The Duty of Submission to Civil Authority, A Sermon Preached in the Parish Church of Bradfield, Berkes, on Sunday, November 28, 1830, on Occasion of the Late Disturbances

Delivered on a chilly November Sunday in 1830, this sermon rises from the turmoil that recently shook the village of Bradfield. The preacher turns to the epistles of Peter and Jude, insisting that genuine faith cannot coexist with a contempt for the civil order ordained by God. By framing the recent riots as a warning, he urges his listeners to see obedience to kings and magistrates as an expression of true Christian righteousness.

The discourse is organized in two parts: first, it defines the scope of the duty to submit to every civil ordinance, regardless of a ruler’s character; second, it explores the spiritual motives that should drive such compliance. Drawing on biblical authority, the speaker connects personal conscience with national stability, suggesting that a nation’s moral health depends on the faithful honoring its institutions. Even today, the sermon offers a calm, historically grounded perspective on the relationship between faith and civic responsibility.