Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	heart_n	incline_v	law_n	17,568	5	7.8253	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56807	The conformists plea for the nonconformists, or, A just and compassionate representation of the present state and condition of the non-conformists as to I. The greatness of their sufferings, II. Hardness of their case, III. Reasonableness and equity of their desires and proposals, IV. Qualifications, and worth of their persons, V. Peaceableness of their behaviour, VI. The churches prejudice by their exclusion, &c. humbly submitted to authority / by a beneficed minister, and a regular son of the Church of England.	Pearse, Edward, 1631-1694.	1681 (1681)	Wing P976; ESTC R1092	66,864	80

Masters of their Liberty have said as much or enough to take off the edg from Imposers to require them or of wife Men to desire them I shall here produce the Judgment of some learned and judicious Conforming Divines concerning Ceremonies The first shall be the most eminent Dr. Stillingfleet in that excellent Irenicum the first born of his most learned Youth and mature Reason and Judgment and had it been the Work of his Age it had been a Birth at full growth in respect of Piety Gravity sweetness of Temper beauty of Complexion wise Observations and Experience that and Author of the renicum had filled up the Epitaph of the Dean of St. Pauls This is the last Proposal of Accommodation That Religion be not clogg'd with Ceremonies Christian Religion is a plain simple easy thing By Ceremonies I do not mean here Matters of meer Decency and Order for Order-sake But Ceremonies properly taken for Actions fignisicative their lawfulness may with better grounds be scrupled pag. 67. And before pag. 66. We see the Primitive Church did not make so much of any uniformity in Rites and Ceremonies I shall quote too much if I give way to what is mature and past his own mending without disparagement to his more grown Reason be it spoken The second is a great Scholar and Divine the late worthy Mr. G. Lawson Rector of Moor in Shropshire in his Exposition of the Second Commandment Theopolitica B. 2. c. 8. As for significant Ceremonies annexed to the Service of God no ways conducing to the better performance thereof I think they are better spared and omitted than used and observed For tho considered in themselves without any reference to God's Worship they be indifferent and so in general may be lawful yet if we examine their Original the first occasion of their Institution the Persons who use or rather abuse them and understand withal how needless and unprofitable they be and how offensive to some weak Brethren and also besides these may be instituted many more of that kind and may be imposed upon the same ground and that in the Church of Rome they have been an occasion of Superstition it must needs be included by impartial and judicious Men that they are not expedient To say and publickly declare that they have no sanctifying Power that they are neither Holy nor Unholy will not serve the turn for the same may be said of Images at first when they began to be used and do what we can many of the People do account them to be Holy make them parts of God's Worship and are more careful in the observation of them than they are of the more weighty Duties of Religion Doctrine in this case will not prevail if the thing that they trusted to be not taken from them Calfhill of the Cross again Martial p. 88 So it may be bating the degrees of Offence when Matters of Indifferency in themselves are by the generality of People not looked on as such but used as a necessary part of Divine Service Dr. Stilling Iren. p. 64. They who industriously labour to keep out Popery can never cleanse a People from Superstitions while they keep up Ceremonies an observation of present use My third Testimony is a Man of great Learning and of long standing in the Church Mr. John Lloyd B. D. now of North Tidworth in Wilts Treat of Epise Liturg. Rites c. Lond. 1660. Many have entertained a great fear which hath alienated their Minds from all Episcopacy namely that innumerable company of unnecessary and burdensome Ceremonies be inseparable Concomitants of Episcopal Government Indeed the fear is not vain and without grounds if we respect the degenerate Episcopacy as it is if we regard the Primitive which hath been and will be contented with a very few if need be p. 32. S. 15 the whole Section gives a short and full account of Primitive Simplicity One Reason why Ceremonies increased in the fourth Century may be this Because the Church more flourished in prosperity than at any time before and might be thought convenient that the External Glory of the Church should be proportioned to the Glory of the Empire p. 38. We may err as in defect so in excess of Ceremonies or in the choice or in accounting and compelling others to own them for unchangeable Apostolick Institutes or by too rigid pressing of every of them especially upon People of weak Capacity humble peaceable and scrupulous Conscience Antiquity is venerable yet it may not ought not continue a Rite or Ceremony in any Church with whose Edification and Peace it is become inconsistent There be but few Ordinances meerly Ecclesiastical