[ 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. 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 tranquility, and in order to make my kingdom peaceable and to reestablish the peace which all men desire.[430]
CHAPTER 47
INTERPRETATION OF ROMANS 13:1-2 (CONTINUED)
[ It is the responsibility of the pagan rulers to preserve peace. But the devil always seeks how to prevent or pervert this order. ] He led the first two human brothers to do evil and to murder because of hatred.[431] He does this in every generation, (and every generation has its own Cains). The secular sovereignty … is like a fence, supposed to preserve the lost sheep for a later time of salvation… But when mankind arouses the anger of God … no fence can resist His wrath. Then kings make wars and inflict all kinds of sufferings… That is why Samuel said to the Jewish people,
See the king whom you have chosen; if you persist in wrongdoing, both you and your king shall be swept away![432]
For all men and their kings are foolish.[433] The Master Adversary says that royal sovereignty and civil authority … began with Cain’s lust for power when he built the first city.[434] According to the Chronicle of Josephus[435] this foundation of the city was the cause of increasing gathering of possessions and
