Neither Church nor State is an absolute. No power is a law unto itself, but is subject to the law of God. A true society is a responsible community acting as a steward under the sovereignty of an Absolute. Here is the bulwark of democracy. The acceptance of an Absolute beyond this world is the safeguard against any form of absolutism in this world.
Christian faith provides the sure roots for the healthy fruits of democracy.
In discussing stewardship under sovereignty we have pointed to 2. The sovereignty of God's law. He emphasised the necessity of not confusing these two. The kingdom of grace and mercy is under the principle of love, but the kingdom of wrath and severity is not. In one's personal relationships within the kingdom of grace and mercy one is subject to the sermon on the mount, but as a citizen of the State, which is an instrument of the kingdom of wrath and severity, one is lifted, with the State, into an order not subject to the sermon on the mount.