Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n
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A30511
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The case of free liberty of conscience in the exercise of faith and religion presented unto the King and both Houses of Parliament ... / by ... Edward Burroughs.
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Burrough, Edward, 1634-1662.; Charles II, King of England, 1630-1685.; England and Wales. Parliament.
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1661
(1661)
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Wing B5986; ESTC R5152
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10,124
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15
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will be laid to your charge and such who cannot deny their Principles and conform will be destroyed and their death will be accounted against you in the day of the Lord and therefore if ye do not allow Liberty of Conscience many grievous evils will infallibly follow both to your selves and your people And what advantage of honour will such be to God and your Church that are against their Consciences and light forced into a conformity for fear and terrour of men it makes them manifold more the Children of the Devil and time-servers and Hypocrites and destroys their souls and such can be no true members of the true Church of Christ but are Reprobates and a dishonour to God and your Church 8. Consider if ye constrain and compel in matters of Religion and do not allow liberty of Conscience it is unreasonable and unequal and down-right contrary to the Holy and pure Law of God which saith ye shall do unto all men as ye would that men should do unto you and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self and this is the fulfilling of the Law But to be imposed upon and persecuted for the cases of Consciences and for the matters of Worship of God your selves would not willing be against your light and knowledge and then it is unequal and unjust and contrary to the Law of God for ye to do the same to others which your selves would not be done unto And do not you to this day cry out against the Papists in Queen Maries daies and at this day in other Nations and condemn them as Tyrants and Oppressors for Persecuting Killing and Destroying the Protestants for the matters of their Conscience and difference in Opinion and Judgment And will you do the same at this day as they do to others and follow their example of cruelty and persecution and break the Law of God and walk contrary to it in doing to others what you would not be done unto And seeing you condemn the late foregoing Powers in these Kingdoms for Tyrants and Usurpers and Oppressors for prohibiting your way of worship and commanding the contrary and disanulling so much as they could your service Book and Ministry how can you justly do the like to others as to force waies of Religion upon them and prohibit theirs and command the contrary if you do it ye condemn your selves by judging of others in the like case 9. Consider if ye do not allow liberty of Conscience but impose Church Government and Religion by paines and penalties then ye will fill the land with Hypocrites and force people into time-serving obedience and into formal waies of worship some against their Consciences and some in the ignorance thereof which is great abomination unto the Lord and such will neither be true and faithful in Church nor State but will seek advantages against you if they are forced by violence in the cases of their Consciences and it will beget great contentions and hatred in the minds of men and divide them into heart-burnings one against another and against you and your Government for if men become Hypocrites for your fear and terror and deny their professed principles and conform they will be false-hearted and envious and malicious and attempt any thing to be freed from bondage and impositions of Conscience and their hearts will be disengaged in love and affection to you-wards and this will be infallibly the effect of persecution for Conscience sake as King Charles the I. saith in his Meditat. A charitable connivance and Christian toleration often issi pates their strength whom rougher opposition fortifies and puts the dispised and oppressed party into such combinations as may most enable them to get a full revenge on those they count their persecutors c. 10. Consider if ye force Worship and Religion and cause men to conform against their Judgements how dangerous is this to destroy mens souls and to lead them even to destruction For seeing ye affirm not the Infalibility of your Worship and Religion and yet will impose them and so engage mens souls in dependancy for Salvation upon things and waies uncertain and which God gives not the Faith to believe in I say how dangerous is this to ruin souls for in no way can the soul be secure but in the faith which God works in the heart in the Obedience of infallible Truth So ye run mens souls upon a Rock and it is unreasonable as before mentioned that men should be forced into the profession and practice of uncertain and