DISCOURSE LIX.

SUBMISSION TO GOVernment.

1 PETER ii. 13.

Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake.

RELIGION came down from heaven, and was designed to carry us thither. Its great object is the everlasting happiness of man with his God, in another and a better world. But it neglects not to provide for his comfort, by regulating his behaviour, in this. It labours to persuade him, that virtue best promotes his true interest in both; it has contrived, that he can advance towards the former, only by a performance of his duties in the latter.

His duties are many, springing from the various relations in which his Maker has been pleased to place him. No sooner is he born but he comes under the obligation of duty to his parents as a son, and to his governors as a subject. A state of nature is a state of society; and no society can subsist without government of some kind or other.

In this class of duties, as in all the rest, it is necessary that we should be instructed from time to

time; and no time more proper for the purpose, than when we commemorate, as we do upon the anniversary of this day, the accession of our sovereign to the throne of these kingdoms. In the course of the service for the day, certain portions of Scripture are selected with this view. The text is taken from that appointed for the Epistle, being part of the second chapter of the First Epistle of St. Peter, where that apostle delivers his injunctions fully and clearly. As St. Paul has written his sentiments in the thirteenth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, by taking them into consideration, together with those of St. Peter, we shall find ample matter whereon to employ our thoughts; and "in the mouth of two witnesses "will every truth be established."

Obedience to government is by both apostles pressed upon all Christians. "Let every soul be "subject to the higher powers," or "powers that 66 are set over us;" these are St. Paul's words. St. Peter's are to the same effect-"Submit your"selves to the king as supreme, and to rulers as "those that are sent by him ;" as bearing his authority, and acting in his name, from whom power descends through all inferior and subordinate magistrates, down to the least and lowest. The streams are many, but the fountain is one.

The reasonableness of this apostolical precept is suggested by the terms used to convey it; for why, "rulers and governors," unless it be indeed their office to rule and govern, our duty to submit and obey? If the governed are to govern the governors, from that moment there is an end of govern

ment all is strife and confusion: a civil war will be the consequence, and the sword must determine who shall govern. If a state cannot settle itself, some neighbouring state will take the opportunity to invade it, and reduce it under a foreign yoke. So will its last condition be worse than its first: and, seeking liberty in an improper way, it will be sure to find slavery in the end.

But, secondly, that there should be government, and that men should obey it, is the will and appointment of God. Thus St. Paul; "There is no

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power but of God:" and St. Peter, "Submit "yourselves to every ordinance of man," or,

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every institution of this sort among men, for the "Lord's sake; it is the will of God." "Ye must "be subject not only for wrath," or "for fear of punishment," adds St. Paul," but also for con"science sake;" that is, because you know in know in your hearts that God has enjoined you so to be, and that in obeying your governors you obey him.

Of government there have been different kinds among men in different ages and different countries. At the beginning, there were only the children of one man living, under the care of their father. These dispersed, and became heads of their own families respectively; or many families might agree to live under one chief, and make up little governments of tribes or clans. Then disputes arose, till one stronger than the rest subdued them, and forced them to unite under him. Thus arose the large governments, which likewise contended with each other, till at length one of them swallowed up the others, and became almost uni

versal, giving place itself after a time to a superior power. In this way succeeded to each other, the empires of the Assyrians, Persians, Grecians, and Romans; out of which last, when overthrown and broken in pieces, sprang the empires and kingdoms at this day subsisting in the world.

Thus again as to forms of government; some nations are governed by one man; some by the principal nobility, some by a council of men chosen to represent the people. Our own is a happy mixture of all three, so contrived that the parts are a mutual check upon each other; and if there be at any time an error in one, it is corrected by the remaining two. Governments by assemblies of the people at large cannot be well carried on but in small districts, where the people are not too numerous, and can be conveniently called together. They have always been subject to frequent seditions and commotions; as may be seen in the histories of Greece and Rome.

The principle to be collected, from the texts above cited, is plainly this; that the law of God enjoins obedience to every government settled according to the constitution of the country in which it subsists; and that, even though the governor should be elected by the people; as in lesser matters, a man is free to choose that master into whose service he will enter; but when he is once entered, the Scriptures press upon him from thenceforth the several duties which a servant owes to his master. The members of a corporation choose one from among themselves for their annual magistrate: but when he is chosen, they are bound to

show him the respect and obedience which are due to his office, while he continues in it.-Obedience, in short, is enjoined to the civil magistrate, under whatever form of government we happen to live; nor does that obedience extend to the relinquishing those rights which the citizen may legally claim. St. Paul himself, at Philippi, refuses to comply with the directions intimated by the magistrates, unless the magistrates themselves, by a mark of respect, will make him amends for the illegality of their proceedings in punishing him uncondemned: of the centurion who was standing near when he was about to be scourged, he demanded the privilege due to a Roman citizen: and when Festus proposed his trial to be held at Jerusalem, the apostle boldly made his appeal to Cæsar, as every Roman citizen might do. These claims of civil privileges do not indicate unconditional submission to power illegally exercised, but refer us, for the practice of our duty in particular cases, to the laws and constitution of our country*.

A third reason assigned by our two apostles for obedience to government, is, the benefit derived from it to the community. It is instituted for the protection of good men, by the punishment of evil

ones.

Of these latter how many are there in the world? And how many more would there be, had we no laws, or, which is the same thing, no magistrate to execute them? Every man might act as his interest or his passions at the moment led him, and no man's property or life would be secure for

See HUNTINGFORD'S Visitation Sermon, p. 30.