[previous CHAPTER]CHAPTER XIII. Of the People’s Duty Under Wicked Rulers, Both Towards God and Them. I. Towards God.
1. To be sensible of God’s hand, that thereby is in judgment lift[ed] up against them for sin. And I will set my face against you, and they that hate you shall reign over you, Lev. 26:17. And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them; and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies, Judg. 2:14. Because thou servest not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart for the abundance of all things: therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies, which the Lord shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things, and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, &c. Deut. 28:47,48. And Judah kept not the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel, which they made; and the lord rejected the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight, 2 Kings 17:19. O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hands is my indignation; I will send him against a hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets, Isa. 10:5. Who gave Jacob to the spoiler, and Israel to the robbers? did not the Lord, he against whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his laws, &c. Isa. 42:24. For the trangression of a land, many are the princes thereof, Prov. 28:2. And he gave them into the hand of the heathen; and they that hated them, ruled over them: Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under their hands. Many times did he deliver them, but they provoked him with their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity, Psal. 106:41,42,43, 2 Chron. 12:7,8. And when the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemiah, saying, They have humbled themselves, therefore I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance, and my wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem, by the hand of Shishak. Nevertheless they shall be his servants, that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.
2. To accept of the punishment, and be humbled under God’s mighty hand. If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespass against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me; and that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies: If then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity, &c. Lev. 26:40,41. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me, Mic. 7:9. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, 1 Pet. 5:6.
3. To repent and turn from the provoking sin. If they sin against thee, and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captive into the land of the enemy, far or near; yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land of their captivity, and make supplication, saying, &c. We have sinned, and done perversely, and have committed wickedness; and so return unto thee with all their heart, and with all their soul in the land of their enemies, and pray unto thee, &c. Then hear thou their prayer and supplication, 1 Kings 8:46,47,48. At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and put down, and to destroy it; if that nation against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them, Jer. 18:9,10. We have sinned and committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts, and from thy judgments, &c. O Lord to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and fathers, because we have sinned against thee. To the Lord our God belongs mercy and forgiveness, &c. Dan. 9:5,6,7,8,9.
4. To cry unto the Lord for help and deliverance. And the children of the Lord sighed by reason of their bondage, and they cried; and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage: and God heard their groaning, &c. and God looked upon them, and had respect to them, Exod. 2:23,24,25. And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people, which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry, by reason of their task-masters, for I know their sorrows, Exod. 3:7,8. And it repented the Lord because of their groanings, by reason of them that oppressed them, Judg. 2:18. And when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, he raised up a deliverer to them, Judg. 3:9. For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth, the poor also, and him that hath no helper. Psalm 72:12. Psalm 87:11. Deut. 4:27,28,29,30. See Psalm 12:5. For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, &c.
5. To groan more earnestly for the righteous rule and dominion of Jesus Christ, who shall therefore be the "desire of nations;" who will judge the people righteously, and break in pieces the oppressor, in whose days the righteous shall flourish, Rev. 6:9,10,11. Psal. 72. And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts. Hag. 2:6,7. For the earnest expectations of the creature, waiteth for the manifestations of the sons of God; for we know that the whole creation groaneth, and travelleth in pain together, &c. And not only they, but ourselves also, which are the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting of the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body, Rom. 8:19,22,23.
2. Towards the evil rulers themselves.
1. To bewail their abominations, and stand off from their defilements. Go through the midst of the city, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh, and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof, Ezek. 9:4. Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone, Hos. 4:17. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them, Eph. 5:11.
2. To pray for them as enemies and persecutors, for their restraint and conversion. Who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, 1 Tim. 2:4. And he kneeled down and cried in a loud voice, Lord lay not this sin to their charge, Acts. 7:60.
3. To own our subjection to them, only as to a plague, judgment, and curse, groaning and complaining under the burden, as under the lion’s paw. Behold we are servants this day; and for the land thou gavest unto our fathers, to eat the fruit thereof, and the good thereof, behold we are servants in it: And it yieldeth much encrease unto the kings, whom thou hast set over our bodies, and over our cattle, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress, Neh. 9:36,37.
