observed that since the Learned Doctors of both sides do respectively declare upon mature consideration of several Texts of holy Writ Acts of Councils and other reasons alledged to have different Sentiments therein some of each side holding the contrary to what others of the same profession do strongly maintain but never determined by the Church The probability of their said opinions may respectively warrant if not oblige all his Majesties Subjects especially being so enjoyned by Law to acknowledge submission to that external coactive Power and Authority of his Majesty for the punishment of Offenders with civil and corporal punishments in such mixed cases as aforesaid which their respective Teachers doe affirm to be justly derived from natural Reason and clear places of Scripture and assert them as part of his Royal Jurisdiction Our ancient Histories Statutes and most authentick Records of former times long before Henry 8th do testifie as aforesaid That our Kings did challenge a sovereign external coactive Jurisdiction over all their Subjects as aforesaid in those cases sometimes indulging them to the Ecclesiastical Courts and See of Rome sometimes restraining them again of their own Authority without recourse to the Pope or See of Rome more or lesse according to their zeal or devotion towards the Church and Church-men and the respective occasions in those times according as was then thought fit by our Kings and Parliaments Read the Statutes of Provisors 25. of Ed. 3. The practice in France sufficiently declares what that Kings Power is in the cases aforesaid For although spiritual offences that are meerly such are punishable in the Ecclesiastical Courts onely by spiritual Censures as Excommunication Suspension c. Yet if the cause be mixed in any sort with what is civil or temporal as aforesaid or if never so little pecuniary Mulct be imposed upon the offenders for damages by the Ecclesiastical Judges the whole matter may be brought to the cognizance of the civil Court upon appeal and the former sentence reversed if it be thought fit Nor does any Ecclesiastical Promotion or Dignity how great soever priviledge any person from civil and corporal punishments there if he offend against the the now Arch-bishop of Paris under the most Christian Kings who is known to be most zealously devoted to the Church and See of Rome And many other Presidents of the same nature have been in Hungary Germany and other Countreys that hold communion with that Church The King of Spain exercises the like Authority in several places of his Dominions and so amply in his Kingdome of Sicily that it is there called Supream Spiritual Authority and spiritual Monarchy as is acknowledged by the Catholick Divine in in his Answer to the fifth part of Sr Edward Cookes Reports pag. 102. which words Supream spiritual Authority and Spiritual Monarchy sound as harsh and require a favourable explanation no lesse than any the words in Queen Elizabeths Oath aforesaid He sayes indeed That Pope Urbane granted the same long time since to that Kings Predecessours as Pope Nicolas somewhat of the like nature to St. Edward King of England But meer spiritual Jurisdiction as is conceived could not be granted to a Lay person And our Question being of the original right of our Princes to supream external coactive Jurisdiction over their Subjects to take cognizance of offenders in such mixed cases as aforesaid for punishing them with civil and corporal punishments according to the respective quality of their offences which indeed is no other but a civil and temporal power though the said cases be vulgarly called Spiritual for the reasons declared as abovesaid he ought to have told us how the Pope came to be invested with such coactive power by force of Law and corporall punishments which he so granted away unto others Christ said His Kingdome was not of this world The Apostles claimed no such coactive power by force of Law and corporal punishments as aforesaid nor any the aforesaid exemption of their persons or goods from the temporal Magistrate and his Tribunals The Church as the said Catholike Divine confesses had no such power for several Ages the Emperour Constantine was the first that granted it who did it to use his words voluntarily And other Kings and Princes upon their singular devotion and in imitation of that good Emperour And doth not all this plainly signifie that the External Coactive power such as aforesaid was originally in the Supreme temporal Magistrate whose said Supreme power as most Learned men do affirm cannot binde and conclude it self in a Law so as not to be able to revoke or alter the same when there is just cause for preservation of its being and generall good of the Common-wealth otherways in imminent danger And consequently howsoever Cannon Laws and Decretals have been sometimes received by permission or concession of our Kings alone or Parliaments of