that which is repugnant to the Ancient Laws of England and to the Prerogative Royal p. 340. That Jurisdiction purely Spiritual the same which I call Pastoral doth neither disinherit the Prince nor the Pâ—ers nor destroy and Annul the Laws and Prerogative Royal nor vex the Kings Liege people nor impoverish the Subject nor drain the Kingdom of its Treasures c. infint is not guilty of any of the grievances of which our Laws complain It is the external Regiment of the Church by new Roman Laws c. that are apparently guilty of all these evils These Papal Innovations we have taken away indeed more than these Innovations we have taken nothing away that I know of page 353. We have not renoanced the Substance of the Papacy except the substance of the Papacy do consist in coactive Power who considers besides that these things are not whisper'd in Corners but own'd in the face of the World nor the private fancies of a single man his Book being lately Reprinted after the Authors Death with the countenance of more considerable Authority than Books usually have and the same may be said of the other Protestant Authors above-cited will find himself put to it if he be urged to make out how he comes to pretend to understand the meaning of Protestant Laws better than Protestants themselves 5. It may very well be that a Protestant may be willing to swear what a Catholick cannot because one may think true what the other does not But where they both agree in the thing and what the Protestant means when he swears the Catholick thinks true as well as he and yet will not swear the same truth in the same words looks like a Riddle If the words All Power signify All Usurped Power to a Protestant I see not but they may signify the same to a Catholick too And if it be known that he means by them as the Protestant does 't is plain They cannot signify otherwise For the signification of words is nothing but the known meaning of those who use them And though they should signify otherwise elsewhere they can signify no more but so where 't is known no more but so is meant by them 6. This difficulty then in two words is only this Whether All Power in the Oath means absolutely All or All the Power mentioned and intended by the Act for the observation whereof the Oath was made That General words are ordinarily I had almost said always confin'd by Circumstances is a thing so known that 't is impertinent perhaps to mention at least to bring examples of it Whether Those words are confin'd in This Case is all we have to consider and to every mans Judgment and Conscience I leave it Only who is not satisfy'd with what has been said has still I conceive a safe way of proceeding by declaring before hand if he take the Oath that he takes it in the sense of the Law as understood by all Protestant Writers none excepted particularly Arch-Bishop Bramhal which as was shown seems to amount to a Consent of the Nation After which I for my part see no cause of Scruple remaining for the first Point 7. For the second who is perswaded that the Power Renounc'd by the Oath does indeed belong to the Pope by Divine Right For what is settled by Human may by Human Authority be unsettled undoubtedly cannot take the Oath But he should do well to consider how he comes to be so perswaded This is no place to treat the Question I shall only say that if any one take that Perswasion for Faith he is certainly mistaken and that many of the most Learned among Catholicks are mistaken too if it be true It is a Power which heretofore has drawn perpetual complaints from our Catholick Ancestors and many Laws for Redress of the Inconveniencies they suffer'd by it It is a Power for whose sake our Religion is at this day aspers'd with the imputation of Inconsistence with the Ease of Subjects and Security of the Common-wealth Who will maintain it engages himself to clear it from these Objections For if he do not he will not clear himself from doing his part to bring his Country again into what the Law calls Bondage and his Religion into the Scandalous shame of being indeed guilty of what is laid to her Charge No man can go about it without maintaining in the first place that our Catholick Ancestors complained always without cause and felt nothing when they cry'd out of the burthen If They had reason to complain Protestants have none to endure what they complained of nor can Catholicks of all men expect they should 8. In short there is nothing does more harm in the world then mistaken Zeal which under a mistaken pretence of Religion we see transports Men to things the most contrary to Religion that can be 'T is not to be thought that in our Communion there is no Humane Frailty Opinions have been broacht concerning the Pope and are to this day maintained prejudicial to say no more both to the Soveraignty of Princes and Hierarchy of the Church Whether the Power in question to exercise an independent Soveraign Coactive Judiciary Authority in all Princes Dominions and all Bishops Diocesses upon the matter to govern the Church and World alone be not of the number They should do well to consider who refuse the Oath for it's sake For if it be their Zeal is plainly a mistaken Zeal which as it uses to do deceives and carries them just contrary to what they mean the Scandal and to their Power ruine of Religion which they think to preserve For my part I beg of God the grace rather to suffer the loss of my own life than deny the Pope or any man any just right and I beg the same grace to preserve me from abetting unjust things even in the Pope Time has been when England has seen three Hundred Forreigners sent over at once by the Power in question to be provided of the first Vacant Benefices I should think my self neither good English-man nor good Christian if I should obstinately stand for a Power to commit such Exorbitancies FINIS
be only Temporal Nay one may probably guess by his Institution of a Christian Man to be seen in the Christian Loyalty a Book lately set forth and that King's Letter to be found in the Cabala to the Clergy of Yorkshire that he took no more even in the Repeal'd Acts concerning his Headship of the English Church Possibly Bishop Fisher and Sir Thomas Moor might be the more Jealous of his being Head of the Church because They never saw that Book it being set forth some Years after their Death But that King Henry 8th did not confound Regal and Pastoral Power purely Spiritual appears by his Book of Ordination wherein he declares that Pastoral Authority he means purely Spiritual was by Ordination only committed to Men and also by his Injunctions And therefore could not assume such kind of Pastoral Authority or that which is purely Spiritual to himself nor Queen Elizabeth neither who took no more than he did But besides she farther explains her self in express Words not to take the Power Of Administring Divine Service in the Church but the Soveraignty and Rule over all Persons of what State soever they be And what can be desired clearer than this for her not taking Power to Preach Perswade and Help Christians as Christ bid his Apostles do which is in other words to administer Divine Service in the Church And what is Power over Ecclesiastical Persons without Power in Ecclesiastical Functions but Power Quantum per legem Dei licet with which Addition Bishop Fisher himself agreed to the Title of Supreme Head of the Church added by Act of Parliament in the Confirmation of Queen Elizabeth's Exposition And that the said Words Supreme Governour of this Realm and of all other His Highness's Dominions and Countries taking them all together as they ly as we ought can never signify other than a Civil Governour what-ever Things or Causes his Power is exprest to be in appears farther by this that those Words are a very unsutable and improper title for any purely Spiritual Head For who-ever heard the Arch-Bishop of Roan for example call'd Supreme Governour of all his Province of Normandy in all Things or Causes purely Spiritual Or How would Roman-Catholick Princes take it to have the Pope write himself Supreme Governour of all his Dominions or Countries throughout the whole Catholick Church in purely Spiritual Affairs These Words then will not suffer themselves to be meant of any other Power than that of a Civil Magistrate nor can they without much straining them from their common Use signify that he assumes to Himself any thing properly belonging to any Bishop or Priest and so they have no shew of touching any thing concerv'd to be of Faith Again The King of Spain has and exercises Supreme Spiritual Authority and Spiritual Monarchy in Sicily which are as harsh Words as any in the Oath And yet all Christendom knows and the Pope and Court of Rome it self that that King claims a Governourship or Power call'd Spiritual nay and which is much more Supremely such without any ones Fancying that Faith is prejudic'd by such a Title Nor imports it whether that King have this Spiritual Jurisdiction from the Pope or no We have nothing to do with their Bargains our only Question at present is concerning the meaning of the Word Spiritual when apply'd to Kings which if it signifies a Power purely Spiritual could never have been given him by the Pope himself without Creating him Bishop Now I would ask upon this occasion Whether if the King of Spain had thought fitting to Command his Subjects in Sicily to take an Oath of Supremacy exprest in these Words That he is Supreme Spiritual Monarch or has Supreme Spiritual Authority in that Kingdom whether it could stand with the Duty of his Subjects there to refuse to obey him and to take it upon a Caprichious Conceit grounded on the double Signification which the Words Spiritual Supremacy may possibly bear and thence take shadow that they renounce their