sancto profecta as Tertullian Apol. c. 30. and 't is Prayer out of a chast Body an innocent Mind and an Holy Soul is the Sacrifice of fat things Qui justitiam Deo libat qui fraudibus abstinet propitiat Deum qui hominem periculo surripit opimam victimam caedit haec nostra Sacrificia haec Dei Sacra sunt as Minutius Foelix to the same purpose And Justin Martyr Respons ad Quaest 101. ad Orthodoxos or whoever was the Author calls the Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Gospel in the Prophecy or Pre-published and the Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Law fulfill'd or in its Completion Origen calls the Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Flesh of the Scriptures speaking of the literal sense of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cap. 1. Ed. Spencer and divides the Scriptures into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Body and Soul and Spirit The Body as to the Jews the Soul to Christians and the Spirit relating to life Eternal And again That there was a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Writings of the Old Testament which the Jews understood not Lib. 2. adv Celsum Nova veteris adimpletio So Lactantius l. 4. And Tertullian says l. 4. adv Marcion That the Earthly Promises of Wine and Oyl and Corn in Spiritualia figurari à Creatore did prefigure Spiritual things In illa Vmbram in hoc veritatem esse dicimus the Law is the Shadow the Gospel is the Truth So St. Jerome in his first Book against Pelagius Imò singulae penè Syllabae c. ad Paulinum he makes every Letter there almost of the same Nature and he more than once asserts the Three Orders of the High Priest Priest and Levite to be the fore-runners of the Bishop Presbyter and Deacon under the Gospel-Priesthood And St. Clemens in his Epistle to the Romans said the same before him And though St. Augustine seem'd to blame some that all things there are involved in Allegorical Expressions as 't is too usual to outdo things yet he admits of such as duly thence draw Spiritual Senses Civ Dei l. 17. c. 3. But that which Hugo Grotius cites out of him and receives and Publishes as his own in his Annotations ad Deut. 17.12 is more full and apposite to our purpose Hoc nunc agit in Ecclesia Excommunicatio quod agebat tunc interfectio quaest super Deut. 5. c. 38. Excommunication does now the same in the Church as putting to Death did under the Law And De fide Operibus Cap. 6. Phinehes Sacerdos Adulteros simul inventos ferro ultore confixit quod utique Degradationibus Excommunicationibus significatum est esse faciendum hoc tempore Phinehes the Priest stroke through the Belly with a Dart the Adulterers when found by him together and which signified what is to be done now by Degradations and Excommunications in the same Case So that the summ is this If Mr. Selden will say That the Levitical Law and the other Judicial Acts among the Jews concern us not at all and therein affront the concurrency of Christianity then all his Design and Labour declaring what their Acts and Punishments were his main Plot falls to the Ground is altogether to no purpose and he needs no answer If it does concern us and thus typifies the Gospel and which I think cannot be denied then all he has done is against himself and his particular design for it flings it unavoidably upon him that the Spiritual part is now ours as theirs was Carnal they punish'd by bodily Mulcts and Death we punish by Spiritual either Suspension Degradation particular Penances for a time or total cuttings off as by Excommunication § IV THAT as Government is absolutely necessary for the continuance of any one Body or Community and such as live without Laws are defined by Aristotle Polit. l. 1. c. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be a Beast or a God incapable in their Natures or above the Inconveniencies of it though God himself does not manage the World by his Supremacy alone and higher incontrollable Power but according to his Justice and Equity and Mercy and other Attributes and which perhaps Aristotle did not consider And this the Jews were so sensible and aware of that when their Power was given over into the Enemies hands and they had lost the Advantages and Protection of it to keep their Body together and entire and to which they thought themselves obliged by the antecedent Bonds of their Religion they framed and submitted to an Institution of their own in order to their present Preservation And can we then but suspect the incomparable Wisdom of our Saviour to have so far failed in this Point to institute a particular Society and leave it originally and in its design in the hands of its Enemies under the deepest Obligations of a visible Prosession to continue so imbodied but without any Laws and enforcements of its own only what is to be received of its Enemies this certainly cannot fix upon the thoughts of a seriously considering Person at least upon theâ—rs we have now to do with who so much admire the Policy of the dispersed Jews in this particular and even obtrude it as the Pattern for succeeding Government for our Saviour Christ to do this is so far from out-doing all the Law-givers that have been before him as it is justly contended he did that it sinks him below the meanest and most inconsiderable The words of the Learned Grotius seem here most apposite Quando quidem Ecclesia coetus est Divina lege non permissus tancum sed institutus De aspectabili coetu loquor sequuntur ea omnia quae coetibus legitimis naturaliter competunt etiam Ecclesiae competere De Imper. Sum. Potest c. Cap. 4. Sect. 9. that since the Church is a Company not permitted only but constituted by God I speak of a Company that is visible all those things which naturally belong to lawful Associations do also belong unto her And again Omne Corpus Sociale jus habet quaedam constituendi quibus membra obligentur hoc etiam jus Ecclesiae competere apparet ex Act. 15.28 Heb. 13.17 Rivet Apol. Discuss every associated Body has a right of constituting such things by which its Members may be obliged and that this right does belong to the Church is apparent from the Fifteenth of the Acts the Twenty eight and the Thirteenth to the Hebrews the Seventeenth § V THAT as these Jews by the naked influence and force of this their Excommunication where nothing outward and violent to coerce and constrain them for such Power is supposed to be gone when this took place the Empire cared not for it as relating to their Religion did oblige their Members to preserve that unity they believ'd themselves oblig'd unto did govern and reduce them upon each occasion and upon this one score are they continued as one Body in the World at this day the Secular Power giving them no
