Seeing then in every Christian commonwealth, the civil sovereign is the supreme pastor, to whose charge the whole flock of his subjects is committed, and consequently that it is by his authority that all other pastors are made, and have power to teach, and perform all other pastoral offices; it followeth also, that it is from the civil sovereign that all other pastors derive their right of teaching, preaching, and other functions pertaining to that office, and that they are but his ministers; in the same manner as the magistrates of towns, judges in courts of justice, and commanders of armies, are all but ministers of him that is the magistrate of the whole commonwealth, judge of all causes, and commander of the whole militia, which is always the civil sovereign. And the reason hereof, is not because they that teach, but because they that are to learn, are his subjects. For let it be supposed, that a Christian king commit the authority of ordaining pastors in his dominions to another king, as divers Christian kings allow that power to the Pope; he doth not thereby constitute a pastor over himself, nor a sovereign pastor over his people; for that were to deprive himself of the civil power; which, depending on the opinion men have of their duty to him and the fear they have of punishment in another world, would depend also on the skill and loyalty of doctors, who are no less subject, not only to ambition, but also to ignorance, than any other sort of men. So that where a stranger hath authority to appoint teachers, it is given him by the sovereign in whose dominions he teacheth. Christian doctors are our schoolmasters to Christianity; but kings are fathers of families, and may receive schoolmasters for their subjects from the recommendation of a stranger, but not from the command; especially when the ill teaching them shall redound to the great and manifest profit of him that recommends them: nor can they be obliged to retain them, longer than it is for the public good; the care of which they stand so long charged withal, as they retain any other essential right of the sovereignty.
The pastoral authority of sovereigns only is jure divino; that of other pastors is jure civili.
If a man therefore should ask a pastor, in the execution of his office, as the chief-priests and elders of the people (Matth. xxi. 23) asked our Saviour, By what authority doest thou these things, and who gave thee this authority? he can make no other just answer, but that he doth it by the authority of the commonwealth, given him by the king, or assembly that representeth it. All pastors, except the supreme, execute their charges in the right, that is by the authority of the civil sovereign, that is, jure civili. But the king, and every other sovereign, executeth his office of supreme pastor by immediate authority from God, that is to say, in God’s right or jure divino. And therefore none but kings can put into their titles a mark of their submission to God only, Dei gratiâ rex, &c. Bishops ought to say in the beginning of their mandates, By the favour of the King’s Majesty, bishop of such a diocese; or as civil ministers, in His Majesty’s name. For in saying, Divinâ providentiâ, which is the same with Dei gratiâ, though disguised, they deny to have received their authority from the civil state; and slily slip off the collar of their civil subjection, contrary to the unity and defence of the commonwealth.
Christian kings have power to execute all manner of pastoral function.
But if every Christian sovereign be the supreme pastor of his own subjects, it seemeth that he hath also the authority, not only to preach, which perhaps no man will deny, but also to baptize and to administer the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper: and to consecrate both temples and pastors to God’s service; which most men deny; partly because they use not to do it, and partly because the administration of sacraments, and consecration of persons and places to holy uses, requireth the imposition of such men’s hands, as by the like imposition successively from the time of the apostles have been ordained to the like ministry. For proof therefore that Christian kings have power to baptize, and to consecrate, I am to render a reason, both why they use not to do it, and how, without the ordinary ceremony of imposition of hands, they are made capable of doing it when they will.
There is no doubt but any king, in case he were skilful in the sciences, might by the same right of his office read lectures of them himself, by which he authorizeth others to read them in the universities. Nevertheless, because the care of the sum of the business of the commonwealth taketh up his whole time, it were not convenient for him to apply himself in person to that particular. A king may also, if he please, sit in judgment to hear and determine all manner of causes, as well as give others authority to do it in his name; but that the charge, that lieth upon him of command and government, constrain him to be continually at the helm, and to commit the ministerial offices to others under him. In the like manner our Saviour, who surely had power to baptize, baptized none (John iv. 2) himself, but sent his apostles and disciples to baptize. So also St. Paul, by the necessity of preaching in divers and far distant places, baptized few: amongst all the Corinthians he baptized only (1 Cor. i. 14, 16,) Crispus, Gaius, and Stephanas; and the reason was, (1 Cor. i. 17) because his principal charge was to preach. Whereby it is manifest, that the greater charge, such as is the government of the Church, is a dispensation for the less. The reason therefore why Christian kings use not to baptize, is evident, and the same for which at this day there are few baptized by bishops, and by the Pope fewer.
And as concerning imposition of hands, whether it be needful for the authorising of a king to baptize and consecrate, we may consider thus:
Imposition of hands, was a most ancient public ceremony amongst the Jews, by which was designed, and made certain, the person, or other thing intended in a man’s prayer, blessing, sacrifice, consecration, condemnation, or other speech. So Jacob, in blessing the children of Joseph (Gen. xlviii. 14), Laid his right hand on Ephraim the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh the first born; and this he did wittingly (though they were so presented to him by Joseph, as he was forced in doing it to stretch out his arms across) to design to whom he intended the greater blessing. So also in the sacrificing of the burnt offering, Aaron is commanded (Exod. xxix. 10) to lay his hands on the head of the bullock: and (verse 15) to lay his hand on the head of the ram. The same is also said again Levit. i. 4, and viii. 14. Likewise Moses, when he ordained Joshua to be captain of the Israelites, that is, consecrated him to God’s service, (Numb. xxvii. 23) Laid his hands upon him, and gave him his charge, designing and rendering certain, who it was they were to obey in war. And in the consecration of the Levites (Numb. viii. 10), God commanded that the children of Israel should put their hands upon the Levites. And in the condemnation of him that had blasphemed the Lord (Levit. xxiv. 14), God commanded that all that heard him should lay their hands on his head, and that all the congregation should stone him. And why should they only that heard him, lay their hands upon him, and not rather a priest, Levite, or other minister of justice, but that none else were able to design and to demonstrate to the eyes of the congregation, who it was that had blasphemed and ought to die? And to design a man or any other thing, by the hand to the eye, is less subject to mistake, than when it is done to the ear by a name.
And so much was this ceremony observed, that in blessing the whole congregation at once, which cannot be done by laying on of hands, yet Aaron (Levit. ix. 22) did lift up his hands toward the people when he blessed them. And we read also of the like ceremony of consecration of temples amongst the heathen, as that the priest laid his hands on some post of the temple, all the while he was uttering the words of consecration. So natural it is to design any individual thing, rather by the hand, to assure the eyes, than by words to inform the ear, in matters of God’s public service.
This ceremony was not therefore new in our Saviour’s time. For Jairus (Mark v. 23), whose daughter was sick, besought our Saviour, not to heal her, but to lay his hands upon her that she might be healed. And (Matthew xix. 13) they brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them, and pray.