elsewhere advises Rufus unto Conemur una tu regia potestate ego Pontificali authoritate quatenus tale quid inde statuatur quod cum per totum fuerit regnum divulgatum solo etiam auditu quicunque illius fautor est paveat deprimatur I can take this for no other but that in the laws of Ethclstan Debent episcopicum seculi judicibus interesse judiciis ne permittant si possint ut aliqua pravitatum germina pullulaverint And the laws of Henry the first are expresse the use to have continued in his daies for they approve the ancient institution That generalia Comitatuum placita certis locis vicibus convenire debere That the Iudges in those Courts were Episcopi Comites Vicedomini c. The causes they dealt in and order of proceeding agantur primo debita verae Christianitatis jura secundo Regis placita postremo causae singulorum c. And why may not certa loca here be what Anselme calls Parochia the Conqueror Hundred 10. But good laws are not alwaies suddenly put in execution and this of the Conqueror we may take to have slept till towards the beginning of King Stephen's time it had got some strength for then we meet with plain precedents of the Ecclesiastick Courts being sever'd from the Lay. Theobald of Canterbury molesting the monastery of St. Augustines concerning certain Priviledges granted from the Papacy th' Abbot obtained a bull from Innocentius 2. of the 20 November 1139. in his houses favour in which the Pope expostulates with th' Archbishop quod occasione privilegii nostri idem monasterium vehementer infestas ecclesias eidem coenobio pertinentes eundem abbatem ordinare non sines quin potius violent a dominatione ecclesias eorum firmatas diceris infregisse presbyteros tous invito Abbate ejusdem loci fratribus contra Romanae ecclesiae privilegia quibus idem coenobium est munitum in eis ponere praesumpsisse nec his contentus abbatem ipsum homines ejus ad placitandum super hoc in curiam tuam prout asserunt praesumptuose traxisti eisque ob eam rem poeuam molieris infligere c. 11. VVilliam Thorne who mentions this 1139. 4. Steph. observes which is warranted by the bull it self quod iste Theobaldus primo Abbatem conventum ad causas trahere conatus est and is the first I have noted in which th' Ecclesiasticks alone did force men to plead in their Courts which as it doth prove they then had them so we may conclude them not long to have been possest of that power for it is altogether improbable if that act of King VVilliam had been in his and his sonns time generally practic 't but some Archbishop in above fifty years might have attempted as much if not to the Abbot at least to some other as after this the examples are frequent of which one in the 122 epistle of Iohannes Sarisburiensis is not unworthy the remembring Symphorian a Clergy-man of York accused one Osbert Archdeacon of the same Church before king Stephen the Bishops and Lords 1154. for making away VVilliam the late Archbishop of that See by poyson A question grew to whether Court this cause belonged The King affirmed it to belong to the temporall for the heynousness of the fact and because it was first entred upon in his presence But before the decision Stephen dyed and Henry the 2. succeeded de cujus manibus saith my Author vix cum summa difficultate in manu valida cum indignatione Regis omnium procerum jam dictam causam ad examen ecclesiasticum revocavimus from whence it was by Appeal carryed to Rome 12. But what this manus valida should be that took the case from the King I cannot imagine for it is undoubted in all disputes of this nature the Kings Courts have been ever Iudges to what Court the cause did belong Bracton speaks very clearly Iudex ecclesiasticus cum prohibitionem à Rege susceperit supersedere debet in omnicasu saltem donec constiterit in curia Regis ad quem pertineatat jurisdictio quia si Iudex Ecclesiasticus aestimare possit an sua esset jurisdictio in omni casu indifferenter procederet non obstante regia prohibitione c. and 1080 VVilliam the first in a Councell at Illebon in Normandy by th' advise of both estates Ecclesiastick and Secular did settle many particulars to belong to the cognizance of the spirituall Iudge and concludes that if any thing were further claimed by them they should not enter upon it donec in curia Regis monstrent quod habere debeant Neither were the Lay to molest them in the exercise of ought there mentioned Donec in curia Regis monstrent quod Episcopi inde habere non debeant So in both reserving the decision to his own Courts of what pertained to each in so much as what that strong hand should be did thus take this from the King I must prosesse not to understand And that our Kings had ever an inspection over those Courts is not to be doubted by the Charge against Becket in which Henry the 2. urgeth quod cuidam Iohanni coram ipso litiganti plenam justitiam non exhibuit super hoc ad Regis praesentiam vocatus venire contempsit To which th' Archbishop answered praefato Iohanni condignam non defuisse justitiam Iohannem non legaliter curiam suam infamasse qui non super evangelium ut moris est sed super veterem cantuum codicillum quem secum tuler at voluerit pejer are c. and for his not attending the King to give him satisfaction in the point pleaded th' excuse of sicknesse yet for that contempt was adjudged to loose his moveables By which it is evident th' Archbishop did then exact oaths of such as were called into his Court that he was to give an account to the King of his carriage in it who by his constitutions hath ever directed the manner of proceedings in it See Mat. Paris Anno 1247. pag. 727 29. Anno 1246. pag. 716. 