Faith or Whether such a whimsy ought to excuse them I conceive no good States-Man though never so good a Christian would think him blameless You 'l say 'T is a different Case I add then this forcible Reason which I am sure is unanswerable If the Words In Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Things or Causes subjoyn'd to Supreme Governour c. wrong Faith that is if those Words give the King a Power purely Spiritual as is feared and objected then the word ONLY joyn'd to Supreme Governour and ALL to Things or Causes being so Ample and Extensive must either give him the whole Latitude of Power purely Spiritual or None at all but All Power of some Other kind But it must cost us the Forfeiture of Common Sense to imagin that either the Oath makers should intend to Give or the King to Receive the whole Latitude of Power purely Spiritual For then he must have Power to confer Orders consecrate the Eucharist absolve in Confession which no Christian ever attributed to a Secular Magistrate Therefore 't is evident those Words do not give the King any Power or Supremacy purely Spiritual at all nor consequently can they breed the least Scruple in any Person of Loyal Principles that they concern or shock Faith 16. These Things seem evident enough How-ever for a 5th Proof and Explication of many Things that have been said concerning what K. H. 8th took upon him in the Reviv'd Acts that make the same belong to our King and be by us in this Oath acknowledg'd as his due or annext to his Crown let us consider that the Power so proper to a Pastor that we cannot give it to our Prince is nothing else but a Man's being by our Saviour's Appointment Immediate to his Apostles or Mediate to their Successors deputed to Preach his Faith Perswade and in the Sacraments help the Practice of it and by that Deputation enabled to do these Things Whereas a Lay-man out of Charity and Good-will to another or any other Good Motive besides our Saviour's Appointment which he hath not in our Supposition that he is a Lay-man or not Appointed and so would Usurp if he pretended to it may teach him his Catechism or send a Pastor that is his Friend or his Chaplain to do it And out of the same and other Reasonable Motives the King may have a Human Power either to teach a Man if he pleases or send all his Subjects that are Pastors to do their Duties or exercise the Power Christ gave them Nay and to hinder them from exercising of it in case of Wicked Life for example it be unreasonable they should since the Law can prohibit and punish any unreasonable Thing or Vice and since the Pastor himself though he hath the Power ought not then to exercise it And as the King may order them to do their Duties apart so in Counsel And as he may out of those said Motives Teach so he may out of the same as a
or purely Spiritual Power of the Keys not being excluded shew to me far better than any I find them bring to prove the contrary And it is most likely they brought the best Reasons they had as they use to do in other Matters But though they had better than they did produce and also better than these I have produc'd yet since I know not that they had them and also think it most likely they had them not it is all one to me who being able to consider Reasons on both sides may act according to the best Reason I can get it being unreasonable for a Man that can judg of Reason to be guided by other Men's Judgments farther than they have or which is all one produce Reason The Supposal of which in them shewing them the way is the only Reason why others should be guided by them For why should one be guided by another that knows the way no better than he and in our Case worse Moreover the adhering to Predecessors Opinions what ever Reason there be against them is a certain way for the World never to get out of any Error unless our Fore-Fathers be suppos'd to be alwayes Infallible the Contrary to which frequent Experience has shewn So that this Argument of blindly following our Fore-Fathers in Things subject to Reason which seem'd so Plausible at first will be found when well look't into of a most pernicious Consequence 12. Neither is the leaving of their Judgment in this particular the leaving of their Faith For unless we will wrong them by making them hold for Faith what was not Faith they could hold nothing of Faith but what was taught or rather in this case given by Christ And so much we hold as well as they and conceive the Oath does not at all touch it In this indeed we may differ from them who might think it does But whether such words mean so or so is far from a question of Faith T is at most a difference in Opinion about the meaning of a Law such a difference as every body has almost with every body and which if it were not unblamable there would be no living without blame in the world where there always has and always will be as many Opinions as heads If we be in the right as the reasons alledged perswade us we are nothing can be more preposterously alledged against us then their Example For they followed the dictates of their Conscience and we should go against ours They had indeed renounc't their Faith if they had taken the Oath in Case they were perswaded though untruly that it did deny their Faith we cannot renounce Faith by taking the Oath while we are perswaded it meddles not with Faith no though our perswasion should happen to be false but we should plainly refuse to do our duty which we think the Oath only requires In short they did well and we should do ill 13. But perchance they and we may not differ even in this Opinion For it doth not follow They deny'd the Oath therefore they thought the Oath denyed Faith For they might think the Oath deny'd some other truth or Probability which they thought they could not and so would not forswear For Example they might think it true or probable that the Queen was not Temporal Governour in Spiritual or mixt Causes and over Ecclesiastical Persons because they might think it true or probable that these Causes and Persons were exempted Jure Divino from Secular Jurisdiction and did belong to the Pope as many do at this Day and others might think the Pope had a direct or indirect Temporal Power to depose the King either by Divine Right of Quodcumque ligaveris c. or by the Title of King John's Donation c. And hence could not swear they thought no such thing But hence arises 14. A Seventh Scruple How one may lawfully swear these things are false which one doth not know to be so And how can any know them to be so when he sees great Scholars hold the contrary For a full Answer to this I remit the Reader to the Answer to the Jesuits Loyalty and the Second Treatise of it In short I reply That of those who held these Things to be False some think they certainly knew them to be so and these certainly may swear they are so Others hold them to be so but are Conscious to themselves that they hold this upon Reasons only more probable than are brought for the other side and though these may not lawfully swear they are false yet they may swear that they are so in their Judgment or Conscience because that they are so in their Judgment is certainly true And this is all the Oath doth or can reasonably require of the Generality of those unto whom it is offer'd they being able to say and swear what they hold in these Questions and not able to say or swear they certainly know what they hold to be true And this is sufficient for securing Allegiance since People use not to act contrary to what they hold though they hold it upon probable Reasons only On the other side those that are certainly or probably perswaded they are true cannot swear they are so much as in their Judgment or Conscience false and so cannot take this Oath But I judge they may find Reason enough to alter their Judgment if they read late Authors upon this Subject to whom I remit them 15. And in this case we make a Schism as some are pleased to call it to fright Timorous Consciences which are us'd to abhor the horrible Sin which that word most commonly signifies or Division only in Opinion which is certainly known and confessed to be in other Cases lawful And I hope they will not argue that those who leave their Opinions will also leave their Faith there being no Consequence from one to the other All the Schools that is in a manner all the Teaching Part of the Church make Schisms daily and are divided from one another in this Sense and which is more are never likely to leave this kind of Schismatizing and return to an Union or rather 't is impossible they should For how can it be expected that in Things depending on Opinions Men's Fancies Tempers Education c. their Judgment should light to be the same Neither do we condemn our Pious Ancestors as some object but applaud their Fortitude who choose rather to die than to swear a thing which they thought either false or opposite if not to Catholick Faith at least to Truth What we condemn is only their Opinions and this upon better Reasons against them than they brought for them And who can condemn us for this or look upon us the worse for receding from them upon such Terms as every good Man is bound to recede from his former self 16. An Eighth Objection is That be it how it will whether former Catholicks since Queen Elizabeth's Days had reason to do what