4. Not to confederate with them, or engage to their upholding by oath, covenant, &c. Say not a confederacy to all those to whom this people shall say, a confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid: Sanctify the Lord of hosts, &c. Isa. 8:12,13. Shouldst thou help the ungodly, and love them that hated the Lord? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord, 2 Chron. 19:2. They strengthen also the hands of evil doers, that none doth return from his wickedness, Jer. 23:14. Neither do they which go by, say, The blessing of the Lord be upon you: we bless you in the name of the Lord, Psal. 129:8. In whose eyes a vile person is contemned: but he honoureth them that fear the Lord, Psal. 15:4. Come out from her my people, that you may not be partakers of her sins, Rev. 18:4. But above all things swear not at all, Jam. 5:12. Israel shall dwell in safety alone, Deut. 33:28. Eph. 3:8. For,
1. If we have sworn or covenanted, then we are solemnly bound, which God will require at our hands. Seeing he despiseth the oath, by breaking the covenant, (when, lo he had given his hand) and hath done all these things, he shall not escape. Therefore thus saith the Lord God, as I live, surely mine oath that he hath despised, and my covenant that he hath broken, even it will I recompence upon his own head, (thou made with wicked Nebuchadnezzar), Ezek.17:18,19.
2. They swear to a plague; as before, Lev. 26:17. They that hate you, shall reign over you.
3. It is against promised mercies. Isa. 1:26. And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city.
4. Because it would be in deceit and hypocrisy, which is so abhorring to the Lord. Who hath not lift up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully, Psal. 24:4. For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, &c. In transgressing and lying against the Lord, &c. Conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood, Isa. 59:12,13. And let none of you imagine evil against his neighbour, and love no false oath, for all these are things that I hate, saith the Lord, Zech. 8:17. And I will come near to you in judgment, and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, &c. Mal. 3:3.
5. To use all lawful means to be delivered from their violence.
1. Either by hiding and obscuring in the place. Moses was hid from Pharaoh’s pursuers three months, Exod. 2:22. Acts 7:20. Heb 11:23. David hid himself, with his men, from Saul’s furious pursuit, 1 Sam. 22:1,2. Chap. 23:13,16,19,24,29. Chap. 26:1. The prophets were hid by fifty in a cave, 1 Kings 18:4,13. Jotham hid himself from Abimelech, Judges 9:5. Joash and his nurse was hid from Athaliah’s rage, 2 Kings 11:2. Jeremiah and Baruch was hid by the Lord, Jer. 36:26. Jesus hid himself, John 8:59.
2. Or by flight into other parts for shelter: As the priests, Levites, and people of Israel fled from Jeroboam, leaving their possessions, and joined themselves with Rehoboam, strengthening the kingdom of Judah, 2 Chron. 11:14,15,16,17. David to Gath, 1 Sam. 27:3,4,5,6, &c. Joseph and Mary with the child into Egypt, from Herod, Math. 2:13,14.
3. By open or secret resistance, when the providence of God makes way for the same: As in the time of the judges, when the people willingly offered themselves (Judges 5:2,16,17) with the judges raised up for their deliverance, to oppose and resist the present tyrants that were over them, Judges 3:8,9,15,20. Those also in David’s time, that joined to him in opposition to Saul and his house, 1 Chron. 12. throughout. Jehoiada and the people of Judah resisting Athaliah in behalf of Joash, 2 Kings 11:4 &c. Hezekiah was said to rebel against the king of Assyria in not serving him; and this was done when the Lord was with him, and prospered him, and the issued proved very happy.
Query. But it is queryed, that though here are many good rules and precepts laid down, relating to magistracy and government, yet since these are given to the Jews (a peculiar, distinct, and typical people) for the ordering and managing their commonwealth how do these belong to the nations? And how can they be properly urged as rules or institutions for that great ordinance of magistracy amongst them?
Ans. 1st, It will behove all those that plead subjection to magistracy as God’s ordinance, upon a conscientious bottom, to bring some institution for it out of God’s word, which only can make an ordinance, and bind the conscience, which if they do, it must necessarily be either some institution given to his people, or to the nations; but of any such rules, directions, laws, statutes, ordinances given to the nations to direct them in government, we read not; and therefore it is said, Psal. 147:19,20. "He shewed his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments to Israel: He hath not dealt so with any nation, and as for his judgments, they have not known them." Therefore will it behove any of the nations, that would prove their government divine, as founded upon the Scriptures, to come up to this scriptural pattern, as well for the supremacy as subjection, if they would lay any obligation upon conscience.
