Selected quad for the lemma: nation_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
nation_n	church_n	king_n	rule_v	1,351	5	9.4691	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A79995	The civil magistrates povver in matters of religion modestly debated, impartially stated according to the bounds and grounds of scripture, and answer returned to those objections against the same which seem to have any weight in them. Together with A brief answer to a certain slanderous pamphlet called Ill news from New-England; or, a narrative of New-Englands persecution. By John Clark of Road-Island, physician. By Thomas Cobbet teacher of the church at Lynne in New-England. This treatise concerning the christian magistrates power, and the exerting thereof, in, and about matters of religion, written with much zeal and judgement by Mr. Cobbet of New-England, I doe allow to be printed; as being very profitable for these times. Feb. 7th. 1652. Obadiah Sedgwick.	Cobbet, Thomas, 1608-1685.	1653 (1653)	Wing C4776; Wing B4541; Thomason E687_2; Thomason E687_3; ESTC R206875	97,858	126

Corruptions in matters of Religion do some way or other strike at all that good not alone by provoking God in Judgment either to blast all that good unto a people amongst whom such corruptions prevail but the corruptions themselves occasion breaches upon mens natural and civil good even their lives safety estates civil peace and liberty and the like Witnesse the sad fruits of Popery too oft in England of Anabaptisme in Germany in John of Leyden and Cnipper Dollings dayes of Levellisme not long since in England when the better part of the Army were sent down towards Oxford as I remember to suppresse the stirre raised by the Levellers and I wish that might have been the last of the destructive turbulent seditious or trecherous designes of men grosly corrupted in their Judgments in the matters of Religion As for the moral good of subjects under Civil Authority how much such corruptions do intrench thereupon let the woful experience of the loosenesse and even profanenesse of too many in both Englands amongst whom corruptions in matters of Religion have taken place testifie besides the scandal upon Religion which such have brought in the eyes of the common sort which have made little or no profession and the woful miscarriages thereby occasioned amongst them also But how such corrupt persons are branded in Scripture for such mischiefs and miscarriages let these places be duly considered Rom. 16. 18. 2 Pet. 2. 1 2 3. compared with verse 10 12 13 14 18 19. Jude 4. with verse 8 10 11 12 13 16 18 19. 2 Tim. 4. 3 4. 1 Tim. 4. 1 2 3 4 5. whence also such perilous times 2 Tim. 3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 13. whence railings strifes and the like 1 Tim. 6. 3 4. whence increase of ungodlinesse 2 Tim. 2. 16. And is not then the Civil Magistrate whose end partly is the subjects natural and civil good bound in his political way to restrain and redresse the causes of the contrary evil but specially as the Magistrate is a political Minister of God in his civil way and by his Civil means of the subjects spiritual good so he is to improve his Authority that the liberty purity and peace of Gods own instituted worship and wayes wherein their spiritual good externally doth much lye be maintained and defended against all Infesting infringing Impugning or Impairing principles or practises breaking forth to the contrary the Civil Magistrate in Gods Appointment is a Minister to the Churches good as that of Rome to which Paul writ Chap. 1. 7. 13. 4. compared he is the Minister of God to thee for thy good Esay 60. 11. the Gentile Kings shall be brought to the Church to be added to it they shall also as Kings in some respect serve the Church else as verse 12. the Nation and the Kingdome or Authoritative part of the Nation that will not serve thee speaking of the Church shall perish and verse 10. Their Kings shall minister to thee Yea in point of the very Discipline of the Church which is to it as its walls they shall help in the building thereof by their Civil Authority setting up that in their Jurisdictions strengthening setling and establishing the same there Hence vers 10. And the sonnes of strangers shall build thy walls their Kings shall minister to thee namely in that matter of building her walls also there mentioned hence also they are called the builders of the Churches walls Esay 49 16 17. compared Thy walls are before me Thy children or as in the Hebrew thy builders namely of those walls make haste As builders by their Civil Authority they shall break down all manifest unevennesse in the Churches fabrick curb all palpable Intrusions of any bad stuffe therein and redresse whatsoever might visibly undermine the same and all this spoken with reference to the Dayes of the New Testament when the Gentiles should be thus behoveful to the Church verse 22. I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles Verse 23. and Kings shall be thy nursing Fathers they shall bow to thee with their faces toward the earth So Esay 60. 