by the Bishop of Rome But upon serious excogitation of the whole I was brought to resolve that in the plea and condition of power the Pope now standeth the interposition of his authority would many times rather increase then be effectual to prevent injustice or silence differences whether acted between a Prince and his own Subjects or by one Prince upon another As for example some person or order of Princes subjects misliking their usage appeal to Rome as against injustice and oppression He must then to make his authority known to be useful determine for one party or another as his judgment shall be engaged If for the King then is he but heightned and farther warranted to do the like If for Thomas a Becket or the Barons against him as sometimes in England then are Subjects encouraged towards sedition and civil war another time Again before he can be supposed rightly to interpose between Prince and Prince in the justice of their quarrels they must all of them be brought to be of the same religion and perswasion with himself or else equally averse that he may be impartial Suppose that might be done yet since he may have kindred and relations may he not in that case favor a Nephew a Casar Borgia or the like against him that hath no relation or may he not respect interest and application so as again to favor such an one as King John not only above his Barons but other Princes too upon resignation of his Crown to be held of him and his successors But that was not all for partiality and the like is but that which the Subjects of any Monarch might object against his absolute rule But the great difference and difficulty is that since the absolute Monarch was in all causes and over all persons in his dominions supreme Governor there was hereby a sure way for prevention of civil war and disturbance which being the chief political evil would recompence those sufferings of inferior nature which could but occasionally happen and never be so general Whereas he claiming but Ecclesiastical power only and it being not at all determined or agreed upon what is certainly so or not so for prevention of question thereabouts I saw no possible hope to attain peace by his umpirage if any should say he did exceed his Commission unless he could make himself Judg of that too and so by degrees and in ordine ad spiritualia draw in cognisance of all matters whatsoever When that is done as Constantines Throne will better become him then S. Peters Chair so truly if such an Universal Christian Monarch there were which is not likely to fall to be he there might much good arise by it as to the general increase of Christian peace and profession As for that other way found out by some of that side mentioned by the late Archbishop sect 26. num 11. for advance of his Supremacie namely by setting up again one Emperor over all Christendom to rule in secular matters while himself would rule him and them too in what he would call spiritual with as supereminent splendor as the Sun doth the Moon I apprehend it still ineffectual to peace till those powers be joyned in one person unless the Emperor could indeed be content as I said to change places with him and become so subordinate as not to shine in any act of Moon like power but by the light and leave of this his Sun Could this in any likelihood have been eâ—pected I might happily then have given some credit to those slender probabilities of S. Peters primacie and the Popes succession in the chair In the mean time the usurped exercise of this his Ecclesiastick power where he had no jurisdiction as a power standing insubordinate to the Prince hath begotten that great mistake That there might be a Church in a Church that is one Christian Common-wealth in another 13. But let us hear judicious Mr. Hooker more at large in this business of the Church and in answer to such as would appropriate the notion of Church to those of their own perswasion only lib. 5. fol. 367. Church is a word which Art hath devised thereby to sever and distinguish that society of men which professeth the true Religion from the rest which professeth it not There have been in the world from the very first foundation thereof but three Râ—ligions Paganism which lived in the blindness of corrupted and depraved nature Judaism embracing the Law which reformed Heathenish impiety and taught salvation to be looked for through one whom God in the last days would send and exalt to be Lord of all finally Christian belief which yieldeth obedience to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and acknowledgeth him the Saviour whom God did promise Seeing then that the Church is a name which Art hath given to Professors of true Religion as they which will define a man are to pass by those qualities wherein one man doth excel another and to take only those essential properties whereby a man doth differ from creatures of other kinds So he that will teach what the Church is shall never rightly perform the work whereabout he goeth till in matter of Religion he touch that difference which severeth the Churches religion from theirs who are not of the Church Religion being therefore a matter partly of contemplation partly of action we must define the Church which is a religious society by such differences as do properly explain the essence of such things that is to say by the object or matter whereabout the contemplations and actions of the Church are properly conversant For so all Knowledges and all Vertues are defined Whereupon because the only object which separateth ours from other Religions is Jesus Christ in whom none but the Church doth believe and whom none but the Church doth worship we find that accordingly the Apostles do every where distinguish hereby the Church from Infidels and from Jews accounting them which call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to be his Church If we go lower we shall but add