10 11 12 13 14. Beware of inventing or venting Stories and Reproaches of such friends of Christ And make not calumnies the strongest Arguments you plead against them with Monopolize not the reputation of honesty to your selves give your Brethren charity and treat them not disrespectively To stigmatize your Brethren with black Characters and odious Imputations consider again and again what spirit it cometh from Jam. 3.9 10 11 12. Upon all these Grounds and many more which might be added be intreated in the bowels of Christ to remit and relent of your Acrid fervor and bring your dispositions and differences to some temper and manage your discord with more sobriety We think we may say the two part of your differences lyes more in the Acrimony of your spirits and alienation of affection than in the distance of your Principles Would ye let go the misunderstanding and prejudices that are between you and God heal your dispositions and distempers the two part of your Disease were away Advice 7. Ye who are Indulged a word next to you O bear with your Brethrens differing from you and judg charitably of them as to the most part at least Construct it want of light not sinistrousness of intention or affection He that keepeth a day keepeth it to the Lord and he that keepeth it not to the Lord he keepeth it not In Problematick questions not defined by the Church allow others a latitude and continue your brotherly forbearance If even with Infidels and Hereticks the servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle c. as 2 Tim. 2.24 25. how much less with sick and feverish Brethren If any mans inconsiderate and opinionative zeal carry them unto any unbrotherly word or deed toward you be not ye overcome of their evil but overcome their evil with your good Pack up their Reproachings and say Father forgive them they know not what they are doing Let not their vexing you fret you into a wearying of your work Psal 55.6 7 8. nor unto any disaffection or lessening of your respect unto them Love them as Brethren notwithstanding all injuries as Joseph did his and honour their zeal in the Lord and pray he may channel it right and set its bounds for so it might do him excellent service Tolerate also good peoples Infirmities let none of their capricious humours which these reeling times tempts them unto diminish your tender care of them Seek that which strayeth heal the diseased and by gentle dealing convince them that ye walk in the Spirit of Jesus whom ye serve Hard things we confess are cut out for you but put on patience and holy resolution stand your ground notwithstanding all Batteries and do your work over the belly of all discouragements Heb. 12.2 3. What though ye be the Witnesses Prophesying in Sackcloth Rev. 11.3 your Crown will be the massier Serve the Lord through good report and ill report honour and dishonour and make full proof of your Ministry which is thought so considerable by Satan else he would not oppugn and oppose it so upon the right hand and the left You are the eye-sore of the Prelates and their party and the Butt of those your Brethrens mistaken zeal Be strong therefore in the Lord c. Our soul pities you being as the speckled Bird among the Birds of the field laid at upon all hands and grinded as betwixt two Mill-stones viz. the Prelatick parties enmity upon the one hand and the fierceness of these male-contented friends upon the other and who may stand before envy Prov. 27.4 But learn of your Master to endure Contradiction and to be set for a sign to be spoken against that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed Luk. 2.34 35. Endure the Cross and despise the shame Wounds in the house of Friends as well as of foes must be born till he arise and plead your cause and bring forth your Righteousness as the light c. This is the day of your trial and these are the Instruments chosen of the Lord for that end acquit your selves like men like Christians like Ministers in it Bear the indignation of the Lord patiently because perhaps ye have sinned If Shimei rail he may be a good Monitor though a bad Judg. Take your vexations as so many whetstones to keep you in an holy edg that ye blunt not in these up-sitting times and as spurs in your sides to prick you up to diligence in duty and so may you get meat out of the eater c. Stoop to your lot there may be a blessing in it 2 Sam. 16.10 11 12. But bitter though your life and labour be yet faint not O faint not but approve your selves to God and man in your Masters service and by piety painfulness and powerfulness in the Gospel convince gain-sayers stop the mouths of those that speak evil of you falsly and Preach home again all the respect and affection which these times of difference has derogated from you What have ye not the seal of your Ministry a witness of Gods approbation upon the hearts of many even of some who perhaps are now alienated from you who once spake of a blessedness in your Ministry and received you as Angels though now in the hour of tentation they are become