Selected quad for the lemma: act_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
act_n	law_n	parliament_n	prerogative_n	2,334	5	9.9399	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43547	Parliaments power in lawes for religion, or, An ansvvere to that old and groundles [sic] calumny of the papists, nick-naming the religion of the Church of England, by the name of a parliamentary-religion sent to a friend who was troubled at it, and earnestly desired satisfaction in it.	Heylyn, Peter, 1600-1662.	1645 (1645)	Wing H1730; ESTC R200234	30,417	44

and Clergy representing the said Church in their Convocation And on the very same foundation was the Statute raised 26. H. 8. c. 1. where in the King is declared to be the supreme head of the Church of England to have all honors Preeminencies which were annexed unto that Title as by the Act it selfe doth at full appeare which Act being made I speake it from the Act it selfe only for corroboration and confirmation of that which had beene done in the Convocation did afterwards draw on the Statute for the Tenths and First-fruits as the point incident to the Headship or supreme authority 26. H. 8 c. 3. The second step to the Ejection of the Pope was the submission of the Clergy to the said K. Henry whom they had recognized for their supreme Head And this was first concluded on in the Convocation before it was proposed or agitated in the houses of Parliament and was commended only to the care of the Parliament that it might have the force of a Law by a civill Sanction The whole debate with all the traverses and emergent difficulties which appeared therein are specified at large in the Records of Convocation Anno 1532. But being you have not oportunity to consult those Records I shall prove it by the Act of Parliament called commonly the Act of the submission of the Clergy but bearing this Title in the Abridgement of the Statutes set out by Poulton That the Clergy in their Convocations shall enact no Constitutions without the Kings assent In which it is premised for granted that the Clergy of the Realm of England had not only acknowledg'd according to the Truth that the Convocation of the same Clergy is alwaies hath beene and ought to be assembled alwaies by the Kings Writ but also submitting themselves to the Kings Majesty had promised in verbo Sacerdotii That they would never from henceforth presume to attempt alleage claime or put in ure enact promulge or execute any new Canons Constitutions Ordinances Provinciall or other or by whatsoever other name they shall be called in the Convocation unlesse the Kings most Royall assent may to them be had to make promulge and execute the same and that his Majestie doe give his most royall Assent and Authority in that behalfe Upon which ground worke of the Clergies the Parliament shortly after built this superstructure to the same effect viz. That none of the said Clergy from thenceforth should presume to attempt alleage claime or put in ure any Constitutions or Ordinances Provinciall or Synodals or any other Canons nor shall enact promulge or execute any such Canons Constitutions or Ordinances Provinciall by whatsoever name or names they may be called in their Convocations in time comming which alwaies shall be assembled by the kings Writ unlesse the same Clergy may have the kings most royall Assent and Licence to make promulge and execute such Canons Constitutions and Ordinances Provinciall or Synodicall upon paine of every one of the said Clergy doing the contrary to this Act and thereof convict to suffer imprisonment and make fine at the kings will 25. H. 8. c. 19. So that the Statute in effect is no more than this an Act to bind the Clergy to performe their promise to keepe them fast unto their word for the time to come that no new Canon should bee made in the times succeeding in favour of the Pope or by his authority or to the diminution of the Kings Royall Prerogative or contrary to the Lawes and Statutes of this Realme of England as many Papall Constitutions were in the former Ages which Statute I desire you to take notice of because it is the rule and measure of the Churches power in making Canons Constitutions or whatsoever else you shall please to call them in their Convocations The third and finall Act conducing to the Popes Ejection was an Act of Parliament 28. H. 8. c. 10. Entituled an Act extinguishing the Authority of the Bishop of Rome By which it was Enacted That if any person should extoll the authority of the Bishop of Rome he should incurre the penalty of a Praemunire that every Officer both Ecclesiasticall and Lay should be sworne to renounce the said Bishop and his authority and to resist it to his power and to repute any Oath formerly taken in maintenance of the said Bishop or his authority to be void and finally that the refusall of the said Oath should be judged high Treason But this was also usherd in by the Determination first and after by the Practice of all the Clergie For in the yeare 1534 which was two yeares before the passing of this Act the King had sent this Proposition to be agitated in both Vniversities and in the greatest and most famous Monasteries of the Kingdome that is to say An aliquid authoritatis in hoc regno Angliae Pontifici Romano de jure competat plus quam alii cuicunque Episcopo extero By whom it was determined Negatively that the Bishop of Rome had no more power of right in the kingdome of England than any other forraigne Bishop Which being testified and returned under their hands and seales respectively the Originals whereof are still remayning in the Library of Sir Robert Cotton was a good preamble to the Bishops and the rest of the Clergy assembled in their Convocation to conclude the like And so accordingly they did and made an Instrument thereof subscribed by the hands of all the Bishops and others of the Clergie and afterwards confirmed the same by their corporall Oathes The copies of which Oathes and Instrument you shall finde in Foxes Acts and Monuments vol. 2. fol. 1203. and fol. 1210. 1211. of the Edition of Iohn Day An. 1570. And this was semblably the ground of a following Statute 35. H. 8. c. 1. Wherein another Oath was devised and ratified to be imposed upon the Subject for the more cleare asserting of the Kings Supremacy and the utter exclusion of the Popes for ever which Statutes though they were all repealed by one Act of Parliament 1. 2. of Phil. Mary c. 8. yet they were brought in force againe 1. Eliz. c. 1. save that the name of Supreme Head was changed unto that of the Supreme Governour and certaine clauses altered in the Oath of Supremacy Where by the way you must take notice that the Statutes which concerne the Kings Supremacy are not introductory of any new Right that was not in the Crown before but only declaratory of an old as our best Lawyers tell us and the Statute of the 26. of H. 8. c. 1. doth clearly intimate So that in the Ejection of the Pope of Rome which was the first and greatest step towards the worke of Reformation the Parliament did nothing for ought yet appeares but what was done before in the Convocation and did no more than fortifie the results of Holy Church by the Addition and Corroboration of the Secular Power 2. Of the Translation of the

thing at all with the booke of Articles Where by the way if you behold the lawfullnesse of Priests Marriages as a matter Doctrinall or thinke we owe that Point of Doctrine and the indulgence granted to the Clergy in it to the care and goodnesse of the Parliament you may please to know that the point had beene before determined in the Convocation and stands determined by and for the Clergy in the 31. of those Articles and that the Parliament looked not on it as a point of Doctrine but as it was a matter practicall conducing to the benefit and improvement of the Common-wealth Or if it did yet was the Statute built on no other ground-worke than the resolution of the Clergy the Marriage of Priests being before determined to be most lawfull I use the very words of the Act it selfe and according to the word of God by the learned Clergy of this Realm in their Convocations as well by the common assent as by subscription of their hands 5.6 Ed 6. c. 12. And for the time of Q. Elizabeth it is most manifest that they had no other body of Doctrine in the first part of her Reigne then only the said Articles of K. Edward's booke and that which was delivered in the booke of Homilies of the said kings time in which the Parliament had as little to doe as you have seene they had in the booke of Articles But in the Convocation of the yeare 1562. being the fifth of the Queenes Reigne the Bishops and Clergy taking into consideration the said booke of Articles and altering what they thought most fitting to make it more conducible to the use of the Church and the edification of the people presented it unto the Queene who caused it to be published with this name and Title viz. Articles whereupon it was agreed by the Archbishops and Bishops of both Provinces and the whole Clergy in the Convocation holden at London An. 1562. for the avoiding of diversitie of opinions and for establishing of consent touching true Religion put forth by the Queenes authority Of any thing done or pretended to be done by the power of Parliament either in the way of approbation or of confirmation not one word occurres either in any of the printed bookes or their publique Registers At last indeed in the thirteenth of the said Queenes Reigne which was eight yeares full after the passing of those Articles comes out a Statute for the redressing of disorders in the Ministers of holy Church In which it was enacted That all such as were ordeined Priests or Ministers of God's Word and Sacraments after any other forme than that appointed to be used in the Church of England all such as were to be ordeined or permitted to preach or to be instituted into any Benefice with cure of Soules should publiquely subscribe to the said Articles and testifie their assent unto them which shewes if you observe it well that though the Parliament did well allow of and approve the said booke of Articles yet the said booke owes neither confirmation nor authority to the Act of Parliament So that the wonder is the greater that that most insolent scoffe which is put upon us by the Church of Rome in calling our Religion by the name Parliamentaria Religio should passe so long without controle unlesse perhaps it was in reference to our Formes of worship of which I am to speake in the next place But first we must make answere unto some objections which are made against us both from Law and practise For Practise first it is alleaged by some out of Bishop Iewell in his answere to the cavill of Dr. Harding to be no strange matter to see Ecclesiasticall causes debated in Parliament and that it is apparent by the Lawes of K. Inas K. Alfred K. Edward c. That our godly forefathers the Princes and Peeres of this Realme never vouchsafed to treate of matters touching the common State before all controversies of Religion and Causes Ecclesiasticall had beene concluded Def. of the Apol. pt. 6. c. 2. 1. But the answere unto this is easy For first if our Religion may be called Parliamentarian because it hath received confirmation and debate in Parliament then the Religion of our Forefathers even Papistry it selfe concerning which so many Acts of Parliament were made in K. Henry 8. and Q. Maries time must be called Parliamentarian also And Secondly it is most certaine that in the Parliaments or Common Councels call them which you will both of King Inas time and the rest of the Saxon Kings which Bishop Iewell speakes of not only Bishops Abbats and the higher part of the Clergy but the whole body of the Clergy generally had their votes and suffrages eyther in person or by Proxy Concerning which take this for the leading Case That in the Parliament or Common Councell in K. Ethelbert's time who first of all the Saxon Kings received the Gospell the Clergy were convened in as full a manner as the Lay subjects of that Prince Convocato cōmuni Concilio tam Cleri quàm Populi saith Sr. H. Spelman in his Collection of the Councels An. 605. p. 118. And for the Parliament of King Ina which leades the way in Bishop Iewell it was saith the same Sr. H. Spelman p. 630. Commune Concilium Episcoporum Procerum Comitum necnon omnium Sapientum Seniorum populorumque totius Regni where doubtlesse Sapientes and Seniores and you know what Seniores signifieth in the Ecclesiasticall notion must be some body else then those which after are expressed by the name of Populi which shewes the falshood and absurdity of the collection made by Master Prynne that in the epistle to his booke against Doctor Cousins viz. That the Parliament as it is now constituted hath an ancient genuine just and lawfull Prerogative to establish true Religion in our Church and to abolish and suppresse all false new and counterfeit doctrines whatsoever unlesse he meanes upon the post-fact after the Church hath done her part in determining wh●t was true what false what new what ancient and finally what Doctrines might be counted counterfeit and what sincere And as for Law 't is true indeed that by the Statute 1 Eliz. cap. 1. The Court of Parliament hath pawer to determine and judge of Heresie which at first sight seemes somewhat strange but on the second view you will easily finde that this relates only to new and emergent Heresies not formerly declared for such in any of the first foure Generall Councells nor in any other Generall Councell adjudging by expresse words of holy Scripture as also that in such new Heresies the following words restraine this power to the Assent of the Clergy in their Convocation as being best able to instruct the Parliament what they are to doe and where they are to make use of the secular sword for cutting off a desperat Heretick from the Church of CHRIST or rather from the body of all Christian people 4. Of the Formes

Domine instead of Ora pro nobis and the like to these And of this sort were the Injunctions which came out in some yeares succeeding for the taking away of Images and Reliques with all the Ornaments of the same and all the Monuments and writings of fained Miracles and for restraint of offering or setting up lights in any Church but only to the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar in which he was directed chiefly by Archbishop Cranmer as also those for eating of white-meates in the time of Lent the abolishing the fast on St. Marks day and the ridiculous but superstitious sports accustomably used on the dayes of Saint Clement St. Catherine and St. Nicholas All which and more was done in the said Kings Reigne without help of Parliament For which I shall refer you to the Acts Mon. fol. 1385. 1425. 1441. The like may also be affirmed of the Injunctions published in the name of K. Ed. 6. An. 1547. and printed also then for the use of the Subjects and of the severall Letters missive which went forth in his name prohibiting the bearing of Candles on Candlemas day of Ashes in Lent and of Palmes on Palm-Sunday for the taking down of all the Images throughout the kingdom for administring the Communion in both kinds dated March 13. 1548. for abrogating of private Masses Iun. 24. 