Because of this necessity of human nature, the third argument of the Anabaptists is disproved, as they assume what is false when they say that a political government was permitted to the Jews because of their imperfection, while it is not appropriate for us because “our anointing teacheth us of all things.” For this anointing teaches first of all that it is necessary to have a ruler, and it is not necessary to know everything, for it is also necessary to do and produce many things which we cannot do without the help of others.
And moreover, from my discussion it is inferred that it is false when Cicero, in the first book of De inventione, writes that there was a time when men wandered like beasts and then were convinced by the force of a wise man’s eloquence to assemble and live together. Indeed, those who want to praise eloquence use this argument even now. But in reality there was never such a time, nor could there be, for Adam was a very wise man and without a doubt he did not allow men to wander like beasts; and Cain, his son, even built an actual city, and before Cain and Adam there was no man. But it is not surprising that Cicero and other pagans say such things. The pagans thought that the world existed eternally, but they saw that all the crafts were new and were recorded for only a few years, so they suspected that for a very long time men had lived like beasts and that there was a record of the things accomplished only from the time when men started to live together. But it is certainly surprising that Christians, who learn from God’s testimony that the world was not yet created six thousand years ago, and that the first men immediately started to have cities, dare to say that for a very long time men lived like beasts without a ruler and without cities.47
The same is defended with a reason drawn from the efficient cause
The fourth reason is drawn from the efficient cause, as it is certain that political authority comes from God, from Whom nothing proceeds but the good and lawful, which Augustine proves throughout books 4 and 5 of De civitate Dei. As the Wisdom of God proclaims in Proverbs 8: “By me kings reign,”48 and later: “By me princes rule,”49 and in Daniel 2: “for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, etc.,”50 and Daniel 4: “thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will.”51
But here some things have to be noted. First, political authority considered in general, without going into monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy in particular, comes immediately from God alone, since it follows necessarily from the nature of man and therefore it comes from Him Who made the nature of man. Moreover, this authority is of natural law, as it does not depend upon men’s consent. In fact, whether or not they want to, men must be ruled by somebody unless they want human-kind to perish, which is against the inclination of nature. But the law of nature is divine law; therefore government was introduced by divine law, and this is what the apostle seems to mean when he says in Romans 13, “Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God.”52
Second, note that this authority immediately resides in the entire multitude as its subject because this authority is of divine law. But divine law did not give this authority to any particular man; therefore it gave it to all. Moreover, once we remove the positive law, there is no good reason why among many equals one rather than another should rule. Therefore this authority belongs to the entire multitude. Finally, human society must be a perfect commonwealth, and thus it must have the power to preserve itself and therefore to punish those who disrupt the peace, etc.
Third, note that this authority is transferred from the multitude to one or more by the same law of nature, for the commonwealth cannot in itself exercise this authority. Therefore the commonwealth is obliged to transfer it to one or a few, and in this way the princes’ authority considered in general is also of natural and divine law, and humankind could not, even if it assembled all together, decree the contrary, that is, that there should not be princes or rulers.53
Fourth, note in particular that the individual kinds of government stem from the law of nations, not from the law of nature, for the appointment of kings, consuls, or other magistrates clearly depends on men’s consent. And if there is a legitimate cause, the multitude can change a monarchy into an aristocracy or a democracy, and vice versa, as we read was done in Rome.
Fifth, note that from what we said it follows that while this particular authority certainly derives from God, it is by means of human deliberation and decision, like everything else that pertains to the law of nations. In fact, the law of nations is more or less a conclusion deduced from the law of nature through human elaboration.54 From this, two differences between political and ecclesiastical authority follow: one from the point of view of the subject, namely that political authority resides in the multitude, while ecclesiastical authority is directly over one man as its subject; the other from the point of view of the efficient cause, namely that political authority considered in general comes from divine law, and political authority considered in particular cases comes from the law of nations, but ecclesiastical authority is in every respect of divine law and stems immediately from God.
On this basis I reply to the fourth argument of the Anabaptists. First, this argument is proved only insofar as a specific government is concerned, not regarding general political authority itself. But here we want to establish political authority in general, not a specific form of government. Add, second, that very often kingdoms are just and unjust, from God and not from God. If we look at the people who occupy and invade kingdoms, we can get the impression that kingdoms are nothing but robber bands and unjust and therefore they do not come from God. If, by contrast, we consider that divine providence makes use of the evil intention of men and arranges it either to punish sins or to reward good works or to other good ends, then those same kingdoms are just and legitimate. In fact God sometimes by the wonderful reason of His providence takes away kingdoms from somebody and gives them to other people; and as a consequence in those cases, the one who falls from the kingdom falls most justly and the one who invades the kingdom does not possess it justly, and God Himself at the appropriate time will mete out the most just punishments for that invasion.
But God gave Palestine to the sons of Israel for a very different reason than that for which He later gave it to Salmanzar or Nebuchadnezzar. On the one hand, the sons of Israel, led by Joshua, fought against the people of Palestine with commendable obedience and, having killed them, claimed their lands for themselves. Salmanzar and Nebuchadnezzar, on the other hand, led the people of God into captivity by an execrable sacrilege, and they did not want to yield to the command of God but to their evil greed; nevertheless God used them toward that outcome which He wanted most rightly to be attained even if they did not know it.
St. Augustine in his work De gratia et libero arbitrio, chapters 20 and 21, and Hugh of St. Victor in book 1 of De sacramentis, section 1, chapter 29, explain this issue accurately, and testimonies from the Scriptures are not lacking, as in Isaiah 10 we read: “O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few, etc.”55 There it speaks of Salmanzar and Sennacherib, who with evil intent occupied the lands of Israel; nevertheless God without their knowledge used their work to punish the Israelites.
Likewise in Isaiah 45: “Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut; I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron: And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel. For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy