Laws or Statutes which are Terms that denote and challenge Obedience but by the odious Name of Impositions that is apt to beget a Dislike and Abhorrence of them For though Men are willing to be rul'd and directed yet they hate to be impos'd upon and therefore to weaken the Power of the Magistrate he shall not be term'd a Lawgiver but an Imposer and his Ordinances not Laws but Impositions that by giving them a bad Name you may the better set them aside at pleasure But if that will not do you have another Artifice to escape the Punishments of them and that is by fixing on them the hateful Name of Persecution a Term apt to denote more of Cruelty in the Inflictors than of Guilt in the Sufferers Now to detect the Fallacy and Falshood of these Arts 't will be necessary to consider the Punishments you thus complain of together with the Reason and Authority upon which they are grounded that you may the better discern between just Punishments and unjust Persecution And this I shall do as Matters stand before these Penalties were suspended that all Men may see the Injustice of such Clamours What then are the Punishments annex'd to the Laws that do establish Conformity to the Church Why These are both Ecclesiastical and Civil Of the First sort are the Ecclesiastical Censures of Admonition Suspension Deprivation and Excommunication which are inflicted by the Authority of the Church for the Correction and Amendment of Offenders This is the Power of the Keys committed to the Church by Christ himself whereby he hath given Authority to the Bishops and Pastors of Admitting into and Excluding out of the Church and thereby of opening and shutting the Kingdom of Heaven Which Power or Commission is granted by our Saviour in these Words If he neglect to hear the Church let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a Publican Verily I say unto you whatsoever ye shall bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven Matt. xviii 17 18. Now these Punishments being ordain'd and appointed by Christ himself cannot be styl'd Persecution or made any just matter of Complaint when duly inflicted on Offenders But These things say some have been ill manag'd especially Excommunication that great Punishment being made too cheap and common for many have been Excommunicated for Trifles and turn'd out of the Church for what no Man would be turn'd out of Doors But Sir Is Obstinacy and wilful Disobedience to the Church to be reckoned a Trifle And yet this is still the chief if not the only Cause of Excommunication He that hearkens to the Church and submits to the Authority of it is not to be put out of it but he that will not is by our Saviour's Rule to be accounted no better than a heathen man and a Publican Neither doth the Smallness of the thing extenuate but rather aggravate the Fault for the less the Matter of the Command is the greater is the Disobedience he that will disobey in a small thing will sooner do it in a greater And the Reverence of Authority is so tender a Matter and of so great Moment that it must not be despis'd in either For he that heareth you saith Christ heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me Luke x. 16. You know God Almighty punished the whole Race of Mankind for our first Parents tasting the for bidden Fruit which one would think was a small Fault for so great a Punishment and yet considering the Ingratitude the Stubborness and Disobedience involved in it 't was a crying Enormity and justly deserved that Vengeance that was inflicted I shall leave you to apply it and proceed 2dly To the Civil Punishments annexed to the Violation of these Laws and these are so easie and gentle that none have any need to cry out of Persecution or to brand the Magistrate for a Tyrant or Persecutor in inflicting of them For is not Twelve-pence a Sunday a moderate Fine for absenting from the publick Assemblies And nothing but Mens own Wilfulness and Obstinacy can draw upon them the higher Fines or the Penalty of Imprisonment which were thought necessary to awaken and reform some stubborn Offenders Our Laws have no Capital or Sanguinary Punishments in Matters of Religion nor do they allow any to be put to Death or to be cruelly tormented for them but only by moderate Penalties compell them to hear Instruction and to hinder them from propagating their Errors and Divisions to the Disturbance of the Peace of the Church and State And yet you make as loud Outcries and Complaints of Persecution for these things as if with some of the Ancient Martyrs you were to be broke upon the Wheel and with St. Lawrence to be roasted upon the Gridiron But let us see the Difference between Legal Punishments and Persecution these must be carefully distinguished for else the Thief and Murderer and all other Offenders may cry out of Persecution for suffering the just Punishments of their Crimes In Persecution then Two things are to be considered viz. the Cause and the Measure of their Sufferings For to suffer without a Cause and to be punished for the Breach of a Law which neither hath nor can be prov'd is a sort of Persecution and such likewise is that where the Punishment exceeds the Design of the Law or the Demerit of the Crime But the proper Notion of Persecution is to suffer for a good Cause that is for Righteousness sake To be brought before Magistrates and hal'd away to Prisons and Death it self for the Name of Christ and adhereing to his Truth This was the Case of the Apostles and Primitive Christians who were therefore said to be persecuted In this Case our Saviour's Direction was Either to fly where it might be or patiently and chearfully to suffer where it could not so that my mentioning your Removal into Scotland was no worse Advice than Christ gave to his own Apostles that is If they were persecuted in one place to flee to another and if England were such a hot Furnace of Persecution as you represent it 't was no bad Counsel to move into the more Northern and cooler Regions of Scotland where the Temper of the Air and the Religion of the Climate may be the more agreeable with the due Temper of Dissenters But this by the by 'T is the Cause then and not the Suffering that makes the Martyr In like manner 't is not the undergoing of Punishment but the suffering for Christ and for Righteousness sake that makes the Persecution For what glory is it saith St. Peter if when ye be buffeted for your faults ye shall take it patiently But if when ye do well and suffer for it ye take it patiently this is acceptable with God 1 Pet. ii 20. Now the Sufferings you complain of are neither for Christ nor for Righteousness sake for you may be as Righteous and serve Christ as
