What security then shall we have left us for truth and orthodox, when our subscriptions are gone? Why, the sacred scriptures, those oracles of the great God, and freedom and liberty to interpret and understand them as we can; the consequence of this would be great integrity and peace of conscience, in the enjoyment of our religious principles, union and friendship amongst christians, notwithstanding all their differences in judgment, and great respect and honour to those faithful pastors, that carefully feed the flock of God, and lead them into pastures of righteousness and peace. We shall lose only the incumbrances of religion, our bones of contention, the shackles of our consciences, and the snares to honesty and virtue; whilst all that is substantially good and valuable, all that is truly divine and heavenly, would remain to enrich and bless us.
The clergy would indeed lose their power to do mischief; but would they not be happy in that loss, especially as they would be infinitely more likely to do good? They would be no longer looked on as fathers and dictators in the faith; but still they might remain “ambassadors for Christ, beseeching men in Christ’s stead, to become reconciled to God.” And was all human authority, in matters of faith, thus wholly laid aside, would not the word of God have a freer course, and be much more abundantly glorified? All christians would look upon scripture as the only rule of their faith and practice, and therefore search it with greater diligence and care, and be much more likely to understand the mind of God therein. The main things of christianity would, unquestionably, be generally agreed to by all; and as to other things, points of speculation and difficult questions, if christians differed about them, their differences would be of no great importance, and might be maintained consistent with charity and peace.
Indeed, a strict and constant adherence to scripture, as the only judge in controversies of the christian faith, would be the most likely method to introduce into the church a real uniformity of opinion, as well as practice. For if this was the case, many disputes would be wholly at an end, as having nothing to give occasion to them in the sacred writings; and all others would be greatly shortened, as hereby all foreign terms, and human phrases of speech, by which the questions that have been controverted amongst christians have been darkened and perplexed, would be immediately laid aside, and the only inquiry would be, what is the sense of scripture? What the doctrine of Christ and his apostles? This is a much more short and effectual way of determining controversies, than sending men to Nice and Chalcedon, to councils and synods, to Athanasius, or Arius, to Calvin or Arminius, or any other persons whatsoever that can be mentioned, who at best deliver but their own sense of scripture, and are not to be regarded any farther than they agree with it.
It was the departure from this, as the great standard of faith, and corrupting the simplicity of the gospel-doctrine by hard, unscriptural words, that gave occasion to the innumerable controversies that formerly troubled the christian church. Human creeds were substituted in the room of scripture; and according as circumstances differed, or new opinions were broached, so were the creeds corrected, amended and enlarged, till they became so full of subtleties, contradictions, and nonsense, as must make every thoughtful man read many of them with contempt. The controversy was not about scripture expressions, but about the words of men; not about the sense of scripture, but the decrees of councils, and the opinions of Athanasius, Leo, Cyril, and the venerable fathers. And upon this foot it was no wonder their disputes should be endless; since the writings of all fallible men must certainly be more obscure and intricate than the writings of the infallible spirit of truth, who could be at no loss about the doctrines he dictated, nor for proper words suitably to express them.
It is infinite, it is endless labour, to consult all that the fathers have written; and when we have consulted them, what one controversy have they rationally decided? What one christian doctrine have they clearly and solidly explained? How few texts of scripture have they critically settled the sense and meaning of? How often do they differ from one another, and in how many instances from themselves? Those who read them, greatly differ in their interpretation of them; and men of the most contrary sentiments, all claim them for their own. Athanasians and Arians appeal to the fathers, and support their principles by quotations from them. And are these the venerable gentlemen, whose writings are to be set up in opposition to the scripture, or set up as authoritative judges of the sense of scripture? Are creeds of their dictating to be submitted to as the only criterion of orthodoxy, or esteemed as standards to distinguish between truth and error? Away with this folly and superstition!superstition! The creeds of the fathers and councils are but human creeds, that have all the marks in them of human frailty and ignorance.ignorance. The creeds which are to be found in the gospel are the infallible dictates of the spirit of the God of truth, and as such claim our reverence and submission; and as the forming our principles according to them, as far as we are able to understand them, makes us christians in the sight of God, it should be sufficient to every one’s being owned as a christian by others, without their using any inquisitory forms of trial, till they can produce their commission from heaven for the use of them. This, as it is highly reasonable in itself, would do the highest honour to the christian clergy; who, instead of being reproached for haughtiness and pride, as the incendiaries and plagues of mankind, as the sowers of contention and strife, and disturbers of the peace of the church of God, would be honoured for their work’s sake, esteemed for their characters, loved as blessings to the world, heard with pleasure, and become succesful in their endeavours to recommend the knowledge and practice of christianity.
