Chapter XXI: Introduction (21)

§. VIII. How then? Have we not Reason, not finding the Nature of this Practice, to be obligatory upon us, more than those others which our Adversaries have laid aside, to avoid this Confusion; since those that use it can never agree, neither concerning the _Nature_, _Efficacy_, nor _Manner of doing it_? And this proceeds, because they take it not plainly, as it lies in the Scripture; but have so much intermixed their own Inventions. For would they take it as it lies, it would import no more, than that _Jesus Christ at that Time did thereby signify unto them, that his Body and Blood was to be offered for them_; and desired them, That _whensoever they did eat or drink, they might do it in Remembrance of him, or with a Regard to him, whose Blood was shed for them_. Now that the _Primitive Church_, gathered immediately after his Ascension, did so understand it, doth appear from their Use and Practice, if we admit those Places of the _Acts_, where _breaking of Bread_ is spoken of, to have Relation hereto; [Sidenote: _By _breaking of Bread_ they had all Things in common, remembering the Lord._] which as our Adversaries do, so we shall willingly agree to: As _First_, _Acts_ ii. 42. _And they continued stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowship, and in breaking of Bread_, &c. This cannot be understood of any other than of their ordinary eating; for as nothing else appears from the Text, so the Context makes it plain; for they had all Things in common: And therefore it is said, Ver. 46. _And they continuing daily with one Accord in the Temple, and breaking Bread from House to House, did eat their Meat with Gladness and Singleness of Heart._ Those who will not wilfully close their Eyes, may see here, that the _breaking_ being joined with their _eating_, shews, that nothing else is here expressed, but that having all Things in common, and so continuing together, they also did break their Bread, and eat their Meat together: In doing whereof, I cannot doubt but they remembered the Lord; to follow whom they had, with so much Zeal and Resignation, betaken themselves. This is further manifest from _Acts_ vi. 2. for the _Apostles_, having the Care and Distribution of that Money, which the Believers, having sold their Possessions, gave unto them, and finding themselves overcharged with that Burthen, appointed _Deacons_ for that Business, that they might give themselves continually to _Prayer_, and to the _Ministry of the Word_; not leaving that, to serve Tables. [Sidenote: Deacons _appointed for serving Tables._] This cannot be meant of any _sacramental Eating_, or _religious Acts of Worship_; seeing our Adversaries make the Distributing of that the proper Act of _Ministers_, not of _Deacons_: And yet there can be no Reason alleged, That that _breaking of Bread_, which they are said to have _continued in_, and to have done from _House to House_, was other than those _Tables_ which the Apostles served; but here gave over, as finding themselves overcharged with it. Now as the Increase of the Disciples did incapacitate the Apostles any more to manage this; so it would seem their further Increase, and dispersing in divers Places, hindered the Continuance of that Practice of _having Things in common_: But notwithstanding, so far at least to remember or continue that _ancient Community_, they did at certain Times come together, and break Bread together. [Sidenote: _At_ Troas _the Supper deferred till Midnight_.] Hence it is said, _Acts_ xx. 7. on _Paul_’s coming to _Troas_, That _upon the fist Day of the Week, when the Disciples came together to break Bread, _Paul_ preached unto them, ready to depart on the Morrow, and continued his Speech until Midnight_. Here is no Mention made of any _sacramental Eating_; but only that _Paul_ took Occasion from their being together to preach unto them. And it seems it was a _Supper_ they intended (not a _Morning-bit_ of _Bread_, and _Sup_ of _Wine_) else it is not very probable that _Paul_ would from the _Morning_ have preached until _Midnight_. But the 11th Verse puts the Matter out of Dispute, which is thus: _When he therefore was come up again, and had broken Bread, and eaten, and talked a long While, even till Break of Day, so he departed_. This shews, That the _breaking of Bread_ was deferred till that Time; for these Words [_and when he had broken Bread, and eaten_] do shew, That it had a Relation to the _breaking of Bread_ before-mentioned, and that that was the Time he did it. _Secondly_, These Words joined together [_and when he had broken Bread, and eaten, and talked_] shew, it was no religious Act of Worship, but only an Eating for bodily Refreshment, [Sidenote: _They only did eat for refreshing the Body._] for which the _Christians_ used to meet together some Time; and doing it in _God’s Fear_, and _Singleness of Heart_, doth notwithstanding difference it from the Eating or Feasting of _profane Persons_. [Sidenote: _By some called a_ Love-feast.] And this by some is called a _Love-feast_, or a being together, not merely to feed their Bellies, or for outward Ends; but to take thence Occasion to eat and drink together, in the Dread and Presence of the Lord, as his People; which _Custom_ we shall not condemn. But let it be observed, That in all the _Acts_ there is no other nor further Mention of this Matter. But if that _Ceremony_ had been some _solemn Sacrifice_, as some will have it, or such a _special Sacrament_ as others plead it to be; it is strange that that _History_, which in many less Things gives a particular Account of the _Christians_ Behaviour, should have been so silent in the Matter: Only we find, That they used sometimes to meet together to break Bread, and eat. [Sidenote: _The _Christians_ began by Degrees to depart from the Primitive Purity._] Now as the _early Christians_ began by Degrees to depart from that primitive Purity and Simplicity, so did they also to accumulate superstitious Traditions, and vitiate the innocent Practices of their Predecessors, by the Intermixing either of _Jewish_ or _Heathenish Rites_; and likewise in the Use of this, Abuses began very early to creep in among Christians, so that it was needful for the Apostle _Paul_ to reform them, and reprove them for it, as he doth at large, 1 _Cor._ xi. from Ver. 17. to the End: [Sidenote: 1 Cor. 11. 17.] Which Place we shall particularly examine, because our Adversaries lay the chief Stress of their Matter upon it; [Sidenote: _Concerning the _Supper_ of the _Lord_ (so called) explained_.] and we shall see whether it will infer any more than we have above granted. _First_, Because they were apt to use that Practice in a superstitious Mind beyond the true Use of it, so as to make of it some _mystical Supper of the Lord_, he tells them, Ver. 20. That their _coming together into one Place, is not to eat the Lord’s Supper_; he saith not, _This is not the _right Manner_ to eat_; but, _This is_ NOT _to eat the Lord’s Supper_; because the _Supper of the Lord is spiritual_, and a _Mystery_. _Secondly_, He blames them, in that they came together for the _Worse_, and not for the _Better_; the Reason he gives of this is, Ver. 21. _For in Eating every one hath taken before his own Supper; and one is hungry, and another is drunken._ [Sidenote: _Why the Custom of _Supping in common_ was used among Christians._] Here it is plain that the Apostle condemns them in that (because this Custom of _Supping_ in General was used among Christians to increase their Love, and as a Memorial of Christ’s Supping with the Disciples) they had so vitiated it, as to eat it apart, and to come full, who had Abundance; and hungry, who had little at Home; whereby the very Use and End of this _Practice_ was lost and perverted: And therefore he blames them, that they did not either eat this in Common at Home, or reserve their Eating till they came all together to the publick Assembly. This appears plainly by the following Ver. 22. _Have ye not Houses to eat and drink in? Or despise ye the Church of God, and shame them that have not?_ Where he blames them for their irregular Practice herein, in that they despised to eat orderly, or reserve their Eating to the publick Assembly; and so shaming such, as not having Houses, nor Fulness at Home, came to partake of the common Table; who, being hungry, thereby were shamed, when they observed others come thither full and drunken. Those that without Prejudice will look to the Place, will see this must have been the Case among the _Corinthians_: For supposing the Use of this to have been then, as now used either by _Papists_, _Lutherans_, or _Calvinists_, it is hard making Sense of the Apostle’s Words, or indeed to conceive what was the Abuse the _Corinthians_ committed in this Thing. Having thus observed what the Apostle said above, [Sidenote: _The Rise of that Custom._] because this Custom of _Eating and Drinking together some Time_ had its Rise from Christ’s Act with the Apostles the Night he was betrayed; therefore the Apostle proceeds, Ver. 23. to give them an Account of that: _For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same Night in which he was betrayed, took Bread_, &c. Those that understand the Difference betwixt a _Narration_ of a Thing, and a _Command_, cannot but see, if they will, That there is no Command in this Place, but only an Account of _Matter of Fact_; he saith not, _I received of the Lord, that as he took Bread, so I should command it to you to do so likewise_; there is nothing like this in the Place: Yea, on the contrary, Ver. 25. where he repeats Christ’s imperative Words to his Apostles, he placeth them so as they import no Command; _This do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in Remembrance of me_: And then he adds, _For as often as ye eat this Bread, and drink this Cup, ye do shew the Lord’s Death till he come_: [Sidenote: _That _[As often]_ imports no Command of this Supper._] But these Words [_As often_] import no more a _Command_, than to say, _As often as thou goest to _Rome_, see the Capitol_, will infer a _Command_ to me to go thither.

