struck out of thy Head SECT II. Of King James 's Canons and power of making new Canons by the Statute of Hen. 8. Tim. DOst not perceive Phil. our task is almost done we have gained three great points easily out of thy hard hand and fairly out of thy foul mouth For thou hast confess'd though sore against thy genius 1. That our Courts have legal Authority 2. That certain Causes do properly belong to them 3. That the old Canons are kept in force by the Statute of Hen. 8. to try those Causes by I mean with the Statute such of them as are not repugnant to the Kings Prerogative and the Laws of the Land Now Phil. thou hangest but upon one twig and if that fail thee thou art quite sunk that is the denial of the force of King James 's Canons and the Kings power with his Convocation to make new ones Phil. 'T is false what the Doctor would make the 25 Hen. 8. 19. speak as though by that Statute the Convocation hath power reserved of making Pag. 19. new Canons provided the Convocation be called by the Kings Writ and have the Royal assent c. If this be true I do not know but the Lambeth-Canons exploded and condemned by Act of Parliament and those of King James are all Statute-Law i. e. Law by Statute or non-sence for they were so made Tim. Good Phil. discover his falshood herein with Naked Truth Is not such power reserved to the Convocation by the Statute seeing they used that power before and seeing it is conceded and not taken away by that Statute What is the meaning of reservation else Thy other paragraph is as modest as 't is true Are the Canons of King James confirmed by the Royal assent and never questioned by any Act of Paraliament of no more force than those of Lambeth Which are as thou say'st condemned by Act of Parliament that is no better than waste-paper take heed Phil. of a thing call'd crimen laesae Majestatis Phil. But is not this Doctor an honest man when the Statute only binds them to their good behaviour namely not to presume without the Royal assent but does not enable them to make any new Canons with the Royal assent Vid. Stat. Tim. Meddle not Phil. with the Doctors honesty that 's above thy reach mind thy own morals and the Doctors Logick his argument is from a legal implication upon the negative in the Statute He grounds his argument upon a known rule in Law Exceptio confirmat Regulam in non exceptis the Statute was made on purpose to limit the power formerly abused and can any inference be plainer than that the Statute supposeth and alloweth the power of the Convocation so far as it doth not prohibit or limit them 'T is evident the Judges thought so when at the Committee of the Lords my Lord Coke tells us they declared that those restraints mentioned by him were grounded on the Statute which Statute he adds was but an affirmance of the Common Law Rep. 12. p. 720. I know Phil. if thou hadst been Lord Chancellor and its pity thou hadst not that thou would'st have declared more roundly there is no need of these limitations the Convocation has no power at all to make Canons either without or with the Kings assent So would those Judges had they been of Phil's mind Now Phil. bethink thy self what a wild-Goose chase thou hast run thou art out of breath sure if not out of thy Wits In this venturous course thou may'st at length without more heed out-run the Constable or be caught by him for thy running down the Doctor my Lord Coke all the Judges the Kings Prerogative and Acts of Parliament In sober sadness Phil. what wilt thou do thou seest thou art dead in Law thy Fabrick is ruined thou art lost in the Rubbish and hast written thy own Epitaph Here lies Phil. notorious for his pitiful Descants his silly Cants and shameless Recantations For after all his Bravadoes and Rhodomantades he hath plainly allow'd what he had condemn'd and granted what he denied and with all confidence argued against namely these Five points 1. That our Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction was not really or de jure derived from the Pope before Hen. 8. 2. That that King did not dissolve but confirm the same 3. That our Spiritual Courts have Authority by Law at this day 4. That Spiritual Causes do belong to and are to be tried in them 5. That the old Canons at least which are not repugnant to the Kings Prerogative or Law are still in force Yet Phil. hadst thou gained thy Cause I must say thou hadst lost the credit of a man and a disputant Thou handlest the matter the Doctor and Authority it self so scoundrelously and so far below the Rules of all Logick and Morality Religion and Humanity as thou art a Just scandal both to thy Profession and Nature CHAP. XIV Of Procurations Synodals Canonical Oaths Fees c. Phil. SPare a little Tim. for though I have lost my weapons and quit the field I have some stones to throw back at my Enemy Tim. Thus Insects do riggle when their heads are off Phil. Peace Tim. I have seen the dying blow of a Cock of the Game strike home I am sure my reserve hath a sting in it and my Pebbles will fall like mountains upon their Courts at least in the opinion of my Friends and their Enemies Tim. Mysterious Phil. speak plainly what 's the project Phil. To be plain then the truth is I had taken much pains to prove the unlawfulness of the Spiritual Courts with this I began my Naked Truth and laid it down