SPECIAL DIRECTIONS TO ESCAPE THE GUILT OF PERSECUTING. DETERMINING
ALSO THE CASE ABOUT LIBERTY IN MATTERS OF RELIGION.
Though this be a subject which the guilty cannot endure to hear of,
yet the misery of persecutors, the blood, and groans, and ruins of the
church, and the lamentable divisions of professed christians, do all
command me not to pass it by in silence; but to tell them the truth,
"whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear;" though they
were such as Ezek. iii. 7-9, 11.
_Direct._ I. If you would escape this dreadful guilt, understand
well what persecution is. Else you may either run into it ignorantly,
or oppose a duty as if it were persecution.
The verb _persequor_ is often taken in a good sense, for no more
than _continuato motu vel ad extremum sequor_; and sometimes for
the blameless prosecution of a delinquent; but we take it here as the
English word persecute is most commonly taken, for _inimico affectu
insequor_, a malicious or injurious hurting or persecuting another,
and that for the sake of religion or righteousness. For it is not
common injuries which we here intend to speak of. Three things then go
to make up persecution. 1. That it be the hurting of another, in his
body, liberty, relations, estate, or reputation. 2. That it be done
injuriously, to one who deserveth it not, in the particular which is
the cause. 3. That it be for the cause of religion or of righteousness,
that is, for the truth of God which we hold or utter; or for the
worship of God which we perform; or for obedience to the will of God
revealed in his laws. This is the cause on the sufferer's part,
whatever is intended by the persecutor.
There are divers sorts of persecutions. As to the principles of the
persecutors: 1. There is a persecution which is openly professed to be
for the cause of religion; as heathens and Mahometans persecute
christians as christians. And there is a hypocritical persecution when
the pretended cause is some odious crime, but the real cause is men's
religion, or obedience to God. This is the common persecution, which
nominal christians exercise on serious christians, or on one another.
They will not say that they persecute them because they are godly or
serious christians, but that is the true cause; for if they will but
set them above God, and obey them against God, they will abate their
persecution. Many of the heathens thus persecuted the christians too,
under the name of ungodly, and evil-doers; but the true cause was,
because they obeyed not their commands in the worshipping of their
idol gods. So do the papists persecute and murder men, not as
professors of the truth, (which is the true cause,) but under the name
of heretics and schismatics, or rebels against the pope, or whatever
their malice pleaseth to accuse them of. And profane, nominal
christians seldom persecute the serious and sincere directly by that
name, but under some nickname which they set upon them, or under the
name of hypocrites, or self-conceited, or factious persons, or such
like. And if they live in a place, and age, where there are many
civil wars or differences, they are sure to fetch some odious name or
accusation thence: which side soever it be that they are on, or if
they meddle not on any side, they are sure by every party whom they
please not, to hear religion loaded with such reproaches as the times
will allow them to vent against it. Even the papists who take this
course with protestants, it seems by Acosta are so used themselves,
not by the heathens, but by one another, yea, by the multitude, yea,
by their priests. For so saith he, speaking of the parish priests
among the Indians, having reproved their dicing, carding, hunting,
idleness. Lib. iv. cap. 15. p. 404, 405. _Itaque is cui pastoralis
Indorum cura committitur, non solum contra diaboli machinas et naturæ
incentiva pugnare debet; sed jam etiam confirmatæ hominum consuetudini
et tempore et turba præpotenti sese objicere; et ad excipienda
invidorum ac malevolorum tela forte pectus opponere; qui siquid a
profano suo instituto abhorrentem viderint; proditorem, hypocritam,
hostem clamant_: that is, He therefore to whom the pastoral care of
the Indians is committed, must not only fight against the engines of
the devil, and the incentives of nature; but also now must object or
set himself against the confirmed custom of men, which is grown very
powerful both by time, and by the multitude; and must valiantly oppose
his breast, to receive the darts of the envious and malevolent, who if
they see any thing contrary to their profane fashion (or breeding) cry
out, A traitor, a hypocrite, an enemy. It seems then that this is a
common course.
2. Persecution is either done in ignorance or knowledge. The commonest
persecution is that which is done in ignorance and error; when men
think a good cause to be bad, or a bad cause to be good, and so
persecute truth while they take it to be falsehood, or good while they
take it to be evil, or _obtrude by violence their errors for truths_,
and their evils as good and necessary things. Thus Peter testifieth
of the Jews, who killed the Prince of life; Acts iii. 13, 14, 17,
"I know that through ignorance you did it, as did also your rulers."
And Paul; 1 Cor. ii. 8, "Which none of the princes of this world knew;
for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of
glory." And Christ himself saith, John xvi. 3, "These things will they
do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me." And Paul
saith of himself, Acts xxvi. 9, "I thought verily with myself, that I
ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth,
which thing I also did," &c. And, 1 Tim. i. 13, "that it was
ignorantly in unbelief, that he was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and
injurious." And on the other side, some persecute truth and goodness
while they know it to be so. Not because it is truth or goodness, but
because it is against their carnal, worldly interest and inclination.
As the conscience of a worldling, a drunkard, a whoremonger, beareth
witness against his sin while he goeth on in it; so ofttimes doth the
conscience of the persecutor; and he hath secret convictions, that
those whom he persecuteth are better and happier than himself.
3. As to the cause, sometimes persecution is for Christianity and
godliness in the gross, or for some great essential point; and
sometimes it is only for some particular truth or duty, and that
perhaps of a lower nature, so small or so dark, that it is become a
great controversy, whether it be truth or error, duty or sin. In some
respects it is more comfortable to the persecuted, and more heinous in
the persecutor, that the suffering be for the greatest things. For
this leaveth no doubt in the mind, whether our cause be good or not;
and this showeth that the persecutor's mind is most alien from God
and truth; but in some other respect, it is an aggravation of the sin
of the persecutor, and of the comfort of the persecuted, when it is
for smaller truths and duties. For it is a sign of great uncharitableness
and cruelty, when men can find in their hearts to persecute others for
little things; and it is a sign of a heart that is true to God, and
very sincere, when we will rather suffer any thing from man, than
renounce the smallest truth of God, or commit the smallest sin against
him, or omit the smallest duty, when it is a duty.
4. Sometimes persecution is directly for religion; that is, for
matters of professed faith or worship: and sometimes it is for a civil
or a common cause; yet still it is for our obedience to God, (or else
it is not the persecution which we speak of,) though the matter of it
be some common or civil thing: as if I were persecuted merely for
giving to the poor, or helping the sick, or for being loyal to my
prince, and to the laws, or for doing my duty to my parents, or
because I will not bear false witness, or tell a lie, or subscribe a
falsehood, or any such like; this is truly persecution, whatever the
matter of it be, as long as it is truly for obeying God that we
undergo the suffering.
I omit many other less considerable distributions: and also those
afflictions which are but improperly called persecutions (as when a
man is punished for a fault in a greater measure than it deserveth.
This is injustice but not persecution, unless it be his religion and
obedience to God, which is the secret cause of it).
_Direct._ II. Understand well the greatness of the sin of
persecution, that you may be kept in a due fear of being tempted to
it. Here therefore I shall show you how great a sin it is.
1. Persecution is a fighting against God: so it is called Acts v. 39.
And to fight against God, is odious malignity, and desperate folly.
