Civil Government.
James Dodson
[from the Albany Quarterly, No. 2 (1832), pp. 21-24 and the Albany Quarterly, No. 3 (1832), pp. 26-29].
1. The Sons of Oil, or the faithful witnesses for the magistracy and ministry, by the Rev. Samuel B. Wylie, D. D.
2. A View of the character, causes and ends of the late war with England, by the Rev. Alexander McLeod, D. D.
3. The Duty of Nations, by the Rev. Gilbert McMaster, D. D.
4. Subjection to “the powers that be,” by the Rev. Wm. L. Roberts.
5. The Original Draught of a pastoral address, by the Rev. Samuel B. Wylie, D. D.
6. The Moral Character of civil government, considered with reference to the political institutions of the United States, in four letters, by the Rev. Gilbert McMaster, D. D.
We class all these works together for the purpose of reviewing them in connection as they relate to the same topic. The situation of the children of God is, in this life, usually painful and delicate, when the wicked bear rule, either in Church or State. In the early ages of the New Testament dispensation of the gospel, the patience of the saints was sorely tried, under the persecution of the Pagan emperors. For a period of nearly 1260 years, the two witnesses have been prophesying in sackcloth, because the outer court of the temple of the Lord, “has been trodden under foot of the Gentiles.” The modern despotisms of Europe, represented in the book of Revelation by “the ten horns of the beast, out of the bottomless pit,” have made war on the saints, and have so far overcome them, as to occupy the larger portion of all the great commonwealths of the nations in Christendom. The whole policy of the courts of these unholy tyrants, has been averse to the cause of God and his Church, while they have cherished Gentilism under the name of Christianity. On account of this great apostacy of the kingdoms that were embraced in the Latin empire, after it became Christian, the true church of God wears the garments of humiliation, fasting and sorrow. Great, for nearly all that long period, have been the sufferings of the redeemed of the Lord, in their property, in their death, often by martyrdom, in numerous privations, and in their reputation. “Herein is the patience of the saints.” Blessed be Israel’s God, “who will ere long appoint them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning and the garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness.”
The privations and trials of those who witness a good confession for God, have been very distressing in our own country, since the adoption of the Federal Constitution, which wears less of a religious aspect than any government in the world, antecedent to its formation. The very theory of the government is averse to the honor of Jehovah. The fundamental principle of the United States Constitution is, that the people are the ultimate source of all civil power. It does not admit that magistracy is the ordinance of God, or that civil rulers are God’s ministers; but views them merely as the servants of the people. The nation has forgotten God, and “all the nations that forget God shall be turned into hell.” The framers of the constitution did not intend to honor the Lord God of Israel, nor did they consider the United States as an organized commonwealth within the dominions of Jehovah. The United States professes to have no God!
In accordance with this atheistical theory, the persons who administered the general government, have been generally “without God, without Christ, and without hope in the world.” During a period of forty-three years, since the inauguration of the first federal executive magistrate [i.e., since 1789], there have been seven presidents, no one of whom has ever been seen at a christian communion table. They have been enemies of the cross of Christ. It is believed that not two in a hundred of the other officers of the national government have professed religion in any form. The senators, heads of departments, members of congress, foreign ambassadors, military and naval officers, and clerks in the public offices, have been avowedly and shamefully irreligious. The city of Washington—the seat of the general government, is one great house of harlotry, profane swearing, Sabbath breaking and card playing.
With the exception of those of New England, the state constitutions, and the men who administer them, are nearly of the same ungodly character with those of the United States. God says “they have set up kings, but not by me, and princes, but I knew it not.” As a matter of science, God knows all things, but the word know means here to approve. Such direct dishonor to the God of heaven is the more deplorable, and the more astonishing, as in this land there are at least ten thousand ministers of the gospel, thirteen thousands congregations of people, professing to believe the Bible and to be Christians. When the British nation entered into the solemn league and covenant, the colonies of Virginia and Massachusetts Bay, were integral parts of the empire, by their own full consent dependent on the mother country, and subject to her government, and claiming all the rights of British subjects. The great majority of the emigrants who have peopled the United States, are from Great Britain, since that became a covenanted kingdom. It is an humbling and astonishing fact, that in this land of ministers, churches, Bibles, and among the descendants of covenant ancestors, the nation has acknowledged no God ; and has condemned Jehovah Jesus, who is, “King of kings and Lord of lords.”
The proceedings of the senate, house of representatives and executive of the United States, in refusing to stop the mail on the Sabbath, and reports by Colonel Johnson the chairman of two committees on the subject, reviling the religion of Jesus, and treating with scorn the Christianity of the United States, is in perfect keeping with the genius of the government, and the tenor of the godless lives of the “vile men who are high in place.” We do not recollect in the history of the world, any instance of so gross a defection from allegiance to Israel’s God, with the exception of the ten tribes after their declension or revolt, from the house of David, and the election of Jeroboam to be their president, or king. They professed to worship the God of Egypt, and the government granted toleration generally to every form of religion, and that of the Bible among the rest. The government of the ten tribes was founded in the will of the people, was often administered by able men, and for many generations enjoyed very great worldly prosperity. A skillful writer who could have made up his mind to flatter the government of Jeroboam and his successors, to gain their favor, might have found all and probably more than the panders of the United States government have represented as praise-worthy in our institutions. God was, however, wroth with them. The theory of their government was hostile to godliness, and like the presidents of the United States, no king of Israel was ever seen in Jerusalem eating the paschal supper, from the election to Jeroboam, until God avenged the quarrel of his covenant and honor of his law, in the utter wasting and desolation of the land by Shalmanezer.
