Author
Mark Hopkins
Mark Hopkins (1802–1887) was an influential American theologian and educator who served as president of Williams College for thirty-six years, profoundly shaping nineteenth-century Protestant intellectual life through his integration of moral philosophy and Christian doctrine. His theological work, exemplified in sermons such as those delivered before prominent political figures like Governor Edward Everett, reflected the antebellum American effort to reconcile Calvinist orthodoxy with Enlightenment rationalism and emerging democratic values. Hopkins's pedagogical and theological legacy established him as a central figure in the development of American evangelical Protestantism during the antebellum and postbellum periods.
From A Sermon Delivered Before His Excellency Edward Everett, Governor
of subjects and rulers. It lays down the true principles, it gives us the guiding light. When the general question is whether human governments are to be obeyed, the answer is, "He that resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God." " The powers that be are ordained of God." But when these powers overstep their appointed limits, and would lord it over the conscience, and come between man and his maker, then do we hear it uttered in the very face of power, and by the voice of inspiration, no less than of indignant humanity, " We ought to obey God rather than men." It has been in connexion with the maintenance of this principle, first proclaimed by an Apostle of Christ eighteen hundred years ago, that all the civil liberty now in the world has sprung up. It is to the fearless assertion of this principle by our…
More from the opening, and the full contents →
Works in the Library 1
Browse the full Reformed theology catalog — 1215 primary sources from Calvin to Spurgeon.
Search Mark Hopkins on Commonplace
Ask any question and AI synthesizes answers from across Mark Hopkins's works and the full library of 1215 Reformed primary sources.