what a cross-grain'd thing is it to restrain things only because they are matters of liberty and first to forbid Princes to command them because they are lawful and then Subjects to do them only because they are commanded But to expose the absurdity of this Principle by some more particular considerations §2 First The follies and mischiefs that issue from it are so infinite that there can be no setled Frame of things in the World that it will not overturn and if it be admitted to all intents and purposes there can never be an end of disturbances and alterations in the Church in that there never was nor ever can be any Form of Worship in the World that is to all circumstances prescribed in the World of God and therefore if this Exception be thought sufficient to destroy one there is no remedy but it may as occasion requires serve as well to cashier all and by consequence take away all possibility of settlement Thus when upon this Principle the Disciplinarians separated from the Church of England the Independents upon the same ground separated from them the Anabaptists from the Independents the Familists from the Anabaptists and the Quakers from the Familists and every Faction divided and subdivided among themselves into innumerable Sects and Undersects and as long as men act up to it there is no remedy but Innovations must be endless If it be urged against Lord-Bishops 't is as severe against Lay-Presbyters if against Musick in Churches then farewel singing of Psalms in Rhime if against the Cross why not against sprinkling in Baptism and if against Cathedral Churches then down go all Steeple-Houses If against one thing then against every thing and there is nothing in the exteriour parts of Religion but the two Sacraments that can possibly escape its impeachment All the pious Villanies that have ever disturbed the Christian World have shelter'd themselves in this grand Maxime that Iesus Christ is the only Law-maker to his Church and whoever takes upon himself to prescribe any thing in Religion invades his Kingly Office The Gnosticks of old so abused this pretence to justifie any seditious and licentious practices that they made Heathen Princes look upon Christianity as an Enemy to Government and the Fanaticks of late have so vex'd and embroil'd Christendom with the same Principle that Christian Princes themselves begin to be of the same perswasion 'T is become the only Patron and Pretext of Sedition and when any Subjects have a mind to set themselves free from the Laws of their Prince they can never want this pretence to warrant their disobedience Seeing there is no Nation in the World that has not divers Laws that are not recorded by the four Evangelists and therefore if all humane Institutions intrench upon our Saviours Kingly Prerogative they are and ever must be provided with matters of quarrel to disturb Government and justifie Rebellion § 3. Secondly Nay further this fond pretence if made use of to all the ends for which it might as wisely serve would cancel all humane Laws and make most of the divine Laws useless which have only described the general Lines of Duty but left their particular determinations to the Wisdom of humane Laws Now the Laws of God cannot be put in practice but in particular Cases and Circumstances these cannot be determin'd but by the Laws of man therefore if he can command nothing but what is already prescribed to us in the Word of God he can have no power to see the Divine Laws put in Execution For where are described all the Rules of Justice and Honesty Where are determined all doubts and questions of Conscience Where are decided all Controversies of Right and Wrong Where are recorded all the Laws of Government and Policy Why therefore should humane Authority be allowed to interpose in these great affairs and yet be denied it in the Customs of Churches and Rules of Decency There is no possible reason to be assign'd but their own humour and fond opinion they are resolved to believe it and that is Argument enough for 't is unanswerable How comes this Proposition to be now limited to matters of meer Religion but only because this serves their turn for otherwise Why are not the Holy Scriptures as perfect a Rule of Civil as of Ecclesiastical Policy Why should they not be as complete a System of Ethicks as they are a Canon of Worship Why do not these men require from the Scriptures express Commands for every Action they do in common life How dare they take any Physick but what is prescribed in the Word of God How dare they commence a Suit at Law without Warranty from Scripture How dare they do any natural action without particular advice and direction of Holy Writ § 4. Thirdly But as foolish as this Opinion is its mischief equals its folly for 't is impossible but that these Sons of strife and singularity must have been troublesom and seditious in all Churches and Common-wealths Had they lived under the Jewish Church why then Where has Moses commanded the Feast of Purim the Feast of the Dedication the Fasts of the fourth the fifth the seventh and the tenth months What Warrant for the building of Synagogues and what Command for that significant Ceremony of wearing sack-cloth and ashes in token of Humiliation If in the primitive Ages of Christianity why then where did our Saviour appoint the Love-Feasts Where has he instituted the Kiss of Charity Where has he commanded the observations of Lent and Easter Where the Lords-Day Sabbath and where all their other Commemorative Festivals Vide