Allegiance

“ When we turn to the life of her patriot son we see that he no less grandly illustrated the principle, that to such government, so established, the people owe an allegiance which has the binding power of the most solemn obligation. ”

“ What is here new, let it be noted, is only the acknowledgment by those whose official allegiance is to a transcendental ideal of personal morality that they are called upon to obey a higher allegiance. ”

“ On such occasions passive submission would, on the part of the people, be a breach of their allegiance, and, on our part, treachery and perjury—For the people are bound, by their allegiance, and we are additionally bound by our oaths, to support the Constitution and the State—and we are responsible to the people and to our God for the faithful execution of the trust. ”

“ All state obligations are against the conscience of a Christian—the oath of allegiance, taxes, law proceedings, and military service. ”

“ The oath of allegiance is an oath of fidelity to the sovereign taken by all persons holding important public office and as a condition of naturalization. By ancient common law it might be required of all persons above the age of twelve, and it was repeatedly used as a test for the disaffected. ”

“ It is a covenant of allegiance with a king, turned tyrant and enemy to religion, subverter of the reformation, and overturner of our laws and liberties: and therefore demonstrate to be sinful both from the first general argument against oaths, and from head 2d. 2. It cannot be taken in truth, righteousness, or judgment: because the words are general and very comprehensive, and ambiguous, capable of diverse senses; when he is affirmed to be supreme over all persons, and in all causes, and to be assisted, and maintained, in that jurisdiction. ”

“ We absolve the Lords and the Commons of the realm, and all others her subjects, from the oath of allegiance which they may have tendered to her, prohibiting them from obeying her commands, ordinances, and proclamations, under the penalty of being excommunicated in like manner. ”

“ When persecution came they would regard it as something permitted by their Master for reasons into which they did not inquire: the allegiance of mankind belonged, they would say, to their Master of right ”

“ About the same time he adopted a familiar expedient and ordered the oath of allegiance to himself against all men to be taken throughout the country, but he added a new clause requiring men to swear to stand by him against the charter. ”

“ Such as are willing to take the oath of allegiance to the United States, and will furnish sufficient security for its observance, shall be permitted to remain at their homes and pursue in good faith their accustomed avocations. ”

“ As when they require an obligation to allegiance, or loyalty, or peaceableness, or orderliness, and other smooth words, signifying excellent things in an abstract notion, these will be found to carry quite another sense, if we enquire into the imposer's meaning, in which only oaths and bonds must be taken. The only way to find out their meaning, is to consider either their acts or actings, or their designs and intentions, as they are discoverable by any man of prudence or consideration. ”

“ And We doe in like manner require all Our said Subjects, that they persist in their due Allegiance and Obedience unto Us, whereto they are obliged by all Lawes Divine and Humane; and that they receive not any Governors nor Commanders, or obey any Ordinances contrary to, or without Our Royall consent, but that they pursue and apprehend them as Traytors to Our Royall Person and Dignity; and that as they tender their duty to God, the avoyding of Our High Displeasure, and the preservation of their own Peace and Happinesse. ”

“ You shall also submitt, and observe all such good and wholesome laws, ordinances, and officers as are, or shall be established within the several limits thereof, So help you God, who is the God of Truth and the punisher of falsehood. ”

“ But, Sir, we must prefer the discharge of our duty unto God, and unto the kingdom, before any other respect whatsoever. And although at this time many of us, if not all of us, are severely threatened by some of your party, what they intend to do, Sir, we do here declare, That we shall not decline or forbear the doing of our duty in the administration of Justice, even to you, according to the merit of your Offence although God should permit those men to effect all that bloody design in hand against us. ”

“ It is a pitiful thing, that those who are wise otherways should deceive themselves in the matters of God's service and worship, and suffer others to deceive them also. 4. Ye promise and swear, to the uttermost of your power to stand to the defence of the king's majesty, in the defence and preservation of true religion: as also, every one of you to the mutual defence of another in the same cause. Now there be a number who says, that in this we come under rebellion against the king, and we join in a combination against him, when we join ourselves thus, every one for the defence of another. ”

“ I have ever been a good and faithful subject, and of this I believe my judges to be convinced. I have always preached to my flock patience, obedience, and submission; and my sermons, which you possess, are summed up in these words, ‘Fear God, honour the king.’ If I have contravened the law touching religious assemblies, it was by God’s commandments I contravened them; God must be obeyed before men. ”

“ The gloves being put on, the archbishop delivered the sceptre, with the cross, into the King's right hand, saying,
Receive the royal sceptre, the ensign of kingly power and justice.
And then he delivered the rod, with the dove, into the King's left hand, and said,
Receive the rod of equity and mercy: and God, from whom all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed, direct and assist you in the administration and exercise of all those powers he hath given you. Be so merciful, that you be not too remiss; so execute justice, that you forget not mercy. ”

“ For so is the will of God, that by doing well you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men."
3. Our holy religion, therefore, plainly commands that we should regard those possessed of lawful authority as the representatives of God and should honor them as such, obeying them cheerfully, as long as they command nothing which is incompatible with the commandments of God and of His Church. Obey, therefore, the civil authorities for the love of God, not merely from compulsion or fear of punishment. The example of Jesus Christ and of His apostles teaches this obedience. ”

“ Each warden, in the presence of the opposite warden and the inhabitants of both the Marches, “Swore by the High God that reigneth above all Kings and Realms, and to whom all Christians owe obedience, that he shall (in the name of God) do, exercise and use his office without respect of person, Malice, Favour, or Affection, diligently or undelayedly, according to his Vocation or Charge that he beareth under God and his Prince, and he shall do justice upon all Complaints presented unto him, upon every Person complained upon under this Rule. ”

