_Objection eleventh._ Our Lord, just before his crucifixion, commanded his disciples to take swords, and, if any were destitute, to sell their garments and procure them, as they would no longer have his personal presence to protect them; and as they were to encounter great trials and difficulties, they must, besides relying on providence, take all prudent means for their defense and preservation. _Answer._ That our Lord did not direct them to take swords for self-defense is evident because he told them that two were enough, and because the disciples never made any use of them after their Master directed Peter to put up his and pronounced a penalty on all who should have recourse to swords afterwards. But the design seems to have been to show by example in the most trying situation where self-defense was justifiable, if in any case, that the use of the sword was utterly prohibited under the gospel economy, and to show the criminality and danger of ever using deathly weapons against mankind afterwards. If Christ's kingdom had been of this world, then, he tells us, his servants would have fought; but his kingdom being not of this world, the weapons of their warfare were not carnal but spiritual. He therefore rebuked them for their mistaken zeal, healed the wound they made, and forbade the use of the sword. _Objection twelfth._ Christians are commanded to be in subjection to civil rulers who are God's ministers to execute wrath on the wicked and are ministers of good to the church; therefore Christians are bound to take the sword at their command; for civil government is ordained of God and civil rulers are not to bear the sword in vain, and Christians may lawfully do what God ordains to be done. _Answer._ That civil government, so called in distinction from religious government, is ordained by God is fully admitted, and also that God ordains whatsoever comes to pass. But there is a great difference between his decretive and his preceptive will. The former is not a rule of duty for man without the latter; the latter is always a rule of duty. This fact might be proved by a multitude of instances from Scripture. Persons therefore may be very wicked in doing what God ordains to be done, if they act without his command.