the Law gives Power to the King to dispense therewith And in like Cases or upon other Considerations equal he may dispense license pardon c. yea althô these Lawes have been passed by His Majesty's royal assent formerly and what is more a Clause inserted in the Act that the King's Licence in this or that case shall be void Yet it will be no BARR to such Prerogatives as are originally and inseparably inherent in his royal Person but he may give Licence with a NON OBSTANTE thereunto A learned Sergeant in his NO MOTECHNIA hath these words The King by a Clause of NON OBSTANTE may dispence with a Statute Law if he recite the Statute though the Statute say such Dispensation shall be merely void And he may licence things forbidden as to Coin money which is made by the Statute Capital and was before unlawful for that is but malum Prohibitum but malum in se as to leave a Nuisance in the High way c. he cannot license to do but when it is done he may pardon it but where the Statute saith his Licence shall be void which the Civilians call clausula derogative there it must have a Clause of NON OBSTANTE i.e. NOTWITHSTANDING ANY STATVTE and else it is not good And saith the same Author he may in respect of his Supreme Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction exempt some from the Jurisdiction of the Ordinary and dispense with others in things which the Ecclesiastical Law Prohibits upon the same ground that they are not mala in se but prohibita I hold clear saith Judge Hobart That thô the Statute saith that all Dispensations c. shall be granted in manner and form following that yet the King is not thereby restrained but his Power remaineth full and perfect as before and he may still grant them as King. The King may remitt the Penalty and Punishment thô not dispense where what is forbidden by Law is malum in se saith that Sergeant in his forementioned Discourse much more then where what is forbidden is but malum Prohibitum The Statute indeed of 1 Ed. 2. cap. 7. Enacts that no letter shall proceed from the King to discharge an excommunicated Person but where the King's Liberty is prejudiced but as this Statute it self proves the late and former practice so it takes it not away since the King's liberty of discharging such Persons used before is preserved by the same Statute CHAP. II. Of the Prerogative and Regal Power in relation to Ecclesiastical Lawes and Matters of Religion 1. REligion in the moral part thereof namely the Precepts and Commandments of God the institutions and Ordinances of Christ these are not subject to any humane Wisdom or Power The Apostles that were of higher authority in these Affairs than any on earth went no further then as 1 Cor. 11.23 What I have received of the Lord that I deliver unto you To make Lawes in Spiritual Matters that are such by the Light of Nature that men may be moved to do and act according to this Light in duty and our Civil concerns we yield unto the Magistrate who is custos utriusque tabulae 2. There are matters of Circumstance also these and the like are made by our Lawes to depend upon the power and ordering of the Prince This distinction you have laid down as Law by Judge Hobart These are his words Though it be jure divino that Christian People be provided of Christian offices and duties as of Teaching Administration of Sacraments and the like and of Pastors for that purpose and therefore to debar them wholy of it were expresly against the Law of God Yet the distinction of Parishes and the form of furnishing every Parish Church with its proper Curate Rector or Pastor by the way of Presentation Institution c. as it is used diversly in divers Churches and the state or title which he hath or is to have in his Church and Benefice is not a positive Law of God in point of Circumstance And we know well that the Primitive Church in its greatest Purity was but voluntary Congregations of Believers submitting themselves to the Apostles and after to other Pastors to whom they did minister of their Temporals as God did move them Government is a beam of Divine Power and therefore he proceeds saying if a People refuse all Government it were against the Law of God but if a popular State will receive a Monarchy it stands well with the Law of God. In the Case of Glover and Colt against the Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield pag. 149. From all this the Judge seems to confirm his distinction by way of Comparison thus As in humane affairs Government in the general and essentials of it that one man be subject to another in an orderly way is necessary and jure divino and not in man's liberty and dispose Yet for the modes and forms of Government and like Circumstances it is left to the choice and wisdom of Men and the Conduct thereof So in Matters of Religion which are not jure divino our Law judgeth the Magistrate hath the ordering thereof in each Nation according to the manners and temper of the People which is various And in particular the disposing of Pastors and People for the more convenient and orderly Service and Worship of God to be only jure humano and may be otherwise