of the fathers albeit belonging to the Church power alwayes in such cases and that in the highest degree wherein through the affliction of the flesh in any kinde meanes may better be procured and applied for the sauing of the soule in the day of the Lord Iesus 1. ad Corin. Cap. 5. v. 5. The difference and true distinction whereof may appeare by these speciall notes first that Ecclesiasticall excommunication and all things concurring thereunto so farre foorth as they are meerly ecclesiasticall concerne the soule and the meanes to recouer any secure or desperate sinner and withall to preserue any other or the whole Church from any further annoyance spirituall infection or any kind of preiudice thereby but the other respect first the body and outward man and afterward happily are made profitable and appliable to the soules of any Secondly that which we call for better order and instruction sake ciuill haue their ground and originall whatsoeuer they are from the other power which is called ciuill magistracy as the other touching the soule the inward and spirituall seruice of God the peace of conscience and such like belonging vnto this censure proceede from the rites and investitures of that other order called priesthood power of keyes ecclesiasticall magistracy or what els besides it be called swaruing not from the trueth of the matter it selfe which for it part must alwayes doe that which belongeth thereunto in this and all other offices although there were no Christian Magistrate in the world and doth also exercise the same according as they see it most fit and correspondent to the ends aboue named in all places where the foote of violence from any part of the secular power incombreth not but rather as they ought to kisse the Sunne in that one sense and behalfe protest and maintaine the rights power and priuiledges of the same Thirdly those proceedings herein which are meerly ciuil or mixt sometimes of both according to their seuerall ends authors and originals doe principally and for the most part respect the common policy of the whole State and that which is Ciuil as well and more particulary many times as that which is Ecclesiasticall albeit they ought to agree in all things together as Hippocrates his Twinnes All which might be shewed in the manifold particulars which in the vse of this censure haue been added partly by the ciuill Magistrate and further inuented by the immediate Gouernours vnder the allowance of the chiefe magistrate of seuerall Churches for the better strengthning and more orderly and profitable executing this or any other censure which any iudicious reader may referre euery one as they are not vnknown by reason of their common practise in the world to their proper place and one of those three heads of this our last diuision To which I desire this one thing to be adioyned before I come to the more particular definition of this Excommunication namely that albeit this censure doth properly and euermore of right belong to the power of the Church and immediate gouernment of soules yet can no such power exercise any part of outward gouernment or more publique administration whatsoeuer within the territories and dominions of any ciuill magistracy without the speciall good allowance or indulgence at the least of the chiefe magistrate there which in all places of setled and well ordered gouernment appertaineth to the ciuill power which God in the example and type of Iudah among the tribes hath made the onely lawe-giuer Insomuch as no due execution of any other their owne most proper proceedings can bee well performed without their helpe and assistance which caused the due vse of this censure to be so rarely and indeed weakly exercised in the primitiue Church and many other Churches of later times before ciuil magistrates were christned or this ciuill power did vndertake the protection of the Church or at least gaue way and liberty for the full execution of all Ecclesiasticall power which hath beene very much curbed and scanted by most Christian Princes in the world Much lesse doe we arrogate any secular power and command to be originally and properly in the persons or states meerly ecclesiasticall albeit one and the selfe same man or state may very lawfully and ought sometimes necessarily to be armed and furnished with them both as Luther himselfe learnedly sheweth In Epistola responsiua ad Melancthonem Et in postilla ad Epiphaniam de Magis and elsewhere we haue examined that as the ciuill magistrate sometimes hath been a priest so contrarily may Gods minister be a king or of any other electiue dignity the same man but not the same person which are distinguished euermore but may concur both in one subiect but that the enacting of lawes Bodin de repub in Methodâ— historiarum creating of magistrates citations Iudiciall proceedings and punishments accordingly haue their first beginning and warrant also from the ciuill sword yea the very