written of the common law is reported hath beene in times passed presented and punished in leets and law-dayes in divers parts of the Realme by the name of Letherwhyte which is as the booke saith an ancient Saxon terme And the Lord of the Leet where it hath beene presented hath ever had a fine for the same offence By the statute of those that be borne beyond the seas it appeareth that the King hath cognizance 25. Ed 3. of some bastardy And now in most cases of bastardie if not in all by the statute of Eliz. the reputed father of a bastard borne is lyable to be punished at the discretion of the justices of peace Touching perjurie if a man lose his action by a false verdict in plea Perjurie if punishable temporally in some cases why not in all of land he shall have an attaint in the Kings Court to punish the perjurie and to reforme the falsitie And by divers statutes it appeareth that the Kings temporall Officers may punish perjurie committed in the Kings temporall Courts And though it be true that such perjury as hath risen upon causes reputed spirituall have beene in times past punished only by Ecclesiastical power and censures of the Church yet hereupon it followeth not that the perjurie it selfe is a meere spirituall and not a temporall crime or matter or that the same might not to be civily punished By a statute of Westminster 25. Edw. 3. it was accorded that the Vsurie King and his heires shall have the cognizance of the usurers dead and that the Ordinaries have cognizance of usurers on life to make compulsion by censures of the Church for sinne and to make restitution of the usuries taken against the lawes of holy Church And by another statute it is provided that usuries shall not turne against any being â—0 h. 3. â— 5. within age after the time of the death of his Ancestor untill his full age But the usurie with the principall debt which was before the death of his ancestor did remaine and turne against the heire And because all usurie being forbidden by the law of God is sinne and detestable it was enacted that all usurie lone and forbearing of money c. giving dayes c. shall be punished according to the forme of that Act. And that every such offender shall also bee punished and corrected according to the Ecclesiasticall lawes before that time made against usurie By all which statutes it seemeth that the cognizance and reformation of usurie by the lawes of the Realme pertaineth onely to the King unlesse the King by his Law permit the Church to correct the same by the censures of the Church as a sin committed against the holy law of God Touching heresies and schismes albeit the Bishops by their Episcopall and ordinarie spirituall power grounded upon Canon law or an evill custome have used by definitive sentence pronounced in their Consistories to condemn men for heretikes and schismatikes and heresies schismes are punishable by the kings laws afterward being condemned to deliver them to the secular power to suffer the paines of death as though the king being custos utriusque tabulae had not power by his kingly office to inquire of heresie to condemn an heretike and to put him to death unlesse he were first condemned and delivered into his hands by their spirituall power although this hath been I say the use in England yet by the statutes of Richard the second and Henry the fifth it was lawfull for the Kings Judges and Justices to enquire of heresies and Lollards in Leets Sheriffs 25. h. 5. c. 14. turnes and in Law dayes and also in Sessions of the peace Yea the King by the common law of the Realme revived by an act of Parliament which before the Statute of Henry the fourth was altered may pardon a man condemned for heresie yea and if it should come to passe that any heresies or schismes should arise in the Church of England the king by the Lawes of the Realme and by his Supreme and 1 Eliz c. 1. Soveraigne power with his parliament may correct redresse and reforme all such defaults and enormities Yea further the king and his 1 Eliz. c. 1. parliament with consent of the Clergie in their Convocation hath power to determine what is heresie and what is not heresie If then it might please the king to have it enacted by parliament that they which opiniatively and obstinately hold defend and publish any opinions which according to an Act of Parliament already made have beene or may be ordered or adjudged to bee heresies should bee heretikes If it please the King heretikes may be adjudged felons and heresies felonies and felons and their heresies to be felonies and that the same heretiks and felons for the same their heresies and felonies being arraigned convicted and adjudged by the course of the common law as other felons are should for the same their heresies and felonies suffer the paines of death there is no doubt but the King by vertue of his Soveraigne and Regall Lawes might powerfully enough reforme heresies without any such ceremoniall forme papall observance or superstitious solemnitie as by the order of the Canon Law pretended to bee still in force have beene accustomed And as these offences before mentioned bee punishable partly by temporall and partly by Ecclesiasticall authoritie so drunkennesse absence from divine service and prayer fighting quarrelling and brawling in Church and Churchyard defamatorie words and libels violent laying on oâ— hands upon a Clarke c. may not onely bee handled and punished in a court ecclesiasticall but they may also be handled and punished by the King in his temporall courts By all which it is evident that the Clergie hath had the correction of these crimes rather by a The cognizance of all crimes as well as of some crimes â—â— the law of God belong to the King custome and by sufferance of Princes than for that they be meere spirituall or that they had authoritie by the immediate law of God And if all these as well as some of these crimes by sufferance of Princes and by a custome may be handled and punished spiritually then also if it please the King may all these as well as some of these crimes without a custome be handled and punished temporally For by custome and sufferance only some of these crimes be exempted from the cognizance of the King and therefore by the immediate law of God the cognizance as well of all as of some oâ— these crimes properly appertaineth unto the King And then the judgement of those men who defend judgements of adulterie slander c. to be more temporall and by the temporall Magistrate only to be dealt in seemeth every way to be a sincere and sound judgment Howbeit they doe not hereby intend that the party offending in any of these things and by the Kings law punishable should therefore wholly bee exempted and freed