Were the doctrines of the gospel regarded as they should be, and the precepts of the christian religion submitted to by all who profess to believe it, universal benevolence would be the certain effect, and eternal peace and union would reign amongst the members of the christian church. For if there are any commands of certain clearness, any precepts of evident obligation in the gospel, they are such as refer to the exercise of love, and the maintaining universal charity. In our Saviour’s admirable discourse on the mount, this was the excellent doctrine he taught: [380]“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the peace-makers, for they shall be called the children of God.” And in another place, describing the nature of religion in general, he tells us, that [381]“the love of God is the first commandment; and that the second is like unto it—thou shalt love thy neighbourneighbour as thyself.” This he enjoins upon his disciples as his peculiar command: [382]“This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you;” and recommends it to them as that whereby they were to be distinguished from all other persons. [383]“A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. [384]By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”
This was the more needful for them, considering that our Lord foreknew the grievous persecutions that would befal them for his sake; to encourage them under which, he pronounces them blessed: [385]“Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness-sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven;” whilst, at the same time, he leaves a brand of infamy on persecutors, and marks them out for the vengeance of God: [386]“Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets that were before you. [387]Woe unto you, for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them; therefore, saith the wisdom of God, I will send you prophets and apostles, and they will slay and persecute them, that the blood of all the prophets—may be required of this generation.”
And indeed, so far was our Lord from encouraging any persecuting methods, that he rebuked and put a stop to all the appearances of them. Thus when his disciples would have called down fire from heaven to consume the Samaritans, who refused to receive him, he rebuked them, and said, [388]“Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of; the Son of Man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them;” and when one of those who were with Christ cut off the ear of one of the high priest’s servants, upon his laying hands on him, he severely reproved him: [389]“Put up again thy sword into its place; for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.” And, in order to cure his apostles of their ambition and pride, and to prevent their claiming an undue power, he gave them an example of great humility and condescension, in washing and wiping their feet, and forbid them imitating the [390]“gentiles, by exercising dominion and authority; but whoever will be great amongst you, let him be your minister; and whosoever will be chief amongst you, let him be your servant; even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” And as the Jewish teachers took on them the name of Rabbi, to denote their power over the consciences of those they instructed, he commanded his disciples, [391]“Be ye not called Rabbi, for one is your master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren; and call no man father upon earth, for one is your father, which is in heaven. But he that is greatest amongst you, shall be your servant.” From these, and other passages of like nature, it is very evident, that there is nothing in the life of Jesus Christ that gives any countenance to these wicked methods of propagating and supporting religion, that some of his pretended followers have made use of, but the strongest directions to the contrary.
[392]It is indeed objected, that Christ says, “compel them to come in, that my house may be full:” but that this compulsion means nothing more than invitation and persuasion, is evident from the parallel place of scripture, where what St. Luke calls, [393]“compel them to come in,” is expressed by, “bid them to the marriage,” i. e. endeavour, not by force of arms, but by argument and reason, by importunity and earnestness, and by setting before men the promises and threatnings of the gospel, and thus addressing yourselves to their hopes and fears, to persuade and compel them to embrace my religion, and become the subjects of my kingdom; and in this moral sense of compulsion, the original word is often used.
[394]But farther, it is, by a late writer, reckoned very surprising, that Christ should say, [395]“Think not I am come to send peace, I came not to send peace, but a sword; for I am come to set a man at variance with his father, and the daughter against her mother, &c.” But how is this so very surprising? or what man of common sense can mistake the meaning of the words, who reads the whole discourse? In the former part of it, it is expressly declared, that the most grievous persecutions should befal his disciples for his sake; that “brother should deliver up brother to death, and the father the child; and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.” Can any man understand this of an intention in Christ to set people at variance? when it is a prediction only of what should be the consequence of publishing his gospel, through the malice and cruelty of its opposers; a prediction of what his disciples were to suffer, and not of what they were to make others suffer.
And as to that passage in Luke, [396]“I am come to send fire on the earth: and what will I, if it be already kindled? Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you nay, but rather division.” How is it explained by Christ himself? Why, in the very next words: “For from henceforth,” i. e. upon the publication of my religion and gospel, “there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three, &c.” Can any man need paraphrase and criticism to explain these passages of any thing, but of that persecution which should befal the preachers and believers of the gospel? or imagine it to be a prophetic description of a fire to be blown up by Christ to consume others, when the whole connection evidently refers it to a fire, that the opposers of his religion should blow up, to consume himself and followers? Jesus knew it was such a fire as would first consume himself. “I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?” or, as the words should be translated, “How do I wish it was already kindled? How do I wish it to break out on my own person, that I might glorify God by my sufferings and death?”death?” For as it follows, “I have a baptism to be baptised with,” a baptism with my own blood: “and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!” After this account of his own sufferings, he foretels the same should befal his followers: “Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you nay, but rather division;” i. e. as I myself must suffer to bear witness to the truth, so after my decease, such shall be the unreasonable and furious opposition to my gospel, as shall occasion divisions amongst the nearest relations, some of whom shall hate and persecute the other for their embracing my religion. And of consequence [397]“Christ did not declare, in the most express terms,” as the fore-mentioned writer asserts, “that he came to do that which we must suppose he came to hinder.” He did only declare, that he came to do what he was resolved not to hinder, i. e. to publish such a religion as his enemies would put him to death for, and as would occasion divisions amongst the nearest relations, through the unreasonable hatred and opposition that some would shew to others upon account of it. This matter is elsewhere clearly expressed by Christ: [398]“These things have I spoken to you, that ye should not be offended. They shall put you out of the synagogues; yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you, will think that he doth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the father nor me,” i. e. have not understood either natural religion, or the religion of my gospel.
