this Popes Letter but pleaded the Fundamental Laws and Customs of the Land Consuetudo regni mei est à patre meo instituta ut nullius praeter licentiam Regis appelletur Papae qui consuetudines regni mei tollit potestatem quoque coronam Regis violat It is a Custom of my Kingdom instituted by my Father that no man may appeal to the Pope without the Kings licence He that takes away the Customs of my Kingdom doth violate the Power and Crown of the King And these Laws were no other then the Laws of the Confessor viz. the old Saxon Laws but also in the execution of these things the Bishops of England adhered to the King and Laws and denied their suffrage to their Primate as you may read in the Bishop of Derry's Vindication of the Church of England p. 63 64. 14. After pag. 65. he instances out of Sir Hen Spelman conc an 78. Legations as rare as Appeals before the Conquest that Gregory Bishop of Ostium the Popes Legate did confess that he was the first Roman Priest that was sent into these parts of Britain from the time of Austin and that those Legates were no other then ordinary Messengers or Ambassadors sent from one Neighbour to another Such a thing as Legantine Court or a Nuntio's Court was not known in the British world and long after 15. See Speed in the Life of Stephen para 4. where Stephen having The Pope and all the English Hierarchy conspire with Stephen against Maud the undoubted Heir of Henry the first entred his Government in the year of our Lord 1135. the 2. of December and was crowned at Westminster the 26. of the same moneth being S Stephen's day by William Corbel the Archbishop of Canterbury who with the rest of the Bishops doing him homage and knowing now he would yield to any conditions for performance whereof his brother the Bishop of Winchester did there engage himself for a Pledge they all took their Oath of Allegiance conditionally traiterously I might say to obey him as their King so long as he should preserve their Liberties and the vigor of Discipline And that the Lay-Barons made use also of this policy appeareth by Robert Earl of Gloucester who sware to be true Liegeman to the King as long as the King would preserve to him his dignity and keep all covenants c. And having buried the body of Henry the First he went to Oxford where he acknowledged he attained the Crown by Election only and that the Pope Innocentius confirmed the same 16. The next contest which after Anselm happened between the King The second contest between the King and Pope and from what cause and the Pope was caused by Tho. Becket Archbishop of Canterbury For Stephen the Usurper having made a Law whereby the Temporal Judges might not meddle with Ecclesiastical persons Henry the Second upon many disorders committed by the Clergy did repeal this Law and restored the antient Laws of this Realm commonly called Avitae leges whereby the persons of Priests were not exempted from being judged by the Temporal Judges And though the Archbishop sware to observe the Laws restored by the King yet was he absolved by Pope Alexander 3. Nor could the Archbishop ever after be brought to conform to the Laws called Avitae leges which was the cause of his assassination and of great trouble to the King and Realm And whether this man did deserve to be canonized for his stubborn disobedience to the Laws of his Country which no ways concerned Faith but only Civil and Temporal obedience and those not new neither but a restitution of the antient Laws let any man judge 17. The first occasion of the quarrel between King John and Innocent The quarrel between King John and the Pope the Third was Hubert the Archbishop of Canterbury being dead the Monks of S. Augustine in that City elected without any licence of the King one Rainold and took an oath of him to go to Rome and take his investiture from the Pope The King incensed hereat caused John Gray to be chosen and desired the Pope to ratifie this last choice The Pope notwithstanding confirms the former The King hereupon grows angry and divers of the Monks against their own act refuse to accept him The Pope although Rainold were chosen by the Monks and confirmed by the Pope adviseth the Monks to choose Stephen Langton the Monks do so the King is highly exasperated and forbids all Appeals to Rome and did alleadge that he had Bishops Prelates Nobles and Magistrates of his own who could according to the Laws of the Land decide and determine all Controversies which should arise in Church or Commonweal The Pope insisted upon the election of the Cardinal Stephen Langton was Cardinal of Chirsogone and required the King not only to give him the quiet possession of the See but also to recall all such Monks as were exiled and to restore them to their Goods which were seised on by the King for the last choice and for default to interdict him and the whole Realm The King is so far from obeying that he seised upon the Lands and Goods of those Bishops to whom the Pope had forsooth given the power of Interdiction The Pope constant in his resolutions by Pandulphus and Durant interdicts the King and Kingdom and gives it the French King King John driven into a great strait gives his Crown and Kingdom to the Pope he good man had before given it to the French King Philip the second sirnamed Augustus and his son Lewis had gotten such footing in England that he would not be gotten out The Pope interdicts both father and son but his curses took not such place that they would give over what they had gotten by the first grant nor did these troubles end until the English Nation uniting themselves under Henry 3. did by plain force drive Lewis out of England to such an insufferable height was the Papacy grown in those days 18. Although the stubborn Barons made Henry 3. swear to observe The Bishops in H. 2 his reign conspire against him the Ordinances made in the Mad Parliament at Oxford and the Archbishop of Canterbury and nine other Bishops did denounce a Curse against all those who either by direction arms or otherwise should withstand the Ordinance of the Twelve Peers which gave the exercise of all Regality to them yet did the Pope absolve him from it very easily Addit Matth. Paris 990. 19. How zealous the most noble Prince Edward the first was in the Contests between the Pope and Ed. 2. cause of Christianity and how observant of the Papal power is evident by his victorious Voyage into Holy Land But he afterwards became hated by the Churchmen both in respect of the Statute of Mortmain made in the fourth year of his Reign and also because that by the advice of William Marchyan his chiefest Treasurer he seised into his hands the