Secondly, That it is no more improper for the nations to have recourse to the Scriptures for rules for the government of their bodies and outward man, than for their souls and inward, for civil as scripture being given by divine inspiration, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. And so though most of the Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament, were written to the Jews (for to them chiefly were committed the oracles of God, Rom. 3:2.) yet are universally extensive over the whole world: and it is to be observed, that though God from heaven by his own mouth gave these rules of government to the Jews, yet was it the privilege of any of the nations as proselytes to come under that government and sovereignty that the Lord Christ shall have in this kingdom. But,
Thirdly, and more specially it is observed, that the rules, directions, and qualifications here mentioned about government, do not relate to those types, ceremonies, or shadows that were given to them as a typical people, but are matters of moral equity, agreeable to the light of nature, and law written in the heart, tending to the advancement of public justice and righteousness, and so are they perpetually binding to the end of the world, and that to all men that would preserve peace and righteousness; and therefore it is said Deut. 4:5,6,7,8. Behold, I have taught you statures and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, &c. Keep therefore, and do them, for this is your wisdom and understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all that we call upon him for? and what nation is there so great, that hath statues and judgments so righteous, as all this law which I set before you this day?
And which laws, as well for their moral equity as their divine authority, hath gained so much reputation in this nation, that it is a maxim in the law. That no act of parliament, or law repugnant to the law of God, is any force.[1] And in the statute of 28th H.8. chap. 7. That no man of what estate, degree, or condition whatsoever, hath power to dispense with God’s law, as all the clergy of the realm, and most part of the universities of Christendom, and we[2] also affirm: and further it is asserted, that against scripture, law, prescription, statute, nor custom may avail, and if any be brought in against it, they are void and against justice.[3] In the year 180, Lucius the first Christian king of Britain, wrote to Elutherius bishop of Rome, for the Roman laws, for the better settlement of his kingdom, who wrote to him, That the Roman laws of the emperors, we may at all times mislike, but the law of God by no means: By the divine clemency you have of late received in your kingdom of Britain, the law and faith of Christ; you have with you the Old and New Testaments; out of them, in God’s name, by the counsel of your state, take you a law, and therewith by God’s permissions, govern your kingdom.
2. King Alfred began his laws thus, The Lord spake these words, &c. and so repeated the judicial laws, which he affirmed the best for the government of his kingdom, and so according to his law was his government blest above all other kings of the nations.
Query, But it is again queryed, if such a magistracy only, is to be reputed God’s ordinance, (to whom a conscientious subjection is to be paid) that is consonant to the institution and appointment of his word, as here laid down; hat shall we say to those Scriptures that seem to hold out, not only that the heathen magistracy, so much different from this, is his ordinance; but that whoever is in possession of the power, however he get into the same, yet it is to be reputed God’s ordinance, and to be conscientiously subjected to as such?
Answer. Though it may be needless to spend much further time to answer this, which is so fully cleared in the discourse already, wherein this great ordinance of magistracy is so fully discovered, and plainly asserted from God’s word, which can only make out his ordinance, and may be sufficient to every judicious mind to evince what is the contrary (the holding out of light being the best way to discover darkness, and the opening of truth, to detect errors:) Yet for the better clearing hereof, and the removing (if it may be those thick clouds, which either ignorance, interest, custom, received opinion, prejudice, or the offence of the cross, may have cast before men’s eyes, we shall take this method in the answer of the query: First, we shall give a reply to those arguments brought to prove the heathen magistrate to be God’s ordinance: Secondly, we shall answer those arguments about the possessory power.
First, As to the arguments usually offered about the heathen magistrate, to prove him to be God’s ordinance, they are these that follow.
