"Dis te minorem quod geris, imperas : Hesperia mala luctuosæ." (HOR. Carm. iii. 6. 5-8.) 1 HOOKER, V. 1. 2. S. AUGUST. Civ. Dei, v. c. 24. Lord Ch. J. COKE, Litt. 95. Nunquam res humanæ succedunt, ubi negliguntur divinæ. HOOKER, V. I. 4. When the Kings of Israel, to better their worldly estates (as they thought), left their own and their people's ghostly condition uncared for, by woful experience they both did learn that to forsake the true God of heaven is to fall into all such evils upon the face of the earth, as men either destitute of divine grace may commit, or unprotected from above may endure. These words of HOOKER may be a warning to ENGLAND. CHAPTER II. ON THE DUTY OF KINGDOMS AND STATES TO PRO- Q. BUT, it is asked by some, if a State provides for the interests of Religion, does it not intrude upon God's office? A. God graciously vouchsafes to Kings and States the privilege of advancing His glory. This is the greatest honour they can enjoy, and the forfeiture of it is their severest punishment. It would be sin and folly on their part to ask Him why He gives them this privilege; and would be very unreasonable if they, who derive all their power from God and are most indebted to Him and dependent on Him, should not also be foremost to make acknowledgments to Him of this their obligation and of their dependence, by profession of His truth, by faithfulness in His service, and by zeal for His glory. . You say that Kings and States derive their power from God; can then a power, which is sometimes tyrannically abused, be said to be divinely derived ? CHAP. 11. PART III. A. God is the only source of power; but He is the source of none of its abuses. He permits in this world much that He does not approve. And in His wisdom He often uses bad Governors to chastise bad subjects, and to prove and try good ones', and to train them by wholesome discipline to higher degrees of goodness, and thus to prepare them for greater fruition of glory. 1 S. IREN. v. 29. Quidam Regum ad correctionem et utilitatem subditorum dantur à Deo, quidam ad timorem et pœnam. S. CHRYSOSTOM ad Rom. xiii. S. AUGUSTIN de Civ. Dei, v. c. 21. Qui dedit imperium Constantino Christiano, Ipse etiam Apostata Juliano. Qui Mario imperium dedit, etiam Caio Cæsari; qui Augusto, Ipse et Neroni. S. AUG. Epist. ad Vincent. Terror temporalium potestatum, quando veritatem oppugnant, justis et fortibus gloriosa probatio est, infirmis periculosa tentatio. Q. You say that God is the source of all power, I Pet. ii. 13. but does not St. Peter call the Civil Magistrate an Ordinance or Creation (KríσƖs) of Man? A. Yes. The form of Government, and the choice of persons to administer it, are frequently from man; but the authority of civil Government when constituted, is from God1. The ordinance of the Civil Magistrate is per populum, who is its mediate and instrumental cause, but it is à Deo, who is its principal and efficient cause 2. And therefore St. Peter says, "Submit yourself to every ordinance of man, for the Lord's Rom. xiii. 1. sake;" and St. Paul, "Let every soul be subject to the higher powers or authorities (έovoíais), for there is no power but from God (ȧπò eoû): the powers that be, are ordained of God (vò cov); and he that resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God." 1 Bp. ANDREWES, Private Devotions, p. 48, ed. 1830. All the kingdoms and governments of the whole earth are Thy ordinance (Rom. xiii. 2), albeit an institution of man (1 Pet. ii. 13). Bp. SANDERSON, Præl. vii. 15. BRAMHALL and HORSLEY in Christian Institutes, iii. 39. Abp. LEIGHTON in 1 Pet. ii. 13. HOOKER, viii. 11. 6. Unto CHAP. II. Kings by human right, honour by very divine right is due. 2 Col. i. 16, ἐν αὐτῷ Χριστῷ ἐκτίσθη τὰ πάντα . . εἴτε θρόνοι, εἴτε κυριότητες, εἴτε ἀρχαὶ, εἴτε ἐξουσίαι, τὰ πάντα δι' αὐτοῦ καὶ εἰς αὐτὸν ἔκτισται. Q. Kings and States derive their authority from God; but did not Christ disclaim all civil power, and renounce all exercise of it in His behalf, when He said to Pilate, My kingdom is not of this world (ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου τούτου) ? John xviii. A. The Jews thought that the Messiah would 36. be an earthly Potentate; and Christ, when He spake these words, was standing before the John xix. Roman Governor, being accused by the Jews of 12. usurping Cæsar's authority; this is what He disclaimed; and it is to be observed that He does not say, My kingdom is not in this world (ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ τούτῳ), but, it is not from hence (EvTelev), that is, not derived from this world (EK TOû KÓσμOV TOÚTOV1), an expression which He John viii. used in the same sense on two other occasions. 