with the Opinion of Learned men That the marriage with his Brothers wife was contrary to the Law of God and void The King not expecting the Popes sentence anno 1533. marries his beloved Anne but such love is usually too hot to hold for about two years after he cut off her head yet the King did not wholly renounce the Papacy but still expecting the Popes sentence The Pope for the reasons aforesaid not desiring to end the business The slow proceedings of the Pope but to expect advantage from time reduces the matter into several points or heads which he would have particularly disputed and at the time of the Kings marriage with Anne was not got further then the article of Attentates in which the Pope gave sentence against the King that it was not lawful for him to put away his wife by his own authority without the Ecclesiastical Judge For which cause the King in the beginning of 1534. denied the Pope his obedience commanding his Subjects not to pay any money to Rome nor to pay the ordinary Peter-pence This infinitely troubled the Court of Rome and they daily consulted of a remedy Some thought to proceed against the King with censures and to interdict all Christian nations all commerce with England But the moderate counsel pleased best to temporise with him and to mediate a composition by the French King K. Francis accepted the charge and sent the Bishop of Paris to Rome to negotiate a Pacification with the Pope where they still proceeded in the cause gently and with resolution not to come to censures if the Emperor did not proceed first or at the same time with his forces They had divided the cause into twenty three articles and then they handled whether Prince Arthur had had carnal conjunction with Queen Katherine in this they spent time till Midlent was past when the 19. of March news came that a Libel was published in England against the Pope and the whole Court of Rome and besides a Comedy had been made in presence of the King and Court to the great disgrace and shame of the Pope and every Cardinal in particular For which cause all being inflamed with choler ran headlong to give sentence which was pronounced in the Consistory the 24. of the same month That the marriage between Henry and Katherine was good that he was bound to take her to wife and that in case he did not he should be excommunicated But the Pope was soon displeased with this precipitation For six days His rash censure repented of after the French Kings letters came That the King was content to accept the sentence concerning Attentates and to render obedience upon condition that the Cardinals whom he mistrusted should not meddle in the business and that persons not suspected should be sent to Cambray to take information â—and and the King had sent his Proctors before to assist in the Cause at Rome Wherefore the Pope went about to devise some pretence to suspend the precipitate sentence and again to set the cause on its feet But the King so soon as he had seen it said It was no matter for the Utterly loses the obedience of England Pope should be Bishop of Rome and himself sole Lord of his Kingdom And that he would do according to the antient manner of the Eastern church not leaving to be a good Christian nor suffering the Lutheran Heresie or any other to be brought into his Kingdom From that time forward Henry the Eighth of a zealous Assertor of the No anger lost between the King Pope Papacy both by pen and purse became the first and greatest Opposer of it of all the Western Christian Princes for the Eastern Christian Princes except sometimes the Emperors of Greece and the Kings of Holy Land did seldom or never submit to the Papacy in her Spirituals yet did he afterwards seed to be reconciled to the Pope even by means of his Nephew Charls the Fifth Nor were the Popes much behind hand with him For besides Clement's petty Excommunication Paul the Third Anno 1538. thundred out such a terrible Excommunication against him as the like was never heard of which deprived him of his kingdom and his adherents of whatsoever they possessed commanding his Subjects to deny him obedience and Strangers to have no commerce in the kingdom and all to take arms against and persecute both him and his followers granting them their states and goods for their prey and their persons for slaves But the Popes anger ended in words whereas the Kings deeds took place against the Pope But what there was in all the Kings reign which might be called Reformation What was the Kings Reformation I do not understand For whatsoever the King took from the Pope except Peter-pence he ascribed to himself If the Pope would be Head of the Catholique Church the King would be Head of the Church of England If the Pope challenged Annates and First-fruits of the Bishops and Clergy the King would do no less If the Pope did give Abbots and Priors power being Ecclesiastical persons to make divers Impropriations to their benefit the King will take a power to take them all away and convert them into Lay-fees and incorporate them so into particular mens estates that they shall never return to the Church more Nor had he any love or desire of Reformation of the Church but only to the Church-lands for all the Rites Ceremonies and Religion of the Church of Rome was continued and that with such bloody cruelty that a Stranger going over Smithfield one day and seeing two men there executed one for denying the Kings Headship of the Church and another for subscribing to the Six Articles cryed out Bone Deus quomodo hic agunt vivi hic suspenduntur Papistae ibi comburuntur Antipapistae And so zealous did he continue herein that Pope Paul the Third after he had fulminated so dreadfully against him Hist Conc-Trid fol. 90 proposed him for an Example to be imitated by Charls the Fifth Although such was the temper of this Prince that he never spared man The exclusion of the Papai jurisdiction was an act of the King Kingdom and Church of England in his rage woman in his lust nor any thing which might be called sacred in his avarice yet so absolute was he that his Divorce was attested by both the Universities at home besides that at Paris abroad his freeing himself and the Nation from the jurisdiction of the Pope was not only assented to by a Synod and Convocation of all the Clergy of England but the English and Irish Nobility did make their submissions by an Indenture to Sir Anthony Sellinger then chief Governor of Ireland wherein they did acknowledge King Henry to be their lawful Soveraign and confessed the Kings Supremacy Bram. Vind. of the Church of England p. 43. in all causes and utterly renounced the Pope But Divorce banishing the Papal authority
their submission to the Church of Rome But on the contrary when Austin first arrived in England he stayed in the Island of Thanet until he knew the Kings pleasure and offered not to preach in Kent until he had the Kings licence to preach throughout his Dominions c. Neither was there any Appellant from the Conversion of the English he says to Rome until Wilfrid Archbishop of York who notwithstanding pag. 60. that he gained Sentence upon Sentence at Rome in his favor and notwithstanding that the Pope did send express Nuntio's into England on purpose to see the Sentence executed yet could he not obtain his restitution or benefit of his Sentence for six years during the reigns of Egbert and Alfred his son yea Alfred told the Popes Nuntio's expresly That he honored Spelm. concil an 705. them as his Parents for their grave lives and honorable aspects but he could not give any assent to their Legation because it was against reason that a person twice condemned by the whole Council of the English should be restored upon the Popes Letter And after he says That after Alfred and pag. 62. Theodore were both dead Theodore was the Archbishop of York that opposed Wilfrids Donation from the Pope and continued it so long as he lived we find the Sentence of the Pope and Wilfrids Restitution still opposed by the surviving Bishops in Alfreds Sons reign c. Neither were there any Appeals to Rome from that time until after the Conquest in the reign of Henry the First by Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury 8. See Comment Lit. sect 648. pag. 344. where it appears by our All Bishopricks were of the Kings foundation originally and donative books and divers Acts of Parliament that at first all the Bishopricks in England were of the Kings foundation and Donative per traditionem baculi id est the Crosier which was the Pastoral staff annuli the ring whereby he was married to the Church King Henry the First being requested by the Bishop of Rome to make them elective refused it But King John by his Charter bearing date quinto Junii anno decimo septimo When they became eligible and by what power granted that the Bishopricks should be eligible