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
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
the Treasure and riches of the land carried away the Subjects of the Realm molested and impoverished the Benefices of Holy Church wasted and destroyed Divine service Hospitalitie Almsdeeds and other works of charitie neglected Again 27 Edw. 3. cap. 1. upon the grievous and clamorous complaint for that phrase is there used of the great men and Commons touching Citations and Provisions it is enacted That the offenders shall forfeit their lands goods and chattels and their bodies be imprisoned and ransomed at the King's will But in the Statute of 25 Edw. 3. wherein the first Law against Provisors made 25 Edw. 1. is recited there is a larger declaration of these inconveniences then in the two last Acts before mentioned For there all the Commons of the Realm do grievously complain That whereas the Holy Church of England was first founded in estate of Prelacie by the Kings and Nobilitie of that Realm and by them endowed with great possessions and revenues in lands rents and Advowsons to the end the people might be informed in Religion Hospitality might be kept and other works of Charitie might be exercised within the Realm And whereas the King and other founders of the said Prelacies were the rightfull Patrons and Adowees thereof and upon avoidance of such Ecclesiasticall promotions had power to advance thereunto their kinsmen friends and other learned men of the birth of that Realm which being so advanced became able and worthy persons to serve the King in Counsell and other places in the Commonweal The Bishop of Rome usurping the Seigniory of such possessions and Benefices did give and grant the same to Aliens which did never dwell in England and to Cardinals which might not dwell there as if he were rightfull Patron of those Benefices whereas by the Law of England he never had right to the Patronage thereof whereby in short time all the Spirituall promotions in the Realm would be ingrossed into the hands of Strangers Canonicall elections of Prelates would be abolished works of Charity would cease the founders and true patrons of Churches would be disinherited the King's Counsell would be weakened the whole Kingdome impoverished and the Laws and rights of the Realm destroyed Upon this complaint it was resolved in Parliament That these oppressions and grievances should not be suffered in any manner and therefore it was enacted That the King and his Subjects should thenceforth enjoy the rights of patronage That free elections of Archbishops Bishops and other Prelates elective should be made according to the ancient grants of the King's Progenitors and their founders That no Bulls of Provision should be put in execution but that the Provisors should be attached fined and ransomed at the King's will and withall imprisoned till they had renounced the benefits of their Bulls satisfied the partie grieved and given sureties not to commit the like offence again Now Master Lalor what think you of these things Did you believe that such Laws as these had been made against the Pope 200 250 300 years since Was King Hen. 8. the first Prince that opposed the Pope's usurped Authority Were our Protestants the first Subjects that ever complained of the Court of Rome Of what Religion think you were the propounders and enacters of these Laws Were they good Catholicks or good Subjects or what were they You will not say they were Protestants for you will not admit the Reformed Religion to be so ancient as those times neither can you say they were undutifull for they strove to uphold their liege Lord's Sovereignty Doubtless the people in those days did generally embrace the vulgar errours and superstitions of the Romish Church and in that respect were Papists as well as you but they had not learned the new doctrine of the Pope's Supremacie and transcendent authority over Kings they did not believe he had power to depose Princes and discharge Subjects of their allegeance to abrogate the fundamentall Laws of Kingdomes and to impose his Canons as binding laws upon all nations without their consents they thought it a good point of Religion to be good Subjects to honour their King to love their country and to maintain the laws