worshiped a false God that therefore Magistrates are bound to punish Hereticks worshipping the true God though in a false way This is the strength of their exception to which we reply First That though it were true which they say that the practice of the Kings of Israel did extend but to Idolaters and those that seduced and drew away others to serve false Gods yet it does not follow but it may be binding to Magistrates now to punish Hereticks worshipping a true God in a false way and that because of this rule necessarly to be admitted in expounding of Scripture that when the command of God does strick against any one sin most usual in the time by rule of proportion it stricks against all sins of that kind As in the second Command there is nothing expresly forbidden but the Worshipping of God by graven Images and that because the worshipping of God by Images was the sin most in use at that time yet under graven is forbidden all wayes of worshipping of God invented by men and so although it were true that the practice of Godly Kings did strick but against Idolatry yet by rule of proportion all sins of that kind should be suppressed To which add that when the high degree of any sins by divine Law is to be punished by death common equity will infer that lesser degrees of sin are to be punished by a lesser punishment at least Secondly to what they say that the Magistrate did only punish Idolatry under the Old Testament We Answer that it is false they did punish other Errors also and such as would be thought light of now and this we shall instance in several particulars First They punished will worship in serving the true God and this we see by comparing two places of Scripture The first is the 2 Kings 23 8 9. Speaking of Josiah And he brought all the Priests out of the Cities of Judah and defiled the high places where the Priests had burnt incense So he employes his Power against the high places for the removal of their way of worship The other place of Scripture to be compared with is the 2 Chrov 33. 17. Which tells us the nature of their high places Nevertheless the People did sacrifice still in the high places yet unto the Lord their God only So that this worshipping on the high places was not that kind of Idolatry whereby a false God was worshipped but a way of their own whereby they worshipped the true God and yet Josiah suppresseth even this kind of false worship Secondly we find that Magistrates did employ their power for suppressing of the breakers of the Sabbath day and and punishing those that Married strange wives which yet were not Idolaters and Apostats from the true God a noble example whereof is in Nehemiah 13. from verse 15 to 21. There is a large History what pains he took to reform the People to keep the Sabbath day therefore in the 21. v. Then I testified against them and said unto them why lodged ye about the wall If ye do so again I will lay hands on you He threatens to employ the Civil power for suppressing of that Error and this is not Idolatry And Secondly we find that the Magistrates employed their power generally for suppressing any Error that was contrary to any Article of the Covenant So where we read in the 2 Chron 34. 31 32. And the King stood in his place and made a covenant before the Lord c. And he caused all that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it And the heads of the Covenant are not only against those who were Seducers but also against those that were seduced So we find it in Exodus 32 v. 20. In that Idolatry of worshipping the Golden Calf when Moses came down from the mount in his zeal to the Glory of God he not only punished Aaron but also the People and more than this he Armes the Levits as the avengers of God's Justice and proclaims that every man should avenge the Lord upon his very Brother Thus we have made out in the first Argument taken from the practice of the Kings of Israel and Judah and have vindicated it by Scripture from their exceptions brought against it The Second Argument shall yet be grounded on the Old Testament and it is taken from the many commands and precepts that are given in Scripture to Godly Kings and Magistrates and others to punish Blasphemers False Prophets and Idolaters Hereticks Sabbath Breakers and Seducers from whence we form this Argument That whatever was commanded to be done by Magistrates under the Old Testament as a part of their duty this Magistrates under the New Testament are oblidged to as a part of their duty also But Magistrates were commanded under the Old Testament to suppress Idolatry Blasphemy and Heresy and that they were to do as a part of their duty as Magistrates And therefore it is a duty lying on Magistrates under the New The thing we have to prove is that this was a command given to Magistrates under the Old Testament and that as a part of their duty as Magistrates And for this look over these places of Scripture Exod. 22. 