necessarie in every judicatorie not so much as one of them is found in the court of Mr. Calandrin 1. They do not cite the party they entreat him to come if he will not come they have no remedy they cannot compell him 2. They have no witnesses nor evidences of the case and therefore cannot pronounce sentence 3. The absolution must be null when they do not know whether it shall stand 4. Neither do they know whether God will not absolve whom they condemn 5. They cannot put their sentence in execution 6. This can be no court which the arraigned can dismisse when he pleaseth 14. I shall willingly admit two courts whereof I have spoken largely in my Paraenesis one called forum externum the externall court or the court of magistracy which is to be found in some measure of power in all assemblies and societies of men as churches synods presbyteries families schools colledges corporations c. and the other called forum internum or the court of the conscience 1. In this God hath set a tribunall a judge a witnesse a plaintiff and defendant 2. In that all is carried by outward evidences whether in a synod presbyterie or any other court 3. In that there is an obligation of active or passive obedience to the laws decrees and ordinances that have the sanction of a law whether just or unjust 4. In this obedience is due for conscience sake and in obedience to God to lawes ordinances and commands either of God or of men that are by the judgement of approbation discretion apprehended to be good just and holy 5. In this there is a stronger stresse of obligation laid then in that so that as we ought rather to obey God then men a man is obliged notwithstanding all the sanction of the magistrate to appeal from the court of the magistrate to that of the conscience and to yield no obedience to any lawes injunctions or commands of magistrates pastours synods presbyteries churches till after they have been there reviewed and approved of There being but these two courts and jurisdictions in the case propounded by Mr. Calandrin the minister cannot be judge in another mans court or conscience and in that court I do not conceive he would put a greater tye then the magistrate doth upon any man as to bind him not to appeal from his judgement to the court of his own conscience or at least not to remove the cause judgement of the ministers court to his own court Neither is the minister judge in the other court except by a delegated power from the magistrate or by an assirmed power of magistracy binding either to active or passive obedience neither from that court do I think that Mr. Calandrin would bind a man not to appeal to the court of his conscience 15. To draw to a conclusion in the case propounded by Mr. Calandrin we have acts of function but none otherwise of jurisdiction then in the function of a physitian whom in relation to his sick patient either being alone or sitting in a colledge among his brethren I might make to exercise a jurisdiction distinct from that of the magistrate and parallel the physitian with the pastor the patient with the penitent the colledge of physitians with the consistory the curing of the patient with the absolving of the penitent and so make the case propounded in the behalf of ecclesiasticall jurisdiction applyable to the medicall jurisdiction changing only the persons Yes I might shew that a parallel being made the medicall would outvie the ecclesiasticall as being lesse inconsistent with the nature of jurisdiction and more distinct from that of the magistrate For 1. the magistrates office extendeth more to the care of souls then to that of bodies 2. Physitians more properly cure diseases then ministers pardon sins 3. Physitians judgements of the nature of diseases are more certain and evident then the ministers judgements of grace and repentance and therefore their sentences are more peremptory I might instance in more particulars at least I could so match both jurisdictions as to make them alike distinct from that of the magistrate Mr. Calandrin in a postscript giveth severall exceptions against what I have said in my Paraenesis of the two courts He saith I do not deny that conscience may be called a court improperly neither do I say that it hath all the properties of a court of magistracy but it hath the necessary conditions required in a court and that name it hath by the common consent of all Divines Philosophers school-men heathens Papists and Protestants none doubting of it whereas many have questioned whether there be any such thing as forum ecclesiasticum and none of those that admitted such a forum or ecclesiasticall court but as they have confessed that ecclesiasticall jurisdiction is improperly so called so have they thought no lesse of an ecclesiasticall court He also findeth fault with me for saying that excommunication was no act of ecclesiasticall power because exercised in the court of man and saith Is not preaching as much an act of the externall court as excommunication when both are done alike with words outwardly I grant that the preaching of the word is an externall act performed by outward moving of the lips and lifting up the voice and so all outward actions of men as buying selling walking striking with a hammer eating drinking and the like which are said to be performed in the court of man not because they are juridicall acts but because they are the subject and matter not only of suits and controversies depending on the court of man but also of lawes and orders made in the same court as if a man preached not at all or preached amisse and erroneously or seditiously that act of his may create an action in the externall court of man so may all other actions I have named as if one sell another mans wares unknown to him if he walks in an undue place and time if he strikes his neighbour with a hammer and so one may make an induction of all actions of men which otherwise are no forinsecall acts but are either naturall morall actions or acts of function and not of jurisdiction as in a physitian to cure the sick in a sea-man to set his ship to sail in a merchant to vend his wares and so in a Divine to do the acts of his function all which are actions performed outwardly in the court of man albeit they be not forinsecall And by reason that excommunication is an outward act it is done in the court of man as well as buying selling and walking and besides it is a forinsecall and juridicall act binding men to outward obedience either actively or passively and of the same nature with other juridicall acts in the courts of men but such an act preaching of the word is not binding none to outward obedience except he be first inwardly convinced though it may fall out to be the subject and matter
oblige the conscience Hence we may gather how impossible it is to share betwixt laity and clergy by Divine and humane right power of legislation and jurisdiction about things causes and persons as that pastors and ministers should be over things that are of divine right and magistrates over those things that are of humane right without clashing of powers causes and persons there being such a complication of right causes and persons that they cannot be so much as imagined a sunder besides that the preaching of the Gospell and magistracy do comprehend all actions of man and parts of life wherein men ought to live godly justly and soberly CHAPTER III. The nature matter forme and author of law The canons and sentences of Church-judicatories have no force of law except they receive it from the sanction of the magistrate The defects in the division of lawes into Divine and humane into morall ceremoniall and politick and into Ecclesiasticall and civil INtending chiefly to prove the vanity and nullity of a power called ecclesiasticall distinct from that of the magistrate since also no power of legislation nor of jurisdiction can be exercised without a power to make a law and to command obedience to the law it will be requisite to know the nature of law that so making good that Church-officers are not invested with any power to make lawes or to command obedience to them all their jurisdiction may be brought to just nothing Law sometimes is taken for a dictate of nature or right reason and consent of nations thus they say of Aesop that though he was free by nature yet the law of man enslaved him generally it is defined the rule of actions and duties This ensuing definition I conceive to be one of the most perfect Law is a rule of life and of morall actions made and published by a legislatour armed with a judiciall power commanding things to be done and forbidding things that are not to be done under recompenses and penalties To understand the nature of law we must consider the matter of law which is whatever can be commanded whether God or man be the author of it so that no causes or things can be exempted from being the matter of the law of God or of man it is enough that it may be commanded The very doctrine and matter of faith may be matter of the law for the Hebrew thorah signifieth both law and doctrine so that there is no doubt but that not only the decalogue but also all the doctrine of the Gospell is matter of the law For were there any thing that should not be the matter of the law of man we had need to have a visible infallible judge on earth besides the soveraign magistrate who should determine which thing must be the matter of the law which not The very doctrine of the Trinity is made the matter of the Code