outward forme of gouernment by which that part of the Church which is committed to any ciuill Magistrate who is truely termed of our later Deuines the keeper and maintainer of both tables commonly called Church discipline is to be administred and vnder which be it one or other any of these Church affayres are to be established procured and executed dependeth wholly vpon the will and authority of the chiefe magistrate in any estate as himselfe may iudge fittest for the due ordering of the same most agreeable to the ciuill body and conuenient and profitable for the whole state Alwayes prouided that the essentiall and mayne points expressed in the word or the necessary consequents belonging to any person cause or calling in these Ecclesiasticall administrations be in no part abolished interrupted or diminished which is all that we challenge in this Excommunication or any other such power priuiledge or censure from any ciuill magistrate in the world The summe and definition whereof according to the premises I meane this Excommunication from the visible Church by order of wholsome Lawes ecclesiasticall or ciuil according to the true nature thereof commaunded and expressed in the word of God may for our better proceeding to the points that follow Definitio Excommunicationis a visibili ecclesia be thus set downe Namely to be that censure of the Church which proceeding from the power of the keyes is awarded against notorious offenders vnder any forme or meanes by those persons onely whome any Church shall thinke best to depute and assigne to take knowledge of all causes deseruing the same and to giue sentence according to the nature thereof against any persons offending therein Which although in regard of the extent thereof and quality of the crimes and persons offending and incurring this censure it hath beene diuided or rather distinguished by some such circumstantiall differences of time longer or lesser while places of and in the Church or Churchyards or such like yet for summe and substance I hold them all one as by
there rendred by him to the simpler sort Insomuch as the great obseruer of state-proceedings aswell Ciuill as especially Ecclesiasticall Melancton wrote these words with great aduice no doubt to one Loneras a very scrupulous exceptor and seuere and hasty censurer of his neighbour Churches Nunquam poterit esse tranquillitas nisi in ritibus dissimilibus adde etiam dissimulanda aliqua infirmitate aequitatem moderationem adhibebimus mihi crede nobis etiam illi multa condonat And indeed besides the former reasons euen nature and common reason doe vrge and call for the same it being all one in a manner to see a naked body without clothes as any such solemnity for sacred or Ciuill administration without ceremony And therefore as the Schooles say well that circumstances doe cloath the humane actions for the morality thereof be they good or bad so outward rites and seemly ceremonies giue the beauty true decency to the same Which being most requisite in all publiques for their better grace according to their grauity and auoyding all contempt which otherwise doth easily follow such proceedings so most of all in Gods seruice whose house and euery the least meanes of his presence with vs and our dealing with him holynesse becommeth for euer and all decency is too little In which respect the Apostle himselfe doth not only leaue it arbitrarie to the Church of Corinth and so to other Churches to doe and see all things done in comelinesse and order much lesse directeth and prescribeth thereby how things already precisely and particularly commanded in the word for euery circumstance and euery ceremony ought to be mannaged and performed as some of late are bould to interpret and define the meaning of the words to be so and no otherwise but indeed as the text sheweth and common reason conuinceth commandeth and enioyneth the gouernors of that Church and so of euery particular Church to appoint and ordaine all such things as by the iudgement of such gouernours and not of euery priuate humor or fancy might best make for the comely ordering all things in publique performable to God as also for the greatest edifying of the whole Church first and then of euery particular member thereof Implying that without ceremonies and outward accomplements there were no comlinesse in any of our actions which without the same were like bare walles without any seeling varnish or painting Secondly that without order this colour and beauty of ceremonies is no better then a fayre face or sweete complexion with a most mishapen and monstrous body Lastly all such meanes be they neuer so seemly and so orderly are little worth vnlesse they be referred to edification the end of all no more then a sweet sauour and most comely proportion do profit one that hath an Atrophia or hectick feauer and consumption in his bones that no one part can doe his office or right vse for the good of the