which have not in some Churches become noxious or at least useless And there is a vicissitude of Profit or Detriment growing from them in the same Churches arising from notable changes in Persons and Circumstances If it should seem good to the Church of England to mend their Liturgie ☞ or compose a new one if need be more agreeable to the present Time they should do therein no more than the most famous Churches have done before and which can be no disparagement to the Wisdom and Piety of the Composers of it which intended only to make it as fit as could be for the state of the Church in their time and not to frame and impose an Unchangeable Form which could never prove incongruous to any possible variety in the state of the Church for this is not in the power of any persons or Churches P. 54 55. Thus far this great Student modest moderate good Man I will content my self with the Opinions of these three worthy Persons when disengaged and altho they conformed they were and are no doubt of the same mind free in their minds when obliged in their practice to submit What more than what I have shewed the Commissioners at the Savoy pleaded for may be seen in the Account of their Proceedings But what got they by those Debates besides satisfaction in their own Souls that they debated and petitioned for Peace A very little indeed And what the Bishops gave with the one hand they got with the other It was strange and hard that they could not prevail so far as to get the Commandments in the Church-Catechism Communion-Service to be after the last and best Translation in our Bibles but our Children must be taught the 4th Commandment after the manner of the Judaizing Seventh-day-Sabbath Sect for so they are taught Wherefore he blessed the Seventh day and hallowed it and our unwary People are taught to pray that God would encline their hearts to keep this Law that Law which enjoineth the Seventh-day as the Sabbath which God blessed and hallowed whereas the Law Remember the Sabbath day which extends to the First day as well as the Seventh day and makes the First day moral when appointed by the Lord of the Sabbath But this Doctrine was not consonant to the Opinions of Dr. Heylin Mr. Thorndike

you at this present which is That you would seriously think of some course to beget a better Union and Composure in the minds of my Protestant Subjects in Matters of Religion whereby they may be induced not only to submit quietly to the Government but also chearfully give their assistance to the support of it And in his Speech to both Houses Nov. 9. 1678. He saith I meet you here with the most earnest desire that Man can have to unite the Minds of all my Subjects both to Me and to one another and I resolve it shall be your Fault if the Success be not sutable to my Desires Besides that end of Union which I aim at and which I wish could be extended to Protestants Abroad as well as at Home I purpose by this last step I have made to discern whether the Protestant Religion and the Peace of the Kingdom be as truly aimed at by others as they are really intended by Me. Some Bishops formerly and of late have most pathetically pleaded the Case of the Non-conformists whose Apostolical Zeal and Charity are worthy the Consideration and Imitation of the present Bishops and Fathers of our Church at this Time especially A former Bishop of St. Davids in the Convocation-House May 23. 1604. speaking of those who were scrupulous only upon some Ceremonies c. Being otherwise Learned studious grave and honest Men whose Labours have been painful in the Church and profitable to their several Congregations he says tho I do not justify their Doings yet surely their Service would be missed at such a Time as need shall require them and us to give the right hand of Fellowship one to another and to go Arm in Arm against the common Adversary that so there might be Vis unita fortior If these our Brethren aforesaid should be deprived of their Places for the Matters premised I think we should find cause to bend our Wits to the uttermost extent of our skill to provide some Cure of Souls for them where they may exercise their Talents Furthermore if these Men being divers hundreds as it is bruited abroad should forsake their Charges as some do presuppose they will who I pray you should succeed them Besides this for so much as in the Life-time of the late Arch-Bishop of Canterbury these things were not so extreamly urged but that many Learned Preachers enjoyed their Liberty herein conditionally that they did not by Word or Deed openly disgrace or disturb the State established I would know a Reason why it should not be so generally and exceeding strictly called upon especially considering these Men are now the more necessary by so much as we see greater encrease of Papists to be now of late than were before To conclude I wish that if by Petition made to the King's Majesty there cannot be obtained a quite remove of the Premises which seem so grievous to divers nor yet a Toleration for them which be of the more staid and temperate carriage yet at the least there might be procured a mitigation of the Penalty if they cannot be drawn by other Reasons to a Conformity with us Thus far this Bishop in those days when the