observed that since the Learned Doctors of both sides do respectively declare upon mature consideration of several Texts of holy Writ Acts of Councils and other reasons alledged to have different Sentiments therein some of each side holding the contrary to what others of the same profession do strongly maintain but never determined by the Church The probability of their said opinions may respectively warrant if not oblige all his Majesties Subjects especially being so enjoyned by Law to acknowledge submission to that external coactive Power and Authority of his Majesty for the punishment of Offenders with civil and corporal punishments in such mixed cases as aforesaid which their respective Teachers doe affirm to be justly derived from natural Reason and clear places of Scripture and assert them as part of his Royal Jurisdiction Our ancient Histories Statutes and most authentick Records of former times long before Henry 8th do testifie as aforesaid That our Kings did challenge a sovereign external coactive Jurisdiction over all their Subjects as aforesaid in those cases sometimes indulging them to the Ecclesiastical Courts and See of Rome sometimes restraining them again of their own Authority without recourse to the Pope or See of Rome more or lesse according to their zeal or devotion towards the Church and Church-men and the respective occasions in those times according as was then thought fit by our Kings and Parliaments Read the Statutes of Provisors 25. of Ed. 3. The practice in France sufficiently declares what that Kings Power is in the cases aforesaid For although spiritual offences that are meerly such are punishable in the Ecclesiastical Courts onely by spiritual Censures as Excommunication Suspension c. Yet if the cause be mixed in any sort with what is civil or temporal as aforesaid or if never so little pecuniary Mulct be imposed upon the offenders for damages by the Ecclesiastical Judges the whole matter may be brought to the cognizance of the civil Court upon appeal and the former sentence reversed if it be thought fit Nor does any Ecclesiastical Promotion or Dignity how great soever priviledge any person from civil and corporal punishments there if he offend against the the now Arch-bishop of Paris under the most Christian Kings who is known to be most zealously devoted to the Church and See of Rome And many other Presidents of the same nature have been in Hungary Germany and other Countreys that hold communion with that Church The King of Spain exercises the like Authority in several places of his Dominions and so amply in his Kingdome of Sicily that it is there called Supream Spiritual Authority and spiritual Monarchy as is acknowledged by the Catholick Divine in in his Answer to the fifth part of Sr Edward Cookes Reports pag. 102. which words Supream spiritual Authority and Spiritual Monarchy sound as harsh and require a favourable explanation no lesse than any the words in Queen Elizabeths Oath aforesaid He sayes indeed That Pope Urbane granted the same long time since to that Kings Predecessours as Pope Nicolas somewhat of the like nature to St. Edward King of England But meer spiritual Jurisdiction as is conceived could not be granted to a Lay person And our Question being of the original right of our Princes to supream external coactive Jurisdiction over their Subjects to take cognizance of offenders in such mixed cases as aforesaid for punishing them with civil and corporal punishments according to the respective quality of their offences which indeed is no other but a civil and temporal power though the said cases be vulgarly called Spiritual for the reasons declared as abovesaid he ought to have told us how the Pope came to be invested with such coactive power by force of Law and corporall punishments which he so granted away unto others Christ said His Kingdome was not of this world The Apostles claimed no such coactive power by force of Law and corporal punishments as aforesaid nor any the aforesaid exemption of their persons or goods from the temporal Magistrate and his Tribunals The Church as the said Catholike Divine confesses had no such power for several Ages the Emperour Constantine was the first that granted it who did it to use his words voluntarily And other Kings and Princes upon their singular devotion and in imitation of that good Emperour And doth not all this plainly signifie that the External Coactive power such as aforesaid was originally in the Supreme temporal Magistrate whose said Supreme power as most Learned men do affirm cannot binde and conclude it self in a Law so as not to be able to revoke or alter the same when there is just cause for preservation of its being and generall good of the Common-wealth otherways in imminent danger And consequently howsoever Cannon Laws and Decretals have been sometimes received by permission or concession of our Kings alone or Parliaments of our Nation and in vertue of such reception and not otherwise matriculated among our Laws yet according