01.07. Question 07
Question 7. What must be done when the Orders or Estates cannot be summoned to impede or to check tyranny?
Yet there still remains a considerable difficulty in this discussion. The question is what should be done when tyranny has attained to such influence that the meeting of the Estates, (which we have declared to be the lawful remedy against such tyranny) is in a word so hampered by connivance, or intimidation or malice on the part of the majority that it can in not way be assembled. I answer that private citizens, unless they have authority from a subordinate magistrate or the saner part of the Estates, concerning which more is discussed shortly, here have no other just remedy but reflection combined with patience and prayers which God will assuredly not always reject and without which all other remedies however legitimate will be subject to His curse. But there is no reason why subjects in private station should not betake themselves to the intermediate magistrates and take them to task concerning their duty; and if all of them or the saner part of them are prepared to make use of such help from private citizens, I have above shown sufficiently what they are bound to render to God and their country.
It is assuredly the duty of the subordinate magistrates at once unanimously to insist on an assembly of the Estates and meanwhile as far as they can and may to defend and protect themselves against undisguised tyranny; lastly, this duty rests upon the several Estates also earnestly to secure a lawful and general assembly of all the Estates, that the wicked may not check and obstruct the good, nor the slothful the diligent, nor the vulgar herd the more sober section. Nay more, in a crisis of that description all private citizens are under an obligation to attach themselves to their subordinate magistrates and perform the duty of subjects, and if the occasion demands it, the saner section upon being oppressed will even have the right to procure support from abroad especially from the allies and friends of the kingdom.
Examples. In support of this opinion I shall quote some excellent examples. a) Behold1 two whole tribes, those of Reuben and Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh, when suspected of having fallen into idolatry, were attacked with armed force by all the remaining tribes. And yet no tribe had any right and authority against another since all twelve constituted but one collective whole. Hence it appears that the better part can reprove the other without awaiting the unanimous agreement of all if all cannot simultaneously assemble. b) The same may also2 be seen in the war most justly undertaken by the eleven tribes against the tribe of Benjamin when the latter defended a horrible crime committed in Gibeah. What then if those two tribes with half the tribe of Manasseh or if the tribe of Benjamin itself had tried to seize tyrannical power against their brethren and kinsmen? c) So the Romans too invoked the help of Constantine against Maxentius when he ruled over the Empire of the West and undisguisedly acted the most cruel tyrant. And this war was waged not only with the favor of God who heard their prayers, but it also receives testimony of approval from all the historians3 . Yet Constantine did not wield supreme power over Maxentius since the latter possessed the highest imperial authority in the East no less than the other in the West. d) But what right or by what title did Charlemagne obtain the empire of the West? By what right but that as a result of the cowardice of the emperors of the East who were taking cover in Greece, he was summoned against the tyranny of the Lombards by the more powerful part of Italy and particularly by the patricians of Rome who had not yet then, nor for many years afterwards even, passed into the power of the Pontiffs?
I therefore consider that my point of view has so far been abundantly established and proved provided only that the following three axioms steadily kept in view in all these definitions, namely:
1) That the tyranny must be undisguised and notorious;
2) That the recourse should not be had to arms before all other remedies have been tried;
3) Nor yet before the question has been thoroughly examined, not only as to what is permissible, but also as to what is expedient, lest the remedies prove more hazardous than the very disease.
