Concerning the Illegality of the Ecclesiastical Commission, Title page – Table of contents
A DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE ILLEGALITY OF THE LATE Ecclesiastical Commission, In ANSWER to the VINDICATION and DEFENCE of it: Wherein the true Notion of the LEGAL SUPREMACY Is CLEARED; And an Account is given of the Nature, Original, and Mischief OF THE DISPENSING POWER.
LONDON, Printed for Henny Mortlock, at the Phoenix in St. Paul's Church-Yard, and at the White Hart in Westminster-Hall, M D C LXXXIX.
AN Advertisement.
THIS Discourse concerning the Illegality of the Late Ecclesiastical Commission, was written when the Author of it was summoned to appear before it; and was in continual Expectation of undergoing its Censure, for not Complying with the Orders of it. This put him upon an Enquiry into the Grounds on which it stood.
From whence he proceeded to search into the True Notion of the Legal Supremacy; and finding it very imperfectly set down in the famous Fifth Report, De Jure Regis Ecclesiastico, he took the Pains to Examin it through every Reign, there mentioned; and upon the whole Matter he finds him and his Adversary F. P. equally mistaken. But in the Management of it he hath rather endeavoured to give Light to the Thing, than to discover any Mans Errors. And it is hardly possible to settle the Notion of it aright, without considering the Practice of other Countries, as well as our own: Of both which the Reader will find a short but impartial Account; which I believe the Author could more easily have inlarged, than have brought it into so narrow a Compass.
By this, I hope, the World will see, That it was not Humor or Faction, but a real and wellgrounded Dissatisfaction, which made those of the Church of England oppose the Proceedings of that Time; and that such have as great and real a Zeal for the Ancient and Legal Constitution of our Government, as those who make a greater Noise and Clamor about it; and that, not upon any new Notions or Phrases, but upon the very same Grounds which our Ancestors made use of; and carry in them the true Basis of our English Government. It is possible some worthy Men may have carried some Notions beyond our Legal Constitution; but the more they search into it, the better Opinion they will have of it. Which, I think, is so well setled, that every Deviation from it tends to our Ruin.
As to the Dispensing Power, the Author hath inlarged that Part, since some late Discourses have been published, both for and against it. He hath neglected nothing which hath been most plausibly pleaded for it; but hath given a full Answer to the most material Instances which have been insisted on, in behalf of it. And after all, I cannot but conclude, That the Dispensing Power is a kind of Mental Reservation, which quite alters the Meaning and Design of a Law.
When the Late Ecclesiastical Commission was superseded (if not dissolved) the Author laid by these Papers as Useless; but having communicated them to one Particular Friend, (whose Judgment and Authority he had a great Regard to) he hath been prevailed with by him, to make them Publick at this Time: It being still necessary to shew, with what Justice and Reason, we refused to own the Jurisdiction of it. And it seems to me as hard to reconcile it to our Laws, as Liberty of Conscience to the Principles of Popery, or the Worship of Images to the Second Commandment.
THE CONTENTS.
CHAP. I. THE State of the Question concerning the Court of the late Ecclesiastical Commission. Pag. 1
CHAP. II. The King's Supremacy by Common-Law enquired into; Coke's fifth Report, de Jure Regis Ecclesiastico, examined. p. 8
CHAP. III. Whether the King's Supremacy by Law extends to the Dispensing with Laws: Of the Nature and Original of that Power; The Inconsistency of such a Dispensing Power with the Frame of our Government. p. 25
CHAP. IV. Of the Alterations made in the Supremacy, by the Statutes of Henry the Eighth; with an Answer to the Objections. p. 49