A26965:619
The nonconformists plea for peace, or, An account of their judgment in certain things…
The nonconformists plea for peace, or, An account of their judgment in certain things in which they are misunderstood written to reconcile and pacify such as by mistaking them hinder love and concord / by Richard Baxter.The nonconformists plea for peace, or, An account of their judgment in certain things in which they are misunderstood written to reconcile and pacifie such as by mistaking them hinder love and concord / by Richard Baxter.
London: printed for Benj. Alsop, 1679
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.
9. Especially considering that all the Parish who receive not thrice a year, (of which Easter must be one for them all) must be presented to the said ordinary, and also all that come not to Church; By which means divers Parishes about London must have some 10000, some 20000, some 30000, some 40000, or 50000, that have no room in the Church, all presented if this Law were executed.
XXX. We have reason to doubt whether the Act of Uniformity it self be not part of the Books which we must subscribe Assent and Consent to; because it is so said in the Book it self: The Contents of the Book are first named in general, and then this Act named among the Contents. Either it is part of the Contents, or it is not; if it be not, we must not assent and consent to that falsehood (that it is;) If it be, O far be it from us that believe a God, a Judgment, and a life to come, and the sacred Scriptures, to Assent and Consent to that Act with all its penalties, silencing and ruining such as conform not. One of us that was oft with the great, wise, just Lord Chief Justice Hales, hath heard him lamenting the Schisms and discords of the Clergy, seriously say, that [There was no right way to heal us, but by a New Act of Uniformity.] (And hath his late Writings against laying Concord or Religion upon mens unnecessary additions.) And the Reporter taketh not himself to be wiser than him, nor meet to Assent and Consent to such a Law, considering the experience of these seventeen years, and the consequents on mens divided and exasperated minds, ⟨p. 204⟩upon the Congregations, upon Ministers and Families, and upon the state and security of the Christian Religion, and the Protestant Cause, &c. As to them that say that the Act nameth the Book as distinct from it self; we answer, 1. So do the Titles of Acts of Parliament name the Act it self as distinct from the Title, and yet we suppose that Title part of the Act. 2. The Book nameth the Act as part of its Contents, as is aforesaid.