1. But of this more hereafter 13. The Conqueror though he did shew so much complyance with the Romanist as not to deny any thing former Kings had acknowledged to the Papacy as due yet farther then they had gone would in nothing submit unto it and as they had by their edicts guided the ecclesiastick affaires of this kingdome so he proceeded in his lawes à l gibus sanctae matris Ecclesiae sumens exordium as did his sonne Henry the 1. How far they did conceive this their power to extend in those to matters nothing can better teach us then the lawes they and such as came after them princes against whom no exceptions can lye establisht and usages they maintained as the rights of the Kingdome in opposition of all encroachments whatsoever 14. To enumerate all these Priviledges I conceive them
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
recourse to Rome without the Kings leave to be inauditum usibus ejus omnino contrarium and therefore required of him an Oath quod nunquam amplius sedem Sancti Petri vel ejus vicarium pro quavis quae tibi ingeri queat causa appelles I know Anselm an Italian where the opinion of the Papall absolutenesse had now begun to root did maintain this was Petrum abjurare and that Christum abjurare and is the first of our Bishops spake any thing in that sort with whose sense the Kingdome did not concur in it For it is manifest in those dayes and after Appeals to Rome were not common In the year 1115. Paschalis the 2. expostulates with Henry the 1. that Nullus inde clamor nullum judicium ad sedem Apostolicam destinatur and again vos oppressis Apostolicae sedis appellationem subtrahitis And Anselme himself speaking of the proceeding of the King in a case by him esteemed onely of Ecclesiastick cognizance lays down the manner to be that it should be onely ad singulos Episcopos per suas parochias aut si ipsi Episcopi in hoc negligentes fuerint ad Archiepiscopum primatem adding nothing of carrying it to Rome of which I know no other reason but that it was not then usuall to remove causes from the Primate thither Yet after this either the importunity of the Pope prevailed with the King or the passage was inserted after his dayes into the Lawes carry his name as some other in the same chapter may seem to have been but certain in them though he give for a rule that of Pope Fabian or Sixtus 3. ibi semper causa agatur ubi crimen admittitur yet a Bishop erring in faith and on admonition appearing incorrigible ad summos Pontifices the Archbishops vel sedem Apostolicam accusetur This is the onely case wherein I find any English Law approve a forreign judicature 31. But whether from the countenance of this Law or the great oppressions used by the Legat King Stephens Brother or the frequency of them it is certain 1151. Appeals were held a cruell intrusion on the Churches Liberty so as in the Assize at Clarendoun 1164. collected by the body of the Realm the 8. Chapter is solely spent in shewing the right of the Kingdome in that particular which Iohannes Sarisburiensis interprets quod non appellaretur pro causâ aliquâ ad sedem Apostolicam nisi Regis Officialium suorum venia impetraâ—a Upon which the Bishop of London moved Alexander the third Beckets cause might be determined appellatione remota at which the Pope seems to be moved and told him haec est gloria mea quam alteri non dabo And though it seems by a Letter of the same Prelat the King would have restrained his power onely to such as had first made tryall of receiving justice at home claiming ex antiqua regni institutione ob civilem causam nullus clericorum regni sui fines exeat c. and that too if amiss would have corrected by th' advise of the English Church yet while th' Archbishop lived that would not be hearkened to but after his death at the peace which 1172. ensued between him and the Church of Rome it was onely concluded the King not to hinder Appeals thither in Ecclesiastick causes yet so as a party suspected before his going was to give security not to endeavour malum suum nec regni But the Kingdom meeting in Parliament at Northampton 1176. not fully four years after would not quit their interest but did again renew th' Assize of Clarendoun using in this particular