aut minuit The Apostolical and Primitive practice rather then the late discipline and example of some reformed Churches who as much of necessity as of election are fallen for the most of them unto a form of Presbyterian discipline of which they find no use nor Character in the Primitive time And therefore they shew little candor and sincerity who so peremptorily defend this Presbyterian discipline and with detraction and detestation of Episcopal Government seeing it hath been fully proved by Learned men that the office and power of a Bishop made ever a great difference betwixt him and a Presbyter Neither can they conclude any thing for their advantage by the promiscuous use of those two names at the first at which they catch It cannot be called one and the self same order where the offices are distinct Diversi tituli praebent regulariter significationem diversi juris * Episcopetus est ordo distinctus in quantum est officium quâ—ddam ad sacras actiones Aquinas Episcopa tus juxta veriorem receptiorem sententiam Canonista um Theologorum ordo est quatenus ordo dicitur officium quoddam potestas respecâ—u qua rundam sacrarum actionum que sacerdoti non conveniunt Conarunias variarum resolut lib. 1. c. 10. Amongst Gods selected people there was the high Priest the chief Governour of the house of the Lord. Jer. 20.1 Numb 3 32. If the offices and things are distinct it availeth little the insisting upon words and names promiscuously used There is not one and the same imposition of hands and shall not it be a distinct order in it self from whence ordination and all other orders do and ever did proceed untill of late time Neither was the office and Power of a Bishop lessened by the assistance and counsel of certain Presbyters called Senatus Ecclesiae but rather strengthened and supported by that antient and laudable course There doth not appear in Scripture any commission given to any assembly of Presbyters by our Saviour to govern the Church without a Bishop or Superiour in whom was the power of Ordination and Imposition of hands although by the antient Canons Distinctio 24. c. 6. causa 15. quâ—st 7. Episcopus sine consilio Clericorum suorum Clericos non ordinet it a ut Civium conniventiam testimonium quaerat Neither is there any example in Scripture of any delegation of power of Censures or Government derived from the Apostles to any Colledge or Assembly of meer Presbyters If these men will peruse the Canons of the four first general Councils which Calvin saith Institut 4. c. 19 Et in lege Constantini Imperatoris sancimus vim legum obtinere Sanctas Ecclesiasticas regulas quae à Sanctis quâ—tuor primis Cenciliis exposi a sunt Novell 131. cap. 1. distinctio 15. c. 2. libenter amplectimur reveremur they shall find enough to justifie the office and superiority of Bishops and to give them satisfaction of the necessity of that Function if wilfull ignorance and the spirit of delusion and contention doth not still prevail They cannot shew that ever any Church upon the face of the earth hath ever been ordered by their discipline untill this later age or hath not ever been under Episcopal government since the Apostles time * Exceptis Haereticis Macedonianis qui pro certo tempore non habthant Episcopum sed sub solis Presbyteriis eâ—ant Sosomen Eccles hist lib. 8. c. 1. Neither can they by their doctrine and manners or by any other means induce those who are in no respect behind them in learning prudence and piety to believe that they and not others have had the clearer lights and more divine inspirations Saint Paul meeting with such men saith unto them 1 Cor. 14.36 Luk. 11.35 What came the word of God out from you or came it onely unto you Take heed that the light which is in thee be not darkness CHAP. II. Of the Presbyterian Government in the Church The practice in the Primitive times Touching the election of Pastors and Ministers in the Church and their maintenance by paiment of Tythes AS they would have it granted that their Presbyterian Government is onely of Divine right so would they also have it granted that nothing is to be used in Church Government but that which hath direct and express warrant in Scripture and that all discipline and order in the Church ought to be reduced to the primary purity of the Church which is not possible in many things neither necessary or expedient in these corrupt times and latter age of the world An exact form for all Church government and discipline is not to be found expressed in the Scripture For one cause of so many general Councils in the first times and shortly after was to make Canons and Constitutions for the external Government of the Church which had not needed if such a perfect Platform had been delivered in the Scripture as these men do imagine We find of necessity Aliter in constitutà Ecclesià aliter in constituendà Some things are sit for the present which for the times past were not convenient according to the old saying Nunc aliud tempus alii pro tempore mores Cicero had just cause to be displeased with Cato who living in a corrupt State sought to have all things carried as though he had lived in Plato's Common wealth New lawes may be made but not new men neither the present manners of men altered or reduced to the old It was wisely said in the Imperial Law That the looking back too curiously into the times of old and seeking to reduce the present to that which was past erat confusionis potius quam legislationis Laws look not back they may well be made to look forward and for the future but they must of necessity be made fit for the present time which man cannot over-rule Aul. Gel. lib. 20. c. 1. Legum opportunitates medelas pro temporum moribus pro rerum publicarum generibus pro utilitate praesentium mutari atque flecti The ancient good discipline may well serve for our instruction which neither may nor can all serve for our imitation Respect is to be had unto the times of old and we are instructed by Gods word to ask of the dayes of old to remember the dayes past to ask for the old paths but not injoyned to follow them in all things Jerem. 6.16 and in all times We finde in the Scripture things of Apostolical institution changeable and not appointed for perpetuity Many offices and ministeries in the Church at first were soone changed as the electing of widows for some services the manner of instituting and ordering of Pastors and Elders not lay Elders and for the raising their maintenace which in the primitive times when the Church was in the Infancy and under Persecution before Tythes were established did rise from the free Benevolence of men who were of one
heart and one soul and sold their goods Acts 4. and laid the moneys at the Apostles feet those who held the unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace and needed not the tye and coercive Power of Lawes Talem primum Christianorum conventum suisse D. Hierony mus quales monachi esse imitentur et cupiant esse ut nihil cujusquam proprium sit nullus inter eos dives nullus pauper nec confundebant Christiani dominia bona egentibus in commune conferebant ut perinde ac domini eis uterentur fruerentur But now how ill would it be if all kind of standing provision for the Church and for the Ministery were taken away and their estate made dependent again upon the voluntary devotion of men and subject to the mutability of times and changes in Common-wealths as likewise if the people should now have that power as at first in choosing their Pastors and ministers The people in the primitive times if they had a great power and part in the election of their Pastors they well deserved it in respect of their great Piety and moderation It were very inconvenient they should now use the same course in their elections seeing the people are over numerous and humorous diversly and contrarily affected and disaffected as are likewise the Ministers and Clergy Such power doth not appear to be given to the people by Gods word as they who flatter them do pretend In the Council of Laodicea those popular elections were forbidden which prohibition Origen saith was in his time in respect they were carried with tumultuous clamors favours and rewards Instit lib. 4. c. 3. num 13. Calvin writing of the choosing of Ministers and of those who ought to have the choice he doth not grant it to the people but saith hujus rei certa regula peti non potest And in the Church of Geneva there is not any or very small sign of any Popular Election We find in the Primitive times the Peoples concurrence by some suffrage or approbation per signum sermonem aut silentium liberum and this is as much as is now allowed them by the best Divines of the Presbytery Cap. ult de elecâ—iâ— Duarenus Alii D. Cyprian epist 4. lib. 1. Ita ut omnes audiantur qui ordinationis impediendae causa objicere quidpiam voluerunt as in the ancient Canons But there are varieties of judgements in divers Canons concerning the election of Pastors as whether it must be in the presence of many standers by or at the request of the people or with their testimony or with their consent or by their election and voices And then it is a question whether the greater number present shall by their voices conclude all the absent who are interessed although they are the greater number * Vt sit in Electione Clericorum consensus Cleri Plebis Honoratorum Testimonium Imperatcribus vero Principibus electiones Romanerum Pontiâ—icum atque aliorum Episcoporum referendes esse usus constitutio tradidi â— pro schismaticorum atque hareticorum dissentionibus quibus nonnunquam Ecclesia Dei concussa periclitabatur Distinctio 63. cap. 26 27. Ita erat per vetustiores Canones This popular concurrence in these elections is almost universally abolished some character thereof may remain in some Churches and it is swallowed up in the right of Patronage of Churches for when Princes and Lords of Mannors erected and endowed Churches and thereby much disburthened the People by being thus beneficial unto their Churches and Pastors those Lords for their bounty were called and constituted Patrons of those Churches and had the right of Presentation of Clerks to them and their heirs in those Churches Qui Ecclesiam aedificat Novel 57. 