Page:Life of Sir William Petty 1623 – 1687.djvu/38

 under the auspices of the Parliamentary visitors. On March 7, 1649, William Petty became a Doctor in Physic. On June 25 he also entered himself at the College of Physicians in London, after the charge whereof he says: 'I had left about 60l.'

The situation at Oxford was a strained one. Fortunately for himself, Dr. Petty could not be claimed as an adherent by any of the rival schools of politics and religion which were then disputing the country. In religion his views were of a broad and liberal character. In politics he had been greatly influenced by Hobbes, who at the time was engaged on the preparation of 'The Leviathan' and the smaller work on the theory of government known as the 'De Cive.' One of the principal doctrines of these works, which Hobbes had doubtless instilled into the mind of his pupil, was that in order to preserve social order and civil freedom, which are the main objects of government and the first duty of the citizen, and to prevent the rise of an imperium in imperio, the State must not be afraid to assume the right, if necessary, of controlling religion, and must be prepared to resist the pretensions of the clergy—whether Catholic, Anglican, or Presbyterian—to interfere in matters of State and lay hands on the Government. It was in this sense that Hobbes accepted the doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings, or rather of Civil Governments, as the only effectual safeguard against the pretensions of the Roman Church and of authors such as Bellarmine and Suarez. Hobbes, in consequence of the promulgation of these views, had to fly from Paris in 1651; for, however welcome in the abstract his schemes might be to the statesmen of the school of Richelieu and Mazarin, in practice the attack in 'The Leviathan' on the Papal system and on clerical pretensions generally went beyond what the French Government, tolerant as it then was in such matters, could safely allow. But the proposals of the 'De Cive' were also offensive to the small ring of English courtiers and churchmen surrounding the exiled King, with which, up to that time, the author had had very intimate relations, having himself been mathematical teacher to Charles. Hobbes therefore