intermedling of any Exterior Person or Persons to declare and determine all such Doubts and to administer all such Offices and Duties as to their Rooms Spiritual doth appertain So far the Statute 24. Hen. 8. c. 12. From which I infer That as the English Papists differ from Foreign Papists so the reason they give for what they hold in contradistinction to Foreign Papists is very cogent and powerful They need not apply themselves to any Foreign Power because they have always had at home persons every way qualified to determine all their Doubts And this was not only the Judgment of the Papists at this time but as they declare this has been the sense of their Forefathers for say they it has been always reputed it has been always found it has been always thought heretofore as well as at this hour and whoever will look back to the first words of the Statute may see cause to conclude that thus much they gathered out of the divers Authentic Histories and Chronicles which they consulted And that this must be esteemed especially by the Church of England to be the sense of the English Papist is manifest from the whole scope of Archbishop Bramhall's arguing against the Papists in Vindication of the Church of England when he charges the Papists for making the first Separation from Rome The first Separation saith he was not made by Protestants but by Papists and he endeavors to justifie the Separation by proving that always the English Papists esteem'd themselves a Church that did ever renounce the Pope's Supremacy and that what Henry VIII did was no more than an acting in pursuance of the ancient Law of the Land. To this of the Archbishop's I add That if the first Separation from the Church of Rome was made by Papists then it 's the Judgment of English Papists that they do not stand oblig'd to any Foreign Councils 't is their Judgment that tho' they grant the Pope a Primacy of Order yet that he ought not to have a Supremacy of Jurisdiction for the Crown of England is Imperial and the English Bishops are sufficiently qualified to determine all matters of doubt within themselves And this has been always their Judgment and is so at this time for our King by a continued Exercise of his Ecclesiastical Supremacy asserts it to be a Jewel inherent in his Crown and not to be parted with This then being the avowed Principle of the English Papists the mentioning the Decree of the Council of Lateran as what obliges them before it is prov'd to have been received amongst our Laws cannot affect us for until it be taken in amongst our Laws it obliges not an English Papist nor are they bound to take in this Decree amongst our Laws any more than they were anciently obliged to receive the Canon about Bastardy Furthermore whoever will look into this Objection he must needs see it to be ill as well as weak in the Foundation For to give strength to their Argument it must be presumed That either the Body of the People will turn Papist as soon as the Tests are taken off and choose none but Papists to sit in the following Parliament for to say some few may for Preferment does not reach the Case or a Parliament contrary to all Laws shall be imposed upon us To presume the former is to insinuate without the least colour of Reason that the Body of the Kingdom have nothing to say for their being Protestants but this That their Religion is uppermost and established by Law and that there are such Tests imposed on those who sit in Parliament that Popery is like never to be established But whatever may be said of the Church of England of whom yet I have better thoughts the world knows that a great part of the Nation notwithstanding the severity of the Penal Laws could not be persuaded to close with the Church of England because there was so much Popery in it and it 's to be supposed they 'll abide so firm to the Protestant Religion when they are in no danger of Sufferings as they did when they suffer'd so very much And it must be further considered That these Dissenters when Penal Laws hung over their heads and they were in constant danger of being immediately destroyed by them did even then appear so vigorously in the choosing their Representatives as to carry it for three Parliaments successively against the Papist and Church of England too and it 's not to be doubted but that when the Penal Laws are taken off they 'll not be less Able nor less Industrious to choose such to sit in Parliament as shall be far from introducing the Lateran Decree into their Laws for extirpating the Protestant Religion If on the other hand it shall be urged That a Parliament contrary to the Fundamentals of our Constitution shall be imposed on us by Regal Authority which is a thing the thoughts whereof should be abhorr'd by every good Subject it cannot be apprehended to be more Legal hereafter than such a Parliament presently chosen made up of whomsoever He pleases without taking the Test And considering that our King is aged if such a thing were design'd would it not be the Papists Interest to take that course immediately And seeing they take it not now may we not conclude rationally that they 'll not do it hereafter And yet farther if this were supposed as to the House of Commons the House of Lords for all that are so many of 'em Protestant and out-ballancing the Papists that unless we will reflect on our Nobility as well as on His Majesty and the Body of the Nation and say That as soon as the Tests are taken off they 'll be all Papists also there is no fear of such a matter Again the Papists also must be presum'd to be all fallen