2. Countenanceth, advanceth, and encourageth by his authority and example the public exercise of all God's ordinances, and duties of religion within his dominions, whether in matter of divine worship, discipline, and government, maintaining for the Church the fulness of spiritual liberties and privileges communicated to her from Christ: as did Asa, 2 Chron. xv. 9-16: Jehoshaphat, 2 Chron. xx. 7-9: Hezekiah, 2 Chron. xxix., xxx., and xxxi. chapters throughout: Josiah, 2 Chron. xxxiv. and xxxv. chapters. And to this end God prescribed in the law that the king should still have a copy of the law of God by him, therein to read continually, Deut. xvii. 18-20; because he was to be not only a practiser, but also a protector thereof, a keeper of both tables.
3. Supplies the Church with all external necessaries, provisions, means, and worldly helps in matters of religion: as convenient public places to worship in, sufficient maintenance for ministers, (as the Scripture requireth, 1 Tim. v. 17, 18; 1 Cor. ix. 6-15; Gal. vi. 6:) schools and colleges, for promoting of literature, as nurseries to the prophets, &c.; together with the peaceable and effectual enjoyment of all these worldly necessaries, for comfortably carrying on of all public ordinances of Christ. Thus David prepared materials, but Solomon built the temple, 1 Chron. xxii. Hezekiah commanded the people that dwelt in Jerusalem, to give the portion of the priests and the Levites, that they might be encouraged in the law of the Lord; and Hezekiah himself and his princes came and saw it performed, 2 Chron. xxxi. 4, &c., 8: Josiah repaired the house of God, 2 Chron. xxxiv.
Nor need the magistrate think scorn, but rather count it his honor to be an earthly protector of the Church, which is the body of Christ, the Lamb's wife, for redeeming of which Christ died, and for gathering and perfecting of which the very world is continued.
An ordering, regulating power is also allowed to the magistrate about ecclesiastical matters in a political way, so that he warrantably,
1. Reforms the Church, when corrupted in divine worship, discipline, or government: as did Moses, Exod. xxxii.; Joshua, Josh. xxiv.; Asa, 2 Chron. xv.; Jehoshaphat, 2 Chron. xvii.; Hezekiah, 2 Kings xviii.; Josiah, 2 Kings xxiii.; 2 Chron. xxxiv.
2. Convenes or convocates synods and councils, made up of ecclesiastical persons, to consult, advise, and conclude determinatively, according to the word, how the church is to be reformed and refined from corruptions, and how to be guided and governed when reformed, &c. For, 1. Pious magistrates under the Old Testament called the Church together, convened councils. David, about bringing back the ark, 1 Chron. xiii. 1, 2, and another council when he was old, 1 Chron. xiii. 1; Solomon, 1 Kings viii. 1; Hezekiah, 2 Chron. xxix. 4; and Josiah, 2 Kings xxiii. 1, 2. 2. All ought to be subject to superior powers, who ought to procure the public peace and prosperity of the Church, Rom. xiii. 1, 2, &c.; 1 Pet. ii. 13, &c., 17; 1 Tim. ii. 2. Therefore superior powers may convocate councils. 3. Christian magistrates called the four general councils: Constantine the first Nicene council; Theodosius, senior, the first council of Constantinople; Theodosius, junior, the first Ephesian council; Marcian Emperor, the Chalcedon council; and, 4. Hereunto antiquity subscribes, as Dr. Whitaker observes.
3. Supports the laws of God with his secular authority, as a keeper of the tables, enjoining and commanding, under civil penalties, all under his dominion, strictly and inviolably to observe the same: as "Josiah made all that were present in Israel to serve the Lord their God," 2 Chron. xxxiv. 33. Nehemiah made the sabbath to be sanctified, and strange wives to be put away, Neb. xii. 13, &c. Yea, Nebuchadnezzar, a heathen king, decreed, that "Whosoever should speak amiss of the God of Shadrach," &c., "should be cut in pieces, and their houses made a dunghill," Dan. iii. 28, 29. And Darius decreed, "That in every dominion of his kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel," &c., Dan. vi. 26, 27.
And as he strengthens the laws and ordinances of God by his civil authority, so he ratifies and establishes within his dominions the just and necessary decrees of the Church in synods and councils (which are agreeable to God's word) by his civil sanction.
4. Judges and determines definitively with a consequent political judgment, or judgment of political discretion, concerning the things judged and determined antecedently by the Church, in reference to his own act. Whether he will approve such ecclesiasticals or not; and in what manner he will so approve, or do otherwise by his public authority; for he is not a brutish agent, (as papists would have him,) to do whatsoever the Church enjoins him unto blind obedience, but is to act prudently and knowingly in all his office; and therefore the judgment of discerning (which belongs to every Christian, for the well-ordering of his own act) cannot be denied to the Christian magistrate, in respect of his office.
5. Takes care politically, that even matters and ordinances merely and formally ecclesiastical, be duly managed by ecclesiastical persons orderly called thereto. Thus Hezekiah commanded the priests and Levites to do their duties, 2 Chron. xxix. 5, 24, and the people to do theirs, 2 Chron. xxx. 1; and for this he is commended, that therein he did cleave unto the Lord, and observed his precepts which he had commanded Moses, 2 Kings xviii. 6. Thus when the king is commanded to observe and do all the precepts of the law, the Lord (as orthodox divines do judge) intended that he should keep them, not only as a private man, but as a king, by using all care and endeavor that all his subjects with him perform all duties to God and man, Deut. xvii. 18-20.