and liberties thereof howsoever in other points they did erre and were miss-led with the Church of Rome So as now Master Lalor you have no excuse no evasion but your conscience must condemn you as well as the Law since the Law-makers in all Ages and all religious Papists and Protestants do condemn you unless you think your self wiser then all the Bishops that were then in England or all the Judges who in those days were learned in the Civil and Canon Laws as well as in the Common Laws of England But you being an Irish man will say perhaps these Laws were made in England and that the Irish Nation gave no particular consent thereunto onely there was an implicite consent wrapt and folded up in generall terms given in the Statute of 10 Hen. 7. cap. 22. whereby all Statutes made in England are established and made of force in Ireland Assuredly though the first Parliament held in Ireland was after the first Law against Provisors made in England yet have there been as many particular Laws made in Ireland against Provisions Citations Bulls and Breves of the Court of Rome as are to be found in all the Parliament-Rolls in England What will you say if in the self-same Parliament of 10 Hen. 7. cap. 5. a special Law were made enacting authorizing and confirming in this Realm all the Statutes of England made against Provisors if before this the like Law were made 32 Hen. 6. cap. 4. and again 28 Hen. 6. cap. 30. the like and before that the like Law were made 40 Edw. 3. cap. 13. in the famous Parliament of Kilkenny if a Statute of the same nature were made 7 Edw. 4. cap. 2. and a severer Law then all these 16 Edw. 4. cap. 4. That such as purchase any Bulls of Provision in the Court of Rome as soon as they have published or executed the same to the hurt of any incumbent should be adjudged traitors Which Act if it be not repealed by the Statute of Queen Mary may terrifie Master Lalor more then all the Acts which are before remembred But let us ascend yet higher to see when the Pope's Usurpation which caused all these complaints began in England with what successe it was continued and by what degrees it rose to that height that it well-nigh over-topp'd the Crown whereby it will appear whether he had gained a circle by prescription by a long and quiet possession before the making of these Laws The first encroachment of the Bishop of Rome upon the liberties of the Crown of England was made in the time of King William the Conqueror For before that time the Pope's Writ did not run in England his Bulls of Excommunication and Provision came not thither no Citation no Appeals were made from thence to the Court of
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
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
and other Ordinaries having Episcopal Jurisdiction to punish and chastise Priests Clerks and Religious men being within the bounds of their Jurisdiction as shall be convicted afore them by examination and lawfull proof requisite by the law of the Church of Advoutrie Fornication Incest or any other fleshly Incontinency by committing them to ward and prison there to abide for such time as shall be thought to their discretions convenient for the quality and quantity of their trespass And that none of the said Archbishops Bishops or Ordinaries aforesaid be thereof chargeable of to or upon any action of false or wrongfull imprisonment but that they be utterly thereof discharged in any of the cases aforesaid by virtue of this Act. Rex est persona mixta because he hath both Ecclesiastical and Temporal Jurisdiction By the Ecclesiastical Laws allowed within this Realm a Priest cannot have two Benefices nor can a Bastard be a Priest but the King may by his Ecclesiasticall power and Jurisdiction dispense with both of these because they be mala prohibita and not mala per se In the Reign of King Henry the Eighth BY an Act of Parliament made in the 24. year of King Henry the 8. that is to say by the King 24 Bishops 29 Abbots and Priors for so many were then Lords of Parliament by all the Lords Temporal and the Commons in that Parliament assembled it is declared That where by divers sundry old authentick Histories and Chronicles it was manifestly declared and expressed that this Realm of England is an Empire and so hath been