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of no church; so also have they flung themselves off from the political tyranny of the Papal sovereigns, into ihc political anarchy of radicalism, carbonarism, or liberalism* or by whatever name you may call it. This, like the other, proceeded gradually; but it was working in the mass from the very first, and had a good and sufficient ground of continuance in the igno- rance of the Reformers concerning the true nature of power. They knew the piece of the civil ma- gistrate in relation to the Pope, but they hardly knew it in relation to the Church: they thought that, as Christians, they might take up arms against btm in defence of the Gospel; which is wholly against the principtcaof the Gospel. It is our duty to bear witness to the truth, but not to resist the power: wc may flee from it, but it is not per- mitted UK to resist it, because it is the ordinance of God> Tiic Reformers made common cause with the powers which they had emancipatt'd from Papal thraldom ; or rather, they made common 884 THIE TKUEK t'X'CLCAN' SPlUlTfi. I cause with one anotbcrt against the Melchiz«dec usurpation of priesthood and royalty : and so it came to ]>a^» that religious vran were wafre4^ everywhere at the beginning: of the ReformationS^I wbichwere notwaged in the prhnitivt; a^e^. l^etthe Icingft gi> forth lo batlle in defence of their owd royal prerogative ; that is a £odly eanse, because their investiture t3 from God; and let us. their loyal subjects, bear arms for the comtnoa weal; but ne\'er let u» suppose thai the Uospcl is con- cerned in the Mrife, olberwiae than as God over* ruleth all things for the behalf of Climt. For when the power bath ^ot its ric^hts back aj^ain, it is still the beastly brutal po%rer, and can no more change its nature, than the t)c$h can, though that may be restrained by the influence of the church as this is by the influence of the Spirit. For [ consider, that the church and tlie giower stand related to oue another exactly as th« fleeh and the spirit; the fonner orer-rulin^^ the latter oppressed ; yet by its mightier power re- sisting, restminiug, and efTcctually counteracting the other. And aa there in a period act to the oppresiiion of the flesh by death, when the spirit will be carricil out to its proper form and dimen- sioitt; so IS there a period set lo the oppressioD of power by the coming; of Christ to lake the power into his own hand, when the church will burst forth into her proper form and dimension. But, unfortunately, the Reformers, though they were much inspired by the doctrine