Authority and not elsewhere in such Courts Spiritual and Temporal of the same as the natures conditions and qualities of the Cases and matters aforesaid in contention or thereafter happening in contention should require without having any respect to any custome use or sufferance in hinderance lett or prejudice of the same or to any other thing used or suffered to the contrary thereof by any other manner person or persons in any manner of wise any forrein Inhibitions Appeals Sentences Summons Citations Suspensions Interdictions Excommunications Restraints Judgements or any other Process or Impediment of what natures names qualities or conditions soever they be from the See of Rome or any other forrein Courts or Potentates of the world or from and out of this Realm or any other the King's dominions or Marches of the same to the See of Rome or to any other forrein Courts or Potentates to the let tor impediment thereof in any wise notwithstanding as by the said Act appeareth By an Act of Parliament in 25 H. 8. it is declared by the King the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in that Parliament assembled That neither the King his Heirs nor Successors Kings of this Realm nor any his subjects of this Realm nor of any other his dominions should from thenceforth sue to the said Bishop of Rome called the Pope or to the See of Rome or to any person or persons having or pretending any Authority by the same for Licences Dispensations Impositions Faculties Grants Rescripts Delegacies or any other Instruments or Writings of what kind name nature or quality soever they be for any cause or matter for the which any Licence Dispensation Composition Faculty Grant Rescript Delegacy Instrument or other Writing theretofore had been used and accustomed to be had and obtained at the See of Rome or by authority thereof or of any Prelat of this Realm nor for any manner of other Licences Dispensations Compositions Faculties Grants Rescripts Delegacies or any other Instruments or Writings that in cases of necessity might lawfully be granted without offending of the Holy Scriptures and Laws of God But that from thenceforth every such Licence Dispensation Composition Faculty Grant Rescript Delegacy Instrument and other Writing afore named and mentioned necessary for the King his Heirs and Successors and his and their people and subjects upon the due examination of the causes and qualities of the persons procuring such Dispensations Licences Compositions Faculties Grants Rescripts Delegacies Instruments or other Writings should be granted had and obtained from time to time within this his Realm and other his dominions and not elsewhere in manner and form following and not otherwise That is to say The Archbishop of Canterbury for the time being and his Successors should have power and authority from time to time by their discretions to give grant and dispose by an Instrument under the Seal of the said Archbishop unto the King and unto his Heirs and Successors Kings of this Realm as well all manner of such Licences Dispensations Compositions Faculties Grants Rescripts Delegacies Instruments and all other Writings for causes not being contrary or repugnant to the Holy Scriptures and Laws of God as theretofore had been used and accustomed to be had and obtained by the King or any his most noble Progenitors or any of his or their subjects from the See of Rome or any person or persons by authority of the same and all other Licences Dispensations Faculties Compositions Grants Rescripts Delegacies Instruments and other Writings in for and upon all such causes and matters as should be convenient and necessary to be had for the honour and surety of the King his Heirs and Successors and the wealth and profit of this his Realm so that the said Archbishop or any his Successors in no manner wise should grant any Dispensation Licence Rescript or any other Writing before rehearsed for any cause or matter repugnant to the Law of Almightie God as by the said Act also appeareth If it be demanded what Canons Constitutions Ordinances and Synodals provincial are still in force within this Realm I answer that it is resolved and enacted by Authority of Parliament That such as have been allowed by general consent and custome within the Realm and are not contrariant or repugnant to the Laws Statutes and Customes of this Realm nor are to the dammage or hurt of the King's Prerogative royal are still in force within this Realm as the King 's Ecclesiastical Laws of the same Now as consent and custome hath allowed those Canons so no doubt by general consent of the whole Realm any of the same may be corrected inlarged explained or abrogated For example There is a Decree that all Clerks that have received any manner of Orders greater or smaller should be exempt pro causis criminalibus before the Temporal Judges This Decree had never any force within England First for that it was never approved and allowed of by general consent within the Realm Secondly it was against the Laws of the Realm as it doth appear by infinite precedents Thirdly it was against the Prerogative and Sovereignty of the King that any subject within this Realm should not be subject to the Laws of this Realm In the Reign of Queen Elizabeth BY the said Act of Parliament whereupon the principal case then in question partly dependeth made in the first year of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth it is declared That where in the time of the Reign of King Henry the 8. divers good Laws and Statutes were made and established as well for the utter extinguishment and putting away of all usurped and forrein powers and authorities out of this Realm and other her dominions and countries as also for the restoring and uniting to the Imperial Crown of this Realm the ancient Jurisdiction Authorities Superiorities and Preheminences to the same of right belonging and appertaining by reason whereof her most humble subjects from the 25. year of the said King Henry the 8. were continually kept in good order and were disburthened of divers great and intolerable charges and vexations before that time unlawfully taken and exacted by such forrein power and authority as before that was usurped And to the intent that all usurped and forrein power and authority Spirituall and Temporal might for ever be clearly extinguished and never be used or obeyed within this Realm or any other her dominions or countries It was by the Authority of that Parliament enacted That no forrein Prince person Prelate State or Potentate Spiritual or Temporal should at any time after the last day of that Session of Parliament use enjoy or exercise any manner of Power Jurisdiction Superiority Authority Preheminence or Priviledge Spiritual or Ecclesiastical within this Realm or within any other the Queen's dominions or countries that then were or hereafter should be but from thenceforth the same should be clearly abolished out of this Realm and all other her dominions for ever any Statute