123. cap. 18. aut de suo praebet Clericis annonas jus habet instituendi substituendi Clericos dummodo eos prius commendaverit Episcopo qui eos admittere debeâ—t si Dei ministerio digni sint as it is in the Imperial Law And so by the Canon Law Hoc jus nominandi sen praesentandi Clericum competit â—i C filiis 17. quest 7. Duaâ— ren de benefic minist Ec. cle lib. 5. c. 4. qui fundavit vel collapsam Ecclesiam restituit vel dotavit vel reditum certum largitus fuerit This right of Patronage and presentation to Benefices the Common Law and Statutes of England do grant and the lawes and customes of other Kingdomes as well as the Civil and Canon-lawes So as the Clergy men are not constrained to live any longer upon a part of those common contributions and dividents of monies raised in the infancy of the Church of gifts proceeding from the pious zeal of ancient and venerable Christianity but upon their Tythes and Glebe-lands assigned unto them and the Parishes also being set out and divided and several Pastors placed in Churches under the Bishops of several Diocesses And yet diverse men through a wilde fancy or to slatter the people as they would have the power of electing the Pastors to be in the people so would they have their maintenance left unto their will or to the mutable and arbitrary orders and decrees of Judges and Magistrates which would be a ready way to bring the Clergy into poverty and contempt as being then reputed but as Alms-men of the People or as Tenants at will Others would have their maintenance set out and assigned in money and not in Tithes Some quarrel with Tithes out of covetousness some through ignorance not considering that Tithes have been out of much prudence and equity anciently and universally dedicated to the necessary service of God and his Church or rather still continued since the Leviticall Priesthood was abolished and they will ever appear upon due consideration had of all times and things to be the most necessary natural and equal and in all respects the best maintenance for the Clergy and subject to least exceptions and inconveniences And let them also consider who so little regard Tithes and think they were due only by the Ceremoniall Law of the Jewes and not by Evangelicall Precept whether being since againe restored and dedicated universally under the Gospel by positive lawes and customes of nations to the necessary service of God and sustinance of the Clergy which is required of us by the expresse Evangelical law they are not now become again a sacred tribute and Gods right Ananias keeping back a part of the money consecrated to the service of God and his Church Acts 5. Institut de rerum divisione L. 1. Cod. de Sepulch violat Res quam devoverit quis Jehovae sancâ—a sanctorum est Jehovae Lev. 27.28 Covaruvias Duarenius alii L. 14. Cod. de Sacr. Eccles sub poena Sacrilegii Novel 7. c. 10. Heb 7. we find how he was punished for his sacriledge Quod divini juris est nullius est in bonis Res religioni destinatas jam religionis effectas
Gods word or from thence to be probably deduced and inferred They catch at every Text of Scripture as their fancy leadeth them according to the old and usual course of Hereticks and Schismaticks to prove their own and destroy the old Church Government without any consideration of the Expositions of the Antient Fathers or Modern Divines or any regard how wilfully they pervert and abuse the Word of God as those who have largely and learnedly handled these points have made appear * S. Hierome sheweth us such men in his time qui quicquid dixerint boc legem Dei putant nec scire dignantur quid Prophetae quid Apostoli senserint sed ad sensum suum incorgtua aptant testimonia quasi grande sit non vitiosissimum docendi genus depravare sententias ad voluntatem suam Scripturam trahere repugnantem Epist ad Paulinum The unlearnd and unstable wrest the Scriptures unto their own destruction 2 Pet. 3.16 But seeing they deal thus with the Scripture it cannot be expected they should regard humane Laws neither the power given by God to Kings and to his Church and to make such Laws as carry with them both a directive and a coercive power Such Laws and Constitutions I mean as are in no respect repugnant to Gods word but are deduced from the general rules thereof and grounded upon the varranty left by our Saviour and his Apostles as â—uides and limits for the Church in all ages Humane lawes are measures saith Aquinas in respect of men whose actions they direct and govern and these measures have their higher rules by which they are to be measured which are the laws of God and nature Those Laws therefore have the essential parts and properties of the best positive Lawes which the Lawes of God do approve and are such as are extracted from the light and law of Nature and the common and demonstrable precepts thereof most agreeable to common equity and are most necessary for the preservation of the peace and welfare of the Church and Common-wealth It is therefore a false and dangerous doctrine of theirs that it is not in the power of the Church or State to restrain and bar men by Lawes from their liberty which God hath granted unto them no more then it is to take away the yoak which God hath laid upon them and to countermand that which he hath expresly injoyned They may find a difference between the liberty granted us by God and nature which is restrainable and the eternal precepts of God which are immutable By this doctrine the power of government is so restrained and so weakened as that the frame and pillars thereof are shaken and the difference almost taken away between the things of greatest weight precisely defined and injoyned by the Word of God to be observed alwayes as are those which the Schoolmen call his negative precepts and those other things of less moment which have little or nothing of precise and perpetual commandment but more of liberty granted unto men by God and nature and yet not exempted from the power of the Church or Magistrate to alter or restrain according to special occasions and variations of times In this miserable age wherein we live we are to deal with men such as the antient times never produced men who rest not upon the disobedience of Princes and contempt of Laws Divine and humane but teach and practise the introducing of new orders and discipline in the Church and State by sire and sword and do destroy those men and their estates who joyn not with them Men who gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous and condemn the innocent blood Psalm 94.21 Such men are not to be found save in the time of Antichrist mentioned by the Prophet who shall wear out the Saints of the most High and think to change times and laws Daniel 7.25 The doctrine of the Gospel much less the Discipline of the Church ought not by such means in any case to be brought in or established Apud Christianam disciplinam magìs occidi liceret Tertul. Bernard quà m occidere non est religionis cogere religionem Religion saith Saint Austin is planted and preserved by instructing more then by commanding by admonishing more then by threatning 2 Corin. 1 24 Cap de Judaeis Dijlinct 45. Not that we saith Saint Paul have dominion over your faith Praecipit sancta Synodus nemini ad credendum vim inferri cui enim vult Dous miseretur quem vult indurat The sword availeth little with the souls of men unless to destroy them together with their bodies and to make men desperate or dissemblers in Religion and when they find opportunity to fall into rebellion as there are many examples The old just and necessary Edicts made by the best Christian Emperours against Hereticks and those who were of a contrary religion to that which was publickly received and established were but Civil and Political Lawes for the tranquillity of the State and People quae pacis perturbatorum pervicaciâ exasperanda sunt parentium et obtemperantium bono temperandaet moderanda sunt Thuan Epiff in prin ipio Hist and this K. James declared when he set forth the oath of Allegeance Those Imperial edicts did not punish men for their diversity of religion neither gave them toleration their scope and end was not to inforce the conscience D. Hieronym but to preserve the Peace Aliae sunt Leges Caesarum aliae sunt Leges Christi alind Papinianus Epist 48. 50. aliud Paulus noster docet And yet Saint Austin doth allow of the punishment of some hereticks by pecuniary mulcts or banishment as being not repugnant to Christian lenity and sheweth that many of the Donatists were by the terror of Laws and edicts brought to the Catholick Faith and to unity in the worship and service of God D. Bernard ser 66. super Cant. Aliqui meliùs procul dubio coercentur gladio illius videlicèt qui non sine causa gladium portat Rom cap. 13. quà m ut in suum errorem multos trajicere permittantur Some discreet coercion may oftentimes necessarily be used towards those who contemn or neglect the service of God and the preaching of his word the means of salvation The parable of the marriage feast saith Luke 14. compel them to come in that my house may be filled Melius est cum severitate diligere quà m cum lenitate decipere Auguslin Parcere alienis peccatis quae dedocere objurgare debemus hoc est propter quaedam cupiditatis vincula non propter Charitatis officia But in the antient times of Christianity such means were not used as might make Hereticks Schismaticks more obstinate then docible through the preposterous proceedings of the Magistrates and Ministers of justice in the execution of penal Lawes used rather as snares for gaining of money and pecuniary mulcts imposed rather as prices