So that all Bishopricks were not only at first of the Kings foundation and Donative but afterwards became eligible from no other cause but the Kings Charter 9. That the sacred character of Priesthood does not free men from The Kings of England before the Couquest did exercise their Regal power over all persons in all cases the subjection due to the Laws of their Prince and Country is not only evident by many examples in Sacred Writ and by almost infinite precepts and examples of Gospel and holy Martyrs in primitive times but also by a concurrent consent of all Histories where Christianity hath been planted And that these powers have been justly exercised by the Kings of England before the Conquest among the many Laws of Ina Withred Alfred Edward Athelstan Edmund Edgar Athelred Canutus and Edward take these of Canutus Si quis sacra tenens pejerasse convictus fuerit ei manus praeciditor ni dimidiatam Lambert Saxon laws lex 33. f. 113. sui capitis astimationem domino atque episcopo dependerit neque vero deinceps qui juret dignus putandus est nisi quidem Deo cumulatè satisfecerit atque ab ejusmodi in posterum nefario scelere abstinendi fidejussores admoverit If any in Holy orders be convict of Perjury let him be branded on the hand unless he shall pay to the King and Bishop half the price of his head Neither shall he afterward be esteemed worthy to take an Oath unless he shall have abundantly satisfied God and shall have given Sureties that afterward he shall abstain from such wickedness Si quis eorum qui arae deservierint alicui mortem obtulerit omni cum divini lex 36. 114. tum humani juris patrocinio excludatur nisi quidem cum exilio cumulatè id sceleris compensarit atque caesi etiam cognatis satisfecerit aut saltem una cum hominibus qui jurent idoneis omnem criminis suspicionem diluerit Hanc vero quae Deo hominibus debetur compensationem intra ter denos idque cum fortunarum suarum omnium discrimine dies aggreditor If any one who serves at the Altar shall kill any man let him be excluded from the protection of Divine and Humane laws unless with his banishment he may abundantly satisfie that wickedness and shall also give satisfaction to the kindred of him who is killed or at least together with sufficient men who shall give Law-gager their oaths shall wash away all suspition of the crime And let him go in hand to make this compensation which is due to God and men within thirty days and that upon the forfeiture of all his fortunes Si eorum qui arae deservierint aliquis hominem occiderit aut insigne aliquod lex 38. ibid. perpetrarit flagitium gradu honore dispoliatus proinde atque ei Papa circumscripserit habitandi locum exulato ac cumulatè compensato Sin is crimen fuerit inficiatus excusatio tripla esto Atque in hanc quae Deo hominibus debetur compensationem intra ter denos aggrediatur dies ab omni legis commoditate destitutus habetor If any one who serves at the Altar shall kill a man or commit any foul offence despoiled of his honor let him be banished the place of his habitation and make abundant satisfaction yea though the Pope make it void But if he deny the crime let his excuse be threefold and if within thirty days he does not endeavor to give this satisfaction which is due to God and man let him be outlawed Si quis sacris inauguratus rei capitalis obnoxius extiterit comprehenditor lex 40. 115. atque ut tandem episcopo criminis admissi poenas dependat asservator If any one in Holy orders be guilty of any capital crime let him be apprehended and fafely kept until he be punished by the Bishop for the crime committed Si quis sacrum ordinem atque vivendi formulam commutarit pro ipsa lex 46. 116. ordinis dignitate sive capitis aestimatione mulcta legis violatae poena sive rebus suis omnibus compensato If any one shall change his holy order and form of living for the dignity of the order or price of the head let him be fined for punishment of the violation of the Law or forfeit all he hath But how far this good Prince was from having any spight to Holy Orders or men separated to the Worship of God and Service at the Holy Altar he does enact Siquis sacris initiatus incoláve in iis quae ad fortunas Law 37. fol. 114. vitamve ejus spectarint decipiatur tum ei rex ni is aliunde habuerit loco Patroni cognatorum esto Fraudator
St. 27 H. 8. cap. 15. Spiritual and sixteen Temporal to examine the Laws and Constitutions heretofore made according to the Statute of 25 H. 8. 9. But no Laws or Constitutions shall be made without the Kings assent nor contrary to the Kings Prerogative or the Laws of the Land If any person shall extoll the Authority of the Bishop of Rome he shall 28 H. 8. c. 10. incur the penalty of a Praemunire provided Anno 16 Ric. 2. Every Ecclesiastical and Lay-Officer shall be sworne to renounce the said Bishop and his Authority and to resist it to his power and to repute any Oath taken in maintenance of the said Bishop or his Authority to be void And the refusing of the said Oath to be Treason Makes all Bulls and Dispensations from the Bishop or See of Rome to 28 H. 8. c. 16. any of the Subject of this Realm void The King may nominate such number of Bishops Sees for Bishops 31 H. 8. c. 9. Cathedral Churches and endow them with such possessions as he will 1. If any person by word writing printing ciphering or otherwise do preach teach dispute or hold opinion That in the blessed Sacrament 31 H. 8. c. 14. called the Statute of the Six Articles of the Altar under form of bread and wine after the consecration thereof there is not really the natural body and blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ conceived of the Virgin Mary or that after the said consecration there remains any substance of bread or wine or any other substance but the substance of Christ God and man Or that in the flesh under the form of bread is not the very blood of Christ Or that with the blood under the form of wine is not the very flesh of Christ as well apart as though they were both together Or affirm the said Sacrament to be of other substance then is aforesaid Or deprave the said blessed Sacrament Then he shall be adjudged a Heretick and suffer death by burning and shall forfeit to the King all his lands tenements hereditaments goods and chattels as in case of High Treason 2. Or if any person preach in any Sermon or Collation openly made or teach in any Common School or Congregation or obstinately affirm or defend That the Communion of the blessed Sacrament in both kinds is necessary for the health of mans soul or ought to be administred in both kinds Or that it is necessary to be received by any person other then by Priests being at Mass and consecrating the same 3. Or that any man after the Order of Priesthood received may marry or contract matrimony 4. Or that any man or woman which advisedly hath vowed or professed or should vow or profess chastity or widowhood may marry or contract marriage 5. Or that Private Masses be not lawful or not laudable or should not be used or be not agreeable to the Laws of God 6. Or that Auricular confession is not expedient and necessary to be used in the Church of God He shall be adjudged suffer death and forfeit lands and goods as a Felon If any Priest or other man or woman which advisedly hath vowed chastity or widowhood do actually marry or contract matrimony with another Or any man which is or hath been a Priest do carnally use any woman to whom he is or hath been married or with whom he hath contracted matrimony or openly be conversant or familiar with any such woman both man and woman shall be adjudged Felons Commissions shall be awarded to the Bishop of the Diocese his Chancellor Commissary and others to enquire of the Heresies Felonies and offences