Ordinance Customes Constitutions or any other matter or cause whatsoever to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding And it was then also established and enacted by the Authority of that Parliament That such Jurisdictions Priviledges Superiorities and Preheminences Spiritual and Ecclesiastical as by any Spiritual or Ecclesiastical power or authority had heretofore been or might lawfully be exercised or used for the visitation of the Ecclesiastical state and persons and for reformation order and correction of the same and of all manner Errours Heresies Schisms Abuses Offences Contempts and Enormities should for ever by Authority of that Parliament be united and annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm And that the Queen her Heirs and Successors Kings or Queens of this Realm should have full power and authority by virtue of that Act by Letters Patents under the great Seal of England to assign name and authorize when and as often as the Queen her Heirs or Successors should think meet and convenient and for such and so long time as should please the Queen her Heirs or Successors such person or persons being natural-born Subjects to the Queen her Heirs or Successors as the said Queen her Heirs or Successors should think meet to exercise use occupy and execute under the said Queen her Heirs or Successors all manner of Jurisdictions Priviledges and Preheminences in any wise touching or concerning any Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction within these Realms of England and Ireland or any other her dominions and countries and to visit reform redress order correct and amend all such Errours Heresies Schisms Abuses Offences Contempts and Enormities whatsoever which by any manner Spiritual or Ecclesiasticall power authority or jurisdiction could or might lawfully be reformed ordered redressed corrected restrained or amended to the pleasure of Almighty God the encrease of vertue and the conservation of the peace and the unity of this Realm And that such person or persons so to be named assigned authorized and appointed by the said Queen her Heirs or Successors after the said Letters Patents to him or them made and delivered as is aforesaid should have full power and authority by virtue of that Act and of the said Letters Patents under the said Queen her Heirs or Successors to exercise use and execute all the premisses according to the tenour and effect of the said Letters Patents any matter or cause to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding as by the said Act also appeareth It was adjudged in the Court of Common Pleas by Sir James Dyer Weston and the whole Court that a Dean or any other Ecclesiasticall person may resign to the Crown as divers did to King Edward the 6. for that he had the Authority of the supreme Ordinary From the 1. untill the 11. year of Queen Elizabeth's Reign no person of what perswation of Christian Religion soever at any time refused to come to the publick Divine Service celebrated in the Church of England being evidently grounded upon the Sacred and infallible Word of Almighty God and established by publick Authority within this Realm But after the Bull of Pius Quintus was published against her Majesty in the 11. year of her Reign containing amongst other things too long to be repeated for this purpose these words Pius Bishop Servant of God's servants c She Queen Elizabeth hath clean put away the Sacrifice of the Mass Prayers Fastings Choice or difference of meats and Single life She possessing the Kingdome and by usurping the place of the Supreme Head of the Church in all England and the chief Authority and Jurisdiction of the same hath again brought the said Realm into miserable destruction Unto her all such as are the worst of the people resort and are by her received into safe protection c. We make it known that the said Elizabeth and as many as stand on her side in the matter above named have run into the danger of our Curse We make it also known that we have deprived her from that right she pretended to have in the Kingdome aforesaid and also from all and every her Authority Dignity and Priviledge We charge and forbid all and every the Nobles Subjects and people and others aforesaid that they be not so hardy as to obey her or her Admonitions Commandments or Laws upon pain of the like accurse upon them We pronounce that all whosoever by any occasion have taken their Oath unto her are for ever discharged of such their Oath and also from all Fealty and Service which was due to her by reason of her Government c. as by the said Bull more at large appeareth After this Bull all they that depended on the Pope obeyed the Bull disobeyed their gracious and natural Sovereign and upon this occasion refused to come to the Church The publishing of this Bull by a subject against his Sovereign as appeareth by that which hath been oftentimes said was Treason in the highest degree by the ancient Common Laws of England For if it were Treason to publish a Bull of Excommunication within this Realm against a Subject thereof as it was adjudged in the Reign of King Edward the 1. Ã fortiori it is Treason in the highest degree to publish such a Bull against the Sovereign and Monarch her self After this Bull many Bulls of Absolution and Reconciliation to the Church of Rome were published and dispersed amongst her Majestie 's subjects to withdraw them from their natural Loyalty and Allegeance to their Sovereign whereupon no small inconveniences as hereafter appeareth followed And therefore at a Parliament holden in The 13. year of her Reign it was declared by the whole Body of the Realm That divers seditious and very ill-disposed people minding very seditiously and unnaturally not onely to bring this Realm and the Imperial Crown thereof being in very deed of it self most free again into the thraldome and subjection of the forrein usurped and unlawful Jurisdiction Preheminence and Authority claimed by the said See of Rome but also to estrange and alienate the minds and hearts of sundry the Queen's subjects from their dutiful Obedience and to raise and stir Sedition and Rebellion within this Realm did then lately procure and obtain to themselves from the said Bishop of Rome and his said See divers Bulls and Writings the effect whereof had been and then was to absolve and reconcile all those that would be contented to forsake their due Obedience to the Queen and to yield and subject themselves to the said feigned unlawful and usurped Authority and by colour of the said Bulls and Writings the said persons very secretly and most seditiously in such parts of this Realm where the people for want of good instruction were most weak simple and ignorant and thereby farthest from the good understanding of their duties towards God and the Queen did by their lewd and subtil practices and perswasions so far forth work that sundry simple and ignorant persons had been contented to be
reconciled to the said usurped Authority of the See of Rome and to take Absolution at the hands of the said naughty and subtil practisers whereby did grow great disobedience and boldness in many not onely to withdraw and absent themselves from all Divine Service then most godly set forth and used within this Realm but also to think themselves discharged of and from all Obedience Duty and Allegeance to her Majesty whereby most wicked and unnatural Rebellion did ensue and to the farther danger of this Realm was thereafter very like to be renewed if the ungodly and wicked attempts in that behalf were not by severity of Laws in time restrained and bridled For remedy and redress whereof and to prevent the great mischiefs and inconveniences that thereby might ensue it was enacted by the Queen with the assent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in that Parliament assembled and by the Authority of the same That if any person or persons after the first day of July then next coming should use or put in ure in any place within this Realm or in any the Queen's dominions any such Bull Writing or Instrument written or printed of Absolution or Reconciliation at any time theretofore obtained and gotten or at any time thereafter to be obtained or gotten from the said Bishop of Rome or any his Successors or from any other person or persons authorized or claiming authority by or from the said Bishop of Rome his Predecessors or Successors or the See of