Letter that Jesus Christ did not except against the power that Pilate tooke to judge him but rather said that that power was given him from God Thus in the fourth of the Acts Peter and John doe not except against the validity of the Court over them but freely acknowledge their Judges We are examined say they of the good deed done in the impotent man The state of the controversie was whether it was lawfull to heal any one in the name of Jesus Peter in the name of the Apostles proved it was lawfull because Jesus was an Head over the Church and was author of Salvation which they further strengthened by proofes from his Resurrection and antecedent Oracles and when they were forbidden to preach any more in the name of Jesus they replied Judge yee whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more then unto God Intimating that even the power of judging whether Jesus was the Messias did belong unto them Letter Of the Power of Kings over the lives and calling of the High Priest we have a cleare example in the 1 Book of the Kings Chap. 2. Vers 26. where Salomon saith to Abiathar Thou art worthy of death but I will not at this time put thee to death only was contented to thrust him out from being Priest unto the Lord and confined him to his house at Anatoth and oft-times the Roman Emperors and the Christian Kings have punished Bishops and Pastors with banishments stripes yea with death The Emperour Constantius did remove Liberius Bishop of Rome from the function of his Episcopacy and banished him to Berea Consideration THis example and many more he addeth are sufficient to evince that the Magistrate hath power to exauctorate or degrade and thereupon to put another in the place He that hath power to expell a Bishop from his Dominion hath also power to thrust him out of his Sea which is within the Dominion and if the Election was not an Act of the Soveraign Power either by his concession or delegation to others the Minister or Bishop could not be put out but by the power that invested him Any Act which may contribute towards the securitie peace and weal of the state is of the cognizance of the supream power of that State and the Jus sacrum was comprised under Jus publicum for the definition of Jus is the knowledge of Divine and humane things Letter IN the dayes of Valentinian Damasus and Ursicinus being competitors of the sea of Rome the sedition being grown to that height as that there was found 137 dead bodies in a Basilisk but the commotion was appeased by the authority of the Emperour who expelled Ursicinus and setled Damasus In the yeare of our Lord 420. there arose a great strife between Bonifacius and Eulalius competitors for the sea of Rome by the clashing of the Suffrages of the people of Rome to whom at that time belonged the power and right of election But the authority of Honorius intervening he thrust out Eulalius and preferred Bonifacius and withall made this Law that if it falls out that against right and by the rashnesse of the contending parties two are made Bishops we will not suffer that either of them be Bishops this Law is found in the Decree of Gratian Distinct 79. Canon si duo forte Consideration THough the election of Pastors should naturally belong to other Pastors or Christian people as naturally every one chuseth a Tutour to his sonne a Patient what Physician he liketh best a Merchant his Factor yet no doubt but the Soveraign power may exercise such actions that have no definitive bounds and rules prescribed by the dictates of nature thus in many places the Soveraigne power will provide Tutors for Pupills publick Schoolmasters for youth Physicians for Townes and Cities Besides the Factions Schismes and Heresies may so rend the State that if the supream power hath not a chief regulating hand in the election of Pastors calling or convocation of Synods it will never be able to settle the peace and security of the State upon a right Basis The Canons about elections have no life nor validity but what they receive from the supream power much lesse the elections which are regulated according to the canons and decrees Letter IN the yeare of our Lord 451. The Emperour Theodosius the II. whose piety and goodnesse is generally commended expelled Nestorius Patriarch of Constantinople and banished him In the yeare 498. a great strife happened about the election of a Bishop of Rome betwixt Symmachus and Laurentius the King Theodorick taking notice of the strife and hearing that Symmachus had been first named preferred him before Laurentius but soon after Symmachus being accused of many crimes he appointed Peter Bishop of Altin to iudge of the accusations and look to the disorders of Rome In the year 525. King Theodorick sent Iohn Bishop of Rome Ambassadour to Iustine the Emperour but this Iohn behaving himselfe contrary to his instructions Theodorick put him to death in prison Gregory the I. Bishop of Rome who wrote about the yeare of our Lord 595. writing to Maurice the Emperour calls himself unworthy servant and subject to his commands yea dust and ashes in his presence and a worme In the yeare 654. Constant the Emperour put Martin the Bishop of Rome in chaines and banished him to Chersonesus where he died Under Pepin Charles the Great and Lewis le Debonaire the power of the Romane Pontife grew by the liberality of those Kings yea since them have they been often ill intreated punished degraded and deposed by the Emperours of Germany and the Kings of Italy and the Histories of Germany France and England are full of examples of Emperours and Kings who have dealt roughly with the Bishops putting them out of their sea c. There is no doubt made when the King Clouis was a heathen but that he had an absolute power over all French both Lay and Ecclesiasticall and that retained still the a Christian he being afterwards same power else he had been a loser by his change and suffered a diminution of authority in his Empire Under the first line of our Kings Councells were assembled by their command and the Bishop of Rome never intermedled and had neither Nuncioes nor Legats in France Consideration THat the Supream power even of contrary Religion challenged power as well over Eclesiasticall persons as causes and were acknowledged competent Iudges we may see by the appeal of Saint Paul who appealed to Cesar I stand saith he at the Judiciall seat of Cesar there I must be indged and when Saint Peter not declining the Iudgement of the Councell said Act. 4. Whether we ought rather to obey God or man Judge yee And the great controversie about the Temples of Jerusalem and Garizin between the Iewes and the Samaritanes was decided by Ptolomeus King of Egypt and which was most materiall by the Law of Moses and his judgement was right pronouncing to
the execution of the canons the consent of the Emperours was never expected I say that the Emperours themselves understood that their consent was not required in the execution of the canons which as they were Acts of his so might he disannull them adde to them or repeale them by his Soveraign Authority he had over all persons and causes In the year 815. Charles the great is said to have added something of his owne to the decrees of the Synod held in Theodon Towne hoc de nostro adijcimus and for the authority of the supreame Magistrate in altering changing or expunging the decrees of Synods Bochellus saith that Charles the Bald did reject a great part of what was set forth in Synods by the Bishops in the yeare 856. and that it was the usuall custome when ever Synods were assembled that their decrees were not ratified till the King in his Privy Councell had approved of them the said King taking away what he disliked as it was practised by the Councels of Tours and Cabilon under Charles the Great and as P. Pithoeus hath proved fully And for the Power of the Soveraigne Magistrate to make his Laws as valid as canons and as authenticall as Synods decrees I would goe no further for a witnesse then what is related by the Agents and Orators of the Councell of Trent as may be seen amongst the Acts. The most Christian Kings say they have made many decrees about sacred things following the examples of Constantine Theodosius Valentinian Justinian and other Christian Emperors and ordained severall Ecclesiastical Lawes which they have put amongst their owne decrees But that the execution of the ancient canons were as much acts of the Emperours as the execution of