Answers to certain objections
It remains for me, I think, by way of conclusion to this treatise, to answer the chief arguments which are commonly adduced to support the contrary point of view, except those upon which we have already touched incidentally and as occasion arose. a) Now the following argument especially is commonly bandied about, namely that it is the characteristic of magistrates, particularly supreme magistrates, to issue commands and to exercise authority. I myself also agree with that, but I add (the proviso) that this power is limited by laws both divine and human. b) They add further: if kings degenerate into tyrants, nobody ought indeed to be or to become the servant of their unjust commands, but it is the part of subjects to suffer and patiently to endure the vagaries of the supreme ruler, not be means of any violence to offer resistance to them. I should not be inclined readily to concede that point without applying the above distinctions. The gist of these is that, unless they can defend themselves upon the authority of some lawful subordinate magistrate or of the Estates of that nation, private persons must assuredly either go away until such time as a better light shall shine upon them, or bow their necks to the yoke while urgently asking God in constant prayer for patience and meantime proceeding under His chastisements. But it is the part of the subordinate magistrates (to protect against all) strenuously the good laws to whose defense they personally have sworn, each in accordance with the station he has obtained in the constitution of the community, and in general all should strive to prevent the laws and conditions upon which that constitution rests, from being undermined by any violence from without or from within. Finally, emperors, kings or other supreme rulers acquire the highest authority on the understanding that, if it should meanwhile become notorious that they rather plunder the territory of which they have undertaken the government, that cunningly and without self-control they set themselves against law and reason and wantonly break their sworn promises, they can and should be forced, compelled and brought to their duty even by armed force, if it cannot be otherwise, by those who upon special conditions have raised them to this high office. c) Further they seek support in the example of David, for though the succession to the kingship had been promised to him and held the office of chief commander in war, yet while4 he was being tyrannically attacked by Saul, he gave proof that the Lord’s anointed bore so much authority with him, that when he had caught him he refused to do him any harm or to have him hurt by others, but immediately ordered5 the man to be executed who boasted of his death at his hand, and finally both alive and dead signally honored him, though a most unjust tyrant. All this I recognize and I even readily grant that the faithfulness, patience and goodness of David were incomparable and most commendable qualities which it would be seemly for all Christians to imitate as far as they may and to set before themselves as a pattern of conduct; I even add that all without distinction whether superiors, equals or men of lower station must requite evil with good. But at the same time I deny that the patience and gentleness which we require in Christians prevent a man from employing lawful remedies to repel an injury which is being done to him.
It is certainly permissible to claim one’s property from an unjust possessor in court, and to lodge complaints with the supreme magistrate concerning the injustice of an inferior; why therefore by the same reasoning should it not be permissible to go to laws against a tyrant before the Estates? But if as a result of tyranny there is no way leading to justice, the example of David, so far from tending to refute our arguments, clearly even supports us. For David did not yield to the madness of Saul without meanwhile gathering about him not inconsiderable military forces; and he would doubtless have employed them more freely to defend his own life and those of his followers, if he had been reduced by God to such dire necessity that he would not have been able to ward off the violence offered him without joining battle. That he spared the tyrant’s life when he had fallen into his power, was certainly a just and dutiful act, for Saul still occupied the royal throne and neither David nor anyone else had the right to deprive him of his royal power or his life, but (that was the part) of God alone or of the Estates, as has been pointed out above. But it is a very different thing on the one hand to defend oneself against a tyrant either in court or by force of arms and on the other avowedly to engage in some conspiracy against the life of the tyrant or against his authority. d) Subsequently they declare that Zedekiah6 , the King of Judah, was severely rebuked and punished because he had in violation of his oath revolted from the King of the Chaldeans, and yet this king was not7 the lawful Lord of Judah but the most unabashed usurper of the authority of another. How then shall greater