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by James Willson

Editor's Note: The full title of this essay was originally, The Written Law, or the Law of God Revealed in the Scriptures by Christ as Mediator; The Rule of Duty of Christian Nations to Civil Institutions. This powerful teaching on the authority of biblical law over the nations was written by James R. Willson, an American Reformed Presbyterian minister, in 1838.

1. The law of nature and the moral law contained in the Scriptures, are the same law, though revealed in different manners. It would appear that some who are willing to be called Christians, maintain that in civil things the people are under no obligations to acknowledge any other rule than the will of the majority as the supreme law. But so deeply is the duty of being subject to the law of God imprinted on the moral constitution of man, that even the profane, who in profession cast off all restraints on that quarter, are not able to act without some regard to an unalterable rule of right and wrong. Every argument in every Legislature, for or against any measure, proceeds on the admission that there is a difference between justice and injustice. The advocate of any project endeavors to prove it right, just, equitable; and its adversaries to demonstrate that it is wrong, unjust, and iniquitous. Close this field of argument, suffer no one to enter it, and at least nine tenths of the debates in the National Congress and the State Legislatures would be foreclosed. Indeed on most topics a dead silence would reign, where now there is so much noisy declamation and clamorous debate. Who enacted the law to which all are compelled to appeal? Whence did it emanate? How came it to be invested with the attributes of law? All but unblushing atheists will answer that it originated from God. He enacted and invested it with those high and holy attributes to which all are compelled to bow, or appear to bow.

   Indeed it is impossible to proceed one step towards the organization of a government, or even think of devising one, without taking it for granted that individuals have rights of which it is wrong to deprive them, and in the exercise of which they ought to be protected. God, the author of our nature, endowed us with those rights. They are ours by the laws of God. He willed that we should have them, he reveals that will, and the revelation is law. This foundation must be razed (and who will dare with unhallowed hands to attempt that work of unsettling this basis of the moral structure of the universe?)--otherwise it must be admitted that God has enacted laws which extend their obligation to all the civil relations.

   These laws of nature so far as they go are identical with those contained in the Scriptures. "For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves, which shew the work of the law written in their hearts" (Rom. 2:14-15). The Gentiles have not the law, as it is revealed in the Bible; but that same law is written on their hearts. Some remains of the inscription of the rule of duty on man, when he was created, remain undefaced in his fallen state. The apostle denominates this "the law," and speaks of it as the same law as revealed in the Bible, without which they are, and to whose precepts they in some degree by nature are conformed; and by which conformity they demonstrate the work of the law written on their hearts. The whole framework of the apostle's argument will be broken up, if the law of nature to which the Gentiles are, in some part of its letter, obedient, is not identical with that made known in the revealed Word. Examine, says he, that law, which in preaching the gospel we call on you to obey, and you will find that we make known to you no new commandment. It is the same that you know in part by its impress on your own hearts, and which you have read as it is inscribed on the works of God, which he has made, and which proclaim to all nations his eternal power and Godhead.

   It was this law of man's moral nature that was embodied in the covenant of works, and to which obedience was enjoined under the penalty of death. It was this law which Adam violated when he ate the forbidden fruit, and incurred for himself and all his posterity the penalty of death temporal, spiritual, and eternal. "Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God" (Rom. 3:19). To this law fallen man is bound to make reparation, or suffer forever the wrath and curse of God which it denounces. This none can do, for "by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight" (Rom. 3:20). Jesus Christ was made under this same law to redeem them that were under the law (Gal. 4:4-5). "But now the righteousness of God, without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all th em that believe" (Rom. 3:21-22).

   This law is committed by God the Father to the Lord Jesus Christ as Mediator, that he may apply it in the government of the world and in the sanctification of his people. For this purpose he reveals it in the Holy Scriptures enstamped with his Mediatory authority, that all men enjoying this luminous revelation of the will of God, may have the means of knowing their duty, and their obligations to obey the law.