AN ASSERTION FOR True and Christian CHURCH-POLICIE Wherein Certain Politike Objections made against the planting of PASTOURS and Elders in every Congregation are sufficiently ANSWERED And Wherein also sundry projects are set downe how the Discipline by Pastors and Elders may be planted without any derogation to the Kings Royall Prerogative any indignity to the three Estates in Parliament or any greater alteration of the laudable Lawes Statutes or Customes of the Realme than may well bee made without damage to the people IN DOMINO CONFIDO London Printed 1642. To the Right Honourable the LORDS and COMMONS Assembled in High COURT of Parliament Right HONOURABLE c. THe Ensuing Treatise which I am bold to present to Your wisedomes view containes principall politicall reasons grounded upon the Lawes of this Kingdom for the removing of the present Hierarchie and planting of a Governement by Pastors and Elders The appellation of Lay Elders hath beene very displeasing to many whereas the Elder intended to be planted is not lay but in regard of the service wherein hee is to bee imployed Ecclesiasticall The Author was an elaborate Student in the civill Law and a professor of it He was esteemed learned by the best of that profession as also by Divines and common Lawyers learned Sir Edward Cook late Chiefe Justice of the Kings Bench Sir Christopher Yelverton late Judge of the Common Pleas Sir Henry Finch late the Kings Serjeant at Law and others have given testimony of him The Treatise is an answer to diverse passages in a Book written by D. Whitgift late Archb. of Canterbury intituled An admonition to the Parliament The Author as I doubt not but will appeare to your Wisedomes hath written with the spirit of meekenesse and humility submitting all to the judgement of an High Court of Parliament hee disputes with the Great Bishop in a Scholasticall way without one syllable of reviling or bitter language which he ever detested Hee discovers the foundation of the Hierarchie to be totally illegall and to bee abolished by the abolition of the Papall Canon Law which appeares to be abolished by the statute of 25. of Henry 8. cap. 9. The truth whereof being discovered by the Authors means to the said learned Judge Sir Edward Cooke hee did most ingenuously acknowledge and did avow he never understood the statute so well before yet affirmed he thought he had read the said statute an hundred times May it please you in your wisedomes to commend the Treatise to bee viewed by the learned Gent. of the long Robe whose awfull judgments I shall ever honour Most true it is I dare averre there is little written in this Kingdome tending to the removall of the Episcopacie from Legall and Politicall arguments but the Author hath the arrowes in his quiver I say not that others have borrowed light from his Candle Right Honourable and Right worthy I shall humbly take further boldnes humbly presuming upon your Honourable favours if this poore model find acceptance in your sight to present you with a new impression of an abstract written in time of famous Queene Elizabeth a Book well knowne to learned King Iames by the same Author whose memory I am bound by nature to Honour Give mee leave onely now to make knowne unto you the Title and severall Treatises contained in it It is intituled An abstract of certaine Laws Canons and Constitutions Synodall and Provinciall in force within the Queenes dominions and for the most part unknowne to the subject It containeth these principall Treatises 1. That a learned Ministery is commanded by Law 2. That Pluralities are forbidden by Law 3. That it is unlawfull to make a Minister without a title 4. That it is unlawfull for a Clerk to have civill authority This abstract was seemingly answered by the rayling stile of a then Doctor Cozens but by a further incounter and the counterpoyson yet extant written by the same Author he departed the Field with Honour such was the opinion of many learned among others of the foresaid Reverend Judge Sir Henry Yelverton This treatise was never questioned nor quarreld for ought I ever heard Yet was the Author well knowne to many of the Bishops You may happily in your Wisdomes conceive some things might have beene omitted as not wholly incident to the time and some abbreviated in regard of the shortnesse of your time and of the high affaires now in hand But may it please you being about so to doe I found the light must have bin much Eclipsed and the truth obscured I am over bold most humbly to commend the defence of what he writes grounded upon the laws of the Kingdome to your most Honourable protection It shall be enough for me to attend among the meanest of your servants having heretofore had the happinesse to have bin a member though unworthy of the Honourable House of Commons Presenting your honours and your grave wisdomes with my heartiest prayers and humblest service In most humble manner I intreate your pardon of and for The Contents THe defenders of the Hierarchy confesse their government is not apostolicall pag. 2. The bringing in of the discipline desired causeth no alteration of temporall laws nor the officers of a kingdom 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 No feare that prophane men will overthrow the Gospell if the forme of Church government be altered 10. The description of lukewarme professors that will be of that religion the King will be of 11. The Puritan protestants can never overthrow the Gospell 13. Neither can the Papist because he is overthrown by the Gospel 13 The planting of an Apostolicall government will draw no alteration of the Lawes of the Realme 14. The whole Papal Law is totally abolished by the statute of the 25 of Henry 8. c. 19. of the submission of the Clergie as appeares by the body of the statute and the proviso from the 15. to the 20. Canon and civill Lawes no part of the Lawes of the Realme but by sufferance 15 An imbasement for Civillians to have preferment by the offices of the Canon Law that ought not to be used 17 18 19. Whence it followeth that the papall Canon Law being abolished the papall offices and functions of Archbishops and Bishops are also abolished being grounded upon the same Law 20 Power properly and improperly called spirituall 20 21 Bishops remaine ordinary by custome provinciall Canons and statute Law though papall lawes be abolished 21 The King though Supreame governour of the Church cannot give Archbishops and Bishops spirituall power properly called spirituall that power must be derived from the Scripture 20. The Bishops did use a plenary power devised and promulged new Canons without the Queenes assent 23 All the Bishops together can make no new Law and yet every Bishop doth make many lawes 24 All temporall officers do draw their power from the King one way or other 25 The Charter of England confirmeth not the power of Archbishops or Bishops because their power appeares not by the
was common and did continue in the old Churches Besides this inconvenience saith he caused Princes and Bishops so much to intermeddle in this matter Frow whence it necessarily againe followeth that by the holy Scriptures and law of God Princes and Bishops did not entermeddle with that matter atal For had it been simply lawfull for them to have dealt in those causes by the word of God then aswell before schisme discord and dissention as afterward yea rather much more before than afterward For then by their owne right might Princes and Bishops have prevented Bishops nâ—eddle not with election of Pastors by the holy Scriptures all occasion of schism and contention and have so preserved the Church that no tumult or disorder should once have beene raised or begun therein Againe if by the law of God Princes and Bishops had medled in these matters and had not intermedled by humane device then lawfully by their authoritie alone might they have chosen Pastors Elders and Deacons in the old Churches which thing in this place by necessary inference he denieth For schisme saith he caused them to intermeddle So as by his confession they were but intermedlers and entercommoners by reason of schisme and not commoners and medlers by vertue of Gods word And yet now a dayes our reverend Bishops in this case are no more intercommoners with Princes and with the people they ate no more entermedlers as in old times they were but they have now so far incroached upon the prerogatives of the prince and privileges of the people that neither prince nor people have any commons in the election of Pastors Elders and Deacons with them at all Besides if schism and contention among the people Bishops â—n croach upon the â—ighâ— oâ— pâ—â—â—ce