1. It is venomous malignity, for a creature to fight against his Creator,
and a sinner against his Redeemer who would save him; and for so blind
a worm to rise up against the wisdom of the all-knowing God! and for
so vile a sinner to oppose the Fountain of love and goodness! 2. And
what folly can be greater, than for a mole to reproach the sun for
darkness? or a lump of earth to take up arms against the Almighty,
terrible God? Art thou able to make good thy cause against him? or to
stand before him when he is offended, and chargeth thee with sin? Hear
a Pharisee; "And now I say unto you, refrain from these men, and let
them alone; for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come
to nought: but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye
be found even to fight against God," Acts v. 38, 39. Or hear Christ
himself; "I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest; it is hard for thee to
kick against the pricks," Acts ix. 4, 5; with bare feet or hands to
beat the thorns! How unmeet a match is man for God! He needeth not so
much as a word to take away thy soul, and crush thee to the lowest
hell. His will alone can lay thee under thy deserved pains. Canst thou
conquer the Almighty God? Wilt thou assault the power which was never
overcome, or storm Jehovah's throne or kingdom? First try to take down
the sun, and moon, and stars from the firmament, and to stop the
course of the rivers, or of the sea; and to rebuke the winds, and turn
night into day, and winter into summer, and decrepid age into vigorous
youth. Attempt not greater matters till thou hast performed these; it
is a greater matter than any of these, to conquer God, whose cause
thou fightest against. Hear him again; Isa. xlv. 9, "Woe unto him that
striveth with his Maker! let the potsherd strive with the potsherds
of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What
makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?" And Isaiah xlv. 2. "Who
would set the briers and thorns against me in battle? I would go
through them, I would burn them together," Isa. xxvii. 4. Woe to the
man that is not content to go to fight with men, but chooseth the most
dreadful God to be his enemy! It had been better for thee, that all
the world had been against thee.
2. Persecution opposeth the gracious design of our Redeemer, and
hindereth his gospel, and work of mercy to the world, and endeavoureth
the ruin of his kingdom upon earth. Christ came to save men, and
persecutors raise up their power against him, as if they envied
salvation to the world. And if God have made the work of man's
redemption the most wonderful of all his works which ever he revealed
to the sons of men, you may easily conceive what thanks he will give
them that resist him in so high and glorious a design. If you could
pull the stars out of the firmament, or hinder the motions of the
heavens, or deny the rain to the thirsty earth, you might look for as
good a reward for this, as for opposing the merciful Redeemer of the
world, in the blessed work of man's salvation.
3. Persecution is a resisting or fighting against the Holy Ghost.
Saith Stephen to the Jews, "Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart
and ears; ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so
do ye," Acts vii. 51. If you silence the ministers who are the means
by which the Spirit worketh, in the illuminating and sanctifying of
souls, Acts xxvi. 17, 18; or if you afflict men for those holy duties,
which the Spirit of God hath taught them to perform, or would force
men from that which the Spirit of Christ is sent to draw them to; this
is to raise war against that Spirit, into whose name you were
yourselves baptized.
4. Persecution endeavoureth the damnation of men's souls, either by
depriving them of the preaching of the gospel which should save them,
or by forcing them upon that sin for which God will condemn them. Yea,
the banishing or silencing of one faithful preacher, may conduce to
the damnation of many hundreds! If it be said, that others who are set
up in their stead may save men's souls as well as they, I answer, 1.
God seldom, if ever, did qualify supernumeraries for the work of the
ministry! Many a nation hath had too few, but I never read of any
nation that had too many, who were well qualified for that great and
difficult work, no, not from the days of Christ till now! So that if
they are all fit men, there are none of them to be spared; but all are
too few, if they conjoin their greatest skill and diligence. Christ
biddeth us pray the Lord of the harvest, to send forth more labourers
into his harvest; but never biddeth us pray to send out fewer, or to
call any in that were but tolerably fitted for the work. 2. Many
persecutors banish all preachers of the gospel, and set up no other to
do the service which they were called to. And it is rarely seen, that
any who can find in their hearts to cast out any faithful ministers of
Christ, have hearts to set up better, or any that are competent, in
their stead; but it is ordinarily seen, that when the judgment is so
far depraved, as to approve of the casting out of worthy men; it is
also so far depraved as to think an ignorant, unskilful, heartless, or
scandalous sort of ministers, to be as fit to save men's souls as
they. And how many poor congregations in the eastern and western
churches (nay, how many thousands) have ignorant, ungodly, sensual
pastors, who are such unsavoury salt, as to be unfit for the land, or
for the dunghill! whilst men are extinguishing the clearest lights,
or thrusting them into obscurity, Matt. v. 13-15; Luke xiv. 35. 3. And
there may be something of suitableness between a pastor and the flock,
which may give him advantage to be more profitable to their souls,
than another man of equal parts. 4. And, though God can work by the
weakest means, yet ordinarily we see that his work upon men's souls is
so far moral, as that he usually prospereth men according to the
fitness of their labours to the work! And some men have far more
success than others. He that should expel a dozen or twenty of the
ablest physicians out of London, and say, There are enough left in
their steads, who may save men's lives as well as they, might,
notwithstanding that assertion, be found guilty of the blood of no
small numbers. And as men have sometimes an aversion to one sort of
food, (as good as any to another man,) and as this distemper is not
laudable; and yet he that would force them to eat nothing else but
that which they so abhor, were liker to kill them than to cure them;
so is it with the souls of many. And there are few who have any
spiritual discerning and relish, but have some special sense of what
is helpful or hurtful to their souls, in sermons, books, and
conference, which a stander-by is not so fit to judge of as
themselves. So that it is clear, that persecution driveth men towards
their damnation! And, oh how sad a case it is, to have the damnation
of one soul to answer for! (Which is worse than the murdering of many
bodies.) Much more to be guilty of the perdition of a multitude!
5. Persecution is injustice, and oppression of the innocent! And what
a multitude of terrible threatenings against this sin, are found
throughout the holy Scriptures! Doth a man deserve to be cruelly used,
for being faithful to his God, and for preferring him before man? and
for being afraid to sin against him? or for doing that which God
commandeth him, and that upon pain of greater sufferings than man can
inflict upon him? Is it not his Saviour that hath said, "Fear not them
that can kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do;
but fear him who after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell:
yea, I say unto you, fear him." Though christianity was once called,
"A sect which every where was spoken against," Acts xxviii. 22; and
Paul was accused as a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among
the people, Acts xxiv. 5; and Christ was crucified as a usurper of the
crown; yet innocency shall be innocency still, in spite of malice and
lying accusations; because God will be the final Judge, and will bring
all secret things to light, and will justify those whom injustice hath
condemned, and will not call them as slandering tongues have called
them. Yea, the consciences of the persecutors are often forced to say,
as they did of Daniel, Dan. vi. 5, "We shall not find any occasion
against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law
of his God." And therefore the net which they were fain to lay for
him, was a law against his religion, or prayers to God; for a law
against treason, sedition, swearing, drunkenness, fornication, &c.
would have done them no service! And yet they would fain have aspersed
him there, ver. 4. Jer. xxii. 13, "Woe to him that buildeth his house
by unrighteousness!" &c. Isa. xxxiii. 1, "Woe to thee that spoilest,
and thou wast not spoiled!" Isa. v. 20, "Woe to them that call evil
good, and good evil!" Jer. ii. 34, "In thy skirts is found the blood
of the souls of the poor innocents." Prov. vi. 16, 17, "Hands that
shed innocent blood, the Lord doth hate," &c.
6. Persecution maketh men likest unto devils, and maketh them his most
notable servants in the world.[125] Many wicked men may neglect that
duty which they are convinced they should do. But to hate it, and
malice men that do it, and seek their ruin; this, if any thing, is
work more beseeming a devil than a man. These are the commanders in
the armies of the devil, against the cause and kingdom of the Lord!
John viii. 42, 44. And accordingly shall they speed.
7. Persecution is an inhuman, disingenuous sin, and showeth an
extinction of the light of nature. A good-natured man, if he had no
grace at all, would abhor to be cruel, and to oppress his brethren;
and that merely because they are true to their consciences, and obey
their God, while they do no hurt to any others. If they had deserved
execution, an ingenuous nature would not be forward to be their
executioner; much more when they deserve encouragement and imitation:
it is no honour to be numbered with bloodthirsty men.
8. It is a sin that hath so little of commodity, honour, or pleasure
to invite men to it, that maketh it utterly without excuse, and
showeth, that the serpentine nature is the cause, Gen. iii. 15. What
get men by shedding the blood of innocents, or silencing the faithful
preachers of the gospel? What sweetness could they find in cruelty, if
a malicious nature made it not sweet?
9. It is a sin which men have as terrible warnings against from God,
as any sin in the world, that I can remember. 1. In God's
threatenings. 2. In sad examples, and judgments in this life, even on
posterity. 3. And in the infamy that followeth the names of
persecutors, when they are dead.