tua res agitur licet aedes demoliri vicini ne ad nos incendium veniat The Romans would not suffer an increase of power by iniquity L. 49. F. ad leg Aquil. l. 3. F. de Incendio l. 7. F. quod vi aut clam Salust Cicero Majestatis erat Populi Romani non pati cujusquam regnum per scelus crescere It was none of the least branches of the Romans glory who were the mirrour of magnanimity that their Common-wealth might truely be reputed Patrocinium orbis terrae potiùs quam Imperium Regum Nationum portus perfugium But yet the Romans were seldome losers by protecting and ayding others for by that occasion they got much of their dominions Salust Cicero Populum Romanum sociis defendendis terrarum omnium potitum fuisse God gave them as some say universal dominion for their excellent vertues and laws others say it was given them to scourge the tyranny and vices which did raign amongst other nations and to end the discord and contentions amongst them From the discord of Citizens Strangers take their opportunity against them Livius The Carthaginians first passed into Cicily to take part with one side in a Civil war but they endeavoured to make a prey of both For sometimes neighbour Princes have as in the fable plaid the part of the Kite between the Mouse and the Frog and ended their strife by gaining that and more then that for which they did contend as the Turk did in Hungarie when they called for his assistance And thus other Princes have dealt with the Italians at war amongst themselves until strangers got all or spoiled all they left behind them Other Princes when their Neighbours have been in Civil war have endeavoured to break the course thereof and joyned with one side lest when both were weakned the whole should fall into the hand of some potent neighbour or enemy of theirs The Roman General Quintius offered his assistance to the States of Greece Livius lib. 34. to destroy Nabis the Usurper of Sparta lest the contagion thereof should spread farther and take hold of the other Common-wealths and Cities of Greece CHAP. XVII Of the King and of his power in Parliament THese pretended Patrons of Popular liberty or rather of licentiousness and confusion can find no way so meet in their conceit for maintaining their Plots as parity in Ecclesiastical Government which being once established in the Church by the example thereof King James book to his Son the Politick and civil State should be drawn to the like And therefore they will have an actual power to be joyntly in the People with their Soveraign in making of Lawes which they call their Legislative power in Parliament so as they would leave unto the King little or no power with his negative voice and would weaken all his rights in Parliament but especially his right of dissolving Parliaments They would make him inferiour to the Roman Tribunes of the people Livius Plutarch for any one of them by his negative voice could cross that which his Colleagues proposed to the People and any two of them could stop all proceedings and dissolve all the solemn assemblies of the people called by the authority of the other Tribunes But say what they can they cannot find his Legislative power to be any other thing then the Regal power and a principal part and branch thereof although in many cases it be very justly restrained in the use and exercise thereof to the Kings sitting in his Parliament his Supream Court and Councel with all the estates of the Kingdome but this is not in respect of any power or original and habitual right inherent in the people The Commons are called by their Writ ad faciendum consentiendum his quae de Communi consilio Regni nostri ordinari contigerit as were the people by the ancient Canons of the Church called to the election of their Pastors and Prelates Distinct. 63. c. 1. c. 12. c. 8. c. 36. non quod debent imeresse ut eligentes sed ut consentientes nullus invitis pepulis non petentibus ordinetur ne Lpiscopum non optatum aut contemnant aut odiant Is eligatur qui à Clericis electus à Plebe expetitus fuerit nec alitèr ascribitur Matthias Apostolorum Collegio Acts 1.15 6.2 Cpyrianus nec aliter septem Diaconi creantur quà m Populo vidente approbante Haec exempla ostendunt sacerdotis ordinationem non nisi sub Populi assistentis conscientia fieri oportere And thus by the same reason and equity it is that Lawes which bind the estates and lives of men and are for the common good of all and singular Persons should be made in the great Council and supream Court of the Kingdome by the advice and assent of all the Estates of the Kingdome By which course the just rights and liberties of the people are preserved and taxes and levies of money on the people imposed onely by Parliamentary authority as they ought to be For thus the People are induced and ingaged to a willing observation of those lawes and submission unto those impositions for the making and raising whereof they have given their consent It was said long since by a wise man that in ancient time and to the honour of England Commines it was best governed of any Kingdome the People least oppressed the Kings living upon their own revenues subsidies granted but onely for war with France or Scotland and the war undertaken by the advice of Parliament by which means the King was the stronger and better served and he addeth also that Princes cannot levy on their Subjects without their consent If we look upon our most ancient Statutes or rather Charters of our Kings and the form and stile of them we shall find no Character of any legislative power in any but in the King neither so much as the Peoples concurrence or consent in any Parliamentary way It appeareth in our ancient Histories Mat. Paris Hoveden alii that during the Raign of diverse Kings after the Norman Conquest the Kings when they called their great Councel or Parliament the summons went only to the Prelates Earls and Barons and in some of those Histories there is mention of calling the Commonalty and diverse sage and wise men In Kings Johns time the first summons upon record appeareth to the Prelates and Peers S. Rob. Cotons collections and something may be gathered although darkly of the admittance of the Commons Before that time every man by his tenure held himselfe to his great Lords will in whose assent his dependent Tenents was included These were long after the Conquest taxed and assessed by the consent of their Lords of whom they held who enjoyed great Regalities in their Signiorîes and were to their vassalls totidem Tyranni saith Mat. Paris These great Lords did so curb and restrain
qui scienter emere distrahere non dubit averint tamet si jure venditio non subsistit laesae tamen religionis inciderunt in crimen Sunt tamen aliquae res Ecclesiasticae quae non deputantur ad Altaris ministerium nec ad cultus divini celebrationem ut domus agri prata similia quae sunt bona temporalia Ecclesiae quae possunt certis casibus alienari licet lege imperiali indistinctè dicitur Patrimonium Ecclesiae sicut ipsam sacrosanctam Ecclesiam illaesum intactum custodiri If they will have a stipend in money to take place in lieu of Tithes when the thing it self may as well be had and with more reason be retained what reason have we then to look after the Analogy and substituting of a new thing of a different nature The Apostle saith there was a disannulling of the Commandment for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof but this old Law of Tithes cannot be in the rank of the weak unprofitable Ceremonial Lawes which were a shadow of things to come Neither can they prove that Tithes were only appropriated to the Levitical Prieithood God did not found them in that incorporation but transferred his own right to that order of Priesthood which order ceasing it cannot therefore be inferred that the same right ceased and did not descend to the Evangelical ministry Before the Law given Abraham paid and Jacob vowed the Tenth part And the Gentiles who lived without the Divine positive law did repute the Tenth part as a due by a religious Right as profane Authors do testifie God did call the detaining of Tithes the robbing of him and for punishment thereof the Heavens were shut up from giving raine Malach. 3. and the palmer-worm and the grashopper sent to devour the fruits of the earth God is no less careful of the Ministers of the Gospel of his Son our Saviour then he was of the Levitical Priesthood the Ministery of the Gospel being more excellent in nature more eminent in dignity more profitable in use and therefore we ought also to account of our Pastors as the Ministers of Christ and stewards of the misteries of God * Plerique dicunt praece ptum de decimis Leviticis solvendis non emnino Ceremoniale aut Jadiciale sed morale fuisse atque sub lege etiam Evangelica vigere nec antiquatum fuisse Ita ut decimas etiam hodie Jure naturali divino aâ— Evangelico debitas esse Alii dicunt decimas quanlum ad quotam partem quae verè decima pars est jure humano institutas suisse sub lege Evangelica nec earum institutio est hodie ex jure naturali aut divino quo ad certam quanâ—itatem sed ad congruam sustentationem Clericorum in laboris impensi justam mercedem Covaruvias The objection made that Tithes were due by the Levitical law which is now abolished under the Gospel is of little weight which although it be granted yet those judicial Judaical laws do still retain vim exemplarem although not obligativam cum divinitùt institutae fint in iis ostenditur quid Deus approbavit deservire possunt per modum exemplarium seu directivum ad imit andam prudentiam equitatem earum in multis and as Calvin saith lib. 4. c. 4. num 1. Institut In iis rebus utile erit veteris Ecclesiae formam recognoscere quae nobis divinae institutionis