Baptist History, Heritage and Distinctives 1644 – Bloody Tenet of Persecution and the Reformed Presbyterian Lex Rex – Liberty of Conscience or State Government Rule
Roger Fulk posted 1644 – Bloody Tenet of Persecution and Reformed Presbyterian Lex Rex.
THOMAS E KRESALADMIN JULY 27, 2020
Baptist History, Heritage and Distinctives1644 – Bloody Tenet of Persecution and the Reformed Presbyterian Lex Rex
Liberty of Conscience or State Government Rule
In 1644, the same year Roger Williams published his Bloody Tenet of Persecution, Samuel Rutherford introduced Lex Rex (The Law and the Prince). Rutherford dismissed the Divine Rights of Kings doctrine, as did Williams. But that is where their similarities end. Rutherford replaced the Divine Right of Kings with the Divine Right of the Presbytery doctrine. The Presbyterian Church was to have control of the church-state marriage.In Lex Rex, Rutherford insisted the magistrate is entrusted with enforcing both tables of the ten commandments. This is contrary to Williams’ contention that the first four commandments are items of the conscience and cannot be enforced by civil law. Rutherford, as a member of the Old World Order, argued maintenance of religion by the power of the sword. From Rutherford’s Lex Rex:“Kings and magistrates are God’s, and God’s deputies and lieutenants upon earth (Psalm 82:1, 6,7: Exod. 22:8; 4:16….and their throne is the throne of God, I Chron. 22:10 (Question III. 4)Magistrates (not the king only but all the princes of the land) and judges are to maintain religion by their commandments and to take care of religion (Question XIV. Assert.1)” http://www.constitution.org/sr/lexrex.htmSamuel Rutherford wrote directly against Roger Williams, John Clarke and the Baptists in his A Free Disputation Against Pretended Liberty of Conscience (1649)“Whether peace of civil societies be sure, where there is toleration of all Religions, and what peace Christians can have in Toleration?”For the record, Roger Williams never advocated separating God from society, he recognized that government consisted of people from society. His principles stated what Baptist Christian prisoners had proclaimed, that government had to secure consent from the rest of society to govern. Therefore, in order to have truly Christian government, society needed salvation, (revival and awakening) not coercion from a theocratic state. That is why Williams and company stood for disestablishment of church-state theocracies. It was a courageous stand in his day.Presented by Thomas E. Kresal from: Excerpts from the book: “Sacred Betrayal” by James R. Beller, p. 71-73
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