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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
end_n	good_a	law_n	moral_a	1,338	5	9.0849	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A79884	Of scandal together with a consideration of the nature of Christian liberty and things indifferent. Wherein these weighty questions are fully discussed: Whether things indifferent become necessary, when commanded by authority? Neg. Whether scandalous things, being enjoyned, may lawfully be done? Neg. Whether a restraint laid upon things indifferent, without a reasonable ground, be not an infringement of Christian liberty? Aff. Who is to be judge, whether there be a reasonable ground or no, in such cases? How far forth we are bound in conscience to obey humane laws.	Clark, Samuel, 1626-1701.; Alsop, Vincent, 1629 or 30-1703, attributed name.	1680 (1680)	Wing C4495; ESTC R231493	83,945	180

are yè subject to Ordinances Touch not c. i. e. Why do you dance after their pipe tune your Fingers to their Tongues and conform your Practice to their Precepts and Doctrines You ought not to do so It 's a renouncing of your interest in Christ's Death Besides Do you think a Magistrate might now forbid his Subjects the use of all those things which God made unclean by the Ceremonial Law though he left their Judgements free or command the use of all those Rites then established though not upon a sacred but a civil account Prop. 4. The meer determination of the Practice quatenus determination doth not infringe our Liberty for then it might not justly be determin'd in any case whatsoever but it may justly be determin'd in some cases without breach of liberty viz. in the cases before mentioned The reason whereof is Because those things in such a case put off pro hic nunc the nature of indifferency and become necessary and so lye without the verge and bounds of Liberty But Prop. 5. A needless and unnecessary deprivation of this Liberty of Practice is the direct and formal breach of it Not meerly the Determination as was said but the needlesness of it i. e. when there is no reason at all for it but meerly the Determiners will My reason is Because it is an unjust restraint of our liberty as being made without reason which is the rule and foundation of Justice and therefore a breach of our liberty There 's a twofold goodness or necessity Intrinsecal or general engraven in the nature of things by some divine Command natural or positive as to pray read be diligent in our callings c. and Extrinsecal Circumstantial or Particular arising only from circumstances as to take Physick when I am sick to recreate my self when I am tired out and wearied with the Duties of my particular calling to have a convenient place for the publick Assemblies of the Church c. Now every lawful humane constitution must have one of these to vouch and warrant it It must be grounded either upon the Intrinsecal goodness of the thing and therefore that is a lawful Constitution which enjoyns persons to assemble themselves together on the Lord's day for the publick and solemn worship of God Or upon some Extrinsecal and Circumstantial goodness and therefore that is a lawful Statute which prohibits the Exportation of Wool because it would deprive the Natives of a great part of their maintenance about dressing and ordering of it and that is a good Law which provides for the conveniency of place c. about publick worship But otherwise those Laws which have neither such an intrinsecal nor circumstantial goodness have not the due and (a) We must distinguish between an indifferency as to its nature and indifferency as to its use and end or between an indifferency as to Law and indifferency as to Order and Peace Here I say that in things wholly indifferent in both respects that is in a thing neither commanded nor forbidden by God nor that has any apparent respect to the Peace and Order of the Church of God there can be no rational account given why the nature of such indifferencies should be alter'd by any humane Laws and Constitutions But matters that are only indifferent as to a command but are much conducing to the peace and order of a Church are the proper matter of humane Constitutions concerning the Churches Polity Stillingfl Iren. p. 53. and the same may be said of civil affairs proper matter of a good Law For every Law should be for the publick good which such Law cannot be because they have nothing at all of goodness in them and consequently do intrench upon Christian Liberty Now that this circumstantial goodness is necessarily required to warrant the determination of an indifferency I prove thus Either the Magistrate must have regard to good and convenient circumstances in the lawful determination of things in their own nature indifferent or a thing being so indifferent he may cloath it with what circumstances he pleases But he may not do so which I prove by these instances To dig a pit is in general and in its own nature an indifferent thing but a Magistrate may not command me to dig it in an high-way or in a street or any great thorough-fare because it might occasion the ruine of many and so is not only inconvenient but unlawful Again A Magistrate may lawfully command me to cover my fire and rake it up in a safe place but he may not command me to lay it among straw or near Gunpowder because this would be to the evident endangering of my house and consequently unlawful Therefore to make a lawful determination of an indifferency so as thereby not to encroach on Christian Liberty there must be a concurrence of circumstances constituting a circumstantial goodness or necessity without which if the restraint depend meerly and solely upon the Law-makers will it is a direct breach of Liberty