accepted in the world governed by one Supreme Head and King having the Dignity and Royal estate of the Imperial Crown of the same unto whom a Body politick compact of all sorts and degrees of people divided in terms and by names of Spiritualty and Temporalty been bound and ought to bear next to God a natural and humble obedience he being also institute and furnished by the goodness and furtherance of Almighty God with plenary whole and entire Power Preheminence Authority Prerogative and Jurisdiction to render and yield Justice and final determination to all manner of folk resiants or subjects within this his Realm in all causes matters debates and contentions happening to occur insurge or begin within the limits thereof without restraint or provocation to any forrein Princes or Potentates of the world The Body Spiritual whereof having power when any cause of the Law Divine happened to come in question or of Spiritual learning that it was declared interpreted and shewed by that part of the said Body politick called the Spiritualty then being usually called the English Church which alwaies had been reputed and also found of that sort that both for knowledge integrity and sufficiency of number it had been always thought and was also at that hour sufficient and meet of it self without the intermeddling of any exteriour person or persons to declare and determine all such doubts and to administer all such offices and duties as to the rank spiritual did appertain For the due administration whereof and to keep them from corruption and sinister affection the King 's most noble Progenitors and the antecessors of the Nobles of this Realm did sufficiently indow the said Church both with honour and possessions And the Laws Temporal for trial of property of lands and goods and for the conservation of the people of this Realm in unity and peace without ravine or spoil was administred adjudged and executed by sundry Judges and Ministers of the other part of the said Body politick called the Temporaltie And both their Authorities and Jurisdictions did conjoyn together in the due administration of Justice the one to help the other And whereas the King his most noble Progenitors and the Nobility and Commons of the said Realm at divers and sundry Parliaments as well in the time King Edward the 1. Edward the 3. Richard the 2. Henry the 4. and other noble Kings of this Realm made sundry Ordinances Laws Statutes and Provisions for the entire and sure conservation of the Prerogatives Liberties and Preheminences of the said Imperial Crown of this Realm and of the Jurisdiction Spiritual and Temporal of the same to keep it from the annoiance as well of the See of Rome as from the authority of other forrein Potentates attempting the diminution or violation thereof as often and from time to time as any such annoiance or attempt might be known or espied And notwithstanding the said good Statutes and Ordinances made in the time of the King 's most noble Progenitors in preservation of the Authority and Prerogative of the said Imperiall Crown as is aforesaid yet nevertheless fithence the making of the said good Statutes and Ordinances divers and sundry inconveniences and dangers not provided for plainly by the said former Acts Statutes and Ordinances have risen and sprung by reason of Appeals sued out of this Realm to the See of Rome in causes Testamentary causes of Matrimony and Divorces right of Tithes Oblations and Obventions not onely to the great inquietation vexation trouble costs and charges of the King's Highness and many of his subjects and resiants in this his Realm but also to the great delay and lett to the true and speedy determination of the said causes forasmuch as the parties appealing to the said Court of Rome most commonly did the same for delay of Justice and forasmuch as the great distance of way was so far out of this Realm that neither the necessary proofs nor the true knowledge of the cause could be so well known or the witnesses there so well examined as within this Realm so that the parties grieved by means of the said Appeals were most times without remedy In consideration thereof the King his Nobles and Commons considering the great enormities dammages long delaies and hurts that as well to his Highness as to his