live in his perfection, rejoicing that they are counted worthy to suffer dishonor for his name.[388] Even the Scripture gives this interpretation when it says,
The sons of wisdom are the congregation of the righteous, and their mark is obedience and love.[389]
They, the sons of wisdom … who trust in him will understand the truth, and, faithfully clinging to him in love,[390] they will gladly do his will.
[ How different is the secular authority with its compulsion and force! ] Therefore a faithful Christian who is a servant of Christ and of his perfect rule cannot be a king with un-Christian authority and with rights contrary to the law of Christ … lest he pollute the blessed ferment of the wine with stinking poison…
CHAPTER 35
THE LAW OF MEN AND THE LAW OF CHRIST (CONTINUED)
Fourthly … no true Christian can become a ruler over a people whose true king is Christ. [ A true Christian can have no other sentiments but those of equality with others; any action that would spoil the brotherly relation is un-Christian. ] He must keep a brotherly equality with all and everybody, love his neighbor as himself,[391] and do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better than himself.[392] How could he be a king if the gospel prescribes to “bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ”?[393]
It is shown in the example of Solomon … that the burden of rulership is difficult. When he died and his son was about to become king, the Jewish people came to him asking him to be kind and to lighten the heavy burden that his father had imposed upon them. And he,[394] taking counsel with fools, and being a fool himself, answered the people saying, “My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins![395] In other words, he would burden the people more than his father. Because of this foolish answer, ten tribes left him. All this shows that even Solomon, with all his wisdom, burdened his people with great oppression.
Therefore, a good Christian who is obliged to carry his neighbor’s burdens cannot impose the pagan burden of authority on others. One day, when the Disciples of Christ disputed who was the greatest of them, Jesus said to them, “Do you know that the kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over the people, seeking