   It was not one law that was revealed to Adam, another under which Christ was made for the redemption of sinners, and still another by which as Mediator, he is to govern the nations and rule the church. Indeed, as the great body of the moral law is founded in the nature of things, emanated from the moral attributes of God, and is a transcript of the image of God, it is impossible that the law of nature and that law revealed in the Holy Scriptures should not be the same, so far as they relate to the same things. God is immutable and that which makes him known must be one. His will is immutable, and that which makes it known must be unchangeable. Besides, the law which was revealed to Adam, was exactly adapted to his moral constitution; between it and the moral powers of the creature there was an exact proportion; and it was adapted to the promotion of his interest and to the full development of the moral attributes of his nature; while, therefore, man continues the same, and while he sustains the relation of s ubjection to God, as his moral governor, the law which regulates his obedience must continue the same, however it is made known. It is just as true, then, that nations in their organized state are as much bound to be governed by the revealed will of God, as that of individual persons or Christians are under obligations to live according to the will of God, as recorded in his Holy Word.

   As a matter of fact, whenever a Christian nation refuses to subject itself to the revealed will of God, and casts off allegiance to that contained in the Scriptures, it will acknowledge no subjection to the law of nature as emanating from God. It is so plain that the law of God is one in all its forms of promulgation, that obedience to it in one of these forms implies the necessity of respect to it in all; we shall find that the rejection of it in one, leads to its entire abandonment in all.

2. That the written Word of God is the rule by which civil governments are bound to frame their constitutions, and administer their law, is manifest from the truth that Christ as Mediator is the Prince of the kings of the earth, and that the law of God is given into his hand, that he may apply it in the administration of the government. "Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a Mediator" (Gal. 3:19). "Being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ" (1 Cor. 9:21). We are under law to Christ, because, being made Lord of all to the glory of God the Father, he is the administrator of the law in the kingdom of providence, as well as of grace.

   Hence at the giving of the law, at mount Horeb, it was ordained in the hand of the Mediator. Moses was a typical mediator between God and the people of Israel; receiving messages from God, he delivered them to the church and commonwealth as an "internuncius." "The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear" (Deut. 18:15). Moses in all his communications to the people of Israel, never presumed to speak in his own name. He received his commission from Christ. "This Moses whom they refused, saying, who made thee a ruler and a judge? The same did God send to be a ruler, and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush" (Acts 7:35). "This is he, that was in the church, in the wilderness, with the angel that spake to him in the Mount Sinai" (Acts 7:38). The angel that appeared to Moses in the bush was Jehovah. "And the Lord Jehovah, said unto him" (Ex. 4:2). "That they may believe that the Lord God of their fathe rs, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee" (Ex. 4:5). "And God said unto Moses, I AM that I AM: and he said, thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you (Ex. 3:14). He is Jehovah, Moses worships him, and yet he is an angel, he is the self-existent and eternal God, and yet a messenger.

   All this can agree to none other, but to the Son of God in the Mediatory character. He was the Mediator in whose hand the law was ordained, by whom it was promulgated authoritatively, to all to whom it should come. The law of the Ten Commandments was laid up in the ark in the holiest of all. The ark was a type of the Lord Jesus Christ, who dwelt between the cherubim that overshadowed the mercy seat, to intimate not only that He should in his life and at his death magnify and make it honorable in the room of the sinner, but that it is committed to him as its administrator, in the mediatory office. The old law that was given to Adam, that he as the head of the covenant of works should fulfil it, and so secure its fulfillment by all his posterity, had he not violated the covenant, is now given to Christ to see that all its claims shall be honored. Thus the Father hath clothed the Son with all authority to promulgate and apply his law in the government of the world; and it is his will 'that all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father' (John 5:23).

   God the Father, having vested his Son with all authority that he may administer the kingdom in subserviency to the welfare of those that have been redeemed by his blood, commands all men to honour him with the same homage that they render to himself. The allegiance which they render to the Mediator, he considers as yielded to himself. Those who refuse to obey and honour the Son, he regards as in a state of rebellion against himself, and he will deal with them as traitors to his government. As it is his will that all obedience shall be rendered to him through the Son, he will accept of none that is not rendered through that medium. But how can any man, or any nation obey the Lord Jesus otherwise than by subjection to his law that he hath revealed in his Word, enstamped with his authority? He proclaims, here is my law which I have authority to enforce, and call upon all men to be subject to me by obeying in all things its precepts. Can any say, we will obey the mediatory King, but we refuse to acknowledge the authority of that law which he reveals as the rule of our actions? The only test of their allegiance is their conformity to law, and the honor which they render him is their obedience to his law; because he has enacted it and commands subjection. Though men should do many things that are contained in the written law, but not because it is the Word of Christ, they would yet be regarded as doing him dishonor; for in these acts, they do not intend nor profess to be obedient. Many unregenerate men perform some duties that are agreeable to the letter of the law, who finding their worldly interest thereby promoted would do the same things were there no law of God enjoining it. The law, as the law of God is not in all their thoughts; and were their selfish ends promoted by doing acts directly the contrary, they would do the very reverse.

