422 IheLIFE of the LIB.Ia that asin the late Cromwellian Ufurpation in England, many fubmirted, as they would have doneto a Robber, whom they could not refill ; who yet would not !wear Subjeétion, nor doanythingwhich feemedto juftife his Ufurpation or Ti- tle : So here, though they dare not Rate themfelves by an Oath, in the relation of Subjects to the Prelates, yet they can obey themmaterially in lawful things. a.And they are willing tofwear Obedience to them as they are the King's Officers ; commit: tinnedby him to exercifefuchCoercive Power as belongeth to the Magiltrate a- bout Church Matters: But not as they exercife the Power of the Keys, in Abfòl. ving, Excommunicating, &c. 4 399. Object. r. It is but in licitis & honeflis thatyou fwear toobey them : And who' will refufe things lawful and boneft. Anfw. n. But it is in the relation of our lawful Ordinaries that we are required to fwear this Obedience to them. It may be lawful and honell to do the things com- manded, when it is neither lawful nor honeb to fubjed my felf to the Commander as his Subject. The molt juR Authority that is can command us nothing but licita fY i,onefla. And if Cromwell or the Engaging piece of the Parliament had required me to fwear Obedience to them in licitis ér honeflis,' I think to have done it had been a fubjeding my felf to them as my Governours, which had neither been licï- tam nor hempen. If a Rebel now fhould ulurp Authorityagainft the King's will, for the Government of Ireland or Scotland, he that would go (wear Obedience to him in liciris ter honeflis I think would be difloyal. 2. And it is Obedience according to the Canon,which is their [in licitis d7 honeflis]: And this is to Lay -Chancellors Exercife of the Keys, and many other things which are fuppofed licita d bonefla, but not yet proved to be fo. b 400. Object. z. What a Manmay do, be mayfwear to do : But licita & honefta a Man may do . Ergo Anfw. a. I deny the Major as univerfally taken : There is many a thing that may be done, which may not be fworn : Else you might fwear to fpeak every word before you fpeak it, and to do every trivial on that you do. 2. Some time the Oath reacheth further than the Alt to be done, even to the Relation in which it is done, and the reafon for which and this is the Cafe here : So that here is a feigning of a false Rate of the Queltion ti which is not, Whether we may [wear to do licita & honefta? but whether we may fwear to they them as our lawful Ordinaries in licitis & honeftis? . The Conclufron therefore might be granted without any Decision of the 3. For the Quetion is nor, Whether we may fwear to do rush things? but whether we may fwear to obey shore Men in that relation, and to do tbofe. things fùb formali- ratiene obedientiee ? Which their Loyalty to Chrift their King, they think prohibiteth. What if you lived in a Popish Country, would you fwear to obey the Pope in licitis e¢ banef?ia ? Ifnot, you may fee our Reafons , while you give your own. 40 r. Objet?. ;. TheScripture commandeth all Men to frebjelt themfelvesone to another. Anfw. There is an Equivocation in the word [fubjed]. The Text fpeak-' eth only of private fubmiffion and yielding to orhers,voluntarily carrying our laves with that lowlineßasSubjeds do to their Rulers: But this is nothing topublick rela- tive flared fubjr??ian, ofwhich the Controverfie is. He would be but an ill Subject to the King, or an ill Memberof the Church, who would make every man his King or his Pallor, on this pretence that we mull all fubjed our (elves to each o ther. 5 402. Objet. 4. Tou are tofwear Obedience to them only as Church- Magiflrat'er ap. pointedby the King. Afw.That cannot be true : becaufe it is as our Ordinaries, who have the power of Ordination, Excommunication andAbfolution, and in the exercise of this power: But the power of the Keys is not Magiftratical. 5 40 ;. V. The fifthControven to is about Re. ordination. Now in this the Non- conformifls are the more fide, t. Becaufe in our mobPublick Meetings Beforethe King and the Lords and the Bishops, tome of them (as Dr. Grinning oft) have o. penny declared that the Ordination which bath been in England without Bithops, is- null,and thole that were to Ordained withoutthem are no Ministers, tut Lay-men: And his Majefty himtèlf hash signified openly his own Judgment accordingly, that he would no. more take the Sacrament trom fuch then from Laymen. So that it- being thus openly declared to be their fence, and no one of their Bishops or Do- ctors contraditing it, we have reafon to think that by fubmitting to br Re-ordain, ed, Men .do interpretatively confefi the nullity of their former Ordination. s.And it is a new thing, contrary to the Judgment and Practice of all the- Reformed Churches.
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