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Discussion of George Gillespie's Wholesome Severity Reconciled with Christian Liberty

Subject: pt 2: Josiah an Erastian?
From: Chris Coldwell 
Date: Sat, 07 Jun 1997 17:21:15 -0500

Date: Sat, 7 Jun 1997 10:30:49 -0700 (PDT)
From: Albert Hembd 
Subject: Josiah, Erastianism, and National Covenanting, Part II
To: naphtali@naphtali.com


MAY THE CHRISTIAN MAGISTRATE TODAY MAKE HIS PEOPLE STAND TO THE COVENANT OF
GOD? 

 As we examine this question, we shall find three things: 1) the civil
magistrate, as the minister of God, must enforce the Moral law, through
just and equitable laws framed to enforce the Moral Law (as we have
mentioned); 2) the civil magistrate must "Kiss the Son," and honor Him, in
fear and trembling, in his public capacity as the civil magistrate, being
as nations as nations are bound now to serve Him (Ps. 72:11 and Is. 60:12;
and therefore, 3) the civil magistrate MUST endeavor to make his people to
stand to the covenant of God. (How else could a nation serve Christ
corporately, but by some kind of covenanting?) 

 And this may be inaugurated by an outward formal vow, required of the
people, and of the magistrate himself, or this may be by implicit assent,
by actual practice: so that, by the magistrate's enforcing the Law of God,
and by his promoting the Gospel, and the people willingly consenting to
this rule, this effectively results in the people's "standing to the
covenant." In my opinion, however, a formal vow is much to be preferred to
not taking a vow, in that "an oath for confirmation is to them an end of
all strife," Heb. 6:16. That is, the taking of a formal oath to a national
covenant settles once and for all where the nation as a nation really stands. 

 But now we deal with the first point more thoroughly: the civil
magistrate, as the minister of God, must enforce the Moral Law, through
just and equitable laws that uphold the righteousness of the Ten
Commandments. 

 Let us examine Romans 13:1-6, which reads as follows: "1 - Let every soul
be subject to the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the
powers that be are ordained of God. 2 - Whosoever therefore resisteth the
power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive
to themselves damnation. 3 - For rulers are not a terror to good works, but
to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is
good, and thou shalt have the praise of the same: 4 - For he is the
minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be
afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of
God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. 5 - Wherefore,
ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience'
sake. 6 - For, for this cause pay ye tribute also, for they are God's
ministers, attending continually upon this very thing." 

 Now, it is necessary that we note the following things: 

 1) The civil magistrate is indeed the minister of God, ordained of God to
a specific charge: verses 4 and 6. 

 2) He is specifically here ordained to two duties: to be a terror to evil
works, and to be for a praise to them that do good works, verse 3 and 4. 

 3) He is ordained of God; therefore, to God is he accountable. And, being
accountable to God, he is to minister according to God's standards. And the
standard in God's sight for what constitutes good and evil is God's Word,
specifically, the Law of God, which is the standard of all righteousness.
Accordingly, the civil magistrate is the minister of God to enforce God's
Law. 

 4) He is ordained of God, not to deal with matters of the heart: he is, to
the contrary, to deal with matters of outward behavior. He is a terror to
them that DO evil, but he is for the praise of them that DO good. As the
minister of God, he judges DOING. To the contrary, the ministers of Jesus
Christ, the ministers of the Gospel, deal with the matters of the heart, in
the preaching of sin, righteousness, and judgment, in preaching of faith
and repentance, in preaching Law and Gospel, and, as the Holy Ghost enables
them and blesses their labors, in applying those truths to the hearts of men. 

 5) Observe that the standard of righteousness by which the magistrate is
to judge outward behavior is the Moral Law, which is the alone standard of
morality. As Calvin rightly says (we will shortly cite the quote), if one
changes the judicial laws, one can do so without actually changing morality
itself. That is to say, one could change so as to adapt some of the
penalties of the judicial laws, or one could adopt additional laws that
pertain to adapting the morality of the Moral Law to the specific cultural
practices of a given society, without changing the standard as to what
right and wrong is. However, one cannot change the Moral Law, without
changing the very standard of right and wrong. 

