Ecclesiastical to be two distinct Powers and though they may be both in one Person and were originally so yet by the Divine positive Laws both of Jews and Christians they were so distinguished that though one person were capable of both yet not without a lawful Title and Investiture to either I cannot therefore think That the King is an Ecclesiastical Person who was never Ordained or Consecrated to be so Therefore when some Learned in our Laws affirm That the KING is Supreme Ordinary and mixta persona it must be understood in some other sense and for some other purpose for we do not find that he attempts the doing any thing that is the proper act of an Ecclesiastical Person Yes they say he claims by his Title of Supremacy To govern all persons in all causes as well Ecclesiastical as Civil We acknowledge this to be his just Title but deny that he doth any thing by it which is not properly his own business and in Right of his Crown That he is the Fountain also of all Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction though it be not expresly in his Title we acknowledge to be in his Power But here I must crave leave to say something of the nature and notion of JURISDICTION though it shall tast somewhat of the race and harshness of the School yet much of the Case depends upon it and no little mistakes there are about it It is agreed generally That there is in the Church a Power of Orders and a Power of Jurisdiction distinct that is for the Power though not distinct in the object and matter of that power for that is â—he same in both As preaching Gods Word administring the Sacraments or the Censures of the Church are of the power of Orders And the putting all or any of these in execution is by a power of Jurisdiction The former as Divines distinguish is a power in â—abitu the other in actu So that Jurisdiction is nothing else but a power to do actually what was potentially or habitually receiv'd in Orders I do not here take Jurisdiction in the strict vulgar sense to be a power jus dicendi inâ—er partes litigantes only as the word imports but more largely as it reacheth to any act of Order without which it cannot lawfully be put in execution Now the Question here will be How a King can be the Fountain of the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction us'd in his Dominions who neither gives Orders himself nor executes any that is hath neither power of Orders nor Power of Jurisdiction My Answer to this Question is That the Kings Power lies without both these and is that which gives Commission and Faculty to persons ordained to execute their Orders within his Dominions And the Reason Ground and Necessity of that is Because the Ecclesiastical Function cannot be put in execution but by such wayes and means as are absolutely and originally in the King and in Right of his Crown As first There must be some Subjects upon whom they may execute their Ecclesiastical Orders now all the Subjects within His Dominions are the Kings who must of necessity lose so much of the Right he had in them as any other assumes without Him From hence grows his Right to order and constitute Diocesses and Parishes and to set them their bounds and limits that is upon which of his Subjects and how far he will allow them respectively to execute their Orders for without those bounds it is not nor is us'd to be taken for any part of their business To the publique exercise of Religion the people must meet together And all assemblings of people together are absolutely in the Power of Princes all States in all times have ever been jealous of them and provided severe Laws against them for it is impossible be the pretences of Meeting never so fair to govern people and keep them quiet long if they may have liberty to flock together at their pleasures When they are met together there must be some to teach and instruct them How dangerous a thing is it promiscuously to suffer Harangues and Orations to be made to the people by such who possibly may be Trumpets of Sedition who by slandering the Government and speaking evil of Dignities may inflame people to Rebellion We have known such things done It is therefore necessary that none be allow'd that liberty to speak to Multitudes assembled together but such with whom a King may safely trust His people And this gives Him a Right and Capacity of Patronage and Nomination to Ecclesiastical Charges Least the Doctrine which they teach the people should be such as would amuse them with Novelties or occasion Altercations and foment Divisions or any way disturb the Peace of the Kingdom it is just and reasonable that the King should confine them within the compass of certain Articles and Doctrines of Religion which gives Him a Right to that which in other respects no doubt belongs to the care of the Church But besides the Articles of Peace we find that the King in His Laws declares what is Heresie That if any thing seems to be the proper work of the Ecclesiastical Power yet even in that he is not out at his own Civil business For seeing meer Ecclesiastical Censures are found not to be of sufficient force to suppress dangerous and Heretical Opinions without the use of the temporal Sword Out of the care the King hath of the Lives and Estates of His Subjects he will not let His Sword loose to the will of others who by declaring what they please to be Heresie may bring them in peril He therefore confines them to such cases only wherein He is content His Sword should be made use of This is all and is that which must be allowed to be the proper business of the King to assign how far and in what cases His Temporal Power and Sword shall be employ'd and can be no invading the Ecclesiastical But lastly Is not this the same wrong and illusion we charge the Pope with who in order to his Spiritual End Usurps the Temporal Power so the King in order to his Temporal Government invades the Ecclesiastical No the case is far different If the Pope did order temporals by spiritual means only i e. Ecclesiastice we had the less to say against him he is not out of the way of a Bishops power though he should abuse it But he for his spiritual end usurps temporal means and takes upon him to dispose of temporal Estates that is none of his business But the King in ordering Ecclesiastical things to His temporal end uses no Ecclesiastical means but temporal onely which are His proper business He doth not excommunicate the Pope out of the Church as the Pope would do him out of his temporal Dominions But the King if he see cause may banish him and his Emissaries out of his Kingdom That cannot be deny'd to be the proper business of a King to secure and free his Kingdom from any thing