of Justinian and Theodosius commanded that all his subjects should embrace the religion that Peter the Apostle Damasus of Rome and Peter of Alexandria professed 2. Next we must consider the form of the law which giveth force of law and without which law would be no law and no obedience were due to it in the court of man That form is the stamp or sanction of the soveraign power obliging men to obey upon penalties Law saith Campanella without penalty is no law but counsell That form is expressed in short in the Digests Legis virtus c. the vertue of the law is to command to forbid to permit to punish The soveraign power giveth the form of law to any matter that is the subject of a mans dutie or obedience either to God or man yea it giveth form to the lawes of God which though they oblige the conscience whether published or no by the magistrate yet they are of no force in the court of man to oblige for fear of punishment and as the Apostle speaketh for wrath except they are commanded by the magistrate So that it is properly man that giveth name and force to a law and a man may well say with St. Austin ep 66. that Jesus Christ commandeth by the magistrate hoc jubent Imperatores quod jubet Christus quia cum bonum jubent per illos non jubet nisi Christus 3. We must consider the author of the law either as he that hath given his counsell and it may be furnished the matter and contrivance of the law as Tribonianus to Iustinian or he that hath given sanction and force of law to the matter brought to him such was only Justinian and not Tribonianus Sometimes the same person contrives the law and giveth sanction to it such was Solon and Lycurgus God who is the author of his lawes is not the enforcer of them among the Mahumetans nor any where else without a Moses but with those people whom he doth encline to obedience by a law of the spirit 4. To the nature of the law it is required that the legislator be armed with a sword to punish the transgressours of the law therefore equity truth and justice are no conditions required to the validity of a law for it receives force from the will of him who is able to make his will good were it never so bad 5. It is required that the legistator should command his own lawes not anothers commanding in his own name and not in the name of another and therefore those that are invested with judiciall soveraign power are to give account of their actions only to God By what I have said it is easily conceived what force of law have the judgements sentences canons decrees of ecclesiasticall judicatories except they receive form and sanction from the magistrate without which they are but counsels admonitions and advices 1. Touching the matter they may afford it as Tribonianus to Iustinian in that sense they may be the authors of a law but they cannot give form and sanction to it obliging men under penalties in case of disobedience since they are not invested with coactive power without which law is no law except they have that power in subordination to the magistrate for two coordinate powers cannot give sanction to the same law except it could be imagined that the will of one should never crosse the will of the other which is not conceivable 2. Ministers and church-judicatories are not to command any lawes much lesse their own lawes but only deliver the commands of a superiour either God or the magistrate The pastor may say with Moses Exod. 18. v. 15. I do make the people know the statutes of God his lawes but he cannot lay any penalty upon the breaker of the law except as Moses he be invested with magistracy But were the minister not only to deliver the commands of God but also lay a command this he could not do but in the name of God and therefore the magistrate hath this priviledge that although he be a minister of God as well as
the minister of the Gospell yet he may command in his own name the law of God which the minister of the Gospell may not It is the opinion of the gravest Divines that ministers have no power of legislation which being granted it is not possible they should have a power of jurisdiction for it was never heard that he that hath no power of or capacity to legislation can have any to jurisdiction for every member of Parliament is supposed to be capable of exercising jurisdiction but were he disinabled to have a power of legislation by that he should loose all capacity to bear any office of jurisdiction Camero is very expresse in his tract de Ecclesia p. 369. where having shewed that there be two things which are the matter of law 1. faith and good manners 2. things that pertain to order and discipline he addes in neither kind the church hath power to make lawes having said a little before that what proceedeth from the church ought rather to be called admonitions and exhortations then lawes Musculus is no lesse expresse in his common places p. 6â—1 We do confidently assert that all that power by which authentick lawes are made binding the subjects to obey whether they be called civil or eccle siasticall do not belong to the church that is to the multitude of the faithfull and subjects nor to the church-minister but properly to the sole magistrate to whom is given a mere command merum imperium over the subjects 3. This sheweth the invalidity of all canons decrees and sentences of church-judicatories which except they be known to be equitable true and just are not to be obeyed since the validity of an ecclesiasticall law is not like that of the magistrates which be it never so unjust hath the force of a law but sure none of our presbyterian brethren will maintain that all judgements and sentences of church-judicatories are infallible and therefore it belongeth to every man censured by such a judicatorie to be well informed of the justice truth and equity of the censure before he obeyeth it yea before it hath the force or name of a censure For it fares with the sentences of ministers as with the counsels of physitians which must convince the party of the necessity of vielding to this or that remedy their commands must have alwayes some reason annexed why they must be obeyed but the law of the magistrate needs none and permits none to interpret it but obey it according to the letter Lawes are variously divided into Divine and humane ecclesiasticall and civil morall ceremoniall and politick Some call those divine which are made by God and those humane which are made by men others call them divine lawes which rule the conscience and those humane laws which govern the outward man But none of these divisions are without their defects for humane lawes govern and oblige the conscience as the Apostle tells us Ro. 13. and albeit all humane lawes are not divine yet all divine lawes are so far humane as the magistrate giveth a sanction to them and imposeth an obligation in the court of man to obey them Likewise the division of lawes into morall policick and ceremoniall hath its defects for I conceive that the morall law is the ground and basis of the ceremoniall and politick and a rule by which God is to be worshipped State cities families fathers husbands children servants must be governed So that the ceremoniall law is but the morall law applied to the use of divine worship and the politick or civil law is but the morall law applyable to the practise and conversation of life at home and abroad The holy Scripture putteth no such distinction 1. God was alike the author of them all 2. God only and Moses his deputy on earth did give a sanction and stamp of obligation to them all 3. The matter indeed was diverse and so are the military lawes distinct from the matrimoniall and testamentary and yet are they all comprehended under the civil law because the civil magistrate giveth force of law to them alike upon that account why may not the morall and ceremoniall law be called civil 4. Because when the Scripture speaketh of the perfection of the law of God of those that walk in the lawes of God that the law of Moses was read every Sabbath that many dayes passed without law the whole body of the lawes given by Moses is understood without any such partition 5. Because the same persons judged every causes and matter punishable by the law there being as Mr. Gillespie faineth no such thing as a judicatory ecclesiasticall for ecclesiasticall causes a civil bench where the judges decided civil or politick causes for so we should need a third bench of judges medling with morall matters and causes Yet Mr. Gillespie p. 14. grants that the Jewes had no other civil law but Gods own law and besides that the Levites judged not only in the businesse of the Lord but also in the businesse of the King 1 Chron. 2. v. 30. 32. And so falls down the division of lawes into ecclesiasticall and civil for 1. They differ not in kind otherwise then a man from an animall this being the genus the other the species 2. All lawes devised by men whatever subject and matter they are about are civil politick and lawes of that power that giveth them force and vigour of lawes such are all the constitutions about discipline of the church which in vain they call ecclesiasticall 3. If a law were to be called ecclesiasticall because it handleth lawes for the government of the church we should need as many kinds of lawes as there be societies in the world and we should have one peculiar classis for lawes to govern schools and Universities another to govern societies of merchants a third for societies of drapers I do not deny but that a law may be as properly called ecclesiasticall as a law is called nauticall military testamentary matrimoniall either because they are about matters of churches armies wills husbands wives or because they were invented for the benefit of churches souldiers married people and the like but in vain do they think to call a law ecclesiasticall because not only it is of church-matters but also because it must be made by ecclesiasticall men and receive form and sanction from them and because all causes matters which they call ecclesiasticall must be judged by ecclesiasticall men For 1. As ecclesiasticall power if there be any such thing must be subordinate to the civil as we have proved before so ecclesiasticall lawes to the civil lawes 2. Ministers having no power of legislation nor of jurisdiction therefore lawes to govern Christians in churches need not to take their name from church minister or ministery but from the magistrate who is the maker latour and giver of them and binds men to a submission to them under penalty Musculus in the above-quoted place disproveth at large this
