of Devils as Saint Paul did upon occasion declare some Doctrines to be and that he ought not to give me Liberty to preach any such in his Kingdom What now is to be done in this Case Here is Conscience on both sides the King is as firmly perswaded as I am and thinks himself as well informed as I either am or can be If the King restrains me from preaching after my own way then I cry out that he is a Persecutor He replies that I am a Seducer nay a Blasphemer and he neither will nor ought to suffer any such in his Countries either his Conscience or mine must over-rule Both cannot be satisfied one or other must necessarily either yield or alter or else I must Preach and he must Punish and the Almighty must at his own time be Judge between us and in the mean time as to all the purposes of this World the King's Conscience hath reason to expect to be more Authoritative than mine and withall he is concerned to take care both of himself and all other men to Judge both as to his own particular and likewise as to the Concerns of His whole Nation If it be replied in this Case that the King's Conscience ought to yield because it is an Errour in Him to think that He is at all concerned in Points of this Nature that Religion is no part of His Care His business is only to look after the Civil Government and the Publick Peace a Pretence frequently insisted on The Answer to this is very plain and might easily be enlarged upon as to many Particulars I shall only mention these two Things First that Religion hath a very great influence upon Civil Government and the Publick Peace and therefore if so be that the Civil Government and the Publick Peace be within His Care then Religion ought by no means to be excluded from it as having so great an influence upon it In the next place as to the Pretence that the Magistrate is in an Errour if he looks upon himself as concerned in this Particular it is more than possible that that very Pretence will upon Examination appear to be the greater Errour And in general the Subject is no more free from Errour than the Soveraign And this need not seem News to us of this Age and Nation and to speak the Truth it is no easie matter to find out any Age or Nation where it hath not been sadly evidenced that Seducers will quickly be found in great abundance where Liberty hath been given for the People to be seduced by them And after all this it will be no impossible Task to make out that Magistrates are obliged not only in Interest but likewise in point of Conscience to have a great Care of Religion and to use that Authority which they received from God so far to the honour of him who gave it as by no means to suffer his Truths to lie all openly exposed to all the Lusts Designs and Mistakes of Men to all the Knavery and all the Folly of Every one who is either willing to deceive or liable to be deceived And of this I shall now endeavour to give a brief account both from Reason and Scripture the Necessity of the thing and the Authority both of the Old and New Testament But here a great many Rubs are thrown in our way by the fore-mentioned Author of Liberty of Conscience upon its true and proper Grounds asserted and vindicated Proving that no Prince nor State ought by force to compel men to any Part of the Doctrine Worship or Discipline of the Gospel London Printed in the year 1668. Which methinks is not very different from the Doctrine of the Blody Tenent dedicated to both Houses of Parliament in the year 1644. It is the Will and Command of God that since the coming of his Son Iesus a Permission of the most Paganish Iewish Turkish or Antichristian Consciences and Worships be granted to All men in all Nations and Countries But whatever the Assertion of our Author is either in it self or in its Consequence I shall briefly enquire into the Arguments he brings for it Pag. 25. That the Civil and Ecclesiastical Power are things perfectly in themselves distinct and ought in their Excercise to be kept so c. And The Magistrate hath ways such as Christ thought sufficient to promote the Good of Religion and propagating the Growth of the Gospel without drawing the Civil Sword which will make no more Impression in spiritual Concerns than it will do upon a Ghost which hath no real Body c. And p. 28. To use force in Religion is wholly unlawful in any hand whatever because it is by no means appointed by Christ to bring about any Gospel-End For the Magistrate to enforce the Laws of the Gospel by Temporal Power or to compel Men into the Gospel by such a Power is to act without the least Precept or Precedent to induce an Engine to execute the Gospel contrary to the nature of Christs Kingdom which is not of this World and contrary to the nature of all Gospel-institutions Doth not Paul positively deliver this That the weapons of the Gospel are not carnal but spiritual and mighty thorough God The Sword of the Spirit is the Weapon by which Christ doth all yea by which he will destroy Antichrist the greatest gospel-Gospel-enemy the World hath produced The Sum of which is briefly this 1. That Force is a very incompetent Method to be used in matters of Belief and Perswasion 2. That it is unlawful 1. Because Christ hath no where commanded it we have neither Precept nor Precedent for it 2. Because St. Paul hath plainly forbid it where he says that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal Now as to these Suggestions which do frequently recurr in this Question I shall at present only briefly touch upon them premising this That our Author like to all the rest who have dealt in this Cause is as much concern'd to answer these and all the rest of his Arguments against using the Secular Interposition in matters of Belief as any of those he writes against because he himself doth very much approve and commend such Interposition where he likes the Cause in behalf of which it is made use of Now though this may seem strange because it is directly contrary to his whole Book yet it is very plain and I shall not expect to be believed upon my bare word but desire the Author himself or any one besides who makes a doubt of it to consider these words which we have pag. 24. Constantine and the Christian Emperours after him till the Church of Rome had cheated them into subjection took upon them the care and oversight of all Religious things among our selves we reap the advantage of our Kings and Princes care and Concern in that enjoyment we have of the Protestant Religion Now this Assertion of that learned Gentleman is evidently true but then it happens here as