There is therefore nothing in the conduct or doctrines of Jesus Christ to countenance or encourage persecution. His temper was benevolent, his conduct merciful; and one governing design of all he said, was to promote meekness and condescension, universal charity and love. And in this all his apostles were careful imitators of his example: [399]“Let love,” saith St. Paul, “be without dissimulation; be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love, in honour preferring one another. [400]If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.” And the love he recommended was such, [401]“as worketh no ill to his neighbour;” and which therefore he declares “to be the fulfilling of the law.”
And, lest different sentiments in lesser matters should cause divisions amongst christians, he commands, [402]“to receive him that is weak in the faith, not to doubtful disputations,” not to debates, or contentions about disputations, or disputable things. Upon account of such matters, he orders that none should [403]“despise or judge others, because God had received them;” [403]and because every man ought to be “fully persuaded in his own mind,” and because [404]“the kingdom of God was not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace, and joy in the holy ghost;” and because every one was to [405]“give an account of himself to God,” to whom alone, as his only master, he was to stand or fall. From these substantial reasons he infers, [406]“We then that are strong,” who have the most perfect understanding of the nature of christianity, and our christian liberty, [407]“ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves;” and having prayed for them, that the God of patience and consolation would grant them to “be like-minded one towards another,” according to, or after the example of Christ, that, notwithstanding the strength of some, and the weakness of others, they might, [408]“with one mind, and with one mouth, glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ;” he adds, as the conclusion of his argument, [409]“Wherefore“Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.”
In his letters to the [410]Corinthians, he discovers the same divine and amiable spirit. In his first epistle he beseeches them, “by the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that they would all speak the same thing, and that there should be no schism amongst them, but that they should be perfectly joined together in the same mind, and in the same judgment;” i. e. that they should all own and submit to Christ, as their only lord and head, and not rank themselves under different leaders, as he had been informed they had done; for that they were [411]“the body of Christ,” and all of them his members, and ought therefore to maintain that charity to one another, “which suffereth long, and is kind; which envieth not, vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things; which is greater and more excellent than faith and hope, which fails not in heaven itself,” where faith and hope shall be at an end; and without which, though we could [412]“speak with the tongue of men and angels, should have the gift of prophesy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge, and could remove mountains; yea, though we should bestow all our goods to feed the poor, and give our bodies to be burned, we should be only as sounding brass, and as a tinkling cymbal;” nothing in the account of God, nothing as to any real profit and advantage that will accrue to us. And, in his second epistle, he takes his leave of them, with this divine exhortation, and glorious encouragement: [413]“Finally brethren, farewell; be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind,” be affectionate, and kindly disposed to one another, as though you were influenced by one common mind: “Live in peace, and the God of love and peace shall be with you.”
In his epistle to the Galatians,[414] he gives us a catalogue of those works of the flesh which exclude men from the kingdom of God; such as “adultery, fornication,—hatred, variance, emulation, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings,” and the like; and then assures us, that “the fruits of the spirit are love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance, against which there is no law:”law:” and, after having laid down this as an essential principle of christianity, that [415]“neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature;” as it is expressed in another place, “Faith which worketh by love;” he pronounces this truly apostolic benediction, [416]“As many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.”
The same divine and excellent strain runs through his letter to the Ephesians: [417]“I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavouring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace;” and the term of this union, which he lays down, is the acknowledgment of one catholic church, one spirit, one Lord and Mediator, and “One God, even the Father of all, who is above all, through all, and in all.” The contrary vices, of [418]“bitterness and wrath, and anger and clamour, and evil-speaking and malice, are to be put away,” as things that “grieve the Holy Spirit of God?”[419] and we must “be kind one to another, forgiving one another even as God, for Christ’s sake, hath forgiven us;[420] and be followers of God, by walking in love, even as Christ hath also loved us, and hath given himself for us.”
