Page:Essay on the First Principles of Government 2nd Ed.djvu/206

 defect, which these courts do supply, was the original and fundamental motive of the state seeking this alliance." But I would ask, Are not ecclesiastical officers men, mere human beings, possessed of only a limited power of discernment, as well as civil officers? Will they not, therefore, find themselves under the same difficulty in enforcing the duties of imperfect obligation, that the civil officers would have done, notwithstanding the coercive power they receive from the state for that purpose? In short, I do not see what an ecclesiastical court can do in this case, more than a civil court of equity. Is not this, in fact, confessed by this author, when he allows, p. 87, that "there must be an appeal from these courts to the civil, in all cases." For, if the civil courts be qualified to judge of these things, by appeal, why could they not have done it in the first instance?

2. If the expediency of ecclesiastical establishments be allowed, it is allowed on account of their utility only; and