unto this certain casual and variable accidents which are not properly of the being but make only for the happier and better being of the Church of God either indeed or in mens opinions and conceits This is the error of all Popish definitions that hitherto have been brought They define not the Church by that which the Church essentially is but by that wherein they imagine their own more perfect then the rest are Touching parts of eminencie and perfection parts likewise of imperfection and defect in the Church of God they are infinite their degrees and differences no way possible to be drawn unto any certain account There is not the least contention and variance but it blemisheth somwhat the unity that ought to be in the Church of Christ which notwithstanding may have not only without loss of essence or breach of concord her manifold varieties in Rites and Ceremonies of Religion but also her
But shall your Church lye fallow till that Infant King or green head of the Church come to years of discretion Do your Bishops your â—ierarchy your succession your Sacraments your being or not being Hereticks for want of Succession depend on this new found Supremacy-doctrine brought in by such a man meerly upon base occasions and for shamefull ends Impugned by Calvin and his followers derided by the Christian world and even by chief Protestants as Doctor Andrews Wâ—tton c not held any necessary point of Faith And from whom I pray you had Bishops their authority when there were no Christian Kings Must the Greek Patriarchs receive spiritual jurisdiction from the Greek Turk Did the Pope by the baptism of Princes lose the spiritual power he formerly had of conferring spiritual jurisdiction upon Bishops Hath the Temporal Magistrate authority to preach to assoil from sins to inflict Excommunications and other censures Why hath he not power to excommunicate as well as to dispense in irregularity as our late Soveraign Lord King James either dispensed with the late Archbishop of Canterbury or else gave Commission to some Bishops to do it And since they were subject to the Primate and not he to them it is cleer that they had no power to dispense with him but that power must proceed from the Prince as superior to them all and Head in the Protestants Church in England If we have no such authority how can he give to others what himself hath not Your Ordination or Conseâ—ration of Bishops and Priests imprinting no character can only consist in giving a power authority jurisdiction or as I said before Episcopal or Priestly functions If then the temporal Magistrate confers this power c. he can nay he cannot chuse but ordain and consecrate Bishops and Priests as often as he confers authority or jurisdiction and your Bishops as soon as they are designed and confirmed by the King must ipso facto be ordained and consecrated by him without intervention of Bishops or matter and form of Ordination Which absurdities you will be more unwilling to grant then well able to avoid if you be true to your own doctrines The Pope from whom originally you must beg your succession of Bishops never received nor will nor can acknowledg to receive any spiritual jurisdiction from any temporal Prince And therefore if jurisdiction must be derived from Princes he hath none at all and yet either you must acknowledg that he hath spiritual jurisdiction or that your selves can receive none from him And afterwards again sect 22. he saith But besides this defect in the personal succession of Protestant Bishops there is another of great moment which is that they want the right form of ordaining Bishops and Priests because the manner which they use is so much different from the Roman Church at least according to the common opinion of Divines that it cannot be sufficient for the essence of Ordination as I could demonstrate if this were the proper place of such a Treatise and will not fail to do if D. Potter give me occasion In the mean time the Reader may be pleased to read the Author cited here in the margent and then compare our form of Ordination with that of Protestants and to remember that if the form which they use either in consecrating Bishops or in ordaining Priests be at least doubtful they can never have undoubted Priests nor Bishops For Priests cannot be ordained but by true Bishops nor can any be true Bishop unless he be at first Priest I say their Ordination is at least doubtful because that sufficeth for my present purpose For Bishops and Priests whose Ordination is notoriously known to be but doubtful are not to be esteemed Bishops or Priests and no man without sacrilege can receive Sacraments from them all which they administer unlawfully And if we except Baptism with manifest danger of invalidity and with obligation to be at least conditionally repeated so Protestants must remain doubtful of Remission of sins of their Ecclesiastical Hierarchy and may not pretend to be a true Church which cannot subsist without undoubted true Bishops and Priests nor without due administration of Sacraments which according to Protestants is an essential note of the true Church And it is a world to observe the proceeding of English Protestants in this point of their Ordination For first An. 3 Ed. 6. cap. 2. when he was a Child about twelve years of age it was enacted That such a form of making and consecrating of Bishops and Priests as by six Prelates and six other to be appointed by the King should be devised Mark well this word devised and set forth under the Great Seal should be used and none other But after this Act was repealed 1 Mar. Sess 2. Insomuch as that when afterwards An. 6 7 Regin Eliz. Bishop Bonner being indicted upon a Certificate made by Doctor Horn a Protestant Bishop of Winchester for his refusal of the Oath of Supremacie and excepting against the Indictment because Dr. Horn was no Bishop they were all at a stand till An. 8 Eliz. cap. 1. the