whole body For indeed to speake with the Apostle doth not very nature common reason and experience teache that as Aristotle long since obserued no speciall rules can euer be giuen I may say with truth and reuerence by God or man in writing In the sixt book of Ethicks or any other meanes of direction whereby this comlinesse and good order for edification may generally be giuen for all particulars which are infinite and accordingly continually practised for all times Countries Churches and congregations alike but that which is thought and is comely in one and so may serue for order and edifying to the same is not so nor can be so to another besides that as the Apostle saith we haue no such custome 1. Cor. 11.16 which many times in any politick body becommeth another nature as we say as well as in the state of any naturall body I intimating that most of these things for outward ceremony tending to comlinesse order are very much determined and ouerswayed by custome Augustinus Epistol 118. 119. as in those two famous Epistles for this purpose of Ambrose to Augustine and Augustine againe to Ianuarius doth very plainly and plentifully appeare And lastly to end this point of ceremonies in generall Magistrates Ecclesiasticall are not only bound to make wholsome Lawes determining many particulars and the right vse thereof for the ends aboue named but also all such Lawes and constitutions made by them not repugnant to any part of Gods word whether originally inuented and deriued from the primitiue Church or more lately and particularly deuised since for any more speciall forme of gouernment by the immediate magistrates thereof both for quality and in some good proportion of equality also aswell bind all liuing vnder those gouernments Ecclesiastical or Ciuil to a due respect and obedience thereunto as the ceremoniall and Iudaicall Lawes did bind the Iewes for those times or any Ecclesiastical Lawes and traditions made by the Apostles themselues as 1. Cor. 11.2 and that by vertue of the fift commaundement which tyeth all to obey in such indifferent points which afterward becommeth necessary to euery subiect neither must the Church now looke for immediate oracles or Apostolicall directions and extraordinary assistance and reuelations for the ordering euery particular as at the first founding of Christian societies vnder Moses and the Apostles vntill all things were fully setled for the legall seruice state of Churches vnder the Gospel at what time God was pleased himselfe to be superintendent King and Priest for both gouernments before there was any setled forme in the world vnder the Law or Gospel and so many things were extraordinarily carried by the Apostles as in Simon Magus Ananias and the excommunicated person giuen ouer to Satan and euen Moses himselfe in sundry punishments for the breach of the Saboth and such like by speciall counsell and directions from Gods voice and spirit speciall for those times But the gouernors of the Church them selues hauing now the spirit and word of God together Esay 59. v. 21. and so many precedents of Christian Churches for all state deliberations and proceedings may and ought to the end of the world determine of all such meanes within the compasse of Gods word as they shall iudge to serue best for their seuerall times and states to comlinesse order and edification of the whole Church or any part thereof as in the treatise of Subscription we haue more specially shewed CHAP. II. Shewing of the Crosse and findeth it to be of it selfe in the number of indifferent and lawfull ceremonies yea and in the right vse thereof necessary also being once commanded by the Magistrate NOw in the second place this position I hope shall be found and allowed to be as true that not only amongst the tolerable conuenient but most seemly orderly and edifying ceremonies of the Church the signe of the Crosse in speciall may very lawfully and safelie be reckoned and esteemed The truth whereof may thus appeare first because the vse of it in
put out as Bellarmine p. 78. l. 2. for facts r. fasts p. 81. l. 35. for Antichrist r. Antichrists p 84. l. 35. for conscience of some r. conscience of sinne p. 85. l. 18. put out not in the title of the Chap. p. 96. l. 34. for tollerent reade tolerent A TRIPLE ANTIDOTE AGAINST CERtaine very common Scandalles of this time which like infectious and epidemicall diseases haue generally annoyed most sorts of people amongst vs poisoned also not a fewe and diuers wayes plagued and afflicted the whole State CHAP. I. Containing the names natures and manifold kinds and differences of Excommunication EXcommunication beeing the highest censure of all Ecclesiasticall power from which the other two of Subscription and the Crosse with all such decent and profitable ceremonies doe naturally arise and the lawfulnes and necessity of these latter depending for the most part vpon the former I haue placed the same in the forefront