American Political Writing During the Founding Era: 1760–1805: Two Volume Paperback Set

14. John Tucker, An Election Sermon

PolWritV1_151-200.indd 158 2/21/12 9:29 AM [ 14} JOHN TUCKER I 7 I 9-I 792 An Election Sermon BOSTON, 1771 English colonists in America began living under local government based upon the consent of the majority before John Locke was born, and by the time he wrote his Second Treatise they had evolved most of the institutions and practices that Locke's theory implied. Nevertheless, Locke's work had considerable impact on Americans by the middle of the eighteenth century, probably because it nicely justified theoretically what Americans were already doing. Locke built his theory from rationalist assumptions, while Americans built their institutions on biblical foundations, especially upon the notion of a covenant. While to men in the 1770s there seemed to be no essential conflict between what Locke and the Bible were telling them, their synthesis of the two was in fact an American accomplishment, not a logical necessity. John Tucker, pastor of the First Church in Newbury, here, in the Election Day Sermon of 177 I, demonstrates how the synthesis was accomplished. I PETER II. I3, I4, IS, r6. Submit yourselves to every ordinance ofman for the Lord's sake: Whether it be to the King as supreme, or unto Governors, as unto Governors, as unto them who are sent by him, for the punishment of evil-doers, and for the praise of them that do weff. For so is the will of God, that with well-doing ye may put to silence the ignorance offoolish men: As free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. PolWritV1_151-200.indd 159 2/21/12 9:29 AM ( I 59} jOHN TUCKER 1719-1792 The great and wise Author of our being, has so formed us, that the love of liberty is natural. This passion, like all other original principles of the human mind, is, in itself [6] perfectly innocent, and designed for excellent purposes, though, like them, liable, through abuse, of becoming the cause of mischief to ourselves and others. In a civil state, the genius of whose constitution is agreeable to it, this passion, while in its full vigor, and under proper regulation, is not only the cement of the political body, but the wakeful guardian of its interests, and the great animating spring of useful and salutary operations; and then only is it unjurious to the public, or to individuals, when, thro' misapprehension of things, or by being overballanced by self-love, it takes a wrong direction. Civil and ecclesiastical societies are, in some essential points, different. Our rights, as men, and our rights, as christians, are not, in all respects, the same. It cannot, however, be reasonably supposed, but that this useful and important principle, must, in its genuine influence and operation, be friendly to both: For although our Saviour has assured us, his kingdom is not of this world; and it be [7] manifest from the Gospel, which contains its constitution and laws, that his subjects stand in some special relation and are under some peculiar subjection to him, distinct from their relation to and connection with civil societies, yet we justly conclude, that as this divine polity, with its sacred maxims, proceeded from the wise and benevolent Author of our being, none of its injunctions can be inconsistent with that love of liberty he himself has implanted in us, nor interfere with the laws and government of human societies, whose constitution is consistent with the rights of men. Christ came to set up a kingdom diverse, indeed, from the kingdoms of this world, but it was no part of his design to put down, or destroy government and rule among men. He came to procure liberty for his people, and to make them free in the most important sense, yet not to exempt them from subjection to civil powers, or to dissolve their obligations to one another, as members of political bodies. [8] As to things of this nature, all ecclesiastical constitutions and laws, as coming from Goo, must leave men just as they were; because all civil societies, founded on principles of reason and equity, are, as well as the peculiar laws of Christianity, agreeable to the Deity, and PolWritV1_151-200.indd 160 2/21/12 9:29 AM [ r6o} BOSTON, I77I certainly, intimations from the all-perfect mind cannot be contradictory . These things, seem not to have...