person his Conscience doth passe its judgment on every one of them by the light of Reason which is infused and imprinted into his mind And seeing the Rule is the same concerning Acts to come as well as concerning Acts past it followeth that the Conscience as well in those Acts determined to be done as in those which are already done doth make use of the same light of examining judging and dictating as the Rule measure of those Acts. I here shall willingly take no notice of that Text in the fourth Psalm and sixth verse which is commonly produced by the Latin Fathers especially of the latter times and by the Schoolmen for a proof of this Conclusion the words are Signatum est super nos lumen vultus tui domine Thy light O Lord is signed over us because that interpretation of the words are grounded on a bad translation seemeth not to appertain to the mind and scope of the Prophet XIII This is proved again by our common custom and manner of speech for we usually say that the man who acteth according to the light of his mind doth use a good Conscience although peradventure he hath committed or omitted that which was not to be omitted or committed by him and again that he who hath not obeyed those dictates of his mind but hath acted contrary to them hath used a bad Conscience St. Paul the Apostle Acts 2â— 1 doth professe that In all things he served God with a good Conscience even unto that day which words if they are to be extended to the former part of his life before he was made a Christian which interpretation hath been complacent to many and seemeth probable unto me we may conclude by them that although he was an open and a dangerous enemy to Christianity 1 Tim. 1. 13. and as he himself confesseth a persecutor and a blasphemer yet it may be said that even then in all good Conscience he served God because in all that time he acted nothing but what his Conscience according to the measure of that light with which it was then endued did prescribe unto him For indeed he then thought as he himself doth openly and sincerely professe in his Apology before King Agrippa that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he thought in himself Act. 26. 9. that he ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth But whatsoever may be determined of Paul and of his Conscience at that time most certain it is that God himself gave a testimony to Abimeleck Gen. 20. 6. who ignorantly sent for the wife of Abraham that he did it integritate cordis in the integrity of his heart that is with a good Conscience and for no other reason but for this only by which he did excuse himself for had he known her to have been the wife of another man he would not have sent for her unto his house The Conscience therefore by an ignorance of it self not much to be blamed peradventure erronious may be said to be good and right God himself being Judge not simply and absolutely but as but so far secundum quid as they speak it in the Schooles by reason of the conformity which it hath with the light of the mind thereof as its next and immediate Rule But that the Conscience may be said to be right 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is fully and in every respect there must another and a further Conformity be of necessity added unto it which is it must be conformable to its first and supreme Rule which what it is shall most diligently be now discussed XIV This therefore shall be our third Conclusion The holy Scripture or the written word of God is not the Adaequate Rule of Conscience Which in the first place is thus proved Beyond the Adaequate Rule of any thing whatsoever it is not necessary that for the same thing there should be any other Rule to be added to it for Adaequation doth exclude the necessity of any Supplement But it is necessary that there should be another Rule of Conscience besides the holy Scripture for otherwise the Gentiles who have not the Scripture should have no Rule for their Conscience which comes quite crosse to reason experience and the expresse testimony of the Apostle in the Text above mentioned Most certain it is that there is a Conscience in all men and that it is under a Law which is a rule to direct it For as the Apostle maketh mention and it is every where extant in History and confirmed by daily experience from whence do proceed those grievous accusations of Conscience those whips those pangs and torments of the Soul those furies expressed by the Tragedians but from the violated Law of Conscience of which if there were no Law at all those people that are most barbarous should be so much the more happy as they are the more far remote from the voice and sound of the Gospel because that then no crime of sin could justly be imputed to them For where there is no Law there is no transgression Rom. 4. 15. Sin being nothing else but the transgression of the Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Joh. 3. 4. That the power of Conscience is strong in both regards to fear every thing when it is guilty and to be in dread of nothing when it is innocent is not only cryed up by the Schools but by the Theaters of the Heathens who notwithstanding knew nothing of Moses or of Christ nor of the Law or the Prophets and never heard of the Gospel or the Apostles The Scripture therefore is not the sole and Adaequate Rule of Conscience XV. It is confirmed again in the second place from the proper end of the holy Scripture which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Tim. 3. 