proper exercise and development of all man's powers. Therefore, God designed that men should live in civilized society.

Civil society, or the State, then, is not a voluntary association as some have taught. It did not originate in a social compact, that is, in an agreement to abandon the solitary and savage state, and to adopt the civilized state. Writers on government, and legislators, sometimes refer to "the social compact" as though it were an historical fact. History gives no account of "the social compact." No one ever asserted that such an event ever took place. And yet some have referred to this fiction as the ground of our obedience to law.

It is said that by "the social compact" men agree to relinquish a portion of their natural rights on condition of being protected in the enjoyment of the remaining portion, and to render obedience to the laws. It is said that their obligation to be subject to the restraints of society, is founded on their consent to the social compact-the formal consent of the framers of the compact, and the tacit consent of all succeeding generations.

Now, as no such compact was ever formed, it cannot be the ground of any obligation whatever. The fundamental laws of civil society-the laws or rules of justice, do not owe their authority to the consent of the governed.

Men become members of civil society--of the State-by the act of God. He created man a social being and a subject of law. Men have no right to abjure society, throw off its restraints, and lead solitary lives. No man has a right to be a brute, or any thing but a man. In order to be a man, he must be a member of society and subject to law.

Suppose all men were to meet together in one vast convention, and to vote unanimously to abolish society, and government, and law of every kind: would such a vote have any authority? Certainly not. The obligation to live in society and have government, would not be affected by such a vote, or by any thing that men can do. God's will does not depend upon It is plainly his will that men should live together and enjoy the benefits resulting from obedience to righteous laws.

the wills of men.

The State may be considered apart from government, though they usually coexist. They always coexist, except in those rare periods when anarchy prevails. Government is the agent by which the State ordinarily acts. The State performs extraordinary acts when it abolishes one form of government, and institutes another. The acts of the State by which governments are made and unmade, are termed acts of original sovereignty.

Government is a divine institution-is of divine origin. This appears from the fact that the State is a

divine institution, and is under obligation to have gov ernment. God is the author of man's nature. The State is the necessary result of man's nature. Government is the necessary result of the State. There

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fore government is of God. The powers that be," that is, the legitimate powers of government, "are ordained of God" (Rom. xiii. 1). God is the author of government, just as He is the author of the forest that clothes the mountain's side. of His moral laws, the other is the result of His physical laws.

The one is the result

Justice is the fundamental idea of the State. All its regulations should be but the applications of the principle of justice. In other words, all its rules should be just rules. If all men would practise justice, they could live together in peace without a legal code. That men should do that which is just is a self-evident truth. As the State is under obligation to secure justice to its members, it is under obligation to use the means best adapted to secure that end. Government is a necessary means of securing justice, hence again we see that the State is under obligation to have government. In other words, government is necessary in order that man may be such a being as God designed he should be.

The sovereign, or supreme power, resides in the State, not in the government. Government derives its powers from the State. The power of the State is

limited by its fundamental law-the law of justice. The State has no rightful power to form an unjust government, or to perform any unjust act.

The State gives to government its powers. It is under obligation to give to it such powers as are best adapted to enable it to subserve the ends of justice and public prosperity.

The sovereign, or supreme power, belongs to the State, that is, to the people who constitute the State. The sovereign power belongs to the people, not in their individual, but in their collective capacity. The State possessing sovereign power may have a million members. It does not follow that each individual possesses one-millionth part of the sovereign power, or is thereby constituted the one-millionth part of a sovereign.

The relation of individuals in the State to the sovereign power may be illustrated by a joint stock company. An insurance company has power to make contracts for insurance. Suppose there are ten members. They, or a majority of them acting as a company, can make a contract, or authorize their agents to do so; but one of their number cannot make oneThe whole power of the

tenth part of a contract.

company belongs to the ten members (not of necessity equally), but the whole power cannot be divided into ten parts, each part being wielded separately by

individuals. Such a course of proceeding would defeat the end for which the company was formed.

In like manner the whole power of the State belongs to the members of the State-the individuals composing the State; but this power is not divisible among those individuals, to be wielded separately by each. Such a course of proceeding, were it possible, would defeat the ends for which the State exists.