And, because he is, not merely as a man, but, by his
special authority, in the likeness of God, who has power over life and
death, therefore he also, as far as his authority goes, has power over
life and death. That is my opinion, and that was the opinion of St.
Paul. For what does he say--and say not (remember always) of Christian
magistrates in a Christian country, but actually of heathen Roman
magistrates? "Let every soul be subject unto 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." Thus spoke
out the tenderest-hearted, most Christ-like human being, perhaps, who
ever trod this earth, who, in his intense longing to save sinners,
endured a life of misery and danger, and finished it by martyrdom. But
there was no sentimentality, no soft indulgence in him. He knew right
from wrong; common sense from cant; duty from public opinion; and divine
charity from the mere cowardly dislike of witnessing pain, not so much
because it pains the person punished, as because it pains the spectator.
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