fastings, [1718] and thanksgivings upon several [1719] occasions; [1720] which are, in their several times and seasons, to be used in an holy and religious manner. [1721] solennesque gratiarum actiones, pro varietate eventuum [1722] ; suo quæque tempore ac opportunitate sancte quidem ac religiose sunt adhibenda. [1723] VI. Neither prayer, nor any other part of religious worship, is now, under the gospel, either tied unto, or made more acceptable by any place in which it is performed, or towards which it is directed: [1724] but God is to be worshiped every where [1725] in spirit and [1726] truth; [1727] as in private families [1728] daily, [1729] and in secret each one by himself, [1730] so more solemnly in the public assemblies, which are not carelessly or willfully to be neglected or forsaken, when God, by his Word or providence, calleth thereunto. [1731] VI. Hodie sub evangelio neque preces, nec ulla pars alia religiosi cultus ita cuivis alligatur loco in quo præstetur aut versus quem dirigatur, [1732] ut inde gratior evadat et acceptior; verum ubique Deus colendus est [1733] in spiritu ac veritate; [1734] quotidie [1735] quidem inter privatos parietes a quavis familia, [1736] ut etiam a quolibet seorsim in secreto; [1737] at solenniter magis in conventibus publicis, qui certe quoties eo nos Deus vocat, seu verbo suo seu providentia, non sunt vel ex incuria vel obstinatione animi aut negligendi aut deserendi. [1738] VII. As it is of the law of nature, that, in general, a due proportion of time be set apart for the worship of God; so, in his Word, by a positive, moral, and perpetual commandment, binding all men in all ages, he hath particularly appointed one day in seven for a Sabbath, to be kept holy unto him: [1739] which, from the VII. Quemadmodum est de lege naturæ ut indefinite portio quædam temporis idonea divino cultui celebrando sejuncta sit ac assignata; ita in verbo suo Deus (præcepto morali, positivo ac perpetuo, homines omnes cujuscunque fuerint seculi obligante) speciatim e septenis quibusque diebus diem unum in Sabbatum designavit, sancte sibi observandum. [1740] Quod
beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, was the last day of the week; and, from the resurrection of Christ, was changed into the first day of the week, [1741] which in Scripture is called the Lord's day, [1742] and is to be continued to the end of the world, as the Christian Sabbath. [1743] quidem ab orbe condito ad resurrectionem usque Christi dies ultimus erat in septimana; deinde autem a Christi resurrectione in septimanæ diem primum transferebatur; [1744] qui quidem in Scriptura Dies Dominicus [1745] nuncupatur, estque perpetuo ad finem mundi tanquam Sabbatum Christianum celebrandus. [1746] VIII. This Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord, when men, after a due preparing of their hearts, and ordering of their common affairs beforehand, do not only observe an holy rest all the day from their own works, words, and thoughts, about their worldly employments and recreations; [1747] but also are taken up the whole time in the public and private exercises of his worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy. [1748] VIII. Tunc autem hoc Sabbatum Deo sancte celebratur, quum post corda rite præparata, et compositas suas res mundanas, homines non solum a suis ipsorum operibus, dictis, cogitatis; (quæ circa illas exerceri solent) a recreationibus etiam ludicris quietem sanctam toto observant die; [1749] verum etiam in exercitiis divini cultus publicis privatisque, ac in officiis necessitatis et misericordiæ toto illo tempore occupantur. [1750] Chapter XXII. Cap. XXII. Of Lawful Oaths and Vows. De Juramentis, votisque licitis. I. A lawful oath is a part of religious worship, [1751] wherein, upon just occasion, the person swearing solemnly calleth God to witness what he asserteth or promiseth; and to judge him according to the truth or falsehood of what he sweareth. [1752] I. Juramentum licitum est pars cultus religiosi, [1753] qua (occasione justa oblata) qui jurat, Deum, de eo quod asserit aut promittit, solenni modo testatur; eundemque appellat se secundum illius quod jurat veritatem aut falsitatem judicaturum. [1754] II. The name of God only is that II. Per solum Dei nomen jurare
