A Refutation of Religious Pluralism by John Brown of Haddington, published by Gospel Covenant Publications. As the Christian evaluates both the downward spiral of nations into moral cesspools, and the tyranny exercised by corrupt rulers at every level of government, the mind of the Christian must look beyond political parties, political theory, and public opinion polls for answers. He must go to the God who instituted civil government to be the minister of God for good to the people. John Brown of Haddington, 1722-1787, summarizes in this very helpful and timely work the problem and solution to the corrupt laws and the tyranny in high places that Christians so much decry in the nations of this world. Even Christians have been misled to believe that civil government is outside the sphere of God's law and authority. We hear much about civil rights, but do we ever hear that a moral wrong cannot be a civil right? We hear much about the rights of man in a democracy to rule himself by his own laws, but do we ever hear civil rulers say anything about the sovereign rights of God and his moral law over the nations? For the Christian who is tired of the typical political solutions promoted by the status quo in political parties and candidates of all stripes and colors, Mr. Brown offers God's revealed solutions from his word to the perversion and tyranny so rampant in the nations of this world. The Christian who desires to know the mind of God will find the cogent and sound reasoning of Mr. Brown to be unassailable in providing scriptural answers to the problems we face in our nations. This most recent edition of A Reputation of Religious Pluralism has been published by Gospel Covenant Publications in 2009 and has been edited by Pastor Greg L. Price. This book is the first in the Social Covenant series produced by Gospel Covenant Publications. Future proposed titles in the series include A Free Disputation Against Pretended Liberty of Conscience by Samuel Rutherford. The Ordinance of Covenanting by John Cunningham. Renewing the Covenants by Alexander Craighead and the Reform Presbytery. Covenanting and Worldwide Reformation, God's Victorious Plan for This World by Greg L. Price. Gospel Covenant Publications website is www.gcpublications.com They may be reached by email at info at gcpublications.com and by phone area code 208-553-5296. Rev. Greg L. Price, MDiv 1981, was asked to join with Gospel Covenant Publications in editing this first of several historical works in the Social Covenant series due to his active involvement and leadership for a number of years by way of research, writing, lecturing and preaching on various subjects promoting the covenanted reformation of church and state under the mediatorial rule of the Lord Jesus Christ. Over 500 sermons by Pastor Price may be found at sermonaudio.com as well as free books and articles he's authored at puritandownloads.com that's capital P U R I T A N capital D O W N L O A D S dot com and at reformedpresbytery.org forward slash books that's R-E-F-O-R-M-E-D P-R-E-S-B-Y-T-E-R-Y dot org forward slash books May God richly bless you as you listen and consider the arguments held forth herein remembering the commendable spirit of the Bereans as recorded in the Book of Acts who received the word with all readiness of mind and searched the scriptures daily whether those things were so. A REFUTATION OF RELIGIOUS PLURALISM INTRODUCTION What is the role of the civil magistrate as it relates to religion within his nation or his sphere of jurisdiction? Is the civil magistrate called by God to use his authority to equally tolerate all religions, false and true, and all their doctrines and practices, leaving all such matters with the conscience of each individual? Or is the civil magistrate called by God to use his authority to suppress all false religion, blasphemy, and heresy? To most Christians, such a question has little or no relevance to their lives, because most Christians have never thoroughly considered the biblical and historical evidence for the divine appointment of civil magistracy to uphold authoritatively both tables of the Ten Commandments. That is, not only the fifth through the tenth commandments, which deal with sin against our neighbor, but also the first through the fourth commandments, which deal with sin against our God and Creator and the moral governor of the world. The relevance of such questions reaches to every individual, for submission to the crown rights of Christ, who is the Prince of the kings of the earth, Revelation 1.5, and defense of the lawful liberties of every man, woman, and child, born and unborn, rest upon how one answers these moral questions. The Institution and End of Civil Magistracy Civil magistracy is not a man-made expediency developed through trial and error over thousands of years of evolutionary process. Civil magistracy is an institution of God established to promote the declarative glory of God and to promote the safety, order, and good of society. For there is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God. Romans 13.1 Thus, civil magistracy that alone has the moral right to be owned as lawful by us, must have the moral qualifications as set out by the King of Nations, Jeremiah 10.7. For God himself defines that civil magistracy instituted by him, and to which we are to submit ourselves for conscience sake, as his minister acting on his behalf, in promoting that which is morally good, good as defined by that which is agreeable to God's moral law, to God's people. for he is the minister of God to thee for good." Romans 13, 4. An excellent summary of the institution and end of lawful civil magistracy is found in the Westminster Confession of Faith, 1647, Chapter 23, Sections 1 and 3, and unless otherwise noted, all emphases are those found in Pastor Price's introduction. Quote, God, the Supreme Lord and King of all the world, hath ordained civil magistrates to be under him over the people, for his own glory, and the public good. And to this end hath armed them with the power of the sword, for the defence and encouragement of them that are good, and for the punishment of evildoers. 3. The civil magistrate may not assume to himself the administration of the word and sacraments, or the power of the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Yet he hath authority, and it is his duty to take order, that unity and peace be preserved in the church, that the truth of God be kept pure and entire, that all blasphemies and heresies be suppressed, all corruptions and abuses in worship and discipline prevented or reformed, and all the ordinances of God duly settled, administered, and observed. For the better effecting whereof, he hath power to call synods, to be present at them, and to provide that whatsoever is transacted in them be according to the mind of God." The Testimony of Confessions of the First and Second Reformations The words of the Westminster Confession of Faith just cited, as it relates to the institution and end of civil magistracy, are not those of some extreme radical wing of the Reformed Church, but likewise the classic confession of Protestant and Reformed churches of the First and Second Reformations throughout Europe, as it relates to the institution and end of civil magistracy. Note in each Confession of Faith or National Covenant below the emphasis placed upon the civil magistrate to use his civil authority to defend the one true religion and to suppress all