Selected quad for the lemma: england_n
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A31175
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A scholasticall discourse demonstrating this conclusion, that ... neither the Pope, nor those called bishops in the church of Romes, are bishops either in order or jurisdiction ... / by R.C.
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R. C.
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1663
(1663)
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Wing C114; ESTC R24124
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11,034
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32
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and indulge God's Church And if Sacriledge be a sin then is Oblation to God a vertue Quod datum est Ecclesiae datum est Deo By our Lawes all Arch-bishopricks and Bishopricks within the Realm of England have been founded by the Kings of England and do hold of the King by Barony and have been all called by Writ to the Court of Parliament and are Lords of Parliament as among many take one notable Record Rot. 18. H. 3. Mandatum est omnibus Episcopis qui conventuri sunt apud Glocestriam die Sabbati in crastin Sanctae Katherinae firmiter inhibendo quòd sicut Baronias suas quas de Rege tenent diligunt nullo modo presumant consilium tenere de aliquibus quae ad Coronam Regis pertinent vel quae Personam Regis vel statum suum vel statum Concilii sui contingunt scituri pro certo quòd si fecerint Rex indè se capiet ad Baronias suas Teste Rege apud Hereford Coke Com. Lit. p. 97. 23. Novemb. c. And see Com. Lit. 344. At first all Bishopricks in England were of the King's foundation and donation per traditionem baculi annuli King Henry the first being requested to make them elective refused it but King John by his Charter bearing date Quinto Julii Anno decimo septimo granted that the Bishopricks should be eligible So that at first all Bishopricks were not onely of the King's foundation and donation but persons to them are eligible from no other cause but the King's Charter Since therefore by God's Precept Kings ought to be nursing Fathers to Christ's Church and since all Bishopricks are of the King's foundation and since the persons of all the King's Subjects are in his dominion and power or otherwise every soul should not be subject to Higher Powers it will certainly follow Bishops rightfully invested and installed in their Bishopricks from the King may regularly exercise any Episcopal Act in their Diocese and none but such without apparent disobedience and contempt of the Laws of the King to which they ought to be subject CHAP. V. Answering the Reasons alledged by Erastus against the Jurisdiction of the Bishops of the Church of England ALthough Erastus Senior in the first Chap. would distinguish between a Bishop Ordine and Jurisdictione yet in the 9. chap. he does so confound different things as it is impossible without further explaining them to shew wherein Erastus begs the question and wherein he is mistaken Things which pertain to the Church are two-fold either as they are in themselves purely and simply spiritual in their Essence or as they accidentally have reference to the Church and in themselves are not purely and simply spiritual for example Blasphemy Apostasie from Christianity Heresie Schisme Holy Orders Admissions of Clerks Celebration of Divine Service Rights of Matrimony Divorces generall Bastardy Substraction and right of Tithes Oblations Obventions Dilapidations Excommunication Reparation of Church Probate of Testaments Administrations and Accounts upon the same Simonie Incests Fornication Adultery Solicitation of Chastity Pensions Procurations Appeals in Ecclesiastical cases Commutation of Penance are determined here with us by Ecclesiastical Judges So that there is a mix'd Conusance or Ecclesiastical Judicature viz. of things purely spiritual by which Ecclesiastical Judges are impowered to determine and that by no Humane Power but only as they are impowered by our Saviour and are his Ministers viz. of Ordination Consecration Excommunication Heresie c. and this power the Church and Ecclesiastical persons had before ever temporall Powers received the Gospel of Christ or were converted to Christianity But after it pleased God Kings were converted to Christianity I do not read nor ever heard of a State or Common-wealth that ever was then did Kings cherish and defend God's Church and endued it with many priviledges and immunities which erewhile was persecuted by them It is true no question but that originally all Bishopricks their bounds and the Division of Parishes and their Endowments the conusance of Tithes the Probation of Wills the granting Letters of