Saturday, September 5, 2026

day no. 17,484: principles govern princes

"For princes are ordained to do good, not to do evil: to take away evil, not to increase it: to give example of well doing, not to be the procurers of evil: to procure the wealth and benefit of their subjects, and not to work to their hurt or undoing." — John Ponet, A Short Treatise on Political Power

Princes are commanded by Christ to prosecute evil and to promote good. So, if they refuse to prosecute evil or even worse, promote it, they are disobeying God and any of their people who disobey them and their wicked promotions do so by obeying Christ. Furthermore, if the princes are indifferent to what is good or even worse, prosecute it, they are disobeying God and any of their people who disobey them and their wicked restrictions do so by obeying Christ.

Romans 13:7
Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.

Princes are people too. They owe tribute to God and are obligated to conform to His customs. They must fear Him before anything else, including the fear of losing power, and they must honor Him before they seek honor for themselves.

"Antiochus, the third king of Asia, considering that he was above the people, so the laws were above him, wrote general letters to all the cities of his country, that if they should perceive that any letters should require anything contrary to the laws, they should think that those letters were obtained without his consent, and therefore they should not obey them." — John Ponet, A Short Treatise on Political Power

The king is not above the law, but is bound to it as any other men. The order is lex rex, not rex lex. In other words, the king is not above the Law, the Law is above the king,

"It will be said that although kings and princes cannot make laws, but with the consent of the people, they may dispense with any positive law, by reason that a long time ago they used to, and prescribed so to do: for long custom makes a law. To this it may be answered that evil customs (be they never so old) are not to be suffered, but to be utterly abolished: and none may prescribe to do evil, whether king or subject." — John Ponet, A Short Treatise on Political Power

Long customs do not make laws. Old societal habits ought to be considered just as any fence, as Chesterton once reminded us, was put up for a reason; and so, we must understand that reason before we make the decision to move it or take it down completely. If a country has a long and storied history of consenting to its king as the highest authority beyond which there is no appeal, that custom ought to come down. There is a King of kings and a Lord of lords and a nation with a track record of ignoring that needs to have its records expunged and a new foundation laid upon which to build a new history going forward.

"If princes and governors would show themselves to be half as wise as they would have men take them to be, and by the example of others learn what mischief might happen to themselves, they would not (if they might) claim, much less execute any such absolute authority. No, neither would their counselors (if they loved them) maintain them in it: nor would the subjects suffer their prince to do what he lusted for." — John Ponet, A Short Treatise on Political Power

If the elites were as elite as they try to convince us they are, they would be the first to acknowledge and aggressively confirm the limits of their authority. Only authors have ultimate authority and no one made himself anymore than any nation can claim to be its own maker. A child cannot be his own forefather, but he can walk in their footsteps.

Good laws derive from a good God. Any system that does not go over the king's head is doomed for his crown cannot bear the weight of the world even if he aspires to rule it.

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