to the President of many of our Kings and Parliaments long before King Henry the Eighth the same might be validly restrained or made void to this Nation so farre as to the nature of a Law if our said Kings and Parliaments conceived it necessary for those reasons as above said Whether the same was well or ill done by them or whether the causes were sufficient or not in the respective occasions the doers were answerable in conscience not their Subjects who were bound to yeeld obedience to their Soveraign power in what things soever were not purely Spirituall or repugnant unto the Law of God Since therefore it is most apparant that Spiritual Authority it self is not denied by the intendment of this Oath explained by the Admonition and declared as aforesaid which is otherwise then the abovesaid Catholick Divine did understand it to be but only the enlargement of Spirituall Authority to temporal coaction such as aforesaid which in reality alters its nature and is repugnant to the prerogative Royall of this Crowne and which indeed the Court of Rome not the Church of Rome and some Divines most especially depending upon the same would extend the said spirituall power unto bâ—â— Jure Divino but was not so ab initio as manifestly appears by what is abovesaid Why should any his Majesties Loyall Subjects Romane Catholikes especially deny to acknowledge their dutifull submission to his Majesties said Soveraignty and Rule over all his Subjects and their like obedience to maintain Laws established so farre as they relate to his said Authority in such manner as above declared Whereas not only the Opinions of many of the most Learned Writers of their own Religion doe maintain That Externall Coaction by force of Law and civil and corporall punishment upon offenders of what quality soever and for what matter or cause soever so deserving as abovesaid is of naturall right belonging to the Supreme Temporal Magistrate But also the practise of our Kings and Parliaments in former Ages time
sence but according as the admonition aforesaid doth set forth No Officer whatsoever can presse him to swear it any other waies Which being matter of Law the Learned in the Law can best resolve if any doubt be made thereof The next Enquiry shall be if any thing be contained in the said admonition either in words or meaning which a Consciencious person Protestant or Roman Catholike can justly except against The Exceptions generally pretended against the same are First That the said Oath was purposely framed for profession of Religion then newly established Secondly That the Soveraignty and rule claimed by her Majesty in the said admonition is over Ecclesiastical persons and in things and Causes spirituall and Ecclesiastical both which say most of those that except against the same are exempted Jure divino from the power of the temporal Magistrate and consequently the King is in effect declared thereby to be Head of the Church Thirdly That the spiritual power and Jurisdiction left by Christ to his Church and the respective Pastors of the same is likewise absolutely denyed therein These things being part of their Faith and Religion they cannot swear without renouncing the same and giving scandal to others of their profession which therefore shall be the subject of our next Observations 1. The very words of this admonition do express that the said Oath was prescribed and required for recognition of Allegiance 2. The Latitude of meaning which might be contained in the words of the Oath viz. Under God Supreme Governour as well in Spirituall and Ecclesiastical things and Causes as temporal is restrained in this admonition by these words viz. Her Majesty neither doth nor ever will challenge any other authority then what was challenged and lately used by Henry the Eighth and Edward the sixth which is and was of ancient time due to the Imperial Crown of this Realm And then it is particularly specified what that authority was by the words of the said admonition immediatly following viz. THAT IS under God to have the Soveraignty and Rule over all manner persons born within those her Realms Dominions and Countreys of what estate either Ecclesiasticall or Temporall soever they be 3. Least by the said Oath her Majesty might seem to deny to the Church the Power and Jurisdiction left by Christ to his Apostles and their Successors being meerly spirituall her Majesty therefore professeth not to challenge authority or power of Ministry of divine Service in the Church And moreover restrains the denial of Spirituall and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Power c. mentioned in the said Oath being in general to such Jurisdiction only as was repugnant to the said Soveraignty and Rule over all her Subjects Which is apparent by these words So as no other forraign power shall or ought to have any Superiority over them which words SO AS denote the rest to be relative to her Majesties Superiority and Rule that immediately before was declared And in further proof thereof