Socrates and content my self to be virtuous at the rate of a Heathen than according to the Measures of such a Religion But blessed be God we know better things and have been taught quite otherwise we have not thus learned Christ his Religion is Pure Religion and Undefiled his Commands are Holy Just and Good he countenanceth no sort of Immorality but encourageth the Universal Practice of all Virtue It threatens Damnation to such as resist Authority which is the Ordinance of God and affirms the Damnation of those Men to be just who think to do evil that good may come of it Rom. 3.8 It makes it as necessary for Subjects to submit I do not say always to Obey but to submit to their Governors as for Children to be Obedient to their Parents and for Servants to be subject to their Masters and he that goes about to take off the Obligation of the one may upon the same terms take away all Duty in Children towards Parents and all Faithfulness in Servants towards Masters For Obedience and Subjection to Civil Government is as Natural and Sacred as that which is exercis'd in Families and kept up in a Man 's own House I have insisted the longer on this not so much to look backward as forward to undeceive people by opening their Eyes and discovering those Pious Frauds Profane Cheats and Hypocritical Abuses which for a long time hath past cleverly with some Men under the Notion of Conscience and Religion and to shew you what Spirit such Men are of thereby to Caution you for the future against all such leud Principles and Pretences how speciously soever they may be gilded over and that you take heed that you suffer not your selves to be cheated out of a Peaceable Loyal and Well-temper'd Religion by any bold Incendiary or cunning Hypocrite of them all be they of what Party or Faction they will whether Foreign or Domestick at Home or Abroad But yet in the Second place Notwithstanding Conscience hath been so grosly mistaken and abused yet it ought not to be slighted much less cast off upon that account any more than Religion which hath often met with the like hard Fate or Civil Government which hath been Usurp'd by those that had no Right to it and manag'd quite contrary to the Primitive End and Institution thereof Now if the Abuses of Government and Religion be not a sufficient Reason for our rejecting of them no more is it for the laying aside of Conscience Because the greatest Abuse can never be made an Argument for the Total Abandoning thereof For if you come once to cast off Conscience you throw off with it all Obligation to Duty you take away all Sense of Good and Evil all Difference between Virtue and Vice Right and Wrong and thereby reduce Mankind into the Rank of Brute-beasts Without regard to Conscience you are not capable of Religion nor of the ordinary Duties of Morality we cannot do one good Action without it nor rejoyce in the Witness and Testimony thereof There will be then no peace in Private Families nor good Government in Publick Societies no Obedience to Magistrates nor Subjection to Authority No Man then will either Fear God or Honour the King or do their Duty one toward another all which are yet enjoyn'd and bound expressly upon our Consciences by the Holy Spirit Conscience then is useful and necessary in that it implys an Obligation to Duty and lays upon us the strongest Bonds of Obedience There is no Argument or Perswasive like it It is stronger than all our little Hopes and Fears in this World 't is not to be compell'd by force nor brib'd by Interest nor frighted by all the Terrors and Apprehensions of Death and the Grave Insomuch as Conscience though daily abused by ill Men to ill designs is yet of excellent use where rightly inform'd duly apply'd and carefully heeded and attended unto Where it is Reverenc'd and regarded as it ought it tends mightily to the making Men throughly Good and Virtuous Just in their Pretences Honest in their Intentions Upright and Sincere in all their Promises and Professions all which where Men make no Scruple of any thing must needs be False Dissembling and Treacherous Where Men are willing to exercise a good Conscience or keep it void of Offence they will not put Tricks and Cheats upon themselves or others they will not go about to mock God and deceive their own Souls they will scorn to do an ill Action and afterwards colour it over with a plausible Excuse or Hypocritical Evasion But will endeavour after the practice of unfeignee Goodness a hearty Compliance with their whole Duty having their Conversation as the Apostle speaks In Simplicity and Godly Sincerity and not with Fleshly Wisdom 2 Cor. 1.12 In a word he will strive to approve himself to God as well as Man and to Man as well as God that he may become as good as possibly he can that is as the Grace of God and his own honest endeavors will enable him to be That Man therefore that makes no Conscience of any thing he does or says can never become so good as he ought He can be no true and