these Words On a Rock consisting of these Sands stands our mighty Champion triumphing with his Naked Truth c. And truly if our mighty Champion stand thus Triumphing upon a Rock made of Sands It is the first Rock made of Sands that ever was seen in the World before I have seen great hills of Sands but never a Rock consisting of Sands before for lively and natural expressions and tough and sinewy Arguments 't is the very None-such of the D. D Come confess ingeniously Is there not more and better Heads then your own in this Elaborate Work Is it not the Six Months labour of a Prelatical Smectimnuus or Club-Divines Now for his Rancounter CHAP. II. Wherein very Majesterially he asserts contradictorily In defiance of the said Propositions and Rocks of Sand That Our Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in England was not derived from the Pope but from the Crown before the Reformation by Hen. 8. Sed quomodo probas Domine D. D First by begging the Question Petitione Printipij And asking sternly and demanding in 8 bold Questions first Dare any Protestant stand to the contrary c. So that he has got Mr. Hickeringill upon the Lock and upon the Hugg the Devonshire and Cornish Hugg Hang or Drown'd there 's no escaping yield or confess your self a Papist concluding that to say so is not more like a Hobbist than a Papist I thought I had caught a Hobby but War-Hawk To which I 'le onely say that as Seneca in his Epistles to his dear Lucillus speaking of Harpast his Wives Fool a poor ridiculous creature That if he had a desire to laugh at a Fool he need not seek far for he could find cause enough at home to laugh at himself so you Mr. quibling Archdeacon need not be at charge to keep a Jester you may find one ridiculous enough within the Corps of your own Archdeaconry Hobby-War-hawk But then he falls and grows calm and leaves this bold Italian way of Regginâ—… and comes to his proofs First Then our Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction was not derived from the Pope but from the Crown before H. 8. because it was a known Law 25. Edw. 1. and 25. Edw. 3. long before Hen. 8. that the Church of England was founded in Episcopacy by our Kings c. and not in the Papacy 1. I always thought till now that our Church of England I know not for his Church of England was neither founded upon Episcopacy not the Papacy but on Christ the Rock of Ages 2. The Popish Episcopacy in the said two King Edwards time and the Papacy were one and the same piece the Pope the Head they the Members and derivative from him influenc'd by him and would never obey our Kings further then they list as appears by stout Robert Archbishop of Canterbury another Becket And though the Kings made bold to recommend an Archbishop or a Bishop to the Pope yet the Pope Invested and chose whom he list the greater Usurper he but who did or could help it till stout King H. 8. did behead the Pope and made himself by Parliament Head of the Church 'T is true Rome was not built in a day and neither did nor could extend its Suburbs and Commands as far as England till William the Conquerour the Pope's Champion and who fought under the Popes Banner which he sent him for the Invasion of England did with his French and Normans and all Gatherings bring with his French and Italian Troops the French and Italian Laws and the French Mode of Ecclesiastical Polity and Jurisdiction And therefore 't is rightly noted that 'till Will. the Conquerour there was no Bishops Courts or Ecclesiastical Courts but the Hundred-Courts the onely Courts of Justice in England in all Causes Ecclesiastical and Temporal But the Pope made his Champion Will. the Conquerour and all succeeding Kings after him till H 8. set up such Ecclesiastical Courts and Jurisdiction as were at Rome wherein they Judged and proceeded according to the Popes Canon-Laws and he himself was the Head and Supream of those Courts and nothing more frequent then Appeals to Rome till the 24. Hâ—n 8.12 ordain'd that there should be no Appeals thither where he had emptied so much of his purse and yet could not obtain a Divorce to his liking if appeals to Rome from our Ecclesiastical-Courts then they were onely Romes Inferior Courts And was there ever any Statute made from Will. the Conquerour or rather Hen. 3. to Hen. 8. but by the consent of the Popish Clergy that is to say the consent of the Pope their Head whose Laws they obey'd in defiance of their Leige-Lords and Soveraign Kings I know there was old Tugging frequently betwixt our Kings and the Popes and sometimes the staring people cryed Now the Pope then in hopes Now the King has got is but if any stout King did as they did try for Mastery with this Whore and who should wear the Britches yet Pope Joan or Pope John or howsoever nam'd always got the better at long run Of which I will Instance in some few particulars that first occur and come to mind for I scorn to spend so many days as this D. D. with his Smec-conjoyn'd has been Months in Labour for the production