Rome Or if any person or persons after the said first day of July should take upon him or them by colour of any such Bull Writing Instrument or Authority to absolve or reconcile any person or persons or to grant or promise to any person or persons within this Realm or any other the Queen's dominions any such Absolution or Reconciliation by any speech preaching teaching writing or any other open deed Or if any other person or persons within this Realm or any the Queen's dominions after the said first day of July should willingly receive and take any such Absolution or Reconciliation Or else if any person or persons had obtained or gotten sithence the last day of the Parliament holden in the first year of her Reign or after the said first day of July should obtain or get from the said Bishop of Rome or any his Successors or the See of Rome any manner of Bull Writing or Instrument written or printed containing any thing matter or cause whatsoever Or should publish or by any waies or means put in ure any such Bull Writing or Instrument That then all and every such act or acts offence and offences should be deemed and adjudged by the Authority of the said Act to be high Treason and the Offendor and Offendors therein their Procurors Abettors and Counsellours to the fact and committing of the said offence or offences should be deemed and adjudged high Traitours to the Queen and the Realm and being thereof lawfully indicted and attainted according to the course of the Laws of this Realm should suffer pains of death also lose and forfeit all their Lands Tenements Hereditaments Goods and Chattels as in cases of high Treason by the Laws of this Realm ought to be lost and forfeited as by the said Act appeareth And albeit many of her subjects after the said Bull of Pius Quintus adhering to the Pope did renounce their former Obedience to the Queen in respect of that Bull yet all this time no Law was either made or attempted against them for their Recusancy though it were grounded upon so disloyal a Cause Now that these speechless Bulls were declared by Act of Parliament to be so dangerous then in place of them Jesuites and Romish Priests were sent over who in secret corners whispered and infused into the hearts of many of the unlearned subjects of this Realm that the Pope had power to excommunicate and depose Kings and Princes that he had excommunicated the Queen deprived her of her Kingdome and discharged all her subjects of their Oath Duties and Allegeance to her and therefore they ought not to obey her or any of her Commandments or Laws under pain of the Pope's Curse This was high Treason by the ancient Laws of England And thereupon Campion Sherwin and many other Romish Priests being apprehended and confessing that they came into England to make a party for the Catholick cause when need should require were in the 21. year of the said Queen's Reign by the ancient Common Laws of England indicted arraigned tried adjudged and executed for high Treason against their natural Allegeance which they ought their liege Sovereign But all this time there was no Act of Parliament made either against Recusants or Jesuites or Priests her Majesty still desiring and expecting their conversion and that by clemency and mildness they might be reclaimed to their former obedience and conformity before the said Bull. After Priests and Jesuites were punished by sentence of Law according to their demerits then great numbers of slanderous and seditious Books libri falsidici against her Majesty and the State were dispersed and scattered within this Realm tending to the inciting and stirring of the Subjects to Insurrection and Rebellion Her Majestie in open Parliament having with the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons mature consideration of so weighty and important causes in the 23. year of her Reign made two several Laws One against the makers and publishers of Seditious Books ordaining that offence to be Felony another against Recusants inflicting the penalty of twenty pounds the month for their Recusancie and yet upon their submission according to the Act to be thereof freely and absolutely discharged a milde and merciful Law considering their former Conformity and the cause of their Revolt But after these Jesuites and Romish Priests coming daily into and swarming within the Realm instilling still this poison into the Subjects hearts that by reason of the said Bull of Pius Quintus her Majesty was excommunicated deprived of her Kingdome that her Subjects were discharged of all Obedience to her and by all means endeavouring to withdraw them from their Duty and Allegeance to her Majesty and to reconcile them to the Church of Rome in the 27. year of her Reign by Authority of Parliament her Majesty made it Treason for any Jesuite or Romish Priest being her natural-born Subject and made a Romish Priest or Jesuite sithence the beginning of her Reign to come into any of her dominions intending thereby to keep them out of the same to the end that they should not infect any other Subjects with such treasonable and damnable perswasions and practices as are aforesaid which without controversie were high Treason by the ancient Common Laws of England Neither would ever magnanimous King of England fithence the first establishment of this Monarchy have suffered any especially being his own natural-born
Britanniae Anglorum Regem Monarcham By which it appeareth that the King by his Charter made in Parliament for it appeareth to be made by the counsell and consent of his Bishops and Senators of his Kingdome which were assembled in Parliament did discharge and exempt the said Abbot from the Jurisdiction of the Bishop c. and by the same Charter did grant to the said Abbot Ecclesiasticall Jurisdiction within his said Abbey which Ecclesiasticall Jurisdiction being derived from the Crown continued untill the Dissolution of the said Abbey in the Reign of King Henry the Eighth In the Reign of King Edward the Confessor THe King who is the Vicar of the Highest King is ordained to this end that he should govern and rule the Kingdome and people of the Land and above all things the Holy Church and that he defend the same from wrong-doers and destroy and root out workers of mischief And this shall suffice for many before the Conquest In the Reign of King William the First IT is agreed that no man can make any Appropriation of any Church having Cure of Souls being a thing Ecclesiastical and to be made to some person Ecclesiastical but he that hath Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction But William the First of himself without any other as King of England made Appropriation of Churches with Cure to Ecclesiastical persons Wherefore it followeth that he had Ecclesiasticall Jurisdiction In the Reign of King Henry the First HEnry by the Grace of God King of England Duke of Normans To all Archbishops Bishops Abbots Earls Barons and to all Christians as well present as to come c. We do ordain as well in regard of Ecclesiasticall as Royall power that whensoever the Abbot of Reading shall die that all the possession of the Monastery wheresoever it is do remain entire and free with all the rights and customs thereof in the hands and disposition of the Prior and Monks of the Chapter of Reading We do therefore ordain and establish this Ordinance to be observed for ever because the Abbot of Reading hath no Revenues proper and peculiar to himself but common with his brethren whosoever by God's will shall be appointed Abbot in this place by Canonicall election may not dispend the Alms of the Abbey by ill usage with his secular kinsmen or any other but in entertaining the poor Pilgrims and Strangers and that he have a