Covenant Podcast Religious Liberty: The 1689 Confession | Particular Pilgrims
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Mar 18, 2026 A dive into Reformation debates over conscience and resistance to religious coercion. Contrasts between Perkins and Ames on toleration and state judgment. How the 1689 Confession reshapes liberty of conscience and limits state power in worship. Baptist arguments for full soul liberty and practical limits on religious freedom are explored.
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Perkins Definition Made Conscience A Personal Liberty
- Liberty of conscience is rooted in Reformation doctrines like sola scriptura and the priesthood of believers.
- Ron Miller explains William Perkins framed conscience as an internal faculty answerable to God and Scripture, not to other men.
Ames Versus Perkins Shaped Toleration Differences
- Two competing Puritan views emerged: Perkins' individual liberty versus William Ames' toleration-for-orthodoxy.
- Miller notes Ames treated conscience as a method to reach orthodoxy, enabling state or church pressure when matters were 'major'.
1689 Confession Centers Conscience In Its Structure
- The 1689 Confession synthesized Westminster and Savoy while pressing liberty of conscience more consistently.
- Miller says chapters 21–30 make conscience a central organizing principle, improving on earlier confessions' inconsistencies.