Page images
PDF
EPUB

successor of Peter, to be governed with a plenitude of power. This one he hath constituted prince over all nations, and all kingdoms, that he might pluck up, destroy, dissipate, ruinate, plant and build." And in the same bull he declares," that he thereby deprives the queen of her pretended right to the kingdom, and of all dominion, dignity, and privilege, whatsoever; and absolves all the nobles, subjects, and people of the kingdom, and whoever else have sworn to her, from their oath, and all duty whatsoever, in regard of dominion, fidelity, and obedience.*"

* Cardinal Bellarmine, the grand master of controversies, introduces the pope speaking to the people who wished to continue in obedience to a deposed king, in this extraordinary and casuistical language:-"I do not free thee, either from the natural or divine commandment when I absolve thee from the tye of obedience, for I do not permit that thou shouldest not obey thy king, which were against the divine law, but I make him that was thy king, not to be so any longer, as he that setteth a servant at liberty, doth not agree that the servant should not be tied to obey his lord, which would be against the divine law, but he dealeth so, that he hath no lord any longer to obey."

There is not a more suspicious mark of a false religion, than an attempt to propagate itself by force. Chris

This nation in all her solicitudes, looks up to parliament, that high and solemn tri

tianity is not so truly professed by endeavouring to kill others, as by suffering death patiently ourselves, rather than renounce it. I may profess Christ in the den of lions, in the furnace, on the rack. This is the faith

and patience of the saints, utterly irreconcilable with forcible resistance.

The design of obtaining a free exercise of religion, can never make any practice lawful to be used, in order to accomplish that, which was before unlawful.

When our Savour was upon his travels, the inhabitants of a Samaritan village would not receive him ; James and John, remembering what Elias had done to the prophets of Baal, asked whether they should command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them; our Lord's answer is emphatical, he turned and rebuked them, and said, "ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of." Another exemplary instance of submission occurs, in the history of Christ's arraignment-Thou couldest, says he to Pilate, have no power over me, except it were given thee from above, thereby acknowledging his legal authority. If it be objected that this was, to accomplish what God had decreed, ought not Christ to suffer these things? thus it is written -1 answer, that as Christ was appointed to that death, and non-resistance to the civil power, so are christians, if St. Paul may be believed, predestinated to be conformed, by resignation, to the image of his Son.

In regal states, kings, or heads of a commonwealth, had, before the establishment of christianity, the su

bunal, on whose decisions depend all momentous circumstances of public concern, and

preme authority in all religious services, and must they by embracing christianity, deprive themselves of this right? Is there any law in the christian code, which forbids kings and rulers of the earth to have a sovereign and supreme power in making laws, civil or ecclesiastical? That which as kings they might do in matters of religion, and did do, in matters of false religion, being idolatrous and superstitious kings, they are undoubtedly authorized to do, in all affairs relative to the state of true religion, when kings are become its nursing fathers, and queens its nursing mothers.

Among sundry prerogatives of Simon's dominion over the Jews, it was not reckoned the least," that no man could collect any great assembly in the land, without him, whether the cause for which men assembled themselves in a peaceable and orderly manner, were ecclesiastical or civil, supreme authority assembled them." David gathered all Israel unto Jerusalem; when the ark was to be removed, he assembled the sons of Aaron and the Levites. Solomon did the same at the dedication of the temple, Asa, when the church was to be reformed.

The ancient imperial law forbids all assemblies not convened by the emperor's authority. Before emperors became christians, the church never had a general synod. The meetings of the faithful consisted of bishops and religious men, in each province. Constantine was the first who called a general council; his successors followed his example, which was a precedent for future ages,

under whose protection Britons have placed all their rights, with an unlimited confidence.

so that when St. Hierom wished to disprove the authority of a synod, pretended to be general, he uses this forcible argument-Dic quis imperator hanc synodum, jusserit convocari. Tell me what emperor ordered this synod to be called.

In the reformed church of the uuited kingdoms, which holds the doctrines of christianity, in all their primitive purity, the king as supreme magistrate, sees that the laws of God concerning his worship, and all matters and ordinances of the church, are executed and duly observed. The axioms of regal government are defined, by the very solemnities and rights of inauguration. The crown is a sign of military dominion-the throne of judicial, the oil of religious and sacred power, and upon no principle, civil or divine, can any pope interfere with the king's authority, under colour or pretence of introducing a system of faith, contrary to that established by law.

M. Blakewell, in the letter to the Roman catholics of England, annexed to his large examination at Lambeth, page 157, says, that the keys ecclesiastical, do no way extend themselves by God's law unto kingdoms terrene, to open or shut, to toss or turmoil any of them, they have no wards in them, to turn or overturn kingdoms, or to open any lawful entrance, into such disobedient and doubtful courses.

To shew the sentiments of the ancient fathers, upon this important subject, I have selected the following quotations:

The holy oil was the cause of Saul's immunity,

It is the promoter of their interests in the time of prosperity, and the defender of their

from all human coercion, as Augustine affirms, "Quæro si non habebat Saul sacramenti sanctitatem, quid in eo David venerabatur." If Saul had not the holiness of the sacrament, I ask what it was that David reverenced in him he honoured Saul for the sacred and holy unction while he lived, and revenged his death; yea he was troubled, and trembled at the heart, because he had cut off a part of Saul's garment. Our countryman Bede, for his great learning called venerable, is of the same mind, David, saith he, spared Saul, who had persecuted him most maliciously, first, because he was his lord, anointed with holy oil, and secondly, to instruct us by moral precepts, that we ought not to strike our governors, (though they unjustly oppress us) with the sword of our lips, nor presume slanderously to tear the hem of their superfluous actions.

At your inquisition we profess ourselves to be christians, though we know death to be the guerdon of our profession, did we expect an earthly kingdom, we should deny our religion, that in escaping death, we might in time attain our expectation. But we fear not persecution, who have not our hopes fixed on things of this life, because we are certainly persuaded that we must die. As for the preservation of public peace, we christians yield to you, (O emperor) more help and assistance than any other men, for we teach that no evil doer, no covetous man, nor seditious, that lieth in wait for blood, can have access to God, and that every man doth pass

« PreviousContinue »