Carson was Right!

In the past I was of the opinion that Sir Edward Carson’s opposition to the Irish Home Rule Bill, and his raising of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) to resist such a measure, was an act of rebellion against the civil magistrate. This is a view I have subsequently revised. Why? Firstly, because Lord Carson (as he later became) was not a private individual; he and his other Unionist MPs were lesser magistrates, and so their resistance to a parliamentary bill – which would have placed Ulster Protestants under Popish despotism – was not an act of anarchy. Romans 13:1 says ‘Let every person be subject to the governing authorities’, however, since Lord Carson and others were one branch of ‘the governing authorities’ then they were not guilty of ungodly rebellion.

The Reformers such as John Calvin and John Knox recognised that the lesser magistrates had the right to resist (and, if necessary, remove) superior civil magistrates when they abused their power. An example of this in Scripture is found in when the northern tribes of Israel seceded from Rehoboam’s rule after petitioning him to cease from his tyrannical oppression of them (1 Kings 12). Lord Carson’s threat to set up a provisional civil government to rule over Ulster if the Home Rule bill was passed was, in essence, no different.

But was Carson right to set up the UVF? First of all, let me say that the UVF which was established in 1912 has nothing to do with the bunch of drug-pushers, murderers and atheistic Socialists that presently call themselves the “UVF”. However, getting back on topic, the idea of a citizen militia – controlled by the lesser magistrate – is a perfectly Scriptural one; as the laws governing warfare in Deuteronomy 20 do not allow for a standing army, but only a citizen militia of volunters. This is much less dangerous than a standing army, kept separate from the civilian population, as there is nothing to stop the civil government from using such an army to oppress the very people that they are supposed to be protecting (the US Army’s confiscation of citizen’s weapons during the recent hurricane Katrina disaster bears testimony to this). Moreover, if all guns are kept in the hands of the police and army, then that means the state has a monopoly on weapons – which it can readily use against us.

So, in conclusion, I have come to see that Lord Carson and those who stood with him were not insurrectionists, but men who sought to use their God-appointed authority to stop despotism. If only more righteous magistrates would be raised up to resist all forms of Popish, Erastian, Socialist and Messianic Statist tryanny.

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