imaginem quandam oculis repraesentabit CHAP. III. The inconveniences that happen by the alterations of Government in the Church and Common-wealth Of Ceremonies used in the Church-Service Of tender consciences Of the coercive power of the Magistrate in matters of Religion ALthough it be true that all the Divine Laws extend not their power of binding in all times and to all persons and that positive Laws Ecclesiastical must be fitted to the times and manners of men as hath been said before yet great consideration ought to be taken of the difference and variations of times and of other circumstances reasons and inconveniences before any new Laws Orders or Discipline either in the Church or Common-wealth be imposed or the old and inveterate Lawes and customes repealed and abrogated Aristotle saith That to give a sound judgement of a Law is one of the weightiest things that a man can take upon him for we ought not onely to look simply upon the nature and quality of the things in themselves and in abstract but how they stand in relation and connexion with other matters and things of long establishment and of great importance lest by the removal of that against which our fancy doth run we indanger the shaking if not the subverting of it and other things which the tryal of time hath found very profitable and necessary Tales leges quas ne usus quidem longo tempore qui unus est legum corrector experiendo argueret Livius tales leges tollendo caeteras leges infirmari And so the People learn to under value all Laws of what kind soever and to repute them of no weight and efficacy longer then they are supported by the hand of Authority * Leges quae non in tempus aliquod sed perpetuae utilitatis causa in aeternum latae sunt non sunt abrogandae nisi quas aut usus coarguit aut sâ—â—us aliquis Reipublicae inutiles â—ecit Li vius lib. 34. Non ob quamcunque causam melius quidpiam adserentem â—utanda est lex sed tunc quando usque aâ—tò excedit ut damna detrimentaque compensat quae legis mutatio suâ aptâ naturâ secum assert Soto de Justitia jure Some things which are not unlawful or evil in themselves are oftentimes well prohibited when there is just cause of fear lest a way be opened for doing of things unlawful and hurtful So doth it often fall out that some things unnecessary in themselves as to the purpose and end whereunto they were at first applyed are very prudently still retained in respect of some new accidents arising or by reason of the coherence they have with some other thing of greater use and necessity Hâ—â—ker Eccles Politie Dioâ—ys Halicar lest the taking away of the one should destroy the others and bring disorder and confusion in the Common-wealth It was well said by a man of great Judgement that he could not approve of the utter abolishing of certain anuent customes although grosly abused seeing the inconventences that thereby would ensue but rather that some redress or qualification were sought by the prudence of those in Authority Sentâ—a Sapiâ—ns potius apt at quam mutat Saint Augustine saith of some evils in the Romane State which were long setled tam vetustam iniquitatem convellere periculosum erat for it fareth better with that Common-wealth which doth observe and keep their antient Laws and customes although they are not of the best Thucydides then with those who have the best and are
the external Government of a Church and yet salvation may be had there and that Church may stand without it Moreover although the constitutions of men are not of force in themselves to bind the conscience yet do men sin in wilfully disobeying such Laws and constitutions as are by Lawful Authority established when they can shew no other cause for their disobedience but their conscience neither bring any warrant out of Gods Word In the supposed purest reformed Chuches there are some Ceremonies enjoyned Psalm 29. and are not without punishment contemned and some must be if we will serve God in the beauty of holiness Calvin alloweth such Ceremonies as tend to the perspicuity of doctrine as being prositable allusions and iliustrations and having divine significations such Ceremonies saith he as are paucae numero observatione faciles significatione praestantissimae In the ministry of the Church there ever have been some Ceremonies ordained for order and decency and also for signification Ceremonies tending to edification signisie moral duties and works are signified Such rights and Ceremonies as are not repugnant to Gods Word neither apt to lead men into superstition and to will-worship but serving to edification and decent service so as the Church be not burthened with the multitude of them nor the essence of Religion placed in them although some of them have been in part used by Pagans or Papists lest upon such restraint we press too much servitude upon the Church We cannot take in too many helps for our performance of Religious duties for the exaltation of Gods glory and goodness for the more decency in his service for the manifestation of our duty of thankfulness and for the furtherance of our devotion so as Superstition and Will-worship be restrained And in all this if men should be left to their own wills the Church of God would alwayes be perplexed and grieved and the peace thereof dislurbed with infinite Scandals both given and taken A great evil it were that order and decency should break the Communion of Saints which hath been so piously instituted for the preservation thereof and the increase of devotion and the manifestation of our thankfulness to God for all his benefits They ought to find other causes for their dislike of Ceremonies then because some of them were used in time of Popery The Reformed Churches retain some things used in the Romane Church And they use the Churches which not onely the Papists enjoyed but some Churches which had been Temples of the Pagan gods If they quarrel with our Ceremonies because they were used in the Roman Church without any other reason they are like those who hate men for other mens sake or because of the company wherein they find them They will not consider that those things which have been superstitiously abused may be made useful for the service of God Judges 6. who did command the wood of the Grove dedicated to Baal to serve for the use of his Sacrifice And Jericho an accursed City all in it was to be destroyed by fire Joshua 6. but the silver and gold the vessels of brass and iron were put into the House of God Constantine and other Christian Emperours abolished Paganism and made it death to worship their gods yet they preserved their Temples and other things L. 3. 1.4 Cod. de Pagenis as appeareth by the Imperial Law Sacnisicia templorum prohibemus publicorum operum ornamenta servari jubemus festos conventus civium communemque omnium laetitiam non patimur submoveri unde absque ullo sacrificio superstitione damnabili exhiberi Populorum voluptates secundum veterem consuetudinem ac ministrarietiam festa convivia quando exigunt publica vota decernimus Neither ought we to abolish our fellivals in memory of our Saviours Nativity Resurrection and of Pentecost because they are vestigia legis antiquae Mosaicae and seem to be borrowed from the Mosaical Rites and Ceremonies The verses and sayings of the Heathen Poets dedicated to the Muses and to their gods not onely holy men but also the Apostles used not so that our faith faith the Apostle 1 Corinth 2. should stand in the wisedom of men but in the power of God The use of humane learning is not to be contemned by those who would be reputed learned in Divinity qui liberales illas artes imbiberunt carum subsidio adjuti longè altiùs provehuntur ad imrospicienda divinae sapientiae arcana * Calvin Inslit lib. 1. c. 5. n. 2. Ad intelligentiam sacrarum Scripturarum secularium peritia liberaltum Artium est necessaria Distinclio 37. Quicquid de ordine temperum transactorum indicat historia gentiumplutimum nos adjuvat ad sanctos libros intelligendos quaecunque de locorum situ naturaque animalium lignorum herbatum â—liorumve corporum scripta sunt sendimque cognitionem valere ad aenigmata soripturarum solvenda docuimns August de Doctâ—ina Christiana lib. 2. Jalianus Apostata interdixit Christianis usu Poeticae Rhetoricésque ac Philosophicarum artium nempropriis inquit ut inproverbio est pennis configimur ex nost is enim libris aima copiunt quis but in bello adversus nos utantur Theodoreti Ecclos hist l. 4. c. 8. An ipse non est Ecclesiam persecutus qui Christianos liberales artes dosere discere ve â—uit August lib. 18. c. 52. de Civit. Dei Licet à ciuore abstinuit non Christianorum corpora occidere sed ex corum animis Christum revellere miris artibus technisque attentabas quod est genus persequendi omnjum efficacissimum porniciocissimum Ita effecium est ut plures hac calamitate abcesseriot ab Ecclefia quem ulla alia superiore Lud. Vives We ought to take heed of those who under colour of Incorformity with the Church of Rome and of their desire of the utter extirpation of all reliques of Popery seek to set dissension in the Church and to root up some of the most effectual means which beareth up the state of Religion and the pillars thereof and so make way to prophanation and to Atheisme to enter and build upon the ruines of the Church Our Rites and Ceremonies by law established in the Church of England were not such as did peculiarly belong to this or that Sect but were the antient Rites and ceremonies of the Church of Christ and we have still the same reason for the use of them and the same interest in them that our fore-fathers had That our Rites and Ceremonies which we have common with the Church of Rome are scandalous in their nature and institution they cannot make appear neither do they endeavour it more then by their general clamour which implyeth nothing That some Rites and Ceremonies we retain which have been polluted yea and some peradventure instituted at first for and unto that thing which was evil although they can prove yet in tract of time and by prudent qualifications