because (a) Iniquam exercetis dominationem si ideò negatis licere quia vultis non quia debuit non licere Tertull. Apol c. 4. It were much more tolerable if men would plead for the necessity of the things which it seems good unto them to command and on that ground to command their observance than granting them not necessary in themselves to make them necessary to be observed meerly by vertue of their commands for reasons which they say satisfie themselves but come short of giving satisfaction to them from whom obedience is required For whereas the will of man can be no way influenced unto obedience but by meer acknowledged Soveraignty or conviction of reason in and from the things themselves commands in and about things wherein they own not that the Commanders have an absolute Soveraignty as God has in all things and the Civil Supreme Magistrate in things Civil that are good and lawful nor can they find the reasons of the things themselves cogent are a yoke which God has not designed the sons of men to bear Discourse conc Liturgies and their Impos p. 44. unjust Besides for any person to stamp and imprint the character of a Law upon his own will in publick affairs which concern the practice and obedience of others and to say Sic volo sic jubeo I will have it so because I will have it so looks too like a flower of the Imperial Crown of Heaven for any creature to wear in his bosom and is such a badge of Soveraignty as no creature ought to usurp or pretend to being the peculiar Prerogative of the Supreme Majesty of Heaven whose property it is to will because he will Rom. 9 15. Nay further Hereby you pull up the flood-gates of Justice and expose us to an inundation of violence and oppression you set infinite gins and snares to entrap the conscience withall you go about to legitimate any spurious brood that shall be begotten

OF Scandal Together with A Consideration of the Nature OF CHRISTIAN LIBERTY AND Things Indifferent Wherein these weighty Questions are fully Discussed Whether Things Indifferent become necessary when commanded by Authority Neg. Whether Scandalous things being enjoyned may lawfully be done Neg. Whether a Restraint laid upon things indifferent without a reasonable Ground be not an infringement of Christian Liberty Aff. Who is to be judge whether there be a reasonable Ground or no in such cases How far forth we are bound in Conscience to obey Humane Laws LONDON Printed for Benj. Alsop at the Angel over against the Stocks-Market 1680. TO THE READER THere are but one or two things by way of Preface that I shall trouble the Reader withal in his passage to the ensuing Discourse and they relate partly to the Pedigree and partly to the Age of this exposed Birth When as the Ceremonies those Dregs of Romish Superstition and Troublers of our Nation which for divers years together seemed to be dead and were taken by many to be deadly began to be revived again and pressed with more eagerness and fierceness than ever so that now there was no room left for Composition but every Minister must either pay the whole I cannot say Debt but demanded Conformity even to the least mite and last farthing or become Bankrupt it highly behoved every one to cast up his accounts and consider with himself whether he were solvendo par and could with a good conscience defray the great and extraordinary charges of such an intire Compliance as was required or whether he must not be constrained in such a storm to throw over-board not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his tackling Acts 27.19 but also to part with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mark 12.44 all his living to redeem and secure the life of his soul and conscience On the one hand the Avengers of the blood of their Diana-Ceremonies pursued the scent so hotly that there was no possibility of escaping for any one who did not take sanctuary at their Altars The storm was so impetuous and outragious as threatned inevitable ruine as to all outward concerns to every one who did not shelter himself under the Act of Vniformity and swim along with the stream that way that the Wind and Tide carried him On the other hand there seemed to be such Gulfs and Shelves and Rocks as threatned evident shipwrack of a good conscience or endanger'd drowning in the passage and practice of what was enjoyned So that it was the great concernment of every one that would look to the end of his Voyage that is beyond these temporal things to those that are eternal and would secure his interest in another world to look about him and to take care that he did not condemn himself in his judgment in that thing which he allowed in his practice but to be fully perswaded and satisfied in his own mind that so he might not act doubtingly but in faith as is required Rom. 14.22 23. This posture of affairs put me upon an impartial Examination and Consideration of what was alledged on both sides and finding that the resolution of the case in general besides the consideration of particulars depended chiefly upon these Points handled in the following Discourse for if the command of Authority does not alter the nature of things and render that necessary which before was but indifferent then according to their own principles the Law of Scandal takes hold of me and I am bound not to do that at which another is offended And again If that which is commanded remain still indifferent then I am bound also to assert my Christian Liberty and not tamely to give it up Issachar-like and so make my self a servant yea a slave of men by my own consent and voluntary act Thereupon I enter'd upon a more narrow search of these Principles as I may call them and upon the whole I came to that result and issue in my thoughts which I have