the Lord for it; for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace." (28) Now,
they could not seek the peace of the City as having a share in its
government, but only as slaves, being, as they were, captives; by
obedience in all things, with a view to avoiding seditions, and by observing
all the laws of the country, however different from their own. (29) It is
thus abundantly evident that religion among the Hebrews only acquired the
form of law through the right of the sovereign rule; when that rule was
destroyed, it could no longer be received as the law of a particular
kingdom, but only as the universal precept of reason. (30) I say of reason,
for the universal religion had not yet become known by revelation. (31) We
may therefore draw the general conclusion that religion, whether revealed
through our natural faculties or through prophets, receives the force of a
command solely through the decrees of the holders of sovereign power; and,
further, that God has no special kingdom among men, except in so far as He
reigns through earthly potentates.

(19:32) We may now see in a clearer light what was stated in Chapter IV.,
namely, that all the decrees of God involve eternal truth and necessity, so
that we cannot conceive God as a prince or legislator giving laws to
mankind. (33) For this reason the Divine precepts, whether revealed through
our natural faculties, or through prophets, do not receive immediately from
God the force of a command, but only from those, or through the mediation of
those, who possess the right of ruling and legislating. (34) It is only
through these latter means that God rules among men, and directs human
affairs with justice and equity.

(19:35) This conclusion is supported by experience, for we find traces of
Divine justice only in places where just men bear sway; elsewhere the same
lot (to repeat, again Solomon's words) befalls the just and the unjust, the
pure and the impure: a state of things which causes Divine Providence to be