A92140:760
A free disputation against pretended liberty of conscience tending to resolve doubts moved
A free disputation against pretended liberty of conscience tending to resolve doubts moved by Mr. John Goodwin, John Baptist, Dr. Jer. Taylor, the Belgic Arminians, Socinians, and other authors contending for lawless liberty, or licentious toleration of sects and heresies. / By Samuel Rutherfurd professor of divinity in the University of St. Andrews.A free disputation against pretended liberty of conscience tending to resolve doubts moved by Mr. John Goodwin, John Baptist, Dr. Jer. Taylor, the Belgick Arminians, Socinians, and other authors contending for lawlesse liberty, or licentious toleration of sects and heresies. / By Samuel Rutherfurd professor of divinity in the University of St. Andrews.
London: printed by R.I. for Andrew Crook, 1649
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.
2. To Libertines all Churches professing true Religion (as all Churches on earth, Indians, and Mahometanians not excepted, do) must be true Churches, for they are not to judge, but that they follow their conscience,1 and so the Magistrate ow• protection to them, though their conscience be most erroneous, & even for such as they conceive to be true Churches, they are not infallibly persuaded they are such, and so the Magistrate gives no protection to them as true Churches, but only as Subjects, which the Author tells the Magistrate he owes to false Churches, & so the King by this is a Nurse-father, by his office and by the places Isai. 49. 23. and 60. 10. to bring his glory of protection to the where of Rome if they be his Subjects as well as to the New Jerusalem: but sure the King by these places owes father-nursing and Magistratical protection to the true Church not to the false, because Isai 49. 23. 1. The place is clearly of such a Church as the Lord can no more forget, then a woman cannot have compassion on the fruit of her womb, v. 14, 15. 2. Such a Church ⟨p. 324⟩as is graven on the palms of Gods hands, v. 16. 3. Whose •• sters and destroyers shall be removed, v. 17. and destroyed, vers. 18. 4. Which shall be enlarged, by the incoming of the Gentiles, whose place shall be too narrow for multitude of Sons and daughters begotten by the power of the Gospel, though she was a captive removing too and fro, v. 19, 20, 21. 5. A Church that shall lift up a standard to the Gentiles, and Nations to take in their Sons and daughters to fight under Christs colours, as being baptized to the same faith, vers. 22. 6 A Church whose spiritual Government Kings and Queens shall obey, licking the dust before them, v. 23. 7. A people that wait for the Lord, and so shall not be ashamed, v. 23. Now to say that a false Church shall have all these glorious privileges needeth no refutation, and they must be stupid who teach that Kings are made Nurse-fathers by this Text to Antichrists Kingdom, as if the Lord had the Beast and his followers written on the palms of his hands, or that Kings being made Nurse-fathers to the true Church, owe nothing to those that wait on the Lord, but the common protection of Subjects which they owe to limbs of Antichrist, Jews, Mahometans, Indians, who worship the Devil, if these be their Subjects is a very pleasant dream and uncredible;