He was
beheaded in 1683. His early life, his hatred of all in authority, whether
Charles I. or Cromwell, his revolutionary instincts, are well known. A few
extracts from his fatal MS. will show the author's ideas:--"The supreme
authority of kings is that of the laws, and the people are in a state of
dependence upon the laws." "Liberty is the mother of virtues, and slavery
the mother of vices." "All free peoples have the right to assemble
whenever and wherever they please." "A general rising of a nation does not
deserve the name of a revolt. It is the people for whom and by whom the
Sovereign is established, who have the sole power of judging whether he
does, or does not, fulfil his duties." In the days of "the Divine Right of
Kings" such sentiments could easily be charged with treason.
Political authors in other lands have often shared the fate of our own
countrymen, and foremost among these was Edmund Richer, a learned doctor
of the Sorbonne, Grand Master of the College of Cardinal Le Moine, and
Syndic of the University of Paris. He ranks among unfortunate authors on
account of his work entitled _De Ecclesiastica et Politica, potestate_
(1611), which aroused the anger of the Pope and his Cardinals, and
involved him in many difficulties. This remarkable work, extracted chiefly
from the writings of Gerson, was directed against the universal temporal
power of the Pope, advocated the liberties of the Gallican Church, and
furnished Protestant theologians with weapons in order to defend
themselves against the champions of the Ultramontane party.
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