A/cNta-i)^ ^'^cerit 7oiepl-) The. 06e c/i'etAce. ©A . . AX>0 OSH 1*' THE OBEDIENCE OF AUTHORITY BY FR. VINCENT MCNABB, O.P. PRINTED & PUBLISHED AT S.DOMINIc’s PRESS DITCHLING SUSSEX A. D. MCMXXII THE OBEDIENCE OF AUTHORITY Fr. VINCENT McNABB, O.P. ""jr TlTH great diffidence I will set down what \/\/ appears tome one of the most fundamen- ’ * tal,yet forgotten,principles ofSocialWell- being. The principle is drawn from two quotations from Saint Thomas Aquinas. He says “It is impos- sible for the Commonweal to be well unless the citi- zen s are good; at least, those citizens on whom rests the Government. But it is sufficient for the Com- \ (Sum.Theolog. Pars ia,2s; Qu. 92 Art. 1, ad 3m.) The other quotation is“A man is bound to obey the secular powers in so far as the order ofjustice requires. And therefore (a) ifthese (secular powers) have a usurped and not ajust authority, or (b) if theycommand what is unlawful, these subj ects are not bound to obey them, except, by accident, in order to avoid scandal.” (Ibid2a, 2$; Qu. 104., Art. 6 ad 3m.) 1. From the first of these quotations it is seen that the sin ofthe subject as subj ect is neither so great nor so dangerous as the sin ofauthority as authority. Provided that the subject has sufficient obedience to obey, with external obedience, the monweal that the others should have goodness enough to obey the command of their Govern* DesMed 55 necessary minimum of all human commonalties is secured. Their internal attitude towards things in general or towards authority is not a grave menace to any but themselves. 2. It is otherwise with those who are in authority. In so far as these are superiors and not subjects, they are bound to initiate and command rather than to follow and obey. For this reason their personal lack of virtue is likely to have its effects on the common- weal. A spendth rift or sensual king may mean the ruin of his people. The amours of Henry VIII lost the Blessed Virgin Mary her Dowry. If, as Plato suggests,thefourcardinalvirtues,Prudence,Justice, Fortitude and Temperance are as necessary for the State as for the citizen of the State, then they are es- pecially necessary for those who have authority in the State. The personal, and still more the official, sins ofauthority are ofmuch greater menace to the State than the personal or even the official sins of the citizens. From this it would appear that if theillsof the commonwealth seem critical and almost irre- mediable,the likelihood is that authority is yielding to some personal or official sins. 3. The second principle of S.Thomas introduces us to rightful and wrongful authority, rightful and unrightful commands. 56 As only the supreme authority ofGod is infinite Power guided by infiniteWisdom and exercised by infinite Love ; in other words, as only God’s Autho- rity is self-limited, all other authority must belimi- ted by another person or by a law. Some higher person orlaw must authorize and control all created authority whether individual or collective. No Authority is righful if it has not been chosen or appointed and authorized by the will ofsome one in higher authority. Nocommand ofauthority is rightful unless commanded or authorized by the will, explicit or tacit, ofsome ultimate person or law. 4. From this follows the momentous principle, which wemayenunciate thus:NOAUTHORITY HAS THE RIGHT TO COMMAND, UN- LESS IN COMMANDING IT IS ITSELF OBEYING. In other words, authority can com- mand obedience only when its act of command is an act ofobedience. This obedience of authority is perhaps wider thantheobedienceof thesubject; because, as Saint Thomas suggests, the commonweal is not greatly hurt where the citizens have at least sufficient obe- dience to obey those persons who have authority over them. But these persons who have authority in 57 the Commonwealth have a duty not merely to per- sons but to laws. They mustknow and keep the laws which govern themselves or safeguard the rights of their subjects. All this requires an attitude ofobe- dience which is the more heroic because it seems to be wholly self-determined and self-controlled. 