THE King's Authority In DISPENSING with Ecclesiastical Laws Asserted and Vindicated By the late Reverend PHILIP NYE A Congregational Divine LONDON Printed for H. N. and Nathanael Ranew at the King's Arms in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCLXXXVII TO THE King's most Excellent Majesty JAMES By the Grace of God Of England Scotland France and Ireland KING Defender of the Faith c. May it please Your Majesty YOUR Gracious Declaration for Liberty of Conscience is such an instance of the tender care You have of each Man that hath the happiness to be Your Subject that it as well exacts the Service of every one in particular as the Universal Applause Great Sir Having no better opportunity to express my Gratitude I lay at Your Royal Feet these Sheets wrote by my deceased Father occasioned by his late Majesty's Declaration May they be instrumental to promote the Designs of Your Princely Clemency May every Individual in Your Kingdoms enjoy their Consciences and Property May your Parliaments serve you in all those healthful Laws which may appease our Differences and secure our Peace so that not only the present Age but likewise Posterity may bless your Reign for introducing so compassionate an Indulgence These Blessings for you and us and that you may live long and happily in the pursuance of these merciful and noble Principles are the Prayers of Your Majesty's most obedient Subject HENRY NYE A DISCOURSE of Ecclesiastical Laws and Supremacy of the Kings of England in Dispensing with the Penalties of such Laws CHAP. I. The Case and State of the Question THE King's Power and Jurisdiction in Ecclesiastical Affairs may fall under a three-fold Consideration as First put forth by himself Secondly by Commission granted to Ecclesiastical Persons and exercised in those Courts we term Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Thirdly Or such Affairs are managed and ordered by him in Parliament and the Authority thereof The Form in which these Ecclesiastical Laws are expressed unto us is this Be it enacted by the King 's most excellent Majesty by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in Parliament assembled and by the Authority of the same c. Meerly to advise and consent imply no more Authority in the establishment of Ecclesiastical Laws than what was put forth in the Convocation in their Canons but it being added by the Authority of the same this Authority thus mentioned may be construed either relating to the Advice and Consent of the Lords and Commons in Parliament a Suffrage more than an Advice or bare Consent for it implieth when Bills are formed read debated and assented to by both Houses they were then stamped with some kind of Parliamentary Authority Or it is to be interpreted relating to King Lords and Commons and which is likely for Consultations of Parliament tho concluded by Vote yet become not formally a Law until his Majesty hath given his Royal Assent And in this sense Ecclesiastical Laws and Orders which are Enacted and Established by Statutes have as formal a Sanction being not only by Authority of the King but by Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament as other Laws wherein our Civil Interests are concerned namely a joint and not the single Power of either This being granted rather than needlesly to dispute those highest Interests and thence also inferred That as these Ecclesiastical Laws have their Rise Vigour and Strength so their Diminution and Abatement from conjunction of both Powers and are more fixed and stable than those Canons and Orders in Ecclesiastical Matters that have their Sanction from the King only To this I say briefly Altho Men may be Tenants in Common yet none can be joint Tenants with the King. These Powers are not equal the King hath the Supremacy and is thereby enabled to such Acts and Orderings about the Penalties of our Laws as are peculiar to the Crown and Dignity of a King as in Mitigating Exempting Dispensing Licensing Pardoning c. and all this more especially in Ecclesiastical Matters as by the following Discourse will appear SECT 1. This Power and Superiority exercised by the Kings of England in relation to the Penalties of such Penal Laws of both sorts shall be spoken to in these two Particulars I. That such an Authority and Supremacy is necessary and ought to be placed in some Hand II. That it is a Dignity which hath always been placed in the Kings and Queens of this Realm I. For the former In all Polities and Forms of Government as there is a Rule which is to be the Measure and Square to and by which all Mens Actions that live under that Polity are ordinarily to be conformed and judged so is there always some provision made for mitigating the Rigour of the Rule in Cases which may fall out and cannot be foreseen by the wisest Legislators and in such cases to exercise Summum jus would be Summa injuria therefore there is here not only a Power to judg as the case stands in the strict Letter of the Law but as there are Courts of Law so are there Chanceries Courts of Equity and Conscience wherein the Law and Rule it self is dispensed with and varied from and the Proceedings there are not according to the strict Terms of Law but secundum equum bonum as the Merit of the Case in it self may require 1. For Laws constituted for a whole Nation universally