whatever is necessary for his support: " Who," says St. Paul, " serveth as a soldier at his own charges?" [1] " Give honour to the priests," says Ecclesiasticus, " and purify thyself with thy arms; give them their portion, as it is commanded thee, of the first fruits and of purifications." [2] The Apostle also teaches that they are entitled to obedience: " Obey your prelates, and be subject to them; for they watch as being to render an account of your souls." [3] Nay, more, Christ himself commands obedience even to wicked pastors: " Upon the chair of Moses have sitten the Scribes and Pharisees: all things, therefore, whatsoever they shall say to you, observe ye and do ye; but according to their works do ye not, for they say and do not." [4]
The same rule is to regulate our conduct towards princes and magistrates, and all others to whose authority we are subject; and the honour and obedience due to them are explained at large by the Apostle in his Epistle to the Romans: [5] He also commands us to pray for them; [6] and St. Peter says: " Be ye subject therefore to every human creature for God's sake: whether it be to the king as excelling, or to governors as sent by him." [7] The honour which we render them is referred to God: it is paid to their exalted dignity, which is derived from and emblematic of the divine power; and in which we recognise a superintending Providence, who has committed to them the administration of the State, and who makes use of them as the ministers of his power. [8] It is not that we respect the profligacy or wickedness of the man, should such moral turpitude debase the lives of public functionaries no; we revere the authority of God with which they are invested. Therefore it is, and it may appear to some matter of surprise, that, be their sentiments towards us the most inimical, be their hostility the most immitigable, their personal enmity and hostility do not, however, afford a just cause to release us from the duty of submissive respect to their persons and authority. Thus the Scriptures record the important services rendered by David to Saul, at a time when David was the innocent object of his hatred: " With them that hated peace," says he, " I was peaceable." [9] But should they issue a wicked or unjust mandate, they are on no account to be obeyed: such a mandate is not the legitimate exercise of power, but an act of perverse injustice.
Having expounded these matters severally, the pastor will next consider the nature of the reward promised to the observance oi this commandment, and its accordance with the duty of filial piety. It consists principally in length of days: they who always preserve the grateful recollection of a benefit
- ↑ 1 Cor. ix. 7.
- ↑ Eccl. vii. 33, 34. Decimas solvendas esse yid. Cone. Aurel. 1. c. 17. Matiscon. 2. c. 5. Forojul. c. ultiin. Lat. Magn. c. 53. Trid. sess. 25. c. 13. vid. item multa ca pita 16. q. 1 et 7. et Tit. decimis in deer. D. Th. 2. 2. q. 87. 3
- ↑ Heb. xiii. 17
- ↑ Matt, xxiii. 2. 3.
- ↑ Rom. xiii.
- ↑ 1 Tim. ii. 2.
- ↑ I Pet. ii. 13, 14. Vid. Tertull. in Apol. 0. 30 et 32. et ad Scap. c. 2.
- ↑ Vid. Aug. lib. 5. de civil Dei, c. 10, 11. 14, 15. 9
- ↑ Ps. cxix. 7.