5. But it may be urged that this is very dangerous doctrine to preach, seeing that much ofthe autho- rity in the world and many ofthe commands are unrightful. Subjects therefore are largely absolved from the duty of obedience. But any public preach- ing ofsuch a doctrine would mean the total over- throw both ofobedience and authority. The answer to this difficulty will serve to bring into clearer light the doctrine it is meant todisprove. The answer is found in thevery doctrine of Saint Thomas that even an unlawful authority or the un- lawfulcommand ofalawful authority must some- times be obeyed “in order to avoid scandal.” In otherwords even when the citizens ofthe Com- monwealth have no duty ofdirect obedience to an unlawful authority or an unlawful command yet indirect obedience may be due to theCommon- wealth. But as this indirect obedience is “in order to avoid scandal,” and as scandal is a sin against cha- rity rather than against j ustice it follows that this 58 indirect obedience to an unlawful authority or an unlawfulcommand is a duty not of j ustice but of charity. 6. From this, again, itfollows that AUTHO- RITY MAY HAVE NO RIGHT TO COM- MAND WHATTHE SUBJECT HAS THE DUTYTO OBEY: or again, “Authority may be wrong in commanding what the subject would be wrong in disobeying” : or again, “It does not follow that because the subject has the duty to obey, therefore authority has the right to command.” These principles rest on the further principle, which we have already proved, that the laws or commands ofany person in authority have a right to obedience only when they themselves are in obedi- ence to some higher person or law. 7. We greatly wonder if the various authorities ' in the world ofto-day are stating their duties and even their rights in terms of obedience! Is West- minster “greatly troubled to be wise” in seeking out the will of God, or in listening to that law7 of ethics which can be disregarded by nations only under penalty ofnational death ? 8. Many evils are now militant and indeed for the moment, triumphant in the world : evils of those who should obey and of those who should 59 command. In other words the capital evils of a world in extremis are the disobedience to authority and the disobedience of authority. But the greater evil of the two is the disobedience ofauthority. THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT WHEN Our Lord was subject to His parentsHewas giving alesson in obedience not only tootherchildren but to other parents. Parental authority is from God and the parent mustobeyGod even as his child mustobey him. Absolomwas not only disobe- dient to his father, but disobedient to God and the wages of his sinwas Death. In these days parental authority has been usurped by various institutions, chiefly the school teacher and State doctor,so thatmanychildren are brought up without being taught either in what Gods’ authority or that of their parents consists. Theblame therefore for theirnormal disregard for either authoritylies with their parents. Though the poorer classes suffer more noticeably in this confusion,the richer are in aworse state.Among the poor it is still recognised (in spite ofthe destroying effect ofOld Age Pensions) that the child should support his parents in their old age. Among the restofthe community every kind ofusuryand contrivance ofinsurance is usedto enable the parent to reach his death-bed with a substantial bank balance. The modern parent in this class desires that his son should begin where he left off, that is that his son 6o should be saved the drudgery of beginning at the begin- ning, and may step at once into the privileges ofmanaging those who,for poverty,have to begin at the beginning.This desire is not in itself evil,the mother ofthe sons ofZebedee was not asking either awicked or an impossible thing for her children, but itis puttinga heavy, dangerous, and un- necessary burden upon the young to train them to con- sume what they have not produced, to rule others before they have ruled themselves. It also demands the mainten- ance ofthe familybank balance and makes the idea of ma- terial security the dominating motive in family considera- tions. Perhaps it were better that a millstone should be hung about the parent’s neck than that he should handicap hissonbysuch traditions. Ifthe parent dishonour God, how can the son honour the parent ? The Fourth Com- mandment is cut out of the Decalogue. THE DEVIL OF IT “What is going to happen to the eldermen who are to be thrown out of their positions at a comparative- ly early age? How are they and their dependents to live? Theonly answerthat I can giveisthatin the majority of cases they will become dependent upon theirsons and daughters. Instead offather or grand- father helping the young people along in the early days ofbusiness life,the young folk will have to keep them.” Phillipa Martin, in the Daily Sketch. The devil ofthis is ifitgoes on much longer we shall have to keep the 4th Commandment ! (5 th C. ofE.)