decrees made in Chancery or other Courts are acts of the Soveraign Magistrate though he never heares of it It can be easily proved by the liberty that the Soveraigne Powers have always kept to themselves to dispence with pennances imposed by the canons Gervasius a Bishop being excommunicated was againe received to the communion by Juo Carnutensis by the order and appointment of the King of France Philip the 1. This scandalized other Bishops whereupon Juo though a great friend to the Popes in a letter to his fellow-Bishops justifieth himselfe and the King saying That the Assembly of Priests and people ought to receive to the communion whom the Kings piety hath thought worthy of it In the like language speaketh John Bishop of Rome in the 181 Epistle to Justinian I beseech your Clemency to receive them to the unity of the Church and to your communion if they will forsake their errour Letter THose Reformers have believed that the change of Religion in Soueraign Princes could not take away what Jesus Christ had given them although it was a change for the better They remembred Christs words commanding him that hath received an offence of his neighbour to tell it to the Church that is to the assembly of Pastors and Rulers of the Churches and they were perswaded that this comand was perpetuall and to remaine in force to the end of the world When the Lord bestowed upon his Disciples the gift of working Miracles and speaking Tongues In this gift they have not had any successors because the miracles done by the Apostles are usefull to this day to confirme and strengthen the Gospel but the graces and callings granted for the peace of conscience and for reconciling penitent sinners and maintaining the Church in good order ought to be perpetuall and the Apostles were meerly trusted with them that they should transmit them to Posterity and it is certain that the pardon granted by the Apostles to some in their times namely to the Corinthian incestuous person cannot be of use to sinners of these dayes these graces and actions being personall The same Reformers have considered that as there are various turns of the things of this world and the wils of the great ones of the world are subject to mutability it may fall out that in a country where the Magistrate is Orthodox the same Magistrate may come to be an heretick idolater or persecutor and therefore it is not expedient that the spirituall graces and callings should depend of the instability of temporall things and of the changes which may happen in States and Common-wealths If so be the Pastors under an Orthodox Magistrate had resigned to him the power of the keyes no doubt but the Magistrate Idolater who succeedeth would not permit the Pastors of the Church to resume the authority which they so willingly did forgoe Consideration VVHether the Magistrate be Orthodox or no the maine duty and action of a Christian depends not of the Magistrate as to feare God and keep his commandements to bebeleeve in Jesus Christ yea even when the Magistrate is most averse he cannot hinder the last action of martyrdome from being an honourable badge of Jesus Christ sealing the truth of the Gospel with his bloud Now whereas the letter saith that had the Pastors quitted the power of the keyes to an Orthodox Magistrate a succeeding Magistrate that were an idolater would not permit them to resume it there can be no such fear for as an orthodox Magistrate permitting for some reasons of State an Idolatrous religion wil either disdain or make a scruple of conscience to have a hand in regulating an Idolatrous worship but will leave to the Professours the whole ordering of their Religion so it be not to the disturbance of the State In like manner will an Idolatrous Magistrate deal with Orthodox Christians within his Dominions and not so much vouchsafe to know what is that power of the Keyes much lesse to have the handling of them If he can but hold the Sword it matters little to him who handles the Keyes Letter I Wish the Authour of the Articles had explained himself more fully and since he is of opinion that the Pastours under a faithfull and orthodox Magistrate ought in obedience to God to render to him that power which they had under a Magistrate of contrary Religion he had alledged some places of Scripture proving that such a command is laid upon them that God may be obeyed Consideration COmmon sence teacheth us that when a Prince either through incapacity ignorance or minority knoweth not the extent of his just power he may upon knowledge thereof extend it further and behave himselfe otherwise upon better thought or instruction Thus if a Prince being a heathen knoweth not that his chief duty and office is to govern adorn and defend the Christian Religion and people and to promote the salvation of those which are under his Government who doubts but afterwards giving his name to Christ he is above all other cares obliged to care what heretofore he did not know to concern his care and if when he was a heathen the Pastours did supply that wherin he was deficient there is no question to be made when afterwards he is a Christian but
constrained to obedience but as they were ratified by the seale or supreame will of the Soveraigne Magistrate who usually did call and dissolved them VII Although all power and jurisdiction in all things be annexed to the Soveraigne Magistrate by that we doe not meane to diminish any thing of the nature of the Empire and jurisdiction which the Lord Iesus Christ even in this world hath over his Church whose members he knoweth by name and which he doth governe by his Word and Spirit VIII But to beleeve that the body of those that make an externall profession of the true Religion must be governed by Lawes made by persons distinct in jurisdiction or legislation from that power which belongeth to the Soveraigne Magistrate t is a thing which cannot be found in the Scripture where we doe read that the Church and Kingdome of the Iewes were the same thing and that in the Synedrium all causes were decided and all kinds of persons convented IX These things being premised as afore t is not understood that the government by Presbyteries Synods Classes or even by Bishops must therefore be abolished but onely that all their jurisdiction is like a branch or rivolet streaming from the fountain of power residing in the Soveraign Magistrate X. Neither is it understood that the Magistrate ought to give orders or preach the Word although magistracy and ministry be things very consistent no more then to create Doctrors of physick or the like but onely that the power to exercise any profession or calling externally is conferred by him and cannot be done without him XI That the calling of Lay-Elders is not of necessary use in a Country where the Magistrate is of the same Religion with the body of the people it being more then reasonable that so much or more power be granted to the Orthodox Christian Magistrate then they yeeld to the Elders in France XII Now because some think it unfit that the ministers and the causes which they maintaine to be of their cognizance should in all things be subalterne to the Soveraign Magistrate the only expedient if we beleeve them to make the Church and State to be one Christian Common-wealth under one Soveraigne power were that the Rulers and Over-seers of the Church as Ministers and Elders should have also the Common-wealth committed to them in the manner as the Waldenses or Albigenses were governed for it seemeth that such Ministers would be contented that the Church and Common-wealth were one so that they might have the whole rule and Government but rather then to misse a share they become strong assertors of a distinct jurisdiction whereof they may appropriate one unto themselves Sic hisuperiorem illi parem non ferunt A Letter Examining the foregoing Positions Sir YOu sent me certaine articles touching the Ecclesiastical policy and thereupon are earnest to know my opinion the which I was long in debate whether I should deliver or no questioning whether the declaring of my sence in this matter be of any weight or moment but since by your last you presse it further upon me telling me that some persons of wisdome and gravity and in authority in the state are earnest to know my sence and opinion thereon I have at length given way to your importunity leaving to your discretion either the suppressing of this writing or making of it publike