of this Discourse Sect. 1. Not the Power and Offices of the Church but their Subject is what mostly exercises the Age Sect. 2. Whether the Power be originally in Believers in Common or in the Secular Prince in Particular or in a certain Definite Number of Believers the Bishops and Pastors of the Church Sect. 3. The Design of the Whole and its Three General Heads Sect. 4. VVHEN I first consider'd that of Thomas Hobbes in his Leviathan § I Part 1. Cap. 12. Of Religion and which is in short to this purpose in several Paragraphs there That every one is free upon the ceasing or discontinuance of the Miracle to Supersede or Change his Religion once attested by that Miracle to be from God and upon which account it was receiv'd and own'd if the change of the Climate and his Governors his former Education and the present Custom of the Place he resides in requires and all that other Authority and Obligation from Heaven obliged only for that present instant in which the Miracle was wrought and evidenced I with less concern passed it by reflecting on the Person a Man affected with and designing Novelty and Singularity filled with a Conceit of his own worth and autority and opposing it to all the World beside And in particular in this Chapter declaring himself to be such an one that believes an extraordinary felicity a sufficient Testimony of a Divine Calling but going on in my Thoughts and finding by a sad Experience that it went further than the Scheme or Systeme that a great part of our Age is thereby brought into this Opinion and 't is contended for so frequently as their Faith that the Church is nothing at all but in the State its Powers and Offices though once in the Apostles and some of their Successors for some time is now gone with those Miracles that at that time abetted and avouched them nor is the Gospel it self to be Preached or divulged upon other terms or a fixed enjoyned false Religion opposed nay farther this very same to be the stated professed Opinions of some and those too our highest dignified Church-men and left upon Record as the judgment of the greatest part and some of them the most remarkable of our first Reformers that the Prince is invested with whatever belongs to a Church-man then was my heart hot within me and while I was thus musing the fire kindled and at the last I spake with my Tongue I then set my self upon a particular immediate enquiry into the Matter and attaining to a more perfect knowledge of that way I here represent it to my Fathers and Brethren of the Clergy to all good Christians whatever in this following Treatise and only state the plain case as I find delivered down from our Saviour by his Apostles the Bishops Fathers and Doctors of the Church Catholique the Church Historians Councils and Laws Imperial from our own particular Church Articles Canons Rubricks our Book of Ordination and Homilies appointed to be read in the Churches in the time of Q. Elizabeth from our own Doctors and Writers in Divinity in their several times and from the Injunctions and Declarations of our Princes and even the Common-Law and Statute Book of our Kingdom the Honor and Duty I owe to my Jesus to his Universal Church to this particular Church of England to my own Profession as a Divine and love to all Christians is what have engaged to it other advantages I have none nor are any proposed these Considerations alone are they which now makes the dumb Child speak looses the string of that Tongue that held its peace and said nothing and brings him into publick otherwise by an universal Concurrency of all things both Persons and Objects design'd for silence and obscurity § II NOW in order to this I have so much prepared and made ready to my hands that the thing in general is immediately denied by none and that there is a Church-Power to be alwayes upon Earth till the restitution of all things and the Heavens be no more that is certain peculiar Persons and Offices to be separated and discharged in and for the affairs of Souls and the guiding and governing the World in order to Heaven and Salvation is affirmed by all that believe a Heaven and Christ Jesus the Way the Truth and the Life in the Attainment That which has so much unhing'd and discompos'd the World of late is concerning the Subject in which it resides the particular Persons design'd and appointed by our Saviour for the conveyance and execution the due force just extent and consequences of it in whom this Power is to be found and to whom limited since none are extraordinarily by miraculous and sensible demonstrations from Heaven commissioned and marked out thereunto as the Apostles and first Publishers of the Gospel were And though Mr. Selden himself as our great Herbert Thorndike in his Principles of Christian Truth tells us usually said in his common Discourse That all Church Power is an Imposture yet his First Book De Synedriis designed and levelled against this Autority Upon this alone score because presumed in and limited to the Bishops and Pastors of the Church as the Successors of Christ and his Apostles makes it plain his quarrel is because so assumed and limited by them because transferr'd from the Prince or Civil Power in whose hands alone he believes it placed and in those in deputation by him and for which he contends all along in that Book with what Success may be seen hereafter and therein places the Imposture THERE are three distinct Orders of Men § III or at the least to be supposed distinct in which this Power is contended for to be seated each exclusive of one another by the several Assertors and Fautors of the distant Opinions and Parties among us The One places it in the People the multitude of Believers in common as the general first immediate subject of Power Ecclesiastical who by their concurrent Notes Elections and Assignations limit and fix it on particular Persons for the Execution so appointing consecrating and investing for the work of the Ministry to negotiate in the affairs of Souls and in order to their Salvation The Other subjects all in the Prince or Secular Power who is supposed in actu Primo virtually and by a first inherency to be Priest and People equally as Prince and by the Right of Soveraignty as chief Magistrate upon Earth is instructed for all Offices and Duties in relation to Heaven with a Power for Deputation and Devolution as the Harvest may be great or the Labourers few upon each occasion requiring and as he is pleased by his secular Hand to mark out the Person The Third place it not in the Multitude in general or in the Prince in special but in a certain indefinite number of Believers called and impower'd thereunto not by their Gifts and Abilities as Christians in common but by a particular signal Donation superadded given
with it and all the Injunctions Rules Directions and Limitations we there meet withal were Rule before only the outward Penal Coercive part which Power the Church never had never pretended to was conjoyned with them for the surer more due Execution even where the Empire was inclined to Heresie as sometimes it was their own Bishops and Councils were first call'd and consulted their Advice and Directions followed What was purely Secular the Emperor 's own and of himself was his Grace and Royal Favour in condescending and yielding to the Church's Determinations and the many Immunities he invested their Persons withal were all his own choice as it was to be a Christian no Power besides could none attempted to force it upon him none ever made Canons but Church-men that is Rules purely relating to the Church of God only the Prince has the outward Coercive Power by force and bodily present Penalties to constrain and compel their Execution Or where Princes assumed of their own devices as particular Extravagant Actions still have been and will be again nor do they amount to the breaking a general Rule the Church still so far opposed as to remonstrate upon the encroachment to assert their Supreme Power as from Christ although they suffer for it and after Emperors have altogether voided them This I have already made good in part and it will farther appear from the several Emperors Concessions Acknowledgments and Declarations to the World that none but bare open foreheads to any thing dare gainsay it HONORIVS and Theodosius the Emperors § XXV make Laws and imbody in the Empire what Canons they found made and if any farther Doubts arise they are to be reserved Sancto judicio for the Holy Judgment of the most Reverend Patriarch of Constantinople as Supreme in Religion and to the Convention of the Clergy Cod. Justinian l. 1. Tit. 2. Lex 6. and which he transcribed out of the Theodosian Cod. 16. Tit. l. 45. and by receiving into his own confirmed Valentinianus and Marcian make void all Pragmatick Sanctions which by Favour or Ambition were gained against the Ecclesiastical Canons 1. lib. Tit. 12. l. 1. Zeno calls it the state of Tyranny where there is Innovations against the Church and its setled Constitutions he calls the times wicked and those Laws and Constitutions impious and confirms all the Priviledges his Royal Predecessors had granted to Holy Church Lex 16. ibid. 