these Words On a Rock consisting of these Sands stands our mighty Champion triumphing with his Naked Truth c. And truly if our mighty Champion stand thus Triumphing upon a Rock made of Sands It is the first Rock made of Sands that ever was seen in the World before I have seen great hills of Sands but never a Rock consisting of Sands before for lively and natural expressions and tough and sinewy Arguments 't is the very None-such of the D. D Come confess ingeniously Is there not more and better Heads then your own in this Elaborate Work Is it not the Six Months labour of a Prelatical Smectimnuus or Club-Divines Now for his Rancounter CHAP. II. Wherein very Majesterially he asserts contradictorily In defiance of the said Propositions and Rocks of Sand That Our Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in England was not derived from the Pope but from the Crown before the Reformation by Hen. 8. Sed quomodo probas Domine D. D First by begging the Question Petitione Printipij And asking sternly and demanding in 8 bold Questions first Dare any Protestant stand to the contrary c. So that he has got Mr. Hickeringill upon the Lock and upon the Hugg the Devonshire and Cornish Hugg Hang or Drown'd there 's no escaping yield or confess your self a Papist concluding that to say so is not more like a Hobbist than a Papist I thought I had caught a Hobby but War-Hawk To which I 'le onely say that as Seneca in his Epistles to his dear Lucillus speaking of Harpast his Wives Fool a poor ridiculous creature That if he had a desire to laugh at a Fool he need not seek far for he could find cause enough at home to laugh at himself so you Mr. quibling Archdeacon need not be at charge to keep a Jester you may find one ridiculous enough within the Corps of your own Archdeaconry Hobby-War-hawk But then he falls and grows calm and leaves this bold Italian way of Regginâ—… and comes to his proofs First Then our Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction was not derived from the Pope but from the Crown before H. 8. because it was a known Law 25. Edw. 1. and 25. Edw. 3. long before Hen. 8. that the Church of England was founded in Episcopacy by our Kings c. and not in the Papacy 1. I always thought till now that our Church of England I know not for his Church of England was neither founded upon Episcopacy not the Papacy but on Christ the Rock of Ages 2. The Popish Episcopacy in the said two King Edwards time and the Papacy were one and the same piece the Pope the Head they the Members and derivative from him influenc'd by him and would never obey our Kings further then they list as appears by stout Robert Archbishop of Canterbury another Becket And though the Kings made bold to recommend an Archbishop or a Bishop to the Pope yet the Pope Invested and chose whom he list the greater Usurper he but who did or could help it till stout King H. 8. did behead the Pope and made himself by Parliament Head of the Church 'T is true Rome was not built in a day and neither did nor could extend its Suburbs and Commands as far as England till William the Conquerour the Pope's Champion and who fought under the Popes Banner which he sent him for the Invasion of England did with his French and Normans and all Gatherings bring with his French and Italian Troops the French and Italian Laws and the French Mode of Ecclesiastical Polity and Jurisdiction And therefore 't is rightly noted that 'till Will. the Conquerour there was no Bishops Courts or Ecclesiastical Courts but the hundred-Hundred-Courts the onely Courts of Justice in England in all Causes Ecclesiastical and Temporal But the Pope made his Champion Will. the Conquerour and all succeeding Kings after him till H 8. set up such Ecclesiastical Courts and Jurisdiction as were at Rome wherein they Judged and proceeded according to the Popes Canon-Laws and he himself was the Head and Supream of those Courts and nothing more frequent then Appeals to Rome till the 24. Hâ—n 8.12 ordain'd that there should be no Appeals thither where he had emptied so much of his purse and yet could not obtain a Divorce to his liking if appeals to Rome from our Ecclesiastical-Courts then they were onely Romes Inferior Courts And was there ever any Statute made from Will. the Conquerour or rather Hen. 3. to Hen. 8. but by the consent of the Popish Clergy that is to say the consent of the Pope their Head whose Laws they obey'd in defiance of their Leige-Lords and Soveraign Kings I know there was old Tugging frequently betwixt our Kings and the Popes and sometimes the staring people cryed Now the Pope then in hopes Now the King has got is but if any stout King did as they did try for Mastery with this Whore and who should wear the Britches yet Pope Joan or Pope John or howsoever nam'd always got the better at long run Of which I will Instance in some few particulars that first occur and come to mind for I scorn to spend so many days as this D. D. with his Smec-conjoyn'd has been Months in Labour for the production of his Ridiculus mus Robert Kildwardby Archbishop of Canterbury 6. Edw. 1. Fleec't the whole Province of Canterbury namely the greatest part of the Kingdom of England by his Provincial-Visitation not by down-right plundering of the Clergy Church-wardens and the poor and rich Sinners he knew a way worth two on 't the other had been the ready way to be hang'd for Edward 1. was neither Bigot Antiq. Brit. Ec. p. 196. Fook nor Coward for He saith Mat. Parker being the Popes Creature went a visiting as some do now a days without any Commission from the King no strange thing in those days more strange in our days now that they have not as formerly a Pope to back them and whose Creatures they were in despight of the King But this crafty Robert Kildwardby play'd the Fox in his Visitation and Se donis saith the Historian non imperitando sed artificiose ut fratres sui ordinis solebant suadendo locupletavit that is He enrich'd himself and fill'd his pockets but how not by an open violent way of force and command but craftily with sleight of Hand and Tongue as the Brethren of his Order are wont to do pick'd their pockets with a parccl of fair words Why that 's better yet then the Hectoring way Come Clergy-man deliver your Purse your Purse for Procurations Visitations c. The Naked-Truth on 't was the Pope Nicholas 3d. had a Cardinals Capp at Robert's service if he would come up to the price on 't and bid like a Chapman but all the craft lay in the catching the Money to day the purchase Whereupon Kildwardby does not go in the old Road of Procurations Synodals and Vilitations that even in those times were not onely grumbled at by the Slaves
Hundret nor bring any Ecclesiastical cause to the Judgment of Secular men Therefore William the Conquerour the Popes Champion brought with him this new distinction of Clergy and Layty and Ecclesiastical Judges and Secular Judges for it seems Ecclesiastical Causes as well as Secular were brought in the Hundret Court to the Judgment of Secular men not Ecclesiastical men 5. The said Proclamation ordains every man to do right to God and the Bishop not according to the Hundred but according to the Canons and Episcopal Laws Which answers the greatest Stress of the D. D. Answer The Conquerour with the Pope brought in the Canons and Episcopal Laws and when the Pope's head was cut off and his Supremacy taken away vanish also did his Canons and Episcopal Laws And the Popish King and Parliament in Hen. 8. time knew it as well and therefore when they had made the King Head of the Church as well as State a fatal distinction of Church and State and often makes a Kingdom divided against its self cutting off all Appeals to Rome 24 H. 12. in the very next year they found a necessity to abrogate all Popish Canons that were contrariant to the Kings Prerogative and the Laws and Statutes of this Realm but such as were not so contrariant and repugnant to remain in force And to that purpose there was to be a Book of such Canons compiled by thirty two Commissioners party per pale one moyety Clergy and the other Lay but they did nothing and so that project in the Statute came to nothing And for my part in the Knowledge I have in the ancient Councils and Canon's in the making whereof the Pope had the great hand they might as well seek a needle in a bottle of Hay as seek for