Reverence for Law
George Dawson. Romans 13:1-7 Let every soul be subject to the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.… So it is with loyalty, the reverence for order and law incarnated in a man, reverence for the king, as God's vicegerent and visible symbol. With their politics I have no sympathy, but for the loyalty of the old Cavaliers to Charles I have intense admiration. He stood to them not merely as the man Charles Stuart, but as the embodiment of Law, Order, Divinity; hence they were willing to lay down all they had for his sake, to peril life and limb in defence of his rights. Who can read the tale of that heroic woman who, when the life of her beloved queen and mistress was sought, bravely made her own frail white arm a bolt across the door to guard her from danger, and held it there until the shattered bone refused longer to obey her will, without saying that she did this, not as friend for friend, but as subject for queen? If we are not loyal now, it is because loyalty lacks objects on which to bestow itself, not because the deep perennial feeling of the heart is less strong than it was of old. (George Dawson.) Parallel Verses KJV: Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. WEB: Let every soul be in subjection to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those who exist are ordained by God.