them or for some other reason there was inserted Liceat unicuique de caetero exire de regno nostro redire salvò securè per terram per aquam salva fide nostra nisi in tempore guerrae per aliquod breve tempus which clause seems likewise to have been in that of Henry the 3. to his Fathers in nullo dissimilis after which it is scarce imaginable how every petty cause was by Appeals removed to Rome and th' Archbshop forced to appear before any had the least auctority from thence The Popes themselves wise men saw th' inconvenience that these carriages must end either in rendring th' Archbishop contemptible by taking all power out of his hands or the Realm resume its ancient right and prohibit the carrying ought beyond seas or admitting any Legat into the Kingdom thought of the way of granting severall priviledges to the Archbishoprick which first began about the time of Innocentius the 2. whom others followed 34. Gregory the ninth therefore moved by one of them which seems to be St. Edmund writes thus unto him Vt cum appellationis remedium non ad defensionem malignantium sed ad oppressorum subsidium sit inventum yet th' Archbishop attempting sometimes excessus corrigere subditorum quidam eorum ut correctionem effugiant appellationes frustratorias interponunt quibus si cite pro reverentia sedis Apostolicae humiliter deferatur illi ex impunitate deteriores effecti pejora praesumunt alii eorum exemplo redduntur ad vitia proniores unde humiliter postulastis c. ut providere super haec solita diligentia deberemus ut igitur auctoritati tuae in rectis dispositionibus nihil tali praetextu deesse contingat fraternitati tuae praesentium auctoritate concedimus ut non obstante frivolae appellationis objectu libere valeas in corrigendis subditorum tuorum excessibus officii tui debitum exercere 35. And for that his Agents here in their citations of th' Archbishop did not use that respect unto him which was fit but as Gervasius Dorobernensis observes of one of them Legati privilegium plusquam deceret extenderet in immensum suumque Archiepiscopum Episcopos Angliae ut sibi occurrerent quolibet evocaret the same Pope did therefore declare that cum nimis indecens videatur ut per literas Apostolicas tacito tuo nomine dignitatis inter privatas personas stare judicio compellaris nos fraternitatis tuae precibus inclinati auctoritate tibi praesentium indulgemus ut per literas à sede Apostolicâ impetratas quaede dignitate tua non fecerint mentionem respondere minime teneris c. Dat. Viterbii 4. Non. Martii Pontif. nono 36. And because th' Archbishop had on many slight occasions been drawn beyond seas to the great impoverishing th' Episcopacy the same Pope two months after writes Ea propter venerabilis in Christo frater tuis supplicationibus inclinati fraternitati tuae auctoritate praesentium indulgemus ut per literas Apostolicas extra Angliam invitus non valeas conveniri nisi de indulgentia hujusmodi fecerint eaeliterae mentionem aut per te aliquod factum fuerit per quod sit indulgentiae huic derogatum Dat. Perusii 4. Non. Maii Pontificat nono Innocentius 4. ut nullus sine speciali Apostolicae sedis licentia praeter Legatos ipsius ab ejus latere destinatos in personam tuam praesumat excommunicationis sententiam promulgare Lugduni 13. Kalend. Octob. Pontif. 4. 37. It would be tedious to repeat all the bulls found in the said old MS. and other books since 1130. for before it seems there was none in this kind to conserve some power in th' Archbishoprick yet so as it might ever depend on Rome and how much the Papacy gained by these every man sees I. The right of th' Archbishoprick was none by appeal might remove any Ecclesiastick cause from his judicatory the Pope grants he shall proceed notwithstanding a frivolous Appeal II. The right was he was not at all under any Legat the grant is he should not be tyed to answer if they did not mention his dignity in their citations III. The right was he should not be drawn beyond the seas of which in the next the grant is he should not be compell'd to go unlesse mention were made of that Bull. IIII. The question was whether the Pope might excommunicate any within the Diocese of Canterbury the grant is None but a Legate de latere should th' Archbishop Yet certainly Popes did what they well could retaining to themselves that vast power they then pretended to conserve in the Archbishoprick some auctority 38. But the frequent citing him and others out of the Realm and the carrying their causes to Rome did not at all satisfy the subject whereupon the body of the Kingdome in their querulous letter devised and sent by them to Innocentius 4 tus 1245 or rather to the Councell at Lions claim as an especiall priviledge That no Legat ought to come here but on the Kings desire ne quis extra regnum trahatur in causam and at the revising of Magna Charta by Edward the first the former clause was left out since when none of the Clergy might go beyond seas but with the Kings leave as the writs in the Register and the Acts of Parliament assure us and what is more if any were in the Court of Rome the King called them home not permitting any to go or abide there longer then his pleasure Yet I do not say these times do not furnish examples of Appeals or recourse thither or receiving commands from thence I know the contrary but it was onely between those and in such cases as the King holding good correspondency with the Pope and State did either tacitely connive at as in matters of small moment or expressely give allowance unto for if otherwise no person was so great but he was forced to gain his pardon for the offence To which purpose th' example of the rich Bishop of Winchester may not be unfitly remembred who being a Cardinall of the Kings blood was employed by Martyn the 5. as generall against the Bohemians and to that end erected the Crosse 1429. 8. Hen. 6. but two years after caused a petition to be exhibited in Parliament That he the said Cardinall nor none other should be poursued vexed impleded or grieved by the King his heyres or successors nor by any other person for cause of any Provision or offence or misprision done by the said Cardinall against any statute of Provisions or per cause of any exemption receipt acceptation admission or execution of any Bulls Papall to him in any manner made Which was granted and shews that without it he had been lyable to punishment for his accepting and receiving of them And here it is not unworthy the remembring that this was the first Cardinall
