these doctrines rightly understood do not import every sinner by keeping such a fastâ— by taking such an Habit or Scapular to be favied but such onely as be contrite with all for their fins and are washed in the blood of the Redeemer For neither doe our Friars in their Semons and exhortations mention any such condition c if they did yet notwithstanding the whose doctrine of the Sabbaoth faste the Habit the Scapular no lesseblazed by the Friars then superstitously beleeved of the people would utterly vanish into smoake For why a person so disposed and qualifyed that is penitent for his fimes and relying upon the redemption of In sas CHRIST is apt for the Kingdome of God and to receive an inheritance among the Saints and Elect say he be naked of Habit scapular and not at all acquainted with Donna Luissa her saturdayes fast yea a man ending his dayes in the service of God and as the Divines say in the estate of grace can not misse of his salvation had he but a couple of Hawkes-bells about his neck or if he dyed in his old bootes as well as in scapular or habit If then the Friar thus expounds himself He that dyeth in the habit or scapular shall undoubredly be saved alwayes provided that he bein the love and favor of God verily he might as wel have spared so much breath to have cooled his broth I say as to spend it upon such a glosse as corrupteth and quite over-throweth the text No no Mors in olla There is poyson in the pot For these preachers desire no thing lesse then to be so understood in their sermons when they make their Panegyricks of the habit and scapular unto the people for by that meanes they might be in danger not onely to loose their offerings at the Altar but that great authority and place which they have in the hearts and affection of the Laity No rather with all possible endeavour they labour to bee beleeved that by the vertue of these raggs either as causes instrumentall or infallible signes salvation is to be acquired And heuce it is that the Carmelite Friars dedicate yeerely a day of great festivity namely the 16. of Iuly unto the honour and reception of the Scapular as the Franciscans also doe to that parcell of their habit which is the Cord or Girdle Ar which festival times it is lamentable to behold how much the Divine Majestie by these beggars their devotoes is prophaned in his creatures yea truly the world might lesse admire in these dismall dayes the Sun to be eclipsed the rocks to rent then at the time of our Saviours passion beholding the benefit thereof so miserably defaced by these false Teachers who in these dayes cannot be contented to rob the people of their purses but of their soules also And to the end they and all those that read these my writings may understand that I will not inveigh without just cause or reprove in words what I am not able by good Argument to confound I seriously demaund of our Friar what ground they have either from the divine Oracles Ecclesiasticall tradition or monuments of the Fathers to promise this security and certitude of Salvation or to determine of the Sons of Adam in particular and by polle that their names are written in the booke of life I say while yet we are viatotes et non in statu Pilgrimes from our Lord and not arrived at our country I heare Salomon one of the Secretaries of the Holy Ghost saying Prov. 20. Quis potest dicere mundum est cor meum Who can say my heart is cleane I heare Iob saying Etiamsi simplex fuero c. Job 9. Albeit I be innocent yet shall my soule bee ignorant thereof I heare the Apostle saying Philip. 2. Cum meta tremore vestram salutem operamini Worke your Salvation with feare and trembling I heare S. August upon the 40. Psal saying Scia quod justitia Dei mei maneat verum an justitia mea maneat an non ignoro terret me enim Apostolus inquiens Qui existimat se stare videat ne cadat I know that the justice of my God remaines but whether my justice doe remaine or not I am ignorant For the Apostle doth terrify me saying he who thinkes he stands let him looke to it he fall not So S. Hierome in his 3. booke upon the Prophet Ieremy Man seeth in the face God in the heart and that which unto us doth some times seeme cleane in Gods eyes is found filthy Adde hereunto the testimony of S. Ambrose in his 5. Sermon upon the 118. Psal S. Chrysost Homil. 