20. He that sacrificeth unto any God save unto the Lord only he shall be utterly destroyed There is a command given to the Magistrates And so in Levit 24 15. And thou shalt speak unto the Children of Israel saying Whosoever curseth his God shall bear his sin v. 16. And he that Blasphemeth the name of the Lord he shall surely be put to death So in the 13. of Deut 1. If there arise among you a Prophet or dreamer of dreams and giveth thee a sign or a wonder c. Through the whole Chapter there are Commands given to the Magistrate to punish false worship We shall only add another and that is taken from the fourth Command where a charge is laid on the Magistrate as well as the Master of a Family to make use of his power for keeping of the Sabbath and to see to the keeping of it by others also Thou shalt do no manner of work thou nor they son nor they daughter This Command is given to the Magistrate as well as to the Master of the Family as appears from those things First By vertue of this Command Nehemiah the Magistrate of God's People did make use of his power to punish Sabbath Breakers in that place we cited in Nehemiah 13. 21. Secondly It appears from this that the Gates spoken of their Nor any thing that is within thy Gates is a term which aggreeth not to a single Family but a whole City even to the circuit of a whole Kingdom of the word Gates is taken in Scripture Geneâ— 22. 17 and thy seed shall possess the Gate of his enemies It followeth as in that respect therefore he speaks to the Magistrate no Master of a Family having such large power And Thirdly The power there spoken of is
to Doctrine and Instruction It is profitable for Doctrine and Instruction It will make a man perfect in that as well as in reproof Vse This reproves First the Papists they cast by the rule of the Word and will have their Traditions and their Poâ—es Decrees to be the rule But of this enough already in the preceeding Doctrine In the second place it reproves the Sectaries some whereof reprove the Word they will have a higher tryal and rule to examine by and it is the inbearing of Gods Spirit say they He is the Spirit of Truth and can he bear in a Lye But say we how know they the Spirit of the Devil by the Spirit of God except they bring it to the Word So the Word is the Rule yea and the last Rule But here is a doubt which we shall speak to This is a very hard task may some say for poor ignorant People to try Doctrines by the Word the Word it self is obscure and every one pretends the Word all Parties will say that they have the Word and so it is hard for us to know what is of God and what not if we have no other rule but the Word I answer it is very true there are very few Sectaries who will not pretend the Word And yet it does not follow that ye may cast by the Word But Secondly we say although the Word be in some places obscure and although Men of Opinions as contrary to the Word as Light is to Darkness may every one of them wrest the Word yet there is as much of the Word clear if it be rightly studied as will make a man know what is right and what is wrong Hence that Epithet given to the Word The word of the Lora is a Lamp to direct thy Paths The Word of the Lord is not unfitly compared to a Sea wherein Elephants i. e. men of greatest parts and Learning may swime and readily lose their fect how great soever their parts be if they rely upon them And yet it may be compared to a shallow calm running Stream wherein Lambs that is men of mean Gifts may wade and find out Gods mind in it if they be humble and take Gods way for searching of it But say ye what is that way of God wherein people may hope so as not to miscarry in the searching out of Gods mind in his Word In answer to this we shall give several Directions First A man that would not mistake Gods mind in his Word should be a diligent Reader of it Acts 17. 11. and searched the Scriptures daily c. it was their daily task And Secondly Reading of the Word should have Prayer going alongs with it Prov 2. 3. Yea if thou cryest after knowledge and liftest up thy voice for understanding ver 4. If thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as for hid treasures Then c. this crying and seeking is certainly in Prayer as well as in other means When people joyn Prayer with the Reading of the Word they will more readily attain to the knowledge of Gods mind Than a man that takes no more with him but his own natural parts Thirdly The word should be read with Meditation Psal 1. 2. in his Law doth he meditate day and night And Fourthly with Self-denial Prov. 3. 5. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to thine own understanding We should go to the Word with a deep sense on us of our own Ignorance to seek Light from it There are several other directions how People may be led to get the meaning of the word we shall speak of some First Obscure places being compared with these that are more clear will be clear also There are some places obscure but the Lord hath been so Graciously condescending in contriving the Scriptures that there are other places to make them clear So there is an obscure place we are not under the Law but under Grace which at first seems to sound as if People needed not to take heed to the Law But there is another place that clearly shows how we are not under the Law There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ. They are freed from the condemning power of