1549. for bringing in all Missals Graduals Processionals Legends and Ordinals about the latter end of December of the same yeare for taking down of Altars and setting up Tables instead thereof An. 1550. and the like to these All which particulars you have in Foxes book of Acts Mon. in King Edwards life which whether they were done of the Kings meer motion or by advice of his Counsell or by consultation with his Bishops for there is little left upon Record of the Convocations of that time more than the Articles of the yeare 1552 certain I am that there was nothing done nor yet pretended to be done in all these particulars by the authority of Parliament Thus also in Q. Elizabeths time before the new Bishops were well setled and the Queen assured of the affections of her Clergy she went that way to work in the Reformation which not only her two Predecessors but all the godly Kings and Princes in the Iewish State and many of the Christian Emperours in the Primitive times had done before her in the well ordering of the Church and People committed to their care and government by Almighty God And to that end she published her Injunctions An. 1559. A book of Orders An. 1561. Another of Advertisements An. 1562. all tending unto Reformation unto the building up of the new Ierusalem with the advise no doubt of some godly Prelates as were then about her But past all doubt without the least concurrence of her Court of Parliament But when the times were better setled and the first difficulties of her Reigne passed over she left Church-work to the disposing of Church-men who by their place and calling were most proper for it And they being met in Convocation and thereto authorized as the Lawe required did make and publish severall books of Canons as viz. 1571. An. 1584. An. 1597. Which being confirmed by the Queene under the broad Seale of England were in force of Lawes to all intents and purposes which they were first made but being confirmed without those formall words Her Heires and Successors are not binding now but expired together with the Queene No Act of Parliament required to confirm them then nor never required ever since on the like occasion A fuller evidence whereof we cannot have then in the Canons of the yeare 1603. being the first yeare of King Iames made by the Clergy only in the Convocation and confirmed only by the King For though the old Canons were in force which had been made before the Submission of the Clergy as before I shewed you which served in all these wavering and unsetled times for the perpetuall standing rule of the Churches Government yet many new emergent Cases did require new Rules and whilest there is a possibility of mali mores there will be a necessity of bonae Leges Now in the Confirmation of these Canons we shall find it thus That the Clergy being met in their Convocation according to the Tenour and effect of his Majesties Writ his Majesty was pleased by virtue of his Prerogative Royall and Supreme authority in Causes Ecclesiasticall to give and grant unto them by his Letters Patents dated Apr. 12. Iun. 25. full free and lawfull liberty licence power and authority to confer treate debate consider consult and agree upon such Canons Orders Ordinances and Constitutions as they should think necessary fit and convenient for the honour and service of Almighty God the good and quiet of the Church and the better Government thereof from time to time c. to be kept by all persons within this Realm as far as lawfully being members of the Church it may concern them which being agreed on by the Clergy and by them presented to the King humbly requiring him to give his Royall assent unto them according to the Statute made in the 25. of K. H. 8. and by his Majesties Prerogative and Supreme authority in Ecclesiasticall Causes to ratifie and confirm the same his Majesty was graciously pleased to confirm and ratifie them by his Letters Patents for Himselfe his Heires and lawfull Successours straitly commanding and requiring all his loving Subjects diligently to observe execute and keep the same in all points wherein they doe or may concern all or any of them No running to the Parliament to confirm these Canons nor any question made till this present by temperate and knowing men that there wanted any Act for their confirmation which the Lawe could give them But against this and all which hath been said before it will be objected That being the Bishops of the Church are fully and wholly Parliamentarian and have no more authority and jurisdiction nisi a Parliamentis derivatam but that which is conferred upon them by the power of Parliaments as both Sanders and Schultingius doe expresly say whatsoever they shall doe or conclude upon either in Convocation or in private Conferences may be called Parliamentarian also And this last calumny they build on the severall Statutes 24. H. 8. c. 12. touching the manner of electing and Consecrating Archbishops and Bishops that of the 1. Ed. 6. c. 2. appointing how they shall be chosen and what Seales they shall use those of the 3 4 Ed. 6. c. 12. and 5 6 Ed. 6. for authorising of the book of Ordination But chiefly that of the 8 Eliz. c. 1. for making good all Acts since 1 Eliz. in consecrating any Archbishop or Bishop within this Realm To give a generall answer to each severall cavill you may please to know that the Bishops as they now stand in the Church of England derive their Calling together with their Authority and