by which, men ought to swear, and therein it is to be used with all holy fear and reverence; [1755] therefore to swear vainly or rashly by that glorious and dreadful name, or to swear at all by any other thing, is sinful, and to be abhorred. [1756] Yet as, in matters of weight and moment, an oath is warranted by the Word of God, under the New Testament, as well as under the Old, [1757] so a lawful oath, being imposed by lawful authority, in such matters ought to be taken. [1758] debent homines, quod quidem cum omni timore sancto ac reverentia est inibi usurpandum. [1759] Proindeque per nomen illud gloriosum ac tremendum jurare leviter, aut temere, vel etiam omnino jurare per rem aliam quamviscunque, sceleratum est et quam maxime perhorrescendum. [1760] Veruntamen sicut in rebus majoris ponderis et momenti secundum verbum Dei licitum est jusjurandum non minus quidem sub Novo quam sub Vetere Testamento: [1761] ita sane jusjurandum licitum, authoritate legitima si exigatur, non est in rebus ejusmodi declinandum. [1762] III. Whosoever taketh an oath ought duly to consider the weightiness of so solemn an act, and therein to avouch nothing but what he is fully persuaded is the truth. [1763] Neither may any man bind himself by oath to any thing but what is good and just, and what he believeth so to be, and what he is able and resolved to perform. [1764] Yet it is a sin to refuse an oath touching any thing that is good and just, being imposed by lawful authority. [1765] III. Quicunque juramentum præstat eum pondus actionis tam solennis rite secum perpendere oportet, atque juratum de nullo asseverare quod verum esse non habeat sibi persuasissimum. [1766] Neque licet cuivis ad agendum quicquam obstringere semet jurejurando, nisi quod revera bonum justumque est, quod ille ejusmodi esse credit, quodque ipse præstare potest statuitque. [1767] Veruntamen de re bona justaque jusjurandum, legitima authoritate si exigatur, peccat ille qui detrectat. [1768] IV. An oath is to be taken in the plain and common sense of IV. Juramentum præstandum est sensu verborum vulgari quidem ac
the words, without equivocation or mental reservation. [1769] It can not oblige to sin; but in any thing not sinful, being taken, it binds to performance, although to a man's own hurt: [1770] nor is it to be violated, although made to heretics or infidels. [1771] manifesto, sine æquivocatione aut reservatione mentali quaviscunque. [1772] Ad peccandum quenquam obligare nequit, verum in re qualibet cui abest peccatum, qui semel illud præstitit, adimplere tenetur, vel etiam cum damno suo; [1773] neque sane licet, quamvis hæreticis datum aut infidelibus, violare. [1774] V. A vow is of the like nature with a promissory oath, and ought to be made with the like religious care, and to be performed with the like faithfulness. [1775] V. Votum, naturæ consimilis est cum juramento promissorio, parique debet tum religione nuncupari tum fide persolvi. [1776] VI. It is not to be made to any creature, but to God alone: [1777] and that it may be accepted, it is to be made voluntarily, out of faith and conscience of duty, in way of thankfulness for mercy received, or for the [1778] obtaining of what we want; whereby we more strictly bind ourselves to necessary duties, or to other things, so far and so long as they may fitly conduce thereunto. [1779] VI. Non est ulli creaturæ, sed Deo soli nuncupandum, [1780] et quo gratum illi esse possit acceptumque, est quidem lubenter, e fide, officiique nostri conscientia suscipiendum, vel gratitudinis nostræ ob accepta beneficia testandæ causa, vel boni alicujus, quo indigemus, consequendi; per hoc autem nosmet ad officia necessaria arctius obligamus; vel etiam ad res alias quatenus quidem et quamdiu istis subserviunt. [1781] VII. No man may vow to do any thing forbidden in the Word of God, or what would hinder any duty therein commanded, or which is not in his own power, and for the performance whereof he hath no promise VII. Nemini quicquam vovere licet se acturum, quod aut verbo Dei prohibetur; aut officium aliquod inibi præceptum impediret, quodve non est in voventis potestate, et cui præstando vires illi Deus non est pollicitus. [1782]
