1. God, the supreme Lord and King of all the world, has ordained civil magistrates to be under him and over the people, for his own glory and for the public good. Therefore he has armed them with the power of the sword, for the defense and encouragement of those who are good and for the punishment of those who do evil.

2. It is lawful for Christians to accept and to carry out the office of a magistrate when called to it. In so doing, they ought especially to maintain piety, justice, and peace according to the good laws of each commonwealth. For that purpose, they may lawfully, now under the New Testament, wage war on just and necessary occasions.

3. Civil magistrates may not assume to themselves the administration of the Word and sacraments or the power of the keys of the kingdom of heaven, or in the least way interfere in matters of faith. Yet, like good fathers, it is the duty of civil magistrates to protect the church of our common Lord, without giving preference to any denomination of Christians above the rest, in such a manner that all ecclesiastical persons enjoy the full, free, and unquestioned liberty of discharging every part of their sacred functions without violence or danger. Also, since Jesus Christ has appointed a regular government and discipline in his Church, no law of any commonwealth should interfere with, prevent, or hinder the due exercise of church discipline among the voluntary members of any denomination of Christians, according to their own profession and belief. It is the duty of civil magistrates to protect the lives and the good name of all their people, in such an effective manner that no person is allowed, on the pretense of either religion or of opposition to a religion, to offer any indignity, violence, abuse, or injury to any other person, and to make sure that all religious and ecclesiastical assemblies are held without molestation or disturbance.

4. It is the duty of people to pray for magistrates, to honor them as individuals, to pay them tribute or other due taxes, to obey their lawful commands, and to be subject to their authority, for the sake of conscience. Unbelief, or difference in religion, does not make void the magistrates’ just and legal authority, nor free the people from the obedience due to them. Ecclesiastical persons are not exempted, much less does the Pope have any power or jurisdiction over them in their dominions, or over any of their people, least of all to deprive them of their dominions or lives if he judges them to be heretics, or on any other pretense.