and was so in the Primitive Church in her greatest Purity Pastors and People were not then as now engaged by this relation one to another in this Parochial bond or tye but enjoyed a Christian liberty voluntarily to dispose of themselves under such and such a ministry as they should make choice of to themselves The Church is said in that state to be in greatest Purity 1. The Congregational way therefore is not a way in this learned Judge's opinion of disorder and confusion as is so frequently suggested 2. And that it is in the power of Supreme Majesty to dispense with a Parishioner as well as with a Pastor or Rector to be a non-resident and take another Rectory the division of Parishes being jure humano What those things and Matters of Religion are in the judgment of our State that come under the manage of humane Wisdom and Power is well expressed in Queen Elizabeth's Advertisement These Orders and Rules have been meet and convenient to be used and followed yet not prescribing these Rules as Laws equivalent with the eternal Word of God and of necessity to bind the Consciences of our Subjects in the nature of them considered in themselves or as they should add any efficacy or more holiness to the virtue of publick Prayers and to the Sacraments but as temporal Orders meerly Ecclesiastical without any vain Superstition or as Rules in some part of discipline concerning decency distinction and order for the time And in the Articles of 1562 It is not necessary that Traditions and Ceremonies be in all places one or utterly alike for at all times
the same Church differing from it self upon further discoveries A Synod a Parliament may judge such and such things that they who are to submit may sincerely scruple and stick at as Sin. If Churches and Men heavenly enlightned are thus exposed to vary in their apprehensions we cannot be confident of any Councel or Assembly made up of the most Wise and Prudent Men. Parliaments are chosen by the votes of the promiscuous multitudes in respect we would hope to their sufficiency in managing our Civil and Temporal concernments but as to their Skill and Ability to discern and judge of such matters appertaining to Order in the Service and Worship of God all men have not this Knowledge this is little or not at all attended by those that Elect them by reason whereof Matters wherein mens Consciences are concerned are not at all times carried by those who are most Conscientious in that Assembly who are not alwayes the Major part yet notwithstanding are required in their Consciences to assent and consent to such Determinations being made although possibly near one half in number dissented in the passing of them and it is unavoidable in all and the best Assemblies that are chosen by the general suffrage of a Nation Again These matters of Ceremony and external Order are sometimes managed in part with respect to a Party different in their apprehensions and who thereupon form these Lawes with respect to Prudence as well as Conscience In our first Reformation it was said such Superstitions are taken away aâ—time would serve quietly to do it and many things were left remaining in our Liturgy which otherwise would have been removed in compliance with that form of divine Service used-before by the Papists that they may not be provoked but rather won thereby to our Religion Womens Baptizing was continued in our Liturgy saith the Bishop of Winchester else the Book would not have passed the House Conf. at Hampton-Court King James was once willing that some Ceremonies giving offence should be removed But the Parliament then sitting thought it not Prudence and our present Sovereign would have done a great matter for the Ease of Tender Consciences as appears by some of the Declarations herein after mentioned but it stood not with the Prudence of this House as they expressed in their Answer without whose concurrence His Majesty thought not fit then to do it 3. From mistaken Principles as that there can be no Vnity without Vniformity that there can be no Discipline in a Church without some Ceremonies of humane Institution that things in Worship indifferent become necessary being imposed by Authority That things in matters of Order that are once established and some time continued in the Church may not with safety be altered These things I offer not to derogate from Parliaments in their manage of such Affairs but upon this serious account only To shew that as our Civil Lawes have made provision that the Church shall not in their Lawes and Canons order any thing against the Prerogative of the King or the Lawes and Statutes of the Realm in general and that such Canons shall not be in force that do 25 Hen. 8.19 So likewise Lawes and Statutes in Ecclesiastical Affairs established by the Civil Power if they be found to derogate from the Prerogative of Christ Jesus or the Lawes and Statutes of his Kingdom ought not to be in force upon mens Consciences As Church-men being supposed not to be so well understood in secular Lawes but may transgress so may secular Persons likewise in their orderings about Church Affairs