as it were of those many battels and encounters which by all kind of people almost in this complayning and murmuring age haue beene made against them all but especially against the trueth power and vse of excommunication Which according to the name and nature thereof I haue first of all endeuoured to define after this manner Namely as the word expoundeth it selfe Excommunication in the most generall sense and acception thereof is nothing els but a separation from some common benefite of which any formerly haue beene Excommunicatio a communi bono separatio or otherwise might haue been partakers which is the common receiued definition by the Schooles and Canons Which being somewhat too generall for our purpose after certaine diuisions of these larger termes wee hope at the length to comprise the full summe and substance thereof in as short a compasse as so great a matter may be These common benefites and priuiledges therefore enioyed in this life being either Ecclesiasticall or Ciuill this terme of Excommunication hath beene alwaies by all sufficient writers restrained to those speciall graces and fauours which belong properly to the Church and so this censure is to be defined accordingly to be a debarring and separation from the Church which also being either visible or inuisible the trueth and nature of this excommunication must be in like manner examined and distinguished to be a separation from the visible or inuisible Church Of which distinction sundry reasons may be giuen which briefly may be comprised in these two positions from which many more particulars may easily be collected first that the knowledge order and proceeding in either of these kindes are very much differing both in respect of the persons censuring accusing or offending as also of the defaults and punishments thereunto belonging the one being alwaies certaine after one manner because God as Augustine well obserueth who is the high Iudge in that priuy Court doth see all things euermore as they are and iudgeth accordingly by his present mercy and present iustice taking all actions and persons as he findeth them and so his word and ministry thereof with all other meanes belonging to this Excommunication proceed by the same order and degree the other very variable from the visible Church and vncertaine Primo secundum praescientiam 2. Causam 3. Operationem 4. retributionem sol 2047. taking knowledge and giuing order for personall causes according to particular allegations and proofes as they say which Hugo de sanct in his booke de Sacramentis legis naturalis scriptae doeth more largely expresse making foure kindes of iudgements Secondly because one and the selfe same person may be admitted and allowed for a communicant in the one which happily hath no interest nor fellowship in the other and so contrarily the same persons may by course and order of lawes and proceeding in some cases be remoued from some part of the visible Church which keepe their place firme and sure in the inuisible as 1. Timothy Chap. 5. verse 24. and 2. Samuel Chap. 16. verse 7. is plainely auouched that God seeth not as man seeth and that some mens sinnes goe before vnto iudgement and some follow after Now this Excommunication from the inuisible Church is onely infallibly known and exercised by God who alone knoweth who are his 2. Tim. chap. 2. vers 19. And how at all times euery one standeth or falleth to himselfe the great master of all Rom. 14. vers 4. yet hath hee appointed certaine persons to whome a speciall commission is directed to proceede in this inward and high Court of conscience and by which speciall meanes as by certaine signes and best coniectures the knowledge of euery one his estate and freeholde as it were in the inuisible Church and true fellowship with God and his Saints may be discerned which meanes the learned haue called voluntatem signi being indeed signa voluntatis subordinate to that infallible prescience and predestination of God by which together with these signes and meanes which for that end are prepared and appointed by God all are deliuered from their miserable estate and fellowship with the diuell and Church malignant and receiued into this inuisible Church and company whosoeuer they are that are at any time so receiued as Saint Augustine in many places learnedly sheweth which signes and meanes specified in the word of God and commonly called and vnderstood by those generall graces of faith and repentance being found in any or testified by any outward signes to those Commissaries of God as I may so terme them aboue named so farre as they can or ought to iudge according to their rites of commission and proceeding to be in any or otherwise to be wanting so are they iudged and allowed for meete partakers and communicantes with that heauenly society being qualified thereunto by the former graces or els to be wholly vnworthy and out of the same and so being admitted or excluded by