be he that perverteth the judgement of the stranger." Ezek. xxii. 29. "they have vexed the poor and needy, yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully." 3 John 10. "not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church."

CHAP. XVII.-OF PUBLIC DUTIES TOWARDS OUR

NEIGHBOUR.

HITHERTO We have treated of the private duties of man towards his neighbour. Public duties are of two kinds, political and ecclesiastical.

Under political duties are comprehended the obligations of the magistrate and the people to each other, and to foreign nations.

THE DUTIES OF THE MAGISTRATE TO THE PEOPLE are described Exod. xxiii. S. "thou shalt take no gift, for the gift blindeth the wise." xxxii. 11. "Moses besought Jehovah his God, and said, Jehovah, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people?" Lev. xix. 15. "thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty; but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour." Num. xi. 11, &c. "wherefore have I not found favour in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of all this people upon me?" xiv. 13. "Moses said unto Jehovah, Then the Egyptians shall hear it-." Deut. i. 9. "I am not able to bear you myself alone." xvii. 20. “that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left." 1 Kings ii. 3. "keep the charge of Jehovah thy God—.' iii. 8-10. "give thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people." See also 2 Chron. i. 10. 1 Chron. xiii. 2. "David said unto all the congregation of Israel, If it seem good unto you, and that it be of Jehovah our God, let us send abroad unto our brethren, every where-." xxviii. 2. "hear me, my brethren, and my people." 2 Chron. xix. 6. "he said to the judges, Take heed what ye do, for ye judge not for man, but for Jehovah, who is with you in the judgement." Psal. lxxii. 2. “he shall judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with judge

ment." lxxv. 2. "when I shall receive the congregation, I will judge uprightly." lxxxii. 3. "defend the poor and fatherless." Prov. xi. 14. "where no counsel is, the people fall; but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety." xvi. 12. "it is an abomination to kings to commit wickedness, for the throne is established by righteousness." xxix. 4. “the king by judgement establisheth the land, but he that receiveth gifts overthroweth it." xviii. 17. "he that is first in his own cause seemeth just, but his neighbour cometh and searcheth him." xx. 8. "a king that sitteth in the throne of judgement scattereth away all evil with his eyes." xxiv. 23. "it is not good to have respect of persons in judgement." xxxi. 1-10. "the words of king Lemuel," &c. Jer. xxi. 12. "thus saith Jehovah.. Execute judgement in the morning." xxii. 3, 4. "execute ye judgement and righteousness." Neh. v. 14. "from the time that I was appointed to be their governor.. .. I and my brethren have not eaten the bread of the governor." Matt. xx. 25—27. “ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them; but it shall not be so among you; but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister." See also Mark x. 42, &c. Luke xxii. 25, &c. Rom. xiii. 3, 4. "rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. for he is the minister of God to thee for good."

..

In the matter of reward and punishment. Psal. ci. 4, &c. "a froward heart shall depart from me.... mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land." Excessive punishment is forbidden. Deut. xxv. 3. "forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed." 1 Kings ii. 26. " thou art worthy of death, but I will not at this time put thee to death, because," &c.

The right of the magistrate as regards the sword. Gen. ix. 6. "whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." Job xii. 18. "he looseth the bond of kings." Psal. lxxv. 6. "promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south." Prov. viii. 15, 16. "by me kings reign." Dan. ii. 21. "he changeth the times and the seasons." iv. 17. "that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men." v. 18-20. "the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, &c. .. .. but when his heart was lifted up..

he was

deposed from his kingly throne."

as unto

Rom. xiii. 1, &c. "let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. ... for he beareth not the sword in vain ;" if therefore not in vain, much less for the injury of the good. 1 Pet. ii. 13, 14. " them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers." Of the election of magistrates, see Exod. xviii. 21. "thou shalt provide out of all the people able men.... and place such over them." Numb. xi. 16, 17, 25. "gather unto me seventy men-. Deut. i. 13, &c. "take you wise men and understanding-." 1 Sam. xi. 15. compared with xii. 1. “all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king . . behold, I have hearkened unto your voice in all that ye said unto me, and have made a king over you," 2 Sam. ii. 4. "the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah."