Principles take away the Ecclesiastical Power as Spleen to the Bishops whom you would likewise deprive of it You cannot tell where the Power lies because you have no mind to obey it else you might easily know that tho' the Bishops and Priests have an Episcopal and Pastoral Office which they derive from Christ yet they order and establish nothing about the publick Exercise of it without the Consent and Authority of the King whom they own Supream in Ecclesiastical as well as Civil Matters so that this Objection proceeds not from a real but affected Ignorance and let the Power be where it will if it meddle with the Conventicle your Judgment of Discretion well manag'd can take it out of the hands of both Thus you lodge all decisive Judgment about these things in the Hands and Breasts of the People and so they may at their Discretion sit in Judgment upon their Sovereign and from cutting off his Power may proceed to cut off his Head too of which our unhappy Age hath afforded a Doleful and Tragical Instance so that Princes had need to look well to this Judgment of Discretion if they mean to secure either their Laws or their Lives Now to remedy these Evils and to learn our Duty in these Matters let us have Recourse to the Holy Scriptures and there we are bid to submit to the King as Supream and to Governors as those that are sent by him 1 Pet. ii 13 14. where the Supremacy of the King and the Subordination of inferior Governors to him is plainly asserted which Supremacy makes the King the Fountain and Springhead of all Power in his Dominions from whence all others derive it and consequently the final Determination of publick Affairs must be thereby lodged in him And therefore in the same place we are bid to submit to every Ordinance of Man that is not contrary to any Ordinance of God The Apostle's directions to know them that are over us in the Lord wills us so to know them as to look upon them as Gods Anointed and Vicegerents upon Earth to reverence their Persions and obey their Laws being both stamp'd with a Divine Authority and this will dispose us to pay a due Deference to their Judgments and to yield a just Respect to their greater Wisdom This Lesson Christian Modesty it self teaches for that wills us to have low and mean Thoughts of our selves and to think others better and wiser than our selves especially our Governors who have far greater Advantages and Opportunities of knowing more than we can and being so much above us in Place and Power may be reasonably supposed to see farther into things than our lower Station will admit of And therefore 't will become us to think soberly of our selves to suspect our own Judgment when it crosses theirs and submit our private to the publick Wisdom But will not these say you make us turn Papists and reduce us to a blind Obedience No far from it For the Church of Rome suffers not its Followers to examine their Doctrins or enquire into their Injunctions but exacts an implicit Faith to the one and a blind Obedience to the other It stiles Ignorance the Mother of Devotion and seeks by all means to keep People in it locking up the Scriptures in an unknown Tongue and keeping from them the Key of Knowledge In a word it makes them pin their Faith on the Priests Sleeves and to put out their own Eyes that they may see the better with his whereas the Church of England not only allows but wills all Men to try the foundness of its Doctrin and the lawfulness of its Commands by the Touchstone of God's Word To that end the Holy Scriptures are daily read and unfolded unto them we care not how much Knowledge and Understanding our People have so they be but Modest and Humble with it willing to learn and to pay a due regard and deference to their Teachers that they do not oppose and disturb Government by a too obstinate adhereing to their own Judgment but submit to the Wisdom and Authority of Superiors being content that they should know more and to be directed by them without this no Government can stand nor any Peace and Order be maintained Neither is it so absurd as some imagine for the Common People in a great measure to trust their lawful Pastors and Masters in things wherein they are not so compleat Judges of themselves But they say you may justly challenge a Right to judge what is Sin that are like to be condemned for it if they do sin This Sir will give all People a Right to make and judge of Laws because they are to be punished for breaking them But I think 't is a much safer course for them to rely on the Wisdom of Superiors than to trust too much to their own weaker Judgment in these Matters for they are many times too ignorant to judge what is fit to be done or not done as we may see in the case of Schism or breach of Communion which too many live in without any Sense of the Fault or Remorse for it and so are in danger of being condemned for a Sin which they will not judge to be so But Governors say you are not infallible and general Counsels may err Very true But are not the Common People more liable and likely to err than they Hath not that been ever thought most credible and fittest to be hearkened to which is approved by the best and wisest part of Mankind And is it not most fit That their Judgment should determine and over-rule the rest Does not Solomon tell us That he that leans to his own Understanding or which is all one he that will trust to his own judgment of Discretion is a Fool And certainly he must be extreamly wise in his own Conceit that will set up his own Judgment above all that are above him and think himself wiser than all the Wisdom of a Nation But you add That Superiors if the Determination of these Matters lodges in them will never be in the wrong And will the People think you if they have the Power be always in the right Are not these much more prone to Errors and Mistakes than the others And is it not far more safe to trust the Judgment of wise knowing and able Persons than to follow the rude heady and illiterate Vulgar Upon the whole then 't is evidently the Duty of Subjects and Inferiors not to lean too much to their own Judgment much less to set it up against well establish'd Laws to evade Obedience to them A Parent you know or Master will not suffer his Children or Servants to be govern'd by their own Discretion but his and when he commands any thing to be done or left undone will not allow him to dispute his Commands or oppose their own Sense or Judgment as a Reason for their Disobedience Now 't is but to pay the same Duty and Respect to your
Degrees of Authority and Jurisdiction For else they were advanced to nothing when they were elected or promoted to it 't is absurd to say they succeeded only to what they had before And what would the Apostolical Office over other Church-Officers signifie if they had no Power to oversee and govern them But that the Apostles both had and exercis'd a Power over them the Holy Scripture and Primitive Antiquity may abundantly satisfie you For we find St. James the Apostle and first Bishop of Jerusalem not only presiding in the great Council held there but likewise by his own Authority deciding the Matters debated in it about the Gentil Converts speaking in that commanding Style It seemeth goood to the Holy Ghost and to us to lay upon them no greater Burdens than these necessary things c. after which we find Timothy Ordain'd Bishop of Ephesus 1 Tim. 1.3 and exercising Episcopal Jurisdiction over that Church 1 Tim. 3.1 which extended over all the proconsular Asia Ch. 9.11.5.22 in which he commanded that the Laity be diligently instructed the Clergy provided with a competent Maintenance admitting none to be Deacons but upon due Examination and Ordaining none to be Elders or Presbyters till they had well-perform'd the Office of a Deacon receiving Accusations against them and putting guilty Persons to an open Shame all which are Acts of Power and Jurisdiction Again We find Titus left in Crete to set in Order the things that were wanting and to Ordain Elders in every City Tit. 1.5 By which it appears That he had an Episcopal Power confer'd upon him to do that in Crete which the Presbyters that were there before had not and this Power extended not only to the setting in order what was wanting and the ordaining of Elders but likewise to the rebuking of obstinate Offenders with all Authority Tit. 2.15 first