THE Christian Moderator. THIRD PART. OR, The OATH of abjuration arraigned BY THE Common Law and Common sense, Ancient and modern Acts of Parl. Declarations of the Army, Law of GOD and consent of Reformed Divines. AND Humbly submitted to receive judgement From this honourable Representative. ESAY. 58. 6. 8. Dissolve the Bonds of Iniquity, take off all heavy burdens, break every Yoke, and let the oppressed go free. Then shall your light break out as the morning, and your health spring forth speedily: your righteousness shall go before you, and the Glory of the Lord gather you up. LONDON▪ Printed by J. G. for Richard Lowndes at the White-Lyon in S. Paul's churchyard, 1653. THE OATH OF abjuration arraigned, &c. Die Sabbathi. 19 Augusti 1643. BE it Ordained by the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament; That all such persons, as being of the Age of one & twenty years or above, shall refuse to take the Oath hereafter expressed, which Oath any two or more of the said Committees for Sequestration in every County, City or place respectively, or any two justices of the Peace, or the Major, bailiffs or other head Officer of any City or Town Corporate shall have power to Administer to any such Person or Persons, shall forfeit as Papists within this and the former Ordinances, and Seizure & Sequestration of two third parts of all their Goods and Estates real and personal, and sale of such proportion of their Goods, so Seized and sequestered, shall be made, and their Rents and Estates disposed of, in such Manner and Proportion, and by such Persons, as by the said Ordinance of Sequestration is appointed for Papists. The Tenor of which Oath followeth. The OATH. IA. B. Do abjure and renounce the Pope's Supremacy and Authority over the Catholic Church in general, and over myself in particular, and I do believe that there is not any Transubstantiation in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper or in the Elements of Bread and Wine after Consecration thereof by any person whatsoever; and I do believe that there is not any Purgatory; and that the consecrated Host, Crucifix or Images ought not to be worshipped, neither that any worship is due unto them; And also believe, that Salvation cannot be merited by works; And all Doctrines in affirmation of the said points, I do abjure and renounce without any Equivocation, mental Reservation, or secret Evasion whatsoever, taking the words by me spoken, according to the common and usual meaning of them. So help me God. MY tears are on my cheeks, Lam. 1. and mine Eyes run down with Water, Lam. 4. 1 because the Comforter, that should relieve my soul, is far from me: Jer. 14. 19 how is the Gold become dim, and the most fine Gold changed? Lam. 2. 19 How have we looked for the time of healing and behold trouble? Arise, cry out in the night, in the beginning of the Watches, pour fourth thy heart like Water before the face of the Lord, for they have healed the hurt of the Daughter of my people slightly, they have still left a dangerous wound even in the heart of our liberty. Jer. 8. 22. Is there no Balm in Gilead? is there no physician? why then is not the health of the Daughter of my people recovered? Why are these oaths continued with so sharp a double edge, that unavoidably they either cut the purse or kill the Conscience? I confess my own weakness in the Government of myself, I confess my own ignorance in prescribing to others; yet the desires of prosperity to this Nation have taken such strong hold upon my soul, and I feel my Spirit so powerfully drawn forth to advance the things that belong to its peace, that I cannot refrain my Pen from humbly and earnestly soliciting a more firm and perfect establishment of the two principal pillars of all flourishing commonwealths, Mercy to such as suffer for Conscience; and impartial Justice to all men. As these considerations have engaged me once more to expose the most secret and retired thoughts of my heart to be seen by others; So I assure the Reader this shall be their last appearance in public, that he may rest secure from all fear of losing his time upon any thing of mine hereafter: But lest I offend too much in the present trouble I give him; I shall immediately apply myself to my task, and endeavour with a gentle, yet faithful hand, to open the orifice of the neglected wound, humbly imploring the gracious influence of Heaven to govern our Great college in their grave and charitable consults for the perfect cure of all our sorrows. And in searching how mortal a stroke such oaths, as this of Abjuration, give to the known Rights, and privileges of the People of this Land, my Method shall be directed by these Heads. That they are Fundamentally repugnant to the Common laws and ancient Statutes of this Nation. Directly contrary to many Acts even of the last Parliament, and Declarations of the present Army. Absolutely prohibited by the Law of God, and inconsistent with the general judgement of all Reformed Churches. Magistrate's being originally instituted for this principal end, Thoughts unpunished because unoffensive. to maintain a just order & harmony in the outward Motions of the multitude, it necessarily follows that the general design of Government is little concerned, what note we make in our single selves, if we be in tune with our Companions. Upon which ground the Common Law of this Land directs all its care to rule and treat us, as we are considered in reference to one another, and therefore neither limits our private expenses, nor obliges to any course of physic; because our particular fortunes and health are of very little importance to the public, and of very much to ourselves; And since nothing is more reasonable then to entrust those with the managery of an affair, whom the issue most concerns, it cannot be denied, but as this freedom (without which we were absolute Slaves,) is allowed us in relation to our Bodies and Estates: So our Souls (as far as may consist with the public peace) ought to enjoy a just and proportionable share in the same liberty. Much less doth the Law either punish or reward our thoughts, because they neither disappoint nor advance its ends; The intention of murder (though in the highest degree of premeditated malice) is no way subject to any legal account, if the mischievous purpose stay at the fancy, and proceed no farther to any outward attempt: By which necessary distinction betwixt Divine and Human Jurisdiction, the Law religiously preserves its reverence to the great tribunal of God, before whom only, we are to answer for the private errors and secret vices of our hearts, as we are accountable to the Magistrate for the open Crimes and scandalous Actions of our hand●. If any conceive it just to enact a Law against Erroneous Thoughts in Religion, with an Oath of Aburation to make the suspected accuse himself, why should they not as well impose a penalty upon the vicious Thoughts of Hatred, Revenge or Ambition: And then force every one to swear whether he be guilty? Certainly Magistrates may as lawfully put us to our oaths, whether we have assented to any traitorous thought against our Country, or coveted our neighbour's Goods or Wife, as what we think of such a point of Divinity. Should it be pretended, that the Oath of Abjuration commits no force upon the mind, but only upon the mouth; gives free leave to think what we will, if we swear as it commands; Such liberty of Conscience (to believe in our hearts contrary to what we profess with our lips) Nero himself allowed; Such liberty of Conscience (that is, damnable hypocrisy) is indeed the proper and natural effect of compulsion upon the Conscience: Surely by this glorious word (liberty) something more is intended to be left us, than what no Tyrant can take from us; Surely it ought at least to be so courteously interpreted, that by this kind phrase (Liberty of Conscience) be understood a liberty consistent with Conscience; a condition, wherein every peaceable Christian may follow our Principles, without renouncing his own honesty: yet I confess it puzzles all the reason I am owner of, that they who take this Oath (though very credibly against their Consciences) shall enjoy the full benefit of tender Consciences; And if any refuse it (because against his Conscience) he is wholly excluded from the least mercy provided for tender Consciences. Besides, Thoughts not punished because incapable of proof. this dispunishableness of thoughts arises as well from the impossibility of lawful proof, as from their innocency in not offending others; And therefore a secret promise (though most seriously and deliberately resolved on) if reserved in the parties own Conscience, creates no legal Obligation of performance; which could not be true, Doctor and Student p. 104. if the Law did allow any proceeding, whereby the party were compellable to accuse himself. And therefore, even in Chancery (though that be a swearing Court) if a Bill of Perjury be sued upon the Statute (5. Dyer 288. 