the seaventeenth year of the late King Charles Intituled an Act for Repeal of a branch of Primo Elizabethe concerning Commissioners for Causes Ecclesiastical it is amongst other things enacted That no Archbishop Bishop or Vicar General nor any Ordinary whatsoever nor any other Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Iudge Officer or Minister of Iustice nor any other person or persons whatsoever exercising Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Power Authority or Iurisdiction by any Grant Licence or Commission of the Kings Majesty his Heirs or Successors or by any Power or Authority derived from the King his Heirs or Successors or otherwise shall from and after the first day of August which then should be in the year of our Lord God one thousand six hundred forty one Award Impose or Iuflict any Pain Penalty Fine Amerciament Imprisonment or other Corporal punishment upon any of the Kings Subjects for any contempt misdemeaner crime offence matter or thing whatsoever belonging to Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Cognizance or Iurisdiction without some doubt hath been made that all Ordinary power of coertion and proceedings in causes Ecclesiastical were taken away whereby the Ordinary course of Iustice in causes Ecclesiastical hath been obstructed Be it therefore Declared and Enacted by the Kings Most Excellent Majesty by and with the advice and consent of the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament assembled and by the Authority thereof that neither the said Act nor any thing therein contained doth or shall take away any ordinary Power or Authority from any of the said Archbishops Bishops or any other person or persons named as aforesaid but that they and every of them exercising Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction may proceed determine sentence execute and exercise all manner of Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction and all censures and coertions appertaining 〈◊〉 belonging to the same before the making of the Act before recited in all causes and matters belonging to Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction according to the Kings Majesties Ecclesiastical Laws used and practised within this Realm in as ample manner and form as they did and might lawfully have done before the making of the said Act. And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid that the aforesaid recited Act of Decimo Septimo Caroli and all the matters and clauses therein contained excepting what concerns the High Commission Court or the new Errection shall be and is hereby Repealed to all intent and purposes whatsoever any thing clause or sentence in the said Act contained to the contrary notwithstanding Provided always and it is hereby Enacted That neither this Act nor any thing herein contained shall extend or be construed to revive or give force to the said Branch of the said Statute made in the said Year of the Reign of the said late Queen Elizabeth mentioned in the said Act of Parliament made in the said Seventeenth Year of the Reign of the said King Charles but that the said Branch of the said Statute made in the said First year of the Reign of the said Queen Elizabeth shall stand and be Repealed in such sort as if this Act had never been made Provided also and it is hereby further Enacted That it shall not be Lawful for any Arch-Bishop Bishop Vicar-General Chancellor Commissary or any other Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Iudge Officer or Minister or any other person having or exercising Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction to Tender or Administer to any person whatsoever the Oath usually called the Oath Ex Officio or any other Oath whereby such person to whom the same is tendered or Administred may be charged or compelled to confess or accuse or to purge him or her self of any criminal matter or thing whereby he or she may be liable to Censure or Punishment Any thing in this Statute or any other Law Custome or Vsage heretofore to the Contrary hereof in any wise notwithstanding Provided always That this Act or any thing therein contained shall not extend or be construed to extend to give unto any Arch-Bishop Bishop or any other Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Iudge Officer or other person or persons aforesaid any Power or Authority to Exercise Execute Inflict or Determine any Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction Censure or Coertion which they might not by Law have done before the year of our Lord 1639 nor to abridge or diminish the Kings Majesties Supremacy in Ecclesiastical matters and affairs nor to conform the Commons made in the year 1640 nor any of them nor any other Ecclesiastical Laws or Cannons not formerly confirmed allowed or enacted by Parliament or by the Established Laws of the land as they stood in the year of our Lord 1639. So that then it follows that except they can find such an Act as this Repeals which must be one of the 17 of Charles the first this will not help them for they will not find that this in Law can repeal the Act made the 16 of Charles the first And what follows if they have acted all this while and had no legal power let the world Judge what a fine threed they have spun for themselves if either the King shall call them to account or any private man that hath been Excommunicated but it will be objected that this may be remedied it being but a mistake to which I answer it may be mended but it must be in Parliament But then it is objected That this Act of the 13th of this King intends them a power to hold Courts The Answer is plain very true it doth so but it must be according to the Kings Majesties Ecclesiastical Laws still and it must be from and under him as by Law and sure the Statutes before is the Law they must walk by until the same are truly and exactly Repealed But for a further Answer If they observe this Statute well and allow it to be a mistake as I affirm it is they are not at all the better for this of Car. 2d as to their Ecclesiastical power they now Act by if there were no mistake at all for this of Car. 2d does not help them in the least for in the last Paragraph of this Statute of the 13th of this King it is expresly said They shall have no more power than they had in the Year 1639. Then see what they had in 1639 it is most plain all the rest of the Statutes were then in force against them both of Henry the 8th and Edw. 6th Q. Eliz. and King James Laws For this very Sentence and Judgement in Parliament before recited was but in 1610. And I do aver they had no other power then but what those Laws gave them thus I have done with matter of Fact as it lies I leave all Men to judge and govern themselves as they shall see occasion and would be glad my Error might be corrected by them if in any thing I have misquoted or misrepresented the Case hopeing that a more judicious person will undertake to correct it in what way or Method he likes best There are Two or Three several