Tertull de Coronâ c. 3. Will they retreat to the Lutheran Churches they will there meet with not only all the same but many more Antichristian and superstitious Ceremonies to offend their tender Consciences and will find themselves subject to the same Discipline and Government saving that their Superintendents want the Antichristian Honours and Revenues of the English Bishops partly through the poverty of the Country partly through the injury of Sacriledge but mainly because the Church Revenues are in the possession of Romish Bishops Will they to France there notwithstanding the unsetled state of the Protestants of that Nation through want of the assistance of the Civil Power they shall meet with their Liturgies and establisht Forms of Prayer and Change of Apparel for Divine Service as well as at home If they will to Geneva there Mr. Calvin's Common-Prayer-Book is as much imposed as the Liturgy of the Church of England there they are enjoyn'd the use of Wafer-Cakes the Custom of Godfathers and Godmothers bidding of Prayer proper Psalms not only for days but for hours of the day with divers other Rites and Ceremonies that are no where recorded in the Word of God In a word What Church in the World can affirm these were the only Customs of the Apostolical Age and that the Primitive Church never used more or less than these So that these men
convincing them at least of the possibility of their being deceived reduce them to a more humble and governable temper Why do they not teach them in plain terms that the establish'd way of Worship is lawful and innocent and therefore that they ought not to forsake it to the disturbance of the Church and contempt of Authority If they would but make it part of their business to undeceive the people how easily would all their stragling Followers return into the Communion of the Church But they dare not let them know their Errours lest they should forfeit both their Party and their Reputation And therefore instead of that they rather confirm them in their mistakes and in their own defence are forced to perswade them that they ought to be scandalized Insomuch that it is not unusual to hear the foolish people pretend it concerning themselves and to tell you that your action is a Scandal to them By which they mean either that it leads them into sin or that it makes them angry If the former that is a ridiculous contradiction for if they know how the snare and temptation is laid then they know how to escape it my action does not force them into the sin but only invites them to it through their own mistake and folly And therefore if they have discovered by what mistake they are likely to be betray'd they know how to provide against the danger For if they know their duty in the case how can they plead Scandal when that supposes ignorance And however I behave my self they know what they have to do themselves If they do not How can they say of themselves that they are scandalized when by so saying they confess they are not For that implies a knowledge how to do their duty and avoid the danger If the latter i. e. that they are angry then all their meaning is that I must part with my liberty and disobey my Superiors to please them that their saucy humour must give me Law that I must be their Slave because they are proud and insolent and that they must gain a power over me because they are forward to censure mine actions § 7. Thirdly We encounter Scandal with Scandal and let the guilt of all be discharged upon that side that occasions the most and the greatest offences Now all the mischief they can pretend to ensue in the present constitution of affairs upon their compliance with Authority reaches no farther than the weak Brethren of their own Party whereas by their refractory disobedience they give offence not only to them but to all both to the Jew and to the Gentile and to the Church of God And not to insist upon the advantages they give to Atheism and Popery let me only mind them that if the accidental offence of the Judgments of some well-meaning but less knowing Christians of a private capacity pass a sufficient obligation upon Conscience to restrain it from any practice in it self lawful of how much more force must that scandal be that is given to publick Authority by denying obedience to its lawful commands and by consequence infringing its just power in things not forbidden by any divine Law Now if the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England were in themselves apparently evil then their repugnancy to the Law of God were sufficient Objection both against their practice and their imposition and their scandal to weak and ignorant Christians were of small force in comparison to their intrinsick and unalterable unlawfulness But because this is not pretended in our present case What a shameful scandal and reproach to Religion is it to neglect the necessary duty of Obedience and subjection to lawful Authority under pretence of complyance with the weak and groundless scruples of some private men 'T is certainly past dispute that the reasonable offence of some weaker Brethren cannot so strongly oblige our Consciences as the indispensable command of obeying our lawful Superiors And it is a shame to demand Whether the Judgment of a lawful Magistrate have not more force and power over Conscience than the Judgment of every private Christian If not then may the Laws of Authority be cancell'd and controul'd by the folly and ignorance of those that are subject to them for meer