240 AUTHENTIC HISTORY 



he had frequent wars. Our Lord did here, as in several other places, 

 draw a line of distinction between church and state; the church was his 

 own kingdom, and spiritual in its nature and government, and was not 

 of this world; but the state was a distinct constitution, was of this world, 

 was purel}^ civil, and it was not essential to the being of an Emperor, of 

 what sort of religion he was of, or whether of any, as was the case of 

 Tiberius; but as the Jews were tributaries to the Eomans, and our Lord 

 was a Jew by birth; he paid his tax as a peaceable member of the com- 

 monwealth ; but had our Lord been a Mennonist he would have refused to 

 pay tribute, to support war, which shews the absurdity of these people's 

 conduct. 



Had our Lord been a Covenanter of the church of Scotland, he would 

 refuse to pay tribute, because the Emperor was not a Covenanter. I 

 own, it is not essential to the very being of a King to be a Christian, yet it 

 is essential to the being of a good man, to be a Christian; and certainly the 

 more pious and truly godly any Christian ruler is, if he is not a bigot to 

 a party, or certain denomination, but equally regardful of all, the regu- 

 lar, sober, and well behaving, in all his dominions — the happier for the 

 people. In Eomans xiii, from the beginning, to the 7th verse, we are in- 

 structed at large the duty we owe to civil-government, but if it was 

 unlawful and anti-Christian, or anti-Scriptural to support war, it would 

 be unlawful to pay taxes ; if it is unlawful to go to war, it is unlawful 

 to pay another to do it, or to go to do it. What a foolish trick those 

 people put on their consciences, who, for the reasons already mentioned, 

 will not pay their taxes, and yet let others come and take their money, 

 where they can find it, and be sure they will leave it where they can find 

 it handily. 



I think I have now proved, from the light of nature, from the reason 

 of things — from the Old and New Testament as well as from the exam- 

 ple of Christ and his Apostles, that a self-defensive war is lawful. 



Now those who deny this doctrine ought, if they would be ingenuous, 

 candid and honest, to place their argument on this footing. Suppose 

 themselves capable of being by themselves, all on some part of our 

 Globe, and none else but themselves ; and suppose also, none else ever to 

 come to them, and without any connection with any people, but them- 

 selves, they had all the necessaries of life; in such a situation, if they 

 carry with them the common nature of the human species, as it has 

 discovered itself in the world in every age, since the fall of Adam; 

 these good, peaceable, inoffensive people, would soon find evil 

 dispositions and practices break out even among themselves, if 

 they would then make no resistance at all, to those evils, but on 

 their avowed principles, when smote on the one cheek, turn the 

 other; there would soon be an end of their society — the evil would soon 



