necessity be distinguished which is the fourth thing that we say cannot in any Protestant Government possibly be prevented For if no Law can possibly eradicate the notion that there is a God no endeavour of man whatever can hinder then his being worshipped by such at least as have a sense of his being and do verily believe that he is Wherefore if we are trained up from our Childhood and train'd up not only as men but as Protestants firmly to believe that God will accept of no worship at all from us but what is agreeable to his Word and if it be a thing continually inculcated to us even from our very Infancy that it is in a conformity to this Word alone that all Religion whatever doth consist then it is not reason only but experience it self which attests it that a man may as soon quit his notion that there is a God or to be afraid to own it and may as soon quit that notion that God is to be worshipped or be afraid to own it as he may quit or be afraid to own as a Protestant this notion viz. that God is so only to be worshipped and no otherwise then as he hath set down in his Word And if this notion then about his Word as the only rule of the worship of God be as firmly planted in us by our Education as any notion can be planted in us that belongs to our nature as men it must needs follow that a Government may as well and with as good success hope or propound to it self by a Law to extinguish common notions as hope or propound to it self by a Law to extinguish among Protestants the notion of the necessity of worshipping God according to his Word And therefore if it be rightly considered it will likewise appear that it must be to him that is truly educated as a Protestant every way as grievous to be commanded by a Law to forsake Christianity it self as to be commanded by a Law to forsake that worship which he as a Protestant cannot but believe in his heart is alone agreeable to the Mind and Law of God which is that worship that is given to God directly conformable to his Scripture or Word and of the truth of this the Martyrs in Queen Mary's time are a competent witness And consequently they that pretend to take another measure of Protestantism than according to what is thus firmly rooted in the hearts of men both by their Education and by the very Principles and Doctrine of the Reformation do seem but to prevaricate only with the Reformed Religion and with the sixth Article of the Church of England and do if not in wo ds yet in actions seem manifestly to declare that they neither really believe the Scriptures or the Christian Religion or the Reformation to be of God for if the whole of the Christian Religion be contained in the Scripture and in the Scripture alone as the sixth Article of the Church of England doth both plainly and expresly confess it is then to make the Rule of the Word to be our Rule wholly as Christians in the worship of God is so far from an obstinacy in us and so far from any thing of humour or superstition or conceitedness that the contrary can be no way dispensible and much less maintainable before God and therefore there is neither any part of Popery it self nor any thing of Idolatry though never so gross but it may be as easily imposed upon and as easily entertained by a Protestant as any worship may which he evidently seeth or is sufficiently perswaded of in his Conscience to be against the mind of God or against the rule of his Word seeing it is this rule that is the only Index of his mind as to us and it is this rule alone to which all promises of God are entirely made and all the promises of God being made to this rule only this rule and no other must then as we are Christians be the alone Foundation both of all our hope and of all our trust toward God and must consequently be the only ground upon which we can as Christians have any expectation of salvation and life and consequently the whole interest and concern of our Souls at least as we are Protestants doth and must stand entirely upon the said Word Which deductions if they cannot any way possibly be denied the disobeying then f all such Laws in the matter of worship as are not agreeable to the Word of God or which at least appear not to be so is a thing wholly inevitable and is impossible to be avoided in a Protestant Government even as we are rational persons because there is a threefold reason that necessarily impells it First as it hath its rise from that most forcible and indelible Character wh ch is writ in the minds of all men viz. that seeing God is he ought to be worshipped in some manner or another of necessity Secondly as it hath its rise from that Character which hath equal force with the other in the minds of us as we are bred Protestants viz. that God is no other way to be worshipped nor will accept of any worship from us as Christians but what is agreeable to his Word which two Principles seeing by reason of our Education they make but one indeed in our hearts as we are Protestants they do and must constrain us as soon to abandon all worship it self unto God as to abandon that worship which is properly agreeable to his Word because so far as we abandon this we do abandon all worship that is according to our Principles as Protestants either acceptable with God or agreeable to the Mind of God wherefore if to these two we shall add the third ground of its rise which is as certain also as either of the other viz. that we neither have hope in God nor any promise made us by God further than as we obey him in his Word or further than as we worship him according to the rule of it I say these three things being now joyntly considered and seriously weighed by us what man is there or what man can there be who firmly believes there is any such thing as Salvation and Life who will not run any hazard rather than forbear what he judgeth to be the worship of God or rather than he will observe such a worship unto God as he cannot but know or cannot at least but verily believe to be contrary to his mind and contrary to the rule of his Word If it be evil then for any man to believe that God is indispensibly to be worshipped after some manner or another or evil for a man to believe that there is no other rule of his will or mind to us as we are Christians but his word and therefore no other rule wherein his worship is contained besides his said word or if it be evil to expect that God will most truly faithfully and fully perform
