Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD. And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee. Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them.
— 1 Samuel 8:4-9
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
— Romans 12:19
Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him.
— Psalm 72:11
Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
— Jeremiah 23:5
Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;
— 1 Timothy 6:15
And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
— Revelation 20:11-12
Providence, God’s Moral Government of the World, Revealed Religion, Future State, Eternal Punishment, by Jonathan Edwards. The following contains an excerpt from his work, “Miscellanies”.
Miscellanies 864.
The God that is the creator of the world, is doubtless also the governor of it. For he is able to govern it: he that had power to give being to the world, and set all the parts of it in its order, has doubtless power to dispose of that world that he has made, to continue that order that he has constituted, or to alter it. He that gave being at first can continue being, or put an end to it; and therefore, nothing can stand in his way. If anything stands in his way, he can put an end to its being, or diminish it and weaken it as he pleases. He that constituted the world in a certain order can, if he pleases, constitute things otherwise in another order, either in whole or in part, at once or gradually; or, which is the same thing, he can cause what alterations he pleases in the state of things, or cause the state of things to proceed in what course he pleases. He that first gave the laws of nature, must have all nature in his hands. So that it is evident that God has the world in his hands, to dispose of as he pleases.
And, as God is able, so he is inclined to govern the world. For as he is an understanding being, he had some end in what he did, when he made the world; he made the world for some end. Otherwise, he did not act as a voluntary agent in making the world: that being never acts voluntarily that has no end in what he does, and aims at nothing at all in it. And if this world did not come into being by the voluntary act of some cause, then it was not made; neither God or men are properly said to make anything that necessarily or accidentally proceeds from ’em, but that only which is voluntarily produced. And besides, we see in the particular parts of the world that God had a particular end in their formation; they are fitted for such ends. By which it appears that the Creator did act as a voluntary agent, proposing final causes in the work of creation; and he that made the particular parts for certain ends, doubtless made the whole for some end.
And if God made the world for some end, doubtless he will choose to have this world disposed of to answer that end: for his proposing the end, supposes that he chooses it should be obtained. Therefore, it follows that God will choose to take care that the world be disposed of to the obtaining his own ends, which is the same thing as his choosing to have the government of the world. (Here JE placed a cue mark indicating the insertion of No. 1184)
And ’tis manifest in fact that God is not careless how the affairs and concerns of the world that he has made proceed, because he was not careless of this matter in the creation itself; but it is apparent, by the manner and order in which things were created, that God then, in creating, took care of the future progress and state of things in the world. He contrived that things might so and so proceed and be regulated, and that things might go in such a course, and that such and such events might be produced. So that ’tis manifest the Creator is not careless of the progress of the state of things in his world. This being established, I now proceed to show that it must be that God maintains a moral government over the world of mankind:
1. If that be certain that God is concerned, and does take care how things proceed in the state of the world that he has made, then he will be especially concerned how things proceed in the state of the world of mankind. This is manifest by three things:
(1) Mankind is the principal part of the visible creation. They are in the image of their Creator in that respect, that they have understanding and are voluntary agents, and can produce works of their own will, design and contrivance, as God does. And then the Creator looks upon them as the principal part of his visible creation, as is manifest, because he has set ’em at the head of his creation; he has subjected other things to him. The world is evidently made to be an habitation for him, and all things about him are subordinated to his use. Now, if God be careful how the world that he has made be regulated—that his end may be answered, and that it mayn’t be in vain—he will be especially careful of this concerning the principal part of it, and in that proportion that it is the principal or superior part, in his account, to the rest. Because if that superior part be in vain, there is much more in vain than if a less part was in vain; so much more as his loss, as I may say, is so much the greater in its being in vain, according as the part is superior, in his account.
(2) The more God has respect to any part of the world he has made, the more concerned he will be about the state of that part of the world. But ’tis manifest by the creation itself that God has more respect or regard to man, than to any other part of the visible creation, because he has evidently made and fitted other parts to man’s use. If God be concerned how things proceed in the world he has made, he will be so chiefly in that part of his world that he has his heart most upon.
(3) ‘Tis evident that God is principally concerned about the state of things in the world of mankind. In creation, heJE, Jr., inserted the bracketed word. subordinated the state of things in the inferior world to the state of things in the world of mankind, and so contrived that the affairs of the former should be subservient to the affairs of the latter.
And therefore God won’t leave the world of mankind to themselves, without taking any care to govern and order their state, so as that this part of the world may be regulated decently and beautifully; that there may be good order in the intelligent, voluntary, active part of God’s creation, as well as the inferior and inanimate parts of it, especially in what concerns it as an intelligent, voluntary and active, and so a superior, part of the creation. Or, which is the same thing, he will take care that the world of mankind be will regulated with respect to its moral state, and so will maintain a good MORAL GOVERNMENT over the world of mankind. ‘Tis evident, by the manner in which God has formed and constituted other things, that he has respect to beauty, good order and regulation, proportion and harmony: so in the system of the world, in the seasons of the year, in the formation of plants and the various parts of the body natural. Surely therefore, he won’t leave the principal part of the creation, about whose state he is evidently in fact chiefly concerned, without making any proper provision for its being in any other than a state of deformity, discord and the most hateful and dreadful confusion. And especially so, in those things that do concern those things in them by which alone they are distinguished, and are superior and more valuable than the rest of the world, viz. their intelligence and will and voluntary actions; and therefore, upon the account of which alone, God has more regard to them, and is more concerned about their state.
