Thesis 12

12. THESIS.

Whereas the patrons of toleration except against the instances of the judges, magistrates and kings of Judah and Israel as no sufficient proof for magistrates power in suppressing falsehood, and commanding men to receive the truth, because they were typical kings, types of Christ as King of his Church, and the land of Canaan a typical land, which no other magistrates or land beside ever were or are; I desire that it may be remembered that other magistrates, judges, and princes who were before the commonwealth of Israel was erected and the judicial laws given, and of other commonwealths and kingdoms did take away and punish idolatry, blasphemy, and command men under their power to worship God, and some such examples are not only barely related in the Scripture, but approved of. Abraham, Jacob and Job were before the time of Moses and Aaron, before the judicial laws or the Levitical Priesthood for the government and worship of the Jewish Church and commonwealth were given. For Abraham and Jacob that is evident by the Book of Genesis, and for Job, that he lived in the time between Abraham and Moses is the judgement of many good divines and interpreters upon Job, and that upon several reasons given by them, of which the reader may read more in Bucolcerus, Pineda, Junius and Tremellius, Mercerus, Master Caryll's Expositions on Job, and divers others. Now of Abraham and Jacob's commanding their children, servants, and all that were with them to keep the way of the Lord, I have spoken of in the tenth Thesis. And that in Job's time, and that out of the land of Canaan in the land of Uz (no typical land) idolatry and false worship were to be punished by the magistrates, is apparent by Job 31:26, 27, 28, where Job speaks of himself, If I beheld the Sun when it shined, or the Moon walking in brightness, And my heart has been secretly enticed or my mouth has kissed my hand: This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above, the meaning of which place according to the judgement of the best interpreters, Mercer, Merlinus, Junius, Pineda and others is that idolatry and worshiping the creatures, as Sun, Moon, and the heavens (a worship much in use in the East where Job lived) was an iniquity worthy to be taken notice of and punished by the judges. So Mercer reads it, digna est, it deserves and ought to be punished by the judges; and then observe the reason, for I should have denied the Lord that is above. So that all false worship and false doctrine that denies God that is above, is worthy to be punished by the judges; and this is further proved and illustrated that idolatry is to be punished by judges corporally, by the 9, 10, 11 verses of this chapter, where he speaks the same of adultery, that 'tis an iniquity to be punished by the judges, so that the spirit of God here in Job makes adultery and idolatry of the same cognizance, and as adultery is to be punished by the civil magistrate, so idolatry and all false ways whereby men deny the God that is above, are by this Scripture to be punished also. And that it may further appear the kings of Judah and Israel did not qua kings of Judah and qua dwelling in such a land, as kings over such a typical people, bearing visibly, and executing typically the kingly office of Christ in his Church, meddle in matters of religion, but as kings in places of authority and power, I shall show that other kings, not of the tribe of Judah, ruling over other kingdoms and countries, when by any of the great works of God done before them, or upon any instinct of the Spirit of God upon them by any message from God by his prophets and servants, they came to be touched in heart and sensible of themselves, they used their power in making laws and edicts for the worship of God against blasphemy and idolatry, and for punishing of those who were idolaters and blasphemers. Thus Artaxerxes the King of Persia (Ezra 7) makes a decree that whoever will not do the law of God, judgement should be executed speedily upon him, whether it be to death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment; and Ezra blesses God for it, which shows it was well done of Artaxerxes. Now whereas Master Goodwin would evade this by saying Ezra blesses God for Artaxerxes beautifying the house of God only, not for the decree of punishing those that would not do the law of God, I answer, that is a part indeed of that he blesses God for, but not all, as is evident by the 28th verse, his blessing God having relation to that also as may appear by that copulative and has extended mercy to me before the King, and I was strengthened as the hand of the Lord my God was upon me: and I gathered together out of Israel chief men to go up with me. Now let the 23rd verse that speaks of Artaxerxes' decree to Ezra to set magistrates and judges to judge all the people, and thereupon who will not do the law of God to have judgement executed upon them whether it be to death, &c., be laid to the 28th verse, wherein he blesses God for his hand upon him to gather chief men out of Israel to go up with him (which was to make magistrates and judges) and 'tis evident the decree for punishing is included. Besides, if this decree of Artaxerxes had been according to Master Goodwin, the Bloody Tenet, and other libertines' opinion such a wicked and bloody doctrine, Ezra the Priest the Scribe of the law of the God of heaven had been bound to have instructed Artaxerxes better, and humbly entreated him to have reversed that part of the decree in the 26th verse, and certainly would never have built up Artaxerxes in such a great sin by blessing God for his decree, and by taking care to set up magistrates and judges to execute it, but would have dealt clearly with the King, blessing God for the decree of the building of the Temple, and showing him his mistake in the other part about punishing. And to put it past question, Ezra 10:7, 8 relates, this decree of the King was accordingly put in execution by Ezra and the princes and elders, proclamations being made throughout Judah and Jerusalem, to all the children of the captivity that they should gather themselves together to Jerusalem; and that whoever would not come within three days according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his substance should be forfeited, which was one of the penalties of Artaxerxes' decree, namely confiscation of goods. Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 3:28, 29, 30) as soon as he knew God upon that great work of God's power in delivering the three children out of the fiery furnace, made a decree that whoever should speak anything amiss against him, should be cut in pieces and their houses made a dunghill. Darius (Daniel 6:25, 26) upon God's great work in delivering Daniel out of the lions' den, made a decree that in every dominion of his kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel. Lastly, the King of Nineveh upon Jonah's preaching, yet forty days and Nineveh shall be destroyed, did not only in his own person arise from his throne and cover himself with sackcloth, and sit in ashes, but caused it to be proclaimed and published by his decree that all his subjects should do the like, cry mightily to God, and turn from their evil ways; and this turning of Nineveh upon the command and edict of the King is blessed by God's repenting of the evil that he said he would do to them, and so God's own seal of approbation set to the King of Nineveh's edict for commanding in matters of religion. Augustine in his 50th Epistle ad Bonifacium, makes use of the examples of the King of Nineveh, Darius and Nebuchadnezzar to show how a king must serve God as a king by commanding good things, and forbidding the contrary, as the King of Nineveh served God by compelling the whole city to please God, as Nebuchadnezzar served him by recalling all in his kingdom from blaspheming God by a severe law.