A TREATISE OF THE OATH OF SUPREMACY Printed in the YEAR 1679. THE Words of the Oath I A. B. do utterly testifie and declare in my conscience that the Kings Majesty is the only Supream Governor of this Realm and of all other His Highnesses Dominions and Countries as well in all Spiritual or Ecclesiastical things or causes as Temporal And that no Forreign Prince Person Prelate State or Potentate hath or ougbt to have any Jurisdiction Power Superiority Pre-eminence or Authority Ecclesiastical or Spiritual within this Realm And therefore I do utterly renounce and forsake all Forreign Jurisdictions Powers Superiorities and Authorities And do promise that from henceforth I shall bear Faith true Allegiance to the Kings Highness His Heirs and lawful Successors and to my power shall assist and defend all Jurisdictions Priviledges Pre-eminencies and Authorities granted or belonging to the Kings Highness His Heirs and Successors or united and annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm So help me God and by the Contents of this Book Introduction 1. THe Oath of Supremacy has long been thought by the generality of Catholicks Inconsistent with Faith both for what it affirms of the King and denies of the Pope And truly who considers only the Words as they ly naked there without seeking to inform himself what they mean of any thing but the bare sounds has reason at first sight to check at it I am apt to believe that every body does not look farther at least I my self did not a great while and therefore thought of it as others did 2. Yet it seemed strange that the most Learned of the Church of England should freely take it without scruple and at the same time Irreprehensibly affirm both of the Kings Power and the Popes what Catholicks therefore refuse the Oath because they think it denies I perceived they must of necessity understand it otherwise than We did For to suspect that either of us proceed otherwise than according to our conscience They in Taking and VVe in Refusing is not either for a Charitable or Reasonable Man I would not handsomly unriddle when a mistake there must needs be on one side how the mistake should ly on theirs or which way they should misunderstand an Oath of their own making In short I knew not what to make of it and while I had no Key to the Lock but the bare words could not easily open it For still those words seemed Irreconcilable to Truth and to that Truth which they profess as well as that which I believe 3. Upon farther search things appeared somthing otherwise I found that what those Learned Men mean when they swear and which they think the VVords of the Oath mean is not only sutable to what they believe themselves but likewise to what we believe and I found there is more Reason than I imagined to believe that the words of the Oath do indeed mean as they judge they do and not as VVe thought VVhat occurs to me I thought a seasonable Charity to communicate to others lest by seeking to avoyd one Error we fall into many 4. For as we are on the one side obliged to prefer a good Conscience before all Worldly respects so we are obliged on the other to obey our Soveraign and his Laws where with a good conscience we can No Man can justify the refusal of an Oath tendred by Lawful Authority without a sufficient Reason The Reason why we have refused this Oath is because we apprehended it Inconsistent with Faith And that is undoubtedly a sufficient Reason if the apprehension be true but if it be not we are left in the Lurch If the Oath as some think do not renounce the Faith of all Catholicks but only the Opinions of some and those both false and pernicious to refuse it is not to preserve but to scandalize our Faith with the imputation of obliging us to things by the Wisdom of the Nation judg'd Intolerable It is to confirm the bad opinion which some have of us that our Religion is indeed Inconsistent with the security of the Commonwealth In a word what we took for Religion would prove Faction 5. Before I speak of the Oath it self it will be convenient to observe that divers priviledges have at divers times been granted by the Piety of Princes to the Church and Church-Men when being long used and their origin either forgotten or dissembled have at length been commonly enough lookt upon and claimed as the proper and inherent Right of the Church Among these is the right of holding Judiciary Pleas and Courts proceeding like Secular Courts to Sentence even of Temporal and Corporal Punishments as Fines Imprisonment c. and Executing their Sentences by their own Officers unless in case of Death for which whether for Form or Substance the Prachiam Seculare was usually call'd upon These Courts were settled by little and little and their Power was sometimes more sometimes less which variety remains to this day as the Secular Power in several Nations concurs more or less with them But it became at last the general Practise that Ecclesiastical Persons should appear only in these Courts for all causes and the Laity for some chiefly such as had relation to the Law of God The Judges there being either Ecclesiastical Men themselves or acting by Commission from them the Courts got the Name of Ecclesiastical or Spiritual Courts the matters determinable in them of Ecclesiastical or Spiritual matters or causes and their Power of Ecclesiastical or Spiritual Power But 6. When things had gone thus Time out of mind and People saw them constantly act not by renewed Commissions as Subordinate Officers use to do but by a Right of their own a Right charily preserved by them and freely confest by every body els as undoubtedly it was both by a good Title at first and a quiet possession of many Hundred Years it came to be thought at last that this Right of theirs was given them with their Character by God whereas in Truth it proceeded from the condescendence of Pious Men and as all Humane things are subject to change may by the same Power which gave it on just occasion be taken away 7. In the mean time the Notion of Spiritual when applyed in the Law to Power Judge Court Matter Cause or Thing has generally relation to these External Courts The word is ordinarily taken so in our common Language but there seldome otherwise and when we find it in the Law we must expect it should signify as it uses to do in the Law not as it does in Philosophy or Controversy or Ascetics It is so well known that I know not whether it be not idle to mention the different Significations which the same words have in different Occasions For example who thinks of the Theological vertue when he is to swear Faith to his Prince who of a Stone or Tree when he hears of a Body not in Philosophy but Physick and when a Man
of business is talking of a Material action or consideration He would be thought strangely to rove who should fancy Material there signifyed as among Metaphysicians The frequency of such cases made it necessary that People might understand one another to settle a Rule for the understanding of words and establish this maxime that they be alwayes understood Secundum subjectam Materiam as they phrase it according to the subject of which they speak I cannot tell whether this Rule have alwayes been remembred in the case of this Oath but doubt that who forgets it any where hazards to perplex himself into inextricable confusion Section I. Of the Affirmative Clause of the OATH 1. THis premised I come to the Oath which consists Principally of two Clauses One Affirmative the other Negative according to which the rest which have any shew of difficulty are to be understood The Affirmative acknowledges the King to be the only Supreme Governour of this Realm and the rest of his dominions as well in all Spiritual or Ecclesiastical things or causes as Temporal By this clause it was apprehended not only by Catholicks but others too that the King was invested with Power to do all that a Supreme purely Spiritual Governour could do Preach Confer Orders Administer the Sacraments c. Which as it is evidently false so 't is evident likewise that 't is not the meaning of the Clause 2. For First the Oath being enjoyned by Law for the acknowledgment of what was re-setled by Law in the King it's words must bear the sense they use to do in Law-Language and Law-Books which according to what has been said before is that the King is Supreme Governour of this Realm So that who ever hath any share in the Government of it be he Spiritual or Temporal Man hath it from and under the King 3. Secondly These words being in two Acts of Parliament whose declared sense is to restore what was due to the Crown ought so to be understood as to acknowledg all and no more in the King then those two Acts either in themselves or in those of King Henry the Eighth revived by them restored to him since no more at most and perchance not all of them are ordered to the making and consequently sense of this Oath Now what was restored by these every diligent Reader of them will find to be only what may without injury to Gods Law be possess'd by the King 4. For to begin with King Henry the Eighth in the first of them viz. Stat. 23. H. 8. C. 9. He only claims or exercises the Power of ordering where citations belonging to Spiritual Courts of this Realm shall be made which may be seen to be evidently his due In the Second 24 K. H. 8th C. 12. he takes Power only to order that no appeals in matters of Wills Marriages Divorces Tithes Oblations and Obventions shall be made out of this Realm alleadging for reason that as to the Temporal part of them they belong to the Imperial Crown and as to what in them may concern the Law of God to the Clergy of this Realm as being of parts fit for it to whom he expresly leaves this part not assuming it to himself 5. In the 3d. Stat. 25. C. 20. He uses the Power to restrain the payment of Annats and first-Fruits to Rome to which Temporal Power extends and with his Bishops in Parliament orders how others are to be elected and consecrated by them which Catholick Kings use to do 6. In the 4th 25. C. 9. The Power which he exercises is that no new Canon-Laws shall be made or old ones stand without his approbation Which he may have as a Knowing Man they being things of human institution nay as a Prince