care not to give out the Rent-lands in fee neither that he make any Servitors or Souldiers but in the Sacred garment of Christ wherein let him be advisedly provident he entertain not young ones but that he entertain men of ripe age or discreet as well Clerks as Lay-men In the Reign of King Henry the Third IN all the time of H. 3. and his Progenitors Kings of England and ever fithence if any man did sue afore any Judge Ecclesiasticall within the Realm for any thing whereof that Court by allowance and custome had not lawful conusance the King did ever by his Writ under his great Seal prohibit them to proceed And if the suggestion made to the King whereupon the Prohibition was grounded were after found untrue then the King by his Writ of Consultation under his great Seal did allow and permit them to proceed Also in all the Reign of H. 3. and his Progenitors King of England and ever fithence if any issue were joyned â—pon the loyalty of Marriage general Bastardy or such like the King did ever write to the Bishop of that Diocese as mediate Officer and Minister to his Court to certifie the loyalty of Marriage Bastardy or such like all which do apparently prove that those Ecclesiastical Courts were under the King's Jurisdiction and commandment and that one of the Courts wure so necessarily incident to the other as the one without the other could not deliver Justice to the parties as well in these particular cases as in a number of cases before specified whereof the King 's Ecclesiasticall Court hath Jurisdiction Now to command and to be obeyed belong to Sovereign and Supreme Government By the ancient Canons and Decrees of the Church of Rome the issue born before solemnization of marriage is as lawfully inheritable marriage following as the issue born after marriage But this was never allowed or appointed in England and therefore was never of any force here And this appeareth by the Statute of Merton made in the 20. year of King Henry the 3. To the King 's Writ of Bastardy whether one being born afore matrimony may inherit in like manner as he that is born after matrimony all the Bishops answered that they would not nor could not answer to it because it was directly against the common order of the Church And all the Bishops instanted the Lords that they would consent that all such as were born afore matrimony should be legitimate as well as they that be born within matrimony as to the succession of inheritance forsomuch as the Church accepteth such to be legitimate And all the Earls and Barons with one voice answered We will not change the Laws of England which hitherto have been used and approved In the Reign of King Edward the First IN the Reign of King Edward the First a Subject brought in a Bull of Excommunication against another Subject of this Realm and published it to the Lord Treasurer of England and this was by the ancient Common Law of England adjudged Treason against the King his Crown and Dignity for the which the offendor should have been drawn and hanged but at the great instance of the Chancellour and Treasurer he was onely abjured the Realm for ever The said King Edward the 1. presented his Clerk to a Benefice within the Province of York who was refused by the Archbishop for that the Pope by way of Provision had conferred it on another The King thereupon brought a Quare non admisit The Archbishop pleaded that the Bishop of Rome had long time before provided to the said Church as one having supreme Authority in that case and that he durst not nor had power to put him out which was by the Pope's Bull in possession For which his high Contempt against the King his Crown and Dignity in refusing to execute his Sovereign's Commandment fearing to doe it against the Pope's Provision by judgement of the Common Law the Lands of his whole Bishoprick were seized into the King's hands and lost during his life Which Judgement was before any Statute or Act of Parliament was made in that case And there it is said that for the like offence the Archbishop of Canterbury had been in worse case by the judgement of the Sages of the Law then to be punished for a Contempt if the King had not extended grace and favour to him Concerning men twice married called Bigamy whom the Bishop of Rome by a Constitution made at the Council of Lions hath excluded from all priviledge of Clergy whereupon certain Prelates
I think is obvious to every man and as clear that whilst all Christendom are in Arms and Confusions onely the Pope sits quiet and smiles to see what work he makes among us resolving if not prevented to tire every man out of his Religion that shall withdraw not onely a total but even the least part of Obedience to his Chair And thus many poor souls are captivated especially those of our Nation for whom this is intended some being perswaded to acknowledge the Doctrines of the Church of Rome but not the Power of the Court of Rome and when they are plausibly got into the first they do not consider how insensibly and inevitably they are ensnar'd into the other For certainly the distinction of the Church and Court of Rome is so ridiculous that it is a mere Irap for weak unknowing and unresolved persons for surely the Pope will never be perswaded to resign his Temporalties to those Princes from whom his Predecessors usurpt them to take upon him meerly the duty of the Church So that when one of them perswades you to turn to the Church of Rome it is but to make you to turn or be subject to the Court of Rome and its Cardinalls who are but a Combination of Temporall Princes and to all its temporall Impositions to maintain such Princes under the title of the Pope and shrowded under the Canopy of Ecclesiasticks and Piety The truth is the Questions about Religion are purposely rais'd and infus'd to intoxicate other mens brains for the Court of Rome do but laugh at the things call'd Merit Idolatry Supererogation c. whilst many of their zealous Agents here I perswade my self out of pure Piety are ready to die upon the spot in the defence of those Tenents whereas poor souls they might see if they would that that Court is onely to imploy them under the shrowds of Piety to bring in Grist to the Mill by money and usurping other mens territories so as the ancient and important question why we should not give unto the King the things that are the King 's is quite laid aside and the question is almost now why we should not give to the Pope the things that are the King 's and subjugate this Kingdome to their Principalities And thus by deceiving even their own Agents with a pretence of driving on Piety which is onely Sovereignty even many of the Papists themselves are innocently betray'd and so are become betrayers of others But to return to the Historicall part After Henry the VIII had cast off the Dominion of the Papal Court Edward the VI. succeeded in whose Minority his Councell were so wise though many of them of the Roman Church that the resolution of Henry the VIII was re-assum'd in casting off the Pope's Power and a Foundation laid for establishing a Church here by a Form of Discipline and Doctrine free from the Power and Errours of the Papal Court and Church and though some Interruption was given by Queen Mary yet what was wanting by King Edward's short Reign was compleated by Queen Elizabeth who in her very first year by the full Consent of the Lords and Commons in Parliament by example of many of her Predecessors did enact That no forrein Potentate or person should exercise any power within any of her Dominions and all Ecclesiasticall Jurisdiction should be annext to the Crown And in the 5. year of her Reign in particular it was enacted That whoever shall acknowledge any Jurisdiction of the Bishop or