1. How terrible are those words of Christ, Matt. xviii. 6, "But whoso
shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it were
better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that
he were drowned in the depth of the sea." How terrible is that
character which Paul giveth of the Jews; 1 Thess. ii. 15, 16, "Who
both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have
persecuted us: and they please not God, and are contrary to all men;
forbidding us to speak to the gentiles that they might be saved, to
fill up their sins alway; for the wrath is come upon them to the
uttermost." Such terrors against persecutors are so common through the
Scriptures, that it would be tedious to recite them.
2. And for examples, the captivity first, and afterwards the casting
off of the Jews, may serve instead of many. 2 Chron. xxxvi. 16, "But
they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused
his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till
there was no remedy." And of the casting off, see Matt. xxiii. 37, 38,
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest
them that are sent unto thee, how oft would I have gathered thy
children together, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings,
and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate----."
And ver. 34-36, "Behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and
scribes; and some of them ye shall kill and crucify, and some of them
shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to
city: that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the
earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias
son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come on this
generation." To give you the particular examples of God's judgments
against persecutors, and their posterity after them, would be a
voluminous work; you may find them in the holy Scriptures, and the
church's Martyrologies.
3. And by a marvellous providence, God doth so overrule the tongue of
fame, and the pens of historians, and the thoughts of men, that
commonly the names of persecutors stink when they are dead; yea,
though they were never so much honoured and flattered while they were
alive! What odious names are the names of Pharaoh, Ahab, Pilate,
Herod, Nero, Domitian, Dioclesian, &c.! What a name hath the French
massacre left on Charles the Ninth! and the English persecution on
Queen Mary! And so of others throughout the world. Yea, what a blot
leaveth it on Asa, Amaziah, or any that do but hurt a prophet of the
Lord! The eleventh chapter of the Hebrews, and all the Martyrologies
that are written to preserve the name of the witnesses of Christ, are
all the records of the impiety and the perpetual shame of those by
whom they suffered. Even learning, and wisdom, and common virtue, have
got that estimation in the nature of man, that he that persecuteth but
a Seneca, a Cicero, a Demosthenes, or a Socrates, hath irrecoverably
wounded his reputation to posterity, and left his name to the hatred
of all succeeding ages. Prov. x. 7, "The memory of the just is
blessed, but the name of the wicked shall rot."
4. The persecution of godliness as such in ministers or private
christians, is one of the most visible undoubted marks of one that is
yet unsanctified, and in a state of sin and condemnation; for it
showeth most clearly the predominancy of the serpentine nature in the
persecutor. Though Asa in a peevish fit may imprison the prophet, and
those christians that are engaged in a sect or party, may in a sinful
zeal be injurious to those of the contrary party; and yet there may
remain some roots of uprightness within; yet he that shall set himself
to hinder the gospel, and the serious practice of godliness in the
world, and to that end hinder or persecute the preachers, and
professors, and practisers of it, hath the plainest mark of a child of
the devil, and the most visible brand of the wrath of God upon his
soul, of any sort of men on earth. If there might be any hope of grace
in him, that at present doth but neglect or disobey the gospel, and
doth not himself live a godly life, (as indeed there is not,) yet
there can be no possibility that he should have grace at that present,
who hateth and opposeth it; and that he should be justified by the
gospel who persecuteth it; and that he should be a godly man, who
setteth himself against the godly, and seeketh to destroy them.
10. And it is a far more heinous sin in a professed christian, than in
an infidel or heathen. For these do according to the darkness of their
education, and the interest of their party, and the principles of
their own profession. But for a professed christian to persecute
christianity, and one that professeth to believe the gospel, to
persecute the preachers and serious practisers of the doctrine of the
gospel; this is so near that sin which is commonly said to be the
unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost, that it is not easy to
perceive a difference; and if I did consent to that description of the
unpardonable sin, I should have little hope of the conversion of any
one of these. But, however, they make up such a mixture of hypocrisy,
and impiety, and cruelty, as showeth them to exceed all ordinary
sinners, in malignity and misery. They are a self-condemned sort of
men; out of their own mouths will God condemn them. They profess
themselves to believe in God, and yet they persecute those that serve
him: they dare not speak against the preaching and practising of the
doctrine of godliness, directly, and in plain expressions; and yet
they persecute them, and cannot endure them! They fight against the
interest and law of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, when they
have in baptism vowed themselves unto his service. Of all men on
earth, these men will have least to say for their sin, or against
their condemnation.
11. Lastly, Remember that Christ taketh all that is done by
persecutors against his servants for his cause, to be done as to
himself, and will accordingly in judgment charge it on them. So
speaketh he to Saul, Acts ix. 5, 6, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me?--I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest." And Matt. xxv. 41-46, even to
them that did not feed, and clothe, and visit, and relieve them, he
saith, "Verily, I say unto you, inasmuch as ye did it not to one of
the least of these, ye did it not to me." What then will he say to
them that impoverished and imprisoned them? Remember, that it is
Christ reputatively, whom thou dost hate, deride, and persecute.
_Direct._ III. If you would escape the guilt of persecution, the
cause and interest of Christ in the world must be truly understood. He
that knoweth not that holiness is Christ's end, and Scripture is his
word and law, and that the preachers of the gospel are his messengers,
and that preaching is his appointed means, and that sanctified
believers are his members, and the whole number of them are his
mystical body; and all that profess to be such, are his visible body,
or kingdom in the world; and that sin is the thing which he came to
destroy, and the devil, the world, and the flesh, are the enemies
which he causeth us to conquer; I say, he that knoweth not this, doth
not know what christianity or godliness is, and therefore may easily
persecute it in his ignorance. If you know not, or believe not, that
serious godliness in heart and life, and serious preaching and
discipline to promote it, are Christ's great cause and interest in the
world, you may fight against him in the dark, whilst ignorantly you
call yourselves his followers. If the devil can but make you think
that ignorance is as good as knowledge, and pharisaical formality, and
hypocritical shows, are as good as spiritual worship, and rational
service of God; and that seeming and lip-service is as good as
seriousness in religion; and that the strict and serious obeying of
God, and living as we profess, according to the principles of our
religion, is but hypocrisy, pride, or faction (that is, that all are
hypocrites who will not be hypocrites, but seriously religious): I
say, if Satan can bring you once to such erroneous, malignant thoughts
as these, no wonder if he make you persecutors. O value the great
blessing of a sound understanding! for if error blind you, (either
impious error, or factious error,) there is no wickedness so great,
but you may promote it, and nothing so good and holy, but you may
persecute it, and think all the while that you are doing well. John
xvi. 2, "They shall put you out of the synagogues; yea, the time
cometh, that whosoever killeth you, will think that he doth God
service." What prophet so great, or saint so holy, that did not suffer
by such hands? Yea, Christ himself was persecuted as a sinner, that
never sinned.
_Direct._ IV. And (if you would escape the guilt of persecution)
the cause and interest of Christ must be highest in your esteem, and
preferred before all worldly, carnal interests of our own. Otherwise
the devil will be still persuading you, that your own interest
requireth you to suppress the interest of Christ; for the truth is,
the gospel of Christ is quite against the interest of carnality and
concupiscence; it doth condemn ambition, covetousness, and lust; it
forbiddeth those sins on pain of damnation, which the proud, and
covetous, and sensual love, and will not part with; and therefore it
is no more wonder to have a proud man, or a covetous man, or a
lustful, voluptuous man to be a persecutor, than for a dog to fly in
his face who takes his bone from him. If you love your pride, and
lust, and pleasures, better than the gospel, and a holy life, no
marvel if you be persecutors; for these will not well agree together:
and though sometimes the providence of God may so contrive things,
that an ambitious hypocrite may think that his worldly interest
requireth him to seem religious, and promote the preaching and
practice of godliness; this is but seldom, and usually not long. For
he cannot choose but quickly find that Christ is no patron of his sin,
and that holiness is contrary to his worldly lusts. Therefore if you
cannot value the cause of godliness above your lusts and carnal
interests, I cannot tell you how to avoid the guilt of persecution,
nor the wrath and vengeance of Almighty God.