therefore there is a like necessity of a Power to review Judge and dispense with such Lawes as shall be found to disturb the Consciences of peaceable Subjects as occasion may urge thereunto Hen. 8. by Commission which was continued by Edw. 6. appointed 32 Persons 8 of each Profession to peruse the Canons of the Clergy then in force to the end those might be removed that were any ways against the Crown and State. These Kings might have done the like in respect to those Canons and Ecclesiastical Lawes enacted in Parliament if they were found to derogate from Christ's Commands or his Institutes or if justly offensive to the peaceably Godly that Dispensations might be granted for the present till further Reformation be obtained 3. The Municipal Lawes of a Nation are from and conformed to the Principles of right Reason and common Justice only and we have submitted to the Resolutions of those Wise and Prudent Senators we our selves have made choice of to enact and establish such Lawes for us and therefore may acquiesce in their Determinations without further enquiry having given a kind of absolute pre-consent to such Lawes as shall be enacted by them but it is not so in Ecclesiastical Lawes intrusted with the same Persons for they are to be formed according to God's Word which every man is to take as his immediate Rule and not to do or submit to any thing in his Practice about the Notion of Religion but what is conformable thereunto he is to LIVE and act by his own Faith. To Lawes Ecclesiastical therefore made in Parliament we give only a Conditional Consent viz. So far as they are agreeable to God's Word and concur with Gospel-rules nor is it in the liberty of any man's Conscience or reason to yield more nor is there any more by us intrusted with the Representative the Parliament If a man doth scruple the reasonableness or equity of a Law established concerning Civil right or what is required from such a Statute he may notwithstanding yield Obedience without Sin and ought so to do rather than to offend by any appearance of disobedience as Christ himself did Matth. 17.26 27. But in Matters of Religion even Circumstances Ceremonies or Matters of Order or the least thing wherein the Lord hath concerned his Word if there be a doubt or scruple whether it be lawful and conformable to Scripture tho it be from Ignorance or weakness yet I sin if I submit in practice thereof Rom. 14.21 compared with 2 3. The consequence of Transgression in this kind is more than the loss of Estate Liberties yea of Life it self If Lawes from Superiors concerning Civil right be unjust in themselves or prove unequal from the Circumstances of this or that man's Case who cannot be relieved by any indulgence he may submit without Sin and without transgressing any Law of God nay it is virtue and pleasing to God to shew our patience in such suffering 1 Pet. 2.13 compared with 18 19. 1 Cor. 6 7. but not so in the Matters of Religion for we have it from Christ to the contrary that is not to submit Coloss 2.20 and God blames his People by his Prophets for willingly walking after the Commandments and keeping the Statutes of Omri Hosea 5.12 Micah 6.16 the Lord is a jealous God. 4. If there be not a Power to Judge and Dispense intrusted in some hand the People are in
Power dispense with and license such Preachers which now seem and are reputed so to be And it follows also if his Power will extend to indulge such persons it will not prove short in respect to hearers which are as it were new in the way of their Assemblies and indulge such as are not in the Ancient order of the Parochial Congregations of England 2. The like Deductions might be drawn from other of those Instances I shall notwithstanding for further confirmation add other instances and such wherein you have this Power put forth in dispensing and exempting from what hath been burthensom to mens Consciences by Episcocal Impositions 1. That of Edw. 6. In the 4th year of his reign Certain Protestants removing themselves and Families out of Popish Countries into England for the sake of Conscience and being not free to submit to the forms of Worship and Discipline established in this Church this good King by his SOLE Authority granteth them the Liberty of such a Church Government and form of worship whereof we shall say more in its place as should be most suitable to their own Perswasion This being utterly against the Provision and Settlement NEWLY made by Parliament He strengthens his Grant by a NON OBSTANTE to the Statute and strictly requires all Bishops and Mayors to suffer them to enjoy this Liberty of Conscience 2. Another instance you have of the same good King in Hooper being chosen Bishop of Gloucester and there being certain Rites and Ceremonies established by Act of Parliament to be Conformed unto in the Consecration of Bishops offensive to his Conscience Edw. 6. requires Arch-Bishop Cranmer to omit these Ceremonies discharging him of all manner of Dangers Penalties and Forfeitures he should be in danger of and run into in any manner of way by omitting of the same and these our Letters saith the King