15. To make us wise to everlastâ—â—g Salvation by faith in Jesus Christ For when the light of natural reason could not raise us high enough to those things which do tend to a supernatural end both because of our natural light too much obscured and ecclipsed by the fall of Adam and because we must have supernatural helps to arrive to supernatural ends it pleased Almighty God in pity of our infirmities in his own word to open his own will unto us according to that measure which he himself thought good insomuch that by this gracious and saving Counsel not only those things by divine revelation may be made known unto us which properly do concern our faith and cannot be known by the light of nature but that more perfectly and more savingly we may be instructed in those things also which by nature are known unto us that so those works which nature enjoyneth to be performed taking their rise from a nobler principle which is the love of God and ordained to more noble ends to wit the Glory of God and the salvation of our souls may from moral become spiritual and be grateful and acceptable to God by
Churches do willingly acknowledge and to open a door to the Traditions of the Church of Rome and to take away all the force from the arguments drawn negatively from the Scriptures which the antient Fathers of the Church and the most learned of the Divines of these times do very frequently make use of I make answer that the Church of Rome doth derogate from the perfection of the Scripture in this consideration that in the matters of Faith and things necessary to salvation they do thrust in their unwritten Traditions to be received with the same reverence as the written word of God as if it were not enough for the sons of God to be wise unto salvation by having the new Testament conferred on them which is the Inheritance left them by their Father but they must also have the vain books inserted of humane Traditions But as for those who do dispute negatively from the Scriptures concerning things which are necessary to salvation either to be believed or practised let them make use of this argument as indeed they ought to do But there is no question here of the rule of Faith but of the rule of Conscience and not of the chief rule of it but of the Adaequate and not what is necessary for a Christian to believe or practice to attain unto the salvation of the Soul but what is lawfull for a pious and prudent man to do lawfully or to leave undone at such a time or in such a place The sum of all is that the holy Scripture is the Adaequate Rule of Faith and of things supernaturally to be believed as also of all moral actions so far as they are spiritual and ordained to a supernatural end and it is also the the Law of Conscience the Chief and supreme Rule for the putting of moral things in practice so that where the Scripture determineth of any thing universally either by the way of precept or prohibition it is not lawfull for any other Law whatsoever to stand in opposition to it but it is not so to be understood to be the only Law of Conscience that what is not commanded there to be therefore presently unlawfull And thus much of the third Conclusion XX. The fourth followeth The proper and adaequate Rule of Conscience is the will of God in what way soever it is revealed unto Men. Some call this the Law of God others the eternal Law the words differing in the sound but agreeing in the sence Every part of this Conclusion is to be weighed by it self In the first place I do say it is the will of God which by the Schoolemen though by some of them not rightly expounded and by others of them not rightly applyed is distinguished into Voluntatem beneplaciti and Voluntatem signi the will of the good pleasure and the will of the sign The first called the will of the good pleasure of God is that which God from all eternity did with himself resolve what he himself will do the other which is called the will of the sign is that by which God hath given us a Law by signifying what he would have us to do The first is called the will of God properly and univocally the other improperly and analogically The will of the good pleasure if it be lawfull to speak of the majesty of God after the manner of men is in some respect a Law unto God himself whereby he acteth for he always acteth that which is complacent unto him but it is not given to us by God to be a Law or to be a rule unto our Consciences or at the least for the putting of any thing into action In some respect indeed it may be said to pertain unto the Consciences in regard of sufferings but this is a posteriori from an after observation in this sence that in Conscience we are obliged with patience to endure all things whatsoever shall befall us after that by the event it is manifest to us that God would have it so For rectified reason doth dictate this unto us that we ought not to be displeased at the method of the Divine Providence who can will nothing but that which is most righteous It remaineth therefore Optimum est Deum quo Authore omnia proveniunt sine murmuratione concomitari Senec. Epistol 108 Placeat homini quicquid Deo placuit Idem Epist 71. that the will be the rule of our Consciences which is called The will of the sign For when God by prohibiting and by commanding hath signified what we ought to do and what we ought not to do it is our duties absolutely to conform our wills unto his will Many things amongst the School-men are with unprofitable acutenesse disputed on this Subject viz. Whether and how far the will of the reasonable creature in a thing willed is bound to conform it self to the will of the Creator When the whole matter as much as belongs to our business and the use of humane life may briefly in one word be dispatched which is That we are always bound to will that which God willeth that we should will Thus when God commanded Abraham to offer up his Son Isaac Although God in the will of his good pleasure