subject to man Receive to themselves damnation As the Rebellion is against God so from God the penalty is threatned and that not a common one but exceeding heavy as St. Chrysostom upon it The Vulgar Latin reads it Ipsi sibi damnationem acquirunt implying the vanity madness of it Nemo enim sanus seipsum laedit Men that run their heads against a Rock hurt themselves not it and so in conclusion Rebels seek their own ruine and bring upon themselves swift damnation 2 Pet. 2. By this short Paraphrase upon the words these two observations may be deduced First that Regal power is derived from God Secondly that it is not lawfull for Subjects to take up Arms in the resistance of it without being fighters against God and in peril of damnation The first is so apparent that I need not insist upon it 'T is acknowledged even by heathens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. You see it de facto in the old Testament Moses who was â— King in Jeshurun was appointed of God and Joshua succeeding him the Judges as Elective Kings were raised by him also Saul David c. 'T is the complaint of God Hoseae the 8. fecerunt reges sed non ex me They have made themselves Kings but not by me God who is the God of Order and not of Confusion was pleased from the very first to take care of constituting a successive Monarchy The first-born was his own establishment in his specch to Cain though a bad and his Brother Abel a righteous person only by right of his primogeniture Gen 4. 9 his desire shall be subject to thee and thou shalt rule over him from whence it succeeded in Jacobs family Gen. 49 28 Ruben thou art my first born the excellency of dignity and the excellency of power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 honor and authority i e. the supremacy of both and when he with Symeon and Levy for their severall crimes were disinherited by their father and the primogeniture fallen to Judah to him it was said thou art he whom thy brethren shall honour thy Fathers children shall bow down unto thee ver 10. to whom the Scepter was given and the gathering or Assemblies of the People That as in the creation in the Natural government of the world God made one ruler of the day the Sun the sole fountain of Light for the Moon and Starres are but as a Vice Roy of subordinate Governors deriving theirs from him so was it in the Civil Government also As God by whom Kings reign and who have the Title of God given them I have said ye are Gods is one so was he pleased to represent himself in one accordingly and in the Text ordained by him Object 1 There is a place which the adversaries of this doctrine much insist upon 't is out of S. Peter 1. Epist. c. 2. 13. where he calls a Magistâ—ate an Ordinance of man Submit your selves to every Ordinance of man as we render it for the Lords sake whether to the King as supreme or Governors sent by him c. The Answer is ready that this is no ways a contradiction to St. Paul in this Text for 1. By an humane Ordinance he doth not meane an humane Invention but quia inter homines institutam because it was ordained or appointed among or over men called humane respectu termiiii sive subjecti but yet divine respectu authoris primarii The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render Ordinance being as Rivetus observeth never so taken throughout the Scripture were better rendred Creature which it properly signifies as the vulgar Latine doth it omni humanae creaturae to every humane creature Now creature is frequently taken for what is eminent and excellent as if the sense were submit your selves to all that do excell or are eminent amongst or over men according to the next words whether to the King 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that excelleth and the Hebrews do sometimes by a Creation imply a Rare and Eminent thing Num. 16. 30. Si creationem creaverit deus i. e. if the Lord make a new or rare thing To which agrees that of our Saviour in his last words to his Apostles Mark 16. 15. Preach the Gospell to every Creature i. e. man Because of his excellencie above all sublunary Creatures And thus why may not the King for the same cause be so called here So that St. Peter is so far from denying Regal Power to be ordained of God that he rather confirms it A Creature therefore the act of the Creator and by way of excellency therefore of God the sole original of it and for the Lords sake i. e. who hath so ordained him or whom herepresents Object 2 For that objection of Saul's being elected by the people the contrary appears 1 Sam. 12. 8. 5. where Samuel saith thus to them Answer Dominus constituit regem super vos and they to Samuel as a Delegate from God Constitue nobis Regem who in the name of God proposed to them jus Regis And though Saul was elected by a Sacred Lot yet ye have not the like again after him in David Solomon or any other but they succeeded jure hereditario Object 3 But have evil Kings their power from God Answer Indeed as evil they are not of him because no evil can descend from him from whom every good and perfect gift doth though for the sins of people God may justly permit such but we must sever their personal staines as men from their lawfull Authority received of God which looseth not its essence by such an accession 't is no true maxime Dominium fundatur in gratia St. Paul applys that of Exod 22. to Ananias Acts 23 Thou shalt not speak evil of the Ruler of thy people though he commanded him unjustly to be smitten Pilate condemning Innocency it self our Saviour acknowledgeth his power to have been from above thou couldst not have any power over me Nisi tibi data esset desuper Claudius or Nero whom elsewhere St. Paul calls a Lyon reigned when he writ this Epistle and is doubtless included in the verse before the Text the powers that be i. e. now in being are ordained of God and exhorts to pay unto him as the Minister of God the due of Tribute Custome Fear Honour c. Daniel acknowledgeth Nebuchadnezzars dominion and Kingdom to have been given him of God which copy the Fathers of the Primitive Church under Christianity we find to have wrote after Constantius was an Arrian and had exiled many of the Orthodox Bishops yet Athanasius in his Apology to them saith thus God hath given the Empire to him whosover shall with an evil eye reproach it doth contrary to Gods Ordinance Tertullian faith thus to the Emperor Severus in his Apologie for the Christians We must needs have him in great honor whom our Lord hath
authority in the outward government which disposeth the affairs of Religion so farre forth as the same are disposable by humane authority and to think them uncapable thereof only for that the said religion is everlastingly beneficiall to them that faithfully continue in it And even as little cause there is that being admitted thereunto amongst the Jews they should amongst the Christians of necessity be delivered from ever exercising any such power for the dignity and perfection which is in our Religion more then theirs It may be a question Whether the affairs of Christianity require more wit more study more knowledge of Divine things in him which shall order them then the Jewish Religion did For although we deny not the forme of external government together with all other Rites and Ceremonies to have been in more particular manner set down yet withall it must be considered also that even this very thing did in some respects make the burthen of their spiritual regiment the harder to be born by reason of infinite doubts and difficulties which the very obscurity and darkness of their Law did breed and which being not first decided the Law could not possibly have due execution Besides in as much as their Law did also dispose even of all kind of civill affairs their Clergy being the Interpretors of the whole Law sustained not only the same labour which Divines doe amongst us but even the burthen of our Lawyers too Nevertheless be it granted that more things do now require to be publickly deliberated and resolved upon with exacter judgment in matters divine then Kings for the most part have their personal inhability to judge in such sort as professors do letteth not but that their Regal authority may have the self same degree or sway which the Kings of Israel had in the affairs of their Religion to rule and command according to the manner of supreme Governors As for the sword wherewith God armed his Church of old if that were a reasonable cause why Kings might then have Dominion I see not but that it ministreth still as forcible an argument for the lawfulness and expedience of their continuance therein now As we digrade and excommunicate even so did the Church of the Jews both separate offendors from the Temple and depose the Clergie also from their rooms when cause required The other sword of corporall punishment is not by Christs own appointment in the hand of the Church of Christ as God did place it himself in the hands of the Jewish Church For why he knew that they whom he sent abroad to gather a people unto him only by perswasive means were to build up his Church even within the bosome of Kingdomes the chiefest Governors whereof would be open enemies unto it every where for the space of many years Wherefore such Commission for discipline he gave them as they might any where exercise in a quiet and peaceable manner the Subjects of no Common-wealth being touched in goods or person by virtue of that spirituall regiment whereunto Christian Religion embraced did make them subject Now when afterwards it came to pass that whole Kingdomes were made Christian I demand whither that authority served before for the furtherance of Religion may not as effectually serve to the maintenance of Christian Religion Christian Religion hath the sword of spiritual Discipline But doth that suffice The Jewish which had it also did nevertheless stand in need to be ayded with the power of the Civil sword The help whereof although when Christian Religion cannot have it must without it sustain it self as far as the other which it hath will serve