"Inasmuch as the power of ruling and the right of administering laws has come to us from God, we must begin with Him. When his nature has been defined rightly and in due order, the provision of the remaining laws will be easier.
. . .
The authority of Divine Scripture is believed to be such that no excellence of any creature whatsoever should be preferred or equaled to it.
. . .
[The Anabaptists] deny that it is licit for Christians to hold the office of magistrate as though on that account Christ had come down to earth in order to abolish the administration of public affairs. For indeed the Holy Spirit has established princes and magistrates to be the ministers of God so that they may impart his favor to those who do well and restrain evil actions with punishments. For if these two should be absent in human affairs there would follow the greatest confusion of all things."
- Commission for Reformation of Ecclesiastical Laws of England, 1552
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