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cause_n	ecclesiastical_a	king_n	law_n	5,150	5	5.4995	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A54578	A discourse concerning liberty of conscience In which are contain'd proposalls, about what liberty in this kind is now politically expedient to be given, and severall reasons to shew how much the peace and welfare of the nation is concern'd therein. By R.T.	Pett, Peter, Sir, 1630-1699.; Dury, John, 1596-1680.	1661 (1661)	Wing P1881A; ESTC R213028	34,446	118

judging of Ecclesiastical causes according to the Canon Law a Law of which Albericus Gentilis that renown'd Civilian saith in the 19th chap. of his second Book De Nuptiis Sed hoc jus brutumque barbarum sane est natum in tenebris seculorum spississimis productum a monacho tenebrione c. was an occasion of our Lawyers contrasts with them And what may well create suspicions that the Bishops keeping of Courts as they did was not according to Law may be had from those words of the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury in his Epistle Dedicatory to the King before his Speech in the Star-chamber I do humbly in the Churches name desire of Your Majesty that it may be resolv'd by all the Reverend Iudges of England and then Publish d by Your Majesty that our keeping Courts and Issuing Processe in our own Names and the like Exceptions formerly taken and now renew'd are not against the Law of the Realm c. And how ready the Lawyers have been to check the severity of Ecclesiastical Courts their innumerable prohibitions shew In the dayes of Popery the Prelates could awe the Judges with Excommunication for such crimes as the Church call'd so But how little of terrour the application of that censure hath had since appears from the frequent denouncing of it against the same man And therefore that Learned Lawyer Judge Ienkins in the second part of his Works saith that for opposing the excesses of one of the Bishops he lay under three Excommunications Secondly the substantial body of the Gentry heretofore was and is still likely to be for the moderating the exercise of Episcopal power and for the opposing its extravagance The oath ex officio and commuting for penance and other such kind of things cannot but be thought troublesome to them But that which I shall here chiefly take notice of is how a considerable part of the Gentry of England is grown more inquisitive in matters of Religion within these late yeares then formerly Where this inquiring temper is not no opinion so horrid but may be universally believ'd Thus the Turks may be induced to think that there is a Devil in the juyce of Grapes and the Papists that there may be a God therein But when men are neither by Religion or temper restrain'd from searching into the causes of things they will not in civility to other mens understandings believe propositions to be true or false And that which makes me beside my own observation to conclude that many of the Gentry of late are grown more inquisitive in Religious things then formerly and are likely so to continue is because they are more then heretofore inquisitive in civil things As when the polish'd knowledg of Philologie had obtain'd a conquest over the insignificant Learning of the School-men no man was thought worthy the name of a Scholar but he who understood the Greek Tongue so since the late introduction of reall Learning into the World by Galilaus Tycho Brahe my Lord Bacon Gassendus Des Cartes neither the knowledg of elegant words or nice Speculations wil yield any man the Reputation of being Learn'd that is altogether rude in Mathematicks which as they were formerly counted the Black Art and their Professors such as Roger Bacon Conjurers so may possibly School-Divinity and School-Divines hereafter be Having thus asserted the present searching disposition of a great part of our ingenious Gentry it may well be hence inferr'd that liberty of conscience may be of high use to them and that if any Ecclesiasticall persons determine any thing contrary to their reasons they will not believe them or if against their safety not obey them I think therefore by the way it was very politickly done of the Consistory of Cardinalls to imprison Galilaeus for affirming the motion of the Earth since that notion of his might fill the world with several new debates and inquiries and so Ignorance the mother of Devotion be destroy'd To prevent which effectuall care is taken by the Iesuites as appeares by the instructions given them in the Directory of their order call'd Directorium exercit spirit Ignatii Loyolae part 2. p. 172. Where there are Regulae aliquae tenendae ut cum Orthodoxâ Ecclesiâ sentiamus And the first Rule is Vt sublato proprio omni judicio teneamus semper promptum paratumque animum ad obediendum Catholicae Hierarchicae Ecclesiae It followes p. 176. Reg. 13. Ut Ecclesiae conformes simus si quid quod oculis nostris appareat album nigrum illa definiverit debemus itidem quod nigrum sit pronuntiare This is in the Edition of that Book at Tholou Anno 1593. and confirm'd by the Bull of Pope Paul the third In short he that hath had but any conversation with that ingenious part of the Gentry who have