where their Extortion about Fees was by the Statute regulated Vide Rot. 31 Ed. 3. Cap. 4. The next thing wherein the wings of the Clergy were clipped was by the Statute of 16 Rich. 2. Cap. 5. which declares purchasing Bulls from the See of Rome unlawful and a Premunire so to do Vide 16 Rich. 2. Cap. 5. and ordains among diverse other things viz. Whereupon our Lord the King by the assent aforesaid and at the request of the said Commons hath ordained and established that if any purchase or pursue or cause to be purchased or pursued in the Court of Rome or elsewhere by any such Translations Processes or Sentences of Excommunications Bulls Instruments or any other things whatsoever which touch the King against him his Crown or his Regality or his Realm as is aforesaid and they which bring within the Realm or them receive or make thereof Notification or any other Execution whatsoever within the same Realm or without that they their Notaries Procurators Maintainers Abettors Factors and Councellors shall be put out of the Kings protection c. and shall forfeit all their Lands and Tenements Goods and Chattels and make Ransome to the King c. and that process be made against them by praemunire facias in manner as it is ordained in other Statures of Provisoes and others which do sue in any other Court in derogation of the Regality of our Lord the King. In Henry the Seventh's time we find the Clergy prayed Aid of the Common Law Vide H. 7. cap. 4. to help them to punish their Priests and Clerks for Incontinency Which Statute gives the Bishops power to punish such offender by their Episcopal Jurisdiction as was to them thought most meet and to be freed from any action to be brought against them for the same at Law. Thus they continued without any Interruption until the fatal time of Henry the Eighth and even in his time till the twenty first we do not find any great adding or diminishing from them or the power they pretended to by their Canon Law for it must be observed and it will not be denyed by any person but that still the power the Clergy of England ever had except what was given them by Statute Law was only the Canon Law brought with them from their unholy Mother the Church of Rome In 21 H. 8. cap. 13. Stat. 21 H. 8. cap. 13. Spiritual persons are abridged from having pluralities of Livings and from taking of Farms or to deal in Merchandize and that all Dispensations contrary to this Statute shall be void by which it seems the Clergy were Merchants for Temporals as well as Spiritual before that time In 23 H. 8. cap. 9. 23 H. 8. cap. 9. another Act was made which reaches their Court more especially than any before that time called viz. the Bill of Citetias in which Law the Arch-Bishops and Bishops are enjoyned not to cite any person out of their own Diocess where they live under a severe penalty except it be for Heresie and Probates of Wills in which Law is provided 10 l. damages besides cost to be recovered by the party grieved by action or otherwise Sect. 6 In the same Act Sect. 6. this very clause also is contained viz. And be it enacted by the Authority aforesaid that no Arch-Bishop or Bishop Ordinary Official Commissary or any other Substitute or Minister of the said Arch-Bishops Bishops Arch-Deacons or others having Spiritual Iurisdiction at any time from the Feast of Easter next coming shall ask demand take or receive of any of the Kings Subjects any summ or summs of money for the Seal oâ— any Citation afer the said Feast to be awarded or obtained then only 3 d. Sterling upon the pains and penalties afore limited contained and expressed in this present Act to be in like form recovered as is aforesaid But now though this Law is so plain as nothing can be made more plain yet to this day their Spiritual Courts Conscience are large enough to take instead of 3 d. for every Sealed Citation not less than 6 s. 8 d. or such like summ to the shame and reproach not only to themselves but even to the whole Nation that suffers such abuses to be put upon the people contrary to all Law and when remedy may easily be had In 24 H. 8. cap. 12. 24 H. 8. c. 12. Another Act was made which takes away all Appeals to the See of Rome and because it may most evidently appear that the Spiritual and Temporal Jurisdiction was ever a Flower to the Imperial Crown of this Realm I shall here insert in haec verba part of the second Section of that Statute viz. Sect. 2 And whereas the King and his most noble Progenitors and the Nobility and Commons of this Realm at diverse and sundry Parliaments as well in the time of King Edward the First Edward the Third Richard the Second Henry the Fourth and other Noble Kings of this Realm made sundry Ordinances Laws Statutes and Provisions for the entire and sure conservation of the prerogatives liberties and preheminencies of the said Imperial Crown of this Realm and of the Iurisdictions Spiritual and Temporal of the same to keep it from the Annoyance as well of the Sée of Rome as from the Authority of other foreign Potentates attempting the diminution or violation thereof as often and from time to time as any such annoyance or attempt might be known or espied and notwithstanding the said good Statutes and Ordinances made in the time of the Kings most noble Progenitors in preservation of the Authority and Prerogative of the said Imperial Crown as is aforesaid c. By which recital in this Statute it is most plain that all Spiritual Jurisdiction is and ought to be derived from and under the Prerogative of the King and the Imperial Crown of England as will more fully appear by the remaining part of the Statute too long here