first as the foundation of my grievances but the Doctor in his Leges Angliae baffled me in that and put me out of all hopes of doing mischief that way Now I declare boldly that was not the main drift and design of Naked Truth I declare and proclaim boldly and frequently no matter for Naked Truth now that the Doctor saith not one word to my main design namely in answer to the Vindication of the Canons Authority to keep Ecclesiastical Courts c. Tim. Stop Phil. has not the Doctor ONE WORD dost not find a whole Chapter c. 7. to prove the Canons Authority and doth not thy own Vindication take notice of it as hath appeared to little purpose besides was it not the scope of the Doctor 's Book to prove their Authority to keep Ecclesiastical Courts Is thy memory bad too Phil. Or to impose Oaths of Canonical obedience upon the Clergie Tim. That 's proved with the Authority of the Canons which have force upon the Clergie if any at all besides the Statute that confirms our manner of ordering c. imposeth the same upon all that are ordained Phil. Or to impose Oaths upon Church-wardens Tim. I am ashamed of thy trifling that 's done both by Canon and Common and Statute-Law as my Lord Chief Justice Hales declared upon the Bench if the Wardens
argue thus That which was found in general use when Magna Charta was first made and was confirm'd by Magna Charta and is not made void by Statute stands confirm'd both by Common and Statute-Law for the great Charter is both But the Spiritual Courts were found in general use when Magna Charta was first made and were confirmed among the liberties of the Church in their Jurisdiction as my Lord Coke assures us by Magna Charta and are not made void by Statute therefore our Spiritual Courts stand confirm'd both by Common and Statute-Law in the great Charter of England as more at large appears in the Doctors Leges Angliae hadst thou had patience to understand it Object Thou say'st Phil. the Doctor is an old Spectacle-dreamer of idle dreams I say Phil. thou art a better Seer and seest Visions and Apparitions both of things that are and things that are not and among the rest thou seest the Charter of England with its pendent Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction torn all in pieces by a thing of nothing and thus it works pag. 26. Many things say'st thou that were before the rights of Holy Church namely Peter-pence First-fruits to the Pope c. are now taken away by Statute and are not continued by Magna Charta Even just so the Jurisdiction of our Courts which was once the right of the Church and confirm'd by Magna Charta and is not taken away but confirmed by a multitude of Statutes since is not continued by Magna Charta 4. Thus thou art a wonderful Conjurer the Apparition is gone whether thou wilt or not How our Courts are confirm'd in the Statutes the Doctor shew'd thee abundantly in his Book but I find thou hast no stomach to encounter any longer with Leges Angliae or to smell to the Statutes SECT III. More Causes to be tried in our Courts than Mr. Phil. allows Phil. GRant they have Authority 't is but in three or four things and such perhaps they have cognisance of at this day Pag. 34. Tim. Honest Phil. is at granting again when he can deny no longer Our Authority reacht but to three sorts of Causes in pag. 18. To three or four pag. 26. or at most but those ten things mentioned in 5 Eliz. 23. de Excom Capiend thou goest on apace Phil. do but add those fifteen Pag. 34. more which the Doctor enumerates out of Cawdries Case and deny thy self satisfaction if thou canst CHAP. XIII Of Canons their force and power of making them SECT I. Of the Old Canons Phil. THough they may have Authority to keep Courts and to try such Causes I cannot see how they can use that Authority or try such Causes seeing they have no Canons to act by 1. First for the old Canons they were all made void by Hen. 8. and to judge and determine was impossible because they had no Canons Decrees nor Laws Ecclesiastical to judge and determine of them pag. 20. 'T is evident all the old Canons were repealed in the Judgment of the House of Commons in the 37 of Hen. 8. pag. 20. Tim. Stout still Phil. first thou deniedst their power that would not do then thou would'st limit it in its Causes that failed thee and now thou would'st incapacitate them to act in those for want of Canons and here keep thy ground or thou art lost for ever But this must be well examined for it springs from depth of skill or height of confidence or extensive breadth of malice and ignorance none so bold as blind Bayard How Phil. ignorant of that plain Rule in the Common Law That the Law doth appoint every thing to be done by those unto whose office it properly appertaineth Dost thou not know that the Common Law requires and impowers the Spiritual Courts to give remedy in Cases belonging to them Coke Inst pag. 1. Dost thou not know that the Kings Prerogative is a principal part of the Common Law which also flourisheth in the Spiritual as well as the Temporal Courts Coke Cawdr Case and that Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction is part of the Royal Supremacy to which thou art sworn and that he that denieth it denieth the King to be a compleat Monarch and Head of the whole intire body of the Realm according to many Statutes in all Ages