ipsi sicut par est suâ libertate But lastly Admit that our Rulers ought to abolish the thing that hath been so used to superstition but do not think fit to do it injoyn us by their commands to leave the superstitious use and to use it as we lawfully may it need not enter into a Question Whether we ought not to forsake the superstition and also to obey Authority in the lawful use of that thing without fear of superstition CASE III. Whether the imputing of significancy to things imposed render them Superstitious Resol TRuly some Reverend and Learned men seem so affrighted at the very mention of sacred mystical Ceremonies significant symbolical Rites of humane Institution that I cannot but fear rhat they have apprehended some very great danger in them Should we once grant that Ceremonies of humane Institution might be appointed to signifie the favour of God or the grace of the Sacraments or to be a means of receiving any blessing from God no doubt there is so much danger in it that if corrupt and superstitious men should at any time rule the Church we may quickly have not onely Seven but Seventy times seven if not intire yet Semi-Sacraments the Church and service of God being thereby obnoxious to all the antick and conceited crotchers that the vain imaginations of over-curious men can cumber them with untill they become stench in the nostrils of all sober and staid men and of God himself with the Church of Rome But if by Rites and Ceremonies we mean onely the Circumstances of Divine Worship by Scripture left to the liberty and prudence of the Church and by the significancy of them we intend nothing but that they are fitted to commend the exercise with order and decency to express the gravity and devotion of the Worshippers tending also as such things are capable to unity and edification if this be all truly I cannot discover so much danger Yea give me leave to add that to quarrel with them because they are such seems to be angry with these Ceremonies which are better and because they are better then others and to quarrel with their very fitness and their conformity to the general Rules of Scripture by which alone they ought to be measured Again if nothing that is so purely Indifferent as to be of no use or service and not to be more expedient then inexpedient ought to be imposed as all moderate men allow and according to the opinion in hand Nothing that hath its use or significancy may be required who sees not but the Church is crucified between two Opinions that openly rob her of all power about things indifferent Some very wise and unsuspected persons have freely declared themselves not to discover any such danger in the bare significancy of the Rites of the Church as others are affrighted with It is not lawfull saith Peter Martyr to Hooper to deprive the Church of that liberty that she should not by her actions and Rites of the Church aliquid significare signify something Yea further saith he the very Apostle himself used that liberty when he taught ut illis signis that with those signes they should be admonished of their duty Again Rerum significationes c. the significations of things call to our minds quid nos deceat what is expedient Ministri magis memores sint sui officii Vid. Aret. in 1 Cor. 10. 10. 16. 16. Pet. Mart. in 1 Cor. 16. 26. Geneva Annotations in 1 Cor. 16. 20. Perkins Case Consci cap. 3. Sect. 3. Calvin also is nothing Calv. Instit lib. 4. c. 10. 28 29. fearful to de iver his minde in the point There are saith he Rites which draw Veneration to holy things c. with such little helps we are provoked to piety They are adapted to the reverence of holy Mysteries thereby the exercise is suited to holinâ—ss They are not without fruit Thereby the faithfull are admonished with what modesty and religion they are to worship God Kneeling saith Beza when we receive the Signes hath a shew of Godly and Christian Veneration CASE IV. Whether it be a sinfull betraying our Christian liberty to obey the Law in things Indifferent in the Worship of God Resol THis Question seems to engage God and Cesar and to cause a quarrel betwixt Duty and Liberty which neither God or Cesar Duty or Liberâ—y will own or defend The doubt apparently results out of a too gross mistake of the nature of true Gospel-Liberty the Internal part whereof though it indeed free us from Inward Bondage yet binds us the faster in Service to God so the external part thereof doth also deliver us from outward slavery to the lusts of men yet it the more obligeth us in duty to Superiors Polanus placeth External Christian Liberty which indeed is properly Christian as it may be distinguished from Gospel-Liberty in two things A Liberty from the Law of Moses 2. A Liberty in the use of Indifferent things Now though the first branch may not be touched yet he doubts not in the least but that the latter may be determined upon just occasion of the Churches order by lawfull Authority Libertas Christiana est duplex à Legibus Mosis in Adiaphoris quales sunt Ceremoniae humanâ autoritate institutae boni ordinis causâ Christian liberty saith Polanus is twofold from the Laws of Moses and in things indifferent of which sort meaning things Indifferent are Ceremonies appointed by humane Authority for orders sake Now neither of these branches of Christian Liberty can be soberly thought to make void the Law as Moral or Natural in any one jot or tittle of it which our Saviour came to fulfill Matth. 