said Noble subjects Commons and resiants of this his Realm in the said causes Testamentary causes of Matrimony and Divorces Tithes Oblations and Obventions did daily ensue did therefore by his Royall assent and by the assent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in that Parliament assembled and by Authority of the same enact establish and ordain That all causes Testamentary causes of Matrimony and Divorces rights of Tithes Oblations and Obventions the knowledge whereof by the goodness of Princes of this Realm and by the Laws and Customes of the same appertained to the Spiritual Jurisdiction of this Realm then already commenced moved depending being happening or hereafter coming in contention debate or question within this Realm or within any of the King's dominions or Marches of the same or elsewhere whether they concern the King his Heirs or Successors or any other subjects or resiants within this Realm of what degree soever they be should be from thenceforth heard examined discussed clearly finally and definitively adjudged and determined within the King's Jurisdiction and
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
Subjects to live that perswaded his Subjects that he was no lawfull King and practised with them within the heart of this Realm to withdraw them from their Allegeance and Loyalty to their Sovereign the same being crimen laesae Majestatis by the ancient Laws of this Realm BY this and by all the Records of the Indictments it appeareth that these Jesuites and Priests are not condemned and executed for their Priesthood and Profession but for their treasonable and damnable Perswasions and Practices against the Crowns and Dignities of Monarchs and absolute Princes who hold their Kingdoms and Dominions by lawful Succession and by inherent Birth-right and descent of inheritance according to the fundamental Laws of this Realm immediately of Almighty God and are not Tenants of their Kingdomes as they would have it at the will and pleasure of any forrein Potentate whatsoever Now albeit the proceedings and process in the Ecclesiastical Courts be in the name of the Bishops c. it followeth not therefore that either the Court is not the King 's or the Law whereby they proceed is not the King's Law For taking one example for many every Leet or View of Frank-pledge holden by a Subject is kept in the Lord's name and yet it is the King's Court and all the proceedings therein are directed by the King's Laws and many subjects in England have and hold Courts of Record and other Courts and yet all their proceedings be according to the King's Laws and the Customes of the Realm Observe good Reader seeing that the determination of Heresies Schisms and Errours in Religion Ordering Examination Admission Institution and Deprivation of men of the Church which do concern God's true Religion and Service of right of Matrimony Divorces and general Bastardy whereupon depend the strength of mens Discents and Inheritances of probate of Testaments and letters of Administration without which no debt or dutie due to any dead man can be recovered by the Common Law Mortuaries Pensions Procurations Reparations of Churches Simony Incest Adultery Fornication and Incontinency and some others doth not belong to the Common Law how necessary it was for administration of Justice that his Majestie 's Progenitors Kings of this Realm did by publick authority authorize Ecclesiasticall Courts under them to determine those great and important Causes Ecclesiastical exempted from the Jurisdiction of the Common Law by the King's Laws Ecclesiastical Which was done originally for two causes 1. That Justice should be administred under the Kings of this Realm within their own Kingdome to all their Subjects and in all Causes 2. That the Kings of England should be furnished upon all occasions either forrein or domestical with learned Professors as well of the Ecclesiasticall as Temporall Laws THus hath it appeared as well by the ancient Common Laws of this Realm by the Resolutions and Judgements of the Judges and Sages of the Laws of England in all succession of ages as by Authority of many Acts of Parliament ancient and of latter times That the Kingdome of England is an absolute Monarchy and that the King is the onely Supreme