Chapter XX: On CIVIL Government (2)

XIX. Those who positively condemn all controversies at law, ought to understand that they thereby reject a holy ordinance of God, and a gift of the number of those which may be “pure to the pure;” unless they mean to charge Paul with a crime, who repelled the calumnies of his accusers, exposing their subtlety and malice; who, before his judges, asserted his right to the privileges of a Roman citizen; and who, when he found it necessary, appealed from an unjust governor to the tribunal of Cæsar. It is no objection to this that all Christians are forbidden the desire of revenge, which we also wish to banish to the greatest distance from all Christian judicatures. For, in a civil cause, no man proceeds in the right way, who does not, with innocent simplicity, commit his cause to the judge as to a public guardian, without the least thought of a mutual retaliation of evil, which is the passion of revenge. And in any more important or criminal action we require the accuser to be one who goes into the court, influenced by no desire of revenge, affected by no resentment of private injury, and having no other motive than to resist the attempts of a mischievous man, that he may not injure the public. But if a vindictive spirit be excluded, no offence is committed against that precept by which revenge is forbidden to Christians. It may probably be objected, that they are not only forbidden to desire revenge, but are also commanded to wait for the hand of the Lord, who promises that he will assist and revenge the afflicted and oppressed, and therefore that those who seek the interference of the magistrate on behalf of themselves or others, anticipate all that vengeance of the celestial protector. But this is very far from the truth. For the vengeance of the magistrate is to be considered, not as the vengeance of man, but of God, which, according to the testimony of Paul, he exercises by the ministry of men for our good.

XX. Nor do we any more oppose the prohibition and injunction of Christ, “Resist not evil; but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also; and if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away, thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.”[1456] In this passage, indeed, he requires the minds of his servants to be so far from cherishing a desire of retaliation, as rather to suffer the repetition of an injury against themselves than to wish to revenge it; nor do we dissuade them from this patience. For it truly behoves Christians to be a people, as it were, formed to bear injuries and reproaches, exposed to the iniquity, impostures, and ridicule of the worst of mankind; and not only so, but they ought to be patient under all these evils; that is to say, so calm and composed in their minds, that, after having suffered one affliction, they may prepare themselves for another, expecting nothing all their lifetime but to bear a perpetual cross. At the same time, they are required to bless and pray for them from whom they receive curses, to do good to them from whom they experience injuries,[1457] and to aim at that which constitutes their only victory, to “overcome evil with good.”[1458] With this disposition they will not demand “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,” as the Pharisees taught their disciples to desire revenge; but, as we are instructed by Christ, they will suffer injuries in their persons and property in such a manner as to be ready to forgive them as soon as they are committed.[1459] Yet this equanimity and moderation will be no obstacle, but that, without any breach of friendship towards their enemies, they may avail themselves of the assistance of the magistrate for the preservation of their property; or, from zeal for the public good, may bring a pestilent offender to justice, though they know he can only be punished with death. For it is very correctly explained by Augustine, that the end of all these precepts is, “that a just and pious man should be ready to bear with patience the wickedness of those whom he desires to become good; rather in order that the number of the good may increase, not that with similar wickedness he may himself join the number of the evil; and in the next place, that they relate to the internal affection of the heart more than to the external actions; in order that in the secrecy of our minds we may feel patience and benevolence, but in our outward conduct may do that which we see tends to the advantage of those to whom we ought to feel benevolent affections.”

XXI. The objection which is frequently alleged, that lawsuits are universally condemned by Paul, has no foundation in truth.[1460] It may be easily understood from his words, that in the Church of the Corinthians there was an immoderate rage for litigation, so that they exposed the gospel of Christ, and all the religion which they professed, to the cavils and reproaches of the impious. The first thing which Paul reprehended in them was, that the intemperance of their dissensions brought the gospel into discredit among unbelievers. And the next thing was, that they had such altercations among them, brethren with brethren; for they were so far from bearing an injury, that they coveted each other’s property, and molested and injured one another without any provocation. It was against that rage for litigation, therefore, that he inveighed, and not absolutely against all controversies. But he pronounces it to be altogether a vice or a weakness, that they did not suffer the injury or loss of their property rather than to proceed to contentions for the preservation of it: when they were so disturbed or exasperated at every loss or injury, that they had recourse to lawsuits on the most trivial occasions, he argues that this proved their minds to be too irritable, and not sufficiently patient. It is certainly incumbent on Christians, in all cases, to prefer a concession of their right to an entrance on a lawsuit; from which they can scarcely come out without a mind exasperated and inflamed with enmity to their brother. But when one sees that, without any breach of charity, he may defend his property, the loss of which would be a serious injury to him; if he do it, he commits no offence against that sentence of Paul. In a word, as we have observed at the beginning, charity will give every one the best counsel; for, whatever litigations are undertaken without charity, or are carried to a degree inconsistent with it, we conclude them, beyond all controversy, to be unjust and wicked.

XXII. The first duty of subjects towards their magistrates is to entertain the most honourable sentiments of their function, which they know to be a jurisdiction delegated to them from God, and on that account to esteem and reverence them as God’s ministers and vicegerents. For there are some persons to be found, who show themselves very obedient to their magistrates, and have not the least wish that there were no magistrates for them to obey, because they know them to be so necessary to the public good; but who, nevertheless, consider the magistrates themselves as no other than necessary evils. But something more than this is required of us by Peter, when he commands us to “honour the king;”[1461] and by Solomon, when he says, “Fear thou the Lord and the king;”[1462] for Peter, under the term _honour_, comprehends a sincere and candid esteem; and Solomon, by connecting the king with the Lord, attributes to him a kind of sacred veneration and dignity. It is also a remarkable commendation of magistrates which is given by Paul, when he says, that we “must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake;”[1463] by which he means, that subjects ought to be induced to submit to princes and governors, not merely from a dread of their power, as persons are accustomed to yield to an armed enemy, who they know will immediately take vengeance upon them if they resist; but because the obedience which is rendered to princes and magistrates is rendered to God, from whom they have received their authority. I am not speaking of the persons, as if the mask of dignity ought to palliate or excuse folly, ignorance, or cruelty, and conduct the most nefarious and flagitious, and so to acquire for vices the praise due to virtues; but I affirm that the station itself is worthy of honour and reverence; so that, whoever our governors are, they ought to possess our esteem and veneration on account of the office which they fill.

