entertained in holy Communion and in Sin called to Repentance and for Impenitency shut out by Excommunication and upon Repentance restored by Absolution For the right performance of all these the King may give general regulating Laws subservient to Christ's Laws to secure and promote their execution and he may forbid and punish gross abuses of the Ministry as well as of Physicians and other Callings But if he will usurp the Ministry in the Parts aforesaid or take those Parts out of the Ministers hand and as Uzziah burn Incense If he will chuse for the Minister what Text still to Preach on and what Words in Preaching and Prayer still to say and bid him instruct reprove comfort direct baptise absolve no man but such as are named to him by the King nor in any words but such as he prescribeth this being 1. A destroying of an Office of Christ's Institution 2. And an usurping of it without Christ's consent such Laws oblige not but are null as to Conscience for want of true Authority in the Makers As the Sentence of a Judge in foro alieno or in a Circuit City or Corporation where the Power is appropriated to others 2. And if a Prince or Inferiour Ruler who hath power to determine Circumstantials about the Callings of his Subjects shall so determine them as shall overthrow the very End and Work it self in a Calling which God by Nature or Scripture hath made necessary this Determination bindeth not it being an Act without Authority For it is as true of Magistracy as of Paul ' s Apostleship We have this power for edification and not for destruction 2 Cor. 10. 8. 13. 10. Eph. 4. 12. 2. Cor. 12. 19. 1 Cor. 14. 5. 12. 26. It is the pernicious errour of some Papists to Dream that their Pope and Church hath a Power of obligatory judging in matters of Faith and Practice in partem utramlibet and in this wicked supposition they Cant over and over to the ignorant Who shall be Judge To which we say That Publick Judgment belongeth to Publick Persons that is To the Magistrate who shall have Civil Communion even on Religious accounts and to the Pastors who shall have Church-Communion and private Judgment discerning each Mans Duty belongs to every rational man But all men are Subjects of God and their judging Power is limited by his Laws If the Question be Whether there be a God a Christ a Scripture a Heaven an Immortality of Souls c. Kings and Pastors and Councils may and must judge that there is but none of them may judge that there is not if they do it 's worse than null And in Practicals if the Question be Whether we may or must pray for the hallowing of God's Name the coming of his Kingdom the doing of his Will on Earth as it is done in Heaven or whether we must love and worship God and hear him and meditate on his Word and whether true Ministers of Christ may or must Preach in season and out of season and seek to instruct and save Mens Souls whether we must honour our Parents relieve the Poor and save Mens lives in danger from Murderers c. They have Authority to judge affirmatively but none at all to judge negatively which if they do it 's worse than null So Kings and Pastors have power to judge that we may not take God's Name in vain nor be perjured nor prophane his separated day nor forsake the assembling of our selves for his Publick Worship nor Murder nor commit Adultery nor steal nor lye or bear false witness nor persecute nor hurt any man injuriously but they have no power to judge that we may do any one of these and if they so judge or command it is a nulli 〈◊〉 y to the Subject and worse to themselves God hath made no men absolute Judges but given them a Regulating and Limiting Law to Judge by Even so those Rulers who have Power to Judge and Command some Circumstances of Divine Worship they have it but as a means of promoting that Worship and its Ends by the means of Edifying-Order and they have no Power to destroy the Worship or its Ends. For Instance whoever hath Power to determine of the Place of Publick Worship hath that Power for the Worship and Worshippers sake and is to be obeyed when he doth it accordingly But if he Command a thousand Persons to meet no where but in a Room that will not hold two hundred or three hundred or fifty thousand Persons to meet no where but in one Temple where above three thousand cannot hear this is on pretense of ordering and placing God's Worship to forbid it to all the rest for which God never gave him Power So also it is if he command them to meet no where but forty or thirty or twenty miles off from their Habitation or where they cannot go without destroying the Work and End So whoever hath Power to chuse the Day or the Hours of God's Publick Worship hath this Power for the Work sake and the Peoples edification and is to be obeyed when his Commands are answerable But if he should Command Men to worship God only once a Year or once a Month or to do it only at Mid-night