Our readings in this series are from the book, The King’s Heart: The Kingdom of God and Civil Government. Here is an excerpt from pages 55, 56:
“Samuel Rutherford understood that the authority of government does not derive from hereditary descent, as in a monarchy. Nor does the authority of government derive from the will of the people, as in a democracy, as in America today. As Rutherford argued in his classic work on civil government, Lex Rex, the authority of government derives from God and His Law. Where civil government functions best, where it fulfills its appointed role as a servant of God for good, it functions in line with the being and character of God, as expressed in His revealed Law and Word. Rutherford’s views and insights were radical and dangerous in his day, and they landed him in prison for fomenting rebellion against the English monarch. They probably seem radical and dangerous to some of us even today.”
You can order The King’s Heart in book form or a free PDF from The Ailbe Bookstore. For The Fellowship of Ailbe, I’m T. M. Moore.
