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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
word_n	person_n	scripture_n	trinity_n	3,376	5	9.9610	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A52357	The true liberty & dominion of conscience vindicated, from the usurpations & abuses of opinion, and persuasion	Nalson, John, 1638?-1686.	1677 (1677)	Wing N117; ESTC R19982	50,790	152

breach of Communion and I know there are and have been many eminent Men in the Church of God who have wholly differ'd in their judgments about some abstruse Points of Divinity without prejudicing the Peace and Vnity either of the Church or State in regard they defended them only as their private Persuasions and were both too modest prudent and charitably honest to disturb the Peace and Quiet of the Church or State by endeavouring to impose their particular judgments in things not clear and evident as necessary Doctrines of Faith or Practice upon the Consciences of all other Men. The main and grand Differences between the Church of England and all those who have separated themselves from her Communion so far as I am able to discover by the Writings of the several Parties are either about the Government it self or about the circumstances and manner of Worship That there ought to be Government in the Church I suppose all Parties will readily acknowledge because a great Apostle tells us God is the God of Order and not of Confusion 1 Cor. 14.33 39. in all the Churches of God by which it is plain that that is no Church of God which is not under Government or which countenances Confusion and therefore the same Apostle absolutely commands That all things be done decently and with Order The thing that is complained of is That this way of Government by the Episcopal Hierarchie being no where in plain and positive Words and Commands thus set down ordered and established in Scripture which is the Rule of Conscience therefore it ought not to be imposed tyrannically and imperiously upon Men of weak and tender Consciences especially when another and better way of Government more agreeable to the Scriptures and Primitive Simplicity of the Gospel is now found out and discovered For though Government in its own Nature be absolutely necessary yet where God does not interpose any positive Command or Directions as he did concerning the Jewish Church there this or that Government are equally indifferent and the best is to be chosen and preferred before the rest How weak a Plea and Refuge this is to call for and expect plain and express Words Commands or Directions from Scripture for every thing we do or believe every Man must acknowledge who does but consider that we owe even the Belief of some of the Articles of our Faith to consequences from Scripture and not to plain positive and express words As for Example that of the Mystery of the Glorious Trinity in Vnity three Persons but one God which words are not to be found in all the Holy Canon How much more unreasonable is it then to expect express Words and Commands of Scripture for Government in the Church which is of a far more inferior Concern than Faith And how dangerous a matter it is to admit of this Proposition That nothing is to be believed or done for which there cannot be brought a clear and positive place of Scripture let all Christians judge And whether if it were as heartily practised as it is by some Men vigorously prest it would not root out the very foundation of all Religion But we will join issue with them upon the Point and give them a fair tryal at the Bar of Conscience their own Judge upon their own Assertion If therefore Government being undetermined by Scripture be indifferent whether this or that and the best to be preferred How shall it be determined and by what Authority which way of Government in the Church is the best For till there be such a determination as before has been made appear it can be no more than Private Opinion and therefore can lay no more Obligation upon any Mans Conscience to yield Obedience to it than any other particular Persuasion does which can only oblige those who are of the same Persuasion and only so long as they continue so and no longer nor any others who are not so persuaded and therefore by the Rule of Liberty of Conscience are free and ought not to be imposed upon for fear of wounding their tender Consciences which is the direct and ready way to have as many several Governments and distinct Churches as there are Men of several Minds and Persuasions about which is the best it being certain that if Men be left to their liberty every Man abounding in his own sence will esteem best of his own way and according to the Proverb Every Crow will think his own Bird fairest which in plain English at last must amount to Anarchy instead of Vnity and Confusion in the room of that Decency and Order which God expects and requires in all his Churches For the Scriptures leave it in suspence and at least are silent as to most particularities of Government there being no more plain and express words for any sort of Government which any of the Dissenters would establish than there are for that against which they contend and all Parties will plead the Scriptures speak as much or more for their way of Government than for any other Let us therefore try who will have the advantage and bid fairest for such a determination as shall oblige all mens Consciences according to the forementioned Rules how any indifferent matters of Opinion or Persuasion such as the Question in dispute must be according as they have stated it become necessary and obligatory to all mens Consciences First therefore we have reason to believe that the way of Government now establish'd in the Church of England is the best because we find it does not contradict any known Rule or positive Command of Scripture but on the contrary all its Commands Directions Doctrine and Practise are founded upon and derived if not from plain words as most of them are yet from most evident sense and consequences of Scripture which as before was intimated concerning the Articles of Faith are as obligatory to Conscience as Scripture it self Secondly This way of Government as it is now established appears to follow the better more sure and warrantable part of our Judgment in indifferent things so as to make them become obliging and that in both its branches viz. First it is agreeable to the Judgment Approbation Example and Practise of the best men in all Ages from the Apostolick times as will be evident to all who shall without partiality peruse the Scriptures themselves where there are many not imperfect traces and footsteps of this way of Government so far established as the Powers of the Heathen Governments who then had all the Civil and Temporal Jurisdiction would permit But there is a whole Cloud of Witnesses for it in the universal consent practise approbation and defence of all those holy men from the Apostles times who though not divinely inspired yet were men of such eminent Integrity and Piety as would not permit them to write any thing directly contrary to the Primitive truth which some of them did immediately receive from the mouths of the