Canons amongst the old ones suitable to the new face of our Church when it had lost its old wonted head that had Authorized and Father'd the English Church and all Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction from William the Conquerour till 24 Henry 8. which was 467 long years and during the weary Reigns of twenty Kings together who were so tyred with the Pope's Insolence that some of them as King John meditated rather to turn Turk than undergo the Infamy as well as Tyranny and Cruelty in being all his Reign so shamefully Priest-ridden complaining and bemoaning himself that after he subjugated himself and his Scepter to the Pope of Rome nothing prosper'd that he undertook ever after Therefore hard is the fate of that Man much more of that King and Kingdom that are under the Tyranny of these Bigots How do they wrest the holy Scriptures to surrogate their preposterous Hierarchy as did the said Popham Archbishop in his said Letter to the King Edw. 1. aforementioned quoting Mat. 16.19 Whatsoe're thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven and threatning the King with death from Deut. 17.12 And the man that shall do presumptuously and will not hearken unto the Priest that standeth to minister there before the Lord thy God or unto the Judge even that man shall dye Then he threatens the King with Deut. 17.18 19 20. and with Luk. 10.16 He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me And he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me which saith the Archbishop St. Dyonisius expounds Ierarchis in his quae agant Ierarchicè obediendum est sicut a Deo motis To the Hierarchy or Prelates in what they act as Prelates we ought to obey them as those that are influenc't by God himself Then he quotes Deut. 17.8 9 10 11. and Heb. 4. and Mat. 17.5 Mat. 28.20 Acts 3.22 Mat. 18.19 20. Mat. 18.17 Mat. 10.20 as Impertinent as tedious to insist upon concluding his Letter in a menacing way from Lambeth November Anno Dommi 1281. and the third year of his Translation Instancing also for his Platform and imitation in this his contumacy the example of Thomas Becket and Boniface his Predecessors as fierce and Seditious as himself But wise King Edw. 1. like his Grandfather Hen. 2. and his Father Hen. 3. would not so easily part with the Reins of Government for he disanulled not only the Rading-Canons as aforesaid but also the Lambeth-Canons Anno 1281. Even as his Grandfather Hen. 2. abrogated all the Canon Law being then Duke of Normandy and particularly the Canons of the late Councel of Rhemes And by Proclamation forbidding Hugo Archbishop of Roan to put the same in Execution and threatning Pope Innocent 2. that if he would not restrain the said Archbishop therein he would turn Protestant so I translate the words of the Kings letter to Pope Innocent Minatus est Apertè divortium ab Apostolicâ sede nisi praesumptio illius Archiepiscopi reprimeretur Which so frighted the Pope that he was glad to knock under and yield to the time foreseeing a Storm approaching he very wisely made fair weather on 't to use his own words Quod prefectò quamvis Justum fuerit Mat. Paris Hist Aug. p. 96 97. à nobis in Concilio Rhemensi mandatum pro ejus tamen charitate aliquando condescendere quando non ascendere possumus debemus et pro tempore ipsius voluntati assensum praebere That is saith the Pope What was done in the Councel of Rhemes was nothing but what was Just and right and also by us Commanded nevertheless for charity sake we must be lowly and condescend then when we cannot climb and ascend and be uppermost and for the present give our assent and consent to the Kings will and pleasure And there had been a fatal divorce or beginning of Protestanism from Rome by another Henry Hen. 2. long before Hen. 8. if Pope Innocent had been as stiff and inflexible as was Pope Clement to Hen. 8. So that all along those that please to observe our Statutes Histories and Chronicles they will find that ever since our Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction was brought from France and Rome by William the Conquerour sometimes the Church-men and their head the Pope had the weather-gage and sometimes the Kings as they hapned to be some more prudent some more weak some more potent and some in greater straits than other of which last condition namely when our Kings affairs were in a Peck of troubles and distresses the Pope and his Janizaries the Popish Prelates alwaies wrought upon their necessities and most unmanly would never give them fair quarter when they had them down None so cruel as Women and cowardly Gownmen when they get men at advantage many Instances whereof you may see in the reigns of King John the King Henries and the King Edwards c. So that now Canon-Law now Statute-Law now the Church and now the State now the Lord Arch-bishops and Lord Bishops and now the Lords temporal and the Common's had the upper-hand but the Bishops carryed it for the most part and alwaies at long run whilest they had the Pope or the High-Commission on their side And even since they
consider'd in his CHAP. III. Whose Title is That KING Henry 8. did not by renouncing the power pretended by the Pope make void the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction neither was it void before it was restored by 1 Edw. 6.2 And to prove this Negative he 's at it again with his old way of Questions but that he shews a little more warmth and wrath against Mr. Hickeringill in this Ironical Sarcasm Pray Mr. Wiseman where and by what words did H. 8. cut off as you say all these ordinary Jurisdictions Mr. Hickeringill told you enough of it in the Naked Truth which read over seriously before you answer any more such Books good Mr. D. D. He told you that when the Popes Supremacy and Head was be-headed and the King made Supreme Head of the Church as well as State and of the Spirituality as well as Temporality by Act of Parliament The same King and Parliament devis'd also and advis'd by what Laws this new face of the Church having got a new head sure it had a new face should be guided and governed Therefore the King and Parliament enact that the King shall appoint Thirty-two Commissioners not to make new Laws but compile them out of the old ones so that they were not repugnant to the Kings Prerogative nor the Laws of the Realm But that was a thing impossible for most of the Canons being forged at Rome or Licensed there and Confirmed and also they supposing the Pope Head of the Church which was against the Laws of this Land nothing could be done and the reason is already given in the former Chapter at large so that less shall need to be said to this Chapter or indeed to the remaining part of his mighty Volume or Leges Angliae And truly that King Henry 8. had so much to do to keep and secure his new acquests the Abby-Lands Monastries c. and to Counterplot the Pope and his Emissaries and on the other side the English Bishops were so consternated at the sudden and total downfal of their Brethren and Sisters the Fryers Abbots and Nuns that they were in a bodily fear lest that King thus flesh't finding the sweetness of the Booty should hunt after more Church-Lands And therefore Mr. Archdeacon needed not ask the Question Was that watchful Prince asleep no surely nor yet the watchful Bishops I fear did not sleep very quietly but were always troubled in their sleep crying out oh this fat Mannor is upon the go And these brave Walks Houses and Orchards are a departing And as dreams sometimes prove unluckily true so did these dreams for soon after was first exchanged with the two Archbishops by the Satute of 37. Henry 8.16 Sixty-nine fat and stately Mannors named in the said Statute at one time from the Archbishop of York and also a great many brave Country-houses and rich Mannors from the Archbishop of Canterbury and from Edmond Bishop of London which See was particularly named in the Statute But some may say that the Abby-Lands which the King gave in exchange were not comparable in value to the said Archbishops Lands and Mannors Who can help that if they did not like those Abby-Lands I suppose they might have let them alone Thus the King having been busied in the 24th year of his Reign with cutting off the Roman Head and all appeals to Rome then troubled with his Abby-Lands beginning with the lesser Monastries 27 Henry 