thing of that nature but in such a fair and legal way as should satisfie all his loving Subjects The Duplys of the Divines of Aberdene p. 54. and p. 130 131. Whereupon Mr. Ley thus goes on viz. Wherein Wise men who judge of Consultations and Acts by their probable Effects and not unexpected Events cannot but highly commend His Majesty's Mildness and Clemency which we doubt not would condescend to your Requests for a removal of this great aggrievance if you would please to interpose your Mediations to so acceptable a purpose and upon our humble sute which in all submissive manner we tender to your Lordship and by you to the rest of your Reverend Order we hope you will do so since we have it upon his word His Royal Majesty's word which neither in Duty nor Discretion we may distrust that the Prelates were their greatest Friends i. e. of his Scottish Subjects their Councels were always Councels of Peace and their Solicitations vehement and earnest for granting those unexpected Favours which we were pleas'd to bestow upon our People The King 's large Declaration p. 420 Thus then the Royal Dispensation with the five Articles of Perth was at the Intercession of the Bishops tho' they knew the same Establish'd by Act of Parliament graciously afforded to his Scotish Subjects Those Articles of Perth related to various Religionary Matters viz The introducing of Private Baptism Communicating of the Sick Episcopal Confirmation Kneeling at the Communion and the observing such ancient Festivals as belong'd immediately to Christ and of which Doctor Heylin in his History of the Presbyterians having spoken saith That the King 's indulging the Scots in Dispensing with the Penal Laws about them was an Invitation to the Irish Papists to endeavour by armed force to Compass the King's Dispensation But how tenderly the Consciences of the Roman Catholics in Ireland were in the Reign of the Royal Martyr THEN Protected under the Wing of the Dispensative Power contrary to what the Dr. observ'd any one may see who will Consult my Lord Primate Bramhal's Replication to the Bishop of Chalcedon where he saith That the Earl of Strafford Lord Lieutenant of Ireland did commit much to my hands the Political Regiment of that Church for the space of Eight years In all that time let him name but one Roman Catholic that suffer'd either Death or Imprisonment or so much as a pecuniary Mulct of Twelve Pence for his Religion upon any Penal Statute if he can as I am sure he cannot c. And such was the acquiescence of the Populace and of the three Estates in the Penal Lawes there against the Roman Catholics being thus dead or asleep that in the Printed Articles of Impeachment against the then Lord Chancellor of Ireland and that Lord Primate thâ—…n Bishop of Derry and others of His Majesty's Publick Ministers of State exhibited by the Commons to the Lords in the year 1640. there is not a syllable of Complaint against those Lawes being so dispens'd with by Connivence Nor yet in the Printed Schedule of Grievances of that Kingdom voted in the House of Lords there to be transmitted to the Committee of the same House then attending in England to pursue Redresses for the same is there any representation of such Indulgence being any Gravamen nor yet of the great Figure the Irish Papists then made in the Government the Majority of the Parliament and of the Iudges and Lawyers then being such And pursuant to that Prince's Indulgence offer'd to the tender Consciences of his Subjects in the year 41. he was graciously pleas'd in the Treaty at Uxbridgâ—… to order his Commissioners who were such renown'd Confessors of the Church of England to make the first Royal offer there that freedom be left to all Persons of what Opinion soever in Matters of Ceremony and that all the Penalties of LAWS and Customs be SUSPENDED And the truth is since the Christian Religion did in its first settlement so rationally provide for its Propagation in the World and its bespeaking the favour of Princes by its enjoyning Subjection and Obedience to their Lawes not only for Wrath but Conscience sake and since that Principle of humane Lawes binding the Conscience which was so often and so publickly avow'd by that Prince and Arch-bishop Laud and Bishop Sanderson and the Divines of the Church of England in General is the surest guard to Princes Thrones and their Tribunals and that therefore 't is the Interest of the Prince and People to be more watchful in preserving that Principle then all the Iewels of the Crown or Walls of the Kingdom that Prince did therefore necessarily take Care to preserve and to perpetuate in some of his tender-Conscienced Subjects a continued Tenderness for his Lawes by his lawful Dispensative Power as particularly in the Case of his Scottish Subjects in taking off the Obligation of Obedience and of Conforming themselves to the Establish'd Lawes for such Dispensation intrinsecally notes the taking off such Obligation from the Persons dispens'd with And it is indeed a Solecism for any one to ask Indulgence from a Prince who owns the Law of the Land binding him in Conscience if he doth not think such Prince perswaded that his Power of granting it is a part of that LAW He was not ignorant of his Father's Aversion against the Penal Lawes in general and on which Account my Lord Bacon celebrating him saith As for Penal Lawes which lie as snares upon the Subjects and which were as a Nemo scit to King Henry 7. it yields a Revenue which will scarce pay for the Parchment of the King's Records at Westminster And religionary Penal Lawes requiring the greatest tenderness as he found when he came to the Government that the two most famous Puritan Divines Mr. Hildersham and Mr. Dod Men of great Probity and Learning had often been in his Father's time Pursuant to the Act for Uniformity disabled from Preaching and been re-inabled to it by particular Indulgence and as likewise Fuller tells us in his Church History that Bishop Williams when he was Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England procured a Licence from King Iames under the Great Seal for Mr. Cotton the famous Independent to Preach notwithstanding his Non-Conformity so he in the same manner that his Royal Father did held the Reins of the Law loose in his hands as to those two other Non-Conformists beforemention'd The History of Mr. Hildersham's Life mentions that he was silenced in Iune A 1590 and restored again in Ianuary A. 1591. Again he was deprived and silenced April 24 A. 1605. for refusal of Subscription and Conformity and after some time again restored and was again Silenced in November A. 1611. by the King 's particular Command and on April 23. A. 1613. he was judicially admonished by the High Commission that saving the Catechizing of his own Family only he should not afterward Preach Catechize or use any of the Offices or Function of a Minister