these stewards Gods ministers whome God hath appointed and none other as shall be shewed hereafter to deale in that high Court of his or pronounced priuately or more openly so to be whatsoeuer they shall doe in that behalfe according to the tenour of their commission and order of their court roules which is the truth and scope of holy scriptures shall be ratified and confirmed in heauen both for the pardon of sinne which is the kingdom of grace in this life Ioh. 20. vers 23. and the full state of glory for euer in heauen Mat. 16. vers 19. In regard whereof this excommunication from the inuisible Church so farre foorth as it may be awarded or any way iudicially proceeded in by man Definitio excommunicationis ab inuisibili ecclesia may thus be described to bee that part of the power of the keyes whereby vpon the signes and euidences of infidelity heresie irrepentance or such like euery true minister doth pronounce any to be in the state of Gods wrath and out of the fellowship and communion of Saints Which power albeit Saint Augustine
and many other matters the people being led chiefly by the outward senses and orders customably obserued Lastly whereas some obiect that our doctrine and ceremonies are contrary the one to the other and that willingly which all confesse and yeeld vnto they would subscribe to our doctrine and all the Articles of our faith but not vnto the ceremonies it seemeth to me very strange and much repugnant to the rules of true Diuinity which teache that euermore to be good for practise which is true and sound for conscience and iudgement Now our doctrine being allowed for good and currant which doubtlesse is as well about ceremonies as any other head and point of doctrine I cannot see any iust cause for the standing out against the one more then the other and indeed howsoeuer the doctrine of faith which is according to those grand rules of faith and manners as Hierome defineth them 1. Tim. cap. 4 is truely and soundly taught and maintained all other things about circumstances and ceremonies and speciall practises of any not contrary to the generall rules aboue named cannot goe amisse according to that graue and true iudgement of Augustin Lib. de Ciuit. Dei cap. 4. Vbi bene creditur non male viuitur And for things doubtfull and controuersed which euermore will remaine in the best reformed Church whatsoeuer either for doctrine or practise the Decrees of euery speciall Church for their times ought to preuaile with euery well minded and affected person to God his Church For the further resoluing and concluding whereof and this whole treatise I desire all to reade that which Melancton hath set downe pag. 501. and 502 of the first part of his theological Councels part whereof I haue thought fit and necessary to set downe and adde as a Colophonem to all the rest Haec cum constituta sunt in Ecclesia potestatem esse interpretandi ambigua eamque pertinere ad plures hoc est ad Sinodos sequitur Sinodorum sententias amplectendas esse tanquam certas non labefactandas Frustra enim esset potestas datae iudicandi si liceret perpetuo aduersari Nulla est politia in qua non sit aliqua vox legum interpres inuiolahilis Si ea maiestas tribuitur imperis quia diuinitus constituta sunt Deus voluit Magistratum hac potestate Iudicandi munitum esse cur non Ecclesia magis haberet potestatem authoritatem inuiolabilem quae longe superat imperia maiestate Denique concussa Sinodorum autoritare refractis his repagulis quo modo petulantia ingeniorum coerceri poterit Nullus in ecclesia seditionum finis erit si ea quae vetustas summa grauitate decreuit cauillari licebit Multae sunt causae quae deletis veterum testimonijs magnos possint tumultus excitare vt quaestio de infantū Baptismo de verbo Ioannis primo an significat personam pleraque alia Valeat igitur in ecclesia rerum iudicatarum autoritas Agnoscamus promissiones quae testantur piorum congressus iudicia gubernari diuinitus Discat populus reuerentiam ecclesiae illis piorum Doctorum congressibus deberi qui ingentibus certaminibus defenderunt caelestem doctrinam Haec sunt vtilia tranquilitati communi Nam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 parit aeternas dilacerationes vastitatem Ecclesiarum And this which I wish imprinted in euery brest being put last that it might be lesse lost Epist ad Luci. and first and for euer remembred proceeding from old Hierome that bos lassus solet figere pedem firmius CHAP. I. Intreating of the lawfulnesse and necessity of Ceremonies in generall in all solemne publicke and more especially all holy administrations whatsoeuer and how farre the magistrates authority may stretch for the determining of any to be vsed in particular AMongst so many idle vncharitable and vnnecessary exceptions by many against sundry particulars established for Church gouernment and the ordering and performing the publique seruice of God amongst vs there is one more generally carped at and