aforesaid And also Justices of Peace in their Sessions and every Steward Under-Steward and Deputy of Steward in their Leets or Law-day by the oath of twelve men have authority to enquire of the Heresies Felonies and offences aforesaid See the 7. Chap. of B. Bramhalls Just Vindication of the Church of England where he endeavours to shew that not only the Emperor the King of France nay and the King of Spain have in effect done the same things with Henry the Eighth upon occasion or at least plead for it although for their interests they have not continued the exercise of their Jurisdiction as the Kings of England have done A short view or reflexion upon Henry the Eight and his Reformation How zealous a Defender of the Pope and See of Rome Henry the Eight K. H. 8. a zealous defender of the Pope and Papacy was in the beginning of his Reign is evident by his book written against Martin Luther For not being born Henry the seventh's eldest son his Father being a wondtrful frugal Prince and observing good natural parts in him bred him up in literature and destinated him to the Archbishoprick of Canterbury as being the cheapest and highest preferment he could give him But his elder brother being dead and after him his father The King esteeming it a great honor to imploy himself in so famous a controversie as was then maintained by the Wits of Christendom in defence and opposition of the Church of Rome wrote a book of the Seven Sacraments defending also the Papacy and oppugned the Doctrine of Luther This thing was so grateful to the Pope that Leo 10. honored him with the Title of Defender of the Faith But after he had been married to his brothers wife above twenty years and inflamed with lustful affection to Anne Bullein a Paragon and Minion From what cause the King became estranged from the Pope of the Court he became he said troubled in conscience for having married his brothers wife and therefore desired that the Pope would examine the case and satisfie his scruple of conscience It is a very remarkable thing that this ungodly Dispensation of Julius 2. for H. 8. his marrying with his brothers wife should be the cause of the King and Kingdoms defection from the Papacy under Clement 7. The Pope to satisfie the King gave the Cardinals Wolsey and Campeius a power Legatine to hear and determine the validity or invalidity of the marriage but the Queen refusing to submit to their determination appealed from them to the Pope The Pope had now a Wolf by the ears whom he could neither keep nor well let go For in pronouncing the marriage void he feared to incense Charls the Fifth being Nephew to Queen Katherine and the most potent Prince in Christendom and in confirming it he feared to lose Henry the then most beloved Son of the Church and great Defender of the Papacy not only in writing but also in joining with and assisting the French King Francis the First for freeing him from captivity being a prisoner under Charls The Pope therefore desires the advantage of time and proceeds slowly towards a determination The King as impatient in his desires expects a sentence from the Pope which not being to be had he procures Instruments from the Universities of Cambridge Oxford and Paris together
after them Gunthramn Clowis Carloman and Pepin at Masscon first and second at Chalons That which is called Francia and that which is in Vernis Twenty of them at least in France In Spain by ten several Kings in two Councels at Braccara and in ten at Tolledo by the space of three hundred years together And how under what terms Peruse the Councel themselves their very acts spake Ex praecepto Imperio Jussu Sanctione Nutu Decreto Ex evocatione Dispositione Regis One saith Potestas permissa est nobis another facultas data est nobis a third Injunctu est nobis á rege and this for about eight hundred years after Christ Then arose another Empire here in the West under Charls the Great and he called six several Councils at Frankfort Arles Tours Chalons Mentz and Rhemes And what says he in them In that at Rhemes In conventu mere priscorum Imperatorum congregato à piissimo Domino nostro Carolo That he called that Convention by no other right then as the manner of the antient Emperors had been to do After him Ludovicus Pius Lotharius Ludovicus Balbus Carolus Calvus Carolus Crassus and Arnulphus at the several Councils of Aken Mentz Melden Wormes Colen and Tribur and so held it nine hundred years after Christ for about that year a year or two over or under was holden the Council at Tribur in Germany by the Emperors decree and himself President in it Nor are the Kings of England less absolute then either Emperors Kings of Spain or France And see B. Bramhalls Just Vindication of the Church of England cap. 7. how the Emperors Kings of France Spain and Portugal have by their own authority convened National and Provincial Councils which have not only determined without the Papal authority but very often in contradiction to it Nor are either the English or British Churches or ever were less free then the Gallicane the liberties whereof in the Chapter aforesaid are set down viz. 1. The Pope cannot command or ordain any thing directly or indirectly concerning any Temporal affairs within the Dominions of the King of France 2. The Spiritual authority and power of the Pope is not absolute in The priviledges of the Gallican Church France but limited and restrained to the canons and rules of the antient Councils of the Church and received in that Kingdom 3. No command whatsoever of the Pope can free the French Clergy from their obligation to obey the commands of their Soveraign 4. The most Christian King hath had power at all times according to the occurrence and exigence of affairs to assemble or cause to be assembled Synods Provincial or National and therein to treat not only of such things as concern the conservation of the Civil estate but also of such things as concern Ecclesiastical order and discipline in his own dominions and therein to make Rules Chapters Laws Ordinances and Pragmatique Sanctions in his own name and by his own authority Many of which have been received among the Decrees of the Catholique Church and some of them approved by General Councils 5. The Pope cannot send a Legate à latere into France with power to reform judge collate dispence or do such things accustomed to be specified in the autoritative Bull of his Legation except it be upon the desire or with the approbation of the most Christian King Neither can the said Legate execute his charge until he hath promised to the King in writing under his oath upon his holy Orders not to make use of his Legantine power in the Kings dominions longer then it shall please the King and that so soon as he shall be admonished of the Kings pleasure to forbid it he shall give it over And that whilst he doth use it shall be exercised conformable to the Kings will without attempting any thing to the prejudice of the Decrees of General Councils or the Liberties and Priviledges of the Gallicane Church and the Universities of France 6. The Commissions and Bulls of the Popes Legate are to be seen examined and approved by the Court of Parliament and to be registred and published with such cautions and modifications as that Court shall judge expedient for the good of the Kingdom and to be executed according to the said cautions and not otherwise 7. The Prelates of the French Church although commanded by the Pope for what cause soever it be may not depart out of the Kingdom without the Kings commandment or licence 8. The Pope cannot by himself or his delegates judge any thing which concerns the state preheminence or priviledges of the Crown of France nor any thing pertaining to it nor can there be any