Act of Ed. 6. was renewed and confirmed with a particular Proviso That no man should be impreached or molested by means of any Certificate by any Bishop or Archbishop made before this last Act whereby it is cleer that they made some doubt of their own Ordination and that there is nothing but uncertainty in the whole business of their Ordination which forsooth must depend on six Prelates the Great Seal Acts of Parliament being contrary one to another and the like So that you see all along the authority and interposition of the Magistrate is scoffed at and by them made ineffectual in the ordering of the affairs of the Church nay the Church must be no Church if not wholly and independently governed by the Clergy and a Clergy too that do particularly derive their Ordination and power from a forein Head and according to Rights and Ceremonies then abolished If none but true Priests can administer the Sacraments nor none but true Bishops make true Priests nor none but the Pope make true Bishops but that the authority of the Magistrate doth interpose why then no true Sacraments nor no true Church by their doctrine And to that purpose he doth put a mark upon the word devised as deriding the Civil power therein 38. If we shall add to this what was before him observed by Father Parsons concerning the institution of the Service-book and objected against the validity and use of it as well as the power to abolish their Mass and other Ceremonies it will make us wary in condemning less Alterations now made by a greater Power while yet we shall commend conformity to a less Power in a matter of greater alteration For he alleadgeth in his Book of the Three Conversions of England par 2. chap. 12. sect 25. That the Reformation and Service-book were made by the then Protector to Edward the
great deal wiselier they might conceal So that we may find that he is no ways countenancing those that think their Orders do exempt them from the common relation of subjection as if they had Church power apart But he is very precise and peremptory in reproof of such as in those times thought they might oppose the Ordinances of their then Church-Governors upon the score of their Function As if because they had as they said received their Commission and authority to preach to administer and the like from God that therefore in the manner order and other circumstances how they should be performed they should not be tied to the constitutions of men farther then they were agreeable to the Word of God even in such strict sense agreeable as to find express Texts for them if not their being agreeable to the general sense and scope thereof would not as they taught suffice to conform their obedience when as yet they could bring no Text in disproof of them No if they wanted this then they would as he said elswhere make their childish appeals to the usage of other Churches which had no authority over them at all And therefore I see not how any of that Order now can turn Non-conformists to our publick Communion when on the one hand they cannot so much as pretend there is any thing retained not agreeable to the Word of God and on the other they cannot alleadg the example of any one Church now in being whose practise is conformable to them in those things wherein they do dissent These I am sure may be justly accompted guilty of Apostacie from those Principles formerly maintained by the famous and Orthodox men of the Church of England rather then such as will not through private discontent and dislike of persons commanding and in power shew stubbornness to the command and power it self The which when it is by any done is so far from giving any reputation to them as men of Orders Learning or Gravity that it doth but discover to the world their own imbecility in respect of some peevish prejudice whereby they are swayed which a great deal wiselier they might conceal 20. And because in these cases again it is not to be supposed otherwise now then amongst Nonconformists formerly that is that some having their necessities and wants greater or being more fearful and conscientious in open opposition are ready outwardly to yield to compliance and yet do underhand deprave and discountenance the deed it self and that Authority which they do obey therein Of these he saith lib. 5. fol. 248. They do like one that should openly profess he putteth fire to his neighbours house but yet so halloweth it with his prayers that he hopeth it shall not burn It had therefore perhaps been safer and better for ours to have observed S. Basils advice both in this and all things of like nature let him which approveth not his Governours Ordinances either plainly but privately alwayes shew his dislike if he have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 strong and invincible reason against them according to the true will and meaning of Scripture Or else let him quietly with silence do that which is enjoyned obedience with profest unwillingnesse to obey is no better then manifest disobedience 21. And therefore in these cases men should not go about to disturbe the peace of the Church that pillar and ground of truth which for peace and order sake God hath appointed to be obeyed in establishing things of this nature upon every plausible argument which by means of their abilities and learning they are able to bring in disparagement of any thing established by her They must rest obedient in all such things as they cannot finde strong and invincible reason against according to the true will and meaning of Scripture whose drift is Peace and Order and not according to their will and meaning onely who it may be have contrary designes no he disclaims all such kinde of proofs as ineffectuall in this case For saith he lib. 5. fol. 201. Where the Word of God leaveth the Church to make choice of her own ordinances If against those things which have been received with great reason