Irenicum to the Lover of Truth and Peace, Chapter 5
CHAP. V.
The ſecond dividing Principle: All Religions are to be tolerated.
THis is a divider indeed. There is a great outcry of this but what is the ſcope of it?2. The ſecond dividing principle. it is to exaſperate mens ſpirits againſt the toleration of any thing. Some think there muſt needs be a neceſſary dependance between tolerating ſome things conceived errors, and tolerating all things; and if it were not for the fear of the one, there would not be ſuch ado about the other. But I hope I ſhall clearly ſhew there is no ſuch dependence; but as this is a dividing principle, that all things ſhould be tolerated, ſo the other is as truly dividing and falſe, that nothing ſhould be tolerated.
There is nothing makes more ſtirre amongſt us at this day, then this principle of abſolute liberty in matters of Religion. Conſcience preſſes me to ſpeak what I ſhall find to be the mind of God in this thing: The wantonneſſe of mens ſpirits, their extream boldneſſe about the matters of God, and Chriſt, is ſuch, as ſhould cauſe our hearts to tremble; ſuch horrid blaſphemous things are amongſt us, owned and profeſſed with ſo much impudence, and their practice ſtrengthned by this Principle, That there is to be an abſolute liberty in the things of Religion, that our duty to God, our love to, and care of the preſervation of Religion, calls us to ſet our ſelves againſt ſuch a falſe, ſinfull, dangerous diſturbing Principle as this is.
This Principle is ſtrengthened by two Poſitions; both which are dividing as well as the Principle it ſelfe.
Firſt, That Magiſtrates have nothing to do with men in the matters of Religion.
Secondly, Conſcience is a tender thing, and muſt have liberty; nothing muſt be done to men, who plead their conſciences for what they do.
Firſt, wee ſhall ſhew the Principle it ſelfe to be a dividing principle; Then the miſtakes in thoſe two aſſertions, that uphold this principle: As they ſtrengthen the principle, ſo they ſtrengthen diviſion.
The principle is dividing; For,
Firſt, It is an abhorring to nature. Is it not an abhorring thing to any mans heart in the world, that men ſhould ſuffer that God to be blaſphemed, whom they honour? and that nothing ſhould be done for the reſtrayning any, but to aske them why they doe ſo, and to perſwade them to doe otherwiſe? There hath ever been as great a conteſtation amongſt people about Religion, as about any thing, Exod. 8. 25, 26. Pharaoh bade Moſes ſacrifice in the land: But Moſes ſaid, It is not meete ſo to doe; for we ſhall ſacrifice the abominations of the Aegyptians: Loc, ſhall wee ſacrifice the abomination of the Aegyptians before their eyes, and will they not ſtone us? Though they had leave of the King, yet the people would not endure it.
Secondly, It is againſt the light of Scripture, Deutr. 13. 6. If thy brother the ſonne of thy mother, or thy ſonne, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy boſome, or thy friend, which is as thine owne ſoule, entice thee ſecretly, ſaying, Let us goe and ſerve other gods, which thou haſt not knowne, nor thy fathers, Thou ſhalt not conſent unto him, nor hearken to him; neither ſhall thine eye pitty him, neither ſhalt thou ſpare him, nor conceale him: But thou ſhalt ſurely kill him; thine hand ſhall be firſt upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.
Let not any put of this Scripture, ſaying, This is in the Old Teſtament, but we finde no ſuch thing in the Goſpel; for we find the ſame thing, almoſt the ſame words, uſed in a Propheſie of the times of the Goſpel, Zech. 13. 3. In the latter end of the 12. Chapter, it is prophecyed that thoſe who pierced Chriſt, ſhould looke upon him, and mourne, &c. having a ſpirit of grace and ſupplication powred upon them. Chap. 13. 1. There ſhall now be opened a fountaine for ſinne and for uncleanneſſe. Verſ. 3. It ſhall come to paſſe, that he that takes upon him to propheſie that his father and his mother that begate him, ſhall ſay unto him, Thou ſhalt not live, for thou ſpeakeſt lyes in the name of the Lord: And his father and his mother that begate him, ſhall thruſt him through when he propheſieth.
You muſt underſtand this by that in Deut. The meaning is not, that his father or mother ſhould preſently run a knife into him, but that though they begat him, yet they ſhould be the means to bring him to condign puniſhment, even the taking away his life; thoſe who were the inſtruments of his life, ſhould now be the inſtruments of his death.
