SUBJECTION FOR Conscience-sake Asserted in a SERMON Preached at the ASSIZES Held at ANT-HILL in BEDFORDSHIRE March the 11 th 1681 2. Printed at the earnest Request of the Right Honourable the Judges the Right Worshipfull the Sheriff and the rest of the Justices of the Peace for the said County By Tho. Pomfret A. M. Vicar of Luton in Bedfordshire and Chaplain to the Right Honourable ROBERT EARL of AILESBVRY LONDON Printed for Joanna Brome at the Gun at the West end of St. Paul's MDCLXXXII TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFULL George Abbot Esq High Sheriff of the COUNTY OF BEDFORD SIR I Did not expect when by your Command I had preach'd this Sermon of Obedience from the Pulpit to have had the Point of my own Arguments turn'd so far upon my self as to be oblig'd also to send it to the Press in perfect submission to your Authority and my own Doctrins But I was loath to enter a Protestation against my self and be the first that should resist a Person so much above me and that ought to have an absolute Power over me having pass'd such great obligations upon me I shall not be so unreasonable as to beseech you to protect what you have been pleas'd to bring forth nor indeed am I much solicitous what fortune I meet with being satisfied that no man can hinder me from acquiring that end I propounded in the Publication which was onely to testifie what deference I bear to your Commands and that by a more solemn notice I might declare how much I am SIR Your most humble Servant THO. POMFRET ROMANS XIII 5. Wherefore ye must needs be subject not onely for wrath but also for conscience-sake THE Purity of our Religion and the Excellency of our Government together with the apparent reasonableness and utility both of our Civil and Ecclesiastical Laws are so visible to any Subject who shall consider them with an humble and honest mind that one would think the supreme Power should receive no farther trouble after the preparing such wise and wholesome constitutions But then if to the goodness and wisdome of our Governours in prescribing such usefull and equal measures we consider that they are inthron'd by God's appointment and govern by his Power their commands receive from thence all that force and veneration that Religion can possibly adde because not onely the fear of the Prince but of God too becomes their Sanction For we must needs be subject not onely for wrath but also for Conscience-sake In a Christian Common-wealth therefore where it can but rarely if at all happen that we must disobey the Laws of Princes in obedience to the Laws of God it is the oddest thing in all the world to hear men pretending Conscience against their Duty and think to satisfie the Law by grievous out-cries and seditious Pamphlets teaching the Magistrate how he should govern when he is directing them how they should obey not considering that it is more like Christians to doe their duty and obey the Laws rather than to be full of talk and argument to create scruples and fill the heads of their followers with objections against them Thus mens minds are perplex't and the Government is disturb'd and Conscience which is the greatest Obligation in all the world to obedience as it is order'd is made the greatest Objection For you must obey for Conscience-sake says St. Paul but if you have any Conscience you must not obey so say our new Apostles To determine therefore this great Case I shall indeavour three things I. To settle obedience to humane Laws upon the two sanctions of the Text the fear of Wrath and the obligation of Conscience II. I shall give what answer I am able to some of those objections which are usually offer'd to deliver the Conscience from that Obligation III. I shall consider tenderness of Conscience how far it ought to be admitted I. Our first undertaking must be to settle obedience to the Laws upon the proper Sanctions of it mention'd in the Text the fear of wrath and the obligation of Conscience The one is man's the other is God's Fear of wrath is that band of Obedience which humane Power adds to the Law For though there is a baseness in disobedience which all good men hate and all wise men condemn because it is an enemy to order and destructive of peace and Society Yet this being not strong enough to oblige of it self because some people lay aside all natural goodness and justice therefore to all Laws it is necessary there should be a punishment annex'd the fear of which is to restrain men from doing against the Law I must confess those men are no very good Subjects who obey onely to avoid the penalty therefore it is made the character of a base disposition to forbear transgressing onely out of a slavish apprehension of the consequent evil but St. Paul said that the Law that is the threatning was made not for the righteous but for the wicked For so long as men lov'd goodness and took delight in doing well and had no designs against common honesty and justice there was no need to forbid any thing upon the account of fear for a good man will abstain from all unrighteous practices though there were no penal Laws in a Common-wealth But then some men having ras'd out all natural Principles Governments were forc'd to superinduce the dread of punishment not that the Laws intended to doe any evil but that Princes themselves and their Subjects should not suffer any evil by the disobedient and unjust For that by fear the malice of ill men be restrain'd and mischief prevented to communities is the end of all penal Laws and the purpose of authority