[Sidenote: Object.] But whereas they urge the last Words, _Ye shew forth the Lord’s Death till he come_; insinuating, That _this imports a necessary Continuance of that _Ceremony_, until Christ come at the End of the World to Judgment_;

[Sidenote: _Answ._] I _answer_, They take two of the chief Parts of the Controversy here for granted, without Proof. _First_, That [_as often_] imports a _Command_; the contrary whereof is shewn; neither will they ever be able to prove it. [Sidenote: _Christ’s outward and inward Coming._] _Secondly_, That this _Coming_ is to be understood of _Christ’s last outward Coming_, and not of his _inward_ and _spiritual_, that remains to be proved: Whereas the Apostle might well understand it of his _inward Coming_ and _Appearance_, which perhaps some of those carnal _Corinthians_, that used to come drunken together, had not yet known; and others, being weak among them, and inclinable to dote upon Externals, this might have been indulged to them for a Season, and even used by them who knew Christ’s Appearance in Spirit (as other Things were, of which we shall speak hereafter) especially by the Apostle, who became _weak_ to the _Weak_, and _all_ to _All_, that he might _save some_. [Sidenote: _To remember Christ’s Death till he come to arise in the Heart_.] Now those weak and carnal _Corinthians_ might be permitted the Use of this, to shew forth, or remember Christ’s Death, till he came to arise in them; for though such need those outward Things to put them in Mind of _Christ’s Death_, yet those who are _dead with Christ_, and not only _dead with Christ_, but _buried_, and also _arisen_ with him, need not such _Signs_ to remember him: And to such therefore the Apostle saith, _Col._ iii. 1. _If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those Things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right Hand of God_: But _Bread_ and _Wine_ are not those Things that are above, but are Things of the Earth. But that this whole Matter was a mere Act of Indulgence and Condescension of the Apostle _Paul_ to the weak and carnal _Corinthians_, appears yet more by the _Syriack_[133] Copy, which Ver. 17. in his entering upon this Matter, hath it thus; _In that concerning which I am about to command you (_or_ instruct you) I commend you not, because ye have not gone forward, but are descended unto that which is less, _or_ of less Consequence_: Clearly importing, That the Apostle was grieved that such was their Condition, that he was forced to give them Instructions concerning those outward Things; and doting upon which, they shewed they were not gone forward in the _Life of Christianity_, but rather sticking in _beggarly Elements_. And therefore Ver. 20. the same _Version_ hath it thus, _When then ye meet together, ye do not do it, as it is just ye should do in the Day of the Lord, ye eat and drink it_: Therefore shewing to them, That to meet together to eat and drink _outward Bread and Wine_, was not the Labour and Work of that _Day of the Lord_. But since our Adversaries are so zealous for this _Ceremony_, because used by the Church of _Corinth_ (though with how little Ground is already shewn) how come they to pass over far more positive Commands of the Apostles, as Matters of no Moment? As _First_, _Acts_ xv. 29. where the Apostles peremptorily command the _Gentiles_, [Sidenote: _To abstain from Things strangled._] as that which was the Mind of the Holy Ghost, _To abstain from Things strangled, and from Blood_: And _James_ v. 14. [Sidenote: _The Anointing with Oil._] where it is expresly commanded, _That the Sick be anointed with Oil in the Name of the Lord_.