notwithstanding where both may be had what forbiddeth the Church to enjoy the benefit of both Will any man deny that the Church doth need the rod of corporall punishment to keep her children in obedience withall Such a Law as Macabeus made amongst the Scots that he which continued an excommunicate two years together and reconciled not himself to the Church should forfeit all his goods and possessions Again the custom which many Christian Churches have to fly to the Civil Magistrate for coertion of those that will not otherwise be reformed these things are proof sufficient that even in Christian Religion the power wherewith Eeclesiastical persons were indued at the first unable to do of it self so much as when secular power doth strengthen it and that not by way of Ministry or Service but of predominancie such as the Kings of Israel in their time exercised over the Church of God Yea but the Church of God was then restrained more narrowly to one people and one king which now being spread throughout all Kingdoms it would be a cause of great dissimilitude in the exercise of Christian Religion if every King should be over the Affairs of the Church where he reigneth Supream Ruler Dissimilitude in great things is such a thing which draweth great inconvenience after it a thing which Christian Religion must always carefully prevent And the way to prevent it is not as some do imagine the yielding up of Supream Power over all Churches into one only Pastors hands but the framing of their government especially for matter of substance every wher according to one only Law to stand in no less force then the Law of Nations doth to be received in all Kingdoms all Soveraigne Rulers to be sworn no otherwise unto it then some are to maintain the Liberties Laws and received Customs of the Country where they reign This shall cause uniformity even under several Dominions without those woful inconveniencies whereunto the State of Christendom was subject heretofore through the Tyranny and Oppression of that one universal Nimrod who alone did all And till the christian world be driven to enter into the peaceable and true consultation about some such kind of general Law concerning those things of weight and moment wherein now we differ If one church hath not the same order which another hath let every Church keep as near as may be the order it should have and commend the just defence thereof unto God even as Judah did when it differed in the exercise of Religion from that form which Israel followed Concerning therefore the matter whereof we have hitherto spoken let it stand for our final conclusion that in a free christian State or Kingdom where one and the self same people are the church and the common-wealth God through christ directing that people to see it for good and weighty considerations expedient that their Soveraign Lord and Governor in causes Civil have also in Ecclesiastical Affairs a Supream Power Forasmuch as the Light of reason doth lead them unto it and against it Gods own revealed law hath nothing surely they do not in submitting themselves thereunto any other then that which a wise and religious people ought to do it was but a little over-flowing of wit in Thomas Aquinas so to play upon the words of Moses in the old and of
much awrie and that in allowing of their Bishops every man favoured his own quality every ones desire was not so much to be under the regiment of good and virtuous men as of them which were like himself What man is there whom it doth not exceedingly grieve to read the tumults tragidies and schismes which were raised by occasion of the Clergy at such times as divers of them standing for some one place there was not any kind of practise though never so unhonest ot vile left unassaied whereby men might supplant their Competitors and the one side foil the other Sidonius speaking of a Bishoprick void in his time The decease of the former Bishop saith he was an alarm to such as would labour for the room Whereupon the people forthwith betaking them selves unto parts storm on each side few there are that make suit for the advancement of any other man many who not only offer but enforce themselves All things light variable counterfeit What should I say I see not any thing plain and open but impudence only In the Church of Constantinople about the election of S. Chrysostome by reason that some strove mightily for him and some for Nectarius the troubles growing had not been small but that Aroadius the Emperor interposed himself even as at Rome the Emperor Valentinian whose forces were hardly able to establish Damasus Bishop and to compose the strife between him and his Competitor Urficinus about whose election the blood of 137 was already shed Where things did not break out into so manifest and open flames yet between them which obtained the place and such as before withstood their promotion that secret hart burning often grew which could not afterwards be easily slaked insomuch that Pontius doth note it as a rare point of vertue in Cyprian that whereas some were against his election he notwithstanding dealt ever after in most friendly manner with them all men wondering that so good a memory was so easily able to forget These and other the like hurts accustomed to grow from ancient elections we doe not feel Howbeit least the Church in more hidden sort should sustain even as grievous detriment by that order which is now of force we are most humbly to crave at the hands of Soveraign Kings and Governors the highest Patrons which this Church of Christ hath on earth that it would please them to be advertised thus much Albeit these things which have been sometimes done by any sort may afterwards appertain unto others and so the kind of Agents vary as occasions dayly growing shall require yet sundry unremovable and unchangeable burthens of duty there are annexed unto every kind of publique action which burthens in this case Princes must know themselves to stand now charged with in Gods sight no lesse than the People and the Clergy when the power of electing their Prelates did rest fully and wholly in them A fault it had been if they should in choice have preferred any whom desert of most holy life and the gift of divine wisedome did not commend a fault if they had permitted long the rooms of the principal Pastors of God to continue void not to preserve the Church patrimony as good to each Successor as any Predecessor enjoy the same had been in them a most odious grievous fault Simply good and evil doe not loose their nature That which was is the one or the other whatsoever the subject of either be The faults mentioned are in Kings by so much greater for that in what Churches they exercise those Regalities whereof we do now intreat the same Churches they have received into their speciall care and custody with no lesse effectual obligation of conscience then the Tutor standeth bound in for the person and state of that pupill whom he hath solemnly taken upon him to protect and keep All power is given unto edification none to the overthrow and destruction of the Church Concerning therefore the first branch of spiritual dominion thus much may suffice seeing that they with whom we contend doe not directly oppose themselves against regalities but only so far forth as generally they hold that no Church dignity should be granted without consent of the common People and that there ought not to be in the Church of Christ any Episcopall Rooms for Princes to use their Regalitie in Of both which questions we have sufficiently spoken before As therefore the person of the King may for just consideration even where the cause is civil be notwithstanding withdrawn from occupying the seat of Judgment and others under his authority be fit he unfit himself to judge so the considerations for which it were happily not convenient for Kings to sit and give sentence in spiritual Courts where causes Ecclesiastical are usually debated can be no bar to that force and efficacie which their Sovereign power hath over those very Consistories and for which we hold without any exception that all Courts are the Kings All men are not for all things sufficient and therefore publick affairs being divided such persons must be authorised Judges in each kinde as common reason may presume to be most fit Which cannot of King 's and Princes ordinarily be presumed in causes meerly Ecclesiastical so that even common sense doth rather adjudge this burthen unto other men We see it hereby a thing necessary to put a difference as well between that ordinary jurisdiction which belongeth to the Clergy alone and that Commissionary wherein others are for just considerations appointed to joyn with them as also between both these Jurisdictions and a third whereby the King hath a transcendent Authority and that in all causes over both Why this may not lawfully be granted unto him there is no reason A time there was when Kings were not capable of any such power as namely when they professed themselves open Adversaries unto Christ and christianity A time there followed when they being capable took sometimes more sometimes less to themselves as seem'd best in their own eyes because no certainty touching their right was as yet determined The Bishops who alone were before accustomed to have the ordering of such Affairs saw very just cause of grief when the highest favoring Heresie withstood by the strength of Soveraign Authority religious proceedings whereupon they oftentimes against this unresistable Power pleaded that use and custom which had been to the contrary namely that the Affairs of the church should be dealt in by the clergy and by no other unto which purpose the sentences that then were uttered in defence of unabolishing Orders and Laws against such as did of their own heads contrary thereunto are now altogether impertinently brought in opposition against them who use but that power which Laws have given them unless men can show that there is in those Laws some manifest Iniquity or Injustice Whereas therefore against the force Judicial Imperial which Supream Authority hath it is