he ought to have since 't is known that Canon Laws do often clash with the Laws of the Realm Though if he abuses this Power by hindering good Laws and unprejudicial to the State He is to answer for that though to God alone 7. In the 5th 25. K. H. c. 21. He takes Power to hinder Paying of Money to Rome to hinder the Pope from Dispensing in Human Spiritual Laws to dispense in them Himself by his Bishops and with his Parliament to annul them All which certainly he may do as King And that he intended here to do no more than he might do appears by a Proviso of this Act revived by Q. E. and afterwards to be Cited 8. In the 6th 26. C. 14. He only assigns Suffragans by consent of Bishops in Parliament Which Assignment is a thing of Human Institution and as it depends on the Law of the Land may proceed from him And if it be said by any That since Christ gave his Apostles Power to Preach where they should please and think fit and so that they have from Christ Power independent of any Law of the Land as in times of Heathen Emperors to agree among themselves what Territories every one shall have to do his Duty in which the King cannot take from them as he may seem here to do 'T is reply'd That They may agree among themselves to have what Territories the Law or King shall assign them And thus at least the King may without Injury because with their Consents assign them Diocess's as well as the Legislators in England and in Forreign Countries divide one Parish into two or compound two into one as occasion invites without the least Danger apprehended of violating Faith or to speak more properly transgressing any Divine Institution And that it was done with their Consents is evident because here They did agree to it in Parliament Or it may be said That They themselves in Parliament did this And the Laity agreed with them to make it the Law of the Land 9. In the 7th 28. C. 16. He takes Power to give those Temporal Gifts which the Pope formerly gave to put Bishops into their Bishopricks Curates into their Cures as Catholick Princes now do and to give them leave to do their Duties not as to the purely Spiritual Intrinsical Power in common but as to some Circumstances belonging to the Exercise of it and commodious for the Subject So as they should have it from Parliaments and not from Rome Which he might lawfully do as is just now explicated and also make a Law they should not have it from Rome it being not necessary They should They having Power from Christ to Preach every where till they limited their Territories by their own Consent and here dissent from doing it at the Pope's Pleasure 10. In the 8th He takes Power to make a Civil Law as to Degrees of Marriages And if as he did this he judg'd what was of Faith in the Case he did it not as sent by Christ but as a Schollar Authoriz'd by Law which he may also do or as pre-inform'd by his Bishops In the 9th and last He only makes a Civil Order concerning the Marriage of Doctors of the Civil Law 11. The
supremely gives them the Later Much more the Jurisdiction they have to make Temporal Laws to judge those that do against them and execute their Sentence And in this we have seen how the King as a Christian may be Judge and Teacher of Faith and that Authorized by the Law of the Land How as a King he may and ought to be Supreme Civil Judge of what Faith ought to be establish't by Law and the Supreme of those that Preach or cause People to Believe and Practice by establishing Faith its Preachers sent by Christ and their Directive Laws by Law and by giving them the Jurisdiction they may have from Law to do what Christ bid them lastly how he is the Supreme Giver of Power to make Civil Laws to Judge by them and Execute them 21. Thirdly There is in Truth more Assumed in the Objection than there is warrant for in the Act mentioned It does not appear there that the King is impower'd to judge of the Repugnance of Canons to the Law of God On the contrary it seems meant that that Matter should be left to the Clergy For why else should Sixteen of them be put into Commission Neither are the Words on which the Objection is grounded viz. That such Canons shall be retained as shall be approved to stand with the Laws of God c. the Words of the Parliament but of the Clergy themselves who cannot be thought to mean by them that the Laity should be Judges of the Law of God They are only recited by the Parliament which when it comes to do its own part uses other Expressions There are other Reasons why the King should interpose The Reason of the Act is assigned to be because Divers Constitutions c. be thought not only to be much Prejudicial to the King's Prerogative Royal and Repugnant to the Laws and Statutes of this Realm but also over-much onerous to his Highness and his Subjects Of those things who can Judge so well as the King with the Assistance of some of the Laity best versed in the Laws of the Land Again the King was to add his Authority to those Canons to make them Binding and therefore must needs know what he should Authorize and see why he should do it And this is all the Power in him which can be Collected from this Statute As for Appeals the Act indeed orders they should for lack of Justice in other Courts be made in Chancery but not determined there but by Commission to be granted by the King that all Differences of his Subjects be finally determin'd by his Authority But 't is not said nor is to be supposed that those Commissions shall be granted to the Laity where the Case concerns the Law of God For Appeals are ordered by this Act to be as was directed by a former Act of the same Parliament An. 24 H. 8. By which Act where any Cause of the Law-Divine or Spiritual Learning hapned to come in question the Body-Spiritual of the Realm is declared to be Qualifyed and to have Power to determin it and therefore to them it must needs be meant to be left To return to our Matter again Since those Parliaments evidently knew their King was neither Bishop nor Priest which even in their Thoughts was the same as not to have Power to Act in Spiritual Things by our Saviour's immediate or mediate Supernatural Mission or which is the same thing by the Power of the Keys They evidently saw he neither had nor could have any Pastoral Power purely Spiritual much less the Supreme Power of that kind what-ever the Supremacy of that kind consists in Hence they could never intend to give him what they saw he could not have given to him nor signify any such Gift or Sense by their Words in the Act or Oath But only a Gift of the above-explicated Power arising from Nature and Reason A Legal Power to exercise which as a Governor they knew he might have from them and to say that they intended to flatter him with the Acknowledgment of a Power in him which they knew was not in him is a Fault that they cannot be prov'd Guilty of especially when we remember their Proviso And so according to the Axiom Every one is to be presumed Good till he be prov'd to be Bad they ought to be acquitted 23. Wherefore upon the whole it is many wayes evident that the Words in the Affirmative Part of the Oath cannot mean any thing but Supremacy of the Sword which whether in Temporal or Spiritual Things cannot be exercis'd but by Authority deriv'd from the King And this Supremacy is so evidently His that He needed not this Act for it He has it from God and Nature and as it is inseparable from the Crown alwayes had it even when Ecclesiastical Authority was at the Highest For though the Bishops claim'd an Independent Power of their own yet as Things do not cease to be by not being acknowledged They truly acted under him and in vertue of his Allowance and subject to his Controll When-ever he pleased to interpose as the Statutes of Mortmain Provisions Premunire and the rest made in Catholick Times shew he often did His Pleasure and Laws carry'd it notwithstanding their Pretences 24. That they did mean only thus is beyond all doubt apparent by all manner of wayes by which any thing can appear And though what hath been already said out of the Oath it self and all the Acts which are any way ordered to Establish the Duties to be acknowledg'd by it seem to force a Perswasion that only Royal Power is required to be own'd by the Affirmative Clause I cannot leave this Part till I put the Reader in mind lest he should suspect these Reasons Fallacious as seeming good Ones only to my self how both Learned Protestants and the Protestant-Church understand this to be the Sense of it I alledge then that all Protestant Authors not one I think excepted agree That 't is not the Power of the Keys but of the Sword which is in the King I could name several but chuse to mention only Doctor Bramhal late Arch-Bishop of Armagh because no Body speaks or I think can speak plainer And what he sayes I take to be the Sense of the Church of England his Works being very lately Reprinted in one Volume Dedicated by the Bishop of Limric to the Arch-Bishop of Dublin In his Schism Garded p. 311 312. speaking of this Act he sayes thus In a Word there is no Power ascribed to our King but meerly Political and Coactive to see that all their Subjects do their Duties in their several Places Coactive Power is one of the Keys of the Kingdom of this World it is none of the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven This might have been exprest in Words less subject to Exception but the Case is clear 25. Next The 37. Article of the Church of England Where we attribute to the King's Majesty the Chief Government We give not to