Highness her Heirs and Successors all manner of Iurisdictions Priviledges Preheminencies in any wise touching or concerning any Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction within these her Realms of England or Ireland or any other her Highness Dominions and Countries and to visit reform redress order correct and amend all such Errors Heresies Schisms Abuses Offences Contempts and Enormities whatsoever which by any manner Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Power Authority or Iurisdiction can or may Lawfully be Reformed Ordered Redressed Corrected Restrained or Amended to the Pleasure of Almighty God the increase of Vertue and the Conservation of the Peace and Vnity of this Realm And that such Person or Persons so to be Named Assigned Authorized and appointed by her Highness her Heirs or Successors after the said Letters Patents to him or them made and delivered as aforesaid should have full Power and Authority by Vertue of that Act and of the said Letters Patents under her Highness her Heirs or Successors to exercise use and Execute all the Premises accordidg to the Tenor and Effect of the said Letters Patents any matter or cause to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding And whereas by culler of some VVords in the aforesaid Branch of the said Act whereby Commissioners are Authorized to Execute their Commission according to the Tennor and effect of the Kings Letters Patents grounded thereupon the said Commissioners have to the great and in-Sufferable VVrong and Oppression of the Kings Subjects used to Fine and Imprison them and to exercise other Authority not belonging to Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction restored by that Act and divers other great Mischiefs and Inconveniencies have also ensued to the Kings Subjects by reason of the said Branch and Commissions issued thereupon and the Executions thereof Therefore for the Repressing and Preventing of the aforesaid Abuses Mischiefs and inconveniencies in time to come Be it Enacted by the Kings Most Excellent Majesty and the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament Assembled and by Authority of the same That the aforesaid Branch Clause Article or Sentence contained in the said Act and every word matter and thing Contained in that Branch Clause Article or Sentence shall from henceforth be Repealed Annulled Revoked Annihilated and utterly made void for Edect any thing in the said Act to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding And be it also Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That no Arch-Bishop Bishop or Vicar-General nor any Chancellor Official or Commissary of any Arch-Bishop Bishop a Vicar General nor any Ordinary whatsoever nor any other Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Iudge Officer or Minister of Iustice nor any other Person or Persons whatsoever exercising Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Power Authority or Iurisdiction by any Grant Licence or Commission of the Kings Majesty his Heirs and Successors or by any Power or Authority derived from the King his Heirs or Successors or otherwise shall from and after the first Day of August which shall be in the Year of our Lord God One Thousand Six Hundred Forty and One award impose or inflict any pain penalty fine amerciament imprisonment or other Corporal Punishment upon any of the Kings Subjects for any Contempt Misdemeanour Crime Offence matter or thing whatsoever belonging to Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Cognizance or Iurisdiction or shall Ex Officio or at the Instance or Promotion of any Person whatsoever Vrge enforce tender give or Minister unto any Church-warden Sideman or other Person whatsoever any corporal Oath whereby he or she shall or may be Charged or Oblieged to make any presentment of any Crime or Offence or to confess or accuse himself or her self of any Crime Offence Delinquency or Misdemeanour or any neglect matter or thing whereby or by reason whereof he or she shall or may be siable or exposed to any censure pain penalty or Punishment whatsoever upon pain and penaity that every person who shall offend contrary to this Statute shall forfeit and pay treble Dammages to every Person thereby grieved and the Summ of One Hundred pounds to him or them who shall first Demand and Sue for the same VVhich said Treble Dammages and Summ of One Hundred Pounds shall and may be Demanded and Recovered by Action of Debt Bill or Plaint in any Court of Record wherein no Priviledge Essoin Protection or VVager of Law shall be admitted or allowed to the Defendant And be it further Enacted That every Person who shall be once Convicted of any Act or Offence Prohibited by this Statute shall for such Act or Offence be from and after such Conviction utterly dissabled to be or continue in any Office or Imployment in any Courts of Iustice whatsoever or to exercise or execute any Power Authority or Iurisdiction by force of any Commission or Letters Patents of the King his Heirs or Successors And be it further Enacted That from and after the first Day of August no New Court shall be Erected Ordained or Appointed within this Realm of England or Dominion of Wales which shall or may have the like Power Iurisdiction or Authority as the said High Commission Court now hath or pretendeth to have but that all and every such Letters Patents Commissions and grants made or to be made by his Majesty his Heirs or Successors And all Power and Authority granted or pretended or mentioned to be granted thereby and all Acts Sentences and Decrees to be made by Vertue or Culler thereof shall be utterly void and of no effect After the making of this Act all Jurisdiction of the Spiritual Courts was wholly dain'd as appears plainly by the Statute Thus it stood still 13 Car. 2d Now in this Act of Car Primi it must be observed that it meddles no farther with the Act of Eliz. then that one branch about Commissions it meddles not with the Ecclesiastical power being in the Crown nor with the Statute 8 Eliz. Nor any thing of Edward 6. or Henry 8. which must be observed Thus then their power was wholly discontinued till the thirteenth of Charles 2d And then coming into their Bishopricks and great Estates they thought it hard that they must have their Spiritual Swords tied therefore all hands to work to get loose and so an Act is passed the 13 Charles 2d For Repeal of part of the Act Car Primi And now they thought all was sure but as it fell out this will do them no good at all neither for the Act which was intended to Repeal this Act of the 16 of Charles the first hath misrecited it and called it an Act made the 17 of Charles the first not only in the Title but all along in the body of the Act which is plain upon the Roll though not in the Statute Books viz. An Act for Explanation of a Clause contained in an Act of Parliament made in the seventeenth year of the late King Charles Intituled an Act of Repeal of a Branch of a Statute Primo Elizabethe concerning Commissions for Causes Ecclesiastical viz. VVhereas in an Act of Parliament made in
