Against the Revolt to a Foreign Jurisdiction, Chapter 1
Chap. I. The Protestant Church of England is against all Humane Vniversal Soveraignty, Monarchical or Aristocratical; and so against all Forreign Church Jurisdiction.
I Prove this, I. From the Oath of Supremacy, which saith thus:
I do utterly testifie and declare in my Conscience, That the King's Highness is the only Supream Governour of this Realm, and of all other His Highness Dominions and Countreys, as well in all Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Things or Causes as Temporal. And that No Forreign Prince, Person, Prelate, State or Potentate, hath, or ought to have ANY JURISDICTION, Power, Superiority, Preheminence or Authority Ecclesiastical or Spiritual within this Realm. And therefore I do utterly renounce and forsake all Forreign Jurisdiction, Priviledges, Preheminence and Authorities granted or belonging to the Kings Highness, his Heirs and Successors, or united or annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm.
Here all the Kingdom swears, That none have, or ought to have any Jurisdiction here, who is Forreign. Yet some Papists have been encouraged to take this Oath, by this Evasion.
Obj. No Jurisdiction is here disclaimed of Forreigners, but what belongs to the King: But Spiritual Jurisdiction, called the Power of the Keys, belongs not to the King: Ergo.
Ans. For securing the King's Jurisdiction, All Forreign Jurisdiction is renounced; signifying that there is no such thing as a Jurisdiction over this Realm, but the King's and his Officers. The Power of the Keys, or Spiritual Power, is not properly a Jurisdiction, as that word includeth Legislation, but only a Preaching of Christ's Laws, and administring his Sacraments, and judging of mens capacity for Communion according to those Laws of Christ: And this under the Coercive Government of the King. Much like that of a Tutor in a Colledge, or a Physician in his Hospital. What can be more expresly said than this here, that [No Forreign Prince, Person, Prelate, State or Potentate, have, or ought to have any Jurisdiction, Power, Superiority, Preheminence or Authority Ecclesiastical or Spiritual within this Realm.] Is that of Pope or Councils neither Ecclesiastical nor Spiritual? Is not the word [Prelate] purposely put in to exclude that Power hence which Prelates claim? Though the King claim not the Power of the Keys, he knew that by the claim of that Power the Pope and Councils of Forreigners had been the disturbers of his Government: And therefore all theirs here is excluded as a necessary means to secure his own.
1. Popes and Councils have claimed a Legislative Power over us and all the Church: But the Laws of this Land know no such but in Christ over all, and in King and Parliament under him over this Land: And therefore the Oath excludeth the Power claimed by Popes and Councils.
2. As to Judicial Power, these Forreigners claim a Power of Judging who in England shall be taken for a true Bishop and Minister; who shall have Tythes, Church-Lands and Temples; whether the Kings, Lords, and all Subjects, shall be judged capable of Church-Communion, or be Excommunicate: And our Laws declaring that all this Forreign Claim is Usurpation, fully proveth that it was the sense of the Oath to exclude them.
They claim also a Power of Judging who shall pass here for Orthodox, and who for Hereticks: And in their Laws the consequence is, who shall be burned for a Heretick, or be exterminated, or after Excommunication deposed from their Dominions, and their Subjects absolved from their Allegiance? But certainly the Oath excludeth them from all this.
The most of the Papists claim no Power directly due to their Pope, but that which they call Ecclesiastical or Spiritual (the rest is but by consequence, and in ordine ad Spiritualia:) But if this be not excluded in the Oath, then they intended not to exclude the Papacy: And then what was the Oath made for, or what sense hath it, or what use? And who can believe this?
If the meaning of the Oath be not to exclude the Pope's Ecclesiastical Power, then they that take it may yet hold that the Pope is Head of all the Churches on Earth, and hath the Authority to call, and dissolve, and approve, or reprobate General Councils, and may Ordain Bishops for England, and his Ordinations and his Missionaries be here received, and Appeals made to him, and Obedience sworn to him, his Excommunications, Indulgences, imposed Penances, Silencings, Absolutions, Prohibitions here received: All which our Statutes, Articles, Canons, &c. shew notoriously to be false. It is evident therefore that this Oath renounceth all Forreign Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction.