auctority then the Kings onely who by his edict of the 12. of Iuly commanded the Cardinalls and others of his Clergy to observe it without making any mention of the Pope So that in that Kingdome this Catholick Prince doth not take on him much less over Ecclesiastick Courts and causes then the King of England however he do not style himself Head of the Church And therefore Simanca speaking of this Inquisition plainly sayes Ferdinand and Isabella judicii ordinem quo etiam hodie utimur magna ex parte instituerunt Insomuch as if we meet it at any time termed the Popes Court there it is no question but a nominall appellation of that is neither subject to his rules nor to follow his commands but as another will 13. But this Court in Spain and other places conforming themselves much to the papall interest is become very infamous things being carried in it as we read in Monst de Thous excellent history praepostera judictorum forma contra naturalem aequitatem omnem legitimum ordinem tum etiam immanitas tormentorum quibus plerumque contra veritatem quicquid delegatis judicibus libebat à miseris innocentibus reis ut se cruciatibus eximerent torquebatur And indeed the directions Popes have set them do not agree I think with the practise of any standing Court of Justice the world ever saw as that of Innocentius 4 us and Pius 4 us that no man shall know the names either of his accuser or that testifies against him which Camillus Campegius will not have communicated to those learned men th' Inquisitors shall call to their assistance in judgement Another of Pius 5 tus that no declaratory or definitive sentence in favour of the accused though after a canonicall purgation posse facere transitum in rem judicatam but that they may again proceed tam de antiquis quam noviter super eisdem articulis which in effect is no other but that a man once accused before them can never be freed Of a third of the same Pope that whosoever should strike or terrify any belonging to the said Office even a Notary or servant should assiâ—t any to escape imbezzle any writings of that Court besides the being by that Bull declared Anathema should be guilty of treason and suffer according as men found culpable in primo capite dictaelegis their children subject to the paternall infamy to be not onely incapable of succeeding in the fathers inheritance but of receiving any legacy from friend or stranger or attaining any place of dignity whatsoever and others of the like nature too long to be insisted on 14. Certain it will not be easy at least to my understanding to prove these proceedings of a Court Christian to agree with those rules and examples Christ himself hath left us in holy Scripture but the pursuing these Maximes and the like hath brought a great obloquy upon this Court so as it is held an undoubted truth the Inquisition under the Spaniard hath an eye rather to empty the purse and is upholden more for temporall ends then to cure the conscience And to this purpose it may not be here unfitly remembred that a Spanish Inquisitor employed by Philip the 2. into Sicily writes it is found amongst the records of that Kingdome quod quando in anno 1535. fuit limitata seu suspensa jurisdictio temporalis hujus sancti officii in aliquibus casibus per invictissimum Carolum 5 tum faelicis memoriae jurisdictio spiritualis causarum fidei fuit in suspenso quasi mortua which I take no other then a confession the Church which it maintains without the temporall power would fail and come to nought as indeed Cardinall Bellarmine somewhere in effect confesseth that to restrain ecclesiastick jurisdiction to spiritualls that pertain to the soul is to reduce it to nothing 15. But because I am here entred upon this fining or confiscation of the goods of a Lay person by a spirituall judge on the conviction or rather imputation of Heresy it will not be amiss to see how the Ecclesiasticks have gained that addition to the power left them by Christ which is so necessary as without it that onely was committed to them from him which the ancient Fathers practis't would be as it were dead It cannot be denyed Princes did in former times by their edicts impose pecuniary penalties on some actions concerned religion so did Theodosius 392. on such as did ordain or were ordained in Haereticis erroribus which law a Councell held in Africk about 404. provoked by the inhumanity of the Donatists did petition th' Emperour Honorius might be of force against them but never any holy Bishop of those times took upon him to confiscate any mans estate for his opinions much lesse to damnify the son for the fathers tenets and the lawyers do expresly resolve si poena alicui trrogatur ne ad haeredes transeat and give this reason Poena constituitur in emendationem hominum quae mortuo eo in quem constitui videtur desinit again no man is alieni criminis successor and accordingly many imperiall constitutions do expresly