and the civil and therefore no need to make two of one that ecclesiasticall presbyterian jurisdiction is bounded by the same limits as is the civill jurisdiction which is against the nature of all other jurisdictions different from the magistrates power though subordinate to it as is the maritall and paternall powers none doubting but a father in England hath a power over his son in France and that a wife is subject to her husband however distant from him Now it is granted by all that the jurisdiction of churches combined and that of synods never went beyond the magistrates jurisdiction that the churches of Persia Aethiopia and India were not tyed to observe the deciees of the first councill of Nice nor the reformed churches of France those of the synod of Dordrecht neither the church of Barwick to submit to the orders of the generall assembly of Scotland and yet some do not stick to maintain that a man excommunicated in Scotland is also bound by the same sentence in France or Holland because if we may believe them it is reasonable that the sphear of activity within which excommunication acteth should as much spread down wards as upwards and that since a man bound by excommunication at Edenburgh is also tyed in heaven good reason he should be bound and fast in any part of the earth 4. This also which all churches classes and synods assume makes their jurisdiction wholly concurring in nature and property with the jurisdiction of the magistrate which is that as in all civil and politicall assemblies the major and the stronger part in votes not in reasons doth carry it so decrees and canons because the major part have voted them to be such are therefore receivable by inferiour ecclesiasticall judicatories as they call them whereas since they pretend that ecclesiasticall jurisdiction is of a quite different nature from that of the magistrate it were most convenient that it should not be like it in this main particular but that private men or churches should adhere to truth not to multitude not numbring the votes but weighing the reasons And indeed this was well considered by the Parliament in their ordinance for calling of the assembly for though they took upon themselves that power of legislation jurisdiction whose votes are not weighed but numbred and which cannot be otherwise exercised in this world yet they very prudently conceived that such a jurisdiction could not be assumed by churchmen as such in matters of religion for they never intended that whatsoever should be transacted or defined by the major part of the ministers of the Assembly should be received for a canon and an ecclesiasticall law that should stand in force since they expressely enjoyn in the rules which they prescribed to the assembly 1. that their decisions and definitions should be presented to the Parliament not under the name of law made to them but of humble advice 2. that no regard should be had to the number of the persons dissenting or assenting but that each party should subscribe their names to their opinion 5. Another argument to prove that the ecclesiasticall and the magistrates power are not coordinate but that the ecclesiasticall is subordinate to that of the magistrate and that they both are of the same nature is that both of them magistrate and ministers challenge not only the duty of messengers from God in delivering to the people the lawes of God but also as judges exercise power about making new lawes which do oblige to obedience for conscience sake for the assemblies presbyteries of Scotland do not only presse obedience to the lawes expressely set down in Scripture but also to their canons decrees and constitutions 6. Another argument to prove the identity of the powers ecclesiasticall and civil is that both are conversant about lawes and constitutions that are made by men such are most of the canons and constitutions of synods and ecclesiasticall assemblies which are no more expresse Scripture then the Instinian Code and therefore it is altogether needlesse to constitute two coordinate humane legislative powers 7. But suppose that all the decrees canons constitutions of presbyteries and church-assemblies were word of God and divine precepts this very thing that they are divine constitutions and that one jurisdiction or other must be conceived enjoyning by a sanction and commanding obedience to them argueth that ecclesiasticall and civil jurisdiction are but one For what can the ecclesiasticall jurisdiction do more then to give a sanction to the lawes of God which thing the magistrate is to do If he must give a sanction to the decalogue why not to all other precepts which are equally of divine institution 8. It is absurd to put under the Gospell a difference betwixt the jurisdiction or law of Christ and the law of God the universall Monarch as Mr. Gillespie speaketh p. 261. for there is no precept of the decalogue there is nothing good holy honest and of good report but is the law of Jesus Christ and therefore since the magistrate cannot be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a minister of God as St. Paul calls him but he must be a minister of Jesus Christ and that he cannot be keeper of the decalogue and of the law of God under Moses administration but he must be also the keeper of the law of Christ what need to constitute two coordinate judiciall powers each of them being pari gradu subordinate to Jesus Christ Lastly if the Kingdom of Jesus Christ is not of this world and that this Kingdom as our brethren tell us is the presbyterian government then this Kingdom must have a jurisdiction and lawes quite different from the Kingdom and jurisdiction of this world which yet doth not prove true by the parallels we have made of both jurisdictions Mr. Gillespie a member of that Assembly pag. 85. endeavoureth to shew what a wide difference there is betwixt these two jurisdictions in their nature causes objects adjuncts but I might upon the same grounds maintain the like wide difference betwixt martiall navall testamentall paternall maritall and civil power all differing and yet subordinate to that of the magistrate I might also attribute to each society its peculiar power placing in a colledge of physicians a medicall power subordinate to God the God of bodies health and outward safety as the civil is subordinate to the God of the Universe and the ecclesiasticall to Christ For if the God of nations hath instituted the civil power and the God of saints the ecclesiasticall as Mr. Gillespie speaketh what hinders but that the God of nature hath instituted the medicall power And if morall good be the object of the civil power and spirituall good of the spirituall power why may not bodily health be the object of the medicall power CHAPTER VI. Whether Iesus Christ hath appointed a jurisdiction called ecclesiasticall as King and head of his Church Of the nature of the Kingdom of God In what sense the magistrate is
footing since it is not a mere advice nor as they will have it a mere product of coercive power which the very Papists at least those that newly came from amongst them namely Antonius de Dominis conceived to be necessarily joyned with all Ecclesiasticall sentences else that they were mere declarations of the mind These be his words lib. 5. de rep ca. 1. Nos potius Episcopi Min stri declaramus esse excludendum quam actu corporali excludimus we Bishops and Ministers do rather declare that one is deserving to be excluded then we exclude him bodily one being an act of command the other of advice Thus in the 2. chapter he saith that no church can excommunicate without magistracy Nihil sine potestate laica obtinebimus neminem Ecclesiastica potestate possumus extrudere abripere expellere These two jurisdictions the one of advice and counsell the other of magistracy neither of them being like the presbyteriall jurisdiction challenged may be instanced in all kinds of societies families meetings religious or civill whereas our presbyterian brethren cannot so much as produce one single act exercised in a consistory or synod which is not an effect of magistracy or of counsell and advice and is not either compelling the outward man or perswading the inward Thus a father of a family to bring his son to walk in the wayes of God must go about it either by perswasion or by compulsion hale him perforce to church hoping that God may there work upon his heart Thus a