See of Rome within any of her Dominions should be guilty of a Praemunire they and their accessaries And that the Principles of the Doctrine and Discipline of our Reformed Church might the better be known the frame of it made in Edward the VI. his time was confirmed with some few alterations and 39 Articles established as a Foundation and Standard of our Doctrine and Discipline distinct from that of the Court as also reformed from that of the Church of Rome But since her time even to this whilst we have thought our selves secure from the Papal Authority their Religion hath slily crept in and incroacht among us and besides their many known ways they have a particular art of incouraging and fomenting all publick and private Differences and Discontents pursuant to their secret Instructions for the advancement of the Papal Dominion Now as it is impossible for the art of Physick to reduce the 4 Humors of a man's Body into one so no arts of Policy can reduce the temper of men into one Persuasion of Religion So that herein the wisdom of our Counsellors is discerned in contriving that their number may not come near the balance of the staple or establisht interest of this Kingdom both as to Church and State wherein we are to shew our selves like our predecessors true English-men and not to Italianate our selves to the Dependency of any other State And that this may be the more charitably perform'd they may be distinguisht into Actives and Passives By Actives I mean such as make it their whole business to pervert and captivate our Subjects to be subject to the Pope under the notion of Religion and by Passives I mean such as live innocently among us and there is lesse caution and strictness requisite to those who are passive in respect barely of their Religion then to those who are active in promoting it And therefore many ancient Laws have been made long before Henry the VIII entituled Statutes of Praemunire which word in English is to fortify a place before enemies come or to provide against any onset by them And all those Laws are intended against the Pope's Spirituall or Temporall Invasions upon us and those Laws do impose Penalties on such as shall any ways endeavour to assist him in such Invasions so that being forewarn'd as some would have the word from praemonere we may the better be fore-armed for prevention of all their future attempts upon us which is heartily wisht by MY LORD February 18.1673 4. Your Lordship 's most humble Servant John Pettus Hill 4. Jacobi The Case of Praemunire OR The Conviction and Attainder of Robert Lalor Priest being endited upon the Statute of 16. Rich. 2. cap. 5. THIS Robert Lalor being a Native of this Kingdome received his Orders of Priesthood above thirty years since at the hands of one Richard Brady to whom the Pope had given the title of Bishop of Kilmore in Vlster and for the space of twenty years together his authority and credit was not mean within the Province of Leimster He had also made his name known in the Court of Rome and held intelligence with the Cardinall who was Protector of this Nation by means whereof he obtained the title and jurisdiction of Vicar-general of the See Apostolick within the Archbishoprick of Dublin and the Bishopricks of Kildare and Fernes This pretended jurisdiction extending wel-nigh over all the Province of Leimster he exercised boldly and securely many years together untill
the Proclamation was published whereby all Jesuites and Priests ordained by forrein authority were commanded to depart out of this kingdome by a certain time prefixed After which time he began to lurk and to change his name howbeit at last he was apprehended in Dublin and committed to prison in the Castle there Upon his first Examination taken by the Lord Deputie himself he acknowledged that he was a Priest and ordained by a Popish Titulary Bishop that he had accepted the title and Office of the Pope's Vicar-generall in the three Dioceses before named and had exercised spirituall jurisdiction in foro conscientiae and in sundry other points he maintained and justified the Pope's authority onely he said he was of opinion that the Pope had no power to excommunicate or depose his Majestie because the King is not of the Pope's Religion The next Term after he was indicted upon the Statute of 2 Eliz. enacted in this Realm against such as should wilfully and advisedly maintain and uphold the jurisdiction of any forrein Prince or Prelate in any causes Ecclesiasticall or Civil within this Realm By which Statute the first offence of that kind is punished with losse of goods and one year's imprisonment the second offence incurreth the penaltie of the Praemunire and the third offence is made high Treason Upon this Indictment he was arraigned convicted and condemned and so rested in prison during the next two Terms without any farther question He then made petition unto the Lord Deputie to be set at liberty whereupon his Lordship caused him to be examined by Sir Oliver Saint John Sir James Fullerton Sir Jefferie Fenton the Atturney and Solicitor generall At first he made some evasive and indirect answers but at last voluntarily and freely he made this ensuing acknowledgement or confession which being set down in writing word for word as he made it was advisedly read by him and subscribed with his own hand and with the hands of those who took his examination and afterwards he confirmed it by his oath before the Lord Deputie and Counsell The Confession or Acknowledgement of Robert Lalor Priest made the 22. of December 1606. FIrst he doth acknowledge that he is not a lawfull Vicar-generall in the Dioceses of Dublin Kildare and Fernes and thinketh in his conscience that he cannot lawfully take upon him the said Office Item he doth acknowledge our Sovereign Lord King James that now is to be his lawfull chief and Supreme Governour in all causes as well Ecclesiasticall as Civil and that he is bound in conscience to obey him in all the said causes and that neither the Pope nor any other forrein Prelate Prince or Potentate hath any power to controll the King in any cause Ecclesiasticall or Civil within this Kingdome or any of his Majestie 's Dominions Item he doth in his conscience believe that all Bishops ordained and made by the King's authority within any of his Dominions are lawfull Bishops and that no Bishop made by the Pope or by any authority derived from the Pope within the King's Dominions hath any power or authoritie to impugn disannull or controll any Act done by any Bishop made by his Majestie 's authoritie as aforesaid Item he professeth himself willing and ready to obey the King as a good and obedient Subject ought to doe in all his lawfull commandments either concerning his function of Priesthood or any other dutie belonging to a good Subject After this Confession made the State here had no purpose to proceed against him severely either for his contempt of the Proclamation or offence against the Law So as he had more liberty then before and many of his friends had access unto him who telling him what they heard of his Confession he protested unto them that he had only acknowledged the King's Civill and Temporall power without any confession or admittance of his authoritie in Spirituall causes This being reported unto the Lord Deputie by sundry Gentlemen who gave faith unto what he said his Lordship thought sit that since he had incurred the pain of Praemunire by exercising Episcopall jurisdiction as Vicar-generall to the Pope that he should be attainted of that offence as well to make him an example to others of his profession for almost in every Diocese of this Kingdome there is a Titulary Bishop ordained by the Pope as also that at the time of