A78979:122
An indictment against England because of her self-murdering divisionsAn indictment against England because of her selfe-murdering divisions
An indictment against England because of her self-murdering divisions: together with an exhortation to an England-preserving unity and concord. Presented in a sermon preached before the Right Honourable House of Lords in the Abby church at Westminster; at the late solemn fast, December 25. 1644. By Edmund Calamy, B.D. and pastor of Aldermanbury in London.An indictment against England because of her selfe-murdering divisions: together vvith an exhortation to an England-preserving vnity and concord. Presented in a sermon preached before the Right Honourable House of Lords in the Abby church at Westminster; at the late solemne fast, December 25. 1644. By Edmund Calamy, B.D. and pastour of Aldermanbury in London.
London: printed by I. L. for Christopher Meredith, 1645
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Lastly, It is your duty (Right Honourable) whom God hath betrusted with great power, to suppress these divisions and differences in Religion by your Civill Authority, as far as you are able, lest you be accessary unto them. For God hath made you Custodes utriusque tabulae, Keepers not of the second Table only, (as some fondly imagine) but of the first Table also, and not only Keepers, but Vindices utriusque Tabulae, Punishers also of those that transgress against either of them. For you are the Ministers of God for good, and Revengers to execute wrath upon him that doth evil. Rom. 13. 4. And God hath deputed you for the punishment of evil doers, and for the praise of them that do well. 1 Pet. 2. 19. There are some that would blot out half your Commission, and restrain this Good and evil to civill good and to evils only against men. But this is against that generall Rule, Non est distinguendum ubi lex non distinguit. Where the Law doth not distinguish, there must not we distinguish. Tell me I beseech you, Shall it be lawful for Magistrates to punish those that destroy mens bodies, but not those that destroy mens souls? Shall they be blamed for suffering men to draw people away from obedience to the Laws of the Land and to themselves, and not also for suffering men to draw away people from the truth of the Gospel, and from the ways of God, such as Hymenaeus and Philetus, who overthrow the faith of some, and their words eat as a Canker? Shall Christian Magistrates take up the Maxim of Tiberius, Deorum iniurias Diis curae esse? Let God himself take care to vindicate himself from injuries committed against God? As for me, I will (just like Gallio) take care of none of these things. Can Christian ears endure such language? Doth not God prophecy, Isaiah 49. 23. That in the New Testament Kings shall be our nursing Fathers, and Queens our nursing Mothers? And how can a Christian Magistrate discharge that duty aright if he hath not power from God to punish those that would poison the souls of his weak children with heresies, and soul-destroying opinions? I do not deny, but that there is great wisdom to be observed by Magistrates in distinguishing between persons and persons, between errors and errors. Some persons are pious and peaceable, others turbulent and furious.
Lastly, It is your dutie (Right Honourable) whom God hath betrusted with great power, to suppresse these divisions and differences in Religion by your Civill Authoritie, as farre as you are able, lest you be accessary unto them. For God hath made you Custodes utriusque tabulae, Keepers not of the second Table onely, (as some fondly imagine) but of the first Table also, and not onely Keepers, but Vindices utriusque Tabulae, Punishers also of those that transgresse against either of them. For you are the Ministers of God for good, and Revengers to execute wrath upon him that doth evill.