to be submitted to by Persons of what quality soever and how much soever different in their Conditions must needs in their strict execution bear harder upon some Men than others Parliaments in their Laws going by the Rule of Ad ea quae frequentius accidunt c. and better an inconvenient Mischief than an Inconvenience It is taken for granted that a general Law which hath its Good and Necessity in respect to the Bulk and Body of a People may prove unequal to particular Persons from the Circumstances of their present Condition In a Common Wealth the Ease and Benefit of each particular Person of what Degree or Condition soever is to be consulted but where Laws are executed in their full rigour and no Mercy or Indulgence to particular Persons in special and unusual Cases it will not be so God himself who knoweth every Man's Heart yet some of his Laws that are given in general to all would not prove so equal to each at all times without exemptions in particular Cases Hence we say Affirmative Precepts bind not ad semper to such Laws is that of Mark 2.26 in the Case of Shew-bread to be referred And the Pope who assumes to himself a possibility not to Err yet how doth his Republick abound in Courts for Faculties Dispensations Indulgences c. 2. It 's also to be considered there are no Societies of Men but may err in their Councils Laws made in one Parliament come to a Review and often to an Alteration yea Repeal in the next The Intervals of those great Councils are sometimes
importance by the King alone with advice of his Council Instances whereof you have many 1. In general The whole System and Body of Ecclesiastical Laws and Canons are published by the Synods of the Clergy from time to time These Laws have no Parliament Sanction or dependance upon Authority thence derived an their Constitution Nor yet have these Canons their Authority from the Synod or Clergy met in Convocation for Canons concluded by the Province of Canterbury only cannot oblige the Clergy of the Province of York having no Representatives or Clerks sitting in that Synod such was the Synod or Convocation met Anno 1584 1597 1603 and yet obliged to Subjection the Arch-Bishop and Clergy of the Province of York as well as those of 1640 where were the Representatives of both Provinces It 's therefore the Regal Authority express'd in the Letters Patents affixed to these Canons that gives them their chief Power and are therefore termed Regiae Leges Ecclesiae And whatsoever Cannons or Laws published by Convocation would have been of the same Force and Efficacy to oblige the Subject if only by the King with the Advice of his Council 2. In particular The several Injunctions Advertisements Declarations and other Edicts and Requirements from Sovereign Power by his Majesties Predecessors you have in the Injunction of Edward 6.1547 and Queen Elizabeth 1559 with Articles of Visitation thereunto adjoyned They license Ministers to preach and suspend also from preaching There were Articles in the Time of Edward 6. for establishing an Agreement in Religion and the rooting out Discords in Opinion 1552 and by Queen Elizabeth 1562. Also Edw. 6. established a Liturgy or publick Form of Prayer to be used throughout the Kingdom 1547 30 Eliz. after there had been an uniform Order of Divine Service and to be used only in the English Tongue established by Parliament as the only Form and no other or otherwise the Queen Anno 1560 by her Sole Authority published a different Form for Funerals with Liberty to say it in the Latin Tongue with a Non obstante in respect to the former Establishment There were also Sermons or Homilies a part of Divine Service required to be read by the Minister which being a matter of Ecclesiastical Cognisance were appointed by Edward 6 and Queen Elizabeth and not by Authority in Parliament 4. King James by his Sole Power without Authority of Parliament giveth out Directions for Preachers under Penalty of Suspension ab officio beneficio wherein many great and necessary Gospel-Truths are forbidden to be preached by any under the Degree of a Bishop or Dean Some Truths may not be preached by way of positive Doctrine but only by way of Use and Application no Sermons in the After-noon throughout the Kingdom to be preached from any Text but what is taken out of the Catechism Lord's Prayer Creed or ten Commandments He gives Faculties and confirms a new Body of Lecturers or Preachers throughout England that be neither Parsons Vicars nor Curats These Instances though not express'd of what these Powers have dispensed with or indulged yet are pertinent upon this Account What Sovereign Power thus put forth in Constitutions Injunctions Directions c. in Ecclesiastical Matters may in like proportion be exerted in Exemptions Dispensations c. As with Parliament and other Councils vested with Authority the Power to repeal Laws and Statutes is as large as that Power by which they enact and establish Laws For example if King James which is our last Instance might by his Prerogative confirm and establish a new Order of the Clergy he may by the same Power dispense with and license such Preachers as now seem and are reputed so to be And it follows also if his Power will extend to indulge such Preachers it will not prove short in respect to Hearers that are as it were new in the way of their Assemblies