Moses the God of Aaron, or the Power and Duty of Princes in Sacred Matters

...not have exercised it. Indeed, the Prince is not a bishop The author is distinguishing between a "bishop" as a church official and the Prince's role as a supreme overseer. in this sense, nor does he possess and exercise command over sacred matters original: "imperium in sacra" as a bishop would; rather, he does so because he is the Prince and the Vicar of God A title indicating that the ruler acts as God's direct representative on Earth in matters of governance.. This is just as Moses exercised the right of sacred things original: "jus sacrorum" because he was as a god to Aaron A reference to Exodus 4:16, where God tells Moses that Aaron shall be his spokesman, but Moses shall be "as God" to him. The author uses this to show the civil leader (Moses) held authority over the high priest (Aaron). and performed the office of a King.

Therefore, it is useless to attempt to prove this right by citing the practices of secular authors original: "profanis Auctoribus"; literally "profane" or non-religious writers of history. for the sake of validating the law itself; for not everything that is done ought to be done. Instead, we must learn what the law actually is from canonical Scripture, so that we may use it as a standard to examine examples from secular history.

Furthermore, if the law of sacred matters is illustrated by examples from every era of history, the minds of those first approaching the subject become so distracted that they can find no certain foundation. This is especially true because the opinions of scholars vary so greatly on this point. Some fail to understand because of the subject's difficulty, confusing things that should be kept separate. Others, however, show favor to the Doctors In this context, the "Doctors" refers to the clergy, theologians, or church teachers. or even to other subjects against both reason and Holy Scripture, attempting to limit the Prince and even daring to strip him of his sacred command original: "imperium sacrorum" in their writings.

For these reasons, I have finally taken up this work—whatever its merit—to demonstrate the power and duty of Princes in sacred matters from the only The Latin text ends mid-sentence with "ex sola" (from the only...). Given the context of the Reformation-era argument, the author is likely about to say "from Scripture alone."