Administration and Accounts upon the same the Right of Institution and Induction and Erection of all Ecclesiastical Courts c. were of the Kings foundation and donation also to him by all divine and humane Lawes belongs the care and preservation of all his Subjects in all cases none excepted And therefore not onely all those things which relate to the extern peace and quiet of the Church although exercised by Ecclesiastical persons but all those priviledges and immunities which the Church and Church-men have in a Church planted which the Apostles and primitive Christians in a Church planting had not are all originally grants of Kings and supreme Powers So that to the Installment of a Bishop in an endowed Bishoprick divers things are necessary viz. That he be a Priest rightly and truly ordained and consecrated a Bishop and this is a pure spiritual act but that he is elected to the Bishoprick confirmed invested installed in it are no spiritual acts but founded in the King however it may be they are executed by Ecclesiastical persons Erastus Senior now confounding the creation and institution of a Pastor C. 9. p. 34. whereas they are different for to create or consecrate a Pastor is a power of the Keyes but to institute him into a Bishoprick is a power of the King's in the same thing not onely begs a false question in making it a power of the Keyes but also falsely infers that the King cannot institute a Pastor to a See or Bishoprick which is purely and solely in him And therefore Queen Elizabeth might assign constitute and confirm Matthew Parker to the See of Canterbury nor could any but she do it If she were the rightful Queen of England which Erastus does not deny What needs Erastus Senior now take such pains to prove ten whole Pages together that our Bishops had no right to be confirmed constituted and assigned to their Bishopricks but from the King which none will deny him I cannot but take notice how Erastus having confounded Consecration here with Institution P. 7.3 makes confirming and consecrating of an Arch-bishop or Bishop to any See the same thing and purely spiritual whereas to consecrate an Arch-bishop or Bishop is one thing and purely spiritual and to confirm an Arch-bishop or Bishop in his See is another and temporal But I would advise Erastus to have a care lest he be not shent for affirming P. 40. that no Bishop Ordine can confirm or consecrate a Pastor for the being seized of a Bishoprick does not validate or invalidate any spiritual Act of a Bishop as to the essence of it and if Barlow and Scory's being suspended the exercise of their Jurisdiction in their Bishopricks of Bath and Chichester did invalidate their consecrating and confirming Matthew Parker because they were not actual Bishops of Cathedral Churches P. 42. as Erastus sayes then do I not see how any
Well let us see whether the Pope were Founder of the See of Canterbury as Erastus so vainly and without any authority or reason affirmeth That S. Paul did preach the Gospel here in England is affirmed by Theod. l. 9. de curandis Graecorum affectibus Paulum è priori captivitate Roma dimissum Britannis aliis in occidente Evangelium praedicasse and Nicephorus sayes that Simon Zelotes doctrinam Evangelii ad Occidentalem Oceanum Insulasque Britannicas perfert Lib. 2. c. 40. But I do no where find that ever any Christian Church was planted and endowed in any part of Britain now called England before King Lucius his time Lib. 1. c. 4. which Beda sayes was Anno Christi 156. and in the Reigns of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus yet in the year 156. Antoninus Pius reigned In vita Sancti Eluth p. 20 21. and until 160. when Pla sayes the 25 Flamens * In London York and Carleton whereof three were Arch-Flamens were converted into Bishopricks and Arch-bishopricks some say the chief and Metropolitane of all was the Arch-bishoprick of London I speak this to shew if this were so how the Primacy came to be founded in Canterbury and by whom After the English Saxons had not onely driven the ancient Britans our of that part of Britain now called England some into that part of France called Britannia Aremorica others into Wales where Christianity continued when the English Saxons were converted but also the free exercise of Christianity they continued Pagan till their conversion by S. Austin and Miletus sent by S. Gregory the Great But though Austine was sent by the Pope yet did he not upon that mission presume to enter King Ethelbert's Dominions without leave but in the Isle of Thanet gave the King an account of his Embassie who commanded him and his followers to remain in the Isle and provided them necessaries till he should see convenient how further to dispose of them After Austin had