5. and establish Rom. 3. ult but to assert that Rulers have no power in things Indifferent because of Christian liberty seems to weaken he arm of Authority Ecclesiastical Civil Political Oeconomical and even to raze out the fifth Commandement of the Moral Law yea what unnatural consequences of all disorder are like to ensue in Church in State in Families and all Societies in the world the beauty and comliness of all which lies not a litle in the due order of things Indifferent Yea how often is the Apostle himself the great Assert of Christian Libertie thus made an Invader of it how Injuriously did that famous Synod Act. 15. binde the Church to those indifferent things What Council Father Scholman Church nay what wise man was ever of this opinion or who is that solid Writer in any age almost that hath not declared the contrary Give me leave therefore to repeat it the nature of Christian Liberty is much mistaken It is not only consistent with but it even consisteth in the determination of things indifferent by lawful Authority It is one part of this liberty as Calvin asserts Libertas aufertur ablato Jure Legibus that the Church hath power to regulate the Circumstantes of Worship for peace and unity order and decency
power also limit the use of Indifferent things which they concluded for the present necessary Both to be ordered and to be observed for the Peace of the Church 5 And that this power of ordering the Church in things indifferent was not peculiar to the times of the Apostles but resides in the Rulers of the Church to be exerted upon the same Moral and reasonable occasions might easily be made to appear to have the suffrage of the Learned of all ages if any need required 6. Ames himself having ventured to say That nothing ought to be commanded but that which is good or forbidden but which is Ames Gas de Adiaphoris evil seems presently to check and so to limit as almost to recant what he had said adding Quod Adiaphorum est non potest simpliciter absoluâ—è in perpetuum vel prohiberi vel imperari Whereby one would think he yielded that for some respects and for some time things indifferent in their own Nature may be commanded or forbidden 7. I shall conclude this also with Calvins Authority in 1 Cor. 11. 2. We know saith he that every Church is left free to appoint a form of politie and government fit and profitable for it self because the Lord hath prescribed nothing certain to whom we might adde the pertinent if alike weighty Testimony of Philip Melancton who tels us That because the Ministry divinely ordained ought to be publique and external there is need of some humane In Com. Loc. Ordinances Vid etiam Danae Judic c. CASE IV. Whether may things Indifferent conduce any thing to the order and decency of Gods Worship Resol THings indifferent absolutely so or considered as such cannot For things indifferent as such do equally respect the order and disorder of the Church or service thereof otherwise they were not media or indifferent things but partial So far true is that of Ames Those things which make for order in their own Nature are not indifferent However there are divers things in their own common nature indifferent that yet in some respects are of more expediency in the Worship of God then others which happens either from their better readiness and aptness for order as applyed or because they may have more repute or shew of goodness reflected from the temper of the place where they are used and consequently are more eligible then those that approach to vice or superstition or are blemish'd with appearance or repute of evil or are aliene and unapt for the present service Again divers Accidents that are equally indifferent in their nature and left so by the Scripture may also be equally accommodated so far as we may judge for order and decency and consequently both indifferent and expedient for although they all of them be decent and comely enough yet neither the worshippers nor the worship may be capable of admitting or using them all at least at one and the same service Lastly the Custome of the Churches is a standing Rule in these Matters according to which that which is decent in one Church as well as lawful in it self may be most uncomely and consequentâ—y most inexpedient in another which addes no little cleerness to the demonstration that things indifferent in themselves may as they are applied conduce something yea and very much to the order and comeliness of Divine worship CASE V. What are those things indifferent that are to be determined by the power of the Church Resol THese things indifferent are apparently reducible to that General 1 Cor. 14. ult Rule of the Apostle Let all things be done decently and in order this Calvin calls that general conclusion which briefly takes in not only the whole state but even all the particular parts of outward order Yea saith he 't is that Rule to which all things which respect external politie are to be reduced 1. The ruling part of the Church hath power to set things IN ORDER in the Church of Christ The rest will I set in order when I come which power may shew it self in three great Instances The forming of a Government of a Liturgy and the ordering of the Manner of publick Worship 1. I must though with all respect and condescention to any means of Conviction to the contrary I must yet acknowledge that I find so little of the form and frame of Church-Government delineated in Scripture and so much encouragement for my present opinion in judicious sober and learned Authors that I am very apt to think that much of the Modelling of the Government