So that wicked men making penal Laws necessary they are just too upon the same account because without compulsion it is no Law and without Law there could be no society men having laid aside all ingenuity and goodness and would be herds of Wolves and Tygers but for a power above them I need not therefore spend time to prove either that the Magistrate has a power to make Laws penal or that it is lawfull to execute them when made St. Paul having determin'd both these cases in this Chapter of the Text most clearly For having first resolv'd Magistracy to be the ordinance of God he then affirms the supreme Power to have a sword in his hand which he does not bear in vain but it is in vain if the Prince can make no Laws to restrain or has no power to punish evil and therefore he adds because of that power of punishing he that transgresses the Law which he calls doing evil ought also to fear And of himself when he was accused of a capital crime he declares that if he had done any thing worthy of death he refus'd not to die he never question'd the power nor spake evil of the Government but onely protested his innocency This being evident I shall leave it to stand by its
own strength and shall rather indeavour to remove a great mistake taken up by our transgressors of the Laws which is this they think though they break the Law yet if when they cannot avoid it they undergo the punishment they reckon themselves people of a very good conscience though they remain in the transgression Now this conceit I the rather shall inquire into because it seems to be directly opposite to the Text requiring Obedience not onely for wrath but also for Conscience-sake I shall take leave therefore to assert that the transgressors of the Law though they have indur'd the punishment yet are not discharg'd in Conscience until they repent also the transgression And this I presume will be evident if we consider but two things the Nature of the Laws which are broke and the Rule of the Text for their observation First If we turn to the Laws themselves they are not Laws purely penal but such are call'd mixt penal Laws that is when with the duty commanded there is a penalty annexed upon the not performing of it As to instance in one for all there is a Law requiring all persons to hear divine service every Lord's day which besides that it is a duty of Religion is requir'd to be perform'd of every Subject under such a penalty Now here the intention of the Law is that all people doe their duty and it is not satisfied in its design unless the duty be perform'd for the Law makes no conditions for disobedience that you may stay at home so you pay your money nor is the penalty added to make the Subject poorer but better and for fear to keep him in obedience So that he who transgresses the Law is punish'd for doing evil and for the same reason even after enduring the punishment he is bound to repent and doe so no more because every breach of a Good Law is a Sin against God and that is not to be bought off with money nor is the offence taken away in the Court of Conscience by exchanging it into a Shilling Secondly We are to consider the Rule of the Text in which it is said we are to obey not onely for fear of wrath but also for Conscience-sake But therefore if suffering the punishment did satisfie the Law how can we be said to be bound to obedience by the tyes of Conscience But if that be oblig'd then the offender can never be discharg'd but by repenting of the crime and obeying the Law for no man's Conscience can be set right but by returning to his duty And that this may be the better understood I shall represent to you humane Laws with that Sanction which God has added and show you we are to obey for Conscience-sake This appears first because the Power by which the Prince makes Laws is given him from God There is no power but from him the powers that be are ordained of God Rom. XIII 1. It is all one who commands God or the King for it is the power of God in the Prince The original Authority of making Laws to direct our Manners and Religion is in God but then because he speaks unto us not always by himself but sometimes by the Magistrate who has a power derived from him we are to receive it as spake by God himself and as to obedience it is as obliging if he commands by Proxie as if he spake in person The way of delivering Laws makes no difference the power is here onely to be consider'd and it being by God's authority the Prince constitutes for that reason we are bound to obedience So that though the supreme power of making Laws binding the Conscience is in God yet since he has instated the Magistrate with this power it is binding upon the account of its derivation because it is God's power in his Minister This will be the more apparent if we adde to it in the second place that the power of punishing in the Magistrate is from God Vengeance is mine says God and when the supreme power punishes he is but the Avenger of God's wrath said St. Paul This is it which our holy Lord confirmed when he said unto Pilate thou couldst have no power unless it were given thee from above Therefore we must attend the consequence If God punishes when the Magistrate executes it will follow also that he is offended when the Law is broke and that every transgression of an humane ordinance is a violation of our Duty to God he is the person first injur'd and puts accordingly a Sword into the Magistrate's hand to revenge it upon the Criminal For where there is an offence against God as there is in the breach of all just Laws there the Conscience is concern'd the one is the demonstration of the other This is the reason that St. Peter establishes Subjection upon that interest which God himself has in the duty Obey every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake It is as necessary and as pious 1 Pet. 2. â—3 has in it the same reason and the same religion it is bound upon us with the same excellency and the same rewards nay and disobedience to humane commands is threatned with the same punishment as to the Laws of God they Rom. 13. 