8.28 those digested then the great Monastries and Nunneries 31. Henry 8.13 then the next year the brave Houses Lands and Revenues of the Templers called the Knights of the Rhodes and of St. John of Jerusalem 32. Henry 8.24 then the Free-Chantries Hospitals c. in 37. Henry 8.4 and in this his last year that sad exchange with the Archbishops and Bishop of London 37. Henry 8.16 I do not see any cause Mr. Archdeacon why any flesh alive should say that either the King or the Bishops were asleep for Thirteen years together in which time every one had work enough to be watchful The best on 't is that the man thinks he can answer all Mr. Hickeringill's Arguments in the Naked Truth with a Story which he tells p. 14. and so silly and so little quadrating with the question in controversie that it is not worth the answering nor his observation thereon namely that though the Lords of the Mannors were changed yet the Customs and Courts and Officers were not changed No were not the Customs Courts nor Officers changed God forbid for then it must still be a Custom that neither the Bishop nor the Archdeacon may lawfully Marry it will still be a Custom to excommunicate as it was of old all that did not pay the Pope the first fruits and tenths if the Customs be not changed and a thousand such exceptions could I make if it were not below me to take notice of all his idle and impertinent Whimsies and Stories obvious enough to every learned and ingenuous Reader without my remark or asterisque to expose it Nor does any body deny but that King H. 8. willing to have a Divorce from Queen Katharine from Rome and not able to obtain the same got it at home the said Statute of Appeals cutting off all Appeals to Rome and enabling the Kings Courts Spiritual and Temporal to determine the same Any Forrein Inhibitions Appeals Sentences Summons c. from the See of Rome c. to the Let or Impediment in any wise notwithstanding 24. Henry 8.12 Whence note 1. The design of the Statute is to cut off Appeals to Rome this Realm of England being an Empire of it self governed by one Supreme Head 2. Therefore no need of such Appeals when they may be with less trouble ended here within the Kings Jurisdiction in Courts Spiritual and Temporal 3. That Statute limits the cognisance of all matters cognisable in Spiritual Courts to these Three sorts namely Causes Testamentary Matrimonial or Divorces Tithes and Oblations and Obventions and if they can prove their Courts to be lawful Courts and by lawful Anthority who ever doubted but those Three things were matters and causes of Ecclesiastical cognisance but they are not content to keep themselves there and therefore the great design of the Naked Truth is not in the least to check their proceedings in those Three Particulars but their exorbitances in medling with Church Wardens the Oath of Church-Wardens exactions illegal and unconscionable in their Fees in despight of the Statutes in Probate of Wills Procurations Sequestrations Synodals Licenses to Preach Visitations c. 4. The Archbishops Bishops and Clergy in Convocation in less than Twenty years after this Statute found so little Authority in this 24. Henry 8.12 for keeping Spiritual Courts and exercising Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction it coming in but by way of Parenthesis and not the purport and main design of the Statute that they all acknowledg and confess uno ore and 2. Phil. and Mar. that their Jurisdiction and Liberties Ecclesiastical were taken away
and desired their restauration and surely they better understood their Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in those days than this Archdeacon can possibly at this distance in these days Lastly The Temporal as well as Spiritual Courts are enabled by 24. Henry 8.12 to determine the controversies in this Realm without Appeals and yet none of them take upon them to Sit without the Kings special Commission and Authority except petty-Hundred-Courts c. which are Common-Law-Courts but so are not the Ecclesiastical at best further than Ecclesiastical matters may still by the Common Law be tryed before the Lord of the Hundred or his Steward and the Freeholders and the Bishop also and Archdeacon may be suffered to come into the Room but whether they may come in without knocking or must sit or stand be covered or uncovered when they come there by the Common Law it seems it is not by our D. D. the great Common Lawyer as yet determined And therefore it is much better for the Archdeacon at least much more proper for him to leave these doubtful matters as whether 1 Edward 6.2 be now in force and how far and to what Commissioners the 13 Car. 2.12 does extend wherein the Author of the Naked Truth would not peremptorily assert any thing to the decision of a Parliament or wiser heads than his own Then in Chap. 3. Sect. 2. the D. D. tells of another Statute 31 Henry 8.3 and cites the words but most egregiously false there is not one such clause in 31 H. 8.3 But if there were as perhaps I will not deny something to that purpose in another Statute that Archbishops Bishops c. may wear the Tokens and Ensigns and Ceremonies of their Order and whilst they do nothing but what to their Office and Order does appertain no body will trouble themselves about them And more false also is what he would make 25 Henry 8.19 speak as though by that Statute the Convocation hath power reserved by the same Act of making new Canons provided the Convocation be called by the Kings Writ and have the Royal assent and License to make promulgate and execute such Canons 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 for the Convocation that made them were called by the Kings Writ and they were confirmed also by the Royal assent In a matter of this consequence let us turn to the Statute and trust our Archdeacon henceforward no further than our own knowledg That of 25. Henry 8.19 begins thus The Title The Clergy in their Convocation shall enact no Constitutions without the Kings assent And as the Title so the body of the Act Where the Kings humble and obedient subjects the Clergy of this Realm c. promise in verbo Sacerdoti that they will never presume to attempt premulge or execute any new Canons c. unless the Kings Royal Assent and License be to them had to make promulge and execute the same Now is this D. D. an honest man when the Statute only binds them to good behaviour namely not to presume without the Royal assent but does not enable them to make any new though they have the Royal Assent False also most impudently false is his next quotation of a Statute 37 Henry 8.16 But if he mean 37 Henry 8.17 still it is false either through Imprudence or unparellel'd Impudence for there is not one word to the matter in question but the whole Statute is only a License to Marry a License for civil Lawyers to Marry and that though they be Marryed yet that shall not make them uncapable of being Commissaries Chancellors or Vicar-generals or Officials but does not create or constitute any Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction or Courts to put them in Indeed the said 37 Henry 8.17 is a clear and evident explanation of the 25 Henry 8.18 that thereby the King and Parliament did look upon all Ecclesiastical Canons Ordinances and Constitutions formerly made to be null and void and repealed and of no effect by the said 25 Henry 8.18 saying that the Bishop of Rome and his adherents minding utterly as much as in him lay to abolish obscure and delete such power given by God to the Princes of the earth whereby they might gather and get to themselves the government and rule of the world have in their Councils and Synods Provincial made divers Ordinances and Constitutions And albeit the said Decrees Ordinances and Constitutions by a Statute made 25 Henry 8. be utterly abolished frustrate and 1. By this it is evident that as the King Pope and Bishops had all work enough to look to themselves and that King Henry and his Parliament and Bishops were still Popish so if the Spiritual Courts had any Jurisdiction yet they had none but by way of Parenthesis in the said Statute of Appeals 2. And that only in causes Testamentary Marriage or Divorce Tithes or Oblations 3. And to Judg of these and determine was impossible because they had no Canons Decrees nor Laws Ecclesiastical by which to Judg and