Peace and Quietness of the People might be disturb'd by the Annual Calling of Parliaments according to the tenour of those Laws our Princes as Supreme Governors of the Realm did often dispense with their observance The Author of the Book call'd The Long Parliament Dissolv'd Printed in the year 1676. refers to the Laws of 4 o E. 3. c. 10. and 36. E. 3. c. 14. 5. E. 3. N o. 141. 5. E. 2. N o. 1. R. 2. N o. 95. as positively appointing the Meeting of a Parliament once within a year And the People saith he have silently waited and born the Omission of our Princes in not so Calling Parliaments And he further mentions how Queen Elizabeth Prorogued a Parliament for three days more then a year and he presumes to complain of His late Majesty's Proroguing his long Parliament to above a years time as illegal and he argues for that Parliaments being disabled from Sitting and acting afterward as a Parliament by reason of such Prorogation as contrary to the aforesaid Laws and which he saith were declared to be in force when the triennial Act was made in 16. Caroli 1 mi. and so likewise in the Statute for repealing that triennial Act in 16. Car. 2 o. in these words And because by the Ancient Laws and Statutes of this Realm made in the Reign of King Edward the Third Parliaments are to be held very often c. And how the Iudgment of the House of Lords was assertive of the legality of that Parliaments not being disabled from sitting after such His late Majesty's Prorogation is fresh in memory But to return from whence I digress'd I may here take notice to you how our Princes as Supreme Governors of the Realm and as having the Rule of all Persons committed to them by God and to whom they stand accountable for the same have held themselves obliged further to dispense with disability incurr'd by Acts of Parliament upon a Religionary account and which they have done to the general satisfaction of their Subjects of all Religions A What do you here intend to refer to B. I do here intend to refer to the Statute of 3 o Iacobi c. 5. by one Clause in which Act Convict Recusants are DISABLED from practising Physick or bearing any Office or Charge Military and by which Clause every Person offending is to forfeit for every such Offence 100 l. and the one Moyety thereof to be to the King and the other Moyety to him that will sue for the same c. But notwithstanding the Zeal of that Prince against Popery he out of a tender regard to the Bodies and Healths of his People and the ennabling many learned Roman-Catholick Physicians to preserve them did by Connivence sufficientâ—…y dispense with that Law insomuch that it may be said that that severe disabling Law came on the Stage but as Cato into the Theatre only to go off again And I have elsewhere mention'd it that a Book afterward Printed in his Reign call'd The Foot out of the Snare sets down the Names of about Twenty five famous Roman-Catholick Physicians then Practising in London and the places of their abodes and whom yet I believe no Informer ever molested And notwithstanding the disability incurr'd by that Act of Parliament I account that an eminent Roman-Catholick Physician not long since dead was not by any among our various Sects of Protestants in the Plot-times envy'd the liberty of being in our Metropolis the greatest Practicioner of that noble Science By the same Clause Roman-Catholick Lawyers are likewise disabled from Practice and under the same Penalty but who likewise enjoy'd the same Dispensation by Connivence with those of the other Profession accordingly as Mr. Nye in his Book call'd Beams of former Light observes p. 146. viz. The Law Physick Merchandize c. may be practised by a Turk or Iew or Papist here among us c. How severe the Laws in being are against Roman-Catholicks of the other great Profession namely of Theology and of the Clerical orâ—…er officiating here you know But you likewise know my opinion I discours'd to you of in the Conjuncture of the Plot and Panick fears namely that by virtue of the Contents of the Assertory part of the Oath we are upon even our Protestant Kings as Supreme Governors of the Realm both in Matters Ecclesiastical and Civil and as having the Rule of all Persons committed to them by God were morally bound to see our Roman-Catholick Countreymen while living among us here provided with a Competent Priesthood as Physicians for their Souls and to administer the Sacraments to them A. Yes I remember you Discourse of that matter then and how you mention'd it that if any Turks or Iews or any Heterodox Religionaries desired to live here without a Priesthood the Prince as Guardian of both Tables was obliged by his Coercive Power to make them put their own Principles in practice by their having a Competent Priesthood and which all the Sects of the Mahumetan Pagaâ—… Iewish and Christian Religion own it as their Principle to have and that as Religion was necessary to the State to make men good Subjects and ready to serve their Prince and just Dealers a Priesthood was necessary to Religion B. You are not therefore to wonder at the Dispensation by Connivence so many Roman-Catholick Priests enjoy'd here in the Reigâ—…s of former Princes And I shall some other time tell you how our Laws that DISABLE Papists from bearing Arms were in the time of the Rebellion after A. 1640. necessarily dispens'd with by the Royal Martyr as Supreme Governor of the Realm and that none of the Church of England did look with an evil eye in the least on such disability being then dispens'd with by Prerogative A. I suppose you may have heard it objected that by the Statute of 25. C. 2. which has lately employ'd your thoughts the Prerogative of the King is not touch'd for that the King may grant the Offices to any of his Subjects and that the Act is only a Direction to the Subject to qualifie himself accordingly for the King's Service and that if he be uncapable to serve the King 't is through his own default and he is punishable for the same as happen'd in the Case of one who was made Sheriff and neglected to take the Oaths and that there was an Opinion given in the Case that no Subject could put himself out of a Capacity to serve the King but for so doing he is punishable B. But the more you think of this Matter you will find the unreasonableness of the Objection recurring upon your thoughts with greater force For it is not in mens Power to qualifie themselves to serve the King by believing what doctrinal Propositions they will and tho you have heard of a Faith that will remove Mountains yet you may consider that 't is as easie to remove them as your Faith it self about Matters of reveal'd truth and that considering the Circumstances