3. The Gentiles shall come to thy light and Kings to the brightnesse of thy rising Verse 9. Surely the Isles shall wait for me verse 10. The sons of strangers shall build up thy walls and their Kings shall minister to thee So Rev. 22. 24. And the Kings of the earth shall bring their glory to it namely to that new Jerusalem or purest Gospel Church not in heaven but which cometh from God out of heaven vers 2. Now the glory of the Kings of the earth is chiefly their Soveraignty and Civil Authority which Christ by John saith they shall bring to the Church not to be resigned to them or usurped by the Church or any of her Officers they shall be Kings still although ministring as Kings to the Church Esay 60. 10. but they shall bring this their glory to the Church to be improved for the Churches good or for the maintaining the doctrine discipline and waies of God held forth by the Church in the purity and liberty thereof against all opposers impugners despisers depravers disturbers and corrupters thereof And let none say What need the Church any such terrestrial Object Help It hath carried on Church wayes and worship when it had none to help but rather had the Rulers of the earth hindring it Besides the Church is a compleat Polity within it self and hath weapons to avenge all disobedience in its own way and sphear 2 Cor 10. 6. It is true say I this help from Civil Authority is not of Answ absolute necessity to the esse of the Church or to the esse of its operations but it is an accumulative good conferred of God upon the Church to have such builders of her walls and such nursing fathers to curb and hinder whatsoever is destructive to her good and so it is necessary to the optimum esse of the Church Besides when the Church hath used all her power against corrupters of her purity or disturbers of her peace by excommunicating of them from her Society which were of it yet such may grow the more insolent and commonly do wax the more turbulent and pragmatical that way and do more hurt after the Church hath gone to her utmost limits to censure them then before yea turbulent seducers may go from sea to sea to make proselytes and draw disciples after them where the particular Churches have no immediate power over them either then the Civil Magistrates sword and service is needful or else there will be left no ordinary and orderly power to restrain and punish such grosse Abuses in such cases A third Reason of this Assertion may be taken both from Reason 3 the Prayers which the Lord chargeth his people to make for this end and from the praises also which they return to God when such an end is Attained The former is held forth 1 Tim. 2. 1 2. I exhort

5 6 7 8. Tit. 2. and yet in a sense they may not be servants to men whether Family-Masters or State-Rulers namely in way of base servile compliance to mens vain humours to the sinful lusts of their wills or carnal Fancies of their minds if either Masters or Magistrates will forbid what they please and not what God would have them be not the servants of men better obey God then men Act. 4. 18 19 20. yea but when according to the former Conclusions they forbid and punish onely what their Lord and Master and yours also injoyneth them now you shew not a servant-like spirit to your professed Supreme Lord and Master if you submit not Grant such Power once and it is the way to make Christians Object 4 either basely to dissemble or else to do something against their consciences 1. As much might be said against that way which that Answ State took 2 Chron. 15. 12 13. they made this order that whosoever would not seek the Lord should be slain this Asa took courage to do by the prophesying of Oded vers 8. and as a fruit of this the Lord gave them rest round about vers 15. Josiah also he caused his Subjects to serve the Lord their God 2 Chron. 34. 33. this made the subjects either dissemble or sin against their consciences or if Churches assay to cast out blasphemers or trouble-Churches Gal. 5 10 12. 1 Tim. 1. ult they will but cause them either to dissemble or else sin against their consciences 2. According to the former Conclusions the Magistrate restraining and punishing things crosse manifestly crosse to the Word he punisheth onely such things which men out of conscience should avoid and the Magistrate also punishing such transgressours after due means of conviction the persons now punished become sinners against their own consciences and is punishing sin or sinners against conscience a means or cause in it self to make them either to dissemble or else to sin against conscience what more ridiculous The use of such Coercive power is to introduce an external Object 5 compulsion of persons to grace and truth when perswasion is rather to used 1. That godly regulated Rulers they are wont to injoyn the Answ use of all perswasive means to the Saints as the use of the Ministry of the Word amongst their Subjects that none may plead excuse we have had no instructive meanes to draw us on to the wayes of the Lord. So did Jehoshaphat 2 Chron. 