where their Extortion about Fees was by the Statute regulated Vide Rot. 31 Ed. 3. Cap. 4. The next thing wherein the wings of the Clergy were clipped was by the Statute of 16 Rich. 2. Cap. 5. which declares purchasing Bulls from the See of Rome unlawful and a Premunire so to do Vide 16 Rich. 2. Cap. 5. and ordains among diverse other things viz. Whereupon our Lord the King by the assent aforesaid and at the request of the said Commons hath ordained and established that if any purchase or pursue or cause to be purchased or pursued in the Court of Rome or elsewhere by any such Translations Processes or Sentences of Excommunications Bulls Instruments or any other things whatsoever which touch the King against him his Crown or his Regality or his Realm as is aforesaid and they which bring within the Realm or them receive or make thereof Notification or any other Execution whatsoever within the same Realm or without that they their Notaries Procurators Maintainers Abettors Factors and Councellors shall be put out of the Kings protection c. and shall forfeit all their Lands and Tenements Goods and Chattels and make Ransome to the King c. and that process be made against them by praemunire facias in manner as it is ordained in other Statures of Provisoes and others which do sue in any other Court in derogation of the Regality of our Lord the King. In Henry the Seventh's time we find the Clergy prayed Aid of the Common Law Vide H. 7. cap. 4. to help them to punish their Priests and Clerks for Incontinency Which Statute gives the Bishops power to punish such offender by their Episcopal Jurisdiction as was to them thought most meet and to be freed from any action to be brought against them for the same at Law. Thus they continued without any Interruption until the fatal time of Henry the Eighth and even in his time till the twenty first we do not find any great adding or diminishing from them or the power they pretended to by their Canon Law for it must be observed and it will not be denyed by any person but that still the power the Clergy of England ever had except what was given them by Statute Law was only the Canon Law brought with them from their unholy Mother the Church of Rome In 21 H. 8. cap. 13. Stat. 21 H. 8. cap. 13. Spiritual persons are abridged from having pluralities of Livings and from taking of Farms or to deal in Merchandize and that all Dispensations contrary to this Statute shall be void by which it seems the Clergy were Merchants for Temporals as well as Spiritual before that time In 23 H. 8. cap. 9. 23 H. 8. cap. 9. another Act was made which reaches their Court more especially than any before that time called viz. the Bill of Citetias in which Law the Arch-Bishops and Bishops are enjoyned not to cite any person out of their own Diocess where they live under a severe penalty except it be for Heresie and Probates of Wills in which Law is provided 10 l. damages besides cost to be recovered by the party grieved by action or otherwise Sect. 6 In the same Act Sect. 6. this very clause also is contained viz. And be it enacted by the Authority aforesaid that no Arch-Bishop or Bishop Ordinary Official Commissary or any other Substitute or Minister of the said Arch-Bishops Bishops Arch-Deacons or others having Spiritual Iurisdiction at any time from the Feast of Easter next coming shall ask demand take or receive of any of the Kings Subjects any summ or summs of money for the Seal oâ— any Citation afer the said Feast to be awarded or obtained then only 3 d. Sterling upon the pains and penalties afore limited contained and expressed in this present Act to be in like form recovered as is aforesaid But now though this Law is so plain as nothing can be made more plain yet to this day their Spiritual Courts Conscience are large enough to take instead of 3 d. for every Sealed Citation not less than 6 s. 8 d. or such like summ to the shame and reproach not only to themselves but even to the whole Nation that suffers such abuses to be put upon the people contrary to all Law and when remedy may easily be had In 24 H. 8. cap. 12. 24 H. 8. c. 12. Another Act was made which takes away all Appeals to the See of Rome and because it may most evidently appear that the Spiritual and Temporal Jurisdiction was ever a Flower to the Imperial Crown of this Realm I shall here insert in haec verba part of the second Section of that Statute viz. Sect. 2 And whereas the King and his most noble Progenitors and the Nobility and Commons of this Realm at diverse and sundry Parliaments as well in the time of King Edward the First Edward the Third Richard the Second Henry the Fourth and other Noble Kings of this Realm made sundry Ordinances Laws Statutes and Provisions for the entire and sure conservation of the prerogatives liberties and preheminencies of the said Imperial Crown of this Realm and of the Iurisdictions Spiritual and Temporal of the same to keep it from the Annoyance as well of the Sée of Rome as from the Authority of other foreign Potentates attempting the diminution or violation thereof as often and from time to time as any such annoyance or attempt might be known or espied and notwithstanding the said good Statutes and Ordinances made in the time of the Kings most noble Progenitors in preservation of the Authority and Prerogative of the said Imperial Crown as is aforesaid c. By which recital in this Statute it is most plain that all Spiritual Jurisdiction is and ought to be derived from and under the Prerogative of the King and the Imperial Crown of England as will more fully appear by the remaining part of the Statute too long here to be inserted But now in 25 H. 8. cap. â—9 25 H. 8. c. 19. the whole power of the Clergy and all their Authority is acknowledged to be in the King and all Canons to cease and they never to make more but by Commissions from and under him by virtue of that Act entituled viz. The Submission of the Clergy and restraint of Appeals Which begins thus viz. Whereas the Kings humble and obedient Subiects the Clergy of the Realm of England have not only acknowledged according to truth that the Convocations of the same Clergy is always hath béen and ought to be assembled only by the Kings Writ but also submitting themselves to the Kings Majesty have promised In verb Sacerdotii that they will never from henceforth presume to attempt alledge claim or put in ure enact promulge or execute any new Canons Constitutions Ordinances Provincial or others or by whatsoever name they shall be called in the Convocation unless the Kings most Royal assent and licente may to them be