2. that resist shall find to themselves damnation This therefore I find consented to by most that the Magistrate has the power of punishing onely some are pleas'd to grant it with this restriction that it is onely for the breach of such Laws that either in words or sense are contain'd in the Divine Commandments For they suppose the Prince to be incompetent to make any Laws at all in indifferent things such as God has left wholly uncommanded which opinion the ill consequences from it will be sufficient to overthrow For this in the first place takes away the whole power of Princes Secondly it makes their care and their prudence almost useless if no new provisions can be made for new necessities if no respect must be had to times and places to customs and opinions but all people must be govern'd alike without any consideration to the expediency or usefulness of things And lastly no Governments shall have any power to prescribe rules of order to their people but they may live at random and in confusion and all parties that pretend Scripture for their rule shall set up for themselves and make their humours which they call their Consciences to be the Standard both of the Prince's power and of their own duty Which consequences because they are not to be indur'd we must give to every Common-wealth it s own just power to govern their own concerns by what measures they themselves think fittest This all Communities and Churches do require and practise And indeed though at the first it had been no great matter whether some Laws had been made yet when they are made it is some matter that they be kept then it is that the Conscience is concern'd But because
tenderness of conscience unless the thing commanded were contrary to Divine institution And secondly since tenderness of mind does consist in being wary of giving the least offence certainly in this affair our Governours are much concern'd and our tender men might consider that it is no small scandal to bring the Laws into contempt and by Petitions and Appeals by Stories and Pamphlets by private Whispers and publick Calumnies to represent the King commanding unequal and unnecessary things And since as the case is handled a scandal must light somewhere either upon our wise Governours or our mis-lead People the modest and the humble will presume for the Laws and take care for their Duty and not comply with those that are train'd up under opposition and hatred to all that are above them And the truth is these tender men are so much the worse to be lik'd because some of their own principles I might say some of their very selves notwithstanding their tenderness of Conscience in some disputable Points relating to Ceremonies and Modes of worship did yet commit such horrid things both against divine and humane Laws that no Age nor no People though the most savage can produce the like But still if you will not admit of these mens motions for Reformation nor hear their pleas for Peace nor tolerate their Separation nor suffer them to muster in their Conventicles till by a Curse ye Meroz they have form'd their followers to give Battel to the wicked why then good men presently their Consciences are troubled and a great Affliction is upon their minds for the Laws sit very uneasie upon those mens shoulders where stubbornness and interest do influence the disobedience I have done with the Text I shall only beg your Patience to apply it to this Day and this Assembly 1. Since God has bound Obedience upon us by his express command let us as St. Peter directs us obey every Ordinance 1 Pet. 2. 13. of man for the Lord's sake Let us not turn our Religion into Disputations and seek out Arguments against our Duty nor find out excuses to cover our evil Purposes Obedience would be a very easie performance to a Christian if he did not intangle himself with niceties and scruples but it would agree better with our Name and Profession to be humble and modest dispute less and obey more For Obedience is a part of our Religion if we may believe the Text but it is a most unworthy thing and the most abominable Hypocrisie to set up Religion against Obedience and bring forth Conscience against our duty which if we have any conscience we are bound to perform 2. Because we are under Government and in society with our Prince and one another therefore we are to consider the honour and benefit of the Publick to lay aside our Factions and private Interests and make the same Laws our common measures because they equally defend all our Lives and establish our Estates and preserve our Peace settle our Properties and maintain our Religion and do as much confirm our own Liberties as the King's Prerogatives 3. Since God has oblig'd the Conscience to obey the Laws because the Prince is his Minister we are to consider Magistrates under that sacred Character which God has given then when he said they Ps 82. 