somewhat a more close expression Iusticiae faciant quaerere per consuetudinem terrae illos qui à regno recesserunt nisi redire voluerint infra terminum nominatum stare in curia Domini Regis utlagentur c. in effect the same as Gervasius Dorobernensis well understood who tells us Rex Angliae Henricus convocatis regni primoribus apud Northamptoniam renovavit assisam de Clarendonia eamque praecepit observari pro cujus execrandis institutis beatus martyr Thomas Cantuariensis usque in septennium exulavit tandem glorioso martyrio coronatus est 32. After which the going to Rome remained during this Kings and his Son Richard's time onely according to their pleasures the Clergy lying under the penalty of this Law if they did attempt farther then the Princes liking of which we have a very pregnant example in the case of Geffrey Archbishop of York K. Richards Brother who accused to Coelestinus 3 us that he did not onely refuse Appeals to Rome but imprisoned those who made them upon it the Pope commits the cause to be heard by the Bishop of Lincoln and others who thereupon transfer themselves to York where hearing the Testimonies of those appeared before them assigned him a time to make his defence to the Pope But the Archbishop being then well with his Brother pretended he could not present himself in Rome for the Kings prohibition and the indisposition of the aire Not long after the King and he fell so at odds quod praecepit illum dissaisiri de Archiepiscopatu suo c. Coelestinus upon this takes an opportunity to declare a suspension to be notifyed through all the Churches of his Diocese injoyning what the King had before the Lay as well as the Clergy ne ipsi Archiepiscopo vel officialibus ejus in tempor alibus respondere praesumant donec de ipso Archiepiscopo aliud duxerimus statuendum The offence with his Brother still remaining the Bishop expecting now no help at home goes upon this to Rome makes his peace with the Pope and returns but the King committed the â—are even of the Spiritualls of his Archbishoprick to others without permitting him or his Agents to meddle with ought till about two years after he reconciled himself to the Crown after which he gave Innocentius 3 us occasion to write Non excusare te potes ut debes quod illud privilegium ignoraris per quod omnibus injuste gravatis facultas patet ad sedem Apostolicam appellandi cum iu ipse aliquando ad nostram audientiam appellaris and a little after Nec auctoritatem nostram attendis nec factam tibi gratiam recognoscis nec appellationibus defers quae interponuntur ad sedem Apostolicam c. And about the same time Robert Abbot of Thorney deposed by Hubert th' Archbishop was laid in prison a year and half without any regard had of the Appeal by him made to the Pope and this to have been the practice during King Richards time the continued quarrells of Popes for not admitting men to appeal unto them doth fully assure as 33. But Innocentius 3 us having prevailed against King Iohn and the Clergy great instruments in obtaining Magna Charta from that Prince either in favour of
ejus successoribus non recederet quamdiu ipsum sicut Regem Catholicum habuerint that the English Bishops being excommunicated by the Pope might not take an oath of obedience to his commands quia regni consuetudines impugnabat though he did never exercise any authority here but according to such stipulations contracts and agreements with our Princes as the Lawes permitted and therefore when he sent hither a Legat à Latere he was tretyd with or he cam in to the lond whon he schold have exercise of his power and how myche schold bee put in execution An aventure after he had bee reseyved he whold have used it to largely to greet oppression of your peple c. as the Archbishop wrote to Hen. 5. as I have shewed numb 53. 73. Though the Lawyers of the Kingdome do constantly affirm as the Law and Custome of the Realm the Kings Courts never to have carried regard to any forraign excommunication and if any such came from Rome not to be put in execution but by allowance first had to which effect it is remembred the Bishops of London and Norwich having publish't in their Dioceses the Popes excommunication of Hugh Earl as it seems of Chester without the privity of Hen. the 2. or his Chief Iusticiar the Kings writ issued out in this manner Londoniensis Norwicensis Episcopi sint in misericordia Regis summoneantur per Ficecomites Bedellos ut sint contra Iusticias Regis ad rectum faciendum Regi Iusticiis ejus de eo quod contra statuta de Clarendone interdixerunt ex mandato Papae terram comitis Hugonis excommunicationem quam Dominus Papa in ipsum fecerat per suas parochias divulgaverunt sine licentia regis This however contracted in Hoveden 1165. and in Paris 1164. yet the difference is such as may deserve a remembrance It seems to me what our Kings claimed not to be altogether unlike the Exequatur of Naples observed to this day