provide the Catholick children of hereticall parents though the father were deprived of them should succeed in their paternall goods and thus it stood for ought I know for above a 1000 yeares the Christian world thinking it hard the son should suffer for an erroneous perswasion of the father neither did ever any holy Bishop for that space unlesse as Deputy to some Prince take upon him that way of punishing and if any did it was not approved in him 16. In the year 1148. th' Archbishop of Canterbury called by Eugenius 3 us to a Councell at Reims the King denied him passage yet he stole thither for which on his return he was expell'd England into which notwithstanding he got shrouding himself as it seems in those tempestuous times and to make himself the more formidable interdicted divine service through the Kingdome which is the first experience the nation ever had of that censure To this the Prior of S. Augustines refused to yield obedience and th' Archbishop having now made his peace with Stephen got the sentence confirmed from Rome upon which omnes seculares in hoc monasterio servientes praeter censuram ecclesiasticam ad gravem pecuniae redemptionem contra juris aequitatem sanctorum patrum decreta cocgit On this complaint being made to the Pope he writ unto him Sicut nobis significatum est homines ejusdem monasterâ—i pro participatione excommunicatorum praeter ecclesiasticam poenam fuerunt ad redemptionem coacti and thereupon commands him quatenus omnia quae hac occasione sunt eis ablata sine vexatione restitui facias nolumus enim ut nova in vestra ecclesia inducantur c. so that certainly it did but then begin to bud after 1160 Alexander the 3. condemns
same house they abode yet they salute them with the honourable titles of their dearest lords and brethren A certain signe of a wide distance between the opinions of Rome then and now when men are taught not so much as bid them farewell do not submitunto it sure our first Bishops know no such rule who placed in their Calendar for Saints and holy men as well Hilda Aydon and Colman the opposers of Rome as Wilfred Agilbertus and others who stood for it CHAP. III. Of the increase of the Papall power in England under the Saxons and Normans and what oppositions it met with AFter the planting of Christian religion amongst the Saxons th' Archbishop of Canterbury became a person so eminent all England was reputed his Diocese in the colledge of Bishops London his Dean whose office it was to summon Councels Winchester his Chancellour Salisbury or as some Winchester his Precâ—tor or that begun the service by singing Worcester or rather Rochester his Chaplain and the other the carrier of his Crosse expected no lesse obedience from York then himself yielded to Rome voluntate beneficio it being th' opinion of the Church of England it was but equall ut ab eo loco mutuentur vivendi disciplinam à cujus fomite rapuerunt credendi slammam The dependence therefore of the Clergy in England being thus wholly upon th' Archbishop it will not be amisse to take a little view both of what esteem he was in the Church and how it came to be taken off and by degrees transferr'd to a forreign power 2. Upon the conversion of the Saxons here by the preaching of Augustine and his companions and a quiet peace settled under Theodore to whom all the English submitted Parochiall Churches by his encouragement began to be erected and the Bishop of Rome greatly reverenced in this nation as being the successour of Saint Peter the first bishop of the world Patriark of the West that resided in a town held to nourish the best Clerks in Christendome and the seat of the Empire insomuch as the devout Britan who seemes as I said to have received his first conversion from Asia did go to Iudea as a place of greatest sanctity so amongst the Saxons Romam adire magnae virtutis aestimabatur But as this was of their part no other then as to a great Doctour or Prelate by whose solicitude they understood the way to heaven and to a place in which religion and piety did most flourish so th' instructions thence were not as coming from one had dominion over their faith the one side not at all giving nor the other assuming other then that respect is fit to be rendred from a puisne or lesse skilfull to more ancient and learned Teachers As of late times when certain divines at Frankford 1554. differed about the Common-prayer used in England Knox and Whittingham appealed to Calvin for his opinion and receiving his 200. Epistle it so wrought in the hearts of many that they were not so stout to maintain all the parts of the Book as they were then against it And Doctor Cox and some other who stood for the use of the said Book wrote unto him excusing themselves that they put order in their Church without his counsell asked Which honour they shew'd him not as esteeming him to have any auctority of Office over them but in respect of his learning and merits 3. As these therefore carried much honour and yielded great obedience to Calvin and the Church of Geneva by them then held the purest reformed Church in Christendom so it cannot be denyed but our Auncestors the Saxons attributed no lesse to the Pope and Church of Rome who yet never invaded the rights of this as contrary to the councel of Ephesus and the Canons of the Church of England but left the Government of it to the English Prelats yet giving his best advice and assistance for increasing devotion and maintenance of the Laws Ecclesiasticall amongst them in which each side placed the superiority From whence it proceeded that however the Pope was sought to from hence he rarely sent hither any Legat. In the Councell of Calcuith held about 180. years after Augustine