shall be your sufficient Warrant and Discharge therefore 3. The instance you have also of what was done by Queen Eliz. for relieving Tender Consciences namely Her Majesty being informed that in certain places in this Realm sundry of her Subjects called to the Ministry being induced by sinister Perswasions are scrupled about the Form of the Oath which by an Act of the late Parliament was prescribed to be taken according to the Form expressed in the Act under the Penalty of being disabled to bear any Office in State or Church Her Majesty was graciously pleased by her Power in Ecclesiastical Affairs to give and declare such a sense and construction of the words of this Oath expressed in other words much different for their satisfaction with a Gracious Declaration that such Persons fit for the Ministry as could not take the Oath in the Parliaments Form should be accepted to do it in this sense and doing so they should notwithstanding be accepted of her Majesty as good and obedient Subjects and be acquitted of all manner of Penalties contained in the said Act against such as should refuse the same By which means many an able man had freedom to exercise his Ministry which otherwise must be laid aside which Indulgence of hers altho against an ACT of Parliament yet was owned as done by lawful Authority and recognized by the Parliament 5 Eliz. and her Execution assented to and enacted 4. This renowned Queen together with King James and King Charles the First confirmed the Indulgence and Dispensation granted by Edw. 6. to Strangers yea although it was a Gravamen to the Bishops as making an evident breach upon the Lawes of Vniformity for that 't was granted not only to the Parents but to the Children and Childrens Children which were Natural Subjects to the Realm Persons of great Estates and Purchasers of Lands and interessed in the Soil the number also of these Congregations increasing and situated in the eminent and chief Towns and Cities in the Kingdom there to live and Profess as separated and divided Bodies a Discipline and Worship differing from the Church of England which was not at first intended as Bishop Laud complains there being onely that one in London when the first Grant was made and such things were frequently suggested against them Yet these Princes were graciously disposed notwithstanding the Act for Vniformity from time to time to Confirm the Grant of Edward 6th by several Orders past some of them formed as having special respect to such Objections And it will not be amiss for the Reader 's Information here to insert some of them at least The Form in which Queen Elizabeth confirmed their Liberties Non ignoramus variis Ecclesiis varios diversos jam ab initio fuisse ritus ceremonias non contemnimus vestras neque vos ad nostras cogimus King James Oct. 17. About the Dutch at Colchester His Majesty granted their Orders Liberties c. in as large and ample manner to all intents and purposes as heretofore they have been used tolerated and allowed unto them any Provision or Jurisdiction to the Contrary thereunto in any wise notwithstanding An Order of King James under his Signet Jan. 13. 1616. on their behalf These are therefore to Will and Command all our Courts of Justice and other our loving Subjects to permit and suffer the said Strangers and their Children c. The Order of the Councel for the Walloons of Norwich Oct. 10.1621 Those of Norwich tho born in the Kingdom shall continue to be of the said Congregation and subject to such Discipline as hath been by all the time of 55 years practised by them The Order of King Charles the First Nov. 13. 1631. We Will and Command our Judges to permit and suffer the said Strangers and their Children quietly to enjoy all and singular c. without any Trouble Arrests or Proceedings by way of information or otherwise An Order of Councel for the Dutch of Norwich Jan. 7. 1630. That all those that now or hereafter shall be Members of the Dutch Congregation altho born within this Kingdom shall continue to be of the said Church so long as his Majesty shall be pleased These and diverse the like instances might be produced which sufficiently evince it as granted on all sides and constantly supposed to be according to the constitution of this Realm that our Kings and Princes have Power in and from themselves as an inherent inseparable Prerogative not only to enjoyn and give Lawes to their Subjects in Matters Ecclesiastical such as are left to the ordering of any Civil Power but also to dispense and exempt from Lawes of that kind tho established by them in conjunction with the Authority of Parliament Nor do we find that Parliaments at any time have taken into Consideration what was ordered and done by these Kings and Princes in Ecclesiastical Affairs as being their known Prerogative no not in the time of King James who assumed the most in such managements nor by any Petitions or Addresses to any of those Princes which is usual in the concerns of Civil Rights for