and people were the reason why Bishops first entermedled in the choice of Pastours we now having no schisme nor contention about the choice of Pastours by the people and so the cause of ceasing why should not the effect likewise cease But this effect is therefore still to bee continued because otherwise the cause would a new sprout out and spring up againe Nay rather inasmuch as for these many yeares we have had schism discord and dissention because the bishops wholly and altogether have medled in the choise of pastours and have thrust upon the people whatsoever pastours please not the people but pleased themselves and have not suffered the people to meddle no not so much as once to intermeddle in these matters in as much I say as these things be so it seemeth most expedient requisite and necessary for the appeasing and pacifying of this discord and the taking away of this schism to have the manner of election which was in the old Churches restored to the people and this wherein the bishops have intermedled without authoritie from the word to be abolished that so againe the cause of scbism and strife which is now among us ceasing the effect might likewise cease After I had ended this tract in this manner touching this point there came into mine hands a booke intituled The perpetuall government of Christs Church written by Thomas Bilson Warden of Winchester Colledge in the fifteenth chapter of which booke is handled this question viz. to whom the election of Bishops and Presbyters doth rightly belong and whetherby Gods law the people must elect their pastours or no. In which chapter also the matter of schism strife and contention is handled The finall scope and conclusion whereof is as the proposition importeth twofold First concerning Bishops then concerning Pastours The quarrell taken against Bishops doth not so much touch saith hee the office and functions of Bishops as it doth the Princes prerogative When you rather thinke the Prince may not name her Bishops without the consent and election of the people you impugne not us but directly call the Princes fact and her lawes in question As touching this point of the proposition because the people by any law or custome never challenged any right or interest in the choise of the Kings bishops wee have nothing The King only hath power without the people to nominate his Kingly Bb. to meddle or to make about the choise of any of the Kings Bishops Nay we confesse as his highnesse progenitors Kings of England have beene the Soveraigne Donours Founders Lords and Avowes of all the Bishopricks in England without aid of the people that so likewise it is a right and interest invested into his Imperiall crowne that he only his heires and successors without consent of the people ought to have the free nomination appointment collation investiture confirmation of all the Bishops from time to time to be planted in any of those Bishoprickes yea and wee say further that the King alone hath not power onely to nominate collate and confirm but also to translate yea and if it please him to depose all his Kingly Bishops without any consent of his people at all For say we ejus est destruere cujus est construere ejus est tollere cujus est condere Neither will we dislike but rather content our selves that our late Queens Bishops if they shall finde favour in the Kings eyes should be also the Kings Bishops conditionally they submit themselves to the lawes and prerogatives of the Kings Crowne content themselves with the only name of Kingly and Princely Bishops and not challenge any more unto themselves the sole titles of Godly and Christian Bishops as though without injurie to the law of â—od and Gospell of our Saviour Christ they could not bee dispossessed of their Lordly Bishopricks And therefore our most humble prayer to the King is that his Majestie would bee pleased that such his Kingly Bishops may not henceforth over crow and justle out Gods Bishops nor have any primacie over Gods Bishops And withall that the King himselfe would vouchsafe to hearken to the doctrine of such as are indeed Gods Bishops rather than to the Counsell of those who lately were the Queenes bishops As touching the second part viz. whether the people by Gods M. Bilson confirmeth the peoples election of their pastor p. 339. law must elect their Pastours or no Master Bilson by reasons and proofes brought for the first use of it rather confirmeth than impugneth the same For saith hee Well may the peoples interest stand upon the grounds of reason and nature and bee derived from the rules of Christian equitie and societie That each Church and people stand free by Gods law to admit maintaine or obey no maâ— as their Pastour without their liking unlesse by law custome or consent they have restrained themselves Then the people had as much right to choose their 360 Pastour as the Clergie that had more skill to judge that the Apostles left elections indifferent to the people and Clergie at Jerusalem That the Apostles in the Acts when they willed the Church at Jerusalem to choose the seven did not make any remembrance or
Lawes by punishment of body and losse of goods than excommunication and that they will more feare that manner of punishment I hold and affirme therein as he holdeth and affirmeth and yet I say that to the matter in question hee hath fitted no other answer than as if hee had answered a poke full of plummes or a Buchet full of Peares for the controversie is not concerning those that are without but concerning those that are within not touching those that are not of the house-hold but touching them that are of the house-hold of faith and of God As for the first sort of which people the Reverend Bishops with good leave may procure what sharp punishment they can devise for by the Church excommunicated they should never bee For how should any be thrust from the communion of the Church who never were in the communion with the Church But it is to bee feared that this sharpnesse of punishment is not urged so much to be inflicted upon them that are without as upon them that are within the bosome of the Church For though such as bee without did a long time scorne and set naught by the sword of excommunication which was not onely drawne out by the Chancelours Commissaries and Officials for every crust of bread and for every piece of Bacon but also which was againe put up for every cracked grote and for every IRISH harper the Reverend Bishops whose freehold by such contempt was not touched were pacified and contented themselves well enough by inflcting and releasing that manner of punishment but now for so much as they perceive the Children within the Church to begin seriously and religiously to stand against the use of Lordly and humane censures for the Crown and Scepter of our Saviour Christ and that the statelinesse of Prelacy must be taken one hole lower if the simplicity of the holy ministery bee exalted a degree higher they pretend Discipline by excommunication which is the sword of the Son and heire of God to be too bluntly pointed and too badly edged to foyne or to strike withall Touching that very good manner of Discipline by the Ecclesiasticall commission which hee saith hath done and doth daily much good and would doe more if it were more common the people whom hee admonisheth have just cause of being desirous to understand what manner of Discipline it is which is so highly commended Not one manner of Discipline used by the Ecclesiasticall Commissioners For all men know that the Ecclesiasticall Commissioners use not in all places and at all times one and the selfe same manner of Discipline For the same Commissioners for the