The two first articles do lay down for a foundation that all humane actions ought to be done in faith and referred to the soveraign end which is to glorifie God and to obtaine salvation and that the duty of the soveraign visible power is to declare unto the people the will of the great Legislator and that the laws of the said soveraign power ought to be conformable at least no way repugnant to the Law of God All this is just and honest and it were a sinne against piety to contradict it The second article saith that the soveraign Magistrate hath right to regulate all humane actions which are tending to that soveraign end and that he alone ought to sway and preside over all meanes Lawes offices places and persons appertaining to the said actions else if there were two supreme Magistrates one over the actions they call Ecclesiasticall and another over the civill a great deal of confusion would ensue And that heresies schismes and wars did arise for the most part from the Popes dividing the said actions challenging to themselves the regulating of one part of them leaving the other to the Emperour and Kings thus setting up Imperium in imperio I am of opinion that there cannot be in a well composed State and so doth the scripture teach us more then one soveraign power and that all persons of what quality and condition soever are subject to the soveraign Magistrate and that the Pastors of the Church cannot be excepted or exempted from that subjection their duty being to exhort and dispose the people to be faithfull and obedient to that power by Gods providence set over them and chalk them the way by their example 1. Iosh all the people the Levites and the Priests being comprised speak thus to Ioshua All that thou commandest us will we do and whithersoever thou sendest us we wil go 1 King 1. v. 33. David saith to Bethsheba Take with you the servants of your Lord. The context shewes that Zadok the high Priest was of the servants of the King 2. King 23. v. 4. And the King commanded Helkiah the high Priest and the Priests of the second order And there he chideth them for not obeying his command in repairing of the temple S. Paul doth appeal to Cesar acknowledging him his Iudge Consideration NOte that S. Paul appeales to Caesar as to the supreme competent Iudge not onely in relation to his private person and cause but the cause of the Gospel for the question was whether there was any crime in preaching the Gospel and the Apostles acknowledge the worst of the Emperours the supreme power and Iudge Had Festus not been a competent Iudge in Ecclesiasticall matters but onely in civill instead of saying I am judged for the hope c. that is for the resurrection of the dead the chief point of Christianity he would have said I am not to be judged before thee in these matters Letter THe same Apostle Rom. 13. enjoyneth that all persons be subject to the higher powers acknowledging the powers that have the present rule to be given of God that is such as by a speciall act of his providence have the soverain power in hand St. Pet. 1.2 v. 13. Submit your selves to every ordinance of man for the Lords sake and note that the Emperour to whom obedience is commanded to be rendred was a tyrant and a most wicked man Nebuchadnezzar had subdued Iudea and lead the Iews captives yet Ieremiah speakes thus to the remnant of the Iewes not yet transported Submit your neck under the yoak of the King of Babylon and serve him
besides the death of Christ then such commands were not to be obeyed Nor doe I say that therefore the State must be embroiled and the Magistrate resisted but that one is rather to endure martyrdome or all kind of persecution then to lose his soule in giving obedience to such commands Thus have the three friends of Daniel done and all the faithfull martyrs We see in the Apologetick of Tertullian that in his time the Christians did fill the greatest part of the Roman Empire which might have been very empty had they gone about to flee for persecution into a remote Country Read St. Austin upon the 124 Psalme Valentinian the II. was laboured to take away the Temples from the Orthodoxes and give them to the Arrians but Ambrosius Bishop of Milan withstood him but how he tels you himselfe Dolere potero potero flere potero gemere adversus arma milites Gottos lachrymae meae arma sunt talia enim sunt munimenta Sacerdotis aliter nec debeo nec possum resistere To this exception I would adde another that the Magistrate must be obeyed in the actions in which he acts as Magistrate and for such a one taken For if a Soveraign Prince be in a Ship and a storme happens I doe beleeve that the Master Pilot ought rather to follow the rules of his art than the will of the Prince who is not versed in navigation The Magistrate indeed may forbid the mariners to lanch out of the Port and to saile into Spain or the Indies or to import or export such and such wares but it doth not belong to him to order how the Ship must be steered or the sailes hoised up Thus a Prince learning to ride ought if he meanes to learn to obey the Master of the horses yea as a Saveraign Prince he hath power over the person life and goods of the Master of the horses yea I say that the yielding of the Prince to the Rider is a kind of a command to the Rider so to deale with him I say the same of a Magistrate sick obeying the prescripts of a Physitian he doth obey as a man and not as a Magistrate whereupon a question may be moved whether the Magistrate being at publique prayers and partaker of the Sacraments is there as a Magistrate or as a Christian Consideration THis similitude or relation betwixt a Prince in a storm and the Pilot and betwixt a Prince sick and a Physitian is very pertinent to declare that the power of the Pastor over the Soveraign Magistrate is of the same nature and proportionable to that power which the Physitian hath over the Soveraign Prince being sick or that of a skilfull Pilot in a storme over him who may be his King but unskilfull in the art of navigation This power is rather a friendly counsell though exercised and uttered in a commanding way specially in the mouth of a Minister who in the name of God may command a Soveraigne Prince to redeem his sins by a speedy repentance for in effect 't is but declaring unto him what be the commands of God for the good of his soule Thus a Physitian following the rules of his art and his long experience may charge a King his patient as he tenders his owne health which he must not obstinately cast away to refraine from such and such meates and doubtless that King would grievously sinne against God who rejecting the counsell of the Physition and wilfully obeying his owne lust and appetite should thereby fall into a relapse It might happen in a storme or shipwrack that the Pilot should use a kinde of compulsion and violence towards his Soveraign pulling him as it were out of danger and forcing him to hearken to the meanes of his preservation for which he ought not to be blamed Letter I Think also that we should make a distinction between a Magistrate that is faithfull and orthodox and one that is an Ethnick or an Heretick for under a heathen Magistrate I doe not see how it can belong to any but the Pastors of the Church to manage the Church for shall a heathen Magistrate and persecutor be a judge of the articles of the Christian faith or make use of suspension or excommunication Whence it followeth that the state of the Church may subsist although the power of the Keyes and the governing of the Church be not in the Magistrate If the heathen Magistrate should forbid the Pastors upon paine of death to hold councels or Ecclesiasticall assemblies or to preach the Gospel or if there be such an urgent necessity of calling a Councell to stop the current of a pestilentiall heresie or to degrade some Pastors that disturbe the peace of the Church or that have crept in forcibly may the Pastors be condemned if they doe privately convene themselves contrary to the will of the Magistrate Consideration THis is one of the strongest arguments that can be alledged for the power of the Keys and Ecclesiasticall Courts and Jurisdiction different and independent from the civill Magistrate because there hath beene sometimes Church-government calling of Synods and exercise of Jurisdiction against the will of the soveraigne Power and not complicate with the civill Power But in mine opinion it hath no strength all for first