Municipium Ecclesiasticum OR THE Rights Liberties and Authorities Of The Christian Church Asserted against all Oppressive Doctrines and Constitutions Occasioned by Dr. Wabe's Book concerning the Authority of Christian Princes over Ecclesiastical Synods c. Hilar. in Psal 52. Et plerumque nos tanquam pro debiti ossicii Religione pié adulari Regibus existimamus quia in corpus nostrum sit aliquid Potestatis quibus nihil ultra in nos licet quam febri quam incendio quam naufragio quam ruinae His enim casibus corporum pro summa potestate desaeviunt propter brevem dolorem Libertatem Ecclesiae spei nostrae fiduciam confessionem Dei addicimus Inutilis est humanae gratiae irreligiosa sectatio Cypr. Ep. 40. Sect. 4. Adulterum est impium est sacrilegum est quodcunque humano furore instituitur ut dispositio divina violetur Ep. 63. Sect. 11. Neque hominis consuetudinem sequi oporter sed Dei veritatem Printed and are to be Sold by the Booksellers of London and Westminster 1697. TO THE Reverend Dr. Wake Chaplain in Ordinary To His Majesty THE Irreligious World is not so dull as to need information what ways are most effectual to the suppression of Christianity A popular contempt of the Mysteries and a radical aversion to the Authority of the Church does the business smoothly and without hazard By Ambition and Avarice by Fanaticism and Sedition the latter is wholly extinct and on the sense hereof Infidelity and Heresie have made their insolent advances against the former In condolence whereat the Letter to a Convocation-Man seems to have been offered to the World for the use and freedom of the Convocations against the present Impieties in Religion and rigorous Opinions in matter of Law 'T was natural hereupon to expect the insurrection of the Insidels and Hereticks against the Proposals and Power of a Convocation to prevent their Censure as well as an assertion of the Laws and Judgments herein from the hands of Lawyers But who would have dreamed that any Clergy-Man of Dignity and Value in the Church should lift up his heel against her The wounds of Adversaries how sharp soever are never mortal to the Church The judgement of Lawyers is ambulatory according to the prevalency of Times and Powers they being only Interpreters of what the Kingdom admits or constitutes for Right and Law And therefore when the Princes and the Nation submitted to the Pope the Courts acknowledged and acted upon his Right or Claim of Supremacy and when the Nation could shake it oâ— and the King grasp it then past the Judgments and Rules of Court accordingly Nor can they be blamed herein for so their Office determines them But when the great Laminaries of the Church shall sign the Theta upon her Rights Liberties and Authorities Divine and Humane and this voluntarily and without any Bribe offered or Menace denounced the Concession is taken for sincere and for that cause just so that the Church of England suffers more by your Book herein than by all other Lay or Law Oppositions whatsoever And t is not improbable but that it may animate the Secular Powers not only to lay greater restrictions on the Church but even to abolish all the remainder of her legal Rights and Powers and put us out of all our Interest in the great Charter of the Land For the Lay Powers how strongly soever they desire to settle themselves over all interests yet generally have such a modesty towards what is Divine or Sacred as to attempt nothing noâ—oriously violent without the concession of the Church or her most Eminent Doctors So K. H. VIII of Famous Memory notwithstanding all his Claims at common Law and his interest in his Parliament thro' Power and the Rewards by Abbey and Church-Lands could not have made himself so absolute in Ecclesiasticals had he not procured before the submission of the Clergy nor could he have compassed that but thro' the terror of a Premunire under which they had fallen and upon which he was resolved to follow his blow and so to bend or break them And yet this Act of a Popish Vnreformed and well nigh Outlawed Convocation extorted for fear of ruine and thro' ignorance and non-suspicion of the Acts consequent upon it prejudges more against our Liberties than all Secular constitutions could pessibly have done without it And must we now consecrate all those procedures the results of which we seel in the total ruine of Ecclesiastical Discipline and Christian Piety by our voluntary Pleas and Acclamations and to gratisie the Civil Powers to an Arbitrary utmost violate the most important Truths of Principles and Histories treat the Synods of the Church with spite and contumely and recommend the greatest slavery of her to the appetite of Civil Powers How much more Honourable had it been under a Prince whose peculiar Province has ever been at the perpetual hazard of his Life to relieve the Oppressed to have presented him with such Draughts and Schemes of the Divine Rights Liberties Authorities and Discipline of the Church as might inflame him to a resolution for her rescue and to add this last Divine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at