_Whitefield_; and in many
other instances. Not to insist further in enumerating particulars, the
Presbytery finally testify against church and state, for their
negligence to suppress impiety, vice, and superstitious observance of
holy days, &c. The civil powers herein acting directly contrary to the
nature and perverting the very ends of the magistrate's office, which is
to be _custos et vindex utriusque tabulae_; the minister of God, a
revenger, to execute wrath on him that doeth evil. Transgressors of the
first table of the law may now sin openly with impunity; and, while the
religious observation of the sabbath is not regarded, the superstitious
observation of holy-days, even in _Scotland_, is so much authorized,
that on some of them the most considerable courts of justice are
discharged to sit. Stage-plays, masquerades, balls, assemblies, and
promiscuous dancings, the very nurseries of impiety and wickedness, are
not only tolerated, but even countenanced by law. And as these, with
other evils, are permitted by the civil powers; so this church seems to
have lost all zeal against sin.
Pages:
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214