“ Thou canst not render homage to abstract Omnipresent Power,
Save through the concrete symbol of visible ordained authority.
Those who obey not man, are oftenest found rebels against God;
And seldom is the delegate so bold, as to order what he knoweth to be wrong.
Yet mark me, proud gainsayer! I say not, obey unto sin;
But, where the Principal is silent, take heed thou despise not the Deputy:
And He that loveth order, will bless thee for thy faith,
If thou recognize His sanction in the powers that fashion human laws. ”

“ King, Queen, Princes, Princesses, Cardinals, Archbishops, Marshals, courtiers, ladies in waiting, high dignitaries of the courts of justice, magistrates, consuls, bourgeois, guilds of artisans—all were about to batten upon the torture and death of the heretics, whose only crime consisted in the practice of the Evangelical doctrine in its pristine purity. ”

“ God has placed us in our several stations; the virtues of a private Christian are patience, obedience, submission, and the like; but those of a magistrate or a general or a king are prudence, counsel, active fortitude, coercive power, awful command, and the exercise of magnanimity as well as justice. ”

“ We most humbly supplicate all Kings, Princes, Sovereign Lords, States and Nations, and generally all persons of what condition soever, to be graciously pleased that these our lawful and indispensable protestations, which in the simplicity and sincerity of our hearts we are obliged to make and do make accordingly, may serve, before God and before them, as a standing testimony for us and our posterity, for the preservation of our rights and for the discharge of our consciences. ”

“ Further, we vow and swear to protect and defend one another, in all times and places, against all attacks whatsoever touching the articles which are set forth in this covenant. We hereby bind ourselves that no accusation of any of our followers, in whatever name it may be clothed, whether rebellion, sedition, or otherwise, shall avail to annul our oath towards the accused, or absolve us from our obligation towards him. ”

“ Either they, who at certain Times, at the Magistrate’s Order, do close up their Shops and Houses, and meet in their Assembly, praying for the Prosperity of their Arms, or giving Thanks for some Victory or other, whereby they make themselves like to those that [Pg 497] approve Wars and Fighting; or we, who cannot do these Things for the same Cause of Conscience, lest we should destroy, by our Works, what we establish in Words; we shall leave to the Judgment of all prudent Men. ”

“ God’s will, which all men should obey, was revealed in the Law, and though He might appoint governors over them, He remained their King, and no governor who was not a prophet—God’s mere mouthpiece—could command their unquestioning obedience. ”

“ I bid you prepare yourselves against existing enemies, and I declare that with this same [p. 77] force you should resist the king and all other people, if they attempt to injure you; but never inflict an injustice either in word or deed. Let us look that our actions, and not our speeches on the platform, be worthy of our ancestors. If you pursue this course you will do service not only to yourselves but also to them who give the opposite counsel, since you will not be angry with them afterward for your errors committed now. ”

“ They that, for their ends, will defend his person and authority against religion and liberties of the kingdom, will with the same conscience defend their own ends against his person and authority, when they have power in their hands. The Lord deliver his majesty from such defenders, by what names or titles soever they be called. ”

“ Nevertheless, lest these things should seem beyond measure burdensome or wrong to thee, we did send word to thee through thy faithful servants that the changing of an evil custom should not alarm thee; that thou should'st send to us wise and religious men from thy land, who, if they could, by any reasoning, demonstrate or prove in what, saving the honour of the Eternal King and without danger to our souls, we might moderate the decree as passed by the holy fathers, we would yield to their counsels. ”

“ Receive thou the cause of thine unworthy servant, and send them a writ or a notice immediately—sending into their conscience, and summoning them to consider what they are doing. O, frighten them with a summons from thy court, until they come and bow in contrition at thy feet; and take from their hands every revengeful weapon, and make them deliver up every gun of scandal, and every sword of bitter words, and every spear of slanderous expressions, and surrender them all at thy cross. ”

“ If so, then I rejoin thus: how agree these truths of this similitude with those former positions, viz., that the civil magistrate is keeper of both tables, that he is to see the church do her duty, that he ought to establish the true religion, suppress and punish the false, and so consequently must discern, judge, and determine what the true gathering and governing of the church is, what the duty of every minister of Christ is, what the true ordinances are, and what the true administrations of them; and where men fail, correct, punish, and reform by the civil sword? ”

“ God, the supreme Lord and King of all the world, hath ordained civil magistrates to be under him, over the people, for his own glory and the public good; and to this end hath armed them with the power of the sword, for defence and encouragement of them that do good, and for the punishment of evil doers. ”

“ First, Go into their solemn meetings for the exercises of religion, for the administration of justice, or for commerce—to church, to court, or to the exchange—and they are an assembly of treacherous men; they are so by consent, they strengthen one another's hands in doing any thing that is perfidious. ”

“ Spiritual authority corresponds to the inalterable law of justice and truth, temporal authority to the force which compels rebellious wills to submit to this law. Force is necessarily subordinate to the law, the state to the church. ”

“ The above is the truth, according to the oath of the deponent, who declares that he has not spoken out of malice, but solely in obedience to his conscience, and having been read to him, is declared to be correctly recorded. ”

“ And thus I have given you answer fairly in all your particulars, and do expect all obedience and conformity to my injunctions — which, if you shall perform, the State will have occasion to see how ready you are to practise the obedience which you teach. ”

“ Though magistrates may most closely apply this psalm to themselves, yet we may any of us sing it with understanding when we give glory to God, in singing it, as presiding in all public affairs, providing for the protection of injured innocency, and ready to punish the most powerful injustice, and when we comfort ourselves with a belief of his present government and with the hopes of his future judgment.
verses 1-5 The Duty of Magistrates.
1 God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods. 2 How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? ”