XXIII. Hence follows another duty, that, with minds disposed to honour and reverence magistrates, subjects approve their obedience to them, in submitting to their edicts, in paying taxes, in discharging public duties, and bearing burdens which relate to the common defence, and in fulfilling all their other commands. Paul says to the Romans, “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. Whosoever resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God.”[1464] He writes to Titus, “Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work.”[1465] Peter exhorts, “Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake; whether it be to the king, as supreme; or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil-doers, and for the praise of them that do well.”[1466] Moreover, that subjects may testify that theirs is not a hypocritical but a sincere and cordial submission, Paul teaches, that they ought to pray to God for the safety and prosperity of those under whose government they live. “I exhort,” he says, “that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.”[1467] Here let no man deceive himself. For as it is impossible to resist the magistrate without, at the same time, resisting God himself; though an unarmed magistrate may seem to be despised with impunity, yet God is armed to inflict exemplary vengeance on the contempt offered to himself. Under this obedience I also include the moderation which private persons ought to prescribe to themselves in relation to public affairs, that they do not, without being called upon, intermeddle with affairs of state, or rashly intrude themselves into the office of magistrates, or undertake any thing of a public nature. If there be any thing in the public administration which requires to be corrected, let them not raise any tumults, or take the business into their own hands, which ought to be all bound in this respect, but let them refer it to the cognizance of the magistrate, who is alone authorized to regulate the concerns of the public. I mean, that they ought to attempt nothing without being commanded; for when they have the command of a governor, then they also are invested with public authority. For, as we are accustomed to call the counsellors of a prince _his eyes and ears_, so they may not unaptly be called _his hands_ whom he has commissioned to execute his commands.

XXIV. Now, as we have hitherto described a magistrate who truly answers to his title; who is the father of his country, and, as the poet calls him, the pastor of his people, the guardian of peace, the protector of justice, the avenger of innocence; he would justly be deemed insane who disapproved of such a government. But, as it has happened, in almost all ages, that some princes, regardless of every thing to which they ought to have directed their attention and provision, give themselves up to their pleasures in indolent exemption from every care; others, absorbed in their own interest, expose to sale all laws, privileges, rights, and judgments; others plunder the public of wealth, which they afterwards lavish in mad prodigality; others commit flagrant outrages, pillaging houses, violating virgins and matrons, and murdering infants; many persons cannot be persuaded that such ought to be acknowledged as princes, whom, as far as possible, they ought to obey. For in such enormities, and actions so completely incompatible, not only with the office of a magistrate, but with the duty of every man, they discover no appearance of the image of God, which ought to be conspicuous in a magistrate; while they perceive no vestige of that minister of God who is “not a terror to good works, but to the evil,” who is sent “for the punishment of evil-doers, and for the praise of them that do well;” nor recognize that governor, whose dignity and authority the Scripture recommends to us. And certainly the minds of men have always been naturally disposed to hate and execrate tyrants as much as to love and reverence legitimate kings.

XXV. But, if we direct our attention to the word of God, it will carry us much further; even to submit to the government, not only of those princes who discharge their duty to us with becoming integrity and fidelity, but of all who possess the sovereignty, even though they perform none of the duties of their function. For, though the Lord testifies that the magistrate is an eminent gift of his liberality to preserve the safety of men, and prescribes to magistrates themselves the extent of their duty, yet he at the same time declares, that whatever be their characters, they have their government only from him; that those who govern for the public good are true specimens and mirrors of his beneficence; and that those who rule in an unjust and tyrannical manner are raised up by him to punish the iniquity of the people; that all equally possess that sacred majesty with which he has invested legitimate authority. I will not proceed any further till I have subjoined a few testimonies in proof of this point. It is unnecessary, however, to labour much to evince an impious king to be a judgment of God’s wrath upon the world, as I have no expectation that any one will deny it: and in this we say no more of a king than of any other robber who plunders our property; or adulterer who violates our bed; or assassin who attempts to murder us; since the Scripture enumerates all these calamities among the curses inflicted by God. But let us rather insist on the proof of that which the minds of men do not so easily admit; that a man of the worst character, and most undeserving of all honour, who holds the sovereign power, really possesses that eminent and Divine authority, which the Lord has given by his word to the ministers of his justice and judgment; and, therefore, that he ought to be regarded by his subjects, as far as pertains to public obedience, with the same reverence and esteem which they would show to the best of kings, if such a one were granted to them.