or against that which the Ancient practise of the Church hath continued time out of mind or against such Ordinances as the power and authority of that Church under which we live hath it selfe devised for the publique good or against the discretion of the Church in mitigating sometimes with favorable equity that rigour which otherwise the literal generality of Ecclesiastical Laws hath judged to be more convenient and meet it should be lawfull for men to reject at their own liberty what they see done and practised according to order set down If in so great variety of wayes as the will of man is easily able to find out towards any purpose and in so great liking as all men especially have on those inventions whereby some one shall seem to have been more inlightned from above then many thousands the Church did give every man license to follow what himself imagineth that Gods Spirit doth reveal unto him or what he supposeth that God is likely to have revealed to some other whose vertues deserve to be highly esteemed what other effect could hereupon ensue but the utter confusion of his Church under pretence of being taught led and guided by his Spirit The gifts and graces whereof do so naturally all tend unto common peace that where such singularity is they whose hearts it professeth ought to suspect it the more in as much as if it did come of God and should for that cause prevail with others the same God which revealeth it to them would also give them power of confirming it unto others either with miraculous operation or with strong and invincible remonstrance of sound reason such as whereby it might appear that God would indeed have all mens judgements give place unto it Whereas now the Errour and insufficiency of their Arguments doth make it on the contrary side against them a strong presumption that God hath not moved their hearts to think such things as he hath not enabled them to prove 22. In this last quotation he is very expresse concerning the power of that Church under which we live and that even in devising ordinances for the publike good thereof The which to oppose is so far from shewing it self a fruit of the Spirit that by that dissention and discord which it must necessarily produce it may be suspected to have proceeded from some other Master then the God of peace and some other principle then the Gospel of Peace even from the God of this World some powerfull temptation sent by the Prince of the air whereby he is wont to rule in the hearts of the children of disobedienâ—e If God do not therefore in this case furnish them with one of those sorts of invincible proofs by him set down that is either power of miracle or such strong and
marks And so the Act goes on prescribing still greater punishments for the second and third offences by way of mulct to the Queen and her Successors 34. But now what if her Successors come to enact against the use of it and be themselves Compellers and Threateners may we not then conclude that they may lawfully interrupt or at least the other be excused for being interrupted where before in a Subject it was unlawful to interrupt or let any Parson in the doing what was by the then Law established So that by this very Act as I conceive such as have a reverend esteem and willingness to use it are not only freed foro interno but by the Clause following enacting That no person shall be at any time hereafter impeached or molested of or for any of the offences above-mentioned hereafter to be committed or done contrary to this Act unless he or they so offending be thereof indicted at the next General Sessions to be holden before any such Justices of Oyer and Determiner or Justices of Assise next after any offence committed or done contrary to the tenor of this Act we may conlude he is freed foro externo also and may for ought I can find rest free from all danger while obedient to the Queens Successory she dying without an Heir 35. And if by reason of any Oath or Obligation received at Ordination or taking degrees some should think themselves farther bound They are also to consider that as neither any derived power can go beyond that which impowers it so are they also to presume that their intentions are alike even to maintain Peace and Order by Uniformity to what is enjoyned and not to raise disturbance by opposition And surely if Oaths Vows or the like were to be held of force in such a case I see not how any Jesuite or Priest could in reason no nor in Conscience be perswaded to recede in any thing from their obedience and conformity to the Papall Sea and Ceremony when as their Promises are not only more strict but confirmed by Laws more ancient and general and which are still in the same force 36. It is also farther to be considered that when after in the Preface to our Bibles it is set down That where heretofore there hath been great diversity in saying and singing in Churches within this Realm some following Salisbury use some Hereford use some the use of Bangor some of York and some of Lincoln now from henceforth all the whole Realm shall have but one use And when in the directions following that Preface it is set down That all Priests and Deacons should be bound daily to say the Morning and Evening Prayer either privately or openly except they be let by preaching studying of Divinity or some other urgent cause We are still to conceive that both Uniformity was aimed at and that the duty of Preaching was in the first place held necessary 37. And if we go to experience in their practise of this precept of reading of the Service Book then we shall find it apprehended as an injunction that did onely bind them ad semper velle but not ad semper agere as Mr. Hooker elsewhere speaks of Gods affirmative Precepts as Pray continually and the like and that thereupon few could give account of their daily use of it even when the hindrance of preaching studying or the