lasting Friend either to Church or State to his King or Countrey and consequently unsafe to be trusted by either but he that shall go about to Debauch and Prostitute his Conscience is of all others the very worst and no Sinner to the Conscientious Sinner who can sin with a good Conscience and do Evil that Good may come of it whose Damnation as it is most just so their reclaiming is most difficult as being obstinate in their Prejudices against every thing that is or can be offered for their Conviction And thus you see the great Use and Necessity of Conscience where it is regarded and valued as it ought and therefore is not to be decry'd for the ill use made thereof For to cast off Conscience is in effect to cast off all Religion With it to Banish all true Gooâ—ness Common Honesty and Moral Virtue out of the World and consequently all that Order Pence Union and Civil Society which results from thence and wherein the Happiness of this Life doth chiefly consist I PROCEED now in the Fourth place to shew in or about what things Conscience ought principally to be concern'd or exercised First For the better understanding of which I must remind you a little of what I have already hinted in the description of Conscience namely that Conscience presupposeth a Rule or Law and therefore is not particularly concern'd about things Indifferent as such which come within the compass of no Rule nor within the Limits of any Command or Prohibition For Conscience is no further concern'd about any thing or action than as 't is an Instance of Obedience to or Transgression of a Law now where there is no Law there is no Transgression no nor Obedience neither Now the things we call Indifferent are such as God hath
not Faction or Peevishness that makes the Difference there our Charity is as much due to them as it is owing from them to us upon the like occasion For in this case there is but one Rule for them and us to walk and judge by Therefore let a man be never so much in the right let his Zeal for Truth be never so great yet if his Zeal doth devour his Charity sowre and corrupt his Spirit embitter and provoke him beyond what is seemly and convenient let his Cause be never so good his Arguments never so strong if they fail in this all the rest signifies not much the lack of this one thing makes all the rest defective and for the most part unsuccessful For let me appeal to the most zealous Boarnarges of them all can any man who believes the Scripture read the 13th Chapter of St. Paul's fiâ—st Epistle to the Corinthians which treats purposely on the necessity and commendation of this most excellent Grace of Charity I say can he read that and yet think it possible to be a good Christian or discharge a good Conscience without it For doth he not prefer it to the Tongues of Men and Angels to the Gift of Prophecy and working of Miracles Nay doth he not prefer Charity before the most comprehensive Knowledge miraculous Faith liberal Alms-deeds and voluntary Martyrdom 1 Cor. 3.1 c. Tho' I speak with the Tongue of Men or Angels tho' I have the gift of Prophecy and understand all Mysteries and all Knowledge and tho' I have all Faith and tho' I bestow all my Goods to feed the Poor and tho' I give my Body to be burnt and have not Charity it profiteth me nothing Now the Excellency and Advantage which Charity hath over all other Gifts of God's Holy Spirit is proved at large from the wonderful good Offices and Effects thereof Charity suffers long and is kind envies not vaunteth not it self is not pufft up nor easily provoked It rejoyceth in nothing but the Truth it bears believes hopes and endures all things and therefore in the Conclusion he gives Charity the Preference of all others Verse 13. Now abideth Faith Hope and Charity these three but the greatest of these is Charity Our Religion and consequently our Church though she condemn Divisions and Separations in all those that leave off and depart from her Communion yet doth not wholly exclude them from her Charity and therefore neither should we from ours meerly upon the Difference of Opinion and especially if this Difference be for Conscience sake and not out of Faction and Frowardness as I said before and would always be understood And that I may not be thought to speak without book or affirm more then our Church will own I shall refer you to that excellent piece call'd The Moderation of the Church of England out of which I have collected a few Passages some whereof I have repeated more at large Queen Elizabeth in her Injunctions 1559. declares that Her Majesty being most desirous of all other Earthly things thaâ— her people should live in Charity both towards God and Man and therein abound in good works Willeth and straightly Commandeth all her Subjects to forbear all vain and contentious Disputation in matters of Religion and not to use in despite or rebuke of any Person these Convitious or Reviling words of Papist Heretick Satismatick or Sacramentary or any such like