as an enemy Gal. 4.15 16. Though Conversion of Sinners be not so frequent and yet some there is yet has not God been evidently with you for Confirmation and building up of the Saints and for Conviction upon all who whether they be better of you or not yet are forced to say God is in you and with you and a Prophet hath been among them as Ezek. 2.4 5. Now may not these eminent Divine Assistances Successes and Proofs of acceptance abundantly compense all your tears sufferings and sorrows and answer the questioning of your being sent of God being proofs of Christ speaking in you Consider the priviledge of your liberty and think is not service to God and his people which hereby ye get done well worth the enduring much contradiction obloquy and heart-breaking reproach Remember also your Brethrens sufferings are sad at other hands though none at yours and let your sympathizing with them sweeten your own at their hands And Oh! be stirred up to make good use of your Liberty which costs you so dear Let your people find through Gods help that it has been their mercy that ever ye were sent among them or whether they hear or forbear that there has been a Prophet among them Keep in good terms with your Master stand in his counsel know the Times and tell what of the Night and what Israel ought to do be faithful in all his house as servants and good Stewards of the Mysteries of God Bear burden with your Brethren in their tedious sufferings constantly And pray for a blessing upon their Preaching of the Gospel albeit some of them would ruin yours And whosoever of them may preach Christ out of contention or
second And do ye think in reason that upon the intimation thereof unto them at that after-time they should have given over their Ministry for that very cause If that were a Relevant reason then were it easie for the Magistrate when he pleased to lay aside all Ministers you as well as them by making and imposing such kind of Laws and Acts of Rules upon you Was and is not non-obedience sufficient to discharge them of compliance therewith as is reckoned in the case of other Laws albeit publickly and solemnly promulgated Yea to this non-observance of these Instructions remember to add this that in July Anno 1673 in face of Council when those Rules were intimated unto many of them it was declared by them that they could not observe them but should rather submit to whatsoever penalty or punishment as the written Narrative of their carriage at that time doth attest So that when they were intimated unto them if ye call them the condition of their Liberty you see that Recusabant onus conditionem repudiabant All which things impartially considered it is hoped whatever evil be in that Act ye will let it rest upon the Authors and not impute it to the Ministers being so innocent of compliance with it by any Rule of Scripture or right reason Oh then away with these hideous out-crys which are made amongst the people upon this score by some Trafficking Novices and their Pragmatical Followers who teazle up this Act to the height of all imaginable wickedness and then Applyes it to the Ministers to make them odious dealing herein with them as the Heathen did with some Christians in the Primitive Persecutions who first clothed them up in Wolves Skins and Bears Skins and then hunted their Mastives at them which did run upon them as not men but wild Beasts of the Wilderness and so did tear them into pieces Ah sad to see the like done to honest men by pretending Friends but herein real Foes dressing them up in soul mis-representations to egg on peoples envy and wrath against them and all to break and tear their Ministry down Is there any persecution or grief like to this Oh that our Heads were Rivers of Tears to mourn for such unparallel'd Animosities which all things considered hath scarce ever had its like The Third Objection is Some alledge this Indulged Preaching with the Magistrates permission and allowance to be a Renouncing their former Commission from Jesus Christ and their dependance upon him and a taking from the Magistrate a new Commission and an holding of their Ministry of him with subjection to him and dependance upon him like other Civil Judges of the Land and Ministers of State Answ Ah bitter and groundless Censure nor could we have believed such an Imputation would have been laid upon the Indulged by any Person of a spark of Reason and Religion yea or of common sense had not our Eyes seen and our Ears heard it But to the matter we say 1. Dear Friends How prove ye this charge Is confident asserting enough to ground such an heavy Accusation If your Brethren have unawares committed such an Abomination O why do ye not run to them and plead with them about it to save them from the Error of their Way Why have ye not ere now seriously Remonstrated this dreadful guilt to themselves and not whispered it in corners unto others Certainly to deal with them at this rate behind theit backs to speak or write this of them unto others First for a long time by private