same kind of offences sometimes suspend sometimes deprive sometimes degrade sometimes excommunicate sometimes fine sometimes imprâ—son sometimes command this penance and sometimes that Nay sometimes having convented before them grave Learned and godly Ministers for crimes supposed to be Ecclesiasticall and for the same pretensed Ecclesiasticall offences having detained them some yeares in durance This Discipline was practised against Master Cart-Wright Fenner Whight L. Snape and others for refusall of the oath ex officio in the end not having any other supposed just cause of inflicting any punishment upon them by Ecclesiasticall authority have been forced for a shew to maintaine their own credits to cause accusations to be framed against them by the Queenes Atturney in the High Court of Star Chamber as against violators of the dignities of the Royall Crowne whose innocencies by the very witnesses produced by their meanes on the behalfe of the Queene have notwithstanding beene fully cleared from the faults objected and the Ministers discharged without any ordinary Ecclesiasticall Discipline used by the high Commissioners against M. Vdall punishment usually inflicted by that Court upon malefactors Nay further when the Ecclesiasticall Commissioners had committed Master Vdall to prison where he remained halfe a yeare for refusall of the oath ex officio touching his knowledge of the Author of a Book entituled The Demonstration in the end he was delivered over as a fel on for making of the same booke and for the which he was arraigned and convicted and so died in prison notwithstanding our Soveraigne Lord King Iames then King of Scotland had Gratiously written for his deliverance And how then would the Admonitor have the people contented with such a moderation of Ecclesiasticall discipline as the Ecclesiasticall Commissioners maâ—y times use For did he thinke that every manner of discipline used by the High Commissioners can not bee but a very good An oath tendered by the Ecclesiasticall Commission unto M. V. dall in case of Fellony moderatâ—on Why then let some of the Commissioners tell the people whether the Ecclesiasticall Commissioners used a very good moderation and manner of Discipline Ecclesiasticall against the same Master Vdall when they tendered unto him a corporall oath to have appeached himselfe upon a matter which was adjudged to be Felony or let them declare what a very good manner of discipline Ecclesiasticall certaine Ecclesiasticall Commissioners used when having a Gentleman before them wearing long haire they constrained the same Gentleman by force and strong hand to have his head notted in their presence The wearing of long haire by our Lawes being not reputed an Ecclesiasticall crime no although the same be worne by attendants upon the Reverend Bishops waiting on their Trenchers Or let them signifie unto us what a good manner of discipline and moderation it was for a Bishop and his associates to make an act in the High Commission Court repugnant to the Institution of our Saviour Christ and contrary to the order The Minister authorized to put sacramental bread into the mouth of a Communicant appointed by the Book of Common Prayer that the Minister should put the Sacramentall bread inro the mouth of a superstitious communicant and not deliver it into his haâ—ds After our hearty commendations saith the Bishop and his associates whereas I. V. one of your charge hath beene often convented before us Her Majesties Commissioners in causes Ecclesiasticall for not receiving the holy Communion it seemeth unto us that he hath not of any contemptuous minde refrained fâ—om the same but is willing to receive it and so hath bound himselfe saving that hee hath a scruple in his minde by reason of a fond vow or promise hee made long agoe whereof he is sorry never to receive the Sacrament into his hand but to put it into his mouth by the Minister And therefore wee pray you to beare a time with his weakenesse and permit him to receive it in that sort untill by your good counsell and perswasion he may be reduced from that fond scruple And so we bid you heartily farewell Your loving friends c. And seeing the Admonitor hath opposed a very good manner of Discipline by the Ecclesiasticall commission against excommunication it seemeth that excommunication in his judgement is no Master Excommunicated by the High Commissioners most
wherof were lay men good or moderate discipline to be used by the Ecclesiasticall Commissioners And then were it fit that the people were resolved what a very good manner of Discipline Master D. W. and other Ecclesiasticall Commissioners used against Master E. whom by vertue of the Ecclesiasticall commission they excommunicated The tenor of which excommunication taken out of the Register at L. followeth In Dei nomine Amen Nos I. W. Sacrae Theologiae Doctor c. Cancellarius ecclesiae c. M. A. M. Armigeri M. H. civis civitatis c. Commissarij rite legitime procedentes I. E. de B. L. Dioceses ad hos diem locum legitime peremptorie citatum praecognizatum diuque expectatum nullo modo comparentem pronunciavimus contumacem in poenam contumaciae suae hujusmodi cum excommunicavimus in hijs scriptis Concordat cum Regio T Moreover it seemeth not an unmeet thing that some Ecclesiasticall Authority committed to Pursevants by the Ecclesiasticall commissioners If the Queen had specially commanded this search it is credible that her privy Counssellors shold have set to their hands rather than the High Commissioners Commissioners did make knowne unto the people whether banishment be an Ecclesiasticall Discipline and what moderate discipline Ecclesiasticall the Commissioners used when they banished religious Master Fullerton the Scot from dwelling at Warwicke or within certaine Miles thereof Or lâ—t them iâ—foâ—me the Realme what a very good moderation was used when by the Ecclesiasticall Commission for suppressing of Martines Books and other books of argument against the Hierarchy they authorized drunken and swearing Pursevants to search mens houses and to break up their chests c. the Copie of which their Letters is this viz. Whereas the bearer is say they by the Queenes Majesty especially appointed to make search and to apprehend certaine suspected persons according to such particular directions as he hath in that behalfe received these shall be to will and require and in her Majesties Name strairly to charge and command you and every of you to whom these shall appertaine to be by all good and possible meanes ayding and assisting to the bearer in the execution of this service by entring into all such houses as he shall think meete and hold suspected as well within liberty as without and that in them and every of them to make due and diligent search And to search all manner of writings letters papers bookes and all other things carrying note of suspicion sparing no studies chests cubbares lockes or walles as also to apprehend examine and bring before us such persons as by Her Majesties said direction therein appointed and wherein if he shall any way require your further assistance you may not faile to yeeld him the same with all diligence and dexterity according to the trust reposed in you as you will answer for your default for the contrary at your uttermost perill Directed unto all Mayors Sheriffes Justices of Peace and quorum Baylifes Constables Hedboroughes Tything-men and to all other Her Majesties Officers and Subjects c. But be it that all these manners of Disciplines were moderate and good Ecclesiasticall Disciplines and more to be used yet there may a scruple remaine which were fit to be discussed what a very good moderation and