Nor does it diminish the force of
St. Peter's inspired words, in which he bids us be subject, for God's
sake, "whether it be to the king, as excelling, or to governors as
sent by him for the punishment of evil doers ... for such is the will
of God" (Peter ii.). Nor does it detract from the truth and validity
of St. Paul's still more emphatic words: "Let every soul be subject to
higher powers; for there is no power but from God: and those that are
ordained of God. Therefore he that resisteth the power, _resisteth the
ordinance of God. And they that resist purchase to themselves
damnation_" (Rom. xiii.). And again, when writing to Titus he says:
"Admonish them to be subject to princes and powers, and to obey" (Tit.
iii. 1).
If the Apostles themselves thus command obedience to the State, even
to a pagan Government, such as the Roman was at the time they wrote,
it will scarcely be denied by any Christian that obedience is due to
the Church, and to the ecclesiastical government, altogether apart
from any question of infallibility. In fact, though both the civil
government and the ecclesiastical government are from God, and though
each is supreme within its own sphere; yet the authority in the case
of the Church is directly and immediately from God, whereas in the
case of the State, it is from God only mediately.
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