VI. DIALOGUE ment, "who now became the head of the "church;" the search after him was not carried, where it should have been, into the constitution of the kingdom; but, as it was a matter of religion, they mistook that, which was only an affair of church discipline, to be a doctrine of theology; and so searched, for a solution of the question, in the New Testament, and Ecclesiastical History. In the New Testament, obedience is pressed to the person of Cæsar, because an absolute monarchy was the only government in being: and, for the same reason, when afterwards the empire became Christian, the supremacy, as we know from ecclesiastical story, was assumed by the em¬ peror just as it would have been by the consul and senate, had the republic existed. Hence our Reformers, going altogether by spiritual and ecclesiastical example, and hoping thereby to preserve their credit against the reproaches of Rome, which, as your lordship knows, was perpetually charging them with novelties and innovations in both respects, recurred to early antiquity for that rule. I This attention to ecclesiastical example was, suppose, a consideration of convenience with the wise fathers of our church: the other appeal to the Gospel, might be a matter of con science with them. And thus by force of one text, ill-understood, render unto CESAR the things which are CESAR'S, they put the spiritual sword into the king's hands; just as by another, he beareth not the sword in vain (for I know of no better authority), the temporal sword had also been committed to his care. VI. MR. SOMERS. This last intimation, I am apprehensive, would bear a further debates. But I acquiesce in your answer to my particular question; I mean, unless the bishop of Salisbury warns me against submitting to so heretical a doctor. BP. BURNET. My Lord Commissioner chuses to let slip no opportunity of exposing what he takes to be an error in ecclesiastical management. Either way, however, I am not displeased to find that 5 Mr. SOMERS had reason for saying this; for the intimation was no less than that the power of the militia was not in the king. Sir J. MAYNARD was of this opinion, when the matter was debated in parliament in 1642. See WHITLOCK, p. 56. DIALOGUE his main thesis keeps its ground; and that, VI. even according to his own account of the matter, the nation, when it gave up the supremacy to the king, was in possession of a free and legal constitution. On the whole, you give me leave then to presume that the considerations, now offered to you, afford a reasonable account of that despotic form under which the English government has appeared, from the union of the two roses down to the subversion of the constitution in CHARLES the First's time. Other causes concurred; but the Reformation was the chief prop and pillar of the imperial dignity, while the constitution itself remained the same, or rather was continually gaining strength even by the necessary operation of those principles on which the Reformation was founded. Religious liberty made way for the entertainment of civil, in all its branches. It could not be otherwise. It disposed the minds of men to throw off that sluggishness, in which they had slumbered for many ages. A spirit of inquiry prevailed. Inveterate errors were seen through; and prejudices of all sorts fell off, in proportion to the growth of letters, and the progress of reason. VI. The increasing trade and wealth of the na- DIALOGUE tion concurred with the temper of the times. The circulation of property brought on a natu ral relaxation of the feudal system. The plan of liberty was extended and enlarged; and the balance of power soon fell into the hands of the people. This appeared very plainly from the influence of parliaments, and the daring attacks of many particular members on the highest and most favoured claims of prerogative. Our kings were sensible of the alteration: but, instead of prudently giving way to it, they flew into the opposite extreme, and provoked the spirit of the times by the very reluctance they shewed on all occasions to comply with it. Every dormant privilege of the crown, every phantom of prerogative, which had kept the simpler ages in awe, was now very unseasonably conjured up, to terrify all that durst oppose themselves to encroaching royalty. Lawyers and church-men were employed in this service. And in their fierce endeavour to uphold a tottering throne by false supports, they entirely overthrew it. The nation was out of all patience to hear the one decree the empire of the kings of England to be absolute and uncontrolable by human law: and the other gave more offence, than they found credit, by pretending that the right of kings to such VI. DIALOGUE empire was divine 1. Every artifice indeed of chicane and sophistry was called in to the sup h The doctrines of divine right, as propagated by the churchmen of that time in their books and sermons, are well known.-Those of the lawyers were such as these→ It had been alleged on the part of Mr. HAMPDEN, in the great cause of ship-money," that by a fundamental policy in the creation of the frame of this kingdom, in case the monarch of England should be inclined to exact from his subjects at his pleasure, he should be restrained, for that he could have nothing from them, but upon a common consent of parliament." Sir ROBERT BERKELEY, one of the judges of the king's-bench, affirmed-" That the law knows no such king-yoking policy:"-Sir THOMAS TreVOR, one of the barons of the exchequer, "That our king hath as much power and prerogative belonging to him as any prince in Christendom :"-The attorney-general, Sir JOHN BANKS, "That the king of England hath an entire empire; he is an absolute monarch: nothing can be given to an absolute prince! but is inherent in his person." State Trials, vol. i. Such was the language of the guardians of the LAW, that temple or sanctuary, as it has been called, whither the subject is to run for shelter and protection. Had not Mr. ST. JOHN then much reason for saying, as he did on that occasion, "We have the fabric of the temple still; but the Gods, the DII TUTELARES, are gone?" There is the more force and propriety in this censure, as it comes from a man who was himself of the profession. And another of the same order, the best and wisest perhaps that frequented the temple of law in those days, proceeds with a just indignation still further— These men (said Mr. HIDE, in a speech to the lords) have, upon vulgar fears, delivered up the precious forts |