Thirdly, It is a dividing principle, becauſe by it the reines are let looſe to all kind of wantonneſſe, and ſpirit of oppoſition, in the matters of Religion. Men naturally are wanton in nothing more then in the things of Religion; and corrupt ſpirits are bent upon, and pleaſed with oppoſition in theſe things, above any other: for being things ſuppoſed to have an excellency in them, and above reaſon, and ſo liable to contradiction from men of corrupt minds, if there be nothing to reſtrain men from oppoſing one another in them; the wantonneſſe and pride of mens hearts will carry them forth to infinite jarrings, contentions, and diviſions.
If it be ſaid, Chriſt hath left ſpirituall meanes to helpe this.
It is anſwered, Chriſts ſpirituall meanes are to work in a ſpirituall way upon the heart to change it, and ſecondarily upon the outward man; while Chriſts means are working thus, externall means may keep evill from breaking forth in the outward man; Chriſt hath not left the outward man at abſolute liberty to do what it will, till ſpirituall meanes be made effectuall to the heart, eſpecially conſidering if you grant this liberty, men may chooſe whether any of thoſe ſpirituall means of Chriſt ſhould at all come at them.
The firſt poſition that upholds this dividing principle: Magiſtrates have nothing to do in the matters of Religion.
It muſt be granted, that a Magiſtrate is not an Officer of Jeſus Chriſt the Mediator in his Mediatory Kingdome.A Magiſtrate not an Officer Regus Mediatorie.
There is a two-fold government that Chriſt hath:
1. One as he is God equall with the Father, together with the Father, ruling heaven and earth.
2. Another, as he is God and man, Mediator, in a peculiar Kingdome of his that he hath by way of diſpenſation from the Father.
Now the Magiſtrate is an Officer of God, both the Father and the Son, in the generall government of the world. But he is not the Officer of Chriſt, in that Kingdome of his that he hath by way of diſpenſation from the Father, that Regnum Mediatorum, as Divines call it: No, though he be a Chriſtian Magiſtrate, there are no Officers of that, but ſuch as are by divine inſtitution ſet down in the Word; his Chriſtianity doth only adde unto him further ability to execute the work of his Office in a better manner, it adds no new authority to him: An Infidell Magiſtrate converted to Chriſtian Religion, is thereby better enabled to performe the duty of his place then before, but he had the ſame authority before; it was his ſinn, he did not uſe his Authority now as he is able to do; though he be a Chriſtian who is a Magiſtrate, yet the power of his Magiſtracy belongs to another Kingdom, different from that the ſecond perſon hath as he is Chriſt the Mediator.
But doth not this then exclude him from the exerciſe of any power in the matters of Chriſtian Religion?Object. 9.
No,Anſw. for God in the exerciſe of his power governing the world, hath a ſpeciall ayme at the promoting the Kingdom of his Sonne Chriſt the Mediator: Therefore Magiſtrates exerciſing this power of God, ought to ayme at theſe ends, that God himſelfe aymes at in the exerciſe of his own power, that is, to be uſefull to Chriſts Government in his Church, and for the good of his Church: God in all his wayes, from the beginning of the world, hath aymed at the ſetting up his Son to be King upon his holy Hill, at the promoting of the glory of him who is God-man: and if his Miniſters doe not make uſe of their power to this end, when this Kingdome of his Sonne comes to be revealed to them, he will require it at their hands.
The power that God inveſted Magiſtrates withall in matters of Religion in the Old Teſtament, is ſo full and cleare in that which God gave to the Kings of Judah and Iſrael, that to name particulars would almoſt make a volume; I find many who write about this ſubject, ſpend moſt of their ſtrength here, but I wholly forbear mentioning inſtances in this, becauſe it is granted by all that they had power; but the argument from thence to the power of Magiſtrates in the times of the Goſpel, prevails little with thoſe who hold this Dividing Principle we are now ſpeaking of. For they tell us that their power was typicall, they in the exerciſe of ſuch a power were types of the Kingly power of Chriſt, for we find glorious promiſes of dominion and ſtability made to Chriſt in the perſons of many of thoſe Kings.
2. They tell us, that it is no argument, becauſe Prieſts and Levites had in time of the Law power in temporall things, in ordering the affairs of the State; therefore Miniſters ſhould have civill authority now: So neither is it an argument, becauſe Magiſtrates had power then in ſpirituall things, therefore our Magiſtrates ſhould have the like now.
3. They tell us that the Church and Common-wealth of the Jews were mixed in one; hence to be a ſtranger from the Church is expreſſed by being a ſtranger from the Common-wealth of Iſrael, Epheſ. 2. 12. and therefore their Magiſtrates were Church-officers as well as Civill.