determine of them 4. And therefore Mr. Archdeacon though by what has been said your Official might keep Spiritual Courts although he were Married so also he might keep Spiritual Courts although he did nothing but whistle there all the while or throw stones at all that came near him for Sentences and Decrees cannot be made but according to a Canon Law or Rule and Canons there were none in force at that time in the said Judgment of the House of Commons And therefore though you had never so much Authority and Commission for keeping your beloved Courts what 's that to the Naked Truth Have you any Commissions for Extortions in Probate of Wills for illegal Extortions of Money for Citations Licenses to Preach Institutions Inductions Sequestrations Synodals Procurations Money from Church-Wardens Commutations Visitations to confute which is the great import of the Naked Truth and you have not one word in your Leges Angliae to say for them or for your selves or to justifie by whose or by what Commission or by what Canons you act and proceed It is a most dangerous and fatal thing sure for a man to think as the Papists do think in these days whereas I thought a man might have believed that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and a thousand things more that the Papists believe and yet keep out of harms way But no our desperate D. D. has p. 22. got Mr. Hsckeringill upon the Hip again and gores him too with one of the unavoidable Horns of the sharpest of Arguments a Dilemma in these words namely I leave it to Mr. Hickeringill himself for if he think that that Convocation namely in Queen Marys Reign spake that which was not true he hath said nothing to the purpose so his business is done that way But if he think they did speak truth then he thinks that the Jurisdiction of the Church
shall not be Excommunicated although they do not obey the King's Mandates for apprehending such as are Excommunicate Note by the way then that the Writ de Excommunicato capiendo the onely Weapon of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and the onely Prop of Ecclesiastical Courts was not Common Law but long after only Statute-Law and but in some Cases neither 5 Eliz. 23. The Queen finding that since the mist of Superstition was vanish't by the Sun-shine of the Gospel the People could not discern any Terrour in the Thunder of Excommunication for every petty cause and therefore that without the temporal Sword was also drawn to back it her new high-commission-High-Commission-Court and consequently all other Ecclesiastical Courts that had no Weapon but the Spiritual Sword of Excommunication could strike no Awe Terror nor Reverence into the obstinate and contumacious much less into Delinquents Thirdly That the Punishment inflicted by the King alone upon those that Invaded the Clergy-mens Mannors should be held sufficient Fourthly That he would not hereafter interdict and forbid any one from selling any Meat or Drink to the Arch-bishop of York Whom the proud Prelate had Excommunicated about a Quarrel betwixt them for Precedency c. And therefore he thought thus to famish him as happened after to Jane Shore Excommunicate God deliver men from a furious Bigot and Proud Prelate when he has Power to be Mischievous or any other that comes to the King Fifthly That Magna Charta be taken off from the Church doors For you must know that the Impugners of Magna Charta were in this Synod of Rading again declared Excommunicate which the King and Parliament did dislike and would not suffer any such Sentence of Excommunication to pass except for things thought worthy and deserving the same in the Judgment of King and Parliament who were Judges also even of the timing of an Excommunication even in particulars which had like the Impugners of Magna Charta been adjudged formerly to deserve to be struck with that Thunder-clap that grew so frequent it lost its Terrour the said Arch-bishop also confesses and does acknowledge and grant that neither the King nor his Heirs nor his Kingdome of England shall receive any dammage by reason of any of the said Articles contained in the Synod of Rading Bless us what work 's here to keep the Arch-bishop and his Clergy quiet that a King and Parliament must use all the skill and Power of England which commonly 'till Hen. 8. was all too little to bind these Brats of Rome and Creatures of the Pope and Symonists to the good Behaviour and to tye up their Hands and Tongues from doing the King his Heirs and his Kingdom of England any Mischief And now Mr. Arch-deacon I have bestowed some little Pains you see to draw you a Picture in little of those times of Edward 1. that you bring to make something to the purpose of exalting your Ecclesiastical Hierarchy and Jurisdiction from the Prospect of those times and what Honour you have got to your Hierarchy by this Provocation Plume your self with but I dare say the Reader will say before I have done with you that you had done your Church as much Service in the Convocation where the men of your little ray of your Talent and Improvements would listen to your Leges Angliae with great admiration rather than thus to neglect your great imployment there by this impertinent Diversion of Writing and publishing the Laws of England in which you have no more skill nor ability than you have in undertaking to Answer the Naked Truth But to take a little further View with the Reader 's Patience of those Popish times of King Edward c. before Hen. 8. which the Arch-deacon thinks do make so much for his Turn Afflictions seldom come alone as poor John Peckham found true by sad Experience for besides that there was no help for it but the 4000 Marks must be paid or the Symonist Arch-bishop lose both Heaven and Earth King Edward also for his Wars with Scotland was as needy of Money as the Pope and he borrowed by way of Loan a whole Years Revennue of the Profits of the said Arch-bishoprick and that Loan poor John Complains being little better than a Benevolence came in a very ill time For Robert Kilwarby the late Arch-bishop and before him his Predecessor Boniface had left the Arch-bishoprick lean cadaverous forlorn delapidated and Poor the People too were exhausted by Wars and Seditions For if they had had it he could not he would not have wanted it and the Pope too resolved that if the Arch-bishop or the People had it he also could not would not want it as his Brother Pope used to say he could never want Money so long as he could hold a Pen in his hand to write to his Ass meaning England for the whole World had not I had almost said has not such Religious Zealots and Bigots that would run at all right or wrong in the Cause of Religion Religion as Hud sayes whose Honesty they all will Swear for though not a man of them knows wherefore For the subtle Italian Papists that stand near and sees within the Scenes the Lives of Popes and Cardinals c. understand the Juggle and will not give two Pence a piece for an Indulgence that here in England will go currant for a hundred pounds whilst the modest Papists at Rome smile at the known pious Frauds and the rest Laugh right out or at least in their Sleeves But to return Though the Pope Bubled poor John Peckham as aforesaid He also after he had got a little heart Papae ad exemplum does endeavour to Hector or Wheedle the King out of some Money by Texts of Holy Writ the very same that some Religious Bigots have made use of to as vile ends in our times in an insolent Letter to his Majesty written 9 Edw. 1. beginning with these very words Excellentissimo Principi ac Dom. Edvardo Spelman's Concil p. 341 342. Dei gratiâ Illustri Regi Angliae Domino Hiberniae Duci Aquitaniae c. Johannes permissione divinâ Cantuarensis Ecclesiae minister humilis c. Which see at large in Spelman and after some Complements he falls on in downright Earnest quia tamen oportet Domino magis quà m hominibus obedire ad praevaricationem Legum illarum quae divina Authoritate absque omni dubio subsistunt nullâ possumus humanâ constitutione ligari nec etiam Juramente That is in plain English the Arch-bishop told the King he would be his humble Servant and as loyal a Subject as the best but onely that he was bound to obey God rather then men and that no humane Laws no though he had Sworn to obey them Acts 5.29 should tye or oblige him to the breach of those Laws which are founded upon Divine Authority Of which he and the Pope were the Interpreters and Commentators he might as well have told the King he would be his