Governour as well over Ecclesiasticall persons and in Ecclesiastical causes as Temporal within this Realm to the due observation of which Laws both the King and the Subject are sworn I have herein cited the very words and texts of the Laws Resolutions Judgements and Acts of Parliament all publick and in print without any inference argument or amplification and have particularly quoted the books years leaves chapters and such like certain references as every man may at his pleasure see and reade the Authorities herein cited This Case is reported in the English and Latine tongues as some other Writers of the Law have done to the end that my dear Countrymen may be acquainted with the Laws of this Realm their own Birth-right and inheritance and with such evidences as of right belong to the same assuring my self that no wise or true-hearted English-man that hath been perswaded before he was instructed will refuse to be instructed in the truth which he may see with his own eyes lest he should be disswaded from errour wherewith blindfold he hath been deceived For miserable is his case and worthy of pity that hath been perswaded before he was instructed and now will refuse to be instructed because he will not be perswaded FINIS Of what quality and credit Robert Lalor was His apprehension and first examination His first inditement and conviction His second examination His confession or acknowledgement The Inditement of Lalor upon the stat of 16 Ric. 2. The true cause of making the Statute of 16 R. 2. and other Statutes against Provisors The Statute of Praemunire made at the prayer of the Commons The effect of the Statute of 16 R. 2. c. 5. The effect of the Statute of 38 Edw. 3. cap. 1. The Statute of 27 Ed. 3. cap. 1. The Statute of 25 Edw. 3. reciting the Statute of 25 Ed. 1. These Laws made by such as did professe the Romish Religion Laws against Provisors made in Ireland When the Pope began first to usurp upon the liberties of the Crâ—wn of England A comparison of the spiritual Monarchy of the Church with the temporal Monarchies of the world The Pope had no jurisdiction in England in the time of the Britans The first usurpation of the Pope upon the Crown began in the time of King William the Conquerour By sending Legates into England In the time of William Rufus the Pope attempted to draw Appeals to Rome but prevailed not In the time of K. Henry the first the Pope usurpeth the donation of Bishoprikks c. Histor Jornalensis M S. in Archiv Rob. Cotton Eq. Aur. In the time of King Stephen the Pope gained Appeals to the Court of Rome In the time of K. Henry 2. the Pope claimed exemption of Clerks from the Secular power A brief of Th. Becket's troubles or rather treasons The Constitutions of Claringdon Four points of jurisdiction usurped upon the crown of England by the Pope before the reign of K. John The cause of the quarrell between K. John and the Pope When Canonical election began first in England King John's round and Kingly Letter to the Pope The Pope curseth the King and interdicteth the Realm King Edw. 1. oppâ—seth the Pope's Vsurpation E. 2. suffereth the Pope to usurp again E. 3. resisteth the Vsurpation of the Pope King Rich. 2. The Evidence against Lalor Lalor's Confession publickly read When the distinction of Ecclesiasticall Spirituall causes from Civil and Temporal causes began in the world Caudrey's Case The objections of the Counsell of the Plaintif 1. 2. 3. 4. The resolutions of the Court to the 1. and 2. To the 3. To the 4. What causes belong to the Ecclesiasticall Court. see Circumspectè agatis 13 E. 1. W. 2. 13 E. 1. cap. 5. versus finem Artic. cleri 9 E. 2. 15 E. 3. c. 6.31 E. 3. cap. 11.2 H. 5. c. 7.1 H. 7. cap. 4.23 H. 8. cap.