false religion, blasphemy, and heresy. In other words, to uphold and defend commandments 1 through 4 of the Ten Commandments, as well as commandments 5 through 10. The First Confession of Helvetia, 1536, quote, it is, unless he would exercise tyranny, his chief duty, all blasphemy being repressed, to defend and provide for religion, and to execute this to his utmost strength, as the prophet teacheth out of the word." The Confession of Saxony, 1551. He would first, by the voice of the magistrate, have sovereign and immutable laws to be propounded, forbidding the worship of idols, blasphemies, perjuries, unjust murders, wandering lusts, breach of wedlock, thefts and frauds in bargains, in contracts and in judgments, and well hath it been said of old, the magistrate is the keeper of the law, that is, of the first and second table, as concerning discipline and good order." The Confession of France, 1559. He also therefore committed the sword into the magistrate's hands that they might repress faults committed not only against the second table but also against the first." The Confession of Faith of Scotland, 1560. Moreover, to kings, princes, rulers, and magistrates, we affirm that chiefly and most principally the conservation and purgation of the religion appertains, so that not only they are appointed for civil policy, but also for maintenance of the true religion, and for suppressing of idolatry and superstition whatsoever, as in David, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, Josiah, and others, highly commended for their zeal in that case, may be espied." The Belgic Confession, 1566, quote, Therefore he hath armed the magistrates with a sword, that they may punish the bad and defend the good. Furthermore, it is their duty not only to be solicitous about preserving of civil polity, but also to give diligence that the sacred ministry may be preserved, all idolatry and adulterate worship of God may be taken out of the way, the kingdom of Antichrist may be pulled down, but Christ's kingdom propagated." The latter confession of Helvetia, 1566, He shall, after the example of the most holy kings and princes of the people of the Lord, advance the preaching of the truth and the pure and sincere faith, and shall root out lies and all superstition with all impiety and idolatry, and shall defend the Church of God. For indeed we teach that the care of religion doth cheaply appertain to the holy magistrate. Let him therefore hold the word of God in his hands, and look that nothing be taught contrary thereunto." The National Covenant of Scotland, 1638. That all kings and princes, at their coronation and reception of their princely authority, shall make their faithful promise by their solemn oath, in the presence of the Eternal God, that, enduring the whole time of their lives, they shall serve the same Eternal God to the uttermost of their power, According as he hath required in his most holy word, contained in the Old and New Testament, and according to the same word, shall maintain the true religion of Jesus Christ, the preaching of his holy word, the due and right ministration of the sacraments now received and preached within this realm, according to the confession of faith immediately preceding, and shall abolish and gainstand all false religion contrary to the same. and that they shall be careful to root out of their empire all heretics and enemies to the true worship of God, who shall be convicted by the true Kirk of God of the foresaid crimes." The Solemn Leaguing Covenant of the Three Kingdoms of Scotland, England, and Ireland, 1643. We shall, with the same sincerity, reality, and constancy in our several avocations, endeavor, with our estates and lives, mutually to preserve the rights and privileges of the Parliaments and the liberties of the Kingdoms, and to preserve and defend the King's Majesty's person and authority in the preservation and defence of the true religion and liberties of the Kingdoms." Pretended liberty of conscience or God's law? Another question that arises in discussing the institution and end of lawful civil magistracy is this, What is the rightful place of one's conscience and the legitimate rights that a member of a state possesses in matters of religion and morality? Footnote, for an excellent treatment of this question, the reader is encouraged to consult Samuel Rutherford's classic work, Free Disputation Against Pretended Liberty of Conscience, presently available through Stillwater's Revival Books, SWRB.com. In summary, God has never granted a moral right to any person, family, church, or nation to violate any of his moral commandments. God cannot lawfully authorize individual or civil rights in order to do moral wrongs, for God cannot deny himself or contradict his own holy nature, 2 Timothy 2.13. God cannot grant liberty of conscience to anyone to violate, with impunity, his moral law, which is the perfect law of liberty, James 1.25. There is no pretended liberty of conscience that God grants to anyone wherein one's conscience is the moral judge of what is right or wrong. Footnote. The conscience is not a moral judge in a supreme sense at all, though it is a lesser judge under God's law. For God alone, as revealed in His moral law, is Lord of the conscience. The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken. Lo, they have rejected the word of the Lord, and what wisdom is in them? Jeremiah 8.9. The conscience is a moral witness which either accuses or excuses the conduct of man based upon the moral standard embraced by that individual, whether it be the moral law of God or some arbitrary standard of man, which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another." Romans 2.15 Thus, the conscience as a witness is only as dependable as the moral standard to which it bears witness. If this was the case, those whose consciences did not condemn them for murder, for abortion, for child molestation, for incense, or for robbing a bank, would be guiltless and immune from punishment. Whether individuals as moral persons, Romans 3.23, families as moral persons, Jeremiah 10.25, churches as moral persons, Revelation 2.5, or nations as moral persons, Psalm 917, all are accountable to God's moral law and will be judged according to it. For sin is the transgression of the law, 1 John 3, 4. No individual or institution can exempt itself from God's moral law. Thus, since the civil magistrate cannot morally grant an authoritative toleration for murder, child molestation, or robbery, which are violations of the moral law of God, regardless of some pretended liberty of conscience on the part of the one committing these crimes against man, then certainly the civil magistrate cannot morally grant an authoritative toleration for idolatry, blasphemy, or heresy, which are likewise violations of the moral law of God, regardless of some pretended liberty of conscience on the part of the one committing these crimes against the Most High God Himself. How is it that for many people this alleged liberty of conscience only relates to religious matters, wherein the rights of Almighty God are directly violated, but does not relate to secular matters wherein the rights of one's neighbor are directly violated. A nation that holds the rights of God as governor among the nations, Psalm 22, 28, to be less than those of sinful men, and in most cases non-existent, while defending fiercely some so-called right of man, termed liberty of conscience, to commit