question or process about the state or pretensions of the King but in his Courts 9. Papal Bulls Citations Excommunications c. are not to be executed in France without the Kings command or permission and after permission only by the authority of the King and not by authority of the Pope to shun mixture and confusion of Jurisdictions 10. Neither the King nor his Realm nor his Officers can be excommunicated or interdicted by the Pope nor his Subjects absolved from their Oath of Allegiance 11. The Pope cannot impose Pensions in France upon any Benefices having cure of souls nor upon any others but according to the canons according to the express condition of resignation or ad redimendum vexationem 12. All Bulls and Missives which come from Rome to France are to be seen and visited to try if there be nothing in them prejudicial in any manner to the estate and liberties of the Church of France or to the Royal authority 13. It is lawful to appeal from the Pope to a future Council 14. Ecclefiastical persons may be convented judged and sentenced before a Secular Judge for the first grievous or enormous crime or for lesser offences after a Relapse which renders them incorrigible in the eye of the Law 15. All places of France are obliged to swear fealty to the King and to receive from him investitures for their fees and manors 16. The Courts of Parliament in case of Appeals as from abuse have right and power to declare null void and to revoke the Popes Bull and Excommunications and to forbid the execution of them when they are found contrary to Sacred Decrees the liberty of the French Church or the Prerogative Royal. 17. General Councils are above the Pope and may depose him and put another in his place and take cognisance of Appeals from the Pope 18. All Bishops have their power immediately from Christ not from the Pope and are equally successors of S. Peter and of the other Apostles and Vicars of Christ 19. Provisions Reservations Expective graces c. have no place in France 20. The Pope cannot exempt any Church Monastery or Ecclesiastical body from the jurisdiction of the Ordinary nor erect Bishopricks into Archbishopricks nor unite them nor divide them without the Kings licence 21. All those are not Hereticks
as Judicial The end of the Fourth Book The Contents of the Fifth Book HAving before treated of the Causes of all Regal and Ecclesiastical power and having in the last Chapter of the Third Book treated of the Laws and Civil Government of this Nation being the exercise of Regal power in reference to the publick preservation of Peace and Society in it In this First Chap. we shall treat how far Ecclesiastical power has been exercised in this Nation and by whom Whether originally the Britanick and English-Saxon Churches were free or subject to the Papal power quoad exercitium And whether as well before the Conquest as after the Kings of this Nation were not Nursing Fathers to the Church of Christ And whether always before the Conquest the Royal Government did not extend as well to the Persons as Possessions of Ecclesiastical persons And whether all Bishopricks were not originally of the Kings foundation In the reciting the Ecclesiastical Laws made by the Kings and Queens of this Realm we shall observe three periods viz. The Ecclesiastical Laws made by the Kings of England before the Conquest The Laws made by the Conqueror and subsequent Kings until Henry the Eighth And lastly the Laws made by him and the Kings and Queens after him until the end of King Charls his Reign Note good Reader that in the reciting of these Laws I do not affirm that these Laws made by the Kings of this Realm did never incroach upon that Ghostly power which our Saviour by Divine positive institution left only to his Church and therefore make no construction upon them but only when they are recited and objected as Authorities against that Power My designe is to shew having already demonstrated that by the Law of Nature the persons of all Subjects born in the dominion of rightful Kings are their natural Subjects which is an indelible character and can never be washed out and therefore Subjects being Ecclesiastical persons cannot free them from it And that all priviledges and endowments which Ecclesiastical persons enjoy besides their ghostly power is created by the King That the exercise of the Kings power over the persons and possessions of Ecclesiasticks as also Laws made by them for the order and preservation of the extern peace of the Church is no new thing as hath been by some objected THE FIFTH BOOK CHAP. I. How far the Kings Popes and Bishops of England have exercised their Spiritual Jurisdiction in England before Henry the Eighth IT cannot sure be reasonably denied Apology by any man but that Ignorance is the mother of all Error nor is any man better in any kind whatsoever for being innurtured or ignorant We daily see no where more feuds If learning or knowledge were the cause of dissentions or distractions how then comes it to pass that all dissentions are determined by learned and knowing men or else they would be endless and dissentions then among ignorant and mean men which were there not Laws to decide their difference would be endless and Mankind left in a worse condition then any other creatures Nor is Education and Learning any cause of the dissentions and debates which arise among learned and better educated men but some internal cause proceeding from pride or some other appetitions or affection in them And though Education and Learning does not totally alter mens natures from bad to good yet does it soften mens manners and makes them not to be so bruitish as those who are destitute of Learning and Civil breeding For Didicisse fideliter Artes Emollit mores nec sinit esse feros It is true indeed that in that state in which God hath placed all men here they do not see all things truly but men are and always were and will be subject to humane error and frailty and in many things notwithstanding all the arts and helps which can be devised men will never be reconciled But that men should therefore condemn all Science and Learning is like to a man that if he sees and hears not all things distinctly and clearly although it may be he sees and hears well enough to do things which are necessary for his conservation that therefore he will put out his eyes and have his ears always stopped Nor shall ever ignorance of any mans duty totally excuse him for his not observance of Laws be they Divine or Humane Nor shall the blind belief of Subjects in their Superiors whether Ecclesiastical or Temporal ever totally excuse them from those things which are due and they believe that they owe to God I am not so very a Hobbian as to believe that it is impossible for Supreme powers to command any thing contrary to the Law of Nature nor yet so very a Papalian as to think that the Pope is infallible Especially since it is evident that Aarons joining with the people in their idolatry did not excuse Exod. 32. the Israelites of old nor did the command of both King and Priests ever under the Old Law excuse the subject Israelites from Gods judgments upon them for their idolatry Nor is this very opinion of them in the Church of Rome of the Popes infallibility believed by themselves however urged against others who are not of her communion For then were not only General Councils supervacaneous and useless things but also there could be no difference among them which is superior a Pope or General Council Nor do they less deny it in their practice then their opinion For when Sixtus Quintus had excommunicated 9 Sept. 1585. the King of Navar and Prince of Conde and as he affirmed made them uncapable of succession to the French Monarchy yet were