la Royante S'il est de peu ou bien Communante Ayme l'aussi car Dieu t'y a faict naistre Love thou thy Country's State whether it be A Common-Wealth Senate or Monarchy All Change is fatal count then that the best In which thy Country finds most Peace most Rest AN ABSTRACT OF THE PREMISES IN A SHORT CONCLUSION 'T Is evident then by his own Shewing That there was no Ecclesiastical Courts distinct from the Hundred-Courts and Lay-Courts till the Pope's Champion brought over that New French and Italian Mode with a long Sword into England and Odo Bishop of Bayeux Brother to the Conqueror assisting to set up the Pope's Usurpations in Spiritual Courts or Spiritual Tyranny forbid by Christ and his Holy Apostles who pretended not to this Hierarchy or Frelacy Names as Unknown as Arch-Bishops or Arch-Deacons Chancellors Officials Surrogates Advocates Proctors Sumners and the rest of that kind to the Primitive-Church Secondly That it is great Impudence for the Clergy much more for the Frelacy to call themselves the Church as if the Lay-People were not as much Members of Christ nay as Learned Prudent Modest and Honest as the best of them I will not except the Pope himself And that to Style the Clergy alone the Church or Holy Church is contrary to the constant Style and Dialect of Holy-Writ as appears by Mat. 16.18 Act. 2.47 5.11 8.1 11.26 13.23 14.27 14.23 15.3 22 41. 16.5 20.17 28. Rom. 16.1 4 5 16 23. 1 Cor. 4.17 10.32 14.4 5 23 33 34. 1 Cor. 16.1 19. 2 Cor. 1.1 8.1.18 19.23 24. 11.8 28. 12.13 and in all other places which are numerous throughout the Holy Scripture Thirdly That by the Oath given alwayes to Excommunicate persons before they be Absolv'd namely Stare parere mandatis Ecclesiae to stand to and obey the Commands of the Church by Church they alwayes mean themselves the Prelacy or Governing Men of the Church And by Holy-Church being free in Magna Charta was and must be meant the Clergy and the Pope their Head but how Holy they were in those Times what Symonists and consequently Perjur'd Persons appears fully in the Premises By the Angel of the Church of Ephesus Rev. 2.1 8. the Prelates say by Angel there is meant the Bishop or Presbyter by the Church there them must be meant the Christian People of Ephesus and if these Clergy in Edw. 1. such as Old Nich. Pap. and Arch-Bishop Peckham c. were Angels they were black ones surely Fourthly That from the Reign of William the Conquerour to Hen. 8. The Clergy or Ecclesiastical Men had one Head namely a Forreign Head the Pope and the Laiety another Head the King Fifthly These Two Heads namely The Pope the Head of the Church and the King the Head of the State were ever and anon knocking one against the other and the English-Clergy alwayes sided with their Head the Pope to make the other Temporal Head bow down and submit to this Spiritual Head Sixthly That when this Spiritual Head would not submit to the Temporal Head and Gratify the King's will in the desired Divorce betwixt King H. 8. and His Queen who had been Twenty Years his Wife He caus'd this Pope his Spiritual Head and Forreign-Power to be Beheaded and cut off till it was restor'd and patch't on again by 1. Phil. and Mar. 8. And indeed what ever that resolute King Henry did will that will soon became a Law if the King would have Queen Katherine Divorc't and her Daughter Mary declared Illegitimate Yea quoth the Stature 25. H. 8.22 when His Will was to have the Princess Elizabeth Legitimate and inheritable of the Imperial Crown of this Realm Yea quoth the Statute 25. H. 8.22 Again when he was minded to make her uncapable of the Crown Yea quoth the Statute 28. H. 8.7 And Lastly when his Will and His Mind was changed and that both the Princesses Mary and Elizabeth though it was Impossible but one of them was Illegitimate and both of them so declared Illegitimate in the said Statutes should be capable to Inherit as they both did the Imperial Crown of this Realm Yea quoth the Parliament 35. H. 8.1 when the Bishops grumbled that they had not their old Procurations out of the Dissolved Monasteries and Consequently could not pay him their First-Fruits and Tenth's though the King knew it was against their own Laws and Canons to have any yet the King willing to stop their Mouths and knowing that to take some Men by the Pocket is as bad as to take them by the Throat rather than he would disoblige them he being also at variance with the Pope he allows them these little snips out of his large New-Conquests and Acquests by the Statute 34. and 35. H. 8.19 But made them only recoverable in Ecclesiastical-Courts and only such as were paid Ten Years before the Dissolution of Monasteries which now is a thing Impossible to prove their own Registers being no competent Witnesses being Parties and their Register-Books no Records 7. That all the remaining Years of the Reign of Hen. 8. after the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction here in England had no dependance of the Pope they had no Laws no known Canons nor Rule to Proceed upon and if they kept Courts these Ecclesiastical Courts could take no Cognizance but of Three or Four things namely Causes Testamentary Matrimonial Tyes and Obventions and such perhaps they have cognizance of at this Day if they have Authority for keeping Courts and have any Laws or Canons other than Acts of Parliament to direct them which I think they have not 8. That when the Ecclesiastical Courts and Jurisdiction had got a Protestant-head it also had a Protestant-face by 1. Edw. 6.2 and 't is senceless to Imagine that that Statute was not constantly put in Execution and all Processes in the Name and Style of the King 9. This Protestant-face of Ecclesiastical Authority was Blasted by 1. Mar. and in its Room was again set up the Pope's head and the Popish-Church by 1. Phil. and Mar. 8. and Forreign Powers and Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical after the Old Italian or Romish Mode 10. This Popish Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and Foreign Powers were Defeated in 1. Eliz. 1. by repealing 1 Mar. and 1 Phil. Mar. 8. that had repealed 1 Edw. 6.2 which had been under restraint and made of no Force by the Repeal aforesaid and thence resum'd its former Vigour and Vertue but of that Quere All the Reason in the World for it as Mr. H. Cary learnedly insists 11. When 1. Eliz. 1. had cancel'd all the Popish Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and Spiritual-Courts there was none till the same Statute gave the Queen and Her Heirs and Successors Power by Commission to settle a new Form and Face of Government Ecclesiastical 12. That Branch of 1 Eliz. 1. that gave the Queen and Her Heirs this Power and Authority being repealed by 13. Car. 2.12 For my Part I must say It is beyond my Apprehension to find out where the
Cathedral Church doors of Canterbury and also a Bull of Deprivation upon condition tho' That if John paid the said 4000 Marks the subject of the Quarrel to the Lucan-Merchants within one Month after demand the Pope and Peckham would be as good Friends as ever John Peckham thought of having a fair hearing at the Bar and Advocates and Councel on both sides or perhaps John would have pleaded his own cause to make void the Bond but some are Wiser then other some the Pope knows a trick worth two on 't and without more adoe sends him to the Devil and deprives him of his Archbishoprick except as before excepted In short seeing he had met with his match there was no remedy but the Money must be paid not a Farthing bated of the Principal onely the Pope gave him a Years time instead of the said Month for the payment of so immense a summ Of all which hard Measure Poor John Complains in his Letter to the Pope in these very Words Ecce me creastis quanto creatura a sua naturaliter appetit perfici createre sic in meis oppressionibus censeo per ves recreandum Sane nuper ad me pervenit Cujusdam executionis Litera horribilis in aspectu auditu terribilis quod nisi infra mensem mercatoribus Lucanensibus cum effectu de quatuor millibus in arcarum quae in Romana Curia contraxi extunc sunt excommunicationis sententia innodatus in Ecclesia mea alijs Majoribus pulsatis campanis accensis Candelis