His exhortation to the Philippians,[421] is in the most moving terms: “If there be any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfil ye my joy; that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.”
In his exhortation to the Colossians, he warmly presses our cultivating the same disposition, and abounding in the same practice: [422]“Put“Put off all these, anger, wrath, malice;—put on as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, even as Christ forgave us. And above all these things, put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness: and let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also ye are called in one body.”
In his directions to Timothy, he gives him this summary of all practical religion: [423]“The end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and a good conscience, and faith unfeigned;” and he ascribes men’s turning aside to vain jangling, to their having swerved from this great principle.
And, to mention no more passages on this head, I shall conclude this whole account with that amiable description of the wisdom that is from above, given by St. James: [424]“The“The wisdom that is from above is pure, and peaceable, and gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. But if we have bitter envying and strife in our hearts, we have nothing to glory in, but we lye against the truth,” i. e. belie our christian profession; for whatever false judgment we may pass upon ourselves, this “wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish; for where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.”
I have thrown all these excellent passages of the sacred writings together, that it may appear, in the most convincing light, that the scriptures have nothing in them to countenance the spirit, or any of the methods of persecution; and to confront the melancholy account I have given before of the progress and ravages caused by this accursed evil. Good God, how have the practices of christians differed from the precepts of christianity! Would one imagine that the authors of those dreadful mischiefs and confusions were the bishops and ministers of the christian church? That they had ever read the records of the christian religion? Or if they had, that they ever believed them?
But it may be objected, that whatever may be the precepts of the christian religion, yet the conduct even of the apostles themselves gives some countenance to the spirit and practice of persecution, and particularly the conduct of St. Paul; and that such powers are given to the guides and bishops of the christian church, as do either expressly or virtually include in them a right to persecute. Let us briefly examine each of these pretensions.
As to the practice of the apostles,[425] Beza mentions two instances to vindicate the punishment of heretics. The first is that of Ananias and Sapphira, struck dead by Peter; and the other that of Elymas the sorcerer, struck blind by Paul. But how impertinently are both these instances alledged? Heresy was not the thing punished in either of them. Ananias and Sapphira were struck dead for hypocrisy and lying; and for conspiring, if it were possible, to deceive God. Elymas was a jewish sorcerer, and false prophet; a subtle, mischievous fellow, an enemy to righteousness and virtue, who withstood the apostolic authority, and endeavoured, by his frauds, to prevent the conversion of the deputy to the christian faith. The two first of these persons were punished with death. By whom? What, by Peter? No: by the immediate hand of God. Peter gave them a reproof suitable to their wickedness; but as to the punishment, he was only the mouth of God in declaring it, even of that God who knew the hypocrisy of their hearts, and gave this signal instance of his abhorrence of it in the infancy of the christian church, greatly to discourage, and, if possible, for the future to prevent men thus dealing fraudulently and insincerely with him. And, I presume, if God hath a righta right to punish frauds and cheats in another world, he hath a right to do so in this; especially in the instance before us, which seems to have something very peculiar in it.
Peter expressly says to Sapphira, [426]“How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the spirit of the Lord?”Lord?” What can this tempting of the spirit of the Lord be, but an agreement between Ananias and his wife, to put this fraud on the apostle, to see whether or no he could discover it by the spirit he pretended to? This was a proper challenge to the spirit of God, which the apostles were endued with, and a combination to put the apostolic character to the trial. Had not the cheat been discovered, the apostle’s inspiration and mission would have been deservedly questioned; and as the state of christianity required that this divine mission should be abundantly established, Peter lets them know that their hypocrisy was discovered; and, to create the greater regard and attention to their persons and message, God saw fit to punish that hypocrisy with death.
As to Elymas the sorcerer,[427] this instance is as foreign and impertinent as the other. Sergius Paulus, proconsul of Cyprus, had entertained at Paphos one Barjesus, a jew, a sorcerer; and hearing also that Paul and Barnabas were in the city, he sent for them to hear the doctrine they preached. Accordingly they endeavoured to instruct the deputy in the christian faith, but were withstood by Elymas, who by his subtleties and tricks, endeavoured to hinder his conversion. St. Paul therefore, in order to confirm his own divine mission, and to prevent the deputy’s being deceived by the frauds and sorceries of Elymas, after severely rebuking him for his sin, and opposition to christianity, tells him, not that the Proconsul ought to put him in jail, and punish him with the civil sword, but that God himself would decide the controversy, by striking the sorcerer himself immediately blind; which accordingly came to pass, to the full conviction of the Proconsul.