it useth in the other Discourses for Toleration When the Evidence of Truth hath forced from them one reasonable Concession that one Concession doth plainly give away from them nothing less than their whole Cause For pray tell me Constantine and the Christian Emperours are here commended for their care and oversight in Religious things and so our own Kings for securing to us the Protestant Religion Now was not all this done by Laws and Penalties and the Civil Sword and was there any possibility of having it done any other way This being premised as to the Exceptions themselves I briefly say this If no force is to be used in matters of Religion because it is an incompetent Method as being able to reach only to the Body and Estate but is by much too weak to reach unto the Mind this is a Difficulty not at all peculiar to the Gospel but common to that with all other Dispensations The Mind of a Man was as much a Spirit under the Law as it can be now and the Sword was made of as meer Matter in those days as it can be in these and therefore thus far the Case is one and the same As to the Second Exception That all Force is now unlawful because Christ hath not commanded it they have been told and have had it proved to them too in many parts of the Puritan Controversie that many things are lawful which there is no particular Command for that a thing becomes unlawful not by being not commanded but by being forbidden And this leads me directly to the Third Exception That all Force is plainly forbidden by St. Paul when he says 2 Cor. 10. v. 4. that The weapons of our warfare are not carnal Now this saying of the Apostle is so far from being a hibition of all Coercion in the Affairs of Religion that it doth plainly refer to a very great Coercion which himself did in these very words threaten for to use viz. the Censures of the Church in such a manner as to carry temporal Penalties along with them in manner miraculous visible and extraordinary And therefore it followeth in the next words that those Weapons which in themselves might be supposed weak yet if they were better looked into would be found to have a strength from God which they had not from themselves for they were not meerly carnal but mighty through God for the bringing down strong holds And to render it clear that these words have a penal meaning in them it follows that these Weapons are able to cast down imaginations and every high thought that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the Obedience of Christ And to put it out of all doubt that those Weapons had a coercive power in them the Apostle adds in a stile much beyond exhortation and advice nay much beyond a bare reproof that in the strength of them he would revenge all disobedience And as for the last most pressing and convincing Consideration That if Force was to be used in any affair of Religion at all it was of all others the most to be justified in order to the pulling down of Antichrist the greatest of all other Gospel-enemies But even in that Case it ought not to be used and therefore most certainly not in any other The Sword of the Spirit being the only Weapon by which Christ will destroy Antichrist the greatest gospel-Gospel-enemy which the World hath produced I shall not here take an advantage which I have already mentioned that the Sword of the Spirit doth in Scripture signifie something which carries Coercion along with it but shall be contented that that word be understood in the common meaning of it And upon that Supposition I believe that this Assertion of this learned Gentleman will scarce pass for true Doctrine in the Separated Congregations I am sure that there was a time when it would not have done so and I never yet heard that in this Point their Minds were altered How unlawful soever it may be for the Magistrate to make use of the Civil Sword in a Cause of Religion I am sure that it hath been often preached as a great Gospel Duty though in a Rebellion to make use of the Military one We have not forgot how often the Zeal of the Common People was inflamed against the King by telling them that the Cause then fought for was the Cause of God that their Persons and Estates were all too little to be sacrificed in this Concern of Religion and the question really was whether Christ or Anti-Christ should be King And so I return to our Author Amongst all the Arguments which are brought to prove the Compulsory Power of the Magistrate under the Gospel the greatest weight is laid upon the practice of the Kings of Israel and Judah and what they did under the Law in compelling men to the Worship of God then established In the due Consideration whereof we shall find the truth in hand no wayes invalidated and that what was then done by the Kings of Israel and Judah cannot reasonably be now made a Rule to Magistrates under the Gospel And that the Analogy will no way hold may be made appear both from the different station and posture those Kings were in from all Magistrates now and also from the different Condition of the Church then and now and many Circumstances peculiarly relating to both First the Worship and Policy of the Jews being in it self Typical and representative of what was to come hereafter their Government was likewise so and in their Kings very eminently Secondly God was pleased in those Times upon all eminent Occasions of Reformation in his Worship and Proceedings of that Nature to send Prophets to declare his positive Mind and to put an end to all Doubts that could be about such things Nay some of the Kings themselves were Prophets immediately inspired and did not only take care of the Worship established by Moses but did themselves by Divine Authority bring in things of a new Institution into the Worship of God Thus David did and Solomon in bringing Musick into the Temple and setling the Courses of the Priests and were divinely inspired to write part of the holy Scriptures No Magistrate now can pretend to any such power in themselves nor have they any such extraordinary direction to guide them but are punctually obliged to whatever Christ hath revealed in the Gospel And therefore in this respect the Analogy holds no way good The sum of all which is that no Argument ought to be drawn from the Examples of the Kings of Israel or Iudah whereby to prove the Power of any present Magistrates over the Affairs of Religion by reason of the great difference between those Magistrates and ours especially in these two respects First that they were Typical Secondly that in such Cases they had either Prophets sent to them or themselves were divinely inspired And in this part of the Argument if
