Chapter 24

§ 1.

As then he lied in the beginning, so also in the end he was lying, when he said,¹ All these things are delivered unto me, and to whom I will I give them. For not he appointed the bounds of the Kingdoms of this world, but God.² For The King’s heart is in the hand of God. And by Solomon too the Word saith,³ By Me kings reign, and mighty men hold righteousness. By Me Princes shall be exalted, and tyrants by Me govern the earth. And Paul also the Apostle to the same effect saith,⁴ To all the higher powers be ye subject; for there is no power but of God: and the Powers which be are ordained of God. And again he saith of the same,⁵ For not without cause beareth he the sword; for he is a minister of God, an avenger for wrath upon him that doeth evil. And to shew that he said this not of Angelical Powers, nor of invisible Princes, as some venture to expound it, but of those Powers which are after the manner of man,⁶ he saith, For, for this cause pay ye tribute also, for they are ministers of God, serving altogether to this very end. And this too the Lord confirmed both by not doing what the Devil would persuade Him,⁷ and by bidding tribute to be given to the Collectors of the tributes for Himself and for Peter: because they are ministers of God, serving unto this very thing.

§ 2.

For because man,⁸ standing off from God, became so like a wild beast, as to account his very kindred an enemy, and to pass his time without fear in all restlessness⁹, and in murder, and in covetousness: God set over him the fear of man (for they knew not the fear of God), that they being subject unto men’s power, and bound by their law, might attain unto some degree of justice, and mutual moderation, fearing the sword openly set forth; as saith the Apostle: For not without cause he beareth the sword; for he is the minister of God, an avenger for wrath unto him that doeth evil. And therefore the magistrates also themselves, having the Laws, which are the clothing of Justice, shall be asked no questions nor suffer penalties, for whatever they may have done justly and lawfully: But in such things as they may have practised to the overthrow of the Just, unfairly, and impiously, and against law, and in tyrannical sort;—in those they shall also perish: the just judgment of God reaching unto all alike, and in none failing. For the benefit, then, of the Gentiles is earthly Royalty established by God; (and not by the Devil, who is never at all at rest: yea, neither will he have the very Gentiles to go on quietly:)—that men, fearing the Royalty of men, may not, like fishes, consume one another, but by legal enactments may ward off the blows of the manifold injustice of the Gentiles. And so they are ministers of God, who exact tribute from us, waiting upon this very thing.

§ 3.

“The Powers that be,¹⁰ are ordained of God.” It is plain that the Devil lies, in saying, “To me things are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them.” For by whose command men are born, by His command Kings also are established, meet for those who at the particular time are ruled by them. For some of them are given for the correction and benefit of their subjects, and the maintenance of justice: others again unto fear, and punishment, and rebuke: and yet others unto mockery, and reproach, and pride, even as men deserve: the just judgment of God, as we said before, passing onwards equally over all. As to the Devil, he as being an Apostate Angel, hath that power only, which he discloses in the beginning—to seduce and withdraw man’s mind unto transgression of God’s commandments, and gradually to blind the hearts of such as make it their business to serve him, to the forgetting of the true God, and the worshipping of Satan himself as God.

§ 4.

And even as any rebel,¹¹ occupying a land as an enemy, would disturb the inhabitants, that with those who know no better, he may claim to himself the King’s glory, because he is a Rebel and a Thief:—so also the Devil,¹² being one of those Angels who are set over the breath of the air (as the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Ephesians hath declared) envying man, became a rebel against the Divine Law: For Envy is alien from God. And because through Man was his rebellion exposed, and Man became the test whereby his mind was reproved; he did accordingly frame himself more and more contrary to man, envying his life, and wishing to shut him up under his own rebellious power.¹³ On the other hand, the Framer of all, the Word of God, by Man overcoming him and proving him a rebel, made him subject unto Man: for, Behold,¹⁴ saith He, I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions and on all the might of the Enemy;—that, as he ruled over man by rebellion, so again by man hastening back unto God his rebellion may be brought to nought.