The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1903-09-19

OInef power ndQ created us, ODSeGNSu
Winslow, I'VE might still love and
revere God, for what he is in and OF
himself, but he would have no right
to command us as a sovereign, for in
that case we should not be his crea-
lures, but anothers.'' To which De
Bonneville opposed: IF, then, the devil
: had created us, we should have been
ba'lnd to obey the devil"
CONVERSATION XI.-(ContinuedD
Give the devil his due, is a maxim
one often hears repeated" replied Fa-
ther John. IF the devil were an indie
pendent being and were really our Gre
ator, we should be his and bound to
obey his commands. But the SUPPOSE
tior is absurd. The devil could create
us only on the supposition that he is
| not himself created, that he is real and
necessary being; and if real and neces-
| sary being, he cannot be evil but must
| be good. and hence not the devil but
God The devil is a creature, the crea-
ture OF God, and therefore. like any
other creature, belongs to God in all
! he is, and in all he can do. Whatever
! the power he may have he has received
it from Cod and owes it to him. God
| owns him, owns his power, and there
! fore all that by that power can be
| DlOuSlll Itt III, d. lit WIN wv ilS tliV 'ReNt
! ents owns the offspring, as we believe
| is asserted by the laws of every civ
| iliZed state"
m. de Bonneville said Winslow lis
/ a French royalist. in exile for his loyal
| ty. and he, 1 presume. holds that he is
! bound to obey his legitimate prince,
! precisely because it is his prince who
| commands. The same command, how
| ever just and good, issued by another,
would not be a command for him. How.
then. is it that he fails to perceive that
the obligation to obey God does not
depend on what is commanded. but on
the fact that he who commands it is his
sovereign? 1t is not precisely because
what is commanded is just and good
that Gods commands are obligatory,
but because they are the commands of
him who has the right to command"
Gods commands bind our con-
| sciences because they are just and
good said O'Connor
Rather replied Winslow. they are
just and good because they are his
commands. I love the law of God. |
delight in it, because it is just and
good; l obey it because it is the COM
mand of my sovereign"
1.-The dispute arises" said Diefenbach,
from not distinguishing between the
resentative. between him who is SOW
ereign IL his own right and him VINO is
sovereign only by commission. God is
sovereign in his own right. and we owe
him unconditional obedience; we can
make no inquiry into the intrinsic ma
ture of his commands, before obeying;
we can only inquire what is command
ed, and whether it is really he who
commands. The real sovereign is not
and never can be a tyrant, for tyrant,
by the very force of the word, means
usurper one who commands without
the right to command. Every tyran-
nical act is usurpation of power, and
an unjust command is tyrannical, be-
cause no one has legitimate authority
to command injustice. Human sover-
eigns, even the most legitimate, are
only delegated sovereigns, and possess
no sovereignty in their own right. Into
their orders we may inquire. for they
have no authority beyond their COM
mission. and that commission never au-
thorizes them to command what is in
trinsically unjust. But when we know
the command is from God, to inquire if
it be just or not, is not only irreverent,
but absurd. for it is simply asking if
the command of God be the command
of God"
rights in face of the delegate or human
representative of power, gives US none
before God" said O'Connor. THE law
of justice is universal, and God him
self is no more exempt from it than
the meanest of his creatures. He has
no more right to do injustice than I
have; I have then before him the right
of Justice
THE law of justice" said Diefen-
bach. lis universal, not because it is
distinct from God, above him, or anter-
ior to him, but because it is God him
self He is bound by it only in the
sense that he is bound by his own be-
ing, or the perfection of his own nature.
He can apply the law to his creatures,
or create existences that shall come
under it, but he cannot alter it. bee
aause he cannot alter or annihilate
himself or his own real and necessary |
being. God is. and is necessarily what
he is. He only is, and whatever is dis
from him is not being, but
existence, created by him, and having |
it's being in his being, for in him we
live and move and have our being.
are utilities, and an alb
stract law is simply no law at all. The |
law of Justice must be real, then be- |
ing, and if being. God. Hence st. Aug !
son or will of God. The nature of |
the contrary of which cannot !
be done, is not something distinct from |
God, and subjecting him, but is precise
ly his own eternal and immutable ma |
ture. The nature of things is what it |
is. because he is what he is, and cannot |
make himself other than he is. To say
such or such a thing is impossible i'll
the nature of things, is simply to say
that it is repugnant to the nature of
God, and what he, from the perfection
Of his nature, cannot do. God cannot
be subject to any law but that of his
own being. He cannot be placed under
we then can have no rights
before him, and no rights at all except
from him, and under him.. for rights on
the one side are obligations on the
other"
But by placing the law in the very
being of God" said De Bonneville, 'ih
his eternal and immutable being, Mr..
returns to my doctrine,
which he denies, that the right of God
10 command is in his essence and not
in his creative act.''
by no MEANS" answered Father
John, "for the creative act is a free,
act of God, and not neces-
sity of his being. That he should have
dominion over his creatures in case he
creates, is the law of his own being;
but that he has dominion over me,
rests on the fact that he has made me,
and lam his; by virtue the principle,
the thing made belongs to the maker.
That the thing made belongs to the
maker, is implied in being; but that
God has made me and I therefore be-