ruler’s mediatorial role and the fact that his power was ordained by God for the good of civil communities. It is not ordained for evil. Thus, any civil command to do evil or abstain from what is good is not a command of God, nor is it backed by divine power; it is a command of men, and no man by his own power can bind another man’s conscience to action. To resist such power is not to resist God but to resist tyrannical men.