like could not well be alledged as before noted And therefore if in a time when it was commanded the use of it might be forborn rather then preaching be omitted what may we think of them that in a time it is taken away will yet rather omit preaching then it to the great discouragement and scandall of many a man in his Christian obedience and Communion and to the great detriment of the nation in generall who in a time of scarcity are much wanting of that instruction which might be had from men of their abilities In which respect as I am my self a true lover of many of them for their learning and gifts in that kinde so hath the sence of mine own losse as well as that of others now made me thus large in this particular 38. But besides this and the want of satisfaction how they can in this condition uphold the Church of England in her former sentence against non conformity if upon the same score they shall slight her authority themselves They are next to consider what answer for their present Recusancy they can bring which on the other side shall not withall justifie the Recusants themselves in their separation from our Communion also For plain it is as I said before that as the drift of all the arguments brought formerly by the Papists against our Churches authority was in respect of usurpation in our Princes and want of succession lawfull ordination and the like in our Priests so was the sum of all their Doctrine that wrote in defence of what was done by us brought to this issue That these things were not essentiall to Salvation or to the being of a Church That each Christian Church having as heretofore set down a power within it self for ordering its own affairs had as well power to abbreviate or abrogate what was in former times or by other Churches instituted before as to institute that which was new so that the casting out from our Service Book and leaving out of our publike Forms of Worship all such Prayers Ceremonies and Observations as in the opinion of those that then had power in the Church had on the one side little or no footing in Scripture and which had on the other side greatest Superstition cast towards them was then held lawfull as by that Declaration annexed to our Bibles concerning Ceremonies why some be abolished and some retained may appear And if it was then held agreeable and the Church thought a fit Judge wherein Superstition was most to be feared and what was the best way of Reformation how can we now change our Principle unlesse we joyn with the adversary to dâ—â—â—de the fact as done by the Civil power and Magistrate and with them neither own England for a Church nor him for head thereof Let us hear a little what Father Not the Jesuite in his Book called Charity maintained doth to this purpose alledge in his answer to Doctor Potter after some dispute Chap. 6. about the truth of our Ministery for want of Succession visibly derived from the Pope and Church of Rome he saith at last Sect. 20. But grant their first Bishops had such Authority from the Church of Rome after the decease of those men who gave authority to their pretended Successors The Primate of England but from whom had he such authority And after his decease who shall confer authority upon his Successors The temporall Magistrate King Henry neither a Catholique nor a Protestant King Edward a child Queen Elizabeth a woman an Infant of one houres age is true King in case of his Predecessors decease
Reader forborn quotations of many other famous men in our Church concurring in the same judgement and made most particular choice of Mr. Hooker and Bishop Andrews as men generally held most famous and Orthodox in their generations the one in the time of Queen Elizabeth and the other since even in the time of our late King They were then and are still for ought I know held to be the great Defenders of this Churches authority and that of the â—hief Magistrate therein against the then Recusants and Nonconformists and I hope their credit is not so lost but that their authority and yet arguments will remain of the same force still to keep us from all inclinations either to Schism or Sedition that we do not thereby give the world too just occasion to say we are indeed fallen from our Principles through some sinister prejudice or partial conceit of our own 54 To direct and encourage in this constancy let us revert to thse grounds and reasons before laid down let us consider that since the maintenance of love and charity and the preservation of mankind by peace have so necessary a dependence upon submision to the Authority of that Church where we live and since the Glory Service and Worship of God here on earth hath again so near a relation unto this preservation of mankind by peace that therefore in these and thingâ— of the like nature which are not of such express divine Precept as to be demonstrable out of the Word of God or are not fundamental to our salvation there should no opposition be made to the disturbance of the peace of â—he Church but to that very end all to submit to the determination of those that have chief power therein Let not the crafts or designs of other men lead us to dâ—quiet so as to think that in things of this nature and where controversies and differences do daily arise between Church and Church Christian and Christian our salvation should be endangered while we incline to that side that maintains Charity by submitting our selves to those that have the rule over us To this end I shall here record that remarkable speech of Dr. Vsher late Primate of Armagh That in these Propositions which without all controversie are universally received in the whole Christian World so much truth is contained as being joyned with holy obedience may be sufficient to bring a man to everlasting salvation Neither have we cause to doubt but that as many as walk according to this rule neither overthrowing that which they