of his Ridiculus mus Robert Kildwardby Archbishop of Canterbury 6. Edw. 1. Fleec't the whole Province of Canterbury namely the greatest part of the Kingdom of England by his Provincial-Visitation not by down-right plundering of the Clergy Church-wardens and the poor and rich Sinners he knew a way worth two on 't the other had been the ready way to be hang'd for Edward 1. was neither Bigot Antiq. Brit. Ec. p. 196. Fook nor Coward for He saith Mat. Parker being the Popes Creature went a visiting as some do now a days without any Commission from the King no strange thing in those days more strange in our days now that they have not as formerly a Pope to back them and whose Creatures they were in despight of the King But this crafty Robert Kildwardby play'd the Fox in his Visitation and Se donis saith the Historian non imperitando sed artificiose ut fratres sui ordinis solebant suadendo locupletavit that is He enrich'd himself and fill'd his pockets but how not by an open violent way of force and command but craftily with sleight of Hand and Tongue as the Brethren of his Order are wont to do pick'd their pockets with a parccl of fair words Why that 's better yet then the Hectoring way Come Clergy-man deliver your Purse your Purse for Procurations Visitations c. The Naked-Truth on 't was the Pope Nicholas 3d. had a Cardinals Capp at Robert's service if he would come up to the price on 't and bid like a Chapman but all the craft lay in the catching the Money to day the purchase Whereupon Kildwardby does not go in the old Road of Procurations Synodals and Vilitations that even in those times were not onely grumbled at by the Slaves
shall not be Excommunicated although they do not obey the King's Mandates for apprehending such as are Excommunicate Note by the way then that the Writ de Excommunicato capiendo the onely Weapon of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and the onely Prop of Ecclesiastical Courts was not Common Law but long after only Statute-Law and but in some Cases neither 5 Eliz. 23. The Queen finding that since the mist of Superstition was vanish't by the Sun-shine of the Gospel the People could not discern any Terrour in the Thunder of Excommunication for every petty cause and therefore that without the temporal Sword was also drawn to back it her new High-Commission-Court and consequently all other Ecclesiastical Courts that had no Weapon but the Spiritual Sword of Excommunication could strike no Awe Terror nor Reverence into the obstinate and contumacious much less into Delinquents Thirdly That the Punishment inflicted by the King alone upon those that Invaded the Clergy-mens Mannors should be held sufficient Fourthly That he would not hereafter interdict and forbid any one from selling any Meat or Drink to the Arch-bishop of York Whom the proud Prelate had Excommunicated about a Quarrel betwixt them for Precedency c. And therefore he thought thus to famish him as happened after to Jane Shore Excommunicate God deliver men from a furious Bigot and Proud Prelate when he has Power to be Mischievous or any other that comes to the King Fifthly That Magna Charta be taken off from the Church doors For you must know that the Impugners of Magna Charta were in this Synod of Rading again declared Excommunicate which the King and Parliament did dislike and would not suffer any such Sentence of Excommunication to pass except for things thought worthy and deserving the same in the Judgment of King and Parliament who were Judges also even of the timing of an Excommunication even in particulars which had like the Impugners of Magna Charta been adjudged formerly to deserve to be struck with that Thunder-clap that grew so frequent it lost its Terrour the said Arch-bishop also confesses and does acknowledge and grant that neither the King nor his Heirs nor his Kingdome of England shall receive any dammage by reason of any of the said Articles contained in the Synod of Rading Bless us what work 's here to keep the Arch-bishop and his Clergy quiet that a King and Parliament must use all the skill and Power of England which commonly 'till Hen. 8. was all too little to bind these Brats of Rome and Creatures of the Pope and Symonists to the good Behaviour and to tye up their Hands and Tongues from doing the King his Heirs and his Kingdom of England any Mischief And now Mr. Arch-deacon I have bestowed some little Pains you see to draw you a Picture in little of those times of Edward 1. that you bring to make something to the purpose of exalting your Ecclesiastical Hierarchy and Jurisdiction from the Prospect of those times and what Honour you have got to your Hierarchy by this Provocation Plume your self with but I dare say the Reader will say before I have done with you that you had done your Church as much Service in the Convocation where the men of your little ray of your Talent and Improvements would listen to your Leges Angliae with great admiration rather than thus to neglect your great imployment