private church by the jurisdiction of the keyes and power of perswasion may win a brother but by the other jurisdiction will expell him and put him out of the congregation One thing very considerable and which overthroweth all jurisdiction which steps between the jurisdâ—ctâ—on of magistracy and that of the word which in foro externo in the court of man is counsell and adv ce but in fâ—ro interno in the couâ—t of conscience is command strict injunction with threatning that thing considerable I say is that it is of the nature of the division of power exercised in all societies as of most of the things delivered either in nature philosophy or Scripture that naturally it brancheth into two by which dichotomy most truâ—hs aâ—e discovered Thus naturall philosophy divideâ—h â—…ance into first and second the whole world into heaven and earth sensitive creatures into man and beast rationall and irraâ—…nall thus the Scripture divides Angels into good and bad men into elect and reprobates the Testament into new and old the people of God into Iewes and gentiles the whole man into flesh and spirit new man and old things enjoyed into spirituall and temporall Gods Kingdome into earthly and heavenly And thus to come to our purpose there be two powers one internall the other externall two swords the sword of the word or spirit in the ministery and the sword of magistracy two courts one outward called forum externum governing the outward man and imposing lawes on him the other forum internum governing the conscience perswading and convincing it So for judgement and obedience judgement is either a commanding or counselling advising and may be called judgement of approbation obedience is either to commands or counsells He were here a cunning Oedâ—pus who could find room for Ecclesiasticall court judgement and law or find a medium at least of participation betwixt those two jurisdictions the one coercive or of magistracy the other perswasive and exercised by perswasion such is that which is exercised in the word to which as St. Peter speaketh man yieldeth not by constraint but willingly and with a ready mind Even all actions where art mans wisedome industrie nature and Gods blessing and grace do concur do evidently shew the necessity of this dichotomy and the nullity of what is imagined to be interposed betwixt the power of magistracy and the power of ministery betwixt the power of compulsion and the power of perswasion For example the acts of magistracy are like the acts of a plough-man who hath a command over his ground to plough it dung it then harrow it and scatter his seed but the acts of ministery or rather the acts of God in the ministery by working upon the heart convincing and making the man to follow willingly Gods call are like the other acts which are not so much in the power of the plough-man as in Gods sending the rain upon his ploughed and sown land blessing or frustrating all his past labours This being the nature of power next is to be considered how it is divided and how powers are subordinate or coordinate I could never conceive that power can be branched but into two viz. externall and internall The internall power is either divine or of art the divine power is either naturall or of the word which is either ordinary or extraordinary Ordinary is upon these that are either convinced or hardned the extraordinary is either of prophecy or of miracles that of prophecy is either under the old or the new Testament The externall power is either private or publick Private power is that freedome in every private man or society to act things and in things wherein the publick is little or nothing concerned and no way disturbed which power doth much belong to private churches as we shall see in another place The publick externall power is either soveraign or subordinate and delegated The soveraign is either of legislation or of jurisdiction The subordinate is a power delegated by the soveraign to cities provinces families societies of whatsoever kind as churches schools colledges halls universities corporations so that there is no externall power commanding obedience under some penalty making lawes and compelling the outward man wherewith masters husbands fathers halls corporations societies churches are invested but is derived from the soveraign externall power which we call power of magistracy Here is no more room for ecclesiasticall power then for maritall paternall despoticall as neither for medicall if you will and so for pharmaceuticall military rurall and the like all which are a like subordinate to the soveraign externall power called the power of magistracy for I do conceive that church-power or jurisdiction are as improperly called ecclesiasticall as if the jurisdiction wherewith a colledge of physitians might be invested were called medicall or physicall since a minister a physitian a merchant as such are not invested with jurisdiction which cannot be said of a justice of peace of a constable or of a sergeant who as such are invested with a power and jurisdiction and sure the power of a sergeant might lesse improperly be called sergeantall then that of a church-man ecclesiasticall The coordinate powers when neither of them is subordinate to the other are the power of the word in the ministery and the power of magistracy the one being Gods spirits jurisdiction over the hearts and affâ—ctâ—ons of men the other the magistrates jurisdiction compelling men to an outward act of
but all sit and vote as men invested with power of legislation and at that time a physitian voteth not in the quality and capacity of a physitian no not when lawes are made for physitians and apothecaries although when they are in debate a physitian may discourse pertinently of physick as a physitian and skilfull in his art This is the very case of ministers of the Gospell who for that reason that men do not sit and vote in Parliament considered as men of such a calling or profession in the Commonwealth ought likewise to vote sit in Parliament for as the profession of physick or manufacture doth not devest a man from being a good and understanding Commonwealths-man so neither doth the pastorall calling 4. It seems to me very unreasonable yea unconscionable that any mans profession or habit how high or low soever should lay an incapacity upon the person of one though never so much capable and sufficient to contribute his wit and counsell towards the common-weal as if the magistrate would not take a loan of money of 100000 l. of one that had a long cloak but would be willing to take it of one that had a short cloak or a man in danger of drowning would not take his neighbour by the cloak or by his hair for fear of spoiling or disordering of them for thus do those which will not admit the advice of a minister in publick deliberations were he never so able to serve the Common-wealth by his wit wisedome and industrie and the need never so great meerly because of his habit and his profession of the ministery Which calling I am so far from thinking that it doth disinable him from sitting and voting in Parliament that not only it renders him the fitter but also that he is not thereby hindred from attempting any noble action which might turn to some great publick benefit A minister having the valour of Caesar ability to subdue Rome or a secret to burn all the ships of the King of Spain in his ports I conceive that his ministery ought not to keep him off from being employed to use all his industry to serve the Church of God or his countrey in such a way But why is not a physitian disinabled by his profession to sit in Parliament and a Divine is whenas there is a great deal more affinity betwixt the profession of a Divine and the debates in Parliament then betwixt them and the profession of physick 5. Although men do not usually fit and vote in Parliament by the right of the calling and profession they are of in the Commonwealth except they sit by their birth yet it were to be wisht that men that are generally more skilled in most professions and best able to judge what is right or wrong and are not ignorant of affairs of the world should be called such as I conceive are university-men and ministers of the Gospell 6. Since the greatest end of magistracy is to advance the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus and that for obtaining of that end it is needfull to make lawes and constitutions subservient to it why should ministers of all men be left out whose education and profession renders them more capable to advise for the obtaining of that great end 7. Since also there is such a complication betwixt the church state as they cannot so much as be imagined asunder and that most lawes and constitutions made by men are grounded upon and have some warrant from Divine writ and that those that appoint by law oaths to be taken should at least be well advised about the nature of the oath I do conceive that since all ranks are promiscuously called to advise about these of all men ministers best furnished and stored with knowledge and acquainted with the right and plea of conscience upon which equity right and law is grounded should not be forgot Why should not men who make it their whole employment to study the judgements of God be as fit judges in Parliaments and high courts of judicature as Physitians or merchants 8. There is the same reason for ministers to sit in Parliament as there was for priests and Levites to sit in synagogues and judiciall