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

DUly of Civil Obedienc{,
be permitted to assume a supposition, which nlany
commentators proceed upon as a (.ertainty, that the
first Christians privately cllerished an opinion, that
their conversion to Christianity entitled them to ne~-N
J
jmmunities, to an exemption as of right (ho'.vever
they might give way to necessity) from the authority
of the Roman ~overeign, we are furnished with a
still more apt and satisfactory interpretation of tIle
Apostle's words. The two passages apply with
great propriety to the refutation of this errlJr; they
teach the Christian con\rert to obey the Inagistrate
'" for the Lord's sake," _'I llot only for wrath, but for
conscience 3ake ;" -" that there is no power bllt
of God ;"--" that the po\,\rers that be," eVel} the present
rulers of the Ronlan empire, though heathens
and usurpers, seeing they are in p()ssession of the actual
a~ld necessary authority of civil goverIllnent, " arc
ordained of God," and, con~equently, entitled to re·
ceive obedien.ce from those who prof-ess thelnse!ves
the peculiar servants of God, in a greater (certainly-­
not in a less) degr~e, than fronl any others. 'l~hey
l)riefiy describe the office of civil governors, "the
punishrnent of evil doers, and tIle praise of tlletll that
,do well ;" from which description of the use of government,
they j:;stly infer the duty of subjection,
'\vhich duty, being as exterlsive as tIle reason upon
~?i'hich it is focnded, beIl)ngs to Chr:stians no less
'li!an to the heathen members of the community.
If it be adll1itted, that the two Apostles wrote v"ith a
vi~w to this particular question, it will be confe~sed,
t~!lt tl1eir words cannot be tra.11sferred to a qutOstion
wrally different from thk, with any certainty of carrying
alol1g with us their authority and intention~
"j:J-Iere. exists no resemblance bet\\tcen the ca~e of a
Ir~·it11itive convert, '~vho (iisputcd the jurisdiction of
£
tllt~. R oman governnl~~nt ()Vel· a de ISClP · 1 e 0 f' CI lrlstJanit)"~t
~lnd his, whtJ, acktlOwled~ing the general allthor­
· ·
:rjl (}f the state O\'er all its suJ)jects, (loubt~, \\'helil(':
that authority be not, in some important branc' J of
it, :;0 ill COIlstitutetl or abuscci, as to warr~lIlt the en·
2~~·lVOl1~~ of t11e ~)corlr t(, l)rjIl/~ al)r~tlt a r·'fC'''[l1.{I.ti(),i.