Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	authority_n	great_a	power_n	1,773	5	4.5419	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60247	The history of the original and progress of ecclesiastical revenues wherein is handled according to the laws, both ancient and modern, whatsoever concerns matters beneficial, the regale, investitures, nominations, and other rights attributed to princes / written in French by a learned priest, and now done into English.; Histoire de l'origine & du progrés des revenues ecclésiastiques. English	Simon, Richard, 1638-1712.	1685 (1685)	Wing S3802; ESTC R19448	108,906	286

power given to Churches to see the Popes dispose at their pleasure of the goods and Lands which Kings their Predecessours had given to Churches at that time when they had the power over them It is certain Princes would never have granted such large Revenues to Churches if they had thought that they should have fallen into the hands of the Popes For to what end was it to give to Churches whole Towns and great Demains with secular Jurisdiction when the same was not to be in their disposal for the future The German Historians attribute chiefly to the Emperours Otho's the enriching the Bishops and Monasteries of Germany with so great Revenues (1) Theodor. de Hiem priv Jur. Imper. Otho primus omnibus penè Cathedralibus Ecclesiis in Italia Gallia Germania Burgundia et Lotharingia constitutis multas civitates castra oppida villas multa alia dominia temporalia Jurisdictiones donavit atque illis omnibus Ecclesiis propria insignia perpetuo deputavit Archiepiscopos quoque episcopos ducatibus comitatibus baroniis communivit quibus nobiles potentes vasallos subjecit ut semper essent ad resistendum manu forti● aganis Hareticis c. That does not altogether agree with the reflexions that Father 2 Paul hath made in his History where he pretends that the Bishops of Germany during the Wars that were betwixt the Emperours and Popes had usurped the Lands which at present they enjoy with the Titles of Peers Marquesses and Counts Though that may indeed be true of some yet it cannot be generally affirmed of all for the Records of those Churches evince the contrary Nevertheless the titles which they produce ought to be well examined because many of them are false Seeing Bishops and Abbots were at that time employed in the greatest affairs of State it was easy for them to obtain what they desired of Princes Besides that they being more capable of business than Laicks the same Princes consided much in them But these great Revenues wherewith Churches have been enriched have only served to kindle War betwixt Popes and Princes every one pretending ●o have a particular right over Ecclesiastical Revenues And that divided the Authors of these times some writing in favour of the rights pretended by Princes and others in favour of the Popes And it is no easy matter at present to reconcile together the rights of those two Powers No man can deny The Authority of the Pope concerning Benefices but that the Pope ●● Bishop or Metropolitan of Rome Patriarch of the West and Head of th●● Church I shall not now examine by wh●● Right Divine or Positive these tither belong to him for that is a Question of Divinity rather than History It moreover certain that the Pope hath 〈◊〉 all these Qualities in vain and that 〈◊〉 very one ought to enjoy some rights th●● are peculiar to him It is not questions but that in quality of Bishop of Rome he may dispose of the Benefices with his Diocese It remains then only to 〈◊〉 inquired into whether he can in quali●● of Patriarch of the West and Head 〈◊〉 the Church by right provide for all th●● Benefices or Ecclesiastical Dignities 〈◊〉 all Christendom If we consult the matter of fact it is of publick Notoriety that the Church of Rome hath not ha●● any Priviledge as to that above other Churches Every one took care of providing what Ministers they wanter without having recourse to Rome an●● when difficulties arose they were adjusted in Provincial Synods No ma●● ever wrote before the Establishment o●● the new Law that the Bishop of Rome alone in quality of the Successor of St. Peter had all Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and that other Bishops were only his Vicars or Delegates Popes nevertheless do at present pretend that their Authority in respect of Ecclesiastical Revenues is founded on Divine Right and that because they had not for many ages enjoyed it it ought not to be inferred that they had no Right to it A Divine Right say they being essentially inherent in the Person of the Pope can never prescribe And it is a bad consequence to say that Popes have no Right because they have not for a long time enjoyed it nor do at present enjoy it in its full extent Men are sometimes obliged not to make use of their Right or to remit part of it for Peace sake Laws in their rigour are sometimes prejudicial to the repose of the Church and in that case mild ways suitable to the times are to be followed And therefore (1) Innoc. III. de translat Episc tit 7. cap. 1. Pope Innocent III. affirms in one of his Epistles that the Translations of Bishops and other changes of Sees belong by Right to the Church of Rome that Popes enjoy that Priviledge in