other laying hold on the body and the things belonging thereunto The one having speciall reference to the Judgment of the world to come the other respecting the present retaining or loosing of some of the comforts of this Life That there is such a Civil Government as this in Causes Spiritual and Ecclesiasticall no man of Judgment can deny For must not Heresie for example be acknowledged to be a Cause meerly Spirituall or Ecclesiasticall and yet by what power is an Heretick put to death The Officers of the Church have no authority to take away the life of any man it must be done therefore per brachium seculare and consequently it must be yeelded without contradiction that the Tempor all Magistrate doth exercise therein a part of his Civil Government in punishing a crime that is of its own nature Spiritual or Ecclesiasticall But here it will be said the words of the Oath being generall that the King is the only supreme Governor of this Realm and of all other his Highness Dominions and Countries How may it appear that the power of the Civil Sword is only meant by that Government and that the power of the Keys is not comprebended therein I answer First that where a Civil Magistrate is affirmed to be the Governor of his own Dominions and Countries by common intendment this must needs be understood of a Civil-Government and may in no reason be extended to that which is meerly of another kind Secondly I say That where an Ambiguity is conceived to be in any part of an Oath it ought to be taken according to the understanding of him for whose satisfaction the Oath was ministred Now in the case it hath been sufficiently declared by publick authority that no other thing is meant by the Government here mentioned but that of the Civil Sword only For in the book of Articles agreed upon by the Arch-Bishop and Bishops and the whole Clergie in the Convocaetion holden at London Anno 1562. Thus we read Where we attribute to the Queens Majesty the Chief Government by which Titles we understand the minds of some standrous folkes to be offended we give not to our Princes the Ministring either of Gods word or of the Sacraments the which thing the Injunctions also lately set forth by Elizabeth our Queen doth most plainly testifie but that only prerogative which we see to have been given alwayes to all Godly Princes in holy Scriptures by God himself that is that they should rule all Estates and degrees committed to their Charge by God whether they be Ecclesiasticall or Temporall and restrain with the Civil Sword the stubbornand evill doers If it be here objected that the Authority of the Convocation is not a sufsicient ground for the Exposition of that which was enacted in Parliament I answer that these Articles stand confirmed not only by the Royall assent of the Prince for the establishing of whose Supremacy the Oath was framed but also by a speciall Act of Parliament which is to be found among the Statutes in the thirteenth yeer of Queen Elizabeth Cap. 12. Seeing therefore the makers of the Law have full authority to expound the Law and they have sufficiently manifested that by the Supream Government given to the Prince they understand that kind of Government only which is exercised with the Civil Sword I conclude that nothing can be more plaine then this that without all scruple of conscience the Kings Majesty may be acknowledged in this sense to be the only Supream Governor of all his Highness Dominions and Countrys as well in all Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Things or Causes as temporal and so have I cleered the first main branch of the Oath I come now unto the Second which is propounded negatively 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 The Forreiner that challengeth this Ecclesiastical or Spiritual Jurisdiction over us is the Bishop of Rome And the Title whereby he claimeth the Power over us is the same whereby he claimeth it over the whole world because he is St. Peters Successor for sooth And indeed if St. Peter himself had been now alive I should freely confess that he ought to have spiritual Authority and Superiority within this Kingdom But so would I say also if St. Andrew St. Bartholomew St. Thomas or any of the other Apostles had been alive for I know that their Commission was very large to go into all the world and to preach the Gospel unto every Creature So that in what part of the world soever they lived they could not be said to be out of their charge their Apostleship being a kind of an Universal Bishoprick If therefore the Bishop of Rome can prove himself to be one of this Rank the Oath must be amended and we must acknowledge that he hath Ecclesiastical Authority within this Realm True it is that our Lawyers in their yearly Books by the name of the Apostle do usually designe the Pope But if they had examined his Title to that Apostleship as they would try an Ordinary mans Title to a Piece of Land they might easily have found a number of Flaws and main defects therein for first it would be enquired whether the Apostleship was not ordained by our Saviour Christ as a special Commission which being personal only was to determine with the death of the first Apostles For howsoever at their first entry into the Execution of this Commission we find that Matthias was admitted to the Apostleship in the Roome of Judas yet afterwards when James the Brother of John was slain by Herod we do not read that any other was substituted in his place Nay we know that the Apostles generally left no Successors in this kind Neither did any of the Bishops he of Rome only excepted that sate in those famous Churches wherein the Apostles exercised their Ministry challenge an Apostleship or an Universal Bishoprick by vertue of that succession It would Secondly therefore be enquired what sound evidence they can produce to shew that one of the Company was to hold the Apostleship as it were in Fee for him and his Successors for ever and that the other Eleven should hold the same for Term of life only Thirdly if this State of perpetuity was to be cast upon one how came it to fall upon St. Peter rather then upon St. John who outlived all the rest of his Fellows and so as a Surviving Feoffee had the fairest Right to retain the same in himself and his Successors for ever Fourthly if that State were wholy setled upon St. Peter seeing the Romanists themselves acknowledge that he was Bishop of Antioch before he was Bishop of Rome We require them to shew why so great an Inheritance as this should descend unto the younger Brother as it were by Borough-English rather than to the Elder according to the ordinary manner of
that which is well and orderly Acts 15. 41. Rev 3. 2. II. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Manatseach the redressing which is otherwise Tit. 1. 5. To him was committed principally I. Authority of Ordaining Tit. 1. 5. and so of begetting Fathers Epipha Haeres 75. See Ambros. Theodoret and Oecumentus in 1 Tim. 3. Damasus Epist. 3. Jerem Epist. 85. ad Evagr. Leo Epist. 88. Concil Ancyran Can. 12. al. 13. For though St. Paul should mention a Company * together with him at the Ordaining of Timothy 1 Tim. 4. 14. yet it followeth not but that he only was * the Ordainer No more then that Christ is the only Judge although the XII shall sit with him on Thrones Luke 20. 30. II. Authority of enjoyning or forbidding 1 Tim. 1. 3. Ignatius ad Magnesia Cyprian Epist. 39. III. Authority of holding Courts and receiving accusations 1 Tim. 5. 19. 1 Cor. 5. 12. Revel 2. 2. Augustin de opere Monachor cap. 24. IV. Authority of Correcting 1 Tim. 1. 3. Mâ—cro Episcopalis Tit. 1. 5. Hieron contra Lucifer cap. 4. Epist 53. ad Riparium Cyprian Epist. 38. ad Rogatianum V. Authority of Appointing Fasts Tertullian adversus Psychicos The Choice of persons to their calling 1. The Apostles were immediately called by Christ. 2. For the calling of Matthias the Apostle Peter gave direction two persons were propounded by the 120. the chief and constant disciples of Christ but he was designed to his place by a sacred Lot 3. Some were chosâ—n and appointed to their callings by the Holy Ghost Acts 11. 12. Acts 13. 2. Acts 8. 29. Acts 20. 28. 4. In choice of the Seven Deacons who were credited with the provision for such as wanted the multitude of the Chief and constant Disciples of Christ and the Apostles who were contributers of the same present 7. persons the Apostles ordain them Deacons 5. The Apostles chose to themselves Helpers fellow Servants of Christ fellow-Souldiers and the like Acts 15. 5. Rom. 16. 9. 2 Cor. 8. 23. Coll. 4. 7. Tit. 1. 5. So Timothy well reported of is taken by Paul Act. 16. 2. 3. 6. The Apostles chose such as were their Attendants or Ministers and sent them to severall Churches and People Acts 19. 22. 2 Tim. 4. 10. 12. 2 Cor. 12. 17. 1 Thess. 3. 2. and left some to abide in Churches where was need of their help Tit. 1. 5. Col. 20. Acts 18. 19. 1 Tim. 1. 