9.24 H. 8. c. 12.27 H. 8. c. 20.32 H. 8. c. 7.1 E. 6. ca. 2.2 E. 6. ca. 13.1 Ma. cap. 3.1 Eliz. ca. 1.5 Eliz ca. 23.13 Eliz. ca. 10. Litt. lib. 2. ca. Frankalm fol. 30. F. Na. Br. fol. 41 42 43 44 45 46 47. Regist fol. 33 34 44. c. This King reigned an Dom. 755. Stanford lib. 3. cap. 38. fol. 111. This charter was pleaded 1 H. 7.23.25 Note Rex Edwin regnavit anno Dom. 955. St. K. Edw. laws ca. 19. 7 E. 3. tit Quare Impediâ— 19. The Charter of H. 1. Founder of the Abbey of Reading in the 26. year of his reign and in the year of our Lord 1125. 2 H. 3. Tit. Prohibition .13 4 H. 3. ibidem 15. 15 H. 3. Tit. Prohib 22. Register fol. The Statute of Merton an 20 H. 3. Vide 30 E. 3. Li. ss pl. 19. Brook tit Premunire pl. 10. Note this was by the common Law of England before any Statute made 19 E. 3. tit Quare non admisit 7. Vide 39 E. 3.20 Note The Statute of Bigamie 〈◊〉 4 E. 1. Observe how the King by advice of his Council that is by authority of Parliament expounded how the said Council should be understood and in what sense it should be received and allowed here Statutum de anno 25 E. 1. Carlisle Vide 20 E. 3. tit Essoin 24. Nota The first attempt was to usurp upon such Ecclesiasticall things as pertained to the Clergy of England who at that time stood in great awe of the Church of Rome The Statute of 9 E. 2. Artic Cleri cap. 16. See the Ordinance of Circumspectè agatis an 13 E. 1. to this effect By this Statute of 9 Ed. 2. and the Statutes of 15 E. 3. cap. 6. 31 E. 3. cap. 11. and by other Statutes heretofore mentioned the Jurisdiction of the Ecclesiasticall Court is allowed and warranted by consent of Parliament in all cases wherein they now have Jurisdiction so as these Laws may be justly called the King's Ecclesiasticall Laws or the Ecclesiasticall Laws of England 16 E. 3. Tit Excom 4. In the Reign of E. 3. 17 E. 3.23 20 E. 3. Excom 9. 16 E. 3. tit Bre. 660. 21 E. 3.60 6 H. 7.14 Fit Na. Br. 20 E. 3. Tit. Excom 6. 21 E. 3. fol. 40. 22 E. 3. lib. Ass pl. 75. 27 E. 3. fol. 84. Fit Na. Br. fol. 34. 30. E. 3. lib. Ass pl. 19. 12 H. 4.16 14 H. 4.14 8 H. 6. fol. 3. 35 H. 6.42 28 H. 6.1 7 E. 4.14 12 E. 4.16 Fit Na. Br. fol. 64. F. Vide 9. E. 4. fol. 3. Hereafter fol. 11. It ought to be determined in theâ—â—cclesiasticall Courts in England 31 E. 3. Tit. Excom 6. 33 E. 3. tit â—yde de Roy 103.38 Ass pl. 20. See the Statute of 15 E. 3. cap. 6. 31 E. 3. cap. 11. 38 Lib. Ass pl. 22. 46 E. 3. Tit. Premun 6. 49 E. 3. Lib. Ass pl. 8. Statut. de 25 E. 3. de Provisoribus Statut. de 25 E. 3. Note Note Vide 10 E. 3. fol. 1. 2. Statutum de 27 E. 3. Statut. de 28 E. 3. cap. 1. 2. Statut. de 38 E. 3. ca 3. 12 R. 2. tit Jurisdiction 18. Statutum de 16 R. 2. cap. 5. Note 1 H. 4. fol. 9. Fitz. Na. â—r 269. This had a resemblance to an Attainder of Treason wherein there must be first an Inditement by one Jury and a Conviction by another 11 H. 4.37 11 H. 4. fol. 69.76 14 H. 4. fol. 14. Vide 30 E. 3. lib. Ass pl. 19. before Vide 13 E. 3. Certificate 6. Vide 20 H. 6.1 37 H. 6.42 7 E. 4.14 Fitz. Na. Br. 64. F. 14 H. 4.14 Statut. de 2 H. 4. cap. 3. Statut. de 6 H. 4 cap. 1. Statut. de 7 H. 4. cap. 6. Statut. de 3 H. 5 cap. 4. * Stat. de 2 H. 5. cap. 7. Lollardry à lolio For as Cockle is the destruction of the Corn so is Heresie the destruction of true Religion Infelix lolium steriles dominantur avenae Virgilius Et careant loliis oculos vitiantibus agri Ovidius Statutum de 2 H. 5. cap. 1. 8 H. 6. fol. 3. 9 H. 6. fol. 16. 1 H. 7. fol. 10. 1 H. 7. fol. 20. 9 E. 4.3 Fitz. Na. Br. fol. 44. H. agreeth herewith Note 9 E. 4.28 12 E. 4. fo 16. 2 R. 3. fo 22. 1 H. 7.10 Statut. de 1 H. 7. cap. 4. 10 H. 7.18 11 H. 7.12 Statut. de 24 H. 8. cap. 12. This Statute is declaratorie of the ancient laws of England as manifestly appeareth by that which hath been said See Br. Abridgment tit Presentment al Esglise pl. 12. The Pope was permitted to doe certain things within this realm by usurpation and not of right until the reign of H. 8. This also is declaratory of the ancient Law as it appeareth both by 9 E. 4.3 Fitz. Na. B. 44. and many other cases and statutes abovesaid Statut. de 25 H. 8. cap. 21. This was also declaratory of the ancient Law as by that which hath been said appeareth This appeareth by resolution of all the Judges in 7 H. 8. Lib. Keylw fo 181. And this was long before any Act of Parliament was made against forrein Jurisdiction by King Henry the 8. The Statute of 1 Q. Eliz. 12 Eliz. Reg. Dyer Psalm 109.28 Though they curse yet bless thou O Lord and let them be confounded that rise against me but let thy servant rejoyce Which was the prayer her Majesty made when this Bull was published against her The Statute of 13 Eliz. Note the fruits of the Bull. 1. 2. 3. 4. The parts of the Act. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. The Statute of an 23 Reginae Eliz. The Statute of an 27 Eliz. Reginae