Page:The ethics of Hobbes (IA ethicsofhobbes00hobb).pdf/43
Even the claims of the individual conscience are not to be regarded when they are in opposition to the will of the sovereign. He says: "I observe the diseases of a commonwealth, that proceed from the poison of seditious doctrines, whereof one is, That every private man is judge of good and evil actions." And again, "Another doctrine repugnant to civil society, is, that whatsoever a man does against his conscience, is sin; and it dependeth on the presumption of making himself judge of good and evil. ... Therefore, though he that is subject to no civil law, sinneth in all he does against his conscience, because he has no other rule to follow but his own reason; yet it is not so with him that lives in a commonwealth; because the law is the public conscience by which he hath already undertaken to be guided."[1] Of course the sovereign's power does not extend to the feelings, opinions, and beliefs of men, for these he cannot reach. It only extends to the manifestation of these in external conduct. The sovereign's will is the measure of all things to the individual, so far as his external conduct is concerned, within the limits indicated by the covenant.
This absoluteness of the sovereign pertains not only to things civil, but also to things religious. There is no church exercising authority independent of the State. The State indeed is the church. The "civil sovereign is the supreme pastor, to whose charge the whole flock of his subjects is committed." All other pastors get their authority from him. In a commonwealth, as supreme pastor, the sovereign has authority to preach, to baptize, to consecrate temples and pastors to the service of God. He has supreme power in matters of policy and religion and can make what laws he deems fit for the government of his subjects. He has the right to determine what doctrines are to be taught and who is to teach them. If in things
- ↑ Leviathan, Pt. II., chap. XXIX.