'T is Decreed that all the Canons or Holy Ecclesiastical Rules made by the Four first General Councils obtain the force of a Law Novel 131. cap. 1. Nor can we think that the Christian Empire could do less when these very Canons are esteemed by them as the Holy Scriptures ibid. Novel 131. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God himself directing the Speakers of them As Leo the Emperor of the Canons in General Constitut 2. ad finem Novel and which Expressions though they might be over extravagant yet it shews to the World how the Emperors thought of the Autority and Canons of the Church what a Precedency they gave unto them Justinian openly speaks it and calls them Sacras Divinas Regulas Holy and Divine Laws Quas etiam nostrae sequi non dedignantur leges and that himself in framing his Laws does not disdain to follow them and which he Commands his Praefectus Praetorio to make known by Publication to the whole World Epilog ibid. and Novel 6. Epilog what he enjoyns all Patriarchs Metropolitans Bishops and Clergy under a civil Punishment if not observing it is only what Church-men had before appointed 't is all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by virtue and in observancy of the Sacred Canons foregoing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Judgment of the Empire concurs with that of the Church adding Nerves and Autority to its Predeterminations and what to the Church seemed most convenient Novel 42. cap. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zeno Imperator Constitut 9. when the Patriarch of Constantinople required of the said Emperor Zeno that it might by the Law of the Empire be determined concerning the time of Baptizing Children and resolved him that he might do it without a formal Council which to call together to consult only about one Point might be inconvenient being directed as to the particular Matter the Emperor yielded to him but told withal the Patriarch Such things were to proceed from the Church and not originally from him and that in Holy Matters his Holiness ought to pass the Sanction Constitut 17. and if in these lesser things and Circumstantials much more in the weightiest Church-Matters as Abstentions Excommunications Depositions is the Church to be followed are her Determinations and Judicial Acts to precede and so they did Among all the Temporal Punishments upon Hereticks and Schismaticks none was inflicted till by the Councils and Bishops rejected the Clerk that is unfaithful in his Office the Bishop is commanded first to depose him and then follows the Secular Judgment as in the Theodosian Code supra ultimum Supplicium a farther Punishment succeeds and which Dionysius Gothofred interprets to be Death in his Notes upon Cod. Justinian lib. 1. Tit. lib. 3.3 though I cannot assent to him in that finding no Sanguinary Laws in those Cases with many more of the like Nature which we have already produced § XXVI AND now I think here is opportunity sufficient for Information to any one into whose hands these Papers shall come or that will receive it what the Church-Power is in it self and what the Power of the Empire in Religious Matters And particularly for Dr. Tillotson Dean of Canterbury who in his Sermon April 2. 1680. Pag. 11 12 on Joshua 24.15 has thus expressed himself And to speak freely in this Matter I cannot think till I be better informed which I am always ready to be that any Pretence of Conscience warrants any Man that is not extraordinarily Commissioned as the Apostles and first Publishers of the Gospel were and cannot justifie that Commission by Miracles as they did to Affront the Establisht Religion of a Nation though it be false and openly draw Men off from the Profession of it in Contempt of the Magistrate and Law all that Persons of a different Religion can in such a case reasonably Pretend to is to enjoy the Private and Exercise of their own Conscience and Religion for which they ought to be very thankful and to forbear the open making of Proselytes to their own Religion though they be never so sure that they are in the right till they have either an extraordinary Commission from God to that Purpose or the Providence of God make way for it by the Permission of the Magistrate That there has been always a Spiritual Ecclesiastical Power in the World as derived and received once by the Holy Ghost and not of Man so preserved and propagated devolved and continued from the same Fountain in order to the first great end for the support and continuance of the same Religion though the
to be of the Church but the Government it self is laid upon another upon the Shoulders of this Child and Son born and given unto us Isa 9.6 and which they are to nourish to protect and preserve with their Temporal Government and Scepters a Generative Procreative Power is not in them This Power given by the Father to the Son was in part and some instances of it finish'd in his own Person upon Earth in part and other instances he is now managing in Heaven what was to remain here among us after his Ascension was to be given to whomsoever the Son pleased this he deputed and committed to his Apostles some of which Power was to dye with their Persons was extraordinary and temporary only or at the most survived in some few only after them and during a small time what was designed and universally useful for all Mankind and for the lasting perpetual managing us in order to Heaven to continue to the end of the World and in the execution and discharge of which our Saviour has promised to be with us always unto the end of the World this was all transferred and devolved by the Apostles on their Successors in the Evangelical Priesthood the Bishops Presbyters and Deacons of the Church it was not demandated to Kings and Secular Powers which then and for some Hundred years after only Persecuted all that followed after that way and call'd upon that Name before whom they appeared only as Dlinquents if they came before them it was for a Mittimus to the Goal or as men appointed to be slain not for Commissions and Substitutions to Preach the Gospel and this is the state of the World at this day thus stand the Powers in it divided betwixt the King and the Priest each moving in his proper Sphere by virtue of his special particular Grant from Heaven and managing the two great Affairs of Heaven and Earth the Body and Soul both of so high a concern unto us THAT both these Powers have been residing § II at once in one and the same Subject and Person 't is most certain and so it may be again by a conflux of Providences or the immediate pleasure of him whose the Powers originally are and can give to the Sons of men as he pleases nothing but dissonant much more repugnant in it the King has been a Priest too not only with Power and Autority in order to Holy Things and Persons a due Behaviour and Discharge in and of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aristotle speaks Lib. 3. Polit. cap. 10 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make them good Citizens and obedient to Laws 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to engage their Souls to Virtue by Rewards and Penalties cap. 13. but the Prince has had that Power which is purely and strictly Hieratical and of the Priestly Office 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aristotle cap. 10. abovementioned Rex Anuis Rex idem Phoebique Sacerdos and that such as of the Priestly Order have had also the Secular Power conjoyned and annexed to it it is most certain in all manner of History for Evidence of which I 'le only refer such as can enquire to Mr. Selden's First Book De Synedriis cap. 15. Hugo Grotius is of Opinion that the Priesthood was seldom found without some Secular Power added unto it in his Treatise De Sum. Potest Imper. in Sacris Cap. 9. Sect. 4. 