Preaching or Baptizing by it Have we not seen Peter Martyr and divers others freely Preaching and Administring the Sacraments in this Realm The Arch-Bishop of Spalato ordained here whose Ordinations if the Oath rendred invalid there would be much Confusion in the Church of Englond For those who were ordained by him in likelyhood ordained others These indeed acted with Licence from Authority here But Power is one thing Licence to exercise it another Licence supposes but does not give Power For they could not by any Licence be enabled to exercise what they had not How can it be that Power of this kind should be thought spoken of and meant to be excluded out of England by the Oath which 't is known and by the Practice of all sides confess'd cannot be excluded any where 4. But let us consider the Words themselves Every one of the Words Power Jurisdiction Superiority Preheminence Authority Priviledge doth in its primary proper and most common Acceptation signify something Human or Civil I mean so as Power for example in its primary proper and most common Acceptation signifies as much as these two Words Human Power or Civil Power After the manner that this Word Man signifies as much as these two Living-Man and the word Foot as much as Foot of a Living Creature In a Secondary less proper and less common Sense every one of them signifies the Power our Saviour gave his Apostles and their Successors to preach his Doctrine perswade People to practise it and help them to practise those Parts of it to wit the Sacraments which they cannot practise without their Help some thing after the manner as the Word Man does sometimes denote a Picture or Statue the VVord Foot a Table-Foot or Mountain-Foot And the Reason of it is because those Words had the former Sense before Christianity and the Power belonging to its Preaching and Practice came into the World and so must needs be used in this Case in a Secondary Sense And this though those VVords were us'd before concerning other Religions then on foot from which they might be borrowed and apply'd to Christianity because even at their first Application to Religion they were borrow'd from Families Cities or Kingdoms that were before Religion was settled Next in the former Sense it is apply'd to Fathers in respect of their Children to House-holders in respect of their Families to all sorts of Governours of Parishes Towns Cities Armies and Kingdoms and all Officers under them in respect of those they are over also to the Teachers of all Trades and Arts But in the later Sense to one only Order of Men or Teachers of one only Doctrine and so more commonly or oftner apply'd to them than to these Hence this is also the most proper Sense because this is the same as the first Sense especially if the first be most commonly us'd 5. Again VVere these VVords in a Treatise of Military-Discipline every One would be as much as Two For example Jurisdiction would be as much as Military Jurisdiction and No Jurisdiction as much as No Military-Jurisdiction and No Jurisdiction in a Book concerning Confession would without any more ado be the same as No Jurisdiction to absolve from Sins And for the same Reason these VVords in a Treatise of Civil Matter as Laws are ought to be understood so that No Jurisdiction be as much as No Civil Jurisdiction Insomuch that as it would be ridiculous to think that Jurisdiction in a Military or Confession-Book means not Military or Sacramental Jurisdiction so it would be absurd to think that this VVord Jurisdiction in a Law-Book means any thing but Civil except there be something to determin it to another Sense 6. Out of this may be seen that every one of these VVords Power Jurisdiction c. in the Negative Part of the Oath which is contain'd in a Law-Book and is Part of a Law ought rather to be taken in the former Sense then later So that No Jurisdiction be the same as these three VVords No Civil Jurisdiction in which Sense it is evident that the Pope's or other Forreign Prelates not purely Pastoral or purely Spiritual Ministerial and Supernatural Power of the Keys which only regards the Inner-Court of Conscience but that Ecclesiastical otherwise in its own Nature truly Temporal and Political Authority in the External Court which the Pope either had or usurped or prescribed or challenged here in England is excluded I say in case there be nothing in the Oath or its Acts to determin them to another Sense For if there be nothing to determin them to this later Sense then as I said they must have the former as the VVords No Man at all is at Home signifie no more than No Living Man at all is at Home except they are by some VVord or Circumstance determin'd to signifie No Carv'd or Painted Man 7. That then there is nothing to determin them is the only thing to be prov'd And first that the VVords Spiritual or Ecclesiastical do not determin them we have already seen because these VVords in Law-Language and Law-Books where they at present were found signify what is External Political and Civil and so these Words determin them rather to their Law-Sense than draw them from it Especially since this Negative will not bear a Coherent-Sense with the Affirmative except No Spiritual Jurisdiction be the same as No Civil or Royal Jurisdiction For to say in the Affirmative that the Queen hath all Royal Jurisdiction or Royal Jurisdiction in all Causes which is the very same and in the Negative that no Body else hath any Royal Jurisdiction is Coherent Sense But to say that she hath all Royal Power of the Sword and no Body else hath any purely Spiritual and Supernatural Power of the Keys or Sword or that she is Queen and no Body else is a Preacher is very Incoherent and Ridiculous And yet this must be the Sense in case the Words No Spiritual Jurisdiction be the same as No Sacerdotal or the same as both No Royal and No Pastoral as some do fancy 8. And as the Words Spiritual and Ecclesiastical and the Coherency of Sense which we must admit except we be such wise Commentators as to make our Text speak Non-sense do determin the word Power c. to signify Royal Power so doth the whole Design aim'd at as to be brought about by the holding of the Affirmative and Negative Sense of the Oath For this as appears in the later part of the Oath is Faith and Allegiance to our Prince and the Defence of the Jurisdictions of the Crown which cannot at all be profess'd or assur'd by these words No Power Jurisdiction c. as taken to mean any thing else but No Human Power For if one should deny by them that our Saviour gave the Pope or other Forreign Prelate any Power to preach his Doctrine in England how doth this Denial conduce to my Allegiance Except one should impiously say that the Power
s Preamble speaks only of such a Power of the Pope as was by reason of its Opposition to the Prerogatives of the Crown by Catholick Kings taken from him and restor'd to the Crown And of such a one as he exercis'd with great Damage to the Nation in Causes of Appeals in several Cases and for Remedy of this Damage it is enacted That he shall have this Power of being a Judge in those Causes no longer And if it be said that in this Preamble he is spoke of at least once as a Preacher when it is said that the Clergy of this Realm were alwayes able to Judge of God's Law without him I answer This invalidates not the Argument for it is Founded in this that where any Power is deny'd him all there spoken of is Temporal VVhence is infer'd that all deny'd him is Temporal Now it is not there said the Pope cannot or shall not Judge what is God's Law when a Question may rise in England about some Point as a Preacher or one skillful in God's Law But that the Clergy is able to do it without him And thence he seems to infer that 't is needless to appeal out of this Realm to know of him what is the Law of God if there should chance to be any doubt in case of Matrimony or Divorce for Example And it being a needless thing to appeal to him even as a Preacher and inconvenient to appeal to him as a Judge commands this not to be done And thus no Power was deny'd him where he was spoke of as a Preacher but only where he is spoken of as a Judge in those Causes as far as they depend on Human Laws Next the Statute 25 K. H. 8. cap. 20. speaks of no Power taken away but the Power of exacting Annats and First-Fruits and of Electing of Bishops which having accrew'd to him by time could not be Divine or Supernatural Power that is Power deriv'd to him or confer'd upon him Jure Divino 15. The Statute in the 25 K. H. 8. cap. 19. excludes perchance his as well as our Clergie's Power of continuing old Canon-Laws or making new Ones without the King's Approbation And the Power of making such Laws is grounded only on Human Reason shewing the Things prescribed to be convenient Of which Conveniency our Clergy and also Layity as knowing it best by living here where a thing may be Inconvenient that else-where is Convenient and not the Pope ought to be Judge VVhich is the Reason why Laws even of General Councils do not Oblige except where they are Receiv'd Hence not so much as a Just Human Authority is here taken from the Pope 16. But if it be here upon this Occasion ask'd VVhether the Clergy and Layity could in Reason and good Conscience renounce their Human Power to continue all such old Canons which the King should not approve of when as they being more in Number and more likely to be in the Right than he might judge either an Old or New Canon convenient which he might think to be inconvenient And hence whether the King in Reason and good Conscience could then and now by this Act 's being Revived and giving this same Power to the King take and keep the Power of Repealing all such Canons as he should please And consequently whether we can with a good Conscience Swear as we do in the later part of the Oath to defend this his Power if Conscientiously possest by him I answer That I believe they did according to Reason and Conscience in rather choosing the little Harm that might be in the Repealing