set upon offences then as punishments for the reformation of manners Such Magistrates administring Justice in such manner are obeyed non tanquam Rectores morum sed tanquam dominatores rerum August de Civit Dei lib. 2. c. 20. L. 1. Cod. de secund nup. Tit. Cod. de Caduc tol eosque non sinceritèr honorant sed nequitèr servilitèr timent The Roman Law herein giveth a good direction ne in iis quae ad correctionem morum spectant inducta sunt fisci rationem habere videamur Lex Julia de caducis ultimum locum dat fisco nam quod communiter omnibus prodest hoc privatae nostrae utilitati praeferendum esse Plinie in his Panegyrick saith unto Trajan the Emperour very elegantly Praecipua tua gloria est quod saepius vincitur fiscus cujus causa nunquam mala est nisi sub bono Principe sed nunquam Principibus defuerunt qui fronte gravi tristi supercilio militatibus fisci contumaciter adessent For this cause of religion and planting the Gospel the best Divines do not allow the Spaniards plea for shedding the blood of the Indians Inferre bella ac Populos sibi non molestos cupiditate conterrere ac subdere August de Civit Dei lib. 4. cop 6. quid aliud est quam grande latrocinium They should not so much have used the sword against the refractory Indians but rather the rod the spur and the bridle of good discipline and example to bring them to Christ for they had no dominion over them neither any offence formerly given by them dominion and propriety is not founded in and by religion but by a just natural or civil right acquired Dominia quae sunt juris gentium non tollit sides Christiana Infidelity doth not forfeit inheritance and propriety and thus the Schoolmen say Aquinas distinctio fidelium infidelium in se considerata non tollit dominium praelationem infidelium super sideles And this did the antient Christians acknowledge by their great loyalty towards their Soveraign Princes heathen Emperours and cruel persecutors But our men indued with their new lights have found that the ungodly have no right to the Creatures but are usurpers and have made a forfeiture of their propriety of which they the Saints may take the benefir and be the sole Judges The antient Christians were forbidden by the Imperial Law L. 6. Cod. de Paganis as also by the Laws of other Christian nations under a great penalty to meddle with the goods of Jews or Pagans living peaceably For the goods of the Jews although enemies to the Christian religion cannot for the cause of religion come by escheat unto Christian Princes under whom they live for delinquency they have often forfeited their goods and been expelled and sometimes all of them for the faults of a few and and thus have they been dealt withall Regia manu bono potius exemplo quà m concesso jure or rather out of reason of State which will not want specious pretences It cannot pass with a clear admittance amongst all the Doctors of the Roman Church that the Pope hath power over Infidel Princes to raise Armies against them although they do hinder the preaching and propagation of the Gospel universally authorized by these words Ite praedicate Evangelium omni creaturae seeing he hath not for ought can be made appear temporal authority annexed to his spiritual either directly or indirectly in ordine ad spiritualia to depose Christian Princes or to raise war against them for the advancement of Christs Kingdome but as for those who are not Christians the Apostle saith What have we to do with those who are without Botero It is truly said that peace a messenger whereof an Angel hath been chosen to be is scarce ever established by the Sword and the Gospel the blessed peace cannot be published by the sound of the Cannon neither the sacred Word be conveyed unto us by the impious hands of Soldiers neither tranquillity be brought to the persons and consciences of men by that which bringeth ruine unto Nations The Jewes were guilty of the greatest incredulity Rom. 11. ingratitude and crime and yet the Gentiles were admonished by Saint Paul not to shew any cruelty towards them or insult over them but to seek to provoke them to an holy jealousie and so to gain them unto Christ When Nathan reproved David he said hereby thou givest an occasion to the adversaries to blaspheme the name of God The primitive Christians rather chose to indure the most cruel persecutions then to disturb the peace of the Roman Empire and break the band of their Allegiance unto the heathen Emperours and this Saint Paul taught them who wrote his Epistle unto Christians living under Nero Rom. 13. and yet he telleth them that the Powers are of God and he that resisteth the Powers resisteth the ordinance of God and shall receive damnation D. Augnst de Civit it Dei lib. 22. cap. 2. Civitas Dei quamvis haberet tam magnorum agmina Populorum tamen adversus impios Persecutores suos pro temporali salute sua non pugnavit in iis non erat pro salute pugnare sed salutem pro servatore mundi contemnere Quamvis nimius copiosus noster Populus Cyprianus Grot. de jure belli lib. 1. c. 4. n. 7. non iamen adversus violentiam se ulciscitur sed patitur But when this is pressed against our new Patrons of Rebellion they contradict Saint Austin and the Fathers with a lye and say those antient Christians suffered through their want of power to make resistance whereby they do as much as in them lyeth deprive them of all the glory of Martyrdome and do injury unto their most blessed cause and the glory of God in his Saints sufferings And yet as nature doth draw us to yield to the unresistable power of a severe Conquerour vox est quodamodo naturae ut subjugari mallent hostibus victoribus Augustin quam bellicâ omnifariâ vastatione deleri so doth the law of nature give warrant for our resistance cum moderatione inculpatae tutelae as doth the law of God give us permission for our slight in time of persecution when we do not thereby desert our vocation nor betray nor prejudice a just cause CHAP. IV. Of the changes in Religion in England And by Luther And the toleration of divers Religions THe Professors of the Protestant Religion were at first and have been since taxed as seditious and despisers of Government and advancers of Popular licentiousness and that their Reformation in Religion proceeded from faction or turned into faction and tumults notwithstanding all their publick Confessions of their Faith and declarations of their Doctrine set forth in detestation thereof wherein they did fully profess their obedience unto the Civil Magistrate Ecclesiastical history But it hath been very antient and usual to lay that general
according to the antient custome of their Countrey Which consideration moved Numa Pompilius in the first foundation of their Common-wealth to provide ne quid juris divini negligendo patrios ritus peregrinosque adsciscendo turbaretur Constantine made a Law that all Christians should use the same Temples and not have different assemblies And other Christian Emperours did very strictly command * L. 29. Cod. de Episcop Clericis L. 4. Cod. de summa Trinitate L. 8. S. 5. Cod. de Haereticis ne de Religione vel Doctrina disputent velconciliabulis praesint vel turba concitata simpliciorum animos seducant Nemo cujuscunque conditionis de side Christianâ publicè turbis coadnnat is tractare conetur ex hoe tumultus perfidiae occasionem requirens ne facultas tribuatur publice vel privatim convocandi coetus de haeretico errore disputandi perversitatem facinorosi dogmatis adferendi nemo hujusmodi libros habere sacrilega scriptorum monumenta andeat servare Qued siquis de his criminibus fuerit deprehensus perpetua deportatione damnetur Variety in opinions of religion causeth several conventicles evermore dangerous in a Common-wealth as we shall hear hereafter and from variety in religions they fall into factions and from all religion into Atheisme Ex schismate haeresin nasci ex haeresi plerumque Apostasin Therefore Julian the Apostate called from banishment the Donatists and other Hereticks and permitted them and all others who professed the Christian religion to maintain what opinions they would one against an other that by their diffentions the Christian religion might be weakned and Paganisme the better established For it fareth with the vulgar as with the Epicurean sect of Philosophers grosse witted and sensual men who when they did see such great and continual strife concerning the Diety took the shorter way by denying it altogether then to feigne as others did many uncertain gods and so fall into inextricable labyrinths and contentions with other Philosophers which could never have any certain determination and end The Jews are permitted the free exercise of their religion in some Christian countries which is denyed to those they do account Hereticks and Schismaticks and the reason is given because they pollute and violate the Christian religion which they professe and disturb the Peace of the Church and Common-wealth where they live Haereticorum Aquin. Alciat alii qui profitentes ipsum Evangelium illud corrumpunt infidelitas est omnium gravissima De his qui de illa gente Christiano nomini contradixisse sciuntur dictum a sponsa filii matris mei pugnaverunt contra me D. Bernard in Cant. Inimici ejus sunt ipsius domestici Haec intestina insanabilis plaga est Ecclesiae pax à paganis pax ab haereticis sed non profectò à filiis Therefore to conclude this of religion and the disturbance of the Peace of the Church the best Philosophers and Lawgivers did ever repute unity in religion the chiefest Pillar that upholdeth humane Society and obedience to supream authority which cannot stand after religion is fallen * Religionem cum Imperio periclitari Thuan. lib. 116 Histor Religioni nist salvâ Republicâ consuli non posse Thuan. 