to be of the Church but the Government it self is laid upon another upon the Shoulders of this Child and Son born and given unto us Isa 9.6 and which they are to nourish to protect and preserve with their Temporal Government and Scepters a Generative Procreative Power is not in them This Power given by the Father to the Son was in part and some instances of it finish'd in his own Person upon Earth in part and other instances he is now managing in Heaven what was to remain here among us after his Ascension was to be given to whomsoever the Son pleased this he deputed and committed to his Apostles some of which Power was to dye with their Persons was extraordinary and temporary only or at the most survived in some few only after them and during a small time what was designed and universally useful for all Mankind and for the lasting perpetual managing us in order to Heaven to continue to the end of the World and in the execution and discharge of which our Saviour has promised to be with us always unto the end of the World this was all transferred and devolved by the Apostles on their Successors in the Evangelical Priesthood the Bishops Presbyters and Deacons of the Church it was not demandated to Kings and Secular Powers which then and for some Hundred years after only Persecuted all that followed after that way and call'd upon that Name before whom they appeared only as Dlinquents if they came before them it was for a Mittimus to the Goal or as men appointed to be slain not for Commissions and Substitutions to Preach the Gospel and this is the state of the World at this day thus stand the Powers in it divided betwixt the King and the Priest each moving in his proper Sphere by virtue of his special particular Grant from Heaven and managing the two great Affairs of Heaven and Earth the Body and Soul both of so high a concern unto us THAT both these Powers have been residing § II at once in one and the same Subject and Person 't is most certain and so it may be again by a conflux of Providences or the immediate pleasure of him whose the Powers originally are and can give to the Sons of men as he pleases nothing but dissonant much more repugnant in it the King has been a Priest too not only with Power and Autority in order to Holy Things and Persons a due Behaviour and Discharge in and of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aristotle speaks Lib. 3. Polit. cap. 10 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make them good Citizens and obedient to Laws 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to engage their Souls to Virtue by Rewards and Penalties cap. 13. but the Prince has had that Power which is purely and strictly Hieratical and of the Priestly Office 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aristotle cap. 10. abovementioned Rex Anuis Rex idem Phoebique Sacerdos and that such as of the Priestly Order have had also the Secular Power conjoyned and annexed to it it is most certain in all manner of History for Evidence of which I 'le only refer such as can enquire to Mr. Selden's First Book De Synedriis cap. 15. Hugo Grotius is of Opinion that the Priesthood was seldom found without some Secular Power added unto it in his Treatise De Sum. Potest Imper. in Sacris Cap. 9. Sect. 4. 30. And the ancient Canons of the Church imply that it was much in Use for the Clergy to be engaged in the Affairs of the World as appears by their several Cautions and Commands against it the Circumstances of the then present Church and particular Reasons moving them to it So Can. Apost 81.84 Can. 11. Concil 1 2. Constantinop Can. 16.18 Concil Carthag The King and the Priest as they are of the same Original so are both designed for the same great End and Purpose for the Care and Promotion Protection and Preservation of the Honor of God his Worship and Service in the ways of Virtue and Holiness and Obedience to his Institutions for the benefit of Mankind both here and hereafter and suitably have their names promiscuously and in common in Ecclesiastical Writers Thus Constantine many times calls himself a Bishop and by other Greek Writers is he called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 equal to an Apostle Many of these are to be seen in Potrus de Marca de Concord Sacerd. Imperii l. 2. c. 10. Sect. 6 7. Valentinian and Marcian the Emperors are styled Inclyti Apostoli famous Apostles and Constantine's Animus Sacerdotalis is mention'd and applauded in a Publick Council Vid. Observat Notas in Paenitentiale Theodori Cant. Archiep. pag. 138. with several Compellations of the like Nature And which Considerations or rather undue Consideration of these gives some little gloss upon their Error who fix the full Power of the Priesthood in the Prince renders it somewhat more plausible than that of theirs who place it in the People but the Truth is no more in reality on the one side than on the other These are given partly by way of Complement Magnificent Title or higher Eulogies not unusual to the Eminencies of such Personages as they honored and protected Religion to transfer upon them the Honors that go along with it of what value in themselves it matters not so be the best it hath Or where it has nearer answer'd the thing it self Constantine himself has shew'd in what Nature and Instances in the Fourth Book of his Life wrote by Eusebius cap. 24. Vos speaking to the Bishops in iis quae intra Ecclesiam Episcopi estis Ego vero in iis quae extra geruntur And again Ibid. the Historian also speaks to the same purpose Episcopus quasi Episcoporum erat Constantinus Curam habuit ut sint pii both which amount but to thus much That Constantine's Episcopacy only consisted in his outward care of the Church and promotion of the Duties that belong unto her it reacheth not to the inward Power the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Sacred Function or Office it self AND here now is the great Enquiry and § III this the main Case in Debate amongst us in this unhappy Age of ours Whether the Kingly and Priestly Offices and Charges immediately in their Natures and Constitutions imply and include each other Not that they agree in one design or more in some Externals but whether where the one is there the other as a necessary consequence is at the same time and by the same appointment existing and to which I am to answer in the Negative as to be a Priest has never inferr'd a Secular Power so nor to be a Prince the Spiritual For the full cleering of this point it will be necessary first to consider the Nature of Gifts Duties Offices and Power in general how far they include and infer one another how far each one in it self is attainable and from
2. 5. or in what extent soever the Kings of Judah are proposed as Patterns to our Kings for the exercise of Power in the Christian Church in our Nine and thirty Articles and may authorize them in it to be sure they were never design'd Examples in this particular of Unction or whatever Power it was they were to have as from them our Church could not mean it should thus be derived Our Kings of England 't is plain owe no one instance of their Power to the Coronation it self much less to their being then anointed one but particular Ceremony in the Performance of it and all Jurisdictions and Rights they have as Kings they have before and are to enjoy their whole life-time Supposing they were neither anointed nor even Crown'd at all 't is all an high Ceremony Solemn and Magnificent Peculiar as is the Person and Power and Majesty of a Prince as is becoming a Crown Imperial when set on his Head and the anointing may be used as very lively significant and expressing that separation of his Person which was due and made and acknowledged before and really in him as has been the Custom by Oyl so to sever and set apart Persons and Things but that the thing it self is either commanded or expected by God or design'd and used by Man to any other end service or purpose I never could yet understand David Blondel in his Formula regnante Christo Pag. 119. tells us that the Unction or Custom of anointing Princes was not used among Christians till the year of our Lord 750. and the Consecration of their King Pippin and it was often repeated as twice four five times a year as he instances in several Princes and makes evident it is not look't upon as an initiating investing Ceremony whatever else use they appropriated to it though afterwards it was adjudged Sacriledge to iterate it by a growing Superstition and assum'd