OF TOLERATION. 18?
yet a cliikl, was torn in pieces of the soldiers, all crying out, " that not a whelp was to be left of so cursed a stock." Decius, having reigned scarce two years, was slain with his children, Euseb., lib. vii. cap. 1. Valerian, being taken by Sapores king of Persia, was carried about in a cage, and being seventy years old, was at length flayed alive, Euseb., lib. vii. cap. 13. Another Valerian, of the same stamp v/ith his brother and kindred, was murdered at Milan. Diocletian being smitten with madness, had his palace consumed with fire from heaven^ and perished miserably. The city of Alexandria, in the time of Gallienus, was, for its persecution, so wasted with variety of destroy- ing plagues and judgments, that the Avliole number of its inhabitants answered not the grey-headed old men that were in it before, Dionys. apud Euseb., lib. vii. cap. 21. What was the end of Julian is known to all. Now, truly, of many of these we might well say, as one of old did, " Quales imperatores." As Trajan, Hadrian, Severus, Ju- lian, what excellent emperors had they been, had they not been per- secutors ! And all this, says Tertulliau, is come to pass that men might learn /aji Sso/z-a^E/i'. He that desires to see more of this, let him consult Tertul. Apol. et ad Scap.; Euseb. Eccles. Hist., lib. vii. cap. 21; August, de Civit. Dei, lib. xviii. cap. 52 ; Eutrop., lib. viii. It would be tedious to descend to examples of latter ages, our own and the neighbour nations do so' much, too much, abound with them. Let this that hath been spoken suffice to cautionate mortal men how they meddle with the vessels of the sanctuary.
But now may some say, What will be the issue of this discourse ? Do you, then, leave ever}^ one at liberty in the things of God ? Hath the magistrate nothing to do in or abovit religion ? Is he to depose the care thereof? Shall men, exasperated in their spirits by diffe- rent jiersuasions, be suffered to devour one another as they please ?
III. I have only showed the weakness of those grounds which some men make the bottom of their testimonies against the tolera- tion of any thing but what themselves conceive to be truth ; as also, taken away the chief of those arguments upon which such a pro- ceeding against erring persons is bottomed as tends to blood and death. What positively the civil magistrate may, nay, ought to do, in the whole business of religion, comes in the next place to be con- sidered, being the third and last part of our discourse.
Now, my thoughts unto this I shall hold out under these three heads.
1. What is the magistrate's duty as to the truth, and persons pro- fessing it.
2. What in reference to the opposers and revilers of it.
3. AVhat in respect of dissenters from it.
1. I shall begin with the first, which to me is much of chiefcst importance.
188 OF TOLERATION.
His power, or rather his duty herein, I shall hold out in these en- suing propositions : —
(1.) As all men in general, so magistrates, even as such, are bound to know the mind and will of God in the things which concern his honour and worship. They are bound, I say, to know it. This obli- gation lies upon all creatures capable of knowing the Creator, answer- ably to that light which of him they have, and the means of revela- tion which they do enjoy. He of whom we speak is supposed to have that most sovereign and supreme of all outward teachings, the word of God, with such other helps as are thereby revealed, and therein appointed ; so as he is bound to know the Avill of God in every thing him concerning. Wherein he fails and comes short of the truth, it is his sin ; — the defect being not in the manner of the reve- lation, but in the con-uption of his darkened mind. Now, that he is to make this inquiry in reference to his calling, is evident from that of Da\id, 2 Sam. xxiii. 3, " He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God." This fear is only taught by the word. Without a right knowledge of God and his mind, there can be no true fear of him. That command, also, for the Jewish magistrate to study it day and night, and to have the book of the law continually before him, because it was the rule of that civil polity whereof he was, under God, the head and preserver, by analogy confirmeth this truth, Deut. xvii. 18, 19.
(2.) If he desire this wisdom sincerely, and the Lord intend him " as a light of the morning, as a rising sun, a morning without clouds" to his people, doubtless he will reveal himself to him, and teach him his mind ; as he did David and Solomon, and other holy men of old. And as to this, I shall only with due reverence cautionate the sons of men that are exalted in government over their brethren, that they take heed of a lifted-up spirit, — the greatest closer of the heart against the truth of God. He hath promised to teach the humble and the lowly in mind; the proud he beholdeth afar off. Is not this the great reason that the rulers believe not on him, and the nobles lay not their necks to the yoke of the Lord, even because their hearts are lifted up within them, and so lie in an unteachable frame before the Lord I