of the Church is left by God to the prudence and wisdom and power of the Church I most readily subscribe that there is a Government of the Church that this Government is fixed in the Officers of the Church that the General Rules of this Government are plainly revealed in Scripture yea that there was Episcopal Jurisdiction in the common acceptation of it exercis'd by the Apostles and Timothy and Titus upon such common and Moral Reason as may bear it up and commend its use to the end of the world Yet the Frame Fashion and special subjects of it are so obscure in Scripture and so little entitled to it that methinks even all of all perswasions amongst us are forced to prudence at last in the practice though in their disputes they fetch fire from Heaven Jure Divine Very many moderate Episcopal Divines are sufficiently known to content themselves with St. Hierom's Basis of Episcopal Government and to defend it only as a prudential and occasional though yet Apostolical Institution ad tollenda schismata whereon I think it may stand as Mount Sion and never be moved The Presbyterians if they well consider their subordination of classes they must needs appeal to prudence and reason for its defence while they find this at least as much a stranger to the Word of God as a subordination of persons Indeed this they of late seemed plainly to acknowledge when upon the same grounds with their moderate brethren of the Episcopal Concessions and Desires perswasion they conceded to a Regulate Episcopacy desiring also at the hands of the King that their grand grievance of too large Diocesses might be healed by Suffragan-Bishops which some think are not obscurely answered already in the jurisdiction of Arch-Deacons at least as to the assistance of the Bishop and the satisfying the desires and complaints of our brethren aforesaid Yea the very Congregation it self called Independents acknowledge their devolving the exercise of Government upon their Elders to be only for Orders sake and their Church-Covenant to be only necessary for its ends and at length their great Champion S. M. hath found no other foundation for the whole Fabrick of Congregational Discipline but Mutual Confederacy and Prudential Agreement among themselves 2. The second thing attributed to the Care and power of the Church is the forming and establishing of a publick Liturgy Though we find not any such form in Scripture
not expedient or a thing may be lawful and yet we ought not to do it because not expedient and a thing may be lawful and we ought to do it because expedient And thus a thing may be lawful and not lawful More plainly there is a lawfulness more remote from us which is fixed in the general nature of the thing this is meant in the first expression of the Apostle All things are lawful for me 2. There is a lawfulness that is more immediate and nearer to us which dependeth not upon the common essence of the thing but upon some extrinsick circumstances of Time Place Occasion c. whereby the thing is fitted to the present service this the Apostle means by Expediency All things are not expedient Now where you speak of this latter lawfulness of expediency the former viz. of Indifferency is shut out so that though in one sence all things that are indifferent are lawful yet in this latter sence all things that are indifferent and not expedient are not lawful but sinful And it being against the Rule of the Aposte and indeed against common reason it is not warrantable for Church-Governors to impose any thing about Gods Worship that is only indifferent and lawful in it self but not expedient Thus that great Defender of our Church and the Ceremonies of it extends and limits her power Church-Governors saith he have liberty to establish whatsoever being in it self Authority of the Church p. 13. indifferent shall to their Wisedom seem most expediâ—nt 2. The second special Ruâ—e is the publique Peace God is the God of Peace and Order of Peace as well as Order and as the Order so the Peace of the Church without which there is no Order is precious with him and with all that have the Spirit of God and any care of his Church Should any thing give way to Peace and should not things Indifferent are not these Indifferent is not Peace necessary is it not necessary by command Yea it is necessary as a means as a means of preventing our fears of obtaining our hopes our hopes of settlement our hopes of unity our hopes of plenty of prosperity and glory in Church and State Who can think it wisedom without some other greater inconvenience urge to it to force any thing that is but indifferent to the endangering so necessary a thing as Peace or the dividing the Church of God or provoking any considerable part thereof to separate from us Let us rather with the Apostolical Synod weigh the present necessity in this regard and as the Apostle exhorts in the like case Follow the things that make for Peace Rom. 14. 19. 3. The third special Rule in Scripture is the offence of weak brethren who though weak are not to be thrown to the walls without any regard Yea the Scripture reasons Vid. Rom. 14. 