By what has been already said, God is most concerned about the state and government of that which is highest in his creation, and which he values most. And so he is principally concerned about the ordering the state of mankind, which is a part of the creation that he has made superior, and that he values most. And therefore, in like manner, it follows that he is principally concerned about the regulation which he values most in man, viz. what appertains to his intelligence and voluntary acts. If there be anything in the principal part of the creation that the Creator values more than other parts, it must be that wherein it is above ’em, or at least something wherein it differs from them; but the only thing wherein man differs from the inferior creation is in intelligent perception and action. This is that in which the Creator has made men to differ from the rest of the creation, and by which he has set him over it, and by which he governs the inferior creatures and uses them for himself; and therefore it must needs be that the Creator should be chiefly concerned that the state of mankind should be regulated according to his will, with respect to what appertains to him as an intelligent, voluntary creature.
Hence it must be that God does take care that a good moral government should be maintained over man, that his intelligent, voluntary acts should be all subject to rules, and that, with respect to them all, he should be the subject of a judicial proceeding. For unless this be, there is no care taken that the state of mankind, with respect to his intelligent, voluntary acts, should be regulated at all: but all things will be remedilessly in the utmost deformity, confusion and ruin. The world of mankind, instead of being superior, will be the worse and the more hateful, and the more vile and miserable, for having the faculties of reason and will; and this highest part of the creation will be the lowest, and infinitely the most confused, deformed and detestable, without any provision for rectifying its evils. And the God of order, peace and harmony, that constituted the inferior parts of the world that he has subjected to man, and made subservient to him in such decency and beauty and harmony, will appear to have left this chief part of his work, and end of all the rest, to the reign of everlasting discord and confusion and ruin: contradicting and conflicting with its own nature and faculties, having reason and yet acting in all things contrary to it, being men but yet beasts, setting sense above reason, improving reason only as a weapon of mischief and destruction of God’s workmanship.
God has so made and constituted the world of mankind, that he has made it natural and necessary that they should be concerned one with another, and linked together in society; so by the manner of their propagation, their descending one from another, and their need of one another, and their inclination to society. We see that in other parts of the creation, wherein many particulars are dependent and united into one body, there is an excellent harmony and mutual subserviency throughout the whole. As in all bodies natural, how then can we believe that God hath ordered so much of the contrary in the principal part of his creation? Again,
2. I would argue that God must maintain a moral government over mankind thus: ’tis manifest that it was agreeable to the Creator’s design that there should be some moral government and order maintained amongst men, because without any kind of moral government at all, either in nations, provinces, towns or families, and also without any divine government over the whole, the world of mankind could not subsist. The world of mankind would destroy itself, would not only be much more destructive, one to another, than any other kind of animals are to their own species, but a thousand times more than any kind of beasts are to others. Therefore, the nature which God has given all mankind, and the circumstances he has placed ’em all in, leads all, in all ages, throughout all parts of the habitable world, into such a thing as moral government. And the Creator doubtless intended this for the preservation of this highest species of creatures that he has made; otherwise, he has made much less provision for the defense and preservation of this species, than of any other species. There is no kind of creature that he hath made, that he has left without proper means for its own preservation; every creature is some way furnished. But unless man’s own reason, to be improved in moral rule and order, be the means he has provided for man, he has provided him with no means at all.
Therefore, ’tis doubtless the original design of the Creator that there should be such a kind of thing as moral subordination amongst men, and that mankind should be under heads, princes, or governors, to whom honor and subjection and obedience should be paid. Now this strongly argues that the Creator himself will maintain a moral government over the whole, several ways:
(1) Without this, the preservation of the species is but very imperfectly provided for. If men have nothing but human government to be a restraint upon their lusts, and have no rule or judgment of a universal, omniscient governor to be a restraint upon their consciences, still they are left in a most woeful condition; and the preservation and common benefit of the species, according to its necessities and exigencies of its place, nature and circumstances in the creation, is in no wise provided for, as the preservation and necessities of other species is.
(2) As the Creator has made it necessary that there should be some of our fellow creatures that should have rule over us, he has therein so ordered it, that some of them should have some image of his own disposing power over others (for, as was shown before, God has the disposing power of the whole world). Now is it reasonable to think that the Creator would so constitute the circumstances of mankind that some particular persons, that have only a little image and shadow of his greatness and power over men, should exercise it in giving forth edicts and executing judgment, and He who is above all, and the original of all, should exercise no power in this way himself, when mankind stand in so much more need of such an exercise of his power, than of the power of human governors?
(3) He has infinitely the greatest right to exercise the power of a moral governor, if he pleases; his relation to man, as his Creator, most naturally leads to it. He is infinitely the most worthy of that respect, honor and subjection, that is due to a moral governor. He has infinitely the best qualifications of a governor, being infinitely wise, powerful and holy; and his government will be infinitely the most effectual, to answer the ends of government.
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