admonishing them and if they persisted in their Obstinacy punishing them with the Censures of the Church Chap. 3.10 and rejecting them from the Communion of it which are all Acts of Power and Jurisdiction But this Power say some was only Temporary and to last no longer than the Days of the Apostles who were the first Planters of these Churches Why so Was there not the same Use and Necessity of these things in the following Times as there was in the Days of the Apostles Is there not a constant need of ordaining Elders and exercising Discipline and Censures in the succeeding Ages of the Church as well as the first Again where hath Christ limited this Power and made it Temporary Yea hath he not plainly made it perpetual by promising to be with them to the End of the World Which could not be with them in their own Persons who died in a little Time after but with them in their Successors who follow'd them in their Office to whom the same Promise of Assistance and Encouragement is given to the End of the World Beside Does not Ecclesiastical History give us a particular Account who succeeded them in their several Churches A Catalogue of whom you may find in Eusebius and many other Writers So that nothing in Antiquity is more plain than that the Apostles had a Power over others for the well-ordering and governing the Church and that this Power was deriv'd down to their Successors the Bishops who have exercis'd the same in the several Ages of the Church ever since Which Form of Government being first Instituted by Christ and seconded by the Practice of his Apostles and succeeded to in the primitive Churches by our Saviour's express Approbation is abundantly enough to make it an Order distinct from and superior to Presbyters Jure Divino and consequently there is little Reason why you should think it a Grievance to assent and consent to that which the Christian Church hath in all Ages assented and consented to But here you fly to Scotland and would know what I think of that and other Countries that have cast off the Government of the Church by Bishops Sir Though I have no Inclination to meddle with the Affairs of any other Church yet since the Importunity of your Argument requires an Answer I must tell you That as particular Persons and Bodies of Men may be guilty of Schism by breaking off from the Communion and Discipline of a National Church so a whole Nation or Country may be justly charg'd with it in breaking off from the Communion and Discipline of the Catholick Church of which that is a Member And this is the unhappy Case of your beloved Scotland which by casting off the Ancient Apostolical and Primitive Discipline and Government of the Church by Bishops and likewise by laying aside a Liturgy or Forms of Prayer for publick Worship both which having been received in the Christian Church ever since its first Establishment is thereby become Schismatical For by so doing it hath cut it self off from the One Body of the Catholick Church and is become no longer a sound Part of it but a Sect and Excrescence of it But you will say what then will you condemn all the Inhabitants of that Country as living in the Grievous and Damning Sin of Schism No Sir There were some who voluntarily and violently acted to the laying aside the Liturgy and Episcopacy in that Church and thereby wilfully brake the Communion Worship and Discipline of the Christian Church and these are truly and properly guilty of the hainous Sin of Schism which if not repented of and amended in Time will prove as fatal to them heareafter as 't is to the Church here But beside these There are many Thousands in that distracted Kingdom who abhorr'd and endeavour'd to prevent that wide and miserable Breach in the Catholick Church But being over-power'd were forc'd to see and bewail that miserable Rent made in it and can only wish and pray for the Peace and Repairs of Jerusalem Now these are no ways to be charg'd with the Guilt of this Schism for here the Succession being altogether involuntary 't is to be reckon'd their Unhappiness but not their Fault And the like may be said of the Inhabitants of some other Countries who being by the Misfortune of Times and Place depriv'd of that way of Worship and Discipline that should unite them to the Catholick Church may not be charg'd with that Schism which they could neither foresee nor prevent but being by unavoidable Necessity brought under it God Almighty will have Mercy upon them and make up that in the Ever-blessed Society of Saints hereafter which they want of the Communion of Saints here But do you not see say you in the Letter of June 28th how those whose Turn it is to be the Establish'd Church in that Kingdom may turn their own Artillery upon you and talk to your disaffected Brethren in the same strain as you do to us and tell them That all the Distractions and Divisions of that Church are to be put upon the score of their
Disobedience May'nt they be Characteriz'd for stubborn unquiet Schismaticks as we now are No Sir 't is one thing to stick to the truly Ancient Primitive and Apostolical Discipline and way of Worship and another to set up and promote new upstart Ways and Models in both the one is to endeavour to keep the Unity of the Church and the other to break it Now in the Kingdom of Scotland that prevailing Party that laid aside the ancient Discipline and Worship of the Catholick Church to set up those new-fangl'd Models are truly branded for Schismaticks for breaking into different Factions and Communions whereby they divide the Body of Christ and may be justly said to create Distractions and Divisions in the Church whereas they who adher'd to the ancient Doctrin and Discipline of the Catholick Church and would willingly have preserv'd both these can no ways be charg'd with the Schisms and Divisions of that Church for these differ as much from the other as the Keepers of the Peace do from the Breakers of it And you know 't is unreasonable to charge the same Disorders and Disobedience upon those that endeavour to keep the Peace as upon those who make it their Business to break it so that the Artillery you speak of still points to you and cannot be turn'd upon those against whom you level it But it may be your Case say you in another Century if any thing happen to be requir'd which you think unlawful to fall under the like Difficulties of the Government Sir That there is nothing unlawful requir'd in the present Government I suppose you are pretty well satisfied and therefore your Schism in these Circumstances is both unreasonable and inexcusable And 't is to be hoped That the Members of the Church of England will in no Century either voluntarily and causelesly cut off selves or be violently cut off by any others from the Worship and Discipline of the Catholick Church But if it should so happen which God forbid our Duty will be not to applaud but lament the Schism to enjoy as much as we may of the Communion of the Church and to pray and wait for a better Union and fuller Enjoyment of it But there is one Objection more urg'd by your Party against the Authority of Bishops viz. If the Bishops Power be Jure Divino how come they to execute it by Lay-Chancellors Sir Beside the Spiritual Power committed to Bishops as Successors to the Apostles Church-Censurers Ordination c. which are executed by themselves in Person there are other things Circa Spiritualia which are by Law committed to their Care and Inspection as the Cognizance of Wills and Testaments many Cases about Matrimony