the Law gives Power to the King to dispense therewith And in like Cases or upon other Considerations equal he may dispense license pardon c. yea althô these Lawes have been passed by His Majesty's royal assent formerly and what is more a Clause inserted in the Act that the King's Licence in this or that case shall be void Yet it will be no BARR to such Prerogatives as are originally and inseparably inherent in his royal Person but he may give Licence with a NON OBSTANTE thereunto A learned Sergeant in his NO MOTECHNIA hath these words The King by a Clause of NON OBSTANTE may dispence with a Statute Law if he recite the Statute though the Statute say such Dispensation shall be merely void And he may licence things forbidden as to Coin money which is made by the Statute Capital and was before unlawful for that is but malum Prohibitum but malum in se as to leave a Nuisance in the High way c. he cannot license to do but when it is done he may pardon it but where the Statute saith his Licence shall be void which the Civilians call clausula derogative there it must have a Clause of NON OBSTANTE i.e. NOTWITHSTANDING ANY STATVTE and else it is not good And saith the same Author he may in respect of his Supreme Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction exempt some from the Jurisdiction of the Ordinary and dispense with others in things which the Ecclesiastical Law Prohibits upon the same ground that they are not mala in se but prohibita I hold clear saith Judge Hobart That thô the Statute saith that all Dispensations c. shall be granted in manner and form following that yet the King is not thereby restrained but his Power remaineth full and perfect as before and he may still grant them as King. The King may remitt the Penalty and Punishment thô not dispense where what is forbidden by Law is malum in se saith that Sergeant in his forementioned Discourse much more then where what is forbidden is but malum Prohibitum The Statute indeed of 1 Ed. 2. cap. 7. Enacts that no letter shall proceed from the King to discharge an excommunicated Person but where the King's Liberty is prejudiced but as this Statute it self proves the late and former practice so it takes it not away since the King's liberty of discharging such Persons used before is preserved by the same Statute CHAP. II. Of the Prerogative and Regal Power in relation to Ecclesiastical Lawes and Matters of Religion 1. REligion in the moral part thereof namely the Precepts and Commandments of God the institutions and Ordinances of Christ these are not subject to any humane Wisdom or Power The Apostles that were of higher authority in these Affairs than any on earth went no further then as 1 Cor. 11.23 What I have received of the Lord that I deliver unto you To make Lawes in Spiritual Matters that are such by the Light of Nature that men may be moved to do and act according to this Light in duty and our Civil concerns we yield unto the Magistrate who is custos utriusque tabulae 2. There are matters of Circumstance also these and the like are made by our Lawes to depend upon the power and ordering of the Prince This distinction you have laid down as Law by Judge Hobart These are his words Though it be jure divino that Christian People be provided of Christian offices and duties as of Teaching Administration of Sacraments and the like and of Pastors for that purpose and therefore to debar them wholy of it were expresly against the Law of God Yet the distinction of Parishes and the form of furnishing every Parish Church with its proper Curate Rector or Pastor by the way of Presentation Institution c. as it is used diversly in divers Churches and the state or title which he hath or is to have in his Church and Benefice is not a positive Law of God in point of Circumstance And we know well that the Primitive Church in its greatest Purity was but voluntary Congregations of Believers submitting themselves to the Apostles and after to other Pastors to whom they did minister of their Temporals as God did move them Government is a beam of Divine Power and therefore he proceeds saying if a People refuse all Government it were against the Law of God but if a popular State will receive a Monarchy it stands well with the Law of God. In the Case of Glover and Colt against the Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield pag. 149. From all this the Judge seems to confirm his distinction by way of Comparison thus As in humane affairs Government in the general and essentials of it that one man be subject to another in an orderly way is necessary and jure divino and not in man's liberty and dispose Yet for the modes and forms of Government and like Circumstances it is left to the choice and wisdom of Men and the Conduct thereof So in Matters of Religion which are not jure divino our Law judgeth the Magistrate hath the ordering thereof in each Nation according to the manners and temper of the People which is various And in particular the disposing of Pastors and People for the more convenient and orderly Service and Worship of God to be only jure humano and may be otherwise and was so in the Primitive Church in her greatest Purity Pastors and People were not then as now engaged