Of Obedience to our Superiors.

Our superiors are set over us in affairs of the world, or the affairs of the soul and things pertaining to religion, and are called accordingly ecclesiastical or civil. Towards whom our duty is thus generally described in the New Testament. For temporal or civil governors the commands are these: “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s;” and, “Let every soul be subject to the higher powers: for there is no power but of God, the powers that be are ordained of God; whosoever, therefore, resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God; and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation:”¹⁵³¹⁵³Rom. xiii. 1. and, ‘Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, and to obey magistrates:’¹⁵⁴¹⁵⁴Titus iii. 1. and, “Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man, for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme, or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers, and the praise of them that do well.”¹⁵⁵¹⁵⁵1 Pet. ii. 13.

For spiritual or ecclesiastical governors, thus we are commanded: “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves; for they watch for your souls, as they that must give an account:”¹⁵⁶¹⁵⁶Heb. xiii. 17. and, Hold such in reputation: and, “To this end did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things,” said St. Paul to the church in Corinth. Our duty is reducible to practice by the following rules.