most part of the French troubled at it doubting the Priviledges of the Gallic Church would be trodden under foot which they needed not have doubted or feared if they had believed the Pope to have been infallible and all the Parliament of Paris who were all of the Church of Rome desired the King Henry the Third to have the Bull torne in pieces as you may read Davila 575. And the Parliaments of Chalons and Tours did not only decree the Bull of Gregory 14. to the Prelates and Catholiques of the Kings party under pain of Excommunication of being deprived of their Dignities and Benefices and of being used as Hereticks and Sectaries that within a certain time they should withdraw themselves from those places that yielded obedience to Henry of Bourbon and from the union and fellowship of his Faction to be publikely burnt but it was so far rejected and scorned by the very Prelates and all other Catholiques of the Kings party that it did extreamly confirm them all in the Kings obedience being before unsetled and inclining to the Cardinal of Bourbons faction as you may read more at large in the Twelfth book of Davila's History But it may be they will say That this was not in matter of Faith and that the Popes infallibility is affixed to Faith
Item Whereas Commissions be newly made to divers Justices that 6. they shall make enquiries upon Judges of the holy Church whether they made just proces or excessive in Causes Testimentary or other which notoriously pertaineth to the cognizance of holy Church the said Justices have enquired and caused to be Indicted Judges of the holy Church in blemishing of the Franchise of the holy Church That such Commissions be repealed and from henceforth defended saving the Article in Eyre such as ought to be No Scire facias shall be awarded against a Clerk for Tythes Item Whereas Writs of Scire facias have been granted to warn Prelates 7. Religious and other Clerks to answer Dismes in our Chancery and to shew if they have any thing or can any thing say wherefore such Dismes ought not to be restored to the said Demandants and to answer as well to us as to the party to such Dismes That such Writs from henceforth be not granted and that the proces hanging upon such Writs be annulled and repealed and that the parties be dismissed from the Secular Judges of such manner of Pleas saving to us our right such as we and our ancestors have had and were wont to have of reason In witness whereof at the request of the said Prelates to these present Letters we have set our Seal Dated at London this 8th of July the year of our Reign of England 18. of France the 5th In the Reign of Ed. 3. 16 Ed. 3. tit Excom 4. An Excommunication by the Archbishop albeit it be disannulled by the Pope or his Legats is to be allowed neither ought the Judges to give any allowance of any such sentence of the Pope or his Legat. It is often resolved that all the Bishopricks within England were founded In the Reign of Ed. 3. by the Kings Progenitors and therefore the Advousons of them all belong to the King and at first they were Donative and if that any incumbent of any Church with cure die if the Patron present not within six moneths the Bishop of that Dioces ought to collate to the end the Cure may not be destitute of a Pastor if he be negligent by the space of six moneths the Metropolitan of that Dioces shall confer one to that Church and if he also leave the Church destitute by the space of six moneths then the common Law gives to the King as Supream within his own Kingdom and not to the Bishop of Rome power to provide a competent Pastor for that Church The King may not onely exempt any Ecclesiastical person from the Jurisdiction 17 Ed. 3. 23. of the Ordinary but may grant him Episcopal Jurisdiction And thus it appears there the King had done of antient time to the Arch-Deacon of Richmond This resolution is not grounded upon any Custom or Law but onely upon a particular fact of a King à facto ad jus non valet argumentum All Religious or Ecclesiastical Houses whereof the King was Founder are by the King exempt from Ordinary Jurisdiction and onely visitable and 20 E. 3. Excom 9. 19. Ed. 3. corrigible by the Kings Ecclesiastical Commission This resolution too is onely grounded upon matter of Fact and what man will warrant all the Facts of Kings not to be repugnant to the Laws of God and man Yet shall not these men in other things of much less moment allow the Kings Proclamations to be Legal nor any thing less then the Commons Law or Acts of Parliament The Abbot of Bury was exempted from Episcopal jurisdiction by the Kings Charter This is nothing neither but matter of Fact 20 Ed. 3. tit Excom 6. The King presenteth to a Benefice and his presentee was disturbed by one who had obtained Bulls from Rome for which offence he was condemned 21 Ed. 3. 40. fol. 40. to perpetual imprisonment c. Tythes arising out of any parish the King shall have for that he having the Supream Ecclesiastical jurisdiction is bound to provide a sufficient Pastor 22 Ed. 3. l. 1. Ass pl. 75. that shall have the cure of souls of that place which is not within any parish And by the common Laws of England it is evident that no man unless he be Ecclesiastical or have Ecclesiastical jurisdiction can have inheritance of Tithes The King shall present to his free chappels in default of the Dean by 27 Ed. 3. fol. 84. lapsin respect of his supream Ecclesiastical jurisdiction And Fitz Herbert saith that the King in that case does present by laps as Ordinary Fitz nat Br. 34. Au Excommunication under the Popes Bull is of no force to disable any man within England and no suit for any cause though spiritually rising in 30 Ed. 3. lib. Ass pl. 19 c. this Realm ought to be determined in the court of Rome In an Attachment upon a Prohibition the Popes Bull of Excommunication of the plaintiff was adjudged insufficient 21 Ed. 3. tit Excom 6. 33 Ed. 3. tit Agel de Roy. 38 Ass pl. 20. Reges sacro Oleo uncti sunt Spiritualis jurisdictionis capaces A Prior which is the Kings Debtor and ought to have Tithes of another spiritual person may chuse either to sue for substraction of his Tithes in the Ecclesiastical court or in the Exchequer Fitz Herbert in his N. B. fol. 30. holceth that before the St. 18 Ed. 3. Cap. 7. the right of Tithes were determinable at the temporal courts at the election of the party And the courts of divers Manors of the Kings and other Lords in antient times had the probate of last Wills and Testaments and it appeareth by 11 H. 7. fol. 12. That the probate of Wills and Testaments did not appertain to the Ecclesiastical courts but that of late time they were determinable there The King by his Charter did translate Canons secular into regular and 38 Lib. Ass pl. 22. 46 Ed. 3. Proem 6. religious persons Nicholas Moris elected Abbot of Waltham which was exempt from ordinary Jurisdiction sent to Rome to be confirmed by the Pope who not having regard to the said Election gave to the said Nicholas the said Abby with all the said Spiritualities and Temporalities the Bull was adjudged against the Laws of England and the Abbot for obtaining the same was fallen into the Kings mercy whereupon all his Possessions were seised into the Kings hands Where the Abbot of Westminster had a Prior and Covent who were Regular 49 Ed. 3. lib. ass pl. 8. and mort in Law yet the King by his Charter did divide that Corporation and made the Prior and Covent a distinct and capable body to sue and be sued by themselves It was Enacted by the whole Parliament That as well they who obtained St. de 25 Ed. 3. de Provisoribus provisions from Rome as they that put them in execution should be out of the Kings Protection and that a man might do with them as enemies to the King c.
