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A14037 An essay on ecclesiastical authority in which the pretence of an independent power in the church, to a divine right in the election of bishops; to the invalidity of lay deprivations; to the inseparable relation of a bishop to his see; to an obligation of continuing communion with the deprived bishops; and several other things relating to the nonjurors separation from our church, are particulary and impartially examined. By John Turner, D.D. Vicar of Greenwich, and chaplain to His Royal Highness the Prince. Turner, John, 1660-1720. 1617-1717 (1717) STC 24342; ESTC S102040 34,345 84

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not all our present Contentions and Feuds about the uncontroulable Supremacy of the Governors of the Church in all Religious and Spiritual Causes And is it not apparent undeniably that the very End of Claiming such a Power is to protect some Men from the Authority of the STATE How then is it possible that two such Contending supreme Sovereigns should exercise their several Powers one to remove and the other to support those Men and yet the Subjects be bound to obey them both How can two such Supremacies subsist in the same Body of Men when almost every Act of the one influences the other When in some Cases almost every Exercise of Spiritual Authority one Way or other influences and either weakens or controuls the Temporal A certain Defender of this Spiritual Ecclesiastical Independency saw the Necessity of granting That CHRIST gave the Church no Authority Regal Pontif. p. 17. that could possibly interfere with the Civil Powers This Assertion I own to be very true and therefore if the Non-jurors will but grant me that which I think no reasonable Man can deny viz. That GOD has given to Secular Powers as full an Authority for the Support and Security of the STATE as He has to the Spiritual for the Defence of the CHURCH and consequently that every Act of Independent Power of the Church that interferes with the Civil Powers is contrary to the Will of GOD and to the Intention of CHRIST'S Commission I readily join Issue with them upon this Cause and am very willing to try the Force of this Principle in those particular Cases that are made the Occasion of our present Disputes And they are 1. The Election 2. The Deprivation of Bishops and Clergymen 1. As to the Election of Bishops and Clergymen it is granted That as the CHURCH has the sole Authority of Ordaining them so with that they have of Necessity a common natural Right to take Care of the Qualifications of the Persons to be ordained and employed in Divine Service But then it is indeed reasonable that the CHURCH in the Exercise of this Power should not claim a Divine Authority to thrust and force upon a Christian State such Bishops and Clergy-men as are avowed Enemies to the Government and National Constitution where they live For this is actually to interfere with the Civil Powers It 's highly reasonable that Kings and Princes should be well-assured of the Fidelity and Allegiance of their Clergy seeing that They and their Government have an Interest therein and both the Peace and Safety of their Secular Affairs may be very much influenced by their good or evil Conduct If therefore on this Account the Laws of the Land give to our Kings the Nomination of the Persons that are to be made Bishops it is indisputably interfering with the Civil Powers to say that they have no Right there to and that every such Nomination is an Invasion of the CHURCH'S Power If the Measure of that Power be at all to be judged of by its Consistency with the Peace and Safety of the STATE it is then as clear as any Demonstration in the Mathematicks that CHRIST'S Commission has given no such Independent Power in the Choice of Bishops because that actually breaks in upon the temporal Power of Kings and Princes even in the Administration of their National Government For let us reflect Is it not by Virtue of this pretended Divine Right and Independent Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction that we see such vile and scandalous Practices in our Days as the Primitive Christians were wholly Strangers to and would have Protested against with the utmost Abhorrence and Detestation By Virtue of this pretended Independent Authority the Non-jurors take upon them to consecrate Bishops and ordain Priests not only in Opposition to the STATE but with a direct Intention if it be possible to overturn it For the first Thing that such Bishops and Clergymen have to do is to renounce all Allegiance to the KING upon the Throne and all Regard to the Present Constitution of the Kingdom To treat the KING as an Usurper to teach a Nullity in all the Oaths that are taken to Him tho' by most solemn Sanctions of the Law To set up an Ecclesiastical Community and gather Congregations against Him and therein to pray for another pretended King whom the Nation has solemnly abjured and proclaimed a Traitor Will not all this be called Interfering with the Civil Powers If it be I think then it must be granted that all this is directly contrary to CHRIST'S Commission and to the whole Design of it If there be a Dispute about the Title to the Crown most certainly the States of the Realm are the proper Judges and Determiners of the Matter And CHRIST by his Commission has given the Bishops and Pastors of his CHURCH no Divine Authority or Jurisdiction in such Determinations If therefore the Governors of the Church instead of taking Care according to their Trust that the Bishops and Clergy of the CHURCH be Men of sober Lives and sound Religion will go so much farther as to claim a Divine Right in the Choice of all the Bishops exclusive of the Nomination of the Prince only to embarrass his Government and embroil his Affairs It is as certain that such a Spiritual Power cannot be of GOD as it is that all Secular Powers are of GOD. Because two such Independent Authorities in or over the same Body of Men cannot possibly consist together The one will inevitably interfere with and be destructive of the other and such inevitable Opposition Confusion and Distraction in humane Society could never be designed or intended by Almighty GOD. The like may be said 2. AS to the Deprivation of Bishops and Clergymen I COULD heartily wish there had been no Occasion for the unhappy Debate that I am now upon And what I shall say upon it I intend with all Deference to the unhappy Persons who were deprived But seeing a pretended Invalidity in their Deprivation is made the Occasion of a Schism from our CHURCH and of great Confusions in the Nation Doubtless common Justice ought to be done to the lawful Secular Powers we live under NOW if it be indeed true that CHRIST has given no Power to his Church that interferes with the Civil Powers and most true it is and necessary for the due Government of the World that it should be so the Consequence of it is That CHRIST by His Commission has given no such Authority to His CHURCH as to keep Bishops and Clergy-men in their respective Sees when the STATE finds it necessary for the Safety of a Nation to turn them out For this also is to set up Powers that are incompatible both whose Commands cannot be obey'd because they command contrary and inconsistent Things THIS was the Case of those unhappy Bishops and Clergy who were deprived for not giving the usual Oaths of Fidelity to the Civil Government of King William Their Principles and Practices as