it is observed a tempore Sancti Augustini Pontificis sacerdos Romanus nullus in Britanniam mâ—ssus est nisi nos And Eadmerus that it was inauditum in Britannia quemlibes hominum super se vices Apostolicas gerere nisi solum Archiepiscopum Cantuariae 4. But after the Pope instead of being subject began to be esteemed above th' Ecclesiastick Canons and to pretend a power of altering and dispensing with them and what past by his advise and counsell onely was said to be by his authority he did question divers particulars had been formerly undoubtedly practic 't in this Kingdom he seeing them and not shewing any dislike at it as The receiving Investitures of Churches from Princes The calling Synods The determining causes Ecclesiasticall without Appeals to Rome The transferring Bishops c. but the removing these from England unto a forraign judicature being as well in diminution of the rights of the Crown as of this Church past not with out opposition 5. For Anselm an Italian the first great promoter of the Papal authority with us pretending he ought not be barr'd of visiting the Vicar of St. Peter causa regiminis Ecclesiae was told as well by the Bishops as lay Lords That it was a thing unheard and altogether against the use of the realme for any of the great men especially himself to presume any such thing without the Kings licence who affirmed nequaquam fidem quam sibi debebat simul Apostolicae sedis obedientiam contra suam voluntatem posse servare And the Archbishop persisting in his journy thither had not onely his Bishoprick seized into the Kings hand but the Pope being shew'd how his carriage was resented here did not afford him either Consilium or Auxilium but suffered him to live an exile all that Princes time without any considerable support or adjudging the cause in his favour Which makes it the more strange that having found by experience what he had heard before that it was the King not the Pope could help or hurt him this visit being so little to his advantage at his first presenting himself to Henry the first he should oppose that Prince in doing him homage and being invested by him a right continued unto that time from his Auncestors and by which himself had received the Archbishoprick from his brother and this on a suggestion that it was prohibited in a councell held at Rome in which he went so far as to tell the King quod nec pro redemptione capitis mei consentiam ei de iis quae praesens audivi in Romano Concilio prohiberi nisi ab eadem sede
To return to th' Archbishop who came home with this Legatine power 1127. crowns the King at Windsor and in May following holds a Councell at Westminster cui praesedit ipse sicut Apostolicae sedis legatus which is the first Councell any Archbishop is noted to have held as a Papall Legat and during his life which was seven years England did not see any other 27. After his death the See of Canterbury lay two years vacant so a fit time for the Pope to look this way especially K. Stephen making it part of his title that he was confirmed by him in his Kingdome therefore 1138. Innocentius the second sent hither Albericus Bishop of Hostia the second stranger I find exercising the Legatine auctority in England yet he was not at first received for one but vix tandem pro reverentiâ— Domini Papae He indeed went farther then ever any had for he not onely called the Clergy Apostolica auctoritate as our Historians terme it to a Synod I confesse he avoyds the word in his letters of summons styling it colloquium perhaps not to enter into dispute with the King who then took himself to be the onely caller of them and the allower of what they did but did farther command the Prior and Convent of Canterbury c. to chuse such an Archbishop cui sacrorum canonum auctoritas in nullo valcat obviare cui comprovinciales Episcopi pariter debeant assentire cui Dominus Rex nec possit nec debet assensum suum juste denegare but farther not at all intromitting himself And in the Councell he held amongst other particulars he ordained that if any injured an Ecclesiastick person Nisi tertio admonitus satisfecerit anathemate feriatur neque quisquam ei praeter Romanum Pontificem nisi mortis urgente periculo modum poenitentiae finalis injungat This is the first that by Canon ought done in England was referr'd to Rome as having a greater power then the English Bishops to absolve of the Laws of Hen. the 1. I shall speak hereafter But whether it were not here much regarded or th' excesses used by King Stephen against certain Bishops and the prohibiting a Councell held 〈◊〉 Winchester to send to Rome as against the dignity of the realm or that he freed of imprisonment desired to make so potent a party as the Clergy then was more of his side I cannot say but assuredly it was again renewed in a Councell at London about some four years after 28. The same Pope 1139. conferr'd upon Henry K. Stephens Brother and the potent Bishop of Winchester this Legatine power which was by him publish't in a Councell at Winchester where his faculties wâ—re read bearing date the 1. March and being as well Angliae Dominus by reason of the power he held wiâ—h Stephen as Apostolicae sedis Legatus he called thither th' Archbishop that had then some contest with the Monks of St. Augustines whom the Pope generally favour'd against him referr'd to his decision from Rome so that he caused both parties the second time to appear there before him 1143. as Legat and by compromise ended the businesse Yet this calling of the Archbishop unto him was not taken well and the same year 1143. he did by Apostolick command restore Ieremy removed by Theobald notwithstanding his appeal to Rome to be Prior of Canterbury which restitution