power is wholly given to hear and determine all manner of causes Ecclesiastical and to correct all vice and sin whatsoever and to all such persons as your Majesty shall appoint thereunto That in consideration thereof as well for the Instruction of ignorant persons as also to avoid the occasion of the opinion aforesaid and the setting forth of your prerogative Royal and Supremacy It may therefore please your Highness that it may be ordained and enacted by the authority of this present Parliament That all and singular persons as well Lay as those that be now married or hereafter shall be married being Doctors of the Civil Law lawfully create and made in any Vniversity which shall be made ordained constituted and deputed to be any Chancellour Vicar-General Commissary Official Scribe or Register by your Majesty or any of your Heirs or Successors or by any Arch-Bishop Bishop Arch-Deacon or other person whatsoever having authority under your Majesty your Heirs and Successors to make any Chancellour Vicar-General Commissary Offical or Register may lawfully execute and exercise all manner of Iurisdiction commonly called Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction and all Censures and Coercions appertaining or in any wise belonging unto the same albe it such person or persons be Lay married or unmarried so that they be Doctors of the Civil Law as is aforesaid any Law Constitution or Ordinance to the contrary notwithstanding Now here it appears plain that all Authority must be derived from the King and he alone as head of this Church hath power to correct or amend Heresies and all other Misdemeanours having the sole jurisdiction in Courts Spiritual called Ecclesiastical Courts and none to be made or Synold held but by his authority and permission so that it cannot be imagined by any that the Clergy had power to make Canons either new or to go on with their old ones till another Law be made and power given them by the King as the Law directs And from this time of the making of this Law none of the Canons or pretended Canons are any more in force in England than if there never had been any such thing in the world This therefore I lay down as a sure rule that the Ecclesiastical Courts have no power but what must be given them by the Statute Law of the Land. And therefore to come nearer to the matter I shall set down what Laws have been since made in their favour and what against them Which is thus King Edward the Sixth being a Protestant and having a wise and honest Council about him foreseeing the great benefit did accrue to the Crown and whole Nation by those good Laws made in his Fathers time made a Law that takes away all scruple and doubt whatsoever about the Ecclesiastical Courts and gives them not so much as power to hold any Courts in their own name nor to use their own Seal although they were suffered to act by from and under the King according to the Laws made by his Father And it appears by the Statute Entituled viz. An Act for the Election of Bishops Which Act for the better information I have inserted at large hoping those worthy Spiritual men will vouchsafe the reading it Which is as follows Forasmuch as the Elections of Arch-Bishops and Bishops 1 Ed. 6. cap. 2. by the Deans and Chapters within the Kings Majesties Realms of England and Ireland at this present time be as well to the long delay as to the great costs and charges of such persons as the Kings Majesty giveth any Arch-Bishoprick or Bishoprick unto And whereas the said Elections be in very déed no Elections but only by a Writ of Conge d'Eslire have colours shadows or pretences of Elections serving nevertheless to no purpose and séeming also derogatory and prejudicial to the Prerogative Royal to whom only appertaineth the Collation and gift of all Arch-Bishopricks and Bishopricks and Suffragan Bishops within his Highness said Realms of England and Ireland Wales and other his Dominions and Marches For a due reformation hereof Be it therefore enacted by the Kings Highness with the assent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in this present Parliament assembled and by Authority of the same That from henceforth no such Conge d'Eslire be granted nor Election of any Arch-Bishop or Bishop by the Dean and Chapter made But that the King may by his Letters Patents at all times when any Arch-Bishoprick or Bishoprick is void confer the same to any person to whom the King shall think méet The which Collations so by the Kings Letters Patents made and delivered to the person whom the King shall confer the same Arch-Bishoprick or Bishoprick or to his sufficient Proctor or Attorney shall stand to all intents constructions and purposes to as much and the same effect as though Conge d'Eslire had béen given the Election duly made and the same confirmed And thereupon the said person to whom the said Arch-Bishoprick Bishoprick or Suffraganship is so conferred collated or given may be consecrated and sue his Livery or Ouster le Main and do other things as well as if the said Ceremonies and Elections had béen done and made Provided always and be it Enacted by the Authority aforesaid that every such person to whom any collation and gift of any Arch-Bishoprick or Suffraganship shall be given or collated by the King his Heirs or Sure essors shall pay do and yield to all and every person all such fées interests and duties as of old time hath béen accustomed to be done any thing in this Act or in any other to the contrary hereof in any wise notwithstanding And whereas the Arch-Bishops and Bishops and other Spiritual persons in this Realm do use to make and send out their summons citations and other processes in their own names and in such form and manner as was used in the time of the usurped power of the Bishop of Rome contrary to the form and order of the summons and process of the Common Law used in this Realm séeing that all Authority of Iurisdiction Spiritual and Temporal is derived and deducted from the Kings Majesty as supreme head of these Churches and Realms of England and Ireland and so justly acknowledged by the Clergy of the said Realms that all Courts Ecclesiastical within the said two Realms be kept by no other power or authority either foreign or within the Realm but by the authority of his most excellent Majesty Be it therefore further enacted by the Authority aforesaid that all summons and citations or other Process Ecclesiastical in all suits and causes of Instance betwixt party and party and all causes of Correction and all causes of Bastardy or Bigamy or enquiry de jure patronatus Probates of Testaments and Commissions of Administrations of persons deceased and all Acquittances of and upon account made by the Executors Administrators or Collectors of goods of any dead person be from the first day of July next following made in the name and