there by this impertinent Diversion of Writing and publishing the Laws of England in which you have no more skill nor ability than you have in undertaking to Answer the Naked Truth But to take a little further View with the Reader 's Patience of those Popish times of King Edward c. before Hen. 8. which the Arch-deacon thinks do make so much for his Turn Afflictions seldom come alone as poor John Peckham found true by sad Experience for besides that there was no help for it but the 4000 Marks must be paid or the Symonist Arch-bishop lose both Heaven and Earth King Edward also for his Wars with Scotland was as needy of Money as the Pope and he borrowed by way of Loan a whole Years Revennue of the Profits of the said Arch-bishoprick and that Loan poor John Complains being little better than a Benevolence came in a very ill time For Robert Kilwarby the late Arch-bishop and before him his Predecessor Boniface had left the Arch-bishoprick lean cadaverous forlorn delapidated and Poor the People too were exhausted by Wars and Seditions For if they had had it he could not he would not have wanted it and the Pope too resolved that if the Arch-bishop or the People had it he also could not would not want it as his Brother Pope used to say he could never want Money so long as he could hold a Pen in his hand to write to his Ass meaning England for the whole World had not I had almost said has not such Religious Zealots and Bigots that would run at all right or wrong in the Cause of Religion Religion as Hud sayes whose Honesty they all will Swear for though not a man of them knows wherefore For the subtle Italian Papists that stand near and sees within the Scenes the Lives of Popes and Cardinals c. understand the Juggle and will not give two Pence a piece for an Indulgence that here in England will go currant for a hundred pounds whilst the modest Papists at Rome smile at the known pious Frauds and the rest Laugh right out or at least in their Sleeves But to return Though the Pope Bubled poor John Peckham as aforesaid He also after he had got a little heart Papae ad exemplum does endeavour to Hector or Wheedle the King out of some Money by Texts of Holy Writ the very same that some Religious Bigots have made use of to as vile ends in our times in an insolent Letter to his Majesty written 9 Edw. 1. beginning with these very words Excellentissimo Principi ac Dom. Edvardo Spelman's Concil p. 341 342. Dei gratiâ Illustri Regi Angliae Domino Hiberniae Duci Aquitaniae c. Johannes permissione divinâ Cantuarensis Ecclesiae minister humilis c. Which see at large in Spelman and after some Complements he falls on in downright Earnest quia tamen oportet Domino magis quà m hominibus obedire ad praevaricationem Legum illarum quae divina Authoritate absque omni dubio subsistunt nullâ possumus humanâ constitutione ligari nec etiam Juramente That is in plain English the Arch-bishop told the King he would be his humble Servant and as loyal a Subject as the best but onely that he was bound to obey God rather then men and that no humane Laws no though he had Sworn to obey them Acts 5.29 should tye or oblige him to the breach of those Laws which are founded upon Divine Authority Of which he and the Pope were the Interpreters and Commentators he might as well have told the King he would be his
Cathedral Church doors of Canterbury and also a Bull of Deprivation upon condition tho' That if John paid the said 4000 Marks the subject of the Quarrel to the Lucan-Merchants within one Month after demand the Pope and Peckham would be as good Friends as ever John Peckham thought of having a fair hearing at the Bar and Advocates and Councel on both sides or perhaps John would have pleaded his own cause to make void the Bond but some are Wiser then other some the Pope knows a trick worth two on 't and without more adoe sends him to the Devil and deprives him of his Archbishoprick except as before excepted In short seeing he had met with his match there was no remedy but the Money must be paid not a Farthing bated of the Principal onely the Pope gave him a Years time instead of the said Month for the payment of so immense a summ Of all which hard Measure Poor John Complains in his Letter to the Pope in these very Words Ecce me creastis quanto creatura a sua naturaliter appetit perfici createre sic in meis oppressionibus censeo per ves recreandum Sane nuper ad me pervenit Cujusdam executionis Litera horribilis in aspectu auditu terribilis quod nisi infra mensem mercatoribus Lucanensibus cum effectu de quatuor millibus in arcarum quae in Romana Curia contraxi extunc sunt excommunicationis sententia innodatus in Ecclesia mea alijs Majoribus pulsatis campanis accensis Candelis excommunicatus denuncior singulis diebus Deminicis festivis Hanc tam graudem solutionem impossibilem sibi futurum rescribit c. A great deal of heavy splutter he had poor man all the dayes of his Life whilest he sat Archbishop what with the Pope on one fide the King on the other and