that not only for wrath, but for conscience sake." If they lived even under a Nero, they would, notwithstanding all his cruelty, regard him as God's minister, whom, by any other means than those which the law itself admits, they are bound not to resist e. No man can act as becometh a saint, if he be not found amongst those that are " quiet in the land."
It is through the intervention only of God's power that they are exalted to posts of honour, and invested with authority over their fellow-creatures. In the days of old, the enemies of God were overruled to execute his will, in the elevation of a Joseph and a Daniel to the command of mighty empires, and of the Hebrew youths to the government of extensive provinces : but at the time to which our text refers, the subjects, as well as the governors, shall all be converted to the faith of Christ ; and kings, no less than others, shall submit to the authority of Christ; yea, " all kings shall fall down before him, all nations shall serve him." There will not need any human efforts to subvert the government of the ungodly : God himself will change, not the persons, but the principles, of those who are in the seat of judgment ; and will press into his own service all their faculties and all their powers. Thus without any public commotions will the work be effected : " The stone that will break in pieces all adverse powers will be cut out without hands;" and the kingdom will be erected, "not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts."]
2. How they will administer it —
In this they will differ widely from the monarchs of this world : they will consult, not their own will, but the will of their heavenly Father ; and seek, not their own glory, but his. Every nation will have a theocracy, such as obtained in the days of Moses, and of the Judges. Men will be invested with authority indeed ; but the Lord Jesus Christ will be the one Head over all : his laws will be the ground-work of every law that shall be enacted, and his glory the end of every ordinance that shall be administered. " Kings will be the nursing- fathers of the Church, and queens her nursing-mothers." Judges and magistrates will distribute justice with the utmost possible fidelity, all in their several places " fearing God and working righteousness." All the minor offices in the State shall be executed in like manner with the strictest integrity: "officers of every description will be peace, and exactors right- eousness :" " no violence of any kind will be heardf" in any of the departments of civil government ; nor will any interest be consulted but that of the whole community.]
Such is the event which in God's own time we
e Rom. xiii. 1 — 5. f Isai. lx. 17, 18.