   Since the fall, no man ever intended to honour God by obedience, otherwise than as rendered through the Lord Jesus Christ. 'Whatsoever is not of faith is sin'; 'Without faith, it is impossible to please God.' However many righteous laws may be enacted in a commonwealth, and however well they may be administered, provided there is no purpose or profession to obey the law under which we are to Christ, no homage is thereby rendered to the Mediator. Still the principle with which the system is instinct remains the same. 'We will not have this man to reign over us.' To refuse subjection to the Lord Jesus Christ by acknowledging and obeying his law revealed in the Scriptures, is the most direct act of rebellion against the authority of Jehovah of which man can be guilty. God says obey my Son, and walk according to the laws which he proclaims--obey all his commandments; for he rules in my name, and all he does is by my authority. In the Holy Scriptures he makes known my will.

   When a nation to whom this Word of God thus comes, not only refuses to hear, but in form resolves that it will not even acknowledge this revelation as from God, and so formally rejects and repudiates its claims, what more direct act of rebellion could they commit? How could they more presumptuously disclaim allegiance to the Lord Jehovah? How could they more directly set at naught his holy and dread authority? All this is to offer the highest indignity to God the Son, 'in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,' and 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.' It is moreover the basest ingratitude. This Redeemer who is God over all blessed for ever, infinitely blessed from all eternity, 'humbled himself and became man, was made under the law to redeem them that were under the law.' Yet all this love and condescension are despised and trampled under foot. Thus he is despised and rejected of men and all his love and favor utterly disregarded. It is, besides, doing despite to the Spirit of grace, 'Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.'

   He who adorns the earth with all its beauty, and imparts to the heavens all their garniture and gorgeous glory, and who has inscribed the glory of the Godhead in the whole fabric of the creation, speaks as the Spirit of Christ in the Holy Scriptures. In doing so, he impresses his own authority on these laws, and at the same time sets his seal to that of Christ, bearing witness that he has a right to proclaim them as the rule of obedience to all. Homage, then to God the Father, who has delegated authority to Christ, and put the law into his hand, honour to the Son who commands all to obey them, and reverence to the Holy Spirit who gives his high sanction to the written law as the law of Christ, require that men in all ranks and relations, civil rulers, among others, ought to yield them obedience.

3. The revealed will of God was the rule of civil government under the Old Testament dispensation. This is so plain that he who runs may read--it cannot--it never has been disputed. Moses was king in Jeshurun, and by the authority of Christ organized the whole frame work of the Hebrew commonwealth by the revealed Word of God. It was this that imparted to the Israelitish nation a glory above all other nations of antiquity. 'He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments they have not known them' (Ps. 147:19-20). This made their land 'the glory of all lands.'

   Babylon, Egypt, Syria, Phonecia, Greece, and Rome were learned commonwealths. They were populous, opulent, and splendid. They had schools of philosophy, formed the most extensive collections of books on all subjects, abounded with learned men, and founded with ample endowments schools of philosophy. They made the science of civil government their study, and expended on it all their intellectual energies. But they were guided in all their researches by the light of nature only; their understandings were darkened, their wills were perverse, and their passions tumultuous; hence their progress was slow. Many absurd, iniquitous, and impure principles were incorporated into their systems of civil government; while in the very first principles of their constitutions there were fundamental defects. They were not, indeed, chargeable with the monstrous impiety and absurdity of acknowledging no God; but the one living and true God, who created the heavens and the earth, they did not recognize as Lord of all.

   There is more equity, more sound political wisdom, in three chapters of Exodus, than in all the judicial codes of pagan antiquity. Compared with the order and harmony of the commonwealth of Israel, they were a chaotic mass; and while the divine effulgence illuminated all the departments of government in Israel, they groped in darkness. Why should it not have been so? The Shechinah of glory dwelt between the cherubim in the tabernacle on mount Zion, and the legislator of Israel was the only wise God, the author and Lord of the Universe. Compare Moses with Zeno, Lycurgus, Solon, or Numa Pompilius, and what are they? As stars twinkling on the margin of night are to the sun in the splendor of noon day. Why does the face of Moses so shine? Because the Lord God enlightens it with some beams of his own glory.