assemblies of the Jewes and in all consultations of state it being certain that the great Sanedrim was a mixture of Priests and Levites with the Princes and heads of the people 9. There is equall reason that if the supreme magistrate calls say-men to sit and vote in synods he should call the clergy to sit and vote in Parliament 10. There was no such thing so much as heard for many hundred years after the fourth age that ministers and Bishops should be thought incapable to sit and vote in the supreme courts of the nation I could prove it by the practise of Italy Germanie France Spain and England for above 7 or 8 hundred years even far within popery that though the Pope had much advanced the hatching of his two egges ecclesiasticall civil jurisdiction yet all state-assemblies were not distinguisht either from synods or from civil courts but promiscuously men of all ranks and professions Senators Bishops Lords Priests Gentlemen did sit and vote in one assembly and place about any matter whatsoever rite law discipline or ceremony Neither is it to be conceived that the causes debated in these assemblies were divided into two classes and that when ecclesiasticall matters were handled clergy-men did then vote and lay-men sate mute and when civil were in agitation then the clergy were silent and lay-men did only appear as judges which is indeed a pretty conceit but will not serve for a double jurisdiction He that will see that further proved at large needs but only read Blondellus de jure plebis c. and Mr. Prinne in his book of Truth triumphing over falshood A thing very considerable it is that during all these ages clergy-men because they were most skill'd in controversies of dâ—vinity exercised to speak in publick were also thought the fitter to judge right from wrong and to meddle with secular matters and therefore in courts of law or chancery clergy-men dispatched more businesses then the laity handled all cases except it may be criminall matters and wills not being permitted to be executors of Testaments otherwise they filled the courts so far that there were no knowing men yea none that could read or write but they hence to this day no court Justice of peace or lawyer but hath his clerk and they say still legit ut clericus he reads like a clerk This I find much urged by a famous lawyer a Romanist John du Tillet in his memoires who speaking of the encroachments of the Popes of Rome saith that they have alwayes endeavoured to sever what from the times of the Apostles was united and to make of one jurisdiction two which yet they could not so distinctly separate but that still to our dayes one may see it was not so in the beginning and
sit what matter they must handle may not the lay-man then interpose as in a businesse of his classis may not also ecclesiasticall persons do the like Besides 100. constitutions may be found of such a mixt nature that it is not yet resolved what classis they pertain unto whether ecclesiasticall or civil such are the lawes about wills marriages tithes tenths usury collections for the poor appointing of dayes for fasting or thanksgiving lawes for pious uses and the like Will this expedient serve to resolve the conscience viz. if such an assembly of mixt persons and causes be named neither a councell or synod nor a civil judicatory but an assembly or some other name participating of the nature of both as if names could alter the nature of the thing and satisfy the conscience In short I believe the reverend assembly both wrong themselves and no way satisfy mens minds and consciences in not stating what is ecclesiasticall what is not and how far this or that man may meddle in ecclesiasticall and civil matters what name is to be given to this or that assembly I am crowded with matter that were worth deciding about synods which argument I handled largely in the 22. and 23. chapters of my Paraenesis The power of synods is decisive directive and declarative they decide by way of discussion and disputation they direct by way of counsell and they declare their opinions as expert and well known and read in the thing that is in question Coercive and judiciall power they have none but what is delegated from the magistrate or from private churches so that though the authority of a synod is greater then that of a private church yet the power of that church is greater then that of a synod If there be an union of churches as there ought to be even under an orthodox magistrate all canons and decrees are no otherwise binding as laws then as they have the stamp of magistracy upon them Supremi magistratus approbatio est supremum arrestum ut loquuntur saith Festus Hommius disp 18. thes 4 and disp 17. thes 3. the approbation of the magistrate is the supreme decree And not only reformers but also some Romanists namely the authour of the Review of the councill of Trent a learned book and which the learned Dr. Langbane thought his pains worthy in his youth to turn into English Lib. 3. cap. 13. the Emperour as is commonly known the Monarch of churches is president to the synodall sentences gives them force composeth ecclesiasticall orders giveth law life and policy to those that serve at the altar Is it credible that a Romanist should be of a more sincere judgement in this matter then a reformed Christian such as Mr. Gillespie Those that are for a judiciall power of synods over churches do alledge the synod of the Apostles which being infallible is no example to us no more then the miracles of Christ and the Apostles argue that ordinary ministers must work miracles When private churches can be sure that a synod in these dayes is led by such a spirit of infallibility they may yield to it without disputing yet not without examining as did those of Beroea who tryed the Sermon of St. Paul whether it was agreeable to other scriptures and were there now a synod made up of 40. or 50. men like Peter and Paul a church should reverence their orders but yet that synod should have no coercive jurisdiction over the church but such as overcometh the inward man by perswasion and leadeth him as it were captive to the obedience of truth And in case men and churches were not perswaded or did delay obedience and submission I say that such an Apostolicall synod could bring neither churches nor men to an outward conformity to their sentences lawes and decrees without a power delâ—…ated from the magistrate or some magistracy seated in churches Let us come to the second section As magistrates may lawfully call a synod of ministers and other fit persons to consult and advise with about matters of religion so if magistrates be open enemies to the church the ministers of Christ of themselves by vertue of their office or they with other fit persons upon delegation from their churches may meet together in such assemblies There is nothing in this section but I will willingly grant 1. They yield that magistrates may call synods 2. that a synod is an assembly of men convocated by the magistrate 3. who are to advise the magistrate about ordering matters of religion and discipline 4. under an orthodox magistrate as synods receive their jurisdiction from the magistrate so private churches under them ought to receive their orders and constitutions as lawes of the magistrate but under an heterodox magistrate synods receive their authority from private churches so that canons and decrees of synods are so far valid as they are approved or ratified by private churches that have conferred the power they being then in lieu of the magistrate The generall assembly of Scotland perceiving that this article doth much weaken ecclesiasticall power under an orthodox magistrate hath thought fit in their generall assembly at Edenburgh Aug. 27. sess 23. to put a glosse or comment upon it saying that the assembly understandeth some part of the second article of the thirty first chapter only of Kirks not settled or constituted in point of government and that although in such Kirks a synod of ministers and other fit persons may be called by the magistrates authority and nomination without any other call to consult and advise with about matters of religion and although likewise the ministers of Christ without delegation from their churches may of themselves and by vertue of their office meet together synodically in such Kirks not yet constituted yet neither of these ought to be done in Kirks constituted and settled So they will have the second article to be understood of churches not constituted or settled in which case they say the magistrate may call synods else they say it doth not belong to him but to the ministers who then ought to assemble of themselves without any commission from the magistrate which is expressely against the literall meaning of the second article which as all others of the confession is of things that are to be received believed and practised at all times and which they count of Divine right and for which therefore they alledge places of Scripture namely Isa 49. v. 23. Kings shall be thy nursing fathers a place which in my opinion maketh little to the purpose no more then the place out of 1. Tim. 2. v. 2. where we are bidden to pray for Kings doth to prove the power of magistrates in calling of synods Neither doth that place 2 Chronic. 19. v. 9. c. avail much but only that magistrates may call and constitute assemblies in generall for there is no speech there of any ecclesiasticall assemblies for they were not yet thought on at that time The 29.