3. A LETTER of Dr. Hadrianus Saravia to the Ministers of the Isle of Garnsay written in French and translated into English Grace and Peace from Jesus Christ our Lord. GEntlemen and wel-beloved Brethren in the Lord my calling doth oblige me to procure the good and the true edification of the Churches of Christ Jesus and chiefly of those which I have formerly had to doe with as their Minister such are those of the Islands where I was one of the first and know which were the beginnings and by which means and occasions the preaching of Gods word was planted there But you hold now to my thinking a course quite contrary to that which we have held All the favour we then obtained was through the Bishops means and without them I dare confidently assure you that you will obtain nothing of what you look for In the beginning there was no other Reformation in the Islands then that common throughout the whole Kingdome of England The Priests which a little before had sung Mass became suddenly Protestants but yet not one of them was appointed to preach the word of God They were but ignorant blockheads continuing still in â—eart and effection Papists and enemies to the Gospel Now such as were sincerely affected to the Gospel prevailed so far as that they obtained Ministers with whom the Priests could not agree they retained their Service and the Ministers preached and had the exercise of Religion asunder following the order of the Churches of France In those beginings at the pursuit of Mr. John After Dean I was sent by my Lords of the Councell to the Islands as well in regard of the School that was newly erected as to be a Minister there At that time the Bishop of Constance was sent Ambasadour from the French King to Queen Elizabeth from whom and from her Councell he obtained Letters to the Governors of the Islands whereby they were enjoyned to yeild unto him all authority and right which he pretended did belong unto him as being the true Bishop of the Islands But how this blow as was warded let your Fathers tell you Upon this occasion the Bishop of Winchester as their true Bishop took upon him the protection of the Churches of both Islands representing to the Queen and unto her Councel that of old the Islands did belong to his Bishoprick and that he had ancient Records for it yea an Excommunication from the Pope against the Bishop of Constance whenever he would challenge any Episcopall Jurisdiction over the Islands So through the means of the said Bishop and Mr. John After Dean two places only were priviledged of my Lords of the Councell St. Peeter-haven for Garnzay and St. Helier for Jarnsay with prohibition to innovate in ought in the other Parishes Then were the Court and Chapter of the Bishop held which afterwards were supprest how by whom and by what authority I know not I fear the Authors have run themselves into Premunires if premunires have power within the Islands The Consistories Classes and Synods of Ministers have succeeded them yet without any Episcopall Jurisdiction Now so it is that your Islands want Episcopall Courts for proving of Wills for Divorces and Marriages and for the Tythes which are causes and Actions Ecclesiasticall and have so been these 600. years and upwards as well under the Dukes of Normandy as the Kings of England The Reformation and change of Religion hath altered nothing neither is there any one that hath power or authority to transferre the said causes to any other Judges then to the Bishop but the Kings Majesty so that your Civil Magistrates have nothing to doe with such causes if they meddle with them 't is usurpation The French Ministers are so rash as to say that the Bishops of England have usurpt this Jurisdiction and that it belongeth not unto them because it is Civil making no difference between what some Bishops have heretofore usurpt what the King and Soveragn Magistrates have freely given for certain reasons moving them thereunto and conferred upon Bishops therefore though the matter be civill yet can they not be held for usurpers Truly the present state and condition of the Kingdom of England doth bely such slanderers of our Bishops I fear that your Magistrates being seasoned with this Doctrine have carried themselves in this point more licentiously then the Laws of this Kingdome and of their Islands will warrant them I pass over the debates that might be made upon this matter as a thing impertinent in the place and
the English Reformation then will they make you leave the French Reformation You fail against wind and tyde you think that the Governors you shall have hereafter will be like Sir Tho. Layton you are deceived Though this day you had compassed your wish to morrow or the next day after at your Governors pleasure all shall be marred again Finally the Ecclesiasticall Government which you aske hath no ground at all upon Gods word 'T is altogether unknown to the Fathers who in matter of Christian Discipline and censure of manners were more zealous and precise then we are But you cannot of all the learned and pious antiquity shew one example of the Discipline or Ecclesiasticall order which you hold as your Bishop in his book of the perpetuall government of the Sonne of Gods Church doth learnedly teach I pass over what I have my self written concerning it in my book De diversis Ministrorum gradibus and in my Defence against the Answer of Mr. Beza and more largely in my Confutation of his book De triplicigenere Episcoporum I cannot wonder enough at the Scotchmen who could be perswaded to abolish and reject the state of Bishops by reasons so ill grounded partly false partly of no moment at all and altogether unworthy a man of such fame If the Scots had not more sought after the temporal means of Bishops then after true Reformation never had Mr. Beza's Book perswaded them to do what they have done And I assure you that your opinion concerning the government of the Church seems plausible unto great men but for two reasons the one is to prey upon the goods of the Church the other for to keep it under the Revenues and authority of Bishops being once taken away For the form of your discipline is such that it will never be approved of by a wise and discreet supreme Magistrate who knows how to govern Ye see not the faults you commit in your proceedings as well Consistoriall as Synodals men well versed in the Lawes and in government do observe them But they contemn them so long as they have the law in their own hands and that it is far easier for them to frustrate them regard neither Consistorie nor Synodes then for you to command and make Decrees Were your Discipline armed with power as the Inquisition of Spain is it would surpass it in tyranny The Episcopall authority is Canonical that is so limitted and enclosed within the bounds of the Statutes and Canons of the Church that it can command nothing without Law much less contrary to Law And the Bishop is but the Keeper of the Lawes to cause them to be observed and to punish the transgressors of your Consistories and Synodes For the present I will say no more only take notice of this that it is not likely the King who knows what Consistories and Synodes be will grant that to the Islands which doth displease him in Scotland This Gentlemen and Brethren have I thought good to write vnto you intreating you to take it well as comming from him that loves the Islands and the good and edification of the Church of Christ as much as you can doe Upon this occasion I have thought fit to add thus much concerning Dr. Hadrianus Saravia HIs learning is sufficiently known by his works his judgement in relation to the Liturgy and Discipline of the Church of England is declared by this Letter which doth further appear by his Subscriptions following 1. In Queen Elizabeth's time the form required was in these words We whose names are here underwritten do Declare and unfainedly Testify our assent to all and singular the Articles of Religion and the Confession of the true Christian Faith and the Doctrine of the Sacraments comprized in a book imprinted intituled Articles whereupon it was agreed by the Arch-bishops and Bishops of both Provinces and the whole Clergy in the Convocation holden at London in the year of our Lord God 1562. according to the computation of the Church of England for the avoiding of the diversities of opinions and for the establishing of Consent touching true Religion put forth by the Queens Authority And in testimony of such our Assents we have hereunto subscribed our names with our own proper hands as hereafter followeth Unto this Doctor Hadrianus de Saravia the sixth Prebend of the Church of Canterbury being conferred upon him subscribes in these words Per me Hadrianum de Saravia Sacrae Theologiae Professorem cui sexta Prebenda in Ecclesia Cathedrali Christi Cantuariens conferenda est sexto December is 1595. Wherein I find he did immediately succeed Doctor Whitaker whose Subscription is in these words viz. Per me Gulielmum Whitaker sacrae Theologiae Doctorem ejusdemque Professorem Regium in Academia Cantabrigiensi cui sexta Praebenda in Ecclesia Cathedrali Chrstl Cantuarens conferenda est Decimo Maii 1595. According unto which I find Mr. John Dod of Hanwell in Oxfordshire who wrot upon the Commandements to have subscribed in these words Per me Johannem Dod in Artibus Magistrum praesentatum ad Ecclesiam de Hanwell Oxon. Dioces 28. Julii 1585. unto whom abundance more and about that time might be added Mr. Richard Rogers Doctor Reynolds of Oxford c. among whom it pleased me to find the hand of the Reverend and Learned Mr. Hooker thus subscribing Per me Richardum Hooker Clericum in Artibus Magistrum praesentatum ad Canonicatum et Praebendam de Neather-haven in Ecclesia Cathedrali Sarum 17. Julii 1591. 2. In King Jame's time and since the form of the Subscription was thus To the three Articles mentioned in the 36. Chapter of the Book of Canons First that the Kings Majesty under God is the only supreme Governor of this Realm and of all other his Highness Dominions and Countries as well in all Spirituall or Ecclesiasticall things or Causes as Temporall and that no foraign Prince Person Prelate State or Potentate hath or ought to have any Jurisdiction Power Superiority Preheminence or Authority Ecclesiasticall or Spirituall within his Majesties said Realms Dominions and Territories That the Book of Common Prayer and of Ordering of Bishops Priests and Deacons containeth in it nothing contrary to the word of God and that it may lawfully so be used and that he himself will use the form in the said book prescribed in publick prayer and administration of the Sacraments and none other That he alloweth the book of Articles of Religion agreed upon by the Arch-bishops and Bishops of both Provinces and the Clergy in the Convocation holden at London in the year of our Lord One thousand five hundred sixty and two And that he acknowledgeth all and every the Articles therein contained being in number nine and thirty besides the Ratification to be agreeable to the word of God To these three Articles Doctor Hadrianus de Saravia being instituted unto the Rectory of Great Chart in the Diocess of Canterbury anno 1609. subscribes in these words Ego Hadrianus