49 Ed 3●1 Challenge 100 Eliz.) the Defendant shall not be forced to make Answer upon Oath either to the Bill or Interrogatories. So if a Juror be challenged for partiality, grounded upon some indifferent and unreproachfull objection (as Kindred to one of the parties, &c.) he shall be admitted to clear such a question by his own Oath; but if the charge be either ignominous or dangerous, as bribery, &c. the challenger must maintain his Assertion by witnesses; Crompton in his Justice of P. 193. It being unreasonable (in the wise and moderate judgement of the Law) that any one be enforced to become his own accuser. With these agree many other Authorities, all unanimously subscribing to this conclusion, as an undeniable maxim of Law, Dalton 299 fuller's Argument 10. that, None can be lawfully examined upon Oath, concerning any thing that sounds to his own prejudice. Nay so great an abhorrence has the Common Law of the parties being forced to prosecute and condemn himself, that it employs an extraordinary diligence to prevent so destructive an abuse; And therefore in fitzherbert's Natura Brevium, if any had been cited into the spiritual Court to accuse himself pro salute Animae, as they called it, a Prohibition lay at the Common Law to stop and supersede their proceedings; And it is a case adjudged, that, if in a paenall Law, the jurisdiction of the Ordinary be saved, as in 1 Eliz. Coke mag. circa 657. 2. for hearing of mass, the party shall not be examined upon Oath before the Ordinary concerning that point, because it might become an evidence against himself, Leighes case. & 18. if questioned afterwards in the temporal Courts, which is a direct Authority in the very point out of a Book licenced and Printed by special Order of the last Parliament, Eliz. Dyer 175. clearly proving, that as the Papists ought to be tried by witnesses, Hinds case. and not themselves examined upon Oath, concerning their going to mass; So, much less concerning their inward belief, especially when such ruin attends them in their Estates, if they dare refuse to swear against their Consciences. It is true by the Common Law in some personal Actions the Defendant is admitted (not compelled) to his Oath, as in Case of wager of Law, 21 Ed. 3. 10. &c. 33. H. 6. 10. of non summons in a Praecipe quod reddat, and of garnishment, upon a Scire Facias, &c. But all these oaths are either voluntarily offered by the party himself, not enforced upon him by the Judges, and go in discharge, not condemnation of him; or else concern only some collateral passage of little importance to the decision of the main controversy, nor is the least shadow of such practice to be seen in any penal Law, which is the only point we dispute upon, and which we here undertake to prove; a proceeding altogether unknown to our laws, that any one should be constrained to inform against himself, and so become his own Executioner. Upon this ground Sir Thomas Moor (a person completely learned in the laws of this Land, and universally famous for courage and resolution, according to his principles) refused the then new Oath concerning the King's Supreamacy and Divorce, alleging for his defence at the Bar, that he never spoke or acted any thing against that Statute, and upon this Plea he relied, as an evident justification in Law, which never (said he) was strained so far as to reach our thoughts; and for his inward judgement, he freely professed that Oath to be against it, offering before the Judges to swear, that the unsatisfaction of his Conscience therein was the only cause of his refusal to comply with their Commands. And if we look back upon times behind us, we shall often see the outward words and actions censured by the Magistrate, but never the least attempt upon the a Thoughts not punished by Acts of Parliament before the Reformation. inward belief; though the principles heretofore entertained concerning the use of force in Religion have generally been far more rigid, than those we now profess. Therefore in the Acts of 5. Hen. 2. 5. & 2. Hen. 4. 14. & 2. Hen. 5. 1. (made even in Popish times which we so much condemn for cruelty) those that began new opinions contrary to the received Religion of the Nation, 5 Hen. 2. 5 2 He. 4 14. 2 Hen. 5. 1. are prohibited to Preach publicly any doctrine destructive of the Established laws, or by their subtle Sermons to draw the people after them; But not a word of forcing to swear the contrary. They are forbidden to write Books in defence of their singularities, or make unlawful Conventicles to the endangering of the public Peace; But not a syllable of renouncing what they believed in their heart. The Statute of 31. 31 & 34 Hen 8. Nor in the beginning of the Reformation. Hen. 8. 14. lays a forfeiture upon any that by Word, Writing, Printing, Publishing, Preaching or Teaching, shall maintain any of the Opinions in six Articles therein prohibited: But not a Letter of Abjuring their inward persuasion. And what the Lord Herbert in his History of Henry the 8. Lord Herbert's Hen. 8 fol. 447, 448. saith concerning this Statute is worth consideration, his words are these. The six Articles being now published, gave no little occasion of murmur, since to revoke the Conscience not only from its own Court, but from the ordinary ways of resolving Controversies, to such an abrupt decision of the Common Law, as is there set down, was thought to be a deturning of Religion from its right and usual course; since the Conscience must be taught, not forced; without that it should at any time be handled roughly, as being of so delicate a temper, as though it suffer an edge to be put on, who doth more, diminisheth or breaks it: Besides to make the contravening of Doctrines, to be capital, before they be fully proved, is prejudicial to that liberty, without which none can justify himself before God or Man: For if it be death (and Sequestration is a kind of death) to believe otherwise then we are commanded; how unsafe will it be to make exact enquiry? and without it, who can say his Religion is best? Besides the Example is dangerous; For if Infidels and Heathens (to retain their People in obedience) should do the like, who would ever turn Christian? Therefore Cranmer for three days together in the open Assembly opposed these Articles boldly, &c. Thus far this learned Historian. The Statute of 1 Edw. 6. 1. (in the beginning of the Reformation) continued the same stile of punishing only the outward Act, whilst it declares, if any shall deprave, despise or contemn the Sacrament of the Altar (so called in the Act, according to the Language of those times) he should suffer imprisonment and make fine and ransom at the King's pleasure. Nor since the Reformation. In the Statutes of 1. Eliz. 1. & 8. Eliz. 10. it is Enacted; That if any person shall by Writing, 1 El●z. 1. 8 Eliz. 10. Printing, Teaching or Preaching extol, &c. The authority of the Bishop of Rome, or by any Speeches, Deed or open Act attribute any authority here in England to the said Bishop, he shall incur the penalty mentioned in that Statute. Agreeable to the former Statutes is (13 Eliz. 13 Eliz. 12 c. 12.) being the Act made for the subscription to the Articles of Religion, then newly modelled into a public form of confession of Faith. The words of the Act are these. If any such ecclesiastical person shall advisedly maintain or affirm any doctrine directly contrary or repugnant to the said 39 Articles, and shall persist therein and not revoke his error, such maintaining or affirming and persisting, shall be just cause to deprive such person of his ecclesiastical promotions. Upon which Statute these things are observable. First, that these subscriptions being concerning matters of Faith are required of scholars and Divines upon their pretence to Church preferments, not of lay persons, to dispossess them of their temporal inheritances. Secondly, they must maintain or affirm some doctrine opposite to these Articles, to bring them within the penalty of that Law. So that the believing only of the contrary is not sufficient. Thirdly, such maintaining or affirming is to be voluntary, and not drawn out of them by the rack of an Oath. Fourthly, it, being made a cause of Deprivation, must be by witnesses, and not by the enforced abjuration of the party. Fifthly, they are to lose only their ecclesiastical promotions, and not to be deprived of their temporal Estate. Not one of these so rational and necessary cautions is at all now considered in the modern proceedings against Papists; but the most unlearned Tradesman and ignorant Woman amongst them are compelled to accuse themselves, their Judges never asking after witnesses; And this under forfeiture of full two thirds of all their Goods and Lands. And even in the last Parliament many Ordinances have followed the same way of prohibiting external disorders, Norby the last Parliament itself. occasioned from difference in opinions, but not precisely for the bare difference in opinion; As that of the 11 Aug. 1645. made by the Lords and Commons. 11 Aug. 1645. Wherein it is Ordained, that what person soever shall endeavour to bring the Directory into contempt, or raise any opposition against it, or shall practise, write or Print, or cause to be written or Printed any thing in derogation or depraving of the said Directory, shall lose and forfeit for such offence such a sum of money, as shall at the time of his conviction be thought fit to be imposed upon him, by him before whom he shall have his trial. Conformable to this was an Order made in Parliament Decemb. 