Divine sovereignty

“ Thus with steadfast steps we may tread the Path of certitude, that perchance the breeze that bloweth from the meads of the good-pleasure of God may waft upon us the sweet savours of divine acceptance, and cause us, vanishing mortals that we are, to attain unto the Kingdom of everlasting glory. Then wilt thou comprehend the inner meaning of sovereignty and the like, spoken of in the traditions and scriptures. ”

“ The heavy emphasis which the new theological system laid upon the notion of the divine sovereignty, true as it was in spirit to the traditional Puritan interest in the cause of theocracy, was doomed to find itself belated within an age beginning to glow with humanitarian passion and with enthusiasm for the ideal of democracy ”

“ But how would they be answered if the representative and constituent bodies were both thoroughly instructed in the sacred character and paramount authority and importance of the duties which belong to the high function of sovereignty? We justly deny and deride the divine right of kings; and we assert and maintain the divine right of the people to self government. ”

“ The Holiness of God thus understood comprehends two things—the importation of all the wealth of His own Divine life to each free being who is willing to acknowledge His sovereignty, and who sincerely acquiesces in it; and the withholding or the withdrawal of that perfect life from every being who either attacks or denies that sovereignty, and who seeks to shake off that bond of dependence by which he ought to be bound to God. ”

“ And it may be added that the sovereignty of the people, as a divine trust, may be as logically deduced from the divine institution of government as the old divine right of kings. Government, by whatever name it is called, is a matter of experience and expediency. ”

“ A study of this great man’s life will convince us that he regarded his sovereignty, not merely as a trust committed to him by the Divine Ruler of the Universe—for that many sovereigns have done—but as a trust held on behalf of the Catholic Church of Christ, which was, in his view, identical with the State. ”

“ God's sovereignty in creation and in redemption; for it is only in relation to these two great abiding facts of the divine activity that the passing events of time have their true meaning. We look first upon the stability of the eternal throne, and upon the person of the divine atoning Lamb, and then we are better prepared to understand the drama of history, and to view with equanimity the dread scenes of crisis and conflict which belong to the lot of the church upon earth. ”

“ We beseech Him—exalted is He—to shield them through the power of His hosts, to protect them through the potency of His dominion and to aid them through His indomitable strength which prevaileth over all created things. Sovereignty is God’s, the Creator of the heavens and the Lord of the Kingdom of Names. ”

“ He goes on, "We revere, and we adore God, on account of his sovereignty: we worship him like his slaves; a God destitute of sovereignty, of providence, and of final causes, would be no more than nature and destiny." ”

“ Kings may plan, diplomatists may diplomatise, scientists may analyse, theologians may teach and preach their isms, and politicians may make platforms and construct rings, yet none, nor all combined, can stay the hand of God. “He doeth according to His will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth.” He can initiate, permit, modify, and destroy. Once we truly recognise the sovereignty of God over us, conceit will lie dead at the feet of humility. ”

“ All this he has done for his name's glory; therefore we acknowledge the hand of the Lord in controlling all the governments and kingdoms of the earth. But where is that heavenly, divine authority that comes down from above? Where is it to be found in the present generation, among all the nations and kingdoms in the four quarters of our globe, except it be in these mountains? Where has it been in ages that are past, since the Apostles fell asleep? You may traverse our earth from one side to the other to find a government established by the Almighty, and you cannot do it. ”

“ The kingship and rule of Jesus Christ our Lord was no exception. It is not my purpose to dwell here on the great and unchanging demands of the human soul which make His sovereignty a necessity of our well-being alike as citizens, and as individuals of His world. Unless the Lord is King, all must be confusion, dissonance, and disaster. The supreme fact in human life after all is, that our God is "the creator, preserver, and governor of all things." ”

“ As citizens of this Republic, our duty in things temporal is owed to our Prince—by right divine; as men, our duty to our Church, by right divine, is in things spiritual alone—which we render; but in things temporal God gave not the Church rule over us. If, at any point, these two dominions may seem to touch and intersect it is our Prince who disentangles, by his decree, the twisted thread. ”

“ It must ever be remembered by us, that the Holy Spirit is a Sovereign in all his dispensaries; so his sovereignty is particularly discerned in the manner of his operations upon his people—the way in which they are called—the more gentle leadings, and the awful storms that others experience ”

“ Are they not today leading the life of abased and impotent mortals? Yea, the sovereignty attributed to the Qá’im and spoken of in the scriptures, is a reality, the truth of which none can doubt. This sovereignty, however, is not the sovereignty which the minds of men have falsely imagined. Moreover, the Prophets of old, each and every one, whenever announcing to the people of their day the advent of the coming Revelation, have invariably and specifically referred to that sovereignty with which the promised Manifestation must needs be invested. ”

“ But spiritual jurisdiction is the expression of Christ's sovereignty on earth, and in the order just described it is linked with His Person as strictly as the worship exercised by means of His Priesthood, and the spiritual character which every one of His children bears. Surely no kingdom has ever been so contained in its king, no family in its father, no worship in its object, as the Christian kingdom, family, and worship, which together is the Church. ”

“ Were sovereignty to mean earthly sovereignty and worldly dominion, were it to imply the subjection and external allegiance of all the peoples and kindreds of the earth—whereby His loved ones should be exalted and be made to live in peace, and His enemies be abased and tormented—such form of sovereignty would not be true of God Himself, the Source of all dominion, Whose majesty and power all things testify. For, dost thou not witness how the generality of mankind is under the sway of His enemies? ”

“ Choose for thyself that which God hath chosen for His elect, and God shall grant thee a mighty sovereignty in His Kingdom. We beseech God to aid thy Majesty to hearken unto that Word whose radiance hath enveloped the whole world, and to protect thee from such as have strayed far from the court of His presence. ”

