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conscience_n sin_n soul_n wound_v 2,163 5 9.3309 5 true
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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A37480 Compulsion of conscience condemned wherein is plainly demonstrated how inconsistent it is with Scripture, the fundamental laws of England, and common equity &c. / by Tho. De-Laune ... De Laune, Thomas, d. 1685. 1683 (1683) Wing D890; ESTC R8872 35,062 47

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so sharp sighted as certainly to foresee what the Events and Revolutions of things to come may be without Divine Inspiration Therefore it is rather to be Esteemed a prudential Skill then an Arraignment of the Acts of our Predecessors when what was suitable to them and improper for us are repealed and a more seasonable remedy Applied when the inconveniences of the former are discovered I am certain that the best way to convince Protestant dissenters and most agreeable to the Dictates of Christianity is to Win them by fair and Charitable Methods and that those Penalties the Law inflicts should at least be relaxt for Reasons hereafter to be produced Every considering Man must needs know that the Biass of Interest and Education are strong Shackles to the Judgment which Fetter it from yeilding to Demonstrated Truth That of Education is very hard to be over-master'd We have had Deplorable Experiments that Opinion meerly got by Education is sometimes as hard to be removed yea harder then the Body from the Soul It so Wheels and Intoxicates the Brain that even amongst the Turks we Read of some Wise and Moderate Persons who would Die to maintain their ridiculous Alcaron Custome is grown such a Tyrant that some would rather starve then eat Bread bak'd in a Pan as a Reverend Prelate said because he used to eat Bread bak'd in an Oven Religion in many is really their humour and a Darling Fancy passes with such for Reason and Fashion is more prevailing then the best Arguments O the Deplorable Estate of Christianity Men will now reject the most Sacred of Truths if they can but find a Pique at the Messenger as if the Raving Patient would spill the best of Cordials because not presented in a Golden Spoon The Design of what is said is to make way for what follows viz. SECT III. Demonstrative Reasons against Compulsion of Conscience NO Humane Authority no not the very Popes those Infallible Tooles can deny but that the Word of God is the Rule of Faith to which all that profess the Name of Christ ought to Conform And as all the Children of God have an Equal Interest in the Testament of their Father so no one amongst them has any Prerogative to Impose a force upon the Judgment of his Brother One holds this the other that a third denys both they Examine Scripture Consult the Originals Examine the Opinions of Antiquity they sincerely Pray for Illumination What then Why pray what Course will you take with your Dissenting Brother All that you can say can't remove him from his former perswasion The best way is to pray for him if any Rigorous course be taken in such a Case and if the fire brings no light with it to Demonstrate the Truth of it I profess I cannot but suspect that the Coals are fetcht from below He that reflects upon the difficulties that Encounter us in the way to Truth for Strait is the Gate and Narrow is the Way and with all considers how short sighted the best of Men be for here we see but in Part and understand but in Part will soon find that there is infinitely more Reason for Christians mutually to Endeavour the support and assistance rather then study the Ruine and Destruction of each other Since all have neither an equal Depth of Natural Judgment nor the same Measure of Supernatural Illumination but the Spirit Bloweth how and where it pleaseth we ought not to despise or Persecute our Brother for his Innocent and blameless mistakes least we be found to fight against God who is the free disposer of his Gifts we know the way of Man is not in himself Jer. 10. 23. But his goings or steps are of the Lord Pro. 20. 24 And therefore did we bear a due Respect to God we would be Content to wait his leasure who has Ingaged himself by his Apostle Phil. 3. 15. If in any thing ye be otherwise minded God shall Reveal even this unto you Let us therefore entertain such a one who proceeds in the simplicity of his heart with Milk till he grow stronger to Digest Strong-Meat I am much mistaken if Compulsion of Conscience borders not upon the very Skirts of the Implicite Faith of the Papists For whatsoever a man is constrained to Swear or profess more then he is convinced of proceeds from as Blind an assent as can be match'd in the grossest Popery and of such a convert no profession has any great cause to boast For common Reason tells us that such as are Proselyted by violence will continue such no longer then the force lasts Force is meer Punishment and consequently not Just unless the offence be voluntary But he that believes according to the evidence of his own Reason is necessitated to that belief and to compel him from it is to drive him to Renounce the Essential part of Man his Reason I can't Imagine why we should be commanded to try the Spirits 1. John 4. 1. And to prove all things 1 Thes 5. 21. If there be not a Faculty in the Soul to judge for it self 'T is a strange Injunction when we are commanded to hold fast that which we find to be best if after our most serious and deliberate Election we shall be whipt out of our Conscience by Penaltys To what purpose do we Preach poor Souls into just so much Liberty of Scripture as may beget their torture and not permit them to rest where they find satisfaction Either prohibit to search at all or leave us sensible of some benefit by teaching To believe what seems untrue seems to me Impossible To profess what we believe untrue I am sure is damnable As 't is certain that whosoever swerves from the Dictates of his own Conscience commits a grievous Sin Rom. 14. So without Question they that endeavour by Force or Artifice to draw any Man to profess or Act contrary to what his Soul believes are as deeply guilty of the same Crime as the Apostle says When ye wound the weak Consciences of your Brethren ye Sin against Christ 1. Cor. 8. 12. How dangerously then do they expose themselves to the Just Indignation of God who drive others and fall themselves into this Evil c. How wilfully do they attempt to extinguish the Light of Nature which Indispensably obliges all Men to Deal with others as they would be dealt with themselves This Light is placed by God in clear and candid Souls to Shine and guide them but in black ones to condemn and burn them I could heartily wish that all Men would take the Advice of the Apostle Rom. 14. 13. Let us not therefore Judge one another any more But Judge this rather that no man put a Stumbling-Block or an occasion to fall in his Brothers way If this Blessed Counsel were but followed what a happy Nation might ours be Nothing hath caused more mischief in the Church then the Establishing new and many Articles of Faith and the Incumbrance of Gods Worship