Alimony and Divorce about Tithes Dilapidations Defamation c. which Things containing many intricate Cases and requiring more time than the Bishop can well spare from the weightier Duties of his Office he is impower'd to commission one Learned in the Canon and Civil Laws to hear and determine such Matters so that as Moses did appoint inferior Officers and Judges to determine small Matters whilst the weightier things were brought to him So the Bishop by the Allowance of the Church is permitted to have these Officers under him to take off part of his Burden in ordinary Matters and to dispatch some of his Business when he is otherwise employ'd or hinder'd But you publish say you such Excommunications as are decreed by Lay-Chancellors according to the Canon And why not For though the Lay-Chancellors by the Authority of the Bishop may decree the Sentence for not hearkning to the Church yet being an Ecclesiastical Censure 't is never executed by him but either by the Bishop in Person or some other Spiritual Person that hath full Authority to do it and when this Censure is thus regularly decreed and pronounc'd why may we not publish it that others may know and avoid them and according to our Saviour's Order look upon them as a heathen Man and a Publican Thus I have consider'd your main Objections concerning the Order of Bishops What you farther offer concerning Bishop Hall shall be consider'd in my next I am SIR Yours M. H. LETTER XXI To J. M. SIR IN your Letter concerning Bishop Hall after a few flings and reflections upon the Order of Bishops which I endeavour'd to rectifie and remove in my last You tell me That you are far better pleas'd with some Bishops than we think you are and particularly instance in Arch-Bishop Vsher and Bishop Hall wishing there were many Hundreds more of them in England Now these Reverend Persons are much beholding to you that you have not so great an Aversness to them as to some others But what is the Reason of this great Kindness to those Excellent Men Why some By-End to be sure for 't is not out of any Respect to their Order which you will not allow to be distinct from nor Superior to Presbyters No nor yet for their Learning and great Abilities in deciding Controversies in Religion for you are not like you say to refer to their final Decision any Matters in Debate between us in their present Constitution Whence then should this Honourable Esteem of yours for these Great Men proceed Why this you will tell me in the next Words 't was for their Exemplary Piety discover'd by their painfulness in Preaching and likewise for their great Temper and Moderation in Ecclesiastical Matters As for their Exemplary Piety that was chiefly seen in their Pious Lives and Zealous adhereing to the Establish'd Worship of the Church of England and likewise by sticking as close and as long as they could to the Primitive Discipline and Government of that Church But you pass by these Eminent and Exemplary Instances of their Piety because they do not serve your purpose and instead of them take notice of their painfulness in Preaching and their great Moderation Now though painfulness in Preaching be indeed a very good Commendation in all that are call'd to it yet I think a Vigilant care and diligence in ruling well the Church of God and setting in order things that are wanting in it is a more necessary and commendable Qualification of a Bishop and indeed if you will rightly consider the multitude weight and difficulty of the Business that appertains to their Office you will find it enough to employ the Time and Thoughts of the ablest Overseer Besides The Bishops having generally spent their Younger Years in painful Preaching and being seldom advanc'd to that Office till they come to their Elder Years may by reason of the decay of Strength and Voice and other Infirmities that attend that Age be excus'd from that painfulness and may more usefully employ the Time and Experience of those Years in well-governing the Church over which they are appointed Overseers But if any beside their other Work have strength and leisure enough for this Exercise they may and ought to make use of it and you know some Time is by our Reverend
Vzziah the King would venture upon the Execution of the Priest's Office we read that it was said to him It pertaineth not to thee Uzziah to burn Incense unto the Lord but to the Priests of the Sons of Aaron who are Consecrated to burn Incense 1 Chron. 26.18 Herein I suppose we are all agreed and I know of none but Erastus that affirmed the contrary who I think hath few or no Followers 2. Secondly There is an External Political Power of Protecting Ordering and Well-governing the Church and this is the Power of the Sword which is committed to the Civil Magistrate only who is therefore said to be The Minister of God to us for Good and an Avenger to execute Wrath upon him that doeth Evil. Rom. 13.4 And as King Vzziah was blam'd for medling with the Power of the Keys so was Peter check'd for drawing the Sword and commanded to put it up as a Weapon that appertain'd not to him Matt. 26.52 These are two distinct Powers the one appointed to work upon the Inward the other upon the Outward Man and both ordain'd by Christ for the edifying and well-ordering of his Church As for the Ministers Power In Spiritualibus or the due Exercise of the Sacred Function there is no Dispute But the Magistrate's Power Circa Spiritualia i. e. Whether it extends to Ecclesiastical Persons and Causes is the Knot to be untied For the clearing whereof I must shew wherein the Civil Magistrate's Power in Church-matters doth mainly consist that we way see how we agree about it 1. And First The Prince or Civil Magistrate hath a Power of protecting and defending the Church and every Member of it in the profession and practice of true Religion For this end chiefly was the Sword put into his Hand which he is therefore requir'd Not to bear in vain Rom. 13.3 4. but to draw it forth to the Terror of Evil doers and the defence of them that do well 1 Pet. 2.14 'T is the Magistrate's Province and Duty to maintain the Church in its Rights and to preserve it in that fulness of Power and Privileges which Christ hath Communicated to it Hence Kings are stil'd Nursing Fathers and Queens Nursing Mothers to the Church Isai 49.23 And we are bid to pray for them that under their power and protection We way lead quiet and peaceable Lives in all Godliness and Honesty 1 Tim. 1 2. v. This is granted on all Hands 2. Secondly The Prince hath a Power of regulating and well-ordering Matters appertaining to the Church 2 Chron. 29.5 24. As keeping Ecclesiastical Persons to their respective Offices and Duties preserving the Places of Publick Worship from Sacriledge and Profanation Establishing a Regular and Uniform way of Divine Service to be observed in them 2 Chron. 