4. That the people of the Jews were brought up in a more ſervile way then Chriſt would have his Church, in the times of the Goſpel, brought up in: Compulſion therefore in matters of Religion was more sutable to their condition, then it is to our Jeruſalem which is free.
5. The whole Church was then bound to be under the ſame State-government; the Laws of their State were by divine appointment; their Kings were choſen by God; but now Chriſt chuſes his Church out of all Nations of the earth, and leaves them to the ſeverall Governments, Lawes, Officers of ſeverall Nations for their Civill State.
1. I confeſſe were there nothing but meerly examples or Laws from the Old Teſtament to confute this dividing Poſi…ion, to an examining eye the argument would hardly be cogent or ſatisfactory, only ſo far as there is a common reaſon and equity in them, and ſo all the judiciall bind now as well as they did then.
2. So far as the New Teſtament approves of for the times of it, what was formerly done in the Old.
The ſtrength of the argument from the power of Magiſtrates in the Old Teſtament, lyes in theſe two.
Firſt, there is a common reaſon and equity, what ever the ſtrength of ſuch kind of arguing be from one Spirituall Ordinances to prove another, yet without all queſtion, it is ſtrong enough from one Civill Ordinance to prove another, though it be converſant about ſpirituall things.
It is the Dictate of Nature, that Magiſtrates ſhould have ſome power in matters of Religion. The generality of all people have ever thought it equall. It hath been ever challenged in all Nations and Common-wealths. The Heathens would never ſuffer their gods to be blaſphemed, but puniſh ſuch as were guilty thereof by the power of the Magiſtrate. Socrates was put to death for blaſpheming their multiplicity of gods.
2ly Surely there is a common equity, for there is a neceſſity of it as truly now as there was then. I cannot argue the being of Spirituall Ordinances from our need of them, not thus there is ſuch an inſtitution, for the Church hath need of it; but rather thus, I find it in the Word to be an inſtitution, and therefore the Church hath need of it. But in naturall or civill things this way of arguing is ſtrong enough; there is need of ſuch a help, and therefore we ſhould ſeek to have it.
Now ſure the need we have of ſuch a power, is exceeding great, we were in a moſt miſerable condition if we had no externall civil power to reſtrain from any kinds of blaſphemies and ſeducements. The condition of the Jews, O how happy was it in compariſon of ours, if this were denyed us! for if any one of theirs did blaſpheme God, or ſeek to ſeduce any from him, they knew wht to do with him, beſides perſwading him to the contrary; but if any ſhould ſeek to ſeduce the wives of our boſoms, children of our bodies, friends as dear to us as our own lives, into thoſe wayes that we think in our conſciences will undo their ſouls to all eternity, yet wee muſt only deſire them they would not do ſo, we muſt only admoniſh, and ſeek to convince them, or reprove them, but reſtrain them we cannot: If the deliverance of us from the pedagogy of the Law hath brought us into this condition, our burden is greater in this thing then any that the Law laid upon our fore-fathers. Hath Chriſt delevered us from one burden to lay a greater upon us? Muſt we now ſee thoſe who are deareſt to us drawn into the wayes of eternall deſtruction, and ſtand and look on, but no way left to help them, or our ſelves, unleſſe wee can perſwade to the contrary? ſurely our condition is very ſad: Have we not cauſe to ſay, Lord let any burthen of the Ceremonial Law be laid upon our necks rather then this? If there were a company of mad men running np and downe the ſtreets with knives and ſwords in their hands, endeavouring to miſchief and kill all they met with, and we muſt doe nothing to reſtraine them; if we could perſwade them to doe otherwiſe, well and good: but that is all we can do for help; what a dangerous thing were this? The caſe is the ſame, when thoſe who are mad with damnable Hereſies, run from place to place, ſeeking to draw all they can from the truth; If we have no means of help but arguments, it is ill with us: Surely God hath not put his people into ſuch a ſad condition as this is, he hath provided better for his people then thus.
Thirdly, wee find in the Record of Scripture mention of Heathen Magiſtrates, who had nothing but the light of nature to guide them, intereſſing themſelves in matters of Religion, and this the Holy Ghoſt relates in way of commendation of them for this thing.
The argument from theſe examples cannot be avoided, as that which is taken from the practice of the Kings of Judah. We read Ezra 7. 26. Artaxerxes interpoſes his power in matters of Religion, and Ezra bleſſes God for it, Whoſoever will not doe the Law of thy God, and the Law of the King, let judgement be executed ſpeedily upon him. And in the next words, Ezra bleſſed God, who put it in the heart of the King by theſe and other means, to beautifie his houſe. The making ſuch a Law was one notable meanes whereby the Houſe of the Lord came to be beautified.