in that Kingdome notwithstanding all contests from Rome 74. Neither did the Crown ever relinquish this right not at the peace after Beckets death when Henry the 2. assented to quit no other then Consuetudines quae introductae sunt tempore suo which it is manifest this was not as appears by Eadmerus It is farther observable that by the common Laws that is the common Custome of this Realm the sentence of the Archbishop is valid in England and to be allowed in the Kings Courts though controuled by the Pope and to shew our Princes had no regard to anything of this nature from thence other then such a complying with a reverend Prelat as I have formerly mentioned did admit it may not here be unfitly inserted what Froissard writes of Edward the third with whom the Flemings joyned against the French upon which but I shall deliver it in his own words Adonc le Roy de Frances ' en complaignit au Pape Clement sixieme qui getta une sentence d' excommuniement si horible qu'il n' estoit nul prestre qui asast celebrer le divin service De quoy les Flamens envoyerent grande complainte au Roy d' Engleterre lequel pour les appaiser leur manda que la primiere fois qu'il rappasseroit la mer il leur ammeneroit des Prestres de son pais qui leur chanteroient la Messe vousist le Pape ou non â—ar il estoit bien privilegié de ce faire par ce moyen s' appaiserent les Flamens c. As for the priviledge here spoken of that can be no other then the obligation all Kings owe unto God for seeing his word sincerely taught them live under their protection without the disturbance of any 75. In which kind ours have been so far from yieldding obedience to the Papall attempts as Edward the first could not be induced to spare the life of one brought a Bull from the Pope might have made some disturbance but by his abjuring the Realm as his grandchild Edward the 3. did cause some to suffer for the same offence And on occasions our Kings have prohibited all entercourse with Rome denied their Bishops going thither so much as for confirmation but the Metropolitans if need were should by the Kings writ be charged to confirm them commanded their subjects not to rely on any should come from thence affirming quod in regnum nostrum nec propter negotium nostrum nec vestrum ullatenus intrabit ad terram nostram destruendam Yet notwithstanding so notorious a truth back't with so many circumstances grounded upon unquestioned monuments of antiquity hath not been received but the bare affirmation Christ by pasceoves meas intended Peter and by consequence the Pope to be the generall Pastor of the world and the meaning of those words to be that he should regio more imperare hath so far prevailed with some as to esteem the standing for the rights of the Kingdome the Laws and Customes of the Nation to be a departing from the Church Catholick and to esteem no lesse then Hereticks those who defending that which is their own from th' invasion of another will not suffer themselves to be led hood-winkt to think the preservation of their proper liberty is a leaving Christ his Church or the Catholick faith 76. I dare boldly say whoever will without partiality look back shall find the reverence yielded from this Church to Rome for more then a thousand years after Christ to have been no other then the respect of love not of duty and Popes rather to consulere then imperare their dictats to have been of the same nature the German Princes were of old auctoritatâ— suadendi magis quam jubendi potestate never requiring a necessity of obedience eo nomine that they came from Rome but for that they were just and reasonable neither did the Pope send any Agent hither to see them put in execution but th' Archbishop according to the exigent of times receiving his wholesome advises caused such as he held of them did conduce to the good of the English Church to be observed So Theodore received those of Pope Martin but did not them concerning Wilfred from Agatho When Alexander the 2. had exempted the Abbot of St. Edmunds-bury from the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Norwich Lanfrank took the Act from the Abbot and Gregory the 7. is so far from using commands in the cause as he onely earnestly intreats the Archbishop he would stop the Bishop of Norwich from molesting the said Abbot yet himself as it seems did not restore the Bull of immunity to him during that Popes life but of this before In the year 1070. on the Kings desire in a Councell at Windsor Ageâ—â—icus Bishop of the South-Saxons is degraded and his Bishoprick confer'd on Stigandus Alexander the 2. not approving what had past writes