among all the Precepts which we meet with in the New Testament concerning Moderation Condescention bearing with one anothers Infirmities it is very evident that not any one of them hath any manner of Relation to our great Idol of Liberty of Conscience they being plainly given to private Persons many times in relation only to their own passions and where not so limited to certain Cases occasional emergencies and with a clear reference to their not having as yet time or opportunity of being sufficiently instructed But as for the Governours of the Church they are sufficiently called upon to watch over their respective Flocks and to take care that Wolves do not break in upon them they are called upon to exercise the whole power with which they were intrusted viz. the power of Excommunication a thing which comes so near the Question now in Debate that it was not seldom assisted with temporal penalties And though it is often suggested into his Argument that the Outward Sword can act no more upon the mind of men than upon a Ghost yet St. Paul 1 Cor. 5. 5. was of the Opinion that the Destruction of the Flesh a Phrase well known to signifie Diseases and such like inflictions on the Body was a very likely method by which the Spirit might at length come to be saved The Soul and the Body though of a distant Nature have so near an Union such Common Interests and so great an influence one upon another that what doth affect the one the other cannot choose but be so far concerned in as at the least to consider it And this is obvious to the most ordinary Experience and hath seldom failed of a great Effect whenever it hath been made trial of And if it were not so it would not only supercede all correction in religious Affairs but in Civil ones likewise Now that any such kind of Liberty of Conscience was brought into the World by the Revelation of the Gospel as that every one should henceforward without control profess and propagate what Opinion soever he either did really or would pretend to believe I take to be a thing so far from being according to to the Rule of the New Testament that I must profess my self to be very much mistaken if so be that this thing be not contrary not only to some few Texts but to a considerable part of the whole Design of it In the 4th of the Ephes. v. 14. we read of several Orders and Degrees of Men instituted and appointed for this very purpose that they might take care of the perfecting the Saints the work of the Ministry the edifying the Body of Christ that we be henceforth no more Children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of Doctrine by the slight of men and cunning crastiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive Now is it credible that an unbounded Licence for all manner of Opinions was ever intended by St. Paul to be a thing to be looked upon as being according to the mind of Christ who tells us of a whole Order of Men appointed by Christ whose Duty it should be to take care that men should not be tossed to and fro and carried about with every Wind of Doctrine And this Consideration will be of so much the greater force both as to the Care which ought to be taken of Souls and withal as to the Ends of Government and all the purposes of humane Life If we do but keep in mind the Caution which is here given us by the Apostle that every thing is not Gold that glisters that fair pretences may have very ill Designs lodged under them The being tossed to and fro with every wind of Doctrine is it self certainly a very great Evil and of very ill consequence But the deluded persons themselves have one good Preservative against it when they are by such an infallible Authority forewarn'd and assured that this doth frequently come to pass by the slight of men and the cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive Now in this Case I would appeal to common Sense whether it be a thing adviseable upon the scores either of Piety or Prudence that such deceivers should have an unbounded Liberty to seduce all those whom at any time they shall be able to impose upon It is plain that St. Paul was so far from being of this mind that he calls upon the Ecclesiastical Officers in this case to make use of the highest Censures which they were entrusted with I wish they were cut off that trouble you Gal. 5. 12. Now I would fain know whether when this which our Apostle doth advise is done that according to the Rules of Scripture any one or more are cast out of the Communion of the Church upon the account of Corruption either in Doctrine or Manners it be agreeable to common Sense that this Person or Persons so cast out of the Church according to the Rules above supposed should in the same Kingdom nay in the same Parish have a right to set up another that being cut off as a rotten Member from one Church he may from thence assume the Privilege to create himself the Pastour of another which he no doubt will be forward enough to tell us is a much purer one Now the want of exercising the Censures of the Church in this very Case of false Doctrine we find to be a thing highly blame-worthy Rev. 2. 14. where it is said to the Angel of the Church of Pergamus I have a few things against thee because thou hast them who hold the Doctrine of Balaam and Ver. 15. Thou hast them who hold the Doctrine of the Nicolaitans Now the Governour of this Church is not charged in the least that he himself did hold these false Doctrines but that there are those within his Communion who do hold them as again the Complaint is renewed v. 20. to another Angel I have a few things against thee because thou sufferest that woman Iezebel which calleth her self a Prophetess to teach and seduce my servants to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed to Idols From all which it is very plain that this Natural or Christian Right of propagating whatever Opinion men do chance or fancy or pretend to be of was a thing which St. Iohn was utterly unacquainted with and blames the Governours of the Church for suffering a false Prophetess to teach and seduce the Souls committed to their Charge And let any reasonable man consider with himself whether the condition of the Common people be not lamentably expos'd to innumerable and unaccountable Dangers if so be that by publick Authority they shall lie exposed to every one to deceive who can and will St. Paul 2 Ti 2. 17. gives us notice of some Hereticks of his time whose words do eat as doth a canker he names the Men and the Doctrines Hymeneus and Philetus who say that the Resurrection is past already overthrow the Faith of