88 7he H I S.T ORY of the PURITANS: Chap. IV. SZ,een by the..flatute of the gth and 6th of Edward Vl. chap. i. it was enadl- Lilzabe', ed " That archbifhops and bilho s fhall punith bycenfures of the church rte iJ " all perfons that offend, &e." which plainly implies, that without fuck a licence or authority they might not do it. C,,vocations. 5. No convocations orfjnods of the clergy can agemble but by -a writ or Scat. 25. II. precept from the crown ; and when affimbled, they can do no bufinef x. & Scat without, the king's letters patents, appointing them the particular fuójetis -íemuu. they are to debate upon ; and after all, their canons are of no force, with, out the royal fanttion. Hen. 8. Upon the whole it is evident, by the exprefs words of feveral fla- cin. 17. totes, that all jurifdiddion, ecclefiaftical as well as civil, was veiled in the 1EHz. cap. r. king, and taken away from the bithops, except by delegation from him. The king was chief in the determination of all caufes in the church; he had authority to make laws, ceremonies and conftitutions, and without him no fuch laws, ceremonies or conftitutions, are or ought to be of force. And, billy, all appeals which before had been made to. Rome, are for ever hereafter to be made to his majefly's chancery, to be ended and determined, as the manner now is, by delegates. I am fenfible, that the conftitution of the church has been altered in fome things frnce that time: but let the reader judge, by what has been recited from aâs of parliament, of the high powers that were then in, trulted with the crown ; and how far they were agreeable with the na- tural or religious rights of mankind. The whole body of the papifts re- fufed the oath of fupremacy, as inconfiftent with their allegiance to the pope; but the puritans took it under all there difadvantages, with the queen's explication in her injunétions; that is, that no more was intended, Sentiments thePuritanf than that her maje/ly, under God, .. had the fovereignty. and rule over concerning all perfens born in her reahns, either ecclefia/lical or temporal, /o as no fo- tbe fnprerna- reign power had, or ought to have authority over them. They appre- ey' hended this to be the natural right of all fovereign princes in their do- minions, though there had been no flatute law for it; but as they did not admit the government of the church to be monarchical, they were of opinion, that no fingle perfon, whether layman or ecclefiaftick, ought to affume the title of fupreme head of the church on earth, in the fence of the ails abovementioned. This appears from the writings of the fa- mous Mr. Cartwright, in his admonition to the parliament. .,ldnaonitionto " The chriftian fovereign (lays be) ought not to be called head under Parliament, it Chrijl of the particular and visblè Churches, within his dominions: 'Tis Lib. II, p. 4, << a title not fit for any mortal man ; for when the apoftle Pays, that Chrift is xayaañ, the head, it is as much as if he had faid, Chrift and " no other is head ofthe church. No civil magiftrate in councils or af- . ". femblies
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