87. upon Iohn S. Gregory lib. 6. epist 22. S. Bede in his Comment upon the 20. cap. of the Prov. But I may not ommit to set downe at large what S. Bernard that pillar of Gods Church in these later Centuryes hath left written of this argument as in many other places so especially in his 1. Sermon de Septuagesima in these words Who can say I am one of the Elect I am one of those that are predestinated unto life I am one of the children of God Who I say can say this When as the Scripture cryeth out against him Man knoweth not whether he be worthy of love or hatred Certainely therefore wee cannot have but yet we are comforred with the trust of hope that we may not by anxiety of this dubitation be tormented above measure So he Lastly to this cloud of testimonies out of the ancient fathers I will adde the uniforme consent of the moderne Fathers of the Councell of Trent condemning anathematizing this certitude of Salvation Can. 15. in these words Si quis dixerit hominem renatum justificatum teneri ex side ad credendum se certo esse in numero praedeslinatorum Anathem asit If any shall say a man regenerate and justifyed to be bound by faith to beleeve himself undoubtedly to be in the number of the predestinate let him be accursed and in the Can. following Si quis magnum illud usque in finem perseverantiae donum se certo habiturum absoluta infallibili certitudine dixerit nisi hoc exspeciali revelatione didicerit anathema sit If any shall say that by absolute and infallible assurance he hath that great gift of perseverance unto the end unlesse he hath learned the same by speciall revelation accursed be he So the Councell And sure no marvaile Since this presumption of Salvation is the very food and fewell of all wickednesse and impiety the provocation and incitement to all shamelesse lusts and pleasures with which the soule once possessed what further care is to be taken in matters of conscience For say That now I have either gotten the habit of the Franciscans upon my backe or the Scapular of the Carmelites hanging about my necke a most present antidote against hell and damnation what have I henceforth to doe with the commandements of God and Holy Câ—â—rch
France and now of late brought into Italy and maintaines this custome contrary to the law yea to be more reasonable then the law it selfe namely that men of the laity rather then of the Glergy should be used as executioners in the aforesaid cases Those who desire to set moe examples of this nature let them read Sotus de Iure Iustitia Suarez or Lessius of the same Argument Now then to come home unto our case in hand I meane of civill causes commenced pleaded and determined in the Kings Courts the defendants being as well ecclesiasticall as lay persons in these Kingdomes of Britanny May we not perswade our selves that a custome so universally received and without interruption continued since the Conversion of the Saxons under Pope Gregory the great and King Ethelbert of England for the space of a thousand yeeres and upward may not take place of the Canon that sayth Preists in all causes must be presented before ecclesiasticall Iudges Cap. Qualiter de Iudicijs especially it being no lesse a law and a Canon of the Church as hath beene before observed That the customes of places being reasonable may derogate from the law written Ext. de consuetudinibus declared above by some examples Now then must I needes bee foreed to beleevâ—â— that all our Kings Bishops Nobles Iudges and Magistrates by whose authority Ecclesiasticall persons were convented in civill causes before secular Tribunals for a thousand yeares and upward did all live and dye excommunicated throwne out of the Church as perished members without hope of salvation when as among our English Kings themselves sixe of them were canonized Saints of which honor no other kingdome of the earth can glory namely King Oswald Etheldred Edmund Richaâ—d Edgar and Edward the Confessour many Bishops as S. Augustine S. Anselme Dunstaâ— Thomas all Archbishops of Canterbury Richard of Yorke Cutbeâ—t of Duresme Thomas of Hereford c. Alas while these and the rest of our country men were bound in the setters of Excommunication where were our gray and blacke Friars and the other zealous Regulars whose parts it was at the least after their arrivellto have anmonished both prince and people of their errors to have preached and published bookes condemning that practise so coâ—ary to the lawes as these maintaine of holy Church was the Pope and Roman court also asleepe for so many ages and would not enforme their spirituall children of so great a violation of the Canon had they misliked thereof Nay rather is it not the universall consent of all divines together with the Canon it selfe That the permission of the Pope in any Church law seeing the same either from the beginning not to be observed or by contrary custome antiquated and notwithstanding is silent and makes no opposition thereunto excuseth the subject from sin as presumed to approve and allow of the said practise See for this glan cap. in ist is § leges dist 4. in c. de treu pace in cap. cum multi 15. q. ult For so much then as it is certaine that as well ecclesiasticall as secular superiours may oblige their subjects albeit never so unwilling to obey their iust lawes so often then as they see the same lawes not to be observed and passe it over in silence they sieme thereby contented therewithall and such silence and taciturnity of the Law-giver may by the subiect according to the former rules be expounded a full consent and approbation of his practise Adde hereunto the observation of a late English Franciscan whose true name I understand is Dampart and his usurped