which is printed but th' English were to be such as should be agreed to praelatis accitis de mandato auctoritate praedicti invictissimi Angliae Regis whose determinations were to be consensu ejusde invictissimi Angliae Regis But where my Lord Herbert conceivs this to have been the first taste our King took in governing the Clergy I can no way be of his opinion for without peradventure the Cardinall neither did nor durst have moved one step in making the Ecclesiasticks lesse depend on the Papacy then the Common law or custome of the realm warranted knowing he must without that back have lost not onely Clement the 7. but all Popes and the Court of Rome which must and had been his support on the declining favour of so heady and dangerous a Prince as Henry the 8 th had he not cast off both the Cardinall and his obedience to that See almost together But how much he had the Clergy before this under his government the History of Richard Hunne is witnesse sufficient and the rights the Conquerour and his successours were ever in contest with the Papacy about and maintained as the laws customs of the Realm enough shew they did not command th' Ecclesiasticks here according to the will of any forraign potentate nor were meer lookers on whilst another govern'd the English Church some of which I shall therefore here set down I. They admitted none to be taken for Pope but by the Kings appointment II. None to receive letters from him without shewing them to the King who caused all words prejudiciall to him or his crown to be renounced by the bringers or receivers of them III. Permitted no councels but by their liking to assemble which gained the name of convocations as that alwayes hath been and ought to be assembled by the Kings writ IV. Caused some to sit in them might supervise the actions and legato ex parte Regis regni inhiberent ne ibi contra Regiam coronam dignitatem aliquid statuere attentaret and when any did otherwise he was forced to retract that he had done as did Peckham or were in paucis servatae as those of Boniface V. Suffered no Synodicall deree to be of force but by their allowance and confirmation Rex auditis concilii gestis consensum praebuit auctoritate regia potestate concessit confirmavit statuta concilii à Gulielmo Cantuariensi Archiepiscopo sanctae Romanae ecclesiae legato apud Westmonasterium celebratt In hoc concilio ademendationem ecclesiae Anglicanae assensu Domini Regis primorum omnium regni haec subscripta promulgata sunt capitula c. VI. Permitted no Bishop to excommunicate or inflict any ecclesiastick censure on any Baron or Officer nisi ejus praecepto VII Caused the Bishops appear in their Courts to give account why they excommunicated the subject VIII Caused such as were imprisoned after fourty dayes standing excommunicate to be freed by writ without th' assent of the Prelat or satisfaction giving the King and his Iudges communicating with them tam in divinis quam profanis and commanding none to shun them though by the Ordinary denounced excommunicate IX Suffered no Legat enter England but with their leave of which before X. Determined matters of Episcopacy inconsulto Romano Pontifice XI Permitted no Appeal to Rome of which before XII Bestowed Bishopricks on such as they liked and translated Bishops from one See to another XIII Erected new Bishopricks so did Hen. the 1. 1109. Ely taking it out of Lincolne Carlisle 1133. out of York or rather Duresme but of this before XIV Commanded by writ their Bishops to residency XV. Commanded their Bishops by reason of Schism vacancie of the Popedome c. not to seek confirmation from Rome but the Metropolitan to be charged by the Kings writ to bestow it on the elected XVI Placed by a lay hand Clerks in Prebendary or Parochiall Churches Ordinariis penitus irrequisitis And it is not here unworthy the remembring that VV m Lyndwood a very learned Canonist who writ about an 100. yeares before Henry the 8 ths difference with Clement the 7. finding the Crown in possession of this particular not agreeing with the rules of the Canon law is so perplext as in the end he finds no way to make the act valid but that he doth it by Papall priviledge For if by prescription Episcopo sâ—iente tolerante it could not be good for though the King might confer the temporalls of the Church non tamen potest dare jure suo potestatem circa spiritualia viz. circa ea quae pertinent ad regimen ecclesiasticum ministrationem sacramentorum sacramentalium nec non circa ecclesiasticae jurisdictionis exercitium hujusmodi quae jure spiritualia sunt nec in hoc casu potest sibi prodesse praescriptio etiam longissimi temporis quia talia spiritualia non possunt per regem possideri per consequens nec ut transeant sub sua potestate possunt praescribi nec consuetudine introduci c. In which he will havean hard contest with divers French and Italians who maintain Che tutte le raggioni che si possono acquistare per dispensa del Papa si possono acquistar anco per consuetudine la quale sopravenga contraria alla legge that a prince may prescribe for such acts as he can acquire by the Popes dispensation XVII Prohibited the Lay yielding obedience or answering by Oath to their Ecclesiastick superiour inquiring de