the top of all his Glories as an Eucharistical Duty and Oblation so God for all his wonderful Providences in his Preservation and Atchievements For which cause you have made it absolutely necessary that your Book should be discussed and its dangerous Errors laid open to the end that the Publick may be under no temptation from such a work inscribed to the Metropolitan to proceed to further Resolves against the Powers Hierarchical but may take occasion to review those Laws thro' which the Church is fallen under her present Impotency except you and wiser Heads can shew which way a Spiritual Discipline may be otherwise restored to a freedom of doing her Duty toward God in the cleansing the Church and the renovation of Mens Hearts unto Piety and Devotion I have therefore designed an Examination thereof in three Parts The first concerning the Divine Powers of the Churches of Christ The second concerning Matters of Fact in Ecclesiastical History The third concerning the Exigences for a present Convocation In the mean time I wish you no more hurt than a perpetual increase of Merit Honour and Promotion here and that which is the only valuable Prospect a Blessed Inheritance in the Life to come Municipium Ecclesiasticum OR THE Rights Liberties Authorities OF THE Christian Church Asserted c. CHAP. I. Of the Divine Right of Synods SECT I. THE Letter to a Convocation-man does not only suppose that the Words of the Statute of Submission are interpreted to too great a Restriction of the Convocation but goes much deeper for a much larger Liberty to the Church herein upon the Supposition of a Divine Right to all Churches and Synods for Affairs Christian The Doctor on the contrary denies such Divine Authority of Synods as being but meer prudential Clubs under
as much to the Laws and Regulations of Civil Societies as any other Public Assemblies This is a bold stroke indeed for it will put the Constitution of the Hierarchy and all its Functions into what Hands under what Conduct Times and Places c. the Civil Powers please They shall enable a Layman to ordain and Minister Sacraments to Preach Excommunicate Absolve Consecrate and degrade and do all things by an Arbitrary Legislation and Government thereupon and well then may this Incorporation into Society promote the Seâ—â—â—â— of God and Salvation of Men with all Secular Heavens upon Earth 〈◊〉 But I pray what is this Incorporation Is it making the Church one of the National Estates to concurr in the Acts of Legislature and all her Ratified Canons not only Canon but Law too and of Civil Consequences upon the Subject Or is it only the Protection of the Law from Injuries or Oppressions or the addition of several Priviledges Honours and Encouragements If the first of these only then was the Church never incorporated into the State under the Roman Empire for it was no part of the Legislature and consequently not thereupon subject to the Laws of the Empire in Matters of Ecclesiastical Conduct If the second Favour be an Incorporation then the incorporating Powers have a Right to govern the Religion of all other Societies which they tolerate all Schisms and Heresies whatsoever exempt by Law from Violences and Oppressions so that an Orthodox Christian Emperor tolerating Novatians Meletians Arians Macedonians Nestorians Eutychians and all other Clans of Heresies had full Right and good Authority to govern all their several respective Counsels and Discipline and to ratisie all their Synodical Acts Canons and Sentences O Sanctas Gentes What a mighty Supremacy would this be indeed wherein every Prince so indulgent would be another Solomon and reside not only over God's Church at Jerusalem but over those of Chomesh Milchom Ashtoreth c. a Supremacy I must needs confess more than divine And yet I doubt it would not be casily admitted either in Holland or the emulous England where tho the publick Indulgence is to save their Souls as well as their Temporals yet will not the Sectaries part with their Souls to these Indulgent Saviours nor endure the Thoughts of their Presidency and Conduct in their little Religious Politics but demand an Exemption as entire as the Chappels of foreign Factories or Embassadors Nor can in the third place an Accumulation of all Encouragements Priviledges and Honours prevail upon them hereunto most of them being against a National Church all of them against a National Religion i. e. confined to the Laws of a Civil State And commend me to Scotland who have acquired all Secular Priviledges and Franchises they desired and yet scorn that a King shall so much as be a Door keeper to their Holy of Holies notwithstanding all these their Incorporations and if the Dr. should preach up his Maximes but on the other side of the Tweed they world quickly bring him to the stool of Repentance for teaching their People or their Sovereign that Right of Supremacy over Holy Kirk which they are so far from owning in all Princes that 't is with them the most Funda nental Heresie to allow them any at all as appears by their perpetual Remonstrances upon all Occasions in their