Franciscus à sincta Clara in his late booke Deus Natura Gratia in which as my country man Edmund Bunny laboured in his treatise tending to Pacification to reconcile the Roman Catholiques to the Protestant profession So this Friar of the contrary by his glosses and paraphrasticall expositions labours to draw the Articles of the english confession to the Catholicke and Roman doctrines But let the Friar wring and wrest till he be weary he shewes himselfe but a time server a slatterer and a meere Alchimist adulterating both the doctrine of them and us and seeking to please both a inst reward for such a worke contenteth neither of whom it may be said as of the dead serpent stretched all along upon the grasse Amo sic vixisse oportuit yea so thou shouldest have lived The serpent all his life long lives crooked onely after death is straight so are many at this day both in their lives and doctrines very crooked onely death teacheth them how they ought to have lived themselves and how to have taught others to the example of the Apostle 2. Cor. 2. Non enim sumus sicut plurimi adulterantes verbum Dei sed ex sinceritate c. For we are not as very many adulterating the word of God but of sincerity and as of God before God in Christ we speake Well I must not forget for all my digressió wherefore I brought the Friar upon the stage namely for a testimony against his fellow Triars of this kingdome to shew how unlike to untuned Virginalis their wires doe jangle these maintaining that civill actions against a Priest must be heard and determined in the Bishops consitory the English Friar in the Kings courts for which he produceth his authors His words are as follow in his paraphrase upon the 27. article Confess Anglicana Regibus autem nostris fursse sic eoncessum jus nominandâ— providendi de beneficys testatur post alios Harpâ—feldius seculo 14 fursse etiam aliam consuctâ—â—dinem ex privilegio ort am immemorialem causas Clericorum cognoscendi patet ex decisione Rotae 804. ut communiter citatur To our Kings was granted the right of nomination and provision of benefices as after others witnesseth Harpsfeild in the 14. age As also another custome time out of minde sprung from a priviledge of taking knowledge of the causes of Clergy men as appeareth by the decision of the Rota as it is commonly cited So the English Friar This Do. Harpsfeild as I take it was Archdeacon of Canterbury in Queene Mary her dayes and continued the ecclesiasticall history of England froÌ„ Venerable Bode his time to his owne Decisiones Rota are the very life and quintessence of the Canon law so called from a known office in Rome called the Rota But neither of these bookes are with me for which I use the Friars quotation And now the infirmity of my body not permitting me to proceede further which for the space of these 2. moneths hath much afflicted me and dayly encreasing upon me I am forced thus abruptly to breake off rather then to make an end Beseeching almighty God of his infinite mercy to grant me and all my Adversaryes and all those who professe the name of Iesus Christ to live and dye in true faith hope and charity And so hoping to see the good things of our Lord in the land of the living I take my
Why should I feare for the time to come to loose the reynes unto my unbridled passion or to set sayle which way the streame of my misplaced desires doe carry mee headlong I say what cause have I further to wage warre with vice or longer to resist the sweete allurements of Evill Yea what should hinder me to say with Salomon having run the same courses with him Eccles 2. All things which my eyes have desired I denyed them not neither did I forbid my heart to enjoy all manner of pleasures These be the thoughts these the labours of the minde these the discourses of the understanding which doe often burst out into the lipps and tongues of men entangled in these intricacyes of error And what Moses have wee among us to put himselfe as a wall and a bulwarke for the house of Israel Who shall pacisie these congregations of Abiram Who shall consume and burne up this new fire of the sonnes of Aaron with a better flame Where is Elias or where is Micheas to reprove these false Prophets of pleasing but perilous lyes Where is that Apostle of Christ Who should confound these false Apostles with an Apostolicall zeale Scarse is there one Peter to be found among us to oppose himselfe to these Simons Scarse one Paul to deliver up these Hymeneus and Alexanders unto Satan that they may learne not to blaspheme For tell mee who is there among the Clergy at least in this our Northerne Iland divided from the rest of the world that is either willing or able to goe against these Regulars moving so irregularly out of their owne proper spheares Nay rather who is there among us not carryed head-long by these their raptand violent motions into the aforesaid errors If not in expresse termes of approbation at least by a shut up cye and a sealed lip of a silent connivance One circumvented by fraud