136. Histor. CHAP. V. Of the use of Parliaments Of the danger that cometh by the abuse of Parliaments and the Factions that therein arise WE pass now from the Church to the Parliament and to those abuses and corruptions which both destroy the use and the rights of Parliaments and the power and Majesty of Monarchy two pillars of kingdomes and Common-wealths As God hath set Kings in the highest place and office and intrusted them with the greatest authority on earth and will therefore take the strictest account of them so cannot they escape his heaviest judgements who are chosen to counsel him in his greatest affairs and do not onely fail in their duty but do intrude themselves into his office and hinder him in the observation of his oath and in performance of his duty to God and his people As the estates in Parliament ought to be Conservators of the Rights and Liberties of the People so ought they to be of their own bounds and limits in which if they exceed they do also give an ill example to all other inferiour Courts of Justice subject to their care and regulation to the hindrance of Justice and distribution of common right which turneth to the disturbance of the peace of the Kingdome and raising confusion in jurisdictions August Si iniquum est transgredi limitem agrorum quantò iniquius est transgredi limitem morum As it is a great crime by the laws Divine and Humane to remove the ancient bounds and land-marks so is it no less to remove the Law bounds and limits of Jurisdictions Hosea 5.10 The Princes of Judah are like those who remove the bounds upon whom I will poure my wrath saith the Lord like water Such incroachments and usurpations proceeding from those who should be conservators and reformers work the speediest confusion in all Societies and it sheweth Gods great indignation when that which should have been for our welfare becometh a snare * It was said in relation to the Roman Senatots fallen from their antient glory aliorum vitia intrd ipsos residuunt nostra latè vegantur ut in corporibut sic in Imperto gravissimus est morbus qui a capite dissunditur Plinii Epiâ—â—olaâ—um lib. 4. Therefore parliaments when they erre thus they erre most perniciously either in being insnared and driven by an over-ruling power or by an active faction or by violent perturbations raigning in them and then do they not deserve the name of Parliaments for as Cicero saith Rempublicam dici non posse optimatum factionem Populi conspirationem factionem tunc esse Rempublicam id est rem Populi cùm benè justè geritur non populum esse omnem catum multitudinis sed catus juris consensu utilitatis communione sociatus Cujecius Vbi est tyrannis vel factio vel dominatus alicujus turbae non tam vitiosa est Respublica sed nulla omnino ubi lex non est ibi nec Populus est si Populus non est nec Respublica nam Respublica est res Poputi And therefore Saint Austin concluded De Civitat Dei that the Roman State when it was subverted by Tyranny or by the peoples factions and iniquity was not a people in not being juris consensu utilitatis communione sociatus neither could it be called properly an cvil and corrupt Common-wealth but rather no Common-wealth when the State was ruined by factions violence and injullice David said under Sauls government that the earth and all the inhabitants thereof were dissolved And thus they who are not lawfully chosen and assembled or do act contrary to their calling and duty cannot challenge any priviledge proper to that office and calling
vel diminuti nem membrorum Sir Rob. Cot. Treatilc Some members of the house of Commons and others have formerly been lifting at the removal of the Clergy from their seats in Parliament in as much as anciently Ecclesiastical constitutions were often made by Christian Emperours together with other civil Laws but those laws were no other then confirmations of former Canons made by the Church And in divers Imperial and Ecclesiastical Lawes it is said Sicut Leges Civiles non dedignantur Ecclesiasticos Canones imitari ita sacrorum statuta Canonum Principum constitutionibus adjuvantur And also they did farther urge how that in our Parliaments Ecclesiastical laws in the time of the Saxons and since were made whereas the Parliaments did but confirm them at the Petition of the Clergy not frame and dispute them And if the Laity entrenched too far the Clergy usually made their protestation And he in the said Treatise also faith that Church-laws in Parliament did not move from the Lay-members and that the success of the Laity was ever fruitless in all their endeavors to establish laws Ecclesiastical without the Clergy Although by the Imperial Law Church-men seem to be generally forbidden to deal in secular affairs and offices L. 23. Cod. de Testam causa 11. q. 1. cap. 29. Novel Justin 123. Quod congruit cum Chalcedon Synod c. 16. Cuiacad dict Novel 123. Qui divino ministerio consecrati sunt hos ab externarum rerum occupationibus molestiis liberos esse oportet ne rebus impuris adhaereant ac in terrenis sordibus volutentur ut cautius diviniusque vivant Constitut Leonis Imperat. 68. dtcit Apostolus nemo militans Deo implicat se saecularibus negotiis and so by the antient Canons of the Church Cloricis opprobrium est immiscere se forensibus negotiis sou disceptationibus Non susceptores vel exactores tributorum fieri debent nec conductores vectigaliorum vel alienarum possessionum nec actores vel procuratores vel fide jussores esse Nec Clerici Justiciarii seculorum Principum esse debent Tit. ne Clerici cap. 4. Decretal yet are Bishops allowed by the antient custome in Kingdomes and by the Judgement of Divines and Lawyers to be Chancellors and Treasurers of Princes and to be Embassadors to have their voyce in Parliaments and to be of the counsel of Princes without any derogation or prejudice to their Ecclesiastical calling For the Prelates and Churchmen being brachium Ecclesiasticum ever reputed as Deputies of the Kingdome and one of the three Estates of a Kingdome as well as the Laity ratione Ecclesiae quam regunt dignitatis quam in Regno habent dicuntur Cives originarii licet sint alienigenae as the Lawyers say The Priest is a Pillar of the Common wealth wherein he faithfully serveth God and dischargeth his duty Jerem 26 11. The Scribes and the Prophets and the Preists were admitted into the Publick Counsels and some of the Levites and Preists were joyned with the fathers of Israel to Judge in controversies 2 Chron. 19. Etsi utraque functio civilis Ecclesiastica hominem totum requirit Alb. Gentil de nup. l. 1. c. 14. tamen naturâ suâ non pugnant in uno homine licet pugnent naturâ hominis incapacis utriusque non esse incompatibile munus Ecclesiasticum Civile bene tamen disjuncta retineri Howsoever thus much may follow the too much restraint of the Clergy although it be to keepe them within the limits of their function that their Persons will be brought into contempt and thereby paradventure their function and ministery especially with the vulgar and they themselves will fall into a carelessness in ever seeking the advancement and welfare of their Country wherein they scarce finde so much favour as aliens and cannot obtain those rights which have been granted unto them by Magna Charta in these words Ecclesia Anglicanae habcat omnia jura sua integra libertates suas illaesas c. Of which none of the least is the having voice in Parliament for suffragii lationem cuique homini eripere est civitatem libertatemque eripere Livius Plin. Epist durior severiorque sit sententia non moveri ordine quam moveri si honores ordinis adimantur And seeing the Clergy are Citizens and Subjects and are parts of the Common-wealth and liable to taxes tributes and other burthens which are not incompetent but may stand with their calling by parity of reason they should not be deprived of those rights and priviledges which others enjoy when the use of them doth not derogate neither hinder the exercise of their sunction and ministry So then the absent who ought to have voice are to be called to the debate of matters especially of greatest importance or else the absent are not bound by Law neither those who are present if they are not the major part of the whole number much less the whole and entire body Bartolus alii Actus minoris partis universitatis neque istam minorem partem obligat quia quasi sic actum fuisse praesumitur ab iis ut non aliter quà m veluti universitas obligaretur ibi non est universitas absente majore parte universitatas The authority of the whole is said properly to be transferred to the major part present when the matters and things to be determined concern the community and universality and are belonging to the entire body and concern little or nothing particular interest But when there is a conjunction of both common and particular interests there is a necessity of having those particular consents or at least their presence Baldus alii quod pertinet ad omnes non tanquam ut ad universos solummodo sed ctiam ad particulares singulos disjunctim quorum interest ut singulorum tunc non sufficit res adprobari à majore parte sed ab omnibus singulis When prejudice may happen to severall places and perlons in their own particular then the consent or at least the presence of all is necessary Platina By which reason after the generall Councels war ended the Prelates who were present at the Councels caused the Canons agreed unto to be sent unto those Provinces and Churches whose Prelates were absent notwithstanding they had Lawfull summons because those Churches seemed not to be bound by those Canons unto which their own Prelates gave not their consent And yet by the Canon Law and in many cases by the Civil Law volum as seu consensus requiritur in ipso actu nec possit ex intervallo praestari maximè ubi solennitas tractatus Praecedens seu consensus vel authorit as requiritur de jure necessariò pro forma solennitate actus Moreover the particular members of a body Politick or Parliament cannot give their consent or dissent disjunctim and in several places unto that which is of publick