the said Prior did not think fit to stand by but for avoiding trouble took an 100. marks to pay his debts and placed himself in St. Augustines By these carriages there grew great distasts between these two great Prelats the one as Archbishop prohibited Winchester all Ecclesiastick functions however the Popes Legat and both apply themselves to the Pope from whence our Historians do fetch the use of Appeals to Rome as indeed there could not well be any cause of them before for as the one case is the first ever any Archbishop was called out of his Diocese to make answer to any Legat as his Superior so I believe it will be hard to give an example of ought done by th' Archbishop in his own Bishoprick till now alter'd by a forreign auctority And here having mentioned the introducing of Appeals the reader will give me leave to digresse a little both to shew what is meant by them and the manner of prosecution of them and then to return and observe the event of the Archbishops and Legats in the Court of Rome 29. It cannot be denyed the word Appeal to have been used in former times with reference to the Papacy Cum praesul sedem Apostolicam appellasset sayes Malmsbury of VVilfred and a Councell held in Italy concerning him Apostolicam sedem de suâ causâ appellans and of some others Yet nothing is more certain then those in whose time this was did not at all hold the Pope to have any power of righting him other then by intercession not as a superior Court by sentencing in his favour to undo what had past Theodore without whose assent the King could not have deprived him of his seat for when the Popes Letters were brought hither for his restitution Egfrid with th' advise of his Bishops not onely refused but clapt VVilfred in prison and after his death the Pope sending others vita graves aspectu honorabiles Alfrith though he received the men with great reverence yet would by no means admit the restauration they came about but affirmed it against reason to do it he having been twice condemned proper quaelibet Apostolica scripta And as this was in a time when Christianity most flourished in this Nation having in generall fortissimos Christianosque Reges so of the Kings that did it of Egfrid Beda left that he was piissimus Deo dilectissimus neither can he find any other thing to blame in Alfrith worthily and the Bishops that did concur in the action were holy men well seen in divine and secular learning so that it is not imaginable any thing past them not warranted by the Doctrine and rules of this Church 30. For the understanding of which we are to know the word Appeal is taken severall wayes sometimes to accuse sometimes for referring our selves to some one for his judgment such was that of VVilfreds appealing to Rome as to a great spirituall Doctor and Church whose judgment was very venerable in the World as of late Iohn Calvins and the Church of Geneva was to them of Scotland and Frankford c. another way we take it for removing a cause from an inferior to a superior Court or Iudge that hath power of disannulling whatsoever the former did and this is that our Historians affirm not to have been in use till after 1140. It is certain long after VVilfred the Bishops and Nobility did assure Anselme that for any of the great ones especially him to have
to the King this cause seemed to him non ad plenum tractata ideoque sicut in canonibus cautum est in pristinum locum debere restitui judicavimus Deinde causam ejus juxta censuram canonicae traditionis diligenter retractandam definiendam praedicto fratri nostro Archiepiscopo Lanfranco commisimus It is certain however some writers might upon this or for â— other causes think his degradation to have been non canonice those times did not interpret this though writ with so great earnestnesse for other then advise or intercession not as of a person had an absolute power of commanding in the businesse for we never read of any proceedings upon it not Lanfrank at all ever to meddle in the case that he ever esteemed Stigand a lawfull Bishop Epist. 27 28. who in the year 1075. being in a Councell at London according to the Decrees of it removed his Episcopall Chair from Selsey to Chichester of which he died Bishop 1087. without being at all for what appears questioned or disturbed after the first grant of it Divers examples of the like nature occur too long to be repeated where the King or his chief Iustice prohibit the Papall precepts from being put in execution and it is agreed by Lawyers that not the command but the constant obedience is it which denotes a right of commanding and in cases of this nature prohibentis potior est condito one example in the negative when the thing is stood upon being of more weight then twenty by compliance in the affirmative 77. It is probable neither the King nor the Bishops would introduce any new matter of great concernment into this Church without the privity of so great a Doctor Patriarch of a See from which their auncestors had received the first principles of Christian Religion but it is manifest what past if he were acquainted with it was by their own auctority not his When Off a intended the erecting of Litchfield into an Archbishoprick he did it by a Councell at Calcuith Lambertus as what he approved not producing crebra sedis Apostolicae vetera nova edicta against it yet the thing proceeded Lucius the 2 went so far in his intentions to raise Winchester to an Archiepiscopall Chair as he sent the pall to the Bishop yet it being not approved here as the event shews that Town never yet had the honour Henry the first having in his Lawes appointed how a Bishop Presbyter Monk Deacon c. should suffer committing homicide concludes Si quis ordinatum