another detained by feare of displeasure the third won by benefites the most or all of us drawne to a farre more penicious dissimulation then was that of Barnabas condemned by the Apostle For albeit the Priests of the Clergy in these parts are lesse refractary unto Ecclesiasticall discipline yea truely farre more obedient unto the lawes and behests of holy Church then the Regulars yet not much more learned I confesse and in number farre inferiour unto them as may be seene in this principall Citty of Ireland in which there be onely six pastors but of Regulars not much sewer then a hundred albeit by reason of their ebbing and flowing their frequent excursions caused by their manifold negotiations in every corner of the Kingdome their out-gates beyond the seas and back againe returnes it is as hard to desine what number they be of as to count how many froggs there were in the second plague of Egypt yea to such a potency they are growne and that in a short space in this Kingdome of Ireland that what cause soever they take in hand be it just or injust Ecclesiasticall or Temporall they will nay they must be Conquerours so united among themselves so backt with powerfull friendships so animated with forraine correspondencyes not to speake of ordinary consanguinityes and affinityes foster-ships and gossip-fhips so intayled not onely to the Commons but unto the greatest Familyes by taking in of Youths into their Convents May des into their Cloysters furnishing Merchants with custome purchasers with moneyes upon morgages rent charges absolurely ruling in all matters of Contracts and matrimoniall causes managing the assay res of rich Widdowes but seldom I confesse helping them to husbands At the pillow of every rich man especially when he is about to make his Will serving in that businesse both for ghostly Fathers Councell and Cleark by reason of which imployments what else may either be honourable or profitable unto them they are ascended unto that height of authority that if they should tell us the crowes were white and the swans black though we could not beleeve them yet should wee not dare to gainsay them or to contest with them For as it is the nature of plenty to beget prosperity and this pride so our Regulars at this day are arrived at such an unmeasurable greatnesse through plenty and popular estimation as they are not onely a terrour unto the inferiour Pastors of Gods Church but even unto Bishops and Cardinals Nor will I except thee O Pope Vrbanus who not once as we are credibly informed from the city hast complayned of their insupportable pride and insolencies saying to such as complayned of their injuryes I marveil not that they wrong you for they wrong my selfe And as these Regulars are awfull unto the Clergy so no lesse fearfull are they unto the Laity who therefore yeeld them such attribution as either they hope their friendship to bee an advantage unto them in the prosequution of their ends or they providently fore-see how much the malice of a powerfull enemy may bee prejudiciall unto them in the same kinde So as be who thou wilt friend or foe the Friar will benefit himselfe by thee If thou be his friend and well-willer he gaynes by â—hy love If his adversary then also for feare of displeasure and offence like unto those Lawyers whom Cassiodorus upon the 73. Psal sayth Apud causidicos etiam ipsum silentium venale est ac lingua corum damnifica nisi funibus argenteis ligetur With Layers their very silence is vendible their ongues are harmefull unlesse they be tyed with silver chaynes But truely as in the naturall body when any one part or member groweth into an exorbitant bignesfe beyond due symmetry and proportion the rest of the members become sick and feeble the whole body 〈…〉 in the Ecâ—lâ—sihftâ—call or Politicke Sody may instand with the safety thereof to permit so great a party and so intrinsecall a faction as are our Regulars in Ireland to swell to such a bulke as exceeding the bonds of due proportion they draw unto ther selves the humors of the fest of the body to the destruction of the whole Neither in writing these things most holy Father is my meaning other then was the soopâ— of that thrice renowned Archbishop of Armagh Primate of all Ireland commoÌ„ly called by Writers Armachanus by the Inhabitants of this Countrey S. Richard of Dundalke in his oration at Avinion made before Pope Innocentius Sci his Cardâ—nalls in these words Pater sanctissime c. Most holy Father in the beginning of my Speech I doe protest that I doe not intend to averre or rashly affirme any thing which may bee contrary unto the Christian Faith or Catholieke doctrine that my meaning is not to presse or perswade the destruction of the Mendicant Orders approved by holy Church confirmed by the See Apostolicke but rather to perswade that they may be reduced brought â—acke againe unto the purity of then first institution alwayes minded to submit my selfe unto the censure of your Holines So