The following texts show what is contrary to the duties of the magistrate. Psal. xxvi. 10. "their right hand is full of bribes." xciv. 20. "shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee?" Prov. xvii. 23. " a wicked man taketh a gift out of the bosom to pervert the ways of judgement." xxi. 7. "they refuse to do judgement." xxviii. 15, 16. "as a roaring lion and a ranging bear, so is a wicked ruler over the poor people." xxix. 4. "he that receiveth gifts overthroweth the land." v. 12. "if a ruler hearken to lies, all his servants are wicked." Eccles. iv. 13. "better is a poor and wise child, than an old and foolish king who will no more be admonished." x. 5, 6. "there is an evil which I have seen under the sun, as an error which proceedeth from the ruler; folly is set in great dignity-." v. 16, 17. woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy princes eat in the morning."-Isai. i. 23. " thy princes are rebellious and companions of thieves, every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards, they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them." iii. 4. "I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them." v. 12. " as for my people, children are their "Definiendo enim explicat, nequis errare et opiniones hinc stolidas aucupari possit, qui sint magistratus potestatis hujus ministri, et quam ob causam subjectos esse nos hortetur; Magistratus non sunt timori bonis operibus, sed malis; boni a potestate hac laudem adipiscentur; magistratus minister est Dei nostro bono datus ; non frustra gladium gerit, vindex ad iram ei qui malum facit." Pro Populo Anglicano Defensio. Prose Works, Symmons' ed. V. 87.

·

oppressors, and women rule over them." v. 14. "Jehovah will enter into judgement with the ancients of his people—.” v. 23. "which justify the wicked for reward." x. 12. "I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria.” Ezek. xxix. 3. "behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt,' &c. Amos v. 7. " ye who turn judgement to wormwood-." See also vi. 12. Micah iii. 11. "the heads thereof judge for reward." vii. 3. "the prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward."

The licentiousness of courts is exposed, Gen. xii. 15. “ the princes also of Pharaoh saw her and commended her before Pharaoh." Prov. xxv. 5. " take away the wicked from before the king, and his throne shall be established in righteousness." 1 Chron. xxiv. 17. " after the death of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah," &c. Isai. xxii. 15, 16. "get thee unto this treasurer, even unto Shebna, which is over the house," &c. 2 Kings xxi. 7. "Jezebel his wife said unto him, Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel?" Esth. iii. 6. "he thought scorn to lay hands on Mordecai alone-." v. 9. "if it please the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed." Dan. vi. 7. "all the presidents of the kingdom.... have consulted together to make a royal decree-."

It is especially the duty of the magistrate to encourage religion and the service of God (public worship in particular), and to reverence the church. Isai. xlix. 23. "kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers; they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet." That the church, however, does not stand in need of the superintendence of the magistrate, but that, if left in peace, she is fully qualified, in the exercise of her own proper laws and discipline, to govern herself aright, and enlarge her boundaries, is evident from Acts ix. 31. "then had the churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified, and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied."

Religion therefore is to be protected by the magistrate, not forced upon the people. Josh. xxiv. 15. "if it seem evil

See on this and the following paragraph the treatise On Civil Power in Ecclesiastical Causes, throughout. Again, in the History of Britain: “ While they taught compulsion without convincement, which not long before they complained of as executed unchristianly against themselves, these intents

unto you to serve Jehovah, choose you this day whom ye will serve .... but as for me and my house, we will serve Jehovah." Psal. cv. 14. "he suffered no man to do them wrong, yea, he reproved kings for their sakes, saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm." If then kings are forbidden to exercise violence against religious persons in any matter whatever, much more are they forbidden to force the consciences of such persons in the matter of religion itself, especially on points where the magistrate is fully as liable to be mistaken as the pope, and is actually mistaken in many instances; unless indeed they are content, like him, to be accounted antichrist, a name given to the pope himself chiefly from his encroachments on the consciences of mankind. True it is, that the Jewish kings and magistrates interposed their judgement in matters of religion, and even employed force in the execution of their decrees: but this was only in cases where the law of God was clear and express, and where the magistrate might safely decide without danger of mistake or controversy. In our own times, on the contrary, Christians are on many occasions persecuted or subjected to punishment for matters either purely controversial, or left by Christian liberty to the judgement of each believer, or concerning which there is no express declaration of the gospel. Against such magistrates, Christians only in name, many heathen and Jewish rulers will rise in judgement, and among the rest Pontius Pilate himself, whose deference to Jewish opinions was such, that he did not think it derogatary to his proconsular dignity to go out to speak to the Jews, when they, from a religious scruple, declined entering the judgement-hall. John xviii. 28, 29. So also Gamaliel, Acts v. 39. "if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it;" and Gallio, xviii. 15. "I will be no judge of such matters."

For if even the ecclesiastical minister is not entitled to exercise absolute authority over the church, much less can the civil magistrate claim such authority. 2 Cor. i. 24. "not for that are clear to have been no better than antichristian; setting up a spiritual tyranny by a secular power, to the advancing of their own authority above the magistrate, whom they would have made their executioner to punish church delinquencies, whereof civil laws have no cognizance.' Prose Works, Book III. This was one of the paragraphs omitted, for political reasons, in all the early editions of the History of Britain. It appeared first in the collection of Milton's Works published in 2 vols. folio, 1738.

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'Why did he lay restraints and force enlargements upon our consci