   Was all this glory revealed to Israel for their sakes, or for ours also, on whom the ends of the world are come? For ours also, undoubtedly. The doctrines and the promises of the old dispensation were designed for all nations, when the middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile should be broken down. Their Saviour became the Saviour of the Gentiles; for he hath made both one, and we all have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Why then should we not have a common interest in their wise, benevolent, holy, and heavenly code of law? Is there any intimation in the law that it should expire as the rule of civil government with the dissolution of the Hebrew commonwealth? Does it bear internal evidence that it was suited or designed by the Law-giver for one small nation? If so, what is that evidence, what is that feature that indicated its temporary duration or limited application? Try it in the Ten Commandments. Is not the precept: 'Thou shalt have no other gods before me'; and that, 'Honour thy father and thy mother,' with all the other commandments, as appropriate for the Chinese, the African, the Briton, or the American, as for the Hebrew? The other details of the moral law are no more than the development of the great law principles summed up in the Decalogue. So they are understood to be by the framers of the Larger and Shorter Catechisms of the Westminster divines, and by all commentators. What is more, they are so interpreted by Christ himself. 'Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart' (Matt. 5:28). Admit then the perpetual morality of the Ten Commandments, and the permanence of the whole code is granted. Admit that the Decalogue binds all nations, and you extend as largely the whole body of the moral law given to the Jews.

   All perhaps, or nearly all professed believers in the Bible grant that the Ten Commandments bind to obedience all individuals of all nations to whom they are revealed, and that it is not at the option of any one whether he will receive them, or reject them. It follows then, as these contain a summary of the whole law, that all is binding on every man to whom it comes. By what rule can its obligation on nations as such be denied, after all this is admitted? No good reason can be assigned for such exemption. The individual in Israel was no more bound by the obligations of the law than the commonwealth; and how can the individual be bound now and not the nation? Is there any intimation in the New Testament that on the organization of the Church under the new dispensation, the moral law of the Old Testament is abrogated? None. Would it not be passing strange, that neither in the law itself, nor in the nature of its provisions, any intimation of its being temporary is given--that there is not a hint of this by Chr ist or his apostles, and yet that it is all abolished? Surely there ought to be some better reason for this, than mere surmise--some better ground for such a position than the practice of unholy politicians, who have not the fear of God before their eyes.

   In the New Testament, it is taken for granted that the old law as a rule of duty remains still in full force: hence our Lord and his inspired disciples constantly refer to it to prove the truth and to ascertain what is duty. Certainly no man can read the New Testament without prejudice, and not come to the conclusion that the law formerly given is unimpaired in its claims. 'If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments' (Matt. 19:17). What commandments? Undoubtedly those of the Old Testament; for then there were no others. 'Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment, and the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law, and the prophets' (Matt. 22:36, 40). While these two great commandments of eternal obligation remain in force, so will all the law and the prophets, of which they are the substance. Indeed, how absurd is the supposition, that there is in the New Testament either a declaration or intimation such as follows. Heretofore, both individuals in private stations, and civil rulers have been under obligations to obey the law; but henceforth private persons only are under the law, and that only as members of the church, while all civil functionaries, and men as citizens of the commonwealth are released from its commands!

   It is true that the whole ceremonial law, as a system of types and shadows, foreshowing the atonement by the death of Christ is abolished; for the substance is come. But we have a clear intimation of this in the typical ritual itself, and a still plainer declaration of it in the New Testament. 'They have ceased to be offered.' In relation to this there is no difficulty.

   There were also laws peculiar to the state of the Jewish commonwealth--commonly called judicial, which are no longer of force, except as to their spirit and import. Such are the provisions respecting the reaping the corners of their fields, the gleaning of the vintage and of the harvest, that were to be left for the poor of the land. These laws instruct in the duty of making benevolent provision for the destitute; but the prescribed manner of doing so is no longer obligatory. All the rest remain in their full vigor. Hence Christ says: 'Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven' (Mat t. 5:17-19). This is a solemn ratification of the whole moral code of the Old Testament, by the Lord Jesus Christ himself.

4. It is predicted in the Old Testament that the rulers of the nations, in New Testament times shall be subject to the written law, as the civil functionaries of the Jewish commonwealth were. 'And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem' (Isa. 2:2-3). We have this prediction uttered in the same words by the prophet Micah (Micah 4:1-3).