faste of Dame Luissa shall be able to fetch it our And because that Dives can not obtayne of Abraham that one should come from the dead signifie unto his brethren what entertainment these habit scapular wearers sinde in the next world Our Friars doe the lesse regard what Moses the Prophets what the Apostles Fathers and Generall Councells teach for not being convicted of their â—â—rours by experimentall knowledge of the dead they lesse reck on of any other proofe demonstration or argument which not withstanding wee will not spare further to urge against them or whatsoever else may conferr to the demolition of this so despâ—rat an error possessing the last act of mans life and making the same most tragicall For as it is truly said Quod in bello non bis peceatur A man shall never offend the second time in warre and why because by câ—â—ath the second error is prevented So with much more reason yea with ruth and compassion may it be said of a Christian dying in miâ— beliefe of a matter of such consequence as concernes his eternall woe or welfare non bis peceatur He cannot twise offend An error concluded in death 1â— singular is solitary and unaccompanyed no reparation by repentance to bee hoped for the doore of life being also the doore of mercy which once shut is never more to be opened Marvaile not good Reader that I labour in confronting so horrid a doctrin for if by all my endeavours I draw but one soule by the eares out of this sinke and pit of error it shall well become my profession the disciple of him who sought the stray sheep and finding it brought it home into the fould upon his shoulders or at least I shall avovde that censure of S. Bernard saying Cadit asinno invenit qui sublevet sadit anima non est qui man um apponat The asse falls into the ditch and there is one ready to pull him out the soule falls and there is none to put to his helping hand Bernard super Cantica The absurdity then of this doctrine of the habit and scapular befides what hitherto hath beene said may in this also appeare That if they performe what they promise and what their revelations doe import That is certitude and assurance in this life of glory salvation in the next they surpasse in esticacy all the Sacraments of the Church what soever have been or dayned by divine authority and practised by Christians since the Primitive times untill the second comming of Christ For the Sacraments of the New Testament by our Saviours institution doe onâ—ly conferre grace predent iustification having all their vertue eâ—ticacy from the merit of his passion ex opere operato non ponenti obicem onely as instrumentall causes conferred on such partakers of them as thorough their indisposition either of misbellefe or complacencie in sin doe put no impediment or barre unto their spirituall and supernaturall operation They who desire to see the proofes of this doctrine from Scriptures from Councells the Greeke and Latine Fathers the Schoolemen I remit them among many others unto the second tome of Tho-Waldensis or William Lindanus his Panopliâ— or The. Stapleton his Doctrinalia or Cardinall Bellarmine de sacramentis lib. 2. cap. 3.5 c. Now then say I albeit this be very much that our Saviour hath done for us in the Institution of the Sacramonts yet far more hath S. Francis Sirnon Stoc done for us by the habit scapular because he who this day is cleansed from his sins justified by the vertue divine operation of the Sacraments may after again fall into the like or more grievous sinnes for the fame be damned as of the contrary he who at this time abuseth the Sacraments by reason of the indispositions above mentioned may afterwards be penitent for the same and by the comfort and helpe of them attaine his salvation as may clearely appeare by the Apostles doctrine and admonition unto the Corinthians as touching the use and abuse of the Eucharist 1. Cor. 11. Now I say that by our Friars doctrine the habit the scapular are farre more effectuall unto salvation then any one of the 7. Sacraments or all of them put together can be For whether the habit the scapular worke in the nature of the Sacraments by couferring the first or second grace ex opere operato they doe over and besides conferre the grace of perseverance the perfection of all grace which is glory And this neither the baptizâ—d nor the conformed nor the houselled nor the ordered nor the penitent nor the marryed nor the annointed can promise unto themselves by which it is manifest that in these mens doctrines the Babis the scapular infinitely excell all the vertue of the Sacraments and so accordingly to be held estermed as indeed in many mens eyes and opinions at this day they are But now happily these patrons of the habit scapular pressed or rather oppressed with the weight of these arguments and being ashamed to ascribe the divine workâ— of the Sacraments unto shadowes of no greater authority or antiquiâ—y then the visions of S. Francis S. Simon Stoâ— will happily tell us by way of a qualification of these their absurd assertions That the habit