Synods § 6. Wheve tho Prince is of a different Religion But t is nor impossible that a Sovereign may contract a Religion contrary and destructive to that which is recieved and câ—â—blished among his People and which it is not in his Power by Force or Legislative Authority presently to Abolish As Izates King of the Adiabenes turning Jew and to omit others King James the Second Roman-Catholick How graceful in such a Case would it be to see a King of England of Jewish Popish Socinian Presbyterian Anabaptist Independent Quaker or Mâ—ggletonian Principles or Profession convening a Church of England Convocation presiding in it in Person or a Vicar-General of his own perswasions upon Matters of alteration in the Liturgy and Canons or any other Expedients for the good of the Church of England and always twitting the Synods with Caveats of that Holy Statute of Praemunire not to speak one wold nor syllable to any purpose whatsoever till such Prince pleases to allow you of his meer grace and motion as being only of Counsel to this Head of the Church of England who is however to be presumed wiser to know all times and matters expedient for the Church which yet by his Religion he is in Conscience bound to abhor and destroy than whole Convocations and to prescribe to these his Counsellors herein as being fitter to be of Counsel unto them whose Resolves after all he has Wisdom enough as well as Authority to ratifie alter rescind or aunull so that not what they but what he shall bind or loose on Earth shall be bound or loosed in Heaven and reason good upon such an Heavenly Authority and Design By this Ecclesiastical Supremacy which K. James himself abjured did he most advantageously for the Church of England erect his Ecclesiastical Commission for the saving of this Church from the Encroachments of the Papal Supremacy So that by our Incorporation alone we are all safe Soul and Body with Lawyers and Court-Flatterers let our Supream Head be of what Religion he pleases But Lawyers indeed cannot be blamed for any inconvenienties which may happen from 2 positive Law and they are obliged to interpret and judge according to the Letter but for Clergy-Min to attribute Divinity to Humane Laws whatsoever the results of them be this this But will not here the same Right of Natural Reason come in which the Dr. asserts to the Chuach where the Civil Power is of another Perswasion to Consult together the best they can and to that end Aslemble in Synods Ecclesiastical This Reason this Right and Rule by the wording of it in general terms of quother perswasion will reach the Case of Churches not only under Heathen Powers but Christian Powers of different Communion and Principles from the pure Church that is in subjection And it seem'd Calculated for the Case of the French Protestants or the Vandoise for Comprehension sake Now tho' I know this to be no Rule of Common or Statute-Law here in such Cases yet will the Dr. allow a Natural Right and Reason for such Liberty even in opposition to our Laws when our King shall be of another perswasion shall the Church lean upon her own Authority and Wisdom not His This his own determination says as much in Generals and yet I believe his Design will not permit him to say so for us no not in our Case under the late K. James And if he shall make any Reply upon this Book I do desire him to speak home like a Man to this Supposition and the Case and Demand raised on it § 7. Supposing then according to the Dr's Concession that under
a Divinely constituted Society Ipso facto asserts its fundamental liberty and then all the Forms Rights and Powers necessary to its good Conduct and Conservation are ipso facto asserted against all exteriour Rapes and Usurpations whatsoever § 9. Now to the Eviction hereof at full it will be necessary to enquire into all the actual Ordinances of God either by Nature only or by a positive Constitution supernatural To which End in the first place it is the voice and dictate of Nature Liberty to do good a fundamental right of the innocent that Liberty Time and Place to do good are the Primitive Universal Eternal Fundamental and Unalienable Rights of the Innocent and in the next place that the Consociation of Men to the true and publick Worship of God is an act of the highest good God's Publick Worship the greatest good upon Earth practicable and enjoyable upon Earth whether we consider its Dignity in relation to God and our Nature framed in the likeness of God to be preserved hereby or the benesits that result unto them that live in it But then such a Society cannot do its Offices regularly This requireth the conduct of the Wise and Good without the Conduct of the Wise nor keep it self Holy without the government of the Good Wisdom and Goodness being necessary to all Government and this most chiefly in Matters Holy and Divine to prescribe Directions to the Ignorant to encourage the Good and Correct or Cashier the Evil. This therefore must be laid as a Catholick Rule for all Religious Society simply and in general by the Law of Nature But we are further to consider what