30. And the ancient Canons of the Church imply that it was much in Use for the Clergy to be engaged in the Affairs of the World as appears by their several Cautions and Commands against it the Circumstances of the then present Church and particular Reasons moving them to it So Can. Apost 81.84 Can. 11. Concil 1 2. Constantinop Can. 16.18 Concil Carthag The King and the Priest as they are of the same Original so are both designed for the same great End and Purpose for the Care and Promotion Protection and Preservation of the Honor of God his Worship and Service in the ways of Virtue and Holiness and Obedience to his Institutions for the benefit of Mankind both here and hereafter and suitably have their names promiscuously and in common in Ecclesiastical Writers Thus Constantine many times calls himself a Bishop and by other Greek Writers is he called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 equal to an Apostle Many of these are to be seen in Potrus de Marca de Concord Sacerd. Imperii l. 2. c. 10. Sect. 6 7. Valentinian and Marcian the Emperors are styled Inclyti Apostoli famous Apostles and Constantine's Animus Sacerdotalis is mention'd and applauded in a Publick Council Vid. Observat Notas in Paenitentiale Theodori Cant. Archiep. pag. 138. with several Compellations of the like Nature And which Considerations or rather undue Consideration of these gives some little gloss upon their Error who fix the full Power of the Priesthood in the Prince renders it somewhat more plausible than that of theirs who place it in the People but the Truth is no more in reality on the one side than on the other These are given partly by way of Complement Magnificent Title or higher Eulogies not unusual to the Eminencies of such Personages as they honored and protected Religion to transfer upon them the Honors that go along with it of what value in themselves it matters not so be the best it hath Or where it has nearer answer'd the thing it self Constantine himself has shew'd in what Nature and Instances in the Fourth Book of his Life wrote by Eusebius cap. 24. Vos speaking to the Bishops in iis quae intra Ecclesiam Episcopi estis Ego vero in iis quae extra geruntur And again Ibid. the Historian also speaks to the same purpose Episcopus quasi Episcoporum erat Constantinus Curam habuit ut sint pii both which amount but to thus much That Constantine's Episcopacy only consisted in his outward care of the Church and promotion of the Duties that belong unto her it reacheth not to the inward Power the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Sacred Function or Office it self AND here now is the great Enquiry and § III this the main Case in Debate amongst us in this unhappy Age of ours Whether the Kingly and Priestly Offices and Charges immediately in their Natures and Constitutions imply and include each other Not that they agree in one design or more in some Externals but whether where the one is there the other as a necessary consequence is at the same time and by the same appointment existing and to which I am to answer in the Negative as to be a Priest has never inferr'd a Secular Power so nor to be a Prince the Spiritual For the full cleering of this point it will be necessary first to consider the Nature of Gifts Duties Offices and Power in general how far they include and infer one another how far each one in it self is attainable and from
extraordinary Commissions have ceased which the Apostles and firsh Publishers of the Gospel had though by present Miracles not to be justified And this equally enabling and warranting the Church of God such as can evidence the Succession of Power in its own and appointed way as when Miracles were annexed to affront is an improper Speech but to Teach Declare and Protest against the Establish'd Religion of a Nation if a false one openly to draw Men off from the Profession of it in Contempt is again an ill Expression but in different ways and rules of Duty then those false ones of the Law and Magistrate though the Men of the World do Publish their dislike and threaten and punish and go on into a Law against them as they did when Christianity was first Taught and Church-Power first came down was setled and professed in the World though the Kings of the Earth stand up together and the Rulers take Council they rise up as one Man as did Herod and Pontius Pilate and all the Gentiles against the Child Jesus as it was then the Apostles so is it no less our Duty thus to speak before Kings and not be ashamed Church-Power came first into the World as not from the School of Gamaliel so nor from the Thrones of Kings and 't is independant and distant as in its rise so in its execution though embellish'd assisted and strengthened advantaged much by the outward favours of Princes their many Adjuncts and royal Appendages and which where conferr'd will equally embellish and add to their own Crowns to be sure in Heaven And upon these terms to suffer will be our Duty if what we profess be not received it will amount to Martyrdom If the King's wrath be the return and our Doctrine with our selves be cast out and if we do not this it will come too near the Traditores in the days of the Donatists or to those that offer'd at Heathen Shrines in the Persecutions before what will it be but to give up our Bibles and Profession upon the Summons of any prevailing Party to give up to be sure our Church-Power and which amounts to in effect the same nor can Christianity continue without it when upon Perswasion of the Arians first upon point as he thought of interest receiving his Father's Will from an Arian Priest and then by the Miletians joyning with them Constantius the Emperor engaged against the Faith of one Substance and great and rigorous Persecutions were its consequent Athanasius and his followers that adhered to the Nicene Faith in that Doctrine did not therefore in point of Conscience submit and say nothing with but silence give over and desert the Truth but the rather were more vigorous and active for it even to the greatest Calumnies and Distresses which through the malicious instigations of the Arians and Meletians as evil Men always unite against Truth the Emperor laid upon them And though Liberius of Rome and Hosius of Corduba this latter the ancientest Bishop then in the Christian World and who was one of the Council of Nice and Penned that Creed and Gregory Nazianzen and others even the whole World becoming Arians as St. Jerome complain'd by the height of Threats and succession of Miseries after sharp trials and resistancies did at length submit and subscribe to their Doctrines yet it cost them both repentance and tears as Gregory Nazianzen declares in particular in the Life of Athanasius And all this they did and thought themselves bound in Conscience to do not as extraordinarily Commissioned as the Apostles and first Publishers of the Gospel were as warranted and justified by Miracles but as commissionated in course by their Holy Orders instated with the same Autority though not in so open a shew and equally bound to render an account to God of such their trust and charge committed then and therewith unto them as the same Stewards of his Mysteries and this not upon the receipt of any new Revelation from Heaven but upon the score of their ordinary Ministry contending for the Faith once delivered to the Saints guided and directed by the Tradition of Faith delivered by the Apostles and conserv'd in the Church by a continued devolution and to which St. Athanasius and all the Catholick Bishops which strove against Arianism always referr'd themselves and is evident on all Occasions from Church History as Socrat. Eccl. Hist l. 2. c. 46. l. 3. c. 7. Athanasius ad Serapion ad Epictet Ep. that Faith into which when recommended to him and explain'd the Emperor Theodosius was Baptized Socrat. Hist Eccl. l. 5. c. 6. upon which rule all the Councils proceeded in their Conciliary Acts and Determinations as Can. 13. Conc. Nic. 1. Can. 19. Conc. Hab. in Trullo Can. 2. Conc. 2. Nic. Athanas Orat. 1. Cont. Arios and they proceeding upon this bottom what they Decreed is to be receiv'd for Truth by all Christians is to be subscribed and assented to is to be taught before Kings when denying of it 't was this Theodosius himself acknowledged at his Death 't is reputed as the Law the Voice of God himself as St. Basil ad Diodorum among his Canons apud Pandect Can. Beverig and so by Constantine the Emperor in Socrates Hist Eccl. l. 1. c. 9. Sozom. l. 1. cap. 20. 