manner of Discipline within our remembrances was used betweene an Archbishop and a Bishop both high Commissioners against certaine Gentlemen and one of their Wives about these Articles following Articles objected by her Majesties High Commissioners for causes Ecclesiasticall against G. B. of B. and F. B. of B in the Countie of L. IN primis VVe object unto you G. B. and L. your wife that you have within these seven yeares and so at this present doe keepe company and use conference with diverse persons disobedient to her Majesties lawes and such as be suspected to resort and frequent unlawfull Conventicles Item wee object unto you to the end you might the better insinuate your selves into their companies you Quere whether this convention were lawfull for this cause Quere against what law this entertainment was and whether the Bishop of L. conversing with Popish Priests and traytors did not more offend have tabled and boorded vvith the same parties and that you or one of you have beene heretofore convented for the causes aforesaid before the novv Lord Archbishop his grace for entertaining into your house a person which stood then and yet standed suspended and deprived for disliking the Booke of Common Prayer and other godly orders established by Her Majesties authority in this Realme Item VVee object unto you the said G. B. and L. your Wife that you have not frequented divine service celebrated vvithin your Parish Church of Bothese vi 5. 4. 3. 2. or one yeares last nor doe not at this present at least every Sunday nor have received the holy Communion within your said Parish Church during the said yeares Item that you the said G. B. and L. your Wife vvithin the time aforesaid have not Christened nor baptized Quere whether the Bishop did not more offend the law of God by preferring these artioles than the Gentleman did by procuring his children to be Baptised by a preaching Minister having none at home your Children vvithin your Parish Church but contrary to the forme and order of Her Majesties Lavves in that case provided have either christened them at home privately in your ovvn house or have carried or caused them to bee carried to other Churches And let them declare what Church and vvhat Minister did baptise them and where and vvhether the same Minister did at the same baptisme signe the child vvith the signe of the Crosse and let them declare the cause vvhy they did baptize their children out of the Parish Item that the Ministers pevv or seate in the Church of B. aforesaid by the direction of the L. Reverend Father Note that the bishop of L. was not bishop of the Diocesse in God the Bishop of London that novv is being at the same Church as also by the consent of the Minister and Church-Wardens there vvas placed in a very convenient place of the Church to the end the Parishioners there might the better heare and understand the Minister at the time of reading the divine service Item We object unto you that you the said F. B. vvithin these vi or 3. moneths last past have vvithout any sufficient vvarrant or commandement from the Father in God the Lord Bishop of London or his Clancelour or other having authority therein very disorderly and contemptuously removed the same seat to the great offence of the Parishioners and bad example of others Item We object unto you that you knovv beleeve or have heard say that Za. G. is a Preacher of the VVord of God and a man of good life and conversation and lawfull Parson of B. aforesaid Item VVe object unto you that the premisses notwithstanding you the said F.
they joyntly should not execute the discipline of Christ viz. excommunication and other censures of the Church in every parish within his kingdome If it bee answered that in this case the Presbyter alone doth excommunicate is it not as if one should say that the executioner doth give judgement when at the commandement of the Judge he smiteth off the head or casteth downe the ladder or may not as much be said for the execution whereof we speak that the Pastor only should excommunicate when by vertue of his office with the consent and not by the prescript of the elders associated unto him he should declare and pronounce the partie to be excommunicated but let it be granted that Rowland Allen denounceth the lesson which is written in the paper for him to read yet it is cleare by the precept that the same must bee done by the prescript of Doctor Hone Besides Doctor Hone he citeth he precognizateth the parties and they being absent hee pronounceth them contumaciter absentes and in poenam contumaciarum suarum hujusmodi decreeth them to bee excommunicate and are not all these necessarie parts incident to the execution of discipline by excommunication And how then can the Minister bee said to excommunicate alone when Doctor Hone of necessitie must play three parts of the foure without all or without any one of which parts the excommunication by reason of a nullitie is meerely voide Againe the Act being done as it were uno puncto ac uno halitu and Rowland Allen and Doctor Hone having their commission from the Archdeacon in solidum how can their judgement be divided Furthermore to say that Rowland Allen doth excommunicate by the authoritie of Doctor Hone were to overthrow the intendment of the article Because by the scope of the article it is plaine that the presbyter to be associated to the officiall must only derive his authoritie from one who hath taken Ecclesiasticall orders But those orders Doctor Hone never tooke otherwise Rowland Allens presence had been unnecessarie and superfluous And therefore if the excommunication bee of any validitie then is discipline by excommunication in the Church of England exercised partly by our lay-Elder as they call him and partly by one Ecclesiasticall Elder wherein againe it is worthy the observation for the matter we have in hand that D. Hone a meere lay and temporall man hath authoritie from the Archdeacon to call and associate unto him and to prescribe R. Allen a Presbyter and an other mans hireling Curate in Southwarke to excommunicate not only the Parochians of an other Pastors charge but any other Pastour whatsoever subject to the Archdeacons jurisdiction And hath not the Kings highnesse then as good right as great a priviledge and as high a Prerogative to command Master Doctor Andros or Master Doctor King and lay Elders by a lawfull election to be associated unto either of them to excommunicate either of their owne parishioners for publike drunkennesse or other notorious sinnes committed in their owne parish For if it be lawfull at the voice of a lay stranger that an hireling and stipendarie Curate should chase an other mans sheep out of his owne fold how much more is it it lawfull that a true shepheaâ—d should disciplinate his owne sheepe feeding and couchant within his own pasture and within his owne fold Furthermore touching the admittance of governing Elders or lay Elders as they call them unto the Minister of every congregation according to the former pattern of one lay Elder that the same is not a matter so strange for lay men to bee joyned in this charge Lay men appointed by the Queenes injunctions to execute some part of discipline of ecclesiasticall government as the opposites beare us in hand to bee it shall not be amisse to call unto their remembrances one of our late Soveraigne the Queenes injunctions whereby certaine lay persons called overseers were commanded to be chosen by the ordinaries in every parish for the better retaining of the people in obedience unto divine service In every parish saith the Injunction three or foure discreet men which tender Gods glory and his true religion shall bee