t, truth being thus presented, the
causes of error and doubt will be removed, so that each may easily see
by those supreme commandments for living, what things he ought to
follow, and whom he ought to obey.

It is not a very difficult matter to set forth what form and appearance
the State should have if Christian philosophy governed the commonwealth.
By nature it is implanted in man that he should live in civil society,
for since he cannot attain in solitude the necessary means of civilized
life, it is a Divine provision that he comes into existence adapted for
taking part in the union and assembling of men, both in the Family and
in the State, which alone can supply adequate facilities for _the
perfecting of life_. But since no society can hold together unless some
person is over all, impelling individuals by efficient and similar
motives to pursue the common advantage, it is brought about that
authority whereby it may be ruled is indispensable to a civilized
community, which authority, as well as society, can have no other source
than nature, and consequently God Himself. And thence it follows that by
its very nature there can be no public power except from God alone. For
God alone is the most true and supreme Lord of the world, Whom
necessarily all things, whatever they be, must be subservient to and
obey, so that whoever possess the right of governing, can receive that
from no other source than from that supreme chief of all, God. "_There
is no power except from God._" (Rom. xiii. 1.) But the right of ruling
is not necessarily conjoined with any special form of commonwealth, but
may rightly assume this or that form, provided that it promotes utility
and the common good. But whatever be the kind of commonwealth, rulers
ought to keep in view God, the Supreme Governor of the world, and to set
Him before themselves as an example and a law in the administration of
the State. For as God, in things which are and which are seen, has
produced secondary causes, wherein the Divine nature and course of
action can be perceived, and which conduce to that end to which the
universal course of the world is directed, so in civil society He has
willed that there should be a government which should be carried on by
men who should reflect towards mankind an image as it were of Divine
power and Divine providence. The rule of the government, therefore,
should be just and not that of a master but rather that of a father,
because the power