among them 39. In Queen Elizabeths reign we have the Testimony of Doctour Bilson afterwards Bishop of Winchester whose expressions are these The Oath saith he expresseth not the duty of Princes to God but ours to them And as they must be obeyed when they joyne with the truth so must they be endured 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 JESUITES 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 Canons shall decide to be needful and healthful for the Church of God in their Kingdomes 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 represse the broachers and abbettours 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 Realmes no mortal man hath any power from Christ judicially to depose them much lesse to invade them in open field least of all to warrant their Subjects to rebel against them Moreover intending to explain in what sence Spiritual Jurisdiction seems by the oath to be given to Princes he saith first We make no Prince judge of Faith and 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 pastours of the place shall advise not infringing the Scriptures or Canons And so for all other Ecclesiastical things and â—auses Princes be neither the devisers nor Directours of them but the Confirmers and establishers of that which is good and displacers and Revengers of that whiâ—h is evill 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 paâ—t of their charge Lastly to explain the Negative clause in the Oath he sayes In this sense we defend Princes to be supreme that is not at liberty to do what they list without regard of truth or right but without superiour on Earth to represse them with violent means and to take their Kingdomes from them Thus Doctour Bâ—lson 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 readily subscribe 40. In the next place suitable to him Doctour Carleton in King James his time thus states the matter Bellarmine saith he disputing of Jurisdiction saith There is a triple Power in the Bishop of Rome first of Order secondly of internal jurisdiction thirdly of external jurisdiction The first is referd 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 beside excommunication As for spiritual Jurisdiction of the Church standing in examination of Controversies of Faith judging of Heresies deposing of Hereticks excommunication of notorious offendours Ordination of Priests and Deacons Institution and Collation of Benefices and spiritual Cures c. this we reserve entire to the Church which Princes cannot give or take from the Church This power hath been practised by the Church without co-active jurisdiction other then 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 or 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 externall and contentious Courts is a power which of right belongeth to Christian Princes Again 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 spirituall censures As it standeth in spirituall 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 civill Magistrate whether he were Christian or Heathen After this manner doth Doctour Carleton Bishop of Chichester understand the Supremacy of the King acknowledged in the Oath 41. In the last place Doctour Bramhall Bishop of Derry in our late Kings dayes and now Archbishop of Armagh thus declares both the Affirmative and Negative parts of the Oath touching the Kings supream authority in matters Ecclesiastical and renouncing the Popes Jurisdiction in the same here in England in his book called Schisme guarded c. The summe of which Book is in the Title-page expressed 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
or repugnant to the Kings Prerogative as now a new head of the Church or to the laws of God By which means without one single voice of the Clergy all former Ecclesiasticall Lawes might be abrogated 4. An authority was allowed to the King to represse and correct all such errours Heresies abuses and enormities whatsoever they were which by any manner of spirituall Jurisdiction might lawfully be repressed c. any forreign Lawes or any thing to the Contrary notwithstanding 5. All manner of Jurisdiction Ecclesiasticall was by Parliament ackowledged to belong to the King as Head of the Church So that no Bishop had any Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction but by under and from the King 6. Supreme Power of dispensing with any Ecclesiastical Constitutions is ascribed to the King and Parliament as recognised Supreme Head of the Church and the Archbishop is made only the Kings Delegate So that in case he should refuse two other Bishops might be named to grant such Dispensations And after all the King and his court of Chancery are made the last Judge what things in such Dispensations are repugnant to Scriptures what not 7. Though the King did not personally himself exercise the power of the Keys yet this right he claimed that no Clergy man being a member of the English Church should exercise it in his Dominions in any cause or over any person without the leave and appointment of him the Supreme head Nor any refuse to exercise it whensoever he should require 8. It was moreover enacted that no speaking doing or holding against any spiritual Lawes made by the See of Rome which be repugnant to the Lawes of the Realme should be deemed heresies As also that whosoever should teach contrary to the determinations which since the year 1540 were or afterwards should be set forth by the King should be deemed and treated as a Heretick So that the King and Parliament are hereby constituted Judges of Heresy 9. In the dayes of King Edward the sixt an Act is made in which the King and Parliament Authorise Bishops c. by vertue of their Act to take informations concerning the not useing