by this relation one to another in this Parochial bond or tye but enjoyed a Christian liberty voluntarily to dispose of themselves under such and such a ministry as they should make choice of to themselves The Church is said in that state to be in greatest Purity 1. The Congregational way therefore is not a way in this learned Judge's opinion of disorder and confusion as is so frequently suggested 2. And that it is in the power of Supreme Majesty to dispense with a Parishioner as well as with a Pastor or Rector to be a non-resident and take another Rectory the division of Parishes being jure humano What those things and Matters of Religion are in the judgment of our State that come under the manage of humane Wisdom and Power is well expressed in Queen Elizabeth's Advertisement These Orders and Rules have been meet and convenient to be used and followed yet not prescribing these Rules as Laws equivalent with the eternal Word of God and of necessity to bind the Consciences of our Subjects in the nature of them considered in themselves or as they should add any efficacy or more holiness to the virtue of publick Prayers and to the Sacraments but as temporal Orders meerly Ecclesiastical without any vain Superstition or as Rules in some part of discipline concerning decency distinction and order for the time And in the Articles of 1562 It is not necessary that Traditions and Ceremonies be in all places one or utterly alike for at all times
the same Church differing from it self upon further discoveries A Synod a Parliament may judge such and such things that they who are to submit may sincerely scruple and stick at as Sin. If Churches and Men heavenly enlightned are thus exposed to vary in their apprehensions we cannot be confident of any Councel or Assembly made up of the most Wise and Prudent Men. Parliaments are chosen by the votes of the promiscuous multitudes in respect we would hope to their sufficiency in managing our Civil and Temporal concernments but as to their Skill and Ability to discern and judge of such matters appertaining to Order in the Service and Worship of God all men have not this Knowledge this is little or not at all attended by those that Elect them by reason whereof Matters wherein mens Consciences are concerned are not at all times carried by those who are most Conscientious in that Assembly who are not alwayes the Major part yet notwithstanding are required in their Consciences to assent and consent to such Determinations being made although possibly near one half in number dissented in the passing of them and it is unavoidable in all and the best Assemblies that are chosen by the general suffrage of a Nation Again These matters of Ceremony and external Order are sometimes managed in part with respect to a Party different in their apprehensions and who thereupon form these Lawes with respect to Prudence as well as Conscience In our first Reformation it was said such Superstitions are taken away aâ—time would serve quietly to do it and many things were left remaining in our Liturgy which otherwise would have been removed in compliance with that form of divine Service used-before by the Papists that they may not be provoked but rather won thereby to our Religion Womens Baptizing was continued in our Liturgy saith the Bishop of Winchester else the Book would not have passed the House Conf. at Hampton-Court King James was once willing that some Ceremonies giving offence should be removed But the Parliament then sitting thought it not Prudence and our present Sovereign would have done a great matter for the Ease of Tender Consciences as appears by some of the Declarations herein after mentioned but it stood not with the Prudence of this House as they expressed in their Answer without whose concurrence His Majesty thought not fit then to do it 3. From mistaken Principles as that there can be no Vnity without Vniformity that there can be no Discipline in a Church without some Ceremonies of humane Institution that things in Worship indifferent become necessary being imposed by Authority That things in matters of Order that are once established and some time continued in the Church may not with safety be altered These things I offer not to derogate from Parliaments in their manage of such Affairs but upon this serious account only To shew that as our Civil Lawes have made provision that the Church shall not in their Lawes and Canons order any thing against the Prerogative of the King or the Lawes and Statutes of the Realm in general and that such Canons shall not be in force that do 25 Hen. 8.19 So likewise Lawes and Statutes in Ecclesiastical Affairs established by the Civil Power if they be found to derogate from the Prerogative of Christ Jesus or the Lawes and Statutes of his Kingdom ought not to be in force upon mens Consciences As Church-men being supposed not to be so well understood in secular Lawes but may transgress so may secular Persons likewise in their orderings about Church Affairs therefore there is a like necessity of a Power to review Judge and dispense with such Lawes as shall be found to disturb the Consciences of peaceable Subjects as occasion may urge thereunto Hen. 8. by Commission which