Church & State Intended to Mutually Uphold One Another
/In our Church Ed. classes we are going through the Westminster Confession. And last Sunday we looked at WCF 20.4, which states, “the powers [church & state] which God hath ordained, and the liberty which Christ hath purchased, are not intended by God to destroy, but mutually to uphold and preserve one another.”
And then this week I was reminded of this quote from a pastor during America’s founding:
The immediate ends of the magistracy and ministry are different, but not opposite: They mutually assist each other, and ultimately centre in the same point. The one has for its object the promotion of religion and the cause of Christ; the other immediately aims at the peace and order of mankind in this world: Without which, there could be no fixed means of religions; nor the church have a continuance on earth, but through the interposition of a miraculous providence, constantly displayed for its preservation. Hence the church of Christ will have no fixed residence, where there is no civil government, until he, whose right it is, shall take to himself his great power, and reign king of nations, even as he is king of saints.”