and indulge such as are not of the ancient Order of the Parochial Congregation of England SECT 2. The like Deductions might be drawn from other of those Instances I shall notwithstanding for further Confirmation add other Instances and such wherein you have this Power put forth in dispensing and exempting from what hath been burdensom to Mens Consciences from Parliamentary or Episcopal Impositions 1. That of Edw. 6. in the fourth Year of his Reign certain Protestants removing themselves and Families out of Popish Countries into England for their Consciences Sake and being not free to submit to the Form of Worship and Discipline established in this Church This good King by his Sole Authority granteth them the Liberty of such a Church-Government and Form of Worship as we shall say more to in its place as should be most suitable to their own Perswasion This being utterly against the Provision and Settlement newly made by Parliament he strengthens his Grant by a Non obstante the Statute and strictly requires all Bishops and Majors c. to suffer them quietly to enjoy their Consciences 2. Another Instance you have of the same good King John Hooper being chosen Bishop of Gloucester and there being certain Rites and Ceremonies established by Act of Parliament to be conformed unto in the Consecration of Bishops offensive to his Conscience Edw. 6. requires Arch-Bishop Cranmer to omit these Ceremonies discharging him of all manner of Dangers Penalties and Forfeitures he should run into and be in any manner of way by omitting of the same and these our Letters faith the King shall be your sufficient Warrant and Discharge therefore 3. The Instance you have also in what was done by Queen Elizabeth for relief of tender Consciences namely her Majesty being informed that in certain Places of this Realm sundry of Her Subjects called to the Ministry being induced by sinister Persuasions are scrupled about the Form of an Oath which by an Act of the last Parliament was prescribed to be taken according to the Form expressed in the Act under Penalty of being disenabled to bear any Office in State or Church Her Majesty was graciously pleased to assume by her Power in Ecclesiastical Affairs to give and declare such a Sense and Construction of the Words of this Oath expressed in other Words much different for their Satisfaction with a gracious Declaration That such Persons fit for the Ministry as could not take the Oath in the Parliament-Form should accept it in this Sense and doing so they shall notwithstanding be accepted by her Majesty as good and obedient Subjects and acquits them of all manner of Penalties contained in the said Act against such as should refuse to take the same By which means many an able Man had Freedom to exercise his Ministry which otherwise must be laid aside which Indulgence of hers although against an Act of Parliament yet was owned as done by Lawful Authority and recognised by the Parliament 5. Eliz. and her Exposition assented to and enacted 4. This renowned Queen together with King James and King Charles the First confirmed
a Common-Wealth Common Justice the Proprieties of Men c. 1. To the first His Majesty or any of his Predecessors hath not at any time in any Statute or Law that concerns these Ecclesiastical Matters by any such special Words bound up himself but rather the contrary as in those two Acts wherein more especially our Affair lieth That for Uniformity where the dispensing with that Statute granted to Strangers by sole Prerogative-Authority is justified And the Act of 22 Car. 2. by the Proviso there inserted the Parliament seems to induce his Majesty's Assent in the recognizing of his Prerogative so expresly in that Act as if they spoke thus Though this Act be very Severe yet if it be found prejudicial or not to attain the End for which we judg such Severity to be requisite it is an Ecclesiastical Affair and your Majesty may when you please dispense and exempt Persons from it 2. There is nothing transacted in these Ecclesiastical Affairs by the Civil Magistrate and as depending on his Authority but such Matters as in the sense of our Law are things materially indifferent and therefore not Malum in se they do not bind the Conscience of the Subject in the nature of them considered in themselves Q. Eliz. Advertisements 1569 Preface the keeping or omitting of a Ceremony in it self is but a small thing yet the wilful and contemptuous transgression and breaking a common Order c. So that these Precepts concerning Ecclesiastical Matters oblige not in their own Nature as what is either Bonum or Malum in se but as prohibited or commanded 3. Civil Rights and Claims and in Temporal Things only are of the immediate and intrinsick Concern and Interest of all Republicks Dominium non fundatur in Gratiâ if the just claim of a Prince may not be interrupted upon the account he is of this or that Religion or Perswasion nor may a Subject be justly Banished Imprisoned Confiscated or Ruined upon the meer account of Religion or because his Conscience is not cast into the same Mould with the Prince or present Establishment SECT 3. QUEST III. Religion and the Worship and Service of God being the great Concernments of a Nation Is it not then to dispence with the Penalties in Ecclesiastical Laws too great a Trust to be reposed in any one Hand Answ 