The divine institution of magistracy and the scripture precepts in the erection of civil government and in the appointment of governors were held by the martyrs. They also held that persons invested with authority should be fearers of God and professors of the true religion, as well as persons of ability and moral character.
No class of men were more jealous of the liberty of the church than they were; yet they held that an obligation lay upon a nation, by their rulers, to favour and support religion; viewing this as due, in the first place, to the Prince of the Kings of the earth, whom all nations are to serve, and as, in the second place, forming the only sure basis of national virtue, union, peace, and prosperity.
Erastian supremacy, placing the church in the subjection to the State, was completely opposed by them. Similarly, they rejected an authority over the State, requiring its subjection to ecclesiastical authorities.
They required the co-operation of civil and ecclesiastical authority, each in its own sphere, as co-ordinate powers under God. They drew the distinction between civil and ecclesiastical authority with judicious exactness and without confounding these two things.
They did not confound the constitutional exercise of civil authority, in giving facilities and protection to true religion, with the base prostitution of it to State or personal purposes.
Be it right or wrong, such is the fact, that the reformers did not exclude religion from national concern. They found things civil and religious recognized in the same divine law, connected in the complex nature and relations of man, related also in the necessary connections of things, and joined in the corruptions against which they protested.
But it is due to them to say, that nothing was more remote from their minds than the idea of propagating religion with the sword. Called, as they were, in their perilous circumstances, to assume the attitude of defence, they disavowed and abhorred the propagation of religion by other than the weapons of scripture, argument, prayer, and example.
In language as strong as could be employed by those who accuse them of sanguinary principles, they declared, "We positively disavow, as horrid murder, the killing of any, because of a different persuasion and opinion from us, albeit some have invidiously cast this odious calumny upon us." (This article has been adapted from "Religious Principles of the Scottish Martyrs" by Andrew Symington.)
No class of men were more jealous of the liberty of the church than they were; yet they held that an obligation lay upon a nation, by their rulers, to favour and support religion; viewing this as due, in the first place, to the Prince of the Kings of the earth, whom all nations are to serve, and as, in the second place, forming the only sure basis of national virtue, union, peace, and prosperity.
Erastian supremacy, placing the church in the subjection to the State, was completely opposed by them. Similarly, they rejected an authority over the State, requiring its subjection to ecclesiastical authorities.
They required the co-operation of civil and ecclesiastical authority, each in its own sphere, as co-ordinate powers under God. They drew the distinction between civil and ecclesiastical authority with judicious exactness and without confounding these two things.
They did not confound the constitutional exercise of civil authority, in giving facilities and protection to true religion, with the base prostitution of it to State or personal purposes.
Be it right or wrong, such is the fact, that the reformers did not exclude religion from national concern. They found things civil and religious recognized in the same divine law, connected in the complex nature and relations of man, related also in the necessary connections of things, and joined in the corruptions against which they protested.
But it is due to them to say, that nothing was more remote from their minds than the idea of propagating religion with the sword. Called, as they were, in their perilous circumstances, to assume the attitude of defence, they disavowed and abhorred the propagation of religion by other than the weapons of scripture, argument, prayer, and example.
In language as strong as could be employed by those who accuse them of sanguinary principles, they declared, "We positively disavow, as horrid murder, the killing of any, because of a different persuasion and opinion from us, albeit some have invidiously cast this odious calumny upon us." (This article has been adapted from "Religious Principles of the Scottish Martyrs" by Andrew Symington.)
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For additional information about the Biblical view of civil government and/or the Covenanters, please visit PuritanDownloads.com. There are many Biblical Protestant theology resources at that site.
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