23. xv. 19. Nor is it to be advanced by worldly force, for then, as He says, His servants would have fought for Him. Jesus Christ expressly declared that to Himself "all power in heaven and earth is given;" Matt.xxviii He is "the Prince of the Kings of the earth;" 18. He Himself is the source of all Power; and He did not come to make Himself an earthly King, but He did come to make Kings members Wisd. vi. 4 and ministers of His kingdom. And it is clear from Holy Scripture, that though Christ did not come into the world to exercise earthly power in His own person, yet that all they who have earthly power, are His servants and ministers, and bound to exercise it for the promotion of His glory. 1 THEOPHYLACT in Joann. c. 18, p. 743. εἶπε, ὅτι ἡ βασιλεία μου οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου τούτου· καὶ αὖθις, ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν ἐντεῦθεν· οὐ γὰρ εἶπεν, οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ, οὐδέ ἐστιν ἐνταῦθα· βασιλεύει μὲν γὰρ (ὁ Χριστ Rev. i. 5. PART IIl. τὸς ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ καὶ προνοεῖται τούτου, καὶ, ὡς βούλεται, περιάγει τὰ πάντα· οὐκ ἔστι δὲ ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου ἡ βασιλεία αὐτοῦ, ἀλλ ̓ ἄνωθεν καὶ προαιώνιος—ἔπειτα πῶς ἂν νοηθείη τὸ εἰς τὰ ἴδια ἦλθεν, εἰ μὴ ἦν ὁ κόσμος ἴδιος αὐτοῦ; Rom. xiii. 1. 4. 6. Col. i. 16. ἐκτίσθη . in the ori ginal. iv. 25. 1 Tim. vi. 15. Prov. viii. 15. S. AUG. Tract. in S. Joann. cxv. Non ait, Regnum meum non est hic,' sed 'non est hinc:' Hic enim est Regnum Ejus, usque in finem sæculi. On this text see also HOOKER, VII. xv. 11. Q. How does this duty of Kings to maintain and promote the true Faith appear from Scripture? 2 A. As has been before stated, Kings' are there represented as God's Vicegerents and "Ministers ἔκτισται .. for good” to men (διάκονοι, λειτουργοί). They derive their power from CHRIST, by Whom "all things were created, whether they be Thrones, Dan. ii. 21. or Dominions, or Principalities, or Powers ;" and "Who is the only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;" "by Whom kings reign and princes decree justice;" and God has promised that "Kings shall be the nursing-fathers, and Queens the nursing-mothers," of His Church. And the second Psalm, which prophesies of this very event, which has just been mentioned, I mean of Christ standing before Pilate, when, it is also to be observed, our Lord spake of Pilate's official power as derived from above (ävw0ev) (i. e. from Himself3), concludes with an exhortation from the Royal Psalmist to Kings and all in authority, to be wise and serve the Lord with fear, and to kiss the Son, i. e. to reverence Christ, Ps. cxlviii. as their subjects reverence them. "Praise the 23. lx. 16. Acts iv. 25 -27. Ps. ii. 12. 11. Rev. iv. 10. Rev. xi. 15. Rev. xix. 16. xxi. 24. Lord," he says again, "ye Kings of the earth, and all People, Princes, and all Judges of the World." And, in the Revelation, the twenty-four elders cast their crowns before His throne; and the voices in heaven say, "The kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of the Lord, and of His CHRIST." That cannot be otherwise than glorious for Kings and Nations to do, which, when done, will be sung of by Angels in heaven, CHAP. II. as redounding to the glory of Christ. 1 S. IREN. v. 20. Cujus jussu nascuntur homines, Hujus jussu et reges constituuntur. TERTULLIAN, Apolog. 30. Ideo magnus est imperator, quia cœlo minor est; inde est imperator unde et homo; inde potestas illi unde et spiritus. Ad Scap. 2. Imperator homo à Deo secundus, quicquid est à Deo consecutus; et solo Deo minor, omnibus major, dum solo Deo minor. S. AUGUST. iv. 722. 1141. Jam in fronte Regum Crux illa fixa est, &c. 2 HOOKER, VIII. IV. 6. No power (saith the Apostle) Rom. xiii. 1. but from God, nor doth any thing come from God but by the hands of our Lord Jesus Christ.-All authority of man is derived from God through Christ, and must by Christian men be acknowledged to be no otherwise held than of and under Him. See Bp. OVERALL, Convocation Book, Book i. c. 2, xxxv. xxxvi. CASAUBON de Lib. Eccles. c. 11, iv. 3 S. AUG. in Psalm xxix. and xxxii. tom. iv. pp. 195 and 287. Q. But if a National Community is obliged to promote religion, must it not profess some one form of religion, and one at variance with that of many of its members, where they differ in their religious opinions? A. The Community consists of persons who are bound to profess the true faith, which is one1. Eph. v 5. 1 S. HIERON. in Esai. xix. Unum altare dicitur, sicut una fides, et unum baptisma, et una Ecclesia. See above, pp. 28-31. See further below, Pt. iii. ch. iii. Q. But when they differ in their belief, how can this be done? is it not very difficult to be attained? 11. a. All good things are difficult; and Unity is Ps. cxxxiii. one of the best. It is too great a good to be 2 Cor. xiii. acquired except by a hearty combination of de- Phil. i. 27. sire, resolution, and earnest endeavour (σrovdý1). But we cannot suppose it to be unattainable, for if it were, Scripture would not have required us to endeavour to keep it. They who differ ought to consider the grounds of their differences; they 1 Cor. iii. 3. ought to reflect on the sinfulness of strife, and Gal. v. 20. |