o Eliz. beforemention'd B. I can easily direct you to such a Writer of our Church who hath done the thing to the universal Satisfaction of the Inquisitive as to this Point and that is the Lord Primate Bramhal in his Book of Schism Guarded He saith there in p. 330 and 331. As our Grievances so our Reformation was only of the abuses of the Roman Court. Their bestowing of Prelacies and Dignities in England to the Prejudice of the right Patrons Their Convocating Synods in England without the King's leave Their Prohibiting English Prelates to make their old feudal Oaths to the King and obliging them to take new Oaths of Fidelity to the Pope Their imposing and receiving Tenths and first Fruits and other Arbitrary Pensions upon the English Clergy and lastly their Usurping a Legislative Iudiciary and Dispensative Power in the exterior Court by Political Coaction these are all the branches of Papal Power which we have rejected This Reformation is all the Separation that we have made in point of Discipline And for Doctrine we have no difference with them about the old Essentials of Christian Religion and their new Essentials which they have patch'd to the Creed are but their erroneous or at the best probable Opinions no Articles of Faith. Thus then according to these measures you see how much the hinge of the Reformation turns on the Usurpation of the Papacy in Dispensing for in all these particulars enumerated the Pope dispens'd with the King's Laws And he had before in p. 26. said This Primacy neither the Ancients nor we deny to St. Peter of Order of Place of Preheminence If this first movership would serve his turn the Controversie were at an end for our parts But this Primacy is over-lean the Court of Rome have no gusto to it They thirst after a visible Monarchy on Earth an absolute Ecclesiastical Soveraignty a Power to make Canons to abolish Canons to dispense with Canons to impose Pensions to dispose of Dignities to decide Controversies by a single Authority This was that which made the breach not the Innocent Primacy of St. Peter And afterward in p. 149. he saith But I must contract my Discourse to those Dispensations that are intended in the Laws of Henry the 8th that is the Power to dispense with English Laws in the exterior Court Let him bind or loose inwardly whom he will whether his Key erre or not we are not concern'd Secondly As he is a Prince in his own Territories he that hath Power to bind hath Power to loose He that hath Power to make Laws hath Power to dispense with his own Laws Laws are made of Common Events Those benign Circumstances that happen rarely are left to the Dispensative Grace of the Prince Thirdly As he is a Bishop whatever Dispensative Power the ancient Ecclesiastical Canons or Edicts of Christian Emperors give to the Bishop of Rome within those Territories that were subject to his Iurisdiction by Humane right we do not envy him so he suffer us to enjoy our ancient Privileges and Immunities freed from his Encroachments and Usurpations The Chief ground of the ancient Ecclesiastical Canon was let the old Customs prevail A possession or Prescription of Eleven hundred years is a good ward both in Law and Conscience against an Human Right and much more against a New pretence of Divine Right For Eleven hundred years our Kings and Bishops enjoy'd the sole Dispensative Power with all English Laws Civil and Ecclesiastical In all which time he is not able to give one instance of a Papal Dispensation in England nor any shadow of it when the Church was formed Where the Bishops of Rome had no Legislative Power no Iudiciary Power in the exteriour Court by necessary Consequence they could have no Dispensative Power He then in p. 169. mentions the said Statute of 25. H. 8th and having referr'd to the Proviso there to shew that its intent was not to vary from the Church of Christ in any other things declared by the Holy Scripture and the Word of God necessary to Salvation he saith then followeth the scope of our Reformation only to make an Ordinance by Policies necessary and convenient to repress Vice and for good Conservation of the Realm in Peace Unity and Tranquillity from ravine and spoil ensuing much the ancient Customs of this Realm in that behalf not minding to seek for any relief succours or remedies for any worldly things and Humane Laws in any cause of necessity but within this Realm at the hands of your Highness your Heirs and Successors Kings of this Realm which have and ought to have an Imperial Power and Authority in the same and not obliged in worldly Causes to any other Superior Thus then you see this Prelates sense of how much the taking away the Pope's Dispensative Power here and restoring that Power to the Crown was the Soul of the Reformation and tota in toto of it And this Act you see revived by the First of Elizabeth without garbling it in the least and the Dispensative Power thereby restored to her her Heirs and Successors and a Declaration that no Subjects of the Realm need for any worldly things and Humane Laws in any Cause of Necessity seek for any relief but within this Realm at the hands of our Soveraign as aforesaid And I shall tell you that the Bishop in the next Page refers to the Statute of the First of Eliz. and saith on his view of both Statutes Whatsoever Power our Laws did devest the Pope of they invested the King with it And of this the Power of Rehabilitating any of his Lay or Clerical Subjects is a part as was beforesaid A. You have cited somewhat out of this Great Champion for the King's Supremacy and for the Church of England and reputed to be the most clear Vindicator of it from Schism our Church hath had which hath created more anxiety in my mind about the Assertory part of the Oath then any thing hath done For the words in the Oath are I do utterly testify and declare c that no Foreign Prelate or Person hath or ought to have any Iurisdiction Power Ecclesiastical or Spiritual within this Realm and you have brought in the Primate granting that the Pope hath Power here to bind or loose inwardly and asserting that he hath here a Spiritual Power B. You judge right of the Bishop's Opinion and which is indeed express'd throughout his whole Book He tells us in p. 25. That St. Cyprian made all the Bishopricks in the World to be but one Masse whereof every Bishop had an entire part And he saith in p. 60 and 61. That neither King Harry the 8th nor any of our Legislators did ever endeavour to deprive the Bishop of Rome of the Power of the Keys or any part thereof either the Key of Order or the Key of Iurisdiction I mean Iurisdiction purely Spiritual which hath place only in the inner Court of Conscience and over such Persons as