our Nation and in vertue of such reception and not otherwise matriculated among our Laws yet according to the President of many of our Kings and Parliaments long before King Henry the Eighth the same might be validly restrained or made void to this Nation so farre as to the nature of a Law if our said Kings and Parliaments conceived it necessary for those reasons as above said Whether the same was well or ill done by them or whether the causes were sufficient or not in the respective occasions the doers were answerable in conscience not their Subjects who were bound to yeeld obedience to their Soveraign power in what things soever were not purely Spirituall or repugnant unto the Law of God Since therefore it is most apparant that Spiritual Authority it self is not denied by the intendment of this Oath explained by the Admonition and declared as aforesaid which is otherwise then the abovesaid Catholick Divine did understand it to be but only the enlargement of Spirituall Authority to temporal coaction such as aforesaid which in reality alters its nature and is repugnant to the prerogative Royall of this Crowne and which indeed the Court of Rome not the Church of Rome and some Divines most especially depending upon the same would extend the said spirituall power unto bâ—â— Jure Divino but was not so ab initio as manifestly appears by what is abovesaid Why should any his Majesties Loyall Subjects Romane Catholikes especially deny to acknowledge their dutifull submission to his Majesties said Soveraignty and Rule over all his Subjects and their like obedience to maintain Laws established so farre as they relate to his said Authority in such manner as above declared Whereas not only the Opinions of many of the most Learned Writers of their own Religion doe maintain That Externall Coaction by force of Law and civil and corporall punishment upon offenders of what quality soever and for what matter or cause soever so deserving as abovesaid is of naturall right belonging to the Supreme Temporal Magistrate But also the practise of our Kings and Parliaments in former Ages time
OBSERVATIONS UPON THE OATH Enacted 1. Eliz. Commonly called The OATH of SVPREMACY For the better satisfaction of those that may finde themselves concerned therein Observations upon the Oath Enacted 1. Eliz. commonly called The Oath of SVPREMACY BY the Oath of Supremacy Enacted by Henry the Eighth the said King was sworn to be Supreme Head of the Church of England Which title was of so great offence and scandal even to some of those that then professed the Reformed Religion that they writ Invectives against the same as Romane Catholicks also did and sundry persons lost their lives in those daies for denial thereof as is written of Sir Thomas More and others But that Oath was afterwards abolisht by Parliament with some other statutes relating thereunto and in the fifth year of Queen Elizabeth the ensuing Oath was enjoyned by an Act then entitled All ancient Jurisdiction restored to the Crown and all forreign power abolished the words of which Oath are as followeth I A B. do utterly testifie and declare in my conscience that the Queens Highnesse is the only Supreme Governour of this Realm of all other her Highnesses Dominions and Countreys as well in all Spirituall or Ecclesiastical things or Causes as temporal c. That no forreign Prince Person Prelate State or Potentate hath or ought to have any Jurisdiction Power Superiority Preheminence 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 and true Allegiance to the Queens Highness her Heirs and lawful Successors and to my power shall assist and defend all Jurisdictions Priviledges Preheminencies and Authorities granted or belonging to the Queens Highnesse her 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 Although the words of this Oath are not the same as in the former and Supreme Head of the Church of England not particularly mentioned therein yet according to the common acceptation of the words in the said Oath it seemed to attribute to her said Majesty in effect and substance no less spiritual Jurisdiction and power nay more then what the said former Oath did or might import Wherefore this Oath was also excepted at by divers In which consideration and for the clearing of doubts that might be conceived thereupon her Majesty by an Admonition in her Injunctions published afterwards in the said first year of her Reign did explain and interpret the sence and meaning of the words of the said Oath in which the same should from thenceforth be accepted and taken The Admonition and Title is as followeth An Admonition to Simple men deceived by malicious The Queens Majesty being informed that in certain places of the Realm sundry of her native Subjects being called to Ecclesiastical Ministry in the Church be by sinister perswasion and perverse construction induced to finde some scruple in the form of an Oath which