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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A25519	An Answer to a late pamphlet intituled, The judgement and doctrine of the clergy of the Church of England concerning one special branch of the King's prerogative, viz, in dispensing with the penal-laws shewing that this is not affected by the Most Reverend Fathers in God, the Lords Arch-Bishops, Bancroft, Laud and Usher ... the Lord Bishop Sanderson ... the Reverend Doctors, Dr. Hevlin, Dr. Barrow, Dr. Sherlock ... Dr. Hicks, Dr. Nalson, Dr. Puller, so far as appears from their words cited in this pamphlet : in a letter to a friend.		1687 (1687)	Wing A3309; ESTC R15256	30,429	41

AN ANSWER to a late PAMPHLET INTITULED The Iudgment and Doctrine of the Clergy OF THE CHURCH of ENGLAND Concerning one Special Branch of the KING's PREROGATIVE VIZ. In dispensing with the Penal-Laws SHEWING That this is not asserted by The Most Reverend Fathers in God the Lords Arch-Bishops Bancroft Laud and Vsher The Right Reverend Father in God the Lord Bishop Sanderson The Reverend Doctors Dr. Heylin Dr. Barrow Dr. Sherlock Master of the Temple Dr. Hicks Dr. Nalson Dr. Puller So far as appears from their words cited in THIS PAMPHLET In a LETTER to a Friend LONDON Printed for Ric. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard MDCLXXXVII Imprimatur May 13. 1687. GVIL. NEEDHAM An Answer to a late Pamphlet c. SIR I Have received the Book you sent me Intituled The Judgment and Doctrine of the Clergy of the Church of England concerning one special branch of the King's Prerogative viz. Dispensing with the Penal Laws Had I not now learnt to wonder at nothing it would a little have surprized me but now I shall only tell you that I have read it and do not like it And reserving one little reason for by and by viz. That it is not true I shall at present give you some other reasons of my dislike to prevent mistakes And first negatively Not because it is for the King 's dispensing Power For I never envy my King any Prerogative that belongs to his Crown And tho it may be this Branch of the Prerogative was not so well understood in former days yet it is certainly now the right of the Crown as much as the Opinion of the Judges can make it so and I never dispute against such an Authority And I think it is a disparagement to the judgment of the Reverend Judges to call in Clergy-men to help them out when he himself tells us p. 34. Vnto the Judges the people are bound lastly and finally to submit themselves for matter of Law Why then does he make any further dispute about the matter As if he distrusted the Judgment of the Judges or thought that people would rather believe Divines than Judges in matter of Law which would be a great scandal to that Reverend and Learned Bench. And therefore I confess I am very much offended with that priority he gives to the Judgment of Churchmen in this point before the Judgment of the Judges He says We could not resolve our selves in this great point of the Supreme Power inherent in and inseparably annexed to the Crown to dispense with Penal Laws but by these two ways 1. To see how far the Judgment of our Church-men appearing in their Doctrines which are for our edification doth warrant this Prerogative to be in the King 2. To see how far the Judges Resolutions in declaring their sence of the Law of the Land in this doubtful question do agree in such their Judgments and Doctrines Fie for shame First make the Clergy Judges of Law and Preach edifyingly about the Prerogative and then set them before the Judges themselves as a Rule and Pattern for them to follow and then as it naturally follows judg over the Judges judgment by its agreement with the judgment of Divines about Law and Prerogative If the Writer of this Letter was a Divine it argues a good Opinion of his own Profession but if he were a Lawyer or but a Justice of Peace I know what he deserves Secondly This brings me to the positive Reasons of my dislike of this way and they are comprehended in two 1. That I do not think fit to lay such stress upon the Judgment of Church-men in matters of Law and such sure this unlimited dispensing Power is a meer point of Law and that such an abstruse point too as not all Lawyers nay not all Judges have formerly been agreed about Now what does a Churchman's Judgment signify in matters of Law No man's Opinion is of any value but in such things wherein he is skilled now a Churchman does not signifie one who is skilled in Law but in Divinity And tho a Church-man should be a good Lawyer if he gives his Opinion in any point of Law his Opinion is not valuable as the Opinion of a Church-man but of a Lawyer for suppose a Church-man were skilled in Physick too would you value his Judgment in Physick ever the more because he is a Church-man Or think your self more safe in his hands than in a professed Physicians There are Interlopers indeed in all Professions but that any man's Judgment should be valued because being of one Profession himself he gives judgment in another is a Mystery to me And therefore this Writer should first have proved all those great Divines Arch-bishops Bishops Deans Doctors with whose names he hath so pompously filled his Title Page and to whose judgment he appeals about the King's Prerogative to haxe been great Lawyers as well as great Divines or else the Cause is Coram non judice and yet he makes no offer at this unless by the Title he gives Dr. Sherlock of Master of the Temple he would intimate his great skill in Law too but this will not do for his Book of Non-resistance was written before he liv'd within the infection of the Law-air So that it seems a very great injury to the Cause to appeal to such Judges as have no skill in the matter For what credit