Now you know how much Simplicity becomes an Oath and how requisite it is that it should be conceiv'd in plain and liquid terms and taken in the Imposer's sense and without mental reservations and that you should Swear therein to no dogmatical Assertion and as to which Mr. Nye saith well in his Observations on that Oath to swear positively to any dogmatical Assertion is not required It would be a taking the Name of God in vain for if it be a certain and undoubted truth in it self and to others as are Principles of Reason and Articles of Faith an Oath is vain for it ends no strife If doubtful and a question whether true or not tho such an Oath puts it out of question that I believe so yet not that it is a truth My belief tho never so much evidenced and confirm'd doth not make a doubtful matter in it self more credible nor is one man's believing an Assertion just ground for another man to believe the same Such an Oath therefore is in vain and not a fit Medium to end such a Controversy Now how far your declaring in your Oath that no foreign Prelaâ—…e hath nor ought to have any Iurisdiction Spiritual within this Realm and the Interpretation of it pursuant to the 37th Article delivering the Plain words The Bishop of Rome hath no Iurisdiction c. may bring you within the Verge of swearing what is dogmatical I leave you to judge but shall take the liberty to tell you that when I see some of our Laws and particularly this about our Oath girdled with so many Interpretations like new tender-sided Ships I shall be apt to take little pleasure in embarquing my Conscience in such an Oath and am apt to call to mind the Censure which Mr. Milton's Character of the Long Parliament of 40. fulminates against his Countrymen and by which he so much disables our understandings as to Political Government and saith that the Sun which we want ripens Wits as well as Fruits and as Wine and Oyl are imported to us from abroad so must ripe understanding c. B. But however tho our Wine and Oyl are imported to us from abroad our Dispensations are not and we have no Occasion to send Gold to Rome for Lead And I assure you he who shall consider that the English Virtuosi were the last that did receive the yokes of the old Imperial and later Papal Power of Rome and the first that threw them off will tho we are Crasso sub aëre nati have no cause to vilifie our understandings but rather to envy their triumphs over Infallibility so call'd And perhaps when I shall have told you of another passage of the Bishop P. 59. in his Schism guarded you will think the Eyes of our Ancestors understandings did look out sharp when the two Statutes of the 25th of H. 8. and 1 o Eliz. were made and there he saith Suppose any of our Reformers have run into any Excesses or Extremes either in their Expressions or perhaps in their Actions it is a difficult thing in great changes to observe a just mean it may be out of Humane Frailty as Lycurgus out of hatred to Drunkenness cut down all the Vines about Sparta or it may be out of Policy as men use to bend a Crooked rod as much the contrary way or as expert Masters of Musick do sometimes draw up their Scholars a Note too high to bring them to a just tone what is that to us as long as we practice the Mean and maintain the Mean and guide our selves by the certain line and level of Apostolical and Primitive Tradition There is no doubt but in the framing of the Statute of 1 o Eliz. and the Oath therein regard was had to the Oath in the 35th of H. 8. c. 1. viz. I having now the veil of Darkness of the Usurped Power Authority and Iurisdiction of the See and Bishops of Rome clearly taken away from mine Eyes do utterly testify and declare in my Conscience that neither the See nor the Bishop of Rome nor any foreign Potentate hath nor ought to have any Iurisdiction Power or Authority within this Realm neither by God's Law nor any other just Law or means c. and that I shall never consent nor agree that the aforesaid See or Bishop of Rome or their Successors shall exercise or have any manner of Authority Iurisdiction or Power within this Realm c. And this Oath remain'd the same all the rest of his Reign and all Edward the 6th's time and as to which Queen Elizabeth changed the Expression of Supreme Head and both Harry the 8th and She having their Eyes on the effect of Papal Excommunications and concern'd to have the nullity of them believed by their Subjects might seem according to the Primate's Expression to bend the crooked rod of the Papal Iurisdiction overmuch the contrary way in their Oaths that so it might come to that just straitness referr'd to according to the Primate's measures of it But after all I shall tell you that I think no Political respects can justifie the putting doubtful Expressions into an Oath or the taking of one with mental reservations of a sense different from the Common one of the words and I do therefore joyn issue with you in the Point that the Clause in the Oath That no foreign Prelate hath or ought to have any Iurisdiction c. being the very same in the 37th Article and in the Interpretation of which Article King Iames his Canons have as you said made you a sharer with the Clergy you and all others who take the Oath may be thankful for the benefit of that King having further exercised the Dispensative Power of his interpreting the whole intent of that Oath And that Interpretation of it which hath made the Coast of the Oath clear to you in this Point you will find agreeing to what he hath in our Language Publish'd to the World and dedicated to eternity For he having in his Premonition to all Christian Monarchs mention'd how he caus'd the House of Commons to Reform a Clause they had put into the Oath of Allegiance derogatory to the Pope's spiritual Power viz. That the Pope had no Power to Excommunicate him and that he was ready to consent that the Bishop of Rome should have the first Seat and be Patriarch of the West and be Primus Episcopus inter omnes Episcopos princeps Episcoporum so it be no otherwise but as Peter was Princeps Apostolorum takes occasion in his Apology for the Oath of Allegiance to let the World know his Royal judgment of the intent of the OATH of SUPREMACT and there in Confutation of the Pope's Breves and Bellarmine's Letter he saith in p. 108. that the rendring Christian Kings within their own Dominions Governors of their Church as well as of the rest of their People in being Custodes utriusque tabulae not by making new Articles of Faith c. but by