_Direct._ V. Yea, though you do prefer Christ's interest in the
main, you must carefully take heed of stepping into any forbidden way,
and espousing any interest of your own or others, which is contrary to
the laws or interest of Christ. Otherwise in the defence or
prosecution of your cause, you will be carried into a seeming
necessity of persecuting before you are aware. This hath been the ruin
of multitudes of great ones in the world. When Ahab had set himself in
a way of sin, the prophet must reprove him; and then he hateth and
persecuteth the prophet, because he prophesied not good of him, but
evil.[126] When Jeroboam thought that his interest required him to set
up calves at Dan and Bethel, and to make priests for them of the
basest of the people, the prophet must speak against his sin; and then
he stretcheth out his hand against him, and saith, "Lay hold on him."
If Asa sin, and the prophet tell him of it, his rage may proceed to
imprison his reprover.[127] If Amaziah sin with the idolaters, the
prophet must reprove him, and he will silence him, or smite him. And
silenced he is, and what must follow? 2 Chron. xv. 16, "The king said
to him, Art thou made of the king's counsel? Forbear: why shouldst
thou be smitten? (This seemeth to be gentle dealing.) Then the prophet
forbore and said, I know that God hath determined to destroy thee,
because thou hast done this, and hast not hearkened to my counsel." If
Pilate do but hear, "If thou let this man go, thou art not Cæsar's
friend,"[128] he thinketh it is his interest to crucify Christ: as
Herod thought it his interest to kill him, and therefore to kill so
many other infants, when he heard of the birth of a king of the Jews.
Because of an Herodias and the honour of his word, Herod will not
stick to behead John the Baptist; and another Herod will kill James
with the sword, and imprison Peter, because he seeth that it pleaseth
the Jews.[129] Instances of this desperate sin are innumerable. There
is no way so common, by which Satan hath engaged the rulers of the
world against the kingdom of Jesus Christ, and against the preachers
of his gospel, and the people that obey him, than by persuading them
as Haman did Ahasuerus, Esther iii. 8, 9, "There is a certain people
scattered abroad, and dispersed among the people in all the provinces
of thy kingdom, and their laws are diverse from all people, neither
keep they the king's laws: therefore it is not for the king's profit
to suffer them; if it please the king, let it be written that they may
be destroyed." When once the devil hath got men, by error or
sensuality, to espouse an interest that Christ is against, he hath
half done his work: for then he knoweth, that Christ or his servants
will never bend to the wills of sinners, nor be reconciled to their
wicked ways, nor take part with them in a sinful cause. And then it is
easy for Satan to persuade such men, that these precise preachers and
people are their enemies, and are against their interest and honour,
and that they are a turbulent, seditious sort of people, unfit to be
governed (because they will not be false to God, nor take part with
the devil, nor be friends to sin). When once Nebuchadnezzar hath set
up his golden image, he thinks he is obliged in honour to persecute
them that will not bow down, as refractory persons that obey not the
king. When Jeroboam is once engaged to set up his calves, he is
presently engaged against those that are against them; and that is
against God, and all his servants. Therefore as rulers love their
souls, let them take heed what cause and interest they espouse.
_Direct._ VI. To love your neighbours as yourselves, and do as
you would be done by, is the infallible means to avoid the guilt of
persecution. "For charity suffereth long, and is kind, it envieth not,
it is not easily provoked, it thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in
iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; it beareth all things, believeth
all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things," 1 Cor. xiii. 4-7.
"Love worketh no ill to his neighbour; therefore love is the
fulfilling of the law," Rom. xiii. 10. And if it fulfil the law, it
wrongeth no man. When did you see a man persecute himself? imprison,
banish, defame, slander, revile, or put to death himself (if he were
well in his wits)? Never fear persecution from a man that "loveth his
neighbour as himself, and doth as he would be done by," and is not
selfish and uncharitable.
_Direct._ VII. Pride also must be subdued, if you would not be
persecutors. For a proud man cannot endure to have his word disobeyed,
though it contradict the word of God: nor can he endure to be reproved
by the preachers of the gospel; but will do as Herod with John the
Baptist, or as Asa, or Amaziah, by the prophets! Till the soul be
humble, it will not bear the sharp remedies which our Saviour hath
prescribed, but will persecute him that would administer them.
_Direct._ VIII. Passion must be subdued, and the mind kept calm,
if you would avoid the guilt of persecution. Asa was in a rage when he
imprisoned the prophet (a fit work for a raging man). And Nebuchadnezzar
was in a rage and fury when he commanded the punishment of the three
witnesses, Dan. iii. 13. "The wrath of man worketh not the will of
God," Jam. i. 20. The nature of wrathfulness tendeth to hurting those
you are angry with. And wrath is impatient, and unjust, and will not
hear what men can say, but rashly passeth unrighteous sentence. And it
blindeth reason, so that it cannot see the truth.
_Direct._ IX. And hearkening to malicious backbiters and
slanderers, and favouring the enemies of godliness in their calumnies,
will engage men in persecution ere they are aware. For when the wicked
are in the favour and at the ear of rulers, they have opportunity to
vent those false reports, which they never want a will to vent! And
any thing may be said of men behind their backs, with an appearance of
truth, when there is none to contradict it. If Haman may be heard, the
Jews shall be destroyed, as not being for the king's profit, nor
obedient to his laws. If Sanballat and Tobiah may be heard, the
building of the walls of Jerusalem shall signify no better than an
intended rebellion. They are true words, though to some ungrateful,
which are spoken by the Holy Ghost, Prov. xxix. 12, "If a ruler
hearken to lies, all his servants are wicked" (for they will soon
accommodate themselves to so vicious a humour). Prov. xxv. 4, 5, "Take
away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel
for the finer. Take away the wicked from before the king, and his
throne shall be established in righteousness." If the devil might be
believed, Job was one that served God for gain, and might have been
made to curse him to his face. And if his servants may be believed,
there is nothing so vile which the best men are not guilty of.
_Direct._ X. Take heed of engaging yourselves in a sect or
faction. For when once you depart from catholic charity, there groweth
up instead of it, a partial respect to the interest of that sect to
which you join; and you will think that whatsoever doth promote that
sect, doth promote christianity; and whatever is against that sect, is
against the church or cause of God. A narrow, sectarian, separating
mind, will make all the truths of God give place to the opinions of
his party; and will measure the prosperity of the gospel in the world,
by the prosperity of his party, as if he had forgot that there are any
more men on the face of the earth, or thought God regarded none but
them. He will not stick to persecute all the rest of the church of
Christ, if the interest of his sect require it. When once men
incorporate themselves into a party, it possesseth them with another
spirit, even with a strange uncharitableness, injustice, cruelty, and
partiality! What hath the christian world suffered by one sect's
persecuting another, and faction rising up in fury to maintain its own
interest, as if it had been to maintain the being of all religion! The
bloodthirsty papists, whose inquisition, massacres, and manifold
murders, have filled the earth with the blood of innocents, is a
sufficient testimony of this. And still here among us they seem as
thirsty of blood as ever, and tell us to our faces, that they would
soon make an end of us, if we were in their power: as if the two
hundred thousand lately murdered in so short a time in Ireland, had
rather irritated than quenched their thirst. And all faction naturally
tendeth to persecution. Own not therefore any dividing opinions or
names; maintain the unity of the body of Christ (not of the body of
the pope). Let christian and catholic, be all your titles, as to your
religion. "Mark those that cause divisions and offences, and avoid
them," Rom. xvi. 17.
_Direct._ XI. To this end, overvalue not any private or singular
opinions of your own or others. For if once spiritual pride and
ignorance of your own weakness, hath made you espouse some particular
opinion as peculiarly your own; you will dote on the brats of your own
brains, and will think your conceits to be far more illuminating and
necessary than indeed they are; as if men's sincerity lay in the
embracing of them, and their salvation on the receiving of them! And
then you will make a party for your opinion, and will think all that
are against it deserve to be cast out, as enemies to reformation, or
to the truth of God, or to the church. And perhaps twenty years after,
experience may bring you to your wits, and make you see either the
falsehood or the smallness of all those points which you made so great
a matter of; and then what comfort will you have in your persecutions?