the Law but not from the directions of it Secondly in obscure and dark places of Scripture on which men according to their several Conceptions would Father several senses the meaning that agrees most with the â—nalogy of Faith should be taken this is that which Paul calls the forme of wholsom words So there is a place controverted he laid on him the iniquitâ— of us all Says the Antinomians all our sins were laid on Christ and so do what we will we are not bound to seek pardon or mourn for tâ—em for our sins are laid on him and so we have none Now this gloss is contrary to the whole current of Scripture which holds out that believers have sin in them a body of Death 1 John 1 8. If we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the Truth is not in us It holdeth out believers at their best condition as Mourning for sin and praying for the pardon of sin Rom. 7. Psalm 25. 11. So that this Antinomian sense cannot be right because it is contrar to the whole current of Scripture and therefore the laying of our iniquities on him must be the guilt and punishment of our iniquity and not the being of sin it self which was bound upon Christ So another place the promoters of Tolleration pleads from is that in Phil. 3 15. that Counsel that Paul gives Let us therefore as many as be perfect be thus minded And if in any thing ye be otherwise minded God shall reveal even this unto you say they there is Tolleration whatever be Peoples differences let them walk according to their Light we say again that what Paul sayes of mutual forbearance must not be extended to all Errors but it must only be applyed to these that were Errors of infirmitie As Rom 15. 1. we then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please our selves And that the opposite meaning cannot be right because it is contrair to the current of many other Scriptures which command Hereticks to be Excommunicat An Heretick after the first and second admonition reject and not so much as bid them God speed So this is another way to know the meaning of the Scripture And this much now for directions to help you in the study of Gods word that you may attain to know Gods mind in it and so to know whether a Doctrine be of God or not We thought to have spoken of these other marks which do not infer necessarly a Doctrine to be of God but for the most part do follow on such a Doctrine but the time being now ended I shall only name them First That Doctrine which is of God will have Holiness following upon it And so that Doctrine of the
and be clean and change your Garments And in the 4 verse And they gave unto Jacob all the strange Gods which were in their Hands and all their Ear-rings which were in their Ears and Jacob hid them under the Oak which was by Scechem The Third practice which we shall observe is that of Asa in the 2 Chron. 14. vers 2. And Asa did that which was good and Right in the Eyes of the Lord his God verse 3. For he took away the Altars of the strange Gods and the high places and broke down the Images and cut down the Groves Verse 4. And commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their Fathers and to do the Law and the Commandment And in the 5 Verse Also he took away out of the Cities of Judah the High-places and the Images c. And we shall find it in chap. 15. vers 12 13. And they entred into a Covenant to seek the Lord God c. That whosoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel should be put to death whether small or great whether man or woman And in the 16. v. he employes his power in this point against his own Mother Maachah And also concerning Maachah the Mother of Asa the King he removed her from being Queen because she had made an Idol in a Grove and Asa cut down her Idol and stamped it and burnt it at the brook Kidron The Fourth practice shall be of King Manasseth 2 Chron 33 15. ye would mark such places for ye may have need of them And he took away the strange Gods and the Idol out of the house of the Lord and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem and cast them out of the City v. 16 And commanded Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel The last practice that we shall name is that of Josiah 2 Chron 34. v. 31 32 33. And the King stood in his place and made a Covenant before the Lord to walk after the Lord. c. And he caused all that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamen to stand to it c. And Josiah took away all the Abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the Children of Israel and made all that were present in Israel to serve even to serve the Lord their God Let this suffice to make out the first point That such were the practices of Kings and Magistrates under the Old Testament The Second thing to be cleared is That as these were their practices so they were approven practices And this is clear First from Gods approbation given to them in that place before cited 2 Chron. 14. 23. Asa gets a Testimony That He did that which was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God And wherefore For he took away the Altars of the strange Gods and the high Places and broke down the Images c. And Secondly We find that Jehu although he was Hypocritical was rewarded of God for suppressing of False Worship In 2 Kings 10. 