Opinion of it the famous Arch-Bishop of Paris De Marca in his Second Preface to his Book De Concord c. and in the Second Book Cap. 7. of the Treatise it self tells us of some in the Greek Church that were of the Opinion that the Prince had the Priestly Power by virtue of his Unction And it was defined in a Synod held at Constantinople in the year of our Lord Nine hundred and seventy that the anointing of the Emperor gives him the same Power to forgive Sins as has the Sacrament of Baptism and the Greeks out of the same Principle of flattery managed the same Opinion and gave their Emperor the same Power as hath the Patriarch but this as we are told depended mostly on a Faction then on foot as it was in it self precarious and Arbitrary so wee 'l leave it to its first bottom which is none at all nor needs it any farther Consideration § V NON est Respublica in Ecclesia sed Ecclesia in Republica 't is the saying of Optatus lib. 3. Contr. Parmen Donatist The Common-wealth is not in the Church but the Church in the Common-wealth under the Head and Government of the Powers of the World as to the Temporals and that instance of the Polity of it no Plea of Office and Deputation what Commission or Designation soever from God and Christ can or ever did exempt any one Man on Earth from it collate or invest therewithal a Power for Earth above it at least as binding Rules for continuance and a pattern for future Practice Our Saviour had it not who made me a Judge or a Divider and none can exercise it as from him but by Usurpation but the Common-wealth and the Church are no ways thus in Subordination and dependencies in another regard as the Church is a Body endow'd with Powers Spiritual thus they are different as the Soul and Body are in Man's Person in their distinct Orbs and Stations as are the Sun and the Moon in the Heavens have a quite diverse Orb and Powers Influences and Devolutions that are variant As the Church must be always in the World in that other sense subject to its governance to the accidents too oft the frowns and high displeasures of it till the World it self is no more So must the World be in the Church in this other sense if that World for whose Sins Christ died if coming to Heaven and Salvation be subject to its Head and Jurisdiction the World may not improperly be said to be as the Moon and the Church as the Sun receiving light and assistance splendor and glory and beauty from it thus influenced and increasing with the increase of God though the Metaphor needs not run any farther and as it has been stretcht too much by some and all this is demonstrable and will appear as evident as the Sun in its Zenith or at Noon day 't is wrote as with an Adamant a Pen of iron on a Rock on that Pillar the Church to be seen and read of all Men and to all Ages for evermore in the Original rise and succession of Church Power in all Transactions Records and Histories of it in the Matter of Fact as notorious to the common sense of Mankind as that one and two make three is to his reason and which is the only Rule in this case to be gone by I 'le begin with the Apostles and so come down to those Ages of the Church and Laws Imperial and Concessions whose Truth and Interest is believed by all to be such as not to engage them to be false in which all Parties agree and concenter § VI PVLCHERRIMA illa quae Ecclesia continet coagmentatio non ex Imperio Romano fluxit Christo monstrante sequentibus Apostolis Grot. in Animadvert Rivet ad Articul 7. That comeliness of Order and Degrees in the Church did not slow from the Roman Empire but from Christ Jesus the Apostles following and imitating of him and as he their chief great Master had not so neither had they his immediate Deputies and Successors their Power either from Man or the Will of Man they in no instance consulted with Flesh and Blood with any thing Humane and of the World in the first rise devolution and conveyance of it but still term themselves the Apostles and Ministers of Christ Jesus nor in the execution of this Power did they do otherwise they consulted only with themselves in the arduous difficult cases arising 't is to the Spirit of the Prophets the Prophets alone are to be subject they go up to Jerusalem to the Apostles and Elders there Acts 15. and 't is Peter James and John consult together upon the like occasion Gal. 2. 't is they ordain Elders and give Laws in all Churches leave Timothy and Titus in Ephesus and Crete and appoint for decency and order they are brought before Kings but 't is mostly if not always to suffer they there take the advantages to assent and plead this their Right and Power distinct and separate to give Rules and Exhortations but
Austin has done on the same occasion in his Hundred and sixty fifth Epistle and the breach of this Succession is the Charge and Crime of Schism they both object against the Donatists as guilty of a Church as well as a State-transgression and both on several accounts as two distinct Impieties are they proceeded against I 'le give but one instance out of St. Chrysostom and 't is so full there needs no more of those many others are producible 't is in his 86th Homily on St. John where he says Christ did invest his Apostles with Power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a King sends forth his Praefects and Governors with a Power immediately from himself to imprison and release to bind and to loose to execute of themselves all Power and Jurisdiction so receiv'd and belonging to the Deputation And what was the Judgment of St. Ambrose the particular case alone betwixt him and the Emperor Theodosius makes abundantly appear occasioned by that cruel Massacre committed in Thessalonica by his at least connivance the Holy Bishop remov'd him from the Prayers and Altar durst not Communicate with him in those Holy Duties whose hands were so full of Blood not that St. Ambrose could impose these things by force and that his Person be so absented by any thing like a Coercive Power or did design or pretend to it and that Penance which he laid upon him and the Emperor accepted of upon his Re-entrance was it suited to his Imperial Power no ways abating of or detracting from his Majesty and Soveraignty it was to enact a Law that no Penal Decree or Edict that comes forth be executed till Thirty days after its first Sanction to avoid the fury of such Proceedings for the future No St. Ambrose upon the either Plea or Execution of this Power does not attempt his either Purple or Scepter to Depose him from his Crown or Absolve his Subjects of their Allegiance he only executes upon him his Pastoral Charge and which is in order to the World to come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and as he reverenced his Kingly Power so did he take care also not to transgress the Law of his God had the Emperor been less a Christian and return'd upon him with violence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he could receive the stroke with Pleasure he did discharge his Duty as a Bishop and he was secure within he only lets the Emperor know that his Purple makes him a Prince not a Priest that it doth not exempt him from the Laws and Discipline of God's Church and for this he appeals to his own Education 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nourish'd up in the Divine Oracles and in which it was clear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what was the Priests and what the Princes peculiar Office and which were there notoriously distinguish'd all this was no Pragmatick newly started particular extravagant attempt in St. Ambrose but a commonly receiv'd and owned