his Trial a just occasion might be taken to publish the Confession and acknowledgement which he had voluntarily made signed and confirmed by oath before the Lord Deputie and Councell who have likewise subscribed their names as witnesses thereof Hereupon in Hillarie Term 4 Jacobi an Inditement was framed against him in the King's Bench upon the Statute of 16 Rich. 2. cap. 5. containing these severall points 1. That he had received a Bull or Brief purchased or procured in the Court of Rome which Bull or Brief did touch or concern the King's Crown and dignity Royall containing a Commission of Authoritie from the Pope of Rome unto Richard Brady and David Magragh to constitute a Vicar-generall for the See of Rome by the name of the See Apostolick in the severall Dioceses of Dublin Kildare and Fernes within this Kingdome of Ireland 2. That by pretext or colour of that Bull or Brief he was constituted Vicar-generall of the See of Rome and took upon him the style and title of Vicar-generall in the said severall Dioceses 3. That he did exercise Ecclesiasticall Jurisdiction as Vicar-generall of the See of Rome by instituting divers persons to Benefices with cure of souls by granting dispensations in causes Matrimonial by pronouncing sentences of divorce between divers married persons and by doing all other acts and things pertaining to Episcopal Jurisdiction within the said several Dioceses against our Sovereign Lord the King his Crown and dignity Royal and in contempt of his Majesty and disherison of his Crown and contrary to the form and effect of the Statute c. To this Inditement Lalor pleaded Not guilty and when the issue was to be tried the name and reputation of the man and the nature of the cause drew all the principal Gentlemen both of the Pale and Provinces that were in town to the hearing of the matter At what time a substantial Jury of the City of Dublin being sworn for the trial and the points of the Inditement being opened and set forth by the King's Serjeant the Attorney general thought it not impertinent but very necessary before he descended to the particular evidence against the prisoner to inform and satisfie the hearers in two Points 1. What reason moved us to ground this Inditement upon the old Statute of 16 Rich. 2. rather then upon some other later Law made since the time of King Henr. 8. 2. What were the true causes of the making of this Law of 16 Rich. and other former Laws against Provisors and such as did appeal to the Court of Rome in those
in the Civil Magistrate and so in right it remaineth at this day and though it be derived from him it remaineth in him as in the fountain For every Christian Monarch as well as the godly Kings of Juda is custos utriusque Tabulae and consequently hath power to punish not onely Treason Murther Theft and all manner of Force and Fraud but Incest Adultery Usury Perjury Simony Sorcery Idolatry Blasphemy Neither are these Causes in respect of their own quality and nature to be distinguished one from another by the names of Spirituall or Temporall For why is Adultery a Spirituall cause rather then Murther when they are both offences alike against the Second Table or Idolatry rather then Perjury being both offences likewise against the First Table And indeed if we consider the natures of these Causes it will seem somewhat absurd that they are distinguished by the name of Spirituall and Temporall for to speak properly that which is opposed to Spirituall should be termed Carnall and that which is opposed to Temporall should be called Eternall And therefore if things were called by their proper names Adultery should not be called a spirituall offence but a carnall But shall I expresse plainly and briefly why these Causes were first denominated some Spirituall or Ecclesiasticall and others Temporall and Civil Truly they were so called not from the nature of the Causes as I said before but from the quality of the persons whom the Prince had made Judges in those Causes The Clergie did study spirituall things and did professe to live secundum spiritum and were called spirituall men and therefore they called the Causes wherein Princes had given them jurisdiction spirituall causes after their own name and quality But because the Lay-magistrates were said to intend the things of this world which are temporall and transitory the Clergie called them secular or temporall men and the Causes wherein they were Judges temporall causes This distinction began first in the Court of Rome where the Clergie having by this Jurisdiction gotten great wealth their wealth begot pride their pride begot ingratitude towards Princes who first gave them their Jurisdiction and then according to the nature of all ungratefull persons they went about to extinguish the memory of the benefit for whereas their Jurisdiction was first derived from Caesar in the execution whereof they were Caesar's Judges so as both their Courts and Causes ought still to have born Caesar's image and superscription as belonging unto Caesar they blotted Caesar's name out of the style of their Courts and called them Courts Christian as if the Courts holden by other Magistrates had been in comparison but Courts of Ethnicks and the Causes which in their nature were meerly Civil they called Spirituall and Ecclesiasticall So as if the Emperour should challenge his Courts and Causes again and say Reddite Caesariquae sunt Caesaris they would all cry out on the contrary part and say Date Deo quae sunt Dei our Courts bear the name and title of Christ the superscription of Caesar is quite worn out and not to be found upon them And this point of their policy is worth the observing that when they found their jurisdiction in Matrimoniall causes to be the most sweet and gainfull of all other for of Matrimony they made matter of money indeed to the end that Caesar might never resume so rich a perquisite of their Spirituall jurisdiction they reduced Matrimony into the number of the 7 Sacraments after which time it had been Sacriledge if the Civil Magistrate had intermeddled with the least matter that had relation to Matrimonie or any dependencie thereupon So then it appeareth that all Causes whereof Ecclesiasticall or Spirituall persons have cognisance or jurisdiction by the grants or permission of Princes are called Ecclesiasticall or Spirituall causes And as all their Courts are called Spirituall Courts so all Causes determinable in those Courts are called Spirituall Causes And therefore where Mr. Lalor hath acknowledged the King's Majestie to be Supreme Governour in all Ecclesiasticall causes he hath therein acknowledged the King's Supremacie in all Spirituall causes wherein he hath but rendered to Caesar that which is Caesar's and hath given unto his Majestie no more then all the Bishops of England have yielded to his Predecessours not onely in this latter Age but also in former times both before and since the Conquest as hath been before at large expressed Here the day being far spent the Court demanded of the prisoner if he had any more to say for himself His answer was That he did willingly renounce his office of Vicar-generall and did humbly crave his Majestie 's grace and pardon And to that end he desired the Court to move the L. Deputy to be favourable unto him Then the Jury departed from the Bar and returning within half an hour found the prisoner guiltie of the Contempts whereof he was indicted Whereupon the Solicitor generall moved the Court to proceed to Judgement And Sir Dominick Sarsfield Knight one of the Justices of his Majestie 's chief place gave Judgement according to the form of the Statute whereupon the Indictment was framed OF THE KING' 's Ecclesiasticall Law IN the Term of S. Hillary