1. Because he is said to be of God, or to proceed from him, Dan. 2:37,38. Chap. 5:18,19. 2 Chron. 36:23. Ezra 1:2. Prov. 8:15,16
2. Because some are said to be anointed by him, Isa. 45:1. 1 Kings 19:15. 2 Chron. 36:23.
3. Because the saints are bound to obey them, Titus 3:1. Rom. 13:1,3,5. 1 Pet. 2:13,14,15.
4. Because saints enjoyed places under them, Esther 2:17. Chap. 8:15.
5. Because the saints prayed for them, honoured and blest them, 1 Tim. 2:2. Gen. 47:7,10. Dan. 6:21.
6. Because saints applied to them for justice, Acts 25:10,12. Acts 26:32.
7.Because they paid custom and tribute to them, Matth. 17:24. Matth. 22:17,21. Luke 2:1,4,5. Rom. 13:6.
Answer first, In general: That the heathen magistrate was God’s ordinance, viz. The ordinance of his providence is owned; but not the ordinance of his precept: For there is the ordinance of God’s providence, and the ordinance of his precept: The one, ordering all things that cometh to pass in the world; the other, only that which is good and acceptable in his sight. And that it is not the ordinance of this precept, may appear by the reasons following:
First, Because there is no institution for it in the word of God; no precept being given to the heathen concerning their magistrates, but they are left in that , as in all other things, "walking after their own lusts;[4] lying in wickedness, and living in the vanity of their own minds,"[5] under the regiment and conduct of the devil, who is therefore said to have the kingdoms of this world (as the ruler, prince, king, and god thereof) at his dispose; as Luke 4:6, Eph. 2:2 chap. 6:12. John 14:30. Rev. 13:2. 2 Cor. 4:4. Job 1:12 to the 19, where the devil is said to order the several bands and regiments against Job.
Secondly, because the heathen magistracy stands in direct opposition and contradiction to God’s magistracy: The latter being appointed and ordained for a blessing to mankind in general, and to the saints in particular, bounded by wholesome equal rules, that answer the law of God and light of nature, in the distribution of equal and impartial justice: Whereas the former was appointed, or rather permitted, for a curse to mankind in general, and a scourge and plague to the saints in particular; in contradiction to the law of God, and light of nature; being from the beginning a lawless, boundless thing, that, in an arbitrary and tyrannous way, hath acted according to their own lusts, over both bodies and souls, for the advancement of particular persons and interests, in fleshly pride, state, and glory, to the unjust peeling, oppression, and suppressing the people in general, contrary to the light of nature, and law of God: And to the truth whereof, besides the sad experience that every age produceth, you have this Scripture evidence.
First, You have God himself by the prophet Samuel amply describing the nations government, to deter his people from taking pattern from them in their unrighteous model:[6] Wherein you have at large the arbitrariness, tyranny, pride, covetousness, and oppression of their kings and customs, declared, and what a howling curse it would prove to them if they embraced the same.
Secondly, In the same case you have Jotham in his parable (to take the people from that hankering after the nations government) significantly holding out the nature of that constitution; declaring it was fit for nothing but the useless, sapless, aspiring, scratching bramble to engage in it; that neither the olive, fig-tree, nor vine, that had any virtue, sweetness, or favour, would meddle with it, under hazard of losing all; thereby shewing that it was fit only for the worst of men, and unmeet for any good man to intermeddle with. And therefore Gideon refused it, when it was offered him, Judg. 8:22,23. Whereas God’s ordinance requires the best of men, viz. men of truth, fearing God, and hating covetousness, &c. who are under promises to be bettered by them, and to receive virtue and spirit from them. And of this sort were all the four monarchs, not only from Nimrod the first, to Nebuchadnezzar the last of Babel’s monarchs[7] (who raised up, pulled down, killed and kept alive whom they would), but all the rest of them, whose ambitious, tyrannous, and cruel natures, are therefore held forth by those apt resemblances of fierce, cruel, ravenous, unclean beasts, as lions, bears, leopards, dragons, yea devils themselves.
Thirdly, Because when God’s people, notwithstanding these cautions given, would imitate the nations in their heathenish constitutions, they were said to reject God and his sovereignty, 1 Sam. 8. In rejecting that wholesome constitution that he had appointed for their good; but surely, had that heathenish constitution been of God, it would not be a rejecting of God to embrace it; none of God’s ordinances do use to clash and interfere with each other.
