the pride of worldly dominion enter under the pretence of the sacred ministry b." The churches of Britain and Ireland were at that time independent of the Roman patriarch, and had been so from the beginning. The councils of Nice and Ephesus therefore forbade that bishop to assume jurisdiction over our churches. His jurisdiction began in Britain in the seventh century, and gradually increased in afterages. It was not created nor confirmed by the decree of any general council, but from necessity was justifiable at first, and for convenience and custom was afterwards tolerated and admitted by the bishops of Britain. In the reign of Henry the Eighth, however, the yoke of Roman dominion became intolerable; and the bishops and clergy of all England and Ireland, determined that the Roman patriarch had no jurisdiction in these realms, and, declining any further submission to that prelate, concurred in the several acts of the civil power, by which his usurped jurisdiction was rendered illegal, and extinguished. Those bishops and clergy had the power of abolishing that jurisdiction, for it was not jure divino, nor did it rest on the decree of a general synod, nor on any thing but their predecessors' and their own temporary consent. They had a right to abolish it, because it had increased to an extent prejudicial to the church and state, and because the see of Rome put forward claims, as a matter of divine right, which were inconsistent with the dignity and b Labbé, Concilia, tom. iii. p. 801. The patriarchs of Antioch and Constantinople had already manifested some of that usurping spirit; but the patriarch of Rome in afterages justified in the fullest manner the wisdom and necessity of this canon. independence of the king and the clergy. They acted canonically in abolishing it, for the general councils of Nice and Ephesus forbade its exercise, and enjoined them to maintain the liberties which their predecessors had from the beginning. The jurisdiction of the Roman see was therefore lawfully, rightly, and canonically abolished in the reign of Henry the Eighth, and was as perfectly extinct as if it had never existed: having been formally abolished by the church, it needed to be canonically created, before its exercise could be in any way permissible. Now a patriarchal authority could only be canonically erected in England by a general synod; because it required such an authority to repeal the canon already made, by an equal authority, at Nice and Ephesus, which prohibited the extension of patriarchal authority to Britain. The jurisdiction of the patriarch of Constantinople over Thrace, required to be confirmed by the second general council; his authority over Asia and Pontus needed the confirmation of the fourth; and even then Leo of Rome objected to the decree, because it was contrary to the canon of Nice. But no general synod gave the Roman pontiff patriarchal authority in Britain; and therefore the ancient customs and rights of the church of Britain, which she had from the beginning, which were confirmed by the councils of Nice and Ephesus, and resumed in the reign of Henry the Eighth, were still canonically binding, when Abp. Parker was to be consecrated. But why do I speak of a general synod? There was not even any decree of a national synod in Britain creating c Leo, Epist. 78, 79, 80. this jurisdiction. If there was, where was that synod held? Let its acts be produced; let us see those canons (never before heard of) which formally and regularly created the bishop of Rome patriarch of Britain. Nor is this all: we deny that the acts of the bishops of England in the time of queen Mary, can be conceived to have given the sanction of the church to the introduction of Roman jurisdiction. For if they acted without sufficient information, or from motives of superstition; if they did not know their own rights, nor those of the Roman see; then any act of theirs, performed under such circumstances, could not be taken for the act of the church of England, but must have remained over until confirmed, after more mature investigation. An act performed without mature deliberation or information could not be final or conclusive; it could not compromise the liberties of the church, nor the canons. Now what was the fact? The English bishops in the reign of Mary did not canonically and regularly create the bishop of Rome patriarch of England, but made their submission to him, confessing that they had been guilty of schism and heresy in removing his jurisdiction. They proved that they did not know their own place, nor the power of the English church, nor the canons, when they confessed schism and heresy in an act which was, on the contrary, perfectly canonical and valid. They shewed that they had an exaggerated and erroneous notion of the rights of the Roman see, when they designated as schismatical the removal of a jurisdiction which was contrary to the canons. If then those prelates had, even in a canonical synod, formally erected the Roman jurisdiction in Britain, yet still their judgment could not be conclusive; it could not compromise the rights of the catholic church, because they acted without sufficient information, and on erroneous principles. Nor are these the only proofs which demonstrate that the Roman jurisdiction was not canonically in existence in Britain, when Parker was to be consecrated. Whatever we may think of patriarchal jurisdiction, we are not bound to think the same of papal. And even supposing that the bishops of England had the power of creating the former, we peremptorily deny that they could have had any right to create the latter. Papal authority had grown up contrary to, and had long set itself above, the canonse. To create this authority without pro tum, videtur pacis ergo Hæc cum ita essent, tres status Angliæ volentes antiqui regni jura, potius vi et potentia quam ex canonum norma ablata, repetere; ex concessione canon. 8. Ephesini, anno 24 Hen. VIII. c. 12. Statutorum, decreverunt lites intra regni limites terminari sine provocatione ad exteros." Ib. e Bossuet says, that in the course of time "the Roman pontiffs began to turn away from obedience to the canons, and by extraordinary mandates, reservations, tenths, heavy burdens, pecuniary impositions, &c. to draw all the rights of the bishops and clergy to themselves." Defens. Declar. Cleri Gallicani, lib. xi. c. 9. Trevern, bishop of Aire, admits that "exorbitant power" was attributed to the Roman see at the period of the reformation, and, "with all the respect which he professes for his brethren of the ultramon per limitations, without a restoration of all the canons on which it had trampled, to their full force, without a bridling which should effectually keep it within its proper limits; to surrender unconditionally (as queen Mary's bishops did) the liberties of the catholic church to a power which professed to be unlimited and above all canons; I say that this was to immolate the canonical and divine rights of the Christian church to a spirit of ignorance, of superstition, and of error: and for such an act there could be no power or right, canonical or divine. It may be objected here, that if Roman jurisdiction was uncanonical in Britain, then all the ordinations of English metropolitans, from the time of Gregory the Great of Rome, were uncanonical, since the Roman patriarch always confirmed and ordained them. But this objection is of no force, because the necessity and advantage of the church justified these things at first; and afterwards, the custom was tolerated for a time, because the Roman pontiff was too strong, and perhaps, too, from want of considering the canons, and partly from weakness and sutane churches," deems it necessary to remark, that they are imbued with exaggerated principles" on this point; and exhorts them to remember, "that even the ocean in its plenitude has its bounds;" a simile which he uses to illustrate the authority of the Roman pontiff. Discuss. Amicale. P. 229, &c. Those divines amongst the Romanists who are considered most orthodox, sustain that the bishop of Rome cannot be judged by any earthly power, even a general council; Bellarmin. de Rom. Pont. lib. ii. c. 26. And it is thence |