Particularly, this opinion is,
1. Contrary to the very nature of magistracy, as described in the
scriptures of truth, where we are taught, that all authority to be
acknowledged of men, must be of God, and ordained of God. The divine
ordination of magistracy is the alone formal reason of subjection
thereto, and that which makes it a damnable sin to resist. So the
apostle teacheth, _Rom._ xiii, 1, &c.: "There is no power but of God;
the powers that be, are ordained of God." Not only is it the current
sentiment of orthodox divines upon the place, but the text and context
make it undeniably evident, that by _power_ here, is understood, not a
natural, but a moral power, consisting not only in an ability, but in a
right to command. Which power is said to be ordained of God, as
importing, not merely the proceeding of the thing from God
providentially, but such a being from God, as carries in it his
instituting or appointing thereof, by the warrant of his word, law, or
precept. So that that power which is to be owned as of God, includes
these two particulars, without which, no authority can be acknowledged
as God's ordinance, viz.
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