Look not every man on his own things but every man also on the things of others And in the 21. v. complains of it too that every one seeks his own and not the things which are Jesus Christs But our own here and our own there are two different things That which he blames there is our own of interest there may be too much of our own in that but that which he commands here is our own of duty and office In this it must be so much our own that it must be none but our own Having reduced the words to their proper genuine sense in this lesson there will fall to be learned these particulars 1. That there is and ought to be a propriety in business that to every one there belongs something that he may properly call his own 2. The Obligation of Duty and Religion to confine himself to that which is his own 3. The Operation it hath had in the World upon our Quiet or Disquiet 4. From these is inferr'd a Necessity to Study it That ye study to do your own business I. First That there is a Propriety in Business This must be laid for a ground all the rest else will fall to nothing It will be no Religion to keep it no Sin to break it no need to Study it That which S. Paul spake of the Doctrine of the Gospel in general at Ephesus A great door and effectual was opened to him and there were many Adversaries 1 Cor. 16.9 is true also of this particular Doctrine of Propriety It is a door open to all wise and sober men yet it hath many Adversaries There is a busie humour in the world to lay all common and it is grown to be a Sect of Religion yea more than one as many as there are kinds of Propriety so many Sects endeavour to fling down the Inclosures As first There is a Propriety in Goods and Possessions and against this there rises a Sect of Levellers who tell us from the Psalmist The Heavens are the Lords but the Earth hath he given to the Children of men Psa 115.16 That to which every man hath a Right by the Gift of God the Pride and Covetousness of a few have engross'd and made their own There is a Right and Propriety of Respect and Honour due to some above others Against this arises another Sect of Levellers they call Quakers who refuse to give Honour to whom Honour belongs Though this looks like a Religion against good Manners only or were but some Quarrel with the Grammarians against proper Names the Mischief of it lies deeper and is of the spirit of Anabaptism who oppose the very Powers and Dignities themselves which they despise in their Titles for they cannot be so foolish though simple enough as to make a Religion of Names only These are dangerous Sects of Levellers both but they lie not in our way The Text toucheth only Levellers of Business who think they are not to be barr'd the liberty of doing any thing that is good bonum quo communius eò melius and ought not to be impropriate to any But that there is a Title and Propriety in some to business wherein it is not permitted to every one to interpose a necessity in Nature requires The World is replenished with infinite variety of things and a great deal of work is to be done to make them useful and serviceable to us Now it is not possible for every one to do all and hardly all in any one thing to gain the full use and benefit of it But when the works are distributed severally to some the benefit may redound to all All the business of the world refers either to a Spiritual End the good of the soul or to a Temporal and Civil our well-being while we live here upon earth And to both these Ends God hath appointed and assigned particular persons he did not leave them in common In the Temporal there is private business and publike For private use as in Families there is the business of the Husband and Wife the Parent and Children the Master and Servants And out of Families for private use likewise there is the business of Physicians and Advocates Husbandmen Merchants and Mariners Mechanicks and Labourers and all these are of private nature though of common benefit Then is there the publike business by which all these are ordered and governed and they are by S. Peter distinguished to our hands as that of the King as Supreme 1 Pet. 2,13 and of Governors sent by him and they are Magistrates and Judges for Peace Captains and Commanders for War And besides these there is the business of Ministers and Assistants to the Supreme Power Counsellors Lawyers Officers and Servants and all these are for that temporal end And for the Spiritual whose business refers to the soul there is likewise a Propriety as in Bishops to Ordain Institute and Order the rest of the Clergy specially and of the whole Diocess occasionally as the necessity of it shall require Then is there the business of the Presbyters in the several parts of the Diocess in a more particular and immediate Cure and Charge to be directed by and accountable to the Bishop There be others Diaconal and Ministerial to both And all together Temporal and Spiritual as several Members make one Body and every Member saith the Apostle hath not the same office Rom. 12.4 God divided his Gifts to every one severally as he will 1 Cor. 12.11 he did not scatter them in common but divide them and all hold in severalty And as that Severance and Propriety stands upon good Authority so Authority was no doubt induc't upon reason of Profit and Interest It conduceth more to the common good than Community it self could First It brings Order into the common business of the world and that takes away confusion which never did any thing well To avoid fornication 1 Cor. 7.2 let every man have his own wife Upon the same Equity to avoid the promiscuous lust and curiosity men have to mingle with any business Let every man likewise have his own 2. In reason all business will be best done too by those to whom they are peculiar and proper Artifici in sua arte credendum Men are most trusted in their own Trades We trust the Lawyer with our Estates the Physician with our Bodies I say nothing of our Souls we are so wise at that work as to trust none but our selves 3. Yet thirdly The nature and condition of the business it self may require it Some are so difficult that every one cannot do though he would and some are so mean that every one would not do though he could and all are such as through the mercy of God we need not do if we will unless it be our own business We are now faln upon the Second Part that as every one hath some business that is his own so Duty and Religion obligeth him to take
