them to do any tiling contrary to the will of God, There are cases therefore, in which disobedience is a duty. How far the rightful au- thority of rulers extends, the precise point at which the obligation tc obedience ceases must often be a difficult question, and each case must be decided on its own merits. The same difficulty exists in fixing the limits of the authority of parents over their children, husbands over their wives, masters over their servants. This, however, is rather a theoreti- cal than a practical difficulty. The general principles on which the question in regard to any given case is to be decided are sufficiently plain. No command to do anything morally wrong can be binding; nor can any which transcends the rightful authority of the power whence it ema- nates. What that rightful authority is, must be determined by the insti- tutions and laws of the land, or from prescription and usage, or from the nature and design of the office with which the magistrate is invested. The right of deciding on all these points, and determining where the obligation to obedience ceases, and the duty of resistance begins, must, from the nature of the case, rest with the subject, and not with the ruler. The apostles and early Christians decided this point for themselves, and did not leave the decision with the Jewish or Roman authorities. Like all other questions of duty, it is to be decided on our responsibility to God and our fellow men, vs. 1 — 7.
4. The design of civil government is not to promote the advantage of rulers, but of the ruled. They are ordained and invested with authority to be a terror to evil doers, and a praise to them that do well. They are the ministers of God for this end, and are appointed for " this very thing." On this ground our obligation to obedience rests, and the obligation ceases when this design is systematically, constantly, and notoriously disre- garded. Where unfaithfulness on the part of the government exists, or where the form of it is incompatible with the design of its institution, the governed must have a right to remedy the evil. But they cannot have the moral right to remedy one evil by the production of a greater. And, therefore, as there are few greater evils than instability and uncer- tainty in governments, the cases in which revolutions are justifiable must be exceedingly rare, vs. 3 — 7.
5. The proper sphere of civil government is the civil and social rela- tions of men, and their temporal welfare; conscience, and of course reli- gion, are beyond its jurisdiction, except so far as the best interests of civil society are necessarily connected with them. What extent of ground this exception covers ever has been, and probably will ever re- main, a matter of dispute. Still it is to be remembered that it is an exception ; religion and morality, as such, are not within the legitimate sphere of the civil authority. To justify the interference of the civil government, therefore, in any given case with these important subjects, an exception must be made out. It must be shown that an opinion, or a religion, is not only false, but that its prevalence is incompatible with the rights of those members of the community who are not embraced
ROMANS 13: 1—14. Si3
within its communion, before the civil authority can be authorized to interfere for its suppression. It is then to be suppressed, not as a reli- gion, but as a public nuisance. God has ordained civil government for the promotion of the welfare of men as members of the same civil society ; and parental government, and the instruction and discipline of the church, for their moral and religious improvement. And the less interference there is between these two great institutions, in the promotion of their respective objects, the better. We do not find in the New Testament any commands addressed to magistrates with regard to the suppression of heresies, or the support of the truth ; nor, on the other hand, do we meet with any directions to the church to interfere with matters pertain- ing to the civil government, vs. 3 — 6.
6. The discharge of all the social and civil duties of life is, to the Christian, a matter of religious obligation, vs. 5 — 7.
1. The Christian religion is adapted to all states of society, and all forms of civil government. As the Spirit of God, when it enters any human heart, leaves unmolested what is peculiar to its individual charac- ter, as far as it is innocent, and effects the reformation of what is evil, not by violence, but by a sweetly constraining influence ; so the religion of Christ, when it enters any community of men, does not assail their form of government, whether despotic or free ; and if there is any thing in their institutions inconsistent with its spirit, it is changed by its silent operation on the heart and conscience, rather than by direct denunciation. It has thus, without rebellion or violent convulsions, curbed the exercise of despotic power, and wrought the abolition of slavery throughout the greater part of Christendom, vs. 1 — 14.
2. The gospel is equally hostile to tyranny and anarchy. It teaches rulers that they are ministers of God for the public good ; and it teaches subjects to be obedient to magistrates, not only for fear, but also for con- science' sake, v. 5.
3. God is to be recognised as ordering the affairs of civil society. " He removeth kings, and he setteth up kings ;" by him " kings reign, and princes decree justice." It is enough, therefore, to secure the obe- dience of the Christian, that in the providence of God, he finds the power of government lodged in certain hands. The early Christians would have been in constant perplexity, had it been incumbent on them, amidst the frequent poisonings and assassinations of the imperial palace, the tumults of the pretorian guards, and the proclamation by contending armies of rival candidates, to decide on the individual who had de jure the power of the sword, before they could conscientiously obey, vs. 1 — 5.
4. When rulers become a terror to the good, and a praise to them that do evil, they may still be tolerated and obeyed, not however of right, but because the remedy may be worse than the disease, vs. 3, 4.