Of Christian Liberty, and Liberty of Conscience

The liberty which Christ hath purchased for believers under the gospel consists in their freedom from the guilt of sin, the condemning wrath of God, the curse of the moral law;388 and in their being delivered from this present evil world, bondage to Satan, and dominion of sin,389 from the evil of afflictions, the sting of death, the victory of the grave, and everlasting damnation;390 as also in their free access to God,391 and their yielding obedience unto him, not out of slavish fear, but a childlike love, and a willing mind.392 All which were common also to believers under the law;393 but under the New Testament, the liberty of Christians is further enlarged in their freedom from the yoke of the ceremonial law, to which the Jewish church was subjected;394 and in greater boldness of access to the throne of grace,395 and in communications of the free Spirit of God, than believers under the law did ordinarily partake of.396

God alone is Lord of the conscience,397 and hath left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men which are in anything contrary to his Word, or beside it in matters of faith or worship.398 So that to believe such doctrines, or to obey such commandments out of conscience, is to betray true liberty of conscience;399 and the requiring an implicit faith, and an absolute and blind obedience, is to destroy liberty of conscience, and reason also.400

They who, upon pretense of Christian liberty, do practice any sin, or cherish any lust, do thereby destroy the end of Christian liberty; which is, that, being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, we might serve the Lord without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.401

And because the powers 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; they who, upon pretense of Christian liberty, shall oppose any lawful power, or the lawful exercise of it, whether it be civil or ecclesiastical, resist the ordinance of God.402 And for their publishing of such opinions, or maintaining of such practices, as are contrary to the light of nature, or to the known principles of Christianity, whether concerning faith, worship, or conversation; or to the power of godliness; or such erroneous opinions or practices as, either in their own nature, or in the manner of publishing or maintaining them, are destructive to the external peace and order which Christ hath established in the church: they may be lawfully called to account,403 and proceeded against by the censures of the Church, and by the power of the civil magistrate404.