The Catholic Hierarchy, Chapter 1
CHAP. I. Of the Twofold Juriſdiction which a Chriſtian by the Law of Chriſt is ſubjected unto.
§ 1. THat there is ſuch a thing as Chriſtian Liberty, none pretending to a true information in the Doctrine of the Goſpel of Chriſt, I ſuppoſe, will deny; neither need I make it my preſent task for to prove. But the great Conteſt for many Ages hath been, about the true Nature and Extent of this Liberty: Some ſtretching the bounds thereof larger than Chriſt ever did, intrenching on Civil and Moral Laws; opening thereby a gap to Licentiouſneſs, and the violation of the bonds of Humane Societies, in Magiſtratical Rule and Government. Others curtalizing and abridging the ſaid Liberty, not allowing it thoſe lawful extents allotted thereto by Chriſt; audaciouſly depriving his poor Members of many Goſpel-Priviledges and Advantages, granted them by Charter from the Supreme King and Lawgiver. Civil and Antichriſtian Powers ſtill making it their buſineſs to ſpy out this Liberty, and their great deſigne to bring them into Bondage.
§ 2. Calvin obſerves, Duplex eſſe Regimen in Homine; alterum Spirituale, quo Conſcientia ad pietatem & cultum divinum inſtituitur: alterum Politicum, quo ad Humanitatis & Civilitatis officia, quae inter homines ſervanda ſunt, homo eruditur, Juriſdictio Spiritualis & Temporalis. i. e. There is in Man a twofold Government; the one Spiritual, whereby the Conſcience is inſtructed unto Piety and the Worſhip of God: The other Political, whereby a man is taught the Duties of Humanity and Civility, which are to be obſerved between man and man, a ſpiritual Juriſdiction and a temporal. Which Obſervation hath Moral foundation, and an Evangelical ratification; the whole of a Chriſtian being comprehended under theſe two Heads of Duty (charged upon us by the Old and New Teſtament,) towards God and towards our Neighbour. On the firſt of which Chriſt hath, by his peculiar Legiſlative Power over his Church, eſtabliſhed the whole Oeconomy thereof: On the latter he hath chiefly raiſed the edifices of Civil States and Humane Societies, where he hath allowed a latitude of Legiſlative Power unto the Sons of men, as unto his Delegates and Subſtitutes in earthly Rule and Government. Unto both of theſe Juriſdictions he hath laid on man a firm Obligation, by planting his Moral Light in Conſcience; ſo that he cannot ſtart from either of theſe Duties, without ſtarting from himſelf, as our firſt Parents did in their Tranſgreſſion; and all others, in putting forth the poyſon of that original blot in actual ſins of Omiſſion or Commiſſion; all which are but irregularities, or nonconformities to this Moral obligation laid on Conſcience, either manifeſtly ſo, or eaſily reducible thereunto. For whatever is a treſpaſs againſt the revealed Will of God, for Duty in Moral Obedience, or inſtituted Worſhip, is a ſin; not but that Inſtituted Worſhip is fundamentally Moral Obedience, but is therefore in ſome ſenſe diſtinguiſhed from it, (the ſerving of God according to his own appointment, being the principal part of the Moral Law) becauſe God hath, according to the ſeveral ſtates of his Church, altered the mode and manner of his Worſhip, as he hath thought it beſt in his Wiſdom, and as hath bin moſt ſuitable to the ſeveral ages and ſtates of his Church; which alterable or altered Circumſtances, being the product of Chriſt's Prerogative alone, are called his Inſtituted Worſhip.
§ 3. Hence both theſe Juriſdictions are Primarily and Morally ſubjected to the King of Kings; he orders, diſpoſeth of, and rules in the Kingdoms of men, as well as in his Church and hearts of men: yea, by ruling Heart and Conſcience, as well as by diſpoſing Providence, he rules Civil States, and ſubordinate Societies; but the manifeſt difference is here, that God's political Rule in the Kingdoms of the Earth, and humane States, is more remote and mediate: but that of Church and Conſcience being Spiritual, is more proximate and immediate. He only gives general Laws to Civil Societies, and leaves a limited Legiſlative Power, as to particular, collateral, and incident caſes, to humane Governours, ſubſtituted providentially by him. To theſe he leaves the immediate adminiſtration of Rule and Government, as to an Executive Power altogether, and as to a Legiſlative Power in a great meaſure; but hath reſerved the immediate adminiſtration of Rule in his Spiritual Dominions, to himſelf alone, as to Legiſlation in his Church, and both Legiſlation and Execution as to Conſcience.
§ 4. Theſe two Modes or Degrees of Adminiſtration, muſt not be confounded together: Man muſt have no greater ſhare in Rule and Government, than God hath deputed him to; he is not to rob Chriſt of one jot of that Glory, which he hath reſerved to himſelf, under any pretence whatever; neither doth Chriſt permit, that by a plea of being under his more ſpiritual and immediate Juriſdiction, we ſhould exempt ourſelves from the equal Laws and Juriſdiction of man; for by Chriſts Laws all his Members are firmly bound upon both accounts: Give unto Ceſar the things that are Ceſar's, and unto God the things that are Gods. Fear God, Honour the King.
§ 5. Leſt we ſhould be miſtaken in the true nature of either of theſe, it is needful that they be both diſtinctly ſpoken unto; firſt of Chriſt's immediate Juriſdiction, and then of his more mediate, called Regimen Politicum vel Temporale, to which a Chriſtian is ſubjected; the other Spirituale. But to make way to them, we ſhall ſpeak briefly firſt to the nature of the two Adminiſtrations of Power, that will be ſo often mentioned, Legiſlative and Executive.