Right and Truth what the whole Age had been taught and bred up in And Theodosius in particular 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 knew it by his Education and which caused his displeasure to some who were willing to abate of their Church Right whether out of Court-flattery or for what other Reason for which on the contrary he so highly valued and honoured St. Ambrose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as who alone was worthy of the Name of a Bishop all which with more is to be read in our Church Histories particularly those of Sozomen lib. 7. cap. 25. and Theodoret lib. 5. cap. 18. and that which gave St. Ambrose a particular advantage in the asserting and execution of such his Power was that he had the Autority of Valentinian on his side for that good Emperor had own'd all this before and he Sang this Hymn at his Consecration St. Ambrose being then a lay Governor of that Province deputed to it by himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he gave thanks to God and Christ that as he had committed the Power of Mens Bodies to him in that Province so from them he had now the Power of Souls by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there mentioned his Episcopal Character then conferr'd upon him Theodorit Eccl. Hist l. 4. cap. 7. § XII And he that begins again where we left off in Eusebius and goes along our first Church History to Constantine downward will find all along the same Church-Power continued and asserted and expressed in the same words too as is that of the Empire Nor can any man any more doubt that there was Ecclesiastical Power seated in some measure in every Order of the Church but primarily and chiefly in the Bishop then that there was a Civil Power placed by God first of all in the Empire and from him derived to his Praefects and inferiour Magistrates and Damasus Bishop of Rome had as real a Power in his Diocese and which can no more be questioned upon the score of those publick Records than that Valentinianus his Contemporary had a real Autority in the Empire of the World the Bishop is still represented in his Chair as the Emperor is upon his Throne or can be by words declared they are still called and acknowledged 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb Hist l. 10. c. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cap. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De Vita Constantini lib. 2. c. 62. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cum Presbyteris suis l. 3. c. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cap. 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cap. 59. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de Eustathio dicitur quòd Concilium Niceae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nimirum Antiochiae cum eodem tempore Capite dicit quod Constantinus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sozomen l. 1. c. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sacerdotes Vocat lib. 2. cap. 12. and he gives this account why the Bishops are Buried at Constantinople with the Emperors in the Church which is call'd The Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lib. 2. cap. ult 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lib. 3. c. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De Episcopis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De Imperatore lib. 6. c. 4. Philip who held a Praefecture or some kind of Government under the Empire is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Constantinople and which implies his Mission and Deputation from and under the Emperor But this word is never applied to the Bishops or any one of them who are no Deputies of his receive nothing like a Commission nor have any derived Power from him they are not the King's Ministers or Vicegerents as are those in Temporals and they owe their Autority alone to Christ Jesus Cap. 9. And so again lib. 4. cap. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when mentioning the Officers of the Crown under Deputation and all along in the History 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Romae Sylvester 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Antiochiae Vitalis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 post illum Phlagonius Theodorit lib. 1. c. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Constantinopoleos
only Regnante Christo and the Reign of the Empire is left out though it do no ways infer and prove that all Empire is originally in Christ both as to Spirituals and Seculars and that he that is his Succession the Church has the disposal of the Kingdoms of the World too Primarily and Originally in him as some zealous Parasites of the Roman Faith thence it seems have inferr'd and against whom the main Plot of D. Blondel in this his Book is laid and very well yet this it infers and evidently proves That our Saviour and his Succession the Church have been always supposed to have had a Kingdom in the World not to supplant and overturn to usurp and encroach upon but to bless that other of the World to render it Prosperous on Earth and by her holier Laws and Discipline to bring all to the Kingdom of Heaven when the Reign on Earth is at an end But this D. Blondel could not or would not see himself and therefore a thing too usual with him runs into the opposite extreme to his Adversaries is angry when this very Church-Power and its existence of which himself gives so evident a Demonstration is asserted solitary and not in the Empire as no ways flowing and included in its Constitution as the other will have no Empire but from and in the Church so hard a matter is it for some Men to contend for Truth and against the Church of Rome at once and as has above been observed but these Oversights if no worse are usual with him 't is like his ill luck in other cases § XVIII AND he that duly consults and considers the sundry Proceedings and Laws and judiciary Acts of the Empire about Church-Matters either as interspersed in our Church Histories or as Collected and United in the two Codes the Theodosian and Justinian in their several Laws Novels and Constitutions will readily grant all this and more that the Church and State the Worldly or Secular and Ecclesiastical or Spiritual Power were still consider'd reputed and proceeded on as quite distinct Bodies and Powers though both flowing from the same Original and Fountain yet as diverse as the Soul and Body with several Offices and Duties on each incumbent in different Channels convey'd and all aiming at the great and ultimate end the general advantage of Mankind and each individual both with their faces to the same Jerusalem but in several Paths and Determinations judiciary in order to it Hee 'l find that as the Church the Councils and Bishops were ever Conscientious and Industrious that they entrenched not on the Empire withheld not from it what was its due usurped not any thing was not their own paid all manner of Observances to Kings and Secular Governors in all manner of Duties as Prayers Thanksgiving Instructions Directions Admonitions Tribute Loyalty c. So again did the Empire preserve their Functions Persons and Estates give them Liberties Enfranchisements Protestations unless where Apostates as Julian where overmuch favouring Heresies as some time Constantius c. countenanced and provided for Truth and Holiness and sound Discipline according to the Rules Canons Directions Interpretations and Determinations given by the Bishops assembled in Council or occasionally otherways made and recommended unto them the Church still Petitioned