his promises to us if we shall serve him according to his word and not otherwise I say if any of these three things be evil then it must be evil to disobey any Law relating to the worship of God though it be not agreeable to his word but if no one of these things be evil in themselves they can never make any man evil who simply conforms to them I say not simply for his conformity how strictly or entirely soever it be And therefore if these thr e Principles are of such a nature as create a necessity of our compliance with them even as we are rational persons we must either then remove the Principles themselves and the lawfulness of them or we must unavoidably suffer and permit their efficacy as lawful over men for to allow the Principles themselves as good and lawful and as necessary and indispensible in themselves and to disallow nevertheless the practice of them or to disallow such persons as follow them and imbrace them and to account such persons to be only disturbers or to be men so evil and bad as that they are not fit to be tollerated in a Nation even though no Crime besides this be objected against them is either grolly to prevaricate with the said Principles themselves and to make but a mock of them or it is to do that which is absolutely repugnant absurd and contradictory in it self which is wholly against the reason and nature of a man as a man For though it cannot be maintained that all the Laws of men must or ought necessarily to arise out of the Laws of God viz. either that of his word or that Law written in the heart of man yet it is maintained among all Christian Governments whatever that no Law of the Civil Magistrate hath any power to supersede any Law of God whether it be that writ in the heart of man or that writ in his word and therefore it is universally agreed by all Governments that all humane Laws if they be inconsistant either with any of these common Principles that are writ in our Nature which are called the common Principles of Reason or with any that is expresly writ in the word of God they are null and void in themselves because they are against a prior or preceding obligation which all men as men have by nature unto God as unto their Supreme Lord and Creator Wherefore in as much as it is clear that all Laws which command men to forbear that worship which they as Protestants do in their hearts judge and believe to be agreeable to the mind will and word of God or which command them to conform to such a worship as they judge according to their understanding and cannot but believe to be disagreeable to the said mind will and word of God are of this nature and are such Laws as have a manifest inconsistency either with the Law writ in the heart it self viz. which is that God is indispensibly to be worshipped in some manner or another or have an inconsistency with the Law writ in the word of God viz. that he will reward all such as shall obey him according to the rule which he hath given them in the said word and will punish such as shall do the contrary or that they have an inconsistency with the rule of the Reformation it self which is that all worship which is Christian and instituted Federal is to be given to God according to the Scripture and that whatever is not read in the Scripture nor may be proved by the Scripture is not to be required of any man that it should be believed as an Article of Faith which are the very words of the sixth Article of the Church of England and which Article if wounded the rest of the 39 Articles must be wounded with it seeing they are founded mainly upon it I with all humbleness say that seeing all Laws in any Protestant Government whatever which restrain such a worship as is agreeable to the word of God or is really believed to be such by them that practise it have a manifest repugnancy or inconsistency in them either to the Law writ in the heart of man as man or to the express Law of Gods word or to the Principles of our Reformation and to the sixth Article of the Church of England upon which alone the rest of our Confession is built all the said Laws therefore as such are entirely against that prior Law or preceding obligation which men as men have by nature indispensibly unto God as their immediate Creator and Lord above any which they have or can have unto man how lawfully soever he may be the superiour of them and consequently that all non-obedience or non-conformity to any of the said Laws though it be in a sense voluntary yet it is neither elective nor indeed truly and properly free and therefore is not the least breach of affection nor any real forfeiture of a mans duty to his Prince or to the Government because it is a non-conformity or disobedience that is absolutely constrained compelled and of an inevitable and indispensible nature in it self by reason of the prior Law or of the preceding and indispensible obligation which we have both as men and as Christians unto God and have above and beyond any obligation that we have or can have possibly to any person as the Prince or Superiour of us and all men that maintain the contrary and that either out of a luxury of wit or out of a superâ—…tation of vanity insâ—lency or pride do seek to boâ—…e this argument or to evade the force of it under the pretence of the caprâ—ciousness humoursomness and a sectation of singularity that may be in some persons may with as good reason and with as solid a judgment make a meer mock or ridicule of all the Martyrs that have been since the World stood and may as well call Daniel and the three Children and all the Primitive Christians and Apostles who suffered for God and for the Testimony of his Word and of Christ Revel 6.9 Revel 1.9 men that were only capricious humorous and persons that did affect a singularity as call all men so at this day who ever they are that do not conform to the Laws Nationally made about Worship and Religion for if their bare Alleg tion that all men who do not conform are men only of humorous and capricious tem ters and men who meerly a fect a singularity and disturbance shall be taken for sufficient Evidence against them By as just a Law the Testimony of any Atheist may as well be taken against all the Martyrs that ever were and the testimony of any common person may as well be taken against them themselves that alledge this that they are Atheists for if this last be not reasonable neither is the first for if anothers bare Allegation is not to be taken against them nor ought to be allowed as an Evidence so neither is
