Last Legacy in Select Admonitions and Directions, Treatise · Section 35
How Humane Laws bind the Conſcience.
Q. Whether the Laws of men do bind the Conſcience? p. 36. part the 4th.Anſw. p. 37. Taking Conſcience in a ſtricter ſenſe, as including eſſentially, a relation to God's obligation, the full ſenſe of the the queſtion is this, Whether it be a ſin againſt God to break the laws of man? Anſw. It is a ſin againſt God to break ſuch Laws as Rulers are authorized by God to make: Firſt, becauſe God commandeth us to obey our Rulers. God commandeth us to obey in general, and their Law determineth of the particular matter, therefore God obligeth us (in conſcience of his Law) to obey them in that particular. 2. Becauſe by making them his Officers, by his Commiſſion, he hath given them a certain beam of Authority, which is Divine, as derived from God; therefore they can command us by a power derived from God: therefore to diſobey is to ſin againſt a Power derived from God. Man being God's Officer, Firſt his own Law layeth on us an obligation derivatively Divine, (for it is no Law, which hath no Obligation, and it is no Authoritative Obligation, which is not derived from God.) 2. God's own Law bindeth us to obey Man's Laws, Rom. 13.
And it may be a good reaſon,Baxter of Confirmation, P. 293. to perſwade Obedience to our Eccleſiaſtical Governours, becauſe Preaching is a cheap and eaſie work, in compariſon of Church-government.
Take heed of engaging your ſelves in a Sect,Chriſt. Direct. part 4. p. 73. or Faction; a narrow Sectarian ſeparating mind will make all the Truths of God give place to the opinions of his Party, and meaſure the proſperity of the Goſpel, by the proſperity of his Party; he will not ſtick to perſecute all the reſt of the Church of Chriſt, if the intereſt of his Sect require it. Overvalue not any private or ſingular opinions of your own, or others; for if once ſpiritual Pride and Ignorance of your own weakneſs make you eſpouſe particular opinions, as peculiarly your own, you will think your conceits more illuminating and neceſſary, than they are, as if Mens ſincerity lay in the imbracing of them, and their Salvation on the receiving of them; and think all that are againſt your Opinion, deſerve to be caſt out as Enemies to Reformation; and perhaps, Twenty Years after, experience may bring you to your wits, and make you ſee the falſhood, or ſmalneſs of all thoſe points, which you made ſo great a matter of, and then what comfort will you have of your perſecutions?
O the deceitfulneſs of the heart of Man!Cure of Diviſ. p. 254. P. 261. Little do the many real Separatiſts, who cry out againſt Perſecution ſuſpect, that the ſame ſpirit is in them. Whence is Perſecution, but from thinking ill of others, and abhorring or not loving them? and do not you do ſo by thoſe whom you cauſleſly ſeparate from? It is one and the ſame ſin in the Perſecutor and Divider, or Separatiſt, which cauſeth the one to ſmite their Brethren, and the other to excommunicate them; the one to caſt them into Priſon as Schiſmaticks, and the other to caſt them out of the Church as profane; the one to account them intolerable in the Land, and the other to account them intolerable in the Church: the inward thoughts of both are the ſame, that thoſe whom they ſmite or ſeparate from, are bad and unlovely, and unfit for better uſage.
But I have obſerved that Profeſſors of Religion did oppoſe and deride almoſt all that Worſhip of God out of (pretended) Conſcience, which others did out of profaneneſs. Saints Reſt, part 1. c. 7. Sect. 14.
It was none of the old cauſe,Holy Commonwealth. Eddit. to Preſ. Prop. that the People ſhould have liberty, and the Magiſtrate ſhould have no power, in all matters of God's Worſhip, Faith and Conſcience: And as it is not the old cauſe, ſo it is not the good cauſe. For firſt, It contradicteth the expreſs revelation of the Will of God in the Holy Scripture. Moſes, as a Magiſtrate, had to do in matters of Religion, and ſo had the Kings of Iſrael, and Judah.—Law, and Providence, are both quite changed, if Toleration of falſe Worſhip, and other abuſes of Religion tend not to the ruine of the Common-wealth. If Magiſtrates muſt give liberty for all to propagate a falſe Religion, then ſo muſt Parents and Maſters alſo, which would be a Crime ſo horrid in the Nature and Effects of it, as I am loth to name with its proper titles.
The Magiſtrates will quickly find that the diſtractions of the Church will breed and feed ſuch diſtractions in the Common-wealth,Of Confir. P. 309. as may make them wiſh they had quenched the fire, while it was yet quenchable.—Our unity is not only our ſtrength, but their ſtrength; and the fire that begun in the Church, may, if let alone, reach the Court.