would not have had that done which at the same time he commanded to be done as by and by shall appear by the event yet Abraham was bound to will the very same thing because God by commanding it did signifie that it was his will that Abraham should have a will unto it XXI I say secondly the will of God revealed unto Men because this revealed will is the formal Cause and Reason of the obligation For the will of God doth not oblige those unto whom it is not revealed And hence it is that the Gentiles to whom the Gospel is not preached are not bound to believe it or to have any faith in Christ for there is no man that is bound to that which is impossible And it is impossible for that man to whom the Gospel hath been never preached and who never hath heard any thing of Christ to believe either in Christ or in the Gospel seeing that the light of Reason cannot ascend so high according to that of the Apostle Rom. 10. 15. How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a Preacher And the same Apostle thinks it not meet that others should be judged by the Law but those only who have sinned in the Law Rom. 11. 12. Neither doth this suffize to bring an obligation upon the Conscience that the will of God is revealed to him unlesse it be revealed to him as the will of God in a peculiar reference to himself Insomuch that if any of the Gentiles who were Aliens should casually have met with the Books of Moses and by reading of them should observe the Commandements which are there given to the people of Israel he had not presently been obliged to the
vitious by reason of the defect of a due rectitude in that circumstance From whence ariseth another difference betwixt an affirmative and a negative Humane Law or a Law commanding or forbidding For a Law affirmative doth not give any goodness to the Act which it commandeth if it be otherwise evil in any part of it But a Law negative doth contribute evilnesse to the Act which it forbiddeth although it be otherwise good in every part of it Or which is the same again a Humane Precept affirmative doth make that necessary which it finds to be good a humane precept negative doth make that unlawful which it found to be good both of them what they found evil do leave it to be evil as they found it Notwithstanding both do oblige in their manner and as to us this to the doing of that which by commanding is now made necessary and that to the not doing of that which by forbidding is now made unlawfull XXVI The seventh Doubt remaineth of Ecclesiastical Lawes in Special By Lawes Ecclesiastical I do not understand those Lawes which are constituted by Ecclesiastical Persons without the Authority of the Civil Magistrate which consideration pertains not to this case but to a Cause of an other kind to wit the Cause efficient but those which being made by any lawful Power doe treat of Ecclesiastical things for at this present we dispute only of the material Cause I have never heard of any besides those two above named who denyed all Indifferency or who would not grant to the political Magistrate some Power in things indifferent meerly political But we meet every where with a great number of Innovators who would take from men all Power of making Rites and Ceremonies in the publick worship of God besides those which are prescribed by Christ and his Disciples in the Gospel But sincerely I professe that to give satisfaction to my self and to others in this particular Having perused many Books written by many Authors but especially of our own Nation concerning this Subject I find not any one that can produce any just or any likely Reason of Difference why there may not be a Power of ordaining and determinating concerning things indifferent as well in Cases Ecclesiastical as Political For the Arguments which are urged from Scandal and Christian Liberty and other common Places of the same Nature doe equally fight against the Lawes and Constitutions of both Kinds and do overthrow them both or neither of them Those which are thought to carry a peculiar force against Ecclesiastical Laws and Rites are four which as the time will permit I will briefly and orderly examine they are derived 1. From Christ the Lawgiver 2. From the perfection of the Scripture 3. From the nature of holy Worship 4. From the example of the antient Church XXVII In the first place they object that of the Apostle James 4. 12. There is one Lawgiver who can save and destroy In the reign of Elizabeth many who were the Coriphaei of that Disciplinary Faction did make very much of this argument as the foundation of their whole Cause They alleged that Christ was the only Prince and Legislator of his Church And the Laws which he made did oblige the Church to a perpetual observation of them and that no other Laws ought to be admitted nor any other Legislator acknowledged whosoever shall presume to make any other Lawes besides those which Christ made shall act the part of Anti-Christ and declare himself a rash Invader into the Office of Christ We have discoursed on this place and expounded it already as occasion did require especialy where it was to be proved that God only and his Christ did exercise an absolute and a direct Command on the Consciences of Men But that this hath no greater a place in Lawes politick than in Ecclesiastick he must needs be blind that doth not observe it For why can the obligation of humane Laws in civil things consist with the legislative Power of Christ alone and why cannot there be the same consistence in Lawes Ecclesiastical Who can discover or produce the least shadow of any difference from that Text. Be Christ the Law-giver of the Christian Church Is he not as well the Law-giver of the Christian Common-wealth But