A86009:38
Wholesome severity reconciled with Christian liberty. Or, the true resolution of a present controversy…VVholesome severity reconciled with Christian liberty. Or, the true resolution of a present controversie…
Wholesome severity reconciled with Christian liberty. Or, the true resolution of a present controversy concerning liberty of conscience. Here you have the question stated, the middle way betwixt popish tyranny and schismatizing liberty approved, and also confirmed from Scripture, and the testimonies of divines, yea of whole churches: the chief arguments and exceptions used in The bloody tenet, The compassionate Samaritan, M.S. to A.S. &c. examined. Eight distinctions added for qualifying and clearing the whole matter. And in conclusion a parænetick to the five apologists for choosing accommodation rather then toleration. Imprimatur. Ja. Cranford. Decemb 16. 1644.VVholesome severity reconciled with Christian liberty. Or, the true resolution of a present controversie concerning liberty of conscience. Here you have the question stated, the middle way betwixt popish tyrannie and schismatizing liberty approved, and also confirmed from Scripture, and the testimonies of divines, yea of whole churches: the chiefe arguments and exceptions used in The bloudy tenent, The compassionate samaritane, M.S. to A.S. &c. examined. Eight distinctions added for qualifying and clearing the whole matter. And in conclusion a parænetick to the five apologists for choosing accommodation rather then toleration. Imprimatur. Ia. Cranford. Decemb 16. 1644.
London: printed for Christopher Meredith, 1645
Title page typeset from the transcription.
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.
So that one may not argue thus: The godly Kings of Judah did remove the monuments of Idolatry and Superstition, therefore so should the Christian Magistrate do. The most arrant malignant may answer in the words of Mr. Williams, chap. 109. that the Civill power or State of Israel, so far as it attended upon the spiritual, was merely figurative: Or in the words of M. S. pag. 51. There are two reasons very considerable why the Kings of Judah might be invested by God with a larger power in matters of religion, then Kings or Magistrates under the Gospel have any ground or warrant to claim from them. First, they were types of Christ (but by the way how doth he prove that Asa, Jehu, and Josiah were types of Christ?) which no King under heaven at this day is. Secondly, not the people only, but the very land over which they ruled were typical. 5. The punishment of persons was a part of their reformation, as well as the destruction of monuments, and why must we follow their example in the one, more then the other? If we smart under both their diseases, we must apply both their remedies, or neither.
So that one may not argue thus: The godly Kings of Judah did remove the monuments of Idolatry and Superstition, therefore so should the Christian Magistrate doe. The most arrant malignant may answer in the words of Mr. Williams, chap. 109. that the Civill power or State of Israel, so farre as it attended upon the spirituall, was meerly figurative: Or in the words of M. S. pag. 51. There are two reasons very considerable why the Kings of Judah might be invested by God with a larger power in matters of religion, then Kings or Magistrates under the Gospel have any ground or warrant to claime from them. First, they were types of Christ (but by the way how doth he prove that Asa, Jehu, and Josiah were types of Christ?) which no King under heaven at this day is. Secondly, not the people onely, but the very land over which they ruled were typicall. 5. The punishment of persons was a part of their reformation, as well as the destruction of monuments, and why must we follow their example in the one, more then the other? If we smart under both their diseases, we must apply both their remedies, or neither.
The third argument is drawn from the New Testament. The magistrate beareth not the sword in vain, for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath on him that doth evil,