jection, that not only theirs, but the whole happinefs of the empire may be obstructed by their union. The rule and principle of the calculation being ftill the fame, the refult is different; and this difference begets a new fituation, which entitles the fubordinate parts of the state to more equal terms of confederation, and, if these be refused, to independency.

CHA P. IV.

OF THE DUTY OF CIVIL OBEDIENCE AS STATED IN THE CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES.

WE

E affirm, that as to the extent of our civil rights and obligations, Chriftianity hath left us where the found us; that the hath neither altered, nor ascertained it; that the New Testament contains not one paffage, which, fairly interpreted, affords either argument or objection applicable to any conclufions upon the fubject, that are deduced from the law and religion of nature.

The only paffages which have been seriously alledged in the controverfy, or which it is neceffary for us to state and examine, are the two following; the one extracted from St. Paul's Epiftle to the Romans, the other from the Firft General Epiftle of St.

Peter.

ર

ROMANS xiii. 1—7.

"Let every foul be fubject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God; "the powers that be, are ordained of God. Who"foever therefore refifteth the power, refifteth the "ordinance of God: and they that refift, fhall re"ceive to themselves damnation, For rulers are "not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt

"thou

1

"thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that "which is good, and thou fhalt have praife of the "fame: for he is the minifter of God to thee for "good. But if thou do that which is evil, be "afraid; for he beareth not the fword in vain: for "he is the minifter of God, a revenger to execute "wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore ye "muft needs be fubject, not only for wrath, but "alfo for confcience fake. For, for this caufe

pay

you tribute alfo: for they are God's minifters, attending continually upon this very thing. Ren"der therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom "tribute is due, cuftom to whom cuftom, fear to "whom fear, honour to whom honour."

I PETER, ii. 13-18.

"Submit yourself to every ordinance of man, "for the Lord's fake: whether it be to the King "as fupreme; or unto Governors, as unto them "that are fent by him for the punishment of evil "doers, and for the praise of them that do well.

For fo is the will of God, that with well doing

ye may put to filence the ignorance of foolish "men: as free, and not ufing your liberty for a "cloak of malicioufnefs, but as the fervants of "God."

To comprehend the proper import of thefe inftructions, let the reader reflect, that upon the fubject of civil obedience there are two questions; the firft, whether to obey government be a moral duty and obligation upon the confcience at all; the fecond, how far, and to what cafes, that obedience ought to extend ;-that these two queftions are fo diftinguishable in the imagination, that it is poffible to treat of the one, without any thought of the other, and laftly, that if expreffions which relate to one of these questions be tranferred and applied to the other, it is with great danger of giving them a fignification very different from the author's mean

ing,

ing. This diftinction is not only possible, but natural. If I meet with a perfon who appeared to entertain doubts, whether civil obedience were a moral duty which ought to be voluntarily discharged, or whether it were not a mere fubmiffion to force, like that, which we yield to a robber, who holds a pistol to our breast, I should reprefent to him the ufe and offices of civil government, the end and the neceffity of civil fubjection; or, if I preferred a different theory, I fhould explain to him the focial compact, urge him with the obligation and the equity of his implied promife and tacit confent to be governed by the laws of the ftate from which he received protection; or I fhould argue, perhaps, that Nature herfelf dictated the law of fubordination, when the planted within us an inclination to affociate with our fpecies, and framed us with capacities fo various and unequal. From whatever principle I fet out, I fhould labour to infer from it this conclufion,

That obedience to the ftate, is to be numbered "amongst the relative duties of human life, for "the tranfgreffion of which, we fhall be account"able at the tribunal of divine justice, whether the

magiftrate be able to punish us for it or not;" and being arrived at this conclufion, I fhould ftop, having delivered the conclufion itfelf, and throughout the whole argument expreffed the obedience, which I inculcated, in the moft general and unqualified terms, all refervations and reftrictions being fuperfluous, and foreign to the doubts I was employed to remove.

If in a fhort time afterwards, I fhould be accosted by the fame perfon, with complaints of public grievances, of exorbitant taxes, of acts of cruelty and oppreffion, of tyrannical encroachments upon the ancient or ftipulated rights of the people, and fhould be, confulted whether it were lawful to revolt, or justifiable to join in an attempt to shake off

the

the yoke by open refiftance; I fhould certainly confider myself as having a cafe and a question before me very different from the former. I fhould now define and difcriminate. I fhould reply, that if public expediency be the foundation, it is alfo the measure of civil obedience; that the obligation of fubjects and fovereigns is reciprocal; that the duty of allegiance, whether it be founded in utility or compact, is neither unlimited nor unconditional; that peace may be purchased too dear; that patience becomes culpable pufillanimity, when it ferves only to encourage our rulers to encrease the weight of our burthen, or to bind it the fafter; that the fubmiffion, which furrenders the liberty of a nation, and entails flavery upon future generations, is enjoined by no law of rational morality: finally, I fhould inftruct him to compare the peril and expence of his enterprize, with the effects it was expected to produce, and to make choice of the alternative, by which not his own prefent relief or profit, but the whole and permanent intereft of the ftate was likely to be best promoted. If any one who had been prefent at both thefe converfations fhould upbraid me with change or inconfiftency of opinion, fhould retort upon me the paffive doctrine I before taught, athe large and abfolute terms in which I then delivered leffons of obedience and fubmiffion, I fhould account myself unfairly dealt with. Ifhould reply, that the only difference which the language of the two converfations prefented was, that I added now many exceptions and limitations, which were omitted or unthought of then; that this difference arofe naturally from the two occafions, fuch exceptions being as neceffary to the fubject of our prefent conference, as they would have been fuperfluous and unfeasonable in the former. Now the difference in these two converfations is precifely the diftinction to be taken in interpreting thofe paffages of Scripture, concerning which we are debating. They inculcate