under the most strange deliration and madness imaginable seeing otherwise they must know that if they declare themselves to be for violent Methods or make any such attempt it must be with the greatest disadvantages to themselves for it is as if Five men would encounter a Thousand And they must consider how much such an Attempt would enrage the whole Kingdom and how uncertain they are of compassing their end in this King's Reign and how easie is it for the Protestants under a Successor of their Religion to destroy the Papists So that the very Attempt would but prepare their Families and Posterity for a Sacrifice under a Protestant Successor If then there be any wise men of Estates among them that can influence they 'll see it their Interest and make it their Endeavor if possible to Establish Liberty of Conscience on a Rock that can never be moved And altho' some may say that the Priests and Jesuits are a Fiery-spirited People who are for pushing on to violence yet it 's manifest that our Popish Gentry heretofore were never so Priest-ridden as to regard the Priests Humor more than their own
Soul for what People under the Cope of Heaven are more tender of Liberty and Property than the English And I am sure that the other day a great Lawyer express'd himself very freely touching the Subjects Rights affirming That as Kings have their Prerogatives too great for an Act of Parliament to bound or limit and as the next Heir to the Crown has so firm a Right to the Succession that no Consideration of Religion no nor that of Treason it self can be made a Bar to exclude him for Jura Sanguinis nullo jure Civili dirimi possunt So Subjects have their various and different Rights either by Inheritance Creation or Election answerable to their several Qualities which no Act of Parliament can divest them of insomuch that if a Statute be de facto made contrary to a Fundamental Right of the Subject it 's void and null and if any one in pursuance of such a Statute ravish from the Subject his Liberty and Property in one King's Reign he may as it has been heretofore suffer for it in the Reign of another I insist not nevertheless at this time on this Great Man's Opinion any farther than to offer it to the Consideration of the Learned in the Law that if possibly I may do it they may be provok'd to an Enquiry and to give the People some farther Satisfaction than he did when he only told me it was so plain that instead of confirming it by Authorities he must defere to the known Rule viz. In rebus manifestis errat qui authoritates Legum allegat quia perspicuè vera non sunt probanda For let this Opinion be clear'd 't will contribute extreamly towards the ending the present Controversie especially if the other thing he mention'd also which indeed concludes our whole Argument be made out viz. That amongst the Inalienable Rights of the Subjects we must reckon this That no Free-Man may be depriv'd of his Liberty or Property or any other Civil Right or Privilege for the sake of his Religion so long as his Religion has no influence on the Government Let this I say be made good 't will unavoidably follow that all the Penal Laws for meer Religion and the Securing the Tests must appear to be ab initio void and null and a Great Charter Declaratory of so much will put a stop to Persecution for evermore for Conscience sake and answer all the Objections that can be brought against the Taking away the Tests But to return It 's my part to enquire more particularly Whether the Damning or Establishing the Tests be most agreeable to what I have declared the Ancient Constitution of our Government to be And the Solution is easie for from the Contexture of the foregoing Discourse we must conclude for the Taking them off because they twist the Religion of one part of the People so closely with the Government as to deprive the Body of the Nation of their Civil Rights Liberty and Property for the sake of an Opinion that hurts no Body but its Owner There are three or four Tests which do twist Religion and the Civil Government so unluckily together that whoever scruples the Religious part of the Test is immediately esteem'd an Enemy to the Government The First requires that they who take it do declare that they 'll never endeavor any Alteration of Government in the Church The Second obliges all in Office to Receive the Lord's Supper according to the Church of England and declare in these Words I A. B. do declare 25 Car. 2. cap. 2. That I do believe that there is not any Transubstantiation in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper or in the Elements of Bread and Wine at or after the Consecration thereof by any Person whatsoever The Last imposed both on the Nobility and Commons chosen to Sit in Parliament runs thus I A. B. do solemnly and sincerely in the Presence of God profess testifie and declare That I do believe that in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper there is not any Transubstantiation of the Elements of Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of Christ at or after the Consecration thereof by any Person whatsoever And that the Invocation or Adoration of the Virgin Mary or any other Saint and the Sacrifice of the Mass as they are now us'd in the Church of Rome are Superstitious and Idolatrous These being the several Tests impos'd on the Subjects of this Realm there are these several Arguments which occur to my Thoughts against their continu'd Establishment I. It 's contrary to the Liberty of the Subject who without just cause is hereby depriv'd of his Rights as