and Supplicated the Empire when by the Affronts and Insolencies the greater Impieties and Obstinacies of the World the edge of their Spiritual Sword was dulled and blunted when Coercive outward Punishments alone could hope to prevail for Peace and Amendment of this we have several Instances upon Record as for the deposing Dioscorus in Evagrius his Ecclesiastical History l. 2. c. 4. in placing Proclus in the Episcopal Throne Socrat. Hist Eccl. lib. 7. cap. 4. which was immediately by Theodosius Maximinianus the defuncts Body being not yet laid in the Ground to prevent the Tumults of the People To this purpose we have the Case of one Cresconius a Bishop who left his own and invaded another's Church and upon a remand from the Council refusing to return the President of the Country is Petitioned and his Secular arm which alone has a Coercive Power over Mens Persons sends him back again according to the Constitutions Imperial Concil Carthag Can. 52. just such another Case as that of Paulus Samosetanus in the days of Aurelian the Emperor above-mentioned and the course of Proceedings we see is the same now as then both in Church and State as that Laws may be made to restrain such as were fled to the Church for refuge Can. 60. that the Riot and Excess be taken away on their Festivals which drew Men to Gentilism again by the obscener Practices and which were without shame and beyond Modesty Can. 65 66. that the Secular Power would come in eò quod Episcoporum autoritas incivitatibus contemnitur because the Power of the Bishops is contemn'd in the Cities Can. 70. ut Ecclesiae opem ferat to assist the Church against these Impieties so strenuous and prevailing Can. 78. as in the Case of the unrulier Donatists Can. 95 96. and the Thanks of the Bishops were given for their Ejection Can. 97. and the Emperor is Petitioned to grant Defensors to the Church Can. 10.109 and as the Church thus supplicated the Empire in these arduous Cases and when its assistance was wanting so on the other side did the Empire still advise with the Church when designing to make Religion the Municipal Law of the Empire to imbody it with the World under the same Sanctions either as to Punishments or Rewards to make it the Religion of the State also they still consulted antecedent Canons or present Bishops in Council or some Ecclesiastical Autority they created nothing anew gave the help of the World for Countenance Assistance and Confirmation to stablish what the Church had put its Sanction upon And those Emperors that designed to discountenance Christianity or set up some particular Heresie and stifle it in part or depose any great Church-men and some such there was they attempted it not but by the Clergy though of their own the Power as in themselves alone was not pretended to they had their own Synods and Bishops in order to it and what they did was done in their Names also and all this will readily appear to any one acquainted with the Canons of the Church and Laws of the Empire or if it seem too hard a task he 'l find it at least attempted to his hand and with Care and Industry reduced to a little room by Photius Patriarch of Constantinople in his Book therefore called the Nomo-Canon to shew the concurrency of the Laws and Canons the Canons still placed first as in course anteceding And in this sense only that of Socrates can be understood in the Proem to his Fifth Book of Ecclesiastical History 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Reges viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So soon as Kings began to be Christians the things of the Church were managed and accomplished
great Mercy and Justice of the Empire thus to conserve Mens Liberties not to have them expos'd to the Temporal Punishments which always follow'd and severely too upon Excommunication Nor is it sit that an Action of so great a weight and consequence every ways of so great a concern both as to Body and Soul be altogether Arbitrary at the Pleasure many times Pique of one Man the Prince at this rate has not the Command of his own Subjects and his own Laws may be executed against the interest of his Government Excommunications are only then supposed to have effect Clave non Errante when duly executed according to Church Rules of which the Prince is or ought to be the Conserver no one is supposed to grant Priviledges against himself and as he enstates certain Persons with special Immunities so is he to enquire and to be concern'd as upon the admittance into as in the case of Ordinations just now considered so upon an exclusion from them otherwise his neither Favours nor Punishments are his own and his Power and Government may be weak'ned by it Ne Immunitatis Ecclesiasticae obtentu munia Publica vel nervi Reipublicae conciderent ad clericatum confugientibus iis à quibus munia Publica per Provincias sustinebantur 12. Cod. Theodos Tit. 1.69.104.115 c. which way soever his Subjects may be disabled for the Service of the Empire whether when Priviledges are too lavishly and inconsiderately conferr'd or Exemptions made the reason is one and so is the effect in either and the Prudence and Power of the Empire is to be imply'd alike for Prevention of each and securing the Subject for his own and the Subjects best advantage and consequently both the Censures and Orders of the Church when inflicted and conferr'd are to be under his Inspection If the Empire come in with his Power to assist and strengthen the Church and Religion gains its outward aid and Protection it must be in dependance on such the Power Secular whose Temporal Security is to be consulted and included in the Execution The Plot and Contrivance both of our common Christianity and our common Reason at once do require it and the same I have said above as to the Power of the Empire in all Christian Councils call'd and protected by him But the Emperor all this while is not found to Excommunicate or Absolve in his own Person by his own individual formal Act that is a Power that depends upon another Head is derived by a differing Stream and to a diverse Subject it is not in the force of the Secular Arm nor does the Prince lay a Claim or Pretence unto it Divina primum Vindicta the Divine Vengeance i. e. Excommunication passed first upon the Hereticks inflicted by the Church and then motus animi nostri the Punishments from the Empire those Penalties reckoned up before and in part following Cod. Justinian l. 1. Tit. 1. And the same Emperor some Bishops falling under his Displeasure and adjudged worthy his Animadversion for leaving their Cures and coming up to Constantinople under Pretence of Business about Religion without leave and to the expence of the Church He says he will not lay Pecuniary Mulcts upon them and which was all he could do except Banishments on their Persons but thinks Abstentions to be more proper 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but this is to be done either by the Patriarch of Constantinople himself if he be a Metropolitan that offended or if a Bishop only of a City by such his Metropolitan that he is under and which is no otherwise the work of the Empire then that he urges a due execution Ibid. Cod. Justin l. 1. Tit. 3.43 So again the deposition of a Bishop which is the same as Excommunication to a Lay-man is it made residentibus Sacerdotibus by the Priesthood it self a Synod of Bishops the Emperor only adds his Temporal Penalties as if he accept not such his Deposition but is Seditious and disturbs the Publick Peace he be banish'd an Hundred Miles from that City where he had officiated and which he had infested 't is the particular Punishment of the State 16. Cod. Theodos Lex 35. Tit. 2. the very same we have again Novel 42. Sententia Sacerdotum 't is the Judgment and Sentence of the Priest makes the Deposition the Empires Secular Arm seconds it proceeds to a Banishment of his Person and that his Books be burnt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first and original Right being in the Clergy Praefat. Ibid. Cap. 1. and more expresly there Cap. 3. 