It is manifest therefore that they who have sovereign power, are immediate rulers of the church under Christ, and all others but subordinate to them. If that were not, but kings should command one thing upon pain of death, and priests another upon pain of damnation, it would be impossible that peace and religion should stand together.
ATTRIBUTION:
Thomas Hobbes (1579–1688), British philosopher. The Elements of Law, Natural and Politic, ch. 26, section 10 (1640).