an Englishman It is the Right of a Freeholder in the County My Lord Chief-Justice Coke positively affirms That the Barons ought to have a Writ of Summons ex debito Justitiae to Sit in Parliament and it s most manifest that their Summons must be either of Grace or ex debito If the former it lies in the Breast of the King to call whom of the Lords he will and so never want an House of Lords for his Purpose If the latter then my Argument abides in its strength and it 's the Barons Right to be Call'd and Sit in Parliament and of a Free-man of any City or Town Corporate to choose his Representative in Parliament and the Right of those freely chosen if good Subjects which they may be tho' of a Religion different from that of the State to Sit in Parliament and it 's the Birthright of our Ancient Nobility and the most undoubted Right of every Peer of the Land tho created a Peer but yesterday to Sit in the Higher House of Parliament and Advise and Consent to the Enacting Laws And it 's a known Case that tho' a Man be Excommunicate yet he is not thereby divested of his Right to choose his Representative and why but because a Man may remain a good Subject and a good English-man altho' thrown out of the Church and therefore ought to enjoy the Privilege of an English-man And why shall not the Persons chosen and the Nobility so long as they sufficiently demonstrate to the World that they are true English-men and good Subjects enjoy their undoubted Rights and Privileges What belongs to a good Subject as such belongs to every good Subject and it 's a Wrong to rob him of it Let there then be such a Test impos'd I mean a CIVIL TEST which Characterizes a good Subject and which a good Subject cannot refuse to take and let that be all for that surely may be made sufficient and unscrupulous to secure the just Prerogatives of the King and the Liberty and Property of the Subject which is the whole Concern in it that a true Englishman as such is bound to look after II. The Imposition of a Religious Test on the Subject excluding the Refusers from having any Advancement in Places of Trust is a Branch of that Doctrin on which all Penal Laws for Religion
it be Query'd Whether it be lawful to punish any one Corporally for his being of the True Religion All will hold in the Negative and yet keep up Persecution For the Higher Powers esteeming their own Religion the True and all other Religions False tho' they are severe in punishing all others yet 't is because they are of a False Religion But if the Question be stated as above and if it be held in the Negative all Corporal Punishments for Religion are laid aside and a Stop put to Persecution It must be carefully observ'd that the Protestant can't have so ill an Opinion of the Papist but the Papist has as bad an one of the Protestant and so long as it is held lawful to propagate the Truth and suppress Error by Corporal Mulcts the Papists will have as much reason for the use of these Methods to propagate what he takes to be True and suppress what he judges an Error as the Protestant can This then must be fix'd That it is not agreeable to the Will of God to punish any Man Corporally or deprive him of his Civil Rights for the sake of his Religion The setling this Principle will put an end to all Persecutions nothing else can do it Thus much the Author would inculcate on the Minds of his Readers and is not in the least mov'd by that extravagant Question What would you not have Blasphemers and Murderers punish'd if they pretend 't is their Religion to Blaspheme and Murder for 't is manifest to all that the Religion we are speaking of is what leans on Positive Revelation and not that which the Light of Nature makes known What is discover'd by Natures Light and is a part of Natural Religion is so very manifest to all Men that no Man without laying a Violence on his own Faculties can pretend that what is really contrary unto it is a part of his Religion Tho' those Scriptures from which are drawn the Rules of Positive Religion must be acknowledg'd to be so obscure and dark that a Rational Man who means well may mistake their true and genuine Sense yea tho he has the help of a Guide pretending Infallibility yet Natures Laws are so plain so clear and manifest to all Rational Men that there is no room left for any ones falling into such Mistakes as are alledg'd and pretend that it is his Religion to Blaspheme and Murder Mistakes therefore touching the Sense of a Scripture are to be rectifi'd by Scriptural Reasonings but such Faults as are committed against the Laws of Nature are to be punish'd by the Civil Magistrate I say such must be punish'd because they act contrary to their own Light. The Difference between Crimes that the Light of Nature discovers and those Mistakes that are about the Sense of a Scripture is so very great that we cannot so argue from the one to the other as to infer a necessity of treating those who mistake the Sense of a Text with the like Severity they ought to be dealt with who violate Natures Laws Thus much the Author insists on as what is agreeable to the Light of Nature to the Ancient Constitution of our Government and the Rules of Christianity and accordingly forms his Arguments for the Taking off the Tests and all Penal Laws for meer Religion proposing such Things to Consideration as may so move the Church of England Clergy the Protestant Dissenter and Roman-Catholic that notwithstanding the great Differences there are between 'em in Matters of Religion they may agree on this one thing namely to Live peaceably together And that