work not of their Duties that is not to remit their Sins but to make them Sinners Now what was likely to be the effect of all this but that which happened Wars and Combustions over the whole Empire Though that Pope did not long out live that Feite of his yet his Successors and their Parasites have so ply'd the Cause ever since that time some directly some indirectly that the fire is not yet extinguished Now if the Pope met with some Princes that would not endure his Ranging thus in their Dominions but thought it high time to quit his Miter to secure their Crowns he may thank himself for it They may call it a Schism if they please but it is a Schism without a Sin That word will hurt none so much as the Causers and Authors of it For it is but reasonable and just That if the Pope would not know his business that Princes should know theirs This is my First Instance of the Troubles that by this means brake into the whole Church VVe need not go far from home for another VVe were in a sad case not long since in this Kingdom by a Civil VVar. I meddle not with the fault let that sleep under the Act of Oblivion VVe may I trust without offence enquire into the cause of it VVhat were they doing that gave us that disquiet Look upon the Standard set up for the VVar I mean the most Execrable GOVENANT Quomodo legis how read you there was it not medling with business was none of their own They Covenanted first to extirpate the Government of the Church established by Law That Law with hands lifted up to Heaven they swore they would abolish The Legislative Power we know in whom it is to make or mend Laws it was none of their business In this they were certainly too bold with the Kings Scepter At the next turn they take hold of his Sword too and engage themselves to a mutual Defence against all Opposition This also was none of their business For though a Self-defence may be allow'd as natural to all it is against private not publique Opposition and then too as Divines generally resolve Cum moder amine inculpatae Tutelae never to the hurt of others that is Every man may defend himself clypeo but not every one gladio The Sword is the Kings and He that takes it from any hand but His where God hath plac'd it shall perish with the Sword In this the Covenanters as ill as they like Bishops would be in the Apostles phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 4.15 the worst sort of Bishops that is medlers in business was none of their own The Worshippers of the Covenant have therefore been well dealt with as the worshippers of the Golden Calf were by Moses Exod. 32.20 As he made them drink that so have they been made to eat this though some of them be found of so foolishly distempered stomacks that they chuse rather to part with that which is their own than renounce a Business was none of their own But the Covenant is past and let it go I wish for quiet sake we may never hear of the like again This was transient But there still remains a permanent and habitual Disturbance of our Peace in the multitude and swarms of SECTS and Factions in Religion to which it is naturally and inseparably inherent An incurable mischief like the Leprosie on the walls that could not be cleansed but by pulling down the House From these we have felt already but too much and have cause yet to fear more But can we charge them with doing a business is none of their own Can any thing be more properly our own business than the care of our souls and to serve God in the bâ—st manner that our understandings and Consciences shall direct us They are mistaken that think the Charge lies upon this issue what every man may do for himself and his own salvation He may without question do very much for he may keeep all Gods Commandments if he can and when he cannot he may be truly contrite and penitent for breaking them and then he may assuredly believe his sins shall be forgiven him by the merits and passion of our Lord Jesus Christ And again He may serve and worship God with as much fervency and devotion as he can and will he may abound in Charity Meekness Humility Patience and Temperance and all other Christian vertues And so long as ye thus follow that which is good saith S. Peter who will harm you 1 Pet. 3.13 And I may say too who can hinder you in all this but if he makes himself a party in a Sect if there be assembling together in companies gather Congregations incorporate in a Body module Churches give Laws of Doctrine and Worship set up Teachers and Leaders of their own to all this they have as little Right as they have need A man may go far ye see in Religion without troubling any and if then they fall into some Error or Misbelief in Religion they ought not to be severely handled but when they betake themselves to a Sect that alters the case it will then be compassion mistaken A Locust alone is no such perilous beast to be fear'd or regarded by any but when they come in shoals and swarms and cover the face of the earth they are a plague to the Countrey where they light So to look upon a Sectary single who out of simplicity and good meaning follows his Conscience our hearts should be every whit as tender for them as their Consciences are But if we look upon them in Company they are as ill and dangerous as the company they are found in and the danger of all popular Meetings and Associations to a State makes it the proper business of a King and his Ministers to look to it and to provide against it wherein the care hath been taken deserves a just commendation And yet when I assert and refer this business to the KING I look to be call'd to an account for that For they take the boldness by way of recrimination to turn the Text upon the King himself That His Power is Civil and Matters of the Church and Religion are Ecclesiastial and so none of his business This is I confess too weighty a matter to be here thrust into the corner of a Sermon yet it will be necessary to say so much as may somewhat lay that loud clamour against it For the Papists and Presbyterians both how ill soever they may agree in other matters hunt in couples against the Kings Power and SUPREMACY But as we denie not all to others in their places so we claim not all for the King If I shall but only now set out His Part in matters of the Church it will appear sufficiently that he is Rectus in Curia stands right in the Text and takes not upon him business which is not his own We acknowledge the Civil and