 Note that the Moral Law, the Ten Commandments, have no specific penalties
for any of the sins denounced. That is because the Moral Law is not a code
of penalties for crimes and a codex of rewards for well-doing. No, the
Moral Law instead is the very standard of what constitutes right and wrong.
The penalties for infractions against the Moral Law can be adapted to the
specific situations of a given culture. The Judicial Law given to Israel is
just such an adaptation, given by Jehovah God to address it's specific
culture; and to address the state of the Church of that time, in its state
of infancy, which Church was then comprehended within Israel's national
borders. Of course, due consideration must be given by the present-day
magistrate to the penalties assigned in the judicial law; it is a law given
by the All-wise God, and it could be well argued that, in some instances,
at least some of the punishments have an abiding permanence. (As with the
death penalty for murder, for example, given that that punishment, in
Genesis 9, predates the Civil Law.) And yet: however one might change the
penalties of the Civil Law, one cannot change the Moral Law without
changing the very standard of right and wrong itself. 

 Calvin, in his "Institutes of the Christian Religion," Book IV, Chapt. XX,
sec. 19, states as follows: 

"...For some deny that a state is well constituted, which neglects the
polity of Moses, and is governed by the common laws of nations. The
dangerous and seditious nature of this opinion I leave to the examination
of others; it will be sufficient for me to have evinced it to be false and
foolish. Now, it is necessary to observe that common distinction, which
attributes all the laws of God promulgated by Moses into moral, ceremonial,
and judicial: and these different kinds of laws are to be distinctly
examined, that we may ascertain what belongs to us, and what does not. Nor
let any one be embarrassed by this scruple, that even the ceremonial and
judicial precepts are included in the moral. For the ancients, who first
made this distinction, were not ignorant that these two kinds of precepts
related to the conduct of moral agents; YET, AS THEY MIGHT BE CHANGED AND
ABROGATED WITHOUT AFFECTING THE MORALITY OF ACTIONS, THEREFORE THEY DID NOT
CALL THEM MORAL PRECEPTS. They particularly applied this appellation to
those precepts without which there can be no real purity of morals, nor any
permanent rule of a holy life."

 Again, the judicial penalties can be altered, without changing the
standard of what constitutes right and wrong. However, the Commandments of
the Ten Commandments cannot be changed, without changing the very standard
of what is moral and what is not. The Ten Commandments clearly delineate
for us what constitutes right and wrong. 

 Now: blasphemy, idolatry, and Sabbath breaking are specific sins denounced
by the Ten Commandments. Since the civil magistrate is to be the "minister
of God," to punish all evil doers, he must needs then punish blasphemers,
idolaters, Sabbath-breakers, and followers after other gods. He is to
restrain these crimes, because they are sins against God's Law, and are
therefore evil. The civil magistrate has a commission from God. He is
ordained of God, to be a terror to them that do evil. He does not bear the
sword in vain in this regard. As a minister of God, he must answer to God.
Accordingly, the standard by which he is to judge what is evil and what is
good must be the Word of God, and specifically, the Law of God (that is,
the Moral Law). "By the Law is the knowledge of sin," Rom. 3:20. If the
civil magistrate, then, is to know what sin is, so as to punish it, he must
study the Law of God. And he must punish outward infractions of that Law,
for, as we have said, the magistrate is to dealt with outward behavior: he
is to deal with the DOINGS of men, whether they be good or bad. Similarly,
he is to reward good works, and the knowledge of what constitutes a good
work also comes from the Law of God: see I Cor. 7:19, I John 2:3-5. Good
works, as the Heidelberg Catechism correctly says, are works done out of
faith, in accordance with the Law of God, to the glory of God. So, if the
magistrate is faithfully to discharge his commission from God, he must
resort to the Law: to determine that which is good, so that he can promote
that good within his realm; and so that he can determine that which is
evil, so that he can repress it with the sword given him by the Lord of
heaven and earth. 