the Papists may never be in a Capacity to Persecute any more in this Land the Author makes it his Endeavor to persuade our Nobility and Gentry to concur with his Majesty in setling Liberty of Conscience on such a Bottom that it may never be in the power of any to Persecute And he is confident that this is the only Way to settle the Peace of the Church of England for nothing can so much endanger her as an obstinate Adherence to Penal Laws and Tests which will provoke the Body of the Nation to conclude Her their only Enemy and that it 's their Interest to guard against her as such A too resolute Endeavor to keep up her Persecuting Power may issue in her loss of that and all her External Pomp and Glory 'T is well known that if the Pope in Henry the Eighth's Days had been more yielding he might have kept this Nation much longer under his Power and if our Clergy will be content with their present Standing and part with their Penal Laws and Tests none will envy their Happiness God give them Wisdom not only to see their Error which some say they now do but to improve the present Opportunity by a Christian Concurrence with his Majesty in Setling their own and the Nations Peace A DISCOURSE For taking off the PENAL LAWS and TESTS About RELIGION THE many Discourses that have been and still are about the TESTS being on a Point of the Highest Importance both to the King's Majesty and to the whole Kingdom it doth most undoubtedly become every Englishman to consider with the greatest Caution not only the Nature of the Thing but what may be the Tendency either of the Damning or Establishing 'em And whoever ventures to offer his Thoughts about them must remember he has a very narrow Bridge to pass over where one false Step will be fatal for there is such a thwarting of Opinions as makes the Case marvellously perplex'd and intricate Some Great Men are fully persuaded that a Taking them off will prove pernicious to the Protestant Subject And there are others of as great a Figure who are convinc'd that in this Juncture a sticking to 'em will be more mischievous to all than the destroying 'em can be to any And because of the different Apprehensions Men of a great Character have of this Thing the Inferior sort are hugely distracted and in a Commotion amongst themselves which makes it necessary to do somewhat more than yet has been done to enlighten and settle the Body of the Nation on a sure Basis in their Reasonings about it And I cannot think of a better Method than the giving a just Account of the Ancient Constitution of our Government and the several Interests of the KING and PEOPLE For what is most agreeable to that Constitution and these Interests is undoubtedly most safe and meet to be done I will therefore keep to this Method and in the first place mention just so much of the Ancient Constitution of the Civil Government as is necessary to the present purpose and 't is this THE Civil Government must be recogniz'd to be a thing entire within it self and of distinct Consideration from Religion For altho' there may be many Religions in a Kingdom yet the Government is but One and the same and tho' there may be great Alterations made on the Religion of the State yet that makes no
Alteration on the Government The blending any particular Religion so very close to Government that a change of the former must infer a ruin on the latter is quite contrary to the Ancient Constitution of this Nation in which the Religions have been various even when the Government remain'd the same unalter'd and unshaken The change of Religion from Heathen to Christian made no Alteration on the Government nor did the turning it from Popish to Protestant Under all these Vicissitudes and Changes the Civil Government for of that I still speak was the same And as Civil Government is distinct from Religion and entire without it so the different Subjects and Ends of the one and the other makes it apparent Civil Government in the Intention of the Ordainer is design'd to maintain Peace among Men as Men and is Conversant about the Outward Man regulating it by that Law which is reveal'd by a Light common to Mankind and maketh use of Coercion for the enforcing Obedience But the Design of Religion is to procure a Peace between God and Man and its Subject is of a far larger Extent for it reacheth the Souls of Men giving Laws for their Regulation which are Sanction'd by Spiritual not Corporal Retributions I doubt not but the Intelligent Reader will do me right in the taking it for granted that when I distinguish Civil Government from Religion it 's meant of that Religion that leans on Positive Revelation and not of Natural Religion that lieth in an Observing of the Laws given us with our Being For it is the great End of Civil Government to see that Men frame their Manners in conformity to those Laws and by Corporal Mulcts to punish such as violate ' em But the Religion that is founded on Positive Revelation tho it comprehends Natural Religion within its compass yet as contradistinguish'd from it the chief Duty it requires is Faith which can no ways be forced and being to regulate Mens Hearts it can operate no otherwise but by the proposal of Spiritual Encouragements and Threats Here then do's arise a clear difference between Civil Government and Positive Religion The one is only conversant about the Outward Man taking no cognizance of Mens Thoughts but in order to the Outward Act The other is conversant about the Hearts of Men. The one therefore makes use of Coercion or Corporal Enforcements the other of Spiritual only