Transcribed into these Papers Concerning the point of Scandal though many have travel'd in the same way before me yet they have left such hedges and ditches behind them that would put a man either to a stand that he can go no further or to a leap or to a turn to get over or pass by them These I have endeavoured to level for I am a great friend to such levelling and to make every thing as smooth and plain as possibly I could and likewise to lay down such general Rules as may lead us to a determination of such other cases of the same nature as may occur These things were then scribled and some of them delivered in a publick Auditory before that fatal blow was given Aug. 24.62 and have lain in obscurity ever since and whether they are happily or unhappily now brought forth and exposed to publick view the event must determine I have but one word more and that 's a word of Request and I think a very reasonable one viz. That the Reader will be so charitable as to believe that it was purely the powerfully convincing evidence of Truth shining in my eyes that inclined me like a strong Bias to run counter to my own interest And surely he must be highly uncharitable that can imagine that any one person much less a considerable number of persons of unexceptionable Morals and in all other respects serious and sober should be so desperately bent upon his own undoing as to shut his eyes against the light and refuse to admit of truths of such comfortable importance as these tending to Conformity are of Vale. OF SCANDAL Together with A Confideration of the Nature of Christian Liberty and Things Indifferent c. 1 Cor. X. 32. Give none offence neither to the Jews nor to the Gentiles nor to the Church of God THE Apostle Paul being consulted by the Corinthians among other things concerning the lawfulness of eating meat offer'd in sacrifice to Idols first states the case by distinguishing of those Idolothytes and accordingly passes a different Verdict and Sentence upon them Some were eaten in the Idol's Temple some elsewhere Some were eaten in the Idol's Temple chap. Cudworths True Notion c. In Exposit Legis 8. v. 10. in the nature of a feast upon or after a sacrifice A thing very usual among the Heathen as Abravanel has observ'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In old time saith he whosoever sacrificed to Idols presently made a feast of the sacrifices Hence that Invitation of one in Virgil's Eclogues to his friend Cùm faciam vitulâ pro frugibus ipse venito And this was so usual that Plutarch somewhere remarks it for a strange and uncouth rite in the worship of the Goddess Hecate that they which offer'd sacrifice to her did not partake thereof Now this practice of eating thus of Idolothytes in the Idols Temple and at the Idols Table the Apostle absolutely condemns as being a Communion with Devils and a partaking with them

they be evil 't is only per accidens the second are evil per se yet may be good per accidens as God can bring light out of darkness c. The third are neither good nor evil per se but may be either per accidens The first cannot universally and always be omitted without sin the second cannot at any time whatsoever be done without sin the third may be either done or left undone without sin The first are necessary to be done some time or other the second necessary to be omitted and forborn at all times the third neither necessary to be done or left undone but may be either done or not as circumstances require The first commendeth us to God the second discommendeth the third doth neither By the first we are the better by the second the worse by the third neither better nor worse In the first we must therefore set all circumstances in order because they must be done In the last we must therefore do them because cirrumstances call for it one must be done because the circumstances are good in the other we must make the circumstances good because they must be done as 't is between Holy-days of God's and Man's institution Holy duties must be performed on God's Holy days because the days are holy but man's days are holy because holy Duties must be performed on them and therefore for man's days 't is more proper to say they are Days set a-part for holy Duties than that they are Holy-days Thus much for the nature of things intrinsecally indifferent Those things are Extrinsecally indifferent which have their whole suit of circumstances as I may call it wherein they are drest up indifferent and neither vertuous nor vicious when there is no Moral goodness in any of the circumstances e. g. It 's indifferent whether a man dine in the Hall or Parlor at eleven a Clock or twelve on fish or flesh c. These particular circumstances are not determined either Pro or Con by any Precept or Prohibition and therefore are indifferent And here be it remarked and remembred 1 That an action intrinsecally good may have some indifferent circumstances put on it as in hearing the word 't is indifferent whether I sit or stand wear a Cloak or a Coat c. 2 An action intrinsecally indifferent may have some circumstances good which may render it necessary e. g. If I have a commodity it is indifferent for me either to sell it or use it my self but if there comes one that has extraordinary need of it I am bound to let him have it so in those several cases before mentioned wherein Liberty in things indifferent may be restrained 3 There are general Rules concerning circumstances which must be brought down and applied to particulars by humane wisdom and discretion for the regulating and right ordering of them e. g. 1. For Persons Quis. When actions are peculiar to an office or condition of life then none must perform them but persons in that capacity either of the office as in the Ministry or of the condition as in Marriage 2. For Place Ubi Actions must be done in places suitable and convenient so Christ seeing the multitudes went up into a Mountain to preach Matth. 