The Due Right of Presbyteries, Chapter 6 · Section 5

The Due Right of Presbyteries · Chapter 6 · Section 5

p. 346Three other wayes of communion of sister Churches.

A Fift way of communion (saith the author) is by helping and contributing to sister Churches, Prophets, and Teachers, when Manuscrip.they are in scarstie, as Act. 11. 29. Rom. 15. 25. 26.

Ans. This way of communion we acknowledg, but we see not how this communion can stand, wi…hout the authoritie of Synods; if Churches bee not united in one visible body, they cannot authoritatively send helpe of teachers one to another; and this is a direct acknowledgement of a visible union of more Churches in one visible body; for the Church of Jerusalem authoritatively sent Pastors, Paul and Barnabas, as Pastors to the Gentiles, you will have them sent as gifted men, and that they are not Pastors while they bee ordained, and chosen by these Churches to which they goe.

A sixt way of communion (saith hee) is by admonition; if a sister Church or any member thereof bee scandalous, wee are then to send Elders to warn them to call Archippus or any other Elder, to take beed to do their dutie; if the Elders or Church bee remisse in consuring, wee are p. 347to take the helpe of two or three Churches moe; if yet that Church …eare not, wee are to tell a Congregation of Churches together; or if the offence bee weightie, wee are to withdraw the right hand of fellowship from such a Church, and to forbeare all such sort of exercise of mutuall brotherly communion with them, which all the Churches of Christ are to walke in, one towards another.

Answ. You acknowledge that same order which Christ commandeth, Matth. 18. to gaine a brother, is to bee kept in the gaining of scandalous Churches. But 1. What warrant have you of the two first steps of Christs order against scandalous Churches, and to omit the third judiciall and authoritative way, when sister Churches turne obstinate? Christs order for gaining the scandalous is as necessary in the third, as in the former two. 2. Why doe you allow the third in a sort? for if the sister Church will not bee admonished, you will have her rebuked, before moe sister Churches, that are conveened, that is, before a Synod; is it because you thinke there is more authority in a Synod, then in one sister Church? then you thinke there is authoritie in a Synod; for by good Logick, wee may inferre the positive degree from the comparative, and there is no other reason why the matter should come before a Synod, for all in a Synod wanteth authority and power to censure, as you thinke, yet to complaine to a Synod is an acknowledgement of the authoritie of a Synod, as Christs order saith, Matth. 18. 17. If hee neglect to heare them, tell it to the Church.

3. What is the withdrawing of brotherly communion from obstinate sister Churches, but as aaAmesius, l. 4. c. …. n. 26. de conscient.Amesius saith well, excommunication by proportion and analogie? Ergo, say I, in this a Synod hath a Synodicall authoritie over the Churches within the bounds of the Synod by proportion, for who can inflict a punishment of a Church censure, by proportion answerable to excommunication, but a Church, or a Synodicall meeting, which hath the power of the Church by proportion? Amesius would prove that a particular Church cannot bee excommunicated, because a Church cannot bee cast out of communion with it selfe, for then she should bee cast out of herselfe. But this argument with reverence of so learned and godly a man, proveth onelyonly that a p. 348particular Church cannot excommunicate herselfe, which I grant, but it concludeth not, but a particular obstinate Church may bee excommunicated out of the societie of all sister Churches, who meeting in a Synod in the name of Jesus Christ have power to save the spirits of sister Churches in the day of the Lord, and are to edifie them by counsell and rebuking, as the Author granteth, and why not by an authoritative declaring that they will have no communion with such an obstinate sister or rather daughter Church?

Wee have never, saith the Author, been put to the utmost extent Manuscript.of this dutie, the Lord hitherto preventing by his grace, yet it is our dutie. The Church, Cant. 8. tooke care not onelyonly for her owne members, but also for her little sister, that had no brests, and would have taken care, if having breasts they had been distempered with corrupt milke: if the Apostles had a care of all the Churches, 1 Cor. 8. 11. is that spirit of grace and love dead with them? ought not all the Churches to care for sister Churches, if not, virtute officii, by vertue of an office, yet intuitu charitatis, for charities sake?