declared his message he received leave of the King and went to preach in Kent where the King gave him and his followers dwellings in Canterbury which was the Metropolis of his Empire and also leave to preach Bed Eccles Hist Gent. Ang. cap. 25. Afterward before he was made a Bishop or had given any account to the Pope or received any message from him cap. 26. the Content sayes Ut idem viz. Augustinus in Cantio primitivae Ecclesiae doctrinam sit imitatus vitā atque in urbe Regis sedē Episcopatus acceperit How the same man viz. Austin in Kent imitated the doctrine and life of the Primitive Church and received his Episcopal See in the City of the King And the Chap. sayes Austin and those joyned with him upon the King's conversion to the Faith in all things received a greater liberty to preach and to build and restore Churches And at the end sayes Neither did the King delay but gave to his Teachers in the Metropolis of Canterbury a See or place of Seat agreeable to their degree and also conferred upon it necessary provisions of divers kinds Nec distulit quin etiam Doctoribus suis locum Sedis eorum gradui congruum in Doroverniâ Metropoli suâ donaret simul necessarias in diversis speciebus possessiones conferret And it is in the 27. chap. where Beda relates how he went into France to Arles and there was ordained by Etherius Arch-bishop of that City Arch-bishop and after he returned into England he presently sent to Rome Laurence the Priest and Peter the Monk who should give an account to the holy Bishop Gregory how the Nation of England had received the Faith and how he was made a Bishop CHAP. IV. Shewing the Bishops in the Church of England are Bishops Jurisdictione viz. are rightfully invested and installed in their Bishopricks and regularly may exercise in their Dioceses any Episcopal Act. I Will not dispute the power of God in his miraculous propagating of Christianity by the means of poor men and by setting of Dissention and Discord in the World all temporal powers contradicting it nor is it reasonable for any man to imagine that after Christian Faith and Religion is received and planted in any place that there men should expect that God would continue it by miracle but that they ought to use what means they can to support them nor can Erastus Senior by a Bishop Jurisdictione as of London or Canterbury mean this but of a planted Christian Church where the State as well as Church is Christian We Erastus and my self both agree that the Order of Bishops is a Divine Institution and therefore it cannot suscipere magis aut minus because no less power then that which made a thing can alter it and being a Divine Institution all Episcopal Acts are done and never to be undone in one place as much as another and therefore wheresoever any Bishop does confirm a man ordain a Bishop Priest or Deacon or consecrate any place to the worship and service of God these Acts are not onely done but are indeleble characters and can never be wiped out But what power that is which founds and confines Bishopricks and qualifies men so as none but such men can regularly exercise any Episcopal Act in such limits or precincts is now to be enquired into First then I answer negatively the endowments and limits of a Bishoprick are not in Spiritual Jurisdiction or cognisance for nothing is purely Spiritual but what is derived from our Saviour either immediately or mediately but the limits and endowments of Bishopricks are temporal things and our Saviour sayes Joh. 18.36 My Kingdome is not of this world and Joh. 3.17 God sent not his Son into the world to judge the world but that by him he might save the world and Lu. 12.14 O man who made me a Judge or Divider among you Nor can it ever be shewed wherein Christianity does in any respect detract from the Regality of Princes or temporal Powers And as under the Gospel so under the old Law though the Priesthood were a Divine Institution yet were the Priests subject to the temporal Powers and their Cities assigned by temporal Powers Exo. 4.16 Moses was in the stead of God to Aaron Josh 21.8 and the children of Israel gave by lot unto the Levites these Cities with their Suburbs as the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses Behold I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles and set up my standard to the people c. and Kings shall be thy nursing fathers Isa 49.22 23. and their Queens thy nursing mothers says the Prophet Isaiah Yet never after was there any King of Judah but Idolaters and the Children of Israel were then carried into so strange a captivity that to this day is unknown what became of them This Prophecy then has reference to Christian Kings in them it is fulfilled Christian Kings therefore may and ought to nurse