22 Decemb: 1646. 22. 1646. The Parliament taking into consideration, that some Anabaptiss and other Sectaries have disturbed the Ministers and Congregations in some Churches of this realm, in disparagement of the laws, Statutes and Governments thereof, do Order that the Constables and Headboroughs within their several Parishes, &c. shall arrest the bodies of all such persons as shall disturb any Ministers in holy Orders, whilst he is in place of exercising his public Calling, by speaking to him, or using irreverent gestures or actions; and that they carry the bodies of such Offenders before some Justice of Peace of the same County to be dealt with, as to Justice shall appertain. So likewise 9 9 Aug. 1650. Aug. 1650. It is Enacted, that every person that shall presume avowedly by words to profess, or shall by writing proceed to affirm any Blasphemous, atheistical or execrable Opinions derogatory to the Honour of God, such persons so avowedly professing, maintaining or publishing the said Opinions or any of them, shall incur the penalties of the said Statute. Which shows plainly that the last Parliament thought it not fit to punish any for erroneous Opinions, (though of the highest nature) If the party shall only believe them in his heart, and keep them within his own breast. Lastly, (as a final decision of this point and full satisfaction of those objections, which some make against the validity of an Ordinance) it was Enacted (17 Car.) by the King, Lords, and Commons, That no person whatsoever exercising any ecclesiastical (much less temporal) jurisdiction shall tender any Oath to any person, either Ex Officio or at the instance of any whosoever, whereby he may be charged to confess or accuse himself of any crime, and so expose himself to punishment: than which no clearer or more definitive sentence can be imagined. And (which is very observable) never in former times was any Abjuration required, but of such, as were first legally convict of Heresy; Never till these times, was the Abjuration itself made the conviction, 2 Hen. 4. 15 and therefore in the Statute of 2 Hen. 4. 15. These two conditions are punctually expressed, That in case of Abjuration the opinion to be abjured be a known heresy, and the party to abjure be legally found guilty, before they proceed to exact his Abjuration. According to this tenor run many other Statutes both ancient and modern, which my design of brevity enforces me to omit, and the full sufficiency of the laws already cited renders altogether unnecessary; only I shall desire leave to extract these few sound and excellent words out of the Petition of Right, 3 Car. That no free men be compelled to take any Oath, not warranted by the laws of the realm. This being then concluded, that thoughts are free from all human laws, and self accusation contrary to the English laws; it is very suitable to our Method, to consider next what provision our commonwealth has made for discovery and conviction of Offenders; Wherein after I have slightly touched some of the Arguments mentioned in the first part of this Moderator, I shall pass on to those aditional reasons I have since collected, And that the way of Indictment and conviction of witnesses and Jury is the only proceeding owned by the fundamental laws of this Land, IS abundantly proved by the chief Author and surest defender of all our Liberties, Magna Carta, so often confirmed in our ancient Parliaments, so reverently upon all occasions cited by the last: where every English man may read with joy these precious words. No free man may be arrested or imprisoned, but by due process of Law. No man shall be put out of his freehold by either the King himself, Coke Mag. Carta. 45. & 46. or any Commissioners, but every ones right to be tried by a Jury of his equals. Of which happy-freedom the Papists (who long since procured it for this Nation) enjoy not now the least shadow. 5 Ed. 3. 9 It is enacted that no man from hence forth shall be attached upon any occasion, nor his Lands, Tenements, Goods, or chattels seized against the form of the great Charter or against the Law of the Land. To this regular form of proceeding Thieves and Robbers have a clear and allowed right, only Papists upon the single account of Religion are altogether excluded. 25. Ed. 3. c. 4. None is to be convicted of any offence, unless by indictment, or presentment of good, and lawful men, where such offence is supposed to be done. This Justice every murderer can claim and no Judge dare deny; only the Papist whom we can accuse of no other crime; then difference of judgement in Religion, is forced to convict himself by his own Oath, without the least colour of any legal Indictment, so expressly contrary to the known laws and ancient liberties of this Nation. 28. Ed. 3. c. 3. No man of what Condition or Estate soever shall be put out of his Lands or Tenements without being brought to answer by due process of Law. This privilege the most trivial fellow, that has but a Cottage to hide his head in, may uncontrollably challenge, and God forbid it should be refused him; but then how is it reasonable that Recusants (many of them persons of very considerable, quality) be dispossessed of so great Estates, upon their own enforced Oaths without any due process of Law? 42. Ed. 3. cap. 1. It is enacted that the great Charter shall be held, and kept in all points, and if any Statute be made to the contrary it shall be void. Nay so great account have our wisest Ancestors made of this Magna Carta, so carefully provided for its preservation and universal observance, that it has no less than 30 times been solemnly confirmed by Authority of Parliament, as is at large declared in Sir Ed. Coke's 5. Report fol. 64. B. and in his 8. Report fol. 19 B. 42. Ed. 3. cap. 3. It is Enacted, That no man shall be put to answer without presentment before Justices or matter of Record, or by due process, according to the Law of the Land, and if any thing from henceforth be done to the contrary, it shall be void in Law and holden for error. No Court disallows this advantage to the worst of traitors; no Committee allows it to the quietest of Recusants. All these so excellent laws (such as no People under Heaven enjoy) were made when the Legislative power was absolutely in the hands of Papists; all these privilege (so high and extraordinary that they deserve the name, rather of the people's Prerogatives then their Liberties) the Papists obtained and established in their times, & carefully transmitted to their posterities: All these wise and prudent Cautions (which so safely fence and preserve our Common Freedom from the encroachment of Arbitrary power) were providently contrived by the Papists, and from them are happily descended upon us. And shall we now, (having reformed their Faith) forget our own reason so far, as to deprive our Brethren of the benefit of those laws, which their Fathers made, only because they resemble them most in Religion? Shall we so far yield to passion, as utterly deny them the immmunities of their ancestors? Or can we possibly arrive at this degree of partiality, as not permit the greatest Malefactor to be his own accuser, and yet enforce the most peaceable Recusant to be his own condemner? Nay though the Thief (Arraigned at the Bar) confess his guilt, our Judges mercifully decline to condemn him, without some Testimony of witnesses: But if a Recusant will not voluntarily both arraign and condemn himself, the practice of haberdasher's Hall is, (without thinking of further proof) immediately to proceed to Execution. Nor was this tenderness towards the liberty of the subject regarded only in those old days, but we have fresh Examples of a greater zeal and jealousy, than ever those times were acquainted with; For in the great Petition of Right (3. Car.) all these Statutes were particularly recited and earnestly insisted upon by the Parliament then assembled. And yet a fresher instance is that of the last Parliament, who (in their Act for Regulation of the Privy council and abolition of the Star-chamber) did punctually repeat again all those Statutes, and rely upon them as the fundamental and unchangeable Law of the Land. Besides, whereas copyhold Estates by the ancient laws and customs of this Nation, were never comprehended within the general words of any Act of Parliament, which altars the interest of the Land or the custom of the manor, to the prejudice either of Lord or tenant, as is resolved in Sir Edw. Coke's second Report, fol. 8. Sir Fran. More's Reports 199. 