p. 114. l. 3. dele the. l. 20. r. are l. 30. dele p. 115. l. 24. r. they p. 116. l. 19. r. of this mind l. ult dele ut p. 117. l. r. degrees p. 122. l. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 128. l. 6. r. Scythia p. 130. l. 26. r. These p. 132. l. 26. r. pam l. ult r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 133. l. 18. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In marg p. 134. l. 4. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 150. l. 12 dele 2. p. 147. l. 2. r. Christi REcensui Librum cui Titulus CLAVI TRABALES Imprimatur Tertio Nonas Sext. 1661. MA. FRANCK S. T. P. Reverendo in Christo Patri Episcopo Londinesi à Sacris Domesticis A SPEECH Delivered in the CASTLE-CHAMBER at DUBLIN 22. of November Anno 1622. At the Censuring of some Officers who refused to take the Oath of Supremacy By the late Lord Primate Usher then Bishop of Meath WHat the danger of the Law is for refusing this Oath hath been sufficiently opened by my Lords the Judges and the quality and quantity of that Offence hath been agravated to the full by those that have spoken after them The part which is most proper for me to deal in is the information of the Conscience touching the Truth and Equity of the matters contained in the Oath which I also have made choice the rather to insist upon because both the form of the Oath it self requireth herein a full resolution of the Conscience as appeareth by those words in the very beginning thereof I do utterly testifie and declare in my Conscience c. And the Persons that stand here to be censured for refusing the same have alledged-nothing in their own defence but only the simple Plea of Ignorance That this point therefore may be cleered and all needless Scruples removed out of mens minds Two maine Branches there be of this Oath which require special Consideration The one Positive acknowledging the Supremacy of the Government of these Realms in all Causes whatsoever to rest in the the Kings Highness only the other Negative renouncing all Jurisdictions and Authorities of any Forraigne Prince or Prelate within His Majesties Dominions For the better understanding of the former we are in the first place to call unto our remembrance that Exhortation of St. Peter Submit your selves unto every Ordinance of Man for the Lords sake whether it be unto the King as having the Preheminence or unto Governors as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers and for the praise of them that do well By this we are taught to respect the King not as the only Gove nor of his Dominions Simply for we see there be other Governors placed under him but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as him that excelleth and hath the preheminence over the rest that is to say according to the Tenure of the Oath as him that is the only Supream Governor of his Realms Upon which ground we may safely build this conclusion that whatsoever Power is inetdent unto the King by vertue of his place must be acknowledged to be in him Supream there being nothing so contrary to the nature of Soveraignty as to have another Superior power to over-rule it Qui Rexest Regem Maxime non habeat In the second place we are to consider that God for the better setling of Piety and Honesty among men and the repressing of Prophaneness and other Vices hath establisted two distinct powers upon earth the one of the Keys committed to the Church the other of the Sword committed to the Civil Magistrate That of the Keys is ordained to work upon the Inner man having immediate Relation to the remitting or retaining of sins That of the Sword is appointed to work upon the outward man yielding Protection to the obedient and inflicting external punishment upon the Rebellious and Disobedient By the former the spiritual Officers of the Church of Christ are enabled to govern well to speak and exhort and rebuke with all authority to loose such as are penitent to commit others unto the Lords Prison until their amendment or to bind them over unto the Judgment of the great Day if they shall persist in their wilfulness and obstinacie By the other Princes have an imperious power assigned by God unto them for the defence of such as do well and executing revenge and wrath upon such as do evil whether by death or banishment or confiscation of Goods or Imprisonment according to the quality of the offence When St. Peter that had the Keys committed unto him made bold to draw the Sword he was commanded to put it up as a weapon that he had no authority to meddle withall and on the other side when Uzziah the King would venture upon the Execution of the Priests office it was said unto him It pertaineth not unto thee Uzziah to burn incense unto the Lord but to the Priests the Sons of Aaron that are consecrated to burn Incense Let this therefore be our second conclusion that the Power of the Sword and of the Keys are two distinct ordinances of God and that the Prince hath no more authority to enter upon the execution of any part of the Priests function then the Priest hath to intrude upon an◠part of the office of the Prince In the third place we are to observe that the power of the Civil Sword the Supreame managing whereof belongeth to the King alone is not to be restrained unto temporal causes only but is by Gods ordinance to be extended likewise unto all Spiritual and Ecclesiastical Things and Causes That as the Spiritual Rulers of the Church do exercise their kind of Government in bringing men unto obedience not of the duties of the first Table alone which concerneth Piety and the Religious Service which man is bound to perform unto his Creator But also of the second which respecteth moral honesty and the Offices that man doth owe unto man So the Civil Magistrate is to use his Authority also in redressing the abuses committed against the first Table as well as against the Second that is to say as well in punishing of an Heretick or an Idolater or a Blasphemer as of a Thief or a Murtherer or a Traytor and in providing by all good means that such as live under his Government may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all Piety and Honesty And how soever by this means we make both Prince and Priest to be in their several places custodes utriusque Tabulae Keepers of both Gods Tables yet do we not hereby any way confound both of their Offices together for though the matter wherein their government is exercised may be the same yet is the form and manner of governing them alwayes different the one reaching to the outward man only the other to the Inward the one binding or loosing the soul the
were of greater scandal to the Church then that aptitude habitually attained unto by some could be of profit His Judgment of the Articles of Religion and practice of the Eeclesiastical Constitutions of the Church of England THe Articles of the Church of England as the Primat had long agon subscribed them so have I often heard him highly commending them The reception of which Articles in the First Canon of Ireland Anno 1634. He drew up himself with his own hand with an addition of a very severe punishment to such as should refuse to subscribe them as may appear in it Anno 1614. He was a principal person then appointed for the collecting and drawing up such Canons as might best concern the Discipline and Government of the Church of Ireland taken out of Queen Elizabeths Injunctions and the Canons of England to be treated upon by the Arch-Bishops and Bishops and Clergy of that Kingdom some of which I have which were written then with his own hand and presented by him The two first of them were these 1. That no other Form of Liturgy or Divine Service shall be used in any Church of this Realm but that which is established by Law and comprized in the Book of Common-Prayer and Administration of Sacraments c. 2. That no other Form of Ordination shall be used in this Nation but which is contain'd in the Book of ordering of Bishops Priests and Deacons allowed by Authority and hitherto practiced in the Churches of England and Ireland c. And in his subscription in relation to the above mentioned it is in these words viz. I do acknowledge the Form of Gods Service prescribed in the book of Common-Prayer is good and godly and may lawfully be used and do promise that I my self will use the Form in the said Book prescribed in celebration of Divine Service and administration of the Sacraments and none other I do also acknowledge that such as are consecrated and ordered according to the form prescribed in the Book of Ordination set forth by Authority have truly received holy Orders and have Power given them to exercise all things belonging to that Sacred Function whereunto they are called c. For the now more perfect Canons of the Church of Ireland constituted Anno 1634. in the Convocation there whereof I was a Member most of them were taken out of these of England and he being then Primate had a principal hand in their collection and proposal to the reception of them the methodizing of all which into due order I have seen and have it by me written with his own hand throughout whereby 't is apparent what his Judgment was in relation to them The Annual Festivals of the Church he duly observed preaching upon their several Commemorations On Christmas-Day Easter Whitsunday he never fail'd of Communions that excellent Treatise of his Entituled The incarnation of the Son of God was the substance of two or three Sermons which I heard him preach in a Christmas time Good-Fryday he constantly kept very strictly preaching himself then upon the Passion beyond his ordinary time when we had the publick prayers in their utmost extent also and without any thought of a superstition he kept himself fasting till the Evening Confirmation of Children was often observed by him the first time he did it when a great number were presented to him by me he made a Speech to the Auditory to the satisfaction of all sorts of persons concerning the Antiquity and good use of it The