as well as the Common Law ibid. And darest thou yet affirm that the Kings Supremacy is crampt and can do nothing for the relief of his Subjects in any Spiritual Cause which cannot be tried in the Civil Courts because there are no Rules or Canons for such Courts of the King to proceed and determine by It is strange thou didst never heed that plain Statute of Hen. 8. it strikes thy notion dead It assures us that the body Spiritual having power when any Cause divine happens to come in question the English Church called the Spiritualty hath been reputed and also found of that sort for knowledge c. without any exterior person to declare and determine all such doubts and to administer all such offices as appertain to them Phil. When the Popes Supremacy was taken away vanish also did the Canons and Episcopal Laws pag. 14. Tim. prethee Phil. how did they vanish of themselves like thy airy fancies or as appendants with the removal of the Popes Supremacy If so tell me why did not all our other Laws vanish too seeing the Pope had so great a hand in them also as thou saidst before But especially why should there be a particular solemn Law made on purpose for the rejection of any of the old Canons And why were such Canons though old ones that were not found contrariant to the Kings Prerogative and the Laws why were such Canons kept in force by the Statute of Hen. 8. as thou confessest pag. 14. Phil. The House of Commons in 37 of Hen. 8. gave their Judgment that all the old Canons were abrogated Tim. What so soon forget thy self Certainly thou hadst said otherwise such as were not contrariant c. to remain in force pag. 14. But thou art ingenuous Phil. the Doctor helpt thee to the Objection and gave thee its answer with it and now thou usest the objection against him without the least notice of the answer or thanks to the observator He gave thee reason why the words of the latter Statute were to be restrained to such Canons as being contrary to the King or Law were abrogated by the former Statute and not to be extended to such as were not so and therefore were not abrogated But what a noise dost thou keep are not the Acts of Parliament the Canons of King James and the ancient practised Rules of Court agreeable to the Ancient Canon which are also allowed by the Common Law sufficient means of proceeding in and determining all Ecclesiastical Causes that are triable in our Courts Phil. thou would'st bite like a Badger but thou canst only shew thy Teeth thou hadst better keep them within thy lips lest one time or other they be
originally nor in those times according to our own Laws depend upon the Pope but upon the Crown Q. E. D. which was then the sence of the Laws and all the States of the Realm long before Hen. 8. as also is noted and assented unto and insisted on at the beginning of his Reformation To assert the contrary is certainly to assert a Popish opinion and one of the greatest Arguments the Romanists use to Justifie the Papal Vsurpation in England take it as thou canst Phil. Leave off this club-way of arguing thou wilt ensnare thy self thy Talent Phil. lies another way thou hast no clear distinguishing Head thou art better at dividing and more skill'd in the methods of confounding than of founding the Church of England What didst mean Phil. by that non-sensical cant upon a place of Scripture I know it was not thy design to stumble upon the Rock of Ages and fall upon St. Peter's Phil. Enough of this Tim. fool thou know'st to escape the Law we may flie to the Gospel thou knowst Phil well enough he is for a Legal Scripture and Religion except when it is against him besides he finds canting on Scripture tho' never so impertinently sounds very lusciously in some Mens ears that I have a mind to gratifie SECT II. His other Arguments against our power before Hen. 8. Tim. THen let 's see how thou prosperest with thy other Arguments against this point 1. Thou saist the Pope was Head of our Church before Hen. 8. but 't is evident he was not so legally either by Law or Construction of Law or really so in the Constitution of the Church of England he was only so in pretence and by illegal Vsurpation he had never possession by Law but what he usurped was contrary to Law and the ancient Customes of the Land as my Lord Coke demonstrates tho' he is not to be taken notice of by Phil. H. yea his very possession in fact was never undisturbed for any considerable time together The Doctor informed thee better that it was the sence of the whole Kingdom that the Pope's Power and Jurisdiction here was usurped and illegal Contrary to God's Laws the Laws and Statutes of this Realm and in derogation of the Imperial Crown thereof and that it was timorously and ignorantly submitted unto before Hen. 8. vid. 28. H. 8. c. 16. 