Suggestions and Surmises among the People then by Missive Letters and Libellous Papers and yet never to have waired a Word or Line upon themselves with any reason to evince the Charge What Spirit savoureth this of and to what good can it tend even your selves being Judges And till the Charge be proved is it not a sufficient answer to deny it But for further Vindication and Satisfaction for we hope it is but a mistake there are such hard thoughts taken up of them we humbly propose to you 2. Were the Priests and Levites in Hezekiah's days guilty of this Charge because they had by the Magistrates Authority access to their service of the Temple and did make use of the same Was their Office altered or innovate and quite spoiled thereby as if they renounced their dependance upon God their Lord and Head and Master and subjected their Function to the Civil Ruler and took it holden of him because of his Supervenient Civil Liberty granted them Or were the Levites subordinate to Jehoshaphat like other Civil Judges because of his not only permitting but appointing them to go Preach through the Land And does not your Ministers hold as little of the Magistrate as these did Can any with truth say that the Prince his Permission or Ratification of the exercise of their Office or their use-making of the same implies a Renunciation of Christ or Resignation of their Office into the Kings hands for a Novodamus How will such a Paradox-Point be made out 3. Will you say Because ye were outed of your Charges by the Magistrates Interdict of the Act at Glasgow Anno 1662. or other the like and did Ced thereunto that therefore you did hold your Ministry of him like other Judges and Officers of State and were deprived of it by him If not What more does your Brethrens Civil License state them in subordination unto and dependdance upon him than your quitting of your Chaâ—ges at his command did you For outing and ining of Ministers seems to be of the same Category and to argue a like dependance 4. Distinguish as Apollonius and other Anti-Erastian Divines do betwixt the Substance of the Ministry or the Function it self and the Exercise thereof Your Ministers by their Indulgence has not their Function or Office derived from the Magistrate by it they do not Renounce their old Office Master and Head Jesus Christ nor get any new Office or Ministerial Power conferred upon them by the Magistrate prove the contrary if ye can Yea the Tenor of the Act of Indulgence will declare it being a permitting them to Preach not a giving them power to Preach and therefore false is the Charge above alledged All that they hold of the Magistrate is only somewhat about the exercise of their Function somewhat like an Embassadors getting a Pass from another Prince to pass through or stay in his Territories without Lett or Molestation or to discharge his Embassy within that Dominion unto some certain Persons he is sent unto Does that Embassador by taking this safe Conduct or Leave of the Prince of the Bounds quit his own proper Master and take Commission-power of that other Prince No no. Now as to this sort of Dependance which Ministers have upon the Magistrate in the Actual Discharge of their Office for clearing thereof distinguish next between the exercise of the Ministry simply and in it self considered and the circumstances of that Exercise Or Distinguish
Doubtless when publick liberty is denied House-Preaching rightly gone about cannot be condemned But if any take up the conceit that as these Modes of Preaching are in themselves lawful and in some cases necessary so are they always necessary yea and perferable to the most extended Indulged Liberty who will not think them under some dotage And indeed if Conventicling so called were so preferable much more if it were the only blessed way as some talk then would it follow that the Magistrate had done you no wrong in thrusting you from your publick stations into corners and trouble nor yet did they you wrong in keeping you there casting you thereby upon the necessity of so Conventicling nor should he do well to restore you and the Church to your former state because it would infer a wearing out of Conventicles How unreasonable then must this principle and exception of yours be judg ye your selves 5 Consider that howbeit this Remedying of Conventicles as Legal Disorders be put into the Narrative of the Act and suppose it were ill as indeed we will be far from justifying any that condemn those honest meetings of the Lords people which have been so much owned of him yet Ministers compliance with that part of the Statutary part of the Act which permits them liberty of Preaching cannot rationally be judged to involve them in the guilt of what is in the Narrative Because Narratives of Laws express only the grounds and reasons moving the Magistrate to enact such a Law not the reason of the subjects And consequently if the Ratio motiva or motive inducing the Legislator to such a Statute be sinful the guilt thereof rests with himself but doth not reflect