Holy Writ Essay

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Louis XIV Monarchy and Bousset’s Holy Writ Bishop Jacques Bossuet, a French theologian, expressed his ideas of the divine rights of the monarchy in a treatise entitled, Politics Derived from Holy Writ. It was in this treatise that Bossuet stated his views of how the government was devinely ordained by God, and that is what allowed its people to live in a society that was organized. Bossuet felt that God established kings for the purpose of reing over the people of the world, and since God did this their authority was absolute. Every aspect of Bousset’s Holy Writ does accurately describe Louis XIV monarchial power. King Louis XIV reign of France was exampled by an absolute monarchy, which gave him the ultimate governing authority over his sovereign state and subjects. Louis was a believer in dictatorship by devine right, and viewed himself as God’s representative on earth. In Bossuet’s Holy Writ, he speaks of how, “Rulers then act as the ministers of God and as his lieutenants on earth, it is through them that God exercises his empire” (www.history.hanover.edu). Bossuet lets the people know that as God is the ruler of everything, he has a king who he uses on earth to rule over them while they are on earth to guide their decisions. Louis, in the early stages of his reign as the sole ruler of France, after the death of Cardinal Mazarin, showed strong determination to be a real king. Prior to the death of the Cardinal, he had entrusted governmental affairs to him, but now he would make those decisions himself. He would also enlist the counsels to assist him when asked. King Louis XIV demanded that nothing was to be signed without his conset and all matters went through him. The Holy Writ by Bossuet accounts how, “The prince need render account of his acts to no one. I counsel thee to keep the kings commandment, and that in regard of the oath of God”
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