A37042:738
The dying man's testament to the Church of Scotland, or, A treatise concerning scandal…
The dying man's testament to the Church of Scotland, or, A treatise concerning scandal divided into four parts ... : in each of which there are not a few choice and useful questions, very shortly and satisfyingly discussed and cleared / by ... Mr. James Durham ... who being dead (by this) yet speaketh ; and published by John Carstares ... ; to which is prefixed an excellent preface of famous Mr. Blair ... ; together with a table of the contents of the several chapters of each part.
Edinburgh: printed by Christopher Higgins, 1659
Part 4 › Chapter 18: The fears of mis-government for the time to come, and remedies thereof.
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.
2. Let it be considered▪ if the abstaining of uniting will prevent these inconveniences upon either side, and if it doth not rather bring on greater, and moe upon the Church; and if inconveniences sway, which are lesser and more uncertain in the one case, those which are greater and more inevitable, ought to sway more in the other; for, it's already presupposed, that joining doth not make one guilty in these inconveniences, more than abstaining doth.
2. Let it be considered▪ if the abstaining of uniting will prevent these inconveniences upon either side, and if it doth not rather bring on greater, and moe upon the Church; and if inconveniences sway, which are lesser and more uncertain in the one case, those which are greater and more inevitable, ought to sway more in the other; for, it's already presupposed, that joyning doth not make one guilty in these inconveniencies, more than abstaining doth.
Yea, 3. Let it be considered, if by continued division, men be not necessarily guilty of the inconveniences that follow it; because (to say so) they follow it per se, or naturally and necessarily, whereas the other follows upon union but by accident at the most: Other considerations, formerly mentioned, are also to have weight, and ought to be remembered here.
Yea, 3. Let it be considered, if by continued division, men be not necessarily guilty of the inconveniences that follow it; because (to say so) they follow it per se, or naturally and necessarily, whereas the other follows upon union but by accident at the most: Other considerations, formerly mentioned, are also to have weight, and ought to be remembred here.
We come now to consider the helps which may in