of some good Old Canons than the great One that might proceed not only from the King's Displeasure but either from the Continuance of many former bad Canons or the Enacting of as bad New Ones or upon such other account upon which a Man may now after it is made Law upon the same or a better Motive continue to consent to the Continuation of what they did Likewise the King might as reasonably take upon him that a Law may not be continued which he dislikes as that a Bill which both Houses like may not be a Law except he likes it or as that a Law which he likes shall not be discontinu'd though both Houses that are more dislike it And this is for Publick order sake 17. The Statute 25 K. H. 8. cap. 21. speaks of no Power to be taken away but Power of dispensing in the King's Laws to the Prejudice of the Crown and impoverishing of the Subjects which Power must be of the same Nature as the Laws dispensed with 18. The last reviv'd Statute that takes any thing away is in the 28 K. H. 8. cap. 16. and it takes away only Power of giving Licences in abundance of Human Cases and among the rest the Power of putting Bishops into their Bishopricks and Priests into their Parishes and of giving them leave to do their Divine Offices VVhich though it may at first Sight look like Pastoral Power given him by Christ yet it is not For where-ever an Apostle dyed the People and Clergy of the Place had Power to choose themselves a Bishop and put him into his Bishoprick without the Pope's Consent And this Power they Exercis'd for many hundred Years all over Christendom according to the Antient Canons and Customs till partly under pretence of Respect to St. Peter's Successor but whether truly or only for that Reason is another Question it was by several Concordates between some Emperors Kings and Princes and States of Europe of one side and Popes on the other agreed There should be no Bishops allowed in their Territories but whom the Pope or Bishop of Rome should approve of Hence the Power which the Pope had that a Bishop could not or should not be put in without his Consent he got by Human Agreement and only this Power was taken here away For it is not said here that the Pope cannot or shall not perswade People to chuse themselves a Bishop that he sees want one or perswade a Bishop who hath Authority from Christ to do it to go and preach to People that want him which may belong to the Care our Saviour gave him over the Church but that they having a mind to have Bishops will have them of their own choosing and putting in and not of the Pope's as was of former Times practis'd And that this is their Sense is evident out of the History of what the Pope did before that time and of what they themselves did and hinder'd him to do afterwards Or it may be said in short that as they saw it not necessary by God's Law that the Pope should choose and give them a Bishop who were ready to do it themselves so they thought it not convenient he should and thence made a Law that he should not The Law not saying that he could not nor should not send them a Bishop in case of necessity in which case he hath Power from
our Saviour to provide for the Flock and so have other Bishops too in such case besides him but only that he should not in this case of no-Necessity Which is to take from him not the Power but the unnecessary Use of that Power which last was certainly not given by God 19. Likewise Bishops and Priests had from our Saviour Power to preach and that all the World over as they should think fit without its being necessary to have this Power from St. Peter's Successor But after some time they thought fit to agree that each one should not do his Duty every where nor at his own Discretion but only in the Place allotted to him and at the Discretion chiefly of the Pope at least within his Patriarchate And the Power that was by this Agreement given the Pope was here by the Disagreement of this Nation in Parliament taken away So that now they should have their Places allotted by it and at the Discretion of it exercise the Power they had from Christ 20. Having thus seen that when any Power of the Pope was in the Reviv'd Statutes turn'd out none but Human was spoken of Let us now see of what kind Q. Elizabeth speaks in her Acts. 21. In the Title of her First Act 1 Eliz. cap. 1. none is spoken of but Power Repugnant to the Antient Jurisdiction of the Crown Now one Human Power is often Repugnant to another and in our Case the Pope's having Power to Judge some Causes here without having it as from or under her is Repugnant to her Imperial Power of having all Judges in the External-Court proceed under and from her But not the Ministerial Power our Saviour gave to preach his Doctrine and feed his Sheep a part whereof is to render to Caesar what is Caesar's In the Preamble we hear only of Usurp'd Power taken from the Pope by K. H. 8th And who can think that it here calls the Power our Saviour gave to preach Usurp'd But least one should think they meant not to call the Power which our Saviour gave Usurp'd but to call his pretence of being Chief Preacher so let him consider how the Antient Jurisdiction of the Crown restor'd is put both here and every where as relative to it So that where-ever there is mention made of Power taken from the Pope there is also mention made of Power restor'd to the Crown and where ever of Power restor'd to the Crown also of Power taken from the Pope Which gives one reason to think that none was taken away from Him but what was given to the Crown nor any thing given to the Crown but what was taken from Him And this is render'd more evident by Bishop Bramhal's Words Schism Garded p. 340. Whatsoever Power our Laws did devest the Pope of they invested the King with it Now this being so how is it possible they should apprehend the Pretence of being Chief Preacher or Pastor though false so usurp'd as to belong of Antient Time to our Crown and to be now restor'd to it 22. Next by the Fruit let him know the Tree And what is all the Good Fruit there mention'd as proceeding from what was taken away from the Pope and restor'd to the Crown Being kept in good Order and freed from intolerable Charges which are Temporal Fruits And what is all the bad Fruit there mention'd as proceeding from the Pope's having got all his Old Power again by Queen Mary's Act of Repeal Bondage under an Usurp'd-Forreign Power to the intolerable Charges of the Subjects If this be all the Fruit that grew upon all the Stocks of Power he had formerly taken from him could any of them be any other than the Temporal Stock of Power opposit to that by which the King kept them in good Order or of Power to get Money And lastly since this Preamble desires nothing but Freedom from these Evils who can imagin that this Act speaks of any other Roots but these to be pluck'd up Especially since in that Part of the Act in which this Power is taken away it is still all call'd Usurp'd all call'd Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Which Words as being in our Law must determin the word Power to import Temporal 23. Lastly The Title of the Act 5 Q. Eliz. cap. 1. being An Act for the Assurance of the Queen's Majesties Royal Power over all States and Subjects within her Dominions the word Power as often as 't is us'd in the Act must be understood in a Sense conducing to the Assurance of Royal Power except one should think the Law-makers to be so Imprudent as to use it in a Sense no ways conducing to effect their Design and what only Sense conduces to that end we have already seen Moreover the Preamble declaring no Design but the Preservation of the Queen and the Dignities of her Crown and the avoyding of Mischiefs that have befallen Her her Crown and Subjects by reason of the Usurp'd Power of the See of Rome all the VVords of the Act are to be understood of no other Power than that which is the Reason or Cause of those Mischiefs and of that only which being taken away the Ends aim'd at will be compass'd and this for the same Reason alledg'd before And now being come to the end of our View of every Particular deny'd by the Acts And being conscious that every particular Power deny'd to the Pope is Temporal we may solidly conclude that all deny'd him is such 24. For a Second Proof of the said Second Proposition let us reflect how it is altogether unreasonable to think that these Acts take away any Power from the Pope of which they express no dislike nor make any Complaint of its being in him and how our Eyes testify that they signify no dislike of his Preaching Power But only of his Power which was a Diminution of the King's Power as being Part of it and so Repugnant to its being intirely in him and of his Power to exact Mony for Dispensations Licences c. which was chargeable to the Nation and which was far different from that other which Christ gave him 25. For a Third Reason 't is incredible they would have done a thing in these Acts no wayes conducing to the Design they express themselves to have in them which only we ought to judge they had For they only speak of restoring what was Usurp'd from the Crown and abolishing what was Repugnant to its being Restor'd of freeing the Subjects from inconvenient Laws Judicatures and great Charges of securing the Queens Person her Royal Authority over her Subjects and their Allegiance to her To the compassing of which End the taking away the Pope's Power to preach Christ's Doctrine which enjoyns the giving the Crown its due and is no Power to oppress People by Inconvenient Laws or Exactions of Money in the Cases complain'd of nor to prejudice the Queen or her Soveraignty over her Subjects or their Allegiance to her is no way conducing VVhen as
