of the Nation according to their own Explications 1. Because without them men had some pretences to justifie a Civil War which was a strong temptation to the raising of it 2. Because if a Prince cannot wrong nor can he right his Subjects if he could doe no hurt he could doe no good 3. Because Rebells find alwaies hands too strong for the best Laws and just Princes generally find the Laws too weak to protect them especially in this Island where old Gildas long since observed the people were fortes ad Bella civilia Yea he adds Si quis Principum mitior veritati aliquatenus propior videretur in hunc quasi Britanniae subversorem omnium odia teláque sine respectu torquebantur I groan when I reade it yet our late Times have most emphatically Englished it 4. 'T is certain what Odium they can receive from Male-contents they have received already being judged by so freely declaring the Law Propugnators of Laws Religion Settlement the Prince's Rights and People's Interests and thereby of the Loyall Party for which the Factious are their implacable enemies 5. Because the Parties that would be gratified are true enemies to all Government The dispute being not what Government but what Governours with them They could no more endure the Long Parliament with their Aristocracie nor the Rump with their Oligarchie nor the Protector with his Olivarchie then their lawfull Prince with his regular Monarchie In a word what they are in Church they are in State alwaies Reforming but never Reformed 5. The late vote of the Honourable House of Commons for putting penall Laws in execution is most just 1. Because every Magistrate ought to punish injuries done to God as well as those done to men 2. To distinguish the good Subject from the Rebell 3. To take away temptations from others to grow Factious 4. To draw the Factious to Repentance by momentany affliction for the saving of their Souls 5. To bank up the floud of Errours from overflowing an Island aliquid semper audire volente nihil certi stebiliter retinente as Gildas observes of us and Bede confirms Hist. Eccl. l. 1. c. 8. in the self-same words An Itch after new Factions being as natural to us as after the new Fashions of the French a bad new way being in all Ages more welcome to us then the good old way 6. If the Law given be neglected the Law-giver can't be respected 7. A dormant Law serves onely to increase transgression both in them that swear to execute the Laws and in them that disobey 8. By this means a Constable or Church-warden in a Parish may void the best-contrived Sanctions of Parliament 9. If it be not possible to execute a Law the Contrivers wanted wisedome if not lawfull they wanted Justice 10. If former Laws be voided by neglect of Execution future Laws will not be fear'd which tends to dissolve all Government 6. 'T is humbly proposed to consideration whether the Church-wardens Tax for repair of Churches ought not to be levied as the Over-seers of the Poor is by Justices Warrant yea and Vicarage-Tiths be declared positive in favour of Vicars who have commonly the greatest work and least wages and made to be sued for at Common Law 1. Because Sectaries stand willingly excommunicate and are tempted so to doe by saving their money 2. The heavy sentence of Excommunication is unproportionable to the detaining a Groat 3. An Act may be so drawn as not to be Derogative but Accumulative to Church-Franchises leaving the Plaintifi to take what way he pleases 4. It would prevent a thousand clamours against Spiritual Courts for too frequent Presentments buying of Time Excommunicating for Trifles c. 5. If all Irregularities were punished with Penalties and onely Crimes with Excommunication it would remove a great deal of offence especially if Excommunication be executed with that Conscience and Gravity a Censure of Christ ought to be and by those hands in which Christ left it I know that Contumacie as the learned D. Hammond Power of Keys hath proved is the onely sin that Excommunication punishes but 't is pity to buoy men up into that stubborn Posture for every Trifle since men may guesse from the equality of punishment that the Church embraces that Stoicall conceit that Omnia peccata sunt equalia Lastly That Liberty may be yet more confined I humbly beg that common Swearing and common Travelling on the Lord's Day may be stopp'd by Parliamentary Authority lest their general practice should make them in mens opinions degenerate from Crimes to Vertues I would that our Scruplers had set their stomachs against these Vices and we should soon have been Brethren Now to turn the Tables a little I become a Petitioner for Liberty of Conscience to wit That it may be lawfull for Priest and People without fear of Bailiffs or common Arrests to repair to and retire from their Parish-Churches upon Sundays lest while your Acts command attendance on Divine Service and Arrests forbid them they be forced upon transgressions NOw Sir by this you may see my sense of these Authours and their Designs and what I imagine to be more wholesome Counsell If you wonder at my style as too biting for my temper I alledge that the spirit of Meekness can be but of little use against a Party that want Modesty Besides the nature of this Case is such that the discovery of these mens Crimes is a confutation of their Cause And our Saviour though meek and lowly found a whip for the Temple-beasts never using bitterer expressions then to the Saint-like Hypocrites Wolves in Sheeps cloathing are double-skinn'd and must not be whipp'd with a Nosegay They cry with the Donatists Nos soli homines caeteri canes sues proclaim each other godly and serious men so that to have smothered the truth had been to conspire with the Devil to their Damnation Upon these Reasons I stand at the Bar of your candid Censure for my Severity rejoycing that your Honour will be concerned in the Interest of Christ's Church and not like the Gallio's of our Age care for none of these things What now remains for me but to lay down my Pen and take up my Prayers That God would grant England to speak the same things and think the same things and doe the same things and that at length all Animosities laid aside we may all with one heart and one mouth glorifie the God of our Fathers so that maugre all opposition England may again appear a Nation at unity within it self Which shall be the daily prayer and endeavour of Dated from my Study Apr. 15. 1668. Your Honour 's most humble Servant Abraham Philotheus FINIS