428, &c. Because no stranger can become tenant of any Copyhold Estate, without the Lords special assent and admission; For which cause no Copyholds were ever liable to any Execution of Statutes or recognisances in debts or Formdon, nor were within the Statute of 2 Hen. 5. cap. 15. for Heresy, nor were seizable within the Statute 29 Eliz. cap. 6. nor 3. Jac. cap. 4. for Recusancy; Yet (contrary to this ancient fundamental Law) the Copyhold Estates of every suspected Recusant are seized upon and sequestered, although there be no Ordinance or Act of Parliament expressly warranting any such proceedings. Thus have we clearly demonstrated, that the only course allowed by the Law for determination of all Controversies, is the ordinary process by Writ in civil Causes, and by indictment in criminal and in both by Witnesses and a Jury of the Neighbourhood, where the scene of the question lies. And now we shall fully satisfy our undertaking, if we can also prove That the late Parliament often engaged by solemn Acts and Declarations to maintain the laws of the Land. WHerein it is impossible for any that can read English, to retain the least doubt, when he has perused these few Citations. 26 May, Exact collections, fol. 267. Ib. fol. 660 1642. The Lords and Commons declare, That they will be very tender of the laws, which they acknowledge to be the safeguard and custody of all public and private interest. 23 October 1642. They further declare, That they must own it, as their duty, to use their best endeavours that the meanest of the commonwealth may enjoy their own birthrights, freedom and Liberty of the laws of the Land, being equally entitled thereunto with the greatest Subject. November 1642. 1642. Ibi● fol. 694. They further declare, That slavery must be the people's condition, if the two Houses should go about to overthrow the laws of the Land and the property of every man's Estate. 26. Exact col. fol. 78. May 1642. If such things may be done by Law without due process, the subject hath a very poor defence, and a very small, if any proportion of property thereby. 17 April 1646. book of Ordinances fol. 878 The Parliament declared, That they will not, nor any, by colour of any authority derived from them, shall interrupt the ordinary course of Justice. The Parliament declared, 15 Junii. 1647. That they will preserve unto the People their laws, and will Govern by them. And before and after they several times declared, that the laws of the Land are the undoubted birthright and inheritance of the meanest Subject. By a special Act, 9 Febr. 1648. the Parliament of England declared, That they are fully resolved to maintain and preserve the fundamental laws of this Nation, for and concerning the properties of the people with all things incident thereunto. Now after all these Ordinances, who could be so undutiful as to entertain the least fear of being ever hereafter forced to accuse himself? Upon these so many so solemn Declarations, who could have excused the presumption and perverseness of his heart, if he dared to doubt of their observance; Especially since the Parliament did not proclaim to us its sense by bare words, but advanced farther to severe Executions, and by the Example of the Earl of Strafford strictly prohibited the introducement of any novelty in the practice of the Law. Against whom the Parliament in their third Article brought this charge, That he had proceeded summarily in the matter of the Lord Mont-Norris; And in the sixth Article, his accusation was, that he had dispossessed the Lord Mont-Norris of his Lands by a summary process contrary to Law; And in the seventh Article the like charge was again repeated; That he had deprived the Lady Hibbots of her possessions by a summary way of proceeding. These misdemeanours (though not the only Crimes of which he was accused, yet) added such a weight to his other offences that altogether they sunk him into his Grave. In the whole course of whose trial I meet with nothing more worthy to be stayed upon, than this consideration; That the Parliament did not so much urge against him the illegality, as the unlawfulness of his proceedings, nor condemn him barely for want of a Commission or authority, but because his Actions were in themselves tyrannical, and dangerous encroachments upon the fundamental Liberty of this Nation; Yet he examined Witnesses, but after a fashion of his own devising, and left the common road of trial by the verdict of a Jury. And can there be a more summary process, then to accuse any whom we suspect of a Crime, and (Unless he immediately swear himself unguilty) immediately condemn him, as guilty? Can there be a more quick and cutting dispatch, then in half an hour to turn a just owner out of his ancient possession, because he will not swear against his Conscience? and (which is yet worse) can there be a more compendious (if not preposterous) way, than first to seize upon and secure the Estate, and then hear the party speak for himself? book of O●dinances for sequestrations fol 40 Yet these are the express Instructions to the Committees for Sequestrations in the Year 1643. That where they find any doubt concerning any person whether he be comprehended within the said Ordinance (for Sequestration) they are to certify the same to the Committee of Lords and Commons for that service, and in the mean time to secure the Estate of such persons, until they receive further Instructions. And now when I consider the Office of a Parliament, which is principally to reform the abuses, that time (conspiring with our corrupted nature) brings into the administration of the laws, when I consider the quality of the last Parliament, professing so scrupulous and precise a respect to the preservation of our ancient Liberties: I cannot sufficiently wonder from what cause this unhappy effect should flow, by which a freeborn Englishman is compelled to be his own accuser in matters of so tender a nature, as Conscience and Religion, and of so high a concernment, as the utter impoverishment of himself and his family; But after a little ranging about I soon discovered the fountain head in a dark hollow place, where three or four hundred springs of fresh water met together in one channel, of which, some having passed through hot and sulphurous veins, quite changed the taste and colour of the rest, and the stormy weather of that season quickly raised the whole stream into a fierce and violent current, whose fury soon broke the common banks and bore down all before it like a deluge. The truth of which Metaphor, is as easily proved, as the sense of it understood; being no more than that the Introducer of this cruel Oath, was an Ordinance hastily huddled up in the destroying time of Presbytery and War. For than it was, August 17. 1643. that where the people had thrown in their Rings and Jewels, there came forth the golden Covenant, before which all the Nation must fall down and worship. Book of O●dinan. 289. 408. Jul 19 1643 Then it was the Presbyter-Divines petitioned both Houses for a perfect Reformation and settling of the Kirk Discipline and classical Government. Then it was that penalties began to be imposed upon all Refusers of the Covenant, G●eat Boo. of O●din. and none to bear Office but such as had taken the Covenant; fol 240. 30. Nov. 1643. nay all be punished as spies, that denied to take the Covenant. Ordin. 390. 399. 20 〈◊〉. 1643. Not long after was published the Directory or new almanac to pray by, taken out of the Ephemerides of Scotland, and calculated for the Elevation of the new Kirk of England by the Assembly of well wishers to Divinity. Ordi. 404. Not long after were the apocryphal Elders brought in, Ordi. 802. and tyrannical Classes erected; November 26. 1644. Both the Houses declaring their intentions to settle Religion in the purity thereof according to the Covenant, Gr. book of Ordin. 809. which surely was a mistake in the Printer, to say Covenant instead of the Word of God. Thus plainly it appears, that the Presbyterian stars (or Comets rather, by the shortness and terror of their blaze) reigned in the firmament of our State at the birth of this unlucky Oath of Abjuration, and long after. The second branch of the task I undertook was, That these sudden and sharp proceedings of sequestering upon the bare refusal of an Oath, without any legal process, were occasioned by the exigencies of the War; an assertion most fully and evidently proved by the first Ordinance against Delinquents and Papists; 1. Apr. 1643 In the preamble whereof the Lords and Commons (reciting the calamities of the War) declare, That all the sequestered Estates should be applied towards the supportation of the great charges of the commonwealth; And in the first Instructions to the Committees, they are charged to use their best care and diligence for the speedy execution of the Ordinance for Sequestration, as being a matter of great necessity and importance for the subsistence of the Army. Great Book of Ordin. fol. 360. and 511. And observing some slowness in the Committee, the Earl of Manchester (a Commander in chief) was empowered to execute that Ordinance; and the Sequestrators commanded to pay the money they raised, to the Committee of the Army. One other argument there is, that inclines me to believe the Parliament intended this Ordinance only as a provision in those distracted times, and not as a standing Law for ever; else surely they would never have put into their Commission so slight a thing as a bailiff of a Corporation. Were it handsome that the Mayor of Rising should come down from thatching some trivial alehouse, to tender the Oath of Abjuration to the noble Earl of Arundel? or indeed how should a common tradesman (whom without breach of charity we may presume can neither write nor read) know what he does, when he commands others to forswear such hard long words, as Supremacy, Purgatory, and Transubstantiation? what shall we (that accuse the Papists of blind obedience) say to ourselves, when our very leaders are so shortsighted? 