(18:75) These examples, then, confirm us in our belief, that every dominion
should retain its original form, and, indeed, cannot change it without
danger of the utter ruin of the whole state. (76) Such are the points I have
here thought worthy of remark.




[19:0] CHAPTER XIX - IT IS SHOWN THAT THE RIGHT OVER MATTERS
SPIRITUAL LIES WHOLLY WITH THE SOVEREIGN, AND THAT
THE OUTWARD FORMS OF RELIGION SHOULD BE IN ACCORDANCE
WITH PUBLIC PEACE, IF WE WOULD OBEY GOD ARIGHT.

(1) When I said that the possessors of sovereign power have rights over
everything, and that all rights are dependent on their decree, I did not
merely mean temporal rights, but also spiritual rights; of the latter, no
less than the former, they ought to be the interpreters and the
champions. (2) I wish to draw special attention to this point, and to
discuss it fully in this chapter, because many persons deny that the right
of deciding religious questions belongs to the sovereign power, and refuse
to acknowledge it as the interpreter of Divine right. (3) They
accordingly assume full licence to accuse and arraign it, nay, even to
excommunicate it from the Church, as Ambrosius treated the Emperor
Theodosius in old time. (4) However, I will show later on in this chapter
that they take this means of dividing the government, and paving the
way to their own ascendancy. (5) I wish, however, first to point out that
religion acquires its force as law solely from the decrees of the sovereign.
(6) God has no special kingdom among men except in so far as He reigns
through temporal rulers. [19:1] (7) Moreover, the rites of religion and the