4thly, Because, when given them by his hand of providence, it is declared to be done in wrath and judgment; and as a fruit of their great sin and rebellion (which none of God’s ordinances were) as was testified by that great thundering and lightening, as a token of his great displeasure and their great transgression, which they also in their confession declared, 1 Sam. 12:17,18,19.
5thly, Because it is that which is influenced by the devil, and hath stood in enmity and opposition to the Lord in his ways, worship, ordinances and people all along, that have improved their utmost interest to invent and establish ways of wickedness and idolatry, to the cruel slaughtering of all that refused to bow to their cursed idols; who killed the prophets, the Lord Christ himself, and murdered his saints and followers ever since, and will be found warring and fighting against him, till they are subdued and utterly vanquished by him, who must break down and dash in pieces the image-government, overcome the beast and his ten horns: But surely God and Christ will never destroy their own ordinance, standing in enmity against them.
Object. 1st. But it is said to be of God, and to proceed from him, according to these scriptures cited in the first argument.
Ans. It is granted to be said to be given of God, but, if duly examined, it will be found no other than his providential dispose; and so was he said to give to the devil power over Job, chap. 1:12. The evil spirits had power and commission over Ahab’s prophets, 1 Kings 22:22. And the robbers have power to the spoiling of others, into whose houses God brings abundantly. Job 12:6. Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? Isa. 42:24. Who is said to give to the devil the kingdoms of men. Luke 4:6 and to the beast power over the saints, and over all kingdoms, tongues and nations, Rev. 13:5,7. He having put into the hearts of the kings of the earth to fulfil his will, and to agree to give their kingdoms unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled, Rev. 17:17. Which giving must relate to the giving of his hand and providence, not to the giving of his word and precept.
Object. 2. But some were said to be anointed by God, as Hazael and Cyrus.
Ans. As for Hazael’s anointing, whether that ceremony past upon him is not manifest; but the end of such a setting him apart, is declared, (not to make him God’s magistrate, but his rod) viz., to be appointed a particular scourge and plague to Israel, being designed to dog’s work, to rip up women with child, dash their children, slay their young men, fire their strong holds, &c. 2 Kings 8:11,12, with 1 Kings 19:16.
And as for Cyrus, who is called God’s anointed, it appears he was therefore so called, from the service he was designed for, viz., to be a deliverer and restorer of his people from their captivity, and to help forward the rebuilding of the temple, Isa. 45:1. The term anointed usually signifying in scripture, and ordering, sanctifying, and setting apart to some work or business, Psal. 105:15. Jesus Christ was God’s anointed, 2 Cor. 1:21 and so are the saints and believers called his anointed ones.
Object. 3. But the saints are exhorted to obey, and to be subject to such as the scriptures mentioned do require.
Ans. Wheresoever voluntary and conscientious subjection is required, it is to the right ordinance of magistracy. It is true, the saints as well as the nations, were, for a season, to be given up into the hands of such powers, by the fore-appointment of God, who were to subdue, overcome an rule over them, as did the Egyptians, Philistines and Babylonians of old, over his people for their iniquity: and that , during this slavery and bondage, there was to be a patient subjection to the overpowering force, relating both to bodies and goods, thereby kissing the rod, owning the stroke, not murmuring, kicking or repining against God’s providence; which subjection under all those cruel tyrants and taskmasters, cannot rationally be conceived to be voluntary or out of conscience, but constrained, as being for their sin under the lion’s paw, and the power of the prevailing robber, groaning under the oppression, and waiting of the day of deliverance, expecting the righteous rulers, that are to be (according to promise) a blessing to the creation, when the oppressor shall cease, and the evil beasts be put out of the land; when, instead of subjection to, and obeying such, there shall be a shaking off the yoke, yea, a binding their kings in chains, and their nobles in fetters of iron, Psal. 149:6,7,8.
Object. 4. But saints enjoyed places under them, as Joseph, Esther, Nehemiah, Daniel., &c.,
Ans. These were extraordinary persons, raised up by an extraordinary spirit, for extraordinary ends in extraordinary times; which are no precedents to us, without the like extraordinary call, and so no proof to the assertion; for examples prove not otherwise than they are brought to some known rule: For by the examples of Abraham, Jacob, David, and many of the patriarchs of old, you might live in polygamy, enjoy concubines, put away wives for ordinary matters, &c., And it is to be observed, that in the instances given, these persons in their great places, 1. Kept the law of their God. 2. Served the work of their generation, for which they were raised up, acting for the saints. 3. Defiled not themselves with the heathenish customs. 4. Acted against no good. 5. Engaged to no evil.