_Direct._ XII. Obey not the solicitations of selfish, passionate
disputers. Bishops and divines falling out among themselves, and then
drawing princes to own their quarrels, when they find their arguments
will not serve, hath been the distraction, division, and ruin of the
christian world. And he that falleth in with one of the parties, to
bear out that by the ruin of the other, is lost himself in their
contentions. Would rulers let wrangling bishops and disputers alone,
and never lend them their swords to end their differences, unless the
substance of religion be endangered, they would be weary of quarrelling,
and would chide themselves friends, and no such tragical consequents
would follow, as do when the sword interposeth to suppress the
discountenanced party, and to end their syllogisms and wranglings in
blood.
_Direct._ XIII. Take heed lest an uncharitable, hurting spirit do
prevail, under the name of holy zeal. As it did with James and John,
when they would have fire from heaven to have revenged the contempt of
their ministry: to whom Christ saith, "Ye know not what manner of
spirit ye are of," Luke ix. 55. The difference between a christian
zeal, and an envious, contentious, censorious, hurtful zeal, is
excellently described by the apostle James, chap. iii. throughout.
"Where envying and strife is, there is confusion, and every evil work.
The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to
be entreated, full of mercy and good works, without partiality and
hypocrisy."
_Direct._ XIV. The catholic church, and particular churches, and
our communion with each, must be distinguished; and a man must not be
cast out of our catholic communion, because by some tolerable
difference he is uncapable of communion with some particular church.
If a man be impenitent in any heresy or sin, which is contrary to the
common nature of christianity or godliness, and so unfit for catholic
communion, he is to be cast out of christian communion: but if some
particular church do impose any unnecessary doctrine or practice, and
he dare not approve it, or join in it (be it right or wrong); yea, or
if he withdraw himself from one church, through the badness of the
minister, or through any falling out between them, and join to another
that hath a minister more suitable to his case; these are not crimes
to be punished with ejection from catholic communion. He that is not
fit for communion with some one particular church, may be fit for
communion with many others, that give him no such occasion of
difference or distaste. Without catholic principles persecution will
not be avoided.
_Direct._ XV. Let church union and communion be laid upon none
but catholic terms, which are possible and fit for all to be agreed
in.[130] Common reason will tell any impartial man, that there can be
no more effectual engine to divide the churches, and raise contentions
and persecutions, than to make laws for church communion, requiring
such conditions as it is certain the members cannot consent to. If any
man knew that my opinion is against the doctrine of transubstantiation,
or of the Dominican's predetermination, and he would make a law, that
no man shall have communion with that church who subscribeth not to
these, he unavoidably excludeth me (unless I be such a beast, as to
believe nothing soundly, and therefore to say any thing). If ever the
churches agree, and christians be reconciled, it must be by leaving
out all dividing impositions, and requiring nothing as necessary to
communion, which all may not rationally be expected to consent in. Now
these catholic principles of communion must be such as these.
1. Such points of faith only as constitute christianity, and which
every upright christian holdeth; and therefore only such as are
contained in our baptismal covenant or profession, which maketh us
christians; and not those other which only some stronger christians
believe or understand; because the weak are not to be cast out of the
family of Christ.
2. Such points as the primitive churches did agree in, and not
innovations, which they never practised or agreed in; for they are our
pattern, and were better than we; and no more can be necessary to our
concord and communion, than was to theirs.[131]
3. Such points as all the church hath some time or other at least
agreed in; for what reason can we have to think that the churches
should now agree in that, which they never hitherto agreed in.
4. Such points as all the true christians in the world are now agreed
in; for otherwise we shall exclude some true christians from our
christian communion.
5. No points of worship, much less of modes and circumstances, which
are not necessary, and more necessary to the church's good, than is
the communion of all those persons, who by dissenting are like to be
separated or cast out, and whose omission would not do more hurt, than
this separation and division is like to do.
6. Especially no such things must be made necessary to communion, as
the most conscientious are ordinarily fearful of and averse to, and
may be forborne without any great detriment to godliness.
_Object._ But, it will be said, that catholic communion indeed
requireth no more than you say; but particular churches may require
more of their members, for that may be necessary or fit for a member
of this particular church, which is not so to all.
_Answ._ Catholic communion is that which all christians and
churches have with one another, and the terms of it are such as all
christians may agree in. Catholic communion is principally existent
and exercised in particular churches (as there is no existent
christianity or faith, which existeth not in individual christians).
Therefore if one particular church may so narrow the door of its
communion, then another and another, and every one may do so; if not
by the same particular impositions, yet by some other of the like
nature; for what power one church hath herein, others have; and then
catholic communion will be scarce found existent externally in the
world: but a mere catholic christian would be denied communion in
every particular church he cometh to. And how do you hold catholic
communion, when you will admit no mere catholic christian as such to
your communion, but only such as supererogate according to your
private church terms?
2. But grant that every church may impose more upon its members, it
must be only that which is necessary to those common things which all
agree in; and then the necessity will be discernible to all
sober-minded persons, and will prevent divisions; as it is necessary
that he that will communicate with our churches, do join with them in
the same translation of Scripture, and version of the Psalms, and
under the same pastor, as the rest of the church doth: for here the
church cannot use variety of pastors, translations, versions, &c. to
fit the variety of men's humours; there is an evident necessity, that
if they will be one society, they must agree in the same, in each of
these. Therefore when the church hath united in one, if any man refuse
that one person or way which the church is necessarily united in, he
refuseth communion with that church, and the church doth not
excommunicate him! But if that church agree on things hurtful or
unnecessary, as necessary to its communion, it must bear the blame of
the separations itself!
3. And grant yet that some churches cannot admit such scrupulous
persons to her communion as dare not join in every punctilio,
circumstance, or mode; it doth not follow that those persons must
therefore be excommunicated, or forbidden to worship God among
themselves, without that which they scruple; or to join in or with a
congregation which imposeth no such things upon them. Persecution will
unavoidably come in, upon such domineering, narrow terms as those. The
man is a christian still, though he scruple one of our modes or
ceremonies, and is capable of catholic communion. And if private and
little inconveniences shall be thought a sufficient cause, to forbid
all such the public worshipping of God, on pretence that in one nation
there must not be variety of modes, this is a dividing principle, and
not catholic, and plungeth men into the guilt of persecution. It was
not so in the churches of the Roman empire. In the days of Basil, his
church and that at Neocæsarea differed; and ordinarily, several
bishops used several forms of prayer and worship, in their several
churches, without offence. And further,
_Direct._ XVI. Different faults must have different penalties;
and excommunication or forbidding men all public worship of God, must
not be the penalty of every dissent. Is there no smaller penalty
sufficient, if a doubtful subscription or ceremony be scrupled, than
to silence ministers therefore from preaching the gospel, or
excommunicating men, and forbidding them to worship God at all except
they can do this? This is the highest ecclesiastical penalty that can
be laid on men for the greatest heresy or crime. Doubtless there are
lesser punishments that may suffice for lesser faults.