expressions of Reproach that is we ought not to use these or the like Expressions in way of Reproach or vilifying of one another as some in the heat of their wrangling and Contention are very apt to do to the exasperating rather than convincing of Gainsayers And King James that Learned and Judicious Prince forbids Pulpits to be made Pasquills And gave in charge to the Archbishop That no Preacher of any Denomination whatsoever shall presume to fall into bitter Invectives and undecent Railings against the Persons of either Papists or Puritans but modestly and gravely when they are occasioned by their Text free both the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England from the Aspersions of the Adversaries To which we may add that memorable Passage out of Arch-bishop Laud. The Church of England saith he is not such a Shrew to her Children as to deny her Blessing ordenounce an Anathema against them if some peacebly dissent in some particulars remoter from the Foundation And in the Homily against Contention Serm. 1. We are exhorted therein so to read the Scripture that by reading thereof we may be made the better Livers rather than the more Contentious Disputers And if any thing be necessary to be taught Reason'd and Disputed let us do it with all Meekness Softness and Lenity c. For it is better to give place Meekly then to win the Victory with the breach of Charity c. And again We cannot be joyn'd to Christ our Head except we be glued with Concord and Charity one to another For he that is not of this Unity is not of the Church of Christ which is a Congregation or Unity together and not a division c. But for the Readers further satisfaction therein if he desires it I shall refer him to the Book it self above mentioned where the Learned Author gives an account of the Churches great Charity and Moderation throughout all the Parts and Branches of her Constitution which bespeaks her of a truly Christian and Primitive Temper wherein I wish all her Children would follow and Imitate her And thereby set an Example to all those that are otherwise minded or dissent from our Church in this as well as in other Instances of their Duty For methinks those that would set up for serious Conscientious Persons ought not to break the bond of Christian Charity nor pass the bounds of the Churches Moderation by indulging their passions or giving way to a peevish froward and Invidious Humour against all that differ from them in matters of Faith and Doctrine or purely out of Judgment and Conscience For I could never yet be perswaded that Railing and ill Language against Papists on the one hand or Dissenters on the other is or ought to be a Distinguishing Character of a truly Loyal Son of the Church specially when I consider that most of those that are addicted thereunto are least capable of convincing them otherways Or if they are yet this seems the most unlikely way they can take for the doing of it for we are told That the wrath of Man worketh not the Righteousness of God James 1.20 Now if you would see the Indecency and Unseemlyness of ill Language and reproachful Speeches I need but remind you of the Rude and Slovenly Expressions that are commonly used and with a great deal of Venome spit in the Face of our Church They can hardly find any other name for a Surpliss than that of a Superstitious Rag and Relick of Popery tho' there may be more Popery and Superstition in their conceipt about it
then in the thing it self for superstition is not in the Object but only in the mind or conceipt of the Person that thinks so Thus they have accustomed to revile our Liturgy under the notion of the English Mass-book the Bishops and Governours of our Church are branded for Limbs of Antichrist and the Church her self reputed for little better then Antichristian and Idolatrous Neither have they learnt to stop here but have adventured to fly in the Face of the Civil Government as well as the Ecclesiastical against both which they have Shot their Venemous Arrows even bitier words Psalm 64.3 But now I appeal to any sober and serious Person be he of what Perswasion he will whether this be according to the Principles of the Christian Religion which is Profest in common by us all or whether it is purely Conscience which puts them upon such unseemly Practices or is this Language fit to be bestowed upon one of the most Eminent and Famous among all the Reformed Churches and who without Vanity be it spoken hath been one of the greatest Bulworks against Popery and Champion for the Reformation and I hope and pray daily it will continue to be so as long as God shall be pleased to continue Her or Himself a Church upon Earth Now if Language of this Nature tho' arising from the great and extraordinary Zeal of our Adversaries is so unhandsome and ill becoming in them towards us why should we think it any whit the more commendable and seemely in us toward them or out of our mouths then out of theirs That which is Evil and