5.1 as at other times in private houses Luk. 14.1 12 15. 3. For Means Quibus auxiliis We must use only lawful means and not do evil that good may come of it Rom. 3.8 4. For the End Cur. We must do all to the glory of God 1 Cor. 10.31 L. 2. dist 40. qu. 1. Which words as Capreolus observeth may be understood two manner of ways 1 Negatively That we must do nothing against God's glory whereby he may be dishonoured 2 Affirmatively And so actions may have a threefold reference to the glory of God as both Capreolus and Scotus 2. Sent. dist 41. observe 1 Habitual where there is the habit of grace and this is not enough 2 Actual when we actually think of and aim at the glory of God and this is more than is required in all performances for though it ought frequently to be done yet it is not necessary in every action Well it may be our happiness in the next life but cannot be our duty in this because it would leave no room nor place for other duties 3 Vertual which presupposes the two former and adds further 1 The Negation of any other end contrary to the glory of God and 2 a natural tendency of the action to some end subordinate to the glory of God and naturally referrible thereto 5. Quomodo For the Manner whether in regard of the inward frame of spirit or outward behaviour and here are many rules in both respects fitted for several occasions as 't is faith c. decently c. 6. Quando For the Time It must be done in season Psal 1.3 He brings forth fruit in due season 4 Every action though in its own nature secundum speciem and in regard of the Matter it be in different yet when cloathed with its whole suit systeme and compages of individuating circumstances is necessarily either good or evil according to its consonance or dissonance from the Rules before laid down Though it have not any antecedent good or evil to render it necessary or unlawful yet it must have a concomitant good or evil whereby it becomes necessarily either good or evil when it is done There 's a great dust raised by Scotus Bonaventure and others of the School-men about this who hold the negative I shall not wade far into the controsersie you may see it learnedly clearly and satisfactorily handled Jeanes Scholast Pract. Divin part 2. p. 2. Engl. Pop. Cerem part 4. c. 3. only give you some brief hints about it Observe 1 The question is not to be understood of indeliberate actions which proceed either from the disposition of natural qualities as to hunger thirst c. or from the force of imagination as to scratch the head c. but of actions properly humane 2 Not of actions considered only in regard of their matter or object but circumstances 3 Nor of actions or circumstances compared one with another for so there is no question but there may be some action or circumstance neither better nor worse as far as we can judge than another but of things considered absolutely and by themselves 4 Nor of Indifference as it lies between commanded and forbidden but between good and evil 5 Not of every particular circumstance but of all together And accordingly I affirm That no deliberate action considered absolutely and singly by it self and adequately with its whole suit of individuating circumstances but is either good or evil And I prove it both by Scripture Reason and Authority 1. For Scripture Thus much is plainly intimated by Christ Mat. 12.36 Every idle word that men shall speak they shall give account thereof in the day of judgement i. e. for every unprofitable unfruitful word that brings good

the Matter and Form if the Form alone cannot do it then the Matter must do something towards it Yet 3. Not every Command neither de materiâ licitâ does oblige because due circumstances also must be observed as was shewed before whereby it may be prepared and made habitable for the form to dwell in But 4. The matter must be lawful i. e. either necessary or indifferent at least and also duly circumstantiated He is the Minister of God to thee for good saith the Apostle Rom. 13.4 Therefore if it be not good at least extrinsecally and in respect of circumstances which an inconveniency or inexpediency is not he is not the Minister of God therein Then 5. That which is both lawful in its own nature and moreover cloathed with a handsome dress of circumstances when commanded becomes necessary and submission thereto a duty and must be done for conscience-sake and the neglect thereof is a sin I lay the formality of the obligation neither upon the matter nor form singly considered but upon the union or concurrence of both so as that the matter must have some kind of goodness either intrinsecal or circumstantial as the foundation whence there arises obligatio fundamentalis and then the command supervening upon that matter produces obligationem formalem both together make the obligation perfect and compleat Either alone is but like a single knot which does not tye hard but both together make a double knot which holds fast 6. That which is lawful in its own nature and generally convenient and has only some particular inconvenience attending it does also become necessary when commanded because the general respect outweighs the particular and therefore in general all are bound to obey for conscience-sake and those particular persons to whom it is inconvenient must either get a dispensation or undergo the inconvenience for the general good E. g. If the use of Fish be convenient for a Nation and thereupon a Law be made to enjoyn the eating thereof at such a time of the year then obedience is necessary and though this be