Page:Illustrations of the history of medieval thought and learning.djvu/241

Rh by this exercise of his prerogative to secure her peace or the overthrow of her spiritual enemies. He may thus in case of necessity deprive the established electors of their privilege and transfer it to whom he will, he may change the constitution of the empire; just as indeed he may transfer or change any other temporal government, being the representative on earth of the supreme Arbiter of kingdoms. The existence of the civil state is only justified by the presiding presence of the priesthood, and this authorisation obtains in the west by that Donation which restored its entire empire to the pope not only in sovereignty but in actual and immediate government, so that all the constitutions of its kingdoms are subject to his ordinance; all the worldly possessions of kings depend from him: the emperor himself can issue no law without his concurrence. His is the final court of appeal of the world. Such in brief outline is the matured statement of the relation of the pope to the temporal power, a statement which in no way exaggerated the pretensions avowed in the papal curia. Growing out of a confusion of ancient, and a disdain of the lessons of modern, history it aptly reflects the spirit of a time when the church had become immersed in the cares and interests, which she affected to control, of common worldly politics.