Selected quad for the lemma: sense_n
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A36107
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A Discourse of toleration with some observations upon the late act of Parliament.
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1691
(1691)
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Wing D1610; ESTC R15512
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10,989
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12
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to watch and have an Eye upon one another Every Party would fear another's being uppermost Because if that should ever happen they could not easily hope for so kind and charitable dealing as they had formerly receiv'd from those they had dispossess'd who had given them Liberty 3. Tho' some Men pretend that it is out of Charity to their Souls that they force Dissenters into the Church Jest by dying in an erroneous Opinion they should perish eternally yet is this pretence vain and groundless For we all know that it is not the making profession of the true Religion nor the outward Conformity to its worship that will save us 'T is the Mind that God chiefly regards and what ever we do if we do it not in the sincerity of our Heart it is nothing worth 4. Truth oftentimes lies so much in the dark that it is very difficult to find it out And Error carries oftentimes along with it such a fair appearance of Truth that it doth not only impose upon the weak and careless but does also sometimes deceive the wise and diligent Enquirer Since then there is so great hazard of our being betrayed into Errors and that upon probable grounds methinks good nature should encline us to make poor mistaken Souls objects of our pity rather than anger Besides since no Person is ever the more infallible for being invested in the Supreme Power it is not impossible but that the Rulers and Magistrates themselves not being able to see through the thick Mists wherewith Truth is veiled may instead of their supposed Jum embrace a Cloud And the seeming Truth they so earnestly contend for may possibly be Error hid under a fair disguise This methinks should cause Magistrates to be very cautious how they punish Men for their opinion in Religion lest while they fancy themselves to be rooting out Error they should indeed oppose the Truth This we know was St Paul's own Case who out of his great zeal to the glory of God persecuted the true Religion and cruelly murthered the best and most faithful of the Servants of God And if we examine the Opinions of the present Rulers of the World we shall find amongst them more Patrons of Error than Defenders of the true Faith which may convince us of the Reasonableness of our Saviours Rule viz. To let the Tares grow until the Harvest lest we root up also the Wheat with them Lastly We are not only by Scripture enjoyned to try all things but our Church likewise encourages us to examine things our selves and to make use of our own judgments in the choice of our Religion Now it seems a little hard to put us upon searching and judging for our selves and yet to force us to comply with the former determinations of other Men. This were to punish us for following that Rule which she her self hath recommended to us Having thus laid down some of those Reasons which induced me to adhere to the Opinion above-mentioned I shall proceed to the Exceptitions in the Act and consider what there is in the Opinions there mentioned that renders those that hold them unfit to be tolerated And 1. All those are excluded from the benefit of this Toleration who do not believe the Doctrine of the Trinity as it is believed and taught in the Church of England Concerning which I observe that this Doctrine has no relation at all to Civil Affairs And therefore all who are punished for their mistakes in this point are punish'd for their bare Opinion only in Religigion and for an Opinion which is not in the least prejudicial to the State And therefore they may properly be said to suffer for Conscience sake It cannot be proved that That Arch-Heretick Socinius himself or any of his followers ever endanger'd the publick Peace or were worse Subjects than other men And consequently they may as safely be permitted to enjoy the freedom of their Religion as any other Dissenters whatsoever Besides if we seriously consider this Doctrine we shall find it clog'd with so many and so great difficulties that an honest and sincere Soul may easily be mistaken If we examine the Scripture proofs we shall find no clear and express Declaration that there is a Trinity of Persons in one and the same Divine Essence in all that Sacred Volume but that it is proved by Consequences and Deductions and those oftentimes so far fetch'd that they may possibly be overseen by a diligent searcher And on the other hand John 14.28 and some other places seem so favourable to the Socinian Hypothesis that if there were no other places of Scripture relating to those points besides those we should be apt to interpret them in the same sense as our Adversaries do And tho' in this Controversie we multiply Scripture quotations yet so many of them are by the most learned Men of our own side confessed to be unconcluding that perhaps some may from thence be encouraged to suspect the rest If from Scripture we pass to Reason that rather discourages than any ways supports or defends the Orthodox Opinion The Arguments which are urg'd from thence are confessed to be such as we can give no clear solution to And it is no wonder that our weak understandings are puzzelled in the Contemplation of so sublime a Mystery Nor is it any disparagement to our Cause that we refuse to make Reason a Judge in a Case she has so very little knowledge of 'T is not a sufficient Argument to overthrow our Doctrine that we cannot solve all the difficulties that are started about a matter which is of so high a nature that it is above humane understanding We confess it to be too great for us to fathom For it would be rashness and inadvertency if not madness for a finite Being to propose to it self the Comprehension of Infinity But as for the Socinians who believe the Objections to be utterly unanswerable and think that it may be proved that the Doctrine of the Trinity implies a Contradiction They lie under a strong temptation of being of an Opiinon contrary to us and to interpret such places of Scripture as relate to this Doctrine in a different sense from what we usually give of them For it is a Maxim generally allowed by Protestants that what can be clearly proved to be contrary to Reason is impossible to be true and therefore ought upon no account whatever to be received And tho' we know that no such thing can be proved of the Doctrine of the Trinity yet there are such seeming appearances as may probably misguide an honest and well-meaning Man If we are willing to be guided by the Authority of the Fathers we shall find that those who are most ancient and lived in the first Ages of Christianity are claim'd both by the Socinians and us and both sides equally pretend to quote them as Favourers of the Opinion which each Party holds And the truth is they have deliver'd themselves in such ambiguous and