XXVI. In the first place, I request my readers to observe and consider with attention, what is so frequently and justly mentioned in the Scriptures,—the providence and peculiar dispensation of God in distributing kingdoms and appointing whom he pleases to be kings. Daniel says, “God changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings and setteth up kings.”[1468] Again: “That the living may know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.”[1469] Passages of this kind abound throughout the Scriptures, but particularly in this prophecy. Now, the character of Nebuchadnezzar, who conquered Jerusalem, is sufficiently known, that he was an invader and depopulator of the territories of others. Yet by the mouth of Ezekiel the Lord declares that he had given him the land of Egypt, as a reward for the service which he had performed in devastating Tyre.[1470] And Daniel said to him, “Thou, O king, art a king of kings; for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory; and wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field, and the fowls of the heaven, hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over all.”[1471] Again: to his grandson Belshazzar Daniel said, “The most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour; and for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him.”[1472] When we hear that Nebuchadnezzar was placed on the throne by God, let us, at the same time, call to mind the celestial edicts which command us to fear and honour the king; and we shall not hesitate to regard the most iniquitous tyrant with the honour due to the station in which the Lord has deigned to place him. When Samuel denounced to the children of Israel what treatment they would receive from their kings, he said, “This will be the manner[1473] of the king that shall reign over you; he will take your sons and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen, and to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war. And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers and to his servants. And he will take your men-servants, and your maid-servants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your sheep; and ye shall be his servants.”[1474] Certainly the kings would not do all this by “right,” for they were excellently instructed by the law to observe all moderation; but it was called a “right” with respect to the people who were bound to obey, and were not at liberty to resist it. It was just as if Samuel had said, The cupidity of your kings will proceed to all these outrages, which it will not be your province to restrain; nothing will remain for you, but to receive their commands and to obey them.

XXVII. But the most remarkable and memorable passage of all is in the Prophecy of Jeremiah, which, though it is rather long, I shall readily quote, because it most clearly decides the whole question: “I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me. And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant. And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son’s son, until the very time of his land come. And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same king of Babylon, that nation will I punish with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence. Therefore serve the king of Babylon and live.”[1475] We see what great obedience and honour the Lord required to be rendered to that pestilent and cruel tyrant, for no other reason than because he possessed the kingdom; and it was by the heavenly decree that he was seated on the throne of the kingdom, and exalted to that regal majesty, which it was not lawful to violate. If we have this constantly present to our eyes and impressed upon our hearts, that the most iniquitous kings are placed on their thrones by the same decree by which the authority of all kings is established, those seditious thoughts will never enter our minds, that a king is to be treated according to his merits, and that it is not reasonable for us to be subject to a king who does not on his part perform towards us those duties which his office requires.

XXVIII. In vain will any one object that this was a special command given to the Israelites. For we must observe the reason upon which the Lord founds it. He says, “I have given these lands to Nebuchadnezzar; therefore serve him and live.” To whomsoever, therefore, a kingdom shall evidently be given, we have no room to doubt that subjection is due to him. And as soon as he exalts any person to royal dignity, he gives us a declaration of his pleasure that he shall reign. The Scripture contains general testimonies on this subject. Solomon says, “For the transgression of a land, many are the princes thereof.”[1476] Job says, “He looseth the bonds of kings,” or divests them of their power; “and girdeth their loins with a girdle,”[1477] or restores them to their former dignity. This being admitted, nothing remains for us but to serve and live. The prophet Jeremiah likewise records another command of the Lord to his people: “Seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it; for in the peace of it ye shall have peace.”[1478] Here, we see, the Israelites, after having been stripped of all their property, torn from their habitations, driven into exile, and forced into a miserable servitude, were commanded to pray for the prosperity of their conqueror; not in the same manner in which we are all commanded to pray for our persecutors; but that his kingdom might be preserved in safety and tranquillity, and that they might live in prosperity under him. Thus David, after having been already designated as king by the ordination of God, and anointed with his holy oil, though he was unjustly persecuted by Saul, without having given him any cause of offence, nevertheless accounted the person of his pursuer sacred, because the Lord had consecrated it by the royal dignity. “And he said, The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the Lord’s anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord.” Again: “Mine eye spared thee; and I said, I will not put forth mine hand against my lord; for he is the Lord’s anointed.”[1479] Again: “Who can stretch forth his hand against the Lord’s anointed, and be guiltless? As the Lord liveth, the Lord shall smite him; or his day shall come to die, or he shall descend into battle, and perish. The Lord forbid that I should stretch forth mine hand against the Lord’s anointed.”[1480]

XXIX. Finally, we owe these sentiments of affection and reverence to all our rulers, whatever their characters may be; which I the more frequently repeat, that we may learn not to scrutinize the persons themselves, but may be satisfied with knowing that they are invested by the will of the Lord with that function, upon which he has impressed an inviolable majesty. But it will be said, that rulers owe mutual duties to their subjects. That I have already confessed. But he who infers from this that obedience ought to be rendered to none but just rulers, is a very bad reasoner. For husbands owe mutual duties to their wives, and parents to their children. Now, if husbands and parents violate their obligations; if parents conduct themselves with discouraging severity and fastidious moroseness towards their children, whom they are forbidden to provoke to wrath;[1481] if husbands despise and vex their wives, whom they are commanded to love and to spare as the weaker vessels;[1482] does it follow that children should be less obedient to their parents, or wives to their husbands? They are still subject, even to those who are wicked and unkind. As it is incumbent on all, not to inquire into the duties of one another, but to confine their attention respectively to their own, this consideration ought particularly to be regarded by those who are subject to the authority of others. Wherefore, if we are inhumanly harassed by a cruel prince; if we are rapaciously plundered by an avaricious or luxurious one; if we are neglected by an indolent one; or if we are persecuted, on account of piety, by an impious and sacrilegious one,—let us first call to mind our transgressions against God, which he undoubtedly chastises by these scourges. Thus our impatience will be restrained by humility. Let us, in the next place, consider that it is not our province to remedy these evils; and that nothing remains for us, but to implore the aid of the Lord, in whose hand are the hearts of kings and the revolutions of kingdoms. It is “God” who “standeth in the congregation of the mighty,” and “judgeth among the gods;”[1483] whose presence shall confound and crush all kings and judges of the earth who shall not have kissed his Son;[1484] “that decree unrighteous decrees, to turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless.”[1485]