occidat velproximum suum exeat de patria sua Romam adeat Papam consilium ejus faciat de adulterio vel fornicatione vel Nunnae concubitu similiter poeniteat Where it is observable the King ordains the Penance permits the delinquents peregrination to Rome to receive from the Pope as from a great Doctor of the Church spirituall counsell which else he was not admitted to seek for peregrina judicia modis omnibus submovemus and again ibi semper causa agatur ubi crimen admittitur 78. VVilliam the first who began his expedition against Harald by the counsell of Alexander the 2. and received a banner from him minding the deposition of th' Archbishop of Canterbury procured the Pope to send certain Ecclesiasticks hither to joyn in the action as likewise soon after for determining the question of precedency between Canterbury and York upon which there grew an opinion Archiepiscopum Cantuariensem à nullo hominum nisi à solo Papa judicari posse vel damnari nec ab aliquo cogi pro quavis calumnia cuâ—quam eo excepto contra suum velle respondere This no doubt was promoted by th' Archbishops as what exempted them from all home jurisdiction the Bishops in generall did after think in some sort to introduce and thereupon put in this petition in Parliament 18. Ed. 3. qe pleise a Roy en maintenance del estat de seint Esglise graunter ordeiner en cest Parlement qe nul Ercevesque ou Evesque â—oit desormez arreynez ne empesâ—hez devaunt ses Iusticos en cause criminele par quecunque voye de si come sur tiele cause nulle alme ne les poet juger si noun le Pape seulement But to this the answer is no other then Il est avis qe en cause de crime nul Ercevesque ou Evesque soit empesche devant les Iustices si le Roy ne le commande especialment tant qe autre remedie soit ordeinez which he did likewise confirm by Charter there registred and as Walsingham hath truly recorded 79. This opinion though new to the English questionlesse incouraged Anselme to oppose the King in many particulars and Popes to go farther as to claim Princes should not confer Investitures nor define matters of Episcopacy c. then to bestow preferments within this Kingdome at first by consent and with the limitation no Italian to succeed another then to reserve to themselves the collation of all benefices of which before To conclude this whosoever will without prejudice weigh the reformation of England by Hen. the 8. Edward the 6. and more especially Queen Elizabeth in the point of supremacy must grant these Princes did not assume to themselves any thing but such particulars as the Court of Rome had in a long series of time incroached in on the Crown and English Church If at any time our auncestors styled the Pope Princeps Episcoporum it was in no other sense then they did St. Peter Princeps Apostolorum by which what principality they intended him we cannot better understand then by the Saxon who renders it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apostola the Elder of the Apostles If they called him successor or Vicarius Petâ—i they were not alone appropriated to him for Petrus Blesensis and others give the Bishop of York the same titles and the Bish. of Bath who had a Church dedicated to St. Peter he bids remember quia Petri Vicarius estis So did they likewise in some sense call Kings Christs Vicars as well as Bishops If at any time they gave the Pope the title of head of the Church it was as being the first Bishop he was held to be as St. Bernard tells us in beneficam causam as they termed Oxford the fountain and mother of our Christian faith I cannot therefore but with a late writer that sayes England had a known subjection to Rome acknowledged even by our Laws ever from the conversion of our Country under St. Gregory had expressed in what particulars that subjection did consist what those Laws are and where to be found The truth is as there is no doubt our Auncestors in former times would not have joyned with the Synod of Gap in causing so disputable ambiguous a question as that the Pope is Antichrist to have been taught as the faith
Ordinaires lour office devoirs per cause qe les pluralites q' ont este grantees devant ces heures sont ount este la greindre cause de l' absence des tiels curats y plest au Roy nostre Seigr. de l' advis assent des Seig rs en Parlement esâ—rire par ses honourables lettres a nostre seint pier le Pape de revoker repeller toutes les pluralites generalement qe d' es ore en avant nulle pluralite soit graunte a ascuny en temps a venir But the Pope it seems giving no satisfaction in the particular the 11. Hen. 4. the Commons again petition That the riches of the kingdome being in the hands of Church-men those livings upon which the incumbent of common right ought to reside half of the true value should remain to himself but the other to the King To which the answer is Geste matiere appertient a seinte Esglise quant a la residence remede ent fust purveuz en la darrain Convocation Yet this matter of non-residence still molesting the Commonwealth 3. Hen. 6. the King tells them by th' advise of the Lords of Parliament He had delivered their bill to my Lord of Canterbury charging him to pourvey of remedy for his Province and semblably shall write to the Church of York for that Province By which we may see the King Archbishop and Convocation did conceive themselves to have a power of redressing things in this Church which yet in civility they thought â—it first to acquaint the Pope with as a spirituall Doctor or Patriarch however of great esteem yet not endued with a power of commanding in this Church otherwise then the lawes of the Kingdome the contracts with the Papacy did bear 21. Now it cannot be doubted that all these