publick Cathechism in the book of Common-Prayer was enjoyned by him to be only observed in the Church a part of which for a quarter or half an hour was constantly explained by me to the people every Sunday before evening Prayer himself being present which was also accordingly enjoyned throughout his Diocess He was much for that decent distinctive habit of the Clergy Cassocks Gowns Priests-Clokes c. according to the Canon in that behalf provided to be used by them in their walking or riding abroad which himself from his younger years always observed And in Anno 1634. that Canon of England of the decent Apparrel of Ministers was by his special approbation put in among those of Ireland Lastly though in our Constitutions there is no form appointed for the consecration of a Church or Chappel yet he was so ready to apply himself to what had been accustomed in England that at his consecration of a Chappel not far from Drogheda in Ireland he framed no new one of his own but took that which goes under Bishop Andrews name and used it with little variation which I have in my custody And thus I have endeavored by this Declaration of his Judgment and Practice in these particulars to give satisfaction to all such who by their misapprehensions have had their various censures and applications to the great injury of him I shall only wish that not only they but all others that hear this of him were both almost and altogether such as he was Mr. HOOKERS Judgment of Regal Power in matters of Religion and the advancement of Bishops wholy left out of the common Copies in his eighth Book here confirmed by the late Lord Primate USHER'S marginal notes and other Enlargements with his own hand THe service which we do unto the true God who made heaven and earth is far different from that which Heathens have done unto their supposed Gods though nothing else were respected but only the odds between their hope and ours The office of piety or true Religion sincerely performed have the promises both of this life and of the life to come the practices of Superstition have neither If notwithstanding the Heathens reckoning upon no other reward for all which they did but only protection and favour in the temporal estate and condition of this present life and perceiving how great good did hereby publickly grow as long as fear to displease they knew not what Divine power was some kind of bridle unto them did therefore provide that the highest degree of care for their Religion should be the principall charge of such as having otherwise also the greatest and chiefest power were by so much the more fit to have custody thereof Shall the like kind of provision be in us thought blame-worthy A gross error it is to think that Regal Power ought to serve for the good of the body and not of the soul for mens temporal peace and not their eternal safety as if God had ordained Kings for no other end and purpose but only to fat up men like hogs and to see that they have their Mast Indeed to lead men unto salvation by the hand of secret invisible and ghostly regiment or by the external administration of things belonging unto Priestly order such as the Word and Sacraments are this is denied unto Christian Kings no cause in the world to think them uncapable of supreme
and of advancing alone unto such dignities what persons they judge most fit for the same A thing over and besides even therefore the more seasonable for that as the King most justly hath preheminence to make Lords Temporal which are not such by right of birth so the like preheminence of bestowing where pleaseth him the honour of Spiritual Nobility also cannot seem hard Bishops being Peers of the Realm and by law it self so reckoned Now whether we grant so much unto Kings in this respect or in the fomer consideration whereupon the Lawes have annexed it unto the Crown it must of necessity being granted both make void whatsoever interest the people aforetime hath had towards the choice of their own Bishop and also restrain the very act of Canonical election usually made by the Dean and Chapter as with us in such sort it doth that they neither can proceed unto any election till leav be granted nor elect any person but that is named unto them If they might doe the one it would be in them to defeat the King of his profits If the other then were the Kings preheminences of granting those dignities nothing And therefore were it not for certain Canons requiring canonical election to be before consecration I see no cause but that the Kings Letters patents alone might suffice well enough to that purpose as by Law they doe in case those Electors should happen not to satisfie the Kings pleasure Their election is now but a matter of form it is the Kings meer grant which placeth and the Bishops consecration which maketh Bishops Neither do the Kings of this Land use herein any other then such prerogatives as foraign Nations have been accustomed unto About the year of our Lord 425. Pope Boniface sollicited most earnestly the Emperour Monorius to take some order that the Bishops of Rome might be created without ambitious seeking of the place A needless petition if so be the Emperour had no right at all in the placing of Bishops there But from the days of Justinian the Emperour about the year 553. Onuphrius himself doth grant that no man was Bishop in the Sea of Rome whom first the Emperor by his Letters-patents did not licence to be consecrated till in Benedicts time it pleased the Emperor to forgoe that right which afterwards was restored to Charles with augmentation and continued in his successors till such time as Hildebrand took it from Hen. 4. and ever since the Cardinals have held it as at this day Had not the right of giving them belonged to the Emperours of Rome within the compass of their Dominions what needeth Pope Leo the fourth to trouble Lotharius and Lodowick with those his Letters whereby having done them to understand that the Church called Reatina was without a Bishop he maketh suit that one Colonus might have the Rome or if that were otherwise disposed his next request was Tusculanam Ecclesiam quae viduata existit illi vestra serenitas dignetur concedere ut consecratis à nostro presulatu Deo omnipotenti vestroque imperio grates peragere valeat May it please your Clemencies to grant unto him the Church of Tuscula now likewise void that by our Episcopal authority he being after consecrated may be to Almighty God and your Highness therefore thankfull Touching other Bishopricks extant there is a very short but a plain discourse written almost 500. years since by occasion of that miserable contention raised between the Emperor Henr. 4. and Pope Hildebrand named otherwise Gregory the seventh not as Platina would bear men in hand for that the D. of Rome would not brook the Emperors Symoniacall dealing but because the right which Christian Kings and Emperors had to invest Bishops hindred so much his ambitious designments that nothing could detain him from attempting to wrest it violently out of their hands This Treatise I mention for that it shortly comprehendeth not only the fore-alledged right of the Emperour of Rome acknowledged by six several Popes even with bitter execration against whomsoever of their successors that should by word or deed at any time goe about to infringe the same but also further these other specialties appertaining thereunto First that the Bishops likewise of Spain England Scotland Hungary had by ancient institution alwaies been invested by their Kings without opposition or disturbance Secendly that such was their royal interest partly for that they were founders of Bishopricks partly because they undertook the defence of them against all ravenous oppressions and wrongs part in as much that it was not safe that rooms of so great power and consequence in their estate should without their appointment be held by any under them And therfore that ev'n Bishops then did homage and took their oathes of fealty unto the Kings which invested them Thirdly that what solemnitity or Ceremony Kings do use in this action it skilleth not as namely whether they doe it by word or by precept set down in writing or by delivery of a staffe and a ring or by any other means whatsoever only that use and Custome would to avoid all offence be kept Some base Canonists there are which contend that neither Kings nor Emperours had ever any right hereunto saving only by the Popes either grant or toleration Whereupon nor to spend any further labour we leave their folly to be controlled by men of more ingenuity judgment even amongst themselves Duarensis Papon Choppinus Aegidius Magister Arnulphus Ruzaeus Costvius Philippus Probus and the rest by whom the right of Christian Kings and Princes herein is maintained to be such as the Bishops of Rome cannot lawfully either withdraw or abridge or hinder But of this thing there is with us no question although with them there be the Laws and customes of the Realm approving such regalities in case no reason thereof did appear yet are they hereby aboundantly warranted unto us except some Law of God or nature to the contrary could be shewed How much more when they have been every where thought so reasonable that Christian Kings throughout the world use and exercise if not altogether yet surely with very little odds the same so far that Gregorie the tenth forbidding such regalities to be newly begun where they were not in former times if any doe claim those rights from the first foundation of Churches or by ancient custome of them he only requireth that neither they nor their agents damnifie the Church of God by using the said prerogatives Now as there is no doubt but the Church of England by this means is much eased of some inconveniences so likewise a speciall care there is requisite to be had that other evils no less dangerous may not grow By the history of former times it doth appear that when the freedom of Elections was most large mens dealings and proceedings therein were not the least faulty Of the people St. Jerome complaineth that their judgements many times went
