the same doth the King govern us and we have no more right to quarrel the commands of the one than Children and Servants have to repine and murmur at the precepts of the other which they never have but when either Parents or Masters exercise an authority that doth no way belong to them 2. Which in our case is not done for Secondly it is done by those whose power reacheth to these things and who stand accountable to God for them The power of Kings in Spiritual Matters was never questioned that I know of in the Christian Church till Pride and Ambition began to corrupt it's Faith and poison it's Doctrine and till Rome began to aim at a Spiritual Empire as well as it had had a Temporal one The Doctrine of discarding Kings and Emperours from any intermedling in Religion was first hammered in the Conclave and thence our Classical Divines have fetched it and I wish it were the only instance in which they symbolize with those that they so lowdly declaim against I am sure the Kings of Israel supervised and when occasion was reformed matters of Religion and the Church and the better that they were the more they interested themselves and employed their care about them and embalmed their Names more by that than all their Arms and glorious Atchievements And when the Apostle commands Christians to pray for Kings that they might live honest and godly i. e. religious lives under them he certainly thought their influence might be greatly helpful thereunto And the truth is I do not well see how Kings and Governours can blast their honour more and more blacken their own name than by looking only to their own grandour and honour without any concern for his whose Vice-gerents they are by living themselves in glorious and Ceiled Houses but letting that of God lye neglected and wast as the expressions in the Prophet are Certainly when the great and final Audit comes and when the Kings and Princes of the world come to stand before him by whom they Reigned who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords one great Inquiry will be how faithful they have been to him their great Master and how much or how little they have consulted his honour and interest in the world and those doubtless will give their accounts with most joy to themselves and most acceptation to him that have been tender of his Church and consulted the benefit of his Religion that have been nursing Fathers to the one and tender of the other and used their power to keep men in their duty to him and his Laws as well as to their own And the Governours in the Church and those that are over us in the Lord they watch for our Souls says St. Paul and must give account for them Heb. 16.17 So that we must not think that our Governours exceed the bounds and limits of their own power when they make Laws about Religion and tye us to observe the services of it or that they do these things arbitrarily only and to exercise their power over us no neither of these are true their power reacheth to these things and they are bound by their great Lord to take all the care they can of them and therefore we must excuse them they do but their own duty to God which they compel us to do ours 3. And that this is really our duty and tyed upon us by the Laws of the Gospel is the third Consideration and will adde another reason to vindicate them in compelling us to it If this thing were contrary to the Gospel then we might justly complain of their rigor and severity or were it left wholly indifferent then we might raise objections and pretend invasion of our Christian liberty by these Laws as tragically as we do in the like cases But when it is a thing plainly and expresly commanded by our Saviour and tyed upon us as a constant and standing service of Religion to be observed and practised by all Christians until his second coming again as it is most plain it is if we will either consider his own words or St. Pauls after him then certainly there cannot be the least room for an objection in this matter Those that say the least of the power of Kings and Temporal Governours do say they are obliged to see that the precepts of God be observed and kept by men and that they are to inforce the Laws of Religion by their own and when it is for their purpose will boldly call for this exercise of their power summon the Temporal Sword and Arms when their own Spiritual ones are too weak and be ready to anathematize and curse those powers that in this come not to help the Lord against the mighty It it be their own 〈◊〉 of Religion why then it is the Scepter of Christ whom all Kings are bound to support and if it be any thing that they lack to have observed why then it is the Lords cause and the supporting of it is no less than fighting the Lords battel for which the highest Praises and Panegyricks are too little And therefore methinks men of this temper and who are yet known to have acted still upon this principle should for shame cease to complain cry out against the Government for using their power in that which they themselves allow the exercise of it lawful in and not condemn it when it compels men to nothing but what the Laws of Christ have made their necessary duty 4. Yea and fourthly which is as really their interest and advantage as it is their duty for so it is in this as well as in all other precepts of the Gospel they are real instruments of our happiness as well as instances of our obedience I cannot now stand to enumerate all the benefits and advantages of receiving the Holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper and I need to do it the less because the Church hath done it for me I will only recite the words in her Catechisme which are sufficient at this time The strengthning and refreshing out Souls by the Body and Blood of Christ as our Bodies are by the Bread and Wine And certainly if any thing can be an Apologie for the present exercise of power in our Governours in constraining men to an observance of this service this may that it is a matter of pure kindness and nothing but their own gain that they are compelled unto they are severely dealt with indeed in this and a mighty wrong sure is done them when they are compelled to be made happy and good All the world hath ever granted it lawful and innocent nay prudent and wise to direct and govern those who are not able to govern and choose for themselves Parents restrain the ignorance of Children and think it no crime to whip them to that duty and exercise which they know to be good for them and Guardians do the same thing too for their Minors what they are assured is for their