2. Thou saist boldly and ignorantly that H. 8. made Himself Head of the Church by Parliament that 's another Popish opinion the Law is open Phil. and Argument too depending on the former for both the Law and my Lord Coke affirm that the Statutes in that behalf were only declarative of the Ancient Fundamental Rights of the Imperial Crown of England which alone can Justifie the King's Title of the Head of the Church 3. Thou arguest subtilly that before H. 8. Appeals were frequently made to the Pope and that then our Courts were Rome's inferiour Courts What then why then upon the Popes ceasing to be Head the Courts were dissolved i. e. Just as our inferiour Courts were dissolved upon the dissolution of the High Commission Thou ought'st to know that our Laws never allowed or required Appeals to Rome and that our Courts continued in their proper Legal being under the Royal as well as and better than under the Popish head 4. At last thou questionest whether ever a Statute was made from the Conquest or rather from Hen. 3. to Hen. 8. but by the consent of the Popish Clergy i. e. the consent of the Pope their Head Art stark mad Phil were all our Laws Antichristian before Hen. 8. was no Law made by the Nation or Realm as such but only as Popish Are all our Ancient Statutes the Popes Laws Did the Pope consent to all the provisions and premunire's in the Laws made directly against himself Phil. If my Arguments fail take some Stories and my free Concessions and then I hope thou wilt be pleased 1. My Stories prove there was old Tugging betwixt our Kings and the Pope from time to time Tim. Well said at last Phil. and was not the Law on the Kings side Then the Pope had neither legal nor full nor quiet possession Thy cause languisheth in thy own hand and 't is time to yield to it Thy Concessions are most ingenuous instances of a good nature or a baffled cause Speak out man Phil. I grant that the Laws of the Popish party were contrary to the sence of King and Parliament Well said in part Phil. therefore the King and Pag. 13 Parliament were not altogether Popish But prethee what Laws could concern us contrary to the sence of King and Parliament who made those Laws for us in England Tim. But the matter is not clear yet Speak out man Phil. 'T is undoubtedly true that the Crown of this Realm is and has been before Hen. 8. Imperial that is de jure not de facto thanks to the wicked Usurper and his Legats it ought not to have been done it was commonly de facto done before Hen. 8. Tim. This is something more but not all Thou dost imply indeed by commonly that it was not always so done And if the Pope before Hen. 8. was a Vsurper he had not right here and the Jus the Law was against him For if he had had the Law on his side how had he been a Vsurper Speak a little plainer Phil. and all 's well so far Phil. I do ingenuously confess our Ancient Ecclesiastical Government and Laws depended upon the Crown and not upon the Pope by the Laws Pag. 2â— of England and in the Judgment of all the States of the Kingdom before Hen. 8. and so did also the Execution of those Laws by those Governors in the same publick Judgment These are the Doctors words and all this is true and the very Naked Truth in other words varied which saith That all Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction till Hen. 8. was derived from the Pope but my meaning was that it was not derived from the Pope before Hen. 8. thus thou seest I have no mind to quarrel Tim. 'T is well enough but why didst not say so much at first or excuse thy obscurity and distinguish sooner Yea why didst contend for so many pages against that which thou art compell'd to yield at last Art thou obstinate that thou must be press'd before thou wilt confess or hadst an Itch upon thee to vent thy stories as if the world had nothing to do but to hearken to thy impertinencies If storying were arguing thou art a brave fellow indeed but this way it seems thou art not formidable The Doctor set thee up for a Shrovetide-Cock as thy phrase is and thou hast cut thy own Comb. So much for the first Proposition CHAP. IX The Doctor 's Second PROPOSITION Hen. 8. did not make void the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Neither was it void before it was restor'd by 1 Edw. 6. 2. Phil. I Hope I quit my self better here Tim. Much at one First thou
Tired and sore and art I believe heartily weary of the company of this same Totnes Arch-deacon as thou hast cause to complain p. 35. but thou must have patience a little longer while we make Hue and Cry after the Doctor 's fourth proposition lest if it should be lost Pag. 21. he sue thee for damages I have search'd Phil. as for a Needle in a bottle of Hay and at length I caught it by the skirts in p. 26. and afterwards as cast out into the Pag. 14. abstract of the premisses CHAP. XII The Doctor 's Fourth PROPOSITION The Act of 1 Eliz. 1. establishing the High Commission Court was not the foundation of ordinary Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Tim. THou canst not but remember how fully and largely the Doctor both disproved and exposed thy singular Notion of this point and now with thy wonted Front taking little or no notice of the Author's discourse thou saist the same over again That Branch which gave the Queen power to settle the High Commission being repealed by 13 Car. 1. 