The restrictions we impose are fruitful in consequences. In-
dividual ownership can collide with rights in God, and rights
in the state ; and in every such collision individual ownership
must yield. God alone is absolute owner of everything. He
owns the man as well as the man's property, and can dispose
of both according to His good pleasure. God never abdicates
His dominion in men or things, and He makes men gifts with-
out ceasing to be their owner. The landlord remains owner
when he rents his house to the tenant. As against God, man
never rises higher than relative or tise-ownership, and he
must use whatever gifts God makes him with a view to the
promotion of God's greater glory. Hence, the right to indi-
vidual ownership in the rich never excuses them from the
obligation of charity towards the poor ; and denial of charity
on their part is a species of robbery against God. As against
the state and individuals composing it, man's right to indi-
vidual ownership is absolute. Neither state nor individuals
give the right, and, therefore, neither state nor individuals
can take it away. And yet in virtue of the adage that the
part is servant to the whole, the state has rights in this mat-
ter of ownership that the individual owner must acknowledge
and respect. The state cannot take away the right to individ-
ual ownership, but it can in emergencies divert private prop-
erty to public uses. It can call citizens to service in time of
war, and virtually deprive them of ownership in their own
lives. It can impose taxes and customs, it can institute con-
demnation proceedings, and exercise all the various functions
implied in Eminent Domain.
