Page:The Net of Faith.pdf/575

183*

183* (:God established this order by giving man a twofold nature, one perishable and the other imperishable. One generation dies but the other generation is born, having its foundation in the union of father and mother. Mankind respects the family institution which maintains stability and order, propriety as well as property. :)

But because these generations are born in sin, filled with iniquities, the devils rule over them. Therefore Saint Paul says about them that they are princes of the power of the air, who are at work in the sons of disobedience,⁴ that is, in the princes of darkness and in the rulers of the world. Through their hatred, iniquity, and death was ushered into the whole orbit of the earth.⁵

(:God gave to the temporal authorities the right to rule over regions so that they might control the people and settle all their differences peacefully.(illegible text)n Authority is Wise Authority maintains order by compulsion. It must be a wise authority if it is to rule over unwise men.;) King Ahasverus . . . knew of this rule . . . and therefore he said;

Having become a ruler of Many nations, and come to have dominion over the whole world, I desire, not because I am elated by the presumption of power but behaving always with mildness and moderation, to insure that My subjects shall live in unbroken tranquillity, and in order to make my Kingdom peaceable and to reestablish the peace which all men desire.⁶

 

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4 Ephes. 2:2.

5 Cf. 3-Esdr. 4:37.

6 Esther 13:2 (Apocryphal addition: the speech of King Artaxerxes). AT.