Against Pretended Liberty of Conscience, Chapter 18
CHAP. XVIII. The place, 1 Tim. 2. 1. 2. for coercive power over falſe Prophets, cleared.
Argument XII.
THat which we are to pray,The pla… 1 Tim. 2. 1, 2. 3 explained. we may have from the Magiſtrate by his office, that is his office to doe, becauſe prayers muſt be in faith, and grounded on the word of God.
But we are to pray for Kings and all that are in Authority, that with the ſword they would guard Religion, and the Church of God from wolves, falſe teachers, and thoſe that think they do God ſervice when they kill us, Joh. 16. 1. that we may (ſaith the Apoſtle, 1 Tim. 2. 2.) lead a quiet & a peaceable life in all godlineſſe and honeſty. Nor can a Magiſtrate procure a quiet and a peaceable life in all godlineſſe foreign and honeſty as a Magiſtrate, but by his ſword, nor can he with meer words of mouth, onelyonly exhort as a Magiſtrate, the foxes not to deſtroy the vines, and wolves not to ſlaughter … ſheep, except he coerce falſe teachers and Idolaters, becauſe upon the occaſion that Micah and his mother made a molten image, and an Ephod, and impoſed it on their houſe, the Holy Ghoſt ſaith, Judg. 17. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. v 6. In thoſe dayes there was no King in Iſrael, but every man did that which was right in his owne eyes, hence it is cleare that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godlineſſe, a naked permiſſion from the Magiſtrate to ſerve God is not enough, or that he ſuffer no man to do theSaints violence, but if wolves be permitted to teach what is right in their own erroneous conſcience, and there be no Magiſtrate to put them to ſhame, Judg. 18. 7. and no King to puniſh them, then godlineſſe, and all that concernes the firſt Table of the Law muſt be marred, and the intrinſecall end of the Magiſtrate, which is a peaceable life in all godlineſſe, is not attainable in an ordinary providence; nor will it help to ſay, Paul commandeth prayers to be made for the Magiſtrates that were then heathen, who being ignorant of Chriſt could conferre nothing to godlineſſe, but meerly negatively, that they perſecute not the godly for their conſcience, nor permit others to perſecute them;We are to pray that Magiſtrates as Magiſtrates, may not only permit, but procure to us that we may live in godlineſſe. for Paul will have us to pray for their converſion, that they may become Chriſtian Magiſtrates, and come to the knowledge of the truth, and then they doe more then negatively procure peace to the Church; for as Magiſtrates now converted, they are to praiſe and reward, and promote to the dignity of Judges, men fearing God, Deut. 1. 17. yea and fearing God, as the Scripture doth deſcribe the fear of God, and ſo to reward Chriſtian well-doing, Rom. 13. 3. & therefore Chriſtian Kings as Kings are to ſend ſuch, & to promote them to bear rule over the people, 2 Pet. 2. 14. That ſo they may be … by the King for the puniſhment of evill doers, and for the praiſe of them that doe well. 2. Nor is it true that Paul will have us in that place, to pray onelyonly for heathen Kings, and that as heathen, (as Libertines ſuppoſe) that wee may have negatively peace under them, they being excluded from all exerciſe of their Magiſtraticall office in, or about matters of Religion; for Paul commands us to pray for Kings and all that are in Authority; and it is cleare, ſome in authority, and divers in Neroes court were converted to the Chriſtian faith, Phil. 1. 13. Phil. 4. 22. Nor is the prayer for Kings to be reſtricted to the Kings and Rulers of that preſent age, when Paul wrote that, but for all Kings to be converted, and who ſhall beleeve and be ſaved (ſeeing God will have all men to be ſaved) that they may promote godlineſſe in a politicke way by their ſword. Hence thoſe that have no more to doe to procure a peaceable life in all godlineſſe by their office, then heathens and pagans, or if they were not in ſuch an office, yea thoſe who have far leſſe intereſt in Chriſtian Religion, then if they did not beare the ſword at all, can in no ſort be the object of our prayers to God for the procuring of ſuch a life in all godlineſſe. But the latter is contrary to the word of truth.
Argument XIII.