actual Society Nature it self has formed for the adoration of and Communion with God in Offices of Religion In Families therefore the Master Masters Bishops of their Families by the Ordinance God in Nature and Providence is the designed and rightful Governour of Religion in his Family for which by the Law of Nature he is obliged to qualifie himself with as much Wisdom and Piety as he can Aug. in Joh. c. 12. Tract 50. Suos omnes admoneat doceat hortetur corripiat impendat benevolentiam exerceat disciplinam Ita in domo sua Ecclesiasticum quodummodo Episcopale implebit officium ministrans Christo ut in aeternum sit cum ipso not only for his own Conversation but the Conduct also of his House the little Temple of God as indeed every House should be This therefore from the beginning is the Natural Episcopacy and Care of Parents and Masters towards their Children and the other Members of the Family A succession of them to be maintained by Education not only as at present they are Subjects and Disciples but as t is to be expected that in succession of a few years these also will commence Masters and Bishops of their proper Families and are therefore by their own present Parents or Masters to be prepared by good Institutions thereunto and so downward for ever to all Generations And this natural Right and Duty extends it self to the instruction and enforcement of the whole will and purpose of God as far as it is known or may be known to the Master either by Reason only or Revelation also Families to be instructed as well in revealed as natural Religion by the Law of Nature For tho Divine and Supernatural Revelation be a positive Ordinance of Gods free purpose and so under no Eternal Law of Nature yet they that by the Law of Nature are Teachers and Rulers in Matters of Piety are by that Law obliged to propose all that God hath discovered for the promotion of in For tho all Graces are positive Gifts yet when given the Law of Nature requires the culture and improvement of them to good uses as well as the temporal Blestings oâ— Gods outward Providence For tho no Law of Nature requires me to be Rich yet iâ—â—â—am Rich the Law of Nature obliges me to a suitable munisicence This then is most certainly the Law and Ordinace of Nature in the Oeconomical Conduct of Piety and Society with God tho Mens Apostacy unto Vice has dissolved the practice by destroying the Appetite and Faculties of most Parents for this Conduct of Religion For let Mens Manners and Circumstances vary as they will or may yet herein as in all things else the Laws of Nature alter not So that tho an ignorant or irreligious Parent cannot execute the Offices of his Station in Matters Religions while so unqualified yet is he obliged still to quit his Vices and to prosecute the Studies of a Religious Wisdom which when acquired wâ—ll qualify him for his Charge From all which it appears that the Matrimonial Consociation being designed for the production of Families to be consociated under the Muster into a Communion with God as the chiefest End and Reason of their production it follows that the Oeconomical Powers have no Authority to dissolve the Religious Society of the Families with God as being ordained purely for the maintenance and fruition of it And then Civil Powers supervening upon a conglobation of numerous Families having no Right or proper Lawful Authority as Gods Ordinance to destroy the Oeconomical Structure and Society on which they are founded and subsist they cannot extinguish the Power nor inhibit the exercise of an Oeconomical Communion in the service of God and the Offices necessary thereunto § 10. Co-ordinate Societies of Villages c. From the Subordinate Societies of Families multiplied into Fraternal or Collateral Vicinities there arose at first the Co-ordinate Society of Villages in which Men setled together for common uses and benesicences to supply their mutual defects and appetites For Necessity and Convenience and above all the natural Love of Society inclined Men unto Neighbourhood ank this to some common agreements and measures of Justice and Kindness for the convenience of Co-habitation so that Men thus prompted by Nature cement themselves together by such a Foederal form of Co-ordinate Society But the same Reasons that cast them into this mould require also common Schools of Education For tho every Master of a Family should be of right sit for this Office in all necessary Principles Schools of Reliâ—ion yet since in fact many are not the sense of this defect suggests an obligation â—pon it to procure that Education from another which is necessary in it self and cannot be had in every home Now since Principles of true Religion are the most important Matter for Education 't is a right of Nature in all Vicinities to have such Schools for Pious Institution not to be justly denied by any Powers upon Earth I do not say that the Law of Nature requires every Village to have a publick School of Piety tho Nature it self commends it but that which Nature commends acquires thereby such a Right if Men please to use it which cannot justly be denied them Schools subordinate Societies But then every School is