25. and in particular it will be expected that that common 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that usual shift be omitted so usual among us when this known Power of the Church is urged That 't is accidental only in its Original introduced by the present necessity and upon a common consent and compact the Christians being then under Heathen Governors to whose Judicatures it was neither for their Safety nor Honor to Appeal and stand their Trial and Verdict and therefore they resolv'd it all into the chief Church-men and which Power Constantine becoming Christian and so the succeeding Emperors confirmed by his Royal Autority and continued of his own choice and motion unto them This is the common tattle of the wiser Men as they think and are generally so reputed reporting it to the World with much Confidence and yet upon no other ground than old Womens Stories are told and bottom'd at the farthest they 'l tell you that Mr. Selden and Mr. Hobs said so and every one is as secure of its Autority and Credit as if they had read it in the Gospel of our Saviour or in one of St. Paul's Epistles when 't is all as false as the Gospel it self is true Great and many were the Priviledges Royal Favours and Immunities that Constantine bestow'd upon the Church and Church-men he receiv'd them with both hands and with him in the Comedy could he have found a third he would have gave it them He annex'd to them Adjuncts and Appendages which their Lord and Master Christ Jesus did not could not would not do his Kingdom being not of this World nor was it his business to divide Inheritances and he had all the reason in the world
but deposed Sect. 32. To Absolve and Re-admit into the Church this the design of Excommunication which is only a shutting out for a time in order to Mercy on whom to be inflicted It s certain force in the Execution Sect. 33. To depute others in the Ministry by Ordination the Necessity of it An instance in St. John out of Eusebius St. Clemens Romanus Calvin and Beza's Opinion and Practice It s ill Consequences Only those of the Priesthood can give this Power to others Sect. 34. The Objection answered and 't is plain the Church is an Incorporation with Laws Rewards and Penalties of its own not of this World nor opposing its Government Sect. 35. The outward stroke is reserved to the Day of Judgment but the Obligation is present If the Church has no Power nor Obligation because not that present Power to Punish or any like it neither has any Law in the Gospel Mr. Hobbs the more honest Man says neither the Ecclesiastical or Evangelical Law obliges His and their Principles infer it Sect. 36. The Power of Christ and his Church cannot clash with the Civil Power because no outward Process till the Day of Judgment and then civil outward Dominion is to cease in its course the present Vnion and Power to be sure cannot this is clear from the several instances of it already reckon'd up Sect. 37. Their Faith is an inward act of the Soul acquitted by Mr. Hobbes and that which is more open Confession obliges if opposed but to dye and be Martyrs Sect. 38. That they Covenant against Sin makes them but the better Subjects Sect. 39. No Man that says his Prayers duly can be a Rebel because first of all to own his Prince and Pray for him The first Christians Innocency defended them when impleaded for Assembling without leave If this did not do they suffer'd Their Christianity did not exempt them from inspection Sect. 40. Charity not obstructive to Government when on due Objects a common Purse without leave dangerous not generally to be allow'd These Christians innocency indemnified them The Divine Right of Titles how asserted Nothing can justifie those Practices but their real Case The Profession of Christianity must otherwise cease Sect. 41 42. Presiding in the Church rises no higher than the Duties exercised 'T is Dr. Tillotson alone ever said To Preach Christ is to Affront Princes If the Jesuit do let him look to it Christianity is not in fault An entring into or renewing the Covenant at the Font or Altar is no Encroachment on the but Justice of Peace in the Neighborhood Sect. 43. Excommunication and other Censures change no Mans Condition as to this World they have no force but in relation to known Duties Prudence is to rule in the Execution particular regard to be had to Princes Whatever is Coercive annexed is from the Prince Lay-Judges Chancellors c. when first granted by the Empire upon the Bishops Petition The same is Absolution neither innovate in Civil Affairs Sect. 44. Conciliary Acts invade no more than does the Gospel it self That Canons have had the precedency of the Law is by the favour of Princes a Council without local meeting Letters Missive Sect. 45. Ordaining others no more prejudicial to the Crown than the former acts This is Mr. Hobbe's Misapprehension Sect. 46. HAVING produced the chief and first § I Arguments and Autorities that are depended upon and urged in this Controversie an Answer to some of which I have already prevented others fall in pieces of themselves to an easie Capacity the rest I shall indeavour to refute in these following Conclusions and which will tend much to the cleering the whole Subject and I 'le begin with the first and great Error of Mr. Selden and his other Friends and which is laid down and insisted on as the Foundation of the whole ensuing Fabrick We are told that all Punishments both before and after the giving the Law in Sinai from Adam to Christ were bodily and outwardly Coercive and inflictive the distinction of Sins Spiritual and Temporal was not then known nor was there any such different Regiments and Governors in regard to them the Sword punish'd Adulteries as well as Burglary And therefore 't is so still under the Gospel by the Institution of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ nor was there a Jurisdiction separate and apart relating alone to Spiritual Church Affairs designed or erected by him An Inference granting the truth of the Premises surely as wide as their keenest Adversaries can wish it to be and the Consequence had been every ways as due and firm in respect to the Law given by Moses that there were never any such Levitical Rites and Ceremonies given from God by him such a Polity erected because nothing like it that we know of was given to Adam in Paradice nor is there one Rule Law or Direction since given to his Succession the Patriarchs in particular but upon the same force and account must still be exemplary nor ought there can there be any institution that is diverse from them received if a distinct Power from all the World before him be admitted and allowed in Moses the Servant much more in Christ a Son over his own House by whom God hath spoken to us in these last days as in times past he did to the Fathers by the Prophets whom he appointed Heir of all things by whom also he hath made the worlds who is the bright Image of his Person upholding all things by the word of his Power Heb. 1.1 2 3 4 5 6. who had greater Autority more full and larger Instructions and Commission and more signally evidenced to the outward sense of Mankind than any Prophets or Messengers of Gods had before who had all Power in Heaven and Earth committed unto him both spake and acted as never Man did And in the same peculiar manner did he gather and stablish and six his Church or Body upon Earth and at his going away into Heaven send down his own Gifts in the face of all Nations at the Feast of Pentecost erected his own Kingdom appointed his own Officers assign'd his own Members influenced them by his own Spirit governed them by his own Laws associated them in his own Method and nothing of it was of this World He made a new Covenant stablish'd on better Grounds incouraged with better Hopes and Promises instituted new Ordinances made new Seals and Conveyances gave new Liveries and Pledges that were diverse a Government to last for ever till the restitution of all things with a respect to nothing future but Heaven and all this absolute in it self and independent abstract and separate from any or all the Powers and Associations in the world beside complying and yielding to no one Circumstance Exigence or Necessity whatever so contrived and ordained that as himself her Head so the Church his Body and every Member in particular hath life in it self derived only from him their own Powers and