the Apostle in that place made not the least mention of the Church nor instituted the least disputation concerning things Ecclesiastical neither doth he treat there at all of Political Lawes or Rites but of the Censures of Private Men. He would have the faithful admonishâ—d to be mindfâ—â—l of Christian Charity and that they should forbear from passing a rash Judgment on their Brothers for God was only the Judge of Consciences who alone made that Law by which every man in the last Day shall be judged This is the true scope of that place This is the mind of the Apostle What is here I pray you that tendeth to the condemning of Humane Lawes or if to the condemning of them why of Ecclesiastical Lawes more than Civil Neither of which either the one or the other are asserted by us by themselves and of their own Vertue to oblige the Conscience XXVIII In the second place they object the Perfection of the Holy Scripture This they say is the Rule both of Life and Manners and which can make a man of God wise to every good work to which if any man shall adde any thing of his own he shall commit a most remarkable trespasse against God and pull most heavy punishments on himself All this is most certain But if the Scripture in all considerations be the absolute rule of our lives of all things whatsoever to be done and if we may believe these Stoicks it extends to the slightest things insomuch that it is not lawful to take up a straw unlesse it be by the prescribed word of God will it not suffice as well for the regulating of things Civil as Ecclesiastical or how can the Laws of â—he Church derogate more from the perfection of the Scripture than the Laws of the Commonwealth or who is he who rightly can say that he hath added something to the word of God who for Honesty and Orders sake did make the Ecclesiastical Laws seeing he propounded not his Laws unto the people as the word of God and God in his word hath commanded that all things in the Church shall be done honestly and in order XXIX In the third place they object the Nature of worship to wit that the worship of God is a thing sacred in which worship all things are to be done by the Command of God and all Humane inventions are to be driven far away as superstitious nay plainly Idolatrous and traditionary Rites Indeed the worship of God is a sacred thing neither is it lawful for man to institute any other worship besides that which God hath ordained But because there is an Ambiguity in the word we are to distinguish of the worship of God which is taken
8. c. No nor all those deeds neither which are praised 78 12. It is an easy thing to erre in the application of examples 82 14. c. Some examples of perverse Imitation 85 16. c. An argument from the example examined against the custom of kneeling in the holy Supper 87 23. c. What is the use of examples 95 25. c. It is unsafe to subject the Conscience to the opinions of every man 99 28. The tyranny of the Pope of Rome over the Consciences of men 102 29. c. Not to impute too much to the judgements of other men ibid. 31. Nor yet too little 104 The Summary of the Fourth Lecture 1. c. What is that Rule of Conscience to be enquired after 106 4. c. To which we ought to conform our selves 109 6. c. Diverse Degrees of those things which do oblige the Conscience 111 9. c. The first Conclusion God alone hath a peculiar and a direct command over the Conscience 113 12. c. The second Conclusion The next Rule of Conscience is right reason 116 14. c. The third Conclusion The Scripture is not the Adaequate Rule of Conscience 119 18. c. And nothing hereby derogated from the perfection of it 124 20. c. The fourth The Adaequate Rule of Conscience is the will of God which way soever it be manifested 126 23. Which is also the Fundamental of the Obligation 13 24. c. The three parts of this rule first the light by nature infused into the mind which is the Law of Nature 131 26. Secondly the light conveyed into the mind by the written Word of God 27. c. 32. c. In the old Law or the Law of Moses 137 In the new Law the Law of the Gospel 142 35. Thirdly the â—ight acquired 143 Which consisteth by 36. The discourse of Reason 145 37. And the Authority of the Church ibid. The Summary of the Fifth Lecture 1. c. A rehearsal of what before hath been spoken 147 2. c. What is to be understood by the word LAW 149 5. And what by the word OBLIGATION ibid. 6. Question Whether Humane Laws do oblige the Conscience 154 7. c. The first Conclusion Unjust Laws do not oblige the Conscience 155 Which is unfolded 157 9. And confirmed 158 10. The Second Conclusion The Law of man can superinduce a new Obligation to the former 159 11. The Third Conclusion A Law made by one not invested with lawful doth not oblige 162 14. c. A Discourse concerning the Office of a Subject when de Facto it is manifest that he commandeth who hath no right to command 166 22. The Fourth Conclusion Humane Laws do oblige of themselves in general 175 23. And in particular also by consequence 177 24. c. Which is variously confirmed 178 31. c. An Objection is answered drawn from the liberty of a Christian Man 184 36 As also from the allegation that there is but one Law-giver God and Christ 190 37. And from what else is disputed against this opinion 191 The Summary of the Sixth Lecture 1. A proposal of the most remarkable things here treated of 2. The duty of Obedience and the difference of the either sort of Subjection 197 4. The Conscience is free under that obligation which the Laws induce 20â— 6. c. The first Doubt Of a Law commanding a thing impossible 202 8. Second Doubt Or a thing possible but very burthensome 204 9. Third Or what before was necessary 205 10. c. Fourthly Or a thing filthy and unlawful wherein are Questions and Answers 207 10. 