petitions of the Commons and sundry more which may be produced had been by them vainly prefer'd had they not taken the King to have been vested with a power of redressing things blameable in the government of the Church But when we say the Prince as the principall without whom nothing is done may be rightly termed Head in the act of reformation our meaning is not that he will deal in points of Ecclesiastick cognizance without the advise of his Bishops and other learned of the Clergy we know in things proper Iosuah is to take counsell of Eleazer and the Kings of this nation have ever done so 22. When Edgar intended the advancing Christi gloriam he chose him three Bishops to be his patres spirituales and consiliarios But to speak of later times when the Commons endeavoured a reformation of some things in the Church Hen. the 8 th would not answer their desires till he had first acquainted the Spirituality When he intended to publish a book of the principall articles and points of our faith with the declaration of other expedient points and also for the lawfull rites and ceremonies to be observed within this realme he ordained it to be by th' Archbishops and sundry Bishops of both Provinces and also a great number of the best learned honestest and most vertuous sort of Doctors of Divinity men of discretion judgement and good disposition c. And Edward the sixth minding a farther reformation of some usages in the administration of the Eucharist he caused it to be made by the most grave and learned of his realm for that purpose by his directions assembled at Windfor who afterwards for taking away divers and sundry differing forms and fashions had formerly been used in sundry Churches of England and Wales appoynted th' Archbishop of Canterbury and certain of the most learned and discreet Bishops and other learned men of the realm to consider of the premises who by the ayd of the Holy Ghost with one uniform agreement concluded on and set forth the book of Common prayer c. Upon which the two houses of Parliament considering as well the most godly travell of the Kings highnesse in gathering and collecting the said Archbishops Bishops and learned men together as c. do give to his Highnesse most hearty and lowly thanks c. So that it is apparent the King in composing this book did not assume to himself or the Parliament attribute unto him any other then assembling of the Bishops and other learned men together to take their consultations 23. And they observing the great diversity in saying and singing in severall Churches the difficulty of finding what was proper for each day apt to breed confusion reduced the publick service of the Church to one form more facile and of better edification following therein the examples of divers holy Bishops and others for if Guarinus Abbot of St Albans in the Office used in his Church about 1190 might superflua resecare to reduce the prayers there to one form if Agobardus in France might amputare superflua vel levia c. if Osmund Bishop of Salisbury in England quoniam singulae fere Dioeceses in statis precariis horis dicendis variabant ad hanc varietatem tollendam ut quasi absolutum quoddam precandi quo omnes uti possent exemplar exstaret eas in eum fere ordinem commodam rationem quam hodie omnes prope Angliae Cambriae Hiberniae viz. the Course of Salisbury Ecclesiae sequuntur magno prudenti rerum ex sacris scripturis probatis Ecclesiae historiis delectu distribuit digessit if these I say might do it on their own motion there is no question such of the Clergy as were appointed by the King might on his desire take it into consideration and remove matters offensive or lesse to edification 24. Neither did Queen Elizabeth at the beginning of her reign alter some passages in it but by the opinions of Divines eruditis moderatis to whom was added a learned Knight Sr Thomas Smith to whose care the supervising of it had by the house of Commons been committed the second of Edward the sixth and therefore knew better then any other to give an account of that book Nor did her self or the house of Lords use differing wayes when the Commons at other times have sought some change in the Ecclesiastick government as the 23. and 27. of her reign where though the Lord Treasurer made a short beginning yet he left the satisfactory answers to be given them by th' Archbishop of York Insomuch as we may safely conclude when the Clergy in Convocation styled Henry the 8th Ecclesiae Anglicanae protectorem unicum supremum dominum quantum per Christi leges licet supremum caput they added nothing new unto him but a title for he and his successors after it did never exercise any auctority in causes Ecclesiastick not warranted by the practise of former Kings of the nation By all which the second question remains sufficiently proved that our Kings were originally endued with
auctority to cause the English Church be reformed by th' advice of their Bishops and other of the Clergy as agreeing with the practise of all ages For who introduced the opinion of Transubstantiation made it an article of Faith barr'd the Lay of the Cup Priests of marriage who restored the Mass in Queen Maries dayes before any reconciliation made with Rome but the Ecclesiasticks of this Kingdome under the Prince for the timebeing who commanded or connived at it CHAP. VI. How the Kings of England proceeded in their separation from Rome 1 IT being by what is already said undoubted the Clergy called together by the Prince or meeting by his allowance have ever had a power of reforming this Church commanding things juris positivi in it and likewise dispensing with them and that the statute 24. Hen. 8. cap. 12. that saith in effect as much is no other