Answ. That you have never beene put to these duties to the utmost, will never prove that the government is of God, for Corinth, Ephesus, Pergamus, Thyatira, which were glorious Churches by your owne confession, were put to a necessitie of the utmost extent of these duties; yea it proveth your government to bee rather so much the worse, because Christs government is opposed by secret enemies in the Church.

2. You make the spirit of love in a pastorall care over other Churches to bee dead, because none have any pastorall care over any other Churches, but the particular Congregation over which they are Pastors, and pastorall love to unconverted ones, as pastorall, you utterly deny.

The last way of communion (saith the Author) is by propagation or multiplication, which is, as the Apostles had immediat calling from Manuscript.God to travell through the world, and to plant Churches, so have particular Churches given to them immediatly from Christ, the fulnesse of measure of grace, which the inlargement and establishment of Christs kingdome doth require, that is, when the Bee-hive a parishionall congregation is surcharged, they have power to send forth their members, p. 349to enter, by Covenant, in Church-state amongst themselves, and may commend to them such able gifted Ministers, as they thinke may bee Ministers in that young Church.

Answ. 1. This way of inlarging Christs kingdome is defective. 1. It sheweth the way of inlarging the number of invisible Churches, and multitudes of converts into new incorporations, but doth shew no way how to plant soules who were non-converts, and branches of the wild olive in Christ Jesus, and to make new visible Churches; but it is certaine that the Apostles as Apostles, and as Pastors, by vertue of their office converted obstinate sinners to the faith of Christ, and planted them in a visible Church, consisting of professors of the faith, partly converted, partly not converted; but the pastors by your doctrine have no power as Pastors, or by any Pastorall authoritie, to plant the Gospell where it hath never beene, that pastorall spirit is dead with the Apostles; and in this, contrary to all reason and sense, and contrary to the Scriptures, you make private Christians the successors of the Apostles to plant Churches, and to convert soules, and to make them fit materialls for the visible Church of regenerate persons; for Pastors as Pastors, and visible Churches as visible Churches doe nothing at all to the multiplying of Churches, seeing Pastors and visible Churches as they are such, by your doctrine, are but nurses to give suck to those who are already converted, but not fathers to convert them; for private Christians, or pastors as Christians gifted to prophesie, not as Pastors, doe multiply Churches, and convert men to Christ, as you teach, now wee all know that nurses as nurses doe not propagate, or by generation multiply people in the Common-wealth, that fathers and mothers onelyonly can doe; your Churches have no ministeriall breasts, but to give suck to babes who are already borne: but wee see by your doctrine no ministeriall power of Pastors or Churches to send forth members to enter in a Church covenant, or to enter in a new Church relation of a daughter, or a sister visible Church; if they send a number to bee a new Church, your Pastors or visible Church did not multiply them, it is presumed they were converts, before they were members of the visible Church, which now sendeth them out; p. 350and if they bee multiplied in the bosome of your visible Church and converted, they were not truely members of that visible Church before their conversion, and also that they were not converted by any publike ministery, but by private Christians gifted to prophesie, who are the onelyonly successors of the Apostles to plant visible Churches: but what pastorall authoritie have you to send them forth to bee a new visible Church? none at all? they have as beleevers power to remove from you, and because of multiplication, to make themselves a new Church, and this ministeriall power of making themselves a new Church they have not from you, but from their fathers who converted them, so that you make a visible Church within a visible Church, but not a Church begotten or borne of a visible Church, as a child of the mother; and wee desire a word of God, either precept, promise, or practise of such a Church multiplication, mans word is not enough.