THat which is foretold to be a fruit of repentance, and a caſting off of the Antichriſtian yoke,Rev. The ten Kings as Kings puniſh the where, and burne her fleſh for her Idolatry. muſt be lawfull, and praiſe-worthy, but that the ten Kings who made war with the Lambe, and agreed for a time to give their Kingdome to the beaſt, ſhould now turne their ſwords, againſt Babylon, under the notion of a whore, for the Idolatrous worſhip and ſpirituall fornication of Rome, and ſhall hate the whore as a whore, and ſhall make her deſolate and naked, and ſhall eat her fleſh, and burne her with fire, is a fruit of the repentance of the ten Kings, Rev. 17▪ 12, 13, 14, 15, 16. therefore their turning of the ſword againſt the Pope, the whore of Rome for their whoredomes, muſt be lawfull and praiſe-worthy; the propoſition is cleare: for if to joyne in warre with the whore againſt the Lambe and his followers was a worke of the devill, in giving their power and kingdome to the Beaſt, when God inclines their hearts to the contrary, and they joyne their power with the Lambe againſt the whore, and deſtroy her, and make her naked, and deſolate for her whoredomes, it muſt be a worke of the Spirit of God, and a fruit of the repentance of thoſe Kings; for when they repent and hate Babylon, the Holy Ghoſt would not ſet downe their repentance in a worke of cruelty, and bloody perſecution for conſciences ſake, as Li…ertines define puniſhing Idolaters to be.
Argument XIV.
THat which the ſervants of God doe in an extraordinary impulſion of the Spirit,Extraordinary puniſhing of hereticks, no caſe of the magiſtrates neglect, argueth that the magiſtrate ought to puniſh them. in the caſe of the ſinfull neglect of the lawfull Magiſtrate, or when there is no Chriſtian Magiſtrate to doe it, that muſt be the ordinary conſtant duty of the Magiſtrate, eſpecially when that turns away wrath from the Land, and is taken as acceptable ſervice to God, as if the ordinary Magiſtrate had done it. But the extraordinary puniſhing of thoſe that violate the worſhip of God, and pervert the wayes of God, and the faith of others, is ſuch, ergo, to puniſh ſuch as violate the worſhip of God, and pervert the faith of others, muſt be the ordinary conſtant duty of the Magiſtrate. The propoſition is evident, becauſe extraordinary acts neceſſary to bee done ſupply the want of ordinary acts, as in morall acts acceptable to God is cleare; when the under-Rulers doe not their duty, Phineas is praiſed, that he being a Prieſt, not a Judge, ſlew Zimri and Cosbey, and Phineas did acceptable ſervice to God in ſo doing, Num. 25. 11, 12, 13. and Elias in his zeale killed the Prieſts of Baal, when Achab the ordinary Magiſtrate ſinfully neglected his duty, and Samuel now being no Judge, killed Agag, …go, it was the duty of Saul as the ordinary Magiſtrate to doe it. Now in the New Teſtament it is cleare the ordinary officers and porters ſhould violently have caſten out the buyers and ſellers, and tables of money changers out of the Temple, our Saviour Chriſt doth it i… an extraordinary way, and it was the zeale of the houſe of God that moved him, Pſ. 69. 9. Job. 2. So Armanias and Sapheira lyed to the Holy Ghoſt, & defrauded the Church in a matter of goods, therefore Peter ſtruck them dead, then if there had been a Chriſtian Magiſtrate, he ſhould have inflicted bodily puniſhment upon Annanias and Saphira; ſo Paul ſtrikes Eli… with blindneſſe for attempting to pervert the faith of Sergius Paulus, ergo, the Magiſtrate, if there had been any to procure a quiet life in all godlineſſe to the Church, ſhould have puniſhed Elimas, and this is evident in acts of juſtice and ſinfull omiſſions of men in ordinary places; nor were theſe acts extraordinary in the ſubſtance of the act (as I have obſerved) but onelyonly in regard of the efficient and manner of doing, though there be required an extraordinary impulſion in the doer, which in others in place, ſhould be ordinary; for acts extraordinary in the manner and exigence of providence, may be in the ſubſtance of the act ordinary duties, and to neglect them, is to ſinne againſt a ſet command, if David and his followers, had refuſed to eat the Shew-bread, becauſe the Law made it lawfull to none to eat it but Prieſts, they had ſinned againſt Commandements of mercy, injoyned in the Law of nature, nor was that an extraordinary rule, I will have mercy and not ſacrifice; when the Law of nature, for the good of ſpirituall ſocieties, requires that the godly Magiſtrate drive away the Wolves and Lions from the flocke, we may ſee a poſitive command is not neceſſary.