'tis true, all these fair and just exceptions are fully answered by this one word Necessity, a Heteroclyte that hath no Rule, no Law, and therefore, as it is without Law, to be judged without Law. But then at least it ought to be a Law unto itself, that is, confined to circumstances, wherein there is a true and real necessity, and therefore during the furious violence and career of war, such summary proceedings (to prove without Witness and condemn without Jurors) might easily find excuse, but being restored now to a perfect calm and universal peace, we are certainly obliged to return again to the known English trial by Indictment and Conviction, and not continue still throwing our neighbour's goods overboard, so long after the storm is ended. If any object, though the reason of Necessity remains now no longer, since the gates of Westminster Hall are open, and the old crowd of Suitors march peaceably there under the Scotch Colours; yet the supreme Authority of the Nation is bound to render no other account of their Acts, than the French King of his Edicts, which always close with this Frank and resolute Period, Car tel est nostre plaisir. I reply, first, That such Objection seems rather to accuse the Government of Tyranny, then faithfully defend its Authority; no sound approaching so nigh Antipathy to an English ear, as that of being under an absolute and unlimited Master, whether that boundless and uncontrollable Power be lodged in the single person of a King or the multiplied of a council. When by the change of circumstances, any Law becomes unfit to be continued, we are not forbidden to represent, even to the highest Powers, our reasons for a repeal; if we carry our Addresses with such regard, that they appear to intend a Reformation of the error, not correction of our Superiors. In which respect, never did any Parliament give such high hopes of a thorough redress, as that which lately sat, by erecting so carefully those two grand Committees for regulating the Law and propagating the Gospel, by inviting so solemnly all that would offer their proposals to come into their assistance. And as the whole Nation remains infinitely bound to the solicitude of the Army, for whose satisfaction both those Committees were established: So are we all no less obliged to the Zeal of the general, by whose personal presence every day at that of Religion it received so great Countenance and Encouragement. And therefore I shall not entertain the least suspicion that these few thoughts of mine should beget any offence, since they aim only to propose the unsuitableness of this new uncharitable Oath of Abjuration to the ancient and best laws of the Land. Even the Pope admits his Subjects (when they apprehend some error in the proceedings) to appeal from himself misinformed, to himself better informed and yet we call his absoluteness, a Tyranny, and their obedience, blindness. How much more than may those true lovers of their country's happiness promise themselves security, if not acceptance from the Parliament, who either by humble Petition or other modest and untumultuous way represent to their consideration any mis-practiseor inconvenience, which in time might prove a dangerous precedent to the just liberties of their Country. What ever the supreme Authority of a Nation may by absolute prerogative command, yet the supreme Authority of this hath always disclaimed such Arbitrary Dominion, as tyrannical, and often engaged by most solemn Declarations for the perpetual continuance to the people of the laws they are acquainted with; amongst which as there is none more fundamental and singular to the Nation▪ then the ancient trial by Witnesses and Verdict, so we shall still endeavour to make more evident so important a truth, by proposing A short parallel between this Oath of Abjuration and that Ex Officio. IN the grand Petition signed by the 9 Sept. 1640. Lords, and presented to the late King at York, we find this recorded as one of the principal grievances; That many innovations in oaths and Canons had been lately imposed upon the Clergy and other his majesty's Subjects, &c. In redress of which mischievous encroachment upon our just liberties, In 17. Caroli. the late long Parliament enacted; That no person exercising any ecclesiastical Power or Authority shall ex Officio or at the instance or promotion of any person whatsoever urge, enforce, tender, give, or minister to any person whatsoever any Oath, whereby he shall or may be charged to confess or accuse himself of any crime, offence, delinquency, misdemeanour, matter or thing▪ by reason whereof he shall or may be liable to any penalty or punishment whatsoever. Before which Statute (viz. 1607.) the unreasonableness and illegality of that Oath had been clearly convinced by a learned Treatise of Oaths purposely written against it, as also by M. Fuller in his arguments at the than King's Bench against some branches of the High Commission Court▪ both which pursued their points so efficaciously, that the grievances they opposed were unanimously condemned as intolerable abuses. And certainly no mathematical Demonstration can bear a higher and clearer evidence, then that the principal reasons (which I have here collected out of both those Treatises) against that Oath Ex Officio are more strongly appiable to this of Abjuration. Thus than they begin their just charge upon that unjust Oath. First, That contrary to the Law of Nature and the fundamental laws and customs of this Nation, the party examined is thereby forced to swear against himself in a criminal cause before he knows his Accuser, and consequently compelled to be instrumental to his own punishment. This was condemned in the beginning of the last Parliament with infinite applause, as a most unsufferable Tyranny; but the Oath of Abjuration far exceeds it, even in its two worst qualities, cruelty and illegality. Every Recusant (whose Conscience cannot down with the Oath) being unavoidably necessitated either to ruin his Soul by taking it against Conscience, or his Estate by loss of two thirds, if he refuse it: Wherein there is one circumstance practised, that raiseth this Oath to a most exorbitant unconscionableness; For as to those, whose Judgements take any other road, as Antinomians, Socinians, or even Jews, their course is smooth and free, but if we espy one whom we guess to be a Papist, and whose Conscience we think is not pliant and nimble enough to leap over the block, then presently this break-neck Oath of Abjuration is clapped in his way; against which our own hearts (if we but lay our hands upon them) will tell us, he must necessarily either stumble into a desperate poverty, or (which is worse) fall downright into a damnable perjury. The Oath Ex Officio was avered to be a mere Alien, introduced by the Prelates, upon pretext of purging their Provinces of seduced people; but indeed to maintain their Hierarchy and tyrannize over the Consciences of all dissenters contrary to Law and Equity; This of Abjuration is a greater stranger, never heard of till 1643, when the Presbyterian faction thought it a fit engine to screw up their intended Kirk-tyranny. By the Oath Ex Officio, men were examined upon captious questions concerning their very Thoughts, to the sifting and ransacking of their Hearts and Consciences, and were therein subjected to a far greater Tyranny than that of the Spanish Inquisition, which extends to words and actions only. This of Abjuration compels even women and illiterate persons positively to renounce (by mere adventure or implicit Faith) many controversial Doctrines, about which the greatest Divines of Europe have so long disputed, and are like perhaps never to agree; Nor is this Oath contented with a modest and simple professing, that they do not believe there is a Purgatory: but absolutely exacts of them to swear down right there is none, in the last period of the Oath, where they are enforced, to abjure and renounce all Doctrines in affirmation of the said points. For my part, as I think it a wild conceit, to hold there is a new World in the Moon; So I am sure it is a desperate presumption positively to swear the contrary. That Oath Ex Officio (being commonly tendered to such as are suspected guilty of the crimes, whereof they are to clear themselves by their own Oath, or otherwise to undergo a penalty) must in all probability be an occasion of frequent perjuries, to the loss not only of many souls, but to the great abuse of the name and majesty of God. This of Abjuration exposes men to the same danger, and God to the same dishonour; And besides hath been so far from ever gaining any true convert to the Protestant Religion, that it hath made many swear away that little