commanding Obedience to be given to the Word of God by reforming Religion according to his prescribed Will by assisting the Spiritual Power with the Temporal Sword by reforming Corruptions by procuring due Obedience to the Church by judging and cutting off all frivolous Questions and Schisms as Constantine did and finally by making decorum to be observ'd in every thing and establishing Orders to be observ'd in all indifferent things for that purpose is the ONLY intent of the Oath of Supremacy and whereby as he effectually confuted the Cardinal whose Letter charged the Oath of Supremacy as tending to this end That the Authority of the Head of the Church in England may be transferr'd from the Successor of St. Peter to the Successor of King Henry the 8th and to oppose the Primacy of the Apostolick See so at the end of his Book he shews that his design of Publishing the same was to satisfie all his good and natural Subjects and likewise Strangers about the things therein contain'd and whereby the King's Mind was publickly notify'd that in the right done to the Crown by the Oath of Supremaâ—…y as well as of Allegiance there was no wrong intended to St. Peter or his Successors A. I hope you have now put a Period to the History of the Dispensative Power of the Crown that was exercised in-the interpreting of any parts of the Oath of Supremacy or the 37th Article thereto relating You have named to me so many interpretations of the Oath that according to the wisdom of our State and the Lex Consuetudo Parliamenti making a Bill to be thrice read in each House of Parliament and then receiving the Royal Assent to be thought like Gold seven times purify'd may shew the interpretation of the Law to be so too But tho I will account any good Law to be more precious then Gold yet if like Gold it be too far extended by ductile interpretation it may be drawn to such a thinness as to lose all its weight and estimation and retain only a poor tincture and colour that will signifie little or nothing And as Pliny in his Panegyrick on Trajan said that by reason of the multitudes of sutes upon Penal Laws in Rome there was danger till Trajan's time ne Civitas fundata legibus legibus everteretur so a Law whose Obligatoriness is founded on interpretations may be endanger'd by the multitudes of them to be destroy'd and may like the Papal Laws of New Rome by the infinite interpretations of Casuists in the forum internum which is their Tribunal be brought to signifie nothing in either forum and to be only an Engine to make Perplexities You have given me here such a Genealogy of interpretations that according to the common Story of Arise Daughter c. one may say Arise Interpretation and go to thy Interpretation c. I shall therefore be glad now you have been so largely communicative of your thoughts to me about the assertory part of the Oath you will deal as frankly with me in acquainting me with what may in the Promissory part of the Oath be of importance for me to know in order to the better discharge of my Duty in the Case before me B. I shall therein be most ready to serve you when we meet next for the entire Consideration of what according to the Assertory part of the Oath you are obliged to do will I see be as great a load as both our patiences will at this time bear and therefore according to the Saying of Must is for the King I am to tell you that let our Kings make never so many interpretations one after another of this your Oath you must finding them all Consistent with one another consider them all with all due regarâ—… 〈◊〉 thank God and them when their Consciences being inclined to a tenderness for the doubting of yours they interpose their Dispensative Power of that kind And hereupon I shall tell you that in the year 1628. King Charles the First did cause the 39 Articles to be reprinted and with a Declaration before the same made by him as Supreme Governor of the Church within his Dominions that those Articles contain the true Doctrine of the Church of England and that if any Difference should arise about the external Policy concerning Injunctions Canons or other Constitutions whatsoever belonging to the Church of England the Clergy in their Convocation is to order and settle them c. he approving their said Ordinances c. that the Bishops and Clergy shall have licence under the Broad Seal to deliberate of and do all such things as being made plain by them and assented to him shall concern the setled Continuance of the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England c. and then having respect to the Article wherein the Arminians and Antiarminians were concern'd 't is order'd that no man hereafter shall either Print or Preach to draw the Article aside any way c. But the first Canon that was afterward viz. A. 1640. made was that concerning the Regal Power which begins with taking notice that sundry Laws Ordinances and Constitutions had been formerly made for the acknowledgment and profession of the most lawful and independent Authority of our Dread Sovereign Lord the King over the state Ecclesiastical and Civil and then enjoyns them to be ALL carefully observ'd by all persons whom they Concern upon the Penalties in the said Laws and Constitutions express'd and then decrees that the Clergy shall read the following Explanation of the Regal Power and where the words A Supreme Power is given to this most excellent Order i. e. of Kings by God himself in the Scriptures which is that Kings should rule and Command in their several Dominions all persons of what Rank or Estate soever whether Ecclesiastical or Civil and that they should restrain and punish with the Temporal Sword all stubborn and wicked doers shew they had then the 37th of the 39 Articles in their eye and some other words viz. for any person or persons to set up maintain or avow respectively under any pretence whatsoever any independent Coactive Power either papal or popular c. is to undermine their great Royal Office shew they had an Eye on that 37th Article and on your Oath and where they did speak out that sense of the Clause The Bishop of Rome hath no Iurisdiction c. and of the words in the Oath that no foreign Prelate hath or ought to have any Iurisdiction c. that is that the Bishop of Rome had here no independent Coactive Iurisdiction the sense in which all considerate Persons who were Members of the Church of Rome in Harry the 8th's time and of the Church of England in Edward the 6th's time took the old Oath of Supremacy and the Members of the Church of England in Queen Elizabeth's time and ever since took the new one As for Non-conformists who think the Government of Bishops unlawful this Clause that no foreign