Now what is there in all this to vindicate persecution? God punishes wicked men for fraud and sorcery, who knew their hearts, and had a right to punish the iniquity of them. Therefore men may punish others for opinions they think to be true, and are conscientious in embracing, without knowing the heart, or being capable of discovering any insincerity in it. Or God may vindicate the character and mission of his own messengers, when wickedly opposed and denied, by immediate judgments inflicted by himself on their opposers. Therefore the magistrate may punish and put to death, without any warrant from God, such who believe their mission, and are ready to submit to it, as far as they understand the nature and design of it. Are these consequences just and rational? or would any man have brought these instances as precedents for persecution, that was not resolved, at all hazards, to defend and practise it?
But doth not St. Paul command to [428]“deliver persons to satan for the destruction of the flesh?” Doth he not [429]“wish that they were even cut off who trouble christians, and enjoin us to mark them which cause divisions and offences, contrary to his doctrine, and to avoid them, and not to eat with them?” Undoubtedly he doth. But what can be reasonably inferred from hence in favour of persecution, merely for the sake of opinions and principles? In all these instances, the things censured are immoralities and vices. The person who was delivered by St. Paul to satan, was guilty of a crime not so much as named by the gentiles themselves, the incestuous marriage of his father’s wife; and the persons we are, as christians, commanded not to keep company and eat with, are men of scandalous lives; such as fornicators, or covetous, or idolaters, or railers, or drunkards, or extortioners, making a profession of the christian religion, or, in St. Paul’s phrase, “called brethren;” a wise and prudent exhortation in those days especially, to prevent others from being corrupted by such examples, and any infamy thrown on the christian name and character. As to those whom the apostle “wishes cut off,” they were the persecuting Jews, who spread contention amongst christians, and taught them to bite and devour one another, upon account of circumcision, and such like trifles; men that were the plagues and corrupters of the society they belonged to. Men who caused such divisions, and who caused them out of a love to their own belly, deserved to have a mark set upon them, and to be avoided by all who regarded their own interest, or the peace of others.
What the apostle means by delivering to satan, I am not able certainly to determine. It was not, I am sure, the putting the person in jail, or torturing his body by an executioner, nor sending him to the devil by the sword or the faggot. One thing included in it, undoubtedly was his separation from the christian church; [430]“put away from amongst yourselves that wicked person:” which probably was attended with some bodily distemper, which, as it came from God, had a tendency to bring the person to consideration and reflection. The immediate design of it was the destruction of the flesh, to cure him of his incest, that, by repentance and reformation, his “spirit might be saved in the day of Christ;” and the power by which the apostle inflicted this punishment, was peculiar to himself, which God gave him [431]“for edification, and not for destruction:” So that whatever is precisely meant by delivering to satan, it was the punishment of a notorious sin: a punishment that carried the marks of God’s hand, and was designed for the person’s good, and was actually instrumental to recover and save him. 2 Cor. ii.
But what resemblance is there in all this to persecution, in which there is no appearance of the hand of God, nor any marks but those of the cruelty and vengeance of men; no immorality punished, and generally speaking, nothing that in its nature deserves punishment, or but what deserves encouragement and applause. And it is very probable that this is what St. Paul means by his “wishing those cut off” who disturbed the peace of the Galatian christians, by spreading divisions amongst them, and exciting persecutions against them; though I confess, if St. Paul meant more, and prayed to God that those obstinate and incorrigible enemies to christianity, who, for private views of worldly interest, raised perpetual disturbances and persecutions wherever they came, might receive the just punishment of their sins, and be hereby prevented from doing farther mischief, I do not see how this would have been inconsistent with charity, or his own character as an inspired apostle.
It may possibly be urged, that though the things censured in these places are immoralities, yet that there are other passages which refer only to principles; and that the apostle Paul speaks against them with great severity: as particularly, [432]“If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.” And again, [433]“A man that is an heretic, after the first and second admonition, reject.” As to the first of these, nothing can be more evident, than that the apostle pronounces an anathema only against those who subverted the christian religion; such who taught that it was insufficient to salvation, without circumcision, and submission to the Jewish law. As the gospel he taught was what he had received from Christ, he had, as an apostle, a right to warn the churches he wrote to against corrupting the simplicity of it: and to pronounce an anathema, i. e. to declare in the name of his great Master, that all such false teachers should be condemned who continued to do so: And this is the utmost that can be made of the expression; and therefore this place is as impertinently alledged in favour of persecution, as it would be to alledge those words of Christ, “He that believeth not shall be condemned.” The anathema pronounced was the divine vengeance; it was Anathema Maranatha, to take place only when the Lord should come to judgment, and not to be executed by human vengeance.