fallible Religion and that they should be forced by you into that which may be evil for which not you altogether but themselves must bear the punishment in the day of the Lord and except ye could affirm and prove the Infalibility of your Church which is impossible there is no equity nor right reason for it that you should impose upon others any more then others should impose upon you for as King Charles the I. said in his Medit. He desired not any should be further subject unto him then he and all of them might be subject unto God c. 11. Consider if ye alow not liberty of Conscience but persecute about the same ye walk in the way and after the example of some of the Heathen Rulers and of the false Christians and shews that ye allow of the cruel persecutions by the Church of Rome and ye follow their example who persecutes unto death such as they call Hereticks and if ye do persecute for matters of Conscience then ye allow the very deeds of the Heathens who persecuted the Christians for their Religion sake and ye justifie the Papists in persecuting the Protestants and ye plainly demonstrate unto all the World by your works and fruits that ye are of Antichrist if ye impose on mens Consciences by force in the matters of Religion and persecute good Conscience about the same for it was the Antichrist and the Beast that first forced all to worship and violently engaged all into a conformity and killed and persecuted all that would not worship according to the Image Rev. 13. as ye may read And it was not Christs way nor the practice of any his Primitive Churches to impose and force on the persons and Consciences of men concerning their Church and Religion to cause all into a conformity thereunto and destroy and persecute all that would not This was not the way of Christ and his Apostles in their daies but they left Religion free and said they were not lords over mens faith nor lords over Gods Heritage neither did impose upon any in doubtful cases of conscience much lesse compel against mens Consciences for the Apostle left the practice of doubtful things as every one was perswaded in his own mind to do or not to do without imposing by force or directions of persecution about the same Therefore if ye do not allow free liberty of Conscience ye are out of the Doctrine and Example of Christ and his
Apostles and follows the way and example of Antichrist Heathen Rulers and cruel Papists to your great dishonour 12. Consider if ye allow not liberty of Conscience in the exercise of Religion but impose and persecute about the same It must inavoidable tend to destroy and expel Trading Husbandry and Merchandize in these Kingdomes for a great part of Trading and Husbandry depends upon such kind of persons whose principles are for toleration in Religion and hates persecution and violence in that case this ye will find true on examination and if liberty of Conscience be not alowed such will 〈◊〉 exposed to great afflictions some to imprisonment and some to poverty and some to fly into other Countries to the destruction of their Callings and Trading and the hands industriousnes of such people will be weakned in these Kingdomes if they cannot enjoy their just liberties in temporal and spiritual cases and the effects thereof will work wofully in this very respect even to disenable both the hearts and hands of Husbandmen and Trades and expose these Nations to want and poverty and to enrich their enemies 13. Consider if liberty of Conscience be denied and persecution be introduced about the same all these and many more woful Consequencies and effects wil follow infallably to the ruin of these Kingdoms even Wars and Bloodsheds and discontents and Murmurings and all evil things will be the product of the aforesaid cause viz. of denying liberty of Conscience in Religious matters for in a word it will tend to and may effect the overthrow of you and ruin your Government and Authority for the great and mighty God of Heaven and Earth will be provoked against you and his wrath will go out like a devouring flame upon you if that ye limit the Holy One and will not suffer him to exercise his proper right in being King in mens Consciences to exercise them in all the waies of his Worship and matters of his Kingdom but do oppresse impose and persecute about the same This I say will infallibly work the Kingdoms ruin and expose You and your Government to the indignation of the Holy Lord God who is tender of his Honour and will not give it to another and he loveth and affecteth the cause of such whose Consciences are truly tender towards him and though ye persecute such and seek to destroy them and for a time exercise great afflictions and oppressions upon them for the matters of their Conscience yet the God of Heaven will appear for such in his season and deliver them and avenge their persecutors And therefore all ye Rulers consider and lay these things to heart least ye provoke the Lord against you by destroying the People whom he regards and that not for evil doing but for the cases of Conscience and because they cannot relinquish their profession and principles of their Religion and bow and conform in things against their