alledged how Constantine termeth Church Officers Overseers of things within the Church himself of all without the Church how Augustine witnesseth that the Emperor not daring to judge of the Bishops cause committed it unto the Bishops and was to crave pardon of the Bishops for that by the Donatists importunity which made no end of appealing unto him he was being weary of them drawn to give sentence in a matter of theirs how Hilarie beseecheth the Emperor Constance to provide that the Governors of his Provinces should not presume to take upon them the Judgment of Ecclesiastical causes to whom Commonwealth matters only belonged how Ambrose affirmeth that Palaces belong unto the Emperor Churches to the Minister that the Emperor hath Authority over the Commonwealth of the City and not in holy things for which cause he never would yield to have the Causes of the Church debated in the Princes Consistory but excused himself to the Emperor Valentinian for that being convented to Answer concerning Church Matters in a civil court he came not Besides these Testimonies of Antiquity which Mr. Cart. bringeth forth Doctor Stapleton who likewise citeth them one by one to the same purpose hath augmented the number of them by adding other of the like nature namely how Hosius the Bishop of Corduba answered the Emperor saying God hath committed to thee the Empire with those things that belong to the Church he hath put us in trust How Leontius Bishop of Tripolis also told theself same Emperor as much I wonder how thou which art called unto one thing takest upon thee to deal in another for being placed in Military and Politique Affairs in things that belong unto Bishops alone thou wilt bear rule We may by these Testimonies drawn from Antiquity if we list to consider them discern how requisite it is that Authority should always follow received laws in the manner of proceeding For in as much as there was at the first no certain law determining what force the principal Civil Magistrates Authority should be of how far it should reach and what order it should observe but Christian Emperors from time to time did what themselves thought most reasonable in those Affairs by this mean it cometh to pass that they in their practice varie and are not uniforme Vertuous Emperors such as Constantine the great was made conscience to swerve unnecessarily from the customes which had been used in the Church even when it lived under Infidels Constantine of reverence to Bishops and their spiritual authority rather abstained from that which himself might lawfully do then was willing to claim a power not fit or decent for him to exercise The order which had been before he ratifieth exhorting Bishops to look to the Church and promising that he would do the office of a Bishop over the Common-wealth Which very Constantine notwithstanding did not thereby so renounce all authority in judging of spirituall causes but that sometimes he took as St. Augustine witnesseth even personall cognition of them Howbeit whether as purposing to give therein judicially any sentence I stand in doubt for if the other of whom St. Augustine elsewhere speaketh did in such sort judge surely there was cause why he should excuse it as a thing not ususally done Otherwise there is no let but that any such great person may hear those causes to and fro debated and deliver in the end his own opinion of them declaring on which side himself doth judge that the truth is But this kind of sentence bindeth no side to stand thereunto it is a sentence of private perswasion and not of solemn jurisdiction albeit a King or an Emperour pronounce it Again on the contrary part when Governors infected with Heresie were possessed of the highest power they thought they might use it as pleased themselves to further by all means therewith that opinion which they desired should prevail They not respecting at all what was meet presumed to command and judge all men in all causes without either care of orderly proceeding or regard to such laws customs as the Church had been wont to observe So that the one sort feared to doe even that which they might and that which the other ought not they boldly presumed upon the one sort modestly excused themselves when they scace needed the other though doing that which was inexsable bare it out with main power not enduring to be told by any man how far they roved beyond their bounds So great odds between them whom before we mentioned and such as the younger Valentinian by whom St. Ambrose being commanded to yeild up one of the Churches under him unto the Arrians whereas they which were sent on his message alledged that the Emperour did but use his own right for as much as all things were in his own power the answer which the holy Bishop gave them was that the Church is the House of God and that those things which be Gods are not to be yielded up and disposed of at the Emperors will and pleasure his pallaces he might grant unto whomsoever A cause why many times Emperours did more by their absolute authority then could very well stand with reason was the over-great importunity of wicked Hereticks who being enemies to peace and quietness cannot otherwise then by violent means be supported In this respect therefore we must needs think the state of our own Church much better settled then theirs was because our Laws have with farr more certainty prescribed bounds unto each kind of power All decisions of things doubtfull and corrections of things amiss are proceeded in by order of Law what person soever he be unto whom the administration of judgement belongeth It is neither permitted unto Prelate nor Prince to judge and determin at their own discretion but Law hath prescribed what both shall do What power the King hath he hath it by Law the bounds and limits of it are known The entire community giveth general order by Law how all things publickly are to be done and the King as the head thereof the highest in authority over all causeth according to the same Law every particular to be framed and ordered thereby The whole body politick maketh Lawes which Lawes give power unto the King and the King having bound himself to use according unto Law that power it so falleth out that the execution of the one is accomplished by the other in most religious and peaceable sort There is no cause given unto any to make supplication as Hilary did that Civil Covernors to whom Common-wealth matters only belong may not presume to take upon them the judgment of Ecclesiastical causes If the cause be spiritual secular Courts doe not meddle with it we need not excuse our selves with Ambrose but boldly and lawfully we may refuse to answer before any Civill Judge in a matter which is not Civill so that we doe not mistake the nature either of the cause or of the
Court as we easily may doe both without some better direction then can be had by the rules of this new-found Disciplines But of this most ceertain we are that our Lawes doe neither suffer a Spirituall Court to entertain those causes which by Law are Civil nor yet if the matter beindeed spirituall a meer Civil Court to give judgement of it Touching supreme power therefore to command all men and in all manner of causes of judgement to be highest Let thus much suffice as well for declaration of our own meaning as for defence of the truth therein This is added by the Lord Primat Usher The Kings exemption from Censure and other Judiciall Power THe last thing of all which concerns the Kings Supremacie is whither thereby he may be exempted from being subject to that judiciall Power which Ecclesiasticall consistories have over men It seemeth first in most mens Judgements to be requisite that on earth there should not be any alive altogether without standing in aw of some by whom they may be controled and bridled The good estate of a Commonwealth within it self is thought on nothing to depend more then upon these two speciall affections Feare and Love Feare in the highest Governour himself and Love in the Subjects that live under Him The Subjects love for the most part continueth as long as the righteousness of Kings doth last in whom vertue decaieth not as long as they feare to do that which may alienate the loving hearts of their Subjects from them Feare to do evill groweth from the harm which evill doers are to suffer If therefore private men which know the danger they are subject unto being malefactors do notwithstanding so boldly adventure upon heinous crimes Only because they know it is possible for some Transgressor sometimes to escape the danger of law In the Mighty upon earth which are not alwaies so Virtuous and Holy that their own good minds will bridle them what may we look for considering the frailty of mens nature if the world do once hold it for a Maxime that Kings ought to live in no subjection that how grievous disorder soever they fall into none may have coercive power over them Yet so it is that this we must necessarily admit as a number of rightwell Learned men are perswaded Let us therefore set down first what there is which may induce men so to think and then consider their severall inventions or ways who judge it a thing necessary even for Kings themselves to be punishable and that by men The question it self we will not determine The reasons of each opinion being opened it shall be best for the wise to judge which of them is likeliest to be true Our purpose being not to oppugne any save onely that which Reformers hold and of the rest rather to enquire then to give sentance Inducements leading men to think the highest Majestrate should not be judged of any saving God alone are specially these First as there could be in naturall bodies no motion of any thing unlesse there were some which moved all things and continueth unmoveable even so in politick Societies there must be some unpunishable or else no man shall suffer punishment For sith punishments proceed alwaies from Superiors to whom the administration of justice belongeth which administration must have necessarily a fountain that deriveth it to all others and receiveth not from any because otherwise the Course of Justice should go infinitely in a Circle every Superiour having his Superior without end which cannot be therefore a well-spring it followeth there is and a supreme head of Justice whereunto all are subject but it self in subjection to none Which kind of Preheminence if some ought to have in a Kingdome who but the King shall have it Kings therefore no man can have lawfull power and Authority to judge If private men offend there is the Majestrate over them which judgeth if Majestrates they have their Prince If Princes there is Heaven a Tribunall before which they shall appeare on earth they are not accomptable to any Here it breaks off abruptly The FORM OF Church Government Before and after Christ. As it is expressed in the OLD and NEW TESTAMENT Of the Form of Government in the Old Testament THerewere Priests before the Law Melchisedech Genes 14. 