respect to the Law granting the Comment Obligation and Advantages of it to be as this Discourse imports granting too that no pretence of being of a better or more strict Religion than others will compensate any defect here nor yet that any other Expedient will help out where Obedience to this is wanting yet still this will not so satisfie but that something would be expected to be said with reference to the Right or Title of those who have this in charge The Guardians of this Law But this is what I intermeddle not with nor is it material to our Question we should For which most imports us I speak with reference to God and our own Consciences to dispute the Title of those God hath set over us or to yield Obedience to his Law of which there is no dispute Besides is it for every Subject to be the Judge or Arbitrator of what is so much above him If so he were then not only no Subject but more than his Sovereign himself or any earthly Sovereign whatever this being in a sense to put himself in his place who hath said By me Kings reign and Princes decree justice Nay 't is more than that to put himself above their Sovereign the great Law-giver of Heaven and Earth because thus taking upon him to suspend his Obedience to his Law For 't is as if his private Opinion and sense of things could at any time make it void No whatever be the Title of him who requires our Obedience yet let us be sure to set God on the Throne let us give that Honour to his Law which is Eternal as not to think that any thing can supersede the Duty of his Creatures to it 'T is Duty to this we call for from Prince and People and reserving the Decision of such Differences that may occur as among Princes themselves so among their Subjects with respect to such a Right reserving I say the Dicision hereof to his Providence who for what Reasons he best knows putteth down one and setteth up another Psal 75.7 Let us and them consider what the End of all Government is viz. not to be a Terror to good works but to the evil Rom. 13.3 And let the Subject in particular take the Advice of the Apostle as it there follows Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power he puts it simply without any affirmance of what the â—itle is do that which is good and thou shalt have praise of the same For He is the Minister of God to thee for good but if thou do that which is evil be afraid for he beareth not the sword in vain for he is the Minister of God a Revenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evil wherefore ye must needs be subject subject to the Law of God and to him in the defence of it not only for wrath but also for conscience sake ver 3 4.5 Now what can concern the Conscience herein Is it the recognizing the Title of Him who commands here below or the Obedience it self immediately due to God and his Law Would the Prince but make this his Standard in his actings toward the People as they are to make it theirs in their actings toward him what occasion would there be for either to look any farther Hath the Subject Liberty to exercise his Religion agreeable to this Standard Hath he the Security of enjoying his Property whilst himself conforms to the Rules of it May he go on quietly and peaceably in his Duty hereby prescribed to God and his Neighbour And what hath he to do to disturb the Prince and interest his Title in the case Or what on the other hand hath the Prince to disturb him whilst he thus behaves himself Or after all Doth any thing stick with the Subject so that he cannot so well satisfie himself in all Points of Right Let him be sure he have no hand in what he is not thorougly perswaded of but let him be sure too that God is to be lov'd and worshipp'd under all Governments the Duties he owes to his Neighbour are to be perform'd whatever be the Power to exact it But still 't will be hard to reach every one's Scruple and if nothing of this obstruct yet may not the Prince's being of a different Religion as whether Protestant or Papist that will be all one to those who are of the other Perswasion give the Subject reason to think that such are too highly attainted with the breach of this Law to expect their Compliance with it But neither is that the Case 't is not what Prejudice will on either hand suggest not what we but the Law speaks nor yet what the Prince is but what he would be were this his measure But after all how shall Men be perswaded to act by this measure Why if Interest the Politick Reason of all Mankind prevail not with them I know not what will 'T is the concern of the Prince that God should hold the Scepter in his Hand 't is the concern of the Subject that he should give them Peace If this be no motive then let Strife and Division Heats and Animosities Injustice Oppression Disorder Confusion and every evil Work take place But what a shame is it it should do so when the Remedy is so certain and all that we plead for is no other Law than what is written in every one of our hearts What too though it did not take so deep rooting as it ought there yet if made but to reach the outward Actions would so highly advance Religion Property and Liberty because restraining those Exorbitances which alone can disturb these Which I Note not that I would hereby perswade any to be Hypocrites as if 't were sufficient for Prince or People to rest in an external Obedience to the