I lay down this for a ground that the Magistrate whether Orthodox or not doth retaine still the same supream power over all persons and causes of what kind soever Secondly that in all persons and actions of men under the soveraigne Power this grand rule must be first observed that God must rather be obeyed then man Thirdly that many actions of all kinds naturall or voluntary even meetings assemblies and orders obliging some men or society may be done without the cognizance of the soveraigne Magistrate For first If heathenisme or heresie could devest a man of the power he hath over all persons and causes by that unjust lawes should be no lawes a diseased man by the same reason should cease to be a man and a wicked Emperour as Heliogabalus should not have beene ranked among the Emperors nor acknowledged for the supreame Judge of the Land because a bad one I confesse that a Heathen or hereticall Soveraigne cannot but judge amisse of persons and causes either out of ignorance or malice but ignorance of what is right doth not devest him of his right neither doth a wicked managing of his owne right hinder it to be a right still Depraved actions in nature continue to be actions still An Orthodox Soveraign Magistrate falling into heathenisme or heresie as Julian the Apostate loseth no part of his supreame power he that over all causes and persons no more doth the Soveraigne Magistrate get any addition or extent of power if from heresie or heathenisme he is converted to the Christian Religion 'T is the duty of a Magistrate to defend and propagate Christian Religion It is the Fathers duty to provide for his children the part of the Supreame Judge to
wrath sets the most contemptible amongst men and children for Kings even children in judgement over the people that they may depend more on the King of Heaven Yet the most part what they want in personall abilities to act of themselves they recompence in judgement and discretion about the choice of Counsellours many unlearned Fathers and unacquainted in the wayes of education of children will have a good sagacity in choosing able Tutours for their children In like manner the Soveraigne Magistrate may wisely order the course of Law Sciences Arts Trades Manufactures though he be litttle or nothing versed at all in any of them And if it were required that the Soveraigne power should be exactly conversant in all the actions they order there had need to be in a State so many Soveraigne powers as there be acts and disciplines and were they never so capable yet they will do wisely to choose able Counsellours much more in a matter of so high importance as is the deciding of controversies in Religion and ordering the actions belonging to the Kingdome of heaven ubi magna negotia magnis egent adjutoribus and amongst those Counsellours none will be so fit as Divines men of Learning Gravity and Piety Thus if the Soveraigne power goeth about to reform the abuses of severall Professions and Arts within his Dominions as for example of Physick no doubt but he will joyn with his Counsell the most skilfull of that Art But that the Pastours or Ministers are not the fittest to have a Supream Iurisdiction over persons and causes they call Ecclesiasticall reason and the sad experience of former times teacheth us for were they endowed with knowledge by Revelation and had Ecclesiasticall Assemblies compounded meerely of Divines a non-erring gift not communicable to any other Assemblies of men I should willingly and necessarily admit that Divines ought to be assisting the Christian Magistrate not onely as Counsellours but also as Iudges coequall to them yea Superiours in that Iurisdiction which they challenge to themselves but the gifts of Government being not inseparably joyned with those of preaching and the Ministers not being endowed with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or infallibility more then those that sit at the Stern of the State can be I do not see but that their proper place and employment is to be counsellours to the Soveraigne power in matters belonging to the Kingdome of heaven But being falne insensibly upon the rank and station that Ministers ought to keep in a Christian Common-wealth because it is a matter complicate with the question in hand concerning the pretended Ecclesiasticall Jurisdiction distinct from the Civil it will not be amisse to discusse which of the Governments either by Bishops or onely Presbyters is most consistent and compatible with the peace and safety of a Christian Protestant State If it be admitted on all sides that there is but one power of Legislation and Jurisdiction in all causes and over all persons belonging to the Supream Magistrate I conceive that then Bishops overseers set over many Congregations besides that they are more agreeable with the Primitive institution will much ease the Supream power of the care they must take in ordering persons and causes nearer concerning the Kingdome of heaven for his inspection being but over the Bishops Factions and Heresies will not so easily spread among the multitude of the Christian people as if he were immediately to overlook the actions of the great body of Presbyters who being numerous may easily escape his eyes and have a greater freedome to innovate Therefore Moses being Supream in all causes and over all persons It was a wise counsel of Jethro his father in Law to wish him to set under him men over the people who besides that they bore the burden with him those men being far lesse for number then the people it was easie for Moses to oversee them But under those Magistrates who should condescend to a divided and distinct Iurisdiction one being civill and exercised by themselves the other Ecclesiasticall and of Divine right belonging to the Ministers of the Gospell In that case I do conceive that few Bishops set over Presbyters and being Independent from any other power have a greater opportunity to Lord and tyrannize over the Christian people then a numerous company of Presbyters of the same rank and equall Authority can have Letter NOw for that the Author of the articles would have this distinction of civill and spiritual abolished 't is a thing very hard to change and alter the nature of things as if one would take away the distinction betwixt black and white Let men doe what they can and say what they will the questions about Faith will be still spirituall things and suites in Law for money or houses will be still civill and temporall matters If we change the words the nature of things cannot suffer alteration Consideration THe Magistrate is no more head of two things Church State then of thousand kinds of actions in a Christian Common-wealth which for every one of them needs not a particular Soveraign a Power Now these two things Christian Church and Common-wealth cannot be so much as conceived to have a reall being without each other for as every man is a reasonable creature and every reasonable creature a man so every Christian Common-wealth is a Church and every Christian Church a Common-wealth I speak of those Churches that have as large and spacious extent of place as the Common-wealth it selfe for in some other sence a family in a house is called a Church and according to that acception every Church should not be a Christian Common-wealth I think the Church is not different from the Christian Common-wealth more then the understanding is from the Soul for as powers and faculties are believed by great Philosophers not to be distinguished really from the Soul however though there should be a difference it cannot be so distinct as that the power can have a distinct being from the Soul but that at least all powers are subaltern and subordinate to the chief power called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which sits at the stern of all faculties and directs and modifies all actions though never so severall contributing as well to ratiocination and vision as to the coction and expulsion In the like manner that Soveraigne power in a State though one in essence hath its severall faculties or powers from which severall actions do stream tending to the ordering of the whole man in his being and well-being as well in things of the inward man as the outward And to follow he analogy between the body of man and the State it is no little illustration to beget belief that as the primum movens or Soveraigne power is one and extends it self as far as it is circumscribed by the cuticula or thin skin there being not one Soveraigne power for the head another for the lower regions and a third for the hands and feet So in