the scapular doe indeed resemble the Sacraments But how onely so far forth as they are signes of future beatitude in the next world without having any vertue or efficacy of effecting what they doe signifie For whereas the 7. Sacraments of the Catholicke Church are indeed signes yet not base naked but withall operative that is as secondary instrumentall causes working that grace which they signifie and signifying that grace which they worke The habit the scapular will these men say are signes of another kind onely foreshewing signifying beforehaÌ„d that happines glory which shal befal al such as shal be fouÌ„d in the houre of death invested with them albeit they no way concurre to the production of the aforesaid glory either by supernatural physicall or morall influx And of this kind of signes we have examples in the Scriptures not a few Such was the Raine bow Genes 9. placed by Almighty God in the clouds after the Flood for a signe unto Noah and all mankind that he would never more destroy the world by water albeit the Rain-bow was no cause of any such effect at all Such was the Fleece of Gideon both wett and dry Iudg. 6. a signe unto him from God that the Madianites Amalekites should be conquered by his hand Such was the Sun 4. Reg. 20. going back ten degrees in the diall of King Ezâ—chias a signe given unto him by the Prophet Elias that he should recover of his infirmity And to omit many other signes like unto these of which the Scriptures are plentifull such was that signe of victor that appeared unto Constantin the Great being to encounter
by which separation from both they have framed a new no. Church unto themselves worthy no where to be admitted In the second and last place I am to prove according unto my promise That the Friars of this Kingdome are no good subjects so also in that respect rather deserving punishment then either favour or protection from the State under which they live And so I argue In those better and more religious times of our Ancestors and when the Catholick faith did most flourish in Great Britaine taâ—ne and the Iles adjacent Cùm terra â—rat unius labij when our Kings Bishops Nobles and Commons were all of one heart and lipp in the worship and service of God when the Canons Lawes and behests of holy-Church were in most rigorous observance yet even then and in those dayes no Archbishop Bishop or Prelate took upon him or might by vertue of any Ecclesiasticall calling or dignity to banish either out of the Land or any one district Dioccesse or County any of the Kings subjects of what calling so ever or for what cause so ever And albeit Metropolitans Bishops Arch deacons other Prelats were of as great power as ample jurisdiction in those times as any of their successours have been since yet notwithstanding all suites against ecclesiasticall persons of what quality or degree soever in civill and secular causes as debts rents revenewes leases inheritances and the like were both commenced determined in the Kings temporall Courts not at all in the Bishops Consistoryes as appeareth both by the ancient Lawes of these Kingdomes the consent of the learned professours thereof who all with one voyce as well Catholickes as Protestants doe at this day agree in the premises Notwithstanding all this our new titulary Bishops especially so many of them as are sent unto us out of the Friaryes beyond-seas together with the whole Regularismâ— of this Kingdome doe stoutly maintaine both by doctrine practice the contrary First that they have power to banish if they bee Arch-bishops out of their Provinces if Bishops from out their Dioceses not only for offences but even ad nutum indicta causa at their own will and pleasure without either examination or determination of cause any of the Kings subjects aswell of the temporall as ecclesiasticall estare Secondly they teach practically maintaine that whensoever the Defendant is a Clergy man not only in ecclesiasticall â—anses but as well in temporall civill as debts morgages leases rents c. they are to be impleaded before the Bishop of the Diocesse in which they live not in any of the Kings Courts at all In defence and justification of both which paradoxes Tho. Flemwing titulary Archb. of Dub in stiffly persisting for that indeed within the Diocese of Duklin he had practised both those points notwithstanding that his errour was with much mildues and learning both out of the Canon Common-Lawes opened unto him by one of his Majesties Privy Councell yet can he not to this day be reclaymed but remaines most wilfull obstinat in his former practised error His Friars perswading him to offer himselfe a sacrifice in defence thereof laying an imputation upon all such as complaine of this his tyranny that they seek his bloud Not doubting but one way or other to prevayle in this his usurpation notwithstanding what opposition soever of the higher powers against him And like unto this our Archbishop Flemming is another Franciscan the present Bishop of Downe of the house of