inconvenient for some persons whose constitutions agree not with it yet they must either obey and so indure the inconvenience or procure a dispensation But 7. That which is lawful in its own nature if attended with some irregular circumstances which render it generally inconvenient and inexpedient though commanded does not become necessary nor submission thereto a duty nor neglect thereof a sin The reason is because bare authority without reason lays no obligation upon the conscience as was proved before but here is only bare authority without reason for the reason of the command where the matter of it is indifferent must be fetch 't from the expediency and conveniency of its circumstances which not being to be found here in the case supposed there is no reason neither and so obliges not the conscience Submission is not a duty we are not bound to obey for conscience-sake I know some are of opinion that it may be a duty to obey where it is a sin to command But against that Position I have this argument Obligation to obedience and authority to command are Correlates so that where there is no authority to command there can be no obligation to obey viz. by vertue of that Command for possibly an obligation may arise upon some other account as we shall see presently in Propos 9. But here is no authority to command for we suppose the Magistrate sins in commanding Now sure no man has authority to sin Besides the Magistrates authority reaches only to that which is good as was before shewed out of the Apostles words Rom. 13.4 and elsewhere he tells us all Ecclesiastical authority is for Edification only Eph. 4.12 Yet 8. Where the inconvenience attending the command is only such as keeps within the compass of some natural or civil evil and sinks not down into a sin or transgression of some Law of God there though obedience does not become necessary and a duty and I am not bound to obey for conscience-sake yet I may submit for wrath and for fear of such a penalty as will outweigh the advantage I shall have by non-submission And this by vertue of that Rule Ex duobus malis minimum it 's better to undergo an inconvenience than a mischief E.g. If I may not hear a Sermon with my hat on under penalty of 5 l. though it be something prejudicial to my health to sit uncover'd and so a natural inconvenience yet if the advantage I shall get by non-submission be not so great as the penalty I shall incur I may submit So if a Thief will either make me swear to conceal him or take away my life though it be a Political inconvenience yet rather than lose my life I may submit to it Nay 9. If the penalty be such as would hinder me from the performance of a necessary duty then obedience may accidentally and in that respect become (a) An inconvenient mode of worship is a sin in the imposer and in the chuser and voluntary user that might offer God better and will not Mal. 1.13 14. and yet it may be not only lawful but a duty to him that by violence is necessitated to offer up that or none Grand Debate Reply to Answ sect 5. necessary notwithstanding such a circumstantial inconvenience E. g. If that either I must kneel at receiving the Sacrament or cannot be admitted to partake thereof if I judge kneeling not unlawful in it self but only inconvenient in respect of its unsuitableness to the nature of the Ordinance then I am accidentally bound to kneel rather than to omit receiving a necessary duty for that inconvenience Again If I must either baptize a child at the Font or be deprived of the exercise of my Ministry though I judge Administration of the Sacrament of Baptism at the Font which always stands at the lower end of the Church where the Congregation cannot so well hear not so convenient as at the reading-Pew yet rather than be deprived of the exercise of my Ministry for such a circumstance I ought to submit to such an inconvenience So though I judge such a form inconvenient yet if I must use that or not exercise my Ministry the latter being a duty I ought to submit to the former On this ground I suppose Calvin went in using wafer-cakes in the Administration of the Lords Supper For at first he refused to administer the Communion with unleavened bread and wafer-cakes and was thereupon compelled to depart out of the City but afterwards he was received again upon his allowance of that same kind of bread De quo posteà restitutus nunquam contendendum putavit minimè tamen dissimulans quod alioqui magis esset probaturus saith Beza In all these cases Edification is the end Decency and Order the means now the end is that which principally we must be ruled by in these things and therefore where a more convenient

means cannot be had by reason of any either natural or moral hinderance there a less convenient becomes necessary so long as the End may be attain'd thereby Yea further yet 10. In the case put I may not only do that which I judge to be inconvenient but suffer another to do that which I judge to be unlawful rather than be deprived of a necessary Ordinance E. g. If either I must have my Child baptized with the sign of the Cross or not baptized at all I may suffer it to be done in that way though I judge it an unlawful addition because the manner concerns him that does it not me at least not so much so long as there is all the essence He must be responsible for any irregularity in the manner not I. Thus Jacob took Laban's Oath though by his Idols And Christ did joyn with the Jewish Church in their Administrations of God's Ordinances though there were many Corruptions therein rather than not partake of the Ordinances at all But 11. If the inconvenience be such as would overthrow the main end of the duty and is inconsistent therewith then the indifferency is so far from becoming