scandal arises only from the folly and ignorance of the persons offended For if there be any just and wise occasion of dislike the action becomes primarily unlawful not because 't is scandalous but because 't is antecedently evil whereas meer and proper scandal is only concern'd in things in themselves indifferent So that in this case all the difficulty is Whether is the greater scandal to do an indifferent thing when a private Christian dislikes it or not to do it when publick Authority enjoyns it And certainly it can be no Controversie Whether it be a fouler reproach to Religion to disobey a Christian Magistrate in a thing lawful and indifferent than to offend a private Christian. And I may safely appeal to the Judgment of all wise and sober men Whether the intolerable waywardness of some nice and squeamish Consciences to the commands of just Authority be not a fouler and more notorious scandal to Religion than a modest and humble compliance with them though in things not so apparently useful and necessary And then as for their own weak Brethren of whom they seem so exceedingly tender they can no way more scandalize them than by complying with them By which they are tempted and betray'd into the greatest and most mischievous enormities for thereby they encourage their folly feed and cherish their ungrounded fancies confirm them in a false opinion of the unlawfulness of their Superiors commands and so lead them directly into the sins of unwarrantable Schism and Disobedience How many feeble and deluded Souls are enticed by the reputation of their example to violate the commands of Authority and that when themselves are not convinced of their unlawfulness and so entangle themselves in a complicated sin by disobeying their lawful Superiors and that with a doubtful and unsatisfied Conscience They cannot be ignorant that the greatest part of their zealous Disciples are offended at the Laws and Constitutions of the Church for no other reason than because they see their godly Ministers to slight them and therefore unless their example be sufficient to rescind the lawful Commands of their Governors they give them the most criminal Scandal by inviting them to the most criminal disobedience So that all circumstances fairly considered the avoiding of offences will prove the most effectual inducement to Conformity For this would take away the very Grounds and Foundations of Scandal remove all our differences prevent much trouble and more sin cure all our Schisms Quarrels and Divisions banish our mutual Jealousies Censures and Animosities and establish the Nation in a firm and lasting Peace In brief the only cause of all our troubles and disturbances is the inflexible perversness of about an hundred
necessary that either the same or some other in their stead be establish'd that will be liable to the same inconvenience Besides 't is not unworthy Observation that it is not so properly the end of Government to punish Enormities as to prevent Disturbances and when they bring Malefactors to Justice as we term it they do not so much inflict a Punishment upon the Crime for that belongs peculiarly to the cognizance of another Tribunal as provide for the welfare of the Common-wealth by cutting off such Persons as are Pests and Enemies to it and by the example of their Punishment deter others from the like Practices And therefore there are some sins of which Governours take not so much notice that are more hainous in themselves and in the sight of God than others that they punish with Capital Inflictions because they are not in their own nature so destructive of the ends of Government and the good of Publick Societies So that actions being punishable by Humane Laws not according to the nature of the Crime but of their ill consequence to the Publick when any thing that is otherwise even innocent is in this regard injurious it as much concerns Authority to give it check by severity of Laws and Punishments as any the foulest Immoralities Temporal Punishments then are inflicted upon such persons that are turbulent against prescribed Rules of Publick Worship upon the same account as they are against those that offend against all other Publick Edicts of Government they are both equally intended to secure the Publick Peace and Interest of the Society and when either of them are violated they equally tend to its disturbance and therefore as mens actings against the Civil Laws of a Common-wealth are obnoxious to the Judgment of its Governours for the same reason are all their Offences against its Ecclesiastical Laws liable to the censure of the same Authority So that the matter debated in its last result is not so much a question of Religion as of Policy not so much of what is necessary to faith as to the quiet and preservation of a Common-wealth and 't is possible a man may be a good Christian and yet his Opinion be intolerable upon the score of its being inconsistent with the Preservation of the Publick Peace and the necessary ends of Government For 't is easily imaginable how an honest and well-meaning man may through meer ignorance fall into such Errours which though God will pardon yet Governours must punish His integrity may expiate the Crime but cannot prevent the Mischief of his Errour Nay so easie is it for men to deserve to be punished for their Consciences that there is no Nation in the world in which were Government rightly understood and duly managed mistakes and abuses of Religion would not supply the Gallies with vastly