   Here it is most manifest that there are more nations than the Jews who must receive the law of the Lord as it is deposited in the church--even 'many nations.' They will seek for the will of God respecting the government of the nations, as it is to be learned on the mountain of the Lord, and in the house of the God of Jacob. This prophecy was not fulfilled under the Old Testament, and must therefore refer to the new dispensation. Besides, its accomplishment is to take place, when there shall be universal peace among the nations, and the preparations for war, and even the very thoughts of it are abandoned. For it is immediately added: 'And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more' (Isa. 2:4). The days of universal peace have never yet blessed the nations. They learn war, prepare for it by great armaments, and continue t o practice it as of old; so they have done in every age from the days of Isaiah and Micah. Indeed, their seeking after the law of the Lord as it is revealed in the Holy Scriptures and taught in the church, and their reducing of it to practice, will infuse into all their constitutions, civil codes, and administrations, a spirit of justice, benevolence, humility, and meekness, taming those fierce passions of ambition and lawless violence that urge the nations into the field of strife, blood, and carnage. All this is predicted of the nations as a great blessing; and who that believes, loves, and reverences the holy and just and good law of the Lord, can doubt that such an application of it in the government of the nations, would ensure glory to God, and prosperity to commonwealths?

   David predicts briefly the same happy events. 'All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O Lord, when they hear the words of thy mouth. Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the Lord' (Ps. 138:4-5). And again: 'The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents; the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall bow down before him: all nations shall serve him' (Ps. 72:10-11). They shall hear and obey the Word of the Lord revealed by Messiah in the pages of inspiration, and they shall receive and practice it with joy, doing homage to him, who is 'Lord of lords'; and then shall they sing with joy holy songs of peace and prosperity as they walk in the righteous ways of God, in all their administration of the affairs of empires.

   As they will rule according to the law of the Lord, so like the good kings of Israel, they will render all their public acts subservient to the interests of the church, purchased by the blood of the Son of God. 'Thus saith the Lord God, behold I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their face towards the earth and lick up the dust of thy feet' (Isa. 49:22-23).

   The kings of all pagan nations, and of many nations called Christian, have been hostile to the church of Christ, as were all the emperors of pagan Rome, all Popish, and many Protestant princes of modern Europe. They have treated the disciples of the Lord Jesus as Pharaoh did the male children of the Hebrews, ordering them to be slain. But God promises that he will lift up his hand in offering salvation to the Gentiles, and set up a standard by the proclamation of Gospel truth to the kingdoms. The body of the people shall be converted, cast their idols to the moles and to the bats, and make it the animating principle of all their civil institutions, to promote the glory of God, by advancing the interests of the church. They will form holy constitutions, according to the Holy Scriptures, and choose for rulers over them, 'men who fear God, able men, men of truth and hating covetousness' (Ex. 18:21). 'He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God' (2 Sam. 23:3). Their queens, their households, and their courts will be worshippers of the God of Israel. Then righteousness shall flow in healthful streams, through all the channels of state, conveying peace and joy over the lands.

   Now, none of all this can be accomplished unless the law of the Lord is made the rule of all national legislation and the national institutions, animated and purified by a spirit of gospel holiness--the result of the right application of the pure truth, and the holy laws of the Lord. Who is the man that loves the Lord Jesus Christ, 'delights in the law of the Lord after the inner man,' and sets Jerusalem above his chiefest joy, that does not from his inmost soul accord all this, and utter fervent prayers to the God of all grace, that these blessed promises may be speedily fulfilled? Is there, can there be, a holy soul in the universe that would or could say nay to the fulfillment of these predictions?

5. The Bible contains laws for civil rulers and their subjects. The Old Testament abounds with them to such an extent as to give a political complexion to the great body of the sacred volume. The glory of God, the peace and prosperity of society, and the interests of the church, are so intimately involved in the character and administration of civil government, that God has communicated ample instructions in relation to this important topic.

   Take from the Word of God all that refers to the civil institutions of society, and you not only mutilate the volume of inspiration, but you change its complexion, and even break up its whole frame work. The book of Psalms would be torn to fragments and given to the winds of heaven. The historical parts of the Old Testament would be laid in ruins--reduced to mere heaps of rubbish. The fair and almost splendid temples of truth erected by the prophets would be demolished, and their lights extinguished in darkness. On this principle of expurgating the sacred volume of all political maxims, the thirteenth chapter of the epistle to the Romans would be expunged. How greatly would this eclipse the glory of that luminary that shines with such splendor in the firmament of revelation! The whole book of Revelation on this scheme must be erased from the heavenly record; for, by the consent of all, the greater part of it relates to the revolution of empires.