31.4 providing and securing a convenient Maintenace to such as serve at the Altar He may reform the Church when it is corrupted in its Doctrine Worship or Discipline 1 Tim. 5.17 These things we find practis'd and commended in all the good Kings both of Israel and Judah Who took care to remove the Impediments and encourage the exercise of true Religion Again Princes may and ought as Vice-roys of Christ's Kingdom to preserve the Peace and Unity of the Church by suppressing Schism and purging it from Idolatry and Superstition To this end they may guard it with good Laws and may likewise convene the Ecclesiastical Governors to meet in Synods and Convocations to consult and agree upon such Canons as the Necessities of the Church shall require And because the Power of the Church is wholly Spiritual and some bold Obstinate Persons may despise and slight the Censures of the Church which may thereby be render'd ineffectual therefore 3dly Thirdly The Prince may and ought to ratifie and enforce such wholesome Laws by Temporal Sanctions and Penalties thereby correcting such Disorderly Members and punishing the Breach and Contempt of Ecclesiastical Canons and Constitutions This we find was the practice of Christian Kings and Emperors ever since they became Christian For when the Church was either corrupted by Error or infested by Schism they interposed their Power to put a Check to such Disorders and partly by their own imperial Edicts and partly by the Canons of Councils call'd by their Authority and enforc'd by Civil Coercions put a stop to the spread and increase of them And this is no more than what is necessary for the peace and good Government of the Church For tho' the Spiritual Rod of Excommunication hath indeed Terror enough in it to be dreaded of All that have any sense or care of their Souls yet because too many are so harden'd in their Schism and Errors as not to feel the smart of it The Secular Prince may and ought to second the Spiritual with the Temporal Rod to awe such Offenders with Corporal Corrections as are fearless and insensible of the Censures of the Church In a word because All things in the Church of Christ are required to be done Decently and in Order therefore Kings and Princes who are the Guardians and 1 Cor. 14. Protectors of the Church are to take care of the Decency and Solemnity of the publick Worship perform'd in it To effect which they have not only a Directive and Mandatory Power to make Laws and give Rules about it but likewise a Coactive and Compulsory Power to make them observ'd Without which they can never attain their End All this is granted by the most Eminent Presbyterians in their Jus Divinum Regiminis Ecclesiastici Jus Div. c. 9. And the same is acknowledg'd likewise by Mr. Baxter Plea for Peace p. 30 99. both in his Plea for Peace and Treatise of Episcopacy Now these Concessions are abundantly enough for our purpose Epise p. 144 192 193. For if Publick Forms of Prayer have the Authority of Ecclesiastical Governours in Convocation and be likewise ratifyed and enforc'd by the Sanctions of the Civil Power there can be no just exception against the Authority that enjoyns them And you may be satisfied from hence who those Superiors and Rulers are that may command an invariable Form which was the thing you question'd and I hope is now to your Satisfaction answer'd So that if there be no unlawfulness in Forms of Prayer which you have already granted you may easily see a strong Obligation lying upon you to use those that are commanded and no other which was the thing to be proved But you ask What if the King should command one Translation Version or Form of Prayers and the Bishops another whom must we obey Sir This in our Case is a meer Cavil because all Authority both Civil and Ecclesiastical agree in the prescribed Forms And we hope they will never Clash or interfere in that or any other thing for the publick good of Church or State But if it should so happen which God forbid You must know That tho' Christ erected a standing Form of Spiritual Government
in his Church yet he never gave any Authority to Ecclesiastical Persons to controul the commanding Power of Princes in lawful and indifferent Matters But left all such things intirely to their Disposal and Determination And we never read That the Apostles or Primitive Christians ever claim'd such a Power or suffer'd for disobeying in such Things There is but one Limitation assign'd of our Obedience and that is To obey God rather than Man If the Commands of God and the Prince clash and contradict each other there the Prince hath no Right to be obey'd because his Will is counter-manded by a Superiour Authority And therefore we find Christ and his Apostles who were very tender of giving the least Offence to Secular Powers in lawful and indifferent Things would yet yield no Obedience in things forbidden by the Express Will of God This is evident in Matters between God and the King And 't is no less so in the Case between the King and his Subjects where if the Spiritual Power of the one clash with the Temporal Power of the other 't is manifest which must yield the Inferiour Power being to give place to the Higher Powers For St. Peter stiles Kings and Emperors Supream in their Dominions And a Supream you know can have no Superiour Power upon Earth to controul or over-rule him But tho' the King say some be Supream in Temporal Affairs yet there may be and is a Superiour Power to him in Church-matters This is the Power that is claim'd and usurp'd by the Pope over Christian Kings and Emperors And there are others who are great Enemies to the Pope that put in their Claim to the same Power in these Matters and would fain take it out of his Hands to put it into their own But St. Peter from whom the first claim as his Successors expresly asserts Kings to be Supream in their Dominions without Limitation or Exception of Spiritual Matters And what Authority have any to except where the Spirit of God makes no Exception And our Saviour Christ from whom the latter claim hath no where limited or circumscrib'd the Sovereign Power of Princes in these Things So that Kings had need look well to the Rights of their Crown to preserve them from the unjust Pretensions and Encroachments of both Besides what mad work must two Co-ordinate Supremacies make in the same Kingdom For since Sacred and Civil Matters are many times so closesly twisted and inter-woven together that they can hardly be separated or distinguish'd what sharp and unavoidable Contests must frequently arise about them And if these two Rival-Supreams differ about the extent and limits of their Power what shall the Subject do who cannot possibly obey or please both For since no Man can serve two Masters the serving of the One will be the despising of the Other which may draw on him the Displeasure of both And can it be conceived that the Great Sovereign of the World who hath styl'd himself A God of Order and not of Confusion should lay such a Stumbling-block in our way and leave so weighty a Matter upon which the Peace and Welfare of Kingdoms depend to such great Uncertainties Again if these two Rival-powers fall at variance who shall reconcile them or what shall decide this great Controversie Why nothing upon Earth is able to do it but the Sword with which the Spiritual Power hath nothing to do for that hath no other Weapons but the Censures of the Church and can only strike with the Thunder of Excommunication and if these be dis-regarded as they too often are it hath nothing left to preserve or maintain a Supremacy So that if the Sword be the only Weapon to defend it he who is of right intrusted with that is thereby design'd and constituted Supream But those Scriptures you say that require Obedience and Subjection to the Higher Powers respect Church-governours 300 Years before the Christian Magistrate appeared in the World Sir If you consult Expositors or the History of those Times you will find those Scriptures to respect the Roman Governors who then sway'd the Imperial Sceptre To whom our Saviour would have all due Submission and Obedience paid For he commanded To render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar 's He acknowledg'd Pilate's Power to be given him from above And the Apostles and Primitive Christians demean'd themselves towards them accordingly Indeed for the first 300 Years after Christ when the Roman Power not only persecuted but sought to root out Christianity the Church was govern'd by its own Laws and by its own Legislative Power provided the best it could for its own Safety and Edification but when the Roman Emperors embrac'd Christianity to the great Joy of the Christian World they took the Church into their Care and Protection which by that means got out of that heavy Storm of Persecution under which it had long labour'd and began to flourish in Peace and Prosperity For Constantine and other Christian Emperors built Churches for publick Worship and provided for the decent Celebration of it They conven'd General Councils and often presided in them ratifying their Canons with their Imperial Edicts and enforcing them with Temporal Sanctions and Penalties By which means the Church is derived down in that happy and flourishing State in which it now continues Thus Sir you see who those Rulers and Superiors are that may enjoin an Invariable Form And I hope I have in some measure satisfy'd your Demands and remov'd your Exceptions against the Authority that enjoins them But when you have nothing to say against the Authority of Superiors you are wont to complain of the Injustice and Severity of their Laws and to cry out of Persecution when you suffer for the Breach of them how justly this is done must be examin'd in the next I am SIR Yours to serve you M. H. August 10th 1697. LETTER VI. SIR I Shew'd in my Last what that Authority is that lawfully may and hath enjoin'd Forms of Prayer together with the Equity and Obligation of those Laws that require them My next Task must be to inquire into the Reasonableness and Justice of those Penalties that are annext to the Violation of them And this must be the rather done because I find you talking much of Goals and Imprisonments and other Hardships which you have endur'd upon the account of them You complain most bitterly and frequently of Persecution as if you lived under Nero or Dioclesian and felt all the Tortures that were inflicted on the Primitive Christians and that for the same or as good a Cause too All which is done merely to derive an Odium upon the Laws and Lawgivers and to procure the greater Pity and Liberty for your selves And here I must observe a double Artifice which I find you making use of the one to evade the Duty the other the Penalty of these Laws To effect the First you are wont to call the Injunctions of Superiors not by the Style of
well yea I think much better within the Church than out of it and to suffer for the Breach of good Laws made for the Preservation of Peace and good Order in the Church of Christ and to guard the Worship of God from the Rudeness and Irreverence of Sectaries and Schismaticks is to suffer as an evil Doer and the greatest Malefactors may as well complain of their Sufferings as any other in such Cases Such Sufferings can give none any Comfort here nor intitle them to any Reward hereafter yea they are rather the Beginnings of Sorrows and the Fore runners of future and far grater Punishments Indeed the Impatience you betray under them shews them to be founded on a bad Bottom and that you do not expect from them the Crown of Martysdom for else you might with the Apostles rejoice in your Sufferings and instead of complaining thank God that you are accounted worthy to suffer for the Name of Christ we find St. Paul was so far from being afraid or asham'd that he gloried in the Cross and when some lamented his hard Fate in his Journey to Jerusalem he checked their Tears and told them That he was ready not only to be bound but to die for the name of the Lord Jesus Acts xxi 13. Whereas your frequent Outcries and Complaints of Sufferings do betray your Guilt and shew That you can take no comfort in them and to tell you truly to suffer for a fond Adherence to Extempore-Prayer shews only a Zeal without Knowledge and he that loses his Livelyhood for an obstinate Refusal of wholsome Forms does but fall a Sacrifice to his own Rashness and Folly But whilst you make such heavy Complaints of easie and just Punishments design'd merely to preserve the publick Peace and to reform your private Errors you may do well to call to mind the far greater and more unjust Sufferings that befel the Sons of the Church of England in the time of the great Rebellion and that not for the Breach but Observance of good Laws and a firm Adherence to their Duty both to God and the King What miserable Outrage and Violence was offer'd to their Persons What Rapine Plunder Oppression and Spoil was made of their Goods and Estates And having nick-nam'd them Malignants there were no Cruelties too great to be executed upon them 'T were too long and too sad a Story to relate the doleful Tragedies acted upon the Prince Peers and People and how the Three Kingdoms groan'd under the direful Effects of an outragious and intemperate Zeal But because you may read these things in sundry Authors and particularly in a Book called Angliae Ruina or Mercurius Rusticus I shall add no more on this sad Subject but shall refer you to them In short then you will do well to consider the Cause of the Sufferings you complain of and if it cannot stand the Tryal of Reason now you may well think it will much less bear the severer Tryal of the last Day if they are found to be the just and necessary Penalties of good Laws do not flatter your self with the Name or Reward of Persecution but rather make a right use of them by returning to your Duty both to God and the Church that you may avoid unnecessary Troubles here and far greater Dangers and Punishments hereafter But you have two or three Pleas more to shift off Obedience to good Laws viz. a Judgment of Discretion or Plea of Conscience the Plea of Moderation and the Plea of Toleration all which shall be consider'd in Order In the mean time I am SIR Yours M. H. Sept 11th 1697. LETTER VII SIR I Consider'd in my Last your Plea of Persecution whereby you have endeavour'd to evade the just and necessary Punishments of wholsome Laws I come now to another Plea by which you seek to cast off all Obedience to them and that is your Judgment of Discretion whereby you can very discreetly judge any thing to be unlawful which you have no mind to obey And this Judgment though never so false ill grounded and erroneous shall give you a Supersedeas and justifie your Disobedience to them this is a Matter of that Consequence that it ought to be well examin'd in order to the Peace of Church and State Let us see then where this Judgment of Discretion is lodg'd and how 't is managed in order to the compassing of this end To which purpose pray consult your Letter of June the 23th where you will find these Words I see you lodge the final Decision of what is lawful decent and expedient in these Matters in the Breasts of Superiours Yes Sir in all things that are not apparently unlawful indecent and inexpedient For since some-body must have the determining of these things I know not where this Power can be more safely lodg'd But you go on and say Indeed if it be in a thing confess'd indifferent the Judgment is readily allow'd to the Superiors but if the Question be about lawful and unlawful we must have a Judgment of Discretion allow'd us as to our Practice c. Where 't is obvious to observe how all Power of judging