the taking the aforesaid Temporal Powers away is very much as I have already prov'd 26. For a Fourth Reason we may reflect that this Act both by its Title and Preamble seems to intend the Exclusion of only what K. H. 8. excluded in his here approv'd and reviv'd Acts only with this Difference that this seems to do at once and in general VVords what his did by Parts and in more particular Terms And he as we have seen by looking into all Particulars excluded not the Pope as Pastor More-over as she did what he did so he did fully what Catholick Kings shew'd him Example to do If one may take his VVord in the Preamble to the Statute 24 King Henry the 8th cap. 12. and the express VVords of his Proviso An. 25. cap. 21. after which he did nothing of Note besides ordering that Bishops should have their Bishopricks and preach without the Pope's Order as they did for a long time among the Brittains and others Also we may gather their Senses are the same from alike way of proceeding and speaking in Law 27. For a Fifth That 't is unreasonable to think that this Parliament should in this Act exclude the Pope's purely Spiritual Power as far as it is held to be a Tenet of Catholick Religion all over the VVorld and in the same Act revive the afore-said Proviso that formerly commanded it should not be excluded Except we should say that it had at the same time a mind it should and should not be kept in Kept in because the Will they had that the Words of the former Statute should not be taken in a Sense contrary to the Religion of the then Catholick Church which believ'd Religiously the said purely Spiritual Power of the Pope which Will these Men express'd by Reviving the Proviso could proceed only from a mind that no such Religious Tenet nor consequently this of the Pope's purely Spiritual Power should be deny'd And Not kept in if in this it denyes or excludes it And that the Proviso commands that is clear for it runs thus 28. Provided alwayes that this Act nor any Thing or Things therein contained shall be hereafter interpreted or expounded that your Grace your Nobles and Subjects intend by the same to decline or vary from the Congregation of Christs Church in any Things concerning the very Articles of the Catholick Faith of Christendom or in any other Things declared by Holy Scripture and the Word of God necessary for Your and Their Salvation But only to make an Ordinance by Policies necessary and convenient to repress Vice and for good Conservation of this Realm in Peace Unity and Tranquility from Rapine and Spoyl ensuing much the old Antient Customs of this Realm in that Behalf Not minding to seek for any Reliefs Succours or Remedies for any Worldly Things and Human Laws in any Case of Necessity within this Realm but at the Hands of your Highness your Heirs and Successours Kings of this Realm which have and ought to have an Imperial Power and Authority in the same and not oblig'd in any Worldly Causes to any other Superior 29. A Sixth Reason is Because a Proviso of the last Act 5 Eliz. cap. 1. sayes thus Provided alwayes that for as much as the Queen's Majesty is otherwise sufficiently assur'd of the Faith and Loyalty of the Temporal Lords of her Highnesses Court of Parliament Therefore this Act nor any Thing therein contained shall not extend to compel any Temporal Person of or above the Degree of a Baron of this Realm to take or pronounce the Oath above-said not to incur any Penalty limited by this Act for not Taking or Refusing the same any thing in this Act to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding Where we see the Queen's being without this Act and Oath sufficiently assur'd of the Temporal Lords Faith and Loyalty is brought as a Reason why neither it nor its Oath belongs to them which would have been no Reason in case it had been also to deny the Pope's being Chief Preacher or such a Preacher as is to have a particular Care that all Christians and English among the rest know and practise Christ's Doctrine and that all Preachers and English amongst the rest Preach and help others under them to Practise the same For the Act and Oath being in this Supposition made upon two Accounts to wit for the Assurance of Allegiance and Denyal of Religion the Act might have belong'd to them and the Oath might have been offer'd them though the Queen had been other-wise assur'd or their Allegiance for Denyal of that Part of Religion which the Queen was so far from being other-wise assur'd that they did deny that she otherwise certainly knew that abundance at least of them did constantly profess it 30. For a Seventh and last Reason I alledge that they could not intend to make People swear in the First and Fifth of her Reign when this Oath was made and enjoyn'd that the Pope had not the Power of a Pastor then in England when as they certainly knew he had and exercised such a Power over Multitudes of Catholicks that then were by the State permitted to Live in and profess an Obedience to him as such Especially if it be found that the greatest Part of this Parliament were Catholicks which would not vote the Forswearing of their Faith And if they did not intend it their VVords do not signify it If it be said they could not intend to make the People swear he had not de facto such a Power since every Body knew this to be evidently False but that he had not de jure or ought not to have such a Power I answer 1st That the Words are And that no Forreign Prince c. hath or ought to have any Jurisdiction c. within this Realm And unless one will say that Hath and Ought to have are just the same and that Hath has not its Signification as well as Ought to have which is not very likely the Meaning must be that he hath not de facto the Power they there speak of Which infers that they there speak not of Pastorall Power 31. Next I answer That this Argument evidently concludes what it endeavour'd to wit that they could not intend that the Words of the Oath should signify that the Pope had not any Pastorall Power in England de facto And hence I argue that they could not intend to take them in the whole Latitude of their Sound and also that they intend to exclude no Pastorall Power de jure First Because their Words speak no more of this than they do of that of which they speak not at all Next Because 't is not likely that they should intend to make his Pastorall Power de jure be abjur'd by some as prejudicial to the Jurisdictions of the Crown for example and that others should not abjure it but be irreprehensibly permitted to believe and profess it Lastly Because it was Premunire and Treason
when they fall into errour Which side soever they take either obedience to their Wills or submission to their swords is their due by Gods Law And that is all which our Oath exacteth Again This is the supreme power of Princes which we soberly teach and which you Id. ibid p. 256. JESUITS so bitterly detest That Princes be Gods Ministers in their own Dominions bearing the Sword freely to permit and publickly to defend that which God commandeth in Faith and good Manners and in Ecclesiastical Discipline to receive and establish such Rules and Orders as the Scriptures and Canons shall decide to be needful and healthful for the Church of God in their Kingdoms And as they may lawfully command that which is Good in all Things and Causes be they Temporal Spiritual or Ecclesiastical So may they with just Force remove whatsoever is Erroneous Vitious or Superstitious within their Lands and with External Losses and Corporal Pains repress the Broachers and Abettours of Heresies and all Impieties From which Subjection unto Princes no Man within their Realms Monk Priest Preacher nor Prelate is exempted And without their Realms no Mortal Man hath any Power from Christ judicially to depose them much less to invade them in open Field least of all to warrant their Subjects to rebel against them Moreover intending to explain in what sense Spiritual Ibid. p. 173. in marg Jurisdiction seems by the Oath to be given to Princes he saith first We make no Prince Judge of Faith And Ibid p. 252. then more particularly To devise new Rites and Ceremonies for the Church is not the Princes Vocation But to receive and allow such as the Scriptures and Canons commend and such as the Bishops and Pastors of the Place shall advise not infringing the Scriptures or Canons And so for all other Ecclesiastical Things and Causes Princes be neither the Devisers nor Directers of them but the Confirmers and Establishers of that which is Good and Displacers and Revengers of that which is Evil. Which Power we say they have in all Things and Causes be they Spiritual Ecclesiastical or Temporal Hereto his Adversary is brought in replying And what for Excommunications and Absolutions be they in the Princes Power also To this he answers The Abuse of Excommunication in the Priest and Contempt of it in the People Princes may punish Excommunicate they may not for so much as the Keys are no part of their Charge Lastly to explain the Negative Clause in the Oath he sayes In this sense we defend Ibid. p. 218. Princes to be Supreme that is not at liberty to do what they list without regard of Truth or Right But without Superior on Earth to repress them with violent Means and to take their Kingdoms from them Thus Doctor Bilson whose Testimony may be interpreted to be the Queens own Interpretation of the Oath since as appears by the Title page of his Book what he wrote was perused and approved by Publick Authority And to such a Sense of the Oath as this there is not a Catholick Clergy Man in France Germany Venice or Flanders but would reatdly subscribe 40. In the next place suitable to him Doctor Carleton in King James his time thus states the Matter Bellarmine saith he disputing of Jurisdiction saith There Carleton of Jurisdict c. 1. p. 8 9. is a Triple Power in the Bishop of