the Augustine Monks of Canterbury who were wonderfull Rich and well worth the shearing and fleecing Chron. VVill. Thron col 1960 1961. and therefore he would have gladly have been at it amongst them with Visitations But they stood upon their guard defy'd him and bid him come at his Peril or dare to meddle with their exempt Churches of Menstre Chistelet Nordborne Middleton and Faversham c. And that they would suffer none to visit them but the Pope and his Legate which Priviledges they contested with him Anno 1293. and maintain'd that they were no other than the Priviledges of their ancient Foundation granted by Augustine the Monk Apostle of England the Popes Apostle and first Archbishop of Canterbury Anno Dom. 600. or thereabouts and confirmed by Pope Boniface Agatho Caelestine Calixt Innocent Vrban Eugenius Lucius Alexander Gregory Innocent Alexander and Honorius But Peckham after a weary life took occasion to dye and there was an end of his Contests his Creator Pope Nicholas departing his busie life a little before him but first calling all his Cardinals into his Bed-chamber Saxoniae l. 8. c. 35. Cent. Magd. 13. c. 10. col 1091. where he lay upon his Death-bed and by the Prerogative of his Power degrades them every man and makes as many Friar-minor's of his own Order Cardinals in their Rooms and charging them upon his Benediction to choose none but Friar-minors into the Papal-Chair for ever Which they performed to their utmost and untill Sextus 4. was Pope there was always a little-Pope lurking among the Fryar-minors and he had his Cardinals and pardon'd Sins I 'le warrant as well as the best Pope of them all only he sold his Indulgences much cheaper and a better Penniworth This mischief hapned An. 19 Ed. 1. and by Peckham's death the King was freed of a Tyger of a Priest that alwayes resisted his Majesty tooth and nayl threatning and vapouring with his Bell Book and Candle But after their death the King took heart as by a memorable Example in our Common-Law Books happening at this time may appear before the Statute of Carlisle against Popes Bulls and Provisions For A Subject of this Realm procured a Bull of Excommunication from the Pope against another Subject and gave notice thereof to the Treasurer of the King for which offence Le Roy voluyt quil ust este tray pendus The King willed he should be drawn and hang'd as a Traytor Here 's an Instance Mr. D. D. as pregnant as your 25 Ed. 1. against the Popes Usurpations But this was no thanks to John Peckham Archbishop of Canterbury and the rest of the Bishops For all resisted all the Clergy and did as much mischief as in them lay But the King and Parliament got the day An. 7. Edw. 1. and made John Peckham the Archbishop Recant his dissolute Canons made in the Convocation at Rading in these words Memorandum quod venerabilis Pater Johannes Cantuarensis Archiepiscopus venit coram Rege Concilio suo in Parliamento Regis sancti Michaelis Claus 7 Edw. 1. m. 1. dorso Revocationes Provisionum Concilii Rading anno Regni Regis septimo apud Westm consitebatur concessit quod de Statutis Provisionibus Declarationibus eorundem quae per ipsum promulgatae fuerunt apud Rading mense Augusti Anno eodem inter quasdam sententias Excommunicationis quas idem Archiepiscopus ibid promulgabat Primò deleatur pro non pronunciata habeatur illa clausula in prima sententiâ Excommunicationis quae facit mentionem de Impetrantibus literas Reglas ad Impediendum Processum in causis quae per sacros Canones ad forum Eoclesiasticum pertinere noscuntur Secundò quòd non Excommunicente Ministri Regis licet ipsi non pareant Mandato Regis in non capiendo Excommtnicatos Tertiò de illis qui invadunt Maneria Clericorum ut ibi sufficiat Paena per Regem posita Quarto quod non Interdicat vendere victualia Eboracensi Archâ—episcopo vel alii venienti ad Regem Quintò quod tollatur Magna Charta de foribus Ecclesiarum Consitetur etiam concessit quod nec Regi nec Haeredibus suis nec Regno suo Angliae ratione aliorum Articulorum in Concilio Rading Contentorum nullum prejudicium generetur in futurum In English thus Be it remembred that the Reverend Father John Archbishop of Canterbury came before the King and the King 's great Council of Parliament in Michaelmas Term at Westminster in the seventh Year of his Reign and confest and acknowledged that of the Laws Provisions and Declarations which were by him Promulgated at Rading in the Month of August last past amongst other Sentences of Excommunication which the said Archbishop did there pronounce First Let that clause in the first Sentence of Excommunication pronounced against all those that obtain the Kings Prohibition to hinder Process in Ecclesiastical Courts of such Causes as are known to appertain to Ecclesiastical Cognizance and Jurisdiction be made null and void and stand for nothing as if it had never been made as also Secondly That the Kings Ministers of Justice