't is the Appointment of the Emperor that one Zoaras amongst others be anathematized but it follows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Priests Determination must pass upon it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the Churches own inward Autority and derived from none 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 only the Empire makes it of more Force and Autority that is by a Penal Mulct annexing Banishment unto it as it there follows and so 't is promised for the future whatever are the Church censures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Laws Imperial shall corroborate and strengthen them ibid. and so all along the Church censuring the Empire punishing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epilog ibid. Novel 42. and 't is a Law of Theodosius the younger that the Clergy-man that is unfaithful in his Duty and retain'd Servants at the Altar and gave them refuge to the disadvantage of their Masters be deposed by the Bishop or his Animadversion be made sub Episcopalis jurisdictionis Arbitrio according to his Discretion and when degraded into the Order of a Lay-man Motum judiciarii rigori◠accipiat he be given up to the Civil Magistrate for farther Punishment Cod. 9. Theodos Tit. 45. l. 5. and of which more is to be seen in the Comments of Gothofred there And indeed all the Cautions Rules and Directions given to the Bishops in these instances imply only that they might erre in the execution the Power is all along supposed in the Church nor is it by the Prince attempted as he does not Excommunicate though seeing just reason for it so neither does he absolve upon the unjustest censures denounced wherein one Priest has been defective it has been enjoyn'd another remitted Majori Sacerdoti to a higher Order and Jurisdiction to the Metropolitan or Patriarch as was the Church Custom to appeal to the Superior Novel 123.11 So that we can readily yield to all that jus Caesareum Mr. Selden speaks of De Synedriis l. 1. cap. 8. pag. 223. that Caesarian Power both as to Excommunications and Absolutions And as Mr. Selden explains himself too and allow his own instances in the Jews Pag. 234 235. Caligula Caesar laid an Inhibition upon them and Banished their Persons out of Rome and denied them the exercise of their Religion which latter is the same in effect as Excommunication As he there argues this Inhibition was continued by Claudius Caesar for some time and afterwards quite taken off
place Mat. 10.28 Fear not those that can kill the Body but can kill the Soul All men therefore that would avoid both the Punishments that are in this World to be inflicted for Disobedience to their earthly Soveraign and those which shall be inflicted in the World to come for Disobedience to God have need to be taught to distinguish well between what is and what is not necessary to eternal Salvation Leviathan Part 3. cap. 43. § IV NOR is it Mr. Hobbs his Rule only but the Rule of those who were as much better as they are ancienter than he I mean the Ancient and Holy Fathers of the Christian Church whom we find thus laying down these distinctions of necessary and not necessary or rather more and less necessary for the adjusting and determining concerning the degrees and measures of Duty whether to God or Man In Clemens Alexandrinus we have the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tenents that are Principal and of a first Order and others that are higher and go beyond them Strom. l. 6. pag. 675. and Lib. 4. p. 538. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whatever is impossible is not necessary and what is necessary is easie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is no want or inability to such things we are indispensably to do Idem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 2. c. 1.148 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Strom. lib. 7. pag. 737. in the Life of Constantine by Eusebius l. 2. c. 70 71. there is mention'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Head and Uppermost of the Commandments in the Law which will admit of no debate and demur in the assent unto them and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the same purpose in Evagrius Eccl. Hist l. 1. c. 11. which are Principles and not to be innovated in or dissented from which to do is certain Punishment in some points a liberty to change is granted but not in all as it is in that Chapter St. Austin discourses of some things ad ipsa fidei pertinent fundamenta as the foundation and support of Religion and which if taken away Totum quod in Christo auferre molitur Christianity it self is gone with it and in others he leaves a latitude and good and Learned Men may dissent about them Lib. 1. cont Julian Pelag. cap. 6. Ep. 157. ad Optatum and not thus to consider things is occasion of distraction among Christians nor can Conscience receive a just satisfaction in discharge of her Obedience I do not know how to express my self better than in the words of our Learned Dr. Hammond Serm. on Acts 3.26 Vol. 2. There is not a more noxious mistake a more fatal piece of Stoicism among Christians than not to observe the different degrees and elevations of Sin one of the first another of the second magnitude it is the ground to say no more of a deal of desperate prophaneness And it is this in particular is lamented in John Calvin by Arnoldus Poelengburgh one friend enough to him that he did not apprehend and separate inter fundamentalia non fundamentalia between what was fundamental and what not Vberiori cum fructu arduum opus reformationis promovisset and which had he done his Reformation had been with much success carried on by him inter Ep. Eccl. pag. 328. Amstelodam BUT then what is necessary and what not § V and such the degrees of it is that which will be harder yet to determine unless we go on with Mr. Hobs in that Chapter and then indeed 't is easie enough done For he tells us All that is necessary to Salvation is contained in two Virtues Faith in Christ and Obedience to Laws and the Laws we are to obey are only what the Civil Soveraign has made so and the Precepts of the Bible oblige no otherwise then as he so commands and puts his Sanction upon them and this all the Obedience is necessary to salvation and by Faith he only means that Jesus is the Christ thus indeed it is not hard to reconcile our obedience to God with our obedience to the Civil Magistrate as himself there very well infers because on his terms we owe and are to pay no obedience to God at all all the faith we are not to violate and all the Laws we are to obey are only this that Commandment to obey our Civil Sovereign and whatever rules he assigns for our obedience nothing upon these accounts can make demur or but lay a scruple upon conscience for the point is plain and easie and decided to our hands that 't is Man and not God we are to obey unless man please to receive and imbody into his Codes or Laws what God in Scripture has proposed and recommended unto us not unlike that Law of the Senate decided and exposed by Tertullian Apol. cap. 5. Ne quis Deus ab Imperatore consecretur nisi à Senatu probatus apud nos de humano arbitrio