and so destroy the Work by ill-timing it this is a nullity as being an Act without Authority and worse as against the Laws of God So whoever it be that hath Power to appoint Pastors and Teachers to the Churches or Publick Assemblies if they should as Constantius and Valens send Arrians to be Bishops or any other intollerable Persons who through utter insufficiency Heresie or Malignity are uncapable and will do more hurt than good or if they would limit the Churches or Countries to an utterly incompetent Number and say No other shall Preach but such uncapable Persons or no more than one to fifty thousand Souls or where ten or twenty are necessary this is to forbid Preaching or corrupt it and destroy Mens Souls on pretense of Order And it is a nullity and worse So if the same Rulers should say that You shall Preach only in Country Villages but not within many miles of Cities or Corporations which truly and notoriously want your Preaching this were but to forbid such Cities and Corporations to hear the necessary Preaching of the Gospel and the Ministers to Preach it and is a nullity and worse as being both without any Authority from God and against his Laws 3. But if true Rightful Governours who have Power to determine Circumstantials Civil or Religious shall mis-determine them yet so as not to destroy the Work or End nor put Subjects on the breaking of any Law of God here their fault will not disoblige us from the Duty of obeying Though it be a sinful mistake of theirs we may be yet obliged to do what they Command us For Instance The Ruler chuseth a Place less convenient that hath no Seats or an ill access yet capable of the
them to the danger mentioned Mat. 5. 22. and to hate their Brethren for hating them that they may be as Murderers that have not eternal Life abiding in them 1 Joh. 3. 15. 7. And lastly they hereby perhaps quiet their own Consciences and deceive themselves or at least for a while with some preserve their Reputations by making it believed that their Conformity or difference from the Non-Conformists consisteth but in the rejection of such wild Opinions as the Affirmers hold and in being the wise Spectators of such as are beside themselves But the Sun will arise after the longest and the darkest Night In the mean time this Candle may serve the formerly deceived Reader to save his Soul from the mortal sin of hating his Brethren wrongfully which false Accusers would tempt him to be guilty of The Terms need little Explication 1. We call things here Lawful and Unlawful in respect to the Laws of God For as to the Laws of Men the Affirmation of the Question were but a mad Contradiction 2. We speak of that which is Antecedently Lawful as Cloathed with all its Accidents save this subsequent one being commanded by Authority And that the Question is whether the Command of Authority be an Accident that rendereth it Unlawful 3. We take Lawful Authority to be a Tautologie for all Authority is Lawful being in the Sense in the Question nothing else but a Jus R 〈◊〉 gendi and Jus Justum or a Lawful Right is a Tautologie If it be not Lawful or a Jus it is but equivocally called Authority Yet because the equivocal use of the Word may to some need such an Expository Epithete it may here be born And we suppose that the Word signisieth Authority over the Persons and in General over the Affairs in Question so that you may see first here what is not the Question and thereby the more easily perceive what it is 1. The Question is not of a thing before Lawful meerly as an Act in genere vel specie but Unlawful by some other Accident e. g. It is Lawfal to kill and to kill a Man else none could be put to death for Capital Crimes but it is Unlawful to kill a just Man And if Rulers Command it it is still Unlawful but not because it is Commanded by them but because it is forbidden of God It is Lawful to forbear preaching else Women might not forbear but not for a true Minister of Christ to forbear it when mens Souls notoriously need his preaching and he is able consideratis consideran 〈◊〉 is to perform it If then Rulers forbid it him it is still Unlawful to forbear but not because they forbid him but because God Commandeth him in season and out of season instantly to preach 2 Tim. 4. 1 2. 