As to heresy, against which such dreadful outcries have been raised, it is taken indifferently in a good or a bad sense in the scripture. In the bad sense, it signifies, not an involuntary error, or mistake of judgment, into which serious and honest minds may fall, after a careful inquiry into the will of God; but a wilful, criminal, corruption of the truth for worldly ends and purposes. Thus it is reckoned by [434]St. Paul himself amongst the works of the flesh, such as adultery, fornication, variance, strifes, and the like; because heresy is embraced for the sake of fleshly lusts, and always ministers to the serving them. Thus St. Peter: [435]“There were false prophets also amongst the people, even as there shall be false teachers amongst you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction; and many shall follow their pernicious ways, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of; and through covetousness shall they, with feigned words, make merchandize of you; whom he farther describes as walking after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness,” and as given to almost all manner of vices. This is heresy, and “denying the Lord that bought us,” and the only meaning of the expression, as used by the apostle; though it hath been applied by weak or designing men to denote all such as do not believe their metaphysical notion of the Trinity, or the Athanasian creed. Hence it is that St. Paul gives it, as the general character of an heretic, that [436]“he is subverted,” viz. from the christian faith; “sinneth,” viz. by voluntarily embracing errors, subversive of the gospel, in favour of his lusts, on which account he is “self-condemned,” viz. by his own conscience, both in the principles he teaches, and the vile uses to which he makes them serve. So that though sincere and honest inquirers after truth, persons who fear God, and practise righteousness, may be heretics in the esteem of men, for not understanding and believing their peculiarities in religion; yet they are not and cannot be heretics, according to the scripture description of heresy, in the notion of which there is always supposed a wicked heart, causing men wilfully to embrace and propagate such principles as are subversive of the gospel, in order to serve the purposes of their avarice, ambition, and lust.
Such heresy as this is unquestionably one of the worst of crimes, and heretics of this kind are worthy to be rejected. It must be confessed, that heresy hath been generally taken in another sense, and to mean opinions that differ from the established orthodoxy, or from the creeds of the clergy, that are uppermost in power: who have not only taken on them to reject such as have differed from them, from their communion and church, but to deprive them of fortune, liberty, and life. But as St. Paul’s notion of heresy entirely differs from what the clergy have generally taught about it, theirs may be allowed to be a very irrational and absurd doctrine, and the apostle’s remain a very wise and good one; and though they have gone into all the lengths of wickedness to punish what they have stigmatized with the name of heresy, they have had no apostolic example or precept to countenance them; scripture heretics being only to be rejected from the church, according to St. Paul; and, as to any farther punishment, it is deferred till the Lord shall come.
As to the powers given to the guides, or overseers, or bishops of the church, I allow their claims have been exceeding great. They have assumed to themselves the name of the church and clergy, hereby to distinguish themselves from the flock of Christ. They have taken on them, as we have seen, to determine, mend, and alter the faith; to make creeds for others, and oblige them to subscribe them; and to act as though our Savior had divested himself of his own rights, and given unto them “all power in heaven and earth.” But these claims have as little foundation in the gospel as in reason.
The words clergy and church, are never once used in scripture to denote the bishops, or other officers, but the christian people. St. Peter advises the presbyterers [437]“to feed the flock of God, and to exercise the episcopal office willingly, not as lording it over the heritages,” or clergy of God. And St. Paul, writing to his Ephesians, and speaking of their privileges as christians, says, that “by Christ they were made God’s peculiar lot,” or heritage, or clergy. In like manner the body of christians in general, and particular congregations in particular places, are called the church, but the ministers of the gospel never in contra-distinction to them. It is of all believers that St. Peter gives that noble description, that they are “a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices; a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, and a peculiar people,” or a people for his peculiar heritage, or “purchased possession,” as the word is rendered. Eph. i. 14. So that to be the church, the clergy, and the sacred priests of God, is an honour common to all christians in general by the gospel charter. These are not the titles of a few only, who love to exalt themselves above others.
Undoubtedly, the order of the christian worship requires that there should be proper persons to guide and regulate the affairs of it. And accordingly St. Paul tells us, [438]“that Christ gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers;” different officers, according to the different state and condition of his church. To the apostles extraordinary powers were given, to fit them for the service to which they were called; and, to enable them to manage these powers in a right manner, they were under the peculiar conduct of the spirit of God, Thus our Saviour, after his resurrection, breathed on his disciples the Holy Ghost, and said, [439]“Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted to them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained;” a commission of the same import with that which he gave them before, Matt. xviii. 18. “Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven.” To “bind, is to retain men’s sins; and to loose, is to remit their sins.” And this power the apostles had; and it was absolutely necessary they should have it, or they could never have spread his religion in the world.