concern'd themselves in the consideration of Church-Government cannot but take notice of these two assertions being in vogue among them which whether true or no 't is not here pertinent to determine The first that 't is possible for Monarchy to subsist here without that high power our Bishops formerly had and so that Maxim No Bishop no King hath been disbelieved This Maxim seems to them true concerning Turky No Mufti no Grand Signior because the Mufti can with the Screen of Religion as he pleases hide the ugliness of those actions the Grandeur of the Turkish Empire is supported by But our Kings govern according to Law and so the Engin of Superstition is not here of use for the amusing people into slavery I confess any party of men that wil not own the Kings Supremacy in Ecclesiastical causes as well as Civil is not fit to be allow'd as the State-Religion But that Supremacy of the Kings in Ecclesiastical matters and in Civil is acknowledged by the Divines that are for the Lord Primates form of Episcopacy as much as by any other A second assertion very much receiv'd among them is that no particular form of Church-Government is of Divine right Of this opinion my Lord Bacon shews himself to be expresly in his Considerations touching the Edification and Pacification of the Church of England and so my Lord Falkland in one of his printed Speeches where speaking of Bishops he saith I do not believe them to be jure divino nay I believe them to be not jure divino but neither do I believe them to be injuria humana So that it is no wonder that among our ordinary enquirers after knowledg this notion is believed which was so by those two incomparably Learned persons And it may seem much more to gratifie the power of Princes then the Maxim No Bishop no King can do The Author of the History of the Council of Trent makes mention how Laymez Generall of the Jesuits spent a whole Congregation in proving that Bishops are jure pontificio and not jure divino and said that the power of Iurisdiction was given wholly to the Bishop of Rome and that none in

persons intend to be judges how far mens civil and spirituall liberties reach and what are the frontires of both Nothing we see is more common among the Romish Priests then to pick the pockets of the people in ordine ad spiritualla And 't is most certain that he who doth impose any thing upon the people under the species of Religion would not leave them a power to judge whether it be in order to it or no. For if they are the Judges of it they will say that any thing in Religion which displeaseth them opposeth their civil liberty and so nothing at all will therein be enjoyned Secondly those that take away from others their spirituall liberties shew that they can take away part of their civill at least or else the whole of them accordingly as they valued their spirituall liberty If it be said that mens civil liberties are thought more important then their spirituall yet it may be replyed that in the thoughts of very many men their spirituall liberties are as considerable as part of their civill So that the totall destroyers of spirituall liberty shew that part of the civill is at their mercy And if they are able to take away one part of mens civill liberties they are by that means in a better capacity to take away another just as he that is able to take away one limb from a mans body is the more able to take away another because by the losse of that a man hath the less strength to defend himself against a further assault But although in some parts of the World men have not the same high esteem for spirituall liberty as for civil just as the par or proportion of Silver to Gold in severall Countries doth differ it may be affirm'd that in this Nation generally they have 'T is true that broken-fortun'd men do not value civil liberty nor men of debauch'd Consciences spirituall but neither of these qualifications hath produced a generall undervaluing of either sort of liberty among us As to what may be objected concerning some Popish Countries as Venice c. where they have not a proportion of esteem for spirituall liberty equall to their civil I answer that their Religion obligeth them to perform a servile obedience to the Bishop of Rome in things sacred and they looking on him as infallible have no reason to prize a liberty of not obeying him Yet even in those places obedience to the Roman Catholick Religion is not maintain'd by the severe Discipline of an Inquisition The policy of the French Nation is in this respect exactly good the liberty of the Gallican Church being so cautiously asserted in order to the liberty of the Gallican Kingdom where their Courts of Parliament in case of Appeals do declare void and null the Popes Bulls and Excommunications and forbid the execution of them when they are found contrary to the liberty of the French Church and the Kings Prerogative Nor without cause were the severall European Princes jealous of the Popes designs to invade their civil liberties when as Mr. Selden observes in his Dissertatio ad Fletam Innocent the second being very earnest with them to admit the Canon Law into their Territories they received the Civil Law to keep out the Canon