1 Cor. 7 9 10. cap. us to a greater tenderness to the weaker part of the Church and more care of that and in this very case hath given us divers and weighty Considerations that we wilfully offend not our weak Brethren by the use of our liberty in things indifferent Indeed when things indifferent are once commanded the case is altered as to private Christians as at large hereafter but otherwise where the reason of the Apostle's Example and Commands is found the obligation of both will hardly be escaped As Polanus saith That Syntag. tom 2. p 376. Ceremonies may be observed for peace sake and the avoiding of the offence of the weak so I humbly conceive that the rigor of imposition may be warrantably abated for the same causes Mr Rogers is more peremptory Against Seffray Object 4. though as I noted before a sufficient Defender of Ceremonies He that in things indifferent meaning before they are commanded hath not a tender care of weak Christians in his doing sheweth that there is not that charity in him nor regard of his brethren which God requireth Upon this ground no doubt the Learned Doctor Gardner stood when he said If the Laws in these cases viz. of Ceremonies had not been already made I should never for my own part wish to have them made Dialogue about Ceremonies Neither can we referr to any other Topick the care and pains that Queen Elizabeth and King James used for the just satisfaction of Non-conformists in the ages before us To the 1 Cor. 9. 22 13. weak became I as weak that I might gain the weak and this I do saith the great Apostle for the Gospels sake 4. The fourth special Rule may be Edification the grand Level of all Church power the Edification of the Church and not its destruction in the whole or if possible to avoid it in any part Therefore the great Rom. 14. 15. In quo Charitas moderatrix est Calv. Rom. 14. 10. principle of all such impositions must be charity and love to our Brethren not envy at or desire of revenge upon any person or party otherwise minded not to shew victory over them or dominion over their faith or actions things I doubt not sincerely abhorred by our present Governours as well as by our former but forbearing one another in love and forgiving one another as Christ also hath given us example shewing all bowels and tenderness in all waies and means of an happy accord and accommodation 5. Fiftly the most noted Rule of all is that of the Apostle Let all things be done decently and in order a standing Rule never to be crossed by any Authority under heaven yea the God of heaven being the God of Order will never reverse it Then nothing that is either indecent or disorderly in Gods Worship can warrantably be imposed upon his Church The contrary whereof I think had never hitherto the honour to be asserted Clapham speaking of things indifferent touching Chron. c. 9. which saith he the Apostle sheweth that decency and order must be observed but for particulars he hath no particular injunction from the Lord. Chron. cap. 9. Provided alwaies saith Mr Mason that all things pag. 13. be done honestly and in order 6. The sixth Rule is Custome of very great use to indicate what is decent and orderly seeing by the force of Custome that is comely in one Country that is plainly absurd in another Custome is the Umpire 1 Cor. 11. 26. in indifferent things If any man seem to be contentious saith the Apostle we have no such Custome No doubt 't is dangerous to introduce innovations and by new impositions to force against the Usages and Customes of the place where we live 'T is well known how much weight Ambrose Augustine and the rest of the Fathers laid upon this both for themselves and their advice to others We have no such Custome nor the Churches of God Doubtless the more extensive a Usage is the more ancient the more universal the longer and farther a thing hath been practised in the Churches of God the more it
of most ranks and ages if need required is so express Res Alioqui per se medioe c. Things of middle and indifferent nature do after a certain manner change their nature when by lawful Authority they are either commanded or forbidden because it is not lawful to omit against the Precept when it is commanded or to act against the prohibition when it is forbidden Thus Beza an undoubted Testimony in the Case But we need no more seeing the thing hath been granted long agon by a numerous body of Non-conformists Their Reply to Mr. Powel p. 2l In things say they truly indifferent it is always justified and shall be farther justified if need require that we attribute no less to the Magistrates then oâ—r Adversaries meaning the Conformists do CASE XIII What are private Christians to do when things Inexpedient are required of them Resol IN the fourth place things enjoyned about the Worship of God may be supposed to be inexpedient when they are properly unlawful Here we have also asserted there is a farther abuse of Authority that ought always to be limited by the Sacred Canons of Decency and Order and things expedient but admitting such an unwarrantable exerting of power in requiring things that are lawful but inexpedient we are now to inquire how a private conscience may preserve it self and the publick Peace and whether it should obey such injunctions or not This is indeed the burthen but how to remove it hic labor hoc opus est This in the first place seems to call us to another point of weighty moment viz. Who is the proper Judge of expediency in the circumstances of Gods Worship There are but two that can bid for it the publick prudence of lawfull Authority or our own private discretion in things necessary the Word of God is our Rule in things expedient Prudence the Question is Whether private or publique that is pardon my plainness where God hath left the matter to men whether the People or the Governours should Rule or if you had rather Whether they that are called to obey are not bound to submit themselves