to be here enjoined under a republic or ariſtocracy, or any other eſtabliſhed form of civil government; or to ſubordinate powers, acting in an illegal and oppreſſive manner; (with the ſame reaſon) others may deny, that ſuch obedience is enjoined to a king or monarch, or any civil power whatever. For the apoſtle ſays nothing that is peculiar to kings; what he ſays, extends equally to all other perſons whatever, veſted with any civil office. They are all, in exactly the ſame ſenſe, the ordinance of God; and the miniſters of God; and obedience is equally enjoined to be paid to them all. For, as the apoſtle expreſſes it, there is NO POWER but of God: And we are required to render to ALL their DUES; and not MORE than their DUES. And what theſe dues are, and to whom they are to be rendered, the apoſtle ſayeth not; but leaves to the reaſon and conſciences of men to determine.
Thus it appears, that the common argument, grounded upon this paſſage, in favor of univerſal, and paſſive obedience, really overthrows itſelf, by proving too much, if it proves any thing at all; namely, that no civil officer is, in any caſe whatever, to be reſiſted, though acting in expreſs contradiction to the deſign of his office; which no man, in his ſenſes, ever did, or can aſſert.
If we calmly conſider the nature of the thing itſelf, nothing can well be imagined more directly contrary to common ſenſe, than to ſuppoſe that millions of people ſhould be ſubjected to the arbitrary, precarious