In which Law the Bishops of Rome have severall Titles De emptione venditione De locato conducto and severall other Titles that concern Temporall affaires between man and man Thirdly they engage themselves to be in readiness by Temporall power to maintain their conquests over mens spiritual liberties For he that takes away a feather out of a mans hat is obliged in interest to take away his sword from his side If it be said that a man may think himself bound in Conscience to oppresse people in spiritual things but not in civil I answer most certainly then his Conscience will lead him to put them out of a condition to assert their spiritual liberties so opprest It is with restraining the freedom of Conscience as the denying a mare liberum to neigbouring nations which any Prince that doth must not trust to prescription of long time or imaginary lines in the heavens whereby the compasse of his dominion of the Sea may be determined but to powerfull Fleets Fourthly they give men just cause to think that they will be willing to invade their civil liberties whenever their Consciences or their interests shall prompt them to it From what hath been said in this first Reason about the connexion of civil and spiritual liberty and mens concernednesse in the valuation of both I shall occasionally affirm that the next best way to Liberty of Conscience for the preservation of the publick peace of a Country where spirituall liberty is regarded in any high measure by the people is an Inquisition But he hath much to learn in Politicks who thinks that an Inquisition is practicable among us as 't is in Spain where one Religion hath had quiet possession in the Countrey so many yeares The second Reason to prove that the Peace and Safety of the Nation will be very considerably advanced by the allowance of freedom to mens Consciences shall be this As long as there is such a due Liberty of Conscience granted 't is hardly possible for any civil Wars to happen on the account of Religion which for want of this freedom may If there are but two parties in a Nation that differ from one another in Religion 't is not unlikely but that a civil War may arise on the account of Religion though the one doth tolerate the other because either of them that thinks its share in the chief Magistrates savour least may for that reason attempt a forcible suppression of the other But any such War can hardly be where the parties differing in Religion are many For they are not likely to know the exact strength of one another and their severall animosities will keep them from joyning together against any one that doth not invade their liberty in generall Nothing but extreme necessity can bring them to meet amicably and consult together For the nearer they seem to one another in opinion the sharper their mutuall hatreds are just as people of severall Countreys that live in the frontires of each do hate one another with a greater vehemence then those more remotely situated do Besides 't is probable that if any one of the parties tolerated should go about to make it self uppermost which design only could make it fly out into a civil War the rest would immediately Joyne to suppresse it For they are not sure they shall have that from the conquering party after all the horrors of War which they already possesse to wit a fair liberty Which if it be competently allow'd to the severall parties seditious persons at home and the Ministers of State to our enemies abroad will be deprived of their old benefit from our Divisions in Religion which they accidentally made use of as a handle to

the Clergy or Laiety of this Land or either of them Which Vote of that House may seem to be grounded on this consideration that a Legislative power is inseparable from the King and Parliament and that if a Parliament would transmit their interest in the Legislative Power to any other order of men they cannot do it more then a Judge can delegate his Authority to his Clerks or any be a Deputies Deputy I shall onely here further observe that the Lawyers whose Obligations on the account of interest to moderate the power of Bishops I have before spoke of are still likely to be a great part of the House of Commons and to have the conduct of Parliamentary Affaires much in their hands and to concur with any party against the Bishops if they should invade the due Liberty of mens Consciences or endeavour to make themselves formidable in the Nation The LAST REASON I shall urge to prove what advantages will redound to the Nation from the allowance of a due Liberty of Conscience is that it will necessarily produce an advancement of our Trade and Traffick the hinderance whereof must needs follow from the contrary practice The largenesse of Trade in any Countrey is most certainly founded in the populousnesse of it 'T is onely in populous Countries that the wages of work-men are cheap whereby a greater store of Manufactures is prepared for Exportation In populous Countries onely they fell their own Commodities dear and buy foreign cheap 'T is there that Land is worth twice as many yeares purchase as elsewhere And in such Countries onely is the fishing Trade carryed on which none will employ themselves