upon the subject as might be cleared by several examples And indeed otherwise it were easie for the Magistrate to bind you up in Conscience from all necessary Duties of Religion by commanding or permiting them upon bad Narratives and ends Know that the Law tells us Quod continetur in Lemmate legis ad Caesarem non ad subditum proprie spectat It sufficeth then to warrant the subject to give obedience if the Statutary part be lawful as to the Matter and the Authority enjoining the same be competent Specially if withal they competently declare and testifie their disallowance of these grounds the Magistrate goes upon 6 This holds yet more strongly when the case is not of a preceptive but a permissive Law and the thing permitted not an indifferent thing but a necessary duty as in this case it is For example let us suppose the Ruler had made an Act like that of Darius's Dan. 6.7 discharging all Preaching as he did Prayer to God and the Rester should grant liberty of all sort of Conventicling upon this ground and intent to wear out and put away all Preaching in a setled way would ye think he that should Preach were it but in a corner were guilty of this sinful Narrative and end we suppose not Or if he should discharge all Family-prayer and the Rester license it upon this Narrative and with respect to this end that it might satisfie people and exclude all seeking after publick Preaching c. would it in that case be unlawful to perform Family-Prayer Or would doing the same conclude you under the guilt of compliance with the Narrative and grounds whereupon the Ruler permits it we suppose ye will not say it And why any more should ye aver it in this case of the indulged Preaching which is no less a necessary and commanded duty than that of indulged Praying c Thus you see how little ground there is to scruple at the Indulgence or question the Indulged upon this score of a supposed all design in it The Fifth Objection is The narrowness of the Indulged Liberty both as to Persons and Priviledges not all the outed Ministers being comprehended in that favour nor all places made partakers nor liberty of the whole Presbyterian Government had but only a part of Ministers and people has it vouchsafed on them and no more of the Government restored but only Congregationl Sessions at most And is it not a fault to accept of such a straitned liberty To this we say these five things 1 This Objection supponeth the Indulgence in its nature not unlawful else how can the Objectors plead for its inlargement or complain of its straitnedness for were it intrinsecally evil the more ample it were the worse it were But 2 know that its straitnedness is the Magistrates fault but the Ministers affliction only and should not the Magistrates fault rest with himself and not be imputed to the Ministers Let every man bear his own burden Gal. 6.5 And 3 as his not granting all he should did not make it simply unlawful to grant a part so who can rationally say that Ministers might not take and make use of that part till God should incline him to grant more Grieved was their souls that the liberty was not universal and all persons and places concerned not made sharers all their own rights not fully restored And their hearts desire to God and endeavour with man was and is to have it extended They sit not down upon their priviledg careless of their Brethren who were secluded and debarred for the time but sympathizes and laments their hard lot praying for redress even as they who returned out of the Captivity before the rest forgot not those who were detain'd in Babylon behind them Psal 126.1 2 with 4. But who will say that because in Providence others bonds are not taken off therefore they should have casten at the mercy of their liberty or that it was their sin to take hold of it and improve it no more than it was Pharaoh's Butlers fault to accept of his Liberty and Restauration though the Baker and Joseph were left still in prison behind him Gen. 40 Did Joseph quarrel or discharge the Butler to accept of his liberty unless all his fellow-prisoners were partakers of the like no but only says When it is well with thee then remember me To state this for a Principle That it is not lawful for any man to preach the Gospel having liberty while his neighbour gets not the like liberty or to preach in any one place because he is not licensed equally to all places or that one place should say I will not be rained upon while other places and fleeces are dry it seemeth to savour more of humour than of solid and justifiable reason Was it a crime for the Children of Judah and Benjamin to come up out of their Captivity to Jerusalem and build the Temple offer Sacrifice c. as Ezra 1.5 because their Brethren of the Ten Tribes were not also permitted to return to their land and concur in the Building yea or that part of the Jews who came up at first with Zerubabel did they sin because they returned while others stayed still in Babylon perhaps detained notwithstanding Cyrus his Proclamation till afterwards