appointed by the Ordinaries diligently to see that all the parishioners duely resort unto their Church upon all Sundayes and holydayes and there to continue the whole time of the Godly Service And all such as shall be negligent in resorting to the Church having no great or urgent cause of absence they shall straightly call upon them and after due admonition if they amend not they shall denounce them to the Ordinarie Thus farre the injunction Which that it is not meant of the Church wardens appeareth by the very next article for unto them as is assigned an other name so also another office That sidemen also are not these kinde of overseers is plaine in that they be neither so many in number as are here required neither chosen by the Ordinaries neither yet doe they admonish and denounce according to this article Wherefore because it is meet that the effect of this injunction being religious should be put in due execution it seemeth a thing very reasonable and much tending to the honour of the King that his Highnesse under his letters patents would bee pleased to appoint three foure or more discreet and faithfull persons in every Parish not only to performe the effect of this article but also generally to oversee the life and manners of the people that without great and urgent causes they resort not unto Typling-houses or houses of evill note and suspected fame and that upon the Sabbaths they use no heathenish dancing about their disguised May-poles And after due admonition if they amend not to denounce them to the Pastor of the place For then might the Pastor Book of the form of ordeining Priests be encouraged to give his faithfull diligence as at the time of his ordination he solemnly promiseth unto the Bishop alwaies to Minister the Doctrine and Sacraments and Discipline of Christ as the Lord hath commanded by which words inserted it the booke there is a plaine and open confession made by all estates in Parliament that Christ hath not only established discipline but a certaine forme of discipline in his Church and that the pastour to whom Every Minister ought to minister the discipline of Christ in his owne cure by consent of Parliament the care and charge is committed to teach the people ought to minister the same discipline For it had beene a very absurd part for the Parliament to appoint the Bishop to receive a promise from the Ministers to minister the discipline of Christ if Christ had not instituted a discipline or that the same discipline which he instituted had not in their judgements belonged unto the Minister And therefore this very letter of the booke convinceth the whole answer made unto the abstract touching this point to be very erroneous frivolous and impertinent to the point in question For
the papall canon law must needs take place because by the same law consent of Parents is not de necessitate but The canon law preferred by the reverend Bishops before the law of God and the civill law de honestate tantum and because also matrimonia debent esse libera non pendere ex alieno arbitrio Wherein the reverend Bishops under their favourable patience can not clearely excuse themselves of much oversight in so slender managing of a matter of so great and high a consequence The holy law of God by publike authoritie hath been commanded within this Realme to bee sincerely and purely taught received and embraced The civill law hath not had her free course in this case hindered by any law of the Realme And how then commeth it to passe that the canon law being in this point repugnant to both these Lawes should notwithstanding be preferred beare sway and take place in this Realme before and above both these Laws especially Certain speciall points to be provided about mariages the same in this point as being against the law of God being utterly taken away The abuses past and mariages past under colour and pretext of this law may and ought to be bewailed and repented of yea and that no such mariages in time to come may be made I leave it to be considered whether it might not tend to the advancement of the Law of God be honourable for the King and commodious for the Common Weale providently to provide these things following viz. First that no matrimonie secretly contracted against the will or unknowning of or to the father or him or her that hath the keeping education or government of the partie to be maried before he or she come to a certaine age should in any sort be good or available to make the posteritie of those who shall bee so maried legitimate or inheritable Secondly that every contract of mariage concluded with consent of parents Tutor Governour or Gardian should be forcible and effectuall to bind both parties irrevocably whether the same contract with an intent to conclude a mariage be made by wordes of the present or future tence it skilleth not Thirdly that every man stealing away contracting and marrying a maide under the age of certaine yeares without consent of father tutor governour or gardian should be a felon and for such his felonious act suffer the paines of death And lastly that all licences to marry without banes asking according to the intendment of the booke of Common prayer bee forbidden and unlawfull for ever Which things if they might be observed it is very likely that mens inheritances as now many times they doe should not hang in suspence upon question of legitimation or illegitimation of their children to be allowed or disallowed by the commonlaw There should not any such long and tedious suites and variances hereafter fall out betweene the posterities and children of one man for the right and interest of their Ancestors lands Neither should Sir Thomas Lucie nor Sir Edmond Complaint heretofore made upon stealing away and marying mens daughters how they may cease Ludlow nor the Lady Norton nor Master Cooke the Kings Atturney generall nor many moe Knights Esquires and Gentlemen complaine and bewaile the stealing away and mariages of any their daughters Neeces neer Kinswomen or Wards Neither could it bee possible that one woman might procure foure or five severall licences for the mariage of foure or five severall husbands all of them being alive together and not one of them dead Neither should there any licence of mariage be granted out of any Ecclesiasticall Court to any man or woman with a blanck whereby the partie licensed was enabled to have maried another mans wife or his owne or his wives sister Neither should any couples maried and living together foure six or more yeers as man and wife upon a new and suddaine dislike or discontentment and upon a surmised precontract to be pretensedly proved by two suborned witnesses be adjudged by vertue of the canon law to be no husband and to be no wife Neither should any man being solemnly maried to a wife and afterward by reason of a precontract solemnly divorced from the same his wife and by censures of the Church compelled to marry her for whom sentence of precontract was adjudged be re-authorised by the same Consistorie about ten or twelve years after the divorce to resummon recall and rechallenge his first wife especially she having a testimoniall out of the same Consistorie of her lawfull divorce and being againe solemnly maried to an other husband Wherefore to conclude these matters of tythes testaments and Mariages if the King should not be pleased to have the studie of the civill law advanced by some such law as whereof the former project maketh mention I dispute for the enlarging of the common law thus If it stand with reason with the grounds and rules of the common law and with the Kings Royall prerogative that in cases of Tythes Testaments and Mariages