He seems to
have thought, that the Pope can exercise, no immediate jurisdiction,
within the dioceses of bishops, and that his primacy invested him, with
no more than a general conservation, of the deposit of the faith, a
right to enforce, the observance of the sacred canons, and the general
maintenance of discipline. He allowed, in general terms, that there was
little substantially wrong, in the discipline of the Church of England;
he deprecated all discussion, on the original merit of reformation, and
he professed to see no use in the Pope's intervention, till the basis of
the negotiation, should be settled.
The answer of the archbishop, was not very explicit. It is evident from
it, that he thought, the quarrels on Jansenism, had alienated the
Jansenists and their adherents, from the Pope, much more, than they had
done, in reality. He was willing to concede, to the Pope, a primacy of
rank and honour, but would by no means allow him, a primacy of
jurisdiction, or any primacy, by divine right.
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