12. For my part 't is beyond my apprehension to find out where the Authority of Ecclesiastical Courts can or does consist For thy part it's well thou speakst for thy self who is the dull fool now what not apprehend what every body else apprehends is a singular non-sensical notion and barrenness of Apprehension sufficient strength or warrant to batter Government Phil. I cannot beat it into my head who gave them that Authority they pretend to Not the Pope as of old not the Common I am sure nor can possibly the Canon-Law or Statute-Law â—â—g 24. Tim. Well fare thee Phil what need of reason thou hast done all in a word and had not the Doctor demonstrated 1. That the Pope did never give us that Authority 2. That Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction is establish'd by Common-Law 3. By an infinite number of Statutes 4thly and lastly By that very Statute that takes off the power of the High-Commission we might have taken thy word but thou hast opened a wide door and set us in a large Field wherein we shall follow thee with patience upon the Heads mentioned and hasten to the end of our pleasant Journey SECT I. Our Ecclesiastical Courts not impowred originally from the Pope Phil. THat the Pope gave them their Authority of old is evident for the Arch-deacon rightly notes that till William the Conqueror there were no Bishops Courts in England but the Hundred Courts But the Pope made William the Conqueror set up such Ecclesiastical Courts as were at Rome to proceed according to the Canons of the Pope and was there ever any Statute made from William the Conqueror or rather Henry 3. to Hen. 8. but by the consent of the Popish Clergy that is to say the consent of the Pope their Head p. 6. Tim. Thou art a bold undertaker Phil. but is' t possible thou shouldst be ignorant that the Conqueror was not so much a slave to the Pope that he confirm'd and published the Laws of his Predecessor that he maintained the Ecclesiastical investiture in the Crown all which thou may'st find in Selden's Notes upon Eadm as also the Proclamation mentioned for the distinction of Courts seeing thou art at a loss about it Yea doth not that Law of the Conqueror suppose the prae-existence of our Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction tho' not in a distinct Court before the Conquest Yea canst imagine that when Spiritual Causes were tried in Hundret and at the Civil Courts of Judgment that Lay-men had any thing to do with them more than to be present quaere However did not the Doctor rightly observe that that very Law that divided the Courts was made by the King 's own power not the Pope's and with the Council of his own Realm alone Tho' William the Conqueror was a Papist doth it follow that he did nothing and made no Laws but quatenus a Papist and not as King of England Do not the Statutes of Hen. 8. and my Lord Coke plainly prove that Canons and Foreign Laws become the King's Laws when confirmed by Parliament or made so by reception voluntary consent or custom Must all our Laws before Hen. 8. and after the Conquest be thus damn'd for Popish Laws and the Pope's Laws and those too that were directly made in provision against the Pope himself and his Usurpations as before Was ever such stuff vented before it's well thou hast a Salvo rather from Hen. 3. tho' that also gives Sentence against thee SECT II. Ecclesiastical Courts by Common-Law Phil. BUT for him to say they keep Courts by Common-Law is the idlest of all dreams the Common-Law of England is ancienter than our Christianity But Bishops much less Arch-Bishops and Arch-Deacons as now in England are of later date therefore their Courts can have no foundation in Common-Law Tim. Thou art a Lawyer Phil. now with all thy Law canst thou deny this Proposition that long Ancient and general use is Common-Law in England as saith my Lord Coke or canst thou deny this Assumption that our Ecclesiastical Courts are of very ancient and general use in England if not as thou dost not dare what hinders this Conclusion that we keep those Courts by Common-Law 2. Again Phil. If there was such a thing as Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in England before the Conquest as most certainly there was how stood it then thou grantest not by Canon-Law it was exercised contrary to the Canons I grant it stood not by Statute-Law viz. before we had any Statutes then it must stand before the Conquest upon Common-Law 3. And indeed since the Division of the Courts by the Conqueror the same ancient Ecclesiastical Authority is continued in its exercise as to its substance by Common-Law tho' in that new mode as distinguish'd from the Civil and in distinct Courts as matters of other nature that have their foundation in Common-Law tho' somewhat new modified by Statute continue to be Common-Law still so far as they are not altered as no Man of sence will deny 4. Yea the very Courts themselves tho' divided by the Conqueror continuing afterwards so long a time in general use in England before Statute-Law came thereby to be customary and contracted the nature of Common-Law and certainly there is no necessity that every particular in Common-Law should have its beginning before Christianity in England if it fall under the condition of ancient and general use and Phil. thou knowst that Statute that limits the time that is required to make a custom in England and before Christianity or from the beginning was never put into the definition of Common-Law 5. Lastly That they were so hath thus further demonstration That all the Statutes from Magna Charta suppose the Spiritual Court 's pre-existing i. e. by Common Law or ancient allowed usage of the whole Realm And my Lord Coke is express that Spiritual Causes belong to these Courts by Common Law But to put this crotchet out of thy head for ever I