Quality of th●● Successours of St. Peter and that in that Quality they are above all the Canon Law So that according to his Logick we ought not so much to consider what is decreed by the Canons as what is Commanded by Popes on whom th●● same Canons depend because accord● to his Principle all the Canon Law derives its force and Authority from th●● Primacy of St. Peter Pope Innocent who laid down th●● Maxim in favour of his See knew for a●● that that all the Ancient Canon Law is contrary to it and that the Election Translations Demissions or Resignations of Bishops were made in Provinc●● Synods and besides that Princes have had a great share in all those matters within their own Kingdoms For instance the Practice of the Church o●● France under the first Race of their Kings was very far different from that pretended Divine Right mentioned in the compilation of the Decretals For we find that the Kings by themselves called Councils for affairs of that nature and that (1) G●●gor Turon lib. 5. cap. 20 27. in the greatest causes such as the deposing of Bishops they named for Judges what Bishops they pleased within their Kingdom In a word Kings and the Bishops of places handled in Councils the affairs which the Popes now a days pretend to belong to them by Divine Right It is true under the Second Race of the French Kings the Authority of the Popes was greater in France But it was still limited by the Princes without whose consent they could do nothing even in the causes which are called the greater and whereof the decision seemed to be reserved to the Popes As to matters of smaller importance the Bishops had the absolute power over them and the whole disposition of Benefices depended on them The Popes had never dreamt of the right which is now established if private men who disputed one with another about the validity of their Elections had not had their recourse to the chief See for decision of their Controversies We find still in the Eleventh Century instances of the power of Provincial Councils who received Resignations or Demissions made by Bishops and admitted

to say pay the Physician Now seeing the Priest-hood was a Real Employment and Divine Function St. Paul had reason to give it the Title of honour which properly belonged to the Magistrats of States The Church hath not only imitated the Synagogue in the way of distributing its Charity but also The Original of the Ministers of the Church hath followed the Discipline observed amongst the Jews in respect of their Ministers The Synagogues were composed of a Ruler of the Synagogue which the Hellenist Jews called Archi-Synagogus Priests or Elders and Deacons and that was the cause why the Apostles established in Christian Assemblies those three sorts of Ministers under the names of Bishops Priests and Deacons The Bishop in these Assemblies had the same honour as the Ruler of the Synagogue amongst the Jews had in their Synagogues The Superiority of the Rulers of the Synagogue in respect of the Priests or Elders consisted only in some Titles of honour as being the Chief amongst their Brethren And therefore they are all comprehended under the name of Priests or Elders in the Hundred and seventh Psalm where we have these words (1) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 107.32 Let them also exalt him in the Congregation of the People and praise him in the Assembly of the Elders which was the place of their Meetings So we find in the New Testament that the names of Priest and Bishop are indifferently taken the one for the other and that Assembly or Council of the Elders which was called Presbyterium consisted of the Bishop and the Priests or Elders The Bishop or President as the Ancient Fathers speak had indeed the chief Direction or Superintendency from whence he was called Bishop which word is also found in the Greek of the Septuagint or Hellenists but he made up but one Body with the Elders or Priests who in Quality of Judges had their Jurisdiction jointly with him Hence we may infer that in the beginning of the Church the management of affairs and the Jurisdiction which is now called Episcopal did not depend on the Bishop alone no more than the distribution of the Offerings but on the whole Senate or Assembly of the Priests and this continued so long as there was but one Church in every City one Altar and one Consistory of Priests joined to their Bishop because it was not easy then for the Bishop to become Master of the whole Jurisdiction and Administration of the Revenues But so soon as it was necessary to encrease the number of Churches The Original of the great Authority of Bishops there was some cause to fear lest those who governed the new Churches might attribute to themselves the quality of Bishops finding themselves at the head of a particular Church And therefore the Bishops began to take to themselves authority over them for which it was necessary to appoint that there should be but one Bishop in every City on whom the Elders or Priests should depend who were to take upon them the Government of the new erected Churches which were called Titles St. Jerome strongly maintains this opinion in his Commentaries on the Epistle of St. Paul to Titus where he affirms that before this division