Subject Ita tunc Deus supplebat id quod Magistratus Ecclesiae praestare debent tunc non Praestabant Grotius in 1 Cor. 4.21 Then God did supply what the Magistrates ought to have discharged and did not instancing in these very Punishments of Ananias and Saphira struck Dead of Elymas the Sorcerer struck Blind and of the Bodily Diseases sent out upon others Our Saviour Christ in his Life designed and contrived upon every occasion when any appearance that others should suspect him or when any apt opportunity to express and declare himself that he was neither to exempt himself from any instance of Subjection to his Governors nor exercise in any Case the Jurisdiction that was theirs and for this he Pays Tribute refuses to divide Inheritances nor did he invade any one private Person and we read of but one Colt that he commanded to be brought unto him to which as what was his Title we do not read so are we not told of any injury done by it nor of any Complaint made in the Streets on the occasion And his Death though pre-ordained in the fore determination of God for no one worldly end or design to serve no one Political Purpose but solely and altogether to satisfie for the Sins of Man to make compleat our Redemption yet it was ordered that the earthy Governors should have a Power given them from above for a legal Process and judicial Trial upon him he died in a course of Law and a Posture of Obedience to them And although it must be granted that some of the ancient Fathers and most eminent first Christians did Believe and Publish to the World that Christ should come again and reign upon Earth in his Person as Supreme Governor of all and his Saints with and by him in the independent full freedom use and advantage of the Goods of this World and of Sense that Jerusalem should be Rebuilt its Streets enlarged and inhabited by them So Justin Martyr Dialog cum Tryph. Jud. Irenaeus lib. 5. cont Heres c. 32. Tertul. lib. 3. cont Marcion c. 24. with Lactantius and others yet it amounted not to an Universal received Opinion of that Age. Justin Martyr acknowledges there were many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Holy and Pious in their Judgments which did not acknowledge it And Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History lib. 3. cap. 39. giving that slender account of its rise and original from Papias tells us that many but not all Ecclesiastical Writers led by a shew of the Antiquity assented unto it but yet this was not by any of them expected during this state of things on Earth and in the Regeneration Sed alio statu utpote post resurrectionem as Tertullian Tom. 4. inter fraâ—menta 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Justin Martyr supra Ibid. Post Resurrectionem coram judicio terram possidebunt As Irenaeus Ibid. but not till after the Resurrection ante coelum before their Ascension into Heaven as Tertullian again Ibid. when all Rule and Autority and Power has had its just Time and Period upon Earth is put under foot alone by God it seeming just that in what condition they had laboured and been afflicted tried and proved by all manner of ways or Sufferings upon Earth they there receive the Reward and Fruit of such their Sufferings as Irenaeus ill argues in qua enim conditione laboraverunt sive afflicti sunt omnibus modis probati per sufferentiam justum est in eâ recipere fructus sufferentiae they cannot be conceived to have thoughts of either evading or invading the Civil Power which then was supposed to be none at all because after the Resurrection and of which during its time for continuance by God affixed they were the most Zealous Maintainers and Asserters as has been already shew'd So far do they erre from the Spirit of these first and eminent Christians who pretending to the same Millennium or reign upon Earth oppose and fight against their present Governors to hasten and effect it § X BUT then to argue on the other hand that because it was not the design of the Gospel to erect a Temporal Kingdom upon Earth Christ and his Apostles design'd and erected none at all they had really no Power no Autority committed unto them this is as wide from Truth this runs from one extreme to the other which indeed is the usual course of such as are designed for error Clemens Alexandrinus in his Admonition to the Gentiles observed it of old among them and that their Ignorance still led them into one of the two Extremes of either Ignorance or Superstition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 either they Worshipped their many ridiculous beastlier Gods or else none at all denied the only true God On this score Evenemus Agrigentinus Nicanor Cyprius Diagoras Hippo Melius and Theodorus with some others were called Atheists Men that considered not the Truth only saw the Error of the then abominable Worships and Acknowledgments And the same is easily acknowledg'd throughout the whole Ecclesiastical Tradition how as Atheists before so Hereticks since have still run the same way and their Heresies by these courses been either started or maintained Thus that Pestilent Sect of the Arians united not only with the Miletian Scismaticks but with the Heathens too the more to oppose and make numerous their Party against the Catholicks as we have it in Sozomen Hist Eccles lib. 1. c. 15. Athanas Orat. 1. Cont. Arium and in his Apology Pag. 731. and his Epistle Ad Solitariam vitam agentes And the same did the Donatists after them who set open the Idol Temples that themselves might have liberty applauded and sided with Julian the Apostate and gave opportunity for the Publick Worship of the Devil that they might with full freedom serve their own particular Designs and their Malice and Revenge be gratified as St. Austin and Optatus at large declare Contra Petil. cap. 8. 92. Ep. 48. c. Contr. Parmen Donatist lib. 2. I might all along trace them down I 'le only make my farther instances in what comes more nearly up to the case in hand because there may be such a thing as Domination over the Clergy Therefore there is no real Power to be exercised over them because Diotrephes affected a Superiority where it belong'd not unto him therefore a Bishop and a Presbyter must be of equal Power The Church of God must not exercise Autority as do the Kings of the Gentiles therefore whatever the Power they execute is must be Tyranny and Usurpation The Church of Rome have notoriously exceeded their Commission Pretended to what they never had either from Christ or St. Peter as to depose Kings to acquit their Subjects of their Allegiance exercising Temporal outward Coercive Power as in their Charter by Religion Therefore the Church of God has no Charter at all is no Body or Corporation Autoritative and Juridical or as Mr. Selden and his Friends argue we read of no other Power in the
debet Roma Carthaginem precedere That Rome ought to have the Precedency of Carthage by reason of its greatness Ep. 49. and upon this occasion first contending which should be the greatest City great Controversies once arose betwixt the Bishops of Rome and Ravennas as we are told by Dionysius Gothofred in his Comments on the Eleventh Novel and whose Pleas of Autority and Jurisdiction not only over the Bishop of Ravennas but all the Bishops of the Christian World as the Universal Bishop of Christendom we are now to enquire into § XXIV WHAT is Pretended by those of the Roman Faith in the maintenance of this their universal Primacy seems to come short of that Evidence is required to settle an Article of Faith to fix an Order in the Church a continued Power and Successive Constitution immutable and for ever And all that can with any ground be challenged for the Bishop of Rome as what was in the best Ages of the Church will hardly amount to any more than an occasional particular Presidency or first Chair and which others have sometimes had no singular solitary Special Power connate and inhering but only such as by occasion of Business and particular Emergencies interposing and of meerly Ecclesiastical humane assignation for them to claim and urge it as the Successors of St. Peter seems very begging and places more in the Conclusion than appears in the Premises for it is no where evident either from St. Peter's Commission in general or from any other special Donation apart or at other times made by our Saviour that this particular Power beyond and above the other Apostles was deputed and made over unto him There appears no difference in their Call in general either in Words or Offices when first