Heirs and Successors to set up the High-Commission-Court the Soul and Life of all the other Inferior Ecclesiastical Courts 4. That this High-Commission-Court might for the Greatness thereof for the Novelty thereof and for the Grievous Vexations thereof be called Extraordinary yet all the Inferior and Subordinate Courts were all of a Piece It was the Head-Court whither all Appeals at length might come and it animated all the Rest and when it was Disanulled and that Head Beheaded by 13. Car. 2.12 all the little Inferior and Ordinary Ecclesiastical-Courts were held Dead in Law and Spirit-less And when we shall perswade the King and Parliament to Revive Them God only knows But let us suppose that they have Right in their Ecclesiastical Courts to take Cognizance of causes Testamentary Matrimonial of Tythes and Oblations and by 1. Eliz. 2. for not coming to Divine Service What 's this to Visitations Church-Wardens and the Oath of Church-Wardens Procurations c. In Causes Testamentary whether Men be cited or not cited I will as I am an Ecclesiastical Judge give my Country-men this honest Councel without a Fee meerly for the Publick Weal Bring your Will if you be Executor and Inventory as aforesaid as also make the same application to them if you be next of Kin to the Deceased and have Right to take Letters of Administration keep to the former Instructions and Tender them the afore-said Fees And if you be an Administrator then according to a late Act for an Administration-Bond tender them One Shilling more If they Refuse to Dispatch you without Frustratory Delay go away And what ever you are Damnifyed thereby the Law will give you Right and Satisfaction and Reparation upon them And if they be thus held to Justice and to take no more than due and legal Fees there needs no Act of Parliament to Discountenance the Ecclesiastical Courts And indeed they cannot afford to buy their Offices and yet get no more than legal Fees for the value of Mony is so different from what it was in Henry the Eighths time when a Harry-groat was the chiefest Silver-Coyne and would have bought as much Victuals as Half-a-Crown will now that they cannot afford to keep Clarks nor to write and Register Wills at this day for the Legal Fees But who dare Make himself wiser than the Law when the High-Commission-Court was up there was no dealing with them nor with their extortions And ever since that Court has been defeated no Parliament has as yet thought them worthy of larger Fees and why should men be wiser than what is written and enacted in the Statutes of this Realm No doubt but the settling of these Ecclesiastical-Matters and the Curbing these Ecclesiastical Fellows are things of weight and great Consequence deserving the most serious debate of the highest Judicature a Parliament But till they have time or till they think fit to take some Order herein I have shown you how to do their business Nor have I done this out of Malice and Spleen against these Ecclesiastical Fellows that do so Huff the Countrey and the Inferior Clergy but in Detestation of their Avarice and Extortions Aggravated with such insufferable Insolence that I speak but the sense of the Common-Cry of the Country against them as Loud and Obstreperous and for the same exorbitances as in the Reigns of Edward the Third Henry the Fifth and Henry the Eighth when those three Statutes were made on purpose to check their Insufferable Pride and Greediness And for an Example to them I 'le only Instance in the said Popish King Edward the First how he made an Example of them 1. In England 2. Scotland 3. Ireland 1. In England when John Roman Arch-Bishop of York Excommunicated Anthony Beck Bishop of Durham for Imprisoning John de Amelia and william de Melton publick Notaries sent by the Arch-Bishop to Summon before him and the said Bishop then employed in the Kings-Service in the Northern parts the Arch-Bishop admonishing him thereunto Once Twice Thrice and still the Bishop or his Ministers refusing to release them the Arch-Bishop thunder 's out the Curse against him of Excommunication to the Prior of Boulton in Craven to cause the same to be published in the Churches of Alverton and Darlington begining Claus 20. E. 1. m. 2. Dorso Brevia Regis Johannes Permissione dia Eborac Archi-Episcopus Angliae primas Dilecto in Christo filio Priori de Boulton c. Dat. apud Sanctum Martinum juxta viterbium 13. Kal. Maii Anno Gratiae 1292. Pontificatus nostri Septimo In the seventh year of our Popedom For Papa or Pope was the Common Complement every little Bishop past upon his brother Bishop in those dayes of which I can Instance in many Records if needful This difference was decided by Parliament See placita Parliam An. 21. Ed. 1. nu 17.18 Johannes Archi-Episcopus Eborum Attachiatus fuit ad respondendum Domino Regi de placito quare cum placita de Imprisonamento alijs transgressionibus in Regno Regis contra pacem Regis factis ad Regem Coronam Idem Archi-Episcopus per Johannem Priorem de Bolton in Cravene Commissarium suum in venerabilem Patrem Antonium-Episcopum Dunelm c. Die mercurii prox ante festum