constitutions that are made about them are acts of the major part of the members are valid not because they are lawes of Christ and approved to every ones conscience but because like lawes and orders of other societies they do oblige as such and as consented unto in the making of them by the major part of the members though it may be the minor part were in the right for as the acts of a magistrate commanding things directly commanded by God are the magistrates acts so those acts performed in a particular church though commanded expressely by God in as much as they require externall obedience either actively or passively are acts of that magistracy set up in that church I find in a result of a synod in New-England printed at the end of the book of Mr. Cotton of the Covenant of Grace some conclusions wholly consonant to what I now write in this chapter of the two kinds of acts that are performed in every particular church the one done by them as church-members the other being an effect of magistracy set up in every particular church considered not as a church but as a society The first kind of acts is proper to those church-members who by any power of magistacy are not put upon stronger engagements of oredience then if there had never been any The second is exercised by magistracy either in the church or out of the church against the obstinate and unruly and such as need to be compelled I find the synod speak much to that purpose namely p. 40. the collectour saith from them that for remedying disorders and taking away or preventing grosse errors there must be a power of restraint and coercion used and in regard that every particular church is to be as well considered in the quality of a civil society as a society of church-members CHAPTER XX. That the power attributed to private churches by the reverend dissenting brethren doth very well accord with the power of magistracy in matters of religion as it is held by Erastus Bullingerus Musculus Grotius Mr. Selden and Mr. Coleman This same is proved by reason and by the testimony of Mr. Burroughs writing the sense of all his brethren as also by the practise of the churches in New-England WHen at first I undertook to write of this subject I had no other designe but to assert the nullity of a double externall jurisdiction and to prove that there being no such thing neither in Scripture nor reason as an ecclesiasticall power all jurisdiction that was not united under and appertained not to the magistrate was not a power of coercion was no jurisdiction Neither was I then lesse dissenting from the church-way and power retained by the rever brethren of the congregation then from the presbyterian brethren and the rather because I saw both parties carried with as much eagernesse of opposition against Erastus and Mr. Coleman as they were among themselves besides not fancying to my self otherwise but that all jurisdiction called ecclesiasticall and assumed by whatsoever society of men either single or made up by the aggregation of many societies which was not subordinate to the magistrates power was alike against reason and Scripture But being not able to study my main matter intended without enquiring into the nature of the power that both parties assumed to themselves I found that the tenets of the brethren of the congregationall way could very well accord with mine and which was not yet by any considered that the right of particular churches as the dissenting brethren hold might very well consist with that measure of power that Erastus Bullingerus Musculus Gualterus Grotius Mr. Selden Mr. Coleman allowed to the magistrate in matters of religion and over churches and that independency of private churches I mean independency from presbyterian classicall and synodicall judicatories doth no way hinder their right and liberty nor their dependency on the magistrate nor cutteth short the magistrate of the soveraign power he ought to have overall societies and persons and in all causes and matters Lastly I found that this way of reconciliation was most agreeable with Scripture reason the practise of the Jewes and of the primitive church of Christians besides was confessed so by many learned men who though seemingly otherwise affected and carried by more heat then knowledge of what was passed or held in this Island have notwithstanding in their tracts about the power of churches and discipline laid the same grounds that the dissenting brethren have delivered I need not be very long in proving by reason that this reconciliation betwixt the advocates of the magistrates power in matters of religion and those that plead for the right of churches is already made to our hands by what I have already handled I adde further these following considerations 1. Since every private church hath within it self a power of magistracy and that all magistracy in whatever society it be seated is subordinate to the magistrate of those societies it doth consequently follow that that magistracy wherewith every private church is invested is also subordinate to the magistrate for as I have demonstrated since no society of church-members no more then of citizens merchants physicians and the like can be imagined without lawes discipline and power of restraint and coercion so neither can it be imagined that such a power is not dependent on the magistrate for if a member of a society be obstinate and refractory and will not be ruled but by coercion and compulsion it be more then church-members as such can do to reduce him by exhortation and good advice then church-members must act also by a power of magistracy either assumed or delegated however it be that power of magistracy is subordinate to the soveraign magistrate 2. It is a maxime in Scripture Philosophie and common reason that theorems or propositions that are true asunder are no way contradictory one to another Now these two following propositions are of an undeniable truth viz. The magistrate is a soveraign governour over all persons and societies and in all matters and causes whether they pertain to religion or no and this Every particular church hath a right and power to govern it self without any dependence either on other churches or church-judicatories Each of these propositions being considered as true asunder must also be very consistent and no way clashing one with the other 3. That the right of churches may well stand with the power of the magistrate may appear by example of many societies as families corporations halls whose intrinsecall power of magistracy agreeth exceeding well with that of the magistrate over them for none doubteth but every father of a family hath a power to govern his children houshold and servants as he listeth being in his own as it were house a magistrate and a Priest yet none hitherto questioned but that paternall and oeconomicall powers are subordinate to the power of the magistrate for even the civil law and so
wise men amongst you such as you must appoint yet the matter they are set over is not so knotty and hard but that men the least esteemed amongst you so that they were honest men might well understand and decide it Reverend Mr. Lightfoot upon the closure of the fifth chapter and the beginning of the sixth of the first to the Corinthians is of opinion that this is the meaning of that place these be his words Afterwards to take the Corinthians off from going to infidel judges he requireth them to decide the matter themselves till the time come that the saints shall judge the world that is till the time come that there shall be a Christian magistracy Origen upon the 21. of Exodus Homil. 11. makes it clear that this is the meaning of the Apostle by telling us the practise of churches in his time Principes populi presbyteri plebis debent omni hora populum judicarc semper sine intermissione sedere in judicio dirimere lites reconciliare dissidentes in gratiam recordare discordes The heads and elders of the people ought every hour to judge the people alwayes and without intermission to sit in judgement decide controversies reconcile those that have differences and make those friends that are at variance Here is magistracy assumed by church-members when by their consent elders and wise men are appointed to take up such differences in a friendly way and such controversies betwixt brother brother as otherwise were to be adjudged before secular judges I should ask here our presbyterian brethren by what power ecclesiasticall or civil were from metters decided and judged in Origens time and in case by that assumed power of magâ—…acy any one had been either put by from the communion or put out of the assembly what needed he to have recourse to the ecclesiasticall power when the other power was sufficient to have doâ—… it yea when the ecclesiasticall power could never do it without a power of magistracy These be the words of Anton. de Dominis lib. 5. cap. 2. without a lay-power we can doe nothing we cannot by our ecclesiasticall power put out take off and expell The same Origen in his 1. book against Celsus speaketh of that magistracy assumed by consent and mutuall agreement called by him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There be some appointed to enquire into the manners and wayes of their living who frequent churches that so they may keep those off from coming into their assembly that stain their lives by foul and unworthy actions and admit with all readiness those that are otherwise and make them daily better Though by their power of magistracy assumed by consent they might put out any one that was already a church-member yet it seemeth it was not the settled practise in Origens time but only as to admit good men so not to receive into their society those that they did not know to be such No excommunication was then in use with him for as the admitting a good man into church-fellowship is no absolution so the not receiving a bad man into the church is no excommunication This is confirmed by Justin Martyr in his 2. Apologie where he saith No man else is permitted to receive that aliment called with us the Eucharist but he that believes our doctrine is true and hath been washed by the washing for remission of sins For there Justin speaketh not of church-members only he saith that heathens and unbaptised men are not to partake of the Sacrament of the Eucharist or to have any part in those mysteries Of the custome of excluding church-members I confesse we read in Tertullian and Cyprian answerable to the Niddui and Cherem of the Jewes Tertullian in the 2. chapter of his Apologetick speaketh of the like confederate discipline or power of magistracy taken up by consent and in the 39. chapter he maketh an enumeration of all the parts of that discipline I should now have done with Origen intending next to alledge Ambrose confirming what Origen saith concerning the practise of the church agreeable to the counsell and command of St. Paul only I will take notice farther from Origen of the face of the church in his time and of the power assumed then by the Christians Celsus a great Philosopher and enemy to the Christians did accuse them that they had a discipline quite different from the lawes of the Romans that they kept private conventicles and there had a particular secret covenant law and discipline no lesse