Rome First of Order secondly of Internal Jurisdiction Thirdly of External Jurisdiction The First is refer'd to the Sacraments the Second to Inward Government which is in the Court of Conscience the Third to that External Government which is practised in External Courts And confesseth that of the First and Second there is no question between us but only of the Third Then of this saith Carleton we are agreed that the Question between us and them is only of Jurisdiction coactive in External Courts binding and compelling by Force of Law and other External Mulcts and Punishments besides Excommunication As for Spiritual Jurisdiction of the Church standing in examination of Controversies of Faith judging of Heresies deposing of Hereticks excommunication of notorious Offenders Ordination of Priests and Deacons Institution and Collation of Benefices and Spiritual Cures c. this we reserve intire to the Church which Princes cannot give or take from the Church This Power hath been practised by the Church without Coactive Jurisdiction other than of Excommunication But when Matters handled in the Ecclesiastical Consistory are not Matters of Faith and Religion but of a Civil Nature which yet are called Ecclesiastical as being given by Princes and appointed to be within the Cognisance of that Consistory And when the Censures are not Spiritual but Carnal Compulsive Coactive here appeareth the Power of the Civil Magistrate This Power we yield to the Magistrate and here is the Question Whether the Magistrate hath right to this Power or Jurisdiction c This then is the thing that we are to prove That Ecclesiastical coactive Power by force of Law and corporal Punishments by which Christian People are to be governed in external and contentious Courts is a Power which of right belongeth to Christian Princes Again Id. ibid. p. 42. afterward he sayes Concerning the Extention of the Churches Jurisdiction 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 Consistories 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 with Coaction or as it is referred to Spiritual Censures As it standeth in Spiritual Censures it is the right of the Church and 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 Magistrates But was alwayes understood to belong to the Civil Magistrate whether he were Christian or Heathen After this manner doth Doctor Carleton Bishop of Chichester understand the Supremacy of the King acknowledged in the Oath 41. In the last place Doctor Bramhal Bishop of Derry in our late King's dayes and now Arch-Bishop of Armagh thus declares both the Affirmative and Negative Parts of the Oath touching the King 's Supreme Authority in matters Ecclesiastical and renouncing the Pope's Schisme guarded Jurisdiction in the same here in England in his Book called Schism Guarded c. The sum of which Book is in the Title-page exprest to consist in shewing That the great Controversie about Papal Power is not a question of Faith but of Interest and Profit not with the Church of Rome but with the Court of Rome c. This Learned and Judicious Writer thus at once states the Point in both these Respects My last Ground sayes he is That neither King Henry
Power Extraordinary or Delegate might still have pretended The Abolishing the Legantine might have left that Ex plenitudine Potestatis Annates had not taken away Appeals nor Appeals Habilitating to Inheritances c. Nor they Expectatives nor Reservatives nor Non Obstantes c. Had they gone that way to work whatsoever had not been expresly named would have been understood not comprehended and then a new Law or a new Oath must have been made for that and then another might have been found out and no end have ever been Wherefore to compass what they intended it was necessary to use a General Expression which they knew was to be understood as all Rules of Law and Language require it should of the matter in hand so that No Power here imports as much as no Civil Power no Power repugnant to the Kings Governing Power in all Causes no such power as Queen Elizabeth and her Ancestor-Princes had of old in this Realm as was largely shown above And hence to take the Oath right one ought to think not of the single words taken in their whole Latitude as devested of Circumstances but as taken in Complexion with them it being but a very Odd Scrupulosity to think the Oath is to be taken in such a manner as if one did not live in the world nor knew any thing of it's Circumstances but were to lay aside all knowledges he had gain'd all his life except onely of the signification of those very Words abstracting from all Subjects of which they may be conceiv'd to speak which amounts in other Terms to this that while they take the Oath they must lay aside all use of common sense nay and swear too they know not what for laying aside the knowledge of all Circumstances every word in the world is ambiguous 2. 'T is objected Secondly that the Church of England which may be presumed to understand this Oath best says in the latter part of the 37th Article in which it seems to relate to the Negative part of this Oath that the Bishop of Rome hath no Jurisdiction in this Realm of England 'T is answered the proper and primary sense of the word Jurisdiction is the Powers of a Magistrate giving Sentence according to Right or Law with Authority in External Courts to make it be Executed from whence in a secundary signification 't is transferr'd to the inward Court of Conscience But it carries it's notion in it's Terms Dictio Juris or Jus dicere importing in it's first and obvious sense to determin with Authority which may force Obedience to what is Sentenced This it seems is all which the Church of England understands deny'd to the Pope by the Oath which Bishop Charleton cited above in terms acknowledges by saying that There is no question between us concerning Carleton Of Jurisdiction c. 1. p. 8 9. the Internal Jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome but only the External And this plainly relates to the Judiciary Power spoken of Especially since the Church of England here speaks of No Jurisdiction of the Pope immediately after she had spoke what was due to the King and consequently in the same Sense here as she did there that so by saying the Pope had No Civil Jurisdiction she might signify that the King had not only Civil Power but also all of it since the Pope hath now none who had some formerly else we must come to the before-noted Inconsequent way of speaking He is King here and the Pope is not a Preacher or Pastor here That I may not omit that she speaks here in reference to our Laws which speak of Jurisdiction in this Sense only and which took from the Pope only this kind of Jurisdiction 3. And this is fully and clearly affirmed by the foresaid Dr. Bramhal Schism Garded p. 308. as above cited And again p. 340. Our Laws do not intend at all to deprive the Pope of the Power of the Keys in relation to England it self Our Parliaments did never pretend to any Power to change or abridge Divine Right c. for the VVhole is too long to be Transcrib'd and yet 't is fit it should be read Again p. 337. Our Ancestors cast out External Coactive Jurisdiction the same do we They did not take away from the Pope the Power of the Keys or Jurisdiction purely Spiritual No more do we We have a second or at least a Confirmation of this Answer in Franciscus a St. Clara 's Paraphrastical Explication of the 39. Articles of the Church of England pag. 412. where he sayes on the above-said Negative Passage of the 37. Articles That peradventure it meant only to deny England to be held in Fee from the Pope by virtue of King John's Donation Submission to and Reception of his Crown again from Innocent the Third and his Promise of paying Tribute to the Pope for it This vain ridiculous empty Title as Sir Thomas More himself called it Inanem Titulum was that peradventure sayes the fore-said à St. Clara which that Negative Passage of the 37. Article rejected For the Lawful Rejection of which he brings Proofs sufficiently convincing in the Page now quoted But whether or no he ghesses aright at the Meaning of that Passage it matters not much since the Objection has been otherwise already and sufficiently answered 4. A Third Objection proceeds from King James's saying That the Oath of Supremacy was devised for putting a Difference between Papists and them of our Profession And Bishop Andrews that the Oath of Supremacy was made to discover those who acknowledg'd the Pope's Primacy and deny the King 's Whence it seems to follow that what ever Sense this Oath might have had in Q. Elizabeth's Dayes yet King James gave it another opposite to a Tenet held generally by Catholicks else how could it distinguish them in case there was no Sense opposit to such a Tenet For in this case they might take it as well as the rest and not be distinguished from them by taking it And the Sense K. James gave it seems to continue still since no Body since ever took it out of the Oath I answer It doth not follow For in Supposition that neither Q. Elizabeth gave it that Sense nor K. James nor he so much as apprehended it to be given by her yet since he saw that all Catholicks did apprehend it in a Sense opposit either to some Religious Tenet of theirs or at least some other Position which they judg'd True and upon that account did as constantly refuse it as if it had really deny'd such a Tenet or Position he might if he pleas'd make use of their Refusal as a way though needless as Bishop Andrews observes to know they were Catholicks And as this Argument doth not prove that he did give it a New Sense different from what Q. Elizabeth gave it so 't is evident he did not For that Sense must have been either opposit to the Queen's and this he did not give it since