   Now, if there be no obligations resting on men in their civil relations to yield subjection to the laws recorded in the Bible, on what principle is it to be accounted for that so much of that blessed book is occupied with the affairs of civil government? In truth, any one who reads the Word without prejudice will arrive at the conclusion that civil rulers are as much and as plainly bound to obey its mandates, as that private individuals are under such obligations. Consider the following.

   1. We have in the Scriptures the privilege granted and the duty prescribed of the exercise of the right to suffrage, by the people. 'Take you wise men, and understanding, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you' (Deut. 1:13). The people are ordered to elect their rulers who are to be inducted into office.
   2. The qualifications of those who bear rule are prescribed. 'Wise men and understanding, and known' in the commonwealth (Deut. 1:13). 'Able men, such as fear God, men of truth, and hating covetousness' (Ex. 18:21). 'He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God' (2 Sam. 23:3). They must be men of piety, patriotism, and talents.
   3. The law, or constitution, by which they shall administer the government is stated. 'Thou shalt in any wise set him king over you, whom the Lord thy God shall choose. And it shall be when he sitteth on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book, out of that which is before the priests, the Levites: and it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the words of this law, and these statutes to do them' (Deut. 17:15, 17, 18). This is a direct command to rulers to govern according to the written law.
   4. There is an enumeration of sins that he shall especially avoid. 'That his heart be not lifted up, and that he turn not aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left' (Deut. 17:20). There are many other similar specifications.
   5. The duty of subjects is prescribed. 'Let every soul be subject to the higher powers. Do that which is good and thou shalt have praise of the same--ye must need be subject not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. For this cause pay ye tribute also' (Rom. 13:1, 3, 5, 6).

   Is it conceivable that rules should be recorded in details so extensive for every thing that relates to magistracy, and yet that men, in their civil relations, are not bound to be subject to the law of the Lord as it is embodied in these Scriptures? How could it ever have entered into the heart of any Christian to admit such an absurdity?

6. The revelation of the law of God is more clearly and fully in the Bible than by the light of nature. Bring together all the discoveries made by philosophers and legislators, in Egypt, Babylon, Greece, and Rome, and what are they compared with the law of the Lord revealed in the Holy Scriptures? The greatest and wisest men, in the most enlightened pagan nations of antiquity, were comparatively groping in darkness. 'That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him and find him' (Acts 17:27). 'Darkness covered the earth and gross darkness the people' (Isa. 60:2). Is it to be thought that any, without the light of revelation, will ever make greater attainments than those ancient nations did? So far from this, heathen nations from age to age have become more and more ignorant of the will of God. That many fine maxims of civil society, and not a few lovely virtues were discovered and recommended by heathen writers in glowing beauties of style, is true; so shine the stars with brilliancy in the firmament of night; but they all disappear, and their lamps are extinguished, when the orb of day kind les his fires in the heavens. Those who recur to the light of nature only, when they have access to the light of the sun of righteousness shining in the firmament of revelation, act not more wisely than he who would reject the light of day, and prefer the glimmerings of a taper. Why were all the other nations of antiquity so far inferior to Israel in their laws and maxims of civil government? Because they had the light of nature only to guide them, while God placed his law in Jacob and his statutes in Israel.
7. There are laws enacted and revealed in the Bible, which civil rulers only can execute. These are all the penalties of the law, in which indemnity for wrong is made by property, and in all corporeal punishment. Everyone knows that the Old Testament abounds with such penalties. Such are all the laws respecting theft, damage, gross idolatry, blasphemy, the desecration of the Sabbath, rape, incest, adultery, assaults and batteries, man- slaughters, and murders. That these penalties remain, under the New Testament, in full force, is evident; for they were neither ceremonial nor judicial; they were no better adapted to Israel than to other nations; they do not expire by their own limitation; the crimes against which they were enacted are as aggravated now and as mischievous to society, as of old, and men are now as prone to commit them, as they were in Judea. In brief, all the reasons for enacting these penalties do still exist in their full force. If they were wise, just and wholesome, when enacted, they are now; and if society derived advantage from them before the advent of Messiah, they will be useful now for the advancement of the public weal.