can the Opinion of Divines do it when it is not a point of Divinity but of Law that is in question For it is generally seen that those are very apt to mistake who guess at things out of their Ken and people are apt to suspect that such contemplative men who keep their Studies and seldom look abroad into the World may form fine Romantick Idea's of Government which will not suit the publick Constitutions of Kingdoms and Nations Secondly I think it is a very dangerous thing to put the Question upon such an issue as this The design of it I suppose is to recommend it to the Layety of the Church of England by such venerable Names but he should have considered that the Layety of the Church of England are not so Priest-ridden as they are at Rome and Geneva they have not an implicite Faith in their spiritual Guides and their Guides do not desire they should and therefore it is not their Names but their Arguments must prevail but if people are taught to rely on the opinion of their Ministers in such Prerogative Disputes the Popish Priests and Phanatick Ministers are great Politicians too but if they may be Judges Sovereign Princes will get nothing by it The Church of England indeed has always been addicted to the Service of the Crown but there are other Maxims of Government among other men Bellarmin and Suarez and Mr. Baxter's Common-wealth and the Dissenters Sayings not to take notice now of Julian the Apostate are not very favourable to the Prerogatives of Princes and I fear people are more

his King and the Church the famous Archbishop Laud whose Judgment would weigh more with me than some other mens Reasons He quotes a saying of his out of his Book against Fisher but never directs us where to find it and that is a great book to search all over for one single passage but however the saying is so innocent that we may admit it to be his without farther Enquiry viz. That the Supreme Magistrate in the Estate Civil may not abrogate the Laws made in Parliament tho he may dispense with the Sanction or Penalty of the Law quoad hic nunc as the Lawyers speak Now unless quoad hic nunc signifies a general and unlimited Dispensation for all persons at all times I suppose it does not reach the plenitude of the Dispensing Power Quoad hic nunc I doubt may be expounded as a limitation of the Dispensing Power which will beget a dispute how far this Power of Dispensing may extend for which reason I wish he had concealed the Judgment of this great Archbishop tho the comfort is he was but a Divine and therefore his Judgment not Authentick in such matters any farther than this Author has made it so by appealing to it especially since he does not give his own Opinion in the case but refers to the received opinion of Lawyers at that time which whether it then was for an absolute Dispensing Power must be first known before we can know what the Archbishops Opinion was But he makes a much greater flourish with Archbishop Vsher who wrote an Excellent Book concerning the Power communicated by God to the Prince and the Obedience required of the Subject out of which he has transcribed four or five Pages how much to his purpose shall be presently examined But I must first mind him what another of his Witnesses The Right Reverend Dr. Sanderson Bishop of Lincoln has observed in his Preface to that Book Sect. 9 12 13. In the 9 Section he takes notice of several Objections which either were or might be made against this Book The Second is That it is not yor Divines at all to meddle in these matters whereof they are not competent Judges nor do they come within the compass of their Sphere They ought to be left to the cognizance and determination of States-men and Lawyers who best understand the constitution of the several Governments and the force and effect of the Laws of their own several respective Countries and are therefore presumed to be best able to judg the one by constitution in whom the Soveraignty resideth and the other by the Laws how that Soveraignty is bounded and limited in the exercise thereof In answer to this he says Sect. 12. True it is that for the more ease of the Governors and better satisfaction of the people in securing their Properties preserving Peace amongst them and doing them Justice the absolute and unlimited Soveraignty which Princes have by the Ordinance of God hath at all times and in all Nations been diversly limited and bounded in the ordinary exercise thereof by such Laws and Customs as the Supreme Governors themselves have consented to and allowed As with us in England there are sundry cases wherein a Subject in maintenance of his Right and Property may wage Law with the King bring his Action and have Judgment against him in open Court and the Judges in such cases are bound by their Oaths and Duties to right the Party according to Law against the King as well as against the meanest of his Subjects So that it seems this Bishop thought that the exercise of the Soveraignty might be limited by Laws and by such Laws as would hold good against the King himself in his own Courts and therefore that all Laws were not dispensable at the Kings pleasure and this Preface was wrote long after his Cases of Conscience of which more presently And he adds That the debating and determining of every doubt or controversie belongeth to the Learned Lawyers and Reverend Judges who are presumed to be best skilled in the Laws and Customs of the Land as their proper study wherein they are daily conversant and not to Divines who as Divines are not competent Judges in these matters nor do they come within the compass of their sphere By which one would guess that this Reverend Bishop did not apprehend that he himself had been guilty of determining so nice a Point of Law as the Dispensing Power tho this Author has