light and knowledge 14. Consider If ye allow not Liberty of Conscience what exceeding danger ye run your selves into even to dest roy just men and righteous as Heriticks and erroneous and may promote Hereticks as Church-members both which are great abominations in the sight of God and this danger ye bring upon your selves for ye are not infallible Judges who are Hereticks and who are not and therefore may easily proceed in that way to punish such as Hereticks that are not truly so and except ye could affirm and prove your possession of the infallible Spirit ye can no way proceed justly and reasonably to deny Liberty of Conscience in the exercise of Religion nor punish and persecute any in that case but if ye do ye do it in ignorance and knows not what ye do and may as soon destroy true Christians and Saints as Hereticks for want of infallible judgment to discern who are and who are not and this is a danger ye ought to avoid by allowing the free exercise of Conscience as the Lord perswades every mans heart 15. And lastly also consider what a reproach you are under If such whom ye call Hereticks and yet doth not infallibly know that they are such be punished and persecuted and destroyed for their Religion sake who are just and upright men in their conversing between man and man and unreprovable in their dealings among men whether they erre in judgment in spiritual knowledge or not erre and such as are drunkards and prophane persons go at liberty in their stage-playing and gaming and the like even tolerated and unpunished and not prohibited whom all do know can distinguish who such are when they appear this will render your Government to evil reputation both in this present time and in ages to come and therefore consider it if Drunkards Gamesters and prophane persons have more toleration and liberty in their wayes of open vanity then sober temperate persons in the exercise of their Consciences in Religion which if any such do erre in principle which is not infallibly known to you it is onely to their own hurt in the sight of God and he onely and not you ought to punish them in that case but prophane persons as afore-mentioned are easily judged by all to be such and their errour in practise is hurtful to the whole Kingdoms and pertains to you to punish as Dr. Taylor now a Bishop in Ireland hath said his words in this case are worth observing why are we so zealous saith he against those we call Hereticks and yet great friends with Drunkards and Swearers and Fornicators and intemperate and idle persons I am certain a Drunkard is as contrary to God and lives as contrary to the Laws of Christianity as a Heretick and I am also sure that I know what Drunkennesse is but I am not sure that such an opinion is heresie c. And these things I do in all meeknesse and due respect both to your places and persons present to your serious considerations that ye may prevent these evil effects that are so destructive unto you and these Kingdoms which absolutely must follow upon not allowing free Liberty of Conscience in the exercise of Religion and if any shall object That to tolerate and allow Liberty of Conscience in Religion is inconsistent with the safety and peace of the King and these Kingdoms I shall be desirous to hear from wise men what such objections are stated by them and wherein they say it is not Congruous with the happinesse and peace of these Nations to grant and allow the premises And on such occasion I should make clearly to appear the contrary and that it is only consistant with the peace and prosperity of these Kingdoms considering them in their present estate to grant and allow free liberty of Conscience as aforesaid in the exercise of Religion unto all Christian people O! remember ye mighty men of the Kingdom that the Great and Mighty God takes notice of all your doings and accordingly will he reward you in his dreadful day which is near to come upon all the World and wo unto the wicked in that day O! remember that ye your selves not long since were a suffering people and now you are raised up again And therefore be not too zealous to afflict others especially for the cases of their Consciences in reference to their faith and perswasions about Religion but be gentle meek and long-suffering towards all for that is the way to make peace and preserve it with all men that will gain the affections of the contrary minded but force and rigour will exasperate the more and never truly reconcile differences among men and make no Laws contrary or different to the pure Law of God but let pure Conscience go free without force or restraint in the exercises of Religion and let God have his Prerogative and Lordship in the exercise of Conscience but let your Authority be extended over the outward man in the matters between man and man to preserve peace and right in all outward relation and be Wise and Learned ye Rulers of the Earth and kisse the Son least he be angry and ye perish and if his wrath be kindled but a little blessed are they that trust in him This is your time and day happy are ye if it be given to you to do the work that God requires of you only The 26 th of the third Month 1661. THE END