clear'd of those doubtful Expressions in them which cause their scruples c. whereby they may to the entire Satisfaction of His Majesty and the Nation fully testifie the Allegiance and Fidelity of faithful Subjects and true Patriots and no longer remain as they generally now do distrusted c. But there was another Book that year Publish'd by a Roman Catholick of which the title was A seasonable Discourse shewing how that the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy as our Laws interpret them contain nothing which any good Christian ought to boggle at and where the Saying of Tertullian is quoted Bonae res neminem scandalizant niâ—… malam mentem c. and where having taken notice of the Queen's Admonition and the Proviso of the Statute of 5 o Eliz. and the 37th Article and the Iudgments of the Bishops Bramhal and Carleton as Sir Iohn Winter had done and for the same purpose giveth his Judgment that the taking of those Oaths gives no Scandal and he in p. 38. averrs that Sir John Winter told him many years ago that he had the Iudgment of Sorbouists Secular Priests and Iesuites that he might take the Oath of Supremacy declaring the sense which the Law allows And I shall here by the way take notice that as to the Oath of Allegiance F. Cressy saith in his Epistle Apologetical p. 111. that few Roman Catholicks if any at all would refuse that Oath if that unlucky word heretical were blotted out c. or if they might change heretical into contrary to the Word of God which he saith he verily believes was the sense intended by King James But now after all this said I shall tell you that according to what is observ'd by the generality of Writers oâ—… Princes easing their Subjects by their Dispensative Power of interpreting their Laws viz. That they take occasion then to intermix with such interpretation somewhat else that may advance their Power there were Fears and Iealousies that some of these foremention'd interpretations tho lessening the spiritual Power of the Crown might enlarge its temporal and particularly such as in the Queen's Admonition mention'd the Duty Allegiance and Bond acknowledg'd to be due to Harry the Eighth and Edward the Sixth and as I partly before hinted such as in the Proviso in the Act of the 5th of the Queen that ratifying the Admonition hath in it the additional words of acknowledging in her Majesty her Heirs and Successors the Authority that was challenged and lately used by Harry the Eighth and Edward the Sixth and such as in the 37th Article explain'd the Queen's Power by that given by God himself to all GODLY Princes in Scripture and where notwithstanding the Word Godly being put in there to gild the Pill of the Absolute Power of the Iewish Kings and to make it be the more easily swallow'd the real meaning was the Power given to all the Iewish Kings for the right of their Power depended not on their Godliness and such as in the Canons of King Iames ipso facto Excommunicate all that do not give the King the same Authority in Causes Ecclesiastical not only that the Godly Kings had among the Iews but what the Christian Emperors had in the Primitive Church And there too notwithstanding the word Christian might be for the like reason put in as that of Godly was and to cause the owning of that absolute Imperial Power which pursuant to the Lex Regia was used by the Christian Emperors as well as their Heathen Predecessors in punishing Heterodoxy ad libitum the meaning of the Canon was not to devest Heathen Emperors of their right of judging about Matters of Religion and as to which Grotius in his Letter to the States Embassador having said neither would Paul have appeal'd to Nero had he judged that no right of Iudging in a Case of Religion belong'd to him addeth Wherefore as Trajan Civilly honest Nero wicked are equal in the Right of Government so Pious Constantine and Impious Nero are equal in the right of judging in aptitude and skill unequal The Canons therefore of Forty enjoyning the Explanation or Interpretation of the Regal Power there inserted to be one Sunday in every Quarter of the Year read by the Clergy to their Flocks did well provide for the cautioning them as against the setting up any independent Coactive Power either Papal or Popular so against Fears and Iealousies relating to their Properties in their Goods and Estates and by that Explanation they shew that Christ came not to Undermine or Disturb but to Confirm the Civil Government of Pagan Princes and that in the first times of Christ's Church Christians were ready to submit their very Lives to the very Laws and Commands of those Princes A. But doth that Explanation of the Regal Power assert any thing in Defence of the Dispensative part of it B. You see how without wyre-drawing any Consequences the very first Paragraph of the Explanation doth both strengthen the foundation of the assertory part of your Oath we have been so long discussing and strike out new lights in the Fabrick of the Oath You see it tells you downright that A Supreme Power is given to the Order of Kings by God himself in the Scriptures which is that Kings should rule and Command in their several Dominions all Persons of what rank or estate soever c. And the Explanation doth effectually enough provide by the second Paragraph that Kings should take care that none in their Dominions but the stubborn and evil doers may be restrain'd with the Temporal Sword for it saith The Care of God's Church is so committed to Kings in the Scripture that they are commended when the Church keeps the right way and taxed when it runs amiss and therefore her Government belongs in chief to Kings For otherwise one man would be Commended for another's Care and taxed but for another's Negligence which is not God's way And this is an Argument taken ab absurdo and the strongest that can be used in Law and not to be set aside but by the alledging something as more absurd against it and amounts to this that it is absurd that Kings who are commended when those who are not stubborn nor evil doers are not under any restraint by the Temporal Sword for the Church runs not the right way when that Sword is a terror to any but evil doers and tax'd on the contrary being done should not be judged to be authorized to exempt those from all restraint thereby And when the People are not liable to blame for Kings erring in their Judgment about the Persons to be so exempted from restraint nor to be commended or rewarded for their not erring therein can any thing be more absurd then for the independent Coactive Power of Kings it self to be restrain'd to the Punishing such as they shall judge Innocent But the two tenderest things in the World are Sovereign Power and Conscience and both of them were made with a
