The 1599 Geneva Bible:
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 a peaceable life, in all godliness, and honesty.
Table of Contents:
The 1599 Geneva Bible:
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 a peaceable life, in all godliness, and honesty.
[Expositio Epistolae I ad Timotheum, in: Patrologia Latina, vol. 117, col. 860]
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.
The blessed Apostle directing these words to Timothy, in him delivered to all bishops and presbyters, and to the whole Church the form how they ought to celebrate the solemnities of masses, and pray for all men; which form or example the whole Church now retains.
I. For supplications are whatsoever precedes in the solemnities of masses, up to that place where the priest begins to consecrate the mysteries of the body and blood of the Lord, saying: Thee therefore, most merciful Father, we beseech, etc…
II. Prayers are those which the priest pours forth in the consecration of the Eucharist up to the fraction of the body of the Lord, namely when the priest places a certain particle into the chalice.
III. Intercessions are episcopal benedictions, which the bishop says over the people, invoking the name of God upon them, which is drawn from the Old Testament. For through Moses the Lord said to the priests: Ye shall invoke my name upon the children of Israel and I will bless them.
IV. Giving of thanks are the praises which the priest renders to God the Father after the people have communicated, who has deigned to give them the mysteries of the body and blood of His Son for salvation and redemption.
And lest perhaps someone should say: We ought not to pray for infidel kings and judges and dukes, because they are pagans, the Apostle commanded to pray for all men, inspired by the same Holy Spirit by which also Jeremiah the prophet, who sent an epistle to the Jews who were in Babylon that they should pray for the life of king Nebuchadnezzar and his sons, and for the peace of the city to which they had been led captive, saying: Therefore ye ought to pray for them, because in their peace shall be your peace.
Similarly also the Apostle gives reasons why he commands such things: That we may lead a tranquil and quiet, that is peaceful, life in all godliness and honesty.
I. Godliness is the worship and religion of almighty God. Therefore the servants of God must pray for the king's life and the peace of the kingdom, that they themselves may more freely be able to be devoted to the worship and religion of God, because often while enemies drive the servants of God from their proper seats, and wars and seditions rage through kingdoms, they cannot be intent upon the culture of God in all things as in time of peace.
II. Godliness also is the mercy which we ought to bestow upon the poor and needy. If therefore we are plundered by enemies, we cannot exercise the work of mercy, because he who has not whence to sustain his own misery or himself cannot bestow mercy upon another. But that we may have whence to give alms, we must pray for the life of the king and princes, and for the peace of the kingdom, and that we may lead our life, that is conduct it, in all chastity of body. In time of peace chastity can be preserved somehow and with minimal difficulty, but when the kingdom is plundered by robbers and enemies, it can by no means be preserved, because the masters who have been plundered fulfill their will and uncleanness with the captives as they please, nor can they resist.
Wherefore we must pray for the safety and life of faithful kings and princes, that being preserved for a long time, they may have peace and kingdom, and may advance more and more for the better. For the unfortunate also we must pray, that they may recover from infidelity, and pass over to faith.