XXX. And here is displayed his wonderful goodness, and power, and providence; for sometimes he raises up some of his servants as public avengers, and arms them with his commission to punish unrighteous domination, and to deliver from their distressing calamities a people who have been unjustly oppressed: sometimes he accomplishes this end by the fury of men who meditate and attempt something altogether different. Thus he liberated the people of Israel from the tyranny of Pharaoh by Moses; from the oppression of Chusan by Othniel; and from other yokes by other kings and judges. Thus he subdued the pride of Tyre by the Egyptians; the insolence of the Egyptians by the Assyrians; the haughtiness of the Assyrians by the Chaldeans; the confidence of Babylon by the Medes and Persians, after Cyrus had subjugated the Medes. The ingratitude of the kings of Israel and Judah, and their impious rebellion, notwithstanding his numerous favours, he repressed and punished, sometimes by the Assyrians, sometimes by the Babylonians. These were all the executioners of his vengeance, but not all in the same manner. The former, when they were called forth to the performance of such acts by a legitimate commission from God, in taking arms against kings, were not chargeable with the least violation of that majesty with which kings are invested by the ordination of God; but, being armed with authority from Heaven, they punished an inferior power by a superior one, as it is lawful for kings to punish their inferior officers. The latter, though they were guided by the hand of God in such directions as he pleased, and performed his work without being conscious of it, nevertheless contemplated in their hearts nothing but evil.

XXXI. But whatever opinion be formed of the acts of men, yet the Lord equally executed his work by them, when he broke the sanguinary sceptres of insolent kings, and overturned tyrannical governments. Let princes hear and fear. But, in the mean while, it behoves us to use the greatest caution, that we do not despise or violate that authority of magistrates, which is entitled to the greatest veneration, which God has established by the most solemn commands, even though it reside in those who are most unworthy of it, and who, as far as in them lies, pollute it by their iniquity. For though the correction of tyrannical domination is the vengeance of God, we are not, therefore, to conclude that it is committed to us, who have received no other command than to obey and suffer. This observation I always apply to private persons. For if there be, in the present day, any magistrates appointed for the protection of the people and the moderation of the power of kings, such as were, in ancient times, the Ephori, who were a check upon the kings among the Lacedæmonians, or the popular tribunes upon the consuls among the Romans, or the Demarchi upon the senate among the Athenians; or with power such as perhaps is now possessed by the three estates in every kingdom when they are assembled; I am so far from prohibiting them, in the discharge of their duty, to oppose the violence or cruelty of kings, that I affirm, that if they connive at kings in their oppression of their people, such forbearance involves the most nefarious perfidy, because they fraudulently betray the liberty of the people, of which they know that they have been appointed protectors by the ordination of God.

XXXII. But in the obedience which we have shown to be due to the authority of governors, it is always necessary to make one exception, and that is entitled to our first attention,—that it do not seduce us from obedience to him, to whose will the desires of all kings ought to be subject, to whose decrees all their commands ought to yield, to whose majesty all their sceptres ought to submit. And, indeed, how preposterous it would be for us, with a view to satisfy men, to incur the displeasure of him on whose account we yield obedience to men! The Lord, therefore, is the King of kings; who, when he has opened his sacred mouth, is to be heard alone, above all, for all, and before all; in the next place, we are subject to those men who preside over us; but no otherwise than in him. If they command any thing against him, it ought not to have the least attention; nor, in this case, ought we to pay any regard to all that dignity attached to magistrates; to which no injury is done when it is subjected to the unrivalled and supreme power of God. On this principle Daniel denied that he had committed any crime against the king in disobeying his impious decree;[1486] because the king had exceeded the limits of his office, and had not only done an injury to men, but, by raising his arm against God, had degraded his own authority. On the other hand, the Israelites are condemned for having been too submissive to the impious edict of their king. For when Jeroboam had made his golden calves, in compliance with his will, they deserted the temple of God and revolted to new superstitions. Their posterity conformed to the decrees of their idolatrous kings with the same facility. The prophet severely condemns them for having “willingly walked after the commandment:”[1487] so far is any praise from being due to the pretext of humility, with which courtly flatterers excuse themselves and deceive the unwary, when they deny that it is lawful for them to refuse compliance with any command of their kings; as if God had resigned his right to mortal men when he made them rulers of mankind; or as if earthly power were diminished by being subordinated to its author, before whom even the principalities of heaven tremble with awe. I know what great and present danger awaits this constancy, for kings cannot bear to be disregarded without the greatest indignation; and “the wrath of a king,” says Solomon, “is as messengers of death.”[1488] But since this edict has been proclaimed by that celestial herald, Peter, “We ought to obey God rather than men,”[1489]—let us console ourselves with this thought, that we truly perform the obedience which God requires of us, when we suffer any thing rather than deviate from piety. And that our hearts may not fail us, Paul stimulates us with another consideration—that Christ has redeemed us at the immense price which our redemption cost him, that we may not be submissive to the corrupt desires of men, much less be slaves to their impiety.[1490]

END OF THE INSTITUTES.

Footnote 1404:

Gal. v. 1.

Footnote 1405:

1 Cor. vii. 21.

Footnote 1406:

Gal. iii. 28.

Footnote 1407:

Col. iii. 11.

Footnote 1408:

Psalm lxxxii. 1, 6.

Footnote 1409:

John x. 35.

Footnote 1410:

Deut. i. 16, 17. 2 Chron. xix. 6.

Footnote 1411:

Prov. viii. 15, 16.

Footnote 1412:

Rom. xii. 8.

Footnote 1413:

1 Cor. xii. 28.

Footnote 1414:

Rom. xiii. 1, 3, 4.