   But we have express Scripture testimony on this subject. 'We know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully; knowing this that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers, and murderers of mothers, for man-slayers, for whore-mongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for man-stealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust' (1 Tim. 1:8-11). It is evidently the law as enforced by penal sanctions to which the Holy Spirit here refers; for the law as a rule of life was made for the righteous man. It is a lamp to his feet and a light to his path. 'We are under law to Christ' (1 Cor. 9:21). The penalties annexed to crimes were to restrain 'the lawless and disobedient.' These penalties, the Holy Ghost affirms, are good under the New Testame nt, and may be lawfully executed, which is the only use that can be made of them. Besides, the apostle declares, that all this is 'according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust' (1 Tim. 1:11). There is nothing in the revelation or enactments of the new dispensation adverse to the infliction of these penalties. It is according to the whole spirit of the gospel now, that murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, and all other malefactors, should be punished according to the laws enacted under the former dispensation.

   That these penalties, annexed to crime in the ancient code, are still law, is also evident from the consideration, that many of them are revealed by the light of nature. The barbarous people in the island of Melita adjudged murder to be worthy of death. 'No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live' (Acts 28:4). And in all pagan nations many crimes are punished, thereby demonstrating it to be a dictate of the law of nature that a penalty is annexed to the law of God. It appears that those who are without the written law, have nearly as clear perceptions of the penalty of the law, as of the precept. Indeed it is not less unreasonable to maintain that the penalty of the laws in the Old Testament is abolished, than that the precept is no longer obligatory.

   But if one penalty in that law still remains in force, the inference is necessary, that civil rulers in Christian commonwealths are under obligations to obey the written law. The private person, in any civilized nation, may not avenge his own wrongs. The power to do this is always vested in the civil magistrate, and this is one of the great ends of civil government. The church has no power to inflict penalties--her power is altogether and purely disciplinary; 'it is for edification, and not for destruction.' The penal part of the written law would be altogether inefficient and nugatory, were it not the duty of the civil magistrate to see that it be executed. Accordingly the Holy Spirit affirms of the civil power--'That he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath on him that doeth evil' (Rom. 13:4). How shall he ascertain what is evil, or the measure of vengeance that he shall execute? Undoubtedly, by finding what penalty God has annexed to the crime. God has not ordained 'the powers that be' to punish evil, and then neither defined the evil, nor settled the punishment. Nothing can be more certain than that the magistrate is bound to execute that law of the Bible, which no other than he can do, according to the good order of society. But the law of the Bible is one--the moral law is one compact system, and when we have proved that a part of it is binding, we have ascertained that the code as a whole is obligatory.

8. Rulers shall be judged by the written law, if they have access to a knowledge of its provisions. Christ is their judge, and he alone. 'The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to the Son' (John 5:22). That all judgment is committed to the Son certainly warrants the inference, that he will judge civil functionaries. This doctrine is fully proved in the preceding pages. The object of the Father in committing all judgment to the Son is 'that all men shall honour the Son, even as they honour the Father' (John 5:23). Kings surely are bound to honour God the Father. The same honour in all Christian nations, they are bound to render the Son as Mediator. As he has made known his law to kings in all Christian countries, and in that law has given commandment to magistrates, it will of course be the rule of judgment. If they do not acknowledge it as the rule of their administration, they thereby dishonor both him and his Father, and he will call them to account for the indignity they have done him.

   'As many as have sinned in the law, shall be judged by the law' (Rom. 2:12). It is the law revealed in the Scriptures, of which the Spirit here speaks. Who are comprehended in this declaration? 'As many,' all who have sinned in the law--all who have had access to the written law, and have not obeyed it, shall be judged by its contents. It is not 'as many,' except civil rulers, shall be judged by the law but all, as many . If a ruler in a Christian land oppress the poor and unprotected, he will be condemned by the law which says: 'Ye shall not oppress the widow and the fatherless.' If he wickedly and cruelly oppress and enslave the stranger, he will be adjudged guilty by the law, which says: 'Thou shall not oppress the stranger.' It will not, in the great day of the Lord Jesus, be the will of the people, and the enactments of a corrupt and fickle populace, that shall be taken as the rule for the decisions of the Son of Man, on his throne; but the will of the Lord, as made known in the book of the law. Then he that knoweth his Master's will, a king though he be, and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes. If rulers are to be judged by the revealed law, then it binds them to obedience.