1. In what sense Religion is the Concern of a Civil Republick 2. The Nature of this Trust 1. The Moment or Weight of a Matter in our deliberation hath its proportion either as under an absolute or respective Consideration Wisdom is better than Riches in it self but not in relation to the support of present Life the Knowledg of God and Divine Things is better than to know the Virtue of Drugs and Plants but not so in respect to the study of Physick so Religion and the Worship of God is the chiefest and better part in it self considered but in its respective Consideration as to the faculty of a particular Person to a Community of Men for the advance of Civil Affairs There are other Qualifications and Inducements of greater consequence and more directly and immediatly tending to the being or well-being thereof That there be no Mistake in this great Concernment I further distinguish There cometh under the Notion of Religion the Holiness and Righteousness that is of the Moral Law Principles whereof are in all Mens Natures and attend in their Actings by a natural Conscience 2. Gospel-Duties directed and ordered by a Supernatural Light no Foot-steps or Principles hereof are found in us For the former Religion in that sence as the Knowledg of God Conscience of an Oath Justice and Righteousness in our Dealings c. are such Things wherein the Well-being of Common-Wealths is much concerned But Religion as it stands in the exerting Supernatural Principles and in Duties termed the Commandments of Christ as the other the Commandments of God John 15. as Faith Repentance Sacraments Discipline and the like Gospel-Ordinances In the Duties under these Heads considered and as distinct from Moral Duties there is little or nothing directly and immediately contributed by them to Mens Civil Interests further than where these Supernatural Vertues are planted in Mens Minds the Moral Duties of Piety and Honesty do more plentifully abound and are in exercise As those Morals do more immediatly concern the Republick so the Laws thereof are principally drawn forth out of them especially Second-Table Duties forming and moulding them into municipal Laws under Penalties and Incouragements greater or less as in the Wisdom of a State may conduce most to the Welfare thereof For these Gospel-Mysteries it 's otherwise for as they contribute little to us in our Civil Government otherwise than as before mentioned so is there little contributed by the Wisdom or Authority of any State advantagious to the Gospel but Protection or being a Defence upon this Glory Learned Bishop Bilson states it well Princes saith he command that which Christ the Sovereign Lord and Head of the Church commandeth which is all the Power we give to Princes Of Supremacy pag. 227. And in the Page before thus By Governors in Ecclesiastical Matters we do not mean Moderators Prescribers and Magistrates bearing the Sword to permit and defend that which Christ himself first ordained and appointed But to return If Adam had stood all Common-Wealths would have been prosperous and flourishing and yet no Christ no Faith nor Repentance nor any Gospel-Worship known or practised And since the Fall you have had well-governed Common-Wealths of Turks and Heathens that never received Christ or Gospel-Worship It is with States as it is with particular Persons in converse another Man's Estate or Trade or Credit or any Civil Concern with whom I have to do is not prejudiced or bettered by my omission or practice of what is a meer Gospel-Duty If a Man I deal with be unjust lie steal c. my worldly Interest is prejudiced hereby but whether he repent for this exercise Faith on Christ for Forgiveness and humble himself I am neither a gainer nor loser hereby in the sense we speak of Now it is Gospel-Worship we profess in this Nation Gospel-Religion If the Duties themselves performed are of no greater consequence in respect to Persons with whom we converse or the Civil State where we live the Modes Forms and Ceremonies of such Worship cannot be of such moment or trust in the manage of them And let me add much less can there be any such special advantage to our State-Concernments in this or that particular external Form of Worship or Government that it should be retained by us with so much Zeal and Contention which evidently appears in this how prosperous and flourishing hath this Nation been in their Civil Concerns under Episcopacy set Liturgies Ceremonies c. and as great prosperity in other Christian Republicks where these have been altogether disallowed Nor is this any dishonour to the Gospel more than to the Kingdom of Christ when it