a State bounded as England by certain limits no doubt if it be one State or Comon-wealth it hath one Soveraigne power reaching as well to Cumberland as to Kent and Cornwall over all persons actions and causes for if some persons or causes were exempted as for example the persons and causes they call Ecclesiasticall within the same limits of Land I do not conceive that there can be any such power nor can I Imagine where that power in matters Ecclesiasticall or ordering Church wayes should reside by which the Supreame Civill Magistrate is bounded but there may be as well ten thousand Supream powers and Courts Ecclesiasticall within England as one single generall power for the Civill Magistrates Jurisdiction being distinct from the Ecclesiasticall he may not hinder that multiplication of powers every one of these powers assuming to be sui Juris in sacred things or if he hinders it and prevaileth to have but one Soveraign power in Church matters in all his Dominions this very act of prevailing will be a sufficient demonstration that there is but one Soveraigne power over all causes and persons Ecclesiasticall and Civill indeed the taking away the branch of the Jurisdiction and power of the Christian Soveraign Magistrate in things pertaining to the Kingdome of heaven is as much as to destroy all Ecclesiasticall power and Jurisdiction for besides that this makes the Magistrate but a cipher or zero in sacred things it abolisheth all Ecclesiasticall Discipline Parish meetings publick and uniforme exercises of the ordinances which cannot be performed but by the supreame Magistrates ordering permission or at least connivence and it reduceth all Church wayes to the congregational which way though it cannot be disproved all men naturally having a power to associate themselves upon their ordinary affairs without the Supreame Powers leave or ordering much more when those meetings are pious innocent and without danger to the publick weale yet if there be no other Church-way within all the Dominions of the Soveraigne Magistrate then the Congregationall not onely all Power of the Keyes and Jurisdiction in Church-matters is quite taken away from the Christian Magistrate but also all Presbyteries Classes Synods and with them their Power and Jurisdiction vanisheth and comes to nothing and in truth it will come to nothing if you doe not make that publique ordering of Church-way setting up of Ordinances uniformity of Catechising confession of Faith discipline censures to be a branch of the Legislation and Jurisdiction which the Soveraign Christian Magistrate is to have over all causes persons and actions for in Gods name where can that Power in Church matters be seated but in the Christian Magistrate May be you will seat it in all the Christian people within the Magistrates Dominions But by this the Christian people having the Soveraign Power in Ecclesiasticall shall have the liberty not onely as I said before to make as in England either one two or more yea ten thousand Nationall Churches as far differing one from the other in Rites and Constitutions as the Scottish Church is from the English and the English from the French the word of God not stinting whether associated Christians ought to be many or few in one body or whether many bodies or few in one Nation as England and whether they must be a collection of Churches joyned in one body of a Nationall Church or not And which is more this absurdity and great inconvenience will follow from this dividing of Powers that it will be free for Christians to erect in two contiguous Countryes under two distinct Magistrates as France and the Territory of Geneva one collective body of Churches ruled by the same Synods and Decrees under one Soveraigne Power in Ecclesiasticall and thus shall you have not Imperium in Imperio but Imperium in duobus Imperijs a confusion of Empires for who may have right to keep them from so doing If you say that both the neighbour Soveraigne civill Powers may hinder them to that I say either it is an usurpation in them to doe so or if not then that Power by which the Church is ordered is subordinate to the Soveraigne Christian Magistrate which is all I intended to make good But it may be said againe that all the Christians or all the Congregations who are big enough to make a Church such as the little number of two or three of Christ in the Gospel gathered together in Christs name within the Dominions of the Soveraign civill Power will have that humane wisedome as to erect but one Nationall Church and of the same latitude and extent that the Dominions are To that I say that this very liberty and humane wisedome which they make use of without a certaine prescript from God doth sufficiently evidence that they make use of the same guide which the Supreame Power doth imploy in the governing of the State and that since humane wisedome must be be called to help for the ordering of these two things they will have to be distinct viz. the Church and State none can be better trusted with them then the Supream Power of the State where the Church must be constituted and indeed the Christian Emperours have always modelled the Church after the fashion of the State or if you will the State after the Church because they were to depend of one supreame Power for as they had Bishops in every City whose bounds and extent was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Parish so had they a Defensor Civitatis and in every Province the Arch-bishop or Metropolitan was answerable to the Praeses or Proconsul and in every Diocesse the Primate or Patriarch was like the Lieutenant or Vicarius or Legatus To summe up all as the primum movens in the naturall body extendeth it selfe to all parts and functions of the body so the Soveraigne Power in a State hath an equall Jus Imperij in Ecclesiasticall and civill matters And as the sensitive and vitall parts are equally extended and circumscribed by the same limits so all the causes of what kind soever they be are bounded by the same supreame Power within the same limits of land as if on the North side Barwick is the bound of the civill Power of England so is it of the Ecclesiasticall But it may be demanded how the soveraigne Power may be said to have Jus Imperij in Divine Lawes I answer that properly the office of a Soveraigne Power is only ministeriall and in regard of God it is rather an administration then a power but in regard of men because it bindeth to obedience 't is a Power and Authority Now his Law is either just or unjust if unjust yet the obedience to it being not sinfull it must be obeyed as a Law in force for the strength of a Law doth not consist in that it is just but in this because 't is a Law ordained by him who hath Authority Now if this Law be just it must be obeyed for two reasons
viz. first for conscience sake and for wrath that is the tye of every Christian in all the commands of the Magistrate is to obey God and doe whatsoever just and honest thing lies in ones power then for feare of punishment for any precept though morall and never so just although it bindes the conscience yet 't is no Law binding to obedience in foro humano till it be reduced into a Law by the Legislative Power of the Soveraigne Magistrate for even the supream power though Christian and godly cannot punish a theife for transgressing the commandement Thou shalt not steale except this Law be also a Law of the State But againe it may be demanded what authority and power doe you entitle on the Ministers of the Gospel to whom the Scripture committeth the power of the Keyes and giveth high Titles Names and Eloges I answer that still they have the highest honour in the world even higher then the Magistrates and Kings higher then Judges for all men shall be judged by their Gospel they are Ambassadours from Christ to earthly powers as the Kingdom committed to them is not of this world so their weapons are not earthy but spirituall and sharper then any two edged sword they condemn when they doe denounce the judgments of God to impenitent sinners they pardon declaring the mercies of God to penitent and mourning sinners they rebuke all kinds of men teach exhort admonish and have a kind of power and authoritie binding as much or more to obedience then the