[133] And likewise the other _Oriental Versions_, as the _Arabick_ and _Æthiopick_, have it the same Way.

[Sidenote: Object.] If they say, _Those were only temporary Things, but not to continue_;

[Sidenote: _Answ._] What have they more to shew for this; there being no express Repeal of them?

[Sidenote: Object.] If they say, _The Repeal is implied, because the Apostle saith, We ought not to be judged in Meats and Drinks_;

[Sidenote: _Answ._] I admit the _Answer_: But how can it be prevented from militating the same Way against the other Practice? Surely not at all: Nor can there be any Thing urged for the one more than for the other, but Custom and Tradition.

[Sidenote: Object.] As for that of _James_, they say, _There followed a Miracle upon it_, to wit, _The Recovery of the Sick_; _but this being ceased, so should the Ceremony_.

[Sidenote: _Answ._] Though this might many Ways be answered, to wit, That _Prayer_ then might as well be _forborn_, to which also the _Saving of the Sick_ is there ascribed; yet I shall accept of it, because I judge indeed that _Ceremony_ is ceased; [Sidenote: _A Ceremony ought to cease, its Virtue failing_.] only methinks, since our Adversaries, and that rightly, think a _Ceremony_ ought to cease where the Virtue fails, they ought by the same Rule to forbear the _laying on of Hands_, [Sidenote: _Thus laying on of Hands._] in Imitation of the Apostles, since the Gift of the _Holy Ghost_ doth not follow upon it.

§. IX. But since we find that several Testimonies of Scripture do sufficiently shew, That such _external Rites are no necessary Part of the New Covenant Dispensation, therefore not needful now to continue_, however they were for a Season practised of old, I shall instance some few of them, whereby from the Nature of the Thing, as well as those Testimonies, it may appear, That the Ceremony of _Bread and Wine_ is ceased, as well as those other Things confessed by our Adversaries to be so. [Sidenote: _The Ceremony of _Bread_ and _Wine_ is ceased._] The first is _Rom._ xiv. 17. _For the Kingdom of God is not Meat and Drink, but Righteousness and Peace, and Joy in the Holy Ghost_: Here the Apostle evidently shews, That the _Kingdom of God_, or _Gospel of Christ_, stands not in _Meats and Drinks_, and such like Things, but in _Righteousness_, &c. as by the Context doth appear, where he is speaking of the _Guilt_ and _Hazard_ of judging one another about _Meats and Drinks_. So then, if the _Kingdom of God_ stand not in them, nor the _Gospel_, nor _Work of Christ_, then the eating of outward _Bread and Wine_ can be no necessary Part of the _Gospel-worship_, nor any _perpetual Ordinance_ of it. Another of the same Apostle is yet more plain, _Col._ ii. 16. the Apostle throughout this whole _second Chapter_ doth clearly plead for us, and against the _Formality_ and _Superstition_ of our Opposers: For in the Beginning he holds forth the great _Privileges_ which Christians have by Christ, who are indeed come to the _Life of Christianity_; and therefore he desires them, Ver. 6. _As they have received Christ, so to walk in him; and to beware, lest they be spoiled through Philosophy and vain Deceit, after the Rudiments or Elements of the World; because that in Christ, whom they have received, is all Fulness: And that they are circumcised with the Circumcision made without Hands (_which he calls the_ Circumcision of Christ) and being buried with him by Baptism, are also arisen with him through the Faith of the Operation of God._ Here also they did partake of the _true Baptism of Christ_; and being such as are _arisen_ with him, let us see whether he thinks it needful they should make use of such _Meat and Drink_ as _Bread and Wine_, _to put them in Remembrance of Christ’s Death_; or whether they ought to be judged, that they did it not; Ver. 16. _Let no Man therefore judge you in Meat and Drink_: Is not _Bread_ and _Wine_ _Meat_ and _Drink_? But why? _Which are a Shadow of Things to come: But the Body is of Christ._ [Sidenote: _’Tis but a _Sign_ and _Shadow_ they confess._] Then since our Adversaries confess, That their _Bread_ and _Wine_ is a _Sign_ or _Shadow_; therefore, according to the Apostle’s Doctrine, we ought not to be _judged_ in the Non-observation of it. But is it not fit for those that are _dead with Christ_ to be subject to such Ordinances? [Sidenote: _And which do perish with the Using._] See what he saith, Ver. 20. _Wherefore if ye be dead with _Christ_ from the Rudiments of the World, why, as though living in the World, are ye subject to Ordinances? (Touch not, taste not, handle not: Which all are to perish with the Using) after the Commandments and Doctrines of Men._ What can be more plain? If this serve not to take away the absolute Necessity of the Use of _Bread_ and _Wine_, what can it serve to take away? Sure I am, the Reason here given is applicable to them, _which all do perish with the Using_; since _Bread_ and _Wine_ perish with the Using, as much as other Things. But further, If the Use of _Water_, and _Bread_ and _Wine_, were that wherein the very _Seals_ of the _New Covenant_ stood, and did pertain to the chief _Sacraments_ of the _Gospel_ and _Evangelical Ordinances_ (so called) then would not the _Gospel_ differ from the _Law_, or be preferable to it. [Sidenote: _The Law was Meats and Drinks; not so the Gospel._] Whereas the Apostle shews the Difference, _Heb._ ix. 10. in that such Kind of Observations of the _Jews_ were as a Sign of the _Gospel_, for that they _stood only in Meats and Drinks, and divers Washings_. But if the _Gospel-worship_ and _Service_ stand in the same, where is the Difference?

