Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On the Members of the Church · On the Laity or Secular Persons (Book III)
Chapter 2: The First Question Proposed: Whether Political Power Is Good and Lawful for Christians
Our translation, from the Latin of the Opera Omnia (Paris: Vivès, 1870–74), vol. III, De Laicis sive Saecularibus (De Membris Ecclesiae, Book III), On the Laity or Secular Persons (On the Members of the Church, Book III). The Latin source text is public domain; this English rendering is released with the site. Scripture quotations follow Bellarmine's Vulgate citations, rendered in Douay-Rheims wording where he quotes exactly. Click “Show the Latin” for the original (raw OCR of the scan; scanning errors remain — the scan itself is the authority).
It is one of the chief heresies of the Anabaptists and the Trinitarians of this time that it is not lawful for Christians to hold magistracies, and that there ought in no way to be among Christians tribunals, courts, judgments, the right of the sword, and so on. The ministers who in Transylvania attack the Trinity, the Incarnation, and the Baptism of infants issued in the year 1568, at Alba Julia, Antitheses of the True and the False Christ; the seventh of which is that the false Christ has in his Church kings, princes, magistrates, swords, but the true Christ can suffer nothing of the kind in his Church.
Their arguments are these, or at least can be these. The first, from Scripture. Matthew 17: “The kings of the Gentiles, from whom do they receive tribute?” and so on; “therefore the sons are free.” And Luke 22: “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; it shall not be so among you.” Romans 13: “Owe no man anything, but to love one another.” 1 Corinthians 7: “You are bought with a price; be not made the bondslaves of men.” 2 Corinthians 8 [Ephesians 4]: “One Lord.” Ephesians 4: “One Lord, one faith, one Baptism, one God.”
The second, from examples; for most princes abuse their power, and not only do not profit but even harm the commonwealth — as is plain at the very beginning of the world in Cain (Genesis 4); in the sons of the princes (Genesis 6), who, taking various wives, were corrupted with every crime, and on their account the Flood afterward came; likewise in Nimrod, Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, and in Saul, Rehoboam, and the rest; for after the division of the kingdom, of the kings of Israel not one was good.
The third, from the end; for the magistrate was permitted to the Jews on account of the imperfection of the time, for the Jews were children, and therefore had to be ruled by another, as is plain (Galatians 4). But we are perfect men, and the anointing teaches us of all things.
The fourth, from the efficient cause; for this power was not introduced by God, but tyrannically usurped by men. For who made Nimrod king? Who Nebuchadnezzar? Who Ninus? Who Alexander? Who Julius Caesar? Who the others? Hence is praised that pirate who answered Alexander: “I, because I roam with a small vessel, am called a pirate; you, because you plunder the whole world with a great fleet, are called Emperor.” (Augustine, Book IV On the City of God, chapter 4, from Marcus Tullius, Book III On the Republic.)
The fifth, from the origin. For God created man free, and through sin subjection was introduced; therefore, since we have been freed from sin through Christ, we ought also to be free from subjection. The antecedent is plain; for in Genesis 1 it is not said, “Rule over men,” but, “Rule over the fishes of the sea,” and so on. Likewise woman now is subject to man only by a political subjection, yet this subjection was introduced through sin, as is plain (Genesis 3): “Thou shalt be under the power of thy husband.” And besides, before the Flood the first who founded a city and began a political kingdom was Cain, as Augustine deduces from Genesis 4 (Book XV On the City of God, chapter 1); after the Flood the first was Nimrod (Genesis 10).
Finally, the Fathers clearly teach this. Augustine (Book XIX On the City of God, chapter 15): “Man, made rational to His own image, God willed to have dominion only over the irrational — not man over man, but man over the beasts. Hence the first just men were established as shepherds of flocks rather than as kings of men, that thus too God might intimate what the order of creatures required, and what the desert of sins exacted.” Gregory (Book XXI Morals, chapter 11): “Nature begot all men equal, but, as the order of merits varies, a hidden dispensation sets some below others. But that very diversity, which came from vice, is rightly ordained by the divine judgments, so that, since not every man walks the way of life equally, one should be ruled by another.” He has like things in the Pastoral, part 2, chapter 6.
This heresy not only do all Catholics execrate, and chiefly Blessed Thomas (in Opusculum 20), and all the philosophers, but even Philip Melanchthon (in the Commonplaces, chapter on the civil magistrate) and John Calvin (Book IV Institutes, chapter 20) attack most sharply and fully, and Luther himself (in the Saxon Visitation) — although the Anabaptists took occasion from his own words in the Babylonian Captivity, chapter on Baptism.
We will refute it by five arguments; for so many also are the foundations of the adversaries. First, from the Scriptures. Secondly, from the examples of the Saints. Thirdly, from the end or necessity. Fourthly, from the efficient cause. Fifthly, from the origin.