public crimes against a God who graciously gives life, breath, and good laws to govern society, is a nation that has forgotten God, Psalm 917. And yet even such a nation may yet turn, by God's undeserved mercy, to Christ to seek His forgiveness through the gospel, and may yet covenant to be God's people in its national capacity, as nations are prophesied to do in the future. Consider the example of Egypt in Isaiah 19, 18-25. John Brown of Haddington, the author of the book which the reader now holds in his or her hands, was to a large extent an extraordinary, self-taught scholar and minister. John Brown, 1722-1787, was born at Carpo in the parish of Abernathy in Perthshire, Scotland. His father, being a common labourer who supported his family by weaving and fishing, had little education. Likewise, the son's formal education was scant, but what he lacked in formal education he significantly supplied in a God-given ability and desire to study. Both of his parents died when he was about twelve, and he had to support himself by work as a shepherd. His teenage years were marked by ill health, but it was during these extreme trials for any youth to endure that the Lord graciously turned his heart to Christ, which Brown later described in these words, But thanks be to God he passed by me, and looked upon me, and said unto me, Live. Mr. Brown had a remarkable gift in the learning of languages. Spurred by his fervent desire for learning, he taught himself Greek, Latin, and Hebrew by comparing texts and scripts. The story is told about him that when he was 16 years old, after hearing that a Greek New Testament was available in a bookshop 24 miles away, he left his sheep with a friend and walked to St. Andrews to buy this rich treasure. There were several professors of Greek in the bookshop, and as they watched this shepherd boy carefully handle the book, one of them, Francis Pringle, challenged him to read it saying that he would buy it for him if he could do so. Upon satisfying Mr. Pringle with his knowledge of the Greek language, young John Brown returned with his treasured Greek New Testament to resume his shepherding duties. Besides Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, Mr. Brown was also acquainted with Arabic, Syriac, Persian, and Ethiopic, and of the modern languages with French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, and German. Mr. Brown was ordained as a minister. in the Burgher branch of the Secession Church, or Associate Presbyterian Church of Scotland, at Haddington, East Lothian, on July 4th, 1751, and that was his home and place of ministry for the rest of his life. Footnote, the Associate Presbytery of Scotland was formed in 1733 by Ebenezer Erskine, William Wilson, Alexander Moncrief, and James Fisher, with Ralph Erskine and Thomas Mayer as observers, after seceding from the Church of Scotland over injustices suffered and perversion of the gospel, known as the Marrow Controversy. Returning to the text, he gained a just reputation for learning and piety. The Scottish philosopher David Hume said of Mr. Brown that he preached, quote, as if he were conscious that Christ was at his elbow, close quote. Mr. Brown has left to the Christian reader a number of most helpful tools for studying the Scripture and most encouraging works that have benefited the Church of Christ for succeeding generations. Besides the book the reader holds in his or her hands, which was published posthumously, his other works include the following, A Help for the Ignorant, 1758, The Christian Journal, 1765, An Historical Account of the Rise and Progress of the Secession, 1766, Letter on the Constitution, Government and Discipline of the Christian Church, 1767. Sacred Typology, 1768. A Dictionary of the Bible, 1769. A General History of the Christian Church, 1771. The Self-Interpreting Bible, 1778. The Duty of Raising Up Spiritual Children to Christ, 1780. The Young Christian, 1782. Practical Piety Exemplified in the Lives of Thirteen Eminent Christians, 1783. A Compendious History of the British Churches, 1784. The self-interpreting Bible has remained in print, being edited by others, until well into the 20th century. It is well worth having as a practical tool for the student of God's Word, and is available through Stillwater's Revival Books. The self-interpreting Bible includes detailed marginal references, especially comparing one scriptural statement with another. Also included in this substantial work, four volumes, is a very helpful introduction to the Bible, many charts, tables, maps, and an explication and reflections for each chapter. Mr. Brown died at his home in Haddington on June 19, 1787. He had six sons from two marriages, of whom four became ministers and another the provost of Haddington. The legacy he left to his children can be seen in his dying words to them. Quote, Adhere constantly, cordially, and honestly to the covenanted principles of the Church of Scotland, and to that testimony which has been lifted up for them. I fear a generation is rising up which will endeavor silently to let slip these matters, as if they were ashamed to hold them fast, or even to speak of them. May the Lord forbid that any of you should ever enter into this confederacy against Jesus Christ and his cause. This from a dying father and minister and a witness for Christ, signed John Brown. A brief summary. This book consists of two letters written by Mr. Brown to an unnamed correspondent with whose views Mr. Brown took great exception. Passion for the truth of Christ's cause and zeal for the house of God pervades these two letters. In carefully reading these polemic letters, One cannot help but feel shame and sorrow for the indifference that exists in his or her own heart and that exists in the Church of Christ over the abused rights of God, the Governor among the Nations, Psalm 2228, and of his Christ, the Prince of the Kings of the Earth, Revelation 1.5. In his first letter, Mr. Brown defends from scripture and historical testimony the absurdity of the civil magistrate in applying his authority to tolerate gross heresy, blasphemy, and idolatry. A better treatment of this issue in such a relatively small number of pages is not likely to be found anywhere else. With the power of scripture in the right hand and the corroboration of historical testimony in the left hand, he proves with such clear consistency and logic that civil magistracy, that which is the minister of God to thee for good, and to which we are bound to be subject for conscience' sake, has no right to apply his authority in tolerating that which God in his moral law clearly condemns. The sacred cow of the modern age, pluralism, is shown by Mr. Brown to be the idol of men that it is. For in the name of peace, charity, justice, and impartiality, the infinitely righteous and holy God and his good and unchangeable moral law are neglected, ignored, despised, and replaced with the arbitrary and changeable popular opinion polls of men. After defending the lawful duty of the civil magistrate to suppress false religion, heresy, and blasphemy from scripture and historical testimony, Mr. Brown then proceeds to respond to 39 objections raised by opponents to the truth. Although Mr. Brown's response to each objection is not exhaustive, there is not left any footing upon which the opponent can stand. In the second letter, Mr. Brown defends from scripture and historical testimony the perfidy, or covenant unfaithfulness, of