Donahoes Magazine, Volume 15, No. 1, January 1886 | Page 6

are embraced in the civil and
political order, are rightly subject to the civil authority, since Jesus
Christ has commanded that what is Cæsar's is to be paid to Cæsar, and
what is God's to God. Sometimes, however, circumstances arise when
another method of concord is available for peace and liberty; we mean
when princes and the Roman Pontiff come to an understanding
concerning any particular matter. In such circumstances the Church
gives singular proof of her maternal good-will, and is accustomed to
exhibit the highest possible degree of generosity and indulgence.
Such, then, as we have indicated in brief, is the Christian order of civil
society; no rash or merely fanciful fiction, but deduced from principles
of the highest truth and moment, which are confirmed by the natural
reason itself.
Now such a constitution of the State contains nothing that can be
thought either unworthy of the majesty of princes or unbecoming; and
so far is it from lessening its imperial rights, that it rather adds stability
and grandeur to them. For, if it be more deeply considered, such a
constitution has a great perfection which all others lack, and from it
various excellent fruits would accrue, if each party would only keep its
own place, and discharge with integrity that office and work to which it
was appointed. For in truth in this constitution of the State, which we
have above described, divine and human affairs are properly divided;
the rights of citizens are completely defended by divine, natural, and
human law; and the limitations of the several offices are at once wisely
laid down, and the keeping of them most opportunely secured. All men
know that in their doubtful and laborious journey to the ever-lasting

city they have at hand guides to teach them how to set forth, helpers to
show them how to reach their journey's end, whom they may safely
follow; and at the same time they know that they have others whose
business it is to take care of their security and their fortunes, to obtain
for them, or to secure to them, all those other goods which are essential
to the life of a community. Domestic society obtains that firmness and
solidity which it requires in the sanctity of marriage, one and
indissoluble; the rights and duties of husband and wife are ordered with
wise justice and equity; the due honor is secured to the woman; the
authority of the man is conformed to the example of the authority of
God; the authority of the father is tempered as becomes the dignity of
the wife and offspring, and the best possible provision is made for the
guardianship, the true good, and the education of the children.
In the domain of political and civil affairs the laws aim at the common
good, and are not guided by the deceptive wishes and judgments of the
multitude, but by truth and justice. The authority of the rulers puts on a
certain garb of sanctity greater than what pertains to man, and it is
restrained from declining from justice, and passing over just limits in
the exercise of power. The obedience of citizens has honor and dignity
as companions, because it is not the servitude of men to men, but
obedience to the will of God exercising His sovereignty by means of
men. And this being recognised and admitted, it is understood that it is
a matter of justice that the dignity of rulers should be respected, that the
public authority should be constantly and faithfully obeyed, that no act
of sedition should be committed, and that the civil order of the State
should be kept intact. In the same way mutual charity and kindness and
liberality are seen to be virtues. The man who is at once a citizen and a
Christian is no longer the victim of contending parties and incompatible
obligations; and, finally, those very abundant good things with which
the Christian religion of its own accord fills up even the mortal life of
men, are acquired for the community and civil society, so that it
appears to be said with the fullest truth: "The state of the
commonwealth depends on the religion with which God is worshipped,
and between the one and the other there is a close relation and
connection." (Sacr. Imp. ad Cyrillum Alexandr, et Episcopus metrop. ef
Labbeum Collect Conc., T. iii.) Admirably, as he is accustomed, did

Augustine in many places dilate on the power of those good things, but
especially when he addresses the Catholic Church in these words:
"Thou treatest boys as boys, youths with strength, old men calmly,
according as is not only the age of the body, but also of the mind of
each. Women thou subjectest to their husbands in chaste and faithful
obedience, not for