Religion they had, and ever after profess none: For such indifferent and lukewarm Papists, as take this Oath, usually say, they will rather trust God with their souls then the commonwealth with their estates. Whence certainly it was that the famous Judge, Coke's fourth Report, f. 95. Sir Edward Coke, breaks out into this complaint; Experience now proveth, the Consciences of men are grown so large, that the respect of their private interests and commodities doth for the most part induce them to perjury. According to which he there sets it down for a Rule, that, to swear in a man's own case is frequently in this Age, the devil's precipice, whereby to throw men headlong into Hell. And yet to these straits (which my heart even bleeds to think) hath this cruel Oath of Abjuration driven all Recusants, live they never so peaceably and unoffensively; This dangerous snare (for it deserves no milder name, since we never think of endeavouring by any rational motives to persuade them out of their errors) lies continually before their feet to entrap them. Where is our charity to Christians, professing the same Saviour, and believing the same Scriptures, with ourselves? Where is our Justice to neighbours, equally entitled by their birthright to the same freedom with ourselves? Is the extraordinary Liberty, we held forth to all the World, shrunk into this narrowness, that any peaceable person, who professes the gospel of Christ (though in some things mistaken) should by us be compelled to this sad necessity, either of absolute forswearing himself, or utter impoverishing his family, which in plain English signifies (I tremble to utter it) either devil take his Soul, or Sequestrator his Estate. I acknowledge this a very harsh expression, but he that reflects upon the general proceedings hitherto with Recusants, that we appoint no godly and gifted men to convert them, but only Committeemen to ruin them, will I fear find too much truth in my words. Upon occasion of the Oath Ex Officio, See Book of Speeches, pag. 314. a learned Member moved in Parliament, (December, 1640.) That the Law might punish, not make Offenders; That words and actions might be subject to Law, Master Bagshaw, ibid. p. 347 but thoughts be free. Another of the same learning and dignity (in a speech in Parliament against the Oath Ex Officio) set upon it this public Brand, Novemb. 7. 1640. That it was grown monstrous, and become indeed no other than Carnificina Conscientiae. Upon the same ground was built the fourth Article of the charge against the Bishop of Bath and Wells, ibid p. 319 that he questioned one Master James a Minister of his diocese, not only for matters of outward fact, but likewise concerning secret thoughts. All which extreme and unsufferable inconveniences I confess are so evidently appliable to the Oath of Abjuration, that you need but only change names, to make them exactly true of either except that in the one both far more difficult questions are required, and far greater penalties imposed, whereas in the other, the point in doubt was very easy to resolve, whether you had slept with your neighbour's wife, and the punishment a little piece of money to repair Paul's. And certainly it was with reflection upon this Oath of Abjuration, Master Hobbs in his Christian commonwealth, p. 378. that the learned Master Hobbs says, There is another error, to extend the power of the Law (which is the Rule of actions only) to the bare thoughts and Consciences of men, by examination and inquisition of what they hold; whereby men are either punished for their very thoughts, or constrained to answer an untruth for fear of punishment; By which means they are forced to accuse themselves of their opinions, which is against the Law of Nature. Nor doth this Oath of Abjuration extort the secret thoughts only, but compels the renouncing of some positions, which (in the opinion of divers venerable writers) are more receivable, than the Doctrine of some avowed Protestants. I instance in the point of Transubstantiation (one of the Articles to be abjured) which a In consens. de re Sacram. Art. 24. p. 75●. Calvin says is more rational than the Doctrine of Consubstantiation, and yet this the Lutherans (our brethren) unanimously hold. b Part. 2. Histor Sacram. fol. 754. Hospinian (another Protestant writer) says the like; And c De Coena Domini. p. 216. Beza acknowledges Transubstantiation to be an inevitably consequent of the Doctrine of the real presence, which all Lutherans maintain, and is not against this Oath. How then comes it to pass that the real presence in the Lord's Supper may be lawfully, at least safely maintained, which many Protestants herein England do, and all Lutherans everywhere; yet under most severe penalties the intrinsic belief of Transubstantiation must be abjured, which (in the judgement of those famous Reformers) is an inevitable consequence of it, and more rational, than the opinion of Consubstantiation, yet this may be defended without being subject to the least question; Nay more, there is no Oath nor penalty against the public professing of Consubstantiation, no nor against the public practice according to that opinion, and yet the very inward belief of Transubstantiation is made so heinous a crime, so severely punishable, that they who are but lookers on, and only see the burdens laid upon refusers of this Oath, feel in their breasts a certain instinct by which they protest themselves secretly and strangely enforced to grieve and sigh at the cruel and rigorous proceedings even of their own Party. And that this compassion towards sufferers, upon the account of Religion, rises not so much from softness of Nature, as from the tenderness of the Spirit, will certainly find an easy belief, if, in stead of a flock of tame and weeping women, we can pick out an Army of victorious Soldiers, whose courage neither knows to fear the face of such as threaten war, nor conscience endures to force the heart of those that will live in peace; Of which too evident truths, if any deny the first, let him read their past victories, if doubt of the second, I desire him to peruse their following DECLARATIONS. NOw to the comfort and even amazement of the Spirit, let us contemplate the constant pious intentions held forth by the Army. No sooner had their many victories rendered them the terror of the World, (our own as fearfully as neighbouring Nations expecting what great design of blood they next would enterprise) but they threw aside the cruelty and ostentation of Conquest, and took into themselves the bowels of mercy; They presently looked round about them on their afflicted Christian Brethren: and, knowing nothing more precious, nothing more comfortable to the godly than liberty of conscience, by their frequent Declarations to the World, and zealous addresses to the late Parliament, they manifested how unalterable they were in their holy Principles. No licentious avarice emboldened them to divide the spoil, no wantonness provoked them to surfeit with the fruit of the Land they had subdued; So far from growing insolent with success, that even their enemies have confessed, There was never in any age known so great a modesty in so continued a victory, nor such excellent discipline in a conquering Army. Their own interest never regarded by themselves, only to improve the quiet & repose of the conscientious, was their endeavour, which they pursued with so religious a noble courage, that they took their lives into their hands, and with the greatest hazard to self-preservation, removed that Power which grew slothful, and halted in the way of godliness, and have moddeled such a Government, as shall intend chiefly to give balsam to the many wounds of the afflicted. This relief is the expectation and hope of many Consciences now in anguish and tribulation, who cannot but with comfort remember, how the Army ever had that compassion which the Clergy wanted, and the military piety hath been still eminent above the civil or ecclesiastic. What their godliness will be, we cheerfully and confidently expect; what hitherto it hath, these ensuing Expressions will declare. It was humbly desired by the Army; army's Declaration 14. June 1647. p. 12 That (according to the Declaration of the Parliament, promising a provision for tender Consciences) there might be some effectual course taken according to the intent thereof, and that such, as upon conscientious grounds differ from the established forms, may not for that be debarred from the common rights, liberty and benefits equally belonging to all, as Members of the commonwealth, Narration of the Army printed at Oxford. 