6. are God's They are his Vicegerents and we must receive their commands with the same readiness and purposes of obedience And though we may think some things which they prescribe are not necessary yet obedience is and it is not so much the excellency of the thing as the Authority which commands that we are to consider And be confident there is no Church nor Nation in the world but contentious men may quarrel their Constitutions But what then must the peevish Subject be tolerated in every thing he is pleas'd to find fault with then all Governments are precarious and at the will of the People and if the Prince will take Objections instead of Obedience and ease his People in all those things against which they can find an argument he may easily conclude by what has been what will be again Remit to them but one Law or two and they will make a Breach upon all the rest It is better therefore that the Subject be taught to study their troublesome Opinions less and Obedience more not so much to keep up Parties and promote strifes as Peace and Unity Charity and Obedience 4. I shall not be so vain to offer any Advice to my Lords the Judges They themselves know very well that to prevent farther Schism in the Church and Sedition in the State we must bring all our trifling contentions and religious quarrels to be determined by the Law For for ought that I can see men will wrangle perpetually and they will be always confident and every man will think it hard to lay down his Opinions at the King's feet but therefore they must be brought to lay down their practices as he shall require them For we are all agreed that Kings and Parliaments can make what Laws they think best and when the Prince either by Them or by his Judges has declar'd his will by the Law or his meaning in it here one would think it necessary that all Peoples hands and tongues should be tyed up that they neither speak nor doe evil to the Law And if any man shall object that the Government has not observ'd right and just measures in its Constitutions besides that this censure does arise from Pride and will go forth into Faction My Lords the Judges I hope will quash the Inditement and give sentence for the King For He can have no ends but those of Peace and Religion He has the Advantages of his own Prudence and the wisest Deliberations He proceeds according to the former Laws and the same Scriptures and unites to his own the Wisedom of the Nation And after all this must private mens Opinions contest with publick Resolutions and the men of design be endur'd to bring the Laws into contempt and the Nation into disturbance to despise Dominions and speak evil of the Prince This is no way of Peace nor Sobriety nor can ever settle us nothing can doe that but Obedience And therefore I hope my Lords the Judges will bring all our People to the Laws and a Conformity to the Establish'd Religion that shall confirm our quiet and our tranquillity for no men give disturbance to the State but such as depart from our Church For as it is Religion that must make our Nation great and prosperous so it is the truest Interest of it to keep our People to an Union in it considering how severely we have smarted under the Factions and Hypocrisies of those men that were the Causers of our Divisions And Separation is therefore the more intolerable because Religious Opinions and Practices contrary to the Law have not only an influence upon the mind but the Preachers also can lead their Proselytes to what place or against whom they please for whoever is a Guide to Consciences may be a Captain of their Marches That no man then be suffer'd to put an Affront upon the Law nor speak irreverently of the Prince for the Laws are the security of our peace and our prosperity and the King is the Representative of God's Power and Majesty to speak evil of him is to blaspheme Heaven We have the best Prince and the best Laws and both are to be defended from the evil and ingratefull treatments of malicious Adversaries And that we may at last be quiet Conscience is not to be suffer'd to be made a Disguise for the basest Purposes nor those men to appropriate to themselves the Appellation of tender minds who will stick at no mischief when they can doe it with impunity and with prosperous Advantages But of all these things my Lords the Judges will take care that the Majesty of the Prince be not lessen'd nor the Laws baffled nor our Peace disturb'd but that we may obey and pray for our King and all that are in Authority under 1 Tim. 2. 1 2. him that we may lead a quiet and happy life in all Godliness and Honesty Amen Grant Lord we beseech thee that the course of this World may be so peaceably ordered by thy Governance that thy Church may joyfully serve thee in all Godly quietness through Jesus Christ Amen FINIS Books printed for Joanna Brome THE Holy Inquisition wherein is represented what is the Religion of the Church of Rome and how they are dealt with that dissent from it In Octavo The Critick Written originally in Spanish and translated into English By Paul Ricaut Esquire In Octavo History of the Charter-house In Octavo Cotton's Wonders of the Peak In Octavo A Prospect of the State of Ireland from the year of the World 1756. to the year of Christ 1652. In Octavo Barbett's Practice of Physick with Dr. Deeker's Notes In Octavo Boscobel or the Compleat History of His Majesty's Preservation at Worcester The Planters Manual The Exact Constable In Twelves The Reformed Monastery or the Love of Jesus In Twelves Directions for the Education of a Young Prince In Twelves The History of the Sevarites First and Second Part.