 But, as I say: the civil magistrate is to punish evil, and where he fails
to punish any outward transgression of God's Law, therein he fails in his
commission from God, and will be judged accordingly (Ps. 82). Blasphemy,
idolatry, following after other gods, and Sabbath-breaking are all odious
crimes in the sight of the holy God of heaven and earth. Accordingly, the
great God of heaven and of earth has ordained "gods" under Him (Ps. 82), to
repress these crimes, as well as crimes against the Second Table. 

 Now: with regards to what degree of severity the magistrate chooses to
punish Sabbath-breaking, idolatry, and blasphemy, the magistrate is now at
liberty to decide these things for himself, I believe. Now: I qualify this
statement somewhat: the civil magistrate is ALSO free, if he so wishes, to
enforce the penalties of the Civil Law with regards to those commandments
which regulate moral behavior. No one could say of a civil magistrate, for
example, that, if he decides to punish adultery with death, he is
unrighteous: for that were to accuse God Himself of unrighteousness, when
that is precisely the punishment God Himself did assign. Thus, if the
magistrate feels it best, he is free to employ the penalties of the Civil
Law in punishing certain sins against the Ten Commandments. 

 But, being as the Civil Law as a body of laws has now expired, the
magistrate is also free, I believe, to determine whether for his nation it
is more appropriate, as an initial punishment, to fine Sabbath-breakers or
to imprison blasphemers, for example, rather than immediately executing
them as was commanded in the Civil Law. The magistrate could well reason
along these lines: the OT dispensation was one, relatively speaking, that
had little of the "spirit of adoption," and much of the "spirit of
bondage." Being as grace was not manifested so freely then, the persons
under that covenant (which was a unique form of the covenant for the Church
in its infancy) were more dependent upon the threatenings of Sinai to keep
them in line. Hence, it was that the inspired Paul refers to that
dispensation of the covenant of grace, relatively speaking, as "the spirit
of bondage," Rom. 8:15. There was much more Law and much less Gospel set
forth to the Church in those times; hence, the severity of many of the
punishments, such that death was the immediate punishment mandated for
those who desecrated the Sabbath, or who blasphemed, and so on. There was
much more of the thunderings of Sinai, and much less of the sweet wooings
of the covenant of peace sent forth from the crucified Saviour now exalted
upon Mount Zion which is in heaven. The civil magistrate now under Gospel
times could well reason that, given that reconciliation with God is set
forth much more freely now, in Gospel times, it is much better to point
sinners toward Mount Zion, and to that once-for-all sacrifice made for sins
by the King of Zion, by promoting the true Gospel in one's realm, and by
affording sinners of the above transgressions more opportunities for
repentance. Accordingly, the civil laws of enlightened Christian
magistrates could reflect more of a progressive severity in punishments for
transgressors of the First Table: beginning with somewhat lenient
punishemnts, thus affording more opportunities for repentance and
reconciliation with God for these offenders, and then increasing the
severity of the punishments only for those who are repeated and therefore
seditious offenders, who, by their repeated offenses, are openly
manifesting their contempt for a Bible-based authority in the land. 

 But it is essential that the magistrate PUNISH said offenses. Is idolatry
immoral, or no? is blasphemy immoral, or no? is blasphemy against God's
Word immoral, or no? is Sabbath-breaking immoral, or no? Are not these
offenses "evil-doing?" And is not, then, the magistrate, as the minister of
God, duty-bound to punish these offenses, and so to enforce the
righteousness of the Moral Law, even though he may opt not to punish them
with the severity mandated in the Civil Law? 

 If we say that these offenses are not immoral, do we not call God a liar?
If we say that magistrates are to punish evil-doing, but not these offenses
which are against the First Table of the Law, do we not set aside God's
standard of what is evil-doing, and what is well-doing? How is the
magistrate being faithful as a true minister of God, then, when he sets
aside the righteousness of God, in determining for himself what constitutes
good and evil doing? 