doth scruple the Reasonableness or Equity of a Law concerning Civil Rights or what 's required from it he may notwithstanding yield Obedience without Sin and ought so to do rather than to offend by an appearance of Disobedience as Christ himself did Matth. 17.26 27. But in Matters of Religion even as Circumstances Ceremonies or the least thing wherein the Lord hath concerned his Word if there be a Doubt or Scruple whether lawful and conformable to the Scriptures tho it be from Ignorance or Weakness yet I sin if I submit Rom. 14.1 compared with 23. The Consequence of Transgression in this kind is more than loss of Estates Liberties yea or of Life it self If the Laws of Superiors concerning Civil Rights be unjust in themselves or prove unequal from the Circumstances of this or that Man's Case who cannot be relieved by any Indulgence he may submit without Sin without transgressing any Law of God nay it is Vertue and pleasing to the Lord our patience in such suffering 1 Pet. 2.13 with verses 18 19. 1 Cor. 6.7 but not so in the Matters of Religion for we have from Christ to the contrary that is not to subject Col. 2.20 And God blames his People by his Prophets for wittingly walking after the Commandments Hos 5.12 and for keeping the Statutes of Omri Micah 6.16 the Lord is a jealous God. SECT 4. If there be not a Power to Judg and Dispense intrusted in some Hands the People of God are in a worse condition on these Accounts than in their Civil Interest and that upon a three-fold account 1. The Secular Laws and Statutes made in the behalf of the Subjects are often upon further Deliberation and Experience of Inconveniencies altered and repealed whereby the Subjects have ease But Acts of Parliament wherein Ecclesiastical Affairs and Mens Consciences are concern'd are seldom or never revised or altered much less repealed no not for the space of an hundred Years can we give an Instance hereof So far are we from repealing Acts made in Ecclesiastical Affairs as is ordinarily in our Civil Matters that some Acts passed partly for their Severity or upon some other Account doubtful whether fit to remain as standing Laws therefore are limited to a certain Time after which to expire and cease the severe Act of 35 Eliz. that in the Process of it reached Mens Lives when first passed was to remain a Law but to the end of the next Session of Parliament which in regard of some Doubt it seems made whether in Force or not is declared by the present Parliament to be in Force and ought to be put in due execution And now at this time there is a Minister of the Gospel under the Sentence of that Act and for transgressing that Law had lost his Life had not his Majesty interposed by his Prerogative A wise Statesman once advised and expressed himself thus I ask why the Civil State should be purged and restored with good and wholsom Laws made in every three or four Years in Parliament providing Remedies as fast as time breedeth Mischiefs and contrariwise the Ecclesiastical State should still continue upon the Dregs of Time and receive no Alteration now for these many Years We have heard of no offer of Bills in Parliament is it because there is nothing amiss Sir. Fr. Bacon 2. In that all Proceedings in Ecclesiastical Courts are ever to the utmost rigour of the Letter of their Canons and Orders there is no Chancery or Court of Equity among them to appeal unto for Redress but in some few Cases as in Causes Testimentary of Matrimony Divorses Tythes c. specified 24 H. 8.12 Matters wherein our Estates are touched But in Matters of Conformity and such Cases wherein our Consciences are most concerned we are left destitute 3. Again Men are upon this peculiar disadvantage in these Spiritual Courts who are impeached for Non-conformity to their Canons and Orders in that their Adversaries and those that are Parties for the most part are their Judge this Sir Fra. Bacon in his Considerations condemned as a great Injustice So that it is evident considering the Nature of Ecclesiastical Constitutions and how managed with us in this Nation how necessary it is that some Power be placed somewhere by which we may not be exposed more than others to such extremity of Rigour for otherwise as Consciencious Men are more disposed to Scruples and Doubts in the way of Duty in this kind so to less Mercy and Indulgence from our Superiors CHAP. III. That our Relief is from the Jurisdiction and Power in his Majesty to Dispense and Exempt for in his Hand this Ballance is placed which is that we shall insist upon in the next place SECT 1. THIS Prerogative or Power to Dispense and Exempt from Ecclesiastical Laws is in the Soveraign for the Confirmation whereof not to insist on what was acknowledged by Pope Eleutherius touching Lucius our first Christian King that he was Vicarius Dei in Regno suo in reference to Matters to be reformed or is mentioned touching the Laws and Practice of King Edgar and Edward the Confessor named the First Meae solicitudinis est quieti eorum consulare de quorum moribus spectat ad nos examen And of the other from whom it is said much of our Law is derived that describing the King's Office he saith Rex ad hoc est constitutus ut Regnum terrenum Populum Dei Ecclesiam regat ab injuriis defendat maleficos ab eâ evallat destruat penitus desperdat and much of like nature that might be urg'd from Antiquity But to come nearer Home The Testimonies of the Clergy in Convocation the Representative Church of England who make it so great a Duty to acknowledg it as they have expressed their Severity thus Whosoevor shall affirm the King's Majesty hath not the same Authority in Cause Ecclesiastical as the pious Princes of the Jews and the Christian Emperors obtained c. let him be Excommunicated ipso facto and not to be absolved but by the Arch-bishop of Canterbury Canons of the Convocation 1603. 2. I shall join with this Testimony that of another Synod or Council namely that met in the Star Chamber a. Jac. made up of all the Judges and Persons learned in the Law summoned by King James for Resolution in some Ecclesiastical Causes whereof this of his Majesty's Prerogative was one their Resolution you have in these words The King may without the Parliament make Orders and Constitutions for the Government of the Clergy and punish those that disobey or refuse to submit And this with other Resolutions in Ecclesiastical Matters were ordered to be registred and recorded in the several Courts of Justice 3. And from time to time the Kings and Queens of England have assumed and exercised this Power and there hath been no matter or thing so Sacred and of such Concernment in these Affairs ordered by Parliament but the like and of as great