then a declaration of the Common law that is the custome of the realm the next enquiry will be for acquitting the Church of England in point of schism how this separation from Rome was made 2. Henry the 8th having long pursued a cause Matrimoniall with Clement the 7. who shewed so much complyance to determine it in his favour as he sent Cardinall Campeius hither to joyn with Wolsey the Kings creature in the businesse and upon the Emperours successe in Italy the cause after many delayes being revoked to Rome the King upon the opinions of many forreign Divines of the invalidity of his marriage with Queen Katharine caused the case to be determined by the English Church which judgement yet he would have in some measure submitted to the Court of Rome so as he might have given the persons to whom it was delegated by the Pope full information and the Cardinalls of the Imperiall faction excluded having any part in the decision But Clement hearing what had past in England with more then ordinary hast determins the cause against him which how much it would irritate any Prince of so great power and so high a spirit as our Henry I shall leave others to judge And here I might alledge many forreign examples of those who upon lesse indignities have stopt all entercourse with Rome as Lewis the 12. and Henry the 2. of France if I had undertook to write an apology for him 3. The King upon the advertisement of these proceedings by the Pope which was at the beginning of the year 1534 falls first to those courses his auncestors had formerly done when they had occasion to know how they ought to comport themselves in any thing towards Rome which was to have the advise of the English Church and thereupon wrote to the Universities great Monasteries and Churches of the Kingdome the 18. May 1534. to the University of Oxford requiring them like men of virtue and profound literature to diligently intreat examine and discusse a certain question viz. An Romanus Episcopus habeat majorem aliquam jurisdictionem sibi collatam in sacra Scriptura in hoc regno Angliae quam alius quivis externus Episcopus and to return their opinion in writing under their common seal according to the meer and sincere truth of the same c. To which after mature deliberation and examination not onely of the places of holy Scripture but of the best interpreters for many dayes they returned answer the 27. Iune 1534. without all peradventure according to the ancient tenet of the English Romanum Episcopum majorem aliquam jurisdictionem non habere sibi à Deo collatam in sacra Scriptura in hoc regno Angliae quam alium quemvis externum Episcopum Of this answer I have thought fit to make particular mention though assented to by all the English Clergy because Oxford hath been ever held aemula Parisiensis Ecclesiae fundamentum fountain Mere de nostre foy Chrestiene as I formerly touched whose opinion the English Church hath therefore highly esteemed and sought on all occasions of this nature of which to give some examples 4. Upon the election of Vrban the 6. France Scotland Flanders and divers other parts adhering to Clement who resided at Avignon the French King 1395. caused a meeting of the Clergy of his dominions to search whether had the better right to the Papacy whose judgment was for Clement which under the seal of the University of Paris was sent to Richard the 2. who thereupon fecit convocationem Oxoniae de peritioribus Theologis tam regentibus quam non regentibus totius regni and they on the contrary judged Vrban to have the better title whose opinion under the seal of the University of Oxford returned to the King was by him transmitted into France 1408 in Concilio Cleri celebrato Londoniis assistentibus doctoribus Vniversitatum Cantabrigiae Oxoniae tractatum est de censu obedientia Papae subtrahendis vel non subtrahendis about which time twelve of the University of Oxford on the Archbishops desire in the name of the rest examined the books Doctrines of Wickliffe sent their resolutions to a Synod at London in an epistle yet extant By all which it is manifest how much their opinions were esteemed in this Kingdome And I hold it undoubted a Prince following so great advise chalked out to him by the practise of his ancestors could not be guilty of so heinous a crime as schism arising onely from disobedience to any spirituall superior whatsoever Gerson sayes a private person runs into no contempt of the Keyes in divers cases by him enumerated as one dum dicit aliquis juristarum vel theologorum juxta conscientiam suam quod hujusmodi sententiae non sunt timendae vel tenendae hoc praesertim si observetur informatio seu caâ—tela debita ne sequatur scandalum pusillorum qui aestimant Papam esse unum Deum And Navar the greatest Canonist of his time qui unius doctoris eruditione ac animi pietate celebris auctoritate ductus fecerit aliquid excusatur etiamsi forte id non esset justum alii contrarium tenerent And to this purpose many more Doctors may be alleged 5. This as it was done by him so he was led unto it by the example of his predecessors as I have partly toucht before and shall therefore alledge no other but that in the disputes between Becket and Henry the 2. the Archbishop endeavouring to interesse Alexander the 3. in the difference that Prince caused it to be written unto him Si juri vestro vel honori praejudicatur in aliquo id se totius Ecclesiae regni sui consilio correcturum in proximo pollicetur and a little after Dominus Rex plurimum sibi justificare videtur cum in omnibus quae dicta sunt Ecclesiae regni sui consilio simul judicio se pariturum pollicetur And this the often repeating of it not onely in a particular letter of the Bishop of London but of