Terms of Conformity were not so hard The present Lord Bishop of Hereford in his Naked Truth with hearty Compassion and Zeal pleads the Case of our present Non-conformists both with the then two Houses of Parliament and the Bishops in particular First In his Address to the Lords and Commons in general he thus expresses himself My Lords and Noble Gentlemen you have fully expressed your Zeal to God and his Church in making Laws for Unity c. I call God the searcher of all Hearts the God of Life and Death to witness That I would most readily yea most joyfully sacrifice all I have in this World my Life and all that all Nonconformists were reduced to our Church but it falls out most sadly that your Laws have not the desired effect our Church is more and more divided c. And concludes with earnest Prayers That God would direct them to that which may make for the Vnity of our Church by yeelding to weak Ones c. And in pag. 10. Edition in Folio he thus earnestly and seriously Addresses him to the Bishops My Reverend Fathers and Judges of the Church I with St. Paul Col. 3. beseech you put on fatherly bowels of Mercies Kindness humbleness of Mind Meekness Long-suffering towards your poor weak Children and so long as they hold fast the Body of Christ be not so rigorous with them for Shadows if they submit to you in Substance have patience tho they do not submit in Ceremonies and give me leave to tell you my poor Opinion This violent pressing of Ceremonies hath I humbly conceive been a great hinderance from embracing them Men fearing your Intentions to be far worse than really they are and therefore abhor them And pag. 11. This force-urging Uniformity in Worship hath caused great division in Faith as well as Charity for had you by abolishing some Ceremonies taken the weak Brethren into your Church they had not wandred about after seducing Teachers nor fallen into so many gross Opinions of their own Now I beseech you in the fear of God set before your Eyes the dreadful Day of Judgment when Christ in his Tribunal of Justice shall require an account of every Word and Deed and shall thus question you Here are several Souls who taking offence at your Ceremonies have forsaken my Church have forsaken the Faith have run into Hell the Souls for which I shed my precious Blood Why have you suffered this Nay why have you occasioned this Will you Answer It was to preserve our Ceremonies Will not Christ return unto you Are your Ceremonies more dear unto you than the Souls for which I died Who hath required these things at your hands Will you for Ceremonies which you your selves confess to be indifferent no way necessary unto Salvation suffer your weak Brethren to perish for whom I died Have not I shewed you how David and his Souldiers were guiltless in eating the Shew-bread which was not lawful but only for the Priests to eat If David dispensed with a Ceremony commanded by God to satisfy the hunger of his People Will not you dispence with your own Ceremonies to satisfy the Souls of my People who are called by my Name and profess my Name tho in weakness Or will you tell Christ they ought to suffer for their own wilfulness and perverseness who will not submit to the Laws of the Church as they ought Will not Christ return Shall they perish for transgressing your humane Laws which they ignorantly conclude Erroneous And shall not you perish for transgressing my Divine Laws which you know to be Good and Holy Had I mercy on you and should not you have mercy on you fellow Servants With the same measure you meeted it shall be measured unto you again I tremble to go farther but most humbly beseech you for Christ's sake endeavour to regain these strayed Sheep for which he shed his precious Blood and think it as great an advantage as great an honour to you as it was to St. Paul to become all things to all Men that you may gain some as doubtless you will many tho not all and the few standers off will be the more convinced and at long running wearied out and gained also I close this Bishop's earnest Requests with one of the Prayers made by the Bishops for the late Fast on Decemb. 22. 1680. appointed by the King's Proclamation among other ends to Unite the Hearts of all Loyal Protestants and I hope my Lords the Bishops will join their sincere endeavours with this devout Prayer Viz. For Union among our Selves BLessed Jesu our Saviour and our Peace who didst shed thy precious Blood upon the Cross that thou might st abolish and destroy all Enmity among Men and reconcile them in one Body unto God Look down in much pity and compassion upon this distressed Church and Nation who 's bleeding Wounds occasion'd by the lamentable Divisions that are among us cry aloud for thy speedy Help and saving Relief Stir up we beseech thee every Soul of us carefully as becomes sincere Christians to root out of our Hearts all Pride and Vain-glory all Wrath and Bitterness all unjust Prejudice and causless Jealousy all Hatred and Malice and desire of Revenge and whatsoever it is that may any way exasperate our Minds or hinder us from discerning the things that belong unto our Peace And by the Power of thy Holy Spirit of Peace dispose all our Hearts to such meekness of Wisdom and lowliness of Mind such calm and deliberate