the Imperial Crown of this Realm the Ancient Iurisdictions Authorities Superiorities and Preheminencies to the same of right belonging and appertaining by reason whereof we your most humble and obedient Subjects from the five and twentieth year of the reign of your said dear Father were continually kept in good order and were disburdened of diverse great and intollerable charges and exactions before that time unlawfully taken and exacted by such Forreign power and authority as before that was usurped until such time as all the said good Laws and Statutes by one Act of Parliament made in the first and second years of the Reigns of the late King Philip and Queen Mary your Highness Sister intituted an Act repealing all Statutes Articles and provisions made against the See Apostolick of Rome since the twentieth year of King Henry the eight and also for the Establishment of all Spiritual and Ecclesiastical possessions and Hereditaments conveyed to the Laity were all clearly repealed and made void as by the same Act of Repeal more at large doth and may appear By reason of which Act of Repeal your said humble Subjects were eftsoons brought under an usurped Forreign power and Authority and yet do remain in that bondage to the intollerable charges of your loving Subjects if some redress by Authority of this your high Court of Parliament with the assent of your Highness be not had and provided Sect. 2 May it therefore please your Highness for the repressing of the said usurped Forreign power and the restoring of the Rites Iurisdictions and Preheminencies appertaining to the Imperial Crown of this your Realm that it may be Enacted by Authority of this present Parliament That the said Act made in the first and second years of the Reign of the said late King Philip and Queen Mary and all and every branches Clauses and Articles therein contained other then such branches Clauses and Sentences as hereafter shall be excepted may from the last day of this Session of Parliament by Authority of this present Parliament be repealed and shall from thenceforth be utterly void and of none effect Sect. 16 And to the intent that all Vsurped and Forreign power and Authority Spiritual and Temporal may for ever be clearly exting uished and never be used or obeyed within this Realm or any other your Majesties Dominions or Countries May it please your Highness that it may be further enacted by the Authority aforesaid That no Forreign Prince Person Prelate State or Potentate Spiritual or Temporal shall at any time after the last day of this Session of Parliament use entry or exercise any manner of power Iurisdiction Superiority Authority Preheminence or Priviledge Spiritual or Ecclesiastical within this Realm or within any other your Majesties Dominions or Countries that now be or hereafter shall be but from thence forth the same shall be clearly abolished out of this Realm and all other your Highness Dominions for ever any Statute Ordinance Custom Constitutions or any other matter or cause whatsoever to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding Sect. 17 And that also it may please your Highness that it may be established and enacted by the Authority aforesaid that such Iurisdictions Priviledges Superiorities and Preheminencies Spiritual and Ecclesiastical as by any Spiritual or Ecclesiastical power or Authority hath heretofore been or may fawfully be exercised or used for the Visitation of the Ecclesiastical State and Persons and for Reformation order and correction of the same and of all manner of Errors Herefies Shismes Abuses Offences Contempts and Enormities shall for ever by Authority of this present Parliament be united and annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm Now by these Branches of this Statute it is most clear that all manner of Jurisdiction in Causes Spiritual and Ecclesiastical is more absolutely invested in the Crown then ever before so that if that of Edward the sixth be repealed yet here it is past all doubt that Act is now by this more inforced then ever And that it may appear more plain that no Court Spiritual was to Act any more but by Authority from the Queen in the next Section of this Statute of 1. Eliz. Power was given to the Queen in express words to grant Commissions to hold Courts under the great Seal of England or else by this Statute none could be held at all neither in their own name nor in the name of the Queen which branch of the said Statute runs thus Sect. 18 And that your Highness your Heirs and Successors Kings or Queens of this Realm shall have full power and authority by vertue of this Act by letters patents under the great Seal of England to assign name and authorize when and as often as your Highness your Heirs or Successors shall think meet and Convenient and for such and so long time as shall please your Highness your Heirs or Successors such person or persons being natural born Subjects to your Highness your Heirs and Successors as your Majesty your Heirs or Successors shall think meet to exercise use occupy and execute under your Highness your Heirs and Successors all member of Iurisdictions Priviledges and Preâ—enâ—nences in any wise touching or concerning any Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction within these your Reaâ—â—s of England and Ireland or any other your Highness Douâ—â—â—ions and Countries and to vis it reform redress order correct and amend all such errors herisies schisms abirses offences contempts and enormities whatsoever which by any manner of Spiritual or Ecclesiastical power Authority or Iurisdiction can or may lawfully be reformed ordered redressed corrected restrained or amended to the pleasure of Almighty God the increase of vertue and the conservation of the peace and unity of this Realm And that such person or persons so to be named assigned authorised and appointed by your Highness your Heirs or Successors after the said Letters Patents to him or them made and delivered as is aforesaid shall have full power and authority by vertue of this Act and of the said Letters Patents under your Highness your Heirs and Successors to exercise use and execute all the premises according to the Tenor and effect of the said Letters Patents any matter or cause to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding Here it is most evident that the Queen had the only sole power to nominate and appoint by her Commission under the great Seal of England both lay-men as well as Bishops to exercise Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction when and as often as she pleased and it is most evident it was not to be done at all without such Commissions But besides this Law it was the practice both in the times of Edward the sixth Queen Elizabeth and King James That all the Bishops and the Spiritual Courts whatsoever were held by such Commissions and to satisfie the Reader I have here inserted a Copy of one of them taken out of the Rolls Verbatim viz. Elizabeth by the Grace of God Rot. 9. Pars. 10. Eliz. c. To