2. Wee hold that the sending of the Apostles to all the world was not in it selfe, that which essentially distinguisheth the Apostle from the now ordinary Pastor, who is fixed to a single Congregation, but the gift of tongues to preach to all the world upon the Lords intention to send the Gospel to all nations, that as many as were chosen to life, might beleeve, was that which essentially differenceth the Apostle from the ordinary pastor, together with a speciall revelation of God, to goe to such and such people, to Macedonia, and not yet to Bythinia. And now seeing these two are taken away, the ordinary Pastors which now are, have as Pastors a sufficient calling to preach the Gospel to all nations, to whom by Gods providence they shall come, and can understand their language, whether of their owne Congregation or not. Neither is a Pastor tied as a Pastor by Gods Word, to one onelyonly Congregation, for then it should bee unlawfull for a Pastor as a Pastor to plant a new Church; but shall it bee lawfull for private Christians to plant new Churches, who are not the Apostles successors, and yet it shall bee unlawfull for Pastors, who are the undoubted successors of the Apostles, to plant new Churches? I would think that admirable doctrine, for so you give to private Christians that which you make essentiall to the Apostles, and you p. 351deny it to the undoubted successors of the Apostles, to wit, to Pastors. But we hold a lawfull Pastor is a Pastor in relation to all the world, with this distinction, hee is by Christs appointment and the Churches a Pastor to all congregations, to plant and water, and preach, but by speciall designation of Gods providence, and the Churches appointment designed and set apart for such a determinate flock, just as the Apostles in generall were made Pastors to all the world, Matth. 28 19. Go teach all nations, but by speciall revelation and Apostolick appointment, Peter was appointed the Apostle of the Jewes, Paul of the Gentiles, Gal. 2. 9. yet Paul was a Pastor in relation to the Jewes, and Peter also in relation to the Gentiles: so by speciall revelation, Act. 16. they are forbidden to preach the word in Bythinia, and commanded to preach it elsewhere; and for this cause, pious antiquity, as Morton aaMorton Apol. par. 2. c. 14. pag. 422.observeth, called some learned fathers Pastors of the World, bbRussinus l 2. …ist. c. 26.Athanasius is saluted Pontifex maximus, as Russinus saith, and Origen magister ecclesi…rum, master of the Churches, so ccHieronymus de loc. hele…o.Hieronymus, and Cyprian totius orbis praeses, Cyp…ian the Bishop of all the world, yea and Pope, so ddNazianz. Seimon. de Cypriano.Nazianz. Hilarius is called by eeAugustin l. 1. contr. Julian.Augustine insignis ecclesiae doctor, a renowned teacher of the Church, and ffNazianz. Epist. 10. ad Basilium.Nazianzenus calleth Basilius the light of the word, and ggDamasc. de fid. orthod. l. 4. c. 17.Damascenus the light of the whole world, and hhTheodoret. hist. l. 5. c. 32.Theodoret saith Chrysostome is called totius orbis terrarum doctor, the Doctor and teacher of the whole world: all which titles saith evidently that antiquitie beleeved never a Pastor, or Bishop, not to bee a Pastor onelyonly in relation to the one single Congregation, whereof hee is Pastor, but a Pastor in relation to the whole visible Church, though by designation of the Church his ministery bee appropriated to one particular Church. Thus it is cleare that our brethren deny all communion of Churches, while they confine a visible Church to one onelyonly single and independent Congregation, subjected in its visible government to Christ Jesus immediatly, and to no universall visible Church or Synod on earth.

p. 352Quest. II. Whether the Magistrate hath power to compell persons to a Church profession?

Anent Magistrates sundry things are questioned to make presbyteriall government odious. And first our brethren complaine that our Churches are constitute by the authoritie of the Magistrate, iiRobinson iustific. of separat. pag 374.Robinson saith, it was a presumptuous enterprise, that people were haled against their will into covenant with God, to sweare obedience to the protestant Faith, being a profane multitude, living before in grosse idolatry, and that by the authority of the supreme magistrate, for the commandement of the magistrate (say they) can make no members of the visible Church, or of Christs body, because it is a voluntary act of obedience to Christ, that men adjoyne themselves to the visible Church; Ergo, none can be compelled thereunto by the authoritie of the Magistrate; faith may bee counselled, it cannot bee compelled. For the clearing of this question, these considerations are to bee weighed.

1. The Magistrate may compell to the meanes, and externall acts of worship, and to desisting from externall false worship of the false God, or of the true God worshipped in a false way, hee cannot compell to internall acts of faith, love, and such like, as having no power over the conscience.

2. There is one consideration of a Heathen or Pagan nation which never received Christianitie, and the true faith, and another consideration of a nation baptized and professing Christ.

3. A Magistrate may compell a heathen nation to the negative reverence of Christ in a indirect way, and that with the sword, though he cannot compell to the positive worshipping of him: if a Christian Prince subdue a Pagan nation, hee cannot force them with the Sword to a positive receiving of the doctrine of the Gospell, but if it bee a nation expressely blaspheming Christ, as the nation of the Jewes now do, hee may compell them to an abstinence from a professed blaspheming of Christ, because he is to use the sword against blasphemy.