Object. 5. But the saints prayed for them, honoured them, according to the Scripture instances.
Ans. As for proving for them, that was no otherwise than for all other men; and limited also by the apostle in urging that duty, as to the ends thereof, viz., That the saints might live a quiet and peaceable life; and that they might be converted, and come to the knowledge of the truth, that they might be saved, 1 Tit. 2:1,2,3 which no more proves them to be God’s ordinance, than the praying for all other enemies and persecutors.
And as for the titles of honor given to them, that no more ordains them than the contrary, viz., dishonourable and ignoble titles (whereof there are divers instances to be given, terming them dogs, foxes, lions, serpent, devils &c., ) degrades them.
Object. 6. But the saints address to them for justice.
Ans. As for addressing to them for justice, or an command so to do, we find not, but the contrary; the saints being expressly required not to carry their controversies unto them to decide; and the reason given, because they were wicked and unjust, 1 Cor. 6:1,2,3.
And as for Paul’s appeal to Caesar, these particulars are to be observed in it: As, 1. He was brought before the seat of judicature, he did not voluntarily come to them, Acts 23:23. 2. He being threatened to be murdered by his countrymen, who lay in wait by the way for him, Acts 23:14. Chap. 25:3 he claims the benefit of the heathen’s own law for his preservation, not for his adversaries accusation, Acts 28:19. Chap. 25:11. As though one should appeal to a thief, to save one’s self from the murder. 3. His appeal to Caesar might be to get an opportunity to testify of Christ, and to preach the gospel at Rome, as the Lord had before declared to him he should, as chap. 22:11 and as he according did.
Object. 7. But Christ paid, and commanded tribute to be paid, and accordingly the saints did pay tribute to each power then in being, according to the Scripture instances given.
Ans. It is true Christ paid tribute, but yet with such cautions and considerations, as leave the title unstated, and as much undermined, as if never any such thing had been mentioned or done: he paid it, but wherefore? not for conscience, but for wrath’s sake, That he might not offend them, Matth. 17:27 declaring withal, that he as a free man was imposed upon contrary to right.
And as for his command to pay it, as urged from Matth. 17:21. It will be found to be no such thing; leaving them in a great loss in that matter, that came to ask such a catching question of him, as Luke 20:20,26, where it is said, They could not take hold of his words; and marvelling at his answer, held their peace.
And for any of those instances of the saints going up to be taxed, and paying of tribute, they cannot otherwise be judged than as forced acts, and as badges of their Roman yoke and bondage, as hath already been made appear.
Secondly, As to the arguments usually brought from Rom. 13. To prove the powers in possession to be God’s ordinance.
Object. But it is said, Rom. 13:1. Let every soul be subject to the higher powers; and gives the reason, For there is no power but of God, and the powers that are, are ordained of God: Where the tyrannical Roman Caesars, the powers in possession, are owned to be the ordinance of God, and that because of their said possession, to whom therefore all are required to be subject for conscience sake.
To this I have little more to say than what is learnedly and fully answered by Mr. Gee in his treatise entitled, The Divine Right and Original of the civil Magistrate from God; to which I would refer the reader for his better satisfaction. But because the book is large, and it may not easily be obtained, I have presumed hereafter, (though unusual) to insert the substance of his said arguments upon this question, as I had collected the same out of the said book, for my own satisfaction, which you may please to take as followeth, and as near as my be in his own words.
In answering this great question, this method shall be observed,
First, To give the sense and true meaning of the terms in the text, viz.,
Secondly, To give several arguments from Scripture to clear the same.
1. By power we are to understand authority, the word being "potestas," which signifies mere mightiness or ability, opposed to weakness and impotency; the latter being a natural power consisting in vigour and strength; the former a moral power, consisting in right and title; and therefore relates to dominion, wherein right, title and interest lies; and so is the word taken for the most part, generally throughout the scriptures.
