he in nowise contravenes his reason, for in obedience to reason he
transferred the right of controlling his actions from his own hands to
theirs. (29) This doctrine we can confirm from actual custom, for in a
conference of great and small powers, schemes are seldom carried
unanimously, yet all unite in carrying out what is decided on, whether they
voted for or against. (30) But I return to my proposition.

(20:31) From the fundamental notions of a state, we have discovered how a
man may exercise free judgment without detriment to the supreme power: from
the same premises we can no less easily determine what opinions would be
seditious. (32) Evidently those which by their very nature nullify the
compact by which the right of free action was ceded. (33) For instance, a
man who holds that the supreme power has no rights over him, or that
promises ought not to be kept, or that everyone should live as he pleases,
or other doctrines of this nature in direct opposition to the above-
mentioned contract, is seditious, not so much from his actual opinions
and judgment, as from the deeds which they involve; for he who maintains
such theories abrogates the contract which tacitly, or openly, he made with
his rulers. (34) Other opinions which do not involve acts violating the
contract, such as revenge, anger, and t he like, are not seditious, unless
it be in some. corrupt state, where superstitious and ambitious persons,
unable to endure men of learning, are so popular with the multitude
that their word is more valued than the law.

(20:35) However, I do not deny that there are some doctrines which, while
they are apparently only concerned with abstract truths and falsehoods, are
yet propounded and published with unworthy motives. (36) This question we
have discussed in Chapter XV., and shown that reason should nevertheless
remain unshackled. (37) If we hold to the principle that a man's loyalty to
the state should be judged, like his loyalty to God, from his actions only -