builded by superinducing any damnable Heresies thereupon nor otherwise violating their holy Faith with a leud and wicked conversation peace shall be upon them and upon the Israel of God This as it was alleadged by Dr. Potter in his Treatise called Charity mistaken for that the Church of Rome did make all things fundamental which she held and thereupon excluded all from salvation that were not of her communion so is it by Mr. Chillingworth in his Reply fol 20. held for as great and good a truth and as necessary for these miserable times as can be uttered For if it should stand with men in the point of salvation according to that censure which each Church or sect therein doth put upon all that differ or descent from them then could no one Christian hope for Heaven insomuch as he must necessarily be a member of some Church or other which in matters of Doctrine or Discipline if not both is by some other Churches held so far Heretical or Schâ—smatical as to exclude all of that communion from hope of salvation which thing the Papists do hold concerning all Protestants in general and many of the Protestants hold of them again and do also pass their sentence as hardly of one another But our comfort is that we shall at the last day be judged by him who knows our hearts and whether we have not sought and followed his Truth according to the uâ—most of the ability he gave us and not left to the sentence of such as out of pride prejudice or other interest are so ready to put an over-value upon their own Tenets and become both Parties and Judges 55. Corcerning those aspersions of Heresie and Schism which are now so frequently thrown by one party upon another I have in the general observed that where the names and notions themselves are ofâ—nest repeated and most stood upon there the Arguments used for confutation are the less or less weighty It faring in some mens discourses and writings about controversies as with women in their scolding where she that can call Whore lowdest and oftenest is coâ—ceived to have got the better of it So usually there is nothing to be perceived but a design cast towards disparagement when the imputation of those Ecclesiastical railing terms are used towards any without any remonsâ—rance or proof wherein their ill consists or how their Opponents are justly to be charged with them 56. As â—or Heresie I do not see why any Christian mans case should be held desperate that in things not fundamental cannot bring his judgement to assent to that of anothers always provided that it proceed not from or be encreased through discontent pride or â—ffected singularity and that he hold it peaceably to himself not seeking to disturbe the peace of the Church by publication thereof to others for then it plainly shews that some of those other coâ—râ—pâ— Principles had a hand in the entertainment as well as in the divulging of iâ— And then iâ— will come to pass â—hat that which would as in it self and aâ—â—onsidered aâ— matter of speculation have been an error in judgement onely being now infused into others so as to induce action and separation will argue pravity in the will and turn into Schism which I do look upon as a sin not to be at any time or in any Persons otherwise excusable then when the foundation of Faith or good manners cannot be otherwise preserved And because in all dissenting parties that live under any Christian Authority the name of Schismatick is by either side cast on the other I do hold it for a maxime â—hat that party iâ— onely free that conforms to the Rule set down by him that iâ— Head of that place and all the rest Schiâ—maticks Even as in State differences all parties that hold not with the Sovereign Power are to be called this or that Faction whâ—n as the other is not to be called a Faction or Party but rather to be looked upon as the whole because united to the Head â—7 And therefore truly if men could be once brought to put a greater rate upon thingâ— fundamental and a less upon superstructures considering that the not holding to â—â—â— one bringâ— on the loss of Heaven and the too strict holding to the other brings on the loss of Charity and thereby shrewdly endanger the other also besides that quiet we should imutually reap in the exercise of Religion we should preserve
entring the Land durst not claim any right to the Crown as his right but onely to the Dukedom of York wearing also the Badge of Henry the Sixth's eldest Son in tâ—ken of his Homage What shall we say when he after in cruel manner smoâ—e him on the face with his Gantlet and caused him to be slain by his own servants and caused also the Father to whom â—e had formerly done homage to be imprisoned murthered and scornfully buried a person so good that he was called by the name of the Holy Yet do we not find but for all this while he had possession he had due loyalty and subjâ—ction acknowledged unto him and the Crown entailed on his Family 73. Against the Right of his Son Edward the Fifth King Richard the Third enters and might well also be called Usurper because he exercised Kingly power before the other was actually dispossessed And yet as ill as he was otherwise also is he generally obeyed and fought for 83. Henry the Seventh succeeds but he not taking to himself Kingly power till he were in full possession is not called Usurper Although his title was not so good as the others whom we are however to expect to be called Usurper and Tyrant also the more to dignifie the other now in possession when as yet although the said Richard were an Usurper as to his Nephews he was none to him Again although Richard were dead yet were there others living and in England too of a far more lineal and legal claim to the Crown as was the Lady Elizabeth Daughter to Edward the Fourth and the Earl of Warwick Son to the elder Brother of King Richard George Duke of Clarence to whom and his Heirs the Crown was also by Parliament