the King if it may please him so to provide by Parliament may give remedie unto complaynants by writs out of the Charcorie and that complaints in such cases may effectually be redressed upon such writs in the Kings Courts And if also sundry matters of Tythes Testaments and Marriages bee already handled in the Kings Courts if these things I say be so and so may be then with little reason did the Admonitor warne us that a very great alteration of the common law must follow and that it will bee no small matter to apply these things to the temporall law But the antecedent is true as hath beene already shewed Therefore the consequent is true ADMONITION Indgements also of adulterie slander c. are in these mens judgments meere temporall and therefore to be dealt in by the temporall Pag. â—â— Magistrate only ASSERTION We are indeed of this judgement that in regard of the Kings Royall Office these judgements of adulterie and other criminall Causes comprised within this clause c. ought no more to be exempted from the Kings temporall Courts than matters of theft murder treason and such like ought to be And for the maintenance of our judgements we affirme that there is no crime or offence of what nature or qualitie soever respecting any commandement contained within either of the two tables of the holy law of God if the same be now corrigible by spirituall power but that some fault and contempt one or other of the like nature and qualitie as comprised under the same commandement hath beene evermore and is now punishable by the Kings Regall and temporall jurisdiction For adulterie as the same is to be censured by penance in the Ecclesiasticall Courts so is ravishment also buggerie and sodomie to bee punished in the Kings Court by paine of death And as hath beene accustomed that Ordinaries by censures of the Church may correct fornicators so fornication also as in some bookes
that the King chiefly desiring to sustaine the people in tranquillitie and peace and to governe according to the lawes usages and franchises of his land by the assent and expresse will and accord of the Dukes Earles Barons and the Commons of his Realme and of all other whome these things touched ordained that all they c. By which desire of the King and words of the Act wee learne that our soveraigne Lord King Iames may sustaine his people The king with the assent of the nobles and commous may repeale statutes without consent of prelates 25 Ed 3. in tranquillitie and peace and governe according to the lawes usages and franchises of his kingdome though the assent and accord of Prelates bee never required to the enacting of any statute in Parliament Nay such hath beene and yet is the power of the King that with the assent and accord of the Nobles and Commons he hath authoritie to adnull and make voide even those Acts which in favour of Prelacie and assent of Prelates have beene enacted in Parliament As by an Act made in the time of King Edward the third is plainly to be seene For whereas the King by assent of the Prelates Earles c had willed and granted for him and for his heires certaine articles firmly to be kept and holden for ever namely that the Ministers of holy Church for money taken for redemption of corporall penance nor for proofe and accompt of Testaments nor for solemnitie of Mariage c. should not be impeached c. before the Kings Justices neverthelesse the same king in the same yeare with assent of the Earls Barons and other wise men of the Realme and without assent of Prelates revoked and adnulied the same articles againe Again king Richard the second hearing the complaints of his faithfull leige people and by their clamour in divers parliaments of divers abuses crept in against the solemne and devout ordinations of Churches c at the request and complaint of the commons by the advice 3 R. 2 c. 3. 7 R. 2 c. 12. and commonassent of the Lords temporall without mention of any Lords spiritual is said to have ordained That none of the kings liege people c. should take or receive within the Realm of England any procuracie c. And in the eleventh yeare of the same kings raign it is especially provided that the appeals pursuits c. made and given in the same parliament be approved affirmed and established as a thing Act. Mo. R. 2. duely made for the weale and profit of the king and of all the realm notwithstanding that the Lords spirituall and their procurators did by protestation absent them out of the Parliament at the time of the said judgement given And the like protestation being made by the Prelates and Clergie at a Parliament holden the third yeare of the same king it was replyed for the king that neither for their said protesttation The king bound by his oath to do his laws to be made though prelates protest against him or other words in that behalfe the king would not stay to grant to his Justices in that case and all other cases as was used to be done in times past and as he was bound by vertue of his oath at his coronation By all which premises it is as cleare as the Sun shining at noon day that the Lords spirituall be so farre from making any one of the three Estates as that if it please the king they may not bee so much as any member or part of any of the three Estates at all If in the time of king Henry the eight the Lords spirituall being then more in number than the Lords temporall had beene but such principall members of the high estate of Parliament as without whom neither law could The Lords spiritual no principall members of the parliaâ—ent otherwise than as the King pleaseth have beene made Monasterie nor Priorie might have beene dissolved what could the king have done as head and the Commons have done as feet and the Nobles have done as the heart the Liver and the Longs to the dislording and discloystering of the Abbots and Priors the Monkes and the Friers of those dayes In case the Prelates with their armes and with their shoulders with their hands and with their hornes had heaved and shoved and pushed and thrusted to the contrary But to come nearer unto our owne times and remembrances if it cannot be proved that above one Lord spirituall was present in parliament and gave any assent to the enacting of statutes made in the first yeare of the Queenes Majesties raigne deceased but that it bee a No Lords spirituall present in parliament 1 Eâ— cleare case that the ancient jurisdiction preeminences rights and priviledges of the kings Crowne were restored that poperie and superstition was banished and the doctrine of the holy Gospell harboured only by the Queene the Lords temporall and commons what more plaine evidence or better prooâ—e can there be that the Lords spirituall by any necessitie be neither principalls nor accessaries neither branches nor buds nor any essentiall member of the house of Parliament And of this opinion are the soundest Historians and sincerest Divines of our age In the fifteenth yeare of King Edward the third saith Master Fox divers petitions being put up in Parliament against provisions comming Act. Mâ— fol. 320. from Rome the Kings answer and agreement was made in form following viz. It is agreed by the Kings Earles Barons Justices and other wise men of the Realme That the petitions aforesaid bee made in sufficient forme of law Where it is to be noted saith hee that at the grant hereof the consent of the Bishops is neither named nor expressed with the Lords of Parliament and yet the Parliament standeth in his full force notwithstanding At an other Parliament Act. Mo. 525. saith he William Wicham Bishop of Winchester for a slanderous report savouring of a contumelious lye and proceeding of a subtile zeale meaning falshood was so by the Duke of Lancaster pursued that by act of Parliament he was condemned and deprived of all his temporall goods And this seemeth to have beene done saith Master Fox without assent and against the wills of the Lords spirituall for afterward at an other Parliament great suite was made by the Clergie for deliverance of the said Bishop and being asked a subsidie in the Kings behalfe with great lamentation they complained for lacke of their fellow and brother of Winchester and denyed to joyne themselves in any tractation of any such matter And in another Parliament holden at Yorke in the sixth yeare of King Edward the third all such Act. Mo. 519. lawes as then passed and were concluded by the King Barons and Commons were good notwithstanding the absence or malice of the Lords Spirituall For it is recorded saith he that onely the Archbishop of Yorke the Bishop of Lincolne and the Abbots