where God himself interposeth not to those that have the Rule over them All I know will acknowledge that when St Paul had determined the decency and order of particular things in the Church that it would have been very Tumultuary for the people to have said These things seem strange to us and inexpedient And the like censure would have passed upon those Act. 15. had they returned the like remora to the Synodical Sentence Forgive me the wrong Dear Reader if I remember that of the Poet Mutato nomine c. It may farther challenge a sober debate Whether the Axâ— is not thus laid at the root of all polity and Government in the world if once we grant the final Judgment of what is fit and orderly to private persons and that this ought to be the Rule of every ones practice I must begg leave of the people to judge with Plato Nullun sensus privatus rerum mensura est I mean no more but that every one is to judge what is necessary according to God but publick Authority only what is expedient and I think we have reason to advise before we either give the things that are Gods viz. necessary things to Caesar or the things that are Caesar's that is things expedient to the people I do acknowledge the people a Judgment of Discretion the guide and measure of every ones actions viz. to discern what God saith in things necessary and what humane Authority saith in things expedient and to obey both but for the people to be wise above what is written in the Bible to judge what is necessary and what is required by the Laws of the Land to judge what is expedient I fear is folly and tends to confusion in the Church and State Where God commands and Man forbids or where God forbids and Man commands we are bound by the Covenant of Nature and Grace to acknowledge the supremacy of heaven and to obey God rather then Man But where God is sileâ—t and Man commands Obedience to our Governours is far better having more of Religion and Order in it then sacrificeing to the net of our private Reason for things more expedient Jesus Christ having fixt by his own appointment all the Essentials of his Fathers Worship left the Circumstances of Decency and Order in the manner of performance as things too small to engage the Wisedome of Heaven to the Church as if there were some thing in this regard in that common saying Non vacat exiguis rebus c. Hereupon Calvin concludes Haec indifferentia Inst it lib. 4 7 43. sunt in Ecclesiae libertate posita Indifferent things things not decided by God are left in the liberty of the Church Not in the liberty of every Member 't were easie to shew that was not Calvins meaning no more then it was the Apostles who denied that liberty to the people and gave them particular Orders himself then which there is nothing more evident in Scripture Consulte agit qui praecepto legis obtemperat saith the Civilian And no doubt when it is not sin 't is wisedom to obey the Law It is seasonable to call to mind and to practise too Leges hominum non homines legum dominos esse oportet It is fitter that Laws should govern Men then that Men private men every private man shouâ—d govern the Laws still I must be understood in things not determined by God for then we are pre-obliged by a higher Law which supersedes the lower and not we but God contradicts such Laws of Men as are against his own But when the matter is left to Men and they command us for us out of a pretended Judgment of discretion to object inconvenience and inexpedience and to resist the power savours but little of either Judgment or Discretion But that I may offer all fair satisfaction to this great scruple I crave leave to admit the private Conscience into the Chair and then the Case stands thus CASE Whether any thing that in our private judgment is unfit and inconvenient to be used in the exercise of Religion may be warrantably practised by us when commanded thereunto by Authority Resol I Would be very far from the guilt of winding the conscience of the plain Reader into any needless intricacy in this practical Case yet I must presume a little upon him to make way for my Answer hereunto by a few plain distinctions 1. There is a fitness or expedience with respect to Governours or private persons their command or our obedience whence arise two great Cases that must be distinguished and not confounded 1. What is fit for Authority to require 2. What is fit for us to do No question our Rulers may possibly require that which is not fit to be required and consequently that which they ought not to require and such their impositions
things are consâ—dered will be found to savour more of the stoutness and Magnanimity of an Heathen then of the meekness humility and self-denial of a Christian or a Minister of Christ 2. A good name indeed is a very pretious thing â—nd to blot and stain it with any thing that is sinful is to be abhorred more then death for a good name is better then life but to suffer therein without a cause or in a good cause to suffer therein for well doing as the Apostle speaks the more precious it is the more thank-worthy are such sufferings the more like Martyrdom 3. But if the things be lawful that are required the Authority be lawful that requires them and God commandeth you to obey them that rule over you in things that are lawful if the publique Peace the good of souls the safety of the Church as well as your own prosperity do truly depend upon your conformity and upon these or like respects of Peaaee Duty and safety you do conform and are therefore reproached and wounded