Long-suffering and Forbearance of one another in Love with such due esteem of those whom thou hast set over us to watch for our Souls as may turn the Hearts of the Fathers to the Children and the Hearts of the Children to the Fathers that so we may become a ready People prepar'd to live in Peace and the God of Peace may be with us To this End give us all Grace O Lord seriously to lay to heart not only the great Dangers we are in at present by these unhappy Divisions but also the great Obligations to this godly Vnion and Concord which lie upon us That as there is but one Body and one Spirit and one Hope of our Calling one Lord one Faith one Baptism one God and Father of all so we may henceforth be all of one Heart and of one Soul closely united in one holy bond of Truth and Peace of Faith and Charity and may with one Mind and one Mouth glorify thee O Lord the Prince of Peace who with thy blessed Father in the Vnity of the Holy Spirit livest and reignest ever one God World without end Amen FINIS

have them to be all of her mind and uniform She is a Godly Woman indeed and keeps Prayers morning and evening in her House and she is earnest to have them Assent and Consent to all and every thing contained in a certain Book and use no other Some of them do not love to be impos'd upon and think they are of those years as to know how to pray and plead a Promise from their Master of his holy Spirit to assist them In the discharge of any Imposed Form but others can submit to that if that would do She would have them wear white Linen wide Sleeves c. kneel when they eat and drink at the Lord's Table and will have all their Children baptized and also crossed in the forehead which if you would see is not to be seen for indeed it vanishes as soon as made For these things she pleads Authority in her Self and from her Supreme Governour upon Earth Since her Marriage with Kings she is grown wealthy in Estate The Woman that was sometimes in the Wilderness drawn before Magistrates cast into Prison that was forced to hide her head in Conventicles in those nights of old that for many Ages spake a hard language wore a triple Crown went in gorgeous Apparel of Ceremonies upon Ceremonies carried in pomp Princes did kiss her feet that adorn'd her Walls with Tapistry and Images grew Imperial in making Laws and gave her mouth to Cursing and Bitterness I say she now can shew her face that was sometimes forced to hide it and is become Reformed and Chaste but having Lordships and Preferments to bestow she hath been rather like a Domineering Mistress than gentle Mother as some of her Children have complained of her and hath rather suted her self to the Mode of Earthly Kings than the Will of her Heavenly King and Husband It cannot be denied but that some have been ambitious of her Favour and for the Preferments which they have got by their Ceremoniousness have done her no good and to get up above her fellow-servants have set her above her self And for ought I see these ambitious covetous Persons have been evil Instruments of great Contentions and Differences with her Children and they also having a spice of Adam's nature and growing stomachful with their Reason could not bear a Superiority among Equals and seeing they were Children of the same Father knew no other difference than for Prudential Government a Priority of Order or the Honour of Seniors but not a Superiority of Degree and Power The more powerful House for alas they have divided Houses that they may make Laws and govern others do attribute great Authority to the Church indeed as great as Jesus Christ her King and Husband had as if when he ascended into Heaven he gave among his other Gifts even all that he had himself to his Church and Spouse One R. R. a Writer that professed to much intimacy with her as to undertake to give her Sense and Reason of her doings doth assert her Power and Authority to be twofold As all other Bodies Politick the one of Jurisdiction to correct and reform Preface before his Collection of Canons c. by Spiritual Censures to preserve the Churches Purity and reduce to Unity the Troublers of the Churches Peace not by Arguments alone but Spiritual Censures even to casting out of the Church The other a Power of Legislation to make Canons and Constitutions For tho our Great Lord saith he hath already given to his Church most holy and wise Rules and Laws for the same purposes yet because they are general and there may some doubts and controversies arise about their meaning it doth necessarily follow that there must be an Authority left to this Church and Governours thereof to make new Laws upon emergent occasions to determine particularities where by the way observe that from a Power to resolve the Doubts that may arise about the Sence and Meaning of those General Laws of Christ he gets ground by stealth even to infer a Power to make new Laws and there must be a definitive Sentence of Superiours to decide Doubts and Controversies He argues both from the reason of the thing and that Christ gave this Power Joh. 20.21 22. As my Father sent Me so send I you And one particular of Jurisdiction there expressed Whose soever Sins ye bind on Earth they are bound in Heaven The Legislative power of making Laws