of Yorke and Silby were there present In a booke intituled the burning of Pauls Church in London 1561. and in the fift question moved by a papist it is said that this manner of ministration of Sacraments set forth in the booke of Common prayers was never allowed nor agreed upon c. no not by the Clergie of England at the last Parliament but only it was agreed upon by the Laitie which had nothing a doe with spirituall matters or causes of religion Whereunto the reverend Father Master Pilkington Bishop of M. Pilkington Bishop of Durisme Duresme answering was there not saith he a disputation for Religion appointed by the Queenes Majestie wherein your Clergie was affraid to utter their foolishnesse in defending their superstition lest they had taken more shame in answering than they did in holding their peace I thinke the Vniversities with so many places of this Realme receiving religion and these other disputing for it may bee counted to be some part of the clergie of the Realme And so it was not received without consent of the Clergie But these were not of the Parliament What then But as Ioash Josaphat Ezechias and Iosias did not make a new Religion but restored that which was defaced and had long lyen buried so our Parliament did not set forth a new religion but restore that which was godly begun before the good K. Edward confirmed by the Parliament and Clergie then c. But nothing can bee concluded as a law by Parliament say they without consent of the Clergie there present But this having not their consent cannot be counted a law as they think I had rather saith M. Pilkington leave this to be answered by the Lawyers than otherwise Yet that the world may see that something may be said in it we grant him not this to be true that no law at all can be made without consent of Bishops Look your old statutes of Parliament when Bishops were highest afore Edward the third and ye shall read that they passed by consent of the Lords temporall and commons without any mention of the Lords spirituall which statutes many of them stand in strength at this day Then it may well be gathered that the consent of the Clergie was not alwayes so necessarie as they thinke it The Lawyers Judges and Justicers put in practice and execute these lawes therefore their doings may be a sufficient reason to lead the unlearned what opinion they have of this statutes For Religion except Justice Rastall first executing that and afterward running away may condemne the rest which I trust he may not I thinke they would not execute them except they had the strength and nature of lawes If they doe contrary to their knowledge and opinion they cannot be able to answer their doings but I think no wise men are of this opinion Only these corner creepers that dare not shew their face and would deceive the people go about to deface all good and godly order that displeases them In the dayes of K. Edward they had the like fond opinion that the king could not make lawes in his minoritie untill he came unto full age and to make the people to disobey their Prince Hitherto M. Pilkington L. Bishop of Durisme with whom the most worthy and learned M. Jewell late Bishop of M. Iewel B. of Salisburie Salisburie agreeth in every point The wise and learned faith hee could have told you that in the Parliaments of England matters have evermore used to passe not of necessitie by the speciall consent of the Archbishops and Bishops as if without them no statute might lawfully be enacted but only by the more part of voyces yea although the Archbishops and Bishops were never so earnestly bent against it And statutes so passing in Parliaments onely by the voyces of the Lords temporall without the consent and agreement of the Lords spirituall have neverthelesse beene alwayes confirmed and ratified by the Royall assent of the Prince and have beene enacted and published under the names of the Lords spirituall and temporall Reade saith hee the statutes of King Edward the first there shall ye find that in a Parliament holden at S. Edmundsbury the Archb. and Bishops were quite shut forth and yet the Parliament held on and good and profitable lawes were there enacted the departing or absence or malice of the Bishops spirituall notwithstanding In the Records thereof it is written thus Habito Rex cum suis Baronibus Parliamento Clero excluso statutum est The King keeping a Parliament with his Barons the Clergie that is to say the Archbishops and Bishops being shut forth it was enacted c. In provisione de matrona in the time of K. Edward the third whereas matter was moved of bastardie touching the legitimation of bastards borne before mariage the statute passed wholly with the Lords temporall whether the Lords spirituall would or no. and that contrary to the expresse decrees and canons of the Church of Rome And thus much the most reverend and godly Father M. Iewell Bishop of Salisbury Wherefore to conlude this point against the Admonitors position I dispute thus All those persons who by any necessitie are none of the three estates aâ—d by whose authorities the statutes of England to this day have not stood to leave out the same persons may happily seem a matter of lesse weight than all men do judge it But the Archbishops and Bishops are such persons as by nâ—cessitie are none of the three estates and by whose consents the statutes of England to this day have not stood Therefore to leave out the Archbishops and Bishops may happily seem a matter of lesse weight than all men doe judge it If our Evangelicall Bishops be of that opinion of which the Popish Bishops were viz. that the house of Parliament is an unfit and an unmeet place to have the holy cause of the religion of God debated and concluded upon and that the Laitie without the clergie ought not to conclude any thing in Religion and that in respect hereof their presences their voices and their assents are necessary in the â—arliament If our Evangelicall Prelates I say make this objection then besides that hereby they unseemely unmannerly and unchristianly accuse the whole land of ignorance and blindnesse in religion supposing neither King nor Nobles nor Commons to be able to discern betweene night and day besides this I say so shamefull an abuse of a whole Christian nation I would pray them to remember what the most reverend Fathers Master Pilkington and Master Iewell have answered to such cavillous slanders For what else intended they by many examples and proofes brought for the Parliaments of England consisting of the King the Nobles and the Commons to be lawfull Parliaments and to have right to establish religion but to justifie against Popish scoffers that religion might be conceived and established in Parliament notwithstanding the absence or exclusion of the Clergie Besides since our