Court in the conusance of Heresie but onely for the punishment of Heresie adjudged in the Ecclesiastical Court and all men know that it is the Temporal not Ecclesiastical power although it may be executed or pronounced by Ecclesiastical persons that punisheth men for Spiritual Crimes The Pope cannot alter the Laws of England The Judges say that the Statutes which restrain the Popes provisions 11 H. 4. 37. 11 H. 4. fol. 69. 76. to the Benefices of the Advowsons of Spiritual men were made for that the Spiritual durst not in their just Cause say against the Popes provisions so as those Statutes were made in affirmance of the common Law Excommunication made by the Pope is of no force in England and the same being certified by the Pope into any Court in England ought not to 14 H. 4. fol. 14 c. be allowed neither is any Certificate of any Excommunication available in Law but that which is made by some Bishop in England for the Bishops are by the common Laws the immediate Officers and Ministers of Justice to the Kings Court in Causes Ecclesiastical If any Bishop do Excommunicate any person for a cause that belongeth 14 H. 4. 14. not to him the King may write to the Bishop and command him to assoyl and absolve the party If any person of Religion obtain of the Bishop of Rome to be exempt St. 2. H. 4. Cap. 3. from obedience regular or ordinary he is in case of a Premunire which is an offence as hath been said contra Regem coronam dignitatem ejus Upon complaint of the Commons of the horrible mischiefs and damnable customs which there were introduced by the Church of Rome that no St 6. H. 4. Cap. 1. person Abbot or other should have any provisions of Archbishoprick or Bishoprick which should be void till he had compounded with the Popes Chamber to pay great and excessive sums of money as well for the first fruites of the same Archbishoprick or Bishoprick as for the other less services in the said Court and that the said sums or greater part thereof be paid beforehand which sums passed the double or treble of that that was accustomed of old time to be paid c. It was therefore Enacted That they and every of them that did pay greater sums then had of old time been accustomed to be paid into the said Chamber should incur the forfeiture of as much as they may forfeit to the King No person Religious or Secular of what estate or condition that he St 7. H. 4. Cap. 6. were by colour of any Bulls containing Priviledges to be discharged of Tythes appertaining to Parish-Churches Prebends Hospitals Vicaredges Purchased before the first year of King R. 2. or after not executed should put in execution anysuch Bills so Purchased or any such Bulls to be Purchased in time to come upon pain of a Premunire In the Reign of Hen. 5. In an Act of Parliament made in the third year of Henry 5. it is Declared 〈…〉 H. 5. â—â—â— 4. â— That whereas in the time of H. 4. father to the said King the seventh year of his Reign to eschew many discords and debates and divers other mischiefs which were like to arise and happen because of many provisions then made or to be made by the Pope and also of licence thereupon granted by the said King among other things it was Ordained and Established That no such Licence or Pardon so granted before the same Ordinance or afterwards to be granted shall be available to any Benefice full of any Incumbent at the day of the date of such Licence or Pardon granted Nevertheless divers persons having provisions of the Pope of divers Benefices in England and elsewhere and Licenses Royal to execute the same Provisions have by colour of the same Provisions Licenses and acceptations of the said Benefices subtilly excluded divers persons of their Benefies in which they had been incumbents by a long season of the collation of the very Patrons Spiritual to whom duely made to their intent to the final destruction and enervation of the Estates of the same Incumbents The King willing to avoid such mischiefs hath Ordained and Established That all the Incumbents of every benefice of Holy Church of the Patronage Collation or presentation of Spiritual Patrons may quietly and peaceably enjoy their said Benefices without being inquieted molested or any way grieved by any colour of such provisions licencies and acceptations and that all licences and pardons upon and by such provisions made in any manner should be void and of no valour and if any feel himself grieved molested or inquieted in any wise from henceforth by any by colour of such provisions licenses pardons or acceptations that the same molesters grievers or inquesters and every of them have and incur the pains and punishments contained in the Statutes of Provisors before that time H. 4. St. 2 H. 5. Cap. 7. Lollardy Was made for extirpation of Heresie and Lollardy whereby full power and authority was given to the Justices of Peace and Justices of Assize to enquire of those that hold Errors Heresies or Lollardry and of their maintainers c. and that the Sheriff or other Officer c. may Arrest and apprehend them A man should undertake a very hard task that goes about to maintain that all Humane Laws did never transgress their limits nor encroach upon things that were not properly in their conusance and this Law ill suits with the temper of these times The King by consent of Parliament giveth power to Ordinaries to enquire St. 2 H. 5. Cap. 1. of the Foundation Erection and Governance of Hospitals other then such as be of the Kings Foundation and thereupon to make correction and reformation according to the Ecclesiastical Law nor could any other Power grant such Ordinances In the Reign of Henry the sixth 8 H. 6. fol. 3. Excommunication made and certified by the Pope is of no force to disable any man within England and this is by the ancient Common Laws before any Statute was made concerning forein Jurisdiction The King onely may grant or licence to Found a Spiritual Corporation 9 H. 6. fol. 16. The Pope wrote Letters in derogation of the King and his Regality 1 H. 6. fol. 1â— and the Church-men durst not speak against them but Humfrey Duke of Glocester for their safe keeping put them into the fire In the Reign of Edward the fourth The Pope in the Reign of King Ed. 4. granted to the Prior of St. Johns H. 7. f. 20. to have Sanctuary within his Priory and this was pleaded and claimed by the Prior but it was resolved by the Judges that the Pope had no power to grant any Sanctuary within this Realm and therefore by Judgement of Law it ought to be disallowed There it appeareth that the opinion of the Kings Bench had been oftentimes Ed. 4. 3. that if one Spirital
