151 / 164
treatife
of
Confcience.
155
I
.
When
they command
that
which
though
in
it
fèlfit
be
not
fimply
and
abf'olutely Cnfull and
unlawfull,
yet
it
doth
put
us
upon
a
necefïty
of
finning
:
As for
example,
Ifa
Magi
-
arate
command tingle
life
to all
Miniflers,
this
thing
is
not
in
it
felt.
fimply
unlawful!
(
for
it
is
lawful!
to
marry, and
it
is
lawfull not
to
marry )
yet
this
commandment
is
unlawfull,
becaufe
it
would
put
Minif+ers
upon
a neceffìty
of
finning
:
The
real-on is,
becaufe
all have not
this
power. And
therefore
fuch
a
commandment
as
this
would not
bind confcience
:
For
the
confcience
cannot
be
!found
to impurity,
or
an
apparent
danger
of
impurity
:
and
therefore
though
the
thing
be
not
fimply
unlawful!,
yet the commandment
is
fimply
unlawful!,
and
doth
not
bind
confcience.
The
Apof
}le
maketh
filch
com-
mandment to argue
a
feared confcience
in
the commander
:
and
therefore
none but
a feared confcience can
think
it
is
bound
by
it,
i.
Tim.
4.2,
3,
2.
The commandments
of
Magiftrates
lofe their
power
of
binding
the confcience
when they command
things
that
are
unlawful!
in
themfelves
and contrary to
the
word
of God.
In
this cafe
they
do not
bind
confcience, becaufe
Gods
Peal is
not
on
them.
We
have an
example
of
this in
the three
blefléd
children
;
Who
when
the king commanded
them
to worfhip
Dan.
3.1g.
the
Image
that
he
had
fet
up, they
did
not
conceive thernfelves
bound
in confcience
to
obey
:
they 'would
rather
fuffer
tor-
ment then
':obey
it.
So
alto
Daniel, when
he was commanded
not to
ask
any
petition
of
God
for
thirty
dayes
fpace,
but onely
of
the
king,
Daniel
did not conceive
hirnfèlf bound
in
confci-
ence,
nay he
chofe
rather
to
be
cal+
into the
den
of
Lions then
Doe.8,x6
obey.
In
this cafe
the
aníver of
the
Apof{
les
is
neceffrry
;
who
when
they
were commanded not to
preach any more in
the
name
of
the
Lord Jefus.
thus
they anfwered, Whether
it
be
right
in the
fight of
God to
obey
men
rather
then
God,
judgeye.
3.
When
mens
laws
and
commands overthrow
the
libertie
of
Chriaianitie, that
Chrifi
ian
libertie
which
Chrifl
bath
pur-
chafed for us
then they
lofe
their power
of
binding the con-
fcience.
taut
here
J.
muff
tell you
of
a
caution
;
viz,.
That
H
h
;
this