Thus alſo Nebuchadnezzar, Dan. 3. 29. I make a Decree that every people, nation and language, who ſpeake any thing againſt the God of Shadrach, Meſhach, and Abednego, ſhall be cut in pieces, and their houſes ſhall be made a dung-hil, &c. This the Scripture records as a worke of the Kings repentance.
The King of Nineveh, Jonah 3. by the decree of his Princes and Nobles, proclaims a Faſt, and commands every one to cry mightily to God, and to turne from his evill way.
Further, let us ſee how the holy Ghoſt juſtifies this power of the Magiſtrate in the times of the Goſpel: Firſt, in the Propheſies of the times of the Goſpel: Secondly, in divers places in the New Teſtament.
For Propheſies, the fore-named place, Zech. 13. 3. cannot be put off: Iſa. 49. 23. Kings ſhall be thy nurſing fathers, and Queens thy nurſing mothers. The protection of their civil peace is not ſufficient to give them ſuch a denomination of nurſing fathers and mothers.
Eſay 60. 10. The ſonnes of ſtrangers ſhall build up thy walls, and their Kings ſhall miniſter unto thee: They ſhall not only be favourers of them, but as Kings they ſhall miniſter to them, even by their power: So Rev. 21. 24. The Kings of the earth ſhall bring their glory and honour to the Church: there is ſuch a time coming. This ſurely is more then meerly to protect their outward peace.
In the New Teſtament, Rom. 13. 4. He is thy Miniſter for thy good. 1 Pet. 2. 13, 14. Submit your ſelves to every ordinance of man for the Lords ſake, whether it be to the King as to the ſupream, or unto Governours, which are ſent for the puniſhment of evill doers, and the praiſe of them that doe well. Now ſeeing the Scripture ſpeaks thus generally, For thy good, and for the puniſhment of evill doers, and praiſe of them that doe well, Non diſtinguendum ubi Scriptura non diſtinguit, Except the nature of the thing require, why ſhould we diſtinguiſh where the Scripture doth not?
You will ſay, The nature of the thing ſpoken of will require that it muſt be reſtrained to thoſe things that belong to his cogniſance.
Such a limitation muſt of neceſſity be granted; therefore it is true that the Magiſtrate cannot command every good thing, nor puniſh every evill; the abſtruſe controverſies in Religion come not under the cogniſance of a Magiſtrate, as a Magiſtrate; only ſuch things as are againſt the rules of common juſtice and equity, and the common light of Chriſtianity, where he is to govern Chriſtians, for he is to enjoyn and puniſh ſuch things only as if he were not; the community of people which ſets him up, ought to enjoyn and puniſh, for he hath his power from them: but of this more in the next Principle.
If you ſhall ſay, But thoſe Scriptures ſpeaking of Civill Magiſtrates, wee muſt underſtand them to be meant onelyonly of civill things.
The Magiſtrate hath his appellation civil, becauſe the power that he exerciſes is civill, the things that he do are civill; he cannot do the works of a Church-officer, by all the power he hath, as adminiſter Sacraments, and the like; but this hinders not the uſe of his civil power, and the doing of external acts upon the outward man, ſubſervient to ſpiritual good; indeed what he doth, hath not any ſpirituall efficacy in it, for then it were worſhip. Though he cannot work in a ſpirituall way upon mans ſoule, by his power, it is not an Ordinance ſet apart by God to that end, yet he may by the exerciſe of his power upon the outward man, reſtrain it from the externall act of evill, or bring it to an externall good; his power ſtill that he exerciſes is civill, yet ordered to the help of ſpirituall good, either removendo prohibentia, or applicando media externa, or cohibenda a malo externo; removing outward things that hindered, applying outward means, or keeping from outward evils. Whatſoever Commandement requires any duty, requires us to make uſe of all things that may help us to the performance of that duty; if there be any civil, naturall, ſpiritual helps, we are bound to make uſe of all. Only here lies the great doubt, Whether hath God appointed the uſe of the Magiſtrates power to be a helpe to the things of Religion? Hath God made this to be an Ordinance for the ſpirituall good of people?
That it is by God an Ordinance for their civill good, is plaine out of thoſe Scripture before mentioned; but how doth it appeare that ever God intended it to be an Ordinance for their ſpirituall good?