and Constitutions for regulating Manners and determining Controversies cannot be denied to be granted in that large Commission As my Father sent me so send I You c. Where again observe how he grows upon us from a Mission to a Commission They are sent indeed but their Commission is no other than to go when sent Yea in the next sentence he saith our Lord commissions his Apostles observe that pag. 1. he defines the one Holy Church to be the Society of Believers to whom that double power was given but here it is given to the Apostles Have the Society of Believers the same power the Apostles had or doth the Commission given to the Apostles impower the Society of Believers to do as they did He commissions the Apostles saith he with the same necessary standing Power that he had and exercised as a mans for the good of the Church this is a Commission in general for making Laws Then in particular for making Articles and Decisions of Doctrines controverted Power is more explicit and express Mat. 28. All Power is given unto me Go ye therefore and teach all Nations that is with Authority And what is it to teach with Authority but to command and oblige all people to receive the Truth so taught When I read such Discourses and such Consequences I do less wonder that they who are given to strong Delusions do see those dazling Wonders in Tues Petrus super hanc Petram or that see the two Swords committed to St. Peter in Passe Oves meas when he was only appointed to be a carefull Shepherd Passe Oves meas But some Men are perspicuous and have Eyes to lead others that want Eyes of their own and can see as clearly into a plain Text as a Priest can into the bottom of a Papist's Heart by his All seeing Ear in Auricular Confession Others do build their Towers and Castles upon other Texts which I pass by Thus for the ample power of the Church The power which Christ hath given to her I revere and acknowledge Others go another way to work and lay the specious Towers and Battlements of Vniformity and Discipline and Ceremonies upon the King's Supremacy affirming two things 1. That the Modes required are things indifferent 2. That the chief Magistrate may make Constitutions about things indifferent And some upon one and some upon another ground do raise a great Dust Contention and Discontent some quarrel not but are of a moderate and peaceable disposition and wish for Peace and Concord but these are quarrelled

they had not conformed It is hard to lay the Stress of many Parts of a Declaration as fully and distinctly express'd as the Wit of severe Men could word them upon one general word Vse It is a hard Construction of affirmative Propositions or Parts of a positive Declaration to be explained in a privative or negative Sence yet so we find them smoothed and rolled up in Liquorish that they may pass the narrowest Throats I shall take the Pains to transcribe two Constructions of two excellent Men which may be taken next to a publick Sence and Construction especially the one of them who was the most learned and rarely tempered Bishop Reynolds in his Sermon of Moderation before the House of Peers Novemb. 7. 1666. a Day of Solemn Humiliation for the Pestilence pag. 24. And truly it is an Honour which Learned Men owe to one another to allow Liberty of Dissent in Matters of meer Opinion salvâ compage Fidei salvo vinculo Charitatis salvâ Pace Ecclesiae for these three Faith Love and Peace are still to be preserved so it is a Charity which good Men owe to one another upon the same Salvo's to bear with the Infirmities of each other not to judg or despise or set at naught our Brethren as useless and inconsiderable Persons But whom God is pleased to receive into his Favour not to cast them out of ours This Latitude and Moderation of Judgment some learned Men have taken the freedom to extend even to the Case of Subscriptions by Law required The learned Author of the Book called An Answer to Charity maintained and the late learned Primate of Armagh Arch-Bishop Bramhall and quotes their Words in the Margent which are these For the Church of England I am persuaded that the constant Doctrine of it is so pure and Orthodox that whosoever believes it and lives according to it undoubtedly shall be saved and that there is no Error in it which may necessitate or warrant any Man to disturb the Peace or renounce the Communion This in mine Opinion is all intended by Subscription The Words of the Arch-Bishop are these We do not suffer any Man to reject the Thirty Nine Articles of the Church of England at his Pleasure yet neither do we look upon them as Essentials of saving Faith or Legacies of Christ and his Apostles but in a mean as pious Opinions fitted for the Preservation of Vnity Neither do we believe any Man to believe them but only not to contradict them This Sermon being printed upon request of the Lords I thought this moderate Exposition of Subscription as it was aimed at by that rare Preacher I believe might pass for approved by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and be next to a legal authentick Sence of all things required by Law For if Subscription of Articles be in so laxe a Sence much more to some of the other things But Mr. Baxter who hath as good reason to know as any