their bare saying to be taken against others By all that I have said then if allowed it will appear that there is a clear difference between the Authority of a Prince in things Civil and in things relating to Worship and Religion for as his Authority about things Civil is unquestionable and entersares with no Law of God whatever and can have no pretence therefore to intrench upon the Conscience or upon any prior obligation or duty that a man oweth unto God and as it must for all these reasons be necessarily and indispensibly obeyed and submitted unto by all his Subjects so on the contrary a Prince especially as a Protestant can put out no Law about Divine Worship but his Subjects so far as they are Protestants are bound in Conscience and by the very Principles of that Religion which they profess not only to consider it but to examine it whether it be agreeable to the Word of God or not and if it appear not to be such at least according to the best of their understandings as they will have a Plea always not to submit to it by reason it intrencheth upon a prior obligation that they have both in Conscience and according to the Principles of their Reformation unto God and according also to the sixth Article of the Church of England it self so this Plea cannot well with Justice be denied them if no Crime whatever in their Conversation can be proved against them nor can men in this case be actually punished and proceeded against without the sense and grief of that wrong or oppression that is manifestly done to them and suffered by them especially seeing their non-conformity to the said Laws proceeds not as we said either from their Election or Liberty nor yet from any breach of duty or affection to their Prince but only from what appears to them to be an inevitable or indispensible necessity that ariseth and is occasioned from their meer Profession as they are of the Protestant Religion To which end let me humbly beg leave to offer one argument more also which is That the thing which doth Essentially distinguish a Protestant from a Papist more than any note mark or character whatsoever besides is that a Papist by his Principles as a Papist may not and indeed cannot dispute any Law whatever relating to the Worship or Service of God provided it be declared and established by what he acknowledgeth to be the Church because he takes the Authority of the Church for the whole Argument or for the only Foundation of all his Obidence unto God rather than the Divine Authority of the Scripture or Word and because he presumeth the Church also to be a thing altogether holy and such as neither hath erred nor can err for should he question this he must question the whole of his Religion it self whereas the Protestant Church on the other hand having separated from the Church of Rome not only upon the supposition that she hath actually erred but that she hath been grosly corrupted as well in Manners as in Faith and having for the better justification of her own Practice both in matter of Worship and in all things relating to Doctrine and Faith set up the Scriptures as the sole and Soveraign Rule of Gods mind and will to his Church as she cannot challenge the exercise of any Authority therefore that is beyond that of the Scriptures or of any that is not subordinate to the Scriptures it self so it is expected that all the duties consequently which she requires and all those Articles or Points of Faith which she at any time recommends to such as are the Members of her should always be enforced from those Arguments properly and only which are drawn from the Scriptures because it is this which she her self hath appealed unto and this only which she challengeth to justifie her A Protestant then that understands the grounds of Religion or that hath been at all instructed in the rise or Principles of Reformation taking this for the very first Article of his Faith that a Church may err and may have corruption in it and may in its Worship possibly swerve and depart from the pure Mind Word and Wisdom of God and laying this no less firmly as the foundation of his belief on the other hand viz. that the Scriptures cannot err nor can be other than unalterable and incorruptible Rule of Gods Law and of his will and mind to his people he cannot possibly hold the Authority of the Church to be Divine any further or otherwise than as it appears to be clearly grounded upon the Scripture as the word of God and consequently the tye or obligation which he hath to obey the Church so far as it relates to the Conscience and binds the Conscience ariseth out of no other ground than from the conformity which he seeth or is perswaded that the Church hath in her Laws Orders and Doctrines to the said Word and consequently if this conformity doth or shall once cease in the said Church a Protestant as a Protestant cannot but judge his tye or obligation to her as a Church ought to cease also with it And this being the true state of that Radical or Essential difference that is between the Principles of a Protestant and the Principles of a Papist as a Papist if a Church then that professeth her self to be a Protestant or the Clergy rather who are the Rulers properly of it shall not much consider or regard the justifying of what Laws and Orders she makes by the consonancy they expresly have to the Law or Mind of God in his Word which is his Rule to the Church nor shall much concern it self to clear and inforce the Faith and Doctrine which she holds by the evidence of its truth or by the authority of it as sufficiently grounded upon that word that is absolutely divine but shall on the contrary in whatsoever she commands or in the things she teacheth constrain and exact an obedience from her Members to her self and to her own Authority as absolute and as unsubordinate to the Word of God and therefore to her own Authority as it is a distinct thing from the said word that Church or the Clergy rather which are the Rulers of it so far as she doth this in any Doctrine or in any Law that she makes indispensible doth so far cease in her Principles and practice to be Protestant and doth so far disclaim not only a main and chief ground of her separation from the Church of Rome but the very Principle it self upon which she pretends to guide her self and justifie her self in her Reformation For if it cannot be denied that this was one main and great cause of our separation from the Church of Rome viz. because she had made her self and her Commands absolute and had set up an Authority in the matters of worship and faith above that of the Scripture as the word of God and secondly because she did not