Memory King Henry the Eighth as well by all the Clergy then of this Realm in their several Convocations as also by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons assembled in divers of his Parliaments was justly and rightly recognized and knowledged to have the supream Power Iurisdiction Order Rule and Authority over all the Estate Ecclesiastical of the same and the same Power Iurisdiction and Authority did use accordingly And that also the said late King in the 25th Year of his Reign did by Authority of Parliament amongst other things set forth a certain Order of the manner and form how Arch-Bishops and Bishops within this Realm and other his Dominions should be Elected and made as by the same more plainly appeareth And that also the late King of worthy Memory King Edward the Sixth did Lawfully succeed the said late King Henry his Father in the Imperial Crown of this Realm and did justly possess and enjoy all the same Power Iurisdiction and Authority before mentioned as a thing to him descended with the same Imperial Crown and so used the same during his Life And also that the said late King Edward the Sixth in his time by Authority of Parliament caused a Godly and Vertuous Book Intituled The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies in the Church of England to be made and set forth not only for one Vniform Order of Service Common-Prayer and the Administration of Sacraments to be used within this Realm and other his Dominions but also did add and put to the same Book a very good and Godly Order of the manner and form how Arch-Bishops Bishops Priests Deacons and Ministers shauld from time to time be Consecrated made and ordered within this Realm and other his Dominions as by the same more plainly will and may appear And although in the time of the late Queen Mary as well the said Act and Statute made in the 25th Year of the Reign of the said late King Henry the Eighth as also the several Acts and Statutes made in the Second Third Fourth Fifth and Sixth Years of the Reign of the said late King Edward for the Authorizing and Allowing of the said Book of Common-Prayer and other the premises amongst divers other Acts and Statutes touching the said Supream Authority were Repealed yet nevertheless at the Parliament holden at Westminster in the first Year of the Reign of our Soveraign Lady the Queens Majesty that now is by one other Act and Statute there made all such Iurisdictions Priviledges Superiorities and Preheminences Spiritual and Ecclesiastical as by any Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Power and Authority hath heretofore been or may Lawfully be used over the Ecclesiastical State of this Realm and the Order Reformation and Correction of the same is fully and absolutely by the Authority of the same Parliament united and annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm And by the same Act and Statute there is also given to the Queens Highness her Heirs and Successors Kings and Queens of this Realm full power and authority by Letters Patents under the great Seal of England from time to time to assign name and authorize such Person or Persons as she or they shall think meet and convenient to exercise use occupy and execute under her Highness all manner of Iurisdictions Priviledges Preheminencies and Authorities in any wise touching or concerning any Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Power or Iurisdiction within this Realm or any other Her Highness Dominions and Countries Here again you see that the very Commissions are again Confirmed and all Ecclesiastical Power absolutely in the Queen to make and Appoint by her Commission whom She please to exercise Spiritual Jurisdiction and no Man ever pretended this Statute to be touched This being the Case to the end of Queen Elizabeths Reign we must see what was done in King James time and so to this Day In King James time the Bishops and Ecclesiastical Courts were holden as in Queen Eliz. time as is most apparent for meeting with an Objection that the Bishops held Courts in their own names time out of mind notwithstanding the Statutes and that the long custome would excuse them therein especially when the King did permit it I took an occasion to inform my self from the Journals and Records and do find that the Ecclesiastical Power was held and used in the time of King James under him by Vertue of Commission as before and to put it out of all doubt I shall demonstrate it thus Vide Journ ho. Lords 7 Jac. 10. 1610. 7 Jacobi A Dispute arose about the Spiritual Courts of their Extortion and going beyond their Commissions the Commons in Parliament complained to the King against the Ecclesiastical Courts and pray that no more such power may be given them by Commissions And a Question arose in the 10th of Jacobi whether they had any power at all in full Parliament it was Resolved and the King gave his Answer and the Judgement of the House of Peers That they had no Power but by the Kings Commission which he would take care for the time to come that it should not be any Burthen to the People Which Answer and Judgement in Parliament you have here in hec Verba set down VIZ. Die Lunae Viz. 23 die July 1610. Post Meridiem His Majesties Answer delivered to the whole Assembly of both Houses the 23d of July 1610. unto certain Grievances formerly delivered to His Majesty by the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the Commons House of Parliament touching the inconvenient and dangerous extent of the Statute of 1 Eliz. Chap. 1. Our Approved care for the well Ordering of Ecclesiastical-Courts and Causes ought to banish from the conceits of our loving Subjects all needless and imaginary fears Nevertheless we are pleased to assure them by Our Royal Promise That our Ecclesiastical Commissions shall not be Directed to singular Persons but to such a number of Commissioners and them so elected as the weight of such Causes doth require And that no Definitive Sentence be given or pronounced by such our Commissioners under the number of Seven of them sitting in Court or Five at the least and that in only case of Necessity And further That we shall not take Advantage by any power given us by that Statute to grant forth any forms of Commission exceeding further then to Imprisonment and Reasonable Fine And likewise That We shall restrain such our General Commissions to the number of Two the one for this Province of Canterbury the other for that of York Besides we are Resolved to Establish such an Order touching the use and practice of Our said Commission as that none of our Loving Subjects shall be drawn from remote places either to London or York except it shall be for such exorbitant offences as are fit to be made exemplary And for the enumeration of Ecclesiastical Causes in particular as it is a matter full of Difficulty so it is needful
as we suppose considering that they are already limited and confined as no Antient Canon or Spiritual Laws are in force that are either contrary to the Laws Statutes or Customes of this Realm or tend to the Dammage or Hurt of our Prerogative Royal. For the Grievances apprehended in the Commission First a Soveraign King being Mixta Persona and having Authority as well in Causes Ecclesiastical as Temporal it was with great Wisdom ordained Matters of the Church being many ways impugned and the Censures of it grown into contempt That there should be a Commission consisting as well of Temporal as Ecclesiastical Persons who might have power for one Offence at one time and by one sentence to inflict as there should be cause both Spiritual and Temporal punishment but as to the Inquiry by Juries it hath not for many Years been practised And we are content that hereafter it be omitted in our Commission And concerning Appeals the use hath always been to exclude them in Commissions of this nature And yet if any of our Subjects shall be justly grieved with any Sentence given by our Commissioners we shall be content as we