_Direct._ XVII. Every friend of Christ and the church, must
choose such penalties for ministers and private christians, who
offend, as are least to the hinderance of the gospel, or hurtful to
the people's souls. Therefore silencing ministers is not a fit penalty
for every fault which they commit! The providence of God (as I said
before) hath furnished the world with so few that are fit for that
high and sacred work, that no man can pretend that they are
supernumeraries, or unnecessary, and that others may be substituted to
the church's profit: for the number is so small, that all are much too
few; and so many as are silenced, so many churches (either the same or
others) must be unsupplied or ill supplied. And God working ordinarily
by means, we may conclude, that silencing of such preachers, doth as
plainly tend to men's damnation, as the prohibiting of physicians doth
to their death, and more. And it is not the part of a friend, either
of God or men, to endeavour the damnation of one soul, much less of
multitudes, because a minister hath displeased him. If one man must
pay for another man's sins, let it be a pecuniary mulct, or the loss
of a member, rather than the loss of his soul. It is more merciful
every time a minister offendeth, to cut off a hand or an arm of some
of his flock, than to say to him, Teach them no more the way to
salvation, that so they may be damned. If a father offend, and his
children must needs pay for all his faults, it is better to beat the
children, or maim them, than forbid him to feed them, when there is
none else to do it, and so to famish them. What reason is there that
men's souls should be untaught, because a minister hath offended? I
know still, those men that care not for their own souls, and therefore
care as little for others, will say, What if the people have but a
reader, or a weak, ignorant, lifeless preacher? doth it therefore
follow that the people must be damned? I answer, No: no more than it
followeth that the city that hath none but women physicians must die
of their sicknesses, or that they that live only upon grass or roots
must famish. Nature may do more to overcome a disease without a
physician in one than in another. Some perhaps are converted already,
and have the law written in their hearts, and are taught of God, and
can make shift to live without a teacher; but for the rest, whose
diseases need a skilful, diligent physician, whose ignorance and
impenitence extremely need a skilful, diligent, lively teacher, he
that depriveth them of such, doth take the probable course to damn
them! And it is the same course which the devil himself would take;
and he partly knoweth what tendeth to men's damnation! He that knoweth
what a case the heathen, infidel, Mahometan world is in for want of
teachers; and what a case the Greek church, the Muscovites, the
Abassines, Syrians, Armenians, papists, and most of the christians of
the world are in, for want of able, skilful, godly pastors, will lay
his hand on his mouth, and meddle with such reasonings as these no
more.
_Object._ But by this device you will have the clergy lawless,
or, as the papists, exempt them from the magistrate's punishments, for
fear of depriving the people of instruction.
_Answ._ No such matter: it is the contrary that I am advising; I
would have them punished more severely than other men, as their sins
are more aggravated than other men's. Yea, and I would have them
silenced when it is meet, and that is in two cases: viz. If they
commit such capital crimes, as God and man would have punished with
death, it is fit they die (and then they are silenced): for in this
case it is supposed that their lives (by their impunity) are like to
do more hurt than good. 2. If their heresy, insufficiency, scandal, or
any fault whatever, do make them more hurtful than profitable to the
church, it is fit they be cast out. If their ministry be not like to
do more good than their faults to do harm, let them be silenced! But
if it be otherwise, then let them be punished in their bodies or
purses, rather than the people's souls should suffer. The laws have
variety of penalties for other men! Will none of those suffice for
ministers?
But alas! what talk I of their faults? Search all church history, and
observe whether in all ages ministers have not been silenced rather
for their duties than their faults; or, for not subscribing to some
unnecessary opinion or imposition of a prevailing party; or about some
wrangling controversies which church disturbers set afoot! There is
many a poor minister would work in Bridewell, or be tied to shovel the
streets all the rest of the week, if he might but have liberty to
preach the gospel! And would not such a penalty be sufficient for a
dissent in some unnecessary point? As it is not every fault that a
magistrate is deposed for by the sovereign, but such as make him unfit
for the place, so is it also with the ministers.
_Direct._ XVIII. Malignity and profaneness must not be gratified
or encouraged. It must be considered, how "the carnal mind is enmity
against God; for it is not subject to his law, nor can be;" and that
enmity is put between the woman's and the serpent's seed;[132] and
that the whole business of the world is but the prosecution of the war
between the armies of Christ and Satan; and that malignity inclineth
the ungodly world to slander and reproach the servants of the Lord;
and they are glad of any opportunity to make them odious, or to
exasperate magistrates against them; and that their silencing and fall
is the joy of the ungodly. And if there be any civil differences or
sidings, the ungodly rabble will take that side, be it right or wrong,
which they think will do most to the downfal of the godly, whom they
hate. Therefore besides the merits of the particular cause, a ruler
that regardeth the interest of the gospel, and men's salvation, must
have some care that the course which he taketh against godly ministers
and people, when they displease him, be such as doth not strengthen
the hands of evil-doers, nor harden them, increase them, or make them
glad. I do not say, that a ruler must be against whatever the ungodly
part is for; or that he must be for that which the major part of godly
men are for (I know this is a deceitful rule). But yet that which
pleaseth the malignant rabble, and displeaseth or hurteth the
generality of godly men, is so seldom pleasing to God, that it is much
to be suspected.
_Direct._ XIX. The substance of faith, and the practice of
godliness, must be valued above all opinions, and parties, and worldly
interests; and godly men accounted, as they are, (_cæteris
paribus_,) the best members both of church and state. If rulers
once knew the difference between a saint and a sensualist, "a vile
person would be contemned in their eyes, and they would honour them
that fear the Lord," Psal. xv. 4. And if they honoured them as God
commandeth them, they would not persecute them; and if the promoting
of practical godliness were their design, there were little danger of
their oppressing those that must be the instruments of propagating it,
if ever it prosper in the world.
_Direct._ XX. To this end, remember the near and dear relation
which every true believer standeth in to God the Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost. They are called by God, "His peculiar treasure,--his
jewels,--his children,--the members of Christ,--the temples of the
Holy Ghost;--God dwelleth in them by love, and Christ by faith, and
the Spirit by all his sanctifying gifts."[133] If this were well
believed, men would more reverence them on God's account, than
causelessly to persecute them. "He that toucheth you, toucheth the
apple of my eye," Zech. ii. 8.
_Direct._ XXI. Look not so much on men's infirmities, as to
overlook or make light of all that is good in them. But look as much
at the good as at the evil; and then you will see reason for lenity,
as well as for severity; and for love and tenderness, rather than for
hatred and persecution; and you will discern that those may be
serviceable to the church, in whom blinded malice can see nothing
worthy of honour or respect.
_Direct._ XXII. Estimate and use all lesser matters, as means to
spiritual worship and practical holiness. If there be any thing of
worth in controversies, and ceremonies, and such other matters of
inferior rank, it is as they are a means to the power of godliness,
which is their end. And if once they be no otherwise esteemed, they
will not be made use of against the interest of godliness, to the
silencing of the preachers, and persecuting the professors of it.
_Direct._ XXIII. Remember that the understanding is not free
(save only participative, as it is subject to the will). It acteth of
itself _per modum naturæ_, and is necessitated by its object (further
than as it is under the power of the will). A man cannot hold what
opinion he would himself, nor be against what he would not have to be
true; much less can he believe as another man commandeth him. My
understanding is not at my own command; I cannot be of every man's
belief that is uppermost. Evidence, and not force, is the natural
means to compel the mind; even as goodness, and not force, is the
natural means to win men's love. It is as wise a thing to say, Love
me, or I will kill thee; as to say, Believe me, or I will kill thee.
_Direct._ XXIV. Consider that it is essential to religion, to be
above the authority of man (unless as they subserve the authority of
God). He that worshippeth a God that is subject to any man, must
subject his religion to that man. (But this is no religion, because it
is no God whom he worshippeth.) But if the God whom I serve be above
all men, my religion or service of him must needs be also above the
will of men.
_Direct._ XXV. Consider that an obedient disposition towards
God's law, and a tender conscience which feareth in the smallest
matter to offend him, is a substantial part of holiness, and of great
necessity to salvation. It is part of the excellency of the soul, and
therefore to be greatly encouraged by governors. To drive this out of
the world, is to drive out godliness, and make men rebels against
their Maker. And nothing is more certain, than that the violent
imposing of unnecessary, disputable things in the worship of God, doth
unavoidably tend either to debauch the conscience, and drive men from
their obedience to God, or to destroy them, or undo them in the world:
for it is not possible, that all conscionable persons should discern
the lawfulness of all such disputable things.