Footnote 1415:

Psalm ii. 10-12.

Footnote 1416:

Isaiah xlix. 23.

Footnote 1417:

1 Tim. ii. 1, 2.

Footnote 1418:

Jer. xlviii. 10.

Footnote 1419:

Deut. i. 16, 17.

Footnote 1420:

2 Chron. xix. 6, 7.

Footnote 1421:

Psalm lxxxii. 1.

Footnote 1422:

1 Sam. viii. 7.

Footnote 1423:

Luke xxii. 25, 26.

Footnote 1424:

Rom. xiii. 1, &c. Prov. viii. 15. 1 Pet. ii. 13, 14, 17.

Footnote 1425:

Judges xxi. 25.

Footnote 1426:

Jer. xxii. 3.

Footnote 1427:

Psalm lxxxii. 3, 4.

Footnote 1428:

Deut. i. 16, 17.

Footnote 1429:

Deut. xvii. 16, 17, 19, 20.

Footnote 1430:

Psalm ci. 3-6.

Footnote 1431:

Jer. xxii. 3.

Footnote 1432:

Exod. xx. 13.

Footnote 1433:

Isaiah xi. 9; lxv. 25.

Footnote 1434:

Gen. ix. 6. Exod. xxi. 12.

Footnote 1435:

Rom. xiii. 4.

Footnote 1436:

Exod. ii. 12.

Footnote 1437:

Exod. xxxii. 26-28.

Footnote 1438:

1 Kings ii. 5-9.

Footnote 1439:

Psalm ci. 8.

Footnote 1440:

Psalm xlv. 7.

Footnote 1441:

Prov. xvi. 12.

Footnote 1442:

Prov. xx. 8.

Footnote 1443:

Prov. xx. 26.

Footnote 1444:

Prov. xxv. 4, 5.

Footnote 1445:

Prov. xvii. 15.

Footnote 1446:

Prov. xvii. 11.

Footnote 1447:

Prov. xxiv. 24.

Footnote 1448:

Prov. xx. 28.

Footnote 1449:

Luke iii. 14.

Footnote 1450:

Ezek. xlviii. 21, 22.

Footnote 1451:

Rom. xiii. 6.

Footnote 1452:

Gal. iii. 24; iv. 4.

Footnote 1453:

Exod. xxii. 1, &c.

Footnote 1454:

Deut. xix. 18, 19.

Footnote 1455:

Rom. xiii. 4.

Footnote 1456:

Matt. v. 39, 40.

Footnote 1457:

Matt. v. 44.

Footnote 1458:

Rom xii. 21.

Footnote 1459:

Matt. v. 38-40.

Footnote 1460:

1 Cor. vi. 1-8.

Footnote 1461:

1 Peter ii. 17.

Footnote 1462:

Prov. xxiv. 21.

Footnote 1463:

Rom. xiii. 5.

Footnote 1464:

Rom. xiii. 1, 2.

Footnote 1465:

Titus iii. 1.

Footnote 1466:

1 Peter ii. 13, 14.

Footnote 1467:

1 Tim. ii. 1, 2.

Footnote 1468:

Dan. ii. 21.

Footnote 1469:

Dan. iv. 17.

Footnote 1470:

Ezek. xxix. 18-20.

Footnote 1471:

Dan. ii. 37, 38.

Footnote 1472:

Dan. v. 18, 19.

Footnote 1473:

In the Latin translation, it is _jus_, right.

Footnote 1474:

1 Sam. viii. 11-17.

Footnote 1475:

Jer. xxvii. 5-9, 12.

Footnote 1476:

Prov. xxviii. 2.

Footnote 1477:

Job xii. 18.

Footnote 1478:

Jer. xxix. 7.

Footnote 1479:

1 Sam. xxiv. 6, 11.

Footnote 1480:

1 Sam. xxvi. 9-11.

Footnote 1481:

Ephes. vi. 1. Col. iii. 21.

Footnote 1482:

Ephes. v. 25. 1 Pet. iii. 7.

Footnote 1483:

Psalm lxxxii. 1.

Footnote 1484:

Psalm ii. 10-12.

Footnote 1485:

Isaiah x. 1, 2.

Footnote 1486:

Dan. vi. 22.

Footnote 1487:

Hos. v. 11.

Footnote 1488:

Prov. xvi. 14.

Footnote 1489:

Acts v. 29.

Footnote 1490:

1 Cor. vii. 23.

INDEX OF THE PRINCIPAL MATTERS.

_The first number indicates the Book; the second, the Chapter._

Adam’s fall, the cause of the curse inflicted on all mankind, and of their degeneracy from their primitive condition, ii. 1.

Angels, their creation, nature, names, and offices, i. 14.

Articles of faith, power of the Church relating to them, iv. 8, 9.

Ascension of Christ, i. 15.

Baptism, a sacrament; its institution, nature, administration, and uses, iv. 15.

—— of infants perfectly consistent with the institution of Christ and the nature of the sign, iv. 16.

Celibacy of priests, iv. 12.

—— of monks and nuns, iv. 13.

Christ proved to be God, i. 13.

—— necessity of his becoming man in order to fulfil the office of a mediator, ii. 12.

—— his assumption of real humanity, ii. 13.

—— the union of the two natures constituting his one person, ii. 14.

—— the only Redeemer of lost man, ii. 6.

—— the consideration of his three offices, prophetical, regal, and sacerdotal, necessary to our knowing the end of his mission from the Father, and the benefits he confers on us, ii. 15.

—— his death, resurrection, and ascension to heaven, to accomplish our salvation, ii. 16.

—— truly and properly said to have merited the grace of God and salvation for us, ii. 17.