was continued by Edw. 6. appointed 32 Persons 8 of each Profession to peruse the Canons of the Clergy then in force to the end those might be removed that were any ways against the Crown and State. These Kings might have done the like in respect to those Canons and Ecclesiastical Lawes enacted in Parliament if they were found to derogate from Christ's Commands or his Institutes or if justly offensive to the peaceably Godly that Dispensations might be granted for the present till further Reformation be obtained 3. The Municipal Lawes of a Nation are from and conformed to the Principles of right Reason and common Justice only and we have submitted to the Resolutions of those Wise and Prudent Senators we our selves have made choice of to enact and establish such Lawes for us and therefore may acquiesce in their Determinations without further enquiry having given a kind of absolute pre-consent to such Lawes as shall be enacted by them but it is not so in Ecclesiastical Lawes intrusted with the same Persons for they are to be formed according to God's Word which every man is to take as his immediate Rule and not to do or submit to any thing in his Practice about the Notion of Religion but what is conformable thereunto he is to LIVE and act by his own Faith. To Lawes Ecclesiastical therefore made in Parliament we give only a Conditional Consent viz. So far as they are agreeable to God's Word and concur with Gospel-rules nor is it in the liberty of any man's Conscience or reason to yield more nor is there any more by us intrusted with the Representative the Parliament If a man doth scruple the reasonableness or equity of a Law established concerning Civil right or what is required from such a Statute he may notwithstanding yield Obedience without Sin and ought so to do rather than to offend by any appearance of disobedience as Christ himself did Matth. 17.26 27. But in Matters of Religion even Circumstances Ceremonies or Matters of Order or the least thing wherein the Lord hath concerned his Word if there be a doubt or scruple whether it be lawful and conformable to Scripture tho it be from Ignorance or weakness yet I sin if I submit in practice thereof Rom. 14.21 compared with 2 3. The consequence of Transgression in this kind is more than the loss of Estate Liberties yea of Life it self If Lawes from Superiors concerning Civil right be unjust in themselves or prove unequal from the Circumstances of this or that man's Case who cannot be relieved by any indulgence he may submit without Sin and without transgressing any Law of God nay it is virtue and pleasing to God to shew our patience in such suffering 1 Pet. 2.13 compared with 18 19. 1 Cor. 6 7. but not so in the Matters of Religion for we have it from Christ to the contrary that is not to submit Coloss 2.20 and God blames his People by his Prophets for willingly walking after the Commandments and keeping the Statutes of Omri Hosea 5.12 Micah 6.16 the Lord is a jealous God. 4. If there be not a Power to Judge and Dispense intrusted in some hand the People are in
they have been diverse and may be changed according to the diversity of Countrys and Mens manners So that nothing be ordained against God's Word It is granted that even these Ecclesiastical Lawes ought to be conformable to the Word of God and to these general Rules laid down in the Scripture for ordering the Worship and Service of God in the Churches as let all things be done decently and to edification Give no offence to Jew or Gentile and the like but not to be mens mere inventions That distinction which some would make of things against or contrary and what is according to the Word of God as they apply the one to matters of Faith the other to matters of Order is a distinction without a difference there is more wit than truth in that interpretation of Christ's words He that is not with me is against me and in another place He that is not against me is with me applying one to matters of Faith the other to matters of Order There is no such distinction to be made but Rites Ceremonies and matters of Order ought to be according to God's Word as well as matters of Faith. Magistrates are to judge circa res Ecclesiasticas de iis si fidei sint dogmata vel ritus Ceremeniae earumque veritatem equitatem juxta verbi divini normam Mocket de Pol. Eccl. Anglicanae cap. 30. And the Power of the King stands not in forming new Articles of Faith or formes of Religion and such as were Jeroboam's Calves but in defending and propagating that Faith and Religion of which God in the Scripture is the undoubted Author faith Mason of Bishops cap. 5. It is evident those holy men our first Reformers made no such distinction but that all should be done according to God's Word laying before them these general Rules in Scripture even in retaining that which hath been so offensive for of the retaining Ceremonies there is this account given by them viz. because they appertain to Edification whereunto all things done in the Church as the Apostle teacheth ought to be referred And our Liturgy saith thus There is nothing to be read but the very pure Word of God and the Holy Scriptures or that which is evidently grounded upon the same Preface to the Common-Prayer