is not then to dispense with the Penalties in Ecclesiastical Lawes too great a trust to be reposed in any one hand In Answer I shall endeavour something to unfold 1. In what sense Religion is the Concern of a Nation 2. The Nature of this Trust 1. How much Religion c. The moment and weight of a Matter in our Deliberation hath its proportion either as under an absolute or respective Consideration Wisdom is better than Riches in it self absolutely but not in respect to the support of present life The knowledge of God and Divine things is better than to know the virtue of Drugs and Plants but not so in respect to the study of Physick So Religion and the Worship of God is the chiefest and better part in it self considered but in its respective Considerations as to the faculty of a particular Person to Community of men for the advance of Civil Affairs there are other qualifications and inducements of greater Consequence and more directly and immediately tending to the being or well-being thereof That there be no mistake in this great Concernment I further distinguish There cometh under the Notion of Religion the Holiness and Righteousness that is of the Moral Law Principles whereof are in all mens natures and attended in their actings by a natural Conscience 2. Gospel Duties directed and ordered by a supernatural light no footsteps or Principles whereof are found in us For the former Religion in that first sense as the Knowledge of God Conscience of an Oath Justice and Righteousness in our dealings c. are such things wherein the well-being of Kingdoms and Commonwealth is much concerned But Religion as it stands in exerting supernatural Principles and in Duties termed the Commands of Christ as the other the Commands of God Jo. 15. such as Faith Repentance Sacraments Discipline and the like Gospel-Ordinances In the Duties under these Heads considered and as distinct from Moral Duties there is little or nothing directly and immediately contributed by them to mens Civil interests further then where these supernatural Vertues are planted in mens Minds the Moral Duties of Piety and Honesty do more plentifully abound and are in exercise As those Morals do more immediately concern the Commonwealth so the Lawes thereof are principally drawn forth out of them especially Second-table Duties forming and moulding them into municipal Lawes under Penalties and incouragements greater or less as in the Wisdom of a State is judged most conducing to the welfare thereof For these Gospel-Mysteries 't is otherwise for as they contribute not to us in our Civil Government otherwise than as before-mentioned so is there little contributed by the Wisdom or Authority of any State advantagious to the Gospel but Protection or being a defence upon the Glory Bishop Bilson states it well Princes saith he command that which Chaist the Sovereign Lord and Head of the Church commands which is all the Power we give to Princes Supremacy pag. 227. And in the Page before By Governors in Ecclesiastical Matters we do not mean Moderators Prescribers c. but Magistrates bearing the Sword to permit and defend that which Christ himself first ordained and appointed but to return If Adam had stood all Common-wealths had been prosperous and flourishing and yet no Christ no Faith Repentance nor any Gospel-Worship known or practised and since the fall you have had well-governed Kingdoms and States among Turks Heathens that never received Christ or Gospel-Worship It is with States as it is with particular persons in Commerce another man's Estate or Trade or Credit or any other Civil concern with whom I have to do is not prejudiced or bettered by omission or practice of what is a meer Gospel-Duty If a man I deal with be unjust ly steal c. my worldly interest is prejudiced hereby but whether he repent for this or exercise Faith on Christ for forgiveness and humble himself I am neither gainer nor loser in my Civil concern Now it is Gospel-Worship and Gospel-Religion we profess in this Nation If then the Duties themselves performed are of no greater onsequence in respect to Persons with whom we converse or the Civil State where we live the Modes Forms and Ceremonies of such Worship cannot be of such moment or trust in the manage of them And let me add much less can there be any such special advantage or detriment to our State-Concernments in this or that particular external form of Worship or Government that one should be retained by us with so much Zeal and Contention and from an alteration whereof we should be so much deterred which evidently appears in this how prosperous and flourishing hath this Nation been in their Civil concerns under Episcopacy Set Liturgies Ceremonies c. and as great Prosperity in other Christian States where these have altogether been disallowed Nor is this any dishonour to the Gospel more than to the Kingdom of Christ when it was said not to be of this World or to his Person or Officers that they contribute no more to the settling of Civil Rights and Interests Luke 12.13 or to Gospel-Weapons which being Spiritual and not Carnal have no edge to cut off mens Liberties Estates or Lives 2. The Nature of this Trust The Lawes and Institutes by which these Ecclesiastical Matters are to be managed