Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1865-01-18
WHOLE NUMBER 146.

people is not the voice Of God, tits frequent.
ly the very reverse. Even the people Of L.
rael in the wilderness muru1ured against the
Lord, and against Moses, aud az SfDd en-.
treated that they might hear his Ivoics no
more. The apostle John says, ''We are Of
God: he that knoweth God, heareth IA bs
that is not Of God heareth not as. HsFebY
know we the spirit Of truth, and the spirit Of
error. According to our text there IS no
power, that is, no authority but of God. me
inspired sPc5tles recognizes no authority. CIV
I il or ecclesiastical, but of God. God otks
only source Oflegitimste power to govern
The power to govern must come from God
must be established by an ordinance Of God,
who only has the right to enthrone or deposo
monarchs or rules according to his sovereign
pleaure.
We cannot eonstrue our text as meaning
that all the pretentions of men to role over
their fellOw-men are sanctioned by ordinance
of God, and that every soul is therefore
bound or required to submit to tlleir .s1gisetssd
aesTpatiOns. By what ordinance OF God was
Cain authorized to domineer over the, con.
science and worship of Abel2 By what Or
dinanee Of God was Nebuchadnszzer adthoF-
lied to compel men to worship the eoldeHi in
age which he had set up in the plain Of Durs3
Who gave power to the pagan, or to the pa
pei beasts to reign over the kings Of the earth,
or to cause all men to worship the beast or to
receive his mark Who gave them riqht
to dreneh the earth with the blood Of inoarfI- noarf-
conformists? By what express or implied
ordinance of God was Oliver Cromwell en-
powered to enforce his puritanic dogmas, By
the sword, in Europe, or the descendants Of
the European puritans in New England. By
prisons, tortures and death2 If our text viii
warrant the conclusion that all powers Of eT-
ero kind are to be respected as ordained Of
God and to be obeyed implicitly by al men,
then were the apostles themselves guilty Of
disloyalty in refusing to obey men in autboFa
ity who had strictly forbidden them to preach
Jesus; and the three Hebrew worthies were
very wrong in refusing to worship the image
which the king Of the Chaldeans set up; and
Daniel exposed himself to the dannstion Of
our text for refusing to obey the decree 81
Darius, king Of the Medes and Persians.7 our
revolutionary fathers were by the same rule
guilty in rebelling against the king of EHge
land -I Er,
But it Is beyond all successful controversy
clear that the admonition in our text relates
exclusively to the powers that God has By
ordinance established on earth, and all others
are by the apostles repudiated as usutpations,
and not powers or authorities institutedIOf
of God Christ himself INSTRUCTED
his disciples thst they should come incollisi6h
with, and be arrested and brought before
Kings, rulers, and councils in which he would
sustain them in their disobedience to such
lsurpatiOns. We pass to consider.
Eztrdly. What are the higher powers, or
to which we are commanded to
'e in subsection! This enquiry can only be
answered by reference. to the
ecord Of what God hath said upon the sub
ect, we will therefore copy from the scrip
ures some OF the ordinances Of power tnd
ulhority which God has instituted On che
ubject.
It should be observed that the text speaks
lot only ofpower. but of powers, as referring
o various grades of authority with which he
as invested the children Of men, so that euery
2ul Of all the family Of mankind has his or
er superior in power to whom be or she
ives allegiance. -f
The first investment of power or authorftY
,om God that the scriptures speak of is re.
orded Gen. j. 26, Sand God said, Let Us
lake man in our image, after our Likeness;
nd let them have dominion over the fish Of
ne sea, and over the fowl of the air, and
yer the cattle, and over all the earth, and
yer every creeping thing that creepeth upon
he EARTH" also in verse %, ''And God
lessed them, and God said unto them, Be
uitful and multiply and replenish The earth
nd suhdue it; and have dominion over the
sh Of the sea, and over the fowl of the air,
nd over everything that moveth upon the
srth." Here was clearly an ordinance Of
cd giving authority to man over the earth
I'd all the animal creation. -
2. In Gen. iii. IG, unto the woman he
id-And thy desire shah be to thy hus-
and, and he shall rule over thee This or
nance Of God is very distinctly recognized
roughout not only all the old testament
riptures, but also in the new testament, and
the order Of the gospel church wives are
Peter, iii. I, G. Likewise, ye
ives, be in subjection to your own husband
c. even as Sara obeyed Abraham, eal-
g him lord; whose daughters ye are as long
ye do well" That they may teach the
,ung women to be sober, to love their has
nds, to love their children, to be discreet
epers at home, obedient to their own hus-
nds, that the word of God be not blasphem-
:" Titus ii. 4, 5. d. r-.,,,
8. The next investment of ruling power
what we call patriarchal, in which the
-her af the tribe had dominion over lis pos
rity as long as he lived. This ordinance Of
I'd is found in the judicial and ceremonial
" of Israel, and also in the Sinia covenant;
decalOgue; and the apostle brings down
is ordinance of God, and Incorporates itin
@ order of the gospel church, Children,
ey your parents in the Lord; for this is
int. Honor thy father and mother; which
the first commandment with promise.p-
,h. Vi. l.
LTo BE ooNTISUED.J