God be thanked saith good King Edw. 6. we know both by his word what is fit to be reformed and have amended c. The Bishop of Rome and his Jurisdiction is taken away and abolished because is had no ground or establishment in the Lawes of God. Injunct Ed. 6. So Pil grimages Offerings Beads Images are done away being works devised by man fancy and beside Scripture It is convenient thus distinctly to have insisted upon what we term Religion or Matters Ecclesiastical according to that sense in which the Civil Magistrate assumes to himself the ordering hereof and what influence and authority the Scriptures have or ought to have in these Rites of the Church and matters of Orders as well as matters of Faith. For hereby it appears whence it is mens Consciences are more concerned in these Lawes than in other municipal Lawes of the Nation and their not being free to submit to these Ecclesiastical Lawes when not formed according to God's Word is no evidence of that Seditious spirit that kicks against all Lawes 2. There is a necessity and that of much greater importance Provision be made of Dispensations c. as occasion shall be of Lawes Ecclesiastical than Civil In Matters of Religion and the Service of God 1. Multitudes there are of loose and prophane Persons and in respect to such neither are the Lawes in themselves nor in the execution of them severe enough 2. Against POPISH Recusants the Lawes have been severe enough yet in the Execution great Moderation 3. There are those and blessed be God great numbers who are not only Orthodox in Faith but of unblameable life in the greater things of the Law and Gospel These have faln under most fevere Lawes and of late with greatest severity put in execution and would be utterly ruined if there be no means of relaxation It is in the behalf of these I argue this Necessity of Indulgence and from these and the like Considerations 1. There is a greater proneness in conscientious men to scruple and to be doubtful in their obedience to the Ecclesiastical than to the Civil Lawes of a Nation as before 2. The great difficulty in forming Lawes wherein mens Consciences are immediately concerned so as not to dissatisfie some if not many 3. If those Lawes be not according to Scripture in the apprehensions of those that are to obey whatever they are in themselves it 's our Sin if we obey it 's not so in Civil commands 4. It is not of so ill consequence for us to yield obedience to a Civil as to an Ecclesiastical Law if ill constituted by the State. 5. From what is found in a manner peculiar in these our Ecclesiastical Lawes and the administration of them many ways prejudicial to the subject there is a necessity some such provision be found on our behalf of this kind 1. The real doubts and scruples about our obedience in these Ecclesiastical Matters cannot but be more and greater than in other Lawes A man of the greatest knowledge in these things knoweth but in part and the most men have but a parcel in this part It is true the Principles and the greater matters of Religion are in great perspicuity laid down in Scripture which gives knowledge to the Simple but these matters of Circumstance and external order we have for the most part in the generals only and hints from Examples and Customs of the Apostolical Churches in the interpre terpretation whereof the most learned find difficulties and are divided Now the want of Knowledge is the ground of scruple and doubts in our practice 1 C. 8.7 For the working of Conscience is from the ultimate resolution of the practical understanding and hence it is that the same Practice may be not only scrupled but a Sin to one man that is not to another upon the account of different apprehensions There may notwithstanding be integrity and sincerity in both and therefore they are tenderly to be dealt with as the Apostle requires which you read in Rom. 14. 2. A great difficulty there is to form Ecclesiastical Lawes they being to be the same where uniformity is much stood upon for a whole Nation so as not to leave grounds of dissatisfaction to many mens apprehensions being various thorough the degrees of Light in so much as that may be Sin to one man which is a liberty to another of a greater degree of light A little is next to nothing and what is indifferent is nearest in likeness to moral Good or Evil. Hence so frequent mistakings And as it is with particular Persons so may it be with a Society or Company of men one true Church in these things differing from another and