II. The second proof is from many Acts of Parliament: Those which prohibit all that receive Orders beyond Sea from the Pope, or any Papists, to come into England, on pain of death: Those that forbid the Doctrine, Worship and Discipline both of Popes and Councils: The words of 25 H. 8. c. 21. are these.
Whereas this Realm recognizing no Superiour under God but the King, hath been, and is free from Subjection to any man's Laws, but only such as have been devised, made and ordained within this Realm for the wealth thereof, or to such other as the People of this Realm, have taken at their free liberty by their own consent to be used among them, and have bound themselves by long use and custom to the observance of the same; not to the observance of the Laws of any Forreign Prince, Potentate or Prelate; but as to the accustomed and antient Laws of this Realm, originally Established as Laws of the same, by the said sufferance, consent and custom, and none otherwise: It standeth therefore with natural equity and good reason, &c. that they may abrogate them, &c.
Moreover the Laws of England determine, that no Canons are here obligatory, or are Laws, unless made such by King and Parliament. And if it be true which Heylin, and some others say, that the Pope's Canon-Laws are all here in force still, except those that are contrary to some Laws of the Realm, that is but as the Roman Civil Law is in force; not as a Law of the Pope or old Romans, but as made Laws to us by King and Parliament. The Roman Senate and Emperor give us the Matter of the Civil Law, and the Pope and Councils of the Canon-Law; but the Soveraign Power here giveth them the Form of a Law; as the King coineth Forreign Silver.
III. The Articles of Religion prove the same. 1. The twenty first Article saith,
General Councils may not be gathered together without the Commandment and Will of Princes: And when they be gathered together (forasmuch as they be an Assembly of Men, whereof all be not governed by the Spirit and Word of God) they may err and sometime have erred, even in things pertaining to God: Wherefore things ordained by them, as necessary to Salvation, have neither strength nor Authority unless it may be declared that they are taken out of the Holy Scriptures.
Here note, 1. That General Councils (so called) in the Empire, had no power to meet, much less to Rule, without the Commandment of Princes. And so those called by the Emperor had no power over the Subjects of other Princes.
2. And true Universal Councils will never be Lawfully called, till either all the Earth have One Humane Monarch, or all the Heathen, Infidel, Mahometan, Papist, Heretical and Protestant Princes agree to call them: For one hath not Power over the Dominions of all the rest. And so the Aristocratical Party put the whole Church under an impossible and non-existent unifying and governing Power.
3. That which may be proved a Duty out of God's Word, was such before any Pope or Council made Laws for it. So that if their Commands herein are any more than declarative, and subservient to God's Laws (as the Crying of a Proclamation, or as a Justices Warrant,) God hath forestalled them by his Laws, and theirs come too late.
And if all the Power that Councils or Bishops have as to Legislation, be to make Laws unnecessary to Salvation, it were to be wished they had never made those that are hinderances to Salvation, and set the Churches together by the Ears, and have divided them these 1200 Years and more. Surely our English Canons 5, 6, 7, 8, which Excommunicate so many faithful Christians, do much hinder Salvation, if they be not necessary to it.
But it's apparent that they take their Laws to be necessary to Salvation; 1. Who say All are Schismaticks that obey them not; and that such Schismaticks are Mortal Sinners in a state of Damnation. They that make their Canonical Obedience necessary to avoid Schism, and that necessary to Salvation, make the said Canonical Obedience necessary to Salvation. But, &c.
2. And one would think that they that torment, and burn Men, and silence Ministers for not obeying their Canons, made them necessary to Salvation.
The 34th Article saith, That [every Particular or National Church hath Authority to Ordain. Change, or Abolish Ceremonies, or Rites of the Church, ordained only by Man's Authority, so that all things be done to edifying.]
And if so, they that may abolish the Rites ordained by General Councils, or Popes, are not their Subjects: nor is this Power of making and abolishing Rites reserved to them, nor can they deprive any National or Particular Church of this their own Power.
The 36th Article saith, That [The Book of Consecration of Arch-Bishops, Bishops, and Ordaining of Priests, &c. doth [Contain all things necessary thereto.]