The Ecclesiastical Law and the Temporal Law have several Proceedings and to several Ends The one being Temporal to inflict Punishment on the Body Lands or Goods The other being Spiritual prosalute animae The one to punish the Outward Man the other to Reform the Inward And this appeareth in 20 Hen. 7.22 10 Edw. 4.10 Coke Caudrey's Case If a Man violates those Laws that are adjusted for the keeping Peace amongst Men as such he is obnoxious to a Corporal and External Penalty but if his Crimes lie only in transgressing those Laws that are brought to light by Positive Revelation he is only liable to a Spiritual Punishment not to what is Corporal Thus the Civil Government I say regards the Outward Conversation the Keeping an External Peace amongst Men by taking care that they observe the general Laws of Nature and every other particular Law which either Custom or the present State of Affairs declare to be necessary for the good of the People But Religion respects the Consciences of Men having only the advantage of Persuasion to propagate or at least defend it self against Foreigners to which is added the power of casting all Domestick Adversaries out of Communion that cannot be prevail'd with by Persuasion The confounding these has prov'd mischievous to Kingdoms and so has the twisting Religion with the Government of the State so as to make it lawful to deprive the Subject of his Civil Liberty or Property for not closing with the Religion Thus much I may safely affirm altho' I should also as I do grant that it 's the Duty of the Government to encourage that Religion which it esteems best for there is a great difference between the encouraging Men of one Religion and the destroying all of another Besides such is the Nature of true Religion as obliges its Professors to be content with Religious without calling in the Aid of Civil Methods for its Security and Defence And it s no part of Civil Government to use Coercion for the advantage of any Religion Be the Religion what it will unless it can defend it self by dint of Argument it may fall for any help the Civil Powers are bound to give it And let all the Religions stand in equal Favor with the Higher Powers it 's not to be doubted but suppos'd that what 's True will be found to prevail and conquer And thus much we boldly assert according to Christ's Doctrin which assures us of no other destruction of all Heresies than by the Brightness of his Coming and no other overcoming all his Adversaries but by the Sword that goes out of his Mouth viz. the Word of God. It is therefore to be observ'd very much to our purpose what was the Practice of the first Christian King amongst the Saxons as venerable Bede in his Ecclesiastical Story expresly avers For Ethelbert saith Bede after due deliberation receiv'd Christ's Religion and tho' resolv'd to give the greatest Countenance to those who became Christian yet would compel none to receive the same Faith he did Nullum tamen cogeret ad Christianifmum sed solummodo credentes arctiori dilectione quasi concives sibi regni coelestis amplecteretur Didiceret enim à Doctoribus auctoribusque suae salutis servitium Christi Voluntarium non Coacticium debere esse Bede Histor Eccles Gent. Angl. l. 1. c. 26. believing as he was taught that the Service of Christ ought to be Voluntary and not by Constraint Now according to this first Record in our English History I must aver that after the strictest Endeavor I could make for the investigation of Truth in this Particular for succeeding Generations I have been induc'd from the whole to conclude That as Government and Religion are two distinct Things their Subjects and their Ends distinct in like manner as True Religion rejects all Coercive Props and Supports as what is contrary to some special Rules given by our Lord Jesus Christ himself So the Ancient Constitution of our Government is such as offers Protection to all that demean themselves like good Subjects of what Religion soever they be That Liberty and Property are too sacred to be invaded for the sake of an Opinion that no way hurts it And that the Temporal Peace and Quiet which is the result of an entire enjoyment of Liberty and Property is so much the Englishman's Right that no one without unjust Violence can deprive him of it for his Religion The truth of which is so very obvious that every particular English Spirit cannot but find it as it were engraven on his own
Universal Liberty of Conscience in Repealing all the Penal Statutes about Religion being their Interest in common with other Dissenters and Interest being a thing that will not lie they may be trusted in this Matter But it is added by the Objector That the Popish Religion consisting in the Decrees of General Councils confirm'd by the Pope and the Council of Lateran having decreed the Extermination of all Heretics we shall soon after the Taking off the Tests have a Popish Parliament trumpt up who to escape Damnation in the next World will be necessitated to destroy all Heretics within their Compass in this And here lieth the strength of the Objection which I shall endeavor with all the clearness I can to enervate and to this end must beseech the Reader in the first place to observe the great Difference there is between the English Papist and those of other Countries for the English would never pay that Respect unto Foreign Councils nor that Homage to the Roman Pontiffs which other Nations have done and consequently that our Country-men of the Romish Communion are not under the like Obligations of submitting unto the Decrees of General