S. Jacobi Apostoli Anno vicessimo apud Derlington c. Sententiam Excommunicationis in dictum Antonium c. fecerit fulminari c. In Regis contemptum c. in despectum ipsius Regis 20. Mill. Librarum hoc offert Rioardus de Bretenil pro Domino Rege verificare c. Et Archi-Episcopus venit defendit omnem contemptum totum c. dicit quod Ipse nihil fecit in contemptum Regis nec contra dignitatem suam c. dicit quod de sententia a Canone lata per ipsum declarata in curia Domini Regis non debet respondere sed tamen salva libertate Ecclesiae suae ob Reverentiam Domini Regis vult plane declarare factum suum c. Et Richardus de Bretenill qui Sequitur pro rege dicit quod Praedictus Episcopus Dunelm Habet duos status viz. Statum Episcopi quoad Spiritualia et Statum Com. Palatii quoad Ten. sua Temporalia c. too long here to Recite I can shew the whole process in Parliament where the Arch-bishop was voted to be committed to Prison to Absolve Bishop Anthony and to pay what fine the King pleased which was Four Thousand Marks of Silver an Immense Sum in those dayes but the Arch-bishop was vastly Rich and though the Son of a whore a poor Chamber-maid yet she had the wit to lay the Bastard at a Rich Man's door Fathering it upon one John Roman Treasurer of York who educated him very well made him a Schollar and * H. de Knighton de event Aug. l. 3. c. 7. Col. 2507. Henry De Knighton sayes he was a right Roman for he inherited the Roman Avarice of those dayes as well as
Hundret nor bring any Ecclesiastical cause to the Judgment of Secular men Therefore William the Conquerour the Popes Champion brought with him this new distinction of Clergy and Layty and Ecclesiastical Judges and Secular Judges for it seems Ecclesiastical Causes as well as Secular were brought in the Hundret Court to the Judgment of Secular men not Ecclesiastical men 5. The said Proclamation ordains every man to do right to God and the Bishop not according to the Hundred but according to the Canons and Episcopal Laws Which answers the greatest Stress of the D. D. Answer The Conquerour with the Pope brought in the Canons and Episcopal Laws and when the Pope's head was cut off and his Supremacy taken away vanish also did his Canons and Episcopal Laws And the Popish King and Parliament in Hen. 8. time knew it as well and therefore when they had made the King Head of the Church as well as State a fatal distinction of Church and State and often makes a Kingdom divided against its self cutting off all Appeals to Rome 24 H. 12. in the very next year they found a necessity to abrogate all Popish Canons that were contrariant to the Kings Prerogative and the Laws and Statutes of this Realm but such as were not so contrariant and repugnant to remain in force And to that purpose there was to be a Book of such Canons compiled by thirty two Commissioners party per pale one moyety Clergy and the other Lay but they did nothing and so that project in the Statute came to nothing And for my part in the Knowledge I have in the ancient Councils and Canon's in the making whereof the Pope had the great hand they might as well seek a needle in a bottle of Hay as seek for Canons amongst the old ones suitable to the new face of our Church when it had lost its old wonted head that had Authorized and Father'd the English Church and all Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction from William the Conquerour till 24 Henry 8. which was 467 long years and during the weary Reigns of twenty Kings together who were so tyred with the Pope's Insolence that some of them as King John meditated rather to turn Turk than undergo the Infamy as well as Tyranny and Cruelty in being all his Reign so shamefully Priest-ridden complaining and bemoaning himself that after he subjugated himself and his Scepter to the Pope of Rome nothing prosper'd that he undertook ever after Therefore hard is the fate of that Man much more of that King and Kingdom that are under the Tyranny of these Bigots How do they wrest the holy Scriptures to surrogate their preposterous Hierarchy as did the said Popham Archbishop in his said Letter to the King Edw. 1. aforementioned quoting Mat. 16.19 Whatsoe're thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven and threatning the King with death from Deut. 17.12 And the man that shall do presumptuously and will not hearken unto the Priest that standeth to minister there before the Lord thy God or unto the Judge even that man shall dye Then he threatens the King with Deut. 17.18 19 20. and with Luk. 10.16 He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me And he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me which saith the Archbishop St. Dyonisius expounds Ierarchis in his quae agant Ierarchicè obediendum est sicut a Deo motis To the Hierarchy or Prelates in what they act as Prelates we ought to obey them as those that are influenc't by God himself Then he quotes Deut. 17.8 9 10 11. and Heb. 4. and Mat. 17.5 Mat. 28.20 Acts 3.22 Mat. 18.19 20. Mat. 18.17 Mat. 