I shall refer you to King Iames his Proclamation of Iune the 10th in the year 1606. and where having mentioned the Religion of the Roman-Catholicks he saith We deâ—…ïre still to make it appear in the whole Course of of our Government that we are far from accounting all those Subjects Disâ—…oyal that are that way affected and that we do DISTINGUISH of such as be carry'd only with blind zeal and such as sin out of Presumption c. and therefore as after times must give us tryal of ALL mens behaviour so must all men expect that their own deserts must be the only measure of their Fortunes at our hands either one way or other and having before spoke of the Gun-Powder Treason and the Doctrines of some Priests that might encourage it and said that thereby there is sufficient Cause to justifie the Proceedings of us and our said Parliament in the making and execution of these last and all other former Statutes tending to the same end it followeth nevertheless seeing the Soveraign Care appertains to us who have the Soveraign Power of Iustice in our hand and the Supreme Dispensation of Clemency and Moderation of the Severity of our Laws is likewise as proper to us to use whensoever we shall find it reasonable the same deserving to be no less allow'd in us being in our Dominions God's Lieutenant then it is prais'd in him among whose highest titles it is that his Mercy is above all his Works c. The King in the beginning of his Proclamation having profess'd his Zeal for the Religion of the Church of England by Law Establish'd and his constant Resolution for the maintenance and defence thereof said Of which our purpose and determination beside all other our former proceedings since our Entry into this Kingdom we have given a new and certain Demonstration by such two Acts as have been passed in this Session of our Parliament both tending to prevent the Dangers and diminish the number of those who adhering to the Profession of the Church of Rome are blindly led together with the Superstition of their Religion both into some points of Doctrine which cannot consist with the Loyalty of Subjects toward their Prince and oft-times into direct actions of Conspiracies and Conjurations against the State wherein they live as hath most notoriously appear'd by the late most horrible and almost incredible Conjuration c. The two Acts there referr'd to are those that you will find in your Statute-Book Anno tertio Jacobi Regis cap. 4. An Act for the Discovering and repressing Popish Recusants and in which the Oath of Allegiance is contain'd and Cap. 5. An Act to prevent and avoid dangers by Popish Recusants and whereby Popish Recusants Convict are disabled from bearing Office. But here you see how that wise Prince so soon after so horrid a real Plot did by distinguishing in his Proclamation between the Principles of some Roman-Catholicks and others as to Loyalty and alluring the Loyal by the avow'd Dispensative Power of his Mercy and hiding them under the wings of his Mercy from the terror of his Laws and affording to all his Subjects who should afterward behave themselves well a Tabula post naufragium as to the expectance of making up their fortunes think himself obliged then to cause his Moderation to be known to all men And you may hence take occasion when you think of the many Acts in terrorem in the Statute-Book and where there is no Proportion between the Crime and the Punishment and in some that seem inflictive of Punishments in the Case where men cannot be to any but the Searcher of hearts known to be Criminal at all as for example in their owning some Problematick Points of the Christian Religion to consider that most probably the Wisdom of the Government would not have pass'd them but on the Suppoâ—…ition of the Regal Power of dispensing therein expresly or tacitly You see how the Laws commonly call'd Sangâ—…inary have been tacitly suspended and I may tell you that tho I desire to live no longer then I shall be a maintainet of the internal Communion due from all Christians to all Christians as a part of that Holiness without which no man shall see God yet I should soon withdraw from the external Communion of the Church of England if it own'd the justness of such Laws otherwise then as in terroremâ—… and if it owned the lawfulness of putting men to Death for the Profession of any Religionary Principles their liberty to prosess which was purchased for them by the Blood of their Redeemer But I need not say more now about cautioning you or any one against the taking offence at any of our Laws Laws through want of considering which of them were designedly made for terror I might here likewise as to many Acts about Trade that swell the Statute-Book apply the Consideration of the Regal Power of dispensing therein having encouraged our Ancestors to perpetuate them as Laws A. The truth is you now put me in mind how I having long ago spent much time in considering the Trade and Traffick of our Country and of other Parts of Christendom and finding that shortly after His late Majesty's Restoration one of his Ministers had in a Publick Speech intimated it to the Parliament that His Majesty had setled a Councel of Trade consisting of some of the Lords of his Privy Councel and of some Gentlemen of Quality and Experience and of some Principal Merchants of the Principal Companies I had the curiosity to look over their Iournals and their Advices and Reports to the King and there I found somewhat of the same notion with yours in one of their Reports to His Majesty For there in one of their Papers of Advice addressed to the King taking notice that what they conceived fit to be done for the advancement of the Trade of the Realm was Prohibited by divers ancient Statutes they make them imply that the thing might be done by the King's licence or dispensing and whereupon they thus go on And therefore finding this Dispensation to be your Majesty's Prerogative preserv'd entire to the Crown through so many of your Royal Progenitors we have not thought fit to touch further upon this Matter as being humbly confident that your Majesty's Subjects shall upon all occasions be indulged the like if not more ready relief and accommodation for their Trade from your Majesty's Royal Grace and Bounty only because the Observation was obvious that perhaps all former Parliaments purposely left this door open to the People by the Grace of the King to be reliev'd with those dispensations as foreseeing how difficult if not impossible or how inconvenient at least it might be altogether to restrain what those Statutes prohibited we could not omit the same in this place c. B. And you have put me in mind how a very Loyal and judicious Gentleman of that Councel of Trade and whom I look on to be as deeply study'd in the
