On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
ception or restriction ; it will follow that men can have no authority of their own , no reserve of right to themselves j and consequently , neither can they duly convey any ; or in other words , they can have no right to act or choose or constitute without
Christ their Lord . And because they can duly convey no authority but with their Lord , and by virtue of his licence , this authority by the Lord's licence conveyed may be justly called the Lord ' s , and not the people ' s , authority * But it is certain ,
that the Lord authorizes every association or inibodied people to choose and approve of their own temporal officers , so far as this may be done consistently with the good of others , with whom they are justly allied by a prior contract ; which has been
religiously and inviolably observed . Power is singly the Lord ' s prerogative ; therefore , as it were injurious to him , to consult concerning the conveying or investing this without him , it were also insolence to presume upon a choice wherein to vest it unwarranted by his justice . Yet this
choice being duly and equitably made , by virtue of the authority given of God , and according to the rules of his justice ; the officers themselves so chosen , may not only be justly said to have their authority from him , but to be his people ' s officers by his ordinance or appointment .
In evidence of the soundness of his reasoning , we have several precedents and declarations transmitted to us upon Scripture record . Thus , although it is beyond all question ,
that the elders of the primitive churches were chosen altogether by the suffrages of the whole church or people , yet are they notwithstanding said to be made their overseers or
elders by the Holy Ghost ; Acts xx . 28 : ' Take heed therefore unto yourselves , and to all the flock , over which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers , to feed the church of God , which he hath purchased with his own blood . "
And if \\ be true , that this authority of free choice is from God , it is an impiety to deny it . Truths have their foundation in God , the images of whose perfections and realities they are j to peny the ^ e there -
Untitled Article
fore is to deny the perfections and realities of God , which is diabolical , and imports a rebellion against God , as well as truth . Having then shewn that by mighty men we are to understand the chiefs
or elders of the people , and that these derive their due authority from God , and by his consent from his people , it will follow , that being related to both in the authority they bear , they are answerable to both for the due
exercise of this authority ; to the people , as constituting thein , or as , ( 1 Pet . ii . 13 , ) cwS g wTrr / r ) xiurif , an human constitution , and to God as approving and ratifying his peopled
choice . And this authority being an authority only to do the people good , where this purpose of good is not answered , this authority ends , it ends with it—especially in the eyes of God , who authorizes no one to act
contrary to , or beyond his gracious will ; or , in other words , who gives no one authority to act contrary to , or beyond his given authority . And here again I am bold to assert , that if these mighty men preside over the people as with an authority worthy of God , they are and may be
inculpably mighty . And whereas , Acts x . 35 : " In every nation he who feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted with him ; ' it is not to be doubted but that , if these mighty men , as faithful trustees for their brethren , are jealous for their native rights , interests and prerogatives , and animated with an industrious
zeal to secure them , and resign them with their dying breath intire , sound and indebilitated ; and that if with singleness of heart they seek , not their own , but the good of mankind , and are studious of an humble ,
modest , disinterested aud generous discharge of their trust ; they will surety find mercy in their degree , and so far as they are ready to receive it , from the throne of God ; and shall not be destined to be mightily tormented on account of their might .
But if they betray their trust ; if by gradual encroachments , through favour of a popular connivance or inattention , or by specious and plausible names and pretences , they seek to usurp an authority which they have not by derivation ; if they make use of their
Untitled Article
Principles of Government . 899
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1817, page 399, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2466/page/23/
-