9. This has been the current opinion of sound and able divines, commentators, learned and intelligent Christian statesmen and civilians generally who have touched this topic in their writings. Henry, Gill, Scott, and others expound those passages that we have quoted above, as binding on kings and subjects. They all take it for granted as a truth which had not been questioned by Christians of any class, that the law of God revealed in the Scriptures is obligatory on men in all their civil relations. Dr. Dwight, in his discourses on the duties of civil rulers and subjects, refers to the Scriptures in almost every particular for the probation of his doctrines. To prove that a 'ruler ought to be a man of piety,' he adduces the examples of David, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah and Josiah. Again, to prove that 'every ruler vested with the appointment of subordinate officers, is under indispensable obligations to select men of the very same character, men of piety;' he quotes the advice of Jethro to Moses: 'Moreover thou shalt provide able men, such as fear God, &c.' (Dwight's Theology, vol. iv., pp. 132, 161). The same doctrine is embodied in all the Confessions of Faith formed by the churches of the Reformation. 'God, the Supreme Lord and King of all the world, hath ordained civil magistrates to be under him over the people, for his own glory and the public good, and to this end, hath armed them with the power of the sword, for the defence and encouragement of them that do good, and for the punishment of evil doers' (Westminster Con. Chap. xxiii. Sec. 1). Here the very words almost of the Holy Scriptures are employed in defining the institution of civil government: and the whole doctrine of this chapter on magistracy is proved by a reference to the written Word. This part of the chapter is still retained in the Presbyterian Confessions of Faith in the United States. The same doctrine is contained in the Confession of the Dutch Reformed Church, framed by the Synod of Dort, and in the Gallic Confession.

   Writers on jurisprudence plainly teach the same important truth. Puffendorf, Grotius, Blackstone, and many other civilians, might be cited in proof--one shall suffice. Heineccius, as quoted by Thorburn, in his Vindiciae Magistratus (pp. 21, 22). See the celebrated J. Got. Heineccius, counsellor of state to the King of Prussia, and professor of philosophy at Hull, on the law of nature and nations (Book I. Sec. 6). 'The rule of human actions must be either within us, or without us; if it be within us, it can be none other than either our own will, or our understanding and conscience. But neither of these faculties is always right, neither of them is always certain, neither of them is always the same and invariable. Therefore, neither any of them, nor both of them together, can be the rule of human actions: whence it follows, that the rule of human actions is not to be found in ourselves, but if there be any such, it must be without us.' Accordingly, he determines in his very next aphorism, 'that the will of God must be the rule of human actions, and the source of all moral obligation and all virtue.' Now, wheresoever the will of God is most clearly made known, that must be the rule of all obligation, according to this learned author, and of course of both international law and jurisprudence.

   It is, moreover, well known to all who are acquainted with the history of the jurisprudence of the nations, that with the diffusion of the Holy Scriptures throughout the Roman Empire, the divine law as made known in the Bible, generally supplanted all the ancient obscure readings out of the book of nature. The Institutes of Justinian, a Christian emperor of Rome, is of far different and incomparably better complexion than all the compends of law that preceded it in the Empire. The law of God revealed in the Scriptures gave it a more just and holy tone. Among those Christian commonwealths, or rather kingdoms, that arose out of the ruins of the Empire, the provisions of the revealed law were conspicuous, and continue so to the present time. All that is good in the nations of modern Europe, all that gives them a pre-eminence over the barbarous, or more polished nations of antiquity may be traced to the same source. The condition of society has been ameliorated, and the written law has exercised a controlling in fluence over the consciences of men, even where the ungodly people and rulers have refused to acknowledge it as an emanation from God by the revelation of his Spirit.

From all these arguments, we are surely warranted in drawing the conclusion, that the duty of acknowledging the revealed law of God is as obligatory on all Christian nations, in framing their constitutions and in administering their law, as it is on individuals in framing their lives according to its just and holy maxims.

If this truth is fully established, as it is believed every unprejudiced Bible believer will admit, then it follows beyond contradiction, that the nation which refuses to acknowledge the national obligation to obey the revealed law is guilty of a sin, by which God the Father, his Christ and law, are greatly dishonored. According to this doctrine, when a Christian commonwealth frames a constitution, embracing no recognition of the Holy Scriptures, it formally sets itself in opposition to the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, whom all men are commanded to honour, even as they honour the Father. Again, all who swear to support a constitution so framed, partake in the national sin, and act in a manner unworthy of the allegiance, which, as Christians, they owe to the Lord Jesus Christ.

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