[Sidenote: Object.] If it be said, _These under the _Gospel_ have a spiritual Signification_;

[Sidenote: _Answ._] So had those under the _Law_; God was the Author of those, as well as Christ is pretended to be the Author of these. But doth not this contending for the Use of _Water_, _Bread_ and _Wine_, as necessary Parts of the _Gospel-worship_, destroy the Nature of it, as if the _Gospel_ were a Dispensation of _Shadows_, and not of the _Substance_? [Sidenote: _The Law has_ Shadows, _the Gospel brings the Substance_.] Whereas the Apostle, in that of the _Colossians_ above-mentioned, argues against the Use of these Things, as needful to those that are _dead_ and _arisen_ with Christ, because they are but _Shadows_. And since, through the whole _Epistle_ to the _Hebrews_, he argues with the _Jews_, to _wean_ them from their _old Worship_, for this Reason, because it was _typical_ and _figurative_; is it agreeable to right Reason to bring them to another of the same Nature? What Ground from _Scripture_ or _Reason_ can our Adversaries bring us, to evince that one _Shadow_ or _Figure_ should point to another _Shadow_ or _Figure_, and not to the _Substance_? And yet they make the Figure of _Circumcision_ to point to _Water-baptism_, and the _Paschal Lamb_ to _Bread and Wine_. But was it ever known that one Figure was the _Anti-type_ of the other, especially seeing _Protestants_ make not these their _Anti-types_ to have any more Virtue and Efficacy than the _Type_ had? [Sidenote: _Their _Sacraments_ confer not Grace._] For since, as they say, and that truly, _That their Sacraments confer not Grace, but that it is conferred according to the Faith of the Receiver_, it will not be denied but the Faithful among the _Jews_ received also Grace in the Use of their _Figurative Worship_. And though _Papists_ boast that their Sacraments confer Grace _ex opere operato_, yet Experience abundantly proveth the contrary.

§. X. [Sidenote: _Opposers claim a Power to give their Sacraments; from whence do they derive it?_] But supposing the Use of _Water-baptism_ and _Bread and Wine_ to have been in the Primitive Church, as was also that of _abstaining from Things strangled_, _and from Blood_, _the Use of Legal Purification_, Acts xxi. 23, 24, 25. and _anointing of the Sick with Oil_, for the Reasons and Grounds before mentioned; yet it remains for our Adversaries to shew us how they come by Power or Authority to administer them. It cannot be from the Letter of the Scripture, else they ought also to do those other Things, which the Letter declares also they did, and which in the Letter have as much Foundation. Then their Power must be _derived from the Apostles_, either _mediately_ or _immediately_; but we have shewn before, in the _tenth Proposition_, that they have no _mediate Power_, because of the Interruption made by the _Apostasy_; and for an _immediate Power_ or _Command_ by the Spirit of God to administer these Things, none of our Adversaries pretend to it. We know that in this, as in other Things, they make a Noise of the _constant Consent of the Church, and of Christians in all Ages_; [Sidenote: _Tradition no sufficient Ground for _Faith.] but as _Tradition_ is not a sufficient Ground for _Faith_, so in this Matter especially it ought to have but small Weight; for that in this Point of _Ceremonies_ and _superstitious Observations_ the Apostasy began very early, as may appear in the _Epistle_ of _Paul_ to the _Galatians_ and _Colossians_; and we have no Ground to imitate them in those Things, whose Entrance the Apostle so much _withstood_, so heavily _regretted_, and so sharply _reproved_. But if we look to _Antiquity_, we find that in such Kind of Observances and Traditions they were very uncertain and changeable; so that neither _Protestants_ nor _Papists_ do observe this Ceremony as they did, both in that they gave it to _young Boys_, and to _little Children_: [Sidenote: _The _Supper_ they gave to young Boys and Children._] And for aught can be learned, the Use of this and _Infant-baptism_ are of a like Age, though the one be laid aside both by _Papists_ and _Protestants_, and the other, to wit, _Baptism of Infants_, be stuck to. And we have so much the less Reason to lay Weight upon _Antiquity_, for that if we consider their Profession of Religion, especially as to Worship, and the ceremonial Part of it, we shall not find any Church now, whether _Popish_ or _Protestant_, who differ not widely from them in many Things, [Sidenote: Dallæus.] as _Dallæus_, in his Treatise concerning the _Use of the Fathers_, well observeth and demonstrateth. And why they should obtrude this upon us because of the _Ancients Practice_, which they themselves follow not, or why we may not reject this, as well as they do other Things no less zealously practised by the _Ancients_, no sufficient Reason can be assigned.

Nevertheless I doubt not but many, whose Understandings have been clouded with these _Ceremonies_, have notwithstanding, by the Mercy of God, had some secret Sense of the _Mystery_, which they could not clearly understand, because it was sealed from them by their sticking to such outward Things; and that through that secret Sense diving in their Comprehensions they ran themselves into these carnal Apprehensions, as imagining the _Substance_ of the _Bread_ was changed, or that if the _Substance_ was not changed, yet the _Body_ was there, _&c._ [Sidenote: _Calvin’s ingenuous Confession commended._] And indeed I am inclinable very favourably to judge of _Calvin_ in this Particular, in that he deals so ingenuously to confess he _neither comprehends it, nor can express it in Words_; _but yet by a feeling Experience can say, The Lord is spiritually present_. Now as I doubt not but _Calvin_ sometimes had a Sense of his _Presence_ without the Use of this Ceremony, so as the Understanding given him of God made him justly reject the false Notions of _Transubstantiation_ and _Consubstantiation_, though he knew not what to establish instead of them, if he had fully waited in the [134]_Light that makes all Things manifest_, and had not laboured in his own Comprehension to settle upon that external Ceremony, by affixing the _spiritual Presence_ as chiefly or principally, though not only, as he well knew by Experience, there, or especially to relate to it, he might have further reached unto the Knowledge of this _Mystery_ than many that went before him.

[134] Ephes. 5. 13.