repugnant to the lawes of the Emperour then if they had been in open rebellion And indeed even among the Grecians these private meetings were sometimes forbidden although the state were nothing concerned in them they being to no other end but to perform some religious service For Cornelius Nepos that Alcibiades was condemned to dye for performing some religious worship it may be sacrifice at his own house Origen answereth by alledging an example very fit to our purpose and applyable to the nature of the power that Christians and private churches do exercise under a persecuting magistrate He bringeth an example of a stranger living among the Scythians who must either conform himself to the ungodly lawes of that nation or be a law unto himself This same stranger saith Origen cannot be said to violate the lawes of the Scythians if he doth not worship Statues but doth privately worship the true God and in a right manner and if he be a law unto himself This is the case about the nature of the power exercised by churches and an answer to that so much urged objection that the Christian churches have been long without a magistrate therefore governed by a power distinct from that of the magistrate For 1. Origen implyeth that if the lawes of the Scythians had been good and tolerable that then this stranger had been obliged to obey them 2. The lawes of the magistrate being ungodly this stranger living in his dominion must do his best that he his family and adherents be a law and a magistrate unto themselves and perform by a dictate of conscience what the magistrate was to enjoin and command Here none will say that this stranger living among the Scythians governeth himself by a power distinct from that of the magistrate for so Philosophers and Mathematicians who were often forbidden in Rome and banished yet lurking in corners and having private conventicles might likewise be said to be governed by a power Philosophicall Mathematicall distinct from that of the magistrate and a sonne to whom God hath given the grace not to hearken to a bad father must not be said to govern himself by a power distinct from the paternall for indeed such a son is a father to himself The like may we say of private churches under a persecuting magistrate who are fain to settle a magistracy by consent of all the members of the churches as the synagogues were faign to be used when they lived under a magistrate that was
noble and renowned citizens should see to the right ordering of the Common-wealth and the most religious to the right interpreting of religious matters the frame of the Commonwealth might be preserved and secured But I will not enter farther into this large subject handled by others CHAPTER XXV That ecclesiasticall jurisdiction as it is held by the Romish church better agreeth with reason and the letter of the Scripture then that of the presbyterian brethren That some Romanists have ascribed more power to the magistrate in sacred things then the presbyterian brethren THat ecclesiasticall power of deposing excommunicating and making lawes authoritatively as it is assumed by the Pope and the Romish clergy is not only more consonant to reason and the literall sense of the Scripture but also very agreeable with their corrupt principles in doctrine and practise whereas quite contrary the ecclesiasticall power with all its appurtenances as it is assumed and held by the presbyterians is altogether dissonant from the holinesse of their life and doctrine and is more repugnant to reason the letter of the Scripture 1. Neither the papists nor the presbyterians have any expresse place of Scripture for a double jurisdiction except they both make use of that of St. Luc. 22. v. 38. alledged by Bonifacius the 8. behold here are two swords 2. Though the Popes speak big of their jurisdiction as distinct from the magiâ—…trates jurisdiction yet de facto they make of two but one in that they subordinate the temporall jurisdiction to the spirituall conceiving it altogether inconvenient to constitute two coordinate powers since one must be supreme and the supreme must include the inferiour and that the end of the temporall being subordinate to the end of the spirituall those that have the managing of the temporall jurisdiction must likewise be subordinate and subject to the spirituall jurisdiction These are the arguments of Bonifacius and Bellarmin and upon these grounds all states and magistrates being but ministers of God in managing the temporall power must be obedient to all acts and sentences of the spirituall jurisdiction which the ministers of God in the Gospell are entrusted with so that the magistrates power being subordinate to the ecclesiasticall all appeals from civil judicatories must be valid and so all sentences of excommunications of what persons soever But the same ecclesiasticall power as it is challenged by the presbyterians to be coordinate to the power of the magistrate rendreth all acts of excommunication altogether unreasonable and unwarrantable For it is but reasonable that a man should submit to a power that is either subordinate to another or that hath no supreme or collateral but it would trouble one to be sentenced by a power that is neither soveraign nor subordinate as is the ecclesiasticall Neither is it lesse unreasonable that the same man subject both to the ecclesiasticall and the civil power being condemned by one of the powers cannot so much as seek for remedy in the court of that power that ought to give him defence and protection The Pope well foresaw he could not depose a King except the power of the King were subordinate to that of the Pope But Zanchius and some others though they do not make the temporall power subordinate to the spirituall yet they hold that Kings and magistrates are no lesse subject to the censure of excommunication then the meanest member of a church 3. The denosing of a King or other magistrate is a result 〈…〉 flowing from excommunication for if by excommunication a man is made a member of Satan whose addresse conversation company is to be avoided by all good men it comes much to one pass either to depose him or to put him into such a condition in which he hath but the name of a King which is done by excommunication And therefore Emanuel Sa well expresseth the sense of the Romanists and with it the true consequence of excommunication which indeed if there be such a thing must be as he defines it aphoris verbo excommunicationis An excommunicated person is suspended from his office and benefice and cannot judge accuse or witnesse § 27. But that excommunication held by presbyterians by which Kings excommunicated may still retain their authority and power as before is altogether inconsistent with reason Can a man delivered to Satan make lawes obliging for conscience sake Can a soveraign put to shame and confusion yea execration by a sentence of excommunication be trusted by his subjects or can a subject excommunicated and rejected by such a solemn act as unworthy to have any communion with Christians be entrusted by his soveraign with the managing of the great affairs of state by which union communion is maintained among all ranks of people 4. Excommunication is very agreeable with the headship of the Pope under Christ in the government of the Catholick church for he doth but expell a man out of the pale that bounds his jurisdiction But a minister or a presbytery excommunicating either a King or any other man cannot say that their excommunication extendeth as far as the bounds of their jurisdiction since they have not yet defined how far it extendeth surely not so far as and no further then the jurisdiction of the magistrate under which they live for the ecclesiasticall and spirituall jurisdiction is not limited by mens bounds for it is like the place of the Angels one may say they are here but one cannot say that they are not there If it reacheth all over the world then a presbytery of Scotland may as well excommunicate a man in Germany as in Scotland 5. The Papists arguments namely Bellarmin's and others are very urging that supposing there be but one true church and body of Christ and that that church and body is the Româ—sh church there cannot be a Common-wealth within another Commonwealth and a jurisdiction within another jurisdiction except one be subordinate to the other and one depend on the other therefore that either the spirituall power must depend on the temporall or the temporall on the spirituall for fear of a continuall clashing and conflict But our brethren not allowing the necessity of dependance of one jurisdiction on the other do unavoidably run upon many rocks of inconveniences which the papists prudently avoid such as is an endlesse crossing and thwarting of contrary laws commands and orders one of the other while men do not know which to obey first as I have largely shewed in the 15. chapter of my Paraenesis 6. Besides it doth very well stand to reason what the Romanists would have that one body of a church should have one governour and one government which is that of Christ but so doth it not that the presbyterian government should be the government of Christ and yet not be received by all the members of the church of Christ as they cannot deny but that there are many churches which yet do not hold presbytery to be the government of Christ
naturall power right liberty and prudence in ordering all kinds of affairs societies and families are no otherwise distinct in kind or species then a yard that measured cloth differs from that which measured searge as a yard is alike appliable to silk and thred and the same hammer will knock in an iron naile and a wooden pin so the same power and prudence governeth the church and a colledge It is also observable that a man being at once a member of a family hall city Parliament church doth not act alwaies according to the quality of his relation function and place publick or private not acting as a physitian father or husband but as a judge and not as a church-member but as a free member of a society Thus a member of a colledge of physitians joyneth in consultation with his brethren in a case of physick as a physitian but in making lawes regulating the practise of physick and the apothecaries entrenching upon the physitians he doth not act as a physitian but as a judge and as a person invested with judiciall power from the state The same physitian in a Parliament upon the matter and question of physick and of physitians to be regulated may speak pertinently of his art as a physitian but doth not vote give his consent to the making of a law about physick as a physitian but as a judge of the land Likewise to be sure by what right pastors and people act in the church the acts and actions of a pastor or church-member are to be considered either as acts of pastors and of church-members or as they are acts of rulers and members of a society The act of a pastor as pastor is to discharge all ministeriall function commanded in the revealed word and not declared by any dictate of nature In those acts I see no right of jurisdiction but over the inward man when by the power of the word the sinner is brought to the obedience of the crosse of Christ The acts of church-members as such are either in relation to the pastor or of one member to another In relation