A DISCOURSE OF TOLERATION With some OBSERVATIONS UPON The late Act OF PARLIAMENT Printed in the Year 1691. Advertisement IT will appear upon the perusal of the following Discourse that the Author of it attending only to what he conceived to be the Sense of the Act for Toleration and not having recourse to the exact Words thereof has a little mistaken that Statute For he says That all those are excluded from the benefit of this Toleration who do not believe the Doctrine of the Trinity as it is believed and taught in the Church of England Now the Clauses in the Act concerning this matter are in Page 309 and Page 317. In the former 't is provided that Persons in Holy Orders or pretending to Holy Orders Preachers or Teachers in Dissenting Congregations shall be free from the Penalties of the Act for restraining Non-conformists from inhabiting in Corporations and of the Act of Uniformity Upon condition only of their taking the Oaths and declaring their approbation of and subscribing to the Articles of Religion mentioned in a Statute made 13th Eliz. viz. the 39 Articles except the 34th 35th and 36th and some words of the 20th In the other Clause 't is enacled that the benefit of the Act shall not extend to any Person that shall deny in his Preaching or Writing the Doctrine of the Blessed Trinity as it is declared in the aforesaid Articles of Religion So that none but publick Preachers c. are comprehended in these Restrictions All that are not so may believe what they please concerning the Trinity without being excluded from the benefit of this Act. And so indeed may Preachers too Only they must not teach publickly any thing contrary to those Articles which they are to subscribe and declare their Approbation not Belief of A learned Prelate of our Church Dr. Jer. Taylor in excuse for the many Divines of our Church who tho' they incline to the Arminian Opinions touching Free Will and Predestination yet subscribe to the 39 Articles which manifestly favour the contrary Doctrine viz. that of Calvin which is embraced by most sorts of Dissenters in some of his Writings tells us That those Articles were never designed as Declarations of Truths necessary to be believed but as Articles only of Peace which no Subscriber should oppose or preach against And that this is not only the Sense of one Doctor but indeed the general Sense of all the Church of England especially in the matter of the Trinity appears by her admitting us to both the Sacraments without requiring any Declaration of our Belief in that point so as it is explained in the Creed called Athanasius's or in the 39 Articles Now just what those Articles are by this Doctor lookt upon to be in respect to the Clergy of the Church of England such by this Act are they and particularly the Doctrine of the Trinity as it is explain'd in them made to the Dissenting Ministers Articles I mean of Peace and no more Thus it appears indeed that the Act does not as this Writer says exclude all Persons from the benefit of this Toleration who believe not the Trinity as 't is taught in the Church of England But nevertheless it must be confest that all his Reasonings hold good against the Act upon account of the restraint it lies upon Ministers in their preaching For if in a speculative point where all Parties pretend to have Scripture Authority and Reason on their side the Teachers of all Perswasions are obliged to subscribe to the Decisions and Explications of one only Party and not to teach or preach tho' both themselves and their Congregations may believe things contrary thereunto there seems still sufficient reason for this Writers Assertion That this Act of Toleration is not comprenensive enough And that it not being built upon the true Principle viz. That Liberty of Conscience is a Natural Right and that therefore Conscience ought not in any wise to be forced its Foundation is too narrow to support it and it cannot last long A Discourse of Toleration c. THE Gospel was at first planted and propagated by mild and gentle Methods Our Saviour did not send out his Disciples arm'd with Swords or Spears or any other Instruments of War Their Weapons were wholly Spiritual Charity and Humility Kindness and Condescention were the Arms which the first Preachers of Christianity made use of to conquer the World and bring it into Subjection to Christ By these means was the Christian Religion spread over the World And it overcame all Opposition by the irresistable force of Truth only And though the forward Zeal of after-Ages has prompted them to call in the Foreign assistance of Force and Power yet Experience shows That their Endeavours have very rarely been Crown'd with Success which we need not wonder at because it is very Natural that Religion should be preserved by the same means by which it was at first produc'd For my part I am so far from envying the Dissenters the Liberty they now enjoy or being angry with the Parliament for passing the late Act in their Favour that I think they have done us of the Church of England a Kindness in it as well as the Dissenters Since now we no longer lie under any Obligation of troubling or disquieting our Neighbours for Matters of Religion This Act cannot but calm all Minds that are truly dispos'd to Peace and still those peevish Animosities which were occasion'd by the Miscarriages of some few weak or passionate or interessed men whose over-hasty Zeal carried them beyond the true Rules of Conduct We all now know who it was set those weak men a-work and made Tools of them to do a business which they they never dream'd of But now they have seen their Error and repented And we hope that the good Nature of the Dissenters will not Father a persecuting Spirit upon our whole Church by reason of the Mistakes of some few unthinking men in it But methinks I could have wish'd that the Act had been more Comprehensive For I fear that it being built upon too narrow a Foundation it cannot last long Since by this Act several Persons are still liable to the Lash of the Law upon the account of their bare Opinion in matters of Religion For upon the same grounds that these are excepted succeeding Parliaments may think fit to except others whom they judge to hold Opinions equally false and dangerous and so more and more by degrees till at length the whole Toleration dwindles into nothing For if it be once allow'd That some persons may justly be punished for Mistakes in Judgment in such things as have no relation to Civil Affairs it will be very difficult to assign any good Reason why others should be wholly exempted from the Penalties of the Law and not be punished for holding false Opinions provided the Government shall at any time so think fit It seems a strange Paradox that men should contend for Liberty of Conscience