Page:A Compendium of the Chief Doctrines of the True Christian Religion.djvu/156

152 that royalty is in his own person, and the magistrate, who imagines that the dignity of magistracy is in his own person, are alike unwise.

Royalty consists in governing according to the laws of the realm, and in executing judgment according to them from a principle of justice. The king, who regards the laws as above himself, is wise; but he, who regards himself as above the laws, is unwise. The former places royalty in the law, and suffers the law to rule over him, knowing that the law is justice, and that all justice, as such, is divine: but the latter places royalty in himself, and believes either that his own will is the law, or that the law, which is justice, is derived from himself; and hence he arrogates to himself what is divine, when yet he ought to be in subjection to it. The law, which is justice, ought to be enacted by persons skilled therein, who are at the same time full of wisdom and the fear of God: and the king and his subjects ought afterwards to live in obedience to it. The king, who lives according to such law, and sets an example to his subjects in this respect, is truly a king. But an absolute monarch, who fancies that his subjects are mere slaves, and that he has a right to their property and lives, if he exercises such power, is not a King, but a Tyrant. The king ought to be obeyed according to the laws of the realm, and not in any wise to be injured either by deeds or by words; for hereon depends the public security.

Such are the general principles adopted by the New Church, in relation to ecclesiastic and civil government: from which it may be seen, that the order and well-being of society are the great objects, which it has in view to promote, whatever may be the