to be inserted But now in 25 H. 8. cap. â—9 25 H. 8. c. 19. the whole power of the Clergy and all their Authority is acknowledged to be in the King and all Canons to cease and they never to make more but by Commissions from and under him by virtue of that Act entituled viz. The Submission of the Clergy and restraint of Appeals Which begins thus viz. Whereas the Kings humble and obedient Subiects the Clergy of the Realm of England have not only acknowledged according to truth that the Convocations of the same Clergy is always hath béen and ought to be assembled only by the Kings Writ but also submitting themselves to the Kings Majesty have promised In verb Sacerdotii that they will never from henceforth presume to attempt alledge claim or put in ure enact promulge or execute any new Canons Constitutions Ordinances Provincial or others or by whatsoever name they shall be called in the Convocation unless the Kings most Royal assent and licente may to them be
the seaventeenth year of the late King Charles Intituled an Act for Repeal of a branch of Primo Elizabethe concerning Commissioners for Causes Ecclesiastical it is amongst other things enacted That no Archbishop Bishop or Vicar General nor any Ordinary whatsoever nor any other Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Iudge Officer or Minister of Iustice nor any other person or persons whatsoever exercising Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Power Authority or Iurisdiction by any Grant Licence or Commission of the Kings Majesty his Heirs or Successors or by any Power or Authority derived from the King his Heirs or Successors or otherwise shall from and after the first day of August which then should be in the year of our Lord God one thousand six hundred forty one Award Impose or Iuflict any Pain Penalty Fine Amerciament Imprisonment or other Corporal punishment upon any of the Kings Subjects for any contempt misdemeaner crime offence matter or thing whatsoever belonging to Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Cognizance or Iurisdiction without some doubt hath been made that all Ordinary power of coertion and proceedings in causes Ecclesiastical were taken away whereby the Ordinary course of Iustice in causes Ecclesiastical hath been obstructed Be it therefore Declared and Enacted by the Kings Most Excellent Majesty by and with the advice and consent of the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament assembled and by the Authority thereof that neither the said Act nor any thing therein contained doth or shall take away any ordinary Power or Authority from any of the said Archbishops Bishops or any other person or persons named as aforesaid but that they and every of them exercising Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction may proceed determine sentence execute and exercise all manner of Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction and all censures and coertions appertaining 〈◊〉 belonging to the same before the making of the Act before recited in all causes and matters belonging to Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction according to the Kings Majesties Ecclesiastical Laws used and practised within this Realm in as ample manner and form as they did and might lawfully have done before the making of the said Act. And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid that the aforesaid recited Act of Decimo Septimo Caroli and all the matters and clauses therein contained excepting what concerns the High Commission Court or the new Errection shall be and is hereby Repealed to all intent and purposes whatsoever any thing clause or sentence in the said Act contained to the contrary notwithstanding Provided always and it is hereby Enacted That neither this Act nor any thing herein contained shall extend or be construed to revive or give force to the said Branch of the said Statute made in the said Year of the Reign of the said late Queen Elizabeth mentioned in the said Act of Parliament made in the said Seventeenth Year of the Reign of the said King Charles but that the said Branch of the said Statute made in the said First year of the Reign of the said Queen Elizabeth shall stand and be Repealed in such sort as if this Act had never been made Provided also and it is hereby further Enacted That it shall not be Lawful for any Arch-Bishop Bishop Vicar-General Chancellor Commissary or any other Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Iudge Officer or Minister or any other person having or exercising Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction to Tender or Administer to any person whatsoever the Oath usually called the Oath Ex Officio or any other Oath whereby such person to whom the same is tendered or Administred may be charged or compelled to confess or accuse or to purge him or her self of any criminal matter or thing whereby he or she may be liable to Censure or Punishment Any thing in this Statute or any other Law Custome or Vsage heretofore to the Contrary hereof in any wise notwithstanding Provided always That this Act or any thing therein contained shall not extend or be construed to extend to give unto any Arch-Bishop Bishop or any other Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Iudge Officer or other person or persons aforesaid any Power or Authority to Exercise Execute Inflict or Determine any Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction Censure or Coertion which they might not by Law have done before the year of our Lord 1639 nor to abridge or diminish the Kings Majesties Supremacy in Ecclesiastical matters and