What naturalnes there is in any thing,Anſw. it hath it from God, for nature is Gods worke, if there be a naturalneſs in it to work upon the outward man, for the furtherance of ſpiritual good; this is from God: if I ſhould uſe it to work upon the inward man expecting a ſpirituall efficacy, then I make it an ordinance to my ſelf, and ſin againſt God, preſuming to put more in a creature of his, then it was appointed to. In this conſiſted the evil of ceremonies, they were uſed in a ſpirituall way, to work upon the heart of man, by vertue of that inſtitution that man put upon them, beyond what God in their natural power ever put into them.
But how can naturall and externall things be helps to things ſpirituall and divine?
Any mans reaſon,Anſw. yea ſenſe may tell him, that the taking away externall hindrances, and the putting upon externall uſe of divers things, may keep from much evill, and further much good that is ſpirituall and divine; though it cannot reach to the ſpiritualneſſe and divineneſſe of that good, yet it reaches to the externall action, without which that divine and ſpirituall good cannot be. Wherefore ſeeing the New Teſtament ſets out the power of Magiſtrates, and requires ſubmiſſion to them in ſuch generall termes; from this we may draw ſuch a concluſion, Therefore the Lord intended to leave Chriſtians for their ſubjection to Magiſtrates, to the light of nature, & to the equity of the generall rules that were in Scripture before time; if God ſhould ſay, Ye are Chriſtians, ſee you part not with that liberty Chriſt hath purchaſed for you; we may give this account, Lord we found in thy word that once thou didſt make uſe of the power of Magiſtrates in matters of Religion, & in the New Teſtament there was nothing revealed to forbid their power in them; nay Lord, Thou toldſt us there, that thou haſt appointed them for our good, and to be a terrour to evill workes in the generall. From thence we gathered, that in our yeelding to their power, it was thy will we ſhould make uſe of thoſe generall rules in Stripture wee found before the times of the Goſpel, & of the light of nature. Being alſo perſwaded it was thy mind we ſhould make uſe of all the naturall helps we could for our ſpirituall advantage, & we found it recorded in thy Word that thou didſt allow of the exerciſe of ſuch power in the things of Religion, even to thoſe who had only the light of nature to guide them and being the uſe of it reached only to the outward man, we did not ſee a neceſſity of a ſpeciall inſtitution for this, knowing what naturalneſs it had in it, to be an externall help was put into it by thy ſelf, therefore we made uſe of it. God will accept of this account. Add yet a conſideration or two.
1. When the Apoſtles were convented before Civil Authority about matters of Religion, we never find that they pleaded for themſelves, You have no power to meddle with us in the things of Religion, they belong to Jeſus Chriſt only who is our King, & to that government he hath ſet in his Church; No, their plea was only the juſtneſs of their cauſe, that what they profeſſed and preached was the truth of God, they did it in obedience to God.
2. If all men be bound to improve all the abilities, gifts, talents they have for the propagation of the Goſpel, the Magiſtrates are bound to improve thoſe which are peculiar to them; If a man hath more wiſdom then others, or a greater eſtate, or more friends, he is to make uſe of all theſe for helps to the furtherance of Religion; if then a man hath more power then others, he is to improve that likewiſe, not onelyonly by countenancing what he conceiveth to be right, but by all other means according to the dictates of Reaſon, not forb… by Scripture.
But we have often heard that of Tertullian urged; S… ideo dicetur …ronari licere, quia non prohibeat Scriptura; … que retorquebi…ur ideo corona…i non licere, …uia Scriptura …on jubeat.If it be therefore ſaid it is lawfull becauſe the Scripture doth not forbid, it is therefore unlawfull becauſe the Scripture doth not command.
Anſ. In the matters of Gods worſhip this rule is to be urged, but not in matters civil or natural, though in their way ſubſervient to worſhip, their Reaſon may guide very far.
But you will ſay, What? will you then make the Magiſtrate a Judge in all cauſes of Religion?Tertul. de co…o… milit. he may be a wicked man, a Heathen, and yet a true Magiſtrate.
Anſ. Whatſoever he be, yet he may be a Judg in matters of fact, & ſo far as Reaſon may go in matters of right, he may judge whether you do not go againſt your owne principles, either in your profeſſion, acts of worſhip, or in the wrong you do to your brother; yea, he may judg whether your very principles be not contrary to the common light of the knowledg of God, that God hath given to men, and to the rules of humane juſtice. A Magiſtrate who is not skilfull in Phyſicke or Navigation, yet he may judg Phyſitians and Mariners, if they wrong others in their way.