30. And the Lord said unto Jehu because thou hast done well in executing that which is right in mine eyes and hast done unto the House of Ahab according to all that was in mine heart thy Children of the fourth Generation shall sit on the throne of Israel We might bring several other evidences that these their practices were approven of God but what is already said may suffice The patrons of Tolleration bring several exceptions to weaken the strengh of this Argument which we shall propone in as full strength as they come to our hand and take them off And the First exception is this say they The practice of Judah and Israel under the Old Testament cannot be binding to Magistrats under the New because they were Typical Kings and the actions they did were Typical of somewhat to be done by Christ and so not binding to us To this we reply First That however this our hold concerning the practices of the Kings of Judah and Israel after they entered Canaan who were Typical Kings as they say of this Typical Land that they could not be binding to Magistrats now yet we find it was the practice of Jacob before the the Kingdom of Israel was erected and so what he did was not done by him as a Type of Christ but a moral duty and he was approven in it we find also when heathen Kings came to the Knowledge of God they employed their power this way and were approven in so doing and surely they will not call Heathen Kings Types of Christ We shall give one instance of this in the seventh chap of Ezra v. 26. There a decree comes out from Atraxerxes a heathen King Whosoever will not do the Law of thy God and the Law of the King let Judgment be executed speedily upon him whither it be unto Death or to Banishment or to confiscation of Goods c. Now lest it should be said this was a rash Act and so not binding therefore there is something in the Text equivalent to God's Approbation of it to wit Ezra's Blessing the Lord that he had made such an Act Verse 27. But we give a Second Answer to the Objection Although it were granted that all the King 's of Israel were Types of Christ as we do not grant it in all especially in those who were wicked and Godless men it does not follow that what they did in punishing false Doctrine they Acted therein as Types of Christ And if so then it does not follow that it is not binding now except they will say that whatever was done by any who were Types of Christ in no wayes binding unto others and if so they may as well argue that what Magistrates under the Old Testament did in punishing sins against the second Table such as Adultery Murder were done by them as they were Types of Christ and so not binding to Magistrates now Yea upon the same ground they may infer that Davids Prayers and Tears for sin were no copy for us to follow why these were Acts of one who was a Type of Christ. Yea by the same Reason they may reject the whole Scripture of the Old Testament as not binding unto us because forsooth it was written by the Prophets and such as were Types of Christ and so not binding to us Thus we see what absurdity the giving way to such an exception will draw unto and therefore it is to be rejected But their Second Exception seems more plausible and it is this say they The practice of the Kings of Israel doth not argue up fully to that which we do hold because their practice did not strike on every Error against Truth but only Idolatry and not all Idolaters but those that made Apostacy and served false Gods and not all of those but these only that seduced and drew away others to serve the false God Now it does not follow from their punishing of Idolaters who
to be extended to Strangers now the chief care of Stangers did belong to the Magistrate and not to the Master of a Family therefore Nehemiah the Magistrate extends this power of his to the Strangers that came to buy and sell on the Sabbath day Nehem 13 20 The Adversary brings several exceptions against this Argument which we shall propone and take off The First Exception is say they Those were Judicial Laws and so now are expired with their Common-wealth Answer This is a common refuge to Sectaries where any practice is brought from the Old Testament against them presently they cast at it upon this account as not binding to us under the New Therefore we shall speak so much the more unto this point By a judicial Law is meaned a Civil Law so the force of their Argument is this The Civil Law of one Kingdom is not binding to another but these were Civil Lawes belonging to that Kingdom Therefore they are not binding to us To this we Answer First That they cannot say this of all the Laws instanced particularly of that Law of the fourth Command It is a Moral Law binding to all Secondly we Answer the rest of these Laws are Moral and binding to all Magistrates yea and that for these Reasons Because First Abraham and Jacob and other Magistrates that were among the Jews did practice these Laws even before the Judicial Law was given out by Moses and so they behooved to be Moral Yea Heathen Kings that were not under the Judicial Law