one Man hath dashed this Conceit for he writes that when the Lords would have put in this Proviso To the Vse of the Book the House of Commons refused it and the Lords acquiesced in their Reasons given in at a Conference about it Vbi supra p. 160. The other Expositor of our Declaration which I shall produce is the Reverend Dr. Stillingfleet Dean of St. Paul's who shines as a Star in our Firmament and in regard of his own great Reason and Acquaintance with other great Mens thoughts may direct the Course of fluctuating Coasters that look for a safe Landing-Place and sure footing before they proceed in the Service of the Church In his late controverted Sermon Mischief of Separation among other sharp Reflections upon his Friend Mr. Baxter he hath these words pag. 49. It is a hard Case with a Church when Men shall set their Wits to strain every thing to the worst Sence to stretch Laws beyond the Intention and Design of them to gather together all the doubtful and obscure Passages in Calendars Translations c. And will not distinguish betwixt the Approbation of the Vse and of the Choice of things for upon such Terms as these Men think to justify the present Divisions I much question whether if they proceed in such a manner they can hold Communion with any Church in the Christian World So far he From which Words I make bold to infer and if I am too bold I do seriously ask his pardon 1. It seems to me that he limits the sence of the Declaration of Assent and Consent to the scope and intention of the Law which is to the use of the Book and all things in it 2. That a Man may assent and consent to the use of those things which a Man would not or doth not choose if left to his choice and liberty 3. Here is a Blot cast by his Elegant Pen at least upon some of the things contained in and prescribed by the Book as things not to be chosen but only to be used by constraint 4. An Impeachment against the Contrivers and Exacters of Conformity for requiring Assent and Consent to all and every thing not making a difference contained in c. which such Excellent Men as the Dean is would not use if left to his choice nor any other wise man choose and so their meaning comes to this I will use this Book and all things to be used in it such as they are instead of better and tho not declaring our Assent is punishable with Deprivation or Non-Admittance into the Publick Ministry of the Church and the loss of a Man's Livelihood and Temporal Rewards of the Ministry 5. If our Governours shall from their great Wisdom and Compassion to a most divided Church alter the terms of Communion and Conformity and unlace the Garment which is made too strait for the Body which faints being straitly laced then no Man must be offended with the Reverend Dean or any other that conformed in this large sence if they disuse the things now in use and fall in with such things as may like them as well or better 6. I infer and retort which is to my purpose that it is a hard Case with a Church when Men shall strain their Wits to frame Declarations under such severe penalties to passages that are doubtful and obscure and capable of an ill sence that we must turn to Kalendars to find out Lessons in the Apocrypha that have Canonical Lessons enow to use other Translations than the last and best c. But Mr. Baxter doth instance in other things as well as Kalendars and Translations and holds occasional Communion with the Church as it is and would much rather if those passages which the learned Dean calls doubtful and obscure were not imposed and is Catholick enough to hold Communion with any Christian Church that hath not corrupted the Essentials of Christian Worship The second Declaration and Subscription contains Matter Political and mixed which is Not to take

they arise and the great Loss to the Church at home and Scandal to the Churches abroad by the Ejection of so many able good Men whom no other Nation could spare and turn the Heat of Disputation into Love and Compassion and spare themselves by not disgracing others we might have more hopes That Doctor I conceal his Name for he is fallen asleep who saw London-fire and was deeply affected with it who after his return to his Place in the Country on the Fast following reckoned this among the many Sins and Judgments and Provocations of the Land that many able Ministers were turned out of the Ministry was in a right temper for a Solemn Fast but was chidden and rated into Tears for his melting Charity by his angry Diocesan On the other Hand when dissenting Christians or Auditors bring forth more Fruit under the unwearied Labours of their Preachers and obey the Gospel of Christ and can bless God for the many able publick Preachers and receive the Faith and Word without respect of Persons and be sorry for their Anger and evil-speaking we may come to an Union and see the Partition-Wall thrown down But surely our Legislators are too wise and more resolved upon the most necessary Work of composing Differences than to endanger the whole by a division of Parts to gratify these I have named who are not of so much worth as to compensate the loss of publick Church-Protestant-Peace for their sakes 2. The Case and Qualifications of the Non-conformists is such as no good Man of