Table of Contents:

Johann Heinrich Alsted (c. 1638):

[Quaestiones Theologicae; (Frankfurt, 1627)]

Ought an unbelieving or wicked magistrate to be tolerated by the people of God?

Yea, for the power of the magistrate, which is from God Himself, must be distinguished from the unbelief or wickedness that ariseth from the corrupt mind of the magistrate. As such, it must be separated, and the office distinguished from the vice. The ordinance of God, which is in itself good, ought not to be prejudiced or defrauded thereby.