affairs nor to conform the Commons made in the year 1640 nor any of them nor any other Ecclesiastical Laws or Cannons not formerly confirmed allowed or enacted by Parliament or by the Established Laws of the land as they stood in the year of our Lord 1639. So that then it follows that except they can find such an Act as this Repeals which must be one of the 17 of Charles the first this will not help them for they will not find that this in Law can repeal the Act made the 16 of Charles the first And what follows if they have acted all this while and had no legal power let the world Judge what a fine threed they have spun for themselves if either the King shall call them to account or any private man that hath been Excommunicated but it will be objected that this may be remedied it being but a mistake to which I answer it may be mended but it must be in Parliament But then it is objected That this Act of the 13th of this King intends them a power to hold Courts The Answer is plain very true it doth so but it must be according to the Kings Majesties Ecclesiastical Laws still and it must be from and under him as by Law and sure the Statutes before is the Law they must walk by until the same are truly and exactly Repealed But for a further Answer If they observe this Statute well and allow it to be a mistake as I affirm it is they are not at all the better for this of Car. 2d as to their Ecclesiastical power they now Act by if there were no mistake at all for this of Car. 2d does not help them in the least for in the last Paragraph of this Statute of the 13th of this King it is expresly said They shall have no more power than they had in the Year 1639. Then see what they had in 1639 it is most plain all the rest of the Statutes were then in force against them both of Henry the 8th and Edw. 6th Q. Eliz. and King James Laws For this very Sentence and Judgement in Parliament before recited was but in 1610. And I do aver they had no other power then but what those Laws gave them thus I have done with matter of Fact as it lies I leave all Men to judge and govern themselves as they shall see occasion and would be glad my Error might be corrected by them if in any thing I have misquoted or misrepresented the Case hopeing that a more judicious person will undertake to correct it in what way or Method he likes best There are Two or Three several
Highness her Heirs and Successors all manner of Iurisdictions Priviledges Preheminencies in any wise touching or concerning any Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction within these her Realms of England or Ireland or any other her Highness Dominions and Countries and to visit reform redress order correct and amend all such Errors Heresies Schisms Abuses Offences Contempts and Enormities whatsoever which by any manner Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Power Authority or Iurisdiction can or may Lawfully be Reformed Ordered Redressed Corrected Restrained or Amended to the Pleasure of Almighty God the increase of Vertue and the Conservation of the Peace and Vnity of this Realm And that such Person or Persons so to be Named Assigned Authorized and appointed by her Highness her Heirs or Successors after the said Letters Patents to him or them made and delivered as aforesaid should have full Power and Authority by Vertue of that Act and of the said Letters Patents under her Highness her Heirs or Successors to exercise use and Execute all the Premises accordidg to the Tenor and Effect of the said Letters Patents any matter or cause to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding And whereas by culler of some VVords in the aforesaid Branch of the said Act whereby Commissioners are Authorized to Execute their Commission according to the Tennor and effect of the Kings Letters Patents grounded thereupon the said Commissioners have to the great and in-Sufferable VVrong and Oppression of the Kings Subjects used to Fine and Imprison them and to exercise other Authority not belonging to Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction restored by that Act and divers other great Mischiefs and Inconveniencies have also ensued to the Kings Subjects by reason of the said Branch and Commissions issued thereupon and the Executions thereof Therefore for the Repressing and Preventing of the aforesaid Abuses Mischiefs and inconveniencies in time to come Be it Enacted by the Kings Most Excellent Majesty and the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament Assembled and by Authority of the same That the aforesaid Branch Clause Article or Sentence contained in the said Act and every word matter and thing Contained in that Branch Clause Article or Sentence shall from henceforth be Repealed Annulled Revoked Annihilated and utterly made void for Edect any thing in the said Act to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding And be it also Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That no Arch-Bishop Bishop or Vicar-General nor any Chancellor Official or Commissary of any Arch-Bishop Bishop a Vicar General nor any Ordinary whatsoever nor any other Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Iudge Officer or Minister of Iustice nor any other Person or Persons whatsoever exercising Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Power Authority or Iurisdiction by any Grant Licence or Commission of the Kings Majesty his Heirs and Successors or by any Power or Authority derived from the King his Heirs or Successors or otherwise shall from and after the first Day of August which shall be in the Year of our Lord God One Thousand