10.20 as Impertinent as tedious to insist upon concluding his Letter in a menacing way from Lambeth November Anno Dommi 1281. and the third year of his Translation Instancing also for his Platform and imitation in this his contumacy the example of Thomas Becket and Boniface his Predecessors as fierce and Seditious as himself But wise King Edw. 1. like his Grandfather Hen. 2. and his Father Hen. 3. would not so easily part with the Reins of Government for he disanulled not only the Rading-Canons as aforesaid but also the Lambeth-Canons Anno 1281. Even as his Grandfather Hen. 2. abrogated all the Canon Law being then Duke of Normandy and particularly the Canons of the late Councel of Rhemes And by Proclamation forbidding Hugo Archbishop of Roan to put the same in Execution and threatning Pope Innocent 2. that if he would not restrain the said Archbishop therein he would turn Protestant so I translate the words of the Kings letter to Pope Innocent Minatus est Apertè divortium ab Apostolicâ sede nisi praesumptio illius Archiepiscopi reprimeretur Which so frighted the Pope that he was glad to knock under and yield to the time foreseeing a Storm approaching he very wisely made fair weather on 't to use his own words Quod prefectò quamvis Justum fuerit Mat. Paris Hist Aug. p. 96 97. à nobis in Concilio Rhemensi mandatum pro ejus tamen charitate aliquando condescendere quando non ascendere possumus debemus et pro tempore ipsius voluntati assensum praebere That is saith the Pope What was done in the Councel of Rhemes was nothing but what was Just and right and also by us Commanded nevertheless for charity sake we must be lowly and condescend then when we cannot climb and ascend and be uppermost and for the present give our assent and consent to the Kings will and pleasure And there had been a fatal divorce or beginning of Protestanism from Rome by another Henry Hen. 2. long before Hen. 8. if Pope Innocent had been as stiff and inflexible as was Pope Clement to Hen. 8. So that all along those that please to observe our Statutes Histories and Chronicles they will find that ever since our Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction was brought from France and Rome by William the Conquerour sometimes the Church-men and their head the Pope had the weather-gage and sometimes the Kings as they hapned to be some more prudent some more weak some more potent and some in greater straits than other of which last condition namely when our Kings affairs were in a Peck of troubles and distresses the Pope and his Janizaries the Popish Prelates alwaies wrought upon their necessities and most unmanly would never give them fair quarter when they had them down None so cruel as Women and cowardly Gownmen when they get men at advantage many Instances whereof you may see in the reigns of King John the King Henries and the King Edwards c. So that now Canon-Law now Statute-Law now the Church and now the State now the Lord Arch-bishops and Lord Bishops and now the Lords temporal and the Common's had the upper-hand but the Bishops carryed it for the most part and alwaies at long run whilest they had the Pope or the High-Commission on their side And even since they
la Royante S'il est de peu ou bien Communante Ayme l'aussi car Dieu t'y a faict naistre Love thou thy Country's State whether it be A Common-Wealth Senate or Monarchy All Change is fatal count then that the best In which thy Country finds most Peace most Rest AN ABSTRACT OF THE PREMISES IN A SHORT CONCLUSION 'T Is evident then by his own Shewing That there was no Ecclesiastical Courts distinct from the Hundred-Courts and Lay-Courts till the Pope's Champion brought over that New French and Italian Mode with a long Sword into England and Odo Bishop of Bayeux Brother to the Conqueror assisting to set up the Pope's Usurpations in Spiritual Courts or Spiritual Tyranny forbid by Christ and his Holy Apostles who pretended not to this Hierarchy or Frelacy Names as Unknown as Arch-Bishops or Arch-Deacons Chancellors Officials Surrogates Advocates Proctors Sumners and the rest of that kind to the Primitive-Church Secondly That it is great Impudence for the Clergy much more for the Frelacy to call themselves the Church as if the Lay-People were not as much Members of Christ nay as Learned Prudent Modest and Honest as the best of them I will not except the Pope himself And that to Style the Clergy alone the Church or Holy Church is contrary to the constant Style and Dialect of Holy-Writ as appears by Mat. 16.18 Act. 2.47 5.11 8.1 11.26 13.23 14.27 14.23 15.3 22 41. 16.5 20.17 28. Rom. 16.1 4 5 16 23. 1 Cor. 4.17 10.32 14.4 5 23 33 34. 1 Cor. 16.1 19. 2 Cor. 1.1 8.1.18 19.23 24. 11.8 28. 