those who have forgotten or despised the solemn national covenants of their forefathers in swearing the National Covenant of Scotland, 1638, and the solemn Ligon Covenant of the Three Kingdoms of Scotland, England, and Ireland, 1643. Sadly, the idea that the lawful covenants of forefathers sworn on behalf of all succeeding generations of posterity, familially, ecclesiastically, and nationally, have a descending obligation to all posterity is, to most people, even to Christians, as if someone was speaking to them in a foreign language. It is nonsense to them. And yet the federal constitution, or treaties, or acts and bills of Congress that bind one generation after another seem to present no problem to these same people. It is apparently only a religious covenant with which people have a problem. And yet the descending obligation to all posterity of lawful religious national covenants is as scriptural as the descending obligation to all posterity of lawful civil national covenants, as Mr. Brown demonstrates. These solemn, holy national covenants are shown to be biblical in their moral content and inclusive of all posterity. The passing of time, the unfaithfulness of a people, the change of government structure, the relocation of a people to another continent, or the declaration of independence from the mother country cannot alter, change, or annul a lawful national covenant made with God to all posterity and succeeding generations that are bound by that covenant." Footnote, the reader is encouraged to consult a series of sermons preached by Reverend Gregg L. Price on the subject of national covenanting and the solemn legion covenant available in both written and audio formats at either albanycrpc.org or at sermonaudio.com under Reverend Price's name. Returning to the text, after demonstrating from scripture and historical testimony the perpetual obligation of the Scotch covenants, Mr. Brown again turns to the objections of opponents with the same degree of clarity and force that was evidenced in the first letter. The seceders versus the covenanters. Although the reader will find in Mr. Brown's book a clear and cogent presentation of biblical truth on the subject summarized above, it should be noted that Mr. Brown's position, as a seceder, was in error at certain points on the subject of civil magistracy and differed with the scriptural position of Covenanters. Footnote, Covenanters in Scotland were identified with the Reformed Presbytery or Reformed Presbyterian Church which was established in 1743 by John Macmillan and Thomas Nairn. These covenanted Presbyterians did not unite with the Church of Scotland under the Revolution Settlement of 1690, rightly believing that the Revolution Settlement was contrary to the Scripture, to the National Covenant 1638, to the solemn Ligon Covenant 1643, and to the scriptural attainments of the Second Reformation in Scotland 1638-1649, all of which were intentionally and scandalously omitted in the Revolution Settlement. Returning to the text, the reader may find a number of resources to be helpful in pursuing the scriptural position on civil magistracy as promoted and defended by Covenanters. Another footnote, the following list of resources is highly recommended to the reader, all of which may be obtained through Stillwater's revival books. An Humble Attempt in Defense of Reformation Principles by John Fairley 1770, Vendicie Magistratis, or The Divine Institution of the Civil Magistrate Vindicated, by John Thorburn, 1773, Truth No Enemy to Peace, by John Read, 1799, Two Sons of Oil, or The Faithful Witness for Magistracy and Ministry upon a Scriptural Basis, by Samuel B. Wiley, 1803, Act Declaration and Testimony by the Reformed Presbytery, 1876, and Biblical Civil Government versus the Beast by Greg Price, 1996. In Part 3 of the Act Declaration and Testimony, there is a very good summary and refutation of the errors of the Associate Presbyterian, or Seceder, position as it relates to the Civil Magistrate. Returning to the text. The most brief way to state the primary error of the seceder position as it relates to the civil magistrate would be to summarize it in the following statement, with a brief refutation following after that statement. The seceder position declares that a lawful magistrate, to whom we must submit for conscience sake, is anyone whom the majority of people within a nation choose to be their civil leader, regardless of his usurpation, tyranny, idolatry, murder, or rescinding a lawful covenant and imposing a wicked covenant in its place. Presumably, he could even be a Satanist and yet be a lawful magistrate as long as he has the consent of a majority of the people. Much might be said in response to this position, but let this brief response suffice for the purpose of this introduction. The testimony of Scripture reveals in 2 Samuel 23, 2 and 3, and Proverbs 16, 12, that a civil magistrate who does not have the requisite moral or covenantal qualifications is not a lawful magistrate, even if he has the consent of the majority of the people. According to Paul, a lawful civil magistrate is the minister of God to thee for good, Romans 13.4. The lawful magistrate is not the minister for himself to thee for evil, for murdering, for tyranny, for covenant-breaking, or for grinding the people into dust. The people may make a man a king in name, de facto, but they cannot make a man a lawful king, de jure, if he despises the moral law of God. They have set up kings, but not by me. They have made princes, and I knew it not." Hosea 8.4 When the majority of the people consented to Absalom being king over Israel in rebellion against David his father, as we see in 2 Samuel 15, verses 6 and 13, 2 Samuel 16-18, 2 Samuel 17-4, the lawful right of rule did not pass from David to Absalom as king, simply because Absalom was able to steal the hearts of the people and to chase his father out of Jerusalem. For the revealed will of God was that David would be the lawful heir to the throne until his death, 1 Chronicles 28-4. Thus Absalom was not the lawful king, but rather a tyrant and a usurper of the throne of Israel. regardless of the consent of the people. For a full refutation, the reader is encouraged to consult the resources cited in the footnote. Conclusion. Although the errors cited above and the consequences that follow from it are far from insignificant, nevertheless the reader will benefit greatly from the biblical principles that the author does state and prove ever so well in the two letters of this book. May the Lord direct his people to see that the divine ordinance of civil magistracy is one of the means he is appointed for promoting reformation within a nation, and one of the means the Lord shall use to promote that worldwide millennial reformation that is prophesied to come in the near future. Yea, all kings shall fall down before him, all nations shall serve him, Psalm 72, 11. So the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth, by glory, Psalm 102, 15. All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O Lord, when they hear the words of thy mouth. Psalm 138, 4. And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers. They shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet. And thou shalt know that I am the Lord, for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me. Isaiah 49, 23. Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings, and thou shalt know that I, the Lord, am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob." Isaiah 60, verse 16. Even so, let it be, Lord Jesus. Rev. Greg L. Price, February 16, 2009 A REFUTATION OF RELIGIOUS PLURALISM LETTER I. ON THE ABSURDITY OF AUTHORITATIVE TOLERATION OF GROSS HERESY, BLASPHEMY, OR IDOLATRY. Sir, how God himself connected religion and the civil welfare of nations in his ancient laws, almost the whole of the Old Testament does bear witness. That religion is the great basis of civil happiness was the common, avowed belief of every sensible heathen. It was, for aught I know, the infamous monster Tiberius who first pretended that the gods alone ought to regard or resent the injuries done to them. Before the Happy Reformation, The Popish clergy had reduced civil rulers into mere tools for executing their pleasure in religious matters, and pretended that they had no power of judging in them. To free these rulers from such anti-Christian claims, the Protestant reformers everywhere, as their confessions of faith and other writings make evident, loudly maintained that to magistrate themselves independent of clergymen belonged a distinguished power in the reformation and preservation of religion. Not long after, Erastus, a German physician and his followers, to curry favour with their respective princes, pretended that magistrates are the proper lords of the Christian Church, from whom her ministers and other rulers derive their whole power, and to whom they must be accountable. This notion, exceedingly flattering their ambition, was too greedily embraced by most of the Protestant princes. nor do I know of one Protestant church which has not suffered by means of it. Meanwhile, the German Anabaptists, having experienced the frowns and sometimes the improper severities of magistrates, copied after the ancient Donatists in the like circumstances, and warmly contended that magistrates have no more power about religious matters than any private person, and ought to punish none for different sentiments and doctrines or forms of worship. The Slocenians and remonstrant Arminians, except when magistrates favored themselves and promoted their cause, zealously contended for the same notion, at least in the case of ministers and worship, which were not maintained at the public expense. Many, if not most, of the English independents in the last century were much of the same mind, that is, in the 1600s, and hence, by their influence, some passages in the Westminster Confession of Faith could never obtain a ratification by the English Parliament or a place in their own Savoy Confession. Part of these passages, relative to the Magistrate's power, are also dropped from the Confession of Faith agreed to by the Independents of New England in 1682. Most of the English dissenters of this century seem to be much of the same mind, especially such as might otherwise have been exposed to danger on account of their open maintenance of Aryan, Socinian, and Quakerish blasphemies Locke and Bishop Hodley, and some others of the Episcopalian party, warmly espoused the same cause. This notion never received much countenance in Scotland till Mr. Glass of Keeling commenced a furious new-fashioned independent. He mightily contended that the Jewish nation was an ecclesiastical one, and their kings ecclesiastical rulers, that Christian magistrates have no more power in religious matters than private Christians, and ought not to employ their power in advancing the true religion, or in making laws with penalties in favor of it, or in restraining or punishing heretics or false teachers, nor ought they to give more encouragement to good Christians than to other peaceable subjects, that the example of the reforming kings of Judah in punishing idolatry and false worship and in promoting the true religion is not now to be imitated, and that our Father's national covenanting against potpourri and other wickedness in favor of the true religion was unwarrantable and is not binding upon us. Dr. Wissart, principal of the College of Edinburgh, in his sermons contended that magistrates have only a right to punish such crimes as strike immediately against the persons or property of men, but not to punish anything which strikes immediately against the honor of God as blasphemy or heresy, that all men ought to have civil liberty to think and speak as they please, providing they make no attack upon the welfare of civil society, that none ought to be hampered in their search after truth by any requirement of their subscriptions to formulas or confessions of faith, that children in their education ought never to be biased to a side by learning catechisms which maintain the peculiar principles of a party. These or the like notions have been adopted by not a few of the pretenders to modern illumination. In her public standards, the Church of Scotland has renounced, and in her solemn covenants has abjured both of these extremes. In her old Confession of Faith, which is expressly sworn to in the National Covenant of 1581 and so forth, as in all points the undoubted truth of God, Article 24, she asserts that, quote, the power and authority of magistrates is God's holy ordinance, ordained for manifestation of His own glory, and for the singular profit of mankind. They are the lieutenants of God, in whose sessions God Himself does sit and judge, to whom by God is given the sword to the praise and defense of good men, and to punish all open malefactors. To kings, princes, rulers, and magistrates chiefly, and most principally, the conservation and purgation of religion appertains, so that not only are they appointed for civil policy, but also for maintenance of the true religion, and for suppression of all idolatry and superstition whatsoever." This doctrine is further asserted and explained in her Second Book of Discipline, Chapter 1, Section 10. The doctrine of her Westminster Confession of Faith, the whole of which is solemnly espoused and engaged to by every Presbyterian minister and elder in Scotland in his ordination vows, is that For their publishing opinions or maintaining practices contrary to the light of nature and the known principles of Christianity, whether concerning faith, worship, or conversation, or to the power of godliness, or such erroneous opinions or practices as either in their own nature, or in the manner of publishing and maintaining them, are destructive to the external peace and order which Christ has established in the Church, they may be lawfully called to account and proceeded against by the power of the civil magistrate. Chapter 20, Section 4. That God, the Supreme Lord and King of all the world, hath ordained civil magistrates to be under him, over the people, for his own glory and the public good, they ought especially, in managing their office, to maintain piety, justice, and peace, according to the wholesome laws of each commonwealth. That the civil magistrate hath authority And it is his duty to take order that unity and peace be preserved in the Church, and that the truth of God be kept pure and entire, that all blasphemies and heresies be suppressed, all corruptions and abuses in worship and discipline prevented and reformed, and all the ordinances of God duly settled, administered, and observed, for the better effecting of which he hath power to call synods, to be present at them, and to provide that whatsoever is transacted in them be according to the mind of God. Chapter 23, Sections 1, 2, and 3. The duties required in