peccatis subditorum which I take to have been in cases not properly of their cognizance not of witnesses either in causes Matrimoniall or Testamentary XVIII I shall conclude these particulars with one observation in Mat. Paris where the Ecclesiasticks having enumerated severall cases in which they held themselves hardly dealt with adde That in all of them if the spirituall Iudge proceeded contrary to the Kings prohibition he was attached appearing before the Iustices constrained to produce his proceedings that they might determine to which court the cause belonged and if found to pertain to the secular the spirituall Iudges were blamed and on confession they had proceeded after the prohibition were amerced but denying it were compell'd to make it good by the testimony of two vile Varlets but refusing such purgation were imprisoned till by oath they freed themselves to the Iustices that being cleared even by the Lay they had no satisfaction for their expence and trouble By which by the way it is manifest how much the Kings Courts had the superintendency over the Ecclesiastick 18. These and many other particulars of the like nature daily exercised notwithstanding the clamour of some Ecclesiasticks more affecting their own party then the rights of the Crown make there can be no scruple but the English did ever understand the
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
the Crowns of the Apostles cunctorumque Martyrum palmas quibus alia non fuit causa patiendi nisi confessio verae divinitatis verae humanitatis in Christo doth intimate the true faith to be contained in that profession After these restrictions in the declaration of Heresy it is likely divers Sects grew very audacious either conceiving themselves without the compass of law or trusting in their friends and numbers insomuch as Arcadius Theodosius and Valentinian in the year 395. were forced to declare Haereticorum nomine continentur latis adversus eos sanctionibus debent subcumbere qui vellevi argumento judicio Catholicae religionis tramite detecti fuerint deviare which St. Augustine explains eos utique haereticos appellant qui non sunt communionis eorum as the Councell of Constantinople had before taking the word in a larger sense then others had done Upon which the Donatists that were the most furious so as neither the persons nor goods of Catholicks that dwelt amongst them were safe are more severely censured in them then others whose opinions were certainly more dangerous yet whom Emperours did think worthy of more favour 6. But whilst Princes did thus by their lawes onely correct Hereticks and the temporall Magistrate execute their commands they did rarely think fit to proceed to bloud unlesse perhaps against some seditious preacher and the holy men of those times used earnest persuasions to deter any inclined to that severity as not esteeming it to agree with the entire charity of a Christian S. Augustine whose labours no man equalled to preserve the Church from that contagion when Donatus the Proconsul of Africa went farther then that holy man liked in that kind professeth he had rather be himself slain by them then by detecting the Donatists be any cause they should undergo the punishment of death St. Prosper remembers four Bishops to have been excommunicated 392. for being accusers of Priscilian the first I have read of had his opinions confuted not by Syllogisms but steel From whence Baronius conceives it proceeds that such as deliver an Heretick to the Secular for execution to this day effectually intercede he may not be punisht with death yet as it were to mock God and delude the world if the Lay having him in his power shall defer the doing it more then ordinary it is the constant tenet of the Canonists relying on a Bull of Alexander the 4. 1260. he is to be compell'd unto it by spirituall censures yet may not take any congnizance of the cause at all 7. It being then the course in the primitive times that in the proceeding against Hereticks the Ecclesiastick did conclude what Tenets were Heresy and the Temporall whether the party accused were guilty of the imputation and likewise of his punishment as is manifest by imperiall constitutions the writings of the ancient Doctours the custome of the Catholick Church that never prayed against Hereticks but Heresy did so remain at least 800. yeares after Christ but about that time the division of the Empire falling out and Episcopall Consistories establisht through Europe Bishops did begin to claim as matters ecclesiasticall and onely proper for their Courts the acting in those causes which in some sort might be so far as the determination what is Heresy did extend And about the year 1000 the Christian world as branches not bearing fruit in Christ and therefore to be cast into the fire Iohn XV. 6. began to take that way of punishing Miscreants so in Italy and France jussu Regis universae plebis consensu some were thus destroyed and in imitation of Emperors who had by their edicts prohibited all complyance with Heresy so far as to punish any lending for that end places to resort unto Alexander the 3. 