Whereas the aforesaid Act in the said first Year of her Reign was entituled All ancient Jurisdictions restored to the Crown and all forreign power abolisht the Statute made in the fifth Year of her Reign Cap. 1. seemed to qualifie or explain the said former Act for it entitled the said former Act to be an Act restoring to the Crown the ancient Jurisdiction ever the state Ecclesiastical and spiritual and abolishing all forreign power REPUGNANT to the same The alteration of the Title is very observable in this latter Act for it seemed thereby to denote and explain that which in the heat of the then suddain change of Religion had not been so maturely disgested and established in the former The Articles of the Church of England and of the Clergy expresse the Kings said power and Authority by calling it the civil not spiritual sword Doctor Carleton afterwards Bishop of Chichester in his notable Treatise of * In his Admonition to the Reader The Fathers write for the spiritual Jurisdiction of the Church above Princes which thing we never denied Jurisdictions Episcopal Regal and Papal writes most learnedly and clearly upon this Subject He sayes pag. 9. As for spirituall Jurisdiction of the Church standing in Examination of Controversies of Faith judging of Heresies deposing of Hereticks Excommunication of notorious and stubborn offenders Ordination of Priests and Deacons Institution and collation of Benifices and Spiritual Cures c. which Princes cannot give nor take from the Church this power hath been practised by the Church without coactive Jurisdiction other then of Excommunication But when matters handled in the Ecclesiastical Consistory are not matters of Faith and Religion but of a Civill nature which yet are called Ecclesiasticall as being given by Princes and appointed to be within the Cognisance of that Consistory and when the Censures are not spirituall but carnall compulsive coactive here appeareth the power of the Civil Magistrate Page 42 43. It cannot be denyed but that there is a Power in the Church not only Internal but also of External Jurisdiction Of Internal Power there is no question made External Jurisdiction being understood all that is practised in External Courts or Consntories is either Definitive or Mulctative Authority Definitive in matters of Faith and Religion belongeth to the Church Mulctative Power may be understood either as it is referred to spiritual Censures or as it is with Coaction As it standeth in spiritual Censures it is the right of the Church as was practised by the Church when the Church was without a Christian Magistrate and since But Coactive Jurisdiction was never practised by the Church when the Church was without Christian Magistrate but was alwayes understood to belong to the Civill Magistrate whether he were Christian or Heathen e. The Apostles did sometimes take vengeance upon the disobedient but that was not by the Material Sword in the Power whereof we place Coaction but by the Spiritual Sword The Learned Bishop of Derry lately made Bishop of Armagh and honour'd with the Title of Lord Primat of all Ireland speaks most clearly to this Point in his Book Schism Guarded p. 160. But I expect it should be Objected that besides these Statutes which concern the Patronage of the English Church the Legislative the Judiciary the Dispensative Power of Popes There are two other Statutes made by Henry the Eighth The one An Act for extinguishing the Authority of the Bishop of Rome The other An Act for establishing the Kings Succession in the Crown wherein there is an Oath That the Bishop of Rome ought not to have any Jurisdiction or Authority in this Realm And that it is declared in the 37th Article of our Church That the Bishop of Rome hath no Jurisdiction in this Kingdom of England And in the Oath ordained by Queen Elizabeth That no forrein Prelate hath or ought to have any Jurisdiction or Authority Ecclesiastical or Spiritual within this Realm I Answer this Objection three wayes First As to the
out of minde as also the present practise of other Kings and Countreys that neverthelesse hold Communion with the Pope and Church of Rome do authorise and approve the exercise of the same according to emergent occasions by the said Supreme temporall Magistrate in manner as abovesaid Let them not therefore give just advantage to their adversaries in Religion to presse against them the continuance of the penal Statutes by objecting that what they suffer is upon suspicion of a dangerous dependency upon a forreigne State but not for any Doctrine or Point of Religion which their Church hath declared to be of Faith The unlimitted power and immoderate attributes given to Popes by Cannonists and some other Writers of eminent Authority of that side together with the violent proceedings of some Popes thereupon have been principally the occasion that the said Oath hath been so strictly urged 〈…〉 Catholicks and hath chiefly caused 〈…〉 with that See and by the over-bold assertions of such Writers that some of their said