discovered for him that he has Well but how does he bring off the Arch-bishop after all this for medling with such nice points As to that he tells us Sect. 13. That there is no need of bringing him off That in relation to the present Treatise all that he had said about Divines determining Law Cases as far as they related to Conscience might well enough have been spared wherein the Reverend Author without medling with these Punctilio's of the Law undertaketh no more but to declare and assert the Power of Soveraign Princes as the Godly Fathers and Councils of the ancient Catholick Church from the evidence of Holy Scripture and the most judicious Heathen Writers by discourse of Reason from the light of Nature have constantly taught and acknowledged the same as to the unprejudiced Reader by the perusal of the Book it self will easily appear From whence one would guess that Bishop Saunderson did not apprehend that Archbishop Vsher had determined any one point of Law about the absolute or limited exercise of the Soveraign Power according to the Constitution of these Realms and therein he had our Author differ who has found the Dispensing Power plainly determined by the Archbishop But whoever consults the Book it self and it will reward any man's pains who will do it will find that the Bishop was in the right and those Reasons which the Bishop urges will convince him That he was so For he will find that the Archbishop does not meddle with the particular Laws and Constitutions of these Kingdoms but only urges the Authority of Fathers and Councils and the Holy Scriptures and the consent of Heathen Writers which can no more determine what the particular Laws and Constitutions of these Kingdoms are than the Laws of England can the Customs of the Roman Empire The Archbishop only considered what Rights belong to the Soveraign Power wherever it is by the consent of Scriptures Fathers Councils and Heathen Writers who followed the light and conduct of natural Reason and took it for granted as the Bishop observes he well might That the Kings of England are Soveraign Princes and therefore have all the Rights of Soveraignty belonging to their Crowns But how the exercise of this Soveraign Power is limited by the particular Laws and Customs of Nations and by the consent and grants of Soveraign Princes themselves which Bishop Sanderson asserts has at all times and in all Nations been diversly limited and bounded this the Archbishop says nothing of

the Divines of the Church of England that the Kings of England receive no power or Authority from the People for all Soveraign Power comes from God and the Crown of England is not Elective but Hereditary Nay they own that no Essential branch of Soveraign Power can be taken away from a Soveraign Prince the only question is whether the exercise of Soveraign Power can be regulated and limited by Laws of the Kings own making and this those who talk of a limited Monarchy must own for there can be no limited Monarchy if the exercise of Soveraign Power cannot be bounded by Laws Thus I have shewn as well as I can learn what the Sense of the Divines of the Church of England is in these Points how far they agree with the Judges reasons if they be theirs I cannot tell because I know not in what Sense they understood them As for his application of all this to the case of Liberty of Conscience I have nothing at all to say to it for since the King has declar'd his pleasure in it I will not dispute against it I am not without hope that Liberty of Conscience will not do the Church of England so much hurt as her Adversaries wish nor the Church of Rome so much good as they expected for tho' Fanaticism is a pleasing delusion Popery is not popular in this age and therefore it is not meer showing that will make Converts and I believe Liberty of Conscience it self at this time will not drive any Sober Dissenter the farther from Church And I have more hope of Gods Protection because we are upbraided as we are by this Writer with our very hope and confidence in the Divine Providence for who ever reads it can think it nothing less besides the knavery of the Quotation Doctor Hicks in answer to that Objection against the Doctrine of Passive Obedience Jovian p. 263. Where then is our security How can we be safe from the oppression of our Soveraign if we may not be allow'd to resist Among other things tells his Readers Pag. 265. that there neither is nor can be any absolute security either for the Soveraign against the Subjects or for the Subjects against the Soveraign in any Government and therefore in the second place it may be a sufficient answer to the question to show that we have all the security against the King that the King hath against us even all the security that any people in the World ever had have or ought to have and he instances in the Providence of God in the Conscience and Honour of the King and in the Laws of the Realm to which every man be he never so great is obnoxious besides the Prince himself This was all very much to the Doctors purpose it being all the Security we can have that our Prince will not oppress us which is not absolute security neither But what does this signifie to Liberty of Conscience how does this secure the Church of England if all her Enemies be let loose upon her But this Writer picking out two or three sayings from what the Doctor said of the Divine Providence without any regard to the series of the Argument concludes it with these words in Capital Letters So that they have all the security that any People in the world ever had have or ought to have As if the Doctor had taught that no People in the World ever had or ought to have any other security against the Oppression of a Soveraign Prince but only the Providence and Protection of