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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A23829	A letter to a friend concerning the behaviour of Christians under the various revolutions of state-governments	Allix, Pierre, 1641-1717.	1693 (1693)	Wing A1225; ESTC R14319	18,890	34

Pretence that Licinius the Father was yet alive Or did they continue to pray for Licinius the Father or Licinius the Son whom his Father had declar'd Augustus I know no body that was capable of such a preposterous Behaviour save onely Eusebius of Nicomedia who had all along been a great Favourer of Licinius against Constantine All the rest of the Christians were overjoyed at this Revolution and the Nicene Council blessed God for it and ordered publick Thanksgivings therefore See here another Example which I would desire you seriously to consider The Emperor Gratianus having been assassinated by Count Andragalbius Maximus thereupon invaded Britain the Gauls and Spain and was there proclaimed Emperor Do you suppose that the Churches of these Three Great Provinces of the Empire of the West did continue to pray for Valentinian whom Gratian had associated in the Empire and that they refus'd to pray for Maximus Or do you imagin that any Schism happen'd amongst the Christians of these Three Provinces upon this occasion True it is that there happened a Schisme between the Churches of France the greater part whereof refused to communicate with those Bishops that had employed the Authority of Maximus for the punishing of Priscillian so great an Enmity did this Church at that time bear against all Persecution but we do not read that the other Bishops divided themselves some of them thinking themselves bound to pray for Valentinian and other for Maximus the Usurper Let any Man read over the Monuments of those times and he shall no where find any the least instance that the Christians of Great Britain did follow any other order in their Prayers than the Gauls and Spaniards did If ever there were a just occasion to refuse to pray for an Emperour it was then when Phocas invaded the Empire and usurped it from Maurice The Barbarous Cruelty which he used towards that Emperour and four of his Children cannot be read without Sorrow Theodosius the Son of Maurice whom his Father had declared Augustus had escaped the Massacre Well do we find that for all this the Church refused to pray for Phocas They who will read the 38th Epistle of the XI Book of the Pope that then was may judge whether the Church of Rome in the name whereof Gregory writes to Phocas after that his Accession to the Empire had been signifi'd to the Church and to the Roman Senate made any difficulty to pray for Phocas whom all Succeeding Posterity have consider'd as a great Tyrant I could easily make it appear that the same Maximes have been followed by all the Kingdoms of the West which were raised from the Ruins of the Roman Empire but it will be sufficient to alledge onely the Example of France Some years since a great Question hath been started between Father le Cointe and the Doctors of the Court of Rome The latter contending that the Franks did not deprive King Childeric of the Royal Title but by the concurring Authority of Pope Zachary whereas Father le Cointe rejects this opinion for a meer Legend mantaining that the Deposition of Childeric was perform'd by the Sole Authority of the State of the Franks See here what Papebrocius writes to prove that it is not improbable that Pope Zachary never so much as consented to this Deposition because the whole Body of the Nation judged it just and necessary For it was no new thing saith he for the Franks when they had dispatcht any of their Kings or thrust them into Monasteries to substitute others in their Room such as were indeed of the Merovingian Line yet not always those that were the next Heirs in a right Line of Succession as is evident to any one that reads the History of Gregory of Tours stuft with Royal Tragedies and Revolutions wherewith the Popes never concern'd themselves or enquir'd into the Right and Title of those in Possession of the Throne by what means soever they got to it And when ever did the Patriarchs of Constantinople refuse to crown or the Roman Bishops to own those Emperours which Fortune any way soever offer'd to them For seeing none of the Bishops nor of the Abbots nor any of those Persons who at that time were accounted famous for their Learning and Sanctity did oppose the Elevation of King Pippin if Pope Zachary had undertaken to oppose it his opposition would have been to no purpose against such an unanimus Resolution of the whole Kingdom already executed and to which nothing was wanting save onely the Ceremony of the Sacred Unction or Coronation The reason of my alledging Papebrocius that famous Compiler of the Laws of the Saints is onely to let you see how true the matter I have here advanced is viz. That the Church never at any time refused to pray for those who have been owned by the Body of the State and that the Christians in all Ages have been infinitely estrang'd from that Maxim whereon some Men do now build the Schisme we deplore viz. That it belongs to the Church to Judge who is the Lawful Soveraign and that she can and may consider him as an Usurper who is owned by the State and that its Members ought to refuse to pray for him and to separate themselves from those who do as from Persons that openly Violate the Laws of God and the Obligations of Conscience which I heartily wish these Gentlemen may take into their Serious Consideration I am FINIS