Maggennes a man in his behaviour more like an Italian Bannito or some debosht Ruffian then a sacred Bishop as may well be seen by his fantastique acoustrements coupled to his Vltique manners having his locks hanging over his rich face down his shoulders even to the center of his back strouting himselfe at every third word upon his tip-toes as if he were angry at his parents for not making him a foot longer And if any think my pen hath wronged him in this rough draught let them make a pilgrimage unto him he lives not above two dayes journey from Dublin if they find him not as I have presented him let them come unto me tell me of it I will congratulat with them his reformation This Hugh Magennes transformed first into a Friar after into a Bishop retaining still the first savour seasoning of the pot meeting lately witha Clergy man of these parts asked him Now what doth Caddeâ— Harris do they live still in Dublin Yes Were I their Bishop concutiens illustre capus as if every haire of his head was able to transport them beyond the Aequinoctiall I would send them further off O ne savi magne sacerdos by your favonr my Lord Caddell Harris are civill men as they be Catholique Priests so are they the Kings liege subjects may live in Dublin or where else they think good within his Majesties Dominions so long as it pleaseth the State to permit them being far froÌ„ yeelding to the new usurped tyranny which your Friar Bishops have of late brought into this Kingdome contrary both to the Common Canon Law as hath bin demonstrated unto them not only in my late Treatise against The. Flemming his Excommunucation but since that again most learnedly vivâ voce in the Castle of Dublin by such as had the examination of the cause Neither is it to be thought that his Majesty will endure such a diminution of his honour by any one Friar or the whole pack of them together In the mean time God help the poore Priests who live under the Friar Bishops to whom if they do not yeeld in these the like practises they shall presently heare Veteres migrate coloni you shall no longer live in my Diocesse which thunder-clap was first heard in Dublin but afterward roared into other Diocesses yea such vexation they find especially Priests of the best parts deseres under the Friar Bishops as to redeem their vexation to purchase their peace they are contented to forsake their Parishes poore entertainments and to betake themselves unto other Diocâ—sses where the Clergy-Bishops governe leaving all to the Friar who defires to doe all and have all And for this cause is it together with ambition and an unbridled lust of domineering that so many Friars at this day do hunt after Bishopricks as weare credibly informed both from Paris Rome no fewer then eight of them to the admiration of strangers deteslation of all modest men importuning the Pope to be made titulary Bishops of this Kingdome there being searce so many places vacant which if they do obtaine the utter ruine of the Clergy in those Diocesses can not be prevented whom they will not faile to supplant to furnish their places with Friars each one of his own order as we heare dayly to be practized in the next Diocesse of Kildare whose Bishop being a Dominican Friar creates his Friars
and divulgeth me both in publick and private assemblys to be excommunicate and why forsooth for bringing the Priest Brangan by a warrant in the cause of my bookes before a secular Tribunall Vpon this no man hence forward must eat or drinke with Paul Harris no man may converse with him no man must salute him or bid God save him For why Incidit in canonem He is fallen within the penalty of the Canon Nay rather Incidit in latrones He fell into the hands of a company of the eves who wounding him and leaving him halfe dead he had utterly perished had not the good Samaritan taken compassion of him Now albeit I have handled this matter in my late answer unto Thom. Flemming his Excommunication yet for that this discourse drawes me so aptly into the same controversie a point of such debate at this day twixt the Clergy and the Regulars it shall not be from the purpose to enlarge my selfe with some few additions to what in my former bookes hath beene delivered upon this Argument as in the Chap. following CAP. VII The state of the Question is this Whether in these Kingdomes under the government of the King of Great Brittainy A man conventing an Ecclesiasticall person in a cause meerely civill before the tempotall Magistrate hath ipso facto incurred Excom De Iurc THe Bishop I will not say with all his Clerks but with all his Friars maintaynes the Artirmative In confirmation wherof they allâ—dge those known texts of the Canon and Councels cap. sivero lo. primo de sont excom e si Index leisus co tit Lib. 6. in extr Martim ad reprimendum 11. q. 1. where it is said that no Clarke may be convented before a secular judge either for cause civill or criminall So Concil Chalcedonsan 9. â—dgathènse can 32. Carthag 3. can 9. c. Bulla cene For answer