§. XI. [Sidenote: _In Tenderness of Conscience, God winketh at our _Ignorance.] _Lastly_, If any now at this Day, from a true Tenderness of Spirit, and with real Conscience towards God, did practise this _Ceremony_ in the same Way, Method, and Manner as did the _Primitive Christians_ recorded in Scripture, I should not doubt to affirm but they might be indulged in it, and the Lord might regard them, and for a Season appear to them in the Use of these Things, as many of us have known him to do to us in the Time of our Ignorance; provided always they did not seek to obtrude them upon others, nor judge such as found themselves _delivered_ from them, or that they do not pertinaciously adhere to them. [Sidenote: _The Day is dawned wherein God is risen, and worshipped in Spirit_.] For we certainly know that the _Day_ is _dawned_, in which God hath _arisen_, and hath dismissed all those _Ceremonies_ and _Rites_, and is only to be _worshipped in Spirit_, and that he appears to them who wait upon him; and that to seek God in these Things is, with _Mary_ at the Sepulchre, to _seek the Living among the Dead_: For we know that he is _risen_, and _revealed in Spirit_, leading his Children out of these _Rudiments_, that they may walk with him in his _Light_: To whom be Glory for ever. _Amen._

PROPOSITION XIV.

Concerning the POWER of the CIVIL MAGISTRATE in Matters purely
RELIGIOUS, and pertaining to the CONSCIENCE.

[135]_Since God hath assumed to himself the Power and Dominion of
the _Conscience_, who alone can rightly instruct and govern it,
therefore it is not lawful for any whosoever, by Virtue of any
Authority or Principality they bear in the Government of this
World, to force the _Consciences_ of others; and therefore all
Killing, Banishing, Fining, Imprisoning, and other such Things
which are inflicted upon Men for the alone Exercise of their
_Conscience_, or Difference in _Worship_ or _Opinion_, proceedeth
from the Spirit of _Cain_ the Murderer, and is contrary to the
Truth; providing always, that no Man, under the Pretence of
_Conscience_, prejudice his _Neighbour_ in his Life or Estate, or
do any Thing destructive to, or inconsistent with, _Human Society_;
in which Case the Law is for the Transgressor, and _Justice_ is to
be administered upon all, without Respect of Persons._

[135] Luke 9. 55, 56. Matt. 7. 12, 13. 29. Tit. 3. 10.

§. I. Liberty of _Conscience_ from the Power of the Civil Magistrate hath been of late Years so largely and learnedly handled, that I shall need to be but brief in it; yet it is to be lamented that few have walked answerably to this Principle, each pleading it for themselves, but scarce allowing it to others, as hereafter I shall have Occasion more at length to observe.

It will be fit in the first Place, for clearing of Mistakes, to say something of the _State_ of the _Controversy_, that what follows may be the more clearly understood.

[Sidenote: _What Conscience is._] By _Conscience_ then, as in the Explanation of the _fifth_ and _sixth Propositions_ I have observed, is to be understood, _That Persuasion of the Mind which arises from the Understanding’s being possessed with the Belief of the Truth or Falsity of any Thing_; which though it may be false or evil upon the Matter, yet if a Man should go against his Persuasion or Conscience, he would commit a Sin; because what a Man doth contrary to his Faith, though his Faith be wrong, is no Ways acceptable to God. Hence the Apostle saith, [136]_Whatsoever is not of Faith, is Sin_; _and he that doubteth is damned if he eat_; though the Thing might have been lawful to another; and that this Doubting to eat some Kind of _Meats_ (since all the Creatures of God are good, and for the Use of Man, _if received with Thanksgiving_) might be a Superstition, or at least a Weakness, which were better removed. Hence _Ames. de Cas. Cons._ saith, _The Conscience, although erring, doth evermore bind, so as that he sinneth who doth contrary to his Conscience,[137] because he doth contrary to the Will of God, although not materially and truly, yet formally and interpretatively_.

[136] Rom. 14. 23.

[137] _i. e._ As he supposeth.

So the Question is _First_, _Whether the Civil Magistrate hath Power to force Men in Things religious to do contrary to their Conscience; and if they will not, to punish them in their Goods, Liberties, and Lives?_ This we hold in the Negative. But _Secondly_, As we would have the _Magistrate_ to avoid this Extreme of incroaching upon Men’s Consciences, so on the other Hand we are far from joining with or strengthening such _Libertines_ as would stretch the Liberty of their Consciences to the Prejudice of their _Neighbours_, or to the Ruin of _Human Society_. We understand therefore by _Matters of Conscience_ such as _immediately_ relate betwixt _God_ and _Man_, or _Men_ and _Men_, that are under the same _Persuasion_, as to meet together and worship God in that Way which they judge is most acceptable unto him, and not to incroach upon, or seek to force their Neighbours, otherwise than by Reason, or such other Means as Christ and his Apostles used, _viz._ Preaching and instructing such as will hear and receive it; but not at all for Men, under the Notion of Conscience, to do any Thing contrary to the moral and perpetual Statutes generally acknowledged by all _Christians_; in which Case the _Magistrate_ may very lawfully use his Authority; as on those, who, under a Pretence of _Conscience_, make it a Principle to kill and destroy all the Wicked, _id est_, all that differ from them, that they, to wit, the _Saints_, may rule, and who therefore seek to make all Things _common_, and would force their Neighbours to share their Estates with them, and many such wild Notions, as is reported of the _Anabaptists_ of _Munster_; which evidently appears to proceed from Pride and Covetousness, and not from Purity or Conscience; and therefore I have sufficiently guarded against that in the latter Part of the _Proposition_. But the _Liberty_ we lay claim to is such as the _Primitive Church_ justly fought under the _Heathen Emperors_, to wit, for Men of Sobriety, Honesty, and a peaceable Conversation, to enjoy the Liberty and Exercise of their _Conscience_ towards God and among themselves, and to admit among them such as by their Persuasion and Influence come to be convinced of the same _Truth_ with them, without being therefore molested by the Civil Magistrate. _Thirdly_, Though we would not have Men hurt in their Temporals, nor robbed of their Privileges as Men and Members of the _Commonwealth_, because of their inward Persuasion; yet we are far from judging that in the _Church of God_ there should not be Censures exercised against such as fall into Error, as well as such as commit open Evils; and therefore we believe it may be very lawful for a _Christian Church_, if she find any of her Members fall into any Error, after due Admonitions and Instructions according to _Gospel Order_, if she find them pertinacious, to _cut them off_ from her Fellowship by the _Sword of the Spirit_, and deprive them of those Privileges which they had as Fellow-members; but not to cut them off from the World by the _temporal Sword_, or rob them of their common Privileges as Men, seeing they enjoy not these as Christians, or under such a Fellowship, but as Men, and Members of the Creation. Hence _Chrysostom_ saith well, (_de Anath._) _We must condemn and reprove the evil Doctrines that proceed from _Hereticks_; but spare the Men, and pray for their Salvation_.