any Spirit should be afraid to own by way of Intercession or Solicitation for their readmission 1. Those few that are yet alive who were Men before the War are as safe under the Healing Wings of the Act of Grace as any other Men who needed that Protection as much as they and have been placed as near the King and Court as they have been driven from him The greater is their Transgression who peck at that Foundation of our Peace and that tear that Covering from their Neighbours backs in their Pulpits and Pamphlets 2. They need no more Clemency nor Pardons since than other Men except for their Preaching 3. They are admitted into the private Converse of the most eminent of all Qualities in the Land except a few Who can say of any of them with such an one no not to Eat Therefore they are admittable into a publick Station where they can do more good and less hurt if doing hurt were their Design and Faculty than in private Me-thinks no Man should be permitted to preach to five and from five to five from House to House that may not be permitted to preach publickly For may they with Safety and Edification to Souls preach to five at a time why not to five hundred at a time Or if their preaching in publick be dangerous to the State and Church is it not much more in private Our Priests and Jesuits have not perverted their boasted of Numbers in publick but in private Families are the Nurseries of Church and State corrupt them and the poison is dispersed Me-thinks it should not be at all lawful for Non-conformists to preach to a number not exceeding five at once or as lawful to preach in publick where if they were a Depraving Heretical Sect of Men which they are not but to be preferred before thousands that Officiate in the Land they will be more wary and temperate than to lose their Hearers or hazard their Liberty which they obtain with so much difficulty Suppose twenty Non-conforming Ministers should keep strictly to their legal number of five these twenty Ministers preach to a hundred Citizens if these twenty should Lecture the hundred into Atheism Blasphemy Infidelity Heresy Sedition or Rebellion would it be endured would not the Pestilence spread And that of the Mind is as quickly diffused and as silently conveyed as the Plague from Body to Body and House to House If they are Men of pernicious Principles they are allowed too much if not they are allowed too little It is true they have taken Liberty contrary to Law to preach to greater Numbers and have patiently born the Penalties when inflicted And by their adventuring they have vindicated themselves and testified to the Gospel which they believe and stop'd the Mouths of many besides much good done upon many thousand Souls that had been else neglected and declared to the World what manner of Men they are what Doctrine they preach and that they have not sowed Sedition and ill Principles of Disloyalty and Treasons And the many Years experience and proof given of their Principles and Abilities is not only an Apology for them against them that judg them vel prejudicio nominis but furnish the Wise and Moderate with some Arguments to plead for reasonable Abatements for them 4. They have done as much as any Men of their Degrees to support and save the Nation and the Protestant Profession and as great a Terror to the Papists as any of their number and quality in the Land And I believe if they thought that either Popery or any Antichristian Sects should enter in by them though they cannot conform to keep them out by that they would ask leave to remove into other Nations rather than be a Door to let in Miseries upon their own 5. They are Men of great Parts Piety and Prudence sound Divines good Preachers and Writers no Man that knows their Persons or their Labours or their Writings but ought to give them their due without detraction from others With what a sweet Spirit and Stile Learning Judgment Argument hath Mr. Polehill vindicated them and the Doctrines of the Church against Dr. Sherlock's Imputations 6. Wise and great Men for Power Place Wisdom and Experience in Affairs both of Church and State have endeavoured a Composition though in vain I should not be ashamed or afraid to my best ability to commend the Endeavours of but one Lord Keeper Bridgman of but one Lord Chief Justice Hales What would we have given for him since his Death of but one Bishop Wilkins or either of the Deans of Canterbury and Pauls But I have shewed how some of the sharpest Procurers of our Laws grew mild and gentle But beside those venerable Persons the Right Reverend Bishops Reynolds Gawden were tenderly affected as was Bishop Earle and as the now most learned Bishop of Chester as I have it from a good hand the Bishop of Hereford beside others more than I can or will name of eminent worth in the Church of England And surely rigor and suppression of so sound a number of Ministers doth neither become Men as Wise Experienced Self-searchers Charitable or to descend below a Christian it is not humane nor genteel The more wise experienced self-acquainted Christian or genteel any Man is the more moderate in Ceremonies different Rites and Impositions See the close of these Sheets 7. I never heard any Wise Learned good Man of the Church of England