and Partiality the Excellency of the Design which is the Publick and by consequence the particular good of every Person the pressing Necessity of our present Affairs and the incomparable and almost incredible advantages which may succeed as they gave the first motion to my thoughts so they still give me encouragement to hope the best and that our wound is not incurable Certainly if there be any Balm in Gilead to heal the ulcerated Sores of the miserable People of these Nations it must be such a Medicine as will unite us into one common Principle whereby those mistakes and misunderstandings the principal occasion of all our differences may be removed for the present and prevented for the future As for those Persons whose Religion is their Interest Zeal Malice and Gain Godliness those Proselytes of Demetrius I am not over-confident that this will be accepted of by them as a Bill of Divorce between them and those gainful Persuasions which they have so unluckily espoused however Truth will prevail and may convince where it cannot convert But if they be resolved to raise Uproars for their dear Diana they are out of my Sphere and must be left to the Town-Clerk the Secular Power to appease and convince with such coercive Arguments as indeed are more fit for them because more powerful than any that can be drawn out of all the Arcenals of Truth or Reason CHAP. II. Of the Reason why there are so many Pretenders to Conscience and of the Advantages they make of it to promote their Interest and favour their Designs THere has nothing made a greater noise for some Years past in this our little English World than loud Clamors about Matters of Conscience for Liberty of Conscience Toleration and Indulgence to Tender Consciences Nor is it less obvious how grosly and notoriously Conscience has by some People been abused There will appear no occasion for wonder at all this to any person who does but consider what incredible advantages have been made of that single Word I will not recount the prosperous Wickednesses of the late unhappy Times in which the principal Actors and Contrivers were obliged to that great Name for the most of their Victories Glory Fame and Riches and all those unhappy Triumphs and Trophies which they did erect upon the woful Ruines both of Church and State but let us consider the present advantages which are made of Conscience First Conscience is a keen and two-edged Sword a Weapon both offensive and defensive and indeed nothing cuts so deep in vulgar minds who are most apt to be afrighted with awful apprehensions of what they least understand With this Weapon it is that all Dissenting Parties in their Religious Wars arm and fortifie themselves one against another with this resistless Sword they make no more to untie the most solid Arguments from Scripture or Reason than once 't is said the young Alexander did of the famous Gordian Knot who untyed that with his Scymiter which he could not effect with all his Curiosity 'T is with this victorious Sword they conquer and subdue and 't is with this they do preserve their conquered Proselytes I mean onely the Name Secondly Conscience is a most invincible shield a sure defence against all the blows of Adversaries so that though Nature Art Eloquence nay and Scripture too do all conspire to bring the most combined Demonstration of Truth and Reason against them the mighty blow shall be prevented from doing execution and be received upon this Aes triplex this invulnerable Target and 't is no more but saying It may be so as you say but it is against my Conscience and therefore I cannot believe or do as you would persuade me Thirdly Conscience is a certain Asylum an impregnable Sanctuary and defence against all accidents Hither as to their last refuge all Dissenters retreat securely and are at as much ease and in as undoubted safety as if both Heaven and Earth were entred into the strictest League Offensive and Defensive as they think they are bound to do to protect and defend them Lastly This is a never failing Cordial in times of suffering and has a secret virtue to sweeten that which of it self is most bitter and insupportable to all the world Thus an Opinion that it is for Conscience can make the justest and severest of humane punishments to pass over the pallate with the sugar'd rellish of Persecution for the Gospels sake Thus Death though the deserved merit of Rebellion and Treason has by some been styled Martyrdom and the suffering Persecution or Death thought meritorious both here and hereafter Nay so strangely have some men been blinded with the opinion of acting for and by Conscience as to pronounce Divine Vengeance Ireton Mercy so that a villanous Contriver and Acter of Murder and Rebellion O. Cromwel and an infamous Regicide and Usurper though one taken away by the immediate stroke of God the Sword of the destroying Angel and the other dying with all the agonies of Mind and Body shall yet be said to be gone to God and taken away from the evil to come and which exceeds all belief by the blasphemous Rhetorick of a Posthumous flattery shall be affirmed to rival the most glorious Jesus and be set on the right hand of the Majesty on high For these and such like reasons it is that all Parties of whatsoever persuasion pretend to so great a share and interest in Conscience Upon this foundation as they persuade themselves they build the Pile of all their Religion and from the Dictates of this supposed infallible Guide it is that they receive their Principles and to which they conform their Practise Ask a Quaker why he will shew no respect or reverence to his Superiors Why he will not take a lawful Oath before a lawful Magistrate though for the manifestation of truth the end of strife or the vindication of injur'd innocence Why he admits of no Sacrametns or about any other of his Tenents Demand of an Anabaptist why he will not allow Infants under the Gospel the same priviledge they did enjoy under the Law though he must acknowledge the Gospel a better Covenant Inquire of a Presbyterian why he starts at the Surplice and Ceremonies and any Sect why they separate from the Communion of the Church of England Shew them all the advantages of Union both as to Religion and Policy demonstrate all the dangers and inconveniences of separation and yet for all you can say after all their wild roving and unconcluding Discourses Objections Scruples and Allegations to winde themselves off from the main point when they find themselves forced from one of their strong holds to another and at last straitned by the prevailing strength of unavoidable and Dilemmatical Reason the result of all shall be that they are not satisfied in Conscience or that their Conscience will not give them leave to believe or do this or that to which you would persuade them Though after all