17. 7 8 9. after which he sends forth Judges to censure offendors against God or man or both 2 Chron. 19. 5 6. 2. Even before they do actually sentence offendors they use all means of Conviction Conclusion sixth and consequently perswasion is used with such wherefore this maketh nothing against what we plead for 3. If the Objection argue ad idem it stands thus persons may not cannot be outwardly constrained by men to grace and true faith therefore they may not be externally restrained from ungodly practices such as venting of pernicious and blasphemous doctrines quite crosse to the Faith of the Saints the very naming whereof is a sufficient refutation of it This is to make the weapons of our warfare to be carnal and Object 6 not spiritual contrary to that 2 Cor. 10. 4 5. and to make Christs Kingdome of this world We might answer that 2 Cor. 10. speaketh not of the use of civil Power but of Church Apostolical Power and rather implieth Answ that though the weapons of Apostles and Churches considered as Apostolical and Ecclesiastical are of a Spiritual nature yet there are others who have weapons for suppressing of sinne by other means and wayes even by weapons which in some sense may be called carnal namely as contradistinct to Spiritual that is weapons of an external and corporal nature such as men make use of to exercise or establish their political jurisdiction over others But the answer is easie First if this argument be of force against Magistratical power in punishing open sins of the outward man against the first Table it is of like force against their punishing of such sins against the second Table Christs Kingdome being not of this world in way of punishing the sins of the one more then the other and Apostles and Churches having power from Christ by spiritual weapons to avenge all disobedience whether against first or second Table 2 Cor. 10. 6. 1 Cor. 5. 12. 3. 4 5. It would follow that Magistratical weapons must be used against neither sort of sins Secondly when Christ himself did use carnal instruments to curb and convert those Temple abuses and corruptions in Religion John 2. 13 14 15 16 17. yet did he not cross himself in his speech John 18. 36. My Kingdom is not of this world nor did he cross this in 2 Cor. 10. 4. which he spake by Paul Thirdly though Jesus Christs Kingdome of which he spake to Pilate before whom he was accused of assertation of a Caesarian kingdome and dominion John 19. 12. were no such kingdome nor he any such terrestrial Monarch yet that hindreth not but that both as God he ruleth over all Nations and as God-man all power is committed to him Matth. 28. And he is King of earthly kings and Lord of lords Revel 19. He by and from whom the Princes doe rule yea All the Judges of the earth yea by whom it is that such Princes do decree Justice even any just Lawes against open sins acted by the outward man against God or man first or second Table or any just censures against the same for so saith Proverbs 8. 15 16. By me Princes Decree justice that which giveth every Subject his due incouragement or punishment Yea he who taketh to himself his Kingdome in special form when the kingdoms of the earth become his or are subservient to him in establishing and vindicating his Royal Lawes and Institutions so far as they come under their view Rev. 11. 15. 17. compared This is a way to let in false Religions and corruptions in worship since Rulers may seek to restrain and punish all purity of Doctrine and worship and to constrain Christians to the contrary as do Popish Rulers and the like If the Objectors argue ad Idem they argue thus that to restrain Answ and punish grosser corruptions in Doctrine and worship is a way to bring in corruptions in Doctrine and worship And will not any blush to argue thus The exercise of such coercive power in matters of Religion Object 8 is the way to bring in persecution for Christs cause and for a good Conscience sake The limiting of civil peace as of dutie only to punish things manifestly crosse to the Word and that after due means used Answ 1 of information and conviction is rather to lay the bonds of God upon them to restrain them from persecuting the Saints for a good cause or conscience If accidentally any enemies to Pietie or Truth will take occasion thence to pervert and