confidered as Subjects, or Servants, or Wives, or Children, is evident from hence, that they almost always clofe their Inftructions of this Sort with this Argument, That the Word of God be not blafphemed or evil spoken of: An Argument which in its own Nature has no nearer Relation to civil Obedience than to any other good Work; and it is as proper to exhort Men to Temperance and Sobriety, to Charity, and other the like Virtues, that no Scandal may be brought on the Gospel,

as it is to exhort them to Obedience to their Superiors. This Motive therefore being almost ever urged in the Cafe of Obedience, fhews plainly that the Chriftians were liable to Reproach in this Cafe more than any other. Our Lord bids St. Peter pay the Tribute, left, fays he, we should offend them: And thus St. Paul, in his Epistle to Titus, ch. ii. ver. 5. orders Titus to admonish Wives to be obedient to their own Hufbands, that the Word of God be not blafphemed; and, ver. 10. to exhort Servants to be obedient to their own Mafters, and to please them well in all Things, that they may adorn the Doctrine of God our Saviour in all Things: So likewise in the first Epistle to Timothy, ch. vi. ver. 1. the Apostle gives this Exhortation, Let as

many

many Servants as are under the Yoke count their own Mafters worthy of all Honour; and then he repeats the forementioned Reason, That the Name of God and his Doctrine be not blafphemed: Thus likewife St. Peter, preffing Obedience to Governors, gives this Reason for it, For fo is the Will of God, that with well-doing ye may put to Silence the Ignorance of foolish Men, 1 Pet. ii. 15. that is, of such Men as fcandalize the Doctrine of the Gospel, as if it taught us to claim a Freedom inconfiftent withthe Obedience that Subjects and Servants and Children owed to their respective Superiors: And, with regard to this abufed Notion of Chriftian Freedom, the Apoftle adds, in the very next Verfe, As free, and not using your Liberty for a Cloak of Malicioufnefs, but as the Servants of God. Befides thefe Reasons, drawn from the Apostles' own Writings, to fhew with what View they fo frequently infifted upon, and inculcated Obedience of all Kinds, we have to the fame Purpofe the exprefs Authority of St. Ferom and St. Chryfoftom. St. Jerom, in his Comment upon the Epiftle to Titus, at thefe Words, Put them in Mind to be fubject to Principalities and Powers, gives this Reafon why the Apoftle there, and elfewhere, infifts

on

on the Obligations which Chriftians were under to obey their Rulers: Quia Juda Galilæi per illud tempus dogma adhuc vigebat, et babebat plurimos fectatores---Because the Doctrine of Judas of Galilee yet prevailed at that Time, and had many Followers. St. Chryfoftom, in his Comment upon the thirteenth of the Romans, teaches us the fame Thing: Kai yàg πολὺς περιεφέρετο λόγος τότε, ἐπὶ τάσει καὶ και νοτομίᾳ διαβάλλων τὰς ἀποτόλες, καὶ ὡς ἐπ' ἀνατροπῇ τῶν κοινῶν νόμων, ἅπαντα καὶ ποιῦνται xal λéyola---For there was at that Time a Strong Report that the Apoftles were feditious and Innovators, and that their Principles and Practices tended to the Subverfion of the common Laws.

From this Account it is eafy to fee what made the Apostles fo frequently, fo earnestly prefs their new Converts to shew a more than ordinary Obedience to their Masters and Governors: The Honour of Chrift and the Gospel was nearly concerned in their Behaviour, which ought to be dearer to them than their Lives, and to outweigh all other Confiderations whatever; and therefore they ought to bear every thing rather than give any Umbrage to the Enemies of the Gofpel, by pretending upon any Account;

how

how plaufible foever, to withstand the Commands of their lawful Governors. And for this Reafon St. Paul more efpecially labours the Point, when he writes to the Chriftians at Rome, which was the ordinary Residence of the Emperor, and where any the least Disorder would be the fooneft taken Notice of, and most improved to the Prejudice of the Gospel. And if you examine what St. Paul has taught concerning Obedience and Subjection to the higher Powers, you will find it answer exactly to these Circumstances now fet before you, and to be built upon Reasons purposely adapted to convince the Error of the Galileans and fome judaizing Christians, and to require fuch an exact and fcrupulous Obedience, as might clear the Gospel and its Profeffors from the Scandal thrown on them by the Heathen World.

Let every Soul, fays he, be fubject unto the higher Powers. This is the Doctrine laid down in oppofition to fuch as taught that there were no higher Powers who had any Claim to their Obedience, but that they were under the immediate Government of God, and therefore owed no Subjection to Man. The Apostle fupports his Doctrine with Arguments peculiarly adapted to combat the Error

Error he opposes, as you will perceive in the following Words: For there is no Power, fays he, but of God: The Powers that be are ordained of God. As if he had faid, You argue that you ought to be fubject to God only, and to acknowledge no other Power or Authority but his. What you fay is true: But fo far is this Reafon from exempting you from the Subjection to temporal Power, that, well confidered, it will prove just the contrary: For the Power of the Magiftrate is a Power delegated from God, and therefore more especially to be regarded by those who pretend in a peculiar Manner to be the Servants of God. It was obvious to object against this Reafoning, That the Powers then in being could not be the Powers ordained by God, because they so evidently thwarted all his Purpofes: They had put to death the Lord of Life; they perfecuted his Followers; they were the Supporters of Superftition and Idolatry, and the main Obstacle in the Way of the Gospel: To prevent which Surmifes the Apoftle purposely adds, The Powers which be, ἂν δὲ ἐσαι ἐξεσίαι, the Powers which now be, are ordained of God. From thefe Pofitions he draws the Confequence in direct oppofition to the Principles

and