nce their laws do bind, then their unlawful ordinances do
bind no less than if they were lawful; but if by their authority we mean
the power which they have of God to make laws, this power is not absolute
(as hath been said) but limited; therefore from it no absolute bond can
arise, but this much at the most, that "kings on earth must be
obeyed,(984) so far as they command in Christ."

Neither yet can the bond be absolute in respect of the thing itself which
is commanded.

When princes publish the commandments of God, the things themselves bind
whether they should command them or not, but we speak of such things as
God's word hath left in their nature indifferent, and of such things we
say, that if being enjoined by princes they did absolutely bind, then they
should be in themselves immutably necessary, even secluding as well the
laws of princes which enjoin them, as the end of order, decency, and
edification, whereunto they are referred. To say no more, hath not Dr
Forbesse told us in Calvin's words,(985) _Notatu dignum_, &c.? "It is
worthy of observation, that human laws, whether they be made by the
magistrate or by the church, howsoever they be necessary to be observed (I
speak of such as are good and just), yet they do not, therefore, by
themselves bind the conscience, because the whole necessity of observing
them looketh to the general end, but consisteth not in the things
commanded."

6. Whatsoever bond of conscience is not confirmed and warranted by the
word is, before God, no bond at all. But the absolute bond wherewith
conscience is bound to the obedience of the laws of princes is not
confirmed nor warranted by the word; therefore the proposition no man can
deny, who acknowledged that none can have power or dominion over our
consciences but God only, the great Lawgiver, who alone can save and
destroy, James iv. 12. Neither doth any writer, whom I have seen, hold
that princes have any power over men's consciences, but only that
conscience is bound by the laws of princes, for this respect, because God,
who hath power over our consciences, hath tied us to their laws. As to the
assumption, he who denyeth it must give instance to the contrary. If those
words of the Apostle be objected, Rom. xiii. 5, "Ye must needs be subject,
not only for wrath, but also for conscience' sake."

I answer, 1. The Apostle saith not that we must obey, but that we must be
subject, for conscience' sake; and how oft shall we need to tel