But nothing in that Book doth make it necessary that English Bishops or Priests receive their Power or Office from any Foreigners, Pope, Council or Bishops; which yet must be necessary if they be their Subjects.
The 37th Article saith, That [Though the Queen hath not the Power of administring the Word and Sacraments, yet she is not, nor ought not to be subject to any foreign Jurisdiction; And that the Bishop of Rome hath no Jurisdiction in this Realm of England.] And if so, then he hath no Patriarchal Jurisdiction here; nor have foreign Councils any.
IV. King Edw. 6. Injunctions say, That [No manner of Obedience or Subjection is due to the Bishop of Rome within this Realm.] Therefore not as to a Patriarch, President or Principium Vnitatis.
V. Queen Elizabeth's Injunctions say, [No manner of Obedience or Subjection is due to any such foreign Power—And Admonit. [No other foreign Power shall or ought to have any Authority over them.]
VI. The Reformatio Legum Ecclesiast. c. 9, 10, 11.14, 15. are full proof: There the Reformers professing reverence to the 4 first General Councils as holding sound Doctrine, add [Quibus tamen non aliter fidem nostram obligandam esse censemus, nisi quate…us ex S. Scripturis confirmari possint: Nam concilia nonnulla interdum errasse, & contraria inter se desinivisse, partim in actionibus juris, partim etiam in fide manifestum est. Ita que legantur Concilia quidem, cum honore & Christiana reverentia, sed interim ad Scripturarum piam, certam, rectam que regulam examinentur.
C. 15. Orthodoxorum Patrum etiam authoritatem minime censemus esse contemnendam; sunt enim permulta ab illis praeclare & utiliter dicta: ut tamen ex eorum Sententia de Sacris Literis judicetur, non admittimus: Debent enim sacrae literae, nobis omnis Doctrinae Christianae & regulae esse & judices. Quin & ipsi Patres tantum honoris sibi deferri recusarunt, saepius admonentes lectorem ut tantisper suas admittat sententias & interpretationes, quoad cum sacris literis consentire eas animadverterit.
Et de Haeres. c. 1. Illorum intolerabilis est error qui totius Christiani orbis universam Ecclesiam solius Episcopi Romani principatu contineri volunt. Nos enim eam quae cerni potest Ecclesiam sic definimus, ut omnium coetus sit fidelium hominum, in quo S. Scriptura sincerè docetur; & Sacramenta (saltem his eorum partibus quae necessaria sunt) juxta Christi praescriptum administrnetur.
Et de Judic. Cont. Haeres. c. 1. Appellatio reo conceditur ab Episcopo ad Archiepiscopum, & ab Archiepiscopo a… Regiam personam (but no further) Vid. de Eccles. c. 10. de Episc. Potestate.
Et pag. 190. Rex tam in Archiepiscopos, Episcopos, Clericos, & alias Ministros quàm in Laicos intra sua regna & dominia plenissimam jurisdictionem tam civilem quàm Ecclesiasticam habet, & exercere potest: Cum omnis Jurisdictio tum Ecclesiastica tum secularis ab eo tanquam ex uno & eodem fonte derivantur.
Et de Appell. c. 11. There's no Appeal to any above or beyond the King, judging by a Provin…ial Council, or Select Bishops.]
Though the King died before these were made Laws, they tell us the Church of England's since.
VII. To save transcribing, I desire the Reader …o peruse that notable Letter of King Henry the …th to the Archbishop of York: It is the first in the second Part of the Caballa of Letters; well worth the reading, to our purpose.
VIII. The Liturgy for Nov. 1. called the Pope Antichrist, And the Homilies to the same since: And the Convocation in Ireland, Art. 8. 1615. So doth the Parliament of England, in the Act …or the Subsidy 3 Jacobi, of the Clergy. And …ure they that took him for Antichrist, thought … not that as Pope or Patriarch he had any ruling …ower here.
IX. The Apology of the Church of England …n Jewel's Works, (ordered to be kept in all the …arish Churches) saith, Pag. 708.