misliked then any other namely the signe of the Crosse which hath beene so much obserued in our administration of Baptisme and noted to containe Idolatry heresie and manifest impiety or at the least great superstition and manifould occasions of the greatest and yet most necessary and vnauoydable offence to all both good and bad Which as some haue publiquely and too too scandalously termed Crux infaelix so hath it by Gods iust iudgements thorough some weaknesse or wilfulnesse vpon the vrging thereof too too truely fallen out to the iust harts griefe of many and much garboyle and dissipation in our Church For the clearing of which exceptions and satisfying the offended therewith I could commend many things out of ancient writers and learned discussers of this point and more especially that answer of learned Cassander albeit in some things iustly to be refused to seuerall obiections made against the ceremonies in baptisme vsed by most Churches and the solemne administration thereof but because no authority of any new or old nor yet any Councel in gnomicall cases more particularly appropriated and euermore applyable to the present time nor yet any weight of reason and argument can draw some from their prepossessed opiniōs resolues to the contrary and some scripture holds of theirs ill vnderstood and worse applyed against the true and lawfull vse of this ceremony I will indeauor to set downe by way of position obiection and answers whatsoeuer I thinke may either declare the lawfulnesse of this Crosse or els answer any obiection to the contrary For the which this position is in the first place to be set downe as to which all sorts of Christian professors in the world haue euermore agreed and subscribed vntill of late some bold spirits which dare set vpon any thing haue encountered this grand position and Maxime in all state proceedings namely that there is no nation of Christian name so barbarous but that in the administration of their baptisme publique or priuate some decent rites and ceremonies seruing for orderly and comely performing of the same haue beene inuented vsed and retained by them ouer and besides such things as are directly prescribed for the administration thereof by holy scriptures As Bellarmine obiecteth and we neuer denied to the Lutherans Lib. 1. de Sacramentis cap. 24. de ceremoniis Baptismi Zuinglians and such like that vrge abrenuntiation and vse other such like ceremonies which both for reuerence to the ancient Churches the mothers of vs all that vse the same and obedience to that Church wherein we liue besides charity which we ow to our neighbor Churches at least for our opinions if not for our practise are most reuerently to be esteemed of vs and which may further serue as Cassander sheweth to declare the vertue In Respons ad obiectiones contra ceremonias in baptismo vsitatas and commend the dignity and state thereof in this holy administration besides many other reasons
the most part of the ministery and abundance of poore in all places Thirdly dispute not thou what is fit for discipline of Clergy or people in ceremonies more or lesse these or other but leaue it to the magistrate that is charged with that care and must answer for his magistracy and sinnes thereof one day Neither may any without great occasion of sinne and manifest breach of the fift commandement pulle their necks out of the yoake of their lawfull commands For Christianity taketh not away any part of ciuility or humanity as some haue well said much lesse due obedience to lawfull authority as too many haue taught of late and practised And to conclude this first part of my answer to this obiection I desire all to reade and compare with iudgement that reply of our Sauiour Christ to that Pharisaicall exception against Christ his Disciples for eating with vnwashen hands with the doctrine and practises of these men who making scruple and much adoe about Crosse and Surplice and a few ceremonies distasting their priuate iudgements runne headlong into open neglect and contempt of the fift commandement And so as the Pharisies did vpon error of deuotion and conscience to their Corban cause many a silly disciple of theirs to neglect their manifold duties to father and mother whereby as Christ telleth them they made the commandement of God of none effect by their traditions Euen so doe these new masters euery way the selfesame in effect Secondly I answer that albeit no humane Lawes do of themselues binde the conscience but only as they haue their ground and warrant from the fift commandement and further that no magistrate or creature in the world can take away the least part of Christian liberty in things inwardly spirituall or outwardly indifferent in themselues for choice or vse because Christian liberty is the selfe-same still and is seene as well in doing as not doing vsing or not vsing any thing subiect vnto it yet do all wise esteemers of these things hold that euery