in the publick Affairs of Church and State is wrested out of the hands of of the Superiors and cunningly lodg'd in the Breasts of the People For First a thing must be confess'd to be indifferent before the Magistrate shall be allow'd to have any Judgment at all in it Now Men that have any Interest to the contrary will confess no more things to be indifferent than they have a Mind to as appears in the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church which tho' in their own Nature plainly indifferent yet some Men cannot or will not think them so because they do not think fit to observe them yea they have a farther fetch if the Indifferency of them too plainly appear and that is that the imposing of them alters their Nature and makes them necessary and consequently unlawful by which Artifice their Judgment of Discretion shall rob the Magistrate of all Judgment and Authority in indifferent things Then 2dly If the Question say you be about lawful or unlawful then every one must have a Judgment of Discretion allowed them of Course So that by this Device the Magistrate is cut off from all Judgment of Discretion here too and the final Decision of what is lawful decent and expedient is wholly lodg'd in the Breast of the Subject which is an excellent way to set them above their Superiors and to shift off all Obedience to them Yea this hath mounted you to that degree of Arrogance as to question whether you have any Superiors in these Matters for you ask in the fore-cited Letter who those Superiors are that have this Authority of enjoining Forms of Prayer Whether it be the King or the Bishops Sir There are none so blind as those that will not see this pretended Ignorance of yours is not so much in Favour to the King from whom your
Superiors in Church and State as you exact from your Inferiors and then you will soon see the reasonableness of this Submission for without this Government would be Precarious and Subjection Arbitrary for every one that could not or would not see the reasonableness of Laws would exempt themselves from all Obedience to them By which means all Humoursom Proud and Perverse People might controul and nose their Superiors and cast off all Duty and Subjection to them And what mad work would it make in Church and State if no Laws were valid and binding unless every scrupulous peevish or ignorant Person should consent to and approve of it But will not this say you require Obedience to Arian Popish and Presbyterian Governors when they happen to be uppermost And in another place you tell me that this Doctrin would have done special Service in Queen Mary's Days and will bear a Man's Charges through all the Turks Dominions Sir in what Country or under what Governors soever we shall happen to live we are oblig'd in Conscience to obey the supream Authority of it in all lawful Things For Power being the Ordinance of God extends to all such Things as are not countermanded by God himself but if they command any thing that is unlawful or forbidden we are not bound to yeild Obedience yea we are bound not to yeild it because we are to obey God rather then Man when their Commands happen to clash or interfere But then the thing must be plainly and evidently forbidden by some express Law of God before we can withhold our Obedience for if the thing commanded be but doubtful or disputable if the sinfulness of it doth not manifestly appear but depends only on some remote uncertain and far fetch'd Consequences if more and wiser Men judge it lawful than unlawful here in such doubtful Matters which is our present Case the Authority of Superiors ought to over-rule our weaker Judgments and we must submit our private to the publick Wisdom and if we are at any time misled this way it will not be ours but the Superiors Fault and if it be not in a Matter apparently sinful 't will never be charg'd on us but those who have the Command and Conduct of us But how come they thus boldly to challenge a Judgment of Discretion who when time was denied it to all others tho' they put in the same Claim to it Are you Sir the only Men of Discretion to whom all others must submit And must none be allowed any Judgment of it but your selves This is a farther Instance of your abominable Pride and Partiality But because this and your Plea of Conscience is mightily insisted on as the main Dispensations from Obedience 't will be requisite to give some farther Account of it which shall be done in my next In the mean time I am SIR Yours M. H. Sept. 26th 1697. LETTER VIII SIR I Consider'd in my last your Judgment of Discretion and shew'd how far it ought to stoop to the Judgment and Discretion of Superiors But because this and the Pretence of Conscience which is indeed but the same Plea is commonly alledg'd to take off Obedience to Laws and is by too many thought a good Dispensation from it I promised to give some further Account of it To which end I must enquire into the Nature and Rule of Conscience and shew when it is a good Rule to guide our Actions and when not To which I shall add some things touching an erroneous doubting and scrupulous Conscience 1st And First For the Nature of Conscience It is nothing else but a Man's Mind or Judgment concerning the Good or Evil the Lawfulness or Unlawfulness of things and according as the Mind is well or ill instructed or perswaded of them so it is either a good or bad Conscience Now the Rule of Conscience is the Will of God made known either by the Light of Nature or plain Scripture or by direct Consequence and Deductions from it for God being the sole Lawgiver and Judge of Conscience he alone hath the Right to govern and direct it which he doth by all or some of these Ways By which we may learn 2dly When Conscience is a safe Rule to guide our Actions and when not and this is the more carefully to be minded because very bad things have been done by misguided Consciences We read of some who in killing the Apostles thought they did God good Service and St. Paul in persecuting the Church did it as himself declares in all good Conscience for he verily thought that he ought to do many things against the Name of Christ and 't is well known what vile things have been acted under the Mask of a real or pretended Conscience And therefore it must be duly regulated before it can safely direct or justifie our Actions and how is that Why thus when it is well informed out of God's Word and passeth a right Judgment on things then 't is a good Guide and leads us in the way that we should go But when 't is ill advis'd and entertains wrong Notions then 't is a blind and false Guide and leads into Bogs and Errors in which last Sense 't is not so properly stil'd Conscience as Humour Fancy and Mistaken Opinion For the better clearing hereof we must note further That there are some things which the Law of God hath made necessary by commanding them and there are other things which it hath made sinful by for bidding them And besides these there are some things of a middle and indifferent Nature which God hath neither commanded nor forbidden In the two former sort of things our Consciences are tied up by a direct and immediate Obligation laid on them by God himself for we cannot omit any thing which God hath commanded neither can we commit any thing which he hath forbidden without apparent sining against him but in the things of a middle and indifferent Nature which are neither commanded nor forbidden our Conscience is at Liberty and may be no further restrained than by the Rules of Obedience to Governours for the publick Good or as we shall think fit by the Rule of Prudence and Charity to restrain our selves So that in these indifferent things wherein the Power of the Magistrate chiefly lies we may be restrained by Humane Laws made for the Peace Order and good Government of Church and State to the Observance whereof our Consciences are tied up not by a direct and immediate Obligation as in the former things but secondarily and mediately by Virtue of a Command of God requiring us to obey Magistrates and to submit to every Ordinance of Man for the Lord's sake And being thus oblig'd to obey them for Conscience sake 't will be absurd to make Conscience a Plea for disobeying them Now when the Mind is thus enligtned from God's Word and fully perswaded of the Truth of these things taking things commanded for necessary and things forbidden for sinful and those
