The king be

coming the fuPme head of

the civil eftab

very exalted

drawn as to make a difference in the two cafes, yet the people at large, and much more the king himself, would infer from the conceffions, that the pope had ufurped his powers on the crown;' that therefore the crown had now a right to those powers. And the circumstance of this tranflation's pafsing by act of parliament, does not alter the matter much, with regard to the king's notion of it. For in that time of danger, and for the greater fecurity of his new power, he would chufe to have that ratified and confirmed by ftatute, which he firmly believed inherent in his perfon and dignity.

"Then, to fee how far the current opinions of that time were favourable to the extenfion of the regal authority, on this alliance with the papal, we are to reflect, that however odious the adminiftration of the pope's fupremacy was become, moft men had very high notions of the plenitude of his power, and the facredness of his perfon. « Chrift's vicar upon earth," was an awful title, and had funk deep into the aftonished minds of the people. And though Henry's pretenfions went no further than to affume that vicarial

lithment raised authority within his own kingdom, yet this limitation would not hinder them from con

notions of the fovereign.

ceiving of him much in the fame way as of the

pope

pope himself. They, perhaps, had seen no difference, but for his want of the pope's facerdotal capacity. Yet even this defect was in fome measure made up to him by his regal. So that between the majefty of the kingly character, and the confecration of his perfon by this myfterious endowment of the fpiritual, it is eafy to fee how well prepared the minds of men were to allow him the exercife of any authority, to which he pretended."

And to what degree this spiritual character of head of the church operated in the minds of the people, we may understand from the language of men in ftill later times, and even from the articles of our church, where the prerogative of the crown is faid to be that, which godly kings have always exercifed; intimating, that this plenitude of power was inherent in the king, on account of that fpiritual and religious character, with which, as head of the church, he was neceffarily invefted.

a

It cannot be denied, but that the 24th of Henry VIII. operated as the tranflation of part of the headship of the civil establishment of the church of England, from the pope to the fovereign. The operative part of that act, in as much as it affected the conftitutional church establishment and royal prerogative,

The fubject matter of this act clearly re

lates to the civil

gative, enacted, that all caufes teftamentary, caufes of matrimony and divorces, rights of tythes, oblations, and obventions, should be in future beard, examined, difcuffed, clearly, finally, and definitively adjudged and determined within the king's jurifdiction and authority, and not elsewhere, notwithstanding any foreign inhibiticns, appeals, fentences, fummons, citations, fufeftablishment. pensions, interdictions, excommunications, refiraints, judgments, or any other process or impediments from the See of Rome, &c. Every fort of process there mentioned is, upon the very face it, the direct creature of the civil establishment of the Roman Catholic religion in this nation; and if the nation chose to seek their redress by reforting to the legal courts of Rome upon certain fubjects, I know of no authority above themfelves, that could check or prevent them from doing it; they were certainly bound to it by no article of the Roman catholic doctrine; and they were as free to defift, as they had been to commence the usage. I wonder much, that the nation did not fooner eafe themfelves of the expence, trouble, and delay of carrying their fuits to fo diftant and foreign a judicature; and I wonder not lefs, that to this day they refer the decifion of fo many of their rights and

The prefent fpiritual courts like thofe

courts at Rome to which we formerly reforted.

liberties to what are now called the fpiritual

courts

courts, which continue to be ruled and determined by the fame civil Roman and canonical laws, to which they formerly reforted. But I am concluded by the act of the majority, and I fubmit with refpectful deference to their jurifdiction.

improperly fo

In their nature, our spiritual or ecclefiaftical Spiritual courts courts at this day partake just as much of real called. Spiritual jurifdiction, as the courts, to which our ancestors were wont to refort at Rome, If the judges or practitioners in either happened to be in orders, it was accidental, or at least immaterial to their official jurifdiction; for they derived no more jurisdiction nor fanction from their ordination, than our ferjeants practising at common law did of old, who introduced the ufe of the coif, to conIceal their clerical tonfures from the eyes of the public, as by canon they were prohibited to be either advocates or judges. Although the jurisdiction of their courts went to the decifion of difputes and litigations, arifing out of or connected with fubjects of a spiritual or ecclefiaftical nature, yet the courts themfelves were purely civil or temporal, in as much as they were created, fupported, and maintained merely by the civil or temporal power, and acquired their whole force and authority from the civil legislative body of

that

Excommunication of thefe courts no eal

fpiritual excommunication.

that community, in which they were established, or which chose to submit to their authority and jurisdiction. It would be equally abfurd to look for any divine mission, or authority, or special guidance of Almighty God, in the old judges of the confiftory or other courts of Rome, to which our anceftors reforted, as it would be ridiculous to expect a peculiar gift of divine grace and infpiration in a modern furrogate or proctor of doctors commons, whither we now carry our fuits of the like nature. The origin of these courts, and of the fuits profecuted in them, the objects of many fuch fuits (as wills, &c.) the method of carrying them on, the effects of their determination and judgments, all befpeak them the direct creatures of a civil establishment.

The excommunication, which is pronounced in thefe courts, is as different from that fpiritual excommunication, which I have before fpoken of, as the power of the grand fignior over his janiffaries is different from that of a christian bishop over his diocefe. No civil effect whatever can be produced by a mere Spiritual excommunication, as I have before faid; and there can be no excommunication pronounced by thefe courts, which does not produce fome civil effect.