to the pastor the acts are to submit to the minister ruling them and dispensing unto them the word They may have that liberty to try his doctrine and to do as they of Beroea who searched the Scriptures to know whether it was so as St. Paul preached unto them this is also an act of every faithfull member of the church not to assent to any doctrine because it hath been assented unto by the major part of suffrages but in things that concern order and discipline to yield to the constitutions agreed on by the major part of the assembly so that by them the bond of charity and the truth of the doctrine be not violated and perverted The acts of church-members relating one to another are to bear one anothers burthens to forgive and edifie one another to preferre another before himself The acts of pastors and church-members as they are endowed with a power common to all other societies are 1. to do all things orderly 2. to make a discipline sutable to time and place since there is not in the Scripture a positive precept concerning the same 3. to oblige every member to the lawes of the discipline voted by the major part of the members 4. to admit and expell the members which by the major part are thought fit so to be Many other acts are performed by the same members not as church-members as to appeal to a superiour tribunall as magistracy or synod in case of wrong sustained for they do not oppose a just defence to wrong by any other right then a member of any society should do Thus an assembly of Christians meeting in a church way being persecuted or assaulted in their temple by rude and wicked men doth not oppose a just defence by weapons or otherwise as church-members but as men invested with naturall power against an unjust violence In short ministers and people have many actâ—ngs within the sphear of Christian duties which are not proper to them as Christians and members of churches being like in that to a physitian who doth not build as a physitian or to a counsellor of State carrying a letter to a friend who acts then the part of a letter-bearer thus a father hath a power over his son by a naturall paternall right but he doth instruct him in a Gospell way by a paternall Christian right and duty grounded upon a positive precept of the Scripture thus Queen Mary of England established a religion by a naturall right power and duty annexed to all soveraignty to order sacred things with a soveraign authority but Queen Elizabeth did overthrow the false worship and did set up Protestant religion not only by the same right that Queen Mary had but also by a positive right as principall church-member as Ezechiah Iosiah c. appointed by God to be heads and nursing fathers and mothers of the churches The same things lawes and constitutions that are of divine right are also of humane right and likewise the things that are of humane right in a good sense may be said to be of divine right Things are said to be of divine or humane right either because the matter of right is concerning Gods worship or humane policie or because God or man is the author of them Thus the lawes of the Iewes regulating their Commonwealth are said both to be of divine and humane right divine because God is the authour of them humane because they order all affairs about mine and thine right and wrong and betwixt man and man Likewise many things have been instituted with great wisedome by magistrates and councils which may well be said to be both of divine and humane right Divine because they further the purity of worship and power of godlinesse humane because they were instituted by men and may suffer alteration and reformation So things that are every way of divine right both for the matter and institution as the eating of the passeover and the observation of the Sabbath may be said to be of humane right because commanded and enjoyned by humane authority The very calling of synods which they say is of divine institution both for their institution which is Apostolick and for the matter that is handled in them none but a papist did yet deny to be the Emperours and magistrates right Thus fasting prayer publick humiliation though duties to be performed by divine right and precept are also of humane right as commanded and ordered by the magistrate in a publick way Thus it was the good Kings of Iuda's right and none can blame them for it to command fasting and prayers Lastly things that are every way of humane right and made by man and have for their object the regulating of humane affairs as are the lawes concerning conduit-pipes buildings forests chases c. may conveniently be said to be of divine right because by divine right they
respect the pastor others the fellow-members Those that respect the pastor or pastors are to maintain observe respect and honour them first for their callings sake looking upon them as Ambassadours from Christ and then for their work and the word that they bear to receive their commands as commands of Christ and yet not with a blind obedience but first being perswaded and convinced yea judging them by the judgement of spirituall men and by a judgement of discretion and approbation proving the pastors doctrine though it came out of another St. Pauls mouth The acts and duties of church-members as such one towards another are to love edifie forbear and submit one to another But a main act of a church-member as such is not to submit his own reason to the number of his fellow-members in assenting to or dissenting from such a doctrine act or law made by them but to the weight and to what he by his reason inlightened by the word conceiveth to be most good true just and reasonable yet for conformity sake and mutuall edification yielding as far as he may The acts of the power of the church by a naturall divine politick civil right not as they are Christians or church-members but as they are a society of men endowed with humane prudence freedom of body and mind and have discretion as to govern themselves and their private families so to contribute their advice and help towards the government of any society of men whereof they are members these acts I say are common to all other societies as to a company a hall a corporation a colledge or school these acts are to do all things orderly to chuse their own church-officers that orders made by the major part of the society shall oblige the minor dissenting part to chuse time and place of meeting to admit or reject such officers or members as the major part of the members shall think fit that each member shall stand to any order of the discipline once consented unto by him till the order be reversed by the consent of the major part All these acts are to be guided not only by the light of reason and common prudence but chiefly by that measure of light of grace or faith that God hath imparted to every church-member which light being not known but to him that hath received it and the springs and motives which induce each member of a church-society rather to be of this then of that judgement in ordering and governing the society being unknown to the universality of the society therefore church-members are to be governed as the members of any other society by the dictate of men as men and not as Christians submitting either actively or passively to an order and law because it is an order and law not because it is good and reasonable It is better in such things as they say that a mischief should happen then an inconvenience for if one member though alone in the right should dissent from the rest of his fellow-members no man but will judge that it is much better that this one dissenting member should submit to that which is wrong either by acting or suffering then that all proceedings for order and discipline should be stayed Were no law valid but to him that thinketh it so the world would be in a strange confusion So then an assembly of Christians being a society of men and a Christian having the face like a lawyer a physitian or a merchant and nothing being seen but the out-side they must be all governed by the same dictate which appeareth prima fronte to be reason to a man considered as a man and not as he is a Christian lawyer or physitian And as Dionysius governed his Kingdom and school by the same dictates of reason so must a society of merchants a colledge of physitians a family and so a society of Christians Of these two kinds of acts as every society hath one proper to it self as it is a society of merchants physitians lawyers Christians so one kind of these acts is common to all as they are equally a society of men that must have a government and magistracy set up within themselves and so must a society of Christians meeting about the worship of God have But to make it evident that all church-acts are not acts of men as church-members but as members of a society and not as Christians but as invested with magistracy either assumed by a confederate discipline or delegated I might instance the like necessity of two kinds of acts in all societies of men that can be imagined not considered as Christians For example these two kinds of acts will be found in a colledge of physitians who as physitians joyn in consultation upon a case propounded to them send bills to their apothecaries examine and judge of the worth of those that are candidates or have license to practise physick discourse of their art either asunder or in a body as in a consultation but as a society of men invested with jurisdiction and magistracy they chuse a president censors and officers they make choise of time and place to sit they do all things orderly they admit or expell members they give authority and license to practise physick they bind themselves to stand to those orders that are made by the major part of their fellows which act is no act of physitians as physitians but a dictate of any other society who usually take that for a law of the society that hath passed by the major part of their members By this by the way we see what plea synods except they be infallible as the synod of the Apostles was can have for making decrees and canons by an ecclesiasticall jurisdiction it being in truth no other then what is assumed by all societies whose orders do passe for lawes as to themselves if made by the major part of their members But some of our brethren will interpose and say that if the Lord Jesus Christ hath appointed a set rule for governing of particular churches as some of them are of opinion and this rule be not arbitrary nor left to the dictate of mens common reason prudence then it followeth that those acts for taking care that those set rules of Christ for government be according to the mind of Christ are duties of church-members as such and not as members of a society To this I answer were it so that the Lord Jesus Christ had appointed an exact and expresse rule for government in particular churches I confess that those acts to see the mind of Christ fulfilled are acts of church-members as such so far as both pastor and members do act in obedience to God and not unto men not by constraint but willingly for so the preaching and hearing of the word are to be performed by church-members as such but these same acts specially about government as far as they are commanded and imposed and require externall obedience and that the