Six Hundred Forty and One award impose or inflict any pain penalty fine amerciament imprisonment or other Corporal Punishment upon any of the Kings Subjects for any Contempt Misdemeanour Crime Offence matter or thing whatsoever belonging to Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Cognizance or Iurisdiction or shall Ex Officio or at the Instance or Promotion of any Person whatsoever Vrge enforce tender give or Minister unto any Church-warden Sideman or other Person whatsoever any corporal Oath whereby he or she shall or may be Charged or Oblieged to make any presentment of any Crime or Offence or to confess or accuse himself or her self of any Crime Offence Delinquency or Misdemeanour or any neglect matter or thing whereby or by reason whereof he or she shall or may be siable or exposed to any censure pain penalty or Punishment whatsoever upon pain and penaity that every person who shall offend contrary to this Statute shall forfeit and pay treble Dammages to every Person thereby grieved and the Summ of One Hundred pounds to him or them who shall first Demand and Sue for the same VVhich said Treble Dammages and Summ of One Hundred Pounds shall and may be Demanded and Recovered by Action of Debt Bill or Plaint in any Court of Record wherein no Priviledge Essoin Protection or VVager of Law shall be admitted or allowed to the Defendant And be it further Enacted That every Person who shall be once Convicted of any Act or Offence Prohibited by this Statute shall for such Act or Offence be from and after such Conviction utterly dissabled to be or continue in any Office or Imployment in any Courts of Iustice whatsoever or to exercise or execute any Power Authority or Iurisdiction by force of any Commission or Letters Patents of the King his Heirs or Successors And be it further Enacted That from and after the first Day of August no New Court shall be Erected Ordained or Appointed within this Realm of England or Dominion of Wales which shall or may have the like Power Iurisdiction or Authority as the said High Commission Court now hath or pretendeth to have but that all and every such Letters Patents Commissions and grants made or to be made by his Majesty his Heirs or Successors And all Power and Authority granted or pretended or mentioned to be granted thereby and all Acts Sentences and Decrees to be made by Vertue or Culler thereof shall be utterly void and of no effect After the making of this Act all Jurisdiction of the Spiritual Courts was wholly dain'd as appears plainly by the Statute Thus it stood still 13 Car. 2d Now in this Act of Car Primi it must be observed that it meddles no farther with the Act of Eliz. then that one branch about Commissions it meddles not with the Ecclesiastical power being in the Crown nor with the Statute 8 Eliz. Nor any thing of Edward 6. or Henry 8. which must be observed Thus then their power was wholly discontinued till the thirteenth of Charles 2d And then coming into their Bishopricks and great Estates they thought it hard that they must have their Spiritual Swords tied therefore all hands to work to get loose and so an Act is passed the 13 Charles 2d For Repeal of part of the Act Car Primi And now they thought all was sure but as it fell out this will do them no good at all neither for the Act which was intended to Repeal this Act of the 16 of Charles the first hath misrecited it and called it an Act made the 17 of Charles the first not only in the Title but all along in the body of the Act which is plain upon the Roll though not in the Statute Books viz. An Act for Explanation of a Clause contained in an Act of Parliament made in the seventeenth year of the late King Charles Intituled an Act of Repeal of a Branch of a Statute Primo Elizabethe concerning Commissions for Causes Ecclesiastical viz. VVhereas in an Act of Parliament made in
the Reverend Father in God Mathew Parker nominated Bishop of Canterbury and Edmond Grindale nominated Bishop of London And to our right Trusty and well beloved Councellor Francis Knowls our Vice-chamberlain and Ambrose Cave Knight And to our Trusty and well beloved Anthony Cooke and Thomas Smiths Knights William Bill our Almoner Walter Haddome and Thomas Sackford Masters of our Requests Rowland Hill and William Chester Knights Randoll Cholmely and John Southcote Serjeants at the Law William May Docter of Law Francis Cave Richard Goodrick and Gilbert Gerrard Esquires Robert Weston and _____ Hunck Doctors of Law Greeting Where as our Parliament holden at Westminster the Five and Twentieth Day of January and there continued and kept until the _____ Day of May then next following Amongst other things there was Two Acts and Statutes made and Established the one Intituled An Act for the Vniformity of the Common-Prayer and Service in the Church and Administration of the Sacraments And the other Intituled An Act Restoring to the Crown the Antient Jurisdiction of the State-Ecclesiastical and Spiritual and Abolishing all Forraign Power repugnant to the same As by the same several Acts more at large doth appear And whereas divers Seditious and Slanderous Persons do not cease dayly to invent and set forth false Rumours Tales and Seditious Slanders not only against us and the said good Laws and Statutes but also have set forth divers Seditious Books within this our Realm of England meaning thereby to move and procure Strife Division Dissention amongst our Loving and Obedient Subjects much to the Disquieting of us and our People Wherefore we earnestly minding to have the same Acts before mentioned to be duely put in Execution and such Persons as shall hereafter