by an Act of the last Parliament is prescribed to be required of divers persons for the Recognition of their Allegiance to her Majesty which certainly never was ne ever meant nor by any equity of words or good sence can be thereof gathered would that all her loving Subjects should understand that nothing was is or shall be meant or intended by the same Oath to have any other duty allegiance or bond required by the same Oath then was acknowledged to be due to the most noble Kings of famous memory K. Henry the 8. her Majesties Father or K. Edward the 6. her Majesties Brother And further her Majesty forbiddeth all manner her Subjects to give ear or credit to such perverse and malicious persons which most sinisterly and maliciously labour to notifie to her loving Subjects how by words of the said Oath it may be collected that the Kings or Queeus of this Realm possssors of the Crown may challenge authority and power of Ministry of Divine Service in the Church wherein her said Subjects be much abused by such evil disposed persons for certainly her Majesty neither doth nor ever will challenge any other authority then that was challenged and lately used by the said noble Kings of famous memory K. Henry the Eighth and K. Edward the sixth which is and was of ancient time due to the Imperiall Crown of this Realm THAT IS under God to have the Soveraignty and Rule over all manner persons born within these Realms Dominions and Countreys of what estate either Ecclesiastical or temporal soever they be SO AS no other forreign power shall or ought to have any superiority over them And if any person that hath conceived any other sence of the form of the said Oath shall accept the same Oath with this Interpretation sence or meaning her Majesty is well pleased to accept every such in that behalf as her good and obedient Subjects and shall acquit them of all manner penalties contained in the said Act against such as shall peremptorily or obstinately refuse to take the same Oath It is observable that the Queen did thus explain and interpret the words of this Oath by her own authority But whereas some might then object as others have done since upon the same occasion that the words of an Oath could not be warrantably interpreted from their ordinary sence and usual acceptation by any authority less then that of the Law-maker Therefore the said Admonition was confirmed by her said Majesty in Parliament by the Satute 5 Eliz. cap. 1. wherein is this Proviso as followeth Provided also that the Oath expressed in the said Act made in the said first Year shall be taken and expounded in such form as is set forth in an Admonition annexed to the Queens Majesties Injunctions published in the first Year of her Majesties Reign That is to say to confesse and acknowledge in her Majesty her Heirs and Successors none other authority then that was challenged and lately used by the Noble K. Henry the 8. and K. Edward the 6. as in the said admonition more plainly may appear It is observable that in vertue of this Provisoe in the said Statute the aforesaid admonition acquired the force of a Law as much as the Provisoe it self had which referres to the said admonition and consequently makes void in law whatsoever was formerly Enacted contrary to the same So that from and after the said Act 5. Eliz. the said Oath though pronounced in the form of words verbatim as is expressed in the Act 1. Eliz. yet the effect and tenour of the said words must be construed and understood in the form and according to the Interpretation sence and meaning as appeareth in the aforesaid admonition And whosoever upon tender of the said Oath unto him if when he shall have read or pronounced the words thereof he do professe that he intends in swearing the same to mean those said words in no other
out of minde as also the present practise of other Kings and Countreys that neverthelesse hold Communion with the Pope and Church of Rome do authorise and approve the exercise of the same according to emergent occasions by the said Supreme temporall Magistrate in manner as abovesaid Let them not therefore give just advantage to their adversaries in Religion to presse against them the continuance of the penal Statutes by objecting that what they suffer is upon suspicion of a dangerous dependency upon a forreigne State but not for any Doctrine or Point of Religion which their Church hath declared to be of Faith The unlimitted power and immoderate attributes given to Popes by Cannonists and some other Writers of eminent Authority of that side together with the violent proceedings of some Popes thereupon have been principally the occasion that the said Oath hath been so strictly urged 〈…〉 Catholicks and hath chiefly caused 〈…〉 with that See and by the over-bold assertions of such Writers that some of their said Opinions were De Fide it hath been instilled though not with truth into the minds of most of the