The Temple Measured, Part 8
Concerning the Power of Magiſtrates with reference to the Churches of Chriſt.
THe acts of Magiſtracy are not only civil Laws, Precepts, Puniſhments, Rewards; but alſo ſpiritual Loves, Precepts, Prayers, Bleſſings, Iuſtructions, Admonitions: Theſe ſpiritual acts do danominate Magiſtratical power to be ſpiritual power, though not Eccleſiaſtical. Church power is ſpiritual generically, in reſpect of acts which are ſpiritualin common, but by way of ſpecialty it is ſpiritual, as it is Eccleſiaſtical. Magiſtratical power is both civil and ſpiritual, yet not Eccleſiaſtical; or civil as it is oppoſed to Eccleſiaſtical power, not as oppoſed to Spiritual. 5. The next ends of Magiſtratical acts are Spiritual, and acts are diſtinguiſhed by their ends or immediate objects. The Spiritual good of men is both intended and acquired in Magiſtratical acts, as primarily as the Temporal good of men: A Magiſtrate doth Inſtruct, Pray, &c. to the end he might confer ſome Spiritual good, and the act it ſelf doth as naturally and immediatly produce ſuch an effect, as if it were the act of an Eccleſiaſtical perſon; and ſuch an act is ſuppoſed to be the act of a Magiſtrate as he is a Magiſtrate, not only as he is a Chriſtian. And if the Magiſtrate be prophane, and ſhould not intend any Spiritual good (as it was ſaid of one, that he was bonns Rox, but malus homo) it is ſufficient that the act it ſelf doth. 2. The ſpiritual good of men, and the glory of God are primary ends of the couſtitution of Magiſtracy in nature. A Throne of Magiſtracy is crected (and ought to be in the intention of men) as directly for Religion as for Civil Peace. Though a Prince hath not all the means to make a good man which a Prieſt hath, yet he hath ſome, and is to improve them, for the making of his Subjects good men Spiritually as well as Civilly; and he that is integrè bonus this eſt bonus vir, in reſpect of all vertues in both Tables: Elſe why is it the duty of Magiſtrates to Inſtruct, Pray, provide by Laws, &c. for the preſervation and promotion of Religion? 3.Mr. Porker lib. 1. cap. 34. Such ends were primary ends of Magiſtracy in Ad…s, only we muſt remember that axiome, Fi…o…s leges non eadere ſub legens. 4. The Prieſthood it ſelf is naturally a branch of Magiſtracy, it remained in the Patriarchs till God ſevered one from the other; and God did not give all Spiritual power to Aaron, when he diſtinguiſhed the Prieſthood, much remined ſtill in Moſes. 5. The Oecumenical power of a Maſter of a Family is not Eccleſirſtical, yet he hath Spiritual power to Teach, Pray, Bleſs, command as he is a Pater-ſansllias. 6. Elſe a Magiſtrate is a Magiſtrate, muſt ſubordinate the firſt Table to the ſecond, the glory of God to the Temporal good of men, God to man, Religion to civllity. 7. A Magiſtrate when he Prays, bleſſeth or commandeth all to ſeek the God of Iſrael, as he his Caſtes utriuſ que tabula, is not ſuppoſed to uſe any of theſe means in the firſt place for the Temporal proſperity of the Common-wealth; Muſt a Magiſtrate as a Magiſtrate pray only for Corn, Wine and Oyl? or may he ſerve God only for Corn, Wine and Oyl, and bleſs only with the dew of Heaven and ſatneſs of the Earth? A Phyſitian indeed … Phyſitian doth only heal and intend to heal the natural man, becauſe he hath only natural mediums; but a Magiſtrate hath Spiritual mediums, as he is a Magiſtrate: A Magiſtrate as a man, may make a Temporal being his firſt and laſt and only end, but as a Magiſtrate he intends both Temporals and Spirituals. A Chriſtian, as a man, may be for the world, but as a Chriſtian he is for the Lord. A Magiſtrates Office is Spiritual, though the Magiſtrates perſon be Prophane and Heatheniſh.