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.