§. II. But that no Man, by Virtue of any Power or Principality he hath in the Government of this World, hath Power over the _Consciences of Men_, is apparent, [Sidenote: _Conscience the Throne of God._] because _the Conscience of Man is the Seat and Throne of God in him_, of which God is the alone _proper_ and _infallible Judge_, who by his Power and Spirit can alone rectify the Mistakes of _Conscience_, and therefore hath reserved to himself the Power of punishing the Errors thereof as he seeth meet. Now for the _Magistrate_ to assume this, is to take upon him to meddle with Things not within the Compass of his Jurisdiction; for if this were within the Compass of his Jurisdiction, he should be the proper Judge in these Things; and also it were needful to him, as an essential Qualification of his being a _Magistrate_, to be capable to judge in them. But that the _Magistrate_, as a _Magistrate_, is neither proper Judge in these Cases, nor yet that the Capacity so to be is requisite in him as a _Magistrate_, our Adversaries cannot deny; or else they must say, That all the _Heathen Magistrates_ were either no _lawful Magistrates_, as wanting something essential to Magistracy, and this were contrary to the express Doctrine of the Apostle, _Rom._ xiii. or else (which is more absurd) that those _Heathen Magistrates_ were proper Judges in Matters of _Conscience_ among Christians. As for that Evasion that the _Magistrate_ ought to punish according to the Church Censure and Determination, which is indeed no less than to make the _Magistrate_ the _Church’s Hangman_, we shall have Occasion to speak of it hereafter. But if the chief Members of the _Church_, though ordained to inform, instruct, and reprove, are not to have Dominion over the _Faith_ nor _Consciences_ of the Faithful, as the Apostle expresly affirms, 2 _Cor._ i. 24. then far less ought they to usurp this Dominion, or stir up the Magistrate to persecute and murder those who cannot yield to them therein.

_Secondly_, This pretended Power of the _Magistrate_ is both contrary unto, and inconsistent with the Nature of the _Gospel_, which is a Thing altogether extrinsick to the Rule and Government of _political States_, as Christ expresly signified, saying, His _Kingdom_ was _not of this World_; and if the propagating of the _Gospel_ had had any necessary Relation thereunto, then Christ had not said so. But he abundantly hath shewn by his Example, whom we are chiefly to imitate in Matters of that Nature, that it is by _Persuasion_ and the _Power of God_, not by _Whips_, _Imprisonments_, _Banishments_, and _Murderings_, that the Gospel is to be propagated; and that those that are the Propagators of it are often to suffer by the Wicked, but never to cause the Wicked to suffer. When he sends forth his Disciples, he tells them, he sends them forth as [138]_Lambs among Wolves_, to be willing to be _devoured_, not to _devour_: He tells them of their being _whipped_, _imprisoned_, and _killed_ for their Conscience; but never that they shall either _whip_, _imprison_, or _kill_: And indeed if _Christians_ must be as _Lambs_, it is not the Nature of _Lambs_ to destroy or devour any. It serves nothing to allege, that in Christ’s and his Apostles Times the _Magistrates_ were _Heathens_, and therefore Christ and his Apostles, nor yet any of the Believers, being no _Magistrates_, could not exercise the Power; because it cannot be denied but Christ, being the _Son of God_, had a true Right to all _Kingdoms_, and was _righteous Heir_ of the _Earth_. [139]_Next_, as to his _Power_, it cannot be denied but he could, if he had seen meet, have called for _Legions of Angels_ to defend him, and have forced the _Princes_ and _Potentates_ of the Earth to be subject unto him, _Matt._ xxvi. 53. So that it was only because it was contrary to the Nature of _Christ_’s Gospel and Ministry to use any Force or Violence in the gathering of Souls to him. This he abundantly expressed in his Reproof to the two Sons of _Zebedee_, who would have been calling for _Fire from Heaven_ to burn those that refused to receive Christ: It is not to be doubted but this was as great a Crime as now to be in an Error concerning the Faith and Doctrine of Christ. That there was not Power wanting to have punished those Refusers of _Christ_ cannot be doubted; for they that could do other Miracles, might have done this also. And moreover, they wanted not the Precedent of a holy Man under the Law, as did _Elias_; yet we see what _Christ_ saith to them, _Ye know not what Spirit ye are of_, Luke ix. 55. _For the Son of Man is not come to destroy Men’s Lives, but to save them_. Here Christ shews that such Kind of _Zeal_ was no Ways approved of him; and such as think to make Way for _Christ_ or his _Gospel_ by this Means, do not understand what _Spirit they are of_. But if it was not lawful to call for _Fire from Heaven_ to destroy such as refuse to receive Christ, it is far less lawful to kindle _Fire upon Earth_ to destroy those that believe in Christ, because they will not believe, nor can believe, as the Magistrates do, for Conscience Sake. And if it was not lawful for the Apostles, who had so large a Measure of the Spirit, and were so little liable to Mistake, to force others to their Judgment, it can be far less lawful now for Men, who as Experience declareth, and many of themselves confess, are fallible, and often mistaken, to kill and destroy all such as cannot, because otherwise persuaded in their Minds, judge and believe in Matters of Conscience just as they do. And if it was not according to the Wisdom of _Christ_, who was and is _King of Kings_, by outward Force to constrain others to believe him or receive him, as being a Thing inconsistent with the Nature of his _Ministry_ and _spiritual Government_, do not they grosly offend him, who will needs be wiser than he, and think to force Men against their Persuasion to conform to their Doctrine and Worship? The Word of the Lord said, _Not by Power and by Might, but by the Spirit of the Lord_, Zech. iv. 6. But these say, _Not by the Spirit of the Lord, but by Might and carnal Power_. The Apostle saith plainly, [140]_We wrestle not with Flesh and Blood_; and _the Weapons of our Warfare are not carnal, but spiritual_: But these Men will needs wrestle with Flesh and Blood, when they cannot prevail with the Spirit and the Understanding; and not having spiritual Weapons, go about with carnal Weapons to establish _Christ’s Kingdom_, which they can never do: And therefore when the Matter is well sifted, it is found to be more out of _Love to Self_, and from a Principle of _Pride_ in Man to have all others to bow to him, than from the _Love of God_. [141]Christ indeed takes another Method; for he saith, _He will make his People a willing People in the Day of his Power_; but these Men labour against Men’s Wills and Consciences, not by _Christ’s Power_, but by the _outward Sword_, to make Men _the People of Christ_, which they never can do, as shall hereafter be shewn.