 Some cavil that chapter 13 of Romans deals only with offenses of the
Second Table, given the context of the chapter, which begins to deal with
Second Table duties immediately after the discourse on the civil
magistrate. To which I reply: it is true that the discourse on the civil
magistrate is immediately followed by Second Table duties, and that
therefore, God's ordinance of the civil magistrate does indeed serve to
further the practice of Second Table duties in the populace. However,
though the civil magistrate does serve to further social cooperation and
social peace through the enforcement of Second Table duties, this by no
means negates the duty of the magistrate, as he is the minister of God, to
First Table duties as well. What? is not piety the foundation of all true
charity? and therefore, is not the social welfare of a nation dependent
upon outward piety and recognition of God and His holy Word? Accordingly,
even for the social welfare of the nation and for the furtherance of Second
Commandment duties, the civil magistrate is duty bound to further outward
piety amongst the citizens of the commonwealth. 

 The civil magistrate is the minister of God. This calling of God is also
upon heathen magistrates. They, too, whether they acknowledge it or not,
are ministers of God. They are not ministers of Jesus Christ, that is,
ministers of Christ's Church. The ministers of Jesus Christ are like the
seven stars in Christ's right hand; those ministers, who are ministers in
Christ's Mediatorial Kingdom, the Church, are directly under the
Mediatorial Headship of Christ. Civil magistrates as magistrates are not as
such under the Mediatorial government of Christ, which government is over
His Mediatorial realm, the Church. Rather, magistrates as magistrates are
under the direct government of God, and are thus under the government of
Christ as He is considered as God the Son, not as He is considered as
Christ the Mediator. Thus, a magistrate's not being himself a child of
grace, and thus not being personally under the Mediatorial government of
Christ, in no wise exempts him from his being under the rule of and
directly answerable to Christ as God the Son, the ruler of all things. For
Christ, as He is God the Son, has authority over all things, both within
His Mediatorial reign, and without. 

 The civil magistrate is the minister of God. Whether he is personally
under the Mediatorial reign of grace or not, that is, whether he is a true
child of grace or not, he is still under God's direct authority, as he is
an ordinance and institution of God. He is answerable to God, to enforce
God's standard of doing good, and to repress that which is evil-doing by
God's standard. Hence, he is duty bound to enforce the righteousness of
God's Law, both Tables. And that, whether he be a professing Christian, or
a heathen. 

 For more on how that the magistrate is under Christ the Son, and how that,
therefore, he is not as a magistrate under Christ the Mediator, and that,
therefore, heathen and Christian magistrates alike are responsible to
Christ as God the Son, I refer the reader again to "Aaron's Rod
Blossoming," by George Gillespie, Book 2, Chapters 5 and 6. 

 This concludes the discussion of this point concerning the civil
magistrate's responsibilities to enforce the whole Moral Law of the Ten
Commandments, both Tables. We now consider the obligation of the magistrate
to "kiss the Son," to acknowledge the Headship of Christ over the nations
as "King of nations;" to pay due respect to His Name, His Word, and His
Cause. 

 Psalm 2:10-12 make the following command to magistrates, to kings, to
"judges of the earth:" "Be wise now, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges
of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss
the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish in the way, when His wrath is
kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him."
Kings and judges of the earth, in their public capacities, according to
this text, are to serve the LORD with fear. They are to "rejoice with
trembling:" that is, they are to rejoice in the LORD's goodness in calling
them, in the calling they have to serve Him as the ministers of God; and
they are to rejoice with trembling: that is to say, they must consider the
gravity of their calling. They must serve the LORD in that calling, and not
serve themselves. They must rule by His commandments; they must further His
Cause and His Word in their realms. 