Offend in any thing contrary to the Tenor and Effect of the said several Statutes to be accordingly punished and haveing Especial Trust and Confidence in your Wisdoms and Discretion have Authorized Assigned and Appointed you to be our Commissioners And by these Presents do give our full Power and Authority to you or Six of you whereof you the said Matthew Parker Edmond Grendale Thomas Smith Walter Haddon Thomas Sack-ford Richard Godrick and Gilbert Gerrard to be one from time to time hereafter dureing our pleasure to Inquire as well by the Oaths of Twelve Good and Lawful Men as also by Witnesses and all other Lawful ways and means you can devise for all Offences Misdoers and Misdemeanors done and committed of them and hereafter to be committed or done contrary to the Tenor and Effect of the said several Acts and Statutes and either of them and also of all and singular Heretical Opinions Seditious Books Contempts Conspiracies false Rumours Tales Seditious-Misbehaviours Slanderous Words or Shewings published invented or set forth or hereafter to be published invented or set forth by any Person or Persons against us or contrary or against any of the Laws or Statutes of this our Realm or against the quiet Governance and rule of our People and Subjects in any County City Burrough or other place or places within this our Realm of England and of all and every the Coad jutors Councellors Comforters Procurers and Abbettors of any such Offender And further We do give Power and Authority to you or six of you Whereof the said Mathow Parker Edmond Grindale Thomas Smith Walter Haddon Thomas Sack-ford Richard Godrick or Gilbert Gerrard to be one from time to time hereafter during our pleasure as well to hear and determine all the premises as also to inquire hear and determine all and singular enormities disturbance and misbehaviors done and committed or hereafter to be done and committed in any Church or Chappel or against any Divine service or the Minister or Ministers of the same contrary to the Laws and Statutes of this Realm and also to enquire oft search out and to order correct and reform all such persons as hereafter shall or will obstinately absent themselves from Church and such Divine Service as by the Laws and Statutes of this Realm is appointed to be had and used And also we do give and grant full power and Authority to you or six of you whereof you the said Mathew Parker Edmond Grindale Thomas Smith Walter Haddon Thomas Sack-ford Richard Godrick or Gilbert Gerrard to be one from time to time and at all times during our pleasure to visit reform redress order correct and amend in all places within this our Realm of England all such Errors Heresies Schisms Abuses Offences Contempts and Enormities Spiritual and Ecclesiastical wheresoever which by any Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Power Authority or Jurisdiction can or may be lawfully reformed ordered redressed corrected restrained or amended to the pleasure of Almighty God the encrease of Vertue and the Conservation of the Peace and Unity of this our Realm and according to the Authority and power limitted given and Appointed by any Laws or Statutes of this Realm And also that you and six of you whereof the said Mathew Parker Edmond Grindale Thomas Smith Walter Haddon Thomas Sack-ford Richard Godrick or Gilbert Gerrard to be one shall likewise have full power and Authority from time to time to enquire oft and search out all Mercilesimen quarrels Vagarant and suspected persons within our City of London and ten Miles Compass about the same City and of all assaults and affrays done and committed within the same City and the compass aforesaid And also we give full power and Authority unto you and six of you as before sumerly to hear and finally determine according to your discretions and by the Laws of this Realm all Causes and Complaints of all them which in respect of Religion or for lawfully Matrimony contracted and allowed by the same where injuriously deprived defrauded or spoiled of their Lands Goods Possessions Rights Dignities Livings Offices Spiritual or Temporal and them so deprived as before to restore unto their said livings and to put them into possession amoveing the Usurpers in convenient speed as it shall seem to your discretions good by your Letters Message or otherwise all frustratory appellations clearly rejected And further we do give Power and Authority unto you and six of you whereof you the said Mathew Parker Edmond Grindale Thomas Smith Walter Hadden Thomas Sack-ford Richard Godrick or Gilbert Gerrard to be one by vertue hereof full Power and Authority not only to hear and determine the same and all other Offences and matters before mentioned and rehearsed but also all other Notorious and manifest advoutry and Fornications and Ecclesiastical crimes and offences within this our Realm according to your Wisdoms Consciences and Discretions willing and commanding you or six of you whereof you the said Mathew Parker Edmond Grindale Thomas Smith Walter Haddon Thomas Sack-ford Richard Godrick or Gilbert Gerrard to be one from time to time hereafter to use and devise all such pollitick ways and means for the Tryal and Searching out of all the premises as by you or six of you as
as we suppose considering that they are already limited and confined as no Antient Canon or Spiritual Laws are in force that are either contrary to the Laws Statutes or Customes of this Realm or tend to the Dammage or Hurt of our Prerogative Royal. For the Grievances apprehended in the Commission First a Soveraign King being Mixta Persona and having Authority as well in