terer who violates our bed; or assassin who attempts to murder us; since the Scripture enumerates all these calamities among the curses inflicted by God. But let us rather insist on the proof of that which the minds of men do not so easily admit; that a man of the worst character, and most undeserving of all honour, who holds the sovereign power, really possesses that eminent and divine authority, which the Lord hath given by his word to the ministers of his justice and judgment; and, therefore, that he ought to be regarded by his subjects with the same reverence and esteem which they would shew to the best of kings, if such an one were granted to them. XXVI. In the first place, I request my readers to observe and consider with attention, what is so frequently and justly mentioned in the Scriptures, the providence of God, and peculiar dispensation of God in distributing kingdoms and appointing whom he pleases to be kings. Daniel says; "God changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings and setteth up kings." (9) Again; "That the living may know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will." (r) Passages of this kind abound throughout the Scriptures, but particularly in this prophecy. Now the character of Nebuchadnezzar, who conquered Jerusalem, is sufficiently known, that he was an invader and depopulator of the territories of others. Yet by the mouth of Ezekiel the Lord declares that he had given him the land of Egypt, as a reward for the service which he had performed in devastating Tyre. (s) And Daniel said to him; "Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory: and wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field, and the fowls of the heaven, hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over all." (t) Again; to his grandson Belshazzar Daniel said, "The most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour: and for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him." (v) When we (9) Dan. ii. 21. (8) Ezek. xxix. 18-20. VOL. III. (r) Dan. iv. 17. 3 Ꮓ hear that Nebuchadnezzer was placed on the throne by God, let us, at the same time, call to mind the celestial edicts which command us to fear and honour the king; and we shall not hesitate to regard the most iniquitous tyrant with the honour due to the station in which the Lord hath deigned to place him. When Samuel denounced to the children of Israel what treatment they would receive from their kings, he said; "This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war. And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. And he will take the tenth of your fields, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. And he will take your men-servants, and your maid-servants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants." (w) Certainly the kings would not do all this as a matter of right, for they were excellently instructed by the law to observe all moderation: but it was called a right with respect to the people who were bound to obey and were not at liberty to resist it. It was just as if Samuel had said; The cupidity of your kings will proceed to all these outrages, which it will not be your province to restrain; nothing will remain for you, but to receive their commands and to obey them. XXVII. But the most remarkable and memorable passage of all is in the Prophecy of Jeremiah, which, though it is rather long, I shall readily quote, because it most clearly decides the whole question: "I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me. And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant. And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, (0) 1 Sam. viii. 11-17. until the very time of his land come. And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same king of Babylon, that nation will I punish with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence. Therefore serve the king of Babylon, and live." (x) We see what great obedience and honour the Lord required to be rendered to that pestilent and cruel tyrant, for no other reason than because he possessed the kingdom: and it was by the heavenly decree that he was seated on the throne of the kingdom, and exalted to that regal majesty, which it was not lawful to violate. If we have this constantly present to our eyes and impressed upon our hearts, that the most iniquitous kings are placed on their thrones by the same decree by which the au thority of all kings is established, those seditious thoughts will never enter our minds, that a king is to be treated according to his merits, and that it is not reasonable for us to be subject to a king who does not on his part perform towards us those duties which his office requires. XXVIII. In vain will any one object that this was a special command given to the Israelites. For we must observe the reason upon which the Lord founds it. He says, "I have given these lands to Nebuchadnezzar; therefore serve him, and live." To whomsoever, therefore, a kingdom shall evidently be given, we have no room to doubt that subjection is due to him. And as soon as he exalts any person to royal dignity, he gives us a declaration of his pleasure that he shall reign. The Scripture contains general testimonies on this subject. Solomon says; "For the transgression of a land, many are the princes thereof." (y) Job says; "He looseth the bonds of kings," or divesteth them of their power; "and girdeth their loins with a girdle," (z) or restoreth them to their former dignity. This being admitted, nothing remains for us but to serve and live. The Prophet Jeremiah likewise records another command of the Lord to his people: "Seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it: for in the peace of it ye shall have peace." (a) Here, we see, the Israelites, after having been (x) Jer. xxvii. 