given by Henry the Sixth in case he should die without issue as he did And yet further he stood by Act of Parliament attainted of Treason and had his Lands and Goods with those of his followers confiscate to the said King Richard May he not also be called Usurper for that he not onely exercised Kingly power before he was married to the Lady Elizabeth the right Heir but that afterwards he never so much as joyned her name in Acts of State and Sovereignty when by the Law of the Land she should have been chief as was adjudged on the case of Queen Mary and King Philip. And although he also brings in a new Family to wit that of Tudor in place of Plantagenet yet being in possession of the Crown he hath not the stile of Usurpation so thrown upon him as to take off the Subjects duty of allegiance Nor do I think that any will commend them for Loyalty that did after rise in the behalf of Perkin Warbeck although the Subjects generally thought him to be the right Heâ—r indeed and no counterfeit 39. Henry the Eighth succeds him upon the same Title and Edward the Sixth him with very small dispute of their Right 40. Queen Mary finds another Claimer to retard her possession namely the Lady Jane Grey And truly had she not bestirred herself and frighted the other party by a much greater power I beleeve the other would with her possession have been generally reputed and obeyed as the legal Heir having all the State conformation could be then expected For the Lords of the Council that then acted all publick affairs caused her to be proclaimed in London and no worse a man then B Ridley in a Sermon at Pauls Cross perswaded obedience to Lady Jane and invighed earnestly against the Title of Lady Mary as witnesseth Stow fol. 1033. And it is like he might use the same motives against the succession of her as are recorded by Mr. Camden in his introduction to the Annals of Queen Elizabeth to have been used against the succession of her and her Sister also To wit for that the Ladies Mary and Elizabeth were by the Act of Parliament judged illegitimate which Act was never duely repealed notwithstanding that the King their Father had by the same Act declared that they should succeed in order after Edward the Sixth if his issue should fail and for that the said Sisters could not by the Common Law of England be Successors Hereditarily to King Edward because they were not Germans that is of the whole blood by Father and Mother but as our Lawyers term it of the half blood It was also signified that Henry the Eighth by his last Will and Testament conveyed the title of the Crown to the said Lady Mary or the Lady Elizabeth should marry with Foreign Princes which might revoke the Bishop of Romes Authority now banished out of England and subject the English under a foreign yoke And to the same purpose also were produâ—ed Letters Pattents of King Edward the Sixth made a little before his death and signed with the hands of many Noblemen Bishops Judges and others But all this notwithstanding those very Lords that had before caused her to be proclaimed finding afterwards themselves unable to put her into full possession they wisely laid Title aside proclaimed the other and made what haste they could to obtain her favour Dutifully and wisely preferring that which was the sure way to publick peace and benefit although hazardous and disadvantagious to their own before a more sure way to their own advance with the loss of that which was publick 41. What shall we now think of the lawfulness of all those transactions which all along in those times were performed to the several Princes here was there never any obedience rightly given but to Edward the Second and Queen Elizabeth because they two onely could prescribe as to the term of a Hundred years since the Crown was usurped by their Progenitors and this hapening to them but towards the end of their Reigns shall we conclude that what was done before or towards any other was not legally done and to be esteemed acts of fear and flattery more then of Duty How comes it to pass that the Laws made by these several Princes nay by Richard the Third himself are acknowledged for Laws of force If possession of the Law-makers place gave them a right to make laws will it not also give them a right to their Subjects obedience Beyond all which if we will be truly regarding the injury offered to the deposed Family and think our selves obliged to sâ—e right therein done without regard to the publick will it not follow that this injury being the higher and the more as the party doing it was nearer in relation or of kin to those he did it that therefore an Usurpation made by a stranger is not so heinous as where a Son usurpeth against his Fathers likeing as Edward the Third did or an Uncle against Nephews as King John and Richard the Third or one Brother against another or the like as is to be observed in this long story In which cases to alleadge they had consent of the people this will not make any thing lawful as
claim any jurisdiction apart or make separation therefrom upon allegation of any extraordinary sanctity or neerer degree of imploiment in Religious affairs for this were to overthrow the main scope of the Church before set down And therefore since humane preservation and Peace is the end of Religious as well as Civil associations it will therefore follow that as each State hath its rule entire and absolute for the better preservation of concord and order so must each Christian State or Church much more have the like in as much as those precepts and directions leading thereunto are much more apparently within their Commission their duty and charge being to perfect and consummate that by a religious tie unto which natural perfection could not reach 9. And hereby it comes to pass that what was vertue or vice in a bare Philosophical accompt is now called righteousness or sin And so these Politick