Pag. 423. of his 5 Diſputations, He lays down this as the ſumm of what he had ſaid, That Man may determine of Modes and Circumſtances of Worſhip, neceſſary and commanded in genere, but not determined by God in ſpecie, Sect. 65. and then infers, Sect. 67. If the miſchooſing of ſuch circumſtances by Church governors be but an inconvenience, and do not deſtroy the Ordinance it ſelf, or fruſtrate the ends of it, we are to obey. 1. For he is the Judge in his own work, and not we. 2. The thing is not ſinful though inconvenient. 3. Obedience is commanded to our lawful Governors. Sect. 70. And when we do obey in a caſe of miſcommanding, it is not a doing evil that good may come of it, as ſome do miſconceive; but it is only a ſubmitting to that which is ill-commanded, but not evil in him that doth ſubmit. It is the determiner that is the cauſe of the inconvenience, and not the obeyer. Nor is it inconvenient for me to obey, though it be worſe perhaps to him that commandeth: while he ſinneth in commanding, he may make it my duty to obey, Pag. 461. Sect. 6. The reaſons of this are obvious and clear, even becauſe it is the Office of the Governors to determine of ſuch Circumſtances: It is the Paſtor's Office to guide and overſee the Flock, and when he determineth theſe, he is but in his own way, and doth but his own work; and therefore he is therein the Judge, if the caſe be controvertible. If none ſhall obey a Magiſtrate or Paſtor in the works of their own Office, as long as they think he did them not the beſt way, all Governours then would be preſently overthrown, and obedience denyed. We are ſure that God hath commanded us to obey them that are over us in the Lord, 1 Theſ. 5. 12. Heb. 13. 7. 17, &c. And therefore a certain duty may not be forborn on uncertain conjectures, or upon every miſcarriage of them that we owe it to. This would un-church all Churches (as they are Political Societies:) for if Paſtors be taken down, and the work of Paſtors, the Church is taken down. Sect. 7. And the things in which the Paſtor is now ſuppoſed to err, are not of themſelves unlawful, but only by ſuch an accident as being over-weighed by another accident ſhall ceaſe to make them unlawful. For inſtance, p. 461. Sect. 4. If of two Tranſlations of Scripture, or two Verſions of the Pſalms the Paſtor uſe the worſer, (ſo it be tolerable) we muſt obey. And Sect. 7. If the Paſtor appoint a more imperfect Verſion of the Pſalms to be ſung in the Church (as is commonly uſed in England) the obeying of him in the uſe of this will not bring ſo much hurt to the Church, as the diſobeying on that account would do. For beſides the ſin of diſobedience it ſelf, the Church would be in a confuſion if they forſake his conduct that preſerves the Union; and ſome will be for this and ſome for that, and ſo the Worſhip it ſelf will be overthrown. And let it ſtill be remembred, that we allow both Magiſtrates and Paſtors to ſee to the execution of God's Laws, and to determine of circumſtances in order thereto that are neceſſary in genere, p. 482. Sect. 35. but not determined of God in ſpecie, p. 422. Sect. 65. It may be very ſinful to command ſome Ceremonies which may lawfully, yea muſt in duty be uſed by the Subject when they are commanded, p. 398. Certain things commonly called Ceremonies may lawfully be uſed in the Church upon humane impoſition, and when it is not againſt the Law of God; no Perſon ſhould diſobey the Laws of their lawful Governors in ſuch things.
If there ſhould be any Paſtors of the Churches who inſtead of concurring to heal the Flock of theſe dividing Principles,Cure of Diviſions. P. 253. ſhall rather joyn with backbiters and incourage them in their miſreports and ſlanders, becauſe it tends to the ſuppoſed intereſt of their party or themſelves; Let them prepare to Anſwer ſuch unfaithfulneſs to their Conſciences, which will be ſhortly awakened; And to the great Shepherd of the Flock, who is at the door, and who told even the Devils Agents that, A Houſe or Kingdom divided againſt it ſelf cannot ſtand, but is brought to nought.
For farther Satisfaction I refer the Reader to Mr. Baxter's Caſe of Separation, in the Appendix to his Life, p. 67, to p. 80. where he thus concludes; More may be ſeen in Mr. Nye's Book for hearing the Pariſh Preachers, and in Mr. Tomb's who wrote againſt Infant Baptiſm, vindicating the lawfulneſs and duty of joyning in ordinary Communion, in Word, Prayer, and Sacrament with the Pariſh Churches.
FINIS.
End of the text · Richard Baxter, Last Legacy in Select Admonitions and Directions (1697)