1 are no Perfecutors, however they may be brand- IV. I fhall in fome Measure vindicate the Procedure of the State in fuch Cafes; a Duty incumbent upon thofe Governors of the Church, who are under its Protection, fo far as Truth, God's Word, and the Reafon of the Thing will give Leave: Otherwise it is their Duty to be filent. Here then we are to take Notice, that, as our Articles tell us, we are to acknowledge all that Power to be inherent in our lawful Princes, that was fettled in the Kings of Ifrael and Judah by the Law of God; fo thofe Powers and that Authority which Chriftian Kings and Emperors of old juftly claim'd, belongs to them too. Now it was a Duty fo incumbent upon the Kings of If ael and Judah to fupprefs all Idolatry, or all fuch Perfons as were any way irregular in their Methods of worshiping God; that where any fuch Irregularities were tolerated in the least, it was laid to the Charge of the Prince as a Sin; because it was his Duty, and the Means were in his Hands, to hinder it : And tho' there feems to have been fomething of a Connivance at Solomon, when he offer'd Sa- 1 Kings 3. crifices in the High Places; yet it is recorded in 2, 3, 4. Abate K 4 and ch.20. 23. 2 Chron. Abatement of the Glory of fome very pious 15. 17. Princes of Judah, that thofe very High Places were not yet remov'd. It is not to be doubted but that both the Chief and Inferior Priests were obliged to reprove Men for fuch Wickedneffes, and to lay the Guilty under fuch Cenfures as were in their Power: But the Kings only had Authority to back their Cenfures with the Civil Sword, and to make them effectual to the Terror of Evil Doers, and to the Praife of fuch as did well: And God generally rewarded fuch Princes by guarding their Honour in the State, as they ftudied to promote his Honour in the Church. But if thofe Kings at any Time took into their Favour and Protection fuch as were Tranfgreflors of the Divine Laws, and declared fuch by the Priests, who were the immediate Inter-, preters of the Law of God; the Confequence muft neceffarily have been a Contempt of all Religion and Church-Power at once: For those Men who can avoid all Temporal Inconveniencies, notwithstanding any Guilt they have contracted; will, too frequently, look with Scorn on those Punishments which depend upon Futurity for their Execution. Ifthen Chriftians have as ftrong and convincing Reafons to believe and maintain the Truth of that Religion, which they profefs, as the Jews had for theirs; then it muft follow, that, every profefs'd Chriftian in his own particular Station ought to fhew as great a Zeal and as precise a Care to advance the Interefts of the Chriftian Religion as was requir'd in any of those of the Jewish Nation: And fo Chriftian Princes, if they confider'd well their own Dignity and Power, were under as ftrong a Tie to reprefs all Errors, Hereftes and Schifms, as as the Jewish Monarchs were before. For it is unreasonable to believe, that the best and pureft Religion in the World fhould have the fewest Supports, and be the moft expos'd to the Affronts and Indignities of a malignant Generation. ། The Emperor Juftinian therefore argues well in his Preface to the 137 Novel." If we ftudy Novel, to make those Civil Laws, (the Power of ma- 137. "king which God of his Goodness to Man"kind has entrusted us with ;) If we ftudy to "make them firm and univerfally obligatory for the Security of the Obedient; how much more exact Care ought we to take for the Ob"fervation of thofe Sacred Canons and Divine "Laws, which were prefcrib'd for the Salvation "of our Souls?" And he adds, "For if our Se"cular Laws permit not an Offender against "them to pass untry'd or unpunish'd; how can we permit these Rules,Canonically determin'd "by the Apostles and Fathers for the Safety of "our Souls, to be defpis'd?" Nor can any thing appear more rational than that: Snce Errors in Region reflect upon the Honour of Almighty God; Princes, who are God's immediate Vicegerents and Reprefentatives, fhould endeavour by all means to fecure that Honour, and to preferve that Religion in its Purity and Vigour. And I believe, if Men would be fo curious, as they ought to be, in their Obfervations on the Events of Things; they'd find, that as God exprefs'd himself in thofe fevere Terms to Eli, who was both the High-Prieft and Sovereign Judge of Ifrael, on Account of his Negligence in this Matter; fo He in fome Meafure made it good in his Dealings with all in T 30. 1 Sam. 2. Eli's Fault and Eli's Power ever fince. Thofe who honour me, I will honour, and those who defpife me, fhall be lightly efteem'd. It was upon this Reafon, that Eufebius praises Conftantine the Great as a kind of general Bishop, or Bishop of the whole Church in his Empire, viz. upon Account of that extraordinary Care he took in affifting perfonally in the Synodical Affemblies of the Bishops, and in procuring the Honour, Peace and Welfare of the Church. Ομα τις κοινὸς ἐπίσκοπος. De vita Conftan. L. 1. See Peter de Mar. ea, Lib. 2. c. 10. & L. 4. de Concord. Sa cerd, & Imperii. From hence it is, that the Juftinianian Code begins with thofe Titles concerning Faith in the Holy Trinity, concerning Churches, Bifhops, Priefts and Deacons, and concerning Hereticks; where we have a Refcript of Gratian, Valentinian and Theodofius to thofe of Conftantinople, declaring that they were refolv'd, that all their Subjects fhould be of one Religion, viz. of that deriv'd from St. Peter to the Bifhops of Rome and Alexandria, the then principal Churches in the Chriftian World; and all this, before Popery begun, and yet under the fevereft Penalties. In another Refcript to Eutropius, these Emperors command, that all pretended Chriftians fhould embrace the Nicene Creed; they forbid all Affemblies of Hereticks on Pretence of religious Worfhip; and they order fuch to be expell'd all Ecclefiaftical Societies. So again, Theodofius and Valentinian, Perfons of excellent Piety, and admirable Governors, in a Refcript to Hormifdas then Cod. Juft. Bishop of Rome, tell the World, that, They L. 1. Tit. " judged it a thing becoming the Imperial Authority to admonish their Subjects about Religion; for that they thought it a likely "Means to procure redoubled Bleffings from 1. σε their 14 their Saviour Jefus Chrift, if they ftudied to "please him themselves, and if they endea"vour'd to oblige their Subjects to the fame thing." As thefe pious Emperors afferted this their Authority openly; fo in Purfuance of fuch their Authority, a Refcript of Conftantine, Conftantius, and Conftans, (the three Sons of Conftantine the Great, and among whom he divided his/ Empire,) to Dracilianus Prefect of Rome, orders, that "all thofe Privileges and Franchises be Lib. 1. Tit. 5. Qui re. ftow'd on their Subjects for the Encourageર ment of Religion, ought to belong to true "Catholick or Orthodox Chriftians only; that "Hereticks fhould enjoy none of them, but "have feveral Burdens laid upon them." Gratian, Valentinian and Theodofius command to the fame Purpose, and that none may doubt their Meaning, they tell us that," By He"reticks they understand all fuch as have been discover'd going out of "the Way, and departing from the Judgment of the univerfal Church in the smallest Matter whatfoever.' And Theodofius and Valentinian, with particular Refpect to the Neftorians, forbid them, upon Penalty of forfeiting all their Goods, to hold any Conventicles privately or publickly, and to have or read, or copy out, any of Neftorius his damnable Heretical Books. What would a Whifton, or a Clark, a Tindal, or a Collins, a Fox or a Barclay, or any of that equally Unchriftian Heretical or Atheistical Brood have done under fuch a Government and fuch Governors? It were endless to give all the Inftances to this Purpose, in the Codes and Novels, where the Penalties decreed for Hereticks reach not only the Goods |