societies which upon the former light of natural reason took upon them the guidance of humane actions and were called Kingdoms and Commonwealths when they come to acknowledg subjection to this higher direction and rule are usually called Churches also And thereupon those that were formerly called Schismaticks in respect of separation or stubbornness to Ecclesiastick authority are now to be esteemed seditious and Rebels also if they do in any such thing disobey or oppose him that hath both these authorities conjoined For very hard it would seem if the same terms of separation should still be kept up against Christian Princes and Rulers as was formerly and they allowed no more honor and power being Christians then while they were Pagans But we will now proceed to shew what hath been the sense of the Church of England herein according to the doctrine of those that were eminent in it 10. As those of the Roman party had no doubt a design of stretching the Papal jurisdiction even in temporals by their engrossment of all spiritual power as Catholick head so hath it been always censured by ours as an unjust usurpation Therefore we shall find that the late Archbishop in his Answer to the Jesuite all along to disprove that claim of Universal head of the whole Church and sect 25. num 12. sheweth That after the conversion of the Emperors the Bishops of Rome themselves were still elected or confirmed by them without any title of Universal head until that John Patriarch of Constantinople having been countenanced in that title by Mauritius the Emperor who came afterward to be deposed and murthered by Phocas Phocas conferred on Boniface the third that very honor which two of his Predecessors had declaimed against as monstrous and blasphemous if not Antichristian And as he thus defends the power and jurisdiction of particular Churches and the chief Magistrate in them against the Pope so doth he defend the power and supremacie of this Magistrate over all that live within the same jurisdiction And therefore sect 26. num 9. doth set it down for a great and undoubted Rule given by Optatus That wheresoever there is a Church there the Church is in the Commonwealth not the Commonwealth in the Church and so also the Church was in the Roman Empire The truth is that at first and while some smaller parcels of the Roman Empire only were Christians then these being only of the Church might it be said to be in the Commonwealth first as being but a part and next but a subordinate part of the whole Empire or those that had jurisdictions therein But after that the Government it self became Christian then was there no question to be rightly made which was in which that is whether the Church in the Commonwealth or that in the Church For that both were one and both to be conceived included under that name of highest honor the name of Church importing as well our relation to God as to one another Whereupon also since for some Ages the authority of the Roman Empire did extend it self in a manner over all Nations that were Christian it might well come to pass that amongst the Writers of those times the Roman and Catholick Church might be taken as equivalent and alike which to use now is an absurd contradiction as implying a particular-universal for none other it is to call any man a Roman Catholick At the time the Emperor of Rome had the soveraignty or government of any Christian State then and there had the Pope or chief Bishop of Rome the like soveraignty in ordering of the affairs of that Church if the said Emperor so thought fit and to depart from that obedience or communion was then as I conceive not Schism alone but Sedition also But in case any that are neither within the Popes own territory nor jurisdiction but in the proper jurisdiction of some other Prince who yields only a voluntary conformity in doctrine and discipline to that Sea as Spain and France and other free Princes now do then are they that make alteration against the liking of that Prince or Power under whom they live not Schismaticks against the Pope of Rome but against him and if he approve of their doctrine they are neither Schismaticks nor Seditious As was the case of our Henry the Eight and those his Subjects of the Church of England which followed him and for ought I know was the case of Luther also in respect of his subjection to the Duke of Saxony 11 For it is to be considered that where the Jurisdiction doth divide and become independent there doth the notion of Church divide also as was to be seen in the Church of the Jews after they fell into two distinct Governments to wit that of Judah and that of Israel In which case although they had still but one divine Law and prescript form of Worship to live by yet the Government of each Kingdom being unsubordinate they were each of them reckoned as a Church apart and the good or ill Government of each of them attributed to none but the peculiar King thereof even as proceeding from his proper observance or breach of the Law And although the Primitive Churches in Saint Johns time had not yet any absolute Jurisdiction yet since what they had was independent we shall find that those Reproofs and Admonitions which were in the Apocalyps given to the seven Churches are directed to their several Angels or Heads apart without any hint or notice of subordination to any other Catholick Head or Curate save of CHRIST himself 12. I must confess that as the earnest desire and aim I have always had towards the silencing of disputes and civil commotions in Kingdoms hath made me the more earnest and studious in pressing the power and authority of each Prince so for common-peace sake again amongst Kings themselves and for taking off those irregularities and oppressions which each of them by this power might inflict on their Subjects I have many times entertained the thoughts of admittance of some such power like that claimed