[138] Matt. 10. 16.

[139] Matt. 28. 18.

[140] 2 Cor. 10. 4.

[141] Psal. 110. 3.

But _Thirdly_, Christ fully and plainly declareth to us his Sense in this Matter in the Parable of the _Tares_, Matt. xiii. of which we have himself the Interpreter, _Ver._ 38, 39, 40, 41. where he expounds them to be the _Children of the Wicked One_, and yet he will not have the Servants to meddle with them, lest they pull up the _Wheat_ therewith. Now it cannot be denied but _Hereticks_ are here included; and although these Servants saw the _Tares_, and had a certain Discerning of them; yet Christ would not they should meddle, lest they should hurt the _Wheat_: Thereby intimating, That that Capacity in Man _to be mistaken_, ought to be a Bridle upon him, to make him wary in such Matters; and therefore, to prevent this Hurt, he gives a positive Prohibition, _But he said, Nay_, Ver. 29. So that they who will notwithstanding be pulling up that which they judge is _Tares_, do openly declare, That they make no Scruple to break the _Commands of Christ_. Miserable is that Evasion which some of our Adversaries use here, in alleging these _Tares_ are meant of _Hypocrites_, and not of _Hereticks_! But how to evince that, seeing _Hereticks_, as well as _Hypocrites_, are _Children of the Wicked One_, they have not any Thing but their own bare Affirmation, which is therefore justly rejected.

[Sidenote: Object.] If they say, _Because Hypocrites cannot be discerned, but so may Hereticks_;

[Sidenote: _Answ._] This is both false and a begging of the Question. For those that have a _spiritual Discerning_, can discern both _Hypocrites_ and _Hereticks_; and those that want it, cannot certainly discern either. Seeing the Question will arise, _Whether that is a Heresy which the Magistrate saith is so_? And seeing it is both possible, and confessed by all to have often fallen out, that some _Magistrates_ have judged that _Heresy_ which was not, punishing Men accordingly for _Truth_, instead of _Error_; there can be no Argument drawn from the Obviousness or Evidence of _Heresy_, unless we should conclude _Heresy_ could never be mistaken for _Truth_, nor _Truth_ for _Heresy_; whereof Experience shews daily the contrary, even among Christians. But neither is this Shift applicable to this Place; for the Servants did discern the _Tares_, and yet were liable to hurt the _Wheat_, if they had offered to pull them up.

§. III. [Sidenote: Object.] But they object against this _Liberty of Conscience_, Deut. xiii. 5. _Where false Prophets are appointed to be put to Death; and accordingly they give Example thereof._

[Sidenote: _Answ._] The Case no Way holds parallel; those particular Commands to the _Jews_, and Practices following upon them, are not a Rule for _Christians_; else we might by the same Rule say, It were lawful for us to borrow of our Neighbours their Goods, and so carry them away, because the _Jews_ did so by _God’s Command_; or that it is lawful for _Christians_ to invade their Neighbours Kingdoms, and cut them all off without Mercy, because the _Jews_ did so to the _Canaanites_, by the Command of God.

[Sidenote: Object.] If they urge, _That these Commands ought to stand, except they be repealed in the Gospel_;

[Sidenote: _Answ._] I say, The Precepts and Practices of Christ and his Apostles mentioned are a sufficient Repeal: For if we should plead, That every Command given to the _Jews_ is binding upon us, except there be a particular Repeal; then would it follow, That because it was lawful for the _Jews_, if any Man killed one, for the nearest Kindred presently to kill the Murderer, without any Order of Law, it were lawful for us to do so likewise. And doth not this Command of _Deut._ xiii. 9. openly order him who is enticed by another to forsake the Lord, though it were his _Brother_, his _Son_, his _Daughter_, or his _Wife_, presently to kill him or her? _Thou shalt surely kill him, thy Hand shall be first upon him, to put him to Death._ If this Command were to be followed there needed neither _Inquisition_ nor _Magistrate_ to do the Business; and yet there is no Reason why they should shuffle by this Part, and not the other; yea, to argue this Way from the Practice among the _Jews_, were to overturn the very Gospel, and to set up again the carnal Ordinances among the _Jews_, to pull down the spiritual Ones of the _Gospel_. Indeed we can far better argue from the _Analogy_ betwixt the _figurative_ and _carnal_ State of the _Jews_, and the _real_ and _spiritual_ One under the Gospel; that _as _Moses_ delivered the _Jews_ out of outward _Egypt_, by an outward Force, and established them in an outward Kingdom, by destroying their outward Enemies for them; so Christ, not by overcoming outwardly, and killing others, but by suffering and being killed, doth deliver his chosen ones, the inward _Jews_, out of mystical _Egypt_, destroying their spiritual Enemies before them, and establishing among them his spiritual Kingdom, which is not of this World. _And as_ such as departed from the Fellowship of outward _Israel_ were to be cut off by the outward Sword, so those that depart from the inward _Israel_ are to be cut off by the Sword of the Spirit: _For it answers very well_, That as the _Jews_ were to cut off their Enemies outwardly, in order to establish their Kingdom and outward Worship, so they were to uphold it the same Way: _But_ as the Kingdom and Gospel of Christ was not to be established or propagated by cutting off or destroying the _Gentiles_, but by persuading them, so neither is it to be upheld otherwise._

