PAKT II. ReverendMr. Richard Baxter. .07 rule them by confiraint and not as voluntary Subjeóts , not by Enfample ( for one of an hundred never feethor knoweth them) but as Lords by Secular Force. Dr. Hammond taketh the word [Con/trains] here As ively, not Pallively ; not as forbid- ding them to be Bithops againft their own Wills, but to Rule the People by conftraint againft the Peoples wills: It would be tedious to recite all thofe Texts, which command the Peopleto imi- tate the Apoftles as they imitated Chrift, ( whonever ufed Magiftratical force ; nor did any ofhis Apoftles) and fay that the Weapons of ourwarfare are not carnal; and that he that warreth entangleth nothimfelf with the Affairs of this Life, and that the Servant of the Lord muff not ftrive, but be gentle, dre. 4 351. 2. And that this Coercive Church.Government is an heinous Injury to Chriftian Magiftrates; even where it fèemechto be fubordinate to them, appeareth thus. r. Though they do moftlyconfefs that they can exercife no Power of Coercion of themfelves, but by the Magiftrates confent, yet do. they take it to be the Magi- ftrates duty to content to it, as if hewere not elfe a tender Nurling Father to the Church : and fo they lay hisConfcience in Prifon,till he truft them with hisSword, or ferve them by it. 2. They call their Magiftratical Government by the Name of Spiritual and Ec- clefiafíical Government; And fo by the Name, they feduce Mens minds , to think that this is indeed thefe of the Keys, which God hath put into the Churches Hands. 3. Hereby they greatly encourage the Ufurpation of the Pope and his Clergy, who fet up fuch Courts,for probate ofWills,and Caufes of Matrimony,and rule the Church in a Secular manner (though manyof themconfefs that direály the Church bath no forcing Power): And this they call the Churches Power, and Spiritual Go- vernment, andEcclefiaftical `Jurifdiáion; and fay that it belongethnot to Kings, and that no King can inConfcience reltrain them of it; but mutt prote& them in it : And fo they fet up Imperium in Imperio, and, as Bithop Bede Paid of Ireland, ThePope bath a Kingdom therein the Kingdom, greater than the Kings (Againft which Ludov: Molinscus bath written at large, in two or three Treatifes) : So that when thePapal Power in Englandwascart down, and their Courts fubje&ed to the King, and the Oath ofSupremacy formed, it was undevthe Name of Ecelefiafheal and Spirituel Power that it was acknowledged to be in the King (whoyet claimeth nopro- per Spiritual or Eeelefiafticel Power ) : fo greatly werethefe Terms abufed ; and fo are they Rill asupplied to our Bithops Courts : fò that the King is Cid by us tobe Chief Governour in all Caufes Ecclefiaftical, becaufe Coercive Power in Church Matters (which is proper to the Magiftrate) was pofleffed and claimed by the Cler- gy. And in all Popiíh Kingdoms, the Kings are hut half Kings , through thefe Ufurpations of the Clergy. And for us to Exercife the fime kind ofPower, mixt with the Exercife of the Keys, and that by the fame Name, is greatly to counten- ance the Ufurpers. 4 352. Ifit be faid, That the Church claliuseth noCoercive Power, but as grant- ed themby the King, or that it is the Magiftratethat annexeth Mulcts and Pe, nalties, and not the Church : I anfwer, r. They perfwade the Magiftrate that he ought to do fo. 2. Force is not a meet Accident, but confeffed by them to be the very Lifeof their Government: It is that which bringeth People to their Courts, and enforceth all their Precepts, andcaufeth Obedience to them ; fo that it is part of the very Conftitution of their Government: And as to Fees and Commutation of Penance, Pecuniary Mul&s are thus impofed by themfelves. ,3. Their very Courts and Officers are of a Secular Form. 4. The Magiftrate is but the Execu- tioner of their Sentence: He muffgrant out a Writ, and imprifon a Man guatenus exconmianicate without fitting in Judgment upon the Caufe himfeff, and trying the Perfon according to his Accufation. And what a dilhonour do thefe Men put oil Magiftrates, that make them their Executioners, to imprifon thofe whom they con- demn, inaudita caufà, at a venture, be it right or wrong. So much of the NonconformiftsChargesagainft the Englillo Prelacy. 4 353. By this you may fee what they Anfwer to theReafons of the Conform ifts. As, r. To the willing Conformifts, who plead also Division, they fay, That ifall that Gerfom, Bucer, Didoclavim, Blundell, Salmafsus, Parker, Baines, &c. have faid a- gainft Epifcopacy it fell were certainly confuted, yet it is quite another thing that is called Epifcopacy, by them that plead it lure Diraisoo : If a. Bithops of fingle Churches
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