_Direct._ XXVI. Remember that such violence in doubtful matters,
is the way to set up the most debauched atheists, and consequently to
undo church and commonwealth. For whatever oaths or subscriptions you
require, he that believeth not that there is a God or a devil, a
heaven or a hell, will yield to all, and make no more of perjury or a
lie, than to eat a bit of bread! If you cast out all ministers that
will not swear or subscribe this or that form about things doubtful,
you will cast out never an atheist or debauched infidel by it. All
that have no conscience, will be kept in; and all that are true to God
and their conscience, if they think it is sin which you require of
them, will be cast out. And whither this tendeth, you may easily
foresee.
_Direct._ XXVII. Remember that if by force you do prevail with a
man to go against his conscience, you do but make him dissemble and
lie. And if hypocrites be not hateful to you, why do you cry out so
much against hypocrites (where you cannot prove your accusation)? But
if they be so hateful, why do you so eagerly make men hypocrites?
Whatever their tongues may say, you can scarce believe yourselves,
that prisons or fire will change men's judgments in matters of faith
and duty to God.
_Direct._ XXVIII. Consider not only whether the thing which you
impose be sin in itself, but also what it is to him that thinketh it a
sin. His own doubting conscience may make that a sin to him, which is
no sin to another. "And he that doubteth, (whether such or such a meat
be lawful,) is condemned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith:
for whatsoever is not of faith is sin," Rom. xiv. 23. And is it like
to be damnation to him that doth it against his conscience? And will
you drive on any man towards damnation? "Destroy not him with thy
meat for whom Christ died," Rom. xiv. 15; 1 Cor. viii. 11.
If it be objected, That then there will be no government, if every man
must be left to his own conscience. I answer, That the Holy Ghost did
not fear such objectors, when he laid down this doctrine here
expressed. 1. It is easy to distinguish between things necessary and
things unnecessary. 2. And between great penalties and small. And
first, It followeth not that a man must be left to his own conscience
in every thing, because he must be so in some things. In things
necessary, as it is a sin to do them doubtingly, so it may be a
greater sin to leave them undone; (as for a man to maintain his
family, or defend his king, or hear the word of God, &c.) He that can
say, My conscience is against it, must not be excused from a necessary
duty: and he that can say, My conscience bids me do it, must not be
excused in a sin. But yet the apostle knew what he said, when he (that
was a greater church governor than you) determined the case of mutual
forbearance, as in Rom. xiv. and xv. and 1 Cor. viii. Secondly, And he
is not wholly left to himself, who is punished with a small penalty
for a small offence: for if a man must be still punished more, as long
as he obeyeth God and his conscience, before men, an honest man must
not be suffered to live. For he will certainly do it to the death.
_Direct._ XXIX. Remember the wonderful variety of men's
apprehensions, which must be supposed in all laws! Men's faces are
scarce more various and unlike, than their understandings are: for
besides that nature hath diversified intellects as well as faces, the
diversity and unlikeness is much increased by variety of educations,
company, representations, accidents, cogitations, and many other
causes. It is wiser to make laws, that all men shall take the same
physic, or eat only the same meat, or that all shoes shall be of a
size, and all clothes of the same bigness, upon supposition that all
men's health, or appetite, or feet, or bodies, are alike; than to make
laws that all men shall agree (or say that they agree) in every
opinion, circumstance, or ceremony, in matters of religion.
_Direct._ XXX. Remember especially, that most christians are
ignorant, and of weak understandings, and not able to make use of all
the distinctions and subtleties which are needful, to bring them over
to your mind in doubtful and unnecessary things. Therefore the laws
which will be the means of peace, must suppose this weakness and
ignorance of most subjects! And how convenient it is, to say to a
poor, ignorant christian, Know this, or profess this or that, which
the ablest, godly pastors themselves are not agreed in, or else thou
shalt be imprisoned or banished, I leave to equal men to judge.
_Direct._ XXXI. Human infirmities must be supposed in the best
and strongest christians. All have their errors and their faults;
divines themselves as well as others. Therefore either some errors and
faults must be accounted tolerable, or else no two persons must
tolerate one another in the world, but kill on till the strongest only
shall survive. "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which
are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness,
considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's
burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ," Gal. vi. 1, 2. And if the
strong must be borne with themselves, "then they that are strong ought
to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please themselves; but
every one to please his neighbour for his good to edification; for
even Christ pleased not himself," &c. Rom. xv. 1-3. "And him that is
weak in the faith we must receive; but not to doubtful disputations,"
Rom. xiv. 1.
_Direct._ XXXII. The pastors must not be impatient under the
abuses which they receive from weak or distempered brethren. We must
excel others in patience, and meekness, and forbearance, as much as we
do in knowledge, and in other graces. If the nurse or mother will take
every word or action of the child, as if it were the injury of an
enemy, there will be no preservation of the family in peace! If
children cry, or fight, or chide, or make any foul or troublesome
work, the mother will not therefore turn them out of doors, or use
them like strangers, but remember that it is her place and duty to
bear with that weakness which she cannot cure. The proud impatience of
the pastors hath frequently brought them into the guilt of
persecution, to the alienating of the people's hearts, and the
distraction and division of the churches: when poor, distempered
persons are offended with them, and it may be revile them, and call
them seducers, or antichristian, or superstitious, or what their pride
and passion shall suggest: or if some weak ones raise up some
erroneous opinions, alas! many pastors have no more wit, or grace, or
pity, than presently to be rough with them, and revile them again, and
seek to right themselves by ways of force, and club down every error
and contention; when they should overcome them by evidence of truth,
and by meekness, patience, and love. (Though there be place also for
severity, with turbulent, implacable, impenitent heretics.)
_Direct._ XXXIII. Time of learning and overcoming their mistakes,
must be allowed to those that are misinformed. We must not turn those
of the lower forms out of Christ's school, because they learn not as
much as those of the higher forms in a few weeks or years. The Holy
Ghost teacheth those who for the time might have been teachers of others,
and yet had need to be taught the first principles, Heb. v. 11, 12. He
doth not turn them out of the church for their non-proficiency. And
where there is ignorance there will be error.
_Direct._ XXXIV. Some inconveniences must be expected and
tolerated, and no perfect order or concord expected here on earth. It
is not good reasoning to say, If we suffer these men, they will cause
this or that disorder or inconvenience: but you must also consider
whither you must drive it, if you suffer them not; and what will be
the consequents. He that will follow his conscience to a prison, will
likely follow it to death. And if nothing but death, or prison, or
banishment can restrain them from what they take to be their duty, it
must be considered how many must be so used; and whether (if they were
truly faulty) they deserve so much: and if they do, yet whether the
evils of the toleration or of the punishment are like to be the
greater. Peace and concord will never be perfect, till knowledge and
holiness be perfect.
_Direct._ XXXV. You may go farther in restraining than in
constraining; in forbidding men to preach against approved doctrines
or practices of the church, than in forcing them to preach for them,
or to subscribe or speak their approbation or assent: if they be not
points or practices of great necessity, a man may be fit for the
ministry and church communion, who meddleth not with them, but
preacheth the wholesome truths of the gospel, and lets them alone.
And, because no duty is at all times a duty, a sober man's judgment
will allow him to be silent at many an error, when he dare not
subscribe to or approve the least. But if here any proud and cruel
pastors shall come in with their lesser, selfish incommodities,
and say, if they do not approve of what we say and do, they will
secretly foment a faction against us; I should answer them, that as
good men will foment no faction, so if such proud, impatient,
turbulent men, will endure none that subscribe not to all their
opinions, or differ from them in a circumstance or a ceremony, they
shall raise a greater faction (if they will call it so) against
themselves, and make the people look on them as tyrants and not as
pastors; and they shall see in the end, when they have bought their
wit by dear experience, that they have but torn the church in pieces,
by preventing divisions by carnal means, and that they have lost
themselves, by being over-zealous for themselves; and that doctrine
and love are the instruments of a wise shepherd, that loveth the
flock, and understands his work.
