The Social Contract

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lated. All power comes from God, I acknowledge it; but all disease comes from Him as well. Does this mean it is forbidden to call the physician? If a bandit surprises me at the corner of a wood, am I not only forced to give up my purse, but even if I could withhold it, am I in conscience obliged to give it? For, after all, the pistol he holds is also a power.

Let us agree, then, that force does not make right, and that one is only obliged to obey legitimate powers. Thus, my initial question always returns.