herennto I say that those and diverse other texts out of the Canon may be alledged to that purpose For I acknowledge as in my booke unto the Excommunication that regularly speaking no ecclefiasticall person may be convented or empleaded before a temporall Iudge in any cause ecclesiasticall civill or oriminall Yet since humane lawes are not obligatory till such time as they be received according to that Leges institnuntur cum promulgantur confirmantur dum approbantur Distinct in istis § prox Lawes are then ordayned when they are published but confirmed when they are approved yea and being received and approved may not only by the Law-makers bee repealed or by priviledge dispensed withall but also by a contrary custome abrogated according to that Dilect 4. de Arbitris cap. 2. Extra de Consuetudinibus Locorum consuetudines ubirationabiles sunt juri scripto derogare possunt The customes of places being reasonable may derogate from the law written and such is the doctrine of S. Aug. in his epistle ad Casulanum cited by S. Tho. 1.2 q. 97. ar 3. Mos populi Dei instituta majorum prolege sunt tenenda sicut prevaricatores legum divinarum it a contemptores consuetudinum ecclesiasticarum coercendi sunt The custome of Gods people and the ordinances of our ancestors are to be held for a law and as the transgressors of divine lawes so the contemners of ecclesiasticall customes are to be punished They who desire more reason and authority for the confirmation of this point let them read the Angelicall Doctor 1. 2. q. 97.3 Also 2.2 q. 79.2 and q. 100. 2. and it hath the consent of all Divines First then since it appeareth by the Registers of spiritual courts that ecclesiasticall persons from time to time have beene convented in cases ecclesiasticall before ecclesiasticall Iudges as in matter of doctrine sacraments benefices tents c. And secondly since it appeareth by the Registers of the same courts to such as will looke into them that ecclesiasticall persons have usually beene convented in causes criminall before the said Tribunals as felonies rapes murthers c. and either found innocent cleered or guilty punished and in crimes capitall degraded and so delivered unto the secular arme And thirdly since it doth not appeare by any Register or other testimony to be produced for these thousand yeares and upward that any civill cause as matter of lands In heritances debts leases sales rents purchases c. have beene sued or sentenced in any court of Bishops Archdeacons or their officialls by vertue of any ecclesiasticall power or jurisdiction whatsoever But of the contrary is manifest and will well appeare by the records of the Kings Courts by bookes of the common law and their reports in every Kings raigne that in the cases above mentioned both Bishops Priests Abbots Priors Superiours of Convents in behalfe of their subjects and all sorts of ecclesiasticall persons both male and female have had their trialls in the aforesaid cases before the secular Tribunalls witnesse both the Canonist and the Common Lawyer I say these grounds considered It is evident to any man of common sence and understanding that either that Canon which in these civill actions drawes the plea unto the ecclesiasticall court of Bishops or any other spirituall Iudges was either in these kingdomes never received or if it were at any time in observance by custome beyond all memory was abrogated Neither neede wee to marvaile thereat for so much as there wants not examples as well as doctrines leading us thereunto For first not to speake of the Canons of the late counsell of Trent We see the Bull of Pius quintus de Censibus in few places besides Italy and Spaine in viridi observantia in due observance And why because it is not received What Canon or Law of the Church more generall then that diparitas cultus derimit matrimonium Difference of religion that is where one party is a true beleever the other an Infidell or heretique dissolveth matrimony And yet Becannâ— the Iesuit tells us that the Catholickes of Germany marrying with the Lutherans incurre no such impediment neither before nor after matrimony And why Because saith he that law of the Church was either among them never received or if so by contrary custome abolished Againe Panor with Felinus in e vniver sitabis As also Decius in e. dilectis num 3. de Appell tells us that such lay men as by command of the Ecclesiasticall ludge shall torture those whose persons are priviledged from violence by that Canon Si quir suadome diabola c. or for correction and punishment of their offences shall beat such Monkes or Friars with rods staves or clubs as well the ecclesiasticall Iudge so commanding as the lay persons executing his sentence doe both of them incurre the Canon and are excommunicated ipso facto de Iure And yet Graphius a grave writter and a monke of S. Benets order in his decisionibus aureislib 2. cap. 49. excuseth as well the one as the other the Iudge as the executioners by reason of a contrary custome practised in