leaving all and enjoyn'd to follow him Nor was it otherwise in their after-Influences and Instructions they were all alike breathed upon at once receiv'd the same Autority to retain and remit Sins the Holy Ghost fell equally upon them all at once at the Feast of Pentecost there universally and visibly on their Heads in the face of all Nations and each one went out a Theopneust Independent and self-autoritative to Preach and constitute Churches they were only liable to be advised and directed and reprov'd by one another if occasion Vnde Petrus à suo posteriori Apostolo salubri admonitione correctus as St. Austin lib. 3. Cont. Gaudentium and St. Peter had a great share of the latter Nor was there any one of them more notoriously withstood to the face than he was in the Business of the Gentiles Cardinal Bellarmine solves all indeed would a single apposite reply and distinction do it a nicer exact stating the Question serve the turn and in which his accuracy must always be allowed Nor is there any Man in such cases that goes beyond him Caeteros Apostolos parem cum Petro potestatem accepisse sed ut legati extraordinarii Petrus ut Ordinarius Caput Successionis Controvers 3. Gen. de Rom. Pontif. Tom. 1. l. 1. c. 13. The rest of the Apostles received equal Power with Peter but as Embassadors Extraordinary Peter as Ordinary and the Head of the Succession theirs was only for the present Service during their Natural lifes or till recall'd by that same Autority that they received it from his to abide with his Person and descend in the Succession and from whence each influence and supply each instance of Church-Autority is to be derived throughout all Ages for evermore So that St. Peter's Power was more than the rest in regard only to the abode and during use of it But the bottom here is altogether sandy nor does he produce any thing that is Evidence for such the Privilege either to his Person or Succession Thou art Peter upon this Rock will I build my Church And the Confession preceding Thou art Christ the Son of the living God feed my Sheep His first Call if he had it and his being left to Posterity with his Name in the head of them cannot any one or all of them imply any thing like it to a rational considering Person These were occurring Discourses particular Applications and accidental such as in course must be supposed to fall in and to be where a constant Converse and so known a Design as was then on foot amongst them and the Contingencies of the World cannot be otherwise conceived of or adjusted That same is now the Confession of every Christian and to be sure was then of all the Apostles at least e're their Commissions were fully delivered and their Power deputed unto them The second Call might be as full and extensive as the first nor does the Precedency imply in its Nature any thing otherwise One branch or instance of the Church was first founded on St. Peter's personal Preaching and other Administrations and Church-Offices in which he officiated Acts 2. and the other Apostles in the same Way and Duties and Power did found and constitute others St. Paul had his Apostleship equally evidenced nor were its seals less notorious our Saviour might as particularly urge the Care of the Church to others as he did to St. Peter and we ought to believe nothing less then that he did that they all see to their Duty in feeding and governing of it He might have a differing Confidence in one above another as we are sure his love was unequal and that something might happen extraordinary in Discourse by Acknowledgment and Approbation all this may easily be allowed but that a Commission and Power more lasting a special Headship and Charge is hereby granted and seated for ever is hence to be inferr'd and in consequence follows none that understands a Syllogism or enquires into but obvious Inferences can submit unto it And therefore Estius abates a little in his Treatise on the Sentences Lib. 4. Dist 47. Sect. 9. and says Verè est Vniversalis Episcopus c. that the Bishop of Rome is truly an Universal Bishop if he be call'd Universal Bishop who has the care of the whole Church but if you understand a Universal Bishop Qui solus omnium Provinciarum Civitatum Episcopus sit sic ut alii non Episcopi sint sed unius Episcopi seu Pontificis sunt Vicarii who is Bishop alone of all Provinces and Cities so as others are not Bishops but Vicars of this one Bishop or High Priest then it is plainly to be denied that the Bishop of Rome is an Universal Bishop He seems to distinguish betwixt the Power of giving of Holy Orders and the Power of governing the Church the former he will not allow the Bishop of Rome to be singular in and apart from other Bishops Caput Successionis as Bellarmine will have him to be the alone Head and Fountain of Priestly Succession as if illegal and wanting when not derived from his Chair the latter he peremptorily affixes upon him and believes him alone invested with a Power Universal for the governing the
as absolutely Autorative in it self and infallible in its Determinations as to make Truth but declarative only of what was Truth from the beginning as the best expedient on Earth to find it out and the alone Autority on Earth to pass Sanctions upon present appearance for present Settlement Peace and Unity every man had his liberty still entire and reserved for farther enquiries where he saw or suspected occasions but this to be proposed in the next Council 't was to be brought to the Apostles and Elders there whose Autority alone was to reject or admit it As to Publick Confessions what room and autority the Empire had and is always to have in these Councils is already declared Cap. 2. and though the Faithful or Believers at large many times had conflux thither and were permitted either for their diversion or private satisfaction or information yet no one ever passed his Vote judicially or concurred in the Power Legislative as has been above also shew'd ibid. This still goes in the Name and Power of the Bishops and Clergy alone as must appear to every one from the both first derivation of that Power and after-practice both in that Apostolical first Synod at Jerusalem and all other succeeding excepting such who on purpose set their Face against what with their Eyes they never did and will not see § XXXI A fourth instance of this especial appropriated Power is the exercise of Discipline Ecclesiastical and this either in fixing set Stations particular rules and orders of Duty and Performances upon such as were newly brought off from Heathenism become Penitents and Converts in order to the Kingdom of Heaven and Christianity or else in laying Punishments Penal Duties upon those who after their admission and undertaking Christianity when they had throughly known the ways of Righteousness been enlightned and tasted the good gift of God revolt and turn back again will not abide the terms of it by way of Penance and Satisfaction and this sometimes by corporal Punishments with a Power reserved for Indulgencies and Abatements a relaxation upon proficiency or non-proficiency under them placed in the power and discretion of the Bishop or Pastor for the best Antiquity is not at all shye in these terms and expressions she spake as she acted Thus in the Catholique Epistle of St. Barnabas set out by Isaac Vossius Sect. 1. ad finem Epistolae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he work with his hands to the purging away his Sins So Lactantius l. 6. Sect. ult Si quid mali fecerit satisfaciat that satisfaction be given for his evil St. Cyprian Ep. 50. gives an account of the Epistle he had received from Fidus his Brother who tells him how Therapius his Colleague did reconcile to the Church over-hastily Victor a certain Presbyter Antequam penitentiam plenam egisset domino Deo in quem deliquerat satisfecisset before he had completed his Repentance and satisfied God against whom he had sinned and for which St. Cyprian admonisheth his Friend that he do so no more ibid. And again Ep. 64. Satisfaction is what is required upon a sense of having sinned ut se peccasse potius intelligant satisfaciant to give all the instances were to spend too much Paper what is here brought may suffice or he that desires more may have it from the learned Hugo Grotius Rivetian Apol. Discuss Pag. 700. ed. Lond and all this placed in such as have the Keys of the Church whence they are to receive satisfactionis suae modum the measures of their Penance and Satisfaction as he there cites St. Austin no man was admitted into the Church of Christ but by degrees but as through so many Posts and Stations through which they were to pass 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 't is Can. 4. 