design of making him king, by replying to one who said to him, 'Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me; who hath made me a judge or a divider over you?' and, in fine, by decreeing that tribute should be paid to Cæsar, though at that time it was an unquestionable truth, that the Romans were tyrants, and most cruel oppressors of him, of all the Jews, and of the whole country of Palestine. If ever he had taken occasion to mention any temporal power, as belonging to himself, it would have been when he foretold, that the time would come, in which princes would abuse their authority by persecuting the divine messengers of salvation, by inflicting on them the most excruciating tortures, and by opposing with all their power the propagation of his religion. Whereas, even then, so far was he from giving them any authority to stir up wars, and defend his religion by hostile measures, that he frequently inculcated to them, that they must behave like sheep among wolves; that, like simple doves, they must contend only by their sighs, their patience, their meekness. This is the character of the christian religion; these are its lovely features, which, if men were but to view them with unprejudiced minds, could not fail to make it the object of their adoration and fondest affection; certainly, he who came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and save that which was lost; he, who neither dispossessed Octavianus nor Tiberius of their empire, nor Herod of the sovereignty of Judea, nor Pilate of the Pretorium, wished earnestly to impress on the minds of all who desire to walk in his footsteps, and to whom is committed the government of the church and the care of souls, this admonition, that they should by no means interfere with the concerns of the earth; and that his disciples should not think it justifiable in them, or that it would be allowed in them to exercise an authority which their master

formally disclaimed, and always refused to exercise; for the disciple is not above his master, nor the servant greater than his lord. It is, moreover, most certain and indisputable, that these examples and precepts apply with equal force to the infant days of the christian church, to the subsequent ages of persecutions, and to the period after peace was restored to it, and it arrived to the attainment of great strength and riches; unless it be admitted, that we are to degenerate from the sentiments of those true followers of Christ in the first ages, who, with incredible fidelity, continued to hold allegiance to Nero, Trajan, Dioclesian, and other most inhuman emperors, who harassed the christian republic with insatiable cruelty. As early as the second century, if credit can be given to Tertullian, in his Apology, the christians abounded in every quarter of the Roman empire; they filled the cities, the fortresses, the islands, the very camps, the palace, the senate, the forum, and had left to the pagans the exclusive possession of only their idolatrous temples: and nevertheless, we no where find, that in the cause of religion they ever endeavoured to throw off the yoke of allegiance to any emperors. These are facts which no rational man can call in question. But if they were even fictions, it surely cannot be said, that Christ had enjoined us meekness, patience, and forbearance, as only suitable to a state of imbecility and impotence, but had commanded us on the increase of our strength, no longer to practise submission, but fiercely to resist the civil powers, and to dethrone or imprison, or reduce to the condition of private citizens, those very princes who are constituted by the Lord, and to whom we are bound to be subject and obedient, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. It were impious to assert, that the apostles and Christ himself, in giving us such forcible precepts and striking exam ples of obedience and patience, only yielded to the

exigencies and circumstances of the times, but did not establish a fixed and permanent law, which, in all the course and fluctuation of future ages, should never be annulled. Therefore, since the rights of the kings of England, whether they persecute or tolerate catholics, are founded on the same principles with those of all other sovereign princes under heaven, we are firmly of opinion, that neither the Roman pontiff, nor the cardinals of the holy Roman church, nor any council, nor any individual in the catholic church, by virtue of their communion with that church, has any civil authority, power, jurisdiction, or pre-eminence, in the kingdom of Great Britain.

Question the second.

CAN the Roman pontiff, the cardinals of the holy Roman church, any council or individual of the catholic church, absolve the subjects of His Britannic Majesty from their oath of allegiance, or dispense with its obligations?

Answer.

THE solution of this second difficulty spontaneously arises from the principles laid down in the foregoing answer. We have no inclination to spend our time here in exposing the emptiness of the visions rather than reasons of some persons, who have asserted, that by the coming of Christ all earthly thrones were subverted, and that, after the establishment of the papal dignity, both the temporal and spiritual sword was put into the hands of the bishop of Rome, that all kings are only his vicegerents, and their dominion is so completely transferred to him, that he can of right depose even idolatrous princes, and confer their domains on any of the faithful at his pleasure. This absurdity, which we cannot think of without the utmost astonish

ment, has been defended by a very few individuals, but by the body of divines and canonists, it is universally exploded and completely refuted. It is certain, that Christ never possessed, neither by inheritance nor by delegated power from God, nor by any other means, any temporal dignity which he could transmit to Peter, to his successors, and the other bishops; and from the idea that he bequeathed such dignity, this monstrous consequence would follow, that the pope is by divine right supreme lord over all the earth, that the bishops are the princes of their cities and districts, that kings are not really kings, that they are not illustrated by native and inherent majesty, but a precarious adventitious dignity, derived to them from the christian prelates.

We cannot, however, think of dissembling, by passing over in silence a fact, to which several publications, now extant, and the annals of the church, bear testi, mony, viz. That some christian divines and canonists have persuaded themselves, that all temporal concerns were subordinate to the spiritual, and were to be referred to them as to their ultimate end; that he who has power over the end, must have power over the means also, and a right to command whatever is conducive to the end, and a right to remove whatever might oppose its attainment; that, consequently, on account of apostacy, heresy, or any grievous crime which brings mischief on the church, or is detrimental to the salvation of the faithful; kings might be cut off from the communion of christians, and that this being done, they were so divested of all power and dignity, that no one could conscientiously have with them any sort of intercourse.

But heaven forbid, that any christian people should imbibe an opinion so fatal to kingly government; far be it from them to embrace an opinion unknown to all

antiquity, for which there is not any solid foundation in the sacred writings, and which, at all times, and in every place where it has been suffered to prevail, has been the execrable parent of wars and civil discords. If such an arrangement had been suitable and useful to the church which Christ came to establish on earth, without doubt, he would have settled a matter of such importance with particular attention; and the very novelty of a doctrine in religious concerns, is ever a certain argument of its falsehood. The votaries to this opinion have no other principles on which to rest their cause, but either certain allegories, which, though they may confirm a doctrine already established, of themselves can afford no evidence of truth, or distorted passages of scripture, or far-fetched inferences, or facts and precedents, which, it were to be wished, the christian church had never heard of, as they are all in direct opposition to other facts and precedents of high antiquity. From the eleventh century to the present, the bishops of Rome have sometimes endeavoured to anathematize kingdoms, and to depose princes from their sovereign dominion; but vain have been their efforts in almost every instance, perhaps by the particular disposition of the Divine Providence, that experience itself might convince mankind, that the christian republic is not to be defended by a military force; and the sheep of Christ are not to be fed in pastures obtained for them by wars and civil contests; are not to be composed into order by the clangor of arms, but by counsels, exhortations, the preaching of the divine word, and other such means recommended by our lord to the pastors of the church. That kings, as well as the faithful of inferior rank, are so far subject to the power of the bishops, that by them they may be separated from the church, and delivered to Satan if their crimes provoke such severity, is a truth which must not be called