who are in Possession of the Sovereign Authority It follows from this Principle that we cannot lawfully pray to God for any but those whose Title to the Sovereignty we own to be rightful And I maintain that if this Conclusion which is drawn from the Principle I oppose be true it is impossible for any Christian Church to subsist in any State and that consequently the Conclusion as well as the Principle from whence it so naturally flows cannot but be false I desire you Sir to take notice that I affirm that it doth not belong to a Christian as such to examine whether he who hath the power over a Society possesseth the same by a Just Title or by Usurpation I acknowledge indeed that it is the right of the Society and its Representatives to examine this question but I flatly deny that it belongs to the Church or to any of the people considered as Christians to discuss the Titles of their Sovereigns Christians in as much as they are Christians are in a State in the same manner as Physicians who in that capacity have nothing to do to meddle with Affairs of State tho' they may take cognizance of them as they are Citizens Affairs therefore of State must not be regulated by any but those who are called to the management of them And forasmuch as the People are bound to submit themselves to the resolution of their Representatives the Church accordingly is obliged to own him for a lawful Sovereign of the State whom the Managers of the State own for such by ordaining Tribute to be paid to him and Prayers to be offer'd up to God for him c. This is my Position the Truth whereof I shall here set forth with a full and convincing evidence First Jesus Christ declared that Tribute ought to be paid to those whom the greatest part of the Jews lookt upon as Usurpers I mean the Roman Emperors and who indeed had usurpt the Power they themselves had formerly enjoy'd 2dly Our Saviour did plainly suppose that the prosperity of their Emperors ought publickly to be prayed for in the Temple as was constantly done to which the Zealots of the Jews opposed themselves for otherwise he ought rather to have joined himself to these Zealots and forbornt entring into the Temple in case he had not approved the Prayers there offer'd up for such Governors 3dly St. Paul taught that we are bound to pray for those that have the Authority in their hands without ever making the least distinction between those that were possest of this Authority by a lawful or unlawful Title Now where the Law doth not distinguish it is plain that neither ought we 4thly It hath been the constant practice of the Christian Church to pray for those that had the Sovereign Authority without ever allowing themselves the Liberty to judge of the Validity or Invalidity of the Titles of those that were in possession thereof This practice of the Church in all times and in all places is so uncontested a matter of Fact that we may defie any Person whatever to produce any one single example of a Schism that hath happen'd in the Church on a pretence like to that on which they have formed one of late viz. where one party of the Church maintain'd that they ought not to pray for a Prince in Possession because his Title was not lawful and separated themselves from those that submitted to him that was in Possession It is visible that according to the contrary Principle if the Church had not only a Right to examine the Title of Sovereigns but were also under an obligation so to do for fear of offering displeasing Prayers to his Divine Majesty in favour of an Usurper that it was of indispensable necessity for the Apostles to have made an exact draught of Politicks fram'd according to the Nature and Rights of the Government which they ought to have transmitted to their Successors in writing It would have been necessary also in the Church to instruct the Bishops and all the Clergy conformably to this Scheme of Politicks to the end that they might afterward instruct the Church and yet we do not find a tittle of all this neither in the New Testament nor any other Books of Antiquity Tho' without this so necessary precaution it cannot be imagin'd but that a vast number of Schismes must have been formed by occasion of so many Revolutions that have so strangely changed the Face of Governments from the time of our Saviour to this present We must therefore of necessity own either that none of the ancient Christians ever thought of discharging a duty so essential to the Christian Religion in the most important Acts of Devotion or that the Christians never believed that it was their business to examine the Rights of Sovereigns much less that they were obliged so to do to the end they might be in condition to offer their prayers to God with a good Conscience I have told you Sir That the Christian Religion could never have been admitted or have subsisted in any State if our Saviour had given another Rule to his Apostles than that which he hath given them And accordingly I entreat you to consider with your self a little what would have become of the Christian Religion if the Church had undertaken to examin the Titles of Sovevereigns Can you believe in good earnest that ever she would have met with an easie entrance into the World if it had been known that those who preached it entred into a State with a design and under obligations of examining the Titles of those who govern'd it and with a design of charging upon the Subjects as their duty an enquiry of this Nature I am certain that we cannot meet with any thing like this neither in the Writings of the Apostles nor in the Writings of the ancient Doctors of the Church particularly in their Apologies wherein they have refuted the principal grounds for which the Emperors rejected the Christian Religion and proscribed it Yea I am very ready to be so just to those who are of the contrary Opinion as to believe that they would have more Prudence than to make any such kind of Declaration to the Indians or Chinese if they had a mind to go and Preach the Gospel amongst them But some it may be may be apt to perswade themselves that the profession of the Christian Religion is the rather to be received upon this Condition of engaging Subjects to examin the Title of their Soveraigns and the whole State For indeed it may be thought what can be more advantageous to a Society or a Prince than Souls of so tender a conscience as are unwilling to pray for a Prince till they have discuss'd the point whether their Titles be lawful But yet I know not whether they would have been able to make the Gospel to be Received on those terms For 1. It plainly appears that they must have left all those Countries which from