It is always a delicate question and difficult case of conscience, to settle how the children of God are to shape their course, in relation to governments that openly dishonor the Lord their King. The saints, indeed, all know that they are bound “to live quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty, and to give none offence either to Jew or Gentile, and to pray for the peace of the commonwealth, that in its peace they may have peace.” But as the nation dishonors God, were it only by a want of conformity to the law of God, we may not “do evil that good may come, whose damnation is just,” by entering into and partaking of the sins, which are chargeable on the whole nation in mass. Some say there are sins, it is true, but there is provision made for reforming them. May any man swear to that which is evil, because he is allowed in the oath to use efforts to reform what is wrong? Surely not. For on this principle, a man might join a band of robbers and swear to their constitution, binding himself to practice robbery, provided there were an article in the constitution of the den, that as soon as the majority should agree, they would abolish robbery. No sophistry ever imposed more grossly on the blinded conscience than this. What! swear to that which is sinful, with a view to reform the subject-matter of the oath! O, that men would ask themselves how this shameful trifling will appear at the bar of God!
To instruct the followers of Christ in their civil relations, and what they ought to do in performing their duty to God and man, several eminent writers have published books, in the United States, within the present century. We have selected a few of them. That of the very learned Dr. Wylie, now professor of languages in the University of Pennsylvania, we have placed at the head, because it is the first in chronological order, and good as an open and able testimony, “against the evils that exist in the corrupt constitutions of state in this land.” We shall be very brief in our analysis and sparing in our extracts, as we are happy to learn that a second large edition of the Sons of Oil is in press, and will speedily be published. The book is entitled the “Sons of Oil,” from Zech. iv. 14. “These are the two anointed ones”—the literal rendering of the Hebrew phrase is, “Sons of Oil.” The author explains these to be the Two Witnesses that are referred to in the book of Revelation, as prophesying in sackcloth for twelve hundred and sixty years. They are called so, because they bear witness on behalf of the ministry and the magistracy, as holy ordinances of God. In the discussion of the import of their testimony, he examines the following topics. The origin of government. 1. The Father, Son and Holy Ghost, one God, is the governor of the universe. 2. All physical power is naturally in God. 3. All power among the creatures is derived from Him. 4. All this delegated power should be exercised for His Glory. 5. All power is delegated by the Father to Christ our Mediator. 6. He administers the whole moral government of God, both in church and state. “Civil government,” he says (p. 9.) “does not, as some modern politicians affirm, originate either in the people, as its foundation, or in the vices consequent upon the fall.” He then distinguishes between civil and ecclesiastical power. 1. In their immediate origin, the former, of God as Creator, the latter from Christ as Mediator. 2. In their immediate objects. Magistracy refers to the outer man, as a member of society; the ministry respects men as members of the mystical body of Christ. 3. In their form. The former is lordly and compulsory, the latter ministerial and persuasive. 4. In their end. That of the former is the good of the commonwealth, that of the latter, the edification of the church. 5. In their effects. That of the righteous administration of civil government is the prosperity of the state; that of the ministry, the holiness of the saints. 6. In their subjects. Those of the former, are citizens of the state; of the latter, church members. 7. In their correlatives. Civil power extends to all persons in the realm; ecclesiastical to those only that have made a profession of the faith of Jesus. 8. In their separate exercise. Should one neglect duty in any realm, the other may go on in the performance of its regular functions.
The author then shews wherein they agree. 1. In their origin from God. 2. In being subject to the Mediator. 3. In their mutual dependence. 4. In God’s law, recorded in the Bible, being the rule of both. 5. In having supreme and subordinate judicatories. 6. In that both magistrates and ministers are worthy of honor. 7. In their ultimate end—God’s glory.
The power of the magistrate relative to the officers of the church, is next discussed. 1. The magistrate has no directive power in the church to make laws for her. 2. He may not administer her laws. 3. He is bound to defend her. “Kings shall be thy nursing fathers.” 4. He ought to remove persecution, profaneness, idolatry, and their abettors, as did Asa, Hezekiah, &c. 5. He is bound to promote the purity of the church. He must embrace the truth himself as a ruler and enforce it on his subjects, as a father does on his children. 6. He must see that God’s law is obeyed, throughout the realm. 7. He possesses a compulsory and punitive power about things religious. 8. To judge of ecclesiastical decrees, whether he ought to adopt them for himself and his subjects, or not.
The author’s characteristics of civil government are: 1. Wisdom and understanding, Ex. xviii. 21. 2. The profession of Christianity. Deut. xvii. 15. 3. Integrity. 2. Sam. xxii. 2, 3. 4. A terror to evil doers. Rom. xiii. 3, 5. 5. “A praise to them that do well,” encouraging and rewarding godliness. 6. Continually attentive to these duties. 7. He is the keeper of both tables of the law.
We do not give our readers an analysis of the fourth topic, which relates to the characteristics of the ministry of reconciliation. He rebukes very pungently all timeservers, who contend not for the whole truth of a covenanted reformation. Against all panders of corrupt power and trimmers, he denounces the curse of Judges v. 23. “Curse ye Meroz, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants there of, because they came not up to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty.” His seventh topic is the duties of subjects. 1. Subjection. 2. Tribute. 3. Honor. 4. Obedience for conscience sake. 5. Peaceful lives. 6. Support. His eighth subject of discussion is announced in the following words:—“To state the reasons why we can not yield obedience for conscience sake,” to the present civil authority in North America, (p. 39.) 1. The federal constitution does not recognize God, the King of nations. 2. Most of the state constitutions contain positive immorality. “The rejection of the divine law is an obstinate drawing back to heathenism,” p. 40.
[To be continued.]
[This article was never completed because the Albany Quarterly ceased publication after 5 issues.]