But wherein did this binding and loosing, this retaining and remitting sins, consist? What, in their saying to this man, I absolve you from your sins; and, to the other, I put you under the sentence of damnation? would any considerate man in the world have ever credited their pretensions to such an extravagant power? or can one single instance be produced of the apostles pretending to exercise it? No: their power of binding and loosing, of retaining and remitting sins, consisted in this, and in this principally, viz. their fixing the great conditions of men’s future salvation, and denouncing the wrath of Almighty God against all, who, through wilful obstinacy, would not believe and obey the gospel. And the commission was given them in the most general terms, “whose soever sins ye retain, &c.” not because they were to go to particular persons, and peremptorilyperemptorily say, “you shall be saved, and you shall be damned;” butbut because they were to preach the gospel to gentiles as well as jews, and to fix those conditions of future happiness and misery that should include all the nations of the earth, to whom the gospel should be preached.
This was their proper office and work, as apostles; and, in order to this, they had the spirit given them, to bring all things that Christ had said to their remembrance, and to instruct them fully in the nature and doctrines of the gospel. And as they have declared the whole counsel of God to the world, they have loosed and bound all mankind, “even the very bishops and pastors of the church, as well as others,” as they have fixed those conditions of pardon and mercy, of future happiness and misery for all men, from which God will not recede, to the end of time. This was a power fit to be entrusted with men under the conduct of an unerring spirit, and with them only; whereas the common notion of sacerdotal or priestly absolution, as it hath no foundation in this commission to the apostles, nor in any passage of the sacred writings, is irrational and absurd, and which the priests have no more power to give, than any other common christian whatsoever; no, nor than they have to make a new gospel.
I would add, that as the apostles received this commission from Christ, they were bound to confine themselves wholly to it and not to exceed the limits of it. They were his servants who sent them; and the message they received from him, that, and that only, were they to deliver to the world. Thus St. Paul says of himself, that [440]“God had committed to him the world of reconciliation,” and that he was “an ambassador for Christ;” that he [441]“preached not himself, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and himself the servant of others for Jesus’ sake;” that he had [442]“no dominion over others faith,” no power to impose upon them arbitrary things, or articles of faith, which he had not received from Christ; and that accordingly he [443]“determined to know nothing but Christ, and him crucified,”crucified,” i. e. to preach nothing but the pure and uncorrupted doctrines of his gospel; and that this was his great comfort, that he had “not shunned to declare the counsel of God.”
If then the inspired apostles were to confine themselves to what they received from God, and had no power to make articles of faith, and fix terms of communion and salvation, other than what they were immediately ordered to do by Christ, it is absolutely impossible that the clergy can have that power now; who have, as I apprehend, no immediate commission from Christ, nor any direct inspiration from his Holy Spirit. Nor is there any thing in the circumstances of the world to render such a power desirable; because the apostles have shewn us all things that we need believe or practise as christians, and commanded the preachers of the gospel to teach no other doctrines but what they received from them. Hence St. Peter’s advice to the elders, that they, [444]“should feed the flock of God, not as lording it over the heritage.” And St. Paul, in his epistles to Timothy, instructing him in the nature of the gospel doctrines and duties, tells him, that [445]“by putting the brethren in remembrance of these things, he would approve himself a good minister of Jesus Christ;” and commands him to [446]“take heed to himself, and to the doctrines” he had taught him, “and to continue in them;” charging him, [447]“in the sight of God, and before Christ Jesus, to keep the commandment given him, that which was committed to his trust, without spot, unrebukeable, till the appearance of Christ Jesus.” These were the things to which Timothy was to confine himself, and to commit to others, that they might be continually preached in the christian church; and, of consequence, it is the same apostolic doctrine that the bishops, or elders, or ministers of the church, are to instruct their hearers in now, as far as they understand it, without mixing any thing of their own with it, or of any other persons whatsoever.
The great end and design of the ministerial office, is for the [448]“perfecting of the saints, and the edifying of the body of Christ.” Hence the elders are commanded “to take heed to themselves, and to the flock, over which the Holy Ghost had made them bishops, to feed the church of God.” They are likewise exhorted to “hold fast the faithful word, as they had been taught, that by sound doctrine they may be able to exhort and convince others.” They are to “give attendance to reading, exhortation, and doctrine,” and to put others in remembrance of the great truths of the gospel: charging them, before the Lord, not to strive about unprofitable words, but to “be gentle to all men,” and “in meekness to instruct even those who oppose.” They are to “contend earnestly for the faith,” as well as other christians, but then it is for “that faith which was once delivered to the saints,” and, even for this, [449]“the servant of the Lord is not to fight.” He is not to use carnal but spiritual weapons; nor to put on any armour but that of righteousness on the right hand, and on the left. They are to [450]“speak the truth,” but it must be [451]“in love.” They should be “zealously affected,” but it should be always “in a good thing.” They must “stop the mouths of unruly and vain talkers,” but it must be by “uncorruptness of doctrine, gravity, sincerity, and sound speech, that cannot be condemned.”