4. The weapons of the Church as the Church are not carnall, but spiritual and mightie through God.

5. The compelling power of the Magistrate is terminated upon externall worship as abstracted from either hypocrisie or sinceritie in worship,

p. 3536. Though no man resist the Magistrate in a matter of religion, except in a hypocriticall way, save onelyonly he who thinketh hee hath reason …, and is led by the judgement and inditement of conscience to resist, …et is not the in litement of conscience, but onelyonly the Word of God …et rule of mans obedience, or resisting in actions, purposes & conversation.

1. Conclusion. Fire and sword, or warre, or the coactive power of a magistrate is not Gods way of planting the Gospell in a heathen nation, which never heard of the Gospell before. 1. Because the Apostles were commanded, by teaching the Gospell to all nations, Matth. 28. 19, 20. Mark. 16. 15. Act. 7. 8. and not by warre, to spread the Gospel. 2. Because Christs Kingdome is not of this world, for then his servants would fight for him, Joh. 18. 36. nor are the weapons of our warfare carnall, 2 Cor. 10. 4. nor is Christs sword any other thing, then the Word of God, Rev. 19. 15. Gal. 6. 17. And in this meaning, and with relation to the internall acts of sound beleeving, have the learned taught us, that, religio suaderi potest, cogi non potest: if these bee the constitutions of aaClemens in constitut. foreign.Clemens, let it goe for a truth in this sense, that God hath given libertie of will to men, not punishing them with temporall death, but calleth them to give an account of …eir doings, in the life to come: which yet cannot bee universally true, except that the Author with Anabaptists take away the power of the civill magistrate; and bbAthanasius.Athanasius meaned with us, when hee citeth that, If any will come after me, let him take up his crosse; to prove that the will cannot bee compelled; and that of ccLactantius Inst it. l. 5. c. 19.Lactantius is approved by all, defendenda tamen religioest, non occidendo, sed moriendo, non saevitiâ, sed sapientiâ, non s…lere, sed fide; illa enim malorum sunt, baec bonorum; & necesse est bonum in religione versari, non malum: Nam si sanguine, si tormentis, si malo religionem defendere velis, jam non defendetur illa, fed polluetur, & violabitur. Nihil est tam voluntarium quam religio, in qua si animus sacrificantis est eversus, jam sublata, jam nulla est: all which tendeth to this, that religion is like freewill, and free-will like a Virgin which cannot bee ravished. Let that of ddTertul.Tertullian stand, Lex nostra non se vindicat ultore gladio… eeProcopius in Arca. histor.Procopius saith that Justinian was blamed, because hee compelled the Samaritans to imbrace the Christian faith.

2. Conclusion. A Christian Prince subduing a heathen p. 354Nation, may compell them to desist from a negative dis…onouring of Christ, and from an externall false worship. Dan. 3. 29. Therefore I make a Decree, that every People, Nation, and Language, which speake any thing amisse against the God of Sadrach and Abednego, shall be cut in peeces, and their houses shall be made a dung…ill. 2. The Magistrate beareth not the sword for nothing, or invaine, for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath on those who doe evill, Rom. 13. 4. Therefore he should be Gods Minister to execute wrath on those who dishonour Christ. Nor must we approve of that of Tiberius, ffTa…itus in Tiberio, De…rum in …u…iae D…s curae sant.that Gods take care of wrongs dene to themselves: and that of the Emperour Alexander, ggl. 2. God. de …eb. Ged. juris juran…ts contempia religio satis De… … ultorem habet.it's sufficient that the breach of an oath hath God to be the revenger. Yet the Emperour hhIn Lege nemo Codice de Pagan.Constantine commanded all the Churches of the Pagan Gods to be closed up, and iiAmbr…sius Epist. 30.Ambrose and kkAugustin. Epist. 48.Augustine both commended the fact; and Ferdinand King of Spaine, commanded all the Jewes, who would not turne Christians, to remove out of Spaine.