Christian Magistrate may and ought also many times by vertue of the fift commandement restraine this Christian liberty in many particular things according as any good cause and reason generall or particular may occasion any Prince or state to make wholsome Lawes for any such purpose And that so farre and so large as no one commandemēt of God by commission or omission any thing hereby be preiudiced by any of these restraints or impositions whatsoeuer As in the matter of fasting abstinence the learned Schooles haue fully determined which may serue for answer and direction touching all wholsome Lawes penall or otherwise enacted and in force in our state or any other CHAP. VII Answering the obiection of so many scandals arising by the vse of the Crosse THat other of this last and least kind of arguments against the Crosse which shall also be the last of this our consideration is drawne from the offences which haply haue or may at any time arise from the vse of this Crosse For answer whereunto I hope I shall not need to stand vpon the definition of a Scandall in generall Hieron in 15. Math. v. 12. Scandalum est dictum vel factum quod dat alteri occasionem ruinae or the vsuall diuisions of the same into Actiue and Passiue by the Schooles and commonly termed offences giuen or taken but referring all to Saint Ierome his definition of a Scandall set downe in his commentaries vpon the 15. of Math. vers 12. I wish these great exceptors and all other too too iustly scandalized by them their offensiue behauiours in this behalfe to turne their eyes vpon the manifold scandalls and inconueniences also which many waies breake out priuately and publiquely both in Church and common wealth by reason of their omitting misliking and so peremptory condemning the vse of the same albeit established by publique authority amongst vs. Which indeed are so many as that no wisely affected or honestly disposed heart can but throughly and most feelingly be touched and iustly greeued withall especially since those which rise from the omitting of it are farre greater and of another nature from those which proceede from the vsing of it euen in Baptisme it selfe or any other holy administration there beeing indeed betwixt them no iust or fit proportion or comparison the one being only passiue and vnnecessarily taken by those that abuse them and themselues and others by them and doe neither know the truth vse or right practise of them the other being too too iustly giuen and actiuely and in themselues euil as the Schooles speak and we haue aboue shewed conteining in them manifold breaches of the fift and almost euery other commandement of God As namely generall disobedience and both inward and too too often outward kicking spurning and rebelling against the most graue decrees and constitutions of the Church and soueraigne authority of the chiefe Magistrate to which euery honest heart ought willinglie to subscribe and simply without contradiction or disputation to yeeld their obedience Besides the great neglecting of speciall callings and manifold duties therein to GOD and man bereauing the Church also by this meanes of their gifts and themselues and others of their necessary maintenance besides many other which I haue more griefe then will to repeate Secondly were these offences both alike I meane accidentally euill only as those taken herein are and so being meere occasions nec dant speciem nec veniunt in definitione as the Schooles speake 22. Quaest 43. art 1. and therefore are no proper causes of euill yet in such a consideration the greater number doth and ought with euery good conscience to ouersway the fewer and the lesser which if they should be reckoned together there would appeare great oddes and a broad difference to any equall or iudicious eie And whereas some haue found a more nice difference in this behalfe in respect of the Magistrates commanding these things which in their iudgements might well be forborne charging them further with great want at the least of Christian charity and wise louing care and foresight towards the good of their poore subiects and inferiors soules and bodies by not preuenting and taking away so many causes or to speake more properly occasions of so much offence hurt and dammage to their weake consciences and Church of God in generall I answer first that it is a horrible sinne both against the fift but especially against the ninth commandement for any priuate spirit or person whatsoeuer to entertaine any such thoughts and suspitions which are no other then diabolicall suggestions against their Prince or any lawfull authority placed ouer them Whereas the rule of that royall law is particularly expressed in the ninth commandement neuer to censure or conster the words or doings of any the meanest offensiuely and to the worst when any more fauourable conceipt and interpretation thereof may be admitted and affoorded Much more to presume so farre as to