are appointed and established for substance by the Wisdom and Authority of that one Law-giver Christ Jesus The Application of these Lawes in respect of Circumstances for the well and comfortable enjoying Gospel Ordinances is all that any Humane Wisdom hath to do in them the trust whereof may be placed in the hand of a Wife and Prudent Prince Again there is Liberty of an after-Judgement to be made by him that is to practise in whatever is in the concerns of Religion commanded by men Thence such Lawes require not such simple and peremptory obedience if conformable to those rules required in the Word Obedience thereunto is with respect unto God as well as Man if otherwise that then ought to be left to the Subject which the Apostles claimed Acts 5.29 Now altho Matters of Religion and the Concernment of it be great things considered in it self and accordingly is the trust yet what of it falleth under the hand of a Civil Power is neither in it self nor in its trust so great Because the greatness of this trust sticks generally in mens minds especially when in the disposal thereof it depends upon the will of one man to remove this or the like stumbling block we will suppose failings in the management of the trust as great as rationally can be imagined 1. Suppose his Majesty should refufe either by himself or Parliament to enjoyn any thing of Ceremony or Circumstance about these Externals in the Worship and Service of God. Or 2. Suppose he should dispense with all Injunctions and leave the People of God to a full Liberty in the observance of them and call these high defects and failings in
Conduct and Government yet the Premises last mentioned being considered there can be no great prejudice to the Commonwealth or Civil Affairs thereby Distinctly we shall weigh both of them 1. For the Former If the keeping or omitting of a Ceremony in it self considered is but a small thing as was mentioned before and of such a nature as altho at first of godly intent and purpose devised yet at length turned to Vanity and Superstition and burdening mens Consciences without cause c. as we our selves acknowledge See Preface to the Common-Prayer Book and of the same condition are most of those Impositions which have proved burthensom to the Nation a long time I say if so the not imposing of these things cannot be prejudicial to Church or State. Not to the Church If these directions for Gospel-worship in the external Circumstances of it were not reduced into Canons and Injunctions but left where they are to be taken up in practice according to the light of the Age as are Gospel-Duties of greater consequence Those Scriptures by which States profess themselves to be guided in forming these Ecclesiastical Lawes are intrusted also in the hands of the Gospel-Ministers for their conduct and direction in ordering Gospel Affairs who have gifts and assistances from it in such a measure and degree as cannot be expected in the ablest Statesman as such And the Ecclesiastical Lawes are never so well ordered by Civil Powers as when they consult with and take advice and directions from the Ministers of the Gospel about them To advise new Rites and Ceremonies saith Bishop Bilson is not the Princes Vocation but to receive and allow such as the Scriptures commend and as the Bishops and Pastors of the place shall advise of Suprem p. 226 2. If there were no such severe Injunctions about the Forms and Modes of Gospel-Worship I speak not of such Duties of Religion in which mens natures are principled 1. The Nation would not hereby suffer in respect of its Civil concerns but the Wealth and Trade would be much more prosperous the things being small in themselves and do become great only upon the account of their being injoyned and the greatness of Penalties annexed being of great Concernment to the State that is to the great prejudice thereof as hath been apparent in many years sad Experience What is it of moment to the Common-wealth for the quickening of Trade keeping up of Rents c. or any particular man's concern as Civil that men kneel or not at the Sacrament Crossing or not Crossing in Baptism 2. For the other as dispensing with all Penalties annexed to Ecclesiastical Lawes where these Penalties are removed yet these Lawes remain as Councels and Advertisements and being consulted by the learned Clergy in their Synods and commended are useful in the Administration of Worship This is as much as ever was done by the Apostles when Churches were in their greatest Purity who endeavoured not so much to establish an external Uniformity as to preserve Christian Liberty If it be said they had then no Christian Magistrates We say the Kingdom of Christ must come into a Nation before it be Christian and if it be so defective in its first address for want of such Magistrate and of the means we put so great an esteem upon for the reducing a People how will the People ever become Christian And on the other side if the Gospel hath a sufficiency in it self without borrowing to subdue a Pagan Nation to Christianity much easier it is being such to preserve them orderly and regular