Natural power is found not only in man, but beasts; moral is proper to reasonable creatures only; these are both in the ruler, yet so as the natural power is more in the servants and subjects, though the moral power is in the magistrate, which natural is sometimes put forth against the moral; as in all uproars and usurpations: If natural power could oblige to obedience, the monarch was bound to resign his crown to the multitude, every commotion and rout were to be submitted to, and not repressed; the effect of the natural power is but to subject the conquered to an actual subduedness, to crouch down as a man doth to a lion under his paw, or a traveller to a highway robber. The effect of the moral is to subject the reason and conscience, being founded in the light of nature, and law of God: The strength of the moral lies in its word, more than the sword; in its reason, more than might; which gives law; the sceptre going before the sword, and is that which legitimates it.
2. What be God, or being of God?
This phrase is of divers acceptations, viz. There is a being of his hand, work, or providence. 2. Of his mouth, word, declaration.
1. Of this providential being; it is that by which all things come to pass in the world: and thus the sinful acts of the creature are said to be of him, as Sampson’s unlawful desire of a wise, Judges 14:3. Rehoboam’s unjust refusal, 2 Chron. 10:13. Amaziah’s insolent rejection of Joash, 2 Chron. 25:20. So God was said to harden Pharaoh’s heart; so he is said to put a lying spirit into the mouth of Ahab’s prophets, to lead men into temptation, to give up to strong delusion to put into the heart to do evil; not as if he positively acted these things, or efficaciously infused them into men, for he will do no iniquity, he tempts no man; but in as much as he leaveth men to satan, and themselves, so is it said to be of him: But such a being of God cannot be meant here.
2. Things are said to be of his mouth, word, or declaration, when he giveth forth his law or precept, and so no unrighteousness is of him, and he that doth not righteousness is not of him. In this sense must this being of God be here understood, viz., of his mouth and precept.
3. What is meant by being ordained of God?
There is a twofold ordination (as before a being) of God; one by his providence, whereby all things that come to pass in the world, are effected; and another by his appointment or orderly dispose, much agreeable to the former: the first is, the order of his council and proceeding in providence; the other is, the order of his word or law given to men; the former to all creatures, the latter to reasonable creatures; the former orders all actions and things, the latter always appoints that which is good, and only that : By the latter Israel should have continued under Samuel’s government, when they rejected God and him in choosing a king: Absalom should have been subject to his father, when he rebelled against him: Athaliah should have yielded obedience to the posterity of Ahaziah, when the usurped, and took the kingdom away from them to herself: The kings, rulers, and people, should have paid obedience to Jesus Christ, when they conspired against, and murdered him: The angels should have kept their first station, when they left their habitation. Unto this order of God is opposed all that confusion which sin brings into the world, and which is disclaimed by him, he being not the author of confusion, but of peace, 1 Cor. 14:33. And so by the former, viz., the ordinance of God’s providence and council, the contrary to the order of the law cometh to pass; the Israelites reject Samuel; and so all the rest of the instances: Whereby it will appear, that ordained in the text, must relate to his precept, not to his providence only; for it taken to related to the former, there is nothing peculiarly here spoken of, than what is universally extensible to every other creature. The rebel may as well be said to be ordered of God, as the magistrate, the one being no more in this sense his ordinance, than the other, both being the product of his providence.
1. So that by power is not meant a mere force.
2. By being of God, not a mere act of possession.
3. By ordinance of God, is to meant a mere being of the order of his providence.
Several arguments and reasons why present possession proves not God’s ordination. 1. Because possession in every case, or any thing possessible, gives not title; and that possession gives not title, is clear.
First, Because the power of right magistracy may be in one, and actual rule by providence in another; as in the cases of Joash an Athaliah; Solomon and Adonijah: David, Absalom and Sheba.[8]
Secondly, Because God hath expressly disowned the being of them, that have been in present possession of command; as Hos. 8:4. You have set up kings, and not by me; princes, and I knew them not. Hab. 2:5,6. Pronounce a wo to the king of Babylon (who had gathered to himself all nations, and heaped unto him all people) because he encreased that which was not his: And in Amos 6:13. A threat is denounced against them that had taken to themselves horns by their own strength, Ezek. 21:25,26,27. The possessor there is disowned, and threatened to be removed, as having no right, that he might come whose right it is.
