One of the most obvious things about
the Book of Common Prayer (BCP) is the frequency with which it calls
us to pray for those who are set in authority over us, for those who
hold public office in the country in which we live, for our civil
rulers, for kings, princes, presidents, governors, for those who in
times past were referred to as MAGISTRATES. The word "magistrate"
is generally used in our day to refer to a lower court judge or minor
law officer such as a justice of the peace, but in times past was
used to refer to anyone who held high public office or authority in a
country or state. Thus, a king or a prince or a duke or a president
or a prime minister or a supreme court judge, even the consuls of
ancient Rome, all these were referred to as magistrates. And this is
an appropriate usage, as our English word simply comes from the
Latin word for "master".
Again, one of the most obvious things
about the BCP is the frequency with which its calls us to pray for
these magistrates. The rubrics (the rules for the conduct of the
service) for Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer in the English 1662
BCP require that prayers for the monarch and the royal family be said
daily. This is not optional unless the Great Litany is to be said,
whereupon they may be omitted. In the Great Litany, however, a number
of petitions appear which cover the same themes, so that prayers for
the magistrates form a constant part of the Daily Offices in 1662. It
should be mentioned here that to pray, for example, for Elizabeth II,
the Queen of Canada, is to pray not just for her personally, but for
all those in civil authority in the country, the Queen still being
Head of State in Canada. To pray for her, therefore, is to pray for
the Prime Minister, the Cabinet, and the Federal Parliament, for the
Premiers and the Provincial Legislatures, as well as her other
representatives: the Governor-General and the Provincial
Lieutenant-Governors, the Judiciary, etc. Indeed, it is to pray for
all forms of government in Canada.
Likewise, in the Holy Communion
service in 1662, two prayers are provided for the monarch, one of
which is to be said at each celebration. Prayers on the same theme
are required in the Prayer for the Church Militant, or general
intercession, found in the same service. A prayer for Parliament is
provided in the "Prayers and Thanksgivings" section of the
book, to be used when Parliament is in session.
The rubrics for Morning Prayer and
Evening Prayer in the 1928 American BCP provide optional prayers
"for the President of the United States and All in Civil
Authority" on a daily basis. In Morning Prayer two prayers are
provided one of which may be used. In Evening Prayer one is provided.
In should be noted that, in keeping with the greater flexibility and
greater desire for brevity that is found in 1928, none of these
prayers is required to be said. They may be omitted when the Litany
is used or they may be omitted at the discretion of the Minister.
However, prayers for the civil authorities do still appear in the
Prayer for the Church Militant in the Holy Communion service and
these are not optional. Such prayers are likewise found in the 1928
version of the Great Litany, in the section called "Prayers and
Thanksgivings" and in the very beautiful "Family Prayer"
as well.
It should also be noted that in the
earlier versions of the American BCP, starting with the 1789 edition,
the prayer for the President in Morning Prayer was NOT optional. When
the Great Litany was said, it was said AFTER the prayer for the
President. This, apparently, was due to the fact that George
Washington, who was an Anglican, lived some eight miles from his
local church. This meant that he did not usually attend the evening
service. Therefore, if the Great Litany was used in the morning (and
it seems likely that it frequently was, in obedience to the rubrics)
and the prayer for the President omitted, he was not going to hear it
very often. He, therefore, requested that it be made a "shall"
rather than a "may", so that he could be present to hear
it. So, in this small but touching way, the first President of the
United States, being a churchman, was allowed to have some influence
on the liturgy of his church. This was apparently not changed until
1928.
If you have read thus far, you will
likely be aware that these prayers for the magistrate are included in
the BCP simply in obedience to Holy Scripture. The Apostle Paul says
it very clearly in 1 Timothy 2, verses 1 and 2 :
I exhort therefore, that, first of
all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be
made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that
we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
It is in obedience to this scriptural
command, then, that we pray daily for our leaders and pray for them
in the context of the Lord's Supper as well.
Significantly, a very important
principle is found in the second verse above. Paul exhorts us to pray
for the magistrate so that "we may lead a quiet and peaceable
life in all GODLINESS and honesty". At first, it may seem odd to
us, living in so-called secular democracies, that there should be a
connection between the magistrate and godliness. Yet, Paul makes the
connection. To Paul, praying for kings and those in authority, means
that we shall be able to lead quiet lives of godliness and honesty.
What is implied in his words, is that the magistrate is to be a
promoter, or a protector, of godliness or of piety.
In Romans 13:1 , we are reminded that
"the powers that be are ordained of God". And we are
exhorted by the Apostle to obey those powers because they are
ordained of God. He even tells us, in verse 2, that to resist the
magistrate is to resist God. But he also makes it clear that the
magistrate is a servant of God, a minister of God, appointed to
protect those who do good and to punish those who do evil. What is
implied here, again, is that the magistrate has a responsibility
himself, an obligation, to uphold what is good, to act and to judge
and to decide according to what is good. For Paul, this can only mean
that the magistrate is to act in accordance with God's Holy Law. In
no other way could they truly be His ministers, His servants.
This theme appears in other places in
the Scriptures. In Psalm 72: 1,2 we read
Give the King thy judgements, O God,
and thy righteousness unto the King's son. Then shall he judge thy
people according unto right: and defend the poor.