find just cause to grant unto them a Commission of Review Also for the Execution of divers Statutes aimed at in your Grievances although it hath been from time to time committed in some sort unto our Commissioners And that every such Commission hath been still penned by the Attorney-General with the Advice of the chief Temporal Judges yet we are well pleased and will give commandment accordingly that our Temporal and Ecclesiastical Judges assisted with our Learned Council shall confer together concerning the Exceptions by you taken to the end that hereafter our said Commissioners may have no further power to intermeddle with the Execution of any part of the said Statutes then it shall be found fit for our Service necessary for the suppressing of Popery and Schism and no ways repugnant to the Laws and Pollices of this our Realm But for making any Innovations in the forms and proceedings heretofore used by our said Commissioners we know no cause to depart therein from the Examples of our Progenitors nor from that which the Laws of this our Kingdom hath Approved And touching Fees since it is a Court by Statute erected and no Fees in the Statute expressed it was very fit That the Commissioners should have Authority to limit and Appoint to every Officer his Reasonable Fees And we will commend the further care thereof to some Principal person of our Commissioner to take a view of them and as to reform what they find amiss so to Establish such as shall be Moderate and Reasonable touching the Grievances found in the Execution of the Commission We know that there is no Commission nor Court either of Ecclesiastical or Temporal Jurisdiction but may be subject more or less to Abuse in the execution of their Authority Nevertheless it is Our part to have our Ear open to receive Complaints of that kind especially from our Parliament when we shall find them to be just And therefore our purpose is to see such Reformation made of all Abuses made in the execution of the said Commission as may best procure the ease of Our Subject from charge of Vexation And such punishment to be inflicted upon any Pursivants or other inferior Ministers which shall be Offenders as may repress such Misdemeanors in time to come Sure if this Record be considered there is ground enough to justifie that the Spiritual Courts cannot be holden but by the Kings Commission Therefore I need say no more the Case being plain the Law was so to this Year of 1610. which I set down the rather because a use will be made of it by and by But in King Charles the First 's time the Bishops cast about them how to get rid of these Shackles And therefore in Bishop Laud's time the point about Holding Courts in their own Names without the Kings Commission was by him stated and in the Star-Chamber where he ruled the Rost got the Judges there tho' it was but an extra Judicial Judgment to declare in their favour which was easie enough to be done when both the Judges and His Grace were resolved upon the point for those very Judges most of them were the same that gave their Judgment about the Shipp-Money And we know what became of that Judgment and them And for your Prelate he met with his due at Tower-Hill after but before his Lordship had finished his Ministry so prevalent he was that I am told he got a Proclamation to publish the Extra judicial Opinion which made a great noise in the World for Noyse and Decency was all along the Cheat that was put upon the People in those Days by that Prelate and his Gang. But I think no Man will say that that Extra Judicial Opinion is either equal with the Statute Law or with the Judgement of Parliament therefore I shall say no more but proceed After that Extra Judical Opinion of the Judges and by means of the long Intervals of Parliament the Spiritual Courts as well as the Star-Chamber were Lords Paramont and so great that they became a most Heavy Burden to the people of all sorts therefore before the Troubles began the Parliament in 16 Car. primi made an Act to take away the Power that was given by the Statute of 1 Eliz. for the Granting any Commissions at all by which means they well knew that no Courts could be held at all And therefore an Act passed to Repeal that Branch of the Statute of 1 Eliz. which was only one Clause about the granting Commissions as by the Act of Car. primi appears and all Spiritual Courts were utterly Abolished by that Act The Title of the Act runs thus VIZ. A Repeal of the Brauch of a Statute primo Elizabethe concerning Commissions for Causes Ecclesiastical VVhereas in the Parliament holden in the first Year of the Reign of the late Queen Elizabeth 16 Car. c. 11. late Queen of England there was an Act made and Established Intituled An Act Restoring to the Crown the Antient Jurisdiction over the State Ecclesiastical and Spiritual and Abolishing all Forreign Power Repugnant to the same In which Act amongst other things there is contained one Clause Branch Article or Sentence whereby it was Enacted to this effect Namely That the said late Queens Highness her Heirs and Successors Kings or Queens of this Realm should have full Power and Authority by vertue of that Act by Letters Patents under the Great Seal of England to Assign Name and Authorize when and as often as her Highness her Heirs or Successours should think meet and Convenient and for such and so long time as should please her Highness her Heirs or Successors such Person or Persons being Natural Born Subjects to her Highness her Heirs or Successors as her Majesty her Heirs or Successors should think meet to exercise use occupy and execute under her
Objections which I have met with in this Affair the First is this That the King permits it and if any wrong be done by the Spiritual Courts it is to him and what hath any private person to do to concern himself therein In that the King may pass it by 't is true but wrong may be done by these Courts to the Subject as well as to the King and there may be Damage to a single Person by these Courts by being Excommunicated which cannot be to the King and whoever suffers under that Burden hath cause enough to complain and seek their Remedy tho' the King think fit to forgive the wrong done to himself The other Objection is That the Course of the Ecclesiastical Courts hath been such time out of mind and no hurt comes to the Subject by their Courts whether it be done by Commission or not To which I Answer That I never yet heard of any Good ever did come from those Courts but many have been ruined and undone by them And in the next place for their Custome time out of mind there is no such thing if Custome should prevail against Law which it cannot be for the longest time they can bring for this Custome is but 1610 at the furthest time and there are some persons yet living can remember that time But I believe it will be hard for them to prove that they exercised Ecclesiastical Power by their own Authority in any time in the Reign of King James However if they do they cannot make it a Law for an evil Custom against Law never yet made a Law and for them to say Custome will carry it