SOVEKEiCiNTY. 49 



)iit of God." Every right, in fact, if it is a riglit, i.s 

 Icrived from absolute reason and justice, which are only 

 mother name for God. A riglit purely liuman is sim- 

 ply absurd. "When, tlicrelore, I set up ilie claim to 

 ■xact from my fcllcnv-man a deference to my acts, liow- 

 .'ver contrary tliey may Ije to liis interests and prefer- 

 ences ; wlien I undertake to put restraint upon his 

 ictions, and even on his person, by "what I call my right, 

 it is because I feel within me something that comes from 

 .ibove me, and which, for the time being, croAvns me the 

 sovereign of my fellow and my peer. Political power 

 ts a right in him who exercises it; it gives rise to duties 

 m those who are subject to it. It is consequently 

 Jivine just as all legitimate rights are divine, from the 

 right of owner to that of husband or father ; " for there 

 is no power but of God." 



Being divine, power is therefore inviolable and not to 

 be resisted by any. Saint Paul himself comes to this 

 conclusion : " Whosoever therefore resistetli the power, 

 resisteth the ordinance of God;"* and he adds, "' Where- 

 fore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but 

 .ilso for conscience' sake."f Ye are to bow yourselves, 

 not to the might of the sword nor to the might of law, 

 but to your own conscience. Might is not right, neither 

 can man find Avithin himself the ground of authority 

 to command his fellow-man. But whenever your OAvn 

 conscience shows you your felloAV-man in the majesty of 

 riglit, then yield 3'our obedience, not to man, but to God. 

 The principle of the inviolability of power belongs 

 both to the doctrine and to the constant practice of the 

 Catholic Church. We are permitted, many a time 

 we are bound, to resist the abuses of power, but never 

 to attack the power itself. 



* Romans, xiii. 2. t Ibid., xiii. 5. 