the Second Commandment are the disapproving, detesting, opposing all false worship, and according to each one's place and calling, removing it, and all monuments of idolatry. The sins forbidden in the Second Commandment are all devising, counseling, commanding, using, and any ways approving any religious worship not instituted by God Himself, tolerating a false religion, Westminster Larger Catechism, Questions 108 and 109. These declarations are an authentic explication of the power of the magistrate in maintaining and preserving the true religion, the defense of which is expressly sworn in their solemn covenants with God. If, therefore, sir, you discredit this doctrine and plead the toleration of idolatry, blasphemy, heresy, and that magistrates ought to meddle with nothing in religion, Be so honest as openly to renounce your ordination vows and the confession of faith in catechisms, as well as the National Covenant and Solemn League. To illustrate the above doctrine of our excellent standards, it is proper to observe 1. God alone is the necessarily existent and absolutely independent Creator and Preserver, and therefore Original and Supreme Proprietor and Governor of all things in heaven or earth. Genesis 1, Psalm 104, 24, 1-2, 33-6, 83-18, 47, 2-7, 9. Ezekiel 1-11, Colossians 1, 16-18, Daniel 4, 34, 45. 2. All write, civil, natural, or spiritual, Whether of conscience, or of persons, or of husbands, parents, masters, magistrates, ministers, or even of Christ as mediator, must therefore wholly originate from God alone. Psalm 115-16, Romans 11-36, Hebrews 2-10, Acts 10-25-28, 2 Corinthians 5-18, Psalm 75-7, Daniel 2-21, 4-32-35, Matthew 28.18, 11.27, and John 5.35. To suppose any real right or being whatsoever unoriginating from Him is to give up with the necessary existence of God and to plunge into the very depths of atheism. 3. All right and authority of conscience, persons, husbands, parents, magistrates, ministers, or even of Christ as mediator, being wholly derived from God, ought, necessarily ought, wholly to be improved or exercised in His name, in conformity and subordination to His law as the supreme rule, and in order to promote His declarative glory as the chief end of it. Proverbs 16.4, Romans 11.36, 1 Peter 4.11, 1 Corinthians 10.31, John 5.30, 8.29, 7.18, Ephesians 3.21. 4. No right or authority derived from God can therefore be lawfully improved or exercised in protecting, encouraging, allowing, or commanding anything which God Himself, on account of His infinite perfection in holiness, justice, goodness, and truth, cannot command, or in discouraging, disallowing, or prohibiting anything which God and His law requires. It is absurd to suppose it, that God can give men a power which he has not himself, and shocking blasphemy to suppose him capable of giving men a right and authority to contemn, that is, despise, or counteract his own law as their rule, or his own glory as their chief end in everything they do." 2 Timothy 2.13, Habakkuk 1.12-13, Exodus 15.11, Deuteronomy 32.4 Zephaniah 3.5, James 1.13. 5. All the diversified forms of right and authority in conscience, husbands, parents, masters, magistrates, ministers, and even in Christ as mediator, being derived from the same God of infinite wisdom and order, each of them may and ought to be wholly exercised within its proper department, and in a manner answerable to its nature, and never in the way of invading the place or interrupting the exercise of any other right or authority. No right of conscience can be exercised to the interruption of the due exercise of marital, parental, magisterial, magistratical, ministerial, or Christ-mediatorial authority. Nor can any regular exercise of these powers interrupt the due exercise of the power of conscience or of one another. 1 Corinthians 14.33 and 40 6. All these different forms of power and authority, being derived from the same God, may have the same things for their object, but viewed in different respects. The same man may be subject to the power of his conscience as he is a rational creature, subject to the power of parents as a child, subject to the power of masters as a servant, subject to the power of magistrates as a member of the commonwealth, subject to the power of church rulers as a member of an organized visible church, subject to the mediatorial power of Christ as a member of his mystical body, or an agent for promoting the welfare of it. The same good work of piety or virtue may, or ought to be required by conscience, by parents, masters, magistrates, ministers, and even by Christ as mediator in different respects as calculated to promote the welfare of the persons, families, nations, and churches concerned in subordination to the glory of God as their respective proprietor and superior. The performance of the same good work may be encouraged by rewards from all these different powers, answerable to their respective forms. The same vices of idolatry, blasphemy, calumny, treason, theft, murder, and so forth, as in different respects hurtful to persons, families, civil societies, and churches, may and ought to be prohibited by all these different powers, and resented by each, as hurtful to itself, as subordinated to God, in a manner answerable to its particular nature and department. By conscience with stinging rebukes, by parents with correction, disinheriting, or the like, by masters with frowns, stripes, abridgement of wages, or the like, by magistrates with public dishonor, fining, imprisonment, or death, by church rulers with ecclesiastical rebuke, excommunication, by Christ with temporal, spiritual, or eternal judgment. Acts 24.16, Joshua 24.15, Psalm 101, Matthew 5, 6, 7, and so forth. All these powers of conscience—husbands, parents, masters, magistrates, church rulers, and of Christ as mediator—proceeding from an infinitely wise, powerful, and good God, are, each of them, in its own place, altogether sufficient to gain its own end. Nevertheless, it mightily tends to the advantage of each that all of them be rightly exercised at once, and to the hurt of all the rest if any of them be not. If conscience acts faithfully, this promotes the regular and comfortable exercise of the power of husbands, parents, masters, magistrates, or ministers, and so forth. And it is to the advantage of conscience if they regularly exercise their power, and especially if Christ exercises His, in a remarkable manner. It is much to the advantage of church and state if husbands, parents, and masters faithfully exercise their power in their respective departments and much to their hurt if they do not. If the rulers in church and state faithfully discharge their trust, it will tend more to promote the welfare of families. The more faithfully ministers labour in winning souls to Christ, and teaching men to live soberly, righteously and godly in view of Christ's second coming, the more easy will the work of magistrates and the greater the happiness of the commonwealth be. The more faithfully magistrates act in curbing of crimes and promoting obedience to God, the King of Nations, as a mean of securing his felicitating blessing to the Commonwealth, the more delightfully will Church power be exercised and the more abundantly it will tend to the welfare of the Church. Nay, though the mediatorial power of Christ be infinitely sufficient in its own place to answer its own ends, yet the delightful exercise and success of it is not a little promoted by the faithful exercise of the powers of conscience, husbands, parents, masters, magistrates, and Church rulers. Acts 24-16, 1 Timothy 1-5, Ephesians 4-6, Colossians 3-4, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus 1-3, 1 Peter 2-5, Psalm 2, 10-12, Revelation 2-15, 17, 14, and 16, 21-24, Isaiah 49-23, 60-3, and verses 4, 10, and 16. 