The question indeed is not to be decided by authority, but by the weight of sound reasoning. The reasoning, however, which has the

cui Deus vult, regnum tradat populus."-MiltonDef. pro pop. Angl. Apud Horsley.

"Ratio cur debeamus subjecti esse magistratibus, quod Dei ordinatione sunt constituti. Quod, si ita placet Domino mundum gubernare; Dei ordinem invertere nititur, adeoque Deo ipsi resistit, quisquis potestatem aspernatur : quando, ejus, qui juris politici auctor est, providentiam contemnere, bellum cum eo suscipere est."-Calvin in Rom. xiii. 1. Ibid.

Si in Dei verbum respicimus longius nos educet, ut non eorum modo principum imperio subditi simus, qui probe, et qua debent fide, munere suo erga nos defunguntur, sed omnium, qui quoquo modo rerum potiuntur, etiamsi nihil minus præstent, quam quod ex officio erat principum.

In eo probando insistamus magis, quod non ita facile in hominum mentes cadit, in homine deterrimo, honoreque omni indignissimo, penes quem modo sit publica potestas, præclaram illam et divinam potestatem residere; quam DOMINUS justitiæ ac judicii sui ministris, verbo suo, detulit: proinde a subditis eadem in reverentia et dignitate habendum, quantum ad publicam obedientiam attinet, qua optimum regem, si daretur, habituri essent.Calvin. Inst. iv. 20, 25.

combined suffrages of such men, is not to be set aside by any flippant sneer at divine right; or any unproved assertions, however palatable to the natural insubordination of the human mind.

The

Here then is the scriptural key. rulers have commanded, and forbidden, a vast variety of particulars, and this key locks. all such enactments as imperative upon the consciences of christian men. Because, the one statement, the powers that be are ordained of God, and the one precept, be subject for conscience sake, as they imply an authority in the power to make one law, and impose a duty upon the Christian to obey that law; so they sanction the authority of a thousand laws.

You will perceive then clearly, my friend, what it is of some consequence to bear in mind, that, in reference to our duty as christian subjects, the Bible is not a sufficient guide in details. It was never designed to be so. It is all-sufficient in principle. It invests the living ruler with authority, as the minister of God on the earth, to command details; and it binds us to obey the details

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so commanded, although they be not mentioned in the Bible. You will also perceive how there is true religion in such obedience, and how there would be irreligion, as well as rebellion, in disobedience. For all true christian subjects, knowing whose authority their rulers have, do faithfully serve, honour, and humbly obey them, in Christ, and for Christ, the divine HEAD of all constituted authority. Every law of our land, therefore, comes to the mind, and commands the conscientious submission of a real christian Englishman, upon the ultimate authority of a precept of Scripture.*

If any Englishman were to determine otherwise, and say, 'Away with all human authority and human traditions; my allegiance is to the Lord Jesus alone, and my only statute-book is the word of my God,'-he might perhaps, in these days, wear the aspect of a champion for christian liberty, but he would, in truth, be a transgressor against

*The intelligent reader is requested to suspend his judgment upon this branch of the argument, until he shall have the whole statement before him, See pp. 41-49.

plain apostolical injunctions. And if he attempted to defend his conduct by pleading what seems to him the injustice or the absurdity of the enactment, or the gross abuses into which the administrators of it have fallen; and thereupon declared his independence of such Babylonish ordinances, refusing to do, or pay, any thing at the command of man; he would not only incur the penalty inflicted by the ruler, but he would be acting in defiance of his own idol, the written word of God. Thus, passive resistance against the laws of the state, is active rebellion against the precepts of the Bible: and though timid rulers may, for a time, bear the sword in vain, God will eventually avenge himself.

We are now prepared to enter upon the parallel statement of the true scriptural ground of authority, in the rulers of the christian church. And parallel it is, in principle, although Christ's kingdom be not of this world, and the details to which the principle applies be consequently of a very different nature.

This shall be

letter.

the subject of my next I am faithfully yours.

ARE we, or are we not, under a scriptural obligation to submit to the ordinances of man, for the Lord's sake?

I have briefly answered this question, as it refers to the institutions of civil government; and I now propose to give you my views concerning it, as it refers to ecclesiastical ordinances, for the regulation and wellbeing of the christian church.

"While Jesus Christ not only claimed no temporal sovereignty, but firmly refused to accept it when pressed upon him, he nevertheless asserted his regal dignity: he told Pilate that he was a King, though he assured him his kingdom was not of this world. And