divinitas pensitetur nisi homini Deus placuerit non erit Deus that none must be consecrated a God unless approved of by the Senate the Apotheosis is from man by his favour and grant and unless God pleases man he shall not be God § VI AND all this is not much to be admired in Hobbs and Spinosa his Scholar whose known design is to depretiate and make nothing at all of the Gospel of Christ to render both God and his Church insignificant but the admiration and astonishment is this to see it publickly Preach'd and then Printed in our Church of England and by him that is of a higher Order and Dignity there as by the Dean of Canterbury as in his Sermon above mentioned and he that takes but a little pains to run over that train of absurdities collected out of Mr. Hobbs by the great Archdeacon of Canterbury in his late Treatise of the Obligation of Christianity by Divine Right and compares them with that passage of the Sermon and the following part of the Section the occasion of this Discourse will find very little difference in the expression and delivery So many of those most fulsome Positions to come so very near what is said by the Dean as his own present Judgment that no less than an Ambition of being suspected for a Hobbist if not embraced as really such could have drawn it from his Tongue and Pen and the next wonder must be that two such opposite Judgments and at this time o' th' day in the Church of England should be found fellow members together and with the two Head Titles in her famous Metropolitical Church of Canterbury And had I been of the same Judgment with Mr. Deane or but inclinable to a perswasion in order to it and had Yorkshire been my Country and I to Preach a Sermon to my fellow Natives of it of Love and Peace as he once did I would never have laid the Surplice and Cross and Kneeling at the Altar upon the Bishops but plainly told them that they
I would as soon cut out my Tongue as speak or cut off my Hands as subscribe for the abolishing or ceasing of it and that upon any other terms than the omitting God's Worship altogether or that my Religion it self is not retainable with it He that values God's Worship it self must in a due Proportion value that which comes so near to it or at least he apprehends so to do which is so congruous so decent and so advantageous to and in the Performance of it And as my Religion in general is to be preferr'd before all things so is that which seems most apt and best answering with and proportion'd to its discharge to be next in my thoughts and designs to retain and continue and in the next degree would I become its Advocate These Proposals then of Moderation and from these Persons break and are inconsistent in themselves there is a repugnancy in the terms and then surely not allowable with a thorow considering Person If I believe the Service Book in the Church of England the best and aptest Instrument of God's Publick Worship I am no more to forego and give it over than I can satisfie my self that the Blind and the Lame and wither'd in the Flock was acceptable to God of old then I may devote my Body to his Service under the Gospel and leave out the best Member of it that I have or give but half of my self unto him and the worser part too my Body without my Spirit the life and soul of it The Controversie about the precise Day on which Easter was to be kept was high amongst the ancient Bishops and yet the more considering of them all the while counted for it in the order of those things which in their first Nature are indifferent and it might be kept on this day or on that no peremptory fixation of God's supervening nor does indeed the limiting and fixing it to any time conduce so much to the ends of Devotion and the Service and Honour of God as many other instances now under debate do only Victor Bishop of Rome incited whether by Zeal or Ambition went too high limiting Church Communion to one set time for the observancy and did to be sure threaten Non-Communion with the Asiaticks upon their dissent from the Western Churches in it but yet the first indifferency and original immutability of the thing it self was not concluded by them a ground sufficient to lay aside or alter that Custom when whatever it was in the Bishop of Rome because below an antecedent Command in the Gospel whether Zeal or Ambition demanded it none farther from imposing on other Churches what was the alone particular Practice of their own or from censuring what was differing from them and none again more strenuous in defending and maintaining their own way and time they did not recede from what so great and contiguous a tradition of most holy Bishops and Autority even Apostolical had devolved they had immediately receiv'd from and transmitted to one another and all along in an unalterable Practice upheld and maintain'd and recommended and Rome's Universal Power had not then gain'd so much in the Church as to over-rule and constrain them all which is to be seen at large in the account given of it by Eusebius Hist lib. 5. cap. 23 24. I do not say that Apostolical Practice it § XII self in the like instances is immutable and always obliging for the present case of keeping Easter contradicts Apostolical Practice was on both sides and several other Actions and Synodical Determinations by the Apostles do not now oblige Christendom being occasional Decisions and Canons But this I say where the concern is not only the same but higher as in the Publick Service of God in our Church and which more neerly relates to God in his Worship and with equal heat its abolishment is endeavour'd as was the time of keeping Easter after the manner of the Jews by the Bishop of Rome when equally bottom'd on the same both Autority and Antiquity even to Apostolical for so the Asiaticks pleaded the Autority of St. Philip and St. John and the Malice and Industry of our Opposers cannot gainsay us I 'le add where every thing concurs to the procuring Reverence Piety and Devotion and in which case Calvin himself contends for Ceremonies in the Church of Christ when Christ is so illustrated by them Ergonè inquies nihil Ceremoniarum debitur ad juvandam â—orum imperitiam id ego non dico omnino enim utile illis esse sentio id modo contendo ut modus ille adhibeatur qui Christum illusâ—ret non obscuret Institut l. 4. c. 10. Sect. 14. and for us to abate of these Rites to change or lay aside our either times or ways of Worship because perhaps a Neighbouring Church is differing and requires or perhaps and which is worse demands it of us as the Church of Rome did of the Church of Asia this hath no Precedent of Example no rule of Religion to enforce us to submit to or comply with we have a President of as famous Apostolical a Church as the Primitive Story acquaints us with that is against it and that Church which so urges and requires of us savours too much of the present Usurpations of Rome not improbably first attempted in Victor their once Bishop § XIII AND much less is that Church to submit when the unruliness and disobedience of her own Members attempt the alteration when private Pets and open Ambition in order to engrossing Superiority and Rule in themselves stimulate thereunto as in our late pretended Reformations and which is at this day only without Arms but with the same virulency of Spirit carried on in our Streets when at the best the Infirmities but raâ—her the impetuousness and madness of the People promotes it this no reason can indure and yet it is the great and popular Plea for the nulling our Laws Ecclesiastical now among us when the rule bends to the obliquity the right Line warps and complies with that which is crooked both become disorder'd and perverse together and which is the misery of all no standard supposed to remain to reduce them When the Laws of the Church submit to that Extravagancy they are design'd to prevent or remedy and the only reason why they are to be no more is because every Man may and must do what seemeth him good in his own eyes their Will and Lusts and Passions must reign and give Laws this is the height of Anarchy and Confusion or farther and for which there is something more of shew and pretence because Pity may be a Motive to give up all to the weak and infirm that is to those of the least understanding and discernment for St. Paul has no other sense of a weak Brother or a weak Conscience then that which is more ignorant what is this but to place the Discretion and Government of the Church in the hands of Ideots and half
