The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1884-05-29

! TEXT-Romans, 1917
In this Passage, Paul advances tht
, following important principles
, /. That government is insti;utcd
/ by God. 1t had not its OIigIn in
man; and is not to lie regarded
merely as Of human arrangement
1t is the appointment of the RuiCr o
the nations. The necessity of gov
eminent has not grown out Of any
conventional arrangement Of society
nor may it he dispensed with 10y any
conventional arrangements. God in
tends that there should be govern
ment by law; and intends to be re
garded aa having Himself iustitu.
ted civil authority.
,. Submission TO government and
the law is duty to God. 1t is not
merely because we have chosen the
rulers, or because we have made the
laws, or because our interest is in
vOlved in the execution Of them, but
it is because God has made it oul
duty to obey the laws as an act OF
submission to Him, and as rccog
niziGg His authority over nations.
3. Resistance to the laws, except
in matters Of conscience, is resist
ance against God, and is q sin
against Him. 1t is not merely that
property is injured, aHd lite cndan-
gGred, and the peace of the conmu.
nifty disturbed, and rights jeopagded
but it is that the arrangements Oh
the Supreme Ruler of all are inter
ested with, and His own government
resisted, that constitutes the main
evil of a disregard Of the laws OF
civil government.
4. One design Of government is t.
protect The innocent in the exercise
their rights. Riders are appointed
bv God for this end. They are Hl>
ministers, acting in His place, and
by His authority. CT course, they
>in against Him if they do not do it.
They not only betray the Interests
of those who clothe them with office
and are recreant to the high trust
conferred by men, but they are gull
ty Of disrcgarding the duty they owe
to God, and Of unfaitAfulncss to
Him.
). 1t is also the design OF civil
government to punish the violators
Of the lays. The magistrate bears
the sword for this Object; and he is
bound To restrain and punish wick.
edness as an act If duty to God.
This office is Gol's only ordinance
in the world for this purpose. Ht
has taken away the sword from IN
dividualS, who, IN a state OF naturC
might execute vengeance, and has
given it to the magistrate. And il
is now the purpose Of God, that
punishment shall be administered by
The magistrate, and according to the
laws, and not by individuals, or by
mobs. And it further follows from
this, that if the magistrate does not
punish offences according to the
laws, they are to go unpunishe ed--eX
ccpt us God shall Himself punish
them in the administrations of His
providence. For lie has commits
stoned no other authority to do this
but the civil powers.
These are the vital principles con
tanned in the Bible on the subject OF
civil government. Those principles
are to remain the same, and are tC
guide us in all our discussions on
the subject.
When Paul penned the text, il
was u question, not whether subMlis
sion should be rendered to the laws
but whether submission should bt
rendered to the corrupt and bloody
monarchs who, in such rapid success
sion, occupied the throne of the
Caesars. Paul wrote his epistIC
near the close of the reign of Claudi
us, or in the time of Nero. And the
question which could not but agtatt
the minds Of christians, was not mere
ly whether they should submit to the
government of such men as "the
dark, unrclenting Tiberius, the tu
rious Caligula, the feeble Claudius
the profigate and cruel Nero, th,
beastly Vitellus, and the timid, in
human Domitian. But, though the
grounds for the discussion have
changed, the propriety of the dis
cussion still remains. Various part!
of our land have been disgraced fol
some time past with scenes and con
duct which have resulted in the VIC
lation Of either the property, The
rights or the lives Of others. Dis
regard to law and to the rights o
property and life has extened tt
many cases, and has been increas
ing. Attentive observers, also, can
not but have remarked deplorabl'
change in public opinion among th'
more respectable classes. of the com
munity on the shhject. The senti
ment is gaining ground, that there
are evils in the community whicl
the law cannot punish, and which
can be met only by the people taking
the law into their own hands. An(
when an outrage is committed, re
spectacle citizens condemn 1t II