That magistracy is a divine ordinance,
flowing originally from Jehovah, the supreme and universal Sovereign of
Heaven and earth, as the ultimate fountain thereof, cannot be denied.
Neither is it to be doubted, but that the Lord has lodged a power and
right in the people, of choosing and setting up those persons that shall
exercise civil government over them, and to whom they will submit
themselves. But then, while God has lodged this power in the people, of
conveying the right of civil authority to their magistrates, he has at
the same time given them positive and unalterable laws, according to
which they are to proceed, in setting up their magistrates; and, by the
sovereign authority of the Great Lawgiver, are they expressly bound to
act in agreeableness to these rules, without any variation, and that,
under the pain of rebellion against him, who is King of kings, and Lord
of lords. The Presbytery, therefore, testify against this scheme of
Seceding principles, calculated, in order to inculcate a stupid
subjection and obedience to every possessor of regal dignity, at the
expense of trampling upon all the laws of God, respecting the
institution, constitution, and administration of the divine ordinance of
magistracy.
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