Approval

“ I do neither one nor the other. The voice of approbation, sir, when I think that approbation well earned, I confess, is grateful to my ears; but I would disdain it, if it is to be purchased by a sacrifice of my duty or the dictates of my conscience. No, sir; I go practically into this system; I have gone into it practically when the doors were shut, when it could not be alleged that I cajoled the people; and I now endeavor to show that the true and only safe principle for a free people, is a practical recognition of their original and supreme authority. ”

“ In many instances it was brought to us by men with whose character we were perfectly familiar, and for whose honesty and integrity we could vouch, who would solemnly state, in private and in public, that through an obedience to its requirements, they had obtained, in a tangible form, a perfect knowledge of its Heaven-born principles. This was my experience, and after having complied with its demands, and thereupon received a knowledge of its genuineness, and having obtained authority to preach and administer its ordinances, I commenced forthwith to proclaim it to the world ”

“ I desire you would receive this man into your favour and good opinion. I believe, if he follow my counsel he will deserve no other but respect from you. Take heed of being sharp, or too easily sharpened by others, against those to whom you can object little but that they square not with you in every opinion concerning religion. If there be any other offence to be charged upon him, that must in a judicial way receive determination.’
[1] [Carlyle, Cromwell’s Letters and Speeches, No. xx.] ”

“ He will himself be a spirit of judgment to those that sit in judgment; the privy counsellors shall be guided by wisdom and discretion and the judges shall govern by justice and equity. It is a great mercy to any people when those that are called to places of power and public trust are qualified for their places, when those that sit in judgment have a spirit of judgment, a spirit of government. ”

“ What course we are finally to take, cannot yet be foreseen; but reading, reflecting, and examining for yourselves, you will find your public functionaries, according to the best of their judgments, directing your affairs, without passion or partiality, with a single view to your rights and best interests. And it is the approbation of those who so read, reflect, and examine for themselves, which is so truly consoling to the persons charged with the guidance of your affairs. ”

“ And in order that it may be discharged with a conscientious regard to truth, and a fidelity becoming its importance, you are bound by the solemn tie of an oath to execute this office without malice, without resentment, without favour, and without affection. Under this sacred obligation, your fellow-subjects have reason to hope and expect that you will hear with patience, enquire with diligence, judge with candour, and present with impartiality. ”

“ We profess, further, to be the elect of God—set apart elected, chosen by him to be his servants to accomplish his work upon the earth;—in the first place, to establish correct principles among ourselves, and then to teach these principles to others, no matter what they relate to, whether to family matters, to the state, to a town, a corporation, or a government,—no matter whether they relate to the Government of our own country, our own family, or a world. ”

“ Nothing less could be intended by such honorable appellations, than to point out the obligation they are under to provide for the prosperity of the world, and [213] to endeavour, in compliance with the will of God, and the design of their own appointment, to render the situation of all persons as secure and comfortable as possible; that they may enjoy unmolested the fruits of their own industry, and “lead peaceable and quiet lives, in all godliness and honesty”. ”

“ Obligation "expresses that an act is the act required." "It is that relation in which the single part of the order stands to the whole order, when it is confronted by the whole," whether we consider the single act in relation to the whole character of the individual, or the single individual in his relations to society. "Duty in the abstract is the name which comprehends obligation in all its details; a duty in the concrete is any good act regarded in its relation to the whole. ”

“ Lord President—The Court expects you should give them a final Answer; their purpose is to adjourn to Monday next; if you do not satisfy yourself, [Pg 83] though we do tell you our authority, we are satisfied with our authority, and it is upon God's authority and the kingdom's; and that peace you speak of will be kept in the doing of justice, and that is our present work.
King—For answer, let me tell you, you have shewn no lawful authority to satisfy any reasonable man. ”

“ Do you conceive, in general, that those who hold such employments as are guarded by oaths perform their duties in consequence of the oath, or because they conceive that integrity and due attention are right for their own sakes? ”

“ The approbation you are so good as to express of the measures which have been recommended and pursued during the course of my administration of the national concerns, is highly acceptable. The approving voice of our fellow citizens, for endeavors to be useful, is the greatest of all earthly rewards.
No provision in our constitution ought to be dearer to man than that which protects the rights of conscience against the enterprises of the civil authority. ”

“ Spiritual privileges do not make void or weaken, but confirm and strengthen, their obligations to civil duties: "Remind them therefore to be subject to principalities and powers and to obey magistrates." And, 2. To be ready to every good work. Some refer this to such good works as are required by magistrates and within their sphere: "Whatever tends to good order, and to promote and secure public tranquility and peace, be not backward, but ready, to promote such things." ”

“ I. Shew the NATURE and EXTENT of the DUTY. II. The MOTIVE by which the Christian is to be actuated in the discharge of it. I. I am to endeavour to shew the nature of the duty enjoined in the text, "Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man." We must understand, then, first, What is meant by every ordinance of man; and this the Apostle himself explains to us in the following words: "Whether to the king as supreme, or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him." ”

“ This is the commission of a king—to be the representative on earth of the Father who is in heaven. Here is exercise for courage, for enterprise, for fortitude, for every virtue which elevates the character of a man, this is the godlike jurisdiction of a sovereign. ”