In Psalm 82, verse 1 and 2, God is
represented as appearing among the magistrates of the earth :
God standeth in the congregation of
the princes: He is a judge among gods. How long will ye give wrong
judgement: and accept the persons of the ungodly?
In Proverbs 29, verse 2, we read,
When the righteous are in authority,
the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people
mourn.
In Proverbs 20, verse 28, re read,
Mercy and truth preserve the king: and
his throne is upholden by mercy.
In Isaiah 1, verses 10 and 17, we read,
Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers
of Sodom ... learn to do well, seek judgement, relieve the
oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
The "powers that be are ordained
of God" but they are also responsible to God to rule according
to His justice, His judgements, His righteousness, His law. This
theme is reflected in many of the prayers for the magistrate found in
the BCP. For example, when we pray for the Queen in the 1662 Holy
Communion service, we pray that she may "know whose minister she
is" (i.e. God's) and that, knowing this, she "may above all
things seek [His] honour and glory". When we pray for the
President in the 1928 Morning Prayer service, we pray that he, and
all those who are in civil authority, may be given by God the
wisdom and strength to know and to do
[God's] will ...
and also that they may be filled
with the love of truth and
righteousness.
And what could be more clear than the
prayer "for the whole state of Christ's Church militant here
upon earth" found in the 1662 Holy Communion service? There we
pray that God will "save and defend all Christian Kings,
Princes, and Governors", granting to the reigning sovereign and
"all that are put in authority under him/her, that they may
truly and impartially administer justice, to the punishment of
wickedness and vice, and to the maintenance of true religion and
virtue". A very similar prayer is found in the Holy Communion
service in the 1928 American BCP, with appropriate changes for the
American, republican form of government.
The powers that be may be ordained by
God, but they are also responsible to God for the way in which they
wield their delegated power. Christians are to be good citizens and
to obey their magistrates. But the magistrates themselves are to be
good magistrates and are bound to obey God whom they represent. We
note in the last mentioned prayer that they are even bound to be
concerned for the "maintenance of true religion", that is,
that they are bound to be concerned for the protection of the Gospel.
They do not proclaim the Gospel, that being the role of the Church.
But neither are the civil authorities to be indifferent with regard
to the true religion, rather they are do all they can to uphold and
maintain it. This principle may seem strange even to Christians
raised in the secular atmosphere of 21st century Canada. But it is
given clear expression in the Westminster Confession of Faith,
Chapter XXIII, Section III :
The
civil magistrate may not assume to himself the administration of the
Word and sacraments, or the power of the keys of the kingdom of
heaven: yet he hath authority, and it is his duty, to take order,
that unity and peace be preserved in the Church, that the truth of
God be kept pure and entire; that all blasphemies and heresies be
suppressed ...
It was given clear
expression at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, who was asked
this question :
Will you to the
utmost of your powers maintain the laws of God, the true principles
of the Gospel, and the Protestant Reformed Religion established by
law?
Totally
apart from the question as to whether or not the magistrates in
Canada, or in the United States, or in the United Kingdom, all
understand their responsibilities and actually fulfill them today (a
question that surely needs to be asked frequently), what is clear
from both the Holy Scriptures and the prayers of the BCP, is that
they do have these responsibilities. They are to be "nursing
fathers" to the church (Isaiah 29:43). They are to obey God's
law and even be concerned for godliness and piety.
I believe that this
is a great encouragement to Christians. Yes, we are called to obey
the powers that be. But the powers that be are also called to obey
God, whether or not they want to acknowledge it. And it is also clear
in Scripture that we may not obey them if they command us to disobey
the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. For example, the Apostles are
specifically commanded by the Jewish Council and the High Priest NOT
to proclaim the Gospel. But their answer is
we ought to obey
God rather than men (Acts 5:29),
and they fill
Jerusalem with their preaching.
It is a great
encouragement to Christians to know that there is an authority above
the authority of the magistrate, above the authority of the state, to
which the magistrate and the state are ultimately and solemnly
responsible and to whom they will one day give account. It is a great
encouragement to us to remember that the
King's heart is in
the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water; He turneth it
whithersoever he
will. (Prov. 29:1)
It is the Lord who
sets up kings and presidents and prime ministers and the Lord who
casts them down. And there are times
when God will cast them down. As St. Augustine says in the City of
God IX, 4 :
If justice be taken
away, what are governments but great bands of robbers?
When the Canadian
Parliament presumes to redefine marriage, it presumes to sit on God's
throne. When it presumes to ignore the murder of unborn children, it
presumes to sit on God's throne. When it presumes to abolish capital
punishment, it presumes to sit on God's throne. But the throne, of
course, is occupied and the One who sits there cannot be robbed of
His power or glory.
It is a great
encouragement to Christians to remember that there is a God who rules
over all the kingdoms of this earth, to whom all the magistrates of
this earth are solemnly responsible. And while the church is not
given the power of the sword, as the civil rulers are, yet it is the
role of the church to teach the magistrate what his duty to God is.
Therefore, as we pray daily for the magistrate, let us also pray that
the church will awaken again to all her duty, that the Gospel will be
faithfully proclaimed, and that all the rulers of all the nations
will be taught to obey all that the one, true God has commanded.
And Jesus came and
spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in
earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching
them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo,
I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matthew
28:18-20)
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