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPUT II. Proponitur prima quaestio : An politica potestas sit bona, et Christianis licita. Est una ex praecipuis haeresibus Anabap- tistarum, et Trinitariorum hujus temporis : Non licere Christianis gerere Magistratus, nec debere esse ullo modo inter Christianos praetoria, tribunalia, judicia, jus gladii etc. Ministri, qui in Transylvania, Trinitatem, et Incarnationem, et parvulorum Baptis¬ mum oppugnant, ediderunt anno 1568, Albae Julia?, Antitheses Christi veri et falsi ; qua¬ rum septima est, Christum falsum habere in sua Ecclesia Reges, Principes, Magistra¬ tus, gladios, Christum verum nihil tale in sua Ecclesia pati posse. Argumenta eorum haec sunt, vel, certe esse possunt. Primum , ex Scriptura. Matth. XVII : Deges Gentium , a quibus accipi¬ unt tributa etc. ergo liberi sunt filii. Et Lucae XXII. Reges Gentium dominantur eorum : non sic erit inter vos. Rom. XIII : Aemini quid¬ quam debeatis, nisi ut invicem diligatis. I. Co- rinth VII : Pretio empti estis, nolite fieri servi hominum. II. Corintli. VIII : Unus Dominus. 6 LIBER III. Ephes. IV : Unus Dominus, una fides, unum Baptisma, unus Deus (1). Secundum, ab exemplis ; nam plerique Principum abutuntur potentia, et non solum non prosunt, sed etiam obsunt Reipublicee ut patet in ipso initio mundi de Cain, Ge¬ nes. IV. de filiis Principum, Genes. VI. qui ac¬ cipientes varias uxores, corrupti sunt omni scelere, et eorum causa postea venit dilu¬ vium. Item de Nemrod, Pharaone, Nabu- chodonosor, et deSaul, Roboam, et cseteris ; nam post divisionem regni, ex Regibus Israel nullus fuit bonus. Tertium, a fine ; nam Magistratus permis¬ sus fuit Judaeis propter imperfectionem tem¬ poris, erant enim pueri Judaei, et ideo regi debebant ab alio, ut patet Gulat. IV. At nos viri sumus perfecti, et unctio docet nos de omnibus. Quartum, ab efficiente ; nam ista potestas non est Deo introducta, sed ab hominibus tyrannice usurpata ; Quis enim fecit Nemrod Regem ? quis Nabuchodonosor ? quis Ni¬ num? quis Alexandrum ? quis Julium Caesa¬ rem ? quis alios ? Hinc laudatur ille pirata, qui respondit Alexandro : ego quia cum par¬ vo ligno discurro, pirata dicor ; tu quia cum magna classe orbem terrarum spolias, Im¬ perator diceris. Augustinus lib. IV. civit, cap. 4. ex Mare. Tuli. lib. III. de Republica. Quintum, ab origine. Nam Deus creavit hominem liberum, et per peccatum intro¬ ducta est subjectio ; ergo cum a peccato per Christum liberati simus, etiam a subjectione esse debemus. Antecedens patet ; nam Ge¬ nes. I. non dicitur : Dominamini hominibus, sed : Dominamini piscibus maris etc. Item mulier nunc non subjicitur viro, msi politica subjectione, tamen hsec subjectio per pec¬ catum introducta, est, ut patet Genes. III : Sub viri potestate eris (2) ; et praiterea ante diluvium primus, qui condidit civitatem, et inchoavit regnum politicum, fuit Cain, ut ex Genes. IV, deducit Augustinus lib. XV. civit. Dei cap. 1. post diluvium primus fuit Nemrod, Gen. X. Denique id clare docent Patres. Augusti¬ nus libro XIX de civit. Dei c. 15 rationa¬ lem factum ad imaginem suam, noluit Deus nisi irrationabilibus dominari, non hominem pecori. Inde primi justi, pastores mapds pe¬ corum , quam Reges hominum constituti sunt ; ut hinc etiam insinuaret Deus, quid ordo postularet creaturarum, et quid meri¬ tum exigeret peccatorum. Gregorius libro XXI.moral. cap. 11. Omnes homines natura aequales genuit, sed variante meritorum or¬ dine alios aliis dispensatio occulta postponit. Ipsa autem diversitas, quaj accessit ex vitio, recte est divinis judiciis ordinata, ut quia omnis homo iter vitae non aeque graditur, alter regatur ab altero; similia habet in Pastorali, part. 2. cap. 6. Hanc hoeresim non solum Catholici omnes exeerantur, ac praecipue B. Thorn. in opus. 20. et omnes Philosophi, sed etiam Philip¬ pus Melanchthon in locis, cap.de civili Magis¬ tratu, et Joan. Calvinus lib. IV. Institut. cap. 20. acerrime, et fusissime oppugnant, et Lutherus ipse in visit. Saxonica, etsi ab ipsius verbis in Babyl. Captivitate, cap. de Baptismo, occasionem sumpserunt Anabap- tistae. Nos eam quinque argumentis refellemus; nam tot etiam sunt adversariorum funda¬ menta. Primo, ex Scripturis. Secundo, ex exemplis Sanctorum. Tertio, ex fine seu ne¬ cessitate. Quarto, ex causa efficiente. Quinto, ex origine.