subject and in what case it will be that they are to obey I shall add farther THAT if this Conclusion be good That § II therefore there ought to be no Church Power nor Laws at all distinct from those of the State because at some one time or other both may stand in competition and the same Action at the same time may fall under an Injunction and Prohibition and these Laws of the Church must of necessary consequence overthrow and over-rule those of the State the same is equally deducible from the Laws of God and Christ immediately given by them or their Messengers the Apostles all which will be as much liable to the same consequence and found some times or other many times to be sure as inconsistent in the particular practice as to what the Secular Power may be necessitated to command The Duties to be performed in the Congregation as Prayer attending the Sacraments c. are what are the appointment of Christ and obliging every Christian and yet in the time of War in order to publick Justice by the very accidents and contingencies of man's life do and must come cross in Mr. Hobb's sense and the Governments dissolution must be also hazarded thereby and 't will be the same where the Gospel-Commands reach the Imperate Acts of the Will as they speak or organical Duties and which require set times and place and motions in the Performance and yet these were Soveraign Laws notwithstanding when actually and in their persons given by Christ and the Apostles then Mr. Hobbs acknowledges them to be such only to be superseded on diverse Considerations not so particularly engaging the Performance at some times and yet still continuing to be obliging as in their several designs and purposes and none do any more And Herod indeed suspected a Dissolution of the Government by it these very Laws of God compared with one another as with those of the Civil Magistrate upon these mens inferences must cease were unduly imposed because they are not at all times by reason of one another practicable and 't is equally impossible to Mourn and to Rejoyce to Fast and to be Hospitable to be upon my knees at Prayer and to be doing Justice on the Bench to obey God and my King in the same Person at one and the same time and in the same Duties as to obey Soveraignty and Supremacy Canons and Laws a Ghostly and a Civil Autority and all or none are on the same account to be placed in opposition If the Objection has any force as Mr. Hobbs thinks it has and lays his full stress against Ecclesiastical Laws upon it And again if whatever is from a due institution and from just autority then looses its Sanction and Nature is to be null'd and to cease if upon other Considerations suspended for some time something more weighty more useful or absolutely necessary may intervene and it is not at that time to be practised and complied with or thus because not always practicable it ought not to be enjoyn'd at all then sundry of God's own Laws must cease to oblige and that for ever or were unjust in their Enactions because obliging to practice only in their due times and circumstances The affirmative Precepts of the Ten Commandments themselves will fail one way or both nor does any pretend in his Expositions on the Decalogue to make but sense of such those Precepts without first laying down that distinction of semper and ad semper presupposing and taking it for a truth that that which is always a Law and of it self obliging does not actually engage to performance at every time has only its proper seasons for practice if then a compromising and adjustment is not allow'd to be made in one instance 't is not in the other and if in any one 't is in all we can as easily reconcile the Laws of the Church in their Practice with the Laws of the State as we can the immediate Laws of God and Christ as we can the Laws of God with one another and thorow Obedience in every respect is equally possible the same humane Prudence and Discretion one and the same but course of things their Natures and Obligations considered will determine and adjust in one as in the other and which not presupposed and made use of in all there will be indeed only justling and thwarting as to all our Obligations and at last 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Universal Dissolution Now in order to this in regard to the Soveraignty and Supremacy Laws and Canons Civil and Ghostly Obedience as 't is phrased and which is at present the particular concern what I have already said in the former Chapter concerning Church Censures Penances Excommunications and the Canons of Councils and their particular Obligations might suffice in general and satisfie any serious inquirer Nothing of this nature is to be of force if shutting out any antecedent immutable known Duty implying Rebellion and Sedition thwarting what is upon any occasional Necessity or appearance of a conveniency commanded by the lawful Civil Power the Church always asserts owns and pleads for Princes and what she enjoyns cannot be believed to be of force or by her intendment if against them But my purpose is to go a little farther in compliance with this present opportunity and to consider the Laws of the Church in the large acceptation as including the Laws of Religion in general whether meerly Humane and Ecclesiastical or more purely and immediately Divine given by Christ and his Apostles in their Persons and Instances whether as to Positive institutions or Moral and in regard to each of which what is the force and autority of a civil Command how far it either suspends or disengageth and I the rather also do it take this latitude because the one when well considered will add light and much contribute to the better understanding of the other especially to the clearing of the point of Ecclesiastical and Civil Power their extent and obligations NOW in order to this Mr. Hobbs himself § III has given us an excellent Key and his Method in general is to be followed by us I 'le here transcribe his words than which nothing can be more apposite But this difficulty of obeying God and the Civil Soveraign on Earth to those that can distinguish betwixt what is necessary and what is not necessary for their reception into the Kingdom of God is of no moment for if the command of the Civil Soveraign be such as that it may be obey'd without the forfeiture of life eternal not to obey is unjust and the Precept of the Apostle takes place Servants obey your Masters in all things and the Precept of our Saviour The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses Chair all therefore they shall say observe and do but if the Command be such as cannot be obey'd without being damned to eternal Death then it were madness to obey it and the Council of our Saviour takes