[Sidenote: Object.] But _Secondly_, they urge, _Rom._ xiii. where the _Magistrate_ is said, _Not to bear the Sword in vain, because he is the Minister of God, to execute Wrath upon such as do Evil_. _But Heresy_, say they, _is Evil_. Ergo.

[Sidenote: _Answ._] But so is _Hypocrisy_ also; yet they confess he ought not to punish that. Therefore this must be understood of _moral Evils_, relative to Affairs betwixt Man and Man, not of Matters of _Judgment_ or _Worship_; or else what great Absurdities would follow, considering that _Paul_ wrote here to the _Church_ of _Rome_, which was under the Government of _Nero_, an impious _Heathen_, and _Persecutor_ of the _Church_? Now if a Power to punish in Point of _Heresy_ be here included, it will necessarily follow, That _Nero_ had this Power; yea, and that he had it of God; for because the _Power_ was of God, therefore the Apostle urges their Obedience. But can there be any Thing more absurd, than to say that _Nero_ had Power to judge in such Cases? Surely if _Christian Magistrates_ be not to punish for _Hypocrisy_, because they cannot outwardly discern it; far less could _Nero_ punish any Body for _Heresy_, which he was uncapable to discern. And if _Nero_ had not Power to judge or punish in Point of _Heresy_, then nothing can be urged from this Place; since all that is said here, is spoken as applicable to _Nero_, with a particular Relation to whom it was written. And if _Nero_ had such a Power, surely he was to exercise it according to his Judgment and Conscience, and in doing thereof he was not to be blamed; which is enough to justify him in his persecuting of the Apostles, and murdering the Christians.

[Sidenote: Object.] _Thirdly_, They object that Saying of the Apostle to the _Galatians_, v. 12. _I would they were even cut off which trouble you_.

[Sidenote: _Answ._] But how this imports any more than a _Cutting off from the Church_, is not, nor can be shewn. _Beza_ upon the Place saith, _We cannot understand that otherwise than of Excommunication, such as was that of the incestuous _Corinthian_. And indeed it is Madness to suppose it otherwise; for _Paul_ would not have these cut off otherwise than he did _Hymenæus_ and _Philetus_, who were Blasphemers; which was by giving them over to Satan, not by cutting of their Heads._

The same Way may be answered that other Argument, drawn from _Rev._ ii. 20. where the _Church of_ Thyatira _is reproved for suffering the Woman_ Jezabel: Which can be no other Ways understood, than that they did not _excommunicate_ her, or cut her off by a _Church Censure_. For as to Corporal Punishment, it is known that at that Time the _Christians_ had not Power to punish _Hereticks_ so, if they had had a Mind to it.

[Sidenote: Object.] _Fourthly_, They allege, That _Heresies are numbered among the Works of the Flesh_, Gal. v. 20. _Ergo_, &c.

[Sidenote: _Answ._] That _Magistrates_ have Power to punish all the Works of the Flesh, is denied, and not yet proved. Every _Evil_ is a Work of the Flesh, but every _Evil_ comes not under the Magistrate’s Cognizance. Is not _Hypocrisy_ a Work of the Flesh, which our Adversaries confess the Magistrates ought not to punish? Yea, are not _Hatred_ and _Envy_ there mentioned as Works of the _Flesh_? And yet the Magistrate cannot punish them, as they are in themselves, until they exert themselves in other Acts which come under his Power. But so long as _Heresy_ doth not exert itself in any Act destructive to _human Society_, or such like Things, but is kept within the Sphere of those Duties of _Doctrine_ or _Worship_ which stand betwixt a Man and God, they no Ways come under the Magistrate’s Power.

§. IV. But _Secondly_, This Forcing of Men’s Consciences is contrary to _sound Reason_, and the very _Law of Nature_. For Man’s Understanding cannot be forced by all the Bodily Sufferings another Man can inflict upon him, especially in Matters spiritual and supernatural: _It is Argument, and evident Demonstration of Reason, together with the Power of God reaching the Heart, that can change a Man’s Mind from one Opinion to another, and not Knocks and Blows, and such like Things, which may indeed destroy the Body, but never can inform the Soul, which is a free Agent, and must either accept or reject Matters of Opinion as they are borne in upon it by something proportioned to its own Nature_. To seek to force Minds in any other Manner, is to deal with Men as if they were Brutes, void of Understanding; and at last is but to lose one’s Labour, and as the Proverb is, _To seek to wash the Black-moor white_. By that Course indeed Men may be made _Hypocrites_, but can never be made _Christians_; and surely the Products of such _Compulsion_ (even where the End is obtained, to wit, an outward Assent or Conformity, whether in _Doctrine_ or _Worship_) can be no Ways acceptable to God, who desireth not any Sacrifice, except that which cometh throughly from the Heart, and will have no constrained ones: So that Men, by constraining Force, are so far from being Members of the _Church_, that they are made ten Times more the Servants of Satan than before; in that to their _Error_ is added _Hypocrisy_, the worst of _Evils_ in Matters of Religion, and that which above all Things the Lord’s Soul most abhors.

[Sidenote: Object.] But if it be said, _Their Error notwithstanding is thereby suppressed, and the Scandal removed_;