forced Authority to take other measures and to try what the stricter hand of Law will do with them upon whom indulgence and kindness have been so ineffectual and whether they may not tye men to that duty to which they cannot perswade them They have sadly seen how little lenity and kindness can oblige and how far favour is from endearing some men yea that it hath unhappily rendred them worse more bold and more extravagant in their Separation made them only more keen and eager against the Church and given them the fairer opportunity to wreak their malice upon her which they had so diligently improved that they had brought her near to a Crisis indeed and were in a fair way of effecting their purpose when as gross Hereticks as ever were yea when black Atheists were called the only True Protestants and such a Jargon of different and contrary Sects Marshall'd in one Body as well as under one Name to fight against her Yea they have seen and felt something more than this that tender Consciences have too commonly hard hands and that the pulling down the Church hath been but a Prologue and step to dissolving the State Some men have begun with the Supremacy and faults of Aaron only that they might the more successfully cast down the Government of Moses and fright men from the Communion of the Church the more easily to muster them against the King and therefore made it necessary for the Government to provide against the one if they intended to secure and preserve the other They have thought it high time therefore now to change their measures and to exercise Power when Mildness and Clemency would not prevail And this is one thing that hath raised the clamour and enraged men to inveigh against Proceedings so lowdly at present What must men be driven like beasts must they be compelled to that Service which ought to be free and voluntary is this Christian dealing or the way to make Converts can this bring men to Church or engage them to offer a reasonable Service to God there it may possibly make Hypocrites and cause time-servers to come in but sure the Faith of men cannot be forced nor they ever brought in love with Religion and the Service of it by such means These and such as these are the common clamours of men against these Proceedings of Authority and the truth is by the way it lets us see how strangely froward and peevish some men are But a little while ago the common cry and objection was want of Discipline among us but now that we are too strict in it Heretofore we were derided and censured for slackness and remisness for taking too little care of Religion but now we are blamed for taking too much So very contrary pretences can some men make use of against the Church and Government and wrest every thing that they do or do not into an Argument against them I am not willing to reflect farther upon this petulancy my Province at present is to shew the injustice and unreasonableness of it and to vindicate this proceeding of our Governours from those aspersions and reproaches that are cast upon them And I shall lay the foundation of this Apology upon that passage of our Saviour in the Parable I have been alluding to Go and compel them to come in It is probable it will be said that this is only a by-expression and far enough from the purport and design of this Parable and therefore to argue from it is against that common rule that Divines have agreed upon that Parables are not to be argued from but only in the main thing intended by them To this it will be easie to answer that though it be indeed so as is urged yet our collection relies upon a certain reason and that is the Decorum and Propriety of speaking that our Saviour observed in all his Discourses and how far he was from expressing any thing in unjustifiable or unbecoming Phrases though it were a thing purely incidental and were never so much collateral or beside the great matter that he intended to say To be sure he would never have ascribed such a thing as this to God Almighty under the person of this great man though never so much by the by had it been so unbecoming and contrary to his dispensations with men nor ever have mentioned his commanding his servants to compel men to come in to Religion and the Ministries of it had it been unlawful and contrary to the temper of the Gospel as is pretended to use any force at all either to restrain men from evil or tye them to that which is good We may rest assured that no such expression had ever fallen from him had he intended that every man should be purely at his own liberty in Religion to do or not to do what himself pleased So that I think this expression will favour our purpose and be a good foundation to superstruct an Argument upon In the prosecution of which I shall do these two things 1. Propose some general and more abstracted Considerations for the justifying the present proceedings in this case 2. And secondly inquire immediately into the Merits of the Cause and examine it by the rules and measures of the Gospel 1. The general Considerations I intend are these that follow 1. That whatever is done of this nature is done by our lawful Governours 2. It is done by those whose Authority reacheth to these things and who are accountable to God for them 3. It is done in a matter which is in it self lawful and plainly justified by the Laws of the Gospel 4. It is in a matter which is greatly gainful and advantageous to those that are commanded 5. It is occasioned only by our selves and our own unreasonable neglect of our duty 6. It is nothing else but what those very men that complain have done in the like or lesser cases 7. It is no harm or injury to these men upon their own common Principles 1. Whatever is done of this nature is done by our lawful Governours I shall not need I hope to have any controversie with men about this nor will any I believe dare to dispute the truth of it though we possibly may have enough to question the Government of the Church yet certainly that of the Kingdom is unquestionable with any but men of desperate and rebellious Principles and impatient of any Government but that which themselves manage Now this alone is one good step towards vindicating what is now done and one good argument for mens Obedience and Submission unto it For it is scarce becoming men to dispute and question the actions of their lawful Governours in any thing but to revile and reproach them is lawful in none Subjection is tyed immediately upon the Consciences of men and obedience in all things not essentially evil is a duty of Religion By the same right that a Parent commands his Child and a Master his Servant by