1163. in a Councill held at Tours in another at Rome 1179. making very strict canons against Hereticks declared eos defensores eorū receptores anathemati decernimus subjacere sub anathemate prohibemus ne quis ipsos in domo vel in terra sua tenere velfovere vel negotiationem cum eis exercere praesumat Of which the later being registred in the Canon law is the first ecclesiastick constitution in it I have observed to condemn rather Hereticks then Heresy Soon after which Publicani comburebantur in pluribus locis per regnum Franciae quod Rex Angliae nullo modo permisit in terra sua licet ibi essent perplurimi 8. Yet the pious men of those times seem not to approve of this rigour St. Bernard one of the most devout persons of that Age vir plane Apostolicus sayes Bellarmine following the doctrine of one much more Apostolick explaining Cantic ii 15. Take us the little foxes that spoyl the vines writes si juxta allegoriam ecclesias vineas vulpes haereses vel potius haereticos ipsos intelligamus simplex est sensus ut haeretici capiantur potius quam effugentur capientur dico non armis sed argumentis quibus refellantur errores eorum ipsi vero si fieri potest reconcilientur Catholicae revocentur ad veram fidem hoc denique velle se per hibet qui non simpliciter capite vulpes sed capite nobis inquit vulpes parvulas sibi ergo sponsae suae id est Catholicae jubet acquiri has vulpes cum ait capite eas nobis and a little after Quod si Haereticus reverti noluerit nec convictus post primam jam secundam admonitionem erit devitandus Thus the holy men of the Age in which they stopt first mens mouths not with arguments but armes did judge of it and indeed we have not many examples of any suffered meerly for conscience till after 1216. 9. In which year as some write Innocentius 3 us on the ignorance or remissness of Bishops in prosecution of Hereticks did give beginning to the erection of a new Court called since the Inquisition of whose institution and use because it hath highly served to the raising the Papacy it will be necessary to say something He therefore at that time appointing Dominicus a Spaniard founder of the Dominican Order by a Commission delegated from him his Inquisitor against the Albigenses in France without abrogating the power of Episcopacy in that kind gave to him onely a private Friar such a power as caused divers of them to be destroyed by that auctority in another Princes Dominions Though such as I have seen do conclude the auctority he exercised to have been from Innocentius 3 us yet of the time when it was granted they do somewhat disagree Franciscus Pegna a Spanish Doctor who publisht his annotations on the Directorium Inquisitorum at Rome 1585. yet it seems could not secure himself from them holds it to have been first committed unto him about 1200. on the otherside Paramo of the same nation that was
himself an Inquisitor in Sicily and expresly writes of that subject is clearly of an opinion it could not be before the conclusion of the Councell of Lateran and for proof gives in my judgement a very probable reason viz. That no Papall Decretall or History preceding did ever name any such Inquisitor that very Councell when it treats of Heresy speaks of no other Judge then the Bishop now it ending about Easter 1216. as I shall shew hereafter if granted by Innocentius it must be at some time between March and the 16. Iuly 1216. when that Pope dyed Yet I cannot omit that Camillus Campegius in his additions to Zanchinus speaks as if after that Councell Friar Dominick had not his auctority from the Papacy immediately but from one Bertram or Bertrand a Cardinall Priest but who that Bertram was I confess I have not been able to satisfie my self Ciaconius remembers one of the name employed against the Albigenses promoted to that honour by Innocentius 3 us 1212. but he styles him onely a Cardinall Deacon as he hath another so called that was a Priest but he was no Cardinall till Honorius 3 us in December 1216 preferr'd him to the honour so was not capable of serving Pope Innocent in that degree 10. But whosoever first began it Frederick the 2d certainly much augmented their power publishing the 22. of February 1224. three lawes at Padua by which he did constitute the Dominicans Inquisitors through the Empire yet taking all others under his protection and appointing such as should be convict of Heresy ut vivi in conspectu hominum combur antur flammarum commissi judicio c. That these edicts were publisht at the onely instance of Honorius 3 us is very probable in that they are not any way recorded but in papall bulls quoad verba as I shall shew hereafter After which severall persons in divers parts proceeded against them by commission