each Church was governed by the Common Councel of the Priests but that for avoiding all occasion of Schism one of these Priests or Elders was chosen to be the Chief and to take upon him the care of the whole Church He pretends that the names of Priest and Bishop did not at all differ in the beginning and that therefore St. Paul made use of them indifferently Then he subjoyns (1) Episcopi noverint se magis consuetudine quam dispositionis dominicae veritate Presbyteris esse majores Hieron com in Ep●st ad Tit. That it is only Custom which hath made Bishops greater than Priests And this may be confirmed by the authority of St. Paul who writing to the Churches under the name of Elders comprehends both Bishop and Priests It is to be observed however that the Church being encreased hath borrowed many terms and points of Government from the Republicks of Greece and that when there was a necessity of erecting Dioceses it hath in that followed the distinction of Provinces according as they were established in the Empire Of the Government of the Church in its Commencement The Church which in its commencement allowed much to the people grew afterwards more Aristocratical in its Government when by experience it appeared that the multitude of people served only to confound and perplex affairs and then the Polity of Aristocratick Republicks came in vogue Nay we find in the very Acts of the Apostles two sorts of Assemblies as well as in Republicks The one is composed of the Chief amongst the Believers and is called Ecclesia The other admits all indifferently and that the Republicks of Asia named Agoraia which they have always distinguished from the Assembly that they named Ecclesia And therefore the name of Ecclesia or Church hath still been given to Christian Congregations and constantly retained by the Greeks who made the first Ecclesiastical Laws from whence it hath been derived to the Latines who are indebted to the Greeks for all the Ecclesiastical Polity that was setled in the first Ages In this sense we ought to interpret the words of (1) Origen contra Celsum Origen concerning the Form of Church-Government which he explains with relation to the Greek Republicks The Athenians for instance called those Bishops to whom they committed the care of the Towns that depended on their Commonwealth It was long before the Church owned any other name but that of Bishop to distinguish him who had the principal Administration nay when it was even necessary to denote a Bishop who had Jurisdiction over others she called those Bishops (2) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Can. 33 Apost the First Bishops of a Nation or made use of some other expression without inventing new words We find nevertheless the name of Metropolitan in the Council of Nice but the Greeks whose Language is fruitful in new words invented a great many to express the different Offices of the Ecclesiastick State which were not so soon brought into use in the Latine Church The names of Archbishop Primate and Patriarch are but Titles of Honour and External Jurisdiction whereas the quality of Bishop and that also of Elder or Priest The Original of the Ordination of Bishops and Priests is a Character that marks the Ordination which the Apostles borrowed from the Synagogue that chose its Ministers by the Imposition of hands In that manner Moses laid his hands on Joshua and the other Elders who were presently filled with the Holy Ghost And if we will credit the Authority of the Rabbies the power of Imposing of hands belonged not only to the chief of the Sanhedrim but also to the other Elders which seems likewise to be confirmed by St. Jerom (1) Hier. in Episi ad

powerful at Rome because of their Generals that commonly reside there or of their Procurators that live in that Court for the affairs of their Societies hinder as much as they can the Secularisation of Benefices which they pretend does of Right belong to them VII The King cannot Alienate the Church Lands of his Kingdom without the permission and consent of the Pope Alienations depend on the Pope nor can he raise the Tenths of he Clergy which have in process of time been converted into Ordinary Subsidies without obtaining Power from the Pope Heretofore Church-men pretended that their goods were consecrated to God and that so they were not obliged to lay them out for maintaining of Wars or for other publick necessities it being enough that they contributed to them by their Prayers But the specious pretext of holy Wars cured them of that Scruple and it was decreed in the Council of Lateran under Innocent III. That these Tenths should be taken from Ecclesiasticks for the Expeditions of the Holy Land After a Door was once opened to Tenths the Popes and Kings together often raise them But seeing Popes had got a Custom of raising Tenths in France for their own private concerns it was decreed in the Council of Constance Concil Constantiense that they should be no more raised but with consent of the Prelates of the Kingdom and thereby the Popes were excluded from the Liberty of raising them However those that were granted to Kings encreased much and that which in the beginning was very extraordinary hath since turned into a Custom The necessity of