Separate and Absent themselves from the Parish Assemblies and to gather themselves into distinct particular Churches or Congregations to choose and ordain their own Ministers also to establish such a Church-Government or Discipline and Form of Worship and Divine Service as they amongst themselves judged to be most conformable to the Scriptures Established by His Majesty's Patent as a Corporation within it self and independent upon any Superiour Jurisd ction Spiritual but His Majesty all Bishops Mayors Sheriffs c. to protect them and suffer them quietly to enjoy and exercise these Liberties with a NON OBSTANTE 3. The Grounds and Considerations upon which such Liberty and Exemptions were granted were these 1. The Care of Religion that ought to be in all Christian Princes and to be shewed forth especially in the relief and encouragement of those that are of the same Religion in their Sufferings for Conscience of their Duty towards God. 2. Persons of the same Religion with us and Sacraments administred by them according to the Word of God and Practice of the Apostles ought to be tolerated in their way of Worshipping of God tho they differ from us in Ceremonies and Discipline 3. The Kindness we found in other Protestant Countries when we were forced to leave our Native Soil for preserving our Consciences 4. There were also great Advantages in Matters of Trade from their Skill-and Industry to the great benefit of this Nation and prejudice of their own Lord Herbert Hist H. 8. The Premises considered we further say 1. His Majesty's Protestant Subjects to whom the gracious Indulgence is extended are generally of the same Religion with others of his Subjects and the present Establishment in respect to Matters of Faith and Worship in external Forms and Ceremonies they are not more differing from the Church of England then those Congregations to whom the same Indulgence hath been granted by His Majesty and his Predecessors and is still enjoyed And when these Strangers had removed their Families and come among us had not this gracious Indulgence been granted and continued to them their Consciences would have engaged them to depart hence and seek Habitations where the like Liberty might be obtained And this also is our Condition Many Hundreds of His Majesty's Subjects with their Families have left their Native Country and disposed themselves into other Parts of the World upon the same account 2. If it be so grateful a Charity and deserving so solemn an Acknowledgment the kind Entertainment our Subjects have found in other Parts when not suffered to live in their own Land upon the account of Conscience doubtless it 's a greater Charity to be so indulgent to our own as not by Severity to enforce them for Conscience to become Strangers in other Countries And for Matters of Trade the Advantages have been great by encouraging those Strangers But the Disadvantages in the same kind far greater from Severity by which Native Subjects have been so greatly discouraged and not only those hands hang down that were most industrious in upholding the Staple Trade of the Nation but by reason Artificers removed into other Parts for their Consciences the mysteries of our chiefest Manufactures have been made common and others therein equalled if not exceeded us A great sense hereof His Majesty hath expressed in his Gracious Declaration Obj. It is said these be Strangers Objects of Charity being driven out of their own Country understood not our Language they were educated and accustomed to other Forms of Discipline and Worship in the exercise whereof their Consciences had of a long time testified to them Answ 1 It 's true the first grant of this Liberty was to such but in process of time these Churches were increased and spread into divers Parts of the Nation and this Grant being confirmed by Queen Elizabeth King James and King Charles the First English born and born Subjects of this Realm they had fully the same Liberty granted them as formerly insomuch as the Persons now enjoying these Priviledges are his Majesty's Native Subjects 2. The greatest number of His Majesty's Protestant Subjects that have benefit by this present Indulgence have since they had understanding been trained up in and acquainted with no other Forms of Discipline and Worship then what was found among us at His Majesty's return the other formerly established having been for many years totally disused King James himself being educated under other Forms when he came into England scrupled many things in our Liturgy and Rubricks Conf. at Hampton-Court Finally it is more then a Century of years wherein these Dutch and French Churches have enjoyed this Indulgence and there hath been much quiet and peace among themselves following their Callings without Disturbance neighbourly and friendly converse with those that are of different Perswasion in Matters of Religion no troublesome Disputings or Reasonings about the same no Judging or Despising others Experience we have found hereof beyond denial in London Norwich Canterbury c. where diversity of Practices in the Forms of Religion and Worship are constantly held forth in the view of all men for so many years And why should not we expect the like peaceable and inoffensive converse mutually between those that enjoy now the like Liberty from this Gracious Declaration and others of our Brethren whose practice is otherwise And the Lord who hath put this in the King's heart put it also in the hearts of our Senatours to be like minded with him And as His Majesty hath condescended to them in their way for the space of these Twelve years as he tells them so it is to be desired that they if it may stand with their great Prudence would concurr with him but half so long in the way himself hath chosen for the Peace and Vnion of his Subjects in Matters of Religious Worship or at least until there be the like evident Experiments of the ineffectualness of it THE END