3. Conclus. Where a Nation hath embraced the faith, and sworne thereunto in Baptisme, it is lawfull for the Magistrate to compell them to professe that truth to the which they have sworne in Baptisme. 1. Because the Magistrate is a keeper of both Tables of the Law. Ergo, he may take care that these who are baptized, and sworne to be followers of Christ, should professe what they have sworne to professe. 2. Because the Magistrate may compell, ad actus imperatos, non ad actus elicitos, commanded and externall acts of worship, though he have no power over the conscience to command the elicit acts of will and mind. 3. He may command to use the meanes of Religion, though he cannot force Religion it selfe: and this Jehoshaphat, Ezechiah, Asa, and Josiah, and other good Kings commanded, and in that are set forth to all Princes as patterns of zeale. 4. The most pungent argument of our brethren in the contrary is of no weight, because (say they) for one to adjoyn himself to the visible Church in a profession of the faith, it is a supernaturall worke of Grace, and must be voluntary, else the Magistrate should compell men to hypocrisie, yea and he should, saith llGregorius de Valentia to. 3. disp. 1. punc. 6. q. 10. de infidelita te arg. 4.Gregorius de Valentia, following Cajetanus, indirectly concurre to sacriledge, to profane the holy things of God; and feare of punishment maketh an p. 355action against the will, secundum quid, in some respect, and for the point of supernaturality of professing, mmD…andus 4. santen. d. 4. q. 6. …. 1.Durandus handleth it. Now (I say) that this is of no weight, because (as nnSuarez, de … disp. 18. sect 2. n. 5.Suarez. saith) one may be compelled to heare the Word, who yet cannot be compelled to beleeve; so (say I) to make such a profession, as may constitute any one a member of the visible Church, is no supernaturall act, though there be a morall obligation tying the professours to the supernaturall sincerity of the act, yet there is no essentiall obligation, as touching the essence of a visible member tying him thereunto, and therefore the Magistrate may compell thereunto, and so ooAntonius 2. p. 111. 12 c. 2.Antonius following ppGregorius 7. Epist. 30.Gregorius doe teach that an indirect compulsion to the faith is lawfull; and the compelling power of the Magistrate is terminated upon the profession, not upon the hypocrisie of the profession; else it were as good an argument to prove that the Magistrate by the sword cannot compell subjects to ab…taine from murther, sorcery, perjury; because many in an hypocriticall and servile manner, for feare of the Magistrates wrath, not for feare of God, doe abstaine from these ils, nor is their abstinence from worshipping idols, a thing of it selfe, as the Magistrate commandeth it, supernaturall. Neither would men by the Covenant of the Lord, which King Asa did cause the people to sweare, to wit, that they should seeke the Lord God of their fathers, 2 Chron. 15. 12. be compelled, so as their seeking of God, should not be willingly performed. 5. This opinion is the way to Arminian liberty of conscience, that men in a Christian Common-wealth, may be of any Religion, and the Magistrate is to behold men as an indifferent spectator, not caring what religion they bee of, whether they be Papists, Jewes, Pagans, Anabaptists, Socinians, Macedonians, &c. which should inferre, that the Magistrate were no nurse-father of the true Church, nor yet a preserver of Religion, if men might be of any Religion. Neither is this the way (as saith qqRobinson justif. of separa. pag. 224.Robinson) to the Papists implicite faith, when men beleeveth, as the Church beleeveth, though they know not what it is: nor is it a compelling of men (as he saith) to blasphemy, and apparent wickednesse, because the Magistrate is not to compell to profession of the truth immediately, and without any foregoing information of the p. 356mind; for the Church is to teach and instruct in all the externall acts of worship, before the Magistrate doth compell to these acts; yea and the same rrRobinson. justif. pag. 373.Robinson acknowledgeth that Jehoshaphat made compulsive lawes about Religion. Ergo, if he should execute these Lawes, he should compell to some acts of Religion, and should compell to hypocrisie, as the same Mr. Robinson argueth against us.