Offensive in it self is and will be so let who will be guilty of it Wherefore methinks it would be more like Christian and make more for the credit of Religion and Honour of our Church if we had more Charity and Kindness one for another even in those things wherein we differ so they be not Factious or Scandalous nor have an ill influence on our Lives and Manners rather than imitate the Example of some of our hot-headed Dissenters in some of their worst Qualities to wit in their Uncharitable Censures and Vnchristian Revilings and Calumnies For the bitter and fiery Spirit of a Jewish Zealot is very unagreeable to the Meek and Gentle Disposition of a true follower and Disciple of Christ according to St. Luke 9.54 55. And when his Disciples James and John saw this they said Lord wilt thou that we Command Fire to come down from Heaven and consume them even as Elias did But he turned and rebuked them and said ye know not what manner of Spirit ye are of And I shall be beholding to any man that shall be able to make out any other sence and meaning thereof 5thly A good Christian ought to live according to his own Conscience rather then according to the Opinion of other Men. Besure that man lives with the most comfort and content to himself who walks by the constant Rule of Gods Word and not by that of the World which consists chiefly in Humour and Opinion and alters almost every day and upon the least Occasion Whereas the Law of God is a sure and standing Rule which being diligently heeded and attended unto will not suffer us to go wrong or mistake our way 'T is impossible a man should live so Regular in all respects or carry himself so universally blameless and inoffensive as to gain the good Word and Opinion of all men tho' he should make it his chief study or sole business to do so for men's Humours and Interests being so different and many times so contrary that which likes one doth not like another and what this man commends another may be apt to find fault withal Nay one and the same person is not always consistent with himself nor can keep long in the same mind His thoughts and Judgments of things do often alter with his Affection and Interest and notwithstanding the Reason of things remains one and the same yet his Opinion of them may not do so and then they will be sure to pass their Censures on mens Persons and Actions according as they are in good or bad Humour or as they judge may make most for their present Interest Now he undertakes a hard task indeed who Studies to please those whose minds are so fickle and wavering and whose Humours are made up of such sudden Conradictions The People of the World are Masters or our Credit and Reputation which they may give or take from us at pleasure as many times they do upon very slight or no ground at all They depend upon the Opinion which men are pleased to conceive of us which they may alter when they list whether we give cause for it or no. But now no man or Number of men can be Masters of our Consciences we may keep them Innocent and in Peace let the World say or do what she can For tho' the deserved Commendation of a Virtuous Action depends upon the Good Will of others yet the Satisfaction it inwardly creates is a Good they have nothing to do withal and can never deprive us of tho' they would It concerns us therefore to take all the care we can of our Consciences and study rather to pprove our selves to them than to the Multitude the one being Practicable when the other is not Not that I would have any man careless of his Credit and good Name for he that is not tender of his Fame will hardly be so of his Conscience and the Reputation which is given to Virtuous Deeds ought to be lookt upon as no small Incitement to the performance of them But my meaning is no man ought to be so Studious of Popular Applause or affect the good Opinion of the World by such mean and unworthy Arts as may tend to the Injuring of his Conscience or prejudice of his Duty which he ows to God and the Church to his Prince or Countrey But let a man do what he thinks in his Conscience he ought to do let him provide things honest in the sight of all men run into no open Scandal give no just or wilful cause of offence and avoid as much as he can all Temptations or Provocations to evil and then he ought not he need not value the Talk of the World nor Speech of People A Wise man which in Solomon's sense is a Prudent Good man should first take care of doing his Duty and then live above the spiteful Talk and Reports of the Vulgar or regard their Censures no otherwise then the Moon in the Fable did the barking of a Dog which neither obscur'd her Light nor made her alter her Course No no The inward content which a man receives in the doing of a good Action is infinitely to be prefer'd before the Credit and Reputation which it gains him abroad an Unwise man seeks his Reward and Satisfaction where it is not to be found namely from without in the Goods and Possessions in the