13. 14. 1 Whether an unjust Law ought to be made for the publick profit ibid. 2 Whether the Subject be bound to observe it so made 210 3 Whether it be lawful for him to observe it so made 4 what unjust Law he may obey and what not 213 15. 16. c. What is required to make a Law obligatory 214 What a Subject is to do being not satisfied whether the Law be just or unjust 215 18. c. The Fifth of the Obligation of a Law permiting evil 217 22. c. Sixth Of a Law determining a thing indifferent 222 26. The Seventh Of Ecclesiastical Laws in specie 226 27. Those things are refelled which are alleaged against them by the adverse party 228 The Summary of the Seventh Lecture 1. A Rehearsal of what hath been already spoken 238 2. c. The first Doubt who it is to whom it belongeth to make Laws 237 Where it is stated that That the Power of making Laws is the Power of a Superior 238 4. Having an external Jurisdiction 239 5. And that in the highest Command 241 6. c. Which conclusion is largely unfolded 243 9. c. And diversly confirmed 246 11. c. The late fiction of a Co-ordinate Power confuted 248 13. The second Doubt Whether the Consent of the people be required to the obligation of a Law 250 14. c. The chief Command or Soveraignty is from God 253 19. And is an off-spring of Fatherly Power 255 17. c. What are the Peoples parts in constituting a Prince 259 21. The People having given the supreme Power to the Prince have not any right to re-assume that Power again 261 22. c. How it comes to passe that some consent of the people is thought to be necessary to the obligation of a Law 264 25. c. The third Doubt what And how far the consent of the people is required 266 28. The fourth Doubt Of the Laws of lesse Commonaltyes 268 The Summary of the Eighth Lecture 1. A Proposal of things to be spoken 273 2. Of the PROMULGATION of a LAW 274 The first Doubt Whether it be necessary 275 3. c. The second Doubt When a Law is conceived to be sufficiently published 276 6. The third Doubt When a Law that is promulgated or published beginneth to oblige 279 7. c. The Fourth Doubt Whether and how far that man is obliged to the observance of a Law who is ignorant of the Promulgatian of it 281 10. Of a LAW PENAL 28â— The first Doubt How far the Constitution of the penalty pertaineth to the Essence of a Law ibid. 1. c. The second Doubt Of the Obligation of it And what a penalty is 287 3. c. What manner of Law a Penal Law is and how manifold it is 290 5. c. The first Conclusion A Penal Law doth so far oblige as the Legislator doth intend it 293 7. c. The second Conclusion A Law purely Penal doth of it self and ordinarily oblige only unto the penalty 295 9. c. Diverse Objections are answered 299 4. The third Conclusion A mixt Penal Law doth oblige unto the Fault also 304 5. The third Doubt How far the transgressor of the Law is bound to undergoe the penalty ipso facto The Summary of the Ninth Lecture â— The end of the Law is the good of the
to be severed and distinguished from it for their Lye was a Vice and not to be followed but their humanity and their piety is praysed by God and they both deserve our Imitation X. In the third place I say that the extraordinary atchievements of the Worthyes are praysed in the Scriptures which being stirred up by a peculiar motion and inspiration of the holy Spirit they performed as it were by a peculiar mandate and beyond the ordinary Law and yet notwithstanding those atchievements are not to be followed Of this Nature is that remarkable Act of Phineas for which he received both commendations and recompence from God himself for being but a private Man and invested with no Lawful Authority he did notwithstanding with his Spear run through the bodies of those two shamelesse persons whom he had taken in the Act of Incontinency Numb 25. 8. And of the same nature was that of Elias the Prophet who having called Fire down from Heaven destroyed the Souldiers that were sent to secure him 2 Kings 4. 10. c. Which Act of his when two of the Disciples of Christ James and John desiring to imitate having asked counsel of their Master concerning it he was so far from approving their rash desires Luke 9 54 that he did reject them and gave a great check to their Choleâ—ick Importunity You know not saith he of what Spirit you are As if he should have said forbear the extravagant heats of your unquiet minds and contain your selves within the bounds of your Vocation If Elias heretofore did any thing severely do not you suppose that the same thing is fitting to be performed by you That which he did was effected by the extraordinary Spirit of God which inwardly did suggest and dictate to him and was like unto that particular Mandate which was given to Abraham to kill his Son Isaac But this belongs not to you whom the Spirit of God hath not yet called to the Execution of so extraordinary and so high a charge you ought not to entertain any thought of attempting it XI Seeing therefore it is not alwayes certain that what hath been performed by a Godly Man ought to be commended and though it hath been commended it ought not unpremeditately to be imitated it is far more conducible to the security of our Consciences to bring home and conform our Deeds to the Rule of the Law which is certain than to follow the uncertain Examples of Men. Most true is that of St. Augustine Haec quae in Scripturis Sanctis legimus non ideò quià facta credimus etiam facienda credamus ne violemus praecepta dum passim sectamur exempla We ought not to believe that these things which we read in the Holy Scriptures are therefore to be done again because that already they have been performed least we violate the precepts whiles every where