fame Church belonging, and appertaining; and that C our faid Sovereign Lord, his Heirs, and Succeffours, Kings of this Realm, fhall have full Power, and Authority from time to time to vifit, reprefs, redress, reform, order, correct, reftrain, and amend all fuch Errors, Herefies, Abuses, Offences, Contempts, and Enormities whatfoever they be, which by any manner of Spiritual Authority, or Furifdiction ought, or may lawfully be reformed, repressed, ordered, redreffed, corrected, reftrained, or amended, most to the Pleasure of Almighty God, the Increase of Virtue in Chrift's Religion, and for the Confervation of the Peace, Unity, and Tranquillity of this Realm, any Ufage, Cuftom, Foreign Laws, Foreign Authority, Præfcription, or any thing, or things to the contrary hereof notwithstanding. r २ Sir, I do not doubt, but you are of the fame Opinion you were of when we difcourfed together, viz. that the latter part of this Act is exegetical of the former, and that the Words of it reltrict, and limit the Senfe, and Intention of it to fuch a found Chriftian Senfe, as is confiftent with the original, inherent Rights of the Church, which She derives from Chrift, and his Apostles; and that it was chiefly intended to fecure the Rights both of Church, and State, againft the ufurped Jurifdiction, both temporal, and fpiritual, which the Popes took upon them to exercife in this, as in other Kingdoms. I doubt not alfo but it is your Opinion, that this Act, and all others relating to the King's Ecclefiaftical Supremacy, are to be interpreted in a Senfe confiftent with thofe other Acts of Parliament, which confirm the Book of Common Prayer, and Administration of the Sacra ments, and other Rights, and Ceremonies of the Church, according to the Church of England; and the Form, and manner of making, ordaining, and confecrating of Bishops, Priefts, and Deacons. In thofe thofe Offices the facerdotal Power, as diftin&t from the Civil, and derived from Chrift, is clearly expreffed, and afferted, We baptize, and admit into the Body of Chrift's Church, as our Lord authorized us to do, not in the Name of King, or in the Name of King, and Parliament, but In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghoft. And by the Authority of our Lord committed to us, we have Power to abfolve penitent Sinners after this fort, Our Lord Jefus Chrift, who bath left Power to his Church to abfolve Sinners, who truly repent, and believe in him, of his great Mercy forgive thee thine Offences, and by his Authority committed to me, I abfolve thee from all thy Sins, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghoft. I am fure you will acknowledge, that all the Kings, and Senates upon Earth, cannot give fuch a Power, or take upon them without Sacrilege to fay, Take thou Authority to execute the Office of a Deacon in the Church of God, committed unto thee in the Name of the Father, &c. Or, Receive the Holy Ghoft for the Office, and Work of a Prieft in the Church of God, now committed to thee by the Impofition of our Hands. Whofe Sins thou doft forgive, they are forgiven, and whofe Sins thou doft retain, they are retained. And be thou a faithful Difpenfer of the Word of God, and of his Holy Sacraments, In the Name of the Father, &c. Or, Receive the Holy Ghoft for the Office, and Work of a Bishop in the Church of God," now committed unto thee by the Impofition of our Hands, In the Name of the Father, &c. To these I might add the Epiftles, and Gofpels of these Offices, and fome of the Prayers, and the Preface to them; in Confiftency, and Agreement with which the very Oath of Supremacy, which every Perfon ordained to any of thofe holy Offices is to take, and by Confequence every other Act relating to the King's Ecclefi Ecclefiaftical Supremacy, I humbly conceive, ought to be interpreted, I mean in a Senfe, which faves, and not which deftroys the Distinction, and Difference of the Sacerdotal from the Civil Power, and the fpiritual Rights, and Powers, which belong to the Priesthood of the Chriftian Church. Perhaps, Sir, I might alfo fay, that they are to be interpre ted in a Senfe confiftent with the firft Article of Charta Magna; for in the Books written for the Church, during the time of the great Rebellion, that Article was produced, as well as other Laws in her Defence. To fpeak plainly, I believe you think, as I do, that the Act of