benefit they compel them unto though it be never so irksome to them and spare not for their much crying just as Chirurgions and Physicians consult the good and not the ease and palate of their patients and forbear not the caustick or the sawe or the bittetest potion though perhaps the Patient must be bound in one case and be even constrained in the other It is just the same case here only so much the greater benefit by how much the spirit and it's Salvation is better than the body and if there be any to complain of eertainly 't is only our own selves 5. And that 's the fifth thing I proposed to consideration for all this is occasioned only by our own default and it is not very easie to say whether men be more condemnable for their wilful falling into such an evil or their complaining that means are used for their recovery It is imprudent to hurt and mischief themselves but it is much more to quarrel with the charity of those that would help them Would men be pleased to live so like Subjects as not to occasion any fear or jealousie to the Government and would they please to keep themselves in the Communion of the Church and a regular observance of the Services and Ministries of Religion they would never hear of any trouble nor need to complain of any force or violence against them But if they will be heaving at Government and will be factious and innovate in Religion the more easily and successfully to accomplish their other evil designs they must thank themselves if the edge of the Law be turned on them and if they be a little stricter held to their duty they must blame only their own wilful neglect and disregard of it In this case they have none to complain against but themselves for Authority if it have any regard to it self or any concern for them cannot do less than it doth without betraying it's own trust and casting off all concern for those that God hath given it the charge and care of 6. But sixthly there is another consideration to render mens complaints and murmurings against this procedure unjust and that is that they themselves have done the same thing or worse in the like or lesser cases Time was when any one that did not swear as fast as they would have them and count their Covenant Religious and Sacred should not only be Excommunicated but Out-law'd and put immediately from under the benefit and protection of Law And we have lately seen how forward these very persons that now complain have been to put Tests upon all others and to injoyn all in any Office or Place of trust to receive the Sacrament upon forfeiture of the Place and a great sum besides And I wish I could not say to the shame of some and their unanswerable reproach how readily they could receive it when their profit and interest invited them though they complain and grumble when it is made their duty and labour to scare others from it under the notion of Superstition and Idolatry Interest we may see will easily answer all Objections and be able to do more than all the best arguments in the world besides and were but the Sacrament now a Band and Cement of Union among themselves a confederating the more closely to carry on their own purposes or any way subservient to their design we should hear of no complaints nor invectives against any but those that refused so holy and saying an Ordinance This is the plain truth of the thing and if men be offended at it we cannot help it nor ought much to be concerned and therefore it is a stark shame for those to complain against the present proceedings of Authority who have gone before them in the same and much worse It is a hard thing for us to be judged by them who do themselves the very same thing 7. And lastly the complaining will be the more unreasonable when it is no injury at all to them upon their own principles nor doing any thing to them which they do not wilfully to themselves It is too evident what little respect these men bear to the Church and how little they value the Communion of it they separate themselves from it and avow a downright Schism against it and therefore what injury I pray can Excommunication be to such men It is they that anticipate Excommunication thrust themselves out of the Church and defie it and persist in plain contempt of it and what Authority doth is little else than barely declaring what they have done before And I am verily perswaded were it not for some consequences of it and some prejudice that might redound from it to their Temporal concern they would as little regard it as they do the Church deride it as brutum fulmen and no more dread it than men do fire painted upon a wall We that can hear men ridiculing the notion of a Church and laughing at all the discourses about Communion with it do very well know how little they value or think themselves hurt by being Excommunicated and turned out of that which they never desire to be of they that can so lowdly confront all Antiquity and in spight of all the Fathers of the Church and Maxims of the Apostles too teach Salvation to be attainable as well out of the Church as in it certainly can never think themselves injured by being cast out of it and all their Tragical complaints of Persecution in this are but artifice and hypocrisie Men may be driven indeed to that which they do not love but they are but compelled by that which they do not much dread or fear 2. The second thing proposed is to inquire into the nature and measures of that compulsion that the Laws and Precedents of the Gospel do warrant in this case and then to try whether the present proceedings of Authority against men may not be justified upon them This is a thing the more needful to be stated with heed and caution because the great Clamour is upon it And two things with great confidence are urged by men upon which they take upon them to censure the present proceedings of Authority as wholly contrary to the Doctrine and spirit of the Gospel 1. That it is not consonant to the Gospel to use any force at all to men in matters of Religion and that nothing but Papal usurpation and cruelty hath introduced the practice of it 2. That however if there be any footsteps of force and rigour then or that the Gospel mention any such thing yet that rigour was purely Spiritual Church-censures were her only Arms and Excommunication the only punishment that she did inflict but the Body and Estate and the external concerns of men were untouched But so say they these are not now did Authority content it self only to go thus far we should bear it and should have nothing to object against it but now mens civil interests are touched