6. 9. Conc. Ancyr and then to go on to that which is more perfect to be admitted to the Holy Communion the top instance of Devotion and Communion or be received 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with an oblation as 't is expressed Can. 7 8. ibid. for by the words of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. that holy Sacrament was by the Ancients still expressed Thus we read in the Church Story and Practice as remembred and referr'd unto but as not then instituted being antecedent and of more antiquity of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the hearers only in the Church a set order of Penitents permitted only to hear the Word of God with the Hymns and Songs and Praises placed without the Temple and these were the lowermost form in order to something else to farther Duties as thus instructed and fitted for them and such as staid here and would only hear engage and incorporate no farther neither come to the Prayers nor the Holy Sacrament in the set Order and assigned Times for it were reputed as if they had not been initiated at all the Council of Antioch turns them quite out of the Church Can. 2. and by which rule what will become of the greatest part of our now adays professing Christians let them look to it or perhaps let such as preside over them have the government and power of Discipline in their hands Then we have the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as advanced to the publick Prayers next the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those that came to the Sacraments See Can. 11. Conc. Nic. 1. together with the Scholia's of Zonaras and Balsamon and Can. 14. we have the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who it seems were those that were Auditors and more were Baptized as by the Scholia there appears and the same we find before this Council of Nicea Conc. Ancyr Can. 4 5 6. and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Demoniacks who had their distinct station Can. 17. Cum scholiis And these courses of Discipline we have alluded to in several places of Tertullian and therefore were extant in the Church very early Tertullian being sometime before any of these now mentioned Councils but most fully and at once of any that I have observed in them in his Book of Prescriptions Cap. 41. and which I shall therefore here repeat where he reproves and prestringes such those Hereticks he writes against for the perverting violating such this received customary Discipline Non omittaÌ„ ipsius etiam conversationis hereticae descriptioneÌ„ quam futilis quam terrena quam humana sit sine gravitate sine autoritate sine disciplina ut fidei suae congruenâ— imprimâ—s quis catecumenus quis fidelis incertum sit pariter adeunt pariter audiunt pariter orant etiam ethnici si supervenerint sanctum canibus porcis Margaritas licet non veras jaclabunt simplicitatem volunt esse prostrationem disciplinae cujus penes nos curam lenocinium vocant pacem quoque passim cum omnibus miscent nihil enim interest illis licet diversa tractantibus dum ad unius veritatis expugnationem conspirent omnes tument omnes seditionem pollicentur ante sunt perfecti
subject and in what case it will be that they are to obey I shall add farther THAT if this Conclusion be good That § II therefore there ought to be no Church Power nor Laws at all distinct from those of the State because at some one time or other both may stand in competition and the same Action at the same time may fall under an Injunction and Prohibition and these Laws of the Church must of necessary consequence overthrow and over-rule those of the State the same is equally deducible from the Laws of God and Christ immediately given by them or their Messengers the Apostles all which will be as much liable to the same consequence and found some times or other many times to be sure as inconsistent in the particular practice as to what the Secular Power may be necessitated to command The Duties to be performed in the Congregation as Prayer attending the Sacraments c. are what are the appointment of Christ and obliging every Christian and yet in the time of War in order to publick Justice by the very accidents and contingencies of man's life do and must come cross in Mr. Hobb's sense and the Governments dissolution must be also hazarded thereby and 't will be the same where the Gospel-Commands reach the Imperate Acts of the Will as they speak or organical Duties and which require set times and place and motions in the Performance and yet these were Soveraign Laws notwithstanding when actually and in their persons given by Christ and the Apostles then Mr. Hobbs acknowledges them to be such only to be superseded on diverse Considerations not so particularly engaging the Performance at some times and yet still continuing to be obliging as in their several designs and purposes and none do any more And Herod indeed suspected a Dissolution of the Government by it these very Laws of God compared with one another as with those of the Civil Magistrate upon these mens inferences must cease were unduly imposed because they are not at all times by reason of one another practicable and 't is equally impossible to Mourn and to Rejoyce to Fast and to be Hospitable to be upon my knees at Prayer and to be doing Justice on the Bench to obey God and my King in the same Person at one and the same time and in the same Duties as to obey Soveraignty and Supremacy Canons and Laws a Ghostly and a Civil Autority and all or none are on the same account to be placed in opposition If the Objection has any force as Mr. Hobbs thinks it has and lays his full stress against Ecclesiastical Laws upon it And again if whatever is from a due institution and from just autority then looses its Sanction and Nature is to be null'd and to cease if upon other Considerations suspended for some time something more weighty more useful or absolutely necessary may intervene and it is not at that time to be practised and complied with or thus because not always practicable it ought not to be enjoyn'd at all then sundry of God's own Laws must cease to oblige and that for ever or were unjust in their Enactions because obliging to practice only in their due times and circumstances The affirmative Precepts of the Ten Commandments themselves will fail one way or both nor does any pretend in his Expositions on the Decalogue to make but sense of such those Precepts without first laying down that distinction of semper and ad semper presupposing and taking it for a truth that that which is always a Law and of it self obliging does not actually engage to performance at every time has only its proper seasons for practice if then a compromising and adjustment is not allow'd to be made in one instance 't is not in the other and if in any one 't is in all we can as easily reconcile the Laws of the Church in their Practice with the Laws of the State as we can the immediate Laws of God and Christ as we can the Laws of God with one another and thorow Obedience in every respect is equally possible the same humane Prudence and Discretion one and the same but course of things their Natures and Obligations considered will determine and adjust in one as in the other and which not presupposed and made use of in all there will be indeed only justling and thwarting as to all our Obligations and at last 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Universal Dissolution Now in order to this in regard to the Soveraignty and Supremacy Laws and Canons Civil and Ghostly Obedience as 't is phrased and which is at present the particular concern what I have already said in the former Chapter concerning Church Censures Penances Excommunications and the Canons of Councils and their particular Obligations might suffice in general and satisfie any serious inquirer Nothing of this nature is to be of force if shutting out any antecedent immutable known Duty implying Rebellion and Sedition thwarting what is upon any occasional Necessity or appearance of a conveniency commanded by the lawful Civil Power the Church always asserts owns and pleads for Princes and what she enjoyns cannot be believed to be of force or by her intendment if against them But my purpose is to go a