Christians Paul having instructed and councelled left his People free and to act by the Perswasion of their own hearts Rom. 14.5 One man esteemeth one day above another another man esteemeth every day alike let every man be perswaded in his own mind That was but a Councel or Advertisement in the Act for Conformity in 18 Eliz. given to the Arch-Bishops Bishops and other Ordinaries that they would endeavour to perform their Duties in execution of the Act it was indeed very solemn coming from the Queens Majesty The Lords Temporal and all the Commons in the Present Parliament and in God's Name and as they will answer before God for such Evils and Plagues as may be Punishments for the neglect hereof There hath been no want of obedience hereunto by the Bishops being fully perswaded in their hearts thereof as their Duty of which if they had not been so perswaded the severest Penalties would or ought to have been in vain King James orders throughout the Kingdom that the Afternoons Exercise each Lord's-Day be spent in examining Children in their Catechism instead of Preaching this is only commended as the most convenient and laudable way in teaching of the Church of England and that such Preachers be most encouraged and approved of and how readily was this immediately practised throughout the Nation and is continued in many places unto this day In the Establishment of Vniformity 2º Edw. 6. a Liberty was left in respect to Ceremonies to practise or omit them according as men were perswaded in their hearts By the Synod held 1640. some Rites and Ceremonies there mentioned were heartily commended by them to the serious Consideration of all good People as an ancient and laudable Custome of the Primitive Church in the purest times and notwithstanding all this extolling those Rites which indeed was as much as can be said for any of our Ceremonies the Cannon concludes thus in the practice or omission of this Rite we desire that the Rule of Charity prescribed by the Apostle may be observed which is that they who use the Liberty despise not them which use it not and they who use it not condemn not those that use it Canon 7. 1640. And this their Councel and Commending hath not been in vain but received and submitted unto throughout by those who were so perswaded of these Rites as they have commended them And so would it have been in respect of other the Rites of our Church And the free submission in practise of a Rite tho but from a fewer number of Grave and Pious Persons would have advanced the esteem of such Ceremonies in the Opinions of others much more than the forced submission of greater multitudes 2. As a further Answer let us consider the Nature of the Crime with respect to the Penalties the Crime as expressed in our Lawes is a wilful and obstinate or contemptuous omission as in 19 Eliz. c. 2o. in the Act for Vniformity where these words wilful and obstinate I would think are not descriptive and to be understood reduplicative as an aggravation and as if all omissions must of necessity proceed from wilfulness and obstinacy but distinctive and to be understood Specificative some omissions being from wilfulness and contempt but there may be omissions that are not so and being not so full under the Penalties as killing a man and wilful Murther c. That the words of that Act 1º
done yet in what His Majesty had promised in way of relief to tender Consciences Hereupon not only multitudes of faithful Preachers of the Gospel in several Shires in this Kingdom were put from their Imployment but also the Minds of men are much disturbed and filled with hard Thoughts and Jealousies upon this account Insomuch as His Majesty was enforced to Publish that Declaration of Dec. 26. In which he expresseth the surmises of the People occasioned by this Severity thus That having made use of such solemn Promises from Breda and in several Declarations since of Ease and Liberty to tender Consciences instead of performing any part of them we have added straiter Fetters than ever and new rocks of Scandal to the scrupulous by the Act of Uniformity To this surmise and jealousie His Majesty condescends to make a reply thus As concerning the non-performance of our Promise we remember well the very words of those from Breda c. and the Confirmation we have had of them since upon several occasions in Parliament and as all these things are still fresh in our memory so are we still firm in the resolution of Performing them to the full But it must not be wondered at since that Parliament to which those Promises were made in relation to an Act never thought fit to offer us any to that purpose The House of Commons took his Declaration into Consideration and represented to His Majesty divers Objections against it and laid it aside so that nothing was effected thereby to His Majesty's purpose the Parliament being otherwise minded And certainly it is not only their Liberty but Duty to proceed in reforming Abuses by such means as are in their Perswasion most suitable and likely to be effectual otherwise they would not be faithful in their trust So now greater Severities against