1647. Pag. 11. whilst they live soberly and inoffensively to others, and peaceably and faithfully to the State. Likewise, That sufficient care be taken for the liberty and protection of those, who cannot submit to the external worship of this Nation, though otherwise conformable to the civil power and authority thereof. They desired, Army's Declaration 2. Aug 1647. That an Act might be passed to take away all Coercive Power extending to any civil penalties upon any, for matters of Conscience; and expressly, That Papists be subject to punishment, only for disturbing the State, Page 7. and that men may not be compelled to take any Oath against their judgement and consciences, Their Proposals, 16 September 1647. but that all Orders and Ordinances to that purpose may be repealed. That none may be compelled by penalties to answer to questions tending to accuse themselves; Page 8. And that consideration might be had of all Statutes and Ordinances, Page 10. imposing any Oaths, and that they might be either repealed or at least so qualified, that they might not extend or be construed to the molestation or punishment of Religious and peaceable people for nonconformity to fixed forms, bounds, and limits, thereby to confine God's holy Spirit; as if Religion consisted more in such outward forms and rites, according to the manner of Moses, then in power and virtue according to the Gospel. again, Proceedings of the Army, 15 Novem. 1647. That matters of Religion and the ways of God's worship are not by them entrusted to any human power, because therein they cannot remit or exceed a tittle of what their consciences dictate unto them, to be the word of God, without wilful sin: nevertheless the public way of instructing the Nation, so it be not compulsive, is referred to the discretion of the Parliament. Page 9 His Excellency and Council of War declare, That the Covenant be not enforced, Lord Gen. Cromwel's Declaration 1647. nor any penalties imposed on the Refusers, whereby men might be constrained to take it against their judgements, but that all Orders & Ordinances to that purpose might be repealed. That consideration be had of Statutes, Pag. 10. 13 Laws & customs of Corporations, imposing any Oaths, & that they may be either repealed or so qualified, that they may not extend or be construed to the molestation or ensnaring of Religious & peaceable People, merely for a nonconformity in Religion. Again his Excellency thus learnedly and religiously, If outward things may not be contended for, Lord Gen. Declarat. 21. March 1650. much less may the doctrines of Faith (which are the works of Grace and the Spirit) be endeavoured by unsuitable means: He that bids us contend for the Faith once delivered to the Saints, tells us we should do it by building up ourselves in the most holy Faith, Pag. 2. 3. not pinning it upon other men's sleeves, keeping ourselves in the love of God, not destroying men, because they will not be of our faith, &c. As for the people (speaking of Ireland) what thoughts they have in matters of Religion in their own breast, I cannot reach, but think is my duty, if they walk honestly and peaceably, not to cause them in the least degree to suffer for the same, Pag. 5. but to endeavour to walk patiently, and in love towards them; to see if at any time it shall please God to give them another or a better mind. And in a Letter to the then governor of Rosse in Ireland, Lord general's Letter dat. 19 Octob. 1649. his Excellency (speaking of Religion) says, He meddles not with any man's private Conscience. The Army further declare, Narrarive of the Army 30. April 1649. That they do not empower or intrust their Representatives to continue in Force or make any laws, Oaths, or Covenants, whereby to compel by penalties or otherwise, any person to any thing, Page 5. in or about matters of Faith, Religion, or God's worship, or to restrain any person from the profession of his Faith, or excercise of Religion, according to his Conscience. Or to punish any person for refusing to answer to questions in criminal causes. These Declarations of the Army were seconded by a Petition from the cities of London and Westminster, Petition presented 11. Sept. 1648. & burrow of Southwark, to the Parliament, in these words, That they would exempt matters of Religion and God's worship from the compulsive and restrictive power of any authority upon earth, and refer them to the supreme power of Almighty God. And that the Parliament would not proceed in making Ordinances, or laws, or in appointing punishments concerning opinions, wherein themselves may easily be mistaken, &c. On all opportunities, thus hath the Army declared what was the light they walked by in the dark thorny ways of their precedent dangers; And in the endeavour that every Conscience may have a comfortable repose, they continue constant still, and vigorous; Nor can there be the least suspicion of straying from these religious Principles, having for their Guide, his Excellency, who hath fought his enemies as much into confusion, by an unexampled regularity of manners, and holy encouraging to piety, by frequent exhortations, tears, and prayers, as by the sharpness of his sword, and a courage ever invincible. Our next progress shall be to evince the truth and holiness of these principles of the Army, against the enforcing of Oaths, & coercion in Religion, to be clearly established upon that sure foundation THE LAW OF GOD. OF which three words, being of greater weight than three thousand volumes of men's Discourses, I shall content myself, and hope to content my Reader with the citation of these few Texts; One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, Deut. 19 15. fault, &c. (much less shall a man rise up against himself) but in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall the matter be established; which Rule is confirmed in the Gospel, Mat. 18. 16. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established, And our Lord Christ himself said to the woman accused of Adultery, John. 8 11. Where be thy accusers, if they condemn thee not, neither do I. In the proceedings upon this Oath of Abjuration, there is no accuser, no witness; the party himself must be both against himself; and what can be more opposite to Scripture, than such enforcement? And that carnal men, and they, who build on the Authority of academic learning, may see how abhorring to truth all force and violence offered to the Conscience is: let their patience go a little forward and find what have been The Opinions of the most eminent Divines in the Reformed Churches. NOne are to be compelled to profess the true Religion, Ofiander Cent. 7. fol. 94. by imprisonment or loss of goods; The Magistrate ought to force no man to subscribe Articles concerning Religion, Bucer Comment. Evangel. fol. 428. but that is to be left to the grace of God in every one, as the Lord shall direct. The Magistrate misuses his power, Bucan. in loc. come fol 33. if he impose laws upon our Consciences; For Paul did not subject the Consciences of Christians to human laws, Sect. 18. but to the Ordinances of God. Men are to be persuaded to Religion by reason, Fox. Acts and Mon. fol. 1650. and 1638. not compelled thereunto by punishment: The Gospel allows not the Law of compulsion to be put upon the Conscience, Beza in his theological Tract. fol. 90. and 118. but only of council and exhortation. The Scripture commands, that they who are weak in faith are to be borne withal, until the Lord shall reveal unto them all such things wherein they are ignorant, and in the mean while they ought to be instructed, not punished. Calvin. Comment. in 1 Cor. 8. 7. All men erring from the true Religion are to be reclaimed by fatherly exhortations, Polanus Syntag. liber. 10. ca. 65. hearing the Word, and good instructions, not by force & violence. The Lord hath definitively declared, that the Magistrates are not fit Judges in matters of Religion, Jac. Acontius in Strat. Satan. fol. 158. and 161. and therefore hath interdicted them all use of such Jurisdiction, and reserved it to himself, who at the last day by his Angels shall separate the Tares from the Wheat. Perkins in 6. Galat. fol. 477. God alone is Lord of the Conscience, and hath left it free from the Doctrines and commandments of men, which are in any thing beside his Word in matters of Faith: Assembly of Divines Conf. of Faith, chap. 19 sect. 2. so that to believe such Doctrines, or to obey such Commands out of Conscience, is to betray our liberty of Conscience, and the requiring of an absolute obedience, is to destroy liberty of Conscience and Reason also. Faith hath no relation unto, Mr Hobbs in his Christian commonwealth fo. 270. nor dependency at all upon compulsion and commandment, but only upon certainty and probability of arguguments, drawn from reason, or from something which men believe already: Therefore the Ministers of Christ in this world have no power to punish any for not believing; 1 Corinth. 1. 24 Fol. 271. since Paul himself professeth, We have no dominion over your faith. Ephes. 