[Of a truth even those greatest Councils, and where most Assemblies of People ever were, (whereof these Men use to make such exceeding reckoning) compare them with all the Churches which throughout the World acknowledge and profess the Name of Christ, and what duplicate page duplicate page duplicate page duplicate page else I pray you can they seem to be but certain Private Councils of Bishops, and Provincial Synods? For admit peradventure Italy, France, Spain, England, Germany, Denmark, Scotland, met together; If there want Asia, Greece, Armenia, Persia, Media, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Mauritania, in all which Places there be both many Christians, and many Bishops, how can any Man, being in his right Mind, think such a Council to be a General Council?]
Pag. 629. It's proved that Councils have been so factious and tyrannical, that good Men have justly refused to come at them.
Pag. 593. But the Gospel hath been carried on without and against Councils; and Councils been against the Truth.
And Jewel, Pag. 486. sheweth that [Councils have been against Councils, and the Arrian Hereticks had more Councils than the Christians.] and sheweth their uncertainty.
Pag. 19. As to the Authority of Councils, Augustine saith, [Ipsa plenaria Concilia saepe Priora … posterioribus emandantur.
And of the Succession and Ordination of Bishops, he saith, Pag. 131. [If there were not one of them (that turned from Popery) or of us left alive, yet would not therefore the whole Church of England fly to Lovaine. Tertullian saith, Nonne & Laici sacerdotes sumus.—Ubi Ecclesiastici Ordinis non est Consessus, & offert & tingit sacerdos qui est solus. Sed & ubi tres sunt, Ecclesia est, licet Laici. And frequently he saith, The Church is found among few, as well as among many.] And he was for Lay Mens Baptizing.
X. The first Canon commandeth Preachers Four times a Year to declare [That All usurped & foreign Power (forasmuch as the same hath no Establishment nor Ground by the Law of God) is for most just Causes taken away and abolished. And that therefore, No manner of Obedience or Subjection within His Majesties Realms and Dominions is due to any such foreign Power.
The 12th Canon Excommunicateth ipso facto any that shall affirm, That it is lawful for any … of Ministers to joyn together and make …, Orders or Constitutions, in Causes Ecclesiastical, without the King's Authority, and shall submit themselves to be ruled and governed by them.] Therefore none may go beyond Sea to Councils without his Authority. And the Canons of Foreigners are not to be made a Rule without his Authority. And is not other Princes Authority as necessary in their Dominions?
The Canon which bids Prayer 55th describeth [Christ's holy Catholick Church to be the whole Congregation of Christian People dispersed throughout the whole World.] But such a Church hath no Legislative or Judicial Power.
XI. The Controversie is about an Article of Faith, [I believe the holy Catholick Church.] The Humanists say, It is an universal Political Society, Governed by one humane Supream, (Monarch, Aristocracy or mixt) under Christ. Protestants say, It hath no universal supream Ruler but Christ. Now the Generality of Protestant English and transmarine, who write on the Creed, expound this Article accordingly in the Protestant sence; as he that will peruse their Books may find; which sheweth what is the sence of the Church of England.
XII. Though King Edw. VI. was but a Youth when he wrote his sharp Book against Popery, (lately printed.) It sheweth what his Tutors and the Clergy of his time, who were called the Church, then thought of these Matters.
XIII. If the Parliaments of England all the days of Queen Elizabeth, King James, and King Charles I. and II. knew what was the Doctrine of the Church of England about a Forreign Jurisdiction, it is easie to gather it in their Votes, and Acts. Let him that would know whether they were for a Coalition with the French on such terms, read Sir Simon Dewes Journals, Rushworths Collections, or Prins Introduction ad annum 1621. or any other true Historian, and he will see how far they were from owning any Forreign Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction. But the contrary minded would make the World believe that all these Parliaments were of some Sect differing from the Church of England. But what call they the Church of England but that part of the Clergy who conform to the Laws: And did not the Law-makers understand the Laws?
Or if they more regard the sence of the Clergy, let them read A. Bishop Abbot's very plain and bold Letter to the King, in Prin's Introduct. pag. 39, 40. and Dr. Hackwell's, &c. and they may know what was then the sence of the Clergy: With whom concurred the Bishops of Ireland: Insomuch that Bishop Downame expressing his sense of the Papists there, and his contrary desires, presumed to add, [And let all the people say Amen;] at which the Church rang with the Amen. And though he was questioned in England for it, he came safe off. His Neighbour Bishops also declaring Popery to be Idolatry, and the Pope Antichrist.