we do follow the Examples And after other words to the same purpose he doth thus conclude Unde constat quod non omnia quae à Sanctis et justis viris legimus facta transfere debemus ad mores From hence it is manifest that we ought not to translate all things into practice and manners which we do read to have been performed by holy and just men And thus far of our second Argument concerning the difficulty of judging the examples of Godly men by reason of the great uncertainty which is in them XII The third Argument followeth taken from the difficulty of rightly applying the Examples of other men to our own Affairs and Actions by reason of the uncertainty of the Circumstances which being of an infinite variety do also infinitely vary the qualities of humane Actions That which is free and lawful in the Thesis that is the Positions is so also in the Hypothesis or Supposition the same Circumstances remaining I call that lawful which may be done without Sin and that free which without Sin may be omitted now the same thing any one circumstance being added or taken away or any wayes changed may be made unlawful of that which was Lawful and necessary of that which before was free and this we see every day by Experience in our Courts of Law when pleadings are made at the Bar where by the advocate of one side the preceding Examples of Cases before judged are cited for the advantage of their Cause and it is answered by the Advocate of the other side that there is not in both Cases the same Reason of Law that the Circumstances are varyed from whence it comes to passe that the Case is altered and those things which were cited to be reported and to be judged of before do not appertain to the Suit now in Controversie But if that rightly the Case be demonstrated the whole frame of the Defence which did support it self on this Foundation doth presently fall to the ground And the precedent taken heretofore of the things that have been so judged will be of no moment at all with the Judges From hence it comes to passe that amongst the several kinds of Argumentation with Logicians the Exemplum or Example is ranked amongst the last as more fit to illustrate than to demonstrate a thing And certainly if that of Fabius be true Tot seculis nullam repertam esse causam quae sit tota alteri similis In so many ages there hath never yet any cause been found which hath been altogether like to one another It s likely enough that very easily he may Erre who by the condition of one cause doth hastily passe his Judgement on another like unto it having not first with all diligence weighed with himself the circumstances of them both XIII In which consideration we are so much the more ready to fall into an error because we are most of us of such a temper that in the application of the examples of others unto our selves we only look upon the bare fact and greedily make use of it by enforcing it to our purpose especially if it seems to comply with our affections and the desires of our hearts in the mean time taking not into our least consideration either the causes of the fact or of the end or the manner of the circumstances of it especially if they are not suitable or complacent unto us The Prophet Amos in the sixth Chapter and fifth verse doth reprove some of his time who in the midst of publick calamities being too slothfull and secure did delight themselves in Riot and all manner of pleasures and amongst other things did whisper unto themselves that like unto David they did invent unto themselves instruments of Musick as if they should have said why should that be condemned in us to be a Vice which was a praise and honour unto David That Holy Man did exercise himself in Psalms and Instruments of Musick And we do the like but in the mean time we do dissemble with our selves and fail in that which principally was to be imitated in David for
Christ The Scripture therefore as supernaturally it is to be believed is the only and Adaequate Rule of our faith and according to our actions and performances so far as they are spiritual and pertain to a spiritual end it is to be the only and Adaequate Rule of our Manners and by consequent the principal and as I may so speak it the Architectonical Rule of all our actions But seeing it doth belong to Conscience to look back on things that are done not only upon this account as they are spiritual that is to say whether they are done out of Charity and directed to a supernatural end but as they are moral that is whether they be good or evil lawfull or unlawful free or necessary that a right judgment may be passed on these things we are not only to seek unto the holy Scriptures but to make our seasonable addresses unto other helps XVI In the third place this is proved again by the Form the Character and the Temperature of the Scripture which seeing it containeth in it very many precepts but not all of one kind some of them pertayning to Manners some to Rites and some indifferently common unto all and some peculiar only to some Nation and some again to some one order or person Some of them induring only for a time and others of a perpetual obligation some by way of Counsel of things expedient according as the exigence of the affairs requireth and some again in the way of mandate or command of things simply or absolutely necessary in themselves if there were not some other rule besides the Scriptures for the discerning of moral from ritual precepts and of things temporary from perpetual and of things peculiar from common the Conscience would oftentimes labour in a Labyrinth of doubts and know not which way to turn especially when precepts of diverse kinds being delivered as it were in one the same breath in the same Phrase and in continued connexion of words do immediately follow and tread on the heels of one another For examples sake Levit. 