the Indulgence and Dispensation granted by Edw. 6. to Strangers yea though it was a Gravamen to the Bishop making an evident Breach upon the Pale of Uniformity for not only the Parents but the Children and Childrens Children which were natural Subjects to his Realm Persons of great Estate and Purchasers of Lands and interessed in the Soil The Number also of these Congregations increasing and scituated in the eminent and chief Towns and Cities in the Kingdom there to live and profess as separated and divided Bodies in Discipline and Worship from the Church of England was not intended by the first Grant so Bishop Laud complains there being only that one in London when the first Grant was made such things were frequently suggested against them yet these Princes were graciously disposed notwithstanding the Act for Uniformity from time to time to confirm the Grant of Edw. 6. by several Orders past some of them formed as having special respect to such Objections which will not be amiss for the Reader 's confirmation here to insert some of them at least The Form in which Queen Elizabeth confirmed their Liberties Non Ignoramus variis Ecclesiis varias diversas jam ab initio Christianae Religionis semper fuisse Ritus Ceremonias non contemnimus vestras neque nos ad nostras cogimus King James Octob. 17. 10 Jac. to the Dutch at Colchester His Majesty granted their Orders Liberties c. in as large and ample manner to all Intents and Purposes as heretofore they have been used tolerated and allowed unto them any Provision or Jurisdiction to the contrary thereto in any wise notwithstanding An Order of King James under his Signet Jan. 13. 1616 on their behalf These are therefore to Will and Command all our Courts of Justice and other our loving Subjects to permit and suffer the said Strangers and their Children c. The Order of the Council for the Walloons of Norwich Octob. 10. 1621. Those of Norwich though born in the Kingdom shall continue to be of the said Congregation and subject to such Discipline as hath been by all the time of fifty five Years practised by them The Order of King Charles the First Novemb. 13. 1631. We Will and Command our Judges c. to permit and suffer the said Strangers and their Children quietly to enjoy all and singular c. without any Troubles Arrests or Proceedings by way of Information or otherwise An Order of the Council for the Dutch of Norwich Jan. 7. 1630. That all those that now or hereafter shall be Members of the Dutch Congregation although born within this Kingdom shall continue to be of the said Church so long as his Majesty shall be pleased c. These and divers the like Instances might be produced which sufficiently evince it as granted on all sides and constantly supposed to be according to the Constitution of this Realm that our Kings and Princes have Power in and from themselves as an inherent and inseparable Prerogative not only to injoin and give Laws to their Subjects in Ecclesiastical Matters such as are left to the ordering of any Civil Power as also to dispense and exempt from Laws of that kind though established by them in conjunction with the Authority of Parliament Nor do we find that Parliaments at any time have taken into Consideration what was ordered or done by those Kings and Princes in Ecclesiastical Affairs being their known Prerogative no not in those of King James who assumed the most in such managements nor by any Petitions or Addresses to any of those Princes which is usual in the Concerns of Civil Rights for limiting or enlarging the Exercise of their Power in these Ecclesiastical Matters but rather recognizing and confirming what hath been ordered by them as in 5 Eliz. and Car. 2. in the Act of Uniformity and other Instances many may be produced CHAP. IV. Of the Objections made against this Power and the executing thereof with Answer thereunto SECT 1. THere are Reasonings possibly tending another way in stating this Case The Objections obvious I shall now mention having divers material Considerations pertinent to a more full and clear stating this Case which might have been produced in the Body of this Discourse but are reserved rather to this place partly because we find this vulgar way of Dialogue le ts in Knowledg with less difficulty and what is required by way of a Question engageth him that proposeth with greater attention to observe what is said in the Answer QUEST I. If such a Prerogative be in the King what need Ecclesiastical Laws be transacted and established by Parliament Answ 1. That hinders not but that his Majesty's Power is sufficient of it self to do many things relating to such Laws without them take it in his Majesty's own words Declarat of 26 Decemb. 