little farther in compliance with this present opportunity and to consider the Laws of the Church in the large acceptation as including the Laws of Religion in general whether meerly Humane and Ecclesiastical or more purely and immediately Divine given by Christ and his Apostles in their Persons and Instances whether as to Positive institutions or Moral and in regard to each of which what is the force and autority of a civil Command how far it either suspends or disengageth and I the rather also do it take this latitude because the one when well considered will add light and much contribute to the better understanding of the other especially to the clearing of the point of Ecclesiastical and Civil Power their extent and obligations NOW in order to this Mr. Hobbs himself § III has given us an excellent Key and his Method in general is to be followed by us I 'le here transcribe his words than which nothing can be more apposite But this difficulty of obeying God and the Civil Soveraign on Earth to those that can distinguish betwixt what is necessary and what is not necessary for their reception into the Kingdom of God is of no moment for if the command of the Civil Soveraign be such as that it may be obey'd without the forfeiture of life eternal not to obey is unjust and the Precept of the Apostle takes place Servants obey your Masters in all things and the Precept of our Saviour The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses Chair all therefore they shall say observe and do but if the Command be such as cannot be obey'd without being damned to eternal Death then it were madness to obey it and the Council of our Saviour takes
Oath we make Princes the only supreme Governors of all Persons in all Causes as well spiritual as temporal utterly renouncing all foreign Jurisdictions Superiorities and Autorities upon which Words mark what an horrible Confusion of all Faith and Religion ensueth if Princes be the only Governors in Ecclesiastical Matters then in vain did the Holy Ghost appoint Pastors and Bishops to govern the Church if they be Supreme then they are superior to Christ himself and in effect Christ's Masters if in all Things and Causes spiritual than they may prescribe to the Priests and Bishops what to preach which way to worship and serve God how in what Form to minister the Sacraments and generally how Men shall be governed in Soul if all foreign Jurisdiction must be renounced then Christ and his Apostles because they were and are Forreigners have no Jurisdiction nor Autority over England But this is what only the ill Nature and Malice of our Adversaries would have us to believe and assert and give out to the World we do 't is what is and all along has been repell'd with scorn and indignation both by our Princes in their single Persons and in their Laws in Parliament and though some of our Divines have wished the Oath had been more cautiously Penn'd and think it lies more open to little obvious Inferences of this nature than it needs and which amuse the unwary less discerning Reader yet all own and defend it as to the substance and design and intent of it and which is throughly and sufficiently done by the learned Warden in this Treatise as appears by this Specimen or shorter account is now given of it and he that peruses the whole Treatise will find more and John Tillotson Doctor in Divinity and Dean of Canterbury is if not the only yet one professed conforming Divine in our Church that publickly from the both Pulpit and Press has given the Romanist so much ground really to believe we are such as they on purpose to abuse us and delude others give it out we are and complyes so far with their Objection and Calumny just now recited as by Philander drawn up against us gives so much of Force and Autority to it § XIX BISHOP Sanderson in his Treatise now mentioned has a different task from Bishop Bilson the one was to vindicate the Prince that he invades not the Church the other the Bishops or Church that from usurping on the Prince Bishop Sanderson among many other things urged by him and as his Subject requires is express in these Particulars pag. 121. That there is a supreme Ecclesiastical Power which by the Law of the Land is established and by the Doctrine of our Church acknowledged to be inherent in the Church pag. 23. That regal and Episcopal Power are two Powers of quite different kinds and such as considered purely in those things which are proper and assential to either have no mutual relation unto or dependance upon each other neither hath either of them to do with the other the one of them being purely spiritual and internal the other external and temporal albeit in regard of the Persons that are to exercise them or some accidental Circumstances appertaining to the exercise thereof it may happen the one to be some wayes helpful or prejudicial to the other pag. 41. that the derivation of any Power from God doth not necessarily infer the non-subjection of the Persons in whom that Power resideth to all other Men for doubtless the power that Fathers have over their Children Husbands over their Wives Masters over their Servants is from Heaven of God and not of Men yet are Parents Husbands Masters in the exercise of their several respective Powers subject to the Power Jurisdiction and Laws of their lawful Soveraigns pag. 44. The King doth not challenge to himself as belonging to him by virtue of his Supremacy Ecclesiastical the Power of ordaining Ministers excommunicating scandalous Offenders the power of Preaching adminstring Sacraments c. and yet doth the King by virtue of that Supremacy challenge a Power as belonging to him in the right of his Crown to make Laws concerning Preaching administring the Sacraments ordination of Ministers and other Acts belonging to the Function of a Priest pag. 69 70 71. it is the peculiar reason he gives in behalf of the Bishops for not using the King's Name in their Process c. in the Ecclesiastical Courts the occasion of the whole discourse and which cannot be given for the Judges of any other Courts from the different nature and kind of their several respective Jurisdictions which is That the Summons and other Proceedings and Acts in the Ecclesiastical Courts are for the most part in order to the Ecclesiastical Censures and Sentences of Excommunications c. the passing of which Sentences and others of the like kind being a part of the Power of the Keys which our Lord Jesus Christ thought sit to leave in the hands of the Apostles and their Successors and not in the hands of Lay-Men The Kings of England never challenged to belong to themselves but left the exercise of that Power entirely to the Bishops as the lawful Successors of the Apostles and Inheritors of their Power the regulating and ordering of that Power in sundry Circumstances concerning the outward exercise thereof in foro exteruo the Godly Kings of England have thought to belong unto them as in the Right of their Crown and have accordingly made Laws concerning the same even as they have done also concerning other Matters appertaining to Religion and the Worship of God but the substance of that Power and the Function thereof as they saw it altogether to be improper to their Office and Calling so they never pretended or laid any claim thereunto but on the contrary renounced all claim to any such Power or Autority And for Episcopacy it self the Bishop sets down his opinion in a Postscript to the Reader the words are these My opinion is That Episcopal Government is not to be derived merely from Apostolical Practice or Institution but that it is originally founded in the Person and Office of the Messiah our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ who being sent by his Heavenly Father to be The great Apostle Heb. 3.1 Bishop and Pastor 1 Pet. 2.25 of his Church and anointed to that Office immediately after his Baptism by John with Power and the Holy Ghost Acts 10.37 38. descending then upon him in a bodily shape Luk. 3.22 did afterwards before his Ascension into Heaven send and impower his holy Apostles giving them the Holy Ghost likewise as his Father had given him in like manner as his Father had before sent him Joh. 20.21 to exercise the same Apostolical Episcopal and Pastoral office for the Ordering and Governing of his Church until his coming again and so the same office to continue in them and their Successors unto the Worlds end Mat. 28.18.20 this I take to be so clear from these and other like Texts of