12.13 and in all other places which are numerous throughout the Holy Scripture Thirdly That by the Oath given alwayes to Excommunicate persons before they be Absolv'd namely Stare parere mandatis Ecclesiae to stand to and obey the Commands of the Church by Church they alwayes mean themselves the Prelacy or Governing Men of the Church And by Holy-Church being free in Magna Charta was and must be meant the Clergy and the Pope their Head but how Holy they were in those Times what Symonists and consequently Perjur'd Persons appears fully in the Premises By the Angel of the Church of Ephesus Rev. 2.1 8. the Prelates say by Angel there is meant the Bishop or Presbyter by the Church there them must be meant the Christian People of Ephesus and if these Clergy in Edw. 1. such as Old Nich. Pap. and Arch-Bishop Peckham c. were Angels they were black ones surely Fourthly That from the Reign of William the Conquerour to Hen. 8. The Clergy or Ecclesiastical Men had one Head namely a Forreign Head the Pope and the Laiety another Head the King Fifthly These Two Heads namely The Pope the Head of the Church and the King the Head of the State were ever and anon knocking one against the other and the English-Clergy alwayes sided with their Head the Pope to make the other Temporal Head bow down and submit to this Spiritual Head Sixthly That when this Spiritual Head would not submit to the Temporal Head and Gratify the King's will in the desired Divorce betwixt King H. 8. and His Queen who had been Twenty Years his Wife He caus'd this Pope his Spiritual Head and Forreign-Power to be Beheaded and cut off till it was restor'd and patch't on again by 1. Phil. and Mar. 8. And indeed what ever that resolute King Henry did will that will soon became a Law if the King would have Queen Katherine Divorc't and her Daughter Mary declared Illegitimate Yea quoth the Stature 25. H. 8.22 when His Will was to have the Princess Elizabeth Legitimate and inheritable of the Imperial Crown of this Realm Yea quoth the Statute 25. H. 8.22 Again when he was minded to make her uncapable of the Crown Yea quoth the Statute 28. H. 8.7 And Lastly when his Will and His Mind was changed and that both the Princesses Mary and Elizabeth though it was Impossible but one of them was Illegitimate and both of them so declared Illegitimate in the said Statutes should be capable to Inherit as they both did the Imperial Crown of this Realm Yea quoth the Parliament 35. H. 8.1 when the Bishops grumbled that they had not their old Procurations out of the Dissolved Monasteries and Consequently could not pay him their First-Fruits and Tenth's though the King knew it was against their own Laws and Canons to have any yet the King willing to stop their Mouths and knowing that to take some Men by the Pocket is as bad as to take them by the Throat rather than he would disoblige them he being also at variance with the Pope he allows them these little snips out of his large New-Conquests and Acquests by the Statute 34. and 35. H. 8.19 But made them only recoverable in Ecclesiastical-Courts and only such as were paid Ten Years before the Dissolution of Monasteries which now is a thing Impossible to prove their own Registers being no competent Witnesses being Parties and their Register-Books no Records 7. That all the remaining Years of the Reign of Hen. 8. after the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction here in England had no dependance of the Pope they had no Laws no known Canons nor Rule to Proceed upon and if they kept Courts these Ecclesiastical Courts could take no Cognizance but of Three or Four things namely Causes Testamentary Matrimonial Tyes and Obventions and such perhaps they have cognizance of at this Day if they have Authority for keeping Courts and have any Laws or Canons other than Acts of Parliament to direct them which I think they have not 8. That when the Ecclesiastical Courts and Jurisdiction had got a Protestant-head it also had a Protestant-face by 1. Edw. 6.2 and 't is senceless to Imagine that that Statute was not constantly put in Execution and all Processes in the Name and Style of the King 9. This Protestant-face of Ecclesiastical Authority was Blasted by 1. Mar. and in its Room was again set up the Pope's head and the Popish-Church by 1. Phil. and Mar. 8. and Forreign Powers and Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical after the Old Italian or Romish Mode 10. This Popish Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and Foreign Powers were Defeated in 1. Eliz. 1. by repealing 1 Mar. and 1 Phil. Mar. 8. that had repealed 1 Edw. 6.2 which had been under restraint and made of no Force by the Repeal aforesaid and thence resum'd its former Vigour and Vertue but of that Quere All the Reason in the World for it as Mr. H. Cary learnedly insists 11. When 1. Eliz. 1. had cancel'd all the Popish Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and Spiritual-Courts there was none till the same Statute gave the Queen and Her Heirs and Successors Power by Commission to settle a new Form and Face of Government Ecclesiastical 12. That Branch of 1 Eliz. 1. that gave the Queen and Her Heirs this Power and Authority being repealed by 13. Car. 2.12 For my Part I must say It is beyond my Apprehension to find out where the