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E. WALTER MAUNDER, F.R.A.S., ON 



service in her administration, service in her schools, service in 

 her hospitals, service during her famines and plagues. Despotism, 

 that is to say rule by force, degrades both the master and the 

 slave, and the master more than the slave ; rule by service 

 leaves both him who serves and him who is served free, and 

 it exalts both. 



Sovereignty and Liberty. God alone is Great ; God alone is 

 Sovereign. All authority and sovereignty therefore come from 

 Him, and can only be rightly exercised as stewardships from 

 Him ; with a deep sense of responsibility towards Him, and in 

 accordance with His mind and will. The claim of one man — 

 or of one nation — to dominion over others, because of some 

 superiority, real or imagined, in strength or wisdom, or some 

 other personal quality, has no foundation. The differences 

 between man and man are not of the order to warrant it, and 

 authority is not inherent in man. but in God alone. 



It is generally admitted to-day that authority is not inherent 

 in some one man, or in some few men ; but it is widely assumed 

 that it is necessarily inherent in a great multitude of men. It is 

 true that authority may be exercised by a multitude, but by 

 whomsoever exercised it is inherent only in God, and can only 

 be rightly administered in the spirit of His government ; that 

 is to say, for the welfare and freedom of the governed. All 

 legitimate government is for the protection of those under its 

 rule, and especially of those who have no other defence but 

 that which it affords ; the minority under a democracy has 

 therefore a peculiar claim to consideration and care, for it is 

 the defenceless portion of the State. The forgetfulness of this 

 fact is the evil to which democracies are especially exposed, 

 for while " Might is Eight " is the doctrine that distinguishes 

 the tyranny of despotism, " Minorities must suffer " is the 

 doctrine, equally false, cruel and deadly, of the tyranny of 

 democracy. Where the rule is that of the majority the 

 responsibility rests upon it to see that the rights of the minority 

 are not invaded, or its members wronged ; in a word, to secure 

 that minorities shall not suffer. 



Sovereignty must be exercised in full acknowledgment of 

 God's sovereignty, and shaped after its image ; as pure, as just, 

 as merciful, and as beneficent. And Liberty stands upon the 

 same sanction, for God alone is Free, and true Liberty comes 

 from Him alone, and must be shaped after His image. As 

 already said, our knowledge of the Divine Freedom is in the 

 freedom of his gifts ; so the freedom of man is shown by the 

 willingness and abundance of his gifts of service to others. And 



