PHI LOS 0 P H Y . - Classic Works of Apologetics Online

as staled in the ScriplureJ. 329
Jour liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the
servants of God."
To comprehend the proper import of these instructions,
let the reader reflect, that upon the sub.
ject of civil obedience there are two questions: the
first, whether to obey government be a nloral duty
and obligation upon the conscience at all; the second,
110\V far, and to ",hal (·ase~, that obedience
ought to extend ;-that these two questions are so dis·
tinguishable in the inlagination, that it is possible to
treat of the one, without any thought of the other;
and lastly, that if expressions which relate to one of
these qllestions be transferred and applied to the other,
itis with great danger of givinK them a ~ignification
very different from the author's meaning. This
distinctioll is not only possible, but natural. If I Inet
.'{.vith a per:ion, \\9ho appeal·ed to entertain d011bts?
\Vllether civil obedience were a moral duty, which
ought to be Volul1tarily discharged, or \Vllether it
\vere not a Inere submission to force, like t~at, which
-\'vC }'ield to a robber, who holds a pistol to YOllr breast,
I should represent to him the use and office~ of civil
government, the end and the neces~·ity of civil subjection-
; or, if I preferred a differellt tlleory, I should
explain to hiln the social conlpact, urge hiln with the
obligation and the equity of his implied promise and
tacit consent to be governed by the laws of the state
from \vhich he received protection; or I should argue,
perhaps, that nature herself dictated the law of
subordination~ \~vhen she planted within us an incli.
llation to associ,lte with our species, and fralned us
with capacities s() various and unequal. Fronl what.
e\fer prillciple I ~.et out, I should labol.lr to inft!r from
it this conclusion, " 1~hat obedience to the st;lte is to
be .nunlbered anlongst the rf'lat!'.'e duties of human
life, for the transgression of which we shall be ac ..
countable at the tribunal of divine justice, whether
the magistrate be able to punisll 'l~ fnr it nr nnt; "
~ ...&J ~t:ilJg arnved at this conclusion, I should stop
having delivered the conclusion itself, and through'
·)ut the whole argument expressed the obedienc •