commands of the Soveraigne Magistrate for a man once convinced by the preaching of the word the word of of the Minister apprehended to be the truth of God or a command from God will be like the Intellect which being enlightened doth more powerfully work upon the will to act then when it is compelled by an externall agent and even civilly the respect one hath to an Artist binds in a manner to follow his prescriptions 'T is no marvell then if Theodosius being rebuked sharply by Ambros yielded to a censure rather coming from God which he was willing to undergo being conscious of his sinfulnesse and deserts then that it proceeded from a man endowed with a coercive power of excommunication to which not to yield had been a rebellion against God as Christ alone is the true spirituall Legislatour so he alone doth either withold or remit sinnes Solus saith Hilarius the Deacon peccata dimittit qui solus pro peccatis nostris mortuus est and the words of Lombard are very expresse to shew the extent of the power of the Keyes Sacerdotibus tribuit Deus potestatem solvendi ligandi id est ostendendi homines solutos vel ligatos God giveth the Priests power to loose and bind that is to make known they are either tied or loosed li. 4. dis 18. Saint Hierome upon the 26. of Matth. teacheth us what this potestas Clavium is as the Priest makes the Leprous either clean or unclean so doth the Bishop or Priest bind or unbind and saint Cyprian lib. de lapsis and other where saith that by the preaching of Ministers men receive not forgivenes of sins but are brought by it to be converted by getting a Knowledge of their sins And saint Augustine in many places saith that the Minister is some body in the administring of the Sacraments and dispensing the word but no body for the Iustification of a sinner and for working inwardly except he that made man worketh in the man Were the nature of Christs Kingdome well understood I suppose that the power of the Keyes would be easily stated I mean that Kingdome and power by which Christ worketh by his word and spirit upon the spirits of men inclining them to do his will by perswading and not constraining them by any coercive power delegated to the Apostles and their successors in the Ministery Christ himself saith he is not come into the world to Iudge the world but that the world should be saved by his preaching And the comparing of Christs Kingdome to a grain of Mustard seed and to leaven hid in the dough sheweth manifestly that this Kingdome is propagated by secret perswasions and workings and not by a Iudiciall external power seated in the Ministers constraining to obededience upon bodily or pecuniary penalties Were the visible Kingdome of Christ a different Kingdome from that of the Christian Magistrate we should read in the Gospel of some Lawes besides those about the sacraments for the regulating of the said Kingdome The precepts to believe to repent and to be baptised are no such Lawes that for the non-performance of them men should incurre punition or damnation for the not obeying of the Evangelicall precepts is an argument that the wrath of God is upon the transgressors and not an effect following upon the transgression He that doth not believe in Christ is condemned already man refusing to accept of the remedy in the Gospel is left to his former miserable estate and the Law onely takes hold of him Now this Law denouncing both temporall eternal punishment to the transgressors it is evident that the power to judge in the world according to that Law in ordering all causes and punishing all kinds of persons transgressing doth belong only to one Soveraigne power subaltern not to Christ as the Soveraigne Preacher and Mediatour but as God in Trinity and Trinity in unity or as God Creatour and Supream Governour over all causes persons estates and conditions temporall or eternall Letter A Midst all these difficulties it will be a work pleasing to God to find a mean to keep the caling of the Ministery of the Gospell in the posture and condition as it was established by Jesus Christ without any abating and diminishing of the dignity and power of the Soveraigne Magistrate and I believe that just and easie means may be found out Consideration THere is but one means which is that of Queene Elisabeth King James and of Hooker in his book of Ecclesiasticall polity wherein under the words of Royall power Crown and dignity he teacheth us that all power and Iurisdiction Ecclesiasticall is derived from the Supream power of England and is upholden and defended by him The words of the Act Elizab. 1. cap. 1. are very expresse omitting nothing which can be of Pastours and Synods cognizance which be not mentioned to be of the Iurisdiction of the Supream Magistrate All Ecclesiasticall and spirituall Jurisdiction is annexed to the Crown to visit reform redresse order correct and amend all such heresies schismes abuses offences contempts and enormities whatsoever which by any manner spirituall or Ecclesiasticall power authority or Jurisdiction can or may be lawfully reformed In the same statute it is enacted and ordained that no opinion shall be judged or determined to be heresie but by the high Court of Parliament of the Realm Letter WE have already laid down for a firme and constant ground and ordained by God that all Ecclesiasticall
persons are subject to the Soveraigne Magistrate in whose hands God hath put the Sword and that he hath power over the lives and goods of the Pastours of the Church and may iustly punish them when they are perturbators of the publick peace and become obnoxious by their wicked lives that the duty of the Magistrate is to restrain them if they behave themselves tyrannically in the use of the Keyes and break the peace of the State Consideration THis alone is sufficient to evince that in a Christian Common-wealth there can be but one Soveraigne power over all persons causes and actions for it is absurd to conceive that the Supream Magistrate hath power over the person of the Minister and not over the actions and causes for which he may and must be punished by the said Magistrate and 't is no lesse absurd to conceive that the Magistrate may justly put to death a Minister or punish him with banishment yet may not have the power to degrade him it being a rule in philosophy that if the whole be in the power much more a part of the whole and if the same Supream Magistrate may justly degrade him who doubts but he may as justly challenge to himself the right of choosing him else which is all one as if he had chosen the Pastour himself he may put by not onely the said Pastour but so many one after another as are substituted by the power they call Ecclesiasticall till the Pastor chosen be according to his owne mind Letter ANd because it might fall out that in Nationall and Provincial Synods the overseers of Churches should transgresse the limits of their calling and meddle with civill affaires in which the Civill Magistrate is interessed it stands with reason that these Synods be not convened without the will and consent of the Soveraign the ancient Emperours have yet done more then that for in the universall Councils they have been present as Constantine in the Council of Nicaea and Marcian at the opening of the Chalcedoine Council or in their stead they have sent Earls Patrices or Consuls as we may see in the Acts of the Council of Chalcedoine and the II. Councill of Nicaea in the said Acts we see that the said Patrices and Earles abated the insolency of some Bishops and commanded them absolutely The title given them by the Councill was Gloriosissimi Iudices Consideration THis likewise proveth the necessity of one Soveraigne power over all persons meetings causes and actions Synods being assemblies of wise and learned Councellours to advise the Supream power in matters of Doctrine and Discipline as the Supream Magistrates power is to call them so to determine the members that are called to it as Marsilius Patavinus saith Generale concilium convocare personas ad hoc idoneas determinare pertinet ad Legislatoris authoritatem part 2. cap. 20. and not onely so he only doth preside and reserveth himself the facultie of approving disproving examining and rejecting what he thinks fit even after the Synod is broken up and their conclusions and Canons are ratified by him as the Ecclesiasti-Historie tells us Letter AS for decisions of points touching Doctrine of faith although the