Command but to shew the unreasonableness of those Men who because 't is not in the Power of the Prince to reach the Heart of those under his Government are apt to inferr that therefore neither should He be so solicitous of making Men outwardly good As also the inexcusableness of those in Power if having such sure Rules of Policy as what are contain'd in the Divine Law they shall seek to any other Politicks And to those who shall still do it I shall only offer the words of the Prophet to the Messengers of Ahaziah 2 Kings 1 3. Is it not because there is not a God in Israel that ye go to enquire of Baal-zebub the God of Ekron Is it not because Men trust not in the true God that they seek out other Methods than He hath prescribed Be not deceived whoever Ye are O ye Princes who declare that what ye undertake is in the defence of Religion Property and Liberty 't is only by this Law as far as you are Custodes utriusque Tabulae the Guardians of both Tables that this can be performed Only by Obedience to it among your selves that ye whoever ye are O ye Subjects who
God who sees the heart and knows wherein we offend all urge these as Merit yet sure with reference to Men with whom we are joyn'd in Society they are such T is the only true Merit we can have to recommend our selves by to our Governors or one another the only Merit too Governors themselves can have that they take care that we and they live by this Rule the only Merit with respect to the Publick that by so living we bespeak the Peace which God hath promised to the Observers of his Law and as to himself who looks nearer into our inward Obedience 't is that without which we cannot assure our hearts before him 1 John 3.18 19. there being nothing more trifling than to boast the sincerity of the heart and the excellency of Religion that is lodged there if neither appear by their Fruits But what is all this 't will be said to our present Differences Let Morality have its place and value we all are for it But 't is not Morality but Religion precisely speaking that divides us Not any thing either of the first or second Table we controvert We all own a God and his Worship the Reverence of his Name and his Day to be herein prescribed We all own too because we are guilty of the breaches of these and all other his Commands that there 's another Righteousness by which we must be justified than our own We agree the outward as well as inward Duty required in all these These are Matters we all agree in our Differences are upon other Points and how then will such a Determination as you here give us reach us in what we are divided How will it if it secures not our Religion as you see it concerns it not in the sense we think this ought to be maintain'd ensure our other Property and Liberty That Liberty of Conscience we plead for which should exempt us from the Law as that heavy burthen or yoke we are not able to bear To this I answer 1. That 't is wholy to mistake our present Differences wholy to mistake what 't is is the Object of Liberty of Conscience to argue thus Forasmuch as the Moral Law is not that heavy burthen that intolerable yoke that is hereby insinuated no certainly 't is the most pleasant most satisfactory thing that human Reason can be busied in nothing brings so much Peace and Joy to the Man as the Obedience he pays to it and however we are degenerated by the Fall and so uncapable of that Perfection which should crown our Obedience yet it s being but to act according to Nature as far as we do it must make it easie 'T is true the Guilt and Punishment that attend Disobedience are a very uneasie yoke a very intolerable burthen and 't is the Excellency of Faith the true exalted Liberty of the Christian to be set free from these but then this is far from setting us free from the Law it self No t is the highest Obligation to Duty that our Defects are thus provided for and must leave us inexcusable if we shall plead Liberty of Conscience from that in the complying wherewith alone Peace of Conscience is to be enjoyed Indeed the Apostle bids us stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and not be intangled again with the yoke of bondage Gal. 5.1 And he speaks this with reference to the Law as appears Gal. 4.21 But 't is the Ritual or Ceremonial Law as is plain from the whole purport of the Epistle And to put an end to the Controversie he concludes this whole Argument by establishing that which was Moral Gal. 5.14 And this he doth in Opposition to that false Liberty Men were too apt to pretend to from what he had been discoursing of the other For so he expressly resolves it ver 13. Brethren ye have been called to liberty none calls more upon them to assert it than he did but then he subjoyns Only use not liberty for an occasion to the slesh but by love serve one another For all the law is fulfilled in one word even in this Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self which as is above observ'd must belong to the Moral still in force and in abatement whereof no Liberty whatever is to be pleaded Nay 't is observable farther That Obedience to this is called walking by the spirit ver 16. and the Joy that attends its performance is the fruit of the spirit ver 22. So that we see the highest Liberty of the Christian is not to be exempted from but restrained to this Law And then as to the other