—— imperfectly revealed to the Jews under the law, ii. 7, 9.

—— clearly revealed only in the gospel, ii. 9.

Christian liberty, its nature and advantages, iii. 19.

Christian life, scriptural arguments and exhortations to it, iii. 6.

——— summary of it, iii. 7.

Church, the necessity of our union with the true Church, iv. 1.

—— true and false compared and distinguished, iv. 2.

—— teachers and ministers of the Church, their election and office, iv. 3.

—— power of the, relating to articles of faith, iv. 8, 9.

—— ———— in making laws, iv. 10.

—— ———— in jurisdiction, iv. 11.

—— discipline of the; censures and excommunication, iv. 12.

—— state of the ancient, and the mode of government practised before the Papacy, iv. 4.

—— ancient form of its government entirely subverted by the Papal tyranny, iv. 5.

Confession, auricular, iii. 4.

—— true, iii. 4.

Confirmation, Papal, iv. 19.

Conscience, its nature and obligations, iii. 19.

Councils, their authority, iv. 9.

Creation, of the world—of angels; this clearly distinguishes the true God from all fictitious deities, i. 14.

Cross, bearing of, a branch of self-denial, iii. 8.

Death of Christ, ii. 15.

Depravity, human, total, ii. 3.

Descent of Christ into hell, ii. 16.

Devils, their existence, power, subtlety, malignity, i. 14.

Discipline of the Church, iv. 12.

Election, eternal, or God’s predestination of some to salvation, and of others to destruction, iii. 21.

—— —— testimonies of Scripture in confirmation of this doctrine, iii. 22.

—— —— a refutation of the calumnies generally but unjustly urged against this doctrine, iii. 23.

—— —— confirmed by the divine call, iii. 24.

Excommunication, iv. 12.

Extreme unction, iv. 19.

Faith defined, and its properties described, iii. 2.

——, justification by faith, iii. 11.

——, prayer its principal exercise, iii. 20.

Fanaticism of discarding the Scripture, under the pretence of resorting to immediate revelations, subversive of every principle of piety, i. 9.

Fasting, its use and abuse, iv. 12.

Free-will lost by the fall; man in his present state miserably enslaved, ii. 2.

—— a refutation of the objections commonly urged in support of free-will, ii. 5.

God truly known only from the Scriptures, i. 6.

—— what kind of being God is; exclusively opposed in the Scripture to all the heathen deities, i. 10.

—— contradistinguished from idols as the sole and supreme object of worship, i. 12.

—— ascription of a visible form to, unlawful, and all idolatry a defection from the true, i. 11.

—— the creator of the universe, i. 14.

—— his preservation and support of the world by his power, and his government of every part of it by his providence, i. 16.

—— the proper use and advantages of this doctrine, i. 17.

—— his operations in the hearts of men, ii. 4.

—— his use of the agency of the wicked, without the least stain of his perfect purity, i. 18.

—— one Divine essence containing three persons, i. 13.

Gospel and law compared and distinguished, ii. 9, 10, 11.

Government of the Church, iv. 3, 4, 5.

—— civil; its nature, dignity, and advantages, iv. 20.

Holy Spirit proved to be God, i. 13.

—— his testimony requisite to the confirmation of the Scripture, and the establishment of its authority, i. 7.

—— his secret and special operation necessary to our enjoyment of Christ and all his benefits; this operation the foundation of faith, newness of life, and all holy exercises, iii. 1.

—— the sin against, iii. 3.

Humility of believers, iii. 12.

Idolatry a defection from the true God; all worship of images idolatry, i. 1.

Image of God in man, i. 15.

Imposition of hands, iv. 15.

Indulgences and pardons, iii. 5.

Intercession of saints, iii. 20.

Judgment, last, iii. 25.

Jurisdiction of the Church, iv. 11.

Justification by faith; the name and thing defined, iii. 11.

—— a consideration of the Divine tribunal necessary to a serious conviction of gratuitous, iii. 12.

—— things necessary to be observed in gratuitous, iii. 13.

—— commencement and continual progress of, iii. 14.

—— boasting of the merit of works equally subversive of God’s glory in gratuitous, and of the certainty of salvation, iii. 15.

—— a refutation of the injurious calumnies of the Papists against the doctrine here maintained, iii. 16.

—— by works, the promise of a reward no argument for, iii. 17.

Kingdom of Christ, ii. 15.

Knowledge of Christ, imperfect under the law, ii. 7, 9.

—— clearly unfolded under the gospel, ii. 9.

—— of God connected with the knowledge of ourselves, i. 1.

—— nature and tendency of it, i. 2.

—— naturally implanted in the human mind, i. 3.

—— extinguished or corrupted, partly by ignorance, partly by wickedness, i. 4.

—— conspicuous in the formation and government of the work, i. 5.

—— effectually attained only from the Scripture, i. 6.

Law of Moses; its office, use, and end, ii. 7.

Laws given to the Jews; moral, ceremonial, and judicial, iv. 20.

Law, moral, an exposition of, ii. 8.

Law and gospel, compared and distinguished, ii. 9, 10, 11.

Laws, ecclesiastical, iv. 10.

—— civil and political, iv. 20.

Liberty, Christian, iii. 19.

Life, Christian, iii. 6, 7, 8.

—— present, and its supports, right use of, iii. 10.

—— future, meditation on, iii. 9.

Lord’s prayer, exposition of, iii. 20.

Lord’s supper, its institution, nature, and advantages, iii. 17.

—— not only profaned, but annihilated by the Papal mass, iii. 18.

Man, his state at his creation, the faculties of his soul, the Divine image, free-will, and the original purity of his nature, i. 15.

—— in his present state, despoiled of freedom of will, and subjected to a miserable slavery, ii. 2.