from Rome so as the Bishop who was the ordinary detector of Heresy had little to do and became daily to have lesse and lesse that although his power be not in those cases absolutely taken off yet it is so impaired as it gives place to the Inquisitor insomuch as if one suspected of Heresy be cited by him and the Bishop at the same time his appearance must first be in the Inquisition and the reason given is because they have a power by a delegated commission from the Pope whereas to the other jure divino haec cura incumbit in haereticos inquirere and Simanca yet more plain Cum Episcopi non habeant secretum carâ—erem nec ministros idoneos ad procedendum adversus haereticos non possunt servare ordinem illum qui praefinitus est Inquisitoribus quam ob remusque eo tantum procedere debent ut in haereticos vel suspectos inquirant summariam probationem Inquisitoribus secreto mittere debent So that what power the Bishop hath in this kind from Christ he is now become little other then agent or substitute to the Inquisitor in point of Heresy 11. But these Commissioners exercising their auctority with Fire Tortures and the like in short time found themselves infinitely mistaken in expecting by such violence to render that peace in the Church and obedience in the world the primitive Fathers by the truth of their Dictats evidence of reason and piety of their lives drew men unto for in some places they were expell'd by the peoples fury hardly any where continued but by strong hand their carriage being so full of Scandall as Clement the 5. in the Councell of Vienna could not but acknowledge they had so exceeded the power committed to them by the Apostolick See ut quod in augmentum fidei per circumspectam ejusdem sedis vigilantiam salubriter est provisum dum sub pietatis specie gravantur innoxii cedat in fidelium detrimentum For these men took upon them under the Pope not onely to construe what was heresy or complying with it but on those imputations to imprison fine confiscate mens goods to the destruction of honest people and families which forced some States to limit their proceedings barre them of prisons proper to themselves and the wise Venetian appoint three Senators to supervise their actions insomuch as this delegated power did so decline as notwithstanding the many constitutions of Innocentius 4 tus Alexander the fourth and severall other popes yet extant for regulating of it out of Italy it was little taken notice of in Spain it remained obscurum debilitatumque till Ferdinand and Isabella 1479. by agreement with Xistus 4. or as others 1484. with Innocentius 8 did so renew it as Simanca doubts not to write they did introduce it into that Kingdome which I conceive to be in respect of the alterations in the proceedings now used to those were formerly for that tribunall in preceding times committed from the Papacy to Friars regulars who most depended on Rome and therefore said to be the Popes Court is since by this concord become in effect no other then the Kings being recommended to the care of Clerks secular and Lawyers the Dominicans who formerly governed it altogether excluded unlesse where the Inquisitors require their counsell 12. The style or manner there used being that his Maty names an Inquisitor generall whom the Pope approves and after is not at all admitted to interpose for that Inquisitor nominates a Councell of which himself is President for number and persons as the King likes as sometimes five to which Philip the 2. added two more and these be of the gravest divines of Spain ever residing at or near the Court who compose all differences arising in particular Courts receive all appeals punish the defect of agents and relates to none but the King Of this Councell as I said the Inquisitor generall is President whose auctority is very ample for he nominates all provinciall Inquisitors and their Officers who yet enter not on their charges but by the Kings allowance whom on occasion he removes and punishes releases all penances appoints visitors over particular Courts and though he be directed by the rule of the Canon Law and papall bulls yet on occasion varies from them as is manifest by these Instructions Relinquendum est arbitrio prudentiae Inquisitorum ut procedant juxta juris dispositionem in his quae hic non expresse dâ—clarantur is answerable to none but the King admitting the Pope either very little or not at all insomuch as Pius 4 tus 1565. sending the Cardinall Buon compagno into Spain upon the cause of the Archbishop of Toledo committed by the Inquisition there six yeares before on an imputation of heresy the Kings counsell liked not he should alone examine that Prelate without joyning two Spaniards both in the processe and sentence Neither did that State receive the Councell of Trent 1564. by other
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
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