to justify rebellion and to depress the authority of Kings as those Romish Doctors do to uphold the Popes Spiritual power which is as they say ex institutione speciali pendente à divina voluntate Instituentis Suarez de legib alii secund secundae quaest 10. artic 10. quaest 12. artic 2. quae ab inferioribus mutari non potest But the Regal power they will not have to be ex institutione divina sed à natura ita data à natura ejus autore ut possit in ea mutatio fieri pro ut communi bono magis fuerit expediens quia haec potestas ex vi solius juris naturae est in hominum communitate and although both powers may be said to be of God yet the Popes Spiritual power is of God immediatly but the regal Power mediante naturae lege Aquinas saith that Infidel and Apostate Princes although they have yet cannot retain dominion over the faithful but being excommunicated for Apostacy their Subjects are freed ipso facto from their allegeance Although he doth acknowledge that Infidelity considered in it selfe doth not abolish the right of dominion which Infidel Princes have over the faithful because it is ex jure gentium proveniente ex naturali ratione Jus autem divinum quod est ex gratia non tollit jus humanum quod est ex naturali ratione and yet notwithstanding the Church hath power to deprive them of this right as cause shall appear Thus do they labour to obscure and suppress the truth and perplex themselves and others with those improbable distinctions and pernicious propositions not regarding how they have been confuted and that by setting forth these propositions they raise Principles of sedition and rebellion and leave Kings in the worst condition of all men by subjecting them to the amplitude of the power and to the exorbitancy of the wills of their two Masters the Pope and the People to punish Tyranny and Apostacy and to witness accuse define and judge thereof * In Rege Ethnico vera potestas est jure gentium idque fine ordine ad potestatem Ecclesiasticam Dominia ut in fide non fundantur sic in fidelitate non evertuntur Privabit Censure Pontificis societate fidelium quà fideles suni bonum illud Spirituale ab Ecclesia non privabit obedientia subditorum quà subditi sunt bonum hoc civile est nec ab Ecclesia Tortura Torâ—â— Episcop Cicestriens To set a colour upon rebellion they affirme that the People do but so transfer their power as they still retain the habitual power in themselves This King James in his Declaration to all Christian Monarchs calleth the Principle of sedition and unto this may be added another of a more ancient date but of the same mould That allegeance is due to the Politick capacity of the King and not to his natural Person Upon this assertion was grounded the damnable opinion and practises of the Spencers in Edward the Seconds time and very probable it is that this opinion made the way more smooth and easy for deposing that King by the infection it infused and the influence it had upon that Parliament Although not long before Rotula Parlamenti those Spencers were amongst other treasons charged with publishing in writing That homage and allegeance was by reason of the Crown and not of the person of the King which they said did appear in that no allegeance was belonging to his Person before the Crown descended and so they would infer that the People had power to depose the King The many absurdities in this wild argument the laying it open doth both discover and carry with it the confutation if there had not been enough said against it before From these false Principles may arguments be as well drawn for violation of mens faith and duties enjoyned by divine and humane laws and for the weakning of the authority of all Magistracy and power although it be given by themselves and intended to be exercised for their behoof The Politick capacity of the King which never dyeth never ceaseth is inseparably annexed unto his natural person untill his death and both are conjoyned at the very instant that the right of the Crown descendeth unto him which giveth a new qualification to his natural person and life and vertue to his Office and function His natural person est organicum instrumentum Baldus alii cum Legistis Anglicanis personae ejus intellectualis publicae seu politicae The power office dignity considered simply in it self cum exclusione subjecti cui naturaliter inhaeret non est nisi abstractum quiddam remoto concreto This Politick capacity considered in it self is but as the dead letter of the Law without the conjunction of the natural person which giveth it life and vigor In respect both of his natural person and Politick capacity the King is termed in Law Lex loquens Lex animata and his authority and office indesinens Consulatus Allegeance is therefore due unto his natural person to which his politick capacity is as it were appropriated and incorporated both of them give and receive vertue to and from each other His natural Person Coke case Post-nati his Politick capacity his Crown and dignity in our law-books and Acts of Parliament are taken for one and the same often Nihil ne minimum quidem inter Regem Regiamque potestatem esse Thuanus lib. 105. nec Regiam dignitatem separatum quiddam extra administrationem Regni dici aut singi posse There is no difference between the King and his Kingly Power and office by an indissoluble bond are conjoyned his natural person and his politick capacity his person and his power his person and Majesty his person and Crown These all are naturally conjoyned by Gods ordinance and by the Institution of Monarchy and a curse is laid on them who separate those whom God hath joyned The King our Head and the life of the Law by the virtue and influence of his Regal power he onely giveth and preserveth the benefit of Lawes at home and Leagues abroad made by him with Loraign Nations And yet we see to the admiration of men that our Rebellion in England of the largest extent that ever was by an example not the like to be found hath claimed and obtained the benefit and advantage of all leagues formerly made by their Soveraign with other Princes and States who were in no age so apt to comply with Rebels for their profit and advantage without regard of their honour neither the incouragement they give to others of rebellious spirits or of the evil example which hath and may justly come home unto themselves Foraign Princes as they are not Judges so ought they not to make themselves parties in those odious quarrels between Princes and their Subjects They ought to be peace-makers which is one of the most glorious titles that can be given
Whether by the lawes divine and humane forbidding the resistance of the soveraign authority justly established we are thereby restrained from all resistance by armes in defence of our goods estates just rights and liberties when the resistance cannot be made without hazard of other mens lives and of sedition and civil war I will not insist upon the decision thereof it is a work of long labour and not much pertinent I will add this as a most undoubted truth that a Civil war or rebellion doth most commonly produce more pernicious effects in one year then either the insufficiency or Tyranny of a Prince can in an age It was truly observed that the Roman State suffered more in those seven months of civil war raised by Sylla and Marius then in the fourteen years of that bloody war which Annibal waged in Italy at their own doores although their loss and damage was inestimable Brutus perswaded a wise man his friend to joyn with him in the Conspiracy against Julius Caesar his friend answered him that the government under a Tyrant was not so bad as a Civil war Our fanatick Polititians who teach men rebellion and to flatter and deceive the People and to effect their own designes do say that the supream power is originally in the People and habitually inherent in them and is derived from them so as they may chastise and change their Kings and assume again their power They do not consider how by these improbable assertions they weaken the bonds of all lawes humane and divine and cut the sinewes of all magistracy and government how they do incite the People to rebellion and preserve the seeds thereof alwayes in their heads and hearts how they in leaving Kings to stand or fall according to the changable humours of their own subjects who against common reason they make to be judges accusers witnesses and parties they leave Princes in the most miserable condition of all men And the People also ever desirous of innovations and prone to all licentiousness when the reins are but slackned they do expose to the fury of their provoked Soveraign by their rebellion and to the loss of their just rights and liberties and perhaps to intolerable servitude under the sword of a Conquerour The Rivers which by some violent accident have broken their bounds are destructive to themselves and to all round about them They run on still and scatter themselves and never come to good until they return to the right Channel and are inclosed and fensed again within their proper and just bounds assigned unto them by God and Nature I could not in this discourse insist upon the framing and deducing of arguments although they were necessary for confirmation of the truth and confutation of falshood neither in drawing my matter into an exact method my desire was to relate the truth and to rectify the judgments of the ignorant for Gods glory and the good of my Countrey and to convince those who are perverse not presuming to teach the wise and learned unto whose Judgments I do submit THE