people of this Nation That whosoever holds Communion with the Church of Rome must necessarily be principled according to their said Tenets Which caused his Majesty King James and others so conceiving to think that the above said Oath was purposly framed to make distinction between Protestants and Roman Catholicks who chiefly upon this score were all promiscuously called Papists and so severe Laws Enacted against them in Queen Elizabeths time and since B p of Derry's Schism Garded Page 176. It is true there are other differences between us but this is the main difference that giveth denomination to the parties But the truth hereof ought if but in charity to be further enquired into by all conscientious men especially by those in Authority For many of the Roman Catholicks of these Nations nay most of the most-knowing among them do professe against such over-bold assertions such immoderate attributes such unlimited powers and practices as much as any Protestants whatsoever And although they hold Communion with the Church of Rome in spiritualibus and acknowledg as their Ancient Forefathers did that the Pope is the Supreme Spiritual Pastor which the Bishop of Derry saies is not medled with one way or other in the intendment of this Oath so it be but in spirituals And his Royal Majesty King * Apol. for the Oath of Allegiance p. 46. James could be content that the Bishop of Rome were Patriarck of the West and were the first Bishop among all Bishops and Princeps Episcoporum so as he be no otherwise then as Peter was Princeps Apostolorum Yet the said Roman Catholicks do not hold it as a part of their faith that the Pope is infallibly free from Error or that he can absolve Subjects from their obedience to their natural Prince or from the Obligation of faithfull upright dealing with their Neighbours though such their Prince or Neighbour be not of their Religion or were Excommunicated or what more the Pope could do by himself or with any other against them for that cause And all this say they they will chearfully testifie upon their Oaths without equivocation or mental reservation if an Oath in clear terms expressing as aforesaid be tendred unto them It is not the true meaning of the Oath explained in manner as abovesaid which makes many of them refuse to take the same but there being an Oath made since and called the Oath of Allegiance makes them apprehend that something more than meer Allegiance is contained in the former And besides the latitude of the words in this Oath at which many Protestants also stick which words are not explained but by the admonition as aforesaid and that admonition again not cleared but by the Writings of Learned Doctors and then authorized by the Proviso 5º Eliz. and the force of that Proviso to be resolved by the Learned Men in the Law These particulars not known to many and so intricate in themselves and above all the constant tendring of the said Oath for so many years past without the aforesaid explanation These things I say have made it to be firmly believed by them and those of their profession over all Christendome that in taking the said Oath with what explanation soever if such explanation be not as publickly made known and declared they give just scandal which is Malum in se that they renounce their Religion as indeed the common acceptation of the words of the said Oath do import no lesse And since the said Roman Catholicks have been so Loyall to his Majesty not one having drawn Sword against him in the late Rebellion so many of them having lost their lives and estates and endured strict Imprisonment and great hardship for his cause and rendred eminent services in the late Wars even to the preservation of his most Sacred Person It seems but very reasonable what is generally desire oy them viz. that the Oathes required of them under so great penalties may be cleared of those doubtful expressions in them which cause their scruples as aforesaid or a new Oath to be compiled in clear terms whereby not only they but also many Protestants who likewise scruple at the words of the same may to the entire satisfaction of his Majesty and the Nation fully testifie the Allegiance and Fidelity of faithful Subjects and true Patriotts and no longer remain as generally they now do distrusted and subject to much obloquy and in an incapacity to serve their King and Countrey notwithstanding the indulgence generally afforded to tender Consciences though of different perswasion from the Tenets of the Church of England and all this upon no other score but of being thought otherwise principled then what their said late actions have approved them to be and what they now offer to professe upon their Oaths which is the greatest security that can be given in testimony of a mans intention and as much as satisfies in the like case of suspicion from those that have fought c. against his Majesty and been his most bitter enemies FINIS