are therefore of two sorts one relating to the welf are of the Church the other to that of the Civil State § 6. And first with relation to the Church the Christian Prince is the Guardian of it ‖ P. 44. and consequently Supream Governonr in order to that Protection which the Church expects or enjoys from him * p. 79. and that such Synods hereby may become Legal Assemblies †p. 18. Secondly In reference to the Civil State such a plenitude of Regal Power over Ecclesiastical Synods is necessary to the ends of Civil Government ¶ p. 42 57 70 73 ◠p. 81. and Peace particularly to prevent in them Proceedings prejudicial to the Regal Power Now if from these Reasons there be a necessity that the Divine Rights and Authorities of the Catholick Church in the Convention Freedom and Acts of Synods should thist their former Sebjects and Depositaries and pass over into the hands of Christian Princes then is the Argumentation hence hereunto suggested by the Dr. good but if all these Reasons Ends and Purposes may consist with the Permanency of these Liberties and Powers in the Church as they stood Authorized by God for the three first Centuries then whatsoever others may be brought these will not I doubt appear to the Author of the Letter to be valid necessary or cogent Reasons for the alienation of these Powers from the Hierarchy § 7. Protection from Heathen Powers We begin then with those Reasons that are drawn from the Benesit of the Church under the Guardianship of Princes the Protection of the Faith and the Legalizing our Synods Now here it is to be noted That Heathen Princes may do all this for the Christian Church as well as Christian Princes For tho' they do not believe Christianity themselves either in whole or in part yet they may give the Church a Legal Toleration to all its Offices and Assemblies and this Legalizes them He may also add other Immunities and Charters to his Christian Subjects and so not only protect but promote them And this was in great measure done by all Non-persecuting Emperors and the Persecutors too when ceasing to persecute by the Revocation of the cruel Edicis and Laws and giving new Edicts for their Security But will the Dr. thereupon conclude that those Heathen Emperors have or had Night to all those Church Powers which he hereupon arrogates to the Christian Sovereigns in the above-named Aphorisms If so I must needs say that he must condemn all the Synods held during times of Peace which were perhaps the only times in the three first Centuries as Violations of the Imperial Authorities without whose License they Convened Sate Deliberated Debated Promulged and Executed Decrees Canons Seatences on their own Divine Right and in the Name of the Lord. No ground for such Authority over Synods And such an Inference as would follow upon this supposed Ground of Legal Protection from Heathen Powers I need not expose by upbraiding the ridiculous Guise of an Heathen Prince actually ordering and directing all the Synodical Consults and Polity of the Christian Church and Ratifying Annulling and Altering their Decrees Acts and Sentences as he Judges best for the good of the Pupil Church of which he not the Synod is to be Judge But I think a meer Edict to this purpose would be very Pretty and Congruous as for Diversion and Example T. V. Caes Aug. c. To all Christian Churches within our Empire Greeting Know ye that of our especial Grace and Compassion we have taken upon us to be your Guardian to protecs you in the Freedom of your Religion and to Legalize your Synods Vpon which Consideration you have no Right nor Liberty of your selves to Convene in Synods nor to Sit Deliberate Act Decrce or Resolve any Matters of your Faith Doctrine or Discipline by Canon or Sentence without the Authority of our General or Particular License to every your Particular Act and Method of Acting nor Enact Promulge or Execute any Thing or Ordinance without our Ratisication who can of Right Annul Rescind Vacate or Alter all or any Thing you shall do in Synod which only is of Council to us in the Conduct of the Church which we protect being wholly dependent on us and in our hands its Conciliar Acts being wholly ours and all their Validity from our Imperial Authority To this we require your Synodical Submission on fear of a Praemunire otherwise incurred that thereupon we may put out an Edict of Praemunire upon all the Clergy that shall attempt any the least Violation of this our Ecclesiastical Headship or Supremasy Yet as odd as this sounds in all Christian Ears it is as justifiable as in any Christian Prince if such Protections as are aforesaid are the alone true Reason for this Supremacy for there is no differencing Cause assigned in the Reasons 'T is true indeed a Christian Prince looks more likely to protect us than an Alien and has one peculiar actually Federal Obligation by his Baptism to support the Communion of the Church by all his powers but so is every private Christian too and 't is possible for a Christian Prince to ornit this Care