The dying man's testament to the Church of Scotland, or, A treatise concerning scandal…

Assert. 2. It is not a Magistrates duty in the case of¹ overspreading delusion, merely to look to outward order and civil peace and injury, and to give liberty to any o• many sorts of dangerous errors and delusions to spread; or, to give toleration unto the maintainers thereof, in their spreading the same. For, 1. such errors, are ill deeds, and such spreaders, are ill doers, bringing great prejudice to people, Gal. 5. 20. 2 Epist. of John 11. 2. Magistrates ought to be a terror to evil doers indefinitely; and, I suppose, if the sword be born in vain in reference to them, the conscience will not have ground of quietness in the day of judgement, upon a distinction of evil doers▪ when the Lord hath made none such in their commission. 3. They ought to be zealous of His honour who is their Superior, that His name be not blasphemed: and can such be tolerate without this construction, upon the matter, that men have liberty to blaspheme the Name of God, to abuse His truth, reproach His Ordinances, and to take His Name in vain as they will? Would any supreme Magistrate take it well, to have some inferior officer, or Magistrate of a Town or Province, to give such liberty to these under his jurisdiction in reference to him? And is there any such distance between the supreme and inferior Magistrate, as there is between the Majesty of God, and the most supreme power on earth? And what if He judge between Him and them out of their ⟨p. 243⟩own mouth, and, according to the measure that they met out to others, met out to them? 4. Are they not to seek the peoples good? And is there any such good, as their spiritual good? Or, are there any such enemies to that as seducers? We conceive therefore▪ it will not be found agreeable to the intent of their office and scope which they ought to aim at therein, that Magistrates should give this liberty or connivance to men, to vent and propagate such errors as may destroy souls, and actually overturn the face of a visible Church, so that if something overspread universally, (as Popery, and some other gross errors and delusions have done in some places of the world) there should be no visible Church within such dominions; And indeed, upon these principles, men cannot impute it to their own care, that it is other ways.