maintaining long Wars in France for Religion promoted very much the establishment of Tenths which is at present a kind of Tax upon the Church-men collected by receivers appointed for that purpose We must in the mean time observe that Popes dispose not at their pleasure of Church Revenues as they pretend they have Power They have not the Liberty to sell the Revenues of the Church unless the King and Clergy consent to it and the causes of Alienation be first examined For the Bulls of Permission to alienate are not received in France if they contain these Terms motu proprio sine inquisitione etiam invitis Clericis In a Word for Alienation of Church Lands in France the two Soveraign Powers I mean the Pope and King must concur VIII All Concordats Concordats depending on the Pope Transactions or Pactions in any beneficial matter ought to be confirmed in the Court of Rome because there is a kind of Simony in them private persons not being allowed to dispose of their Benefices under certain Reservations or Conditions and that is the reason why application is made to the Pope for Pensions and Resignations in favorem Ordinaries cannot appoint nor confirm Pensions Nor can they admit of any Resignations in favorem neither unless in the case of Permutation Nay and in that case too private persons many times apply themselves to the Pope There is another kind of Concordat or Transaction which Commendatary Abbots and Monks daily make betwixt themselves for dividing their Revenues without having recourse to Rome But these Concordats are easily broken and their Successors may derogate from them because an Abbot hath no power to oblige and tye up the Will of his Successor He may indeed make over his rights during his life but he cannot dispose of that which belongs to another And therefore though these Concordats were even confirmed in the Court of Rome and in the Parliaments they may still be rescinded if it be found that one of the Parties contracting hath received any notable prejudice In that case he is allowed to seek relief and by stronger reason his Successour ought who is not obliged to stand to all that hath been done by his Predecessor The Pope himself pretends not to prejudice by his Rescripts the acquired right of others nor indeed is it in his power though it should even be inserted in his Rescript that there hath nothing been done without knowledge of the cause because he may have been ill informed Again the Pope hath no power in France over the Temporal of Benefices but only the Spiritual for which recourse is had to him as to a Superiour that he may authorize the Transactions which private persons have made amongst themselves and purge them from Simony IX None but the Pope can give Benefices in perpetual Commendum Commendums depend on the Pope and the French are the more obliged to acknowledge that power of the Popes that there is no Kingdom in Christendom where so many Regular Benefices are Erected in Commendum as in France Now seeing Commendums in the manner that they are at present established more for the advantage of private persons than benefit of the Church are altogether contrary to the Canons none but the Pope can confer in Commendum because he only can dispense with the Canons as well in respect of the incapacity of persons to whom Commendums are given as of incompatibility of Benefices in which the Commendataries are invested And therefore Benefices in Commendum are in some manner reserved to the Pope because they subsist upon a special Priviledge which can be granted by none but him And when the Commendum is void by the death of the Commendatary it is not to be judged vacant by his death but as it was vacant before the Commendum which brings no alteration in matters However the Pope does still give the same Benefice in Commendum by a Priviledge that he continues on so that it may be said that the Priviledge or Dispensation hath wholly derogated from the Canon Law which only subsists in name and the Dispensation stands for Law as to the effect In the mean time though they who possess Commendums have not obtained them but by Priviledge or Dispensation The Rights of Commendatary Abbots yet they still enjoy them and have all the Titles Profits and Honours as if they were Titulars inasmuch as by the Bulls of Commendum the Commendataries are subrogated into the rights of the Titulars and the terms are always used which import that the power of the Commendatary is the same with that of the Titular to whom he is substituted Curam Monasterii ac regimen administration●●● tibi in spiritualibus temporalibus plenar●è committ●ndo The Pope gives in some manner by his Bulls the Investiture both of the Spiritual and Temporal and grants the Commendataries liberty to dispose according to their pleasure of the Profits of the Abbeys after they have satisfied the Charges which are always expressed in the same Bulls De residuis fructibus reditibus proventibus disponere ordinare potuerunt ac debuerunt And to make it appear that the Modern Commendums are different from the Ancient which were established in favour of Churches and not of Persons the Popes add in their Bulls that they give the Commendataries power to dispose of the Profits of their Commendums for their