or to be disabled in it while elsewhere the Humanity of an Heathen Prince may do more for it voluntarily without any Federal Tyes of Christianity and consequently if the Ecclesiastical Supremacy be Founded on such Protection and Squared in its Measure by the proportion thereof I believe many Heathen Princes had more ' tho' unknown Right in the Ecclesiastical Supremacy than many Modern Princes professing Christianity it being possible that Princes may freely protect Subject Societies which they are not federally or otherwise bound to as Jewish Synagogues now are in their States of Pilgrimage which they that are especially bound to may oppress under the very colour of that Supremacy that is thus Founded on the Right of Protection Tho' speaking generally upon the Law of Nature all rinces are thereby equally bound to protect all the Fundamental Rights of the Innocent and consequently those of the Christian Church so that the Right and Reason of our protection under Princes is not Founded in their Christianity but the Churches Innocency and the Right She has to the Royal Protection in doing good by any Acts or Operations Synodical or other Toleration not founded on the Right of all Rehgioas tolerated but upon other exterior Reasons Nor will this assert a Right of Protection to all pretended Religions for tho' the Ignorance of a Prince in the distinction of true Religion from bad may occasion him in mistake actually to persecute the Right and cherish the Wrong to avoid which under that Ignorance he ought to tolerate that wherein he can see no hurt yet really nothing but real Truth has a real Right to any Protection or Countenance and the Connivances or Encouragements given to false Religions must be excused or justified not on the Right of the Errors which
but a valid and doubling Confirmation Cyp. Ep. 15. ad Cler. Rom. § 2. Presbyteris Diaconibus non defuit Sacerdotis vigor Ep. 37. ad Cler. § 1. officium meum vestra diligentia repraesentet or express ratification of that Antecedent Authority of the Clergy which the exorbitant took upon them for want of the Bishops Presence to despise there being the same reason tho' not the same degree of Want in the Absence as the Death of a Bishop and the proper vacancy of the See thereupon And therefore tho' in the denying Communion to Gaius Diddensis a Presbyter and his Deacon without his antecedent Sentence only on the Counsel of some of St. Cyprians fellow Bishops Cyp. Ep. 28. ad Cler. Integre cum disciplinâ fecislis quod consilio collegarum meorum qui praesentes erant Gaio Diddensi presbytero Diacono ejus censutstis non communicandum they acted on their own Authority yet are they commended by St. Cyprian as having acted with great Integrity and according to the Rules of Ecclesiastick Discipline It appears then that by a Primitive and Catholick Polity founded at least upon Divine Right if not Precept where-ever Episcopal Sees were fully sixed there was also a Council of Presbyters with Deacons and Officers under them for the Conduct of the Bishoprick and upon absence or Death of the Bishop for Synodical Communications with other Churches § 6. Which being pre-established it may not be amiss to consider some of those procedures in which the Primitive Bishops were wont to convene their Clergy in which I mean them alone in one Diocess without the aggregation of other Bishops for the Government of affairs And first if any Person under his Bishop promoted new or false Doctrines in Religion this became matter for the Care of the Bishop and the Counsel of his Clergy and many times the presence of the Laity infected or in danger of infection Dionys Alex. ap Euseh Eccl. Hist l. 7. c. 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nepotis dicbum Elenchium Allegoristarum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and after a moderate discussion of the matter had by all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Thus in the Arsinoire Region under the Primacy of Alexandria one Coracion had disseminated the Doctrine of Nepos an Egyptian Bishop concerning a Carnal Millennium which had spread far and wide to the subversion of much people Whither therefore Dionysius Bishop of Alexandria coming called together the Village Presbyters and Teachers in the presence of all the Laity that had a mind to be there and to have a publick Discussion of that Doctrine of Nepos And after three days publick Canvas of Nepos his Book made with much moderation by all persons the affair ended successfully in the Conversion of Coracion the Ringleaders of the Millenaries If then Authority to Convert Men from Errors be Divine and Convocations of Clergy-Men by their Bishop be necessary or Expedient thereto as 't was in this case it follows that such Synods under a Bishop are of Divine Right and 't is as much the Bishops Divine Authority as Duty to convene them § 7. Cypr. ad Cler. Ep. 10. § 2. Nam cum in minoribus pece at is agant peccatores prenitentiam justo tempore secundum disciplinae or dinem ad exomolegesin veniant per imposstionem manus Episcopi Cleri jus communicationis