license be allowed to subjects against a lawful king who has turned tyrant? I answer that Zedekiah at the express command of God and even by swearing an oath had subjected himself with his people to the King of the Chaldeans who had offered him every occasion to pay tribute. And these circumstances entirely convict Zedekiah and the men of his nation both of revolt and of perjury. Next I also admit that subjects are not free to break their oath, nor do I approve of the sentiment expressed in the trite maxim, "Let faith be broken with the breaker of faith"8 , for I, on the contrary hold, that it is never permissible to break an oath justly sworn; but I deny that an oath is broken or violated by subjects towards a tyrant whenever individuals among them, confining themselves to the limits each of his own vocation, attempt to check the course of tyranny. For there is the general rule that an agreement concluded subject to a condition either express or tacitly implied is canceled by the party who acts in violation of the condition, but not by that party, who since he had been bound only subject to the condition, has been freed from his obligation, not by his own act (for [then] he would be a perjurer) but by the act of that party himself who first broke the tie of the obligation, that is, the condition added to it. When therefore the supreme ruler has become a tyrant, he must be deemed by his own perjury to have freed the people from their oath, and not to the contrary, when the people justly assert their rights against him. e) Furthermore they use as a pretext the command of God who expressly bids the Israelites9 to utter prayers for the peace and happy reign of Nebuchadnezzar, a most cruel tyrant: much less (therefore) were the Jews allowed to steal away from his rule and from obedience to him. This too I admit, but I answer, in the first place, that the Jews were not merely subjects and in a private station, but that the majority were slaves under the rule of the Chaldeans. Now we have laid down above (the principle) that citizens of private rank are not free to rise against their rulers or to set themselves against them in open violence; much less are slaves (free to rise) against their masters however harsh or unjust, since the latter hold their bodies and their goods in their power. This precept (of God) therefore in no way detracts from the principles which were laid down by us above. Furthermore I repeat once again that the Jews - and this should be most carefully noted in this entire account - had passed into the power of the Chaldeans during the captivity, they could not even before have set themselves against them with a good conscience or have defended the city of Jerusalem against their attack since God had expressly bidden them by the mouth of Jeremiah 10:1-25 to surrender their city into the hands of the Chaldeans and to subject themselves to them spontaneously. f) Here some people also vainly rejoin that this same will of God finds no application in every (case of) tyranny, since no tyranny obtains either without or in spite of the will of God. (Vainly, I say), for I could turn this very argument against the tyrants: for it is no less dependent upon the will of God that the tyrants are expelled by their subjects and fellow countrymen, as has happened to many, than that tyrants frequently oppress their peoples. But the following will be a truer reply, that is, if we say that the will of God must be heeded to the extent that He Himself has deigned to reveal it to us; otherwise there would be no crime so heinous but what it could be imputed to the Divine will, since not even those events which are regarded as in the highest degree fortuitous occur by chance or accidentally. Hence it comes about that the man who meets with highway robbers, by whom no one is murdered without the consent of the will of God, has the power in accordance with the authority of the laws to resist them in just self-defense which incurs no blame because no one forsooth has (received) a special command from God that he meekly allow himself to be slain by robbers. Our conviction is entirely the same about that regular defense against tyrants which we are discussing. Yet this then at length ceases to find application when clear proof emerges of the contrary will of God, as happened in the case of that deed of Zedekiah about which we spoke but recently, and before that also in the case of his predecessor Rehoboam11 ; for he would otherwise justly have attacked the other ten tribes revolting from him had not God expressly forbidden this to be done. But on the other hand Mattathias12 and his children are celebrated as deserving of the highest praise because they so courageously resisted the most cruel tyrant Antiochus when God did not by any decree forbid it, although without His just judgment Antiochus would not have attacked the people of God and even have been acceptable to many and found favor with them. g) The further objection is raised that the revolt of the Israelites from Rehoboam, even though he was an unjust oppressor, deserves the strongest condemnation. I myself too answer that the