2. The Question is not of the Command of Usurpers Civil or Ecclesiastical For their Command sometimes may make a thing Antecedently Lawful to become Vnlawful by Accident at that time and to that Person As it is Lawful in it self to meet an Usurper and to put off the Hat to him and to give him Money but if he by pretended Authority Command the Kings Subjects to appear before him as their King or to put off the Hat in token of subjection to him or to pay him Tribute as his Subjects it is an Unlawful owning of him so far to obey him It is in it self Lawful to go to Rome but not in obedience to the Pope who is an Usurper if he Command it us It is in it self Lawful to take an Oath yea an Oath of Obedience viz. To the King But if the Pope or one of his Prelates would Command the Kings Subjects to take an Oath of Obedience to him yea or to perform Obedience as such it may become Unlawful so to own his Usurpation It is Lawful and a Duty to be justly obedient to a true Pastor or Bishop of the Church But if Arrians be obtruded on Antioch A 〈◊〉 exandria Cesarea and other Eastern Churches even by the Emperour Valens the Churches will resolutely refuse to obey or hear them Or if sede vacante one intrude without a true Call and will tyranically make himself a Pastor or is obtruded by the Pope or other Foreign Power without the consent of the Church either the Clergie or the Flocks or any one that hath true power to chuse him to that place or Office it may be a sin to own such an Usurper though by 〈…〉 in it self 3. The Question is not of men that have Lawful 〈…〉 and not over the Person in Question The King of France may have Lawful Authority there and yet no Authority to Command us in England 4. Nor is the Question of a Ruler that hath Authority in other matters but not in the matters now in Question For as Rich. Hooker saith Though a man be a Lawful Governour yet if he extend his Commands beyond his Authority and Command that which he hath no true power to Command it is not disobeying Authority therein to disobey him e. g. If the Judge of the Common-Pleas Command that which is proper to the Judges of the Kings-Bench extra proprium forum they have no Authority If a Bishop would command Husband-men when to Plow and Sow and with what Seed and what Cloaths to wear and what Meat to eat in particular or all Physitians what Physick to give each Patient these Commands are Usurpations and make no Duty Nay unless greater Accidents preponderate to make the thing needful on some other accounts it may do somewhat towards the making of an Act otherwise Lawful to become Unlawful when the doing it will encourage and strengthen such Usurpers and be a scandalous seeming to own their Usurpation So if a Justice would presume to arrogate the power of a Judge or a Constable of a Justice or a Church-warden of a Constable or a Magistrate of the Pastors of the Church c. But because it seemeth doubtful whether the Question be of one that hath Authority to Command the Lawful thing in Question or only of one that hath Authority in General whether his Authority extend to the Point in Question and if not whether his Command make the Act Unlawful to be done We shall include what we assert in these Propositions which will shew what it is that we deny Pr. 1. To question whether it be Lawful yea or a Duty to obey them Whom we suppose to have Authority to Command the very thing questioned is but to question the same thing which we first affirm and to deny it is to deny what we first affirm For to have Authority to Command an Action is nothing else but to have Authority to oblige me to do that Action by Command And is it a wise Mans Question whether he that hath Authority to oblige me by his Command to do an Action doth not by making it my Duty make it become Unlawful That is whether Duty be Sin whether Life be Death and Light be
Darkness Why should Men be feigned so mad as to argue at this rate Pr. 2. If the Question be whether any Ruler have power to Command a thing which would be no Duty but indifferent if he did not Command it It is to question that which all sober Persons must assert in the disjunctive use of Things or Actions as to each other That is 1. Nothing is to be done or commanded that is not good before or made good and useful by the Command Idle Laws are not good if idle words be bad 2. The End and Benefit of an Action may be necessary and the commanding of an Action or Circumstance before indifferent comparatively as to others may be disjunctively necessary either this or that and the indifferency taken away and the thing made both Naturally and Morally good by the Determination of the Command For Instance It is necessary that the Army keep together and march in Unity and Order It is therefore necessary that they all meet or Rendezvous at one determinate certain place and it is necessary that they meet at one determinate certain time or day It is therefore necessary that one certain place and time be determined By Consent it will not be It is therefore necessary that it be done by Command None of this is indifferent But the place and day may be antecedently so indifferent that no Man can see a Reason why one rather than the other should be chosen no more than why of two equal Eggs I should chuse this rather than the other In this case it is not properly chusing but taking I do not chuse this rather than the other there being no preserence of Esteem but only I take this and not the other because I must take one and I must take but one And when the indifferent