2. Faith (both in respect of the Object and of the Assent) being the free gift of God; which Man can neither give nor take away by promise of rewards nor menace of tortures. Fol. 26●. There is no coercive power left by our Saviour upon earth in matters of Religion, but only a power to proclaim the kingdom of Christ, and persuade men to submit themselves thereunto, and by precepts & good counsel to teach them that have submitted what to do, that they may be received into the kingdom of God when it comes, &c. Q. Camden's El●z. Eliz. in her own private judgement often declared, That she never thought it fit that the Consciences of her Subjects ought to be enforced; Annis 1577. fol. 86. and 1581. fol 11. albeit the Bishops prevailed with her against her own judgement to the contrary. Nothing is more against Religion, M▪ ●h●ll●ngworth. then to force Religion; For as Paul saith, the weapons of Christian warfare are not carnal; Page 167. human violence may make men counterfeit, but cannot make them believe, and is therefore fit for nothing but to breed Form without, and atheism within; and infinite prejudice to the kingdom of Christ, and consequently to the propagation of the Gospel doth follow thereby. Such who have their portions in this life, who serve no higher State; then England, nor this neither any farther than they serve themselves, who think of no other happiness, but the preservation of their own Fortunes in this world, and of no other means to preserve States but human policy, and believe no other Creed, but Regi aut Civitati imperium habenti, nihil injustum quod utile, such it may become to maintain by worldly power, and violence their State-instrument Religion; But they, who are indeed servants and lovers of Christ, know, that to no State any thing can be profitable, which is unjust and that nothing can be more evidently unjust, then to force men to the profession of such points of Religion, which they believe not. They who run into extremes in opposition to the Church of Rome, M. Chil. in his Preface, fol. 7. they who put down the Infallibility of the Church of Rome, and set up their own, they who declaim against the tyranny of that Church, and themselves exercise as great or greater over others, are the men that give the Church of Rome the greatest advantage; whereas men of more moderate spirits, such as require of Christians to believe only in Christ, upon such as these the Church of Rome cannot tell how to fasten. Fol. 100 Nor can it be any way advantageous to the civil State, that Men, without warrant from God, should usurp a tyranny over other men's consciences, and prescribe unto them without reason, and sometimes against reason, Fol. 179. what they should believe; We therefore are willing to leave all men to their liberty, provided they improve it not to a tyranny over others. This presumptuous imposing of the senses of men upon the words of God, Fol. 180. and the special senses of men upon the general words of God, and laying them upon men's consciences together under severe penalties; the deifying of men's own interpretations, and tyrannically imposing them upon others, the restraining of the understanding of men, wherein Christ and his Apostles left them free, is and hath been the only Fountain of the schisms of the Church. Take away this persecuting of men for not subscribing to the words of men, as the words of God; require of Christians only to believe Christ; In a word, take away tyranny (which is the devil's instrument to support Errors) and restore Christians to their just and full liberty, and it may well be hoped by God's blessing, that universal liberty, thus moderated, may quickly reduce Christendom to truth & unity, the contrary effects whereof happen by the tyrannous imposition of opinions upon other men's Consciences, Fol. 198. whereby they are, as it were grievosly exulcerated. All the power of the world is neither fit to convince, nor able to compel a man's conscience to consent to any thing; indeed worldly terror may prevail so far, as to make men profess a Religion, which they believe not; such men, who know not that there is a Heaven provided for Martyrs, and a Hell for those that dissemble such Truths as are necessary to be professed; But to force any man to believe what he knows not, or any honest man to dissemble what he doth believe, if God commands him to profess it, or to profess what he doth not believe, all the swords in the world are too weak, with all the powers of Hell to assist them. Fol. 16. It is a damnable sin for any man to profess an error against his Conscience, though the error in itself and to him that believes it be not damnable; Nay the profession not only of an error but of a truth, if not believed, is a mortal sin, unless hypocrisy and dissimulation in Religion be not so. If a Papist be convinced or persuaded in conscience, Fol. 19 that the Protestant Religion is irroneous, the profession of it, though in itself most true, would be to him damnable. See his Reasons, fol. 132. Thus in a full speed I have run over all that I could observe, to satisfy my Spirit concerning the illegality of this Oath in Common Law or Common Reason, in ancient or modern Acts of Parliament, in the Declarations of the Army (when success had left them no employment but their piety) in the Opinions of the most Learned Reformed Divines, and above all in the Law of God; And the charity I owe my afflicted Brethren hath forced me to communicate this to the Godly and Religious, that they may with compassion reflect on those who eat their Bread moistened with their tears, and weep over their Houses, become desolate, because they would keep up their Consciences from ruin. I have collected this for information of such, who have bowels, and disdain a glory or benefit that may rise by treading on their necks, who suffer only for Religion; Who (if they err) err to their own temporal prejudice, and can in their error have no design of flesh and blood; Whom discovered to have any conspiracy against Government I would have most severely punished, & whom quiet and inoffensive in practice of their own Consciences, I would have pitied and relieved; And this I seriously desire all religious spirits to weigh in their most godly and most prudent thoughts; That looking back on the last hundred years, they shall find every subversion of Government in this Nation (either papal, prelatical, or Presbyterian) to have been wrought by a too rigorous coercion of the Conscience; Religion ever falling down to the dust, when it leans too much on the weak treacherous Prop of human Policy, or endeavours to stand only by punishment of their brethren, modestly dissenting in some opinions. And why may not I with an humble boldness lay down these Observations at the door of the supreme authority the Parliament, &c. now sitting at Westminster? Why may I not solicit their mercy (by contemplating, what a series of providences have fettled them in the present Power, and redeemed their Consciences from a designed slavery) to take into their first consideration the deplorable condition of the most oppressed people in the world? Why may not the severity of the eternal Justice, executed on former governments, instruct them to meekness towards their Brethren in such a sad forlorn affliction? and thereby preserve themselves and their successors to a continued blessing by that Hand, which shakes down the palaces of the proud and uncompassionate, and out of their rubbish builds up a Tabernacle of glory for the humble and merciful. Nor can I at any distance how remote soever (though we squint on carnal interests) discover whence any the least prejudice can reach the Government, in not offering violence by Oaths to the Conscience; unless we reckon on the loss of that Rent is annually extorted by violence from the Conscience? And how unhandsome and (above that) unchristian will it appear, that we can tenderly maintain every Congregation, but only that, the not protecting which is for our temporal emolument and supplies of the Treasury; In recompense whereof, we may bring in the universal comfort of the whole Nation, when liberty of Conscience shall be so general, that in that harmony no one string shall be out of tune; Every spirit charitably embracing each other, and though not fully consenting in every circumstance, yet all agreeing in one belief of one God, and one acknowledging of one Mediator. And thus in a perfect unity at home, how safe shall we be against the sordidly avaricious, or disorderly ambitious of our enemies abroad; who as they fear that Sword, which the Almighty hath put into our hands; So will they court that Nations friendship, which is so piously friendly in itself. How religious will they believe all leagues? how happy all commerce with a people so conscientious, that (only on the account of tenderness) throws away the covetous severity of their Predecessors, and takes into one common liberty every Conscience under their protection. To offer the reputation and honour hereby to be gained with our most powerful Neighbours (which notwithstanding the wisest and noblest republics have ever highly valued) may perhaps be rejected, as a carnal vanity; But the many blessings which the eternal Mercy may be humbly hoped, will hereupon plentifully shower down upon the merciful, is comfortably to be reflected on. Every Conscience thus set at liberty, being obliged in all Christian duty, continually to invoak a happiness on those Governors, who have broken asunder the fetters in which so many were sadly bound up, and who have enlarged them to sing hymns of praise for so great, so charitable a Deliverance. WILL. BIRCHLEY. FINIS. ERRATA. PAge 11. lin. 28. read privileges, p. 14. l. 14. r. all together, p. 22. l. 30. r. two evident.