use 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