Nonconformists are provided in several Acts upon occasion As the Act against Private Meetings 16 Car. 2. The expelling Ministers five Miles from Burrough Towns 17 Car. 2. Especially that Act of 22 Car. 2. intituled An Act to prevent and suppress Seditious Conventicles and all very high and heavy in the Penalties expressed both upon Ministers and People His Majesty notwithstanding condescended to give his Royal Assent to that Bill It being judg'd this Severity was taken up by them from good intentions and as the likeliest means of Peace and Union as also if it proved not to be so that they might yet be more fully convinced of the insufficiency of such a way having had hitherto for some years experience how little effectual it hath proved Yet this Bill containing nothing for Substance but what was proper to his Ecclesiastical Power being an ordering the Externals of the Church and nothing of immediate concern in Civil Affairs in the whole Act and His Majesty having intentions to take the other course if this of Severity effected not what was aimed at a Proviso is inserted in the Act in these words Provided also that neither this Act nor any thing contained therein shall extend to invalidate or avoid His Majesty's Supremacy in Ecclesiastical Affairs but that His Majesty his Heirs and Successors may from time to time and at all times hereafter exercise and enjoy all Power and Authority in Ecclesiastical Affairs as fully and amply as himself or any of his Predecessors have or might have done the same any thing in that Act c. notwithstanding As this Act of 22 Car. 2. was very strict and severe in it self so the execution of it was with much violence and rigour in most parts of the Nation there being Provision made in it that such as even loose and indigent Persons may intrude themselves in the promoting thereof with encouragements not only of their lusts satisfied in persecuting those they so much hate but their Necessities supplied from large rewards for the same having Power given to inform against Justices Mayors Constables and such who are intrusted with the Execution hereof who are under great Fines and Penalties for omissions limited in this Act and the Informer to have a moiety hereof himself insomuch that by the rigorous execution of it Thousands of His Majesty's good Subjects were utterly ruined Persons industrious and diligent in their Callings driven from their Habitations their Houses broken open their Goods imbezziled the Materials of their Trade the Tools they wrought with and the Beds they lay on seized and our Trade every where decayed Rents of Lands falling Poverty coming on like an armed Man Persons haled from these Meetings for the Worship of God through the open Streets to Prisons being of the same Faith with us and so peaceable and unblameable in their Conversation as that nothing could be objected against them but in the Matters of their God nor for any thing upon that account but their endeavouring to practise as those reformed Churches we our selves own as such and hold a brotherly Communion with as the true Churches of Christ. The Nation generally being thus distracted and distressed those in Power going on still to make Lawes to afflict and punish and others ingaged quietly to suffer whatsoever they should be exposed to for their Consciences Matters being at this pass there was apparent Necessity that some remedy in the case should be seriously and speedily applyed His Majesty considering they are all his Subjects and how much by such Severity the Interest of his Sovereignty is narrowed so great a number of his People rendered unworthy of his Countenance and Protection and upon no other account or crime but their being of different Perswasion in some Externals of Religion Persons otherwise wise for Industry Faithfulness and Loyalty every way qualified to dâ—… His Majesty and their Country as good Service as any others of His Majesty's Subjects whatever His Majesty also did call to Mind that Prudent caution which his Royal Father left him in these words Take heed saith he that outward Circumstances and Formalities in Religion devour not all or the best incouragements of Learning and Industry but with an equal Eye and impartial Hand distribute Favours and Rewards to all Men as you find them for their real goodness both in Ability and Fidelity worthy and capable of them This will be sure to gain you the hearts of the best and most too It was likewise impossible for His Majesty to imagine that so ma-many thousand in his observation who have suffered so grievous things with such humble submission should daily thus expose themselves and Families to ruine upon no other or better Principles than a Spirit of obstinacy and stubbornness Great Sufferings and by great Multitudes yet no Tumults no resisting whereas in the beginning of the Reformation what Armies in the North and in the West upon this account by those of another Perswasion were raised altho yet they had suffered but little His Majesty as was said as a Common Father beareth Affection to all his Subjects but who of them deserves it and who not can nover