XIV. The Bishops and chief Writers of England have taken the Pope to be the Antichrist; Cranmer, Whitguift, Parker, Grindall, Abbot, all A. Bishops of Canterbury; Vsher, Downame, Jewel, Andrews, Bilson, Latimer, Hooper, Farrar, Ridley, Robert Abbot, Hall, Allig, and abundance more Bishops: The Martyrs, Sutcliffe, Fulke, Sharp, Whittaker, Willet, Crakenthorp, and most of our Writers against Popery. Sure then they were for none of his Jurisdiction here.
XV. The Prayers have been and are to this day added in the end both to our Bibles and Common Prayer Books, which shew how far the Church of England was from desiring a Coalition with the Papists by submitting to any Forreign Jurisdiction: They say to God, [Confound Satan and Antichrist, with all Hirelings, whom thou hast already cast off into a reprobate sense, that they may not by Sects, Schisms, Heresies, and Errors, disquiet thy little Flock. And because, O Lord, we be fallen into the latter days and dangerous times, wherein Ignorance hath got the upper hand, and Satan by his Ministers seeketh by all means to quench the light of thy Gospel, we beseech thee to maintain thy Cause against those ravening Wolves, and strengthen all thy Servants whom they keep in Prison and Bondage. Let not thy long-suffering be an occasion either to increase their tyranny, or to discourage thy Children, &c.]
Though A. Bishop Laud put out all these Prayers from the Scots new Liturgy, we had never had them still bound with ours to this day if the Church of England had not at first approved them.
There is also a Confession of Faith found with them, describing the Catholick Church as we do.
XVI. The Oath called Et Caetera of 1640. saith that [The Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England containeth all things necessary to Salvation.] Therefore Obedience to any Forreign Jurisdiction is not necessary to Salvation: And therefore not necessary to the avoiding of Schism, or any Damning Sin.
XVII. The Church of England holdeth that no Forreigners (Pope or Prelates) have Judicial Power to pronounce the King of England a Heretick. Or Excommunicate, (though as Bishop Andrews saith in Tortura Torti even a Deacon may refuse to deliver him the Sacrament if uncapable, much more that Pastor whom he chuseth to deliver it him.) For it's known by sad experience how dismal the Consequences are; exposing the lives of the Excommunicate to danger among them that believe the Pope and his Councils, and rendering them dishonoured and contemned by their Subjects: We know how many Emperors have been deposed as Excommunicate, and what Queen Elizabeth's Excommunication tended to; And if our Laws make it Treason to publish such an Excommunication, sure the Law-makers believed not that either Pope or Prelates had a Judicial Power to do it. In Prin's Introduct. p. 121. the Papists that were unwilling to be the Executioners, had no better plea, than [That no Council had yet judged the King to be a Heretick.] But Protestants deny that any Council hath a Judicial Power so to judge him, though all Men have a Discerning Power to judge with whom they should hold Communion.
But if our Defenders of a Forreign Power say true, then the Universal Judge (Pope or Prelates) may Judge and Excommunicate Kings who they think deserve it. And if so, not only Justice, but Humanity requireth that such Kings be first heard speak for themselves, and answer their Accusers Face to Face. And this can seldom be well done by proxy, as the Prelates will not Excommunicate the Proxies or Advocates only. And must all Emperors and Kings travel no Man knows whither or how far to answer every such accusation, and that at the Bar of a Priest, that's Subject to another Prince, (perhaps his Enemy;) And if it be at an Universal Council, the King of England may be Summoned to America or Constantinople, at nearest, if they must be indifferently called together.
XVIII. The Church of England is not for Popery, but against it: But the Doctrine of an Universal Church Soveraign under Christ, is Popery; by the Confession of Protestants and Papists. I. Protestants ordinarily rank the Papists into these sorts, differing from each other. 1. Those that place the Universal Supream Power in the Pope alone, (which are most of the Italians that dwell near him.) 2. Those that place it in a Pope and General Council agreeing, (which are the greatest number.) 3. Those that place it in a General Council as above the Pope, especially if they disagree. 4. Those that place it in the Universal Church real or diffusive. See Dr. Challoner in his Crede Ecclesiam Catholicam, describing these four sorts of Papists.