the Forme of Common Prayer then prescribed and to punish the same by Excommunication c. 10. There were also appointed six Prelates and six others nominated by the King by the same authority to frame a new forme of Consecration of Bishops c. 17. Hereby it is apparent that a Jurisdiction purely Spiritual was communicated to or assumed by King Henry the eighth this he further shewed by many practises For besides Jurisdiction as if he had the Key of divine knowledge given him by Christ he set forth Books of instructions in Catholick doctrine by his own authority declaring them hereticks that taught otherwise The labour indeed and we may say drudgery of composing those books as also of executing other spiritual functions was left either wholly or in part to the Clergy but when they had done he perused them and and made what additions and alterations he pleased in them and without remanding them to the Bishops caused them to be printed The Book with his Interlinings and Changes is still ex-tant 18. Indeed it was only spiritual Jurisdiction that he by his new Title of Head of the Church sought to deprive the Pope of for he feared not his pretended temporal Power which in those dayes the world was little troubled withal For he stood in need of a power to justify his Divorce and to dispense with the horrible Sacriledge designed by him He was unwilling to be looked on by his Subjects as a Heathen and a Publican and therefore to prevent this danger he devested the Pope and assumed to himself the power of Excommunication also that is not the execution of it but the disposing of of it by Delegation to the Arch-bishop who should execute it according to his will and directions only 19. A further irrefragable proofe that it was a power purely Spiritual which that King challenged by his new Title is taken from the Declaration of Stephen Gardiner Bishop of Winchester the contriver of the Oath as we find it recorded by Calvin himself For saith he when Stephen Gardiner was upon the Kings affairs at Ratisbon he there taking occasion to expound the meaning of that Title of Supream head of the English Church given to King Henry the eighth taught that the King had such a power that he might appoint and prescribe new Ordinances of the Church even matters concerning Faith and Doctrine and abolish old As tamely that the King might forbid the marriage of Priests and might take away the use of the Chalice in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper and in such things might appoint what he lâ—ft A Title thus interpreted the same Calvin vehemently inveighs against calling Gardiner and worthily an impestour and Archbishop Cranmer with his fellowes inconsiderate persons who make Kings too spirituall as if beside theirs there were no Ecclesiasticall Government and Jurisdiction 20. As for his Son King Edward the sixth the same Title with the plenitude of power was given him which he likewise as very a child as he was executed for he by his Authority made Ecclesiastical Lawes to be new reformed Church service and Administration of Sacraments to be changed and new Instructions in matter of Religion to be published quite contrary to what the foregoing Head though his Father had decreed to be Christian Doctrine And the reason was the same because new Sacriledge was to be committed by the Protectour for which he was loath to be excommunicated 21. His elder sister succeeding repealed and renounced this Jurisdiction and restored it to the Church But her younger sister repealed her repealings and took it again when it was in as high language yea higher confer'd on her by Parliament And there was a greater necessity for it than her Brother had For her Mothers Marriage was declared Null by the Pope and consequently her right to the Crown 22. And that this was the design intention of the Parliament in the first year of her Raign when they renewed the Title of her Supremacy in Church matters though they blushed to call a Woman Head of the Church may sufficiently be collected from a Speech yet extant and made in that Parliament upon that occasion by the then Lord Chancelour Nicholas Heath For arguing very strongly against the said Title and the Authority imported by it he takes it for granted that by giving the Queen such a Title they must forsake and fly from the Sea of Rome the inconveniencies of which he desires may be better considered In the next place he recommends to their Advice what this Supremacy is For sayes he if it consist in Temporal Government what further Authority can this House give her then she hath already by right of Inheritance and by the appointment of God without their Gift c. But if the Supremacy doth consist in
to their Religion in consequence thereto gave too just cause to thâ— State to provide against them 132. But of late the temper of the Kingdom is strangely altered God only knowes how many new Religions are starâ—ed up the natural issues of the more antient Presbyterian private spirit All which perhaps think themselves little or nothing concerned in Oathes made against Roman Catholicks and therefore will not much stand upon the taking of them by which means they notwithstanding their known principles and practises destructive both to Allegiance and peace wlll passe for good subjects without any obligation to renounce such principles or change such practises and only Roman Catholicks will keep the Oathes though they dare not take them by which means being yet more odious to such Sects for keeping the Oathes then they would have been if they had broke them the only revenge that the others have against them is to force them to take them So that between them all the security of his sacred Majesty which was only intended by