Thirdly, Because God hath expressly authorised and owned the act of rising up in arms, to expulse them that have been in actual rule, in them that have been subject to them; as Judges 2:16,18. The Lord raised up judges to deliver them from their present oppressors that ruled over them; as Judges 3:15. God is said to raise up Ehud: and chap. 4:9. It is said the Lord sold Sisera (the present possessor) into the hand of a woman, 2 Kings 3. 4. &c., Jehoram against Mesha king of Moab, 1 Chron. 22:22. Those that sided with David against Saul.
Fourthly, Because of the many examples of persons taking up arms, and employed for the recovery of person, goods, and countries, out of the hands of them that have had the present possession of them; which could not be done, if dominion were founded by the four kings that had possest themselves of the spoil of Sodom, &c., 2 Sam. 18:1. David against Absalom the present possessor. 1 Sam. 13:3,4. Jonathan that went up to invade the Philistines in their possessions, &c.
2. Because providence, without a rule of God’s word, signifies no allowance or disallowance from the Lord.
First, Because that which is herein attributed to providence, is by Scripture denied. Eccl. 9:1,2. All things come alike to all: none knowing love or hatred by all that is before him.
Secondly, Because the putting any thing to be a rule, beyond or further than Scripture, so as to make a law of God, which is not there delivered, denies the sufficiency and perfection thereof, which is perfect and ought not to be added to, or diminished from, Deut. 4:2. 2 Tim. 3:15.
Thirdly, Because God hath reproved his people for following providence without recourse to himself, Isa. 30:1,2. Chap. 31:1. Their confederacies with Egypt, and leaning upon horses and armies, because strong.
Fourthly, Because providence in itself is so indistinct and various; as Eccl. 8:14. It happeneth to the just, according to the work of the wicked; and to the wicked according to the work of the just. So that no argument can be made from it.
1. Because that the ordination spoke of in the text, is preceptive, not merely providential.
First, Because the nature of the power here spoken of, argues this to be the sense of the word, ordained, here spoken of, argues this to be the sense of the word, ordained, here; the power being not natural, but moral; and if so, then it must be ordained by his precept.
Secondly, From the nature of the subjection prest to here; and for the inforcing hereof, this is the first and principal reason, viz. Because the powers are of God; therefore the subjection is not to be a more passive subjection, as under a burden and cross, but a free willing voluntary, and actual subjection, for conscience sake, which only moral duties ordered by God’s word can require.
Thirdly, From the prohibition and penalty annexed to the resistance, viz. Shall receive to themselves damnation. An ordinance of providence may be resisted, that is, endeavored to be prevented and altered, and no damnation incurred; yea, such a resistance, many times is the fulfilling of a man’s duty; therefore must it be an ordination of precept.
Fourthly, That cannot be the sense of the term, ordained of God, which may be said of him that resisteth the power, when he resisteth, and in respect of his so doing; and that cannot be the sense of that attribute, the ordinance of God, which may be spoken of the resister’s act, in his resistance of the power. But to be in the place of power by providence, may be said of the resister of the power, then when he so resisteth; therefore that cannot be the sense of that term, "ordained of God:" Was not Absalom and Athaliah in the place of power by eventual providence? and was not the one and the other a resister of the true power, and that by treachery and violence?
Fifthly, Because this cannot agree to every power intended by the text, because the providence of God doth often so order, that the magistrate is not only disturbed, but outed; as in the former instances, who can deny but that David and Joash were the powers meant in the text, which may befall any other lawful ruler: wherefore if it cannot relate universally to every power, that it is ordered of God in an actual rule, we must take the text to mean some other ordinance.
THE END. [return to CONTENTS] Footnotes: [1] Finch, lib. I. p.3. [back] [2] Doctor and Student. [back]
[3] Speed, lib. 6. chap. 19. p.103. [back]
[4] 1 Thess. 4:5. [back]
[5] Eph. 4:17,18. [back]
[6] 1 Sam. 8. [back]
[7] Dan. 5:19. [back]
[8] 1 Chron. 33; 2 Sam. 20:21.[back]
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