part of the Objection I Answer 2dly That 't is the greatest mistake in the World to say That 't is Religion and not Morality about which most of our Differences are For what though the immediate Dispute be about Matters of Discipline and Ceremony and the outward parts of Divine Worship nay the very Points and Mysteries of Divinity yet what is it but the want of Morality that carries on such Disputes to an excesâ— My meaning is That 't is the want of Love and Charity at the bottom which run through the whole Law 't is the want of our due bridling our Passions our Pride Ambition and Covetuousness the manifest breaches of Morality that widen the Differences and will not let us agree For were these honestly set aside did Humility Patience Meekness with those other Vertues or Graces of the Christian influence all our Actions our Divisions would soon be healed and Men would not quarrel about lesser things where the substance of Religion might be preserv'd Nay the substance of Religion being preserv'd and what is that but what is contain'd in the Moral Law all other Differences would of themselves fall As why should he who professes himself to love God with all his Heart all his Soul all his Strength all his Mind so much forget his Duty as to be beat off of his Worship because another is not so well instructed as he thinks he is One as I apprehend brings that into his Worship which agrees not so well with that Spirit and Truth in which I think he ought to be serv'd I speak with reference to this or the other Ceremony this or that Form this or that Habit or Posture or whatever else we all esteem indifferent But must I therefore hinder my good God of that part of Worship which he whose attainments are not equal to mine thinks himself as much obliged to pay as I do what I bring and without which he conceives he cannot do it in Spirit and Truth Be it for I would give all the force that may be to the Objection that his Service is not so perfect as mine yet may it not still be true Worship And can I say I love God with all my Heart all my Soul c. and yet be willing he should be defrauded of any part of his Honour But suppose he likewise thinks that his Worship
the people whose God is the Lord. But then 't will be replied Where was the people that ever was in such a case We grant this must go a great way in the prosperity of any Prince or People But where hath such a State ever obtained Or doth it look like the Interest of any prudent Prince to trouble his Subjects with what may seem so much against the grain I think were this granted That it never was thus in any Nation that will no way prejudice the Argument For is it not sufficient that the Law we have been speaking of was capable of making them such That 't was the end of God in giving it and that upon Obedience to it He hath promised this should be the Effect Besides was not that People to whom that Law was given so far in that case as they conform'd to it I think he that reads their Story their good and bad Success the treatment they meet with from God according to their Obedience or Disobedience to it his Promises and Threats agreeable hereunto and his Prophecies still behind of their being in such a case upon their return to their Duty herein As also to all the World with them on the same Conditions will have little reason to doubt but this is the Means here the Method by which 't is to be obtained Nor is it to be omitted That as far as they acted agreeable to this Rule it hath fared thus with other States For what was it gave the Birth to the Greatness of Rome but that strict Vertue that Chastity and Temperance and Discipline i. e. the exact keeping to this Law as far as they had the knowledge of it that made them to flourish and encrease What rais'd Athens and Sparta but the same Reverence for Vertue And in all other places where-ever these have been in any degree the Standard so long have they prosper'd As on the other hand where Lust and Luxury Falshood and Inhumanity Pride Ambition and Covetuousness have prevailed what hath been the consequence but Ruine and Desolation Not but that we must so far yield the Objection as to grant that as things stand with most part of Mankind such are the long bad Customs Men have lived in the Constitution of Armies made up of the most servile part of Mankind which yet must be relied on in the greatst streights the Corruptions of the People in all Places and of all Professions the Modishness of Vice so long practised by those of the Highest Rank the ill Habits that are crept into the Courts of Princes the corrupt way of doing Business almost in all cases there cannot but great difficulties arise to him who shall seriously set upon the work But will it not greatly remove the Difficulty when it shall be consider'd as 't is there every good Prince will begin 1. That 't is the Work of the great God of Heaven and Earth He engages in and if undertaken with this Contemplation of Gods being with Him why should He doubt the Success 't is His Law the Prince enforces and let him but do it with the belief that He who is the great Law-giver is the Lord God who brought his People out of the Land of Egypt out of the House of bondage who did it for the Jews and can do that and as great things for any that will be his peculiar people as they were and what then can stand in the way Men