God whereas he applies this not only to the Providence of God but To the Conscience and Honour of the King and the security of Laws The Providence of God indeed has the over-ruling determination of all things but ordinary Providence works by means and we have no reason to expect Miracles now and therefore the Providence of God does not make other securities needless The Doctor tells us Page 267. As the Princes best security against the People is the watchful Providence of God so the same watchful Providence is the Peoples best security against the Prince So that the Providence of God is an equal security to Prince and People against each other But how would any Prince look upon such a trifler who should tell him Sir all the security you have or possibly can have against your Subjects is only the Providence and Protection of God and therefore you may save Money and disband your Guards and Armies To perswade Men to part with all other securities and to venture upon the most destructive Methods in confidence of the divine Protection is like the Devils Temptation to Christ to cast himself down from the Pinnacle of the Temple for it is written he shall give his Angels charge concerning thee and in their hands they shall bear thee up lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone 4. Mat. 6. I believe both Prince and People desire all the security they can and do not think it reasonable to part with one good security because they have another We have the Kings Word his Conscience his Honour and his Laws and thank God for all and implore the Protection of his Providence without which all other Securities are nothing and next to the Providence of God Laws are the best security because they are the Foundation of Conscience and Honour too and of all promises to govern by Laws for Conscience respects Laws and where there is no Law in the the case Conscience is not concern'd and can hinder nothing and to be sure the Honour of a Prince as well as Conscience is less concern'd when it is under no restraint of Laws He concludes this Pamphlet with some few Authorities for Liberty of Conscience I shall not now examine how pertinent they are for I will give no other Answer but this when he has answered all the Presbyterian Arguments against Toleration but especially that Book call'd Tolleration discus'd and the Arguments of Doctor Parker now the Right Reverend Bishop of Oxford in his Ecclesiastical Policy When he can prove that Liberty of Conscience is the Doctrine and Practise of the Church of Rome and the standing Rule of the Inquisition then I will consider further on this Argument In the mean time Sir I am Your most Obedient Servant FINIS Books lately printed for Richard Chiswell A Discourse concerning the Necessity of Reformation with respect to the Errors and Corruptions of the Church of Rome Quarto First and Second Parts A Discourse concerning the Celebration of Divine Service in an Unknown Tongue Quarto A Papist not Misrepresented by Protestants Quarto An Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England in the several Articles proposed by the late BISHOP of CONDOM in his Exposition of the Doctrine of the Catholick Church Quarto A Defence of the Exposition of the Doctrine of the CHVRCH of ENGLAND against the EXCEPTIONS of Monsieur de MEAVX late Bishop of Condom and his VINDICATOR Quarto An Answer to THREE PAPERS lately printed concerning the Authority of the Catholick Church in Matters of Faith and the Reformation of the Church of England Quarto A Vindication of the Answer to SOME LATE PAPERS concerning the Unity and Authority of the Catholick Church and Reformation of the Church of England Quarto An Historical Treatise written by an AUTHOR of the Communion of the CHVRCH of ROME touching TRANSVBSTANTIATION Wherein is made appear That according to the Principles of THAT CHVRCH This Doctrine cannot be an Article of Faith Quarto A CATECHISM explaining the Doctrine and Practices of the Church of Rome with an Answer thereunto By a Protestant of the Church of England 8vo The Law-Christian's Obligations to read the Holy Scriptures Quarto The Plain Man's Reply to the Catholick Missionaries 24o. The Protestant's Companion Or an Impartial Survey and Comparison of the Protestant Religion as by Law established with the main Doctrines of Popery Wherein is shewn that Popery is contrary to Scripture Primitive Fathers and Councils and that proved from Holy Writ the Writings 〈◊〉 the Ancient Fathers for several hundred Years and the Confession of the most Learned Papists themselves Quarto A Discourse of the Holy Eucharist in the two great points of the Real Presence and the Adoration of the Host In Answer to the Two Discourses lately printed at Oxford on this Subject To which is prefixed a large Historical Preface relating to the same Argument Quarto The Pillar and Ground of Truth A Treatise shewing that the Roman Church falsly claims to be That Church and the Pillar of That Truth mentioned by S. Paul in his First Epistle to Timothy Chap. III Vers 15. Quarto A Brief Discourse concerning the Notes of the Church with some reflections on Cardinal Bell rmin's Fifteen Notes Quarto whereof Ten are extant The rest will be Published in their order A Defence of the Confuter of Bellarmin's Second Note of the Church Antiquity against the Cavills of the A●…viser Quarto The Peoples Right to read the Holy Scriptures asserted In Answer to the 6th 7th 8th 9th and 10th Chapters of the Popish Representer Second Part Two Discourses Of Purgatory and Prayers for the Dead Quarto A Short Summ●ry of the Principal Controversies between the Church of England and the Church of Rome Being a Vindication of several Protestant Doctrines in Answer to a late Pamphlet intituled Protestancy destitute of Scripture-Proofs