the tenth of a tenth, fince God, by obliging the laity to pay their tenths to the clergy, does not oblige the clergy to pay them to the judge, the governor of the people, or king; ⚫and in things odious (as they fay) there must be no comment, where the text is filent. But what will they fay, if it be made appear that the poffeffions of the clergy do fo far exceed the tenths, they receive from the laity, that they amount even to one third of all the product of the earth, fea, mountains, rivers, and of all the yearly fruits produc'd by nature? For an inftance, or rather proof of this, I will only mention France and Spain, where the clergy is the chief and the richeft of the three orders of the ftate. I do not speak of England, becaufe 'tis known that the greateft and clearest revenues of the king, at prefent, arise from the fpoils of the regular clergy, or monks of the island. To inftance only in the city of Venice, the tenth of the laity's poffeffions fcarce amounts to 200,000 Ducats, whereas the tenth of the clergy's eftate comes to more than 500,00, by raifing not the tenth, but only the fifth of the produce of nature, without reckoning the other payments which the laity make, out of their own eftates, to the curates and ecclefiaftic prelates, and which are not included in the above account; because the tenths, which are levy'd upon the clergy, are rais'd only from fuch of their poffeffions as are patrimonial benefices, with an exception to N

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perfons, who, according to the fimplicity of the ancients, remain in poffeffion of jus quæfitum perfona, i. e. perfonal eftate, and not that

which is real.

But if, for inftance, a fecular prince has no right in himself, according to the court of Rome, to levy the clergy's tenths, from whence (fay I) muft he raife the fums neceffary for his Expences, and for the defence of his government, cities and fubjects, and even of the clergy? If it be anfwerd, that he ought to tax the eftates of the laity only; I reply, that it would be tranfgreffing the precept of mutual juftice and equity, for the clergy to refufe contributing their quota, in proportion to the benefit they reap in common with the public, by their protection: befides, that 'tis uncharitable to lay the whole burden upon the one, and none at all upon the others, or fo much as to lighten their burden, who naturally ought to bear as great a part of it as the others. Nay, the facrednefs of the ecclefiaftic state would tend to the oppreffion of the laity, if the getting into ecclefiaftical orders were fufficient to excufe a man from bearing a hare of the public taxes. But to argue more clofely to the point: If it fhould happen, in procefs of time, that all the eftate of the laity, or the greatest part, however, fhould become the property of the clergy, where, I pray, muft the prince raife his revenue? becaufe, according to the fyftem of thofe extraordinary zea

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lots for ecclefiaftical liberty, all fuch eftates ought to be free from taxation. To fay that this is fuppofing an impoffibility, is faying nothing to the purpose; because, if we may be allow'd to judge of what may, by what already has come to pafs, and confider the vast increase of church-livings, fince the clergy had a being, it will appear that their engroffing the whole to themselves, is fo far from being fuch an impoffibility as fome would infinuate, that 'tis, on the contrary, very easy, and we might fay very near their accomplishment too, unless they meet with rubs; fuch, for instance, as those which the wife and vigilant republic of Venice have now laid in their way. It may be objected, perhaps, that there are some of the laity, who, having no eftate, pay nothing to their prince; I grant it; but I take this to be a cafe wherein the laity are tax-free, because those taxes which a prince lays upon all his fubjects, are founded on a fuppofition that they are well able to pay them; for if a lay-fubject has no eftate, or at least but a small one, he cannot bear a part of the burden, because he is commonly forc'd to live upon the charity of the clergy, or elfe to earn his bread by daily labour, as did Jofeph's brethren in Egypt; in which are manifeft the fad effects of God's curse upon mankind, in the perfon of Adam, when he said to him, in the fweat of thy face thou shalt eat bread. Now the clergy may as weil pretend to have been created free from N 2

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original fin, as from this curfe, tho' they are become the executioners of it, by felling again to the laity that bread which they receiv'd from their ancestors, under the title of alms. Upon the whole, therefore, if, while part of the fubjects are exempted from taxes, by reafon of poverty, another part plead exemption by fpecial privilege, their fovereign would be much more at a loss than even the fuperior of a convent, who is oblig'd by his character to govern and maintain his monks, without any income from them. And whoever fhould like to be a prince on these terms, I think he would richly deserve to be canoniz'd for a faint, who was poor in spirit indeed.

'Tis in vain to fay, that when a prince is in these unhappy circumftances, the Pope would, by an indulto, impower him to lay fuch a tax upon the clergy of his dominions, as might answer his demands; for in the firft place it must be observ'd, that fuch indulto being entirely dependent on the Pope's will and pleafure, might be as well refused as granted; and, in the fecond place, that 'tis abfurd to send a prince a begging to another for the ways and means which God himself put into his own hands, when he advanced him to the fovereignty; for confidering what Jefus Chrift said to Pilate, who was fo far from being a prince, that he was only the minister of an idolatrous prince; Thou couldst have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above; it must

be

be own'd that princes derive their authority immediately from God, and that by confequence he has given them the means fufficient to fupport that authority, without being be-` holden for them to the good pleasure of another. This comports likewife with the idea we have of divine juftice: For if a free prince, who is ftil'd prince by the grace of God, is only accountable to him for the mifgovernment of his people; and if fuch mifgovernment is owing purely to the want of the means, he cannot be punishable, by divine juftice, for what he could not help. An idolater does not commit fin by continuing in his idolatry, if he never had an opportunity to be instructed in the chriftian faith. 'Tis true, he fins as well as chriftians, if he gives himself up to other vices; but his infidelity, or fin of idolatry, will never be put in the balance with his other crimes, because he is not to be blam'd for not believing what he knows nothing of, either by himself, or by tradition. Who hath believed our report? faid the prophet; and St. Paul therefore drew this confequence, faith cometh by hearing. To apply what has been just mention'd to the cafe of a fovereign prince; if he leaves his fubjects to be invaded, and extirpated by a foreign enemy, or elfe does not defend them against villains at home, for want of foldiers and ftatefmen, whom he cannot get without money, and a fufficient revenue; I do affirm, that in this cafe he is not to blame, any

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