necessary that notwithstanding the command it is unlawful and I may not obey whatever the penalty be E. g. If I may not pray or read in the Congregation but with such a tone and modulation of the voice as would Pender what is so prayed or read unintelligible I must rather suffer any penalty than perform the duty in such a manner because the Congregation cannot be edified thereby nor understandingly joyn with me therein and so I do but take God's name in vain Lastly In all these cases there is left unto every private person a Judgement of Discretion to discern and try whether the thing commanded be (a) Ille judicat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 per modum privatae discretionis qui de sensu aequitate aut veritate dogmatis sive sententiae propositae à judicibus suprà nominatis judicat sine ullà potestate publicâ tantùm comprehendendo approbando intellectum suum admittendo Actus enim intelligendi non exercetur sine actu judicandi De judicis cujuscunque subordinati definitionibus adhibetur hoc judicium non solum ut intelligatur ejus sententia sed etiam ut Aequitas seu Veritas ejusdem consensio cum lege Supremi Judicis percipiatur obedientis animo persuadeatur Daven de Judice c. 3. lawful or no and how far forth the reasons that are publickly held forth to bottom the command upon are solid and valid as was shewed before Some indeed object That this will overthrow all obedience if Children Servants c. are not bound to obey till they be satisfied of the lawfulness of the Command But I answer Though 't is true the same Command viz. the fifth which enjoyns obedience to Parents and Masters enjoyns obedience to Magistrates also yet I conceive there is a different tie and that Subjects are not so strictly bound to Magistrates as Children are to their Parents or Servants to their Masters And therefore 't is observable that when the Apostle lays out the particulars of this obedience he bids Children obey their Parents in all things Col. 3.20 viz. in the Lord as he expounds it Eph. 6.1 i. e. in whatsoever is agreeable to God's will and not contrary thereto And so 't is for the obedience of Servants Col. 3.22 Servants obey in all things your Masters according to the flesh And so Wives must be subject to their own husbands in every thing Eph. 5.24 but he saith not the like for Subjects to Magistrates The reason whereof I conceive to be this That Children are for their Parents and Servants for their Masters but now Subjects are not for Princes but Princes for their Subjects i. e. for their benefit and advantage and therefore Subjects are not so strictly bound to Magistrates as Children are to their Parents and Servants to their Masters Thus having dispatch't these preliminary Discourses concerning Liberty and Indifferency we pass on to the principal and fundamental point of Scandal where we are to consider the nature of that Scandal for which we must forbear the use of our Liberty in things indifferent And we shall view it both as to the Quid Nominis and Quid Rei 1. For the Quid Nominis Much lies in that neither have I met with any one that gives a full and satisfactory account of it and therefore I shall be the more large and particular about it There are two words used in the N. T. translated Scandal and Offence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence our English word comes and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the difference between which is but small if any and concerning which Criticks are not agreed upon their Verdict and therefore I must return an Ignoramus Of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have spoken before in opening the words of the Text. Now for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 't is a Scripture-word (a) Yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nostras Gatakerus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 conjectures it to have been of familiar use formerly In hanc classem verborum scilicet quorundam quorum usus jam evanuit nec in veterum scriptis extat am pliùs vestigia tamen adhuc residua sunt ex quibus olim familiaria fuisse liquido possit deprehendi redigi potest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod apud antiquos Graecae linguae autores deprehendere hactenus nequiverunt qui sunt rerum istarum indagatores diligentissimi atque acerrimi Verum apud Hellenistas quos nuncupant crebrum est atque admodum familiare Gatak Adversar Miscellan cap. 41. p. 415. never used by any profane Author as H. Stevens observes Criticks say it signifies properly the bridge in a trap which when a Mouse or other Vermine touches the trap falls and so they are taken And indeed so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word very near of kin to it is used by Aristoph in Acharn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou hast set a trap or snare of words and thence 't is used to signifie any kind of snare in general whether proper or metaphorical or omne id quod exitii causam praebe● saith Grotius whatsoever tends to the hurt or ruine of another or whereby he is drawn into sin as a bird into a snare Others will have it to signifie primarily any thing that makes a man to halt from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 claudico or to go lame and thence any thing that occasions a man to sin And so if there be any difference between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 't is this the former signifies that which makes a man stumble the latter that which makes him halt a common effect of stumbling It is rendred A thing that doth offend Mat. 13.41 they shall gather out of his kingdom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all things that offend An occasion to fall Rom. 14.13