What should he, Berkeley, do? To which side did honour and justice direct him? In his soul-searching dilemma his Lordship turned to his ageing chaplain and confessor.

Trevisa was not surprised that his patron should seek his advice. Had they not often during the last ten years, and more especially in the last two, discussed theoretical situations somewhat similar to the present one, with always the ultimate question, “Is it ever morally right to rebel and depose a lawful sovereign who had received the sacring?” In hypothetical cases it had been easy to give an answer, but material as well as spiritual, rested in the balance. One also staked one's family and fortune upon the wheel of choice. Trevisa for days had prayed hard for guidance in this tense situation.

He had read and re-read the Gospels with the Master's teaching, and pondered deeply upon the argument in the De regimine principum. But still the answer to the agonising problem was not clear.