Opinions were De Fide it hath been instilled though not with truth into the minds of most of the people of this Nation That whosoever holds Communion with the Church of Rome must necessarily be principled according to their said Tenets Which caused his Majesty King James and others so conceiving to think that the above said Oath was purposly framed to make distinction between Protestants and Roman Catholicks who chiefly upon this score were all promiscuously called Papists and so severe Laws Enacted against them in Queen Elizabeths time and since B p of Derry's Schism Garded Page 176. It is true there are other differences between us but this is the main difference that giveth denomination to the parties But the truth hereof ought if but in charity to be further enquired into by all conscientious men especially by those in Authority For many of the Roman Catholicks of these Nations nay most of the most-knowing among them do professe against such over-bold assertions such immoderate attributes such unlimited powers and practices as much as any Protestants whatsoever And although they hold Communion with the Church of Rome in spiritualibus and acknowledg as their Ancient Forefathers did that the Pope is the Supreme Spiritual Pastor which the Bishop of Derry saies is not medled with one way or other in the intendment of this Oath so it be but in spirituals And his Royal Majesty King * Apol. for the Oath of Allegiance p. 46. James could be content that the Bishop of Rome were Patriarck of the West and were the first Bishop among all Bishops and Princeps Episcoporum so as he be no otherwise then as Peter was Princeps Apostolorum Yet the said Roman Catholicks do not hold it as a part of their faith that the Pope is infallibly free from Error or that he can absolve Subjects from their obedience to their natural Prince or from the Obligation of faithfull upright dealing with their Neighbours though such their Prince or Neighbour be not of their Religion or were Excommunicated or what more the Pope could do by himself or with any other against them for that cause And all this say they they will chearfully testifie upon their Oaths without equivocation or mental reservation if an Oath in clear terms expressing as aforesaid be tendred unto them It is not the true meaning of the Oath explained in manner as abovesaid which makes many of them refuse to take the same but there being an Oath made since and called the Oath of Allegiance makes them apprehend that something more than meer Allegiance is contained in the former And besides the latitude of the words in this Oath at which many Protestants also stick which words are not explained but by the admonition as aforesaid and that admonition again not cleared but by the Writings of Learned Doctors and then authorized by the Proviso 5º Eliz. and the force of that Proviso to be resolved by the Learned Men in the Law These particulars not known to many and so intricate in themselves and above all the constant tendring of the said Oath for so many years past without the aforesaid explanation These things I say have made it to be firmly believed by them and those of their profession over all Christendome that in taking the said Oath with what explanation soever if such explanation be not as publickly made known and declared they give just scandal which is Malum in se that they renounce their Religion as indeed the common acceptation of the words of the said Oath do import no lesse And since the said Roman Catholicks have been so Loyall to his Majesty not one having drawn Sword against him in the late Rebellion so many of them having lost their lives and estates and endured strict Imprisonment and great hardship for his cause and rendred eminent services in the late Wars even to the preservation of his most Sacred Person It seems but very reasonable what is generally desire oy them viz. that the Oathes required of them under so great penalties may be cleared of those doubtful expressions in them which cause their scruples as aforesaid or a new Oath to be compiled in clear terms whereby not only they but also many Protestants who likewise scruple at the words of the same may to the entire satisfaction of his Majesty and the Nation fully testifie the Allegiance and Fidelity of faithful Subjects and true Patriotts and no longer remain as generally they now do distrusted and subject to much obloquy and in an incapacity to serve their King and Countrey notwithstanding the indulgence generally afforded to tender Consciences though of different perswasion from the Tenets of the Church of England and all this upon no other score but of being thought otherwise principled then what their said late actions have approved them to be and what they now offer to professe upon their Oaths which is the greatest security that can be given in testimony of a mans intention and as much as satisfies in the like case of suspicion from those that have fought c. against his Majesty and been his most bitter enemies FINIS