A27006:2267
Reliquiæ Baxterianæ, or, Mr. Richard Baxters narrative of the most memorable passages of his…
Reliquiæ Baxterianæ, or, Mr. Richard Baxters narrative of the most memorable passages of his life and times faithfully published from his own original manuscript by Matthew Sylvester.Reliquiæ Baxterianæ, or, Mr. Richard Baxters narrative of the most memorable passages of his life and times faithfully publish'd from his own original manuscript by Matthew Sylvester.
London: printed for T. Parkhurst, 1696
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.
§ 379. 7. The seventh Reason answereth this, [That the King took not the same Covenant mentioned in the Act of Uniformity, but another]. Answ. This is so thin a shift, that the King himself doth not own it, but saith, That his Enemies drove him to it against his will. As if [mutatis mutandis] the various Names and Cases of Persons made an Oath or Covenant not to be the same! Because it's said in the beginning [We Noble men, Knights, &c. and not [We the King and Nobles,] they suppose another Name or Person maketh it specifically another Covenant. Or because the Article of protecting the King's Person, belonged not to him to take.
§ 380. 8. Another Reason is, [That the King was forced to it]. Answ. The more to be blamed are they that did it, then: But all the World acknowledgeth that the Will of Man cannot be forced absolutely: and that a voluntary Act, though caused by necessity or terror, is moral; and that a Promise made to Man (much more a Vow to God) in materia licita, though forced by a Robber that would take away ones Life, may yet be Obligatory. A Man that may choose whether he will vow or die, is bound by his Vow, if he choose it, before Death: Though yet the choosing it may possibly be his sin.
§ 380. 8. Another Reason is, [That the King was forced to it]. Answ. The more to be blamed are they that did it, then: But all the World acknowledgeth that the Will of Man cannot be forced absolutely: and that a voluntary Act, though caused by necessity or terrour, is moral; and that a Promise made to Man (much more a Vow to God) in materia licita, though forced by a Robber that would take away ones Life, may yet be Obligatory. A Man that may choose whether he will vow or die, is bound by his Vow, if he choose it, before Death: Though yet the choosing it may possibly be his sin.
§ 381. 9. Mr. Fullwood's great Reason is, That the King was pre-engaged to take the Corporation Oath as Heir of the Crown, and consequently engaged to Episcopacy, and consequently he was not obliged against it by the Covenant.