“ So, your Highness, it is your wish that a man whom you openly honor with your confidence, who has a voice in the council, and with whom you deign to share your cares concerning the weal and woe of the state, should appear before a court of justice and a curious public to make confession of his youthful errors? ”

“ By which, and not by following the imperious Dictates of their own Will, they become truly Great and Illustrious, and worthily fill their Place. And the Governed for their Part, ceasing to envy the Pomp and Name of Authority, should respect their Governors as placed in God’s stead, and contribute what they can to ease them of their real Cares, by a chearful and ready Compliance, 69with their good Endeavours, and by affording them the Pleasure of Success in such noble and generous Designs. ”

“ The persons who first attain this distinction, by the consent, tacit or express, of the people, must be endowed with superior personal qualities of valour, force, integrity, or prudence, which command respect and confidence; and, after government is established, a regard to birth, rank, and station, has a mighty influence over men, and enforces the decrees of the magistrate. The prince or leader exclaims against every disorder which disturbs his society. ”

“ Now is the generalitie of approbation the onely likely ensigne by which they may argue some lawes to be naturall; for what nature had indeed ordained us, that should we doubtlesse follow with one common consent; and not one onely nation, but every man in particular should have a feeling of the force and violece which he should urge him with, that would incite him to contrarie and resist that law. ”

“ In the exercise of their power and right of self-government, they have committed to one of their fellow citizens a supreme and sacred trust, and he here consecrates himself to their service. This impressive ceremony adds little to the solemn sense of responsibility with which I contemplate the duty I owe to all the people of the land. ”

“ Whatever of life, vigor, force, and power of eloquence the whole of the above qualities, or a wise combination will give; whatever there is in a fair, manly, honest, and impartial administration of justice, under law, to all men at all times,—through these qualities and capabilities given, never deviating; whatever there is in a strong will in the right, governed by tenderness and mercy ”

“ 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. ”

“ Would you send to it a man, as a delegate, to represent your case, to make wholesome laws that would give every man his rights and privileges? I would not have such a law, but I would cast it out with those who made it. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Every good Subject has a right of dissenting to any Bill propos'd, either by petition, or Pamphlet, before it passes into a Law; and this concerns the Honour of all Orders of Men from the Prince to the private Gentleman. ”

“ Do you grant that the just Laws and Customs which are of the Folks Chusing shall be kept, and do you promise that they shall be Protected, and to the Honour of God receive Affirmance by you, to the utmost of your Power? ”

“ In like manner, the Great Governor of all, who makes and administers the laws of the universe, has ordained those laws for the guidance and for the protection of the good—for the purpose of bringing to happiness and of protecting in peace all those who are willing to obey them and thus to do His righteous will. ”

“ But let authority be sent down from heaven and conferred upon man, so that he will have the right to act in the name of the Lord, and so that he will have the right to administer ordinances in his name, and to act, to preach, to testify, and exhort in the name of the Lord. ”

“ 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 general, or a king, are prudence, counsel, active fortitude, coercive power, awful command, and the exercise of magnanimity, as well as justice. ”

“ All rights, when the essence of them is spoken of, are powers; powers to an individual, which the governing members of the community guarantee; powers, more or less extensive, of making either a person or a thing subservient to the gratification of his desires. To be made to gratify the desire of an individual, is to be made to render him a service. ”

“ If elected to this high place of trust I shall regard myself solely as the servant of the public, solely as the representative of your sovereign will. As I raise the glass or peel the lemon, I shall not act in any individual capacity. ”

“ You addressed yourself to my friends: your proposals were approved of by them—approved of without consulting me; as if my choice and happiness were of the least signification. Those who had a right to all reasonable obedience from me, insisted upon it without reserve. ”

“ We take an oath to govern you according to God's law, and our own; and if we commit errors, not willingly, but for want of skill, you ought to bear with us, because, being chosen from among yourselves, we are but men, and subject to the like passions as yourselves. ”

“ The unanimous expression of approbation on the part of the Society, which your paper elicited, is an earnest of the satisfaction with which your consent to lecture will be received by the public at large. ”

“ In the constructing of pleadings either in abatement or in bar, every fact or position constituting a portion of the public law, or of known or general history, is necessarily implied. Such fact or position need not be specially averred and set forth; it is what the world at large and every individual are presumed to know — nay, are bound to know and to be governed by. ”

“ 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. ”

“ They, by whom the word of God is to be preached, are to be duly approved and called to that office. A person may think himself qualified for it without sufficient ground; therefore this matter ought to be submitted to the judgment of others, by whose approbation he is to engage in this work. ”

“ And the voluntary consent of men must here have the greater efficacy, that the authority of the magistrate does at first stand upon the foundation of a promise of the subjects, by which they bind themselves to obedience ”

“ All of them, by concert, enter into a scheme of actions, calculated for common benefit, and agree to be true to their word; nor is there any thing requisite to form this concert or convention, but that every one have a sense of interest in the faithful fulfilling of engagements, and express that sense to other members of the society. This immediately causes that interest to operate upon them; and interest is the first obligation to the performance of promises. ”