4. Conclus. It is one thing to command acts of divine worship, under the paine of civill punishment, and another thing to punish, or inflict civill punishment, when these commandements are transgressed, Christian Princes may doe both. And that they doe the latter by Gods commandement and warrant is cleare, in that Jehu destroyed all the house of Ahab for Idolatry, and killed Baals Priests. Good Josiah killed the Priests of 2 King. 10.2 Kgs 10the high places, and burnt their bones upon the Altar. Elias, when the Magistrate would not doe his duty, in an extraordinary way, killed Baals Priests; and if the Magistrate also in the New Testament have the sword given to him of God, for the punishing of evill doers, as Rom. 13. 4, 5. that same Law must now also have force, though in the use of the sword sundry hereticks are here to be distinguished, as 1. seducing hereticks, drawing others away, from the worship of the true God to idolatry, such are not to be pitied by the Magistrate, as Deut. 13. 5, 6, 7. Zach. 13. 4, 5, 6. whereas seduced, and drawne away soules, for simple heresie, cannot be put to death. 2. Hereticks falling away in many particulars from the faith to Popery, or other hereticall wayes, are more severely to be punished, then those who are hereticks in one or two fundamentall points onelyonly. And those who are universall Apostates, and fall from the Christian faith to Judaisme and Paganisme, deserve no lesse then death. 3. Selfe-condemned hereticks, after sufficient information, and malitious opposers of the truth, deserve harder dealing, then simply seduced hereticks. 4. All who beleeve blasphemies to be truth, and hold them, are not to be reckoned amongst formall blasphemers, whose malice carrieth them on to raile upon the unspotted wayes of God. 5. No hereticks having false opinions of God, such as Antinomians and Libertines, who thinke that the regenerate cannot sinne, or that the worshipping p. 357of a creature is not idolatry, can be innocent, as if …mply acts of the judgement and mind not conforme to Gods will revealed in his word were not sinnes, (as Arminians teach) whereas all the faculties of the soule are under Gods Law. 2. Hardly doth the mind conceive false thoughts of God, or his worship, but there be wicked crookes in the will and affections inclining thereunto the mind, and smoaking the mind with will-guiltinesse.

6. Except God was too rigorous and cruell in the Old Testament (God avert such blasphemous thoughts) what ever punishment even to bloud and death was inflicted upon hereticks, seducing Prophets, Idolaters, Apostates, these same stande yet in the plentitude of morall obligation against such as offend in the New Testament, if the Magistrate beare the Lords sword, as he doth in the New Testament, Rom. 13. 4, 5.

Monfortius the Anabaptist as ssBeza de haeretic. a magist. pun. pag. 158. 159.Beza saith, had no Scripture to say, because Christ is a meeke Saviour, all corporall punishment inflicted upon hereticks in the Old Testament, is turned over in spirituall punishment; onelyonly our brethren who deny that the Magistrate can compell any to an externall profession of the Gospel, doe herein follow Arminians and Socinians. So the ttRemonst. in confess. c. 24. Sect. 9. qui haereticidie aut simili tyrannidi aut persecution… ullo modo patrocinentur, a m…issimo Christi spiritu prorsus alieni sunt.Re…onstrants, and wwEpis…pius. disp. 28. Thes. 25.Episcopius deny that the Magistrate can use any bodily punishment against hereticks. The learned xxProfessores Leidens. in sua cens. 16. id Socinianae doctrinae c…rsentaneum quidem est.Professors of Leiden observe that Arminians here teach that same with the Socinians, and the same is refuted well by yyNicolaus Vedelius ar…a. Arminianis. par. 1. l. 2. c. 9.Vedelius, yea and Gerardus, and zzJoan. Gerard. 10. 6. de Magistrat. politico. n. q. 2. n. 314. pag. 743. 744.Mersnerus, and other pretended Disciples of Luther in this side with Arminians and Socinians: and Socinians teach in this, 1. that Hereticks should not be molested nor punished with the sword. So aaSocinus de off…c. …om. Christ. c. 1.Socinus, bbNicolaides defe…. tract. de eccles. c 4. fol. 73. 93. 94.Theophilus Nicolaides, ccOstor…dius Christ. relig. c. 29.Ostorodius, because the tares are not to be rooted out till harvest. 2. ddEpiscopius disp. 13.. Thes. 18. 19.Episcopius, eeHenr. Slatius apert. doct. f. 53.Slatius amongst Arminians, and ffOstorodius inst. relig. c. 28.Ostorodius, and ggCateches. Ra…cov…ens. de proph. Mun. I. Christi c. 1. f. 136.the Catechise of Raccovia teach farther, that the Magistrate may punish by fines and pecuniall mulcts, p. 358but he cannot shed bloud, or punish to death any murtherer, because the Commandement of our meeke Saviour, doth not permit to take away any mans life; now it is certaine meeke Jesus, while hee was on earth, did neither fine nor imprison, more then put to death. 3. So…inians teach that all warres under the new Testament are unlawfull; for saith Smal…ius, hhSmal…ius …. disp. 7. pig. 241. acut… ejus…nadi d…lectio est quae interficere ali u…n permit… et jubet.warres cannot consist with the … of our enemie, commanded by Christ: iiv…d. Socin. in defens. sent V…es. p. … Raccoviensi adversus Jac. Paeleol. de mag. p …n pag. 1 fol. 13.Socinus and Ostorodius say it is an old precept not to shed blood, and never retracted in the New Testament, and God licenced it to the Jewes, because he promised to them an earthly kingdome, which hee hath not now promised under the New Testament. Our Divines hold ringleading and seducing hereticks are to bee punished to death, for so kkBeza. …. de … is a magist. puniend. advers Ma…tin …lling vol. 1. …pus pag. 85. & se….Beza, llJunius advers. …. edit. Heidelbu…. an. 15 91. p. 40.Junius, mmBucanus loc. com. 49.Bucanus, nnZanchius, 10. 2. m…s…. de ….Zanchius, ooPerkias. in cath…l. reformat. convo. 21. c. 2. pag. 367.Perkinsius, ppDaneus in Etlic Christian. l 2. c. 13.Daneus, qqBulling. …. 18. fol. 89.Bullingerus, rrProfesso. Leyden …s c…nsa Re non. c: 24 sect. 9.the Professors of Leiden teach.