CONTENTS CHAP. I. INnovations in Government Publishing of false Newes and Prophesies Pretenses of Reformation Sects and Divisions in matters of Religion Quarrel against Episcopacy Page 3. CHAP II. Of the Presbyterian Government in the Church The practice in the Primitive times Touching the election of Pastors and Ministers in the Church and their maintenance by paiment of Tythes Pag. 11. CHAP. III. The inconveniences that happen by the alterations of Government in the Church and Common-wealth Of Ceremonies used in the Church-Service Of tender consciences Of the coercive power of the Magistrate in matters of Religion Pag. 16. CHAP. IV. Of the changes in Religion in England And by Luther And the toleration of divers Religions Pag. 31. CHAP. V. Of the use of Parliaments Of the danger that cometh by the abuse of Parliaments and the Factions that therein arise Pa. 35. CHAP. VI. The Right that Bishops have to sit in Parliament Pag. 40. CHAP. VII The necessity of having all the Members present in Parliament or the greater number of them and the danger of Consederations Associations Ingagements and other indirect practises contrary to the Rights of the King and the liberty of the Subject Pag. 49. CHAP. VIII Of Seditions and seditious Assemblics and the punishment thereof Of the power of the King in that which concerneth the Militia and the Arms of the Kingdome And of other Rights of the Crown Pag 57. CHAP. IX Of the Act of Parliament wherein the King was to pass away his power in the Militia And that other Act which was made for the continuation of the Parliament until both Houses should agree for the dissolving thereof Of fraud or force used towards the King or any other men for the obtaining of any Charters Patents or Grants Pag. 63. CHAP. X. The Caese of Subjects in Rebellion against their Soveraign and the errour of those that would draw more crimes within the compass of Treason then they ought Of Acts made and past under the power of a Vsurper Pag. 76. CHAP. XI Against any power pretended to depose Princes Of the Allegiance of the Subjects Of the oath of the King and of his Coronation Of strangers joyning in Arms with Subjects in Rebellion against their Soveraign Of oaths and ingagemeuts made to Tyrants and Vsurpers Pag. 85. CHAP. XII Of those who onely accept of Offices and Imployments under Tyrants and Vsurpers Pag. 100. CHAP. XIII Of the inseparable conjunction and relation between the King and his Subjects which cannot be dissolved by any law or custome That Kings cannot alienate their Kingdomes nor Subjects renounce their allegeance nor bar the next successor of the Crown Pag. 103. CHAP. XIV Of the Beginning Continuation of Kingly Government P. 111. CHAP. XV. Of Prescription as well upon Land as Sea And the Right and Jurisdiction that the King hath in the Sea over the Sea P. 116. CHAP. XVI Against the pretended Power of the People to Elect their Prince or to depose him Of the Norman conquest of England and of Leagues between Princes and of Aides given to Subjects in Rebellion against their Soveraign Pag. 121. CHAP. XVII Of the King and of his power in Parliament Pag. 136. CHAP. XVIII Of the Kings Prerogative Pag 141. CHAP. XIX Of a Civil War and of the effects thereof Pag. 146. CHAP. XX. No pretences whatsoever can be just ground of a Civil war or Rebellion Pag. 153. FINIS
lawes and liberties lay his claim to the Crown ex concessione sancti Edwardi devicto Heraldo Rege but no mention of any consent or right of the People He did as other Conquerors sometimes seem to wave his title by Conquest lest touching that string too hard it would make a jar and hinder all harmony But his concessions and confirmations of the ancient Lawes and liberties proved for the most part but illusions Ingulfus Malmesb. Some of our Historians affirm that he changed most of the Lawes and made us accept his own Norman Lawes and customes delivered in the Norman language a mark of servitude imposed by the Romans where they had conquered Polid. Virgil. He moulded the English customes to the manners of his own Countrey and did forbear to grant the Lawes of holy King Edward Edmeruâ— Huntingdon Hâ—veden so often called for yet at the suit of the Barons the Laws of King Edward correboratae confirmatae erant quia veneratae erant prae caeteris legibus per universam Angliam And therefore our great Lawyer mentioned in our Law books did speak without book in saying that the Conquerour came not to out those who had just right and possessions but those who held wrongfully to the disherison of the King and his Crown He had more knowledge in points of Law then he seemed to have of matters of fact so long before his time As we cannot find anything that can manifest this inherent and original right of the People so can we not find in any case any colour of right in them to justifie their deposing limiting and chaftising of their King as our Adversaries affirm saving onely some matters of fact which they would have pass for Law and according to their usual course draw their arguments à facto ad jus Edward the second and Richard the second were charged in Parliament for oppressing spoiling destroying and the like and were deposed yet those Parliaments did never rely upon or mention the Peoples inherent and original right to justify their proceedings neither much insisted upon the proof of those crimes objected against them as causes sufficient to ground their most illegal and violent proceedings Neither did they hold themselves sure until they had by a conjuncture of fraud and force drawn those Kings to a seeming willing resignation acted in a form and solemnity abounding both in absurdity and horror For if the power and authority of Kings ceaseth ipso facto as our new men would have it for oppressing spoiling and destroying so that they may be deposed by their Subjects why was this power and right of the People never claimed and declared in any Monarchy when they had sharp disputes with their Kings as we have had for oppressing spoiling and destroying but alwayes we quieted ourselves with a present reformation of pressures and abuses and with a new confirmation of magna Charta which those Kings had no power and right to confirm and grant if according to these mens doctrine their power was determined ipso facto and returned to the People and they or the Parliament in a condition to reassume and exercise it If Subjects have no right and very rarely or never attempted to bar the next in succession when the right of the Crown descended unto him for any personal defect or crime of his or his Ancestors or upon any former judgment or sentence given in any Court against him before the right of succession fell unto him they have less colour of right to depose him after he is in possession for any crime then committed Turpius ejicitur quam non admittitur The old Doctors of law of great credit in their times and since could tell them that it did belong to the Pope as Christs Vicar to compel rebellious Subjects to the obedience of their Soveraign by spiritual censures and excommunications and that in the Pope was all the power to depose Princes yet so as he ought not to proceed to the deposing of them except in cases of the highest contumacy and for the greatest causes quae Rempub Christianam laederent seeing it could not be done but with a great and general Scandal and with the perturbation of the publick peace For by their opinion the Emperour who is elected could not although with his free consent resign unto the Electors but into the hand of the Pope in respect that a resignation is properly to be made unto him who is Superiour and hath right judicially to hear and determine the cause Innocent Baldus Archiadic ad C. admodum Extravag de renunciat Peregrin de jur Fisci lib. 1. tit 2. 3. L. 27. S. 2. L. 22. S. ult Mandati F. Sote de Just. jure lib. 4. quaest 4. art 1. Suarez de legib l. 3. c. 4. Glossa ad Clement tit de Beptismo Aquinas secund secund quaest 42. artic 2. Mariana de Regis institut lib. 1. c. 6 c. 9. and compel the parties to the obedience of his decree Renunciatio non tenet nisi facta sit penes eum qui renunciantem invitum causà cognitâ judicialitèr destituere potuisset neque sine licentia superioris officia seu beneficia accepta dimittere licet Qui mandatum suscepit deserere promissum officium non debet alioquin quanti mandatoris intersit damnabitur mandatum suscipere voluntatis susceptum consummare necessitatis sit But there are other later Doctors more bold who affirm that a King for Tyranny may be removed by the Common-wealth or compelled by the Popes spiritual power quando à Divinis legibus rebellavit Others say that he cannot be deprived of his power by the People from whom he hath his power nisi quando in Tyrannidem declinet ob quam causam possit bellum justum contra eum geri And they repute him to be a Tyrant qui in Repub. non jure principatur cùm Princeps tendat ad bonum commune Tyrannus ad proprium ergo Tyrannus non est Princeps ideò perturbatio ejus regiminis non habet rationem seditionis nisi forte quando sic inordinatè perturbatur Tyranni regimen ut multitudo Subjecta majus detrimentum patiatur ex perturbatione consequenti quam ex Tyranni regimine And when they have declared a King to be a tyrant potest in jus vocari â Republica unde habeat Regia potestas ortum suum rebus exigentibus si sanitatem respuat Principatu spoliari neque ita in Principem jura Potestatis transtulit Respublica ut non sibi majorem reservaverit potestatem * How can the Subjects have jurisdiction over the Soveraign Prince qui est fons omnis jurisdictionis à quo jurisdictiones per concessiones commissiones confirmationes fluent ac per appellationes querelas nullitates ad eum refluan Bald. Bracton noster Here our adversaries joyn with some Doctors of the Romish Church for they find this doctrine as necessary for them