ARE not the king, or the magistrates who represent him, competent judges for deciding, whether a religious institution be conformable or contrary to the laws of the kingdom?
II.
Is it necessary that the spiritual power concur with the temporal, for this decision, which is purely civil?
III.
Did not the king’s subjects, who submitted themselves to this institution, submit thereto, on the supposition, nay, in the persuasion, that the king and the state approved thereof?
IV.
If the king, or the magistrates who represent him, having at first permitted or tolerated the institution, come afterwards to be of opinion, that it is contrary to the laws of the kingdom, would the king’s subjects, who had subjected themselves to this institution, and who took the resolution of renouncing it, wound thereby their consciences?
V.