Councils which other Papists are Our Histories and Law-Books do furnish us with Instances innumerable that our Forefathers of the Romish Communion boldly asserted the Kingdom of England to be an Absolute Empire and Monarchy consisting of one Head which is the King and of a Body Politic Compact and Compounded of almost Infinite several yet well agreeing Members viz. the Clergy and Laity both of them next and immediately under God Subject and Obedient to the King their Head. And amongst the Laws of St. Edward the Confessor Spelman Conc. p. 622. Rex autem qui Vicaâ—â—us summi Regis st it is declar'd That the King who is the Vicar of the highest King not of the Pope is ordain'd to this End that he should Govern and Rule the Kingdom and People of the Land and above all things the Holy Church And when the Pope would have William the Conquerer recognize his Supremacy the King's Reply was That he could not find that any of his Predecessors did ever part with that Jewel of the Crown and he was therefore resolv'd to keep it And William Rufus his Son and Successor in this Kingdom declar'd That he would rather part with half his Kingdom than with the Supremacy Nor would Henry the First as William Warlestwast elect Bishop of Exeter told the Pope lose the Authority of Investing his Prelates for the Crown of the Realm King Stephen had the Courage to seize into his Hands the Bishop of Salisbury's Castles and Goods and altho' a Synod was call'd by the Bishop of Winchester the Pope's Legat and Complaint made to the Synod yet the Clergy were at last compell'd to a Submission to the King. Henry the Third would by no means yield that his Clergy were so much under the Pope's Conduct as not to be Prosecuted by the Secular Powers for Matters Criminal King John also till forsaken by his Nobles was a valiant opposer of the Pope's Power And the several succeeding Princes maintain'd their Supremacy with a like Courage especially Edward the Third and Richard the Second And what is worthy of Observation the severest Laws against Suing unto the Court of Rome without the King's leave were Enacted in the time of Rich. the Second even the Statute of Provisors and Praemunire And that the Statutes made in the Reigns of Henry the Eighth Edward the Sixth and Queen Elizabeth were not Introductory of any New Law but Declaratory of the Ancient Law of the Land viz. That this Kingdom is Imperial is too plain to admit of the least doubt And as our Kings were ever tender in the point of the Supremacy and would never part with it nor pay that regard to Foreign Laws that other Nations have done in like manner it has been adjudged by a Popish Parliament 25 Hen. 8. cap. 23. That no Laws of any Foreign Powers are of force in this Realm unless they have been devised and obtained within it or unless by sufferance of our Kings the People have taken them up at their free liberty and by their own consent let them be used amongst them The words of the Statute run thus Whereas these your Grace's Realms recognizing no Superior under God but only your Grace have been and are free from Subjection to any man's Laws but only to such as have been devised and obtained within this Realm for the Wealth of the same or to such others as by sufferance of your Grace and your Progenitors the People of this your Realm have taken at their free liberty by their own consent to be used amongst them and have bound themselves by long Use and Custom to the Observance of the same not as to the Observance of the Laws of any Foreign Prince Potentate or Prelate but as to the Customed and Ancient Laws of this Realm originally established as Laws of the same by the said Sufferance Consents and Custom and none otherwise So far the Statute declaring the Judgment of Roman Catholics in Henry VIII's days whence I thus argue That no Decrees of any Foreign Powers whether those of a General Council or of the Pope are of force here antecedently to our receiving them And that the saying this is a Decree of Rome or of any General Council confirmed by the Pope is not sufficient to oblige us to conclude that therefore an English Papist must submit unto and act in pursuance of it for until that Canon or Decree be by the Authority of the Land placed amongst our Laws it doth not oblige the Roman Catholic of this Kingdom And that this has been the sense of the English Roman Catholic before Henry VIII is easily evinced out of Sir Edward Coke Part 5. Cawdrey ' s Case who in his Reports declares That by the ancient Canons and Decrees of the Church of Rome the Issue born before the Solemnization of Marriage is as lawfully inheritable Marriage following as the Issue born after Marriage But this was never allowed or appointed in England and therefore was never of any force here And this appeareth by the Statute of Merton made in the 20th year of King Henry III. where all the Earls and Barons with one voice declare That they will not change the Laws of England which hitherto have been used and approved Besides it 's further to be observed that in Henry VIII's time it was by the King the Lord 's Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in Parliament assembled who were all of the Roman Catholic Religion declared That the Body Spiritual namely the Archbishops Bishops and other Ecclesiastical Officers resiant within this Kingdom and called the English Church hath always been reputed and also found of that sort that both for Knowledge Integrity and sufficiency of Number it hath been always thought and is also at this hour sufficient and meet of it self without the