or ability from God. [1783] In which respect, [1784] popish monastical vows of perpetual single life, professed poverty, and regular obedience, are so far from being degrees of higher perfection, that they are superstitions and sinful snares, in which no Christian may entangle himself. [1785] Unde Pontificiorum illa de perpetuo coelibatu, de paupertate, deque obedientia regulari vota Monastica, tantum abest ut perfectionis gradus sint sublimiores, ut superstitionis plane sint ac peccati laquei, quibus nulli unquam Christiano semetipsum licet implicare. [1786] Chapter XXIII. Cap. XXIII. Of the Civil Magistrate. De Magistratu Civili. I. God, the Supreme Lord and King of all the world, hath ordained civil magistrates to be under him, over the people, for his own glory and the public good, and to this end hath armed them with the power of the sword, for the defense and encouragement of them that are good, and for the punishment of evil-doers. [1787] I. Supremus totius Mundi Rex ac Dominus Deus, Magistratus Civiles ordinavit qui vices ejus gerant supra populum ad suam ipsius gloriam, ac bonum publicum; in quem finem eosdem armavit potestate gladii, propter bonorum quidem animationem ac tutamen, animadversionem autem in maleficos. [1788] II. It is lawful for Christians to accept and execute the office of a magistrate when called thereunto; [1789] in the managing whereof, as they ought especially to maintain piety, justice, and peace, according to the wholesome laws of each commonwealth, [1790] so, for that end, they may lawfully, now under the New Testament, wage war upon just and necessary occasion. [1791] ^& [1792] II. Christianis, quoties ad id vocantur, Magistratus munus et suscipere licet et exequi; [1793] in quo quidem gerendo, ut pietatem præcipue, justitiam, ac pacem secundum salubres cujusque Reipublicæ leges tueri debent, [1794] ita quo illum finem consequantur, licitum est iis vel hodie sub Novo Testamento in causis justis ac necessariis bellum gerere. [1795]
III. The civil magistrate may not assume to himself the administration of the Word and Sacraments, or the power of the keys of the kingdom of heaven: [1796] yet he hath authority, and it is his duty to take order, that unity and peace be preserved in the Church, that the truth of God be kept pure and entire, that all blasphemies and heresies be suppressed, all corruptions and abuses in worship and discipline prevented or reformed, and all the ordinances of God duly settled, administered, and observed. [1797] For the better effecting whereof he hath power to call synods, to be present at them, and to provide that whatsoever is transacted in them be according to the mind of God. [1798] III. Magistratui Civili verbi et sacramentorum administrationem, aut clavium regni coelorum potestatem assumere sibi non est licitum: [1799] nihilo tamen minus et jure potest ille, eique incumbit providere ut Ecclesiæ unitas ac tranquillitas conservetur, ut veritas Dei pura et integra custodiatur, ut supprimantur blasphemiæ omnes, hæresesque, ut in cultu ac disciplina omnes corruptelæ ac abusus aut præcaveantur aut reformentur, omnia denique instituta divina, ut rite statuminentur, administrentur, observentur. [1800] Quæ omnia quo melius præstare possit, potestatem habet tum Synodos convocandi, tum ut ipsis intersit, prospiciatque, ut quicquid in iis transigatur sit menti divinæ consentaneum. [1801]
The above section is changed in the American revision, and adapted to the separation of Church and State, as follows:
[III. Civil magistrates may not assume to themselves the administration of the Word and Sacraments (2 Chron. xxvi. 18); or the power of the keys of the kingdom of heaven (Matt. xvi. 19; 1 Cor. iv. 1, 2); or, in the least, interfere in matters of faith (John xviii. 36; Mal. ii. 7; Acts v. 29). Yet as nursing fathers, it is the duty of civil magistrates to protect the Church of our common Lord, without giving the preference to any denomination of Christians above the rest, in such a manner that all ecclesiastical persons whatever shall enjoy the full, free, and unquestioned liberty of discharging every part of their sacred functions, without violence or danger (Isa. xlix. 23). And, as Jesus Christ hath appointed a regular government and discipline in his Church, no law of any commonwealth should interfere with, let, or hinder, the due exercise thereof, among the voluntary members of any denomination of Christians, according to their own profession and belief (Psa. cv. 15; Acts xviii. 14-16). It is the duty of civil magistrates to protect the person and good name of all their people, in such an effectual manner as that no person be suffered, either upon pretence of religion or infidelity, to offer any indignity, violence, abuse, or injury to any other person whatsoever: and to take order, that all religious and ecclesiastical assemblies be held without molestation or disturbance (2 Sam. xxiii. 3; 1 Tim. ii. 1; Rom. xiii. 4).]