Israelites did double wrong by him. (They did so) firstly because with summoning the Estates of the people of Israel with the purpose of compelling Rehoboam to his duty either willingly or unwillingly, they elected13 a new king and thereby rent asunder that kingdom which God desired to be one; and secondly, because in (their choice) they went beyond the House of David which they knew had been set aside by God Himself for the kingship. But these circumstances do not in the least invalidate our proposition. Nor will it avail at all to use as argument the calling of Jeroboam14 made known to him by the prophet Ahijah, since the entire account clearly proves that the people had no regard to it when they revolted from the House of David and slew Adoram who was over the levy15 , but that the road which they took was manifest revolt whereas they could and should rather have opposes tyranny with the lawful and just use of arms. Thus often something is done unjustly which yet nothing prevents from being just in itself. h) Furthermore (our opponents) urge that it is an argument in their favor that Saints Peter16 and Paul17 bid prayers to be openly said for kings and other rulers who yet in their own times were not merely heathen but the most cruel tyrants too. I grant that, by all means; but apart from the fact that those exhortations are directed to private citizens who, we have consistently maintained, have no other remedy but prayers and patience left to them, it should be borne in mind here too that when we declare that the subordinate magistrates or Estates of some kingdom can, nay more even should, offer resistance to tyranny, that does not in any way detract from the duty of the faithful of Christ in private station by which they are forbidden to requite evil with evil, but (are bidden) to overcome evil in good and even to pray for their enemies; and that such defense by the magistrates does not prevent them from being suppliants before God for the conversion of that very tyrant whom they are resisting and from manifesting towards him truly and sincerely as much respect as possible while they resist him. And yet it should be noted that a tyrant can sink to such depths of sinfulness and can perform such abominable acts of hostility towards God that it may not only be allowable (but may on occasion even be worth the effort) expressly to formulate public prayers and imprecations against him; the ancient and primitive church once plainly proved this by its example when it not merely publicly imprecated the emperor Julian surnamed the Apostate but was heard (by God)18 . i) Finally (my opponents) quote the example of Christ Himself who paid tribute19 to Tiberius Caesar although he was the unjust usurper of Judah and a monster rather than a man, whereas on the other hand it admits of no doubt that however many (Jews) offered resistance to the Roman emperors by means of revolt perished miserably, those especially mentioned being the well-known Judas Calonites20 , Theudas and other revolutionaries and finally the whole Jewish nation, who revolted that they might not be compelled to embrace the false religion of the heathens. To these I answer that there is a great difference between the right of kings and tyranny; therefore, although Jesus Christ was the Lord of heaven and earth and the kingdom of the Jews belonged of right to Him as the descendant of David rather than to the Romans or Herod, yet because He had not come into the world to that end that He might rule in human fashion, but that He might as a private citizen in these parts, and with the renunciation of the prerogative of the House of David, here pass His life, therefore by that example21 of His He wished to prove that tributes and other contributions are rightly owed and rendered to kings and other rulers. For although the Roman emperors initially seized the kingdom of the Jews unjustly, yet in the end they became its lawful lords, partly by the just judgment of God, partly by the consent and approval, if not of all, yet certainly of the more powerful majority of Jews, as they indicated quite clearly, when they nearly all acclaimed: We have no king but Caesar22.Question 7 notes.
Question 7. What must be done when the Orders or Estates cannot be summoned to impede or to check tyranny?
1. Joshua 22:10-12 2. Judges 20:1-48.
3. Eusebius, Hist. eccl., book IX, cap. 9, 1; Socrates in Hist. eccl. trip., book I, cap. 4 4. 1 Samuel 24:5-7; 1 Samuel 26:9 5. 2 Samuel 1:1-16 6. 2 Chronicles 36:13 7. Ezekiel 17:12-14, Ezekiel 41:1-26
8. "Frangenti fidem, fides fangatur eidem" See Hans Walther, ed., Carmina Medii Aevi Posteriores Latina (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, 2 vol. in 6 tomes, 1959-1967), II/2, 182, for a list of authors who employ the proverb, both ancient and medieval.
9. Jeremiah 29:7 10. Jeremiah 38:17-18 11. 2 Chronicles 11:4 12. 1Ma 1:1-64 & 1Ma 1:1-70 13. 1 Kings 12:18-20 14. 1 Kings 11:31-39 15. 1 Kings 12:18 16. 1 Peter 2:17 17. 1 Timothy 2:1-2 18. See Rufinus, Hist. eccl., book I, cap. 35; Artemius, Comm. hist., cap. 56 19. Matthew 17:27 20. Acts 5:36-37
21. Romans 13:7
22. John 19:15