 They must "kiss the Son." This figurative act entails two things:
reverence and love. "If ye love Me, keep My commandments," says the Lord
Christ in John 14:15. Civil magistrates are to manifest, then, their
homage, their submission, reverence, and love to Christ, as "King of
nations," Jer. 10:7. They are to do so by ruling in His fear: "He that
ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God," II Sam. 23:3. He
must reverence the Son: he must rule in the righteousness of the Law of
God. But he must also promote the Cause of Christ in his realm. They that
would love Christ must also love His people. They must love the true
Church. Civil magistrates must manifest their love to Christ, by furthering
the Cause of the true Church in their realms; they are obligated to do so,
whether they will or no. "For the nation and kingdom that will not serve
thee [that is, the true Zion of God] will perish, yea, those nations shall
be utterly wasted," Is. 60:11. 

 Hence, for the good of their realms, it is imperative that the judges of
the earth kiss the Son by serving the true Zion of God, the true Church,
the Church that is "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone," cf. Eph. 2:20. They may
not serve ANY organization that arrogates to itself the name of "church."
They certainly may not render their homage and allegiance to that
anti-Christ system that has the "man of sin, the son of perdition," at its
head: namely, the Roman Church. Serving Antichrist is not "kissing the
Son;" to the contrary, it is open insurrection against Him. Thus, in Is.
60:11-12, the Zion alluded to here, to which magistrates are duty bound to
render their service, to which they are duty bound to "bring unto her the
forces of the Gentiles" (i. e., their financial resources), is the true
Church, the Church which is "built upon the foundation of the apostles and
prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone." It is that
Church which is "the pillar and ground of the truth," I Tim. 3:15; hence,
that not only holds the Bible as the Word of God alone, but which also
rightly divides the Word of truth, faithfully expounding the systems of
doctrine within that Word, namely, the Law and the Gospel. See Calvin's
Commentary on I Tim. 3:15 on this score. 

 The context of Isaiah 60:1-12 militate that we understand here, not the
false Church, but the true. It is that Church which God speaks of in the
immediately preceding verses, in Isaiah 59:20-21: "And the Redeemer shall
come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith
the LORD. As for Me, this is My covenant with them, saith the LORD; My
Spirit that is upon thee, and My Words which I have put in thy mouth, shall
not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of
the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever." 

 The Cause of Christ which is the true Church: this is the Church to which
magistrates are bound to render their service, to which they are duty bound
to "bring in their forces," Is. 60:11-12. Indeed, it is in the immediate
interest of their nations that they do so, for "the nation and kingdom that
shall not serve thee [i. e., the true Church] shall perish, yea, they shall
be utterly wasted." The nation that will not further Christ's Cause in
their lands shall ultimately be destroyed, without remedy. Accordingly, the
magistrate who would truly be a Benefactor, a Protector, a Defender of his
nation, must forward the Cause of Christ in his land, with all his might.
"Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish in the way." 

It is furthermore in the interests of civil magistrates to promote the
Cause of Christ in their lands, because it is the Gospel, faithfully
preached in the true Church, that, with the Lord's blessing, subdues the
carnal enmity of the natural man against the Law of God, Rom. 8:7, which
Law, as we have already proven, the magistrate is duty bound to enforce.
How can the civil magistrate enforce the Law of God in his land, when the
very natural temperament of man is at opposition to that Law? Is it not by
the preaching of the holy Gospel, that the Son of God is pleased to "gird
His sword on His thigh, and ride prosperously" throughout the land, cf. Ps.
45:3-4? That is, is it not by the "sharp, two-edged sword" of truth, of the
Law and the Gospel, that Christ slays men to themselves, and calls them to
Himself and to His service? Is it not all important, then, that the
enlightened magistrate have a faithful ministry in his land, that through
the sharp, two-edged sword that goes out of that ministry's mouths, sinners
would be slain to themselves, enemies of the Law would by the Law be killed
to themselves, that they might become new men in Christ by the Gospel? How
important, then, is the Gospel ministry in a nation! 

