Page:St. Paul's behaviour towards the civil magistrate.pdf/21

 magistrate. This had been a noble piece of service, not only to truth, but to human society, according to some: and I presume St. Paul knew the will, and the plain revelation of God as well at least as any modern Christian; and would gladly have suffered a few stripes, in order to bear testimony to so important a part of God's law. Nor need he have doubted this way to have turned the anger of the magistrates into favour, and a kind regard both to himself and his profession. But he appears to have been a stranger to all this: and his zeal for the laws shews that he thought both the will of God, and the good of society, to require another scheme than that of an unlimited executive power.

Thus have I laid before you a true account of the behaviour and notions of that apostle, in favour of the rights of subjects, who hath been long, and often, represented by many as the greatest asserter of an unlimited authority in the executive power: and though I have been treating of civil and secular concerns, yet I hope I may be safe under the patronage of St. Paul's example, and of those scriptures which give us this account of his conduct and behaviour, as of something not unuseful to men and christians. Nor is it a small satisfaction to speak upon this subject before those who understand the value and importance