—— every thing that proceeds from his corrupt nature worthy of condemnation, ii. 3.

—— his mind naturally furnished with the knowledge of God, i. 3.

—— the knowledge of God in the human mind extinguished or corrupted by ignorance and wickedness, i. 4.

Magistracy, iv. 20.

Marriage, ii. 8.

Matrimony, falsely called a sacrament, iv. 19.

Mass, the Papal, not only a sacrilegious profanation of the Lord’s supper, but a total annihilation of it, iv. 18.

Mediator. _See_ Christ, ii. 14.

Merit of Christ, ii. 17.

—— of works disproved, iii. 15, 18.

Monks, iv. 13.

Neighbour, love of our, ii. 8.

Nuns, iv. 13.

Oaths, ii. 8.

Offences given and taken; what to be avoided, iii. 19.

Orders, ecclesiastical, no sacrament, iv. 19.

Original sin, the doctrine of, ii. 1.

Pædobaptism. _See_ Baptism, iv. 16.

Papacy, its entire subversion of the ancient form of ecclesiastical government, iv. 5.

—— its rise and progress to its present eminence attended with the loss of liberty to the Church, and the ruin of all moderation, iv. 7.

—— its licentious perversion of the power of the Church respecting articles of faith, to the corruption of all purity of doctrine, iv. 8.

—— its sophistry and jargon concerning repentance utterly inconsistent with the gospel, iii. 4.

—— its corrupt tenets respecting indulgences and purgatory, iii. 5.

—— its assumption of the power of legislation, tyranny over men’s minds, and tortures of their bodies, iv. 10.

—— its abuse of the jurisdiction of the Church, iv. 11.

—— its corrupt discipline, censures, and excommunications, iv. 12.

—— its unscriptural vows, iv. 13.

—— its sacrilegious mass an annihilation of the Lord’s supper, iv. 18.

—— its five ceremonies falsely called sacraments, proved not to be sacraments, iv. 19.

—— its characteristics of a false Church, iv. 2.

Penance no sacrament, iv. 19.

Prayer, the principal exercise of faith, and the medium of our daily reception of Divine blessings, iii. 20.

Predestination. _See_ Election, iii. 21-24.

Priesthood of Christ, ii. 15.

Promises of the law and gospel, harmony between them, iii. 17.

Prophetical office of Christ, ii. 15.

Providence of God governs the world, i. 16.

—— proper application and utility of this doctrine, i. 17.

—— contracts no impurity from its control and use of the agency of the wicked, i. 18.

Purgatory exposed and disproved, iii. 5.

Reason furnishes proofs to establish the authority of the Scripture, i. 8.

Redemption necessary in consequence of the fall, ii. 1, 6.

—— to be sought only in Christ, ii. 6.

—— accomplished by the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, ii. 16.

Regeneration, iii. 3.

Repentance, true, always accompanies true faith; its origin, nature, and effects, iii. 3.

—— comprises mortification of the flesh and vivification of the spirit, iii. 6-10.

—— the sophistry and jargon of the schools on this subject very remote from the purity of the gospel, iii. 4.

Reprobates, the destruction of, procured by themselves, iii. 24.

Resurrection of Christ, ii. 16.

—— final, iii. 25.

Reward promised, no proof of justification by works, iii. 18.

Roman See, primacy of, iv. 6.

Sabbath, ii. 8.

Sacraments in general, iv. 14.

—— in particular, iv. 15, 16.

—— ceremonies falsely so called, iv. 19.

Sacrifices, legal, ii. 7.

—— none propitiatory under the gospel since that of Christ, iv. 18.

Saints, invocation and intercession of, iii. 20.

Salvation for lost man to be sought only in Christ, ii. 6.

—— procured by Christ, ii. 16.

Satisfactions exposed, iii. 4.

Schismatics, iv. 1.

Scripture, the guidance and teaching of it necessary to lead to the knowledge of God, i. 6.

—— the testimony of the Spirit requisite to its confirmation and establishment of its authority, i. 7.

—— the dependence of its authority on the judgment of the Church an impious fiction, i. 7.

—— rational proofs to establish its authority, i. 8.

—— rejection of it, under the pretence of resorting to immediate revelations subversive of every principle of piety, i. 9.

—— exclusively opposes the true God to all the heathen deities, i. 10.

—— clearly distinguishes the true God from all fictitious ones, in the creation of the universe, i. 14.

—— teaches the unity of God, and the existence of three persons in the Divine essence, i. 13.

Temptation, iii. 20.

Testament, Old, ii. 7.

Testament, New, ii. 9.

—— similarity of the Old and New, ii. 10.

—— difference of the Old and New, ii. 11.

—— harmony between the promises of the Old and New, iii. 17.

—— sacraments of the Old and New, iv. 14.

Traditions, human, iv. 10.

Transubstantiation exposed, iv. 10.

Vocation confirms election, iii. 24.

Vows; the misery of rashly making them, iv. 13.

Wicked, the agency of, controlled and used by God, i. 18.

Works merit no favour from God, iii. 15.

World created by God, i. 14.

—— preserved by his power, and governed by his providence, i. 16.

* * * * *

The quotations from different Authors, chiefly the fathers, which occur in this work, are not in general referred to in the margin; such references having been considered of no use, except to persons who will probably be furnished with the original, in which they are all inserted.

THE END

SCRIPTURE INDEX TO CALVIN’S INSTITUTES.

ARRANGED AND PRESENTED

BY

S. T. LIVERMORE,

TO THE

PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION.

UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER,

MDCCCLII.

GENESIS.

