加尔文的平等与不服从（本人译）--节选自马丁·怀特《国际理论》

尽管加尔文提出的信条常有主权在民的倾向，但他本人意非在此，他想说的是主权在神。严格地讲，他毕竟是一个神权统治者。国王和官员的权威源自其之上：上帝，而非源自其之下：人民。他只不过是为了颂扬上帝的主权，相应地淡化了人们的等级差别。在上帝视野下，所有人皆平等；如果一个国王或官员发出悖德叛教的指令，服从的天然义务就转变为不服从的特殊义务。在他的《要义》( Institutes )最后一段说明了这一点：

【但对于那种我们认为归因于统治者指令而产生的服从，我们必须总要为此破例，不，必须格外谨慎，这不相斥于服从统治者，他的意志（国王们的愿望）都该被遵从，他的法令（他们的指令）必须屈从，他的威严（他们的权杖）必须躬身以对。但实际上，这是多么荒谬，在对他们的取悦中，招致来自他们的侵害，皆是拜你们的屈从所赐啊众人！上帝才是众王之王，当他开启圣口，只有他能被听取，取代一切，高于一切。统治我们的人们，我们是他的臣民，但我们终究只能是上帝的臣民。如果他们的任何指令有违上帝，我们就一点尊重都不需要给他们，我们也不要动摇于他们全部的尊荣，就像各地官员拥有的那种样子——一种尊荣只有在置于上帝的特别且真实的至高力量之下，才不会受到损害】（脚注10）

Although Calvin propounded doctrines which tended towards popular sovereignty, he himself did not propound that doctrine: his doctrine was the sovereignty of God. He was, strictly, a theocrat. The authority of kings and magistrates came from above, from God, not from below, from the people. Nevertheless by exalting the sovereignty of God he correspondingly minimized the differences of rank between men. In the eyes of God, all men are equal; and if a king or magistrate commands something immoral or irreligious, the natural duty of obedience is transformed into the special duty of disobedience. The last paragraph of the Institutes makes this point:

But in that obedience which we hold to be due to the commands of rulers, we must always make the exception, nay, must be particularly careful, that it is not incompatible with obedience to Him to Whose will the wishes of all kings should be subject, to Whose decrees their commands must yield, to Whose majesty their sceptres must bow. And indeed, how preposterous were it, in pleasing men, to incur the offence of Him for Whose sake you obey men! The Lord, therefore, is King of Kings. When He opens His sacred mouth, He alone is to be heard, instead of all and above all. We are subject to the men who rule over us, but subject only in the Lord. If they command anything against Him, let us not pay the least regard to it, nor be moved by all the dignity which they possess as magistrates - a dignity to which no injury is done when it is subordinated to the special and truly supreme power of God.（脚注10）

（p.11, Martin Wight, International Theory: The Three Thought Traditons, chap.1)

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10. Institutes (1845 edn), quoted in R.H. Murray, ibid., pp. 109-10.