in the 33. year of the Reign of Q. Elizabeth Rotulo 340. Robert Caudrey Clerk brought an action of Trespasse against George Atton for breaking of his Close at North-Luffenham in the County of Rutland the 7. day of August in the 31. year of the Reign of the said Queen The Defendant pleaded not guilty and the Jury returned and sworn for triall of this issue gave a speciall Verdict that is they found the truth of the Case at large referring the same for the Law to the judgment of the Court to this effect They found that the Plaintif before the Trespasse supposed to be done was Parson of the Rectory of South-Luffenham in the County aforesaid whereof the place wherein the Trespass is alledged was parcell and found the Statute made in the first year of the said Queen's Reign by which in effect it is enacted That such Jurisdiction Ecclesiasticall as by any Spirituall or Ecclesiasticall power hath heretofore been or may lawfully be exercised for the Visitation of the Ecclesiasticall estate and persons and for reformation order and correction of the same and of all manner of Errors Heresies Schisms Abuses Offences Contempts and Enormities within this Realm should for ever be united and annexed to the Imperiall Crown of this Realm And that her Highnesse her Heirs and Successors should have full power and authority by virtue of that Act by Letters Patents under the great Seal of England to assign nominate and authorize such persons being natural-born Subjects as her Highness her Heirs or Successors should think meet to exercise and execute under her Highnesse her Heirs and Successors all and all manner of Jurisdiction Priviledges and Preheminences in any wise touching or concerning any Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction within this
Realm of England and Ireland and to visit reform redresse order correct and amend all such Errors Heresies Schisms Abuses Offences Contempts and Enormities whatsoever which by any manner of Spiritual or Ecclesiastical power authority or jurisdiction can or may lawfully be reformed ordered redressed corrected restrained or amended to the pleasure of Almighty God the encrease of vertue and the conservation of the peace and unity of this Realm And that such persons so to be named assigned and authorized should have full power and authority by virtue of that Act and of such Letters Patents under her Highnesse her Heirs and Successors to exercise use and execute all the premisses according to the tenour and effect of the said Letters Patents any matter or cause to the contrary notwithstanding And afterwards the said Queen by her Letters Patents under the great Seal of England bearing date the ninth day of December in the six and twentieth year of her Reign according to the tenour of the said Act did authorize the Archbishop of Canterbury the Bishop of London and divers others or any three or more of them to enquire amongst others of the Statute of the first year of her Reign concerning the Book of Common Prayer with this Clause also contained in the said Letters Patents videlicet Also we give and grant full power and authority to reform redresse order correct and amend in all places of this Realm all Errors Heresies Schisms Abuses Contempts and Enormities Spirituall or Ecclesiasticall whatsoever which by any Spirituall or Ecclesiasticall power authority or jurisdiction can or may lawfully be reformed ordered redressed corrected restrained or amended by Censure Ecclesiasticall Deprivation or otherwise c. And upon proof thereof had and the offences aforesaid or any of them sufficiently proved against any person or persons by Confession lawful witness or by any due manner c. That then you or three of you shall have full power and authority to order and award such punishment to every such offendor by Fine Imprisonment Censure of the Church or otherwise or by all or any of the said ways and to take such order for the redresse of the same as by your wisedomes and discretions shall be thought meer and convenient as by the said Letters Patents more at large appeareth And further they found the Statute of the first year of the Reign of the said Queen by which it is enacted That the offendor against that Act concerning the Uniformity of Common Prayer being thereof lawfully convicted according to the Laws of the Realm by Verdict of twelve men or by his Confession or by the notorious Evidence of the fact should forfeit for the first offence the value of his Spirituall living for one whole year and should suffer six months Imprisonment for the second offence to be committed after such Conviction he should be deprived ipso facto of all his Spiritual livings and for the third offence to be committed after two Convictions as is aforesaid he should be deprived of all his Ecclesiasticall livings and be imprisoned during his life And that the said Robert Caudrey before the time of the trespass supposed was deprived of his said Benefice before the said High Commissioners as well for that he had preached against the said Book of Common Prayer as also for that he refused to celebrate Divine Service according to the said Book and shewed particularly wherein Which said Sentence of Deprivation was given by the Bishop of London cum assensu A. B. C. D. c. collegarum suorum And the Jury concluded their Verdict That if the said Deprivation were not warranted by Law but void then they found the Defendant guilty of the trespass And if the Deprivation were not void in Law then they found the Defendant not guilty And this Case was solemnly and oftentimes debated at Barre by the Counsel of either party and at the Bench by the Judges and after great and long deliberation and consultation had with the rest of the Judges was in the Term of S. Hillary in the 37. year of the said Queen adjudged And it was argued by the Counsel of the Plaintif that the said Deprivation was void for 4 causes First The said Book of Common Prayer being authorized and commanded to be observed by the said Act of the first year of the Queen upon the forfeitures and punishments therein comprised the offence of the Plaintif is against that Act for that Act onely doth command the observation of the said Book and inflicteth punishments in severall degrees for depraving or not observing of the same and consequently if the offence be against that Act the Plaintif ought to have been proceeded withall and punished according to the same And it was said that the said Act was an Act of great moderation and equity for the offendor for his first offence should not be ipso facto deprived but should onely lose the profits of his Ecclesiasticall livings for one year and suffer Imprisonment for six months to the end that such as were froward might have a time to repent and the well-minded a time to consent And such care had the Act of the offendors in this behalf as if they committed one offence and then another and after the second many more yet should not the offendor be deprived for any of the latter offences unless he had been first judicially convicted of record by verdict of 12 men or by confession or notorious evidence of the fact So as the second offence for which he must be deprived by the said Act must be done and committed after such a judiciall and solemn Conviction and punishment according to the said Act And then if such an open punishment and infliction should not give him understanding and open his heart to repent then upon a like Conviction for a second offence to be committed after such a Conviction Deprivation should follow But in the case now in question Caudrey the Plaintif was deprived from his said Parsonage of South-Luffenham for his said first offence being never convented or convicted for any such offence before And therefore it was concluded for this first point That the said High Commissioners had not pursued the form and order prescribed by the said Act non observata forma infertur adnullatio Actus and consequently the Deprivation of the Plaintif is void and therefore Judgement ought to be given for him And it was said by the Plaintif's Counsell by way of anticipation That albeit there was a Proviso in the same Act for Archbishops Bishops and their Chancellors Commissaries Archdeacons and other Ordinaries having peculiar Jurisdiction yet that did not give any strength to the said Deprivation for two causes First that the Commissioners by force of the said Act of 1 Eliz. and of the said Letters Patents are not within the said Proviso but onely Archbishops and Bishops their Chancellors Commissaries c. in respect of their ordinary Jurisdiction 2. Admitting it should