accipiunt nunc crudo tempore Offertur nomen corum nondum pruitentiâ actâ nondum exâ—mologesi factâ nondum manu eis ab Episcopo Clero impositâ Euch iristia illis datur vid. Ep. 11. § 1. Ep. 12. § 1. Another Instance of Convening the Clergy by their Bishops in these Ages was for reconciling publick Penitents by Imposition of Hands of the Bishop and Clergy upon Consession first made publickly before in order to a recovery of the right of Communication Ecclesiastical and Eucharistical as also for the Censure of such as should presumptuously violate the Laws Order Union and Discipline of their Church and for Ordinations of the Clergy or less Orders All which are Acts Synodical Ibid. § 4. Acturi apud Nos the Bishop and Clergy apud confessores Causam suam c. Ep. 24. quos jam pridem communi consilio Clero proximos feceramus quando cum Presbyteris doclioribus lectores diligenter probaremus and grounded upon the Authority of the Bishop and the Reason of the Causes both which herein most certainly were as Divine as for such they were then received If a Man would be here accurate in traversing such intimations as may be picked up herein among the Antients one might swell this chapter to a greater largeness than is necessary but taking for granted that these are uncontestable and apposite evidence I leave these Presbyteries and their Divine Powers on their own Divine Foundations and proceed to the second sort of Episcopal or Provincial Synods CHAP. VII Of Episcopal and Provincial Synods in the three first Centuries and their Authority § 1. THAT there were Synodical Conventions and Provincial Councils of Bishops and such Presbyters under them as the Bishops brought with them or called to them in the First Centuries will not I suppose be denied by any owner of Episcopacy and the Volumes of the Antient Fathers So that our present enquiry is not into or concerning their actual being but their Frequency Right Authority and Uses for which they were wont so often so vigorously to assemble § 2. Tertull. De Jejun Aguntur praecepta per Graecias illus certis in locis Concilia ex universis Ecelesijs per quae altiora quaeque incommune tractantur ipsa repraesentatio totiùs nominis Christiani magnâ veneratione celebratur Et hoe quam dignum side auspicanti undique congregari ad Christum Conventus autem isti stat ionibus prius jejunationibus operati dolere cum dolentibus ita demum congaudere gaudentibus norunt vid. Alexand. Alexandrin Episc Epist ad Cath. Eccl. Epis ap Socr. Eccl. Hist l. 1. c. 5. And first as to their general frequency Tertullian the most antient of all our Latin Authors tells us that thro' all the Greek Countries where Christianity had so universally spread it self Councils were by command or precept convened out of all Churches thro' or in which Councils all arduous matters were publickly treated of and in them the Reverence of the Christian Character solemnly celebrated it being the highest dignity thus every where to be convened unto Christ and that with severe Stations and Fastings for the sanctification of them Where we see he asserts the practice and devotion to be of the very highest and divinest Dignity imaginable and consequently of the like Authority equal to that Dignity in which 't is either fundamentally lodged or to which 't is inseparably concomitant Nor does the Dignity only but the necessities of affairs also recommend or enforce the exercise as well as Institution of
is none but on other Reasons exteriour either of State Peace or other insuperable dissiculties nor can such mistaken or enforced Protections give the Protector an Ecclesiastical Headship over all those Systems of different Religions to act them all as Dr. Wake allows them to Act the Church because there is no Right bottomed upon Error See Chap 1. Sect. 5. and because many times they are exempt from his Jurisdiction as in the Chappels of Embassadors and Foreign Factories whose Protection is not Founded upon a supposed possibility of Truth but upon the Reasons of Commerce and Negotiation § 8. Incorpon on dissers from Protection But if the Dr. shall here make Protection only to consist in an Incorporation of the Church into the State and her Canons into the Laws as this is quire another thing from bare Protection and thought to be of a more transcendent Elevation so it will then appear that none of the Christion Roman Emperors did so instate the Church which consequesitly must then be out of Protection and so free from their Supremacy the Exercise whereof therefore must have been an Usurpation and a Nullity § 9. But we shall by and by discern a little better the Form and Nature of a Protection of the Church For if the Catholick Church had a Divine Right in the Liberties and Authorities Synodical continued universally inviolate and unquestioned for 300 Years downward from the Apostles how can this Body be protected by any Magistrate or Powers that shall claim off in point of Title and take it away thereupon in point of Fact any or all of these Divine Priviledges Protection inconsistent with violation of Right given by God and