that are neither the one nor the other for things indifferent in which we are free any further than we are prescribed to by our Superiors to whom we owe Obedience as God's Ministers and Viceroys upon Earth When I say the Mind is thus rightly informed in these Matters 't is a good firm and well-grounded Conscience and is a safe Rule and Guide of our Actions and this is a healthy and found Temper of Mind On the contrary when the Mind is ill inform'd and unsetled taking things lawful for unlawful and unlawful things for lawful abstaining from some things as sinful which God hath no where forbidden as Forms of Prayer and doing other things with an Opinion of Holiness and Necessity which God hath no where required as Extempore and varied Prayers This is an entangled and perplexed Conscience and it is a very uncertain and unsafe Guide of our Actions insomuch That to be acted by it is not to be led by any found Principles of Duty and Conscience but by the wrong Measures of Fancy Humour and Mistaken Opinion and this is a very sickly weak and unsound State of Mind Which will lead me to the Consideration of an Erroneous Doubting and Scrupulous Conscience the three grievous Diseases and Infirmities of the Mind and to shew how we may be best cur'd and rid of them And First an erroneous Conscience is when a thing in it self lawful and enjoin'd by lawful Authority shall be judged sinful and unlawful to be done and likewise when a thing in its own Nature sinful and forbidden by lawful Authority shall yet be judg'd not only lawful but necessary to be done This is an erring Conscience and brings a Man into very great Straits for he lies under a Necessity of sinning let him go which Way he will If he does the thing which he judges unlawful he acts against the Perswasion of his own Mind and so being not of Faith is Sin If he refuse the doing of it he acts against lawful Authority and sins in disobeying that Power in a thing which he is commanded to obey As in the former Instance If any shall judge a Form of Prayer enjoin'd by Superiors to be unlawful here if he uses it he sins against the Duty he owes to his own Conscience if he uses it not he sins against the Duty he owes to his lawful Superiors both ways he commits a grievous Sin which he cannot avoid whilst he continues in his Error This is indeed a great and grievous Snare and where a Man is really intangled with it and in good earnest he deserves Pity Now To get rid of it because our Mind cannot alter the Nature of things we must endeavour to alter our Mind and bring it rightly to understand the Nature of things to which end we must bring humble and teachable Minds free from Pride Passion and all manner of Prejudice not misled by Interest Humour or vain Conceit but willing to learn and receive Satisfaction confulting our lawful Pastors or some other able Divines that may be able and willing to direct us weighing the Arguments on the side of Authority as well as those against it using as much of the prescribed Forms as we lawfully may and going with Authority as far as we can If this were heartily and sincerely done there would be few Separatists or Dissenters for Satisfaction this way might soon be had and wherein any were otherwise minded God would soon reveal even this unto him 2dly A Doubting Conscience is when the Mind is in suspence about the Lawfulness or Unlawfulness of a thing and hangs as it were in aequilibrio having Arguments sometimes perswading it one way and sometimes another so that 't is at a loss which way to incline In this Case if the Matter in Question be a thing enjoined by Superiors 't is very reasonable that Authority should turn the Scale and that laying aside the Doubt we should do the thing commanded For in doubtful Matters the safest Course is to be taken Now since the Duty of Obedience is certain and the particular Matter of the Command only doubtful Reason wills That we chuse a Certainty before an Uncertainty and therefore in such Cases the Judgment and Authority of Superiours must over-rule and a certain Duty take place of an uncertain Doubt This cannot be said to be acting against Conscience for here the Mind being in suspence and having not determined or pass'd Sentence either way it cannot be said to be more against the Conscience than with it and the weight of Government must be esteemed very light if it cannot carry it in such a Case So that if any do but doubt of the Lawfulness or Expediency of Prescribed Forms the Injunction of them ought to discard those Doubts and oblige them to join in the use of them But does not the Apostle say He that doubteth is damned if he eat Yes he that doth a thing doubtingly wherein he is under no Command but is left free and arbitrary to himself as in the Case of eating mentioned by the Apostle justly incurs the Peril of Damnation because he acts against his Conscience in a thing wherein he ought to be guided by it But if a thing be determin'd by Authority of the Lawfulness whereof a Man is not fully perswaded but hath only some Doubts about it he may and ought to guide his Doubts and do as he is commanded without any danger of Damnation for if he do amiss in it 't will be a Fault of the Governors who required it and not his whose Duty it is in such Cases to obey 3dly A Scrupulous Conscience is when the Mind is pretty well satisfied about the Lawfulness of a thing and yet hath some slight Fears and Scruples about it This is a crazy and weak temper of Mind proceeding from Melancholy or too great Timorousness occasioned by reading some sort of Books and conversing with some ill instructed Persons which are apt to suggest needless Fears and Objections And this I take to come nearest to your Case for tho' you are reasonably well perswaded of the Lawfulness of Forms of Prayer in general and of ours in particular yet you entertain your self and feed others with some unreasonable Jealousies and Scruples about them such are they about the Calendar the Rule for finding Easter the Version of the Psalms and some Expressions in the Rubrick and other Offices together with Assent and Consent to them Which little Cavils or Scruples like the Flies of Egypt are still buzzing about your Ears for I find them mentioned almost in every Letter No. Sir being pretty will satisfied in the Main if you canâ—… otherwise get rid of these Scruples 't will be your Duty and Wisdom too to throw them clear off as the Snares and Temptations of the Devil and to comply with decent and publick Constitutions without minding the Clamor and Importunity of them for if greater Doubts ought to give place to the Wisdom and Authority of