19. 18. An example is there given to love thy neigbour as thy self And in the verse immediately following there is a command that two Beasts of a several kind might not be suffered to mingle in generation with one another and that one Field be not sowen with diverse sorts of seeds nor any garment made of Linnen thread interwoven with Woollen The first command herein is moral and universal the other but Ceremonial and judicial and peculiar only to the Nation of the Jews But when these things are read in the Churches it cannot by the Text appear what so great a difference there is betwixt them And in the 30th verse of the same Chapter the Sanctification of the Sabbath the reverence of the Sanctuary are equally commanded and in a continued course of words and even in the very same solemn sanction of the Law given Ego Jehovah I the Jehovah yet I doubt not but that most men are of opinion that in one of the Precepts the Consciences of men are at this day obliged to the performance of it and that in the other they are not Now what the reason is that their opinion is such the precepts in the Text being all alike and no distinction nor the least apparence of so great a difference there can certainly no other reason be given but that it proceedeth from the judgment of reason and prudence which being excluded obligatory precepts cannot so be known from those which are not obligatory but that the Conscience will be oftentimes in a suspence and not able to know or judge what is commanded to be done or what to be left undone XVII It is proved in the fourth place by an argument drawn from the inconvenicies which do arise from the contrary opinion that is from the most grievous calamities which have a long time afflicted the church of Christ by reason of the misunderstanding of the perfection of the holy Scriptures from whence a most dangerous error hath possessed some men of great estimation that they have declared that nothing can be lawfuly done or commanded which is not authorized by God in the Scripture or at least there approved by some laudable example This foundation being once laid not a few men of a hot spirit being transported to judge charitably of them with a zeale to God but not according to knowledge did begin to raise unnecessary strifes and disputation concerning the Ceremonies of the Church they did declare that all Ceremonies not expressly mentioned in the word of God were to be thrust out and for ever to be banished from the Church of Christ that Laws ordained by men concerning things Indifferent were to be cancelled that all the Churches throughout Europe were to be reformed all things to be reduced to the Evangelical purity and Simplicity The unruly rage of these men did hete for a while make a stand but it did not stand here long but as commonly it commeth to passe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one absurdity being granted a thousand will insue their boldnesse derived from his fountain did flow at last into an open rage and brake forth into an Anabaptistical fury And although the growing mischief hath gon so far that it can scarce rise higher yet every day it swels and more and more doth inlarge it self by bringing into the world new monsters of opinions that were we not assured by the word of God that the foundation of God doth continue firm and that the Gates of Hell shall never be able to prevail altogether against the Church it were much to be feared lest the universal Church of Christ overwhelmed with a Deluge of Atheism should utterly be swallowed up by it throughout the world XVIII And let no man think that in vain Rhetorick I do complain of this with more enuy than truth for I am most confident that he whosoever he is that is strongly prepossessed and infected with this errour shall never be able in his daily controversies any ways to satisfie the importunate arguments of the Anabaptists Socinians and other Sectaries whose names I am ashamed to mention For to passe by the established form of Ecclesiastical Government which now adays our Political Divines would either referr to the Civil Magistrate or quite take them away upon no other account but this only that they think it is no where expressed in the word of God they must take away with it the observation of the Lords day the Ordination of Ministers of the Gospel the Baptism of Infants the Sprinkling of water in Baptism for the dipping of the whole body the Sacramental reverence and many other things with all Ecclesiastical Rites and Laws or else having reformed their judgements they must confesse they may all of them be retained without or sin or scandal XIX But this you will say is to derogate from the perfection of the Scriptures which all the Divines of the reformed