1662. To concur with us in making some such Act as may enable us to exercise with a more universal Satisfaction that Power of Dispensing which we conceive to be inherent in Vs As also it is by the afore-named learned Judg Hubbard expressed That these Statutes and the like were made to put things in ordinary Form and to ease the Soveraign of Labour but not to derogate from his Power 2. Powers sufficient in themselves may join and in such conjunction remain intire as Powers Cumulative and not Privative as it is evident from what is said in the Statute of 31 Hen. 8. cap. 10. The King 's most excellent Majesty though it appertained to his Prerogative Royal to give Honour as it shall seem to his Wisdom he is nevertheless pleased and contented for an Order to be had c. by this High Court of Parliament that it shall be enacted by the Authority of the same c. 3. The King is a kind of Corporation in himself distinct from that Capacity wherein he stands in conjunction with his Subjects as their Head And in that respect being in an higher Region above and in a greater distance from those Interests upon the account whereof his Subjects are many times much divided and publick Edicts are formed according to the Prevalency of a greater Party to the prejudice of others that are his Loyal Subjects also by his Wisdom and Prudence there is a Ballance by which the Tranquillity of a Nation is happily preserved and one Party is not overborn by the other having this Power to mitigate and dispense in the Matters under our consideration as in his Wisdom with Advice of Council shall seem equal SECT 2. QUEST II. But hath not the King's Prerogative Limits in our Laws And are there not some Things which he cannot dispense with no not with a Non Obstante Answ I grant it and in several Cases 1. He may by special Words in the Statute bind up himself from making any use of his Prerogative 2. In what is Malum in se in respect of Impiety or Unrighteousness 3. When such Dispensations are destructive to the great Ends of
it So that now his Majesty had no other Remedy but either 1. To retract from that pious and seasonable Resolution for Liberty of Conscience expressed in Letters to the Parliament then sitting from Breda a Resolution so acceptable to them as the whole House Nemine contradicente by Letters returned him Thanks and bless the Name of the Lord who put such reconciling thoughts into the Heart of the King and he himself likewise owns an especial Blessing from God upon his Affairs after he had expressed that Intention 2. Or break that Promise he solemnly made assuring this Liberty and had professed to the World upon this Occasion in his Speech May 8. 1661. that he valued himself much upon keeping his Word and whatsoever he promised to his Subjects and that no Man can be his Friend and wish him well who would perswade him to the consent of the breach of that solemn Promise 3. Or leave the Nation under greater Distractions and Sufferings about Religion than he found it in and upon twelve Years experience of other means used which tended rather to increase the Distemper These dishonourable Things I say his Majesty must have suffered and undergone or make use of that Power God and the Nation have intrusted him with though not with concurrence of Parliament so much and so often desired by him even so oft as He came to them as he tells them in his Speech of July 8. 1661. Yet nothing at any time was done by the Houses in respect to Liberty of Conscience being obliged in their Judgments to proceed in the other way CHAP. V. Of former Examples for Indulgence SECT 1. HIS Majesty's Gracious Declaration contains not a greater Indulgence tho it be extended to a greater number of Persons than what was granted by his Majesty's Predecessors which before we have mentioned to the French and Dutch Congregations 1. There was a Uniform Order in Church-Government and Divine Service to which not only his Majesty's Subjects but all the Inhabitants of his Majesty's Dominions were to conform and no Man to absent himself And not to hear or be present at any other Forms of Prayers and administration of Sacraments than what is in that Book prescribed under Penalties of Ecclesiastical Censures Fines to the King to the Poor of the Parish c. 2. The Dispensation and Exemption was by the sole Authority of the Soveraign and stands thus A Liberty to separate and absent themselves from the Parish Assemblies where they had their Habitations and to gather themselves into distinct particular Churches or Congregations to chuse and ordain their own Ministers also to establish such a Church-Government or Discipline and Form of Worship and Divine Service as they amongst themselves judged to be most conformable to the Scriptures established by his Majesty's Patent as a Corporation within it self and independent upon any Superior Jurisdiction Spiritual but his Majesty's And all Bishops Mayors Sheriffs c. to protect them and suffer them quietly to enjoy and exercise these Liberties with a Non Obstante c. 3. The Grounds and Considerations upon which such Liberty and Exemptions were granted were these 1. The Care of Religion that ought to be in all Christian Princes and to be shewed forth especially in this the Relief and Incouragement of those that are of the same Religion in their Sufferings