Institutes of the Christian Religion (Vol. 2 of 2)
IX. Here it is necessary to state in a brief manner the nature
of the office of magistracy, as described in the word of God,
and wherein it consists. If the Scripture did not teach that
this office extends to both tables of the law, we might learn it
from heathen writers; for not one of them has treated of the
office of magistrates, of legislation, and civil government, without
beginning with religion and Divine worship. And thus
they have all confessed that no government can be happily
constituted, unless its first object, be the promotion of piety,
and that all laws are preposterous which neglect the claims of
God, and merely provide for the interests of men. Therefore,
as religion holds the first place among all the philosophers, and
as this has always been regarded by the universal consent of
all nations, Christian princes and magistrates ought to be
ashamed of their indolence, if they do not make it the object
of their most serious care. We have already shown that this
duty is particularly enjoined upon them by God; for it is reasonable
that they should employ their utmost efforts in asserting
and defending the honour of him, whose vicegerents they are,
and by whose favour they govern. And the principal commendations
given in the Scripture to the good kings are for
having restored the worship of God when it had been corrupted
or abolished, or for having devoted their attention to religion,
that it might flourish in purity and safety under their reigns.
On the contrary, the sacred history represents it as one of the
evils arising from anarchy, or a want of good government, that
when “there was no king in Israel, every man did that which
was right in his own eyes.”[1425]
These things evince the folly
of those who would wish magistrates to neglect all thoughts of
God, and to confine themselves entirely to the administration
of justice among men; as though God appointed governors in
his name to decide secular controversies, and disregarded that
which is of far greater importance—the pure worship of himself
according to the rule of his law. But a rage for universal innovation,
and a desire to escape with impunity, instigate men
of turbulent spirits to wish that all the avengers of violated
piety were removed out of the world. With respect to the
second table, Jeremiah admonishes kings in the following
manner: “Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver
the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor; and do no
wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the
widow, neither shed innocent blood.”[1426]
To the same purpose
is the exhortation in the eighty-second psalm: “Defend
the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy:
deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the
wicked.”[1427]
And Moses “charged the judges” whom he
appointed to supply his place, saying, “Hear the causes
between your brethren, and judge righteously between every
man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him: ye
shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the
small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face
of man; for the judgment is God’s.”[1428]
I forbear to remark
the directions given by him in another place respecting their
future kings: “He shall not multiply horses to himself;
neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold;
his heart shall not be lifted up above his brethren; he shall
read in the law all the days of his life;”[1429]
also that judges
show no partiality, nor take bribes, with similar injunctions,
which abound in the Scriptures; because, in describing the
office of magistrates in this treatise, my design is not so much
to instruct magistrates themselves, as to show to others what
magistrates are, and for what end God has appointed them.
We see, therefore, that they are constituted the protectors and
vindicators of the public innocence, modesty, probity, and
tranquillity, whose sole object it ought to be to promote the
common peace and security of all. Of these virtues, David
declares that he will be an example, when he shall be exalted
to the royal throne. “I will set no wicked thing before mine
eyes. I will not know a wicked person. Whoso privily
slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off: him that hath a
high look and a proud heart will I not suffer. Mine eyes shall
be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me:
he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me.”[1430]
But
as they cannot do this, unless they defend good men from the
injuries of the wicked, and aid the oppressed by their relief
and protection, they are likewise armed with power for the
suppression of crimes, and the severe punishment of malefactors,
whose wickedness disturbs the public peace. For experience
fully verifies the observation of Solon: “That all states
are supported by reward and punishment; and that when these
two things are removed, all the discipline of human societies is
broken and destroyed.” For the minds of many lose their regard
for equity and justice, unless virtue be rewarded with due
honour; nor can the violence of the wicked be restrained, unless
crimes are followed by severe punishments. And these
two parts are included in the injunction of the prophet to kings
and other governors, to “execute judgment and righteousness.”[1431]
Righteousness means the care, patronage, defence,
vindication, and liberation of the innocent: judgment imports
the repression of the audacity, the coercion of the violence, and
the punishment of the crimes, of the impious.