greater numbers than Villany CHAP. VII Of the Nature and Obligations of Scandal and of the Absurdity of Pretending it against the Commands of Lawful Authority The Contents THE Leaders of the Separation being asham'd of the silliness of the Principle with which they abuse the People think to shelter themselves by flying to the pretence of Scandal Scandal is any thing that occasions the sin of another and is not in it self determinately Good or Evil. All Scandal is equally taken but not equally Criminal Men are to govern themselves in this Affair by their own prudence and discretion Of St. Paul's contrary behaviour towards the Iews and Gentiles to avoid their contrary Scandal The reason of the seeming Contradiction in this point between his Epistles to the Romans and Galatians The proper obligations of Scandal are extended only to indifferent things The Cases in which it is concern'd are not capable of being determined by setled Laws and Constitutions How scandalously these men prevaricate with the World in their pretence of Scandal that may excuse their refusal of Conformity but gives no account of their Separation Of their scrupling to renounce the Covenant this is no reason to drive them from Divine Service into Conventicles How shamefully these men juggle with the World and impose upon their Followers If they would but perswade their Proselytes to be of their own minds it would end all our differences They first lead the people into the Scandal and then make this the formal reason why they must follow them If the peoples scruples are groundless then to comply with them is to keep them in a sinful disobedience A further account of their shameful prevarication The ridiculousness of the peoples pretending it concerning themselves that they are scandalized By their avoiding private Offences they run into publick Scandals They scandalize their own weak Brethren most of all by complying with them Old and inveterate Scandals are not to be complyed with but opposed and such are those of the Non-Conformists The Commands of Authority and the Obligations of Obedience infinitely outweigh and utterly evacuate all the pretences of Scandal Sect. 1. THough the former Principle viz. that no man may with a safe conscience do any thing in the Worship of God that is not warranted by some Precept or Precedent in the Word of God be riveted into the peoples minds as the first and fundamental Principle of the Puritan Separation yet their Leaders seem to be ashamed of their own folly and being driven from this and all their other little holds and shelters they have at length thought it the safest and the wisest course to flie to the pretence of Scandal This is their Fort Royal in which they have at last secured and entrench'd themselves As for their own parts they tell us they are not so fond as to believe That the Ceremonies of the Church of England are so superstitious and Antichristian and that themselves might lawfully use them were it not that there are great numbers of sincere but weak Christians that apprehend them to be sinful and for this reason they dare not conform to our Ceremonial Constitutions for fear of ensnaring and scandalizing weak Consciences which is in the Apostles account of it no less than spiritual murther And whatever is due to Authority the Souls of men are too high a Tribute None can be more ready than themselves to submit to all lawful Commands but here they desire to be excused when they cannot obey but at the price of Souls 'T is a dreadful Doom that our Saviour has denounced against those who offend any of his little ones i. e. Babes and Weaklings in Christianity And therefore though they would not stick to hazard their own lives in obedience to Authority yet nothing can oblige them to be so cruel and so uncharitable as to destroy any for whom Christ died which is certainly done by casting snares and scandals before their weak Brethren This is the last refuge of the Leaders of the Separation and therefore I cannot but think my self obliged to examine its strength and reasonableness and I doubt not but to make it appear as
of scruple that renounce Communion with the Church of England must do the same with all Churches in the World in that there is not any one Church in Christendom whose Laws and Customs are not apparently liable either to the same or as great exceptions Now Magistrates must needs be obligd to deal wonderful gently with such tender Consciences as these that are acted by such nice and unhappy Principles as must force them to be troublesom and unpeaceable in any Common-wealth in the World Nay what is more notorious than all this these men have all along in pursuit of this Principle run directly counter to their own practices and perswasions For not to puzzle them to discover in which of the Gospels is injoyn'd the form of Publick Penance in the Kirk of Scotland or to find out the Stool of Repentance either among the works of Bezaleel or the Furniture of the Temple We read indeed of Beesoms and Flesh-forks and Pots and Shovels and Candlesticks but not one syllable of Joynt-stools Let them tell me What Precept or Example they have in the Holy Scriptures for singing Psalms in Meeter Where has our Saviour or his Apostles enjoyn'd a Directory for publick Worship And that which themselves imposed What Divine Authority can it challenge beside that of an Ordinance of Lords and Commons What Precept in the Word of God can they produce for the significant Form of swearing by laying their hand upon