for Conscience of their Duty towards God. 2. Persons of the same Religion with us and Sacraments administred by them according to the Word of God and practice of the Apostles ought to be tolerated in their way of worshipping God though they differ from us in Ceremonies and Discipline 3. The Kindness we found in other Protestant Countries when we were forced to leave our Native Soil for preserving our Consciences 4. There were also great Advantages in Matter of Trade for their skill and industry to the great benefit of this Nation and prejudice of their own L. Herbert's History of Hen. 8. The Premises considered we further say 1. His Majesty's Protestant Subjects here spoken for to whom this Gracious Indulgence is extended are of the same Religion with others of his Subjects and the present Establishment in respect to Matters of Faith and Worship in external Forms also they are not more differing from the Church of England than those Congregations to whom the same Indulgence hath been granted by his Majesty and Predecessors and is still enjoyed And when those Strangers had removed their Families and come among us had not this gracious Indulgence been granted and continued to them their Consciences would have engaged them to depart hence and seek Habitations where the like Liberty might be obtained And this also is our Condition many hundreds of his Majesty's Subjects with their Families have left their Native Country and dispose themselves into other parts of the World upon the same account 2. If it be so grateful a Charity and deserving so solemn an Acknowledgment the kind Entertainment our Subjects have found in other Parts when not suffered to live in their own Land upon the account of Conscience doubtless it is a greater Charity to be so indulgent to our own as not by Severity to enforce them for Conscience to become Strangers in other Countries 3. And for Matter of Trade Advantages have been great by encouraging those Strangers but the Disadvantages in the same kind far greater by the late Severity by which our own Subjects have been so greatly discouraged not only those Hands hang down that were most industrious in holding up the staple Trade of the Nation but by reason of Artificers removing into other Parts for their Consciences the Mysteries of our chiefest Manufactures have been made common and others therein become equal if not exceed us A great sense hereof his Majesty hath expressed in his Gracious Declaration Object If it be said These be Strangers Objects of Charity being driven out of their own Country understood not our Language they were Educated and accustomed to other Forms of Discipline and Worship Answ 1. It 's true the first Grant of this Liberty was to such but in process of Time these Churches were increased and spread throughout the Nation and this Grant being confirmed by Q. Eliz. K. James and K. Charles I. to their Children English born and born Subjects of this Realm they had the same Liberty granted them as formerly was mentioned insomuch as the Persons now enjoying this Liberty are his Majesty's Native Subjects Answ 2. The greatest number of his Majesty's Protestant Subjects that have benefit by his Gracious Indulgence since they have had understanding have been trained up in and been acquainted with no other Forms of Discipline and Worship than what was found amongst us at his Majesty's return the other formerly establish'd having been for many Years totally disused King James himself being educated under other Forms when he came into England scrupled many Things in our Liturgy and Rubricks Conference at Hampt Court. Finally It is now more than a Century of Years wherein these Churches have enjoyed this Indulgence there hath been much peace and quiet among themselves following their Callings without disturbance neighbourly and friendly Converse with those that are of different Perswasions in Matters of Religion No Disputings or Reasonings about it no Judging or Despising experience hereof we have beyond denial in London Norwich Canterbury c. where diversity of practices in the Forms of Discipline and Worship are constantly held forth in the view of all Men for so many Years And why should not we expect the like peaceable and inoffensive Converse mutually between those that now enjoy the like Liberty from this Gracious Declaration and others of our Brethren whose practice is otherwise The Lord who hath put this into the Heart of the King may put it also into the Hearts of our Senators to be like-minded with him And as his Majesty hath condescended to them in their way for the space of these twelve Years as he tells them so it is to be desired that they if it may stand with their great Prudence would concur with him but half so long in the way himself hath chosen for the Peace and Union of his Subjects in Matters of Religious Worship or at least until there be the like evident Experiments of the Ineffectualness of it FINIS The same Author hath published a Book intituled The Lawfulness of the Oath of Supremacy and the Power of the King in Ecclesiastical Affairs c. With a Vindication of Dissenters proving That their particular Congregations are not inconsistent with the King's Supremacy With some account of the Nature Constitution and Power of the Ecclesiastical Courts Sold by Jo. Robinson and Sam. Crouch