Emperours never iudged of these matters yet did they maintain their authority giving Judges to whom they commanded to decide the differences as Constantine did when the Donatists came to complain to him for he gave them some Bishops for Judges to whose Judgement they not yielding he called a Councill to pronounce a definitive sentence but these Judges which the Emperour gave to decide matter of Doctrine were alwayes Bishops and Ecclesiasticall persons by that means the Emperonr kept his authority over Bishops Consideration OBserve that not the Churches nor the Synods but the Emperour nameth the Judges The difference was betwixt the Donatists and other Bishops of Africa the Donatists with a great deale of submission besought the Emperor to give them Judges out of France The Emperour gave them 3 French and with them Miltiades Bishop of Rome 'T is here further to be observed that as the Letter saith the Donatists did not condescend to the determinations of the 4 Judges which is not to be understood as if they rejected the sentence of the Judges or of the Emperor as issued from incompetent Judges or appealed to a Synod for quite contrary they appealed to the Emperour who indeed thereupon called another Synod to compose the controversie which was about Caecilianus accused by the Donatists of many crimes and to have been unduly elected from that Synod in which they were condemned they appealed againe to the Emperor who for the second time called another Councill at Arles of which the Donatists not being satisfied that Caecilianus should be confirmed in his Sea of Carthage appealed the third time from the Councill to the Emperour who condemned the Donatists and banished them Neither were the Donatists ignorant that the decision of the Emperour should be the ultimate definitive judgment And the very Bishops did use to give account of what passed in Synods Thus Constantine called the Bishops convened at Tyr to him to give an account of what passed in the Assembly Among the Councils of France we read that the heads of the debates in Synods were referred ad sacratissimum judicium that is the counsell of the King or rather the King himselfe and that in the year 813. the addresses to Charles the Great doe refer the determinations of the Councell to be examined amended and confirmed by him and that by his wisedome he would vouchsafe to supply what had beene wanting on their part Letter IF the Soveraigne Counsill be minded to reserve to himself the decision of points of Doctrine and of all Ecclesiasticall affaires it were in that case needfull that the Councill should be composed partly of Pastors and Doctors and Ecclesiasticall persons skilled in these matters as it was practised in the Palatinate afore the late troubles which is confirmed by the example alledged by the Author of the Articles We find saith he that in the Common-wealth of the Jewes in one onely Synedrium all causes were decided and all kinds of persons might be convented In this Synedrium the Nasi was President who usually was the High Priest and most in it were Priests or Levites The same thing was practised in England before these late alterations there being a Soveraign Counsell called the High Commission in which the Arch-bishop was President to whom were joyned in Commission as Assessors some Counsellors at Law of the Country Consideration 'T Is sufficiently granted that though it be admitted that Ecclesiasticall and Civill causes are belonging to two distinct Jurisdictions yet they may confluere in unum and be made of two one under one single Soveraign Power That the Powers were not divided in the Common-wealth of the Jewes it may be easily gathered by the Story of the Jewes from Moses to the Captivity Moses himselfe was a Soveraigne Judge in all causes
THE POVVER OF THE Christian Magistrate in Sacred things Delivered In some Positions sent to a Friend upon which a returne of his opinion was desired With some considerations upon the Answer and a Digression concerning Allegiance and submission to the Supreame Magistrate By Lewis du Moulin History-reader of the University of Oxford LONDON Printed by G. Dawson for FRANCIS EGLESFIELD at the Marygold in Pauls Church-yard 1650. To the Right HONORABLE Bulstrode Whitelocke Esquire Rich. Keble Esq Sergeant at Law John Lisle Esquire Lords Commissioners for the Custody of the Great Seal of England My Lords I Pretend not by this Dedication to loosen any one link of the chains of Civilities and unmerited favors whereby I am bound unto your Lordships But rather finding my selfe insolvent as a stranger destitute of other Sureties I have taken the occasion to give publick suretyship of my profest beholdingnesse Besides this personall motive there was another reall for intending this discourse onely as a Hue and Cry after truth which the self interest of some hath lurched from the knowledge of other Christians I should wrong this same truth if I did not entitle your Lordships to her patronage who are upon all occasions her so zealous abettors Your known goodnesse requires I presume no Apologie for the incongruous addresse or composure of a stranger I pretend to truth and if she be not as shee ought to be I am sure my English is starke naked in which condition if you please to cast over her the mantle of your protection the stormy age wherein we live shall no more hinder her production then abate the zeal of Your Lordships most devoted Servant LEWIS du MOULIN To the Reader HAving occasionally made some Considerations upon the ensuing Letter which gave me in one place pag. 20. c. a faire insinuation to speak of the Allegeance due by Subiects to the present power by Gods providence set over them I was the more willing to insist a little upon it and particularly upon the late Engagement which being tendred me in Oxford by order of the State by whose favour I am a member of that University I frely acknowledge I was not so scrupulous as many of my brethren of the University were men otherwise of known piety and integrity but have subscribed unto it for which undergoing various censures by many who either are not yet perswaded to subscribe or are engaged otherwise and being not conscious to my self that herein I have done against my duty or disobeyed Gods word or been prepossessed with particular interest I thought my selfe obliged to give publickly an account from what Scripture reason and humane authority I have received satisfaction and encouragement to subscribe thereby hoping even from the most averse either to be pardoned or excused Errata Pag. 81. lin 24. read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 107. l. 9 Acts read Arts. p. 110. l. 13. 14. read over few Bishops Positions concerning the Power of the Christian Magistrate in Church matters I. THat all humane actions Naturall or Voluntary even the most mechanick and servile so they be necessary and not sinfull must be done in faith and are to be referred to the Soveraign end which is to glorifie God by words and deede and to obtain the Summum bonum of men which is the love of God and union with him II. That the principall duty of the Soveraigne visible Power in regulating the actions of mens society is not to make new Lawes but to declare the will of the Grand Legislator even God in his Word for the right governing of that society according to his divine will making Lawes agreeable or not repugnant to it holding forth to the people for a soveraign Law that God must be rather obeyed then man III. That since the Soveraigne Power hath right to regulate all humane actions which doe tend to that Soveraigne end he alone must preside over all Orders Lawes Offices Places and Persons which have any reference to the said actions Else if two Supreame Magistrates were constituted sharing betwixt them the Supreame power the one being over certain actions they call Ecclesiastical the other over the Civill such a State cannot be conceived without a great deal of confusion Humane actions of what kinde soever they be having so neare affinity among themselves and being included one within another IV. That for the most part the causes of Heresies and Wars which have troubled the World came from the Popes dividing the said actions vindicating to themselves the regulating of one part of them leaving the ordering of the other to the Emperour and Kings and thus erecting Imperium in Imperio and not only so but by reason of the great affinity there is