The Casting Down of the Last and Strongest Hold of Satan, Treatise · Chapter 1 · Thesis 16
16. THESIS.
Magiſtrates▪ qua Magiſtrates, by vertue of their office, as Magiſtrates ſimply, every of them, though Turks, Heathen and wicked, as well as Chriſtian and Orthodox, have an authority, right, power from God Jure divino in matters of Religion to command for God, and his Honor, and to forbid and ſuppreſſe the contrary. The Magiſtrate in generall being by his proper place the Miniſter of God, Rom. 13. Gods vicegerent governing men in the roome of God, even ſo far as his power and juriſdiction extends, is bound to care in matters of Religion. As now Parents qua Parents have by the morall law of God a power and a duty lying upon them to command their children to good, and to forbid evill, and have a rod given into their hands to thoſe ends, although being Heathens or wicked, for the preſent they know not, or will not exerciſe it in teaching and bringing them up in the Chriſtian Religion and fear of God: So is with Magiſtrates, the Authority and right every of them hath by being a Magiſtrate, who by his place is for the puniſhment of evill doers and the praiſe of them that doe well, however to the due and right exerciſe of this, a good will and true knowledge out of the word of God may be required.*Magiſtratus omnis ta…. Chriſtianus quam non Chriſtianus poteſt & debet. Vide plura. Zanehius in his M…ſcellaniet de Magiſtratu 167. 169. and De Eccleſi… militantis Gubernatione, cap. 26. pag. 553, 554. ſhowes that every Magiſtrate as well; wicked as godly, not Chriſtian as Chriſtian, hath this power and ſo doth Spalatenſis in his ſixth Book, fifth chapter De Republica Eccleſiaſtica, but for the better underſtanding of it I ſhall lay downe this twofold diſtinction.
Firſt, that Heathen Princes ſo farre as the light of nature teaches them and right Reaſon, are to make Lawes in matters of Religion and whereas the * light of nature leads on ſtraight to the knowledge of one God and Supreme Deity,Rom. 1. 19, 20, 21. and dictates this God to be juſt, holy, good, perfect, &c. and to bee worſhipped with reverence, they ſhould command ſo farre, remove Idolatry, the worſhip of birds, four-footed beaſts, and creeping things, promote the worſhip of the true God, puniſh blaſphemies and wicked opinions contrary to the nature of God, and that out of their proper office of being Princes, as the immediate Miniſters and Vicegerents of God on earth: Hence we read in many Writers, as*Vit. Num. Pompil. De Reverent. Dei hoe age. Numa alſo forbad the Romans to beleeve that God hath either forme or likeneſſe of beaſt or man, ſo that in Rome there was no Image of God neither painted nor graven. Vide ibi plura. Plutarch, Ariſtotle, Plato and others, that Heathen Princes have made Lawes for God and his worſhip, and have puniſhed Atheiſts, Epicures Blaſphemers, and Sacrilegious perſons; and as any of them have come to more knowledge of God and Religion by any extraordinary work of Gods providence, or by living among them of the true Religion as the Jews before Chriſts time, and Chriſtians ſince, though not fully converted, yet ſtill according to their knowledge and means, they were bound, and many of them have gone on in promoting the true Religion, and forbidding the contrary, as the King of Niniveh, Darius, Nebuchadonezor, and Aurelianus at the requeſt of the Church puniſhing Paulus Samoſetenus the Heretick. But now if beſide the light of nature and dictamen of naturall reaſon, Princes have the light of faith, the knowledge of Chriſt and the Scriptures, of Heathens come to be Chriſtians, or being borne in Chriſtian Common-wealths, have from their child hood beene brought up in the faith of Chriſt, then alſo out of their kingly office they ſhould throw downe all things contrary to faith and the true worſhip of Chriſt, and poſitively by outward acts promote and command the outward worſhip of God, have a care of the Eccleſiaſticall Diſcipline, and of all the parts of Religion that they may be preſerved: Of which the Reader may be further ſatisfied in the writings of that learned man*De Republ. Eccleſ. cap. …. 579, 580. Quod ſi praeter nudum lumen naturae, & naeturalis ſolius rationis dictamen, adſit in Rege terreno, ex Dei beneficio etiam lumen fidei, adeoque dictamen hoc rationis ſupernaturalibus etiam virtutibus infuſis dirigatur, tunc ſimiliter ex …odem regis officio religionis que que Cuſtes ita ſuam debet ordinare Politiam, primum negative ut illa cum fide moribuſque fideli homini digni… no…s pugnet; deinde poſitive per actus externos (qui ſoli ad ipſius ſpectant poteſtatem) externam divinum cultum foveat, promoveat, &c. Vide ibi plura. Zanch. de Magiſtr. 553, 554. Marcus Antonius de Dominis Archbiſh. of Spalato.
Secondly, though the care of Religion belongs to al Princes, yet in a ſpeciall manner upon ſpeciall obligations the Chriſtian …aith belongs to Chriſtian Magiſtrates and Princes, whom God hath given to be nurſing Fathers and nurſing Mothers: theſe have not only a remote power, but the next power which they may bring into act by reaſon of the knowledge of Chriſt, and many helps; and this many Reformed Divines affert of the Chriſtian Magiſtrate in the handling of this queſtion of the Magiſtrates power, as Zanchius and others. But if the Magiſtrate be alſo Chriſtian, we doe beleeve it ſpecially belongs to him to take a peculiar care of the Chriſtian Religion. And I have ſet downe this Theſis thus diſtinctl… by it ſelfe, becauſe divers of the Patrons of Toler…tion, eſpecially Cretenſis in his M. S. pag. 48, 49. and in his Hagiom… ſtix. 99, 100. 125. doe on purpoſe ſnarle and make intricate the queſtion about the Magiſtrates power in matters of Religion, trouble the waters, by falling upon that phraſe often expreſſed by Divines in this Controverſie the Chriſtian Magiſtrate, which how tis to be taken I have ſhowed, and ſhould have here more fully opened it, and taken off ſome cavils I foreſee likely to be made againſt it, but that I have ſpoken of it in the Prolegomen…, and intend in the ſecond or third part of Toleration to treat more fully of it.