Imatges de pàgina
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"the powers that be are ordained of God. "Whofoever therefore refifteth the power re"fifteth the ordinance of God: and they that "refift fhall receive to themselves damnation. "For rulers are not a terror to good works, but "to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of "the power? Do that which is good, and thou "fhalt have praife of the fame; for he is the "minifter of God to thee for good. But if "thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he "beareth not the fword in vain; for he is the "minifter of God, a revenger to execute wrath

upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore ye muft "needs be fubject, not only for wrath, but alfo "for confcience fake. For, for this caufe pay

you tribute alfo for they are God's minifters, "attending continually upon this very thing. "Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to "whom tribute is due, cuftom to whom cuftom, "fear to whom fear, honour to whom honour."

1 PETER, ii. 13-18.

"Submit yourselves to every ordinance of "man for the Lord's fake: whether it be to the "King as fupreme; or unto Governors, as unto "them that are fent by him for the punishment " of evil doers, and for the praise of them that

"do

"do well. For fo is the will of God, that with "well-doing ye may put to filence the igno

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rance of foolish men as free, and not using

your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but "as the fervants of God."

To comprehend the proper import of these inftructions, let the reader reflect, that upon the fubject of civil obedience there are two queftions; the firft, whether to obey government be a moral duty and obligation upon the conscience at all the fecond, how far, and to what cases, that obedience ought to extend: that these two questions are so distinguishable in the imagination, that it is poffible to treat of the one, without any thought of the other; and lastly, that if expreffions which relate to one of these ques tions be transferred and applied to the other, it is with great danger of giving them a fignification very different from the author's meaning. This distinction is not only poffible, but natural. If I met with a person who appeared to entertain doubts, whether civil obedience were a moral duty which ought to be voluntarily discharged, or whether it were not a mere fubmiffion to force, like that which we yield to a robber who holds a piftol to our breaft, I should represent to him the use and offices of civil government,

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the end and the neceffity of civil fubjection; or, if I preferred a different theory, I fhould explain to him the focial compact, urge him with the obligation and the equity of his implied promife and tacit consent to be governed by the laws of the ftate from which he received protection; or I should argue, perhaps, that nature herself dictated the law of fubordination, when the planted within us an inclination to affociate with our fpecies, and framed us with capacities fo various and unequal. From whatever principle I fet out, I should labour to infer from it this conclufion, "That obedience to the state, is to be "numbered amongst the relative duties of hu

man life, for the tranfgreffion of which we shall "be accountable at the tribunal of divine juftice, "whether the magiftrate be able to punish us for "it or not ;" and being arrived at this conclufion, I should stop, having delivered the conclufion itself, and throughout the whole argument expreffed the obedience, which I inculcated, in the moft general and unqualified terms; all refervations and reftrictions being fuperfluous, and foreign to the doubts I was employed to re

move.

If in a fhort time afterwards I fhould be accofted by the fame perfon, with complaints of

public grievances, of exorbitant taxes, of acts of cruelty and oppreffion, of tyrannical encroachments upon the ancient or ftipulated rights of the people, and should be confulted whether it were lawful to revolt, or justifiable to join in an attempt to shake off the yoke by open resistance; I should certainly confider myself as having a cafe and question before me very different from the former. I fhould now define and discriminate. I fhould reply, that if public expediency be the foundation, it is also the measure of civil obedience; that the obligation of subjects and fovereigns is reciprocal; that the duty of allegiance, whether it be founded in utility or compact, is neither unlimited nor unconditional ; that peace may be purchased too dear; that patience becomes culpable pufillanimity, when it ferves only to encourage our rulers to increase the weight of our burthen, or to bind it the fafter; that the fubmiffion which furrenders the liberty of a nation, and entails flavery upon future generations, is enjoined by no law of ratio nal morality: finally, I should inftru&t the inquirer to compare the peril and expence of his enterprise with the effects it was expected to produce, and to make choice of the alternative, by which not his own prefent relief or profit, but

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the whole and permanent intereft of the state was likely to be beft promoted. If any one who had been prefent at both these conversations fhould upbraid me with change or inconfiftency of opinion, should retort upon me the paffive doctrine I before taught, the large and abfolute. terms in which I then delivered leffons of obedience and fubmiffion, I fhould account myself unfairly dealt with. I fhould reply, that the only difference which the language of the two converfations prefented was, that I added now many exceptions and limitations, which were omitted or unthought of then; that this difference arose naturally from the two occafions, fuch exceptions being as neceffary to the fubject of our prefent conference, as they would have been fuperfluous and unseasonable in the former. Now the difference in these two converfations is precifely the diftinction to be taken in interpreting thofe paffages of Scripture, concerning which we are debating. They inculcate the duty, they do not describe the extent of it. They enforce the obligation by the proper fanctions of Chriftianity, without intending either to enlarge or contract, without confidering indeed the limits by which it is bounded. This is also the method in which the fame Apoftles enjoin the

duty

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