18. In Egypt 46. 20. 41. 50. Patiphera In the East Job 12. 19. Exod. 2. 16. Madian Among the Jews Exod. 19. 22 24. These were Young men of the Sons of Israel Exod. 24. 5. The Eldest Sons or First-Born Numb 3. 12. 8. 16. Under MOSES The Commonwealth of Israel was either personal containing all the whole people not a man left 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Or Representative in which the Estate Tribes Cities whose Daughters the towns adjacent are called I. The Estate had ever one Governor 1. Moses 2. Joshua 3. Judges 4. Tirshathaes or Vice-Roys Ezra 2. 63. with whom were joyned the LXX Elders called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 II. The Tribes had every one their Prince 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phylarcha Num. 2. with whom were joyned the Chief of the Families Patriarchae Num. 1. 4. III. The Cities had each likewise their Ruler Judg. 9. 30. 1 Kings 22. 26. 2 Kings 23. 8. with whom were joyned the Elders or Ancients Ruth 4. 2. Ezra 10. 14. These last not before they came into Canaan and were setled in their Citys It appeareth that Moses sometime consulted only with the heads of the Tribes and then one Trumpet only sounded Num. 10. 4. In some other causes with the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Assembly of the LXX and then both Trumpets called Num. 10. 3. when all did meet it represented the whole body of Israel So then sometimes all the people the whole body of Israel met sometimes the whole people were represented by the chief men of the several Tribes The highest BENCH or Judgment for causes of greatest difficulty was that of the LXX who at the first were the Fathers of each Family that came down to Egypt Gen. 46. which number did after that remain Exod. 24. 1. 9. and was at last by God himself so appointed Num. 11. 16. See 2 Chron. 19. 8. The inferiour BENCHES for matters of less importance were erected by Jethroes advice Of Rulers of Thousands Hundreds Fiftiss Tithings Exod. 18. 21 26 And after established by Gods approbation Deut. 16. in every City wherein as Josephus saith were seven Judges and for each Judge two Levites which made together the Bench of each City The Forme of Ecclesiasticall Government amongst the Priests THe Priesthood was settled in the Tribe of Levy by God Levy had three Sons Cohath Gershom and 〈◊〉 Of these Line of Cohath was preferred before the rest From him descended four Families Amram Izhar Hebron and Uzziel Of these the Stock of Amram was made chief He had two Sons Aaron and Moses Aaron was by God appointed High-priest So that there came to be four
22. IX The Princes of the Levites 1 Chron 15 5 2 Chron 31 12 and 35 9 Nehem 12 22 X. The Head of the Levites Officers The Scribe * 2 Chron 31. 13. * Of the Singers 1 Chron. 16. 5. Nehem. 12. 42. Of the Porters 1 Chron. 9. 17. and 15. 22. Of the Treasurers 1 Chron. 26. 24. 2 Chron. 21. 11. XI The Levites themselves XII The Chief of the Nethinims Nehem. 11. 21. XIII The Nethinims Gibeonites Josua 9. 21. Solomons servants 1 King 9. 21. Nehem. 7. 60. It is not only requisite that things be done but that they be diligently done against sloth and that they be done continually and constantly * not for a time against Schism and if they be not that redress may be had To this end it is that God appointeth Overseers 1. To urge others if they be slack 2 Chron. 24. 5. 34. 12 13. 2. To keep them in course if they be well 2 Chron. 29. 5. 31. 12. 34. 12 13. 3. To punish if any be defective Jerem. 29. 26 For which cause A power of commanding was in the High Priest 2 Chron. 23. 8. 18. 24. 26. 31. 13. A power Judicial if they transgressed Deut. 17 9. Zach. 3. 7. Ezek. 44. 24. Under paine of death Deut. 17. 12. Punishment in prison and in the Stocks Jer. 29. 26. in the Gate of Benjamin Jer. 20. 2. Officers to Cite and Arrest John 7. 32. Acts 5. 18. This Corporal To suspend from the Function Ezra 2. 62. To excommunicate Ezra 10. 8. John 9. 22. 12. 42 16. 2. This Spiritual 1. Why may not the like now be for the Government of the Christian Church There is alledged on only stop That the High Priests was a Figure of Christ who being now come in the flesh the Figure ceaseth and no Argument thence to be drawn Answ. There is no necessity we should press Aaron for Eleazar being Princeps principum that is having a Superior Authority over the Superiors of the Levites in Aarons life time was never by any in this point reputed a Type of Christ so that though Aaron be accounted such yet Eleazar will serve our purpose As also the 2 Chron. 35 8. We read of three at once one only of which was the High-Priest and a Type of Christ the rest were not let them then answer to the other twaine who were Rulers or chief over the House of God Thus we grant that Aaron and the High Priests after him were Types of Christ and that Christ at his death ended that Type yet affirm that Eleazar being Praelatus Praelatorum governing and directing the Ecclesiastical persons under him and being subject to Moses was not any Type of Christ further we say that the Twelve Apostles as so many several Eleazars under Christ were in the Primitive times sent to several Coasts of the world to govern direct and teach Fcclesiastical persons and people in their several Divisions We say also that many Primates now as so many Eleazars under Christ and in several Kingdoms and States of the world to govern direct and teach Ecclesiastical persons and people in their several divisions and yet be under and responsible to Christian Princes and States who have the chief charge of matters both Civil and Ecclesiastical Object If it be further alledged that Eleazar and all Sacrificing Priests quatenus Sacrificers were Types of Christ who sacrificed himself for us and put an end to all Sacrifices typing himself Answ. Answ. This we grant and further say that the Popish sacrificing Priests Office and other performance in this regard is utterly unlawful and sinful But the other Imployments of Eleazar viz. His Governing Directing and teaching both the Ecclesiastical persons and the people were not typical nor ended but are still of use for the Apostles practiced the same so have their Successors to these very days And that this is most true the Presbyterial Classes cannot but grant for this very Authority over Ministers and people they use and therefore judg it not Typical Besides St. Paul appearing before one but a weak resemblance of the old High Priest yielded him obedience and acknowledged him a Governor of the people which had been meerly unlawful if there had not remained in him something not Tipical and not made to cease by Christ. Hence we see the Anabaptists shifts to be vain and gross when they say we ought to have no Wars for the Jews wars were but Figures of our spiritual battle No Magistrates for the Jews Magistrates were but Figures of our Pastors Doctors and Deacons and as no Magistrates so no Oaths pretending these to be abolished by Christ. Answ. As in the Priests Office there were some things not Typical not ended So Kings Types of Christ in somthing only prefigured and Typed him In many things their Office is still of singular use for they become Nursing Fathers of the Church and provide that we may live a peaceable life in all Godliness and Honesty The lawfull use of Wars and Oaths hath been often vindicated If the Pope here claim authority over all the world as Eleazar over all his brethren his Plea is groundless wicked and insolent For first each chief Bishop in any Kingdom must be subject to the King as Aaron and Eleazar to Moses 2. The Apostles sent into several Kingdoms of the World were all of equal power no one had Authority above the rest in their line or division which shews that no Primate ought to be of Authority over any other Primate under a several Prince But each Primate subject to Christ as Eleazar to Aaron and each Primate subject to his several King As Eleazar to Moses 2. Why it may be I. Out of Dic. Ecclesiae the New Reformers tell us we are to fetch our pattern from the Jewish Sanhedrim therefore it seems they are of opinion that one Form may serve both us and them II. Except there should be such a fashion of government consisting of inequality I see not in the new Testament how any could perish in that contradiction of Core which St Jude affirmeth for his plea was for equalitie and against the preferring of Aaron above the rest III. The Ancient Fathers seem to be of mind that the same Form should serve both So thinketh St. Cyprian lib. 3. epist. 9. ad Rogatianum So St Hierome Epist. 85. Ad Evagrium traditiones Apostolicae sumptae sunt de veteri Testamento ad Nepotianum de vita Clericorum So St. Leo. Ita veteris Testamenti Sacramenta distinxit ut quedam ex iis sicut erant condita Evangelicae cruditioni profutura decerperet ut quae dudum fuerant consuetudines Judaicae fierent obsevantiae Christianae So Rabanus ut de institutione Clericorum lib. 1. c. 6. They ground this their opinion upon that they see I. That the Synogogue is called a Type or Shadow and an image of the Church now Heb. 10. vers 1. II. That God himself