extend to the said High Commissioners yet ought they to proceed according to the form and order of the said Act for an offence done against that Act. Secondly it was objected by the Counsel of the Plaintif That Caudrey the Plaintif was not deprived either by the verdict of 12 men or by confession or by the notorious evidence of the fact but by default in respect he appeared not being duely precognizated or warned which case as it was objected was Casus omissus oblivioni datus and not within the said Act. Thirdly it was objected on the behalf of the Plaintif That the said Sentence given by the said High Commissioners was utterly void for that they or any 3 or more of them having authority by force of the said Act and of the said Letters Patents under the great Seal ought to joyn in the Sentence and that one alone with the consent of 2 or more of the other Commissioners cannot give a Sentence for that every Commissioner hath equal authority and by the said Letters Patents three or more must give the Sentence with consent of others and such a Judgement given by any Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer or other Commissioners or Judges of the Common Law were utterly void and of none effect Fourthly and lastly it was objected That the said Commissioners were not nominated and appointed according to the said Act for the Jurisdiction and power given by the said Act to the Crown is to name such Commissioners as be natural-born Subjects and it doth not appear by the said special verdict that the said Commissioners were natural-born subjects And albeit the Judges as private men in their particular knowledge did know them to be natural-born subjects yet they being Judges of record ought onely to see with Judicial eyes and to take knowledge of no more then doth appear to them within the Record for upon that and not upon private knowledge out of the Record they onely must give their Judgement and upon that Record enter their Judgement also of record And seeing that the said Queen had as it was said by the Plaintif's Counsel Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction by the said Act of Parliament and by the same power was given unto her to name Ecclesiastical Commissioners she of necessity must make her nomination according to the said Act having no other power as was objected but by the said Act. And seeing it was not specially found that they were natural-born subjects de non apparentibus non existentibus eadem est ratio for this cause also the said Sentence of Deprivation was void as given by Commissioners not warranted by the said Act. Asto the first and second Objections both being grounded upon the said Act of Parliament it was resolved by the whole Court that notwithstanding these two Objections the Sentence was not to be impeached for either of them and that for three causes First for that the said Act concerning the Uniformity of Common Prayer being in the affirmative doth not abrogate or take away the Jurisdiction Ecclesiasticall unless words in the negative had been added as and not otherwise or in no other manner or form or to the like effect And this appeareth by the general rule of all our Books as it appeareth in 46 E. 3.4 47 E. 3.10 20 H. 6.11 36 H. 6.3 3 E. 4.27 3 H. 7.1 14 H. 7.10 15 H. 7.16 33 H. 8. Dyer 50. 4 Mar. Dyer 135. Stradlings case Pl. Com. 207. c. 2. The Ecclesiasticall Law and the Temporal Law have several proceedings and to several ends the one being Temporal to inflict punishment upon the body lands or goods the other being Spiritual pro salute Animae the one to punish the outward man the other to reform the inward And this appeareth in 12 H. 7.22 10 E. 4.10 c. Then both these distinct and several Jurisdictions consist and stand well together and do joyn in this to have the whole man inwardly and outwardly reformed 3. The Proviso in the said Act doth make this question without question for by it is provided ordained and enacted by the Authority aforesaid That all and singular Archbishops and Bishops and every of their Chancellors Commissaries Archdeacons and other Ordinaries having any peculiar Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction should have full power and authority by virtue of that Act as well to enquire in their Visitations Synods and elsewhere within their Jurisdiction as at any other time and place to take informations of all and every the things above mentioned done committed or perpetrated within the limits of their Jurisdictions and authority and punish the same by Admonition Excommunication Sequestration or Deprivation and other Censures and Processe in like form as heretofore had been used in like cases by the Queen 's Ecclesiasticall Laws as by the said Act appeareth So as seeing if that Act had never inflicted any punishment for depraving or not observing the Book of Common Prayer yet the same being allowed and commanded to be observed for uniformity of Common Prayer and the unity and peace of the Church the Ecclesiasticall Judge may deprive such Parson Vicar c. as shall deprave or not observe the said Book as well for the first offence as he might have done by the Censures of the Church and the Ecclesiasticall Laws if no form of punishment had been inflicted by that Act. And this doth evidently appear by the said Proviso For thereby notwithstanding any thing in that Act contained they may punish such offendors by Admonition Excommunication Sequestration or Deprivation and other Censures and Processe in like form as heretofore hath been used in like cases by the Queen 's Ecclesiasticall Laws and are not bound to pursue the form prescribed by the said Act which is to punish the offendor according to the Temporal Law And it was reâ—olved That if the Jurisdiction of the Archbishops and Bishops and their Chancellors Commissaries Archdeacons and other Ordinaries having any peculiar Ecclesiasticall Jurisdiction were provided for by the said Act à fortiori the High Commissioners authorized by another Act in the same Parliament were tacitè provided for Ouia cui licet quod majus est non debet quod minus est non licere As to the third Objection it was also resolved by the whole Court that the Sentence given by the Bishop by the consent of his Collegues was such as the Judges of the Common Law ought to allow to be given according to the Ecclesiasticall Laws For seeing their authority is to proceed and give sentence in Ecclesiasticall causes according to the Ecclesiasticall Law and they have given a Sentence in a cause Ecclesiasticall upon their proceedings by force of that Law the Judges of the Common Law ought to give faith and credit to their Sentence and to allow it to be done according to the Ecclesiasticall Law For cuilibet in sua arte perito est credendam And this is the common received opinion of all our Books as