For put the Case that the Clergy make Canons to which I never assented and I break these Canons whereupon I am Excommunicated and upon a Significavit by the Bishop my Body is taken and imprison'd by a Writ de excommunicato Capiendo now shall I lie in Prison all the days of my life and shall never be deliver'd by a Cautione admittenda unless I will come in and parere mandatis Ecclesiae which are point blank against my Conscience And he had before said A Comparatis by an Argument à minori ad majus if Property of Goods cannot be taken from me without my assent in Parliament which is the fundamental Law of the Land and so declared in the Petition of Right why then Property and Liberty of Conscience which is much greater as much as bona animi are above bona fortunae cannot be taken from me without my assent This it seems pass'd as Currant Coin for Iudgment of Parliament in behalf of Liberty of Conscience in the Conjuncture of 41 the year in which his Book was Printed and if it were so then allowable you may well think that a Prince's owning the Religion that flourish'd here in the time of Magna charta and which inspired the Virtue that produced Magna Charta and indulging some others of the same Religion to profess it without Punishment is not likely to occasion any durable ferment And what I have here referr'd to concerning the Petition of Right minds me of the great effort of Pious zeal in our famous Bishop Hall and his laudably making use of the Popularity he had among the Protestants in sending a Letter to the House of Commons April the 28th 1628. during the great ferment about that Petition and in which he gives so much fatherly and Prudent advice to the great Agonists for Property that they should consider when they were at the end of their race and then to sit down and rest He hath in it these tender Expressions Gentlemen For God's sake be wise in your well-meant zeal and our Liberties and Proprieties are sufficiently declared to be sure and legal c. let us not in suspicion of Evils that may be cast our selves into present confusion If you love your selves and your Country remit something of your own terms And since the Substance is yielded by your noble Patriots stand not too rigorously upon Points of Circumstance Pear not to trust a good King who after the strict Laws made must be trusted with the Execution c. relent or farewel welfare You may hence easily imagine how passionately that good Bishop would have been concerned if he had then seen among the Patriots any unquenchable heats about the not trusting the King with the Executive Power of Penal Laws and Laws in terrorem and such Laws as Mr. Glanvil in the ' Month after the Date of the Bishop's Letter said in a full Committee of both Houses That the Commons must and ever will acknowledge that it is in His Majesty's ABSOLUTE and undoubted Power to grant Dispensations in as I told you In God's Name often think of that great Patriotly saying of Tully so often with just Applause cited by Sir E. Coke Major haereditas venit unicuique nostrum à jure legibus quam à parentibus and you may account him a Prophane Person who despiseth his Birth-right given him by the Law. And pity any one who speaking of his Property doth not know this to be the meaning of it namely that it is the highest Right he hath or can have to any thing and which is no way depending upon another man's Courtâ—…e And consider that as you have a Property in your Chattels and Hereditaments so you have in your Religion Think often with honour of our Ancestors who by so many Acts of Parliament and lawful Canons and Constitutions since the Refoâ—…mation provided for the securing your Property in your Religion and remember how binding the very declarative Laws about it are Cast your Eye with Pleasure about the Realm and see if you can find any one who fears that any one will ever move in Parliament for leave to bring in any Bill to take away the least part of your Property in your Religion But then consider how Savage a thing it is in any to take excessive delight in the Execution of Penal Laws Ferus est qui fruitur paenâ and remember too that your Prince hath a Property in the Executive part of the Law and in distributive Justice and in shewing Mercy And when you hear any one telling you of a Snake in the grass of the Prince's dispensing with Penal Laws and that therefore there may be danger of your Prince's dispensing in Laws that are leneficial you may tell him of the notorious Non-sequitur and that you have a Property in not being punish'd and in having the benefit of the Rule as to favourable Statutes being made more so by interpretation Favores sunt â—…mpliandi and on the contrary as to Penal ones that odiosa restringi convenit And so to any such impertinent Objecter you may say that the voice or sound of his Snake and the Goose are all one But consider that since you have so much cause to depend on the glorious and consummate justice inherent in the nature of our great Monarch for his defending you in the security of all the Declaratory Acts of Parliament that maintain your very Property in your Religion both Iustice and Common Ingenuity call upon you to own his Power of Dispensing and even with disability for which I have shewn you so many clear and incontestable declarative Iudgments of Parliament and shall direct you to more when we meet again And let me tell you that you ought to have the greater tenderness for this Prerogative of our Prince for that in his Administration of it he hath in some Points shewn a greater tenderness to his Laws and People then our Princes since the Reformation have done You may remember I shew'd you how Queen Elizabeth and King Iames did by their Authority out of Parliament MAKE things Penal by Disability that were not so by any Law in being and therefore you may the less wonder when you see your Prince dispensing with it and thereby preventing the Punishment of it and sometimes and in some Cases pardoning it A. I shall carefully take notice of all these Matters wherein you have caution'd me but am here occasionally on the account of some things you said about the Interpretation and the Acquittal from Penalties in the Queen's Admonition being perpetuated by their being declared good in Parliament to ask you if you do not account that Dispensations or such Interpretations of the Prince by his own single Authority may be made to continue good in following Reigns B. I do not in the least doubt but they may and I shall hereafter evince the thing to you but shall at present out of a Manuscript Report I have of the great Case of