in that can live upon the shore reasonably well and which in populous Countries enough will not be able to do This then being laid down as a principle that the wealth of any Nation depends on its populousnesse I may confidently affirm that the populousnesse of a Countrey doth much depend upon the Liberty of Conscience that is there granted The Kingdom of Spain may here serve for this to be Exemplified in where there are not men enough to Manufacture their own Wooll and where there is more black mony Brass or Copper Coin used then in other Nations notwithstanding all the Silver that comes thither from the West-Indies It was the rigour of the Inquisition that brought that Monarch who would have been an universall one to send Ambassadours to his high and mighty subjects But we need not look out of our own Countrey for instances of Trades suffering together with Freedom of Conscience For by reason of the former severity exercised on those that would not conform to the Ceremonies imposed many thousands of people bred up in a way of Trade and Traffick left the Kingdom going some of them to America and others to Holland where our Countrey-men did compensate to the Hollanders for severall Manufactures which they directed us to when the Rage of Duke Alva's persecution occasion'd their residence among us And what could more prejudice the Trade of our Countrey I know not then the peopleing other Countries with our Artificers and the teaching them our Arts and Manufactures And it is considerable that the sort of Trading men on whom the shock of persecution did seem to light most heavily was that of those whose Trades did lie chiefly in advancing our staple-Commodity of Wooll and preparing our Old and New Draperies for Exportation to which Trades the ordinary sort of Puritan Non-Conformists were rather inclined then to ploughing and digging because in these Trades of theirs as namely Weaving Spinning Dressing c. Their Children might read Chapters to them as they were at work and they might think or speak of Religious things or sing Psalmes and yet pursue their Trades Besides these Trades were more suitable to their Constitutions which were generally not so Robust as of others and to the melancholy of their tempers Now these men being frequently disturb'd by Apparitors and summon'd to Ecclesiasticall Courts for working on Holy-Days perhaps or going on a Sunday to some Neighbouring Parish when they had no Sermon in their own or for some such causes were so hinder'd in the course of their Trades that they were necessitated to remove out of the Kingdom They could not expect that Merchants or other Trading persons would imploy them and take their work unlesse they could bring it in at such a set time that it might be as occasion required Exported and sent to Faires and Markets abroad at punctuall times likewise which Merchants are concern'd in taking care of lest their Commodities be undersold Now these Puritan Traders were not in a capacity to dispatch the sending in of their Manufactures to others at the time agreed on by reason of their frequent Citations to and Delays at the Bishops Courts And since other Nations have now the way of making Cloath as namely France Holland and Flanders if we do not sell it cheaper then they we shall hardly have any abroad sold at all To conclude the Examination of this particular affaire not any that hath search'd at all into the nature of the Trade of this Nation but believes that the best way to advance it would be to call in and invite any Protestant strangers to come and live among us and to encourage Artists of all Nations to come and plant themselves here which cannot be done without the giving them a due Liberty of Conscience and if it be our interest to encourage strangers and give them this Liberty this dealing may much more be expected by our own natives But 't is needlesse to insist longer in giving plain reasons for a plain proposition I shall onely therefore before I now draw this discourse about the due Liberty of Conscience that is fit to be practised in this Nation toward an end shew that thereby the Reverend Fathers of the Churche the Bishops will find their inter●st advanc'd in particular as well as the interest of the Nation in generall If any man shall say that the Government of the Church by Bishops is the most pure and Apostolicall I am firmly of his opinion yet as No Bishop no King is now no uncontradicted Maxim so is it lesse unquestion'd that no force in matters of Religion no Bishop But notwithstanding the severity that hath been exercised on mens Consciences by former Prelats such is the prudence of some of the present Fathers of the Church that they will I believe see it to be as much their interest to give Liberty of Conscience as it can be the interest of any men to receive it And indeed if this were but in a fair manner distributed among the severall Sects I have spoken of they would no more endeavour the destruction of the Episcopall Clergy then the Iews at Rome tolerated do design the ruine of the Pope Nay further these Sects having liberty under their Government would serve them as a ballance against popular envy I have often wish'd that our Nobility