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Chapter 23. Of the Civil Magistrate

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Chapter 23. Of the Civil Magistrate

I. God, the Supreme Lord and King of all the world, hath ordained civil magistrates to be under him, over the people, for his own glory and the public good, and to this end hath armed them with the power of the sword, for the defense and encouragement of them that are good, and for the punishment of evil-doers.482

II. It is lawful for Christians to accept and execute the office of a magistrate when called thereunto;483 in the managing whereof, as they ought especially to maintain piety, justice, and peace, according to the wholesome laws of each commonwealth,484 so, for that end, they may lawfully, now under the New Testament, wage war upon just and necessary occasion.485&486

III. The civil magistrate may not assume to himself the administration of the Word and Sacraments, or the power of the keys of the kingdom of heaven:487 yet he hath authority, and it is his duty to take order, that unity and peace be preserved in the Church, that the truth of God be kept pure and entire, that all blasphemies and heresies be suppressed, all corruptions and abuses in worship and discipline prevented or reformed, and all the ordinances of God duly settled, administered, and observed.488 For the better effecting whereof he hath power to call synods, to be present at them, and to provide that whatsoever is transacted in them be according to the mind of God.489

IV. It is the duty of people490 to pray for magistrates,491 to honor their persons,492 to pay them tribute and other dues,493 to obey their lawful commands, and to be subject to their authority, for conscience' sake.494 Infidelity or difference in religion doth not make void the magistrate's just and legal authority, nor free the people from their due obedience to him:495 from which ecclesiastical persons are not exempted;496 much less hath the Pope any power or jurisdiction over them in their dominions, or over any of their people; and least of all to deprive them of their dominions or lives, if he shall judge them to be

heretics, or upon any other pretense whatsoever.497

Footnotes

  1. 482

    Rom. xiii. 1–4; 1 Pet. ii. 13, 14.

  2. 483

    Prov. viii. 15, 16; Rom. xiii. 1, 2, 4.

  3. 484

    Psa. ii. 10–12; 1 Tim. ii. 2; Psa. lxxxii. 3, 4; 2 Sam. xxiii. 3; 1 Pet. ii. 13.

  4. 485

    Luke iii. 14; Rom. xiii. 4; Matt. viii. 9, 10; Acts x. 1, 2; Rev. xvii. 14, 16.

  5. 486

    [Am. ed. has occasions.]

  6. 487

    2 Chron. xxvi. 18 with Matt. xviii. 17 and xvi. 19; 1 Cor. xii. 28, 29; Eph. iv. 11, 12; 1 Cor. iv. 1, 2; Rom. x. 15; Heb. v. 4.

  7. 488

    Isa. xlix. 23; Psa. cxxii. 9; Ezra vii. 23–28; Lev. xxiv. 16; Deut. xiii. 5, 6, 12; 2 Kings xviii. 4; 1 Chron. xiii. 1–9; 2 Kings xxiii. 1–26; 2 Chron. xxxiv. 33; 2 Chron. xv. 12, 13.

  8. 489

    2 Chron. xix. 8–11; chaps. xxix. and xxx.; Matt. ii. 4, 5.

  9. 490

    [Am. ed. reads of the people.]

  10. 491

    1 Tim. ii. 1, 2.

  11. 492

    1 Pet. ii. 17.

  12. 493

    Rom. xiii. 6, 7.

  13. 494

    Rom. xiii. 5; Tit. i. 3.

  14. 495

    1 Pet. ii. 13, 14, 16.

  15. 496

    Rom. xiii. 1; 1 Kings ii. 35; Acts xxv. 9–11; 2 Pet. ii. 1, 10, 11; Jude 8–11.

  16. 497

    2 Thess. ii. 4; Rev. xiii. 15–17.