Dissolution of Abbies and all were easily passed and assented to in Parliament But whatsoever the King were otherwise yet sure the Popes passion The Pope was more unjust in his censures then the King was in excluding the Papal jurisdiction against him carried them to greater extravagancies and exorbitancies then were on his part against them For suppose that the Pope had de facto the Investitures of Bishops Peter-pence Annates and First-fruits paid them and did exercise a jurisdiction over all the Church and Clergy yet no question all these things were by the grants and permission of precedent Kings and if Kings may grant and permit these things then what hinders but that they may recall them for Cujus est velle ejus est nolle Besides we have already shewed that although there were not that bitter personal spite between the Kings of England and and the Popes formerly as was between Henry 8. and Clement 7. and Paul 3. yet did many of them ascribe as little to the Pope as Henry did But for a Pope to deprive a Christian Prince of his kingdom over whom he had no manner of right his Adherents of whatsoever they possessed to command his Subjects to deny their obedience to their Soveraign and Strangers not to have any commerce in the kingdom and all to take arms against him and his followers granting them their estates and goods for a prey and their persons for slaves is so unlike to the example and precept of S. Peter whom they pretend to succeed who not only suffered death under Temporal power but inspired by God does command so expresly obedience to Kings not as subordinate to himself 1 Pet. 2. 13. but as supreme And of our Saviour himself who both suffered himself under Temporal power and paid tribute to Caesar and took not away but fulfilled the Moral Law which commands obedience to Princes and Higher powers and whose kingdom was not of this world that sure no Turk or Infidel was so much an enemy to Christians or indeed rather to mankind as to have desired it The state of the Church and of the Ecclesiastical Laws made by Edward the sixth THe time of this Kings reign being a Child and therefore woful and of his Father were perillous days The Father in his Laws scarce ever took advice but from his passion lust or avarice the Son although a Prince of infinite hope and goodness yet wanting the authority and reputation requisite in a Soveraign was either not able to restrain or else perswaded it was beneficial to give reins to a company of Sacrilegious Harpies and Courtiers to make a total prey not only upon all Colledges Free-Chappels Chantries and all their Lands except them of the Universities and some few other which by the Statute of 1 Ed. 6. cap. 14. were given to Camb. pref Eliz. Reg. Life of Ed. 6. the King upon specious pretences but the Lands of the Bishops generally became a prey unto them So much worse is it for every thing to be lawful then that any thing should be Law It was enacted That if any man spake irreverently or contemptuously An. 1. Ed. 6. c. 6. of the Sacrament of the Altar he should be imprisoned and fined at the Kings will and pleasure and that Justices of Peace might enquire of offenders Yet should not the person offending be arraigned or tryed unless the Bishop of the Diocese or his Chancellor or Deputy learned were required to be at the Quarter-Sessions to which purpose a new Writ was made Rex c. Episc L. salutem Praecipimus tibi quod tu Cancellarius tuus vel alius deputatus tuus sufficienter eruditus sitis cum Justiciariis nostris ad pacem in com nostro B. conservand assignat apud D. tali die ad sessionem nostram tunc ibidem tenend ad dand consilium advisament eisdem Justitiariis nostris ad pacem super arraiment deliberationem offendet contra Formam statuti concernend sacrosanctum Sacramentum Altaris And by this Satute it was Enacted that the Sacrament should be delivered to the people under both Kindes viz. of Bread and Wine From thenceforth no Conge deslier shall be granted nor any Election An. 1 Ed. 6. Cap. 2. shall be made of any Archbishop or Bishop by the Dean and Chapter but when any Archbishoprick or Bishoprick shall be voided the King by his Letters Patents may confer the same to any person whom he shall think meet c All summons citations and other proces Ecclesiastical shall be made in the name and with the stile of the King as in the Writs of the common Law and the test thereof shall be in the name of the Archbishop or Bishop c. All persons that have the exercise of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction shall have in their Seals of Office the Kings Arms with certain characters under them for the knowledge of their dioces but the Archbishop of Canterbury shall use his own Seal and his own name in all faculties and dispensations A man speaking against the Kings Headship of the Church shall being An. 1 Ed. 6. Cap. 12. thereof attaint or convict forfeit all his Goods and Chattels to the King and suffer imprisonment during the Kings will and pleasure for the first offence and for the second offence forfeit to the King the whole issues and profits of all his Lands and all his Goods and Chattels and suffer perpetual imprisonment and for the third offence shall be adjudged a Traytor and suffer death and forfeit all his Goods and Chattels Lands and Tenements as in cases of High Treason And it shall be deemed Treason for any by Printing Writing or Deed to affirm the King not to be Head of the Church An Act for uniformity of Service and administration of Sacraments being An. 2 3 Ed. 6 Cap. 1. before divers and different viz. of Sarum of York of Bangor and of Lincoln and divers and sundry forms and fashions were used in Cathedrals and Parish-Churches of England and Wales as well concerning Mattens or Morning Prayer and the Evening Song as also concerning the holy Communion commonly called the Mass with divers and sundry rites and ceremonies concerning the same and in the administration of the Sacraments of the Church The Statute does inflict upon every Parson Vicar or other whatsoever Minister that ought or should say or sing the said Common Prayer mentioned in the said Book Entituled the Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and other rites and ceremonies of the Church after the use of the Church of England and shall refuse it or use any other form or shall Preach Declare or speak any thing in derogation of the said Book or any thing contained therein and be thereof lawfully convict by a Jury of twelve men or by confession shall forfeit to the King for the first offence the profit of all his Spiritual benefices and promotions arising in a whole year and