excommunicatus denuncior singulis diebus Deminicis festivis Hanc tam graudem solutionem impossibilem sibi futurum rescribit c. A great deal of heavy splutter he had poor man all the dayes of his Life whilest he sat Archbishop what with the Pope on one fide the King on the other and the Augustine Monks of Canterbury who were wonderfull Rich and well worth the shearing and fleecing Chron. VVill. Thron col 1960 1961. and therefore he would have gladly have been at it amongst them with Visitations But they stood upon their guard defy'd him and bid him come at his Peril or dare to meddle with their exempt Churches of Menstre Chistelet Nordborne Middleton and Faversham c. And that they would suffer none to visit them but the Pope and his Legate which Priviledges they contested with him Anno 1293. and maintain'd that they were no other than the Priviledges of their ancient Foundation granted by Augustine the Monk Apostle of England the Popes Apostle and first Archbishop of Canterbury Anno Dom. 600. or thereabouts and confirmed by Pope Boniface Agatho Caelestine Calixt Innocent Vrban Eugenius Lucius Alexander Gregory Innocent Alexander and Honorius But Peckham after a weary life took occasion to dye and there was an end of his Contests his Creator Pope Nicholas departing his busie life a little before him but first calling all his Cardinals into his Bed-chamber Saxoniae l. 8. c. 35. Cent. Magd. 13. c. 10. col 1091. where he lay upon his Death-bed and by the Prerogative of his Power degrades them every man and makes as many Friar-minor's of his own Order Cardinals in their Rooms and charging them upon his Benediction to choose none but Friar-minors into the Papal-Chair for ever Which they performed to their utmost and untill Sextus 4. was Pope there was always a little-Pope lurking among the Fryar-minors and he had his Cardinals and pardon'd Sins I 'le warrant as well as the best Pope of them all only he sold his Indulgences much cheaper and a better Penniworth This mischief hapned An. 19 Ed. 1. and by Peckham's death the King was freed of a Tyger of a Priest that alwayes resisted his Majesty tooth and nayl threatning and vapouring with his Bell Book and Candle But after their death the King took heart as by a memorable Example in our Common-Law Books happening at this time may appear before the Statute of Carlisle against Popes Bulls and Provisions For A Subject of this Realm procured a Bull of Excommunication from the Pope against another Subject and gave notice thereof to the Treasurer of the King for which offence Le Roy voluyt quil ust este tray pendus The King willed he should be drawn and hang'd as a Traytor Here 's an Instance Mr. D. D. as pregnant as your 25 Ed. 1. against the Popes Usurpations But this was no thanks to John Peckham Archbishop of Canterbury and the rest of the Bishops For all resisted all the Clergy and did as much mischief as in them lay But the King and Parliament got the day An. 7. Edw. 1. and made John Peckham the Archbishop Recant his dissolute Canons made in the Convocation at Rading in these words Memorandum quod venerabilis Pater Johannes Cantuarensis Archiepiscopus venit coram Rege Concilio suo in Parliamento Regis sancti Michaelis Claus 7 Edw. 1. m. 1. dorso Revocationes Provisionum Concilii Rading anno Regni Regis septimo apud Westm consitebatur concessit quod de Statutis Provisionibus Declarationibus eorundem quae per ipsum promulgatae fuerunt apud Rading mense Augusti Anno eodem inter quasdam sententias Excommunicationis quas idem Archiepiscopus ibid promulgabat Primò deleatur pro non pronunciata habeatur illa clausula in prima sententiâ Excommunicationis quae facit mentionem de Impetrantibus literas Reglas ad Impediendum Processum in causis quae per sacros Canones ad forum Eoclesiasticum pertinere noscuntur Secundò quòd non Excommunicente Ministri Regis licet ipsi non pareant Mandato Regis in non capiendo Excommtnicatos Tertiò de illis qui invadunt Maneria Clericorum ut ibi sufficiat Paena per Regem posita Quarto quod non Interdicat vendere victualia Eboracensi Archâ—episcopo vel alii venienti ad Regem Quintò quod tollatur Magna Charta de foribus Ecclesiarum Consitetur etiam concessit quod nec Regi nec Haeredibus suis nec Regno suo Angliae ratione aliorum Articulorum in Concilio Rading Contentorum nullum prejudicium generetur in futurum In English thus Be it remembred that the Reverend Father John Archbishop of Canterbury came before the King and the King 's great Council of Parliament in Michaelmas Term at Westminster in the seventh Year of his Reign and confest and acknowledged that of the Laws Provisions and Declarations which were by him Promulgated at Rading in the Month of August last past amongst other Sentences of Excommunication which the said Archbishop did there pronounce First Let that clause in the first Sentence of Excommunication pronounced against all those that obtain the Kings Prohibition to hinder Process in Ecclesiastical Courts of such Causes as are known to appertain to Ecclesiastical Cognizance and Jurisdiction be made null and void and stand for nothing as if it had never been made as also Secondly That the Kings Ministers of Justice
humble Servant when where and in what he list For presently after he brings that of Isa 10.1 to vanquish the King and Parliament that made him Recant his own Canons two years before Isa 10.1 Dicente Domino per Prophetam Vae qui condunt Leges iniquas c. Wo unto them that Decree unrighteous Decrees c. meaning the Statutes made by the King and Parliament for so he goes on quia igitur ab antiquo tempore inter Leges Magnates Angliae ex parte unâ Archiepiscopos Episcopos Clerum ejusdem Regniex altera duravit amara dissensio pro oppressione Ecclesiae contrà Decreta summorum Pontisicum contra Statuta Conciliorum contra Sanctiones Orthodoxorum Patrum in quibus tribus summa auctoritas summa veritas summaque sanctitas consistunt supplicamus Regiae Majestati c. huic periculosae dissentioni dignemur finem apponere salutarem cui finis alitèr imponi non potest nisi vos sublimitatem vestram praedictis tribus scilicèt Decretis Pontificum Statutis Conciliòrum Sanctionibus Orthodoxorum Patrum juxtà Domini beneplacitum cùm Catholicis Imperatoribus dignemini inclinare ex his enim tribus sunt Canones aggregati jura Coronae vestrae Christi Coronae supponenda cujus sunt Diadema Sponsae suae monilia universae Ecclesiasticae Libertates All which are most emphatical words and most apt for our purpose to stop the Arch-deacon's Mouth that would have the present Church of England and its Jurisdiction derivative from Edw. 1. and Edw. 3. Nor do I know any man more able in all History to write all that could be said for Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Canon-Law or Civil-Law than the said Peckham nor can any thing better represent the posture of Affairs in England as to Ecclesiastical matters than the said Letter which I will English faithfully as followeth Because quoth the Archbishop there has been of old and long has continued a bitter Dissention betwixt the King and Parliament of England on the one part God grant they may alwayes be so as they ought to be but one part and the Archbishops Bishops and Clergy of this Realm on the other part to oppress the Church contrary to the Popes Decrees contrary to the Canons of Councils contrary to the Sanctions of the Orthodox Fathers in which three consists the Supream Authority the greatest Verity and the choycest Piety We intreat your Royal Majesty that we should vouchsafe together to put an end to this dangerous Dissention and Differences which can never be concluded except you will please to submit your highness to the said three things namely the Decrees of Popes the Canons of the Synods and the Opinions of the ancient Orthodox Fathers according to the Command of the Lord and after the Example of Catholick Kings For of these three are the Canons made and the Rights of your Crown must submit to the Crown of Christ the Churches Rights and Liberties being the Diadem of Christ and the Ornament and Jewels of his Spouse c. Whence I make these plain Remarks 1. That as the Devil Tempting our Blessed Saviour accosted him with Holy Scripture in his Mouth so does this filthy Symonist talk Scripture Language to the King and Parliament whilst he himself hated to be Reformed 