Supremacy, which was made by Henry VIII. ought to be taken in a Senfe confiftent with the Power of the Keys, or facerdotal Power, as it was exercifed by the Apoftles, and their Succeffors in the most pure,and primitive Times; and with the preamble of 24 Hen. 8. which was made against Appeals to Rome, and as I obferved before, diftinguishes between the fpiritual, and temporal Jurifdiction, and fecures their Rights unto both against the Papal Ufurpations. This Law, as I have heard, was not long ago pleaded in Court. And Sir Edw. Coke Inftit. Part 4. Cap. lxxiv. afferts the Diftinction in thefe Words, Of what things the Clergy bath fpiritual Jurifdiction is evident in our Books, and particularly in Cawdrey's Cafe, whereof there is no queftion. And cer tain it is, that this Kingdom hath been beft govern ed, and Peace, and Quiet preferved, when both Parties, that is, when the Justices of the temporal Courts, and the Ecclefiaftical Judges have kept themfelves within their proper Jurifdictions, with out encroaching, or ufurping one upon another. But K. Henry VIII. went beyond all these Meafures, as if after the A&t of Supremacy, this Diftinction had been swallowed up, and an end put to the Difference between fpiritual, and tempo t ral Perfons, and Power. For not long after that Act was made, he fet forth a Latin Bible with this Title, Sacra Biblia Tomus primus, in quo continentur quinque Libri Moyfis, Libri Jofue, & Judicum, Liber Pfalmorum, Proverbia Solomonis, Liber Sapientia, & Novum Teftamentum Fefu Chrifti. At the end of the Book are thefe Words, Excudebat Thomas Bartholetus Regius Impreffor Anno MDXXXV. Menfe Ful. In the King's Preface, which is infcribed Pio Lectori in general, are thefe following Words, the like whereof were never ufed by any Chriftian King before, and which found fomething like thofe in which the King of Affyria faid in his Heart, I will exalt my Throne above the Stars of God. Nos itaque confiderantes id erga Deum officii noftri, quo fufcepiffe cognofcimur, ut in Regno fimus ficut anima in Corpore, & Sol in mundo, utque loco Dei Judicium exerceamus in Regno noftro,& omnia in poteftate habentes, quoad Jurifdictionem, ipfam etiam Ecclefiam vice Dei fedulo regamus, ac tueamur, & difciplinæ ejus five augeatur, aut folvatur, nos ei rationem reddituri fimus, qui nobis eam credidit, & in eo Dei vicem agentes, Deique habentes imaginem : quid aliud vel cogitare, vel in animam inducere potuimus, quam ut eodem confugeremus, ubi certó difcendum effet, ne quid aliud vel ipfi faceremus, vel faciendum aliis præfcriberemus, quam quod ab hac ipfa Dei lege ne vel tranf This Bible is in the poffeffion of Mr. Humphry Wanley. verfum quidem digitum aberrare convinci queat. But before I proceed farther to obferve in what manner this Prince exercised his modern Supremacy, let me recite what was afterwards enacted by Statute 1. of Edward VI. Chap. 11. There, Sir, it is enacted, and declared, that the Election of Archbishops, and Bishops by Conge d'eflire to the Dean, and Chapter, fhould be taken away, as derogatory, and prejudicial to the King's Prerogative; that all Authority of Jurifdiction, fpiritual, and temporal, is derived, and deducted from the King's Majefty as fupream Head of thefe Churches, and Realms of England, and Ireland, and fo juftly acknowledged by the Clergy of the faid Realms, and accordingly it is enacted, that all Summons, Citations, and other Procefs Ecclefiaftical within the faid two Realms in all Suits, &c. fhould be made in the Name, and with the Style of the King, as in Writs original, or judicial of the Common Law, and that the TESTE thereof be in the Name of the Archbishop, or Bifhop, or other having Ecclefiaftical Jurifdiction, who hath the Commiflion or Grant of the Authority Ecclefiaftical immediately from the King's Highness, and that his Commiffary, &c. fhall put his Name in the Citation, or Procefs after the TESTE. And §. IV. it is alfo enacted, That all Ecclefiaftical Perfons, who have the Exercife of Ecclefiaitical Jurifdiction, fhall have the King's Highness's Arms decently fet with certain Characters under the Arms for the Knowledge of the Diocess, and ufe no other Scal of Jurifdiction, but wherein his Majetty's Arms be ingraven. But then again there is a provifo in §. VI. by which certain Cafes are excepted, wirein the Archbishop, and Bifhop may ufo their own S. |