Chap. IV. The H I S TORY of the PURITANS. 8:9 " f:mblies for church matters, can either be chief moderator, over - ruler , - ct*been " judge,or determiner; nor has he fuch authority as that,without his content, ï Sch' S " it fhould not be lawful for ecclefaftical perlons to make any church orders " or ceremonies. -- Church matters ought ordinarily to be handled by " church officers.--The principal direction of them is by God's ordinance, " committed to the minifters of the church, and to the eccleuaftical go- " vernors: As thefe meddle not with the making civil laws, fo the civil " magiftrate ought not to ordain ceremonies, or determine controverfies " in the church, as long as they do not intrench upon his temporal au- " thority,--Neverthelefs, our meaning is not to feclude the magiftrate " from our church affemblies: He may call a council of his clergy, and " appoint both time and place; he may be there by himfelf or his depu- " ty, but not as moderator, determiner or judge; he may have his voice " in the affembly, but the orders and decrees of councils are not made " by his authority ; for in ancient times the canons of the councils were '' not called the decrees of the emperors; but of the bifhops. 'Tis the "' prince's province to protect and defend the councils of his clergy, to keep the peace, to fee their decrees executed, and to punifh the con- " temners of them, but to exercife no fpiritual jurifdiélion." We fhall meet with a fullér declaration of the puritans upon this head hereafter ; in the mean time it may be ohferved, that the juft bounda- ries of the civil and eccleliaftical powers were not well underftood and ftated in this age. The powers of the civil magiftrate feem chiefly to regard the civil wel- Remarks, fare of his fubjects : He is to prated them in their properties, and in the peaceable enjoyment of their civil and religious rights; but there is no paffage in the New Teftament that gives him ,a commiffion to be lord of the confciences of his fubjeéts, or to have dominion over their faith ; nor is this agreeable to reafon, becaufe religion ought to be the effed of a free and deliberate choice. Why muft we believe as the king believes, any more than as the clergy or pope ? If every man could believe as he would ; or if all men's undefftandings were exaétly of a fize ; or if God would accept of a meer outward profefhon, when commanded by law ; then it might be reafonable there fhould be only one religion, and one uniform manner of worfhip: But to make ecclefiaflical laws, obliging men's prac- tice under fevere penalties, without or againft the light of their confci- ences, looks like an invafion of the kingly office of Chrift, and muft be fubverfive of all fincerity and virtue. On the -other hand, the jurifdielion of the church is purely fpiritual..No man ought to be compelled, by rewards or punifhments, to become a mem- ber of any chriftian fociety, or to continue of it any longer, than he ap- prehends it to be his duty. All the ordinances of the church are fpi. VOL. I. N ritual,
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