 So then, it behooves civil magistrates, in fulfilling of their duties to
uphold the Law of God in both Tables, to further the Gospel ministry with
all of their might. The sword of the civil magistrate alone cannot subdue
the people to submit to the reign of Christ. "Not by might, nor by power,
but by my Spirit, saith the LORD," Zech. 4:7, shall the Cause of Christ be
established in a land, shall the enemies of the Lord be brought down at
Christ's feet, shall the nations be subdued to the reign of Christ under
His righteous Law. Therefore, it is imperative that the "ministry of the
Spirit," cf. II Cor. 3, be fully preached in a land. For it is by that
ministry, namely, the preaching of the Law and of the Gospel, blessed with
the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, that sinners are won to the reign of
Christ. But the civil magistrate can do much to promote that preaching.
Indeed, it was by the Spirit of the LORD that Zerubabel, Joshua the high
priest, and Ezra and Nehemiah were raised up, and the hearts of the people
turned to return to the land, to worship Jehovah as instituted in His Word.
Yet, having stirred up the hearts of the people thus, both common men and
leaders (Ezra 1:5), the LORD then also turned the hearts of kings to lend
their helping hand to the Cause. Civil magistrates cannot build the Church,
but they can do much to help, to promote its building, just as also they
can hinder it, persecute it, or seek to destroy it. And it is altogether in
the interest of the magistrate that he seek to promote it, that he seek to
be a "nursing father" to the true Church. For, just as the nation or
kingdom that will not serve the Cause of Christ shall be destroyed, so
also, the nation or kingdom that DOES promote the Cause of Christ shall
know "the blessing of Abraham." They shall know the blessing of Abraham's
Seed, Christ, in their lands. "In Him shall all nations of the earth be
blessed," Gen. 22:18 

 Now the question comes: how may magistrate do this? How may they further
the TRUE Cause of Christ in their realms? How may they lawfully determine
which Church is true, and which is false? how may they lend their hand to
the truth, by repressing false doctrine, and upholding the true? how may
they identify the true Church by law, so as to recognize that Church as the
true Church by legal sanction, so as to be "to the praise of them that do
good," by "bringing in the forces of the Gentiles" to her Cause, by
supporting her revenues with state revenues? See Isaiah 60:3-6, 10-11. For
just as kings are to be a terror to evil works, by the material repression
of evil by the magisterial sword, so also kings are to be to the material
praise of them that do good, by supporting their Cause with the material
resources of the nation: Is. 60:16-17. And what is the highest good, but to
bring the Gospel into a land, a nation? to bring the good tidings of peace
with God, the glad tidings of the redemption which is to be had for sinners
through Jesus Christ? the joyous news of "Him in Whom the nations are to be
blessed?" 

And now to answer the above question. How can the civil magistrate promote
the Cause of Christ in the land? Well, first we must determine how he may
and cannot do it. He cannot do it be usurping to himself the keys of the
kingdom. It "appertaineth not to the king" (cf. II Chron. 26:18) to
minister in holy things: that is, in the regular preaching of the Word, the
administration of the sacraments, or in church discipline. "The Law must go
out of Zion, and the Word of the LORD from Jerusalem." Hence, the true
preaching of the Word, and the conciliar determination of what IS the true
doctrine of the Word, must go out of the mouths of the holy ministers of
the true Church, the true Zion of God. The civil magistrate cannot expect a
blessing, but rather a curse (as Uzziah experienced) if he should try to
usurp to himself the preaching of the Word, or the determination of what
constitutes sound doctrine. 

 But, like Josiah of old: the civil magistrate certainly may, and MUST
exhort the ministers of the Gospel to their duty. He must exhort them to
preach to the truth, just as Josiah exhorted the priests of the Temple to
be faithful, "teaching priests." So also the civil magistrate must exhort
the ministers to "cleanse the sanctuary," by discerning true doctrine from
the false, by dealing with corruptions in worship, by purging out
scandalous offenders in the Church. So then, the civil magistrate may and
must charge the ministers of the Gospel to their duty, to preach the Word,
and to assemble synodically to determine right doctrine, worship, and
practice in the Church. 

 The Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 23, Article II, rightly
states as follows:

"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
hath he 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, 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 THEREOF, HE HATH POWER TO CALL SYNODS..."

 Please go to Part III of this paper, in the next post. 

Albert Hembd