Place and Time is determined of it then and thereby is made profitable to the End which is Unity and Order Thus far things necessary in genere this or that disjunctively and unnecessary antecedently in particular this no more necessary than that may be commanded by Authority and are thereby made Naturally useful and Morally the Subjects Duty Pr. 3. If the Question be only in matters of God's worship or Religion whether the same hold there we affirm that it there holdeth also Which we thus explain 1. No Ruler hath Authority to forbid what God commandeth or to command what God forbiddeth as to Action or any Circumstance of an Action 2. No Man can command by pretence of an Authority co-ordinate with God's but only derived and subordinate 3. No Man can do any thing which God hath appropriated to himself as his own proper work as to make Universal Laws for the whole World or Church to make another Gospel Divine Covenant or Sacraments of Gods Covenant to add to or diminish or alter the Word of God to alter the Ministry Church-state or Laws which he hath made or to make the like or to change his Institutions 4. No Man can command any thing but what God giveth him Authority to command for there is no Power but of God 5. But God giveth Men Authority to command things before indifferent in his Worship such as we before described about Civil or Military things That is It is necessary that the Worship of God be orderly performed in Sacred Assemblies and that Unity and Concord be there kept It is therefore necessary that many meet in the same Place and the same Time and use the same Translation of Scripture at that time and the same Metre and Tune of Psalms and hear the same Preacher on the same Text and the same Sermon and that the Preacher at that time use the same words and Method of Prayer and Sermon to them all whether by Notes or without c. But whether it be this place or that this day and hour or that this Translation Metre Tune or that this Chapter Text Method words or that may be indifferent before and needful and a Duty to the People after the Determination of the Ruler to whom it doth belong Pr. 4. If a Ruler do not Act quite out of the Matter or Circuit of his own Jurisdiction about a thing which belongeth not to him nor by his Determination of Circumstances subvert the thing Circumstantiated and the very End or Work it self though he miss it in a Work which belongeth to his Office and do it not the best way but be culpable in his Command the Subject yet may be bound to do what is so commanded and is not excused by the faultiness of the Rulers determining Commands Which we thus explain 1. It belongeth not to a King to govern a Mans thoughts Therefore if he make Laws for our thoughts it is doubted by many whether they oblige unless as he is the Official Promulgator of God's Laws or exhort Men to obey them Yet knowing that he is God's Minister for our good if he should Ministerially command us not to think ill of God or well of wickedness c. we will not concur with those that affirm that no secondary Obligation ariseth from his Command as long as we all hold that if a Church-Pastor Ministerially as Christ's Officer forbid blasphemous malicious filthy thoughts and Command holy meditation and mental Prayer and Thanksgiving his Ministerial Command hath an answerable Obligation It sufficeth us therefore to say that Kings cannot punish Men or reward them for their thoughts which is from their Natural Incapacity of knowing them For could they know a Thoughtful Plot of Treason or a wise and honest contrivance or design for Publick good we cannot say that they might not answerably punish and reward them But to go to clearer Instances It belongeth to the King to give general regulating Laws to Physicians to Mariners to Parents to Nurses to Farriers to Brewers Bakers Cooks c. He may forbid Physicians the use of some dangerous Drugs and Mariners some times and places that are unsafe and Parents and Nurses to give their Children some pernicious Food or wicked Counsel or Education and Brewers Bakers and Cooks to poison Men or deceive them in the matter of their Trades But if he make such Laws as take these Mens Callings out of their hands If he will chuse a Physician for every Patient and the Medicines that every Physician shall use with Dose Time and other Circumstances and what Food every Parent shall give his Children with the Measure Time c. and so of the rest This is to go beyond his Calling and so beyond his true Authority and such Laws oblige not So if a King will give such Laws to Christ's true Ministers as turn them out of their Callings and take them all upon himself it is an acting beyond and without Authority and doth not oblige It is the Office of a Pastor of the Church to have and use the Keys of the Church to be the immediate Ministerial Judge of Individuals who is to be taken in by Baptisme and