which is spoken of the people in the first sence to be accommodated to them in the latter There is no sober man will deny that the safety of the people that is of the whole Commonalty as that word comprehends the King together with the Subjects is the supreme Law But that the Safety of the People that is of the Subjects the King being excluded is the supreme Law there is no man will affirm it unless he be a fool or an Imposter A fool if he doth believe what he himself saith and an Imposter if he doth not believe it But if any man will seriously look into the original of this Aphorism I do believe he will more easily grant that it ought more precisely to be understood of the safety of the Prince than of the safety of the Subjects This saying so tossed up and down in the mouths of all men came to us from the Romans and was then used by them when their Republick did flourish most of all under a popular State And there is no great Reason that any man should wonder that the peoples Safety was the supreme Law with them with whom the people themselves were the supreme Power In the Judgment therefore of those wise Antients who were the first Authors of this Aphorism the safety of the supreme Power was the supreme Law of the people indeed in a Democracy but of a King in Monarchy XVIII I say in the second place it being admitted but not granted that this Aphorism is properly understood of the Safety of the People that is of the Subjects it is nevertheless perversly wrested to the prejudice of Regal Dignity which even so doth render its Power more ample and illustrious In this sence A King that gives Lawes and Statutes to his people will not be so bound up by his Laws that it shall not be lawful for him the Safety of the Common-wealth being in an apparent danger to provide for the Safety of Kingdom and people committed to him by God even against the words of the Law Not that it is lawful for Subjects under the pretence of the defence of their liberty to break all the bonds of Laws and fidelity and by an intollerable presumption to trample on the Authority of their King but that it is lawful for the Prince in the preservation of his own his Subjects Safety to lay aside for a while all strict observance of the Laws to make use a little of an arbitrary Right lest by a too unseasonable and superstitious Reverence of the Laws he may suffer both his own person and his people that are subject to him and even the Laws themselves to fall into the Power of his Enemies XIX I say in the third place it being again admitted but not granted that by this Aphorism some licence were indulged to the Subjects themselves as necessity so requiring to lay by the Laws to provide for the publick Safety yet from hence that cannot be inferred which may would conclude For it is not lawful for the Subjects when they find their liberty in any thing to be injured or when they cry out they are sensible of it to break through all Bars of Laws and Duty and without the knowledge of their Prince to have immediately their recourse to Arms and to fill all things with tumults seditions But when the defence of their Princes their own liberties against all forein or domestick Enemies upon an urgent necessity doth so call them to it that a pious a prudent man would make no doubt of it but if the Law-maker himself was present he would dispense with his own Laws it is then lawful for the Subjects to have a greater regard of the Common safety which is the supreme Law and the end of all Laws than to be fearful to prejudice any particular Laws which were therefore made to be subservient only to the publick safety XX. The sum of all is The safety of the Common-wealth that is to say of the Prince and of the Subjects is the supreme Law to which all inferiour Laws are so to submit that present necessity so requiring it is lawful for the Prince by the prerogative of his own power yea and it is lawful for the Subjects the consent of their Prince being according unto reason presumed to recede sometimes from the words of particular Laws to assist their indangered Country and to be careful of its safety as the supreme Law but so that unless the will and consent of the supreme power be expresly obtained or according unto reason presumed they are not to attempt any thing under the pretence of the publick safety and liberty but what the Laws do permit them to XXI There are not a few Doubts that are yet remaining which in some manner do pertain to this Final Cause as concerning Privileges and Dispensations and the Relaxation of the obligation in the danger of life and others of the same nature which unto some may peradventure appear not altogether to agree with the End of Humane Laws The Solution whereof I have thought it more expedient for to deferre unto another time although never so long than by too much prolixity to tire and to torment so attentive and so courteous an Auditory THE TENTH LECTURE In which that most vulgar Speech The safety of the People is the Supreme Law is more largely examined and unfolded that it may more rightly be understood 1 TIM 2. 2. For Kings and for all that are in Authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all Godliness and Holiness I At this time and place if peradventure you do remember it Courteous Readers did intend to finish compleat this Treatise concerning both the obligations of Conscience to wit the Passive and the Active In the unfolding of the former having in first place and in a Scholastical manner excussed the Definition of Conscience I was as elabourate as I could be in examining and discovering that proper and Adequate Rule of Conscience from the directions whereof it ought to exercise all and every one of its Acts both of Dictating and Judging It was then represented to you that the Holy Scripture was the principal part of that Rule we held forth but the Adaequate part was that Will of God which the School-men call the Will of the sign in some degree made manifest to every man whether first by an inbred light by Practical Principles preserved in the Synteresis and known by themselves which the Philosophers 〈◊〉 Common Notions and the Apostle the Law of God written in our hearts Or secondly by an inferred Light by some external Revelation partly extraordinary and private to some single persons by visions dreams c. at sundry times and in sundry manners Partly ordinary and made publick to all mankind in the written word Or lastly by an acquired light by conclusions rightly and duely drawn from those practical principles or from the written word of God or