the Highway-Man may as well plead the same for Robbery and say Oh Sir I have been accustomed to Rob tho' there be a Law against it There is another Objection which carries as little weight as the rest and that is the Opinion of the Judges in the Star-Chamber which ought to have the Answer that before is given that it was an Extra-Judicial Opinion and given at such a time and by the same Judges that over-ruled the Plea of the Lord Hollis and Elliot which was many Years after reversed in Parliament Therefore to Sum up all the case lies thus before the 20 of H. the 8. The Spiritual Jurisdiction and all the proceedings in England by the Ecclesiastical Courts was by from and under the power and authority of the See of Rome and by there Cannon Law afterwards to the end of his Reign all that power was invested wholly in the King and no authority belonged to them in any matters whatever but what must be derived by from and under him King Edward the 6. of Famous memory did by his honest and wise Councel not only approve of what was dune in the Church affairs in H. the 8ths time but goes on furder and takes away the very form and mould of the Spiritual Courts by making a Law that those Courts should not so much as beheld in their one name but in the name of the King and all there Citations and Prosses whatever was to be in the Kings name as in Judicial proceeding at Law and the Bishops name of the Diosess to be at the bottom as test to the writ and not as Lord Paramount the Kings authority and by this Kings Law they were not to use any Seal to the Court but with the Kings Arms in Graven so it rested in his time Queen Mary she came in Popishly affected and by the help of Cardinal Poole Legate from Rome prevails with her for the good of her Soul and Honour to the unholy Church of Rome to pass an Act called an Act of repeal to take away all those Laws that abridged the Power and Supremacy of the See of Rome sence the 20 year of H. the 8. And as some will have it this Law of Edward the 6. must be meant to be one of those but what reason can be in Law given is not yet known for it is not perticularly Repealed as other Laws are in that Statute of Repeal and then in the next place being not so perticularly it is believed it could not be Repealed by that Act of Repeal because that in the very same Act it doth set fourth perticularly all other Acts intended to be repealed and not that Then Queen Elizabeth in her first year Repealed the Act of Repeal made in Queen Mary's days and restores all again as was in Henry the 8ths time and Edward the 6. And declared particularly that all manner of Ecclesiastical power must be from and under her and by her Authority and none else and more particularly to shew all the Church power was then lost without new power given by that Act a Clause is incerted in the said Act that She and her Successors shall give command under the great Seal of England to such commmissions as she pleased from time to time to hold Court Ecclesiastical and not otherwise To the same effect it is again declared by the Statute made the 8th of her Reign And it is most certain that by Vertue of the Clause in that Statute Primo Eliz. That gives power of granting Commissions to hold Spiritual Courts they did Act and without it neither Queen or King could grant such Commissions nor they hold any Courts without such Commissions Thus then it continued all the time of Q. Eliz. and by such Commissions they acted and no other Authority was known nor from her time can they shew other Authority to impower them but on the contrary they will find themselves lessened For in King Jame's time they acted by the same Authority and in full Parliament in 1610 it was owned of all hands In King Charles the first 's time the Spiritual Courts became a Burden to the Nation so great that the people were not able to bear them although they did Act by such Commissions or at least ought so to do which appears plain by the Statute 16 Car Primi which takes away all their whole power and as a reason or means to take away their power what do the Parliament do why it is most clear both by the Title and Body of the Act they tell you they must repeal that part of the Law of Q. Eliz. that gave power to grant Commissions for them to hold Spiritual Courts Therefore the taking away and Repealing that Branch of the Statute of Eliz. that gives power to grant Commissions it was taken for grant then that they had no power at all For no more of that Statute was Repealed is evident then what related to the Comissions they did not let them loose to Act as before it was so far from that that it appears they intended not to let them Act at all neither under the King in his Name nor any otherways whatever then in this of Car. 2d The Ecclesiastical persons meant to Repeal the Act of Primo Car. But mistook the year so in truth they did nothing at all but they may be liable to be called to account for all they have acted ever since nor can they Act with safety till this Law be mended for Acts of Parliament must be punctually repealed and exactly recited or else in Law it will not do But if that had been well Repealed it is far short of giving them any power for it is only to take away the Clause that was repealed about given Commissions to hold Courts but gives them no new power at all it doth not tell them notwithstanding the Laws of H. 8. Ed. 6. The rest of the Statutes of Elizabeth and the practice in King James time that they shall hold Courts in their own Names no it is so far from that that the Act saith expresly they shall have no other power by this Act or was it intended them then what they had in 1639 now if they can shew that they had any power given them between the year 1610 to the year 1639. Then I say they are right and may go on if not I appeal to all mankind what culler or pretence these men can have to hold Courts Spiritual at all much less by their own Prerogative or in their own Names which I take to be as unlawful and as directly against the Kings Prerogative as any thing can be For that since all power Spiritual and Temporal is by Law invested in the King they may as well hold Courts again under the Popes Authority and in his Name as in their own Names and it is a wonderful thing to consider that these Churchmen who cry down all for Phanaticks and tells the World at every turn they are Sedious and Disloyal that do not obey the Kings Laws and say as they say although sometimes they say and do they know not what themselves And yet what Phanatick is there this day in England does or ever did make so bold with the Kings Prerogative as these high Churchmen who in every of their Courts as they call them and every process they make say in effect as the great Cardinal Woolsey did when in his splender and glory in England Ego Rex meos But I considering we are here discoursing of Protestant Churchmen and knowing well their very Tongues are tipped with Loyalty We must not therefore venture to say more or meddle further then to beg their Charitable opinion once to a Discenter both from their Courts and Cannons FINIS