2. That there was and has been an old Feud Difference and Dissention and cannot possibly be otherwise where the Layety are Governed by one Law and the Clergy by another the Layety a distinct and peculiar Party on the one part and the Clergy with other designs a party in Opposition to the Layety on the other part The Devil and the Pope brought in that distinction of Layety and Clergy not God and Scripture and it was never a quiet World in Christendome since that time of making that distinction which God never made 3. That when the King and Parliament Thwarts the Clergy and the Canons of their own devising and made to gratifie as those of Rading aforesaid only their Avarice Ambition and Revenge yet that is called Oppressing the Church of God 4. That Kings must alwayes under the notion of submitting to God and Christ submit their Scepters Crowns and Dignities to Religious Zealots and Bigots when they get the Power and they 'l have it too or they 'l want of their will 5. That the Clergy Archbishops and Bishops accounted themselves and were taken and accepted for the Church of England 6. That the Pope was Head of this Church his Decrees their Rule and Canons to walk by and carry on their Ecclesiastical-Courts and Jurisdiction 7. That their Laws were contrary to the sence of the King and Parliament 8. That the King and Parliament were sometimes though but a little little time too hard for those Archbishops Bishops and Clergy of whom the Pope was Supream head 9. That it is impossible that our present Archbishops Bishops and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction can derive their Authority for Ecclesiastical Courts from the Popish Arch-bishops Popish Canons Popish Bishops that had the Pope for their head since our Clergy Archbishops and Bishops do renounce the Popes Supremacy 10. That the Ecclesiasticals before Hen. 8. whilst the Pope was their head look't upon the Kings of England as their Inferiours and that the King and Parliaments Sentiments and Decrees should truckle to theirs And if some had not some strange Reliques they would not dare as this Archdeacon does to write and defend a Jurisdiction and Courts in England without special Authority and Commission from the King And for him to say They Keep Courts by Common-law is the idlest of all his dreams 1. Because before Will. the Conqueror there was never any Spiritual Courts Kept distinct from the Hundred-Courts and if they have right to keep them there at the Bayliffs house let them come but instead of Chancellours Surrogates and Officials and Archdeacons must sit for Judges there as now and of Old two honest Freeholders let them come then with their Ecclesiastical Courts founded in the Common-law before William the Conquerour 2. The Common-Law this D. D. calls p. 51. long and granted Use in the whole Land but then if they plead for their Ecclesiastical Courts according to ancient use and custome they must keep them in Places Times and by such Laws and Judges as were of the ancient use and custom 3. The Common-Law of England is ancienter than our Christianity but Bishops as now in England much less Archbishops for Austin the Monk sent hither by the Pope was the first Archbishop and much less Archdeacons are the Inventions of men and the favour of Kings at first of Popish Kings for before Austin the Monk Anno Dom 〈◊〉 England had neither Lord Bishops nor Lord Archbishops after the manner they are now therefore neither they nor their Courts as now kept have any foundation in Common-law 4. By his own shewing that Edict of William the Conquerour enjoyns that no Bishop nor Archdeacon hold Pleas any longer in
Common-Law nor Civil-Law in England to justifie such Citations and Visitations Indeed there is old Canons in times of Popery to justifie that there has been Ecclesiatim Visitations namely for the Visitor or Bishop to come to your Churches and see how you do but it is against all Law Equity and Conscience to see how your Pockets do Therefore if they come Ecclesiatim Visits give them such poor fare as the Vicar feeds upon if they be hungry feed them do not fat them do not feast them and I 'le secure you shall not be often troubled with them thence following but give them not a cross of money and fear not that ever they 'l disquiet you very often As it is in the Naked Truth if their visitationes morum prove not to be visitationes nummorum I 'le be your warrant you shall not need a new Act of Parliament to stave them off So if they call upon you and cite you to prove a Will or take an Administration though the Sumner or Appariter come Forty Miles do not give the knave a Groat but for him and his Masters and the Citation or Process give him Three Pence and no more as by Statue 23. Hen. 8.9 1. Eliz. 1. If they ask or demand any more sue them upon the said Statute inan Action of debr or qui tam five Pounds due to the King and five Pounds to the party grieved The like penalty upon them if you sue them for taking more for Administrations or Probat of Wills than is allowed by Statute nay if they will not give you back your Will when proved into your own keeping upon demand there lies a swindging Action against them as Baron Weston declared at Chelmsford the last Assizes in open Court to the Countrey exhorting them to bring such Actions against those Ecclesiastical fellows so he stil'd them and if they brought such Actions before him he would make examples of them The cry the common-cry against the extortions of these Ecclesiastical fellows was loud and clamorous all over England and reacht the ears of the King and Parliament in Henry 8ths time as in good time it may again which occasioned the Statute of 21 Henry 8.5 as appears by the Preamble of that Statute against their extortions in these very words namely Where in the Parliament holden at Westminster in the 31st year of the Reign of the Noble King of Famous Memory Edw. 3. upon the complaint of his people for the outragious and grievous fines and sums of money taken by the Ministers of Bishops and of other Ordinaries of Holy Church for the Probat of Testaments and for the Acquittances by the said Ordinaries to be made concerning the same The said Noble King in the same Parliament openly charged and commanded the Archbishop of Canterbury and other Bishops for that time being that amendment thereof should be had and if no amendment thereof should be had it was by the authority of the same Parliament accorded that the King should thereof make inquiry by his Justices of such oppression and extortions c. And where at the Parliament holden at Westminster 3 Hen. 5. it was recited that the Commons of this Realm had oftentimes complained there in divers Parliaments for that divers Ordinaries do take for the Probation of Testaments and other things thereunto belonging sometimes XL. s. sometimes LX. s. and sometimes more against Right and Justice where in time of King Edw. 3. men were wont to pay for such causes but 2. s. 6. d. or 5. at most by which unlawful exactions c. Then it follows in the Statute and is enacted that none of these Bishops Ordinaries Archdeabons Commissaries Chancellors Officials Registers Scribes Praisers Summoners Appariters or other their Ministers shall take or demand for Probation Writing Sealing Registring making of Inventories or giving of Acquittances or for any other manner of cause concerning the same any more than what follows namely Where the goods of the deceased amount not to more than 5. l.  l. s. d. To the Register For the Probat of the Will 00 00 06. To the Register Or if an Admistration then also 00 00 00. To the Register And to the Judg 00 00 00. Where the goods of the deceased amount to more than 5. l. and yet under 40. l.  l. s. d. To the Bishop or Ordinary 00 02 06. And to the Register 00 01 00. For such Probat Inventory or Administration Where the goods of the deceased amount to above 40. l.  l. s. d. To the Ordinary or Judg Ecclesiastical 00 02 06. And to the Register for Probat of such a Will 00 02 06. And for Administration of such goods of that value to the Register 00 00 00. Or the Register or Scribe may refuse the said 00 02 06. And if he please may take and demand a penny for writing every ten lines of such Testament each line to contain ten Inches For Inventories they usually take 40. s. a Press as they call it that is the length of an