in your Names I see not but that you suffer in a very good cause and your Names are Martyrs of the Church of God and the souls of the people in such a case doubt not to commit your souls and names into the hands of your God in well-doing as into the hands of a faithful Creator who will find a time and a way to wipe off the dirt from his Jewels and make your Righteousness shine as the light and your innocency as the noon-day When all men speak evil of you such a time there may be for Christs sake rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven 4. But let us take a more steady view of the danger which your reputation is really in by conformity in lawful things In order thereunto let us weigh the state and temper of the people with whom your credit and reputation lieth and whom you fear they are usually divided into three sorts two extreams and a middle more staid and sober sort of people the two extrams are the profane and the giddy i. e. such as are zealous but without knowledge 5. Now let it be seriously reckoned what our reputation with these two extreams is worrh further then it may help us to save their souls Again How difficult and almost impossible it is to have and keep a good Name and a good Conscience with either of these If we be faithful to their souls in reproof of sin and pressing the power of godliness will not the profane hate us and speak evil of us And let one put it home to you What considerable part of Reputation have you left if you have indeed been thus faithful with them to hazard or lose by your conformity Yea Whether you are not more certain to contract the reproach reviâ—ing of such persons by your Non-conformity and whether your Conformity may not afford you more opportunity by being a means of your continuing in your places and also more advantage bringing your practice nearer to their principles and desires of winning reforming and saving the souls of the profaner sort of your people then your Non-conformity throwing you out of the Ministry and farther from the way and affections of those people is likely to do 6. As for the zealous part I mean such whose knowledg is but small and their zeal much I confess your interest in them is deservedly prized because they mean well and in the main are many of them truly pious yet I judge it very unreasonable to prize your interest in their favour and affâ—ction above the interest of their souls the interest of the Gospel and of God himself which is to set their good opinion of us falssy taken too above our Ministry and the publick Peace above our duty to God and man It is possible we may suffer from good people not onâ—y for well doing but for doing or endeavouring to do them good and a Peter through ignorance may act Satans part towards Christ himself but our Saviour hath encouraged us with his own example to sacrifice not only our Names but our Lives to save if possible the very persons that would take them from us 7. Besides when the Law for Conformity extends to the People as well as to the Ministry perhaps by their own necessity they may learn more modesty charity towards us And in the mean while these censures are far more obnoxious to the censure and reproof of their Ministers and all sober people for their rashness and uncharitableness then their Ministers can so much as seem to be by doing their duty in a just Conformity and if meerly to gratifie them we suspend obedience to our superiors wee seem to sacrifice Church and State our selves and all as far as in us lies to the very humours of our people 8. Our own experience many of us I am sure hath sufficienly reproached us already for our being so much lead by the foolish fire of the strange zeal of such kind of people wee have seen that there is no measure in their principles no bounds in their practises and many of us have once already by making them our guides lost our way our selves and our credits and reputation as well with our selves as with all sober and well tempered persons and shall we now take sanctuary there to save our credits where our reputation hath bled and our Names have suffered even to death already Is not the good of the Church the service of Souls the protection of the Laws and just obedience to God and the King a better refuge and of better reputation then the opinion of a few inconsiderate censorious persons Let it be wisely considered 9. Let us ponder a little the sentence of Calvin passed long agon upon such Galv Advers Anabapt Art 2. kind of people the truth of which much late experience hath sealed unto Cum sub specie studii perfectionis imperfectionem nullam tolerare possumus aut in corpore aut in membris Ecclesiae tunc Diabolum nos Tumefacere Superbia Hypocrisi seducere moneamur in which words he plainly fathers such blind rash and censorious zeal upon the Devil and upon the works of the Devil Seduction Pride and Hypocrisie 10. Now if we do indeed so highly value the love of such people have we not reason to answer their Love And how can this be better effected then by endeavouring to recover them out of the snare of the Divel both by Doctrine or good example I mean the rather for their sakes to yield obedience to those things that our people ought to know we judge to be lawful and that they may also be truly satisfied how ready we are to do any thing that is not sinful rather then to lay down the Ministry and service of their Souls a far better way I think to express our hearty affection to them then by indulging their prejudices gratifying their