the Bible which yet they never scrupled What Scripture Command have they for the three significant Ceremonies of the solemn League and Covenant viz. That the whole Congregation should take it 1. Uncovered 2. Standing 3. with their right hand lift up bare Now What a prodigious piece of impudence was this that when they had not only written so many Books with so much vehemence against three innocent Ceremonies of the Church only because they were significant but had also involved the Nation in a civil War in a great measure for their removal and had arm'd themselves and their Party against their Sovereign with this Holy League of Rebellion that even then they should impose three others so grosly and so apparently liable to all their own Objections What clearer evidence can we possibly have That it is not Conscience but humour and peevishness that dictates their scruples And What instance have we in any Nation of the World of any Schism and Faction so unreasonably begun and continued The Rebellion of Corah indeed may resemble but nothing can equal it And from hence we may discover how vain a thing it is to make Proposals and Condescensions to such unreasonable men when 't is so impossible to satisfie all their demands and suppose we should yield and deliver up to their zeal those harmless Ceremonies they have so long worried with so much fury and impatience it would only cherish them in their restless and ungovernable perswasions For whilst their peevish tempers are acted by this exorbitant Principle the Affairs of Religion can never be so setled as to take away all occasions and pretences of Quarrel in that there never can be any Circumstances of Religious Worship against which this Principle may not as rationally be urged and 't is impossible to perform Religious Worship without some Circumstance or other and if all men make not use of it against all particulars 't is because they are humoursom as well as seditious and so allow one thing upon the same Principle they disavow another For certainly otherwise it were impossible that any men should when they pray refuse to wear a Surplice and yet when they swear which is but another sort of Divine Worship never scruple to kiss the Gospel So that whoever seriously imbibes this perswasion and upon that account withdraws himself from the Communion of the Church he understands not the consequences of his Opinion if it does not lead him down to the lowest folly of Quakerism which after divers gradual exorbitances of other less extravagant Sects was but the last and utmost improvement of this Principle And therefore whilst men are possess'd with such a restless and untoward perswasion What can be more apparently vain than to talk of Accommodations or to hope for any possibility of quiet and setlement till Authority shall see it necessary as it will first or last to scourge them into better manners and wiser opinions So that we see the weight of the Controversie lies not so much in the particular matters in debate as in the Principles upon which 't is managed and for this very reason though we are not so fond as to believe the Constitutions of the Church unalterable yet we deem it apparently absurd to forego any of her establish'd Ceremonies out of compliance with these mens unreasonable demands which as it would be coarsly impolitick upon divers other accounts so mainly by yielding up her Laws and by consequence submitting her Authority to such Principles as must be eternal and invincible hindrances of Peace and Setlement This let them consider whom it most concerns § 5. Fourthly As for their Principle of the perfection and sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures 't is undeniably certain as to the fundamental Truths and substantial Duties of Christian Religion but when this Rule that is suited only to things necessary is as confidently applied to things accessory it lays in the minds of men impregnable Principles of Folly and Superstition For confounding them in their different apprehensions between the substantial Duties and external Circumstances of Religion and making them of equal value and necessity it makes the doing or not doing of a thing necessary to procure the Divine acceptance which God himself has not made so and places a Religion in things that are not religious and possesseth the minds of men with false and groundless fears of God wherein consisteth the very Essence and Formality of Superstition Whereas were they duly instructed in the great difference between things absolutely necessary and things meerly decent and circumstantial this would not only preserve them in the right Notions of good and evil but also keep up the Purity of Religion Decency of Worship and due Reverence of Authority And therefore when these men would punctually tye up the Magistrate to add nothing to the Worship of God but what is enjoyn'd in the Word of God if their meaning be of new Articles of Belief 't is notoriously impertinent because to this no Civil Magistrate pretends But if their meaning be that the Magistrate has no Authority to determine the particular circumstances of Religion that are left undetermined by the Divine Law 't is then indeed to the purpose but as notoriously false in that we are certainly bound to obey him in all things lawful and every thing is so that is not made unlawful by some prohibition for things become evil not upon the score of their being not commanded but upon that of their being forbidden and what the Scripture forbids not it