ordinary sheet of Parchment But by this Statute for Inventories not one farthing Here 's now one would think a Law to keep them in awe but it signifies nothing they have got so many cunning starting-holes to creep out 't is hard to catch a Fox For if they be Indited for extortion or that you bring an Action of Debt upon the Statute or a qui tam namely  l. s. d. Due to the King for every such extortion 05 00 00. Also to the party grieved 05 00 00. But here too you will be baffled again except you punctually observe these following Conditions If it be a Will that is to be proved 1. You must bring the Witnesses along with you to prove the Will and that it is the true whole and last Testament of the Testator and that the Executor also believes the same to be the last Will and Testament of the Testator 21 H. 8.5 2. You must bring Wax also soft Wax ready for the Judg to put to and affix the Seal of the Court if the goods of the deceased amount not to five pounds 21 H. 8.5 3. You must bring two Inventories fairly written and Indented the one to be left with the Ordinary the other to be carried away by the Executor or Administrator 21 H. 8.5 4. The very Individual Will and Testament of the Testator you must carry away with you again so soon as it is Registred as 21. H. 8.5 5. You must carry with you good Witnesses of the Tender of the said Fees And keep but to these Conditions which are plain and easie and there is never a Register or Chancellor or Sumner of them all that will give many hundreds of pounds for the Place nor will you be much pestered with these Ecclesiastical-Courts or Ecclesiastical fellows for that now belike is the word Ecclesiastical fellows nor with Archdeacons although they had never so good Authority for keeping Courts and sending Citations
Heirs and Successors to set up the High-Commission-Court the Soul and Life of all the other Inferior Ecclesiastical Courts 4. That this High-Commission-Court might for the Greatness thereof for the Novelty thereof and for the Grievous Vexations thereof be called Extraordinary yet all the Inferior and Subordinate Courts were all of a Piece It was the Head-Court whither all Appeals at length might come and it animated all the Rest and when it was Disanulled and that Head Beheaded by 13. Car. 2.12 all the little Inferior and Ordinary Ecclesiastical-Courts were held Dead in Law and Spirit-less And when we shall perswade the King and Parliament to Revive Them God only knows But let us suppose that they have Right in their Ecclesiastical Courts to take Cognizance of causes Testamentary Matrimonial of Tythes and Oblations and by 1. Eliz. 2. for not coming to Divine Service What 's this to Visitations Church-Wardens and the Oath of Church-Wardens Procurations c. In Causes Testamentary whether Men be cited or not cited I will as I am an Ecclesiastical Judge give my Country-men this honest Councel without a Fee meerly for the Publick Weal Bring your Will if you be Executor and Inventory as aforesaid as also make the same application to them if you be next of Kin to the Deceased and have Right to take Letters of Administration keep to the former Instructions and Tender them the afore-said Fees And if you be an Administrator then according to a late Act for an Administration-Bond tender them One Shilling more If they Refuse to Dispatch you without Frustratory Delay go away And what ever you are Damnifyed thereby the Law will give you Right and Satisfaction and Reparation upon them And if they be thus held to Justice and to take no more than due and legal Fees there needs no Act of Parliament to Discountenance the Ecclesiastical Courts And indeed they cannot afford to buy their Offices and yet get no more than legal Fees for the value of Mony is so different from what it was in Henry the Eighths time when a Harry-groat was the chiefest Silver-Coyne and would have bought as much Victuals as Half-a-Crown will now that they cannot afford to keep Clarks nor to write and Register Wills at this day for the Legal Fees But who dare Make himself wiser than the Law when the High-Commission-Court was up there was no dealing with them nor with their extortions And ever since that Court has been defeated no Parliament has as yet thought them worthy of larger Fees and why should men be wiser than what is written and enacted in the Statutes of this Realm No doubt but the settling of these Ecclesiastical-Matters and the Curbing these Ecclesiastical Fellows are things of weight and great Consequence deserving the most serious debate of the highest Judicature a Parliament But till they have time or till they think fit to take some Order herein I have shown you how to do their business Nor have I done this out of Malice and Spleen against these Ecclesiastical Fellows that do so Huff the Countrey and the Inferior Clergy but in Detestation of their Avarice and Extortions Aggravated with such insufferable Insolence that I speak but the sense of the Common-Cry of the Country against them as Loud and Obstreperous and for the same exorbitances as in the Reigns of Edward the Third Henry the Fifth and Henry the Eighth when those three Statutes were made on purpose to check their Insufferable Pride and Greediness And for an Example to them I 'le only Instance in the said Popish King Edward the First how he made an Example of them 1. In England 2. Scotland 3. Ireland 1. In England when John Roman Arch-Bishop of York Excommunicated Anthony Beck Bishop of Durham for Imprisoning John de Amelia and william de Melton publick Notaries sent by the Arch-Bishop to Summon before him and the said Bishop then employed in the Kings-Service in the Northern parts the Arch-Bishop admonishing him thereunto Once Twice Thrice and still the Bishop or his Ministers refusing to release them the Arch-Bishop thunder 's out the Curse against him of Excommunication to the Prior of Boulton in Craven to cause the same to be published in the Churches of Alverton and Darlington begining Claus 20. E. 1. m. 2. Dorso Brevia Regis Johannes Permissione dia Eborac Archi-Episcopus Angliae primas Dilecto in Christo filio Priori de Boulton c. Dat. apud Sanctum Martinum juxta viterbium 13. Kal. Maii Anno Gratiae 1292. Pontificatus nostri Septimo In the seventh year of our Popedom For Papa or Pope was the Common Complement every little Bishop past upon his brother Bishop in those dayes of which I can Instance in many Records if needful This difference was decided by Parliament See placita Parliam An. 21. Ed. 1. nu 17.18 Johannes Archi-Episcopus Eborum Attachiatus fuit ad respondendum Domino Regi de placito quare cum placita de Imprisonamento alijs transgressionibus in Regno Regis contra pacem Regis factis ad Regem Coronam Idem Archi-Episcopus per Johannem Priorem de Bolton in Cravene Commissarium suum in venerabilem Patrem Antonium-Episcopum Dunelm c. Die mercurii prox ante festum S. Jacobi Apostoli Anno vicessimo apud Derlington c. Sententiam Excommunicationis in dictum Antonium c. fecerit fulminari c. In Regis contemptum c. in despectum ipsius Regis 20. Mill. Librarum hoc offert Rioardus de Bretenil pro Domino Rege verificare c. Et Archi-Episcopus venit defendit omnem contemptum totum c. dicit quod Ipse nihil fecit in contemptum Regis nec contra dignitatem suam c. dicit quod de sententia a Canone lata per ipsum declarata in curia Domini Regis non debet respondere sed tamen salva libertate Ecclesiae suae ob Reverentiam Domini Regis vult plane declarare factum suum c. Et Richardus de Bretenill qui Sequitur pro rege dicit quod Praedictus Episcopus Dunelm Habet duos status viz. Statum Episcopi quoad Spiritualia et Statum Com. Palatii quoad Ten. sua Temporalia c. too long here to Recite I can shew the whole process in Parliament where the Arch-bishop was voted to be committed to Prison to Absolve Bishop Anthony and to pay what fine the King pleased which was Four Thousand Marks of Silver an Immense Sum in those dayes but the Arch-bishop was vastly Rich and though the Son of a whore a poor Chamber-maid yet she had the wit to lay the Bastard at a Rich Man's door Fathering it upon one John Roman Treasurer of York who educated him very well made him a Schollar and * H. de Knighton de event Aug. l. 3. c. 7. Col. 2507. Henry De Knighton sayes he was a right Roman for he inherited the Roman Avarice of those dayes as well as