_Direct._ XXXVI. Distinguish between the making of new laws or
articles of belief, and the punishing of men for the laws already
made. And think not that we must have new laws or canons, every time
the old ones are broken; or that any law can be made which can keep
itself from being broken. Perverseness in this error hath brought the
church to the misery which it endureth. God hath made a universal law
sufficient for the universal church, in matters of faith and holy
practice; leaving it to men to determine of necessary circumstances
which were unfit for a universal law: and if the sufficiency of God's
law were acknowledged in men's practices, the churches would have had
more peace: but when particular countries have their particular
volumes of articles, confessions, liturgies, and I know not what else
to be subscribed to, and none must preach that will not say, or write,
or swear, That he believeth all this to be true and good, and nothing
in it to be against the word of God, this engine racks the limbs of
the churches all to pieces. And then what is the pretence for this
epidemical calamity? Why no better than this, Every heretic will
subscribe to the Scriptures, and take it in his own sense. And what
followeth? Must we needs therefore have new laws which heretics will
not subscribe to, or which they cannot break? It is the commendation
of God's law, as fit to be the means of unity, that all are so easily
agreed to it in terms, and therefore would agree in the sense if they
understood it. But they will not do so by the laws of men: all or many
heretics in the primitive times, would profess assent to the church's
creed; no doubt in a corrupt and private sense; but the churches
therefore did not make new creeds; till about three hundred years
after Christ, they began to put in some particular words to obviate
heretics, which Hilary complained of as the cause of all their
divisions! And what if heretics will subscribe to all you bid them,
and take it in their own corrupted sense? Must you therefore be still
making new laws and articles, till you meet with some which they
cannot misunderstand, or dare not thus abuse? What if men will
misinterpret and break the laws of the land? Must they be made new
till none can mis-expound or violate them? Sure there is a wiser way
than this: God's word containeth in sufficient expressions, all that
is necessary to be subscribed to: require none therefore to subscribe
to any more (in matters of faith or holy practice); but if you think
any articles need a special interpretation, let the church give her
sense of those articles; and if any man preach against that sense, and
corrupt the word of God which he hath subscribed, let his fault be
proved, and let him be admonished and censured as it deserves:
censured, I say, not for not subscribing more than Scripture, but for
corrupting the Scriptures to which he hath subscribed, or breaking
God's laws which he promised to observe.
_Direct._ XXXVII. The good of men, and not their ruin, must be
intended in all the discipline of the church: or the good of the
church, when we have but little hope of theirs. If this were done, it
would easily be perceived, that persecution is an unlikely means to do
good by.
_Direct._ XXXVIII. Neither unlimited liberty in matters of
religion must be allowed, nor unnecessary force and rigour used, but
tolerable differences and parties must be tolerated, and intolerable
ones by the wisest means suppressed. And to this end, by the counsel
of the most prudent, peaceable divines, the tolerable and the
intolerable must be statedly distinguished! And those that are only
tolerated must be under a law for their toleration, prescribing them
their terms of good behaviour; and those that are approved, must
moreover have the countenance and maintenance of the magistrate: and
if this were done, 1. The advantage of the said encouragement from
governors, 2. With the regulation of the toleration, and the
magistrates' careful government of the tolerated, would prevent both
persecution, and most of the divisions and calamities of the church.
Thus did the ancient christian emperors and bishops: (and was their
experience nothing?) The Novatians (as good and orthodox men) were
allowed their own churches and bishops even in Constantinople, at the
emperor's nose. Especially if it be made the work of some justices, 1.
To judge of persons to be tolerated, and grant them patents, 2. And to
overrule them and punish them when they deserve it: no other way would
avoid so many inconveniences.
_Direct._ XXXIX. The things intolerable are these two: 1. (Not
the believing, but) the preaching and propagating of principles
contrary to the essentials of godliness or christianity, or
government, justice, charity, or peace. 2. The turbulent, unpeaceable
management of those opinions which in themselves are tolerable. If any
would preach against the articles of the creed, the petitions of the
Lord's prayer, or any of the ten commandments, he is not to be
suffered; and if any that are orthodox do in their separated meetings,
make it their business to revile at others, and destroy men's charity,
or to stir men up to rebellion or sedition, or contempt of magistracy;
none of this should be endured.
As for those libertines that under the name of liberty of conscience
do plead for a liberty of such vicious practices, and in order thereto
would prove that the magistrate hath nothing to do in matters of
religion, I have preached and wrote so much against them, whilst that
error reigned, and I find it so unseasonable now the constitution of
things looks another way, that I will not weary myself and the reader
with so unnecessary a task as to confute them. Only I shall say, that
Rom. xiii. telleth us that rulers are a terror to them that do evil;
and that heretics and turbulent firebrands do evil; therefore rulers
should be a terror to them; and that if all things are to be done to
the glory of God, and his interest is to be set highest in the world,
then magistrates and government are for the same end; and if no action
which we do, is of so base a nature, as ultimately to be terminated in
the concernments of the flesh, much less is government so vile a
thing, when rulers are in Scripture called gods, as being the officers
of God.
_Direct._ XL. Remember death, and live together as men that are
near dying, and must live together in another world. The foolish
expectation of prosperity and long life, is it which setteth men
together by the ears. When Ridley and Hooper were both in prison, and
preparing for the flames, their contentions were soon ended, and
Ridley repented of his persecuting way. If the persecutors and
persecuted were shut up together in one house that hath the plague, in
the time of this lamentable contagion, it is two to one but they would
be reconciled. When men see that they are going into another world, it
takes off the edge of their bitterness and violence; and the
apprehensions of the righteous judgment of God, doth awe them into a
patience and forbearance with each other. Can you persecute that man
on earth, with whom you look to dwell in heaven? (But to restrain a
man from damning souls, by heresy or turbulency, or any such course,
my conscience would not forbid it me if I were dying.)
_Direct._ XLI. Let the proud themselves, who will regard no
higher motives, remember how fame and history will represent them to
posterity when they are dead. There is no man that desireth his name
should stink and be odious to future generations: there is nothing
that an ambitious man desireth more, than a great surviving name. And
will you knowingly and wilfully then expose it to perpetual contempt
and hatred? Read over what history you please, and find out the name
of one persecutor if you can, that is not now a word of ignominy, and
doth not rot, as God hath threatened! If you say, that it is only in
the esteem of such as I, or the persecuted party; neither your opinion
shall be judge nor mine; but the opinion and language of historians,
and of the wisest men, who are the masters of fame. Certainly that
report of holy Scripture and history which hath prevailed, will still
prevail; and while there are wise, and good, and merciful men in the
world, the names and manners of the foolish, and wicked, and cruel
will be odious, as they continue at this day.
I have wrote these directions to discharge my duty, for those that are
willing to escape the guilt of so desperate a sin; but not with any
expectation at all, that it should do much good with any considerable
number of persecutors; for they will not read such things as these;
and God seldom giveth professed christians over to this sin, till they
have very grievously blinded their minds, and hardened their hearts,
and by malignity and obstinacy are prepared for his sorest judgments;
and I know that whoever will live godly in Christ Jesus (it is not
said, "who professeth to believe in Christ Jesus," but, "to live
godly") shall suffer persecution, and that the cross must still be the
passage to the crown.[134]
[125] Dæmones ex hominibus fieri quidam opinati sunt, perpetua
criminum licentia, &c. Quod ut forte tolerabiliter dictum sit,
malarum voluntatem similitudo efficit, qua homo malus atque in malis
obstinatus pene dæmonem æquat. Petrarch. de Injusto Domin.
[126] 1 Kings xxii. 8, 27; xiii. 2, 4.
[127] 2 Chron. xvi. 10.
[128] John xix. 12.
[129] Matt. ii. 16-18; xiv. 6-9; Mark vi. 19, 21, 22; Acts i. 2-4.
[130] See my "Treatise of a True Catholic, and Catholic Church."
[131] See Vincent. Lirinens.
[132] Rom. viii. 7, 8; Gen. iii. 15.
[133] Exod. xix. 5; 1 Pet. ii. 9; Tit. ii. 14; 2 Cor. vi. 16-18;
Mal. iii. 17, 18; Eph. iii. 17; 1 Cor. iii. 16; 2 Tim. i. 14;
1 John iv. 15, 16.
[134] 2 Tim. iii. 11, 12; Matt. v. 11, 12; Luke xiv. 26, 33.