“ But thirdly, this great spiritual empire, with an hierarchy thus widely extended yet thus closely united, and a code of belief at once so large and so definite, erects its tribunal for the heart and conscience of every one belonging to it. In virtue of certain words spoken by its divine Founder to His Apostles, it intervenes as a living power between man and his God, exercises the most special authority of its Head, and retains or remits sins in His name. ”

“ What he called spiritual government was “without law or command,” and merely “the inward sovereignty of the Word,” “Christ’s spiritual dominion” where souls are ruled by the Evangel; there the Word of God is furthered by teaching and the sacraments, by which minds are led and heresy vanquished; “for Christians must be ruled by faith, not by outward works.... Those who do not believe are not Christians and do not belong to Christ’s kingdom, but to the kingdom of the world, and must therefore be compelled and governed by the sword.” ”

“ And since all our realm is to be admonished to imitate the example of the imperial city, we have directed everywhere our princely commands, so great is our desire to restore the peace of the Catholic faith to our commonwealth, to gain for my subjects the divine protection. For those whom the same realm contains, the same worship enlightens, what greater blessing can they have than to venerate with one mind laws of no human origin, but proceeding from the Divine Spirit? ”

“ And the preservation of the Holy See from perversion by human passions into a merely earthly power, an empire of this world, has been accomplished in great part by the difficulties and struggles which have always environed the possession of the greatest of human dignities and powers—the papal sovereignty. ”

“ The providence or government of God, while sovereign, is exercised in harmony with the nature of the creatures governed, i.e. the sovereignty of God is so exercised as to be compatible with the freedom of man. ”

“ And those who rule over us well are under the constraining influence of the great King, whom we believe to be the Son of God, God the Word. And if those who govern in the Church, and are called rulers of the divine nation—that is, the Church—rule well, they rule in accordance with the divine commands, and never suffer themselves to be led astray by worldly policy. ”

“ They constitute a nation—not a republic, but a kingdom—so we read: “Unto him that loveth us, and loosed us from our sins by his blood; and he made us to be a kingdom, to be priests unto his God and Father; to him be the glory and the dominion for ever and ever” (Rev. 1:6, 7) . “And madest them to be unto our God a kingdom and priests” (Rev. 5:10) .
A nation or kingdom of priests is equal to a nation or kingdom without priests. And so the whole Church of God is his lot, heritage, “clergy,” or priesthood. As a kingdom, not of this world, though in the world. ”

“ In the kingdom, therefore, of which Christ speaks, the maintenance of truth corresponds to what the maintenance of power is in a material kingdom.
But power in the material kingdom moves men to the natural end of society; it preserves order, administers justice, allows and assists all natural forces to develop themselves, and it must be in its supreme exercise one and indisputable: that is, it culminates in sovereignty. So in the spiritual kingdom truth, the corresponding power, moves men to the supernatural end, and truth culminates in infallibility. ”

“ If it is said the powers that be are Christian rulers, then we say, let them govern only by the laws of the Mediator’s kingdom, and we will bow with reverence before them, and not teach for commandments the doctrines of men, as we cannot receive human laws for divine precepts. ”

“ But God hath a dominion to requite, as well as an authority to command your obedience; he is a great Sovereign, to bear you out in your observance of his precepts against all reproaches and violence of men, and at last to crown you with eternal honor. If he should neglect vindicating, one time or other, your loyalty to him, he will neglect the maintaining and vindicating his own sovereignty and greatness. ”

“ I answer, it is the rule and government of God, whether on earth or in the heavens; and it is the only legitimate power, the only authority that is acknowledged by Him to rule and regulate the affairs of His kingdom. When every wrong thing shall be put right, and all usurpers shall be put down, when he whose right it is to reign shall take the dominion, then nothing but the Priesthood will bear rule; it alone will sway the sceptre of authority in heaven and on earth, for this is the legitimacy of God. ”

“ Considered philosophically, the monarchy of divine right is an emanation of Catholicism, formed from the distinction between the spiritual and the temporal; property is an emanation of monarchy, through the feudal institution. ”

“ Long has our common mother called you to her breast.’ The doctrine of ‘the Divine right of kings,’ taught or supported by almost every sect, is the foundation of the old civil system, and has long given authority, dignity and stability to the kingdoms of Europe; and the doctrine of the Divine appointment and authority of the clergy has hindered God's children from progressing in Divine things and bound them by the chains of superstition and ignorance to the veneration and adoration of fallible fellow-beings, and to their doctrines, traditions and interpretations of God's Word. ”

“ For the same reason the Protestant churches of Europe, to gain national favor, protection and assistance, became State churches, and they, as Papacy did, recognize the reigning families as possessed of Divine title to the office and rulership of the people. God's Word, on the contrary, denounces all the governments of earth as beastly, selfish, oppressive, and recognizes only one Kingdom as being of God's appointment, viz., the Kingdom soon to be established in all the earth—Christ and His saints in glory. ”

“ And supposing the senate and people had—as is of course conceivable—reasserted their authority over their 'emperors,' or military officers, the Christian doctrine of divine right would have afforded no guidance as to which of the claimants to authority had the divine will on its side. What is barely asserted is the divine right of the existing civil authority, democratic or regal. ”

“ He beholds (what we blind mortals cannot) how far all creatures, visible and invisible, depend on Thee. He plainly conceives that Thy dominion is absolute over all we are, all we possess, or can hope for in time or eternity. It is in acknowledgment of this, Thy sovereign authority, and to make, in His name, a public profession of our total dependence on Thee, that I unite with Him in His daily renewal of this most holy sacrifice. ”