doubt God and his Word do not really believe him to be a God of Truth when they read all the Promises he hath made to Obedience and yet think they shall not be made good to those who sincerely devote themselves to it Let this therefore be the first thing 't is the Foundation on which Heaven it self subsists and nothing can ever shake it that God the Lord God is the great Law-giver 't is his work that of the Law which the Magistrate ingages in and Heaven and Earth may pass away but one tittle or Iota of it shall never fail fail not we in the Duty the Rewards the Happiness and Success that must attend it are sure Again 2dly It is to be consider'd That 't is a work that of reclaiming Men herein however the Corruption be spread and long Custom hath gotten the Possession which is not so difficult but that humanly speaking it may be hoped for if those who are in Power are but in good Earnest For what is this but to shew the practicableness hereof in what might seem most to deterr with respect to their Armies which are so much to be relyed on in the greatest Difficulties and yet are made up for the most part of the most servile and Mercenary part of Mankind and aptest to be seduced what I say is this but truly to discipline them for service For who are most like to go on bravely upon any attempt the Debauched and Profane who alwayes carry with them that Enemy which will be too strong for them in the guilt that cannot but amaze when in the Purlieus of Death or the good and Vertuous that fear nothing but God and go on in the Assurance of Victory in this or Triumph and Glory in another life Besides Temperance Sobriety and the like what are they but the very Dispositions to Strength and Courage and Watchfulness Hath it not been often seen that one Debauch hath lost all the Wealth and Honour that Men have been labouring for in their whole life To think that 't is not in the Power of a Prince to reform a Camp is to forget the certain and easie Execution his Laws would find there where all that is profess'd is Obedience to his Will to live or die at his Command The Rewards of Officers are certainly as fair Temptations to be good as to be bad And the Influence their Authority and good Example must have on the private Soldiers is what there is no disputing and let the Prince but be sure he ingages them not but in a good Cause and what is there such will not attempt Alas 't is Heaven and its Crown for which they fight and they have too much sense of Glory to neglect such a Prize Let the profane Fools bluster and swagger high but the Fears of that Hell of which every danger is the brink will damp them when they come to Action And the Prince may as well trust the Master he lets them serve the Devil himself I mean as those who in all they do live as if they were immediately acted by him Such Men the best Cause it self will but very little help out because 't is not their Cause 't is only Sin and Hell that they serve and whatever the Cause be they die in there 't is they cannot but expect their Pay This therefore would be attempted with respect to them As for the Interest of the Prince so of all who are concern'd in their Success and for the reclaiming of Others the great Corruptions of whose Manners
is that of the Spirit and Truth Suppose he cannot satisfie himself that he loves him with all his heart all his soul all his mind all his strength unless he gives Him an outward as well as inward Worship must therefore God lose his Tribute on either hand No True love to God in this extent will rejoyce in whatever way his Honour be advanced True love to God will make us ready to put the best Construction on whatever any of his Worshippers do True love to God will make us think so modestly of our selves as to believe He who is so much Goodness as that is in him for which we love him may have revealed himself to others as well as us At least 't will so operate as to make us not over forward to censure those who profess to love him as well as we do And what opetates thus on one side will operate the same on the other and make him who thinks a Cereremony a Form a Habit useful no more judge him who hath not hereto attain'd than he would be willing himself to be judg'd for what he thinks himself obliged to No they would both carry it with the greatest moderation and be zealous to approve this their love to God by having love and charity for one another 'T is the Argument of the Apostle If a man say I love God and hateth his brother he is a lyar for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen 1 John 4.20 And can he love his Brother if he be still censuring him Can he love his Brother if he hath no tenderness for his weak or scrupulous Conscience Can he love his Brother if he be still laying a stumbling-block in his way Can he love him as himself if were that the case he were taking the advantage of every slip to make him fall Or if fallen he doth not rather study how to raise him up than to thrust him still lower and lower To conclude this Doth he love his God with all his heart all his soul all his mind all his strength and will he do nothing to imitate him Or can he rightly imitate Him if he hath no forbearance for his Brother for whom as well as for himself there is so great forbearance with his God But is this then to reconcile all Differences Alas there are Points