II. And the Papists themselves number all the same differences, as you may see in Bellarmine at large.
Of the first Opinion is Valentia in Thom. To. 3. Disp. 1. p. 7. § 45. and divers others both Jesuits, Friars and Seculars. And Albert. Pighius hath written an unanswerable Book against the Supremacy of Councils. But Bellarmine himself saith, of this way, [VsUs que ad hanc diem quaestio superest etiam inter Catholicos. Lib. 2. de Concil. c. 13. And they that have different Soveraigns have different Churches.
Of the second Opinion are the greatest number of their Doctors.
Of the third Opinion (for a Councils Supremacy above and against the Pope in case of disagreement) were the Councils of Constance and Basil; And saith Bellarmine, Joh. Gerson, Petr. de Alliaco. Card. Cameracensis, Jacobus Almanius, Card. Nicol. Cusanus, Card. Florentinus, Panormitanus, Toslatus Abulensis, and multitudes more; with Oviedo, Okam, &c. and the Parisians and French Church: And the Pope and Jesuits will not say that all these are Protestants, or none of the Roman Church: And the Church of England never took them for any other than Papists.
XIX. The small Book called Deus & Rex, which is approved by the Church of England, may give the Reader satisfaction herein.
XX. The common strain of the most approved Doctors of the Church in their Licensed Books against the Papists, disclaimeth all Forreign Jurisdiction of Pope or Prelates.
1. Bishop Jewel I before cited.
2. Bishop Bilson is too large to be recited. Of Christian Subj. p. 229. [To Councils (saith he) such as the Church of Christ was wont by the help of her Religious Princes to call, we owe Communion and brotherly Concord, so long as they make no breach in Faith and Christian Charity; Subjection and Servitude we owe them none.] See more p. 270, 271, 272, 273, &c. of the Errours and Contradictions of General Councils, and how the major Vote obligeth us not to follow them.
And pag. 233. [The Title and Authority of A. Bishops and Patriarchs was not ordained by the Commandment of Christ or his Apostles, but the Bishops long after, when the Church began to be troubled with Dissentions, were contented to link themselves together in every Province to suffer one—to assemble the rest. "Pag. 261. The Bishops speaking the Word of God, Princes as well as others must yield Obedience: But if Bishops pass their Commission, and speak beside the Word of God, what they list, both Prince and People may despise them.
3. Dr. Fulke on Eph. 1. § 5. sheweth that the Church hath no Head but Christ, and no man can be so much as a Ministerial Head.
4. Dr. Reynolds against Hart proveth, that none but Christ can be the Head of Government any more than the Head of Influence.
5. Dr. Whitaker against Stapleton de sacra Script. pag. 128. He sheweth his Ignorance as worthy to sit among the Catechumens, that instead of Believing that there is a Catholick Church, puts [believing what the Catholick saith and believeth [sic tu, ut novam tuam fidem defendas n… vos articulos condis, etiam non haeresis sed perfidiae Magisteres] I believe that there is a holy Catholick Church, but that I must believe all that it believeth and teacheth, I believe not. Augustine appealed from the Nicene Council to the Scripture. We receive not the Baptism of Infants from the Authority of the Church, but from the Scripture. And pag. 103. he sheweth that [Councils have erred, and corrected one another, and are more uncertain than the Scripture. And pag. 50. [The Peace of the Church is better secured by referring all to the Scripture than to the Church.
Pag. 501. The Catholick Church in the Creed is invisible, and known only by Faith.
6. See Bishop Hall's, No Peace with Rome, and his Letter to Laud. It is tedious to cite all in Willet, Slater, Prideaux, Abbot, Marton, Crakenthorp, Challoner, White, and the rest to this purpose.
It is most notorious, that the Church of England was against all Forreign Jurisdiction of Pope or Prelates as over this Land.
To cite a multitude of such Testimonies, would but needlesly swell the Book, and weary the Reader.