Against Pretended Liberty of Conscience, Chapter 19
CHAP. XIX. Exemption of falſe Prophets from coer…ive power, is not Chriſtian liberty.
Argument XV.
THat doctrine is not to be held which maketh that a part of Chriſtian liberty,This liberty of conſcience is not Chriſtian liberty. which the word of God maketh no part at all thereof: For 1. If there be no bodily puniſhment to be inflicted on falſe teachers and blaſphemers, then muſt Chriſt by his blood repeal… all thoſe Law… in the Old Teſtament; but the Scripture ſhewes us all our parts of Chriſtian liberty in theſe places of Scripture, Tit… …. 14. Rom. 14. 14. 1 Theſſ. 1. 10. Gal. 3. 13. Gal. 1. 4. Gal. 1. 13. Act 26. 18. Rom. 6. 14. Rom. 8. 28 Pſ. 119. 71. 1 Cor. 15. 54▪ 55, 56, 57. Rom. 8. 1. Gal. 5. 1. 1. Job. 4. 18. Act. 15. 10. 11. Heb. 4. 14. 16. Heb. 10. 19, 20, 21, 22. Col. 2. 15, 16. 2 Cor. 3. 13. 17. 1…. …. Rom. 14. 4. Act. 4. 9. Act. 5. 29. 1 Cor. 7. 23. Math. 23, 8, 9, 10. Maith. 15. 9. and elſewhere▪ in all which places nothing … hinted of the falſe teachers patent under the ſeale of the blood of the eternall Covenant, that he is freed from the Magiſtrates ſword, though he deſtroy millions of ſoules.
2. Where the common place of ſubjection due to Kings and governours ſent by them, 1 Pet. 2. 11. 12, 13, 14. is han…led, &c. freedome to ſin, and conſequently freedome to hereſies, and teaching and ſpreading of falſe doctrines that eat as a gangreen, and is no leſſe a worke of the fleſh then adultery, murthers, witchcrafts, Gal. 5. 19. 10, 11, 12, … judged falſe, liberty for a cloake of maliciouſneſſe, as if Chriſti…ns were ſo made free by Chriſt, as ſubjects were looſed from ſubjection to Kings, and ſervants from being buffeted for ill-doing, 1 Pet. 2. 16. if ſome ill-doers, and the worſt of men, even ſoule-murtherers be freed from puniſhment due to ill-doers, 1 Pet. 2. 13. and that by a writ under the hand of the Mediator of the new Covenant, theeves, robbers, murtherers, adulterers, which be innocent, if compared with falſe teachers and grievous wolves, may claim the ſame liberty to the fleſh: for why ſhould freedome to one ſinne, and with immunity from the Magiſtrates ſword bee fathered on a charter ſealed with Chriſts blood, and not freedome to all ſinnes?
3. The end of Chriſts redemption is, that we ſhould uſe our freedome for no licence to the fleſh, but as bought from bondage to ſinne. If the conſcience be immediately now under the New Teſtament ſubject to God onelyonly, and free from all Commandments of Miniſters, Church-Magiſtrates, who are to command according to the word of God, and if notwithſtanding of that, yet the practicall conſcience, which ſhould be the principall of all the morall actions of a Chriſtian in the duties of the ſecond Table, as touching the life, chaſtity, goods, name, and good report of our neighbour, muſt be forced, if ſubject to the lawfull commands of ſuperiours, all men may doe to God and men, and deſtroy, and kill, and ſteale, as well as blaſpheme and ſeduce ſoules, and the Magiſtrate have nothing to doe with them, let Anabaptiſts deny to pay tithes, or to pay ſouldiers for warres, kill innocent men upon the ground of immediate raptures,A ſpeculative conſcience no more freed from the magiſtrate then a practicall conſcience. rob, and ſteale, becauſe the juſt ſhall inherit the earth, deny and belye Chriſt and Religion before men, as Familiſts now teach, for Libertines muſt give a reaſon why Chriſt hath freed a ſpeculative conſcience, as touching all acts of the firſt Table from the Magiſtrate, and his Jedbrugh-ſlaves, but hath left as innocent a conſcience, to wit, the practicall conſcience as concerning the ſecond Table, which is as free in the Court of the Almighty, under the compulſion and bondage of the ſword, and ha… not taken in all conſciences in the ſame charter.
Argument XVI.
CHriſt hath left the conſciences of falſe teachers and hereticks under Eccleſiaſticall cenſures of admonitions, rebukes,Eccleſiaſticall cenſures as compulſory as the ſword. excommunication, ſo as thoſe that hold the doctrine of Balaam and Jez…bel, and ſuch as call themſelves Apoſtles and are not, and grievous wolves muſt not be ſuffered, Rev. 2. 1, 2. v. 13, 14. v. 20. Tit. 1. 13. Matth. 18. 15, 16, 17, 18. Act. 20. 28, 29, 30. and theſe doe no more act upon the conſciences of men by way of teaching, but by way of puniſhment, then the ſword of the Magiſtrate doth, and they are as compulſory as the ſword for this threatning (if yet ſtill pervert the right wayes of the Lord, and teach falſe doctrine, then muſt yee be caſten out of the Church, delivered to Sathan, branded and ſhamed as ravening wolves, ſoxes, waſting the ſtocks and the vineyard) this (I ſay) doth as much in way of compelling, as the weapon of iron and ſteele, yea and in the New Teſtament, hereticks are to be no leſſe compelled then under the Old Teſtament (though Libertines moſt ignorantly talke of compelling of conſciences and forcing of men to opinion…) for we are to reject and avoid the company of heretickes, and to put them to ſhame and reproach, not to eat with an Idolater, nor to lodge in our houſes, him that brings another Goſpel, Tit. 3. 10. Rom. 16. 17. 2 Tim. 3. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. 1. Cor 5. 11. 12. becauſe of the publicke ſcandalls, by which the ſoules of others are infected, and their faith … What ſoever maketh the name of God to be …vill-ſpoke… … and all damnable hereſies, which bring ſwift …, and by which men make merchandiſe of ſoules, theſe we are charged to avoid, and theſe the whole Church ſhould cenſure, and ſhould far more avoid.