in Controversie that want particular Answers and Solutions Scruples there are among Christians that will exercise the most profound Enquirer and is this all that is to be said in that multiplicity of Disputes which have so much filled and distracted the World Undoubtedly this must be the method love to God love to our Neighbour will answer all For what though there be several Perplexities and School-Questions which we are not Philosophers enough to penetrate yet if they be not of the Essence and Necessity of Religion if they be not what we are bound to understand or if they find us in that temper of mind that whether we do or do not understand them yet we are resolved they shall breed no difference what is this to the disturbance of our peace Had God whom we are thus to love * seen it absolutely necessary for us all to be just of the same mind in every thing why then did he leave any thing to be indifferent But because 't is so hard to beat Men out of their Prejudices let us see what 't is that occasions these that the great Mistake being once rectified we may no longer stumble at Noon-day Now this will be best done by considering what the Occasion hereof was under the Jewish Oeconomy And what was that but the want of distinguishing between the Moral and Ceremonial Law both which being for God they did not so well consider the different Sanction and Reason of each but as Men are too apt to be taken up with Externals they presently run into too high an Opinion of the later forgetting the weightier things of the former forgetting too that I may at once shew the grossness of their Mistake herein that 't was the Moral Law was their Covenant between God and them as hath been observ'd from Deut. 4.13 and that the Statutes and Judgments given likewise to them by the same Law-giver were but subservient to it and that till the time that what was Type and Figure and only preparatory for better things should have their end and only what was Moral should continue still in its full force and be advanced to that Spiritual Construction which our Lord gave it in his Sermon on the Mount And Men would do well to consider I am sure this alone righly consider'd would make them far enough from setting up any thing against or above the Moral Law but least of all Faith that being but the means to carry us on to the true performance of this and help us out where we come short of it by directing us to the Righteousness of another Men I say would do well to consider whether it be not something like this that occasions many of the Prejudices under the Gospel that we do not sufficiently distinguish between Precepts of a different nature but are apt to set them at variance with one another whereas the Solution of the whole is that of our Lord to the Pharisee Luke 11.42 These ought you to have done and not to leave the other undone My meaning is every thing is to obtain in its proper place neither more than what is due is to be given to Circumstantials nor less than what is due to the Essentials of Religion The Fringe of the Garment may adorn but 't is the Garment it self must cover our nakedness and keep us warm Which being rightly weighed would put an end to all Scruples herein For supposing first the Moral Law to obtain in the Comment the Old and New Testament give of it I mean Love and Charity and the Fundamentals agreeable to the Precepts thereof to be kept to we have the full state of that Liberty of Conscience the Christian Magistrate ought to give for â—ove which is the fulfilling of the Law will oblige to and eâ—rect him in it and the Christian Subject for Love in his Duty to his Superiors and Fellow-Subjects will thus influence him ought to be contented with For what is it Liberty of Conscience respects is it the Law it self whereof we are discoursing or onely the Appendices of it the Worship indispensibly due to God or the manner and external circumstances in which it shall be exercised Or with respect to matters of Faith Are they the Articles of our Creed the Great fundamentals of the Trinity into the belief whereof every Christian is baptized or are they certain Opinions of lesser moment and no way necessary to Salvation whether held the one or the other way that this Liberty consists in I think it will not be said I am sure with any the least reason it
cannot that 't is either the Law it self and the divine Worship therein commanded with those other moral duties of eternal Obligation Or yet the Articles of our Creed the great Fundamentals of the Trinity into the belief whereof every Christian is baptiz'd And as for any thing that is mere Appendix and Circumstance on the One hand mere Opinion and not at all necessary to Salvation that it should be believ'd on the Other nothing but the want of love to Peace a defect in that Charity which is the fulfilling of the Law and without which we mock God and man as often as we repeat the Creed can betray men to endless disputes and janglings about these or tempt them to divide and separate upon them I lay this down in common to all as well to those who shall give as those who shall take the Offence and the reason of it is because 't is indeed to deny the end and effects of all true Religion which is to make us unite and agree if we shall disunite and disagree upon what is not of the Essence of it Do we that I may touch upon