5–9. 12. (y) Prov. xxviii. 2. (a) Jer. xxix. 7. stripped of all their property, torn from their habitations, driven into exile, and forced into a miserable servitude, were commanded to pray for the prosperity of their conqueror; not in the same manner in which we are all commanded to pray for our persecutors; but that his kingdom might be preserved in safety and tranquillity, and that they might live in prosperity under him. Thus David, after having been already designated as king by the ordination of God, and anointed with his holy oil, though he was unjustly persecuted by Saul, without having given him any cause of offence, nevertheless accounted the person of his pursuer sacred, because the Lord had consecrated it by the royal dignity. And he said, "The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the Lord's anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord." Again; "Mine eye spared thee; and I said, I will not put forth mine hand against my Lord; for he is the Lord's anointed." (b) Again; "Who can stretch forth his hand against the Lord's anointed, and be guiltless? As the Lord liveth, the Lord shall smite him; or his day shall come to die, or he shall descend into battle, and perish. The Lord forbid that I should stretch forth mine hand against the Lord's anointed." (c) XXIX. Finally, we owe these sentiments of affection and reverence to all our rulers, whatever their characters may be: which we the more frequently repeat, that we may learn not to scrutinize the persons themselves, but may be satisfied with knowing that they are invested by the will of the Lord with that function, upon which he hath impressed an inviolable majesty. But it will be said, that rulers owe mutual duties to their subjects. That I have already confessed. But he who infers from this that obedience ought to be rendered to none but just rulers, is a very bad reasoner. For husbands owe mutual duties to their wives, and parents to their children. Now, if husbands and parents violate their obligations, if parents conduct themselves with discouraging severity and fastidious moroseness towards their children, whom they are forbidden to provoke to wrath: (d) if husbands despise and vex their wives, (c) 1 Sam. xxvi. 9-11 (b) 1 Sam. xxiv. 6, 11. whom they are commanded to love and to spare as the weaker vessels; (e) does it follow that children should be less obedient to their parents; or wives to their husbands? They are still subject, even to those who are wicked and unkind. As it is incumbent on all, not to inquire into the duties of one another, but to confine their attention respectively to their own; this consideration ought particularly to be regarded by those who are subject to the authority of others. Wherefore, if we are inhumanly harassed by a cruel prince, if we are rapaciously plundered by an avaricious or luxurious one, if we are neglected by an indolent one, or if we are persecuted, on account of piety, by an impious and sacrilegious one, let us first call to mind our transgressions against God, which he undoubtedly chastises by these scourges. Thus our impatience will be restrained by humility. Let us, in the next place, consider that it is not our province to remedy these evils; and that nothing remains for us, but to implore the aid of the Lord, in whose hand are the hearts of kings and the revolutions of kingdoms. It is "God" who "standeth in the congregation of the mighty," and "judgeth among the gods;" (ƒ) whose presence shall confound and crush all kings and judges of the earth who shall not have kissed his Son; (g) "that decree unrighteous decrees, to turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless." (h) XXX. And here is displayed his wonderful goodness, and power, and providence: for sometimes he raises up some of his servants as public avengers, and arms them with his commission to punish unrighteous domination, and to deliver from their distressing calamities a people who have been unjustly oppressed: sometimes he accomplishes this end by the fury of men who meditate and attempt something altogether different. Thus he liberated the people of Israel from the tyranny of Pharaoh by Moses: from the oppression of Chusan by Othniel; and from other yokes by other kings and judges. Thus he subdued the pride of Tyre by the Egyptians; the insolence of the Egyptians, by the Assyrians; the haughtiness of the (e) Ephes. v. 25. 1 Pet. iii. 7. (f) Psalm lxxxii. 1. |