Upon these, and the like accounts, they are said to be “over us in the Lord”Lord”, “to rule us,” and to be “our guides;” words that do not imply any dominion that they have over the consciences of others, nor any right in them to prescribe articles of faith and terms of communion for others. This they are expressly forbidden, and commanded to preach the word of God only, and pronounced accursed if they preach any other gospel than that which they have received from the apostles. And, of consequence, when we are bid “to obey” and “submit ourselves“ to them, it is meant then, and then only, when they “rule us in the Lord;“ when they speak to us the word of God, and “labour in the word and doctrine.” In all other cases, they have no power, nor is there any obedience due to them. They are to be respected, and to “be had in double honour for their work sake,”sake,” i. e. when they “preach not themselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord,” and when their faith and conversation is such, as to become worthy our imitation. But if “they teach otherwise, and consent not to the words of our Lord Jesus; if they doat about words whereof come envy, strife, and railing, supposing that gain is godliness, from such we are commanded to withdraw ourselves.” The episcopal character, however otherwise greatly venerable, then forfeits the reverence due to it, and becomes contemptible.
So that there are no powers or privileges annexed to the episcopal or ministerial character, in the sacred writings, that are in the least favourable to the cause of persecution, or that countenance so vile and detestable a practice. As to the affair of excommunication, by which the clergy have set the world so often in a flame, there is nothing in the sacred records that confines the right of exercising it to them, nor any command ever to exercise it, but towards notorious and scandalous offenders. The incestuous Corinthian was delivered over to satan by the church in full assembly, on which account his punishment or censure is said to be [452]“by many.” And though St. Paul bids Titus to “reject an heretic,” he also bids the Corinthians to [453]“put away that wicked person from amongst them,” which had brought such a scandal upon their church; and the “Thessalonians, to withdraw themselves from every brother that should walk disorderly.” So that as the clergy have no right, from the new testament, to determine in controversies of faith, nor to create any new species of heresy, so neither have they any exclusive right to cut off any persons from the body of the church, much less to cut them off from it for not submitting to their creeds and canons; and, of consequence, no power to mark them out by this act to the civil magistrate, as objects of his indignation and vengeance.
I have been the longer on this head, that I might fully vindicate the christian revelation from every suspicion of being favourable to persecution. Notwithstanding some late insinuations of this kind that have been thrown out against it, by its professed adversaries, let but the expressions of scripture be interpreted with the same candour as any other writings are, and there will not be found a single sentence to countenance this doctrine and practice. And therefore though men of corrupt minds, or weak judgments, have, for the sake of worldly advantages, or through strong prejudices, entered into the measures of persecution under pretence of vindicating the christian religion; yet, as they have no support and foundation in the gospel of Christ, the gospel ought not to be reproached for this, or any other faults of those who profess to believe it. Let persecution be represented as a most detestable and impious practice, and let persecutors of every denomination and degree bear all the reproaches they deserve, and be esteemed, as they ought to be, the disturbers, plagues, and curses of mankind, and the church of God; but let not the religion of Jesus Christ suffer for their crimes, nor share any part of that scandal, which is due only to those who have dishonoured their character and profession, and abused the most beneficent and kind institution that ever appeared in the world.
It is in order to expose this shameful practice, and render it the abhorrence of all mankind, that I have drawn up the foregoing sheets; and, I presume, that no one who hath not put off humanity itself, can read them without becoming sentiments of indignation. The true use to be made of that history, is, not to think dishonourably of Christ and his religion; not to contemn and despise his faithful ministers, who, by preaching and practice, by reason and argument, endeavour to propagate knowledge, piety, righteousness, charity, and all the virtues of private and social life. The blessing of the Almighty God be with them. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ succeed and prosper them. I say therefore, the use of the foregoing history is to teach men to adhere closely to the doctrines and words of Christ and his apostles, to argue for the doctrines of the gospel with meekness and charity, to introduce no new terms of salvation and christian communion; not to trouble the christian church with metaphysical subtleties and abstruse questions, that minister to quarrelling and strife; not to pronounce censures, judgments, and anathemas, upon such as may differ from us in speculative truths; not to exclude men from the rights of civil society, nor lay them under any negative or positive discouragements for conscience-sake, or for their different usages and rites in the externals of christian worship; but to remove those which are already laid, and which are as much a scandal to the authors and continuers of them, as they are a burden to those who labour under them. These were the sole views that influenced me to lay before my reader the foregoing melancholy account; not any design to reflect on the clergy in general, whose office and character I greatly reverence; and who, by acting according to the original design of their institution, would prove the most useful set of men in every nation and kingdom, and thereby secure to themselves all the esteem they could reasonably desire in the present world; and, what is infinitely more valuable, the approbation of their great Lord and Master in another.