one part of the Creed which takes in all the rest and indeed the whole frame of Religion with it do we profess our selves to believe a Church and the Communion of Saints in it i. e. that there is one Mystical Body of which we all are under our Head the Lord Christ and thereby members in particular 1 Cor. 12.27 and is it consistent with either the Being or well-being of those who are in such a relation as to Him their Head so to one another to be rending off quick Members from the Body or can it be without certain Death to the Member that is so severed and as certain pain and danger to the Body from whence 't is rent must not such a wound sink deep and leave at least a lasting Scar behind it But then that we may hold to our point what is it but some failure in this Law of Charity that can produce this What but a meer Spirit of Contention if the hazard being so great Men shall heedlesly run into it A Spirit of Contention I say for is it not so when no consideration of what they contest for being neither of the Necessity or Essence of Religion or that in which Church communion properly consists shall be able to witthhold them from Divisions I would not offend but what can it be else but this Men's loving to be of a party which it self is contrary to the Law of Nature and that Humanity which in the good effects of it is a debt we owe in common to all what I say else can it be when the things about which they differ are on all hands own'd to be indifferent when it may be too it shall be confessed that there is nothing sinful in the Communion to which they are invited and yet they shall still stand off I would turn the Question and say the same to the Imposers of such things as well as to those whose compliance is called for If they shall too highly insist on things of a middle nature and lay that burden upon the Conscience which is contrary to that Law whereof they are Guardians the same guilt will rest on their actings For Charity call'd for on either side would tell us all that we ought to suffer long and be kind 1 Cor. 13.4 that we ought not to envy not to vaunt or be puffed up that we ought not to behave our selves unseemly ought not to seek our own ought not to be easily provoked ought to think no evil ought to rejoyce only in the Truth ought to bear all things to believe all things endure all things v. 5 6 7. And were this our Temper what occasion would there be of Strife 't were impossible if we would respectively apply this in all our Scruples that there should arise any insuperable doubt amongst us 'T is because Men are of a Party 'T is because Men are not sincerely kind 'T is because Men are over-run with Envy Pride and Ambition 'T is because Men are Selfish and think all the World nay Religion and its Priviledges too made only for themselves 'T is because Men have their Passions to gratifie T is because Men too much think and imagine evil 'T is because Men rejoyce not in the Truth 'T is because Men are peevish and froward are suspicious and ill natur'd 'T is because Men are Censorious and can 't is a bad symptom on their own Temper for generally 't is the Consciousness they have of themselves makes them to think others as bad as themselves searce believe any thing that is good of others because they are not so Candid to hope the best and have themselves no Patience to endure any thing in a good Cause These let what will be the pretence are the Reason of all our Differences and the taking place of the contrary Virtues i. e. those excellent Effects of Charity as the Apostle there enumerates them would be a common Remedy for Prince and People a Cure that would reach the whole State This without any more ado would bring us all to a Temperament in Religion and as the Psalmist speaks Psal 120.5 6 7. we should no longer have occasion to say Wo is me that I sojourn in Mesech that I dwell in the tents of Kedar My Soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace I am for peace but when I speak they are for War No there would be nothing but the fairest Correspondence among us all Charity would answer every scruple and decide all on the side of Peace 't would do it not so much by taking the Chair and resolving all the Niceties of the Schools there would be no need of that those would be given up as unnecessary Subtilties but by leaving nothing for us to dispute about But is this such a mighty Matter that it should be offered with so great Assurance Who is there could not have given the Advice or hath it not been again and again urged But if urged ever so often if Men have not taken it if the time for its being listen'd to hath not yet come if Men have not had Ears to hear let the season of the Advice at last prevail let the many dangers with which we are surrounded the many Disappointments the Publick hath met with for want of its being attended to at length open Mens Ears But whose Ears 't will be said can be open'd to this which hath been so often begun but so little succeeded hath it not been almost the constant Cry of the Nation for a Reformation and have not Men fairly set out towards it but what still hath been the Effect but that Disorder and Confusion which should thereby have been prevented And would we know the Reason 't is because such a Work was never any more than begun because Men made use of the Name to serve any thing else but the