All that can be said commeth to this, that Hereticks should not bee punished, 1. ssCyprian ad De…. Si quid … tuis nu … & poteslatis es…, ipsi in … su…gent, ipsi se majestate sua defendent: pude…t te …os celere, quos ipse de sendis, pudeat tutelam ab ipsis sparare, quos tu ….Cyprian saith to Demetrius that hee was greater then his Gods, because he revenged the wrongs done to his Gods, and that it was a shame for him to hope for helpe from the Gods which hee behooved to defend.

Answ. This proveth that the false Gods of Demetrius were but false Gods, because they were not able to revenge the wrongs done to themselves, as the true God, who made the heaven and the earth, can doe, but nothing against the punishing of the Hereticks, for then it should follow, that blasphemy against the holy Ghost, and no sinnes should bee punished, for all sinnes are injuries done to God, and therefore neither Magistrates, nor parents, nor doctors, yea nor the Church should use any rod, either corporall or spirituall, against subjects, children, or scandalous persons, because God can revenge his owne quarrell; yea excommunication is a revenging of a wrong done p. 359to God. 2. They object the Apostles way was to watch against Hereticks, Act. 20. 29. 31. and Rom. 16. 17. to es…hew them, 2 Tim. 2. 25. the servant of the Lord must bee gentle.

Answ. This is objected by tt….Gerardus, as also because they may bee converted, Ergo, they are not to bee killed, Christ would not have fire comming downe from heaven to destroy the Sa…, for afterward they were converted; but wee thinke not any should be put to death for simple heresie, as uu… in … p. 13: 9Mus…u…us and Whittaker teach, they are to bee instructed, censured, xx… ad Campian. pag 2▪ 4.rebuked, eschewed, but though Ananias and Saphira might bee converted, Peter strake them with death, and Paul did right in …iking Elymas the Sorcerer with blindnesse, Act. 13. because he laboured to turne away Sergius Paulus from the faith, these were extraordinary judgements, but yet they doe well prove that where the Magistrate is armed with authority, hee ought to inflict bodily punishment upon the seducing hereticks, so it hee done as yyAugustine cp…st. 47. …d …. 50 ad ….Augustine saith, Animo corrigendi, non vindicandi. See zzBeza de la …. punten…. pag. 161, 162.Beza, aaProfessors of I ciden in censur. confess. Remonst. c. 24. sect. 9.Professors of Leyden, and what Elias did by an extraordinary power in killing Baals Priests, that Achab the then supreme Magistrate should have done. 3. They object that it is contrary to the meeke spirit of Christ in the New Testament, that any should bee punished for heresie, and that it is proper to enemies of the truth, and Antichrist so to doe, as their bb…. histori. l. 12. c. 4practise declare. Nestorius being made Archbishop of Constantinople, said to the Emperour, I will give thee heaven O Emperour, if thou with free the earth of hereticks; Dioscorus compelled, with armed souldiers, the Bishops to subseribe to the heresie of Entyches; Eud…xius the Arrian obliged Valens the Arrian Emperour to root out … orthodox professors. The Turke in his Alcoran commandeth to kill all who obey not his law.

