BOOK III PART II
SECTIONX. OF THEOBJECTS OF
ALLEGIANCE
But though, on some occasions, it may be
justifiable, both in sound politics and morality,
to resist supreme power, it is certain, that in
the ordinary course of human affairs nothing
can be more pernicious and criminal; and that
besides the convulsions, which always attend
revolutions, such a practice tends directly to
the subversion of all government, and the caus-
ing an universal anarchy and confusion among
mankind. As numerous and civilized societies
cannot subsist without government, so govern-
ment is entirely useless without an exact obe-
dience. We ought always to weigh the advan-
tages, which we reap from authority, against
the disadvantages; and by this means we shall
become more scrupulous of putting in practice