8. Though the marital, parental, magisterial, magistratical, and ministerial powers be altogether distinct from, and independent of one another, and each of them has its own particular exercises pertaining to it alone, yet the same person, in respect of different relations, may be at once superior or inferior to another person, and so may be required to fulfill the particular duties of his station by one who has not any lawful right to perform them himself. Thus magistrates and ministers, as such, may require husbands to perform their duties to their wives, parents to perform their duties to their children, or masters theirs to their servants, as a mean of promoting the welfare of the commonwealth and of the Church, in obedience to God and aiming at His glory. An uncrowned husband of a queen may command her, faithfully, to exercise her magistratical power, as a mean of honour and happiness to his family. and she as queen may command him in everything relating to the welfare of the state, as her officer or subject. A parent may require his son, as such, faithfully to exercise his ministerial, magistratical, or magisterial power as a mean of honour and happiness to his family. A son may command his father, who is his servant, in everything pertaining to the service due from him, and even to order his family aright, insofar as it tends to promote that service. Ministers, as the ambassadors of Christ, have power to require magistrates, as church members, faithfully to exercise their magistratical power, so as may best promote the honour of Christ and the welfare of His Church. And on the other hand, magistrates have power to require ministers, as their subjects, faithfully to exercise their ministerial power, as a mean of rendering the nation pious and virtuous, in order to promote its happiness and all this in subordination to the law, and to promote the glory of God as the supreme governor of families, churches, or nations. 9. Though the marital, parental, magisterial, magistratical, and ministerial powers have, each of them, something for its peculiar and distinguishing object, in which no other power can interfere with it, thus it is always unlawful for husbands, parents, masters, or ministers, as such, to assume the power of civil magistrates in levying taxes, adjudging criminals to death, always unlawful for parents, masters, or magistrates as such to preach the gospel, dispense sacraments, or church censures. Yet if the exercise of some of these powers be fearfully neglected or abused, the other powers may be exercised in order to rectify the disorders occasioned, further than would be proper if there were no such neglect, abuse, or disorder. Thus if husbands, parents, or masters fearfully abuse their power relative to wives, children, or servants, the rulers of church or state, for the benefit of these societies, may interfere more with their family concerns than would be proper in other circumstances. If church rulers be notoriously negligent or wicked, magistrates, as church members, and to promote the welfare of the state, may do more in the reformation of the church than would be proper for them if church rulers were diligent and faithful. And if, through the indolence or wickedness of magistrates, the affairs of the nation be thrown into terrible confusion, ministers, as members of the Commonwealth, and to promote the welfare of the Church, may do more in the rectification of affairs than would be proper if the magistrates were faithful." 2 Kings 11, 2 Chronicles 23 10. All governing authority empowers the possessors of it to issue forth laws or commandments binding on the subject of it. But these laws or commandments can extend their binding force no further than the particular department belonging to that power. As by that, every particular form of authority derived from God is limited. The laws or commandments of parents, masters, magistrates, and church rulers extend only to external things in the family, commonwealth, or church. These of conscience and of Christ extend also to that which is inward in the heart. And as all human superiors are imperfect in knowledge themselves, and cannot enable their subjects perfectly to understand their whole duty, it is necessary that laws of families or nations, or constitutions of churches, require nothing but what is plainly agreeable to the law of God, and nothing in religion but what is plainly required by the word of God, that so nothing may be contrary to these laws but what is not only really, but plainly contrary to the Word of God. And the weaker the subjects are, the more the condescension ought to be exercised towards them in this matter." Romans 15, verses 1 and 2. 11. As men cannot bow the hearts of their inferiors unto subjection, they ought always to issue forth their commandments in the most prudent, mild, and gaining manner. It is very improper to issue forth any law doubtful or obscure or which most of the subjects are not likely to be got peaceably to comply with. This ought especially to be attended to in the framing and imposing of laws and constitutions relative to religion, which ought to be a reasonable and voluntary service. 12. As nothing, particularly in religion, ought to be contrary to any law of church or state, but what is plainly contrary to the law of God, and nothing ought to be held censurable by the laws of the church or punishable by the laws of the state, but what is plainly contrary to these laws, and has become duly public in the providence of God, without requiring the party concerned to be his own accuser. So on account of the weakness or number of the offenders, or the disordered state of the society, many real scandals in the church must be foreborn without censure, and many real crimes against the state foreborn without punishment. Notwithstanding, it would be extremely wicked, authoritatively, to license or tolerate them in either. If your children be very young, raving in a fever, delirious, or apt to fall into convulsive fits, it might be very prudent and dutiful for you to forbear severe chastisement of them for playing on the Lord's Day. repeating some wicked expressions they had heard from their fellow children, or the like. But would it be lawful in you to give them a parental license to profane the Sabbath or name of God, and promise them protection in so doing? You dare not pretend it. God himself wisely forbears the punishment of many things, which his law forbids. 