Answ. The sword is expressely given by God, Rom. 13. to Christian Magistrates, and this is not against the meeknesse of Christ, no more nor to deliver to Satan, or to curse and excommunicate Apostats with that great curse called Anath…ina Maranatha, 1 Cor. 16. 22. And though Hereticks and Mahomet teach that Hereticks, as also they teach that manslayers, adulterers, paricides should die the death, it followeth not that we are not to teach the same. Fourthly, The parable of letting p. 360the Tares grow, while the day of judgement is alleaged. It is true ccChrysostom. …om. 47. in Matth. 13.Matt 13Chrysostome saith that many innocent persons are killed in the rooting out the tares by bloody warres; ddChrysolog. serm. 79.Chrysologus saith, Neither Matthew the publican, nor Paul should have beene comerted, if the Sword had beene used, and Augustine eeAugustine in lib. quaest. ex Matth. 12.Matt 12seemeth to call the tares haereticorum falsitates, and ffTheophylac. com. in loc. Matth. 13.Matt 13Theophylact, Zizania sunt haereses. But I answer, Christ exponeth the tares foreign, Syriace foreign ggBeza in anno…. Mar. Matth. 13. 38.Matt 13:38Beza, filii illius improbi, hhErasmus in locum eundem.Erasmus diaboli, the children of the devill, and Theophylact addeth, Zizania sunt h…reses, vel malae cogitationes, and Gerardus perverteth Theophylact, for he extendeth the tares not onelyonly to Hereticks, but also to wicked men, to Matthew who was a publican, but not a Heretick properly. And first the field is the world of the visible Church, where the seed of the Word is sowne, and it must bee meaned of all scandalous persons in Christs visible kingdome, so all shall bee spared, and there shall neither bee use of the Magistrates sword, nor of the Church discipline in the Church, as Anabaptists expone the place. 2. There should Deus non per…ittit haeretico be llis consumi similiter neque propter mal…s cogitatienes vult Deus exscindi hominem: si Mattheus excisus esset ex hac vita, cum esset zizanium, simul etiam excisum esset fr…nent…n quod postea ex ipso erat oriturum.not so much as rebukes and threatnings beene used, but wicked men should bee permitted to grow, while the day of judgement, that the Angels root them out. Now it is knowne that the power of the word preached hath rooted out some tares, because it hath converted them. 3. Hereticks are not all things which offend; the incestuous Corinthian offended also. 2. OnelyOnly Hereticks are not such as worke iniquitie, there bee others also in the visible Church, as our brethren expone, Revel. 22. 15. nor are onelyonly hereticks to be cast out in the furnace of fire, where there shall bee weeping and gnashing of teeth. 3. Nor are onelyonly the good wheat those who are orthodox and opposite to hereticks, who shall shine as the Sunne in the kingdome of their father, p. 42. 43. except wee would say that all sound in the faith and holding no hereticall doctrine shall shine in the firmament as the Sun. 4. The casting out of Hereticks out of the visible Church by excommunication is a rooting of them out of the field of the visible Church; Let more of this be seen and considered in those who have written thereof, as in G… rardus, loc. cit. Beza de puniend. Haeret. Bellarm. de laicis, c. 21. Costerus Enchirid. de mori…us haereticor. Pelr. Gregorius, lib. 12. de repub. c. 4. p. 361Suarez. de tripl. virtut. theolog. disp. 18. sect. 2. Gregorius de Valent. …. 3. disp. l. q. 10. punc. 6. Jus Canonicum C. Quid autem. dist. 49. Meiser. lib. 4. de legibus, sect. 1. …. 10, 11, 12. Lipsius l. 4. …. c. 2. Co…d B…unus, l. 3. de haeretic. c. 13. Paulus Windeck. lib. de exs…irpandis haeretic.