the Oathes is not in the least measure provided for Yea I may I hope be permitted to say That his Majesty thinks himself secure of those that do not take the Oathes and stands in great need of securing himself from too many that freely take them and swear to be loyal to him What then can be imagined more necessary for a cure to so great a confusion then to change such inefficacious instruments of Loyalty 133. But moreover since it is not to be doubted but that his Majesty will not be unmindful of his promise so publickly made of a liberty for tender consciences and that none shall be called in question for differences of opinion in matter of Religion which do not disturb the peace of the Kingdom Those certainly will declare themselves most unworthy of the fruit of so unexampled a beingnity that shall either expect from such a promise a liberty to reserve any ill principles of Disloyalty or that shall exclude from the benefit of it any other of his Subjects that shall submit themselves to all possible proofs of renouncing such principles and that have hitherto without any Oathes taken constantly adhered to him 134. As his Majesty therefore has been pleased to take notice that among his Subjects of a different belief there are tender consciences and has promised to have a merciful regard to them So it is most just and necessary that his Subjects likewise should allow his Majesty to have a tender conscience too to which also they must have regard Now wherein can He or any in authority under him more truly and perfectly shew that he has a tender conscience with regard to his Subjects then by using his Authority to root out all ill Principles that disturbe peace or dispose to sedition and Rebellion For this end especially Princes were ordained by God So that if they do otherwise they should resist the ordinance of God and become far worse then Tyrants to their people Those Subjects therefore that would expect or desire that the maintaining any principles of disloyalty should be esteemed a proof that they have tender consciences do consequently expect that the King should give them leave whensoever they have a grudge in conscience thereto to depose him and to put the whole Kingdom into confusion 135. And now till his Majesty shall vouchsafe to interpret his promise more distinctly let any indifferent person judge who they are among so many different beliefs that ought to be esteemed to have tender consciences and to hold Opinions which do not disturb the peace of the Kingdom whether they that have and ever will be ready to give all possible proofes of loyalty both by words and deeds so that the words by which they professe this may not prejudice their religâ—on in a point of mere internal belief which has not any influence upon their Loyalty and who if they cannot otherwise then by betraying their faith be accepted and treated as loyal will protest themselves bound in conscience and by their Religion never to disturb the peace of the Kingdom but patiently to suffer as if they did disturb it Or those which make no conscience to swear according to a Forme that requires loyalty though they know that such a form in the proper sence of the words cannot consist with their belief and when they have done make lesse conscience of violating that duty which they know the law requires and which ought to have been performed though they had never sworn it Surely unlesse passion alone be judge unlesse that be to be called a tender conscience which is none at all and unless the Title of disturbers of the peace of the Kindom be appropriated to those only that trouble no body and wrongfully imputed to those only who are irreconcileable to all that love and promote peace and loyalty both Protestants and Catholicks there will be no errour in making a iudgment 136. It is not out of any design to please men but only because God and religion require it that Roman Catholicks acknowledg his Majesty to be our supreme Governour over all persons and in all causes as far as Kinâ—ly power can be exercised in them And by Gods grace it is not any fear of man that shall hinder them from professing that they acknowledg the Pope to be the supreme spiritual pastour of souls not only not subject to Kingly Civill authority therein but in his line above it as all spiritual jurisdiction of the Church is by the testimony of Dr. Carleton in his Admonition to the Reader It is purely from the fear of God that they deny unto the King a Spiritual Jurisdiction and to the Pope a Temporal Flattery disrespect or malignity have not the least influence on either of these professions If they should ascribe to the King a Pastoral authority in spiritual matters or to any Spiritual Pastours a Lordly dominion over the persons or lives of other mens subjects and much more over Kings themselves they should give to Caesar the things which are Gods and to God spiritually ruling in his Vicar the things which belong to Caesar they should herein wrong both the Pope and the King too and by mixing or doubling either of their powers destroy both As for their Duty to Kings they hear our Lord saying The Kings of the Nations bear a Lordly Dominion but nor so yee my Apostles I have not given to you any such authority yea they find our Lord refusing to be a King or so much as a Judge in temporal matters but not refusing to pay tribute nor to acknowledg Pilate to have power from heaven over him They hear the first Vicar of our Lord St. Peter commanding with an authority greater then ex Cathedrâ Be subject to every humane creature to the King as precelling all others c. Again as touching Spiritual Pastours they hear St. Paul say The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but spiritual