granted to her Priests for her Conduct and Conservation and this under a pretence of Protection while the Churches Constitution is apparently ruined and her Synods heretofore free declared now for Criminal if not held in Villenage This is so contrary to the very Dictates of Nature in the Reason and Form of Protection that all Systems and Factions of Religion disclaim such Bondage and challenge a liberty as presubstrate and praevious to Protection which is otherwise inconceivable and the pretence thereof a meer sham upon humane Understanding The Iews therefore as busie as they are to be enfranchised in their several Dispersions yet would never endure the Civil Powers thereupon so to prescribe all the Politie of the Synagogue and to Null Cancel Ratify or Alter their Methods and an attempt of this Nature upon them would appear as dreadful a persecution as Caius his erecting his Image in their Synagogues Jews Papists Sectaries all for Ecclesiastical Liberty Not only the Romish Church but all other Sectaries and the Scotch Kirk illustriously scorns to admit any servitude notwithstanding not only the National Protection but Promotion being all sensible that a Liberty of Religious Government and Church Discipline is more valuable than all worldly Wealth or Interests and without which they cannot apprehend any Protection to Religion or the Societies that profess it And to close up all since in all Ecclesiastical History those Synods have been most injurious or injuriously dealt with that were least free and their Authority thereby vacated with all Churches for ever I wonder what reputation the Dr. will secure to a Provincial or National Synod with Neighbour Churches Liberty necessary to validity and reputation whether Popish or Reformed or with future Generations should it be in Fact so managed by a Prince as the Dr. avers it may rightly be in all its Motions and Issues Or how can we blame the Popes Management of the Council of Trent and such others if we will justify ten tiems a greater Bondage in the Councils called by Princes What security is there for Uniformity in Doctrine Regularity of Discipline and Authority with the Christian Church if all be to be done only ad nutum P pis The Dr. tells us of Bp. p. 115. King Charles the first and A. B. Land Lands Concurrence with K. Charles the First his Writ for and License to the Convocation Very well and that King and that Prelate too might do so in observing the Forms which could not be altered without Act or Rupture of Parliament but does it follow that they were either of them of the Drs. Enslaving Principles under Sovereignty in General When that Great Primate declares against Fisher a free General Council to be the supremest Judicatory in the Catholick Church and would he not then think the same of a Provincial Council for a Provincial Church tho' both convened and permitted to sit by the Will and Order of Princes Men may Act under the Forms of those Laws when not actually Executed to our injury which they do not simply approve of in themselves and against such a Prosecution of which Laws they would openly and avowedly Complain as did the Council at Ariminum c. And I take it that it must pass for an eternal Rule Truth and Piety free Principles that as Truth and Piety are free-born Principles so are the Depositaries or Trustees of them also to be free in the Culture and Propagation of them And they that withdraw the Necessary freedom of these Trustees withdraw their Protection from the Principles themselves Not to be committed to Slaves they being too noble and glorious to be committed to the Care and Conduct of Slaves or Vassals § 10. Having thus enquired into the first reason for this Alienation of Synodical Powers from the Mitre to the Crown The forms of alienation improper let us in the next place examine the Form of it hereupon which must consist in a Devolution Occupation or Contract with the Spiritual Powers If by Devolution this must be founded either in the Original Ordinance and Constitution of God or from the Natural Right of Sovereigns over all Persons of the same Religion The first ground hereof I want and can I doubt be no where found and we shall have occasion hereafter to make Experiment whether it can or no. And as to the second I shall readily yield it if it can be made our that in all Religion Natural and Revealed the Prince that is of it shall have the entire Conduct of it For then indeed it must rest in the Hierarchy only till they get a King of their Faith to whom then they must turn over all their Powers But why should this Divine Charter Devolve over to Princes any more than that of a little Borough This of the Borough was granted by Kings Be it so tho' 't is not necessarily so for that popular States may so six themselves and after admit a King to protect them but without any Devolution But be it so Can then our King be denied a Devolution of a Charter in a Town which he Protects because a former King founded it tho' in a mere Secular Interest and Government and must a Charter founded by the King of Kings Devolve to a Temporal