13. As it is never errors or corruptions of the heart, but wicked words and deeds, sufficiently and regularly manifested, which are to be corrected in families, punished in commonwealths, or censured in churches, Deuteronomy 13, 1-14, 17, 46, Hebrews 10, 28, 1 Timothy 5, 1. So, even in punishing manifest crimes, especially in matters of religion, all proper mildness ought to be exercised, never proceeding to extremities where there is any hope of reformation, or where, as in the case of heresy or blasphemy, confession and repentance can make any kind of restitution. Among the Hebrews, not one appears to have been punished for idolatry if he professed repentance and reformation. The princes of Israel first attempted to bring the Reubenites and Gadites, whom they supposed guilty of it, to repentance. Never in the reformation by Asa, Hezekiah, or Josiah have we one instance of a penitent idolater slain. The idolaters condemned to death, Deuteronomy 13 and 17, are represented as men of Belial, presumptuous and obstinate in their wickedness. The prophets of Baal whom Elijah caused to be put to death, 1 Kings 18.40, and Matan the priest who was slain by Jehoiada's orders, 2 Kings 11.18, were no doubt of this sort. and probably also guilty of promoting the murder of the Lord's prophets and people. The man put to death for profanation of the Sabbath appears to have acted presumptuously, Numbers 15, 30-36. Asa and his subjects covenanted to put to death such as obstinately adhered to idolatry, 2 Chronicles 15, verses 12 and 13. 14. Magistrates ought never to attempt forcing men to believe with their hearts even the most fundamental truths of religion, or to practice any religious duty, that being no means appointed by God for convincing them of the truth, or inducing them to a cordial performance of religious duties. But it would be highly absurd hence to infer that magistrates may not restrain men from robbing nations or churches of those divine truths which God has graciously entrusted to them, and which are inexpressibly profitable to them or restrain them from propagating gross heresies, blasphemies, idolatries, which undermine and exclude the true religion, provoke God to destroy nations, and are the fruitful seeds of contention, confusion, and every evil work. No magistrate can compel me to love my neighbor as myself, or can justly compel me to divide mine inheritance with him. But he may lawfully punish me for columniating or robbing him. It is, therefore, extremely uncandid in the advocates for magistratical tolerations of heresy, blasphemy, and idolatry, always to attempt blending or placing on an equal level true and false religion, mere neglect of some positive duties of religion, and shocking insults upon and opposition to the duties of religion, lesser and secret mistakes in religion, and the most damnable heresies, blasphemies, and idolatries, openly and obstinately professed and practiced, as if these were equally objects of toleration, restraint, or punishment, or to confound a mere forbearance to punish with an authoritative license openly to profess and practice what is criminal respecting religion. The true religion ought never to need a toleration. It ought always to have an establishment, whereas a false one ought never to be established, magistrates having no power against the truth but for the truth. There are many mere neglects or lesser mistakes in religion, against which it would not be proper for magistrates to enact civil laws in this present state of imperfection. And if there be no civil law against them, they cannot be punishable as crimes. Where no law is, there can be no transgression. Mere forbearance to punish what is plainly contrary to law is, in some cases, necessary, and an imitation of God Himself. and gives no positive encouragement to wickedness, whereas a positive or authoritative toleration proclaims to men a liberty to sin and promises them protection in so doing. If the provider for an army deliver to them fine flour mixed with some particles of bran and a large quantity of arsenic, is his delivery of the fine flour or even of the mixture of bran as criminal and punishable as that of the mixture of arsenic? no man that is not mad will pretend it. For the fine flower he deserves the highest encouragement, for the bran he may be justly forborn, but for the arsenic he deserves to be hanged. The toleration which I mean to oppose, if plainly and candidly expressed, would run thus, quote, We, the King and Parliament of such and such, as powers ordained of God, ministers of God for good to men, as the ordinance of God for the terror and punishment of evildoers, and the praise of them that do well. As nursing fathers to the Church of Christ, in order that all our subjects may come to the knowledge of the truth, and lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty, do hereby, in the name and authority of the Most High God, from whom we have derived all that governing power which we possess, that we, ruling in His sphere, may exercise it wholly in obedience to his law, and to promote his declarative glory in the world, grant to all and every one of you, our said subjects, an authoritative toleration or legal license, openly and obstinately to pervert, contradict and revile the declarations of God contained in his word, and in the most insolent and abusive manner to blaspheme his nature, perfections, purposes and works, particularly of the redemption of mankind. and to corrupt his worship, represent him in it in the most absurd and abominable form, or rob him of it, giving it to devils, monsters of wickedness, brutes, stocks, or stones in his stead, and with all your might to exert yourselves in making your fellow subjects do the like. And we who hereby do, in the same name and authority of God, the King of Nations, promise you every kind and degree of civil protection in all such behavior, as you can profess or pretend your consciences do dictate or allow, providing always that you commit your outrage only against God, your and our Maker and Sovereign, but do not disturb the external peace of the nation, in reviling the civil character, seizing or hurting the civil property, or any way abusing the body of any of your fellow sinners of mankind." The correspondent warrant of conscience which we mean to impugn if honestly expressed, would run nuts. Quote, I, conscience, as the great deputy of the Most High God, Lord and Lawgiver of the world, implanted in every man's breast for his temporal, spiritual, and eternal advantage, do hereby, in God's name and authority, and in the exercise of my power, which is wholly derived from Him, and to the exercise for His glory, in trying all things by His law, and approving and holding fast that which is good, warrant and authorize all and every one of you, sons and daughters of men, to devise, believe, openly and obstinately to profess, and zealously propagate every damnable heresy and blasphemous opinion, and to practice and propagate every absurd and abominable form of idolatry, which Satan, who deceives the world, and a heart deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, and given up of God to strong delusion, belief of lies, vile affection, and a reprobate sense, can make you think innocent or proper. And I do hereby, in the same name and authority, grant you my sacred claim of right to all manner of liberty and protection from the civil magistrate in so doing, providing always that you commit such injury and outrage only against God, your infinitely excellent, high, and gracious proprietor and superior, and do no civil injury to the body, character, or property of your fellow creatures." Such is indeed the toleration which many praise or plead for, and this I proceed to impugn by the following arguments. You've reached the end of track one of a refutation of religious pluralism by John Brown of Haddington. This work is published by Gospel Covenant Publications. Gospel Covenant Publications' website is www.gcpublications.com. They may be reached by email at info at gcpublications.com and by phone area code 208-553-5296. Please continue listening at track two.