of Moses as not being Members of their Commonwealth when they came to the knowledge of God they made use of their Power to suppress Idolatry which certainly was through vertue of the Moral Law commanding them so to do Not the Judicial Law that they were not under A Third Answer we give that though what is said were true viz. That these Laws were Judicial Yet it does not follow that they are not now binding to Magistrates To understand this there were two things in their Judicial Laws as in our Civil Laws Yet there was somewhat that concerned the Kingdom in particular as that Law that Servants should be freed from their service at the seven years end And the Law of inheritance to be keept within the Tribe and this part of the Law did fall with their Common-wealth But their was another thing in their Judicial Laws and that is somewhat of Common Equity belonging unto all such as Laws for punishing sins done against the Moral Law and in this far the Judicial Law is binding to us because there is not a syllable in the New Testament for abrogating of it and so must bind being given by God And Jesus Christ and his Apostles Reason from this Judicial Law as in 1 Corinth 9. 9. It is written in the Law of Moses Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the Ox that treade thout the corn And in several other places so is it in the Civil Laws in other Kingdoms as for example That Witches should be punished by death and burnt to Ashes is a Civil Law in Scotland Now there is somewhat there of Common Equity to wit that they should be punished by death but the particular way of putting them to death to wit whither by strangling drowning c. or the burning of their Bodies to Ashes is not of Common Equity Other Kingdoms may use another way of Execution as pleaseth them best There is a Second Exception they bring against this Argument say they If their Laws were binding to us then they would be binding according to all their circumstances and if so then all persons whole Cities yea beasts behoved to be stoned to death For so is the Command Deutro 13. Now say they what Massacring would this be To take off this exception we Answer There are two things in a Law there is first The substance of the Law Secondly The Circumstances of it Now a Law may hold according to the main substance and yet not according to these circumstances We shall clear it in an Example The Law of Hospitality binds all nations as to the substance of the things commanded by it but there were some circumstances joyned with this Law according to the nature of the people to whom it was given such as the washing of feet and kisses of Charity and according to these it is not binding And so that command That false worship should be punished is substantial and binding unto all but that it should so be punished as to put Children Women Beasts young and old to death was suited according unto the temper of that People unto whom it was given being so naturally prone to Idolatry and therefore were by more fearful punishments to be scarred from it and so in that respect is not binding unto others We may add where this Law is repeated as Exod 22. 18. Deutr 17. 2. 5. and Cap 18. 20. It is only repeated in the substance of it and the way and manner is not mentioned Secondly we find that Jacob and other Magistrates who were before the Law did not Execute it according to thir Circumstances Yea and the Jewish Magistrates as Moses and Josiah Ezod 31. and 2 King 23 Did not tye themselves precisely to Execute the Law according to all these Circumstances And so it remaines that though these Circumstances do not bind the Magistrate yet the Law according to its substance is yet binding There is a Third Exception they bring say they the Magistrate under the Old Testament had an infallible Rule whereby he might know what was Heresy and what not to wit his consulting the Lord by Vrim and Thummim But the Magistrates under the New Testament have not this infallible Rule and so it does not follow from the duty of Magistrates under the Old Testament that the same should be done by the Magistrates under the New To which we Answer This exception suppones First That Magistrates under the New Testament may punish those whom they know certainly to be Hereticks and surely there are sundry Hereticks of this kind which he may know as well as if he had consulted with Vrim and Thummim Secondly this exception of theirs doth suppone that the Magistrate under the New Testament hath no way left him how to come to know infallibly what is Heresy what not which is false he hath the word of God his Spirit speaking by it which is more infallible than that of the Priests getting their Answer from Vrim and Tummim For it might be doubted whither the Priest had taken up the Answer right or not or if he was Faithful in giving it according as he had received it Yea Peter sayes the word is more sure than any voice from Heaven 2 Peter 1. Thirdly This exception does suppone that the Magistrate under the Old Testament took this course of consulting with Vrim and Thummim for knowing who was Hereticks Idolaters and who not But this is false it was only the written Word which they