A26911:120
The defence of the nonconformists plea for peace, or, An account of the matter…
The defence of the nonconformists plea for peace, or, An account of the matter of their nonconformity against Mr. J. Cheney's answer called The conforming nonconformist, and The nonconforming conformist : to which is added the second part in answer to Mr. Cheney's Five undertakings / by Richard Baxter.
London: printed for Benjamin Alsop, 1680
A DEFENCE OF THE NON-CONFORMIST'S Plea for Peace, AGAINST Mr. J. CH… › Chapter 16
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
But perhaps you mean that the Law-makers intended, that in such cases the Ministers have leave to violate it, and admit Men to the Communion that will not have God-Fathers, for God intended such liberty in his Law.
Ans. God's Law was not violated by David, the Priests, or the Disciples, in the instanced cases of the Sabbath: For he never forbade them what they did in those Circumstances: Yea, his Law had been violated [I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice] had they done otherwise; and he hath no Contradictory Laws: It is said that the Priests in the Temple brake the Sabbath and are blameless, that is, They violate materially the outward rest of the Sabbath, but they violate not God's Law; else they were not blameless. But you can prove no such things by the Church Laws in question, as that Ministers may break them by admitting such Persons to the Sacrament as it excludeth. For, 1. You Covenant to Administer only according to the Liturgy. 2. The Canon punisheth all Ministers that give it against the Prohibition. 3. And the Rubric excludeth your supposed power of Dispensation. Can you believe your self that the meaning of the Liturgy and Canon is [None shall be admitted that desire not God-Fathers, except such as will not out of an Erring Conscience?]
Ans. God's Law was not violated by David, the Priests, or the Disciples, in the instanced cases of the Sabbath: For he never forbad them what they did in those Circumstances: Yea, his Law had been violated [I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice] had they done otherwise; and he hath no Contradictory Laws: It is said that the Priests in the Temple brake the Sabbath and are blameless, that is, They violate materially the outward rest of the Sabbath, but they violate not God's Law; else they were not blameless. But you can prove no such things by the Church Laws in question, as that Ministers may break them by admitting such Persons to the Sacrament as it excludeth. For, 1. You Covenant to Administer only according to the Liturgy. 2. The Canon punisheth all Ministers that give it against the Prohibition. 3. And the Rubrick excludeth your supposed power of Dispensation. Can you believe your self that the meaning of the Liturgy and Canon is [None shall be admitted that desire not God-Fathers, except such as will not out of an Erring Conscience?]