betwixt humane actions reducing almost all of them under his cognizance V. That the Reformers have indeed repurged the doctrin from Popery but still have kept to themselves the Soveraign cognizance of the actions which they call Ecclesiasticall assuming to themselvs the power of the Keyes which in truth is restrained to this sentence That God must be rather obeyed then man and therefore when the Magistrate was unwilling to have a hand in the Reformation or the exercise of the true Religion as in the primitive times or in France they have done well even without or against the liking of the Magistrate to make a body of Congregations giving it an order which they call purely Ecclesiasticall Likewise they did well to create Elders who are the Deputies of the people for otherwise the word could not have been preached the Sacraments administred and the soules saved But where the Soveraigne Magistrate is of the same Religion with the body of the people these words Ecclesiasticall Civill Spiritual Temporall Clerck and Lay ought to cease and with them the diversity of legislation and jurisdiction and under such a Magistrate the Common-wealth is a Christian Visible Church these words having but an accidentall difference but yet such as have caused a reall difference Now such distinction of words which parts things that should not be divided ceasing the originall of all order and power over all actions and things is seated on the Soveraigne visible power and doth extend to and over all kinds of persons none being exempted nor any thing excepted if it be not contrary to Gods commands In summe the Supream Magistrate is none other then the Minister of God for the good and salvation of those that are under government VI. These things being so and the Christian visible Church being an assembly of good bad which have need to be governed for their temporall and eternall good it is manifest that under other words it is the same thing with the words of Christian Common-wealths and that the legislatiō jurisdiction which the Soveraigne Magistrate hath over it is extended over all persons and causes and in all Assemblies Synods and Classes for even the conclusions and canons of the ancient Councels had no force which
and over all persons no prophet in his time prophesied but the 70 Elders who yet prophesied by the spirit of Moses communicated to them In Joshuah's time the Regall or Civill Supreame Power was joyned with the Sacerdotall and seated in Eleazar as we may read Numb 27. vers 18 19. c. And St. Peter in his 1 Epistle chap. 2. vers 9. he coupleth them together or rather maketh but one of them calling the Common-wealth of Israel a Royall Priesthood That these Powers were no lesse divided in Samuel appeareth by the word of God to him 1 Sam. 8. ver 7. They have not rejected thee but me as if he should have said this people is weary to be under thy government they must needs have a King of their owne but in so doing they have not so much cast thee off as me who had set thee over them After Saul the High Priests attempted nothing except it were by a speciall command of God without the Kings consent Thus when the Booke of the Law had been a long time lost and then found the Priests enquired of the Lord concerning that Book by the command and direction of Josias so that the supreame visible authority to judge whether the Booke found was to be received for the Law of Moses and the word of God did only belong to the King as we see in the 2 Book of King chap 22. 23. where we read that the King called together all sorts of men viz. Elders Priests Prophets and all the people and read the Book of the Law before them all and withall was the author of the Covenant to which all the people stood under the word people all ranks of men being comprised After the return from the captivity it is knowne that the Sacerdotall Kingdome was againe set up as it was in Joshuah's time and under the Judges Letter IN the 10th Article he saith it is not understood that the Soveraigne Magistrate ought to give orders which concession will serve to keep a part of the authority belonging to the Ministers for if the ordination doe belong to none but the Pastors only it followeth that to them only belongeth the degrading and exauctorating of Ministers which are either vicious or hereticks or yet uncapable They may take away what they have given but still the punishing of them for crimes is in the power of the Soveraign Magistrate Consideration THere might be yet a question made whether when the Supreame and Regall Power is set in it hath not much of the Ministeriall and Sacerdotall Office annexed to the Regall calling and paternall Right for 1500 yeares together the Soveraigne Power was joyned with the Sacerdotall and among the chiefe Cities of Greece the Kings were Priests omnino apud veteres saith Cicero qui rerum potiebantur iidem auguria tenebant ut enim sapere sic divinare regali ducebant The division that was made to Aaron was not of the Soveraign Power but of the exercise of the Office Besides Aaron was an expresse figure of Christ our great High Priest which office near the time of Christ even soone after the Captivitie was againe confounded with the Regall but not to make use of this plea I say it is of ordination as of taking of the degree of Doctor of Physick or Law in an Academy This co-optation though made without the speciall privacie of the Supream Power yet in generall 't is not done without his consent permission he hath stil an inspection over the man quatenus Physitian or Lawyer and so long as he exerciseth the profession In like manner though the Soveraigne Power doth not ordaine this particular man yet is ordination of his appointment and one of his Lawes though it comes first from God for so doth the morall Law which notwithstanding after it hath been published under certaine penalties becomes the Law of the Supream Legislator of the State we have amongst the Constitutions of Justinian some bearing that title De ordinatione Episcoporum Clericorum Letter NOw if the Orthodox Magistrate under whose shadow the Church subsisteth and the true Religion maintained should transgresse the limites vindicating to himselfe more power over the Church then God hath given him in his Word I shall alwayes give counsell to the Pastors of the Church and to the people to beare that yoake with patience without murmuring giving thankes to God for bestowing Magistrates who are conservators of the purity of the Gospel under whose shelter and protection the souls are directed to the way that leads to salvation Consideration I Conceive that if the Soveraigne Magistrate takes upon him the care of ordering Church matters that the Pastor and Church have a yoak so much the lighter and therefore have need of lesse patience to beare it then if they carried it themselves neither doe I conceive that the transgression here mentioned in the Letter can be any trespasse in the Magistrate and though it were one that it is not much materiall nor of any dangerous consequence he having as the Letter saith the maine qualification required in a Magistrate which is to be conservator of the purity of the Gospel and besides the main end being obtained which can ever be desired and aymed at in any government which is to be directed to the way that leads to salvation But suppose that the Magistrate abuseth his own power over the Christian people in ordering the things which concern the Kingdome of God I doe likewise conceive that here the Magistrate does trespasse as a tyrant and not as an usurper and is like him that is drunke with his owne wine and not with anothers in which there is yet a double trespasse the one against his owne body the other against the good creature of God which he spils to no purpose But as they say by way of proverb right is right still and wrong wrong in what ever disguise they appeare So mischiefe is a mischief still and as great a mischief in the Soveraigne Magistrate whether his power exceedeth in things they call Civill or things which pertaine to the Kingdome of heaven though the inconvenience be farre greater in mis-ordering the latter God having equally entrusted him over all persons and causes in a Christian Common-wealth In the discharge of which trust it were to be wished that all Christian Magistrates would governe without that distinction of Powers Ecclesiasticall and Civill FINIS February 25. 1649. Imprimatur Nathaniel Brent