Chapter. Verse. Vol Page
i 2 1 130
2 1 139
3 1 123
20 1 203
26 1 174
27 1 173
28 1 169

ii 1 1 153
7 1 171
7 1 177
7 1 444
9 16 17 2 469
17 1 495
18 2 435
23 2 631
23 1 427

iii 5 1 242
9 12 1 564
15 1 432
15 1 165
15 2 46
17-19 1 392
19 23 1 171
23 2 462
23 1 631

iv 4 2 10
7 1 301
8 14 1 392
10 1 495
13 1 537

vi 3 1 392
3 5 2 3
5 1 256
6 1 208
14-21 1 392

vii 11 1 392

viii 13 1 392
21 1 256
21 2 3
21 1 259

ix 2 1 169
6 2 643
12-17 2 469
24 25 1 393

xii 1 1 393
2 3 2 52
3 1 429
3 2 471
10-15 1 393
xii 17 1 345

xiii 7-11 1 393
16 2 52

xiv 12 13 1 393
18 2 586

xv 1 1 407
1 2 215
2 1 394
5 2 52
6 2 46
17 2 469

xvi 1-15 1 394
9 1 156

xvii 1-14 2 495
7 1 391
7 1 347
10 2 546
10 2 547

xviii 2 1 155
18 1 429
23 2 96
27 1 48

xx 1 2 1 393
3 1 345
3 7 1 210

xxi 2 3 1 394
10-14 1 394
24 1 253
25-30 1 393

xxii 1 12 1 632
2 1 394
8 1 186
16-18 2 52
18 1 429
18 2 471

xxiii 3-9 2 212

xxiv 7 1 156
7 12 1 161
27 52 1 161

xxvi 1 7 1 294
4 1 429
20 1 294
21 1 294
31 1 353
34 1 294
xxvi 35 1 294

xxvii 38 39 1 559
41-45 1 395

xxviii 5 1 394
12 1 161
20-22 2 436

xxix 20 23 1 395
25 27 1 395

xxx 1 1 395
2 1 191

xxxi 13 14 1 353
16 1 353
17 1 353
19 1 104
25 36 1 395
40 41 1 395
53 1 353

xxxii 1 28 1 155
10 2 94
10 2 109
29 30 1 126

xxxiii 1 395

xxxiv 19 1 395
25 2 244

xxxv 19 22 1 395
22 2 244

xxxviii 13-18 1 395
16 2 244

xlii 1 396

xliii 14 1 282
14 2 171

xlv 7 8 1 203

xlvii 9 1 396
30 1 397
30 2 212

xlviii 14 2 271
16 1 156
16 2 107

xlix 5 1 84
10 1 85
18 1 397

l 20 1 203
25 1 397

EXODUS.

Chapter. Verse. Vol Page

ii 2 546
12 2 644

iii 2 2 546
6 1 341
6 1 392
14 1 142
21 1 202

iv 2-4 2 539
11 1 131
21 2 192
21 1 214
21 1 281
25 2 492

vi 7 1 391

vii 1 1 124
3 1 281
10 12 2 539

viii 15 1 213

xi 3 1 282

xii 5 2 523
11 2 546
11 2 547

xiii 12 2 523

xiv 19 1 156
31 2 340

xvi 7 1 85
13 1 190

xvii 15 1 125

xix 5 2 503
6 1 314
16 1 84

xx 6 1 392
6 2 506
13 2 643
24 2 227

xxi 12 2 643
13 1 189
17 1 360

xxii 1 2 649
11 1 351

xxiii 1 7 1 369
4 5 1 377
12 1 357
13 1 350
20 1 156

xxiv 18 1 84

xxv 17 18 1 99
40 1 313

xxviii 2 100

xxxi 2-11 1 247
13 14 1 355
16 17 1 355

xxxii 1 1 105
4 1 35
4-6 1 106
26-28 2 644
32 2 120

xxxiii 11 1 99
19 2 159
19 1 663
19 2 196
20 1 99

xxxiv 6 1 95
29 1 84

xxxv 30-35 1 247

xxxviii 35 2 275

xl 34 1 84

LEVITICUS.

Chapter. Verse. Vol Page

xi 2 540
44 1 340

xiv 2 1 564

xvi 21 1 570

xviii 5 1 480
5 2 13
5 1 331
5 2 36

xix 2 1 615
12 1 349
16 1 369
18 1 377

xx 6 1 85

xxvi 12 1 390
12 1 391
20 2 130
23 24 1 204
26 2 131
36 1 213
36 1 283

NUMBERS.

Chapter. Verse. Vol Page

viii 17 2 523

xi 9 1 84
18 2 139
31 1 190
33 2 139

xii 1 1 84

xiii 22 1 354

xiv 18 1 345
43 1 294

xvi 24 1 84

xx 11 1 84

xxiii 10 1 397
19 1 209
4
xxviii 3 2 245

DEUTERONOMY

Chapter. Verse. Vol Page

i 16 17 2 636
16 17 2 638
16 17 2 642
39 2 509

ii 30 1 214
30 1 280
30 1 281

iv 2 2 355
5 6 9 1 332
6 2 9
7 2 195
11 1 99
15 1 98
17 1 344
37 2 145

v 14 15 1 357

vi 5 2 65
13 1 350
16 2 435
25 2 40

vii 6 1 340
6 2 503
7 8 2 145
9 2 38
12 13 2 34

viii 3 2 131
3 1 191

ix 6 7 2 146

x 12 13 1 373
14 1 415
14 15 2 145
16 2 496
16 1 291

xi 22 1 373
26 2 34

xii 5 2 523
28 32 2 332

xiii 13 2 523

xiv 2 1 340

xvii 8 12 2 340
11 2 341
16 17 2 642
18 1 87
19 20 2 642

xviii 10-12 1 606