of St. Paul's still more emphatic words: "Let every soul be subject to
higher powers; for there is no power but from God: and those that are
ordained of God. Therefore he that resisteth the power, _resisteth the
ordinance of God. And they that resist purchase to themselves
damnation_" (Rom. xiii.). And again, when writing to Titus he says:
"Admonish them to be subject to princes and powers, and to obey" (Tit.
iii. 1).

If the Apostles themselves thus command obedience to the State, even
to a pagan Government, such as the Roman was at the time they wrote,
it will scarcely be denied by any Christian that obedience is due to
the Church, and to the ecclesiastical government, altogether apart
from any question of infallibility. In fact, though both the civil
government and the ecclesiastical government are from God, and though
each is supreme within its own sphere; yet the authority in the case
of the Church is directly and immediately from God, whereas in the
case of the State, it is from God only mediately. This is why the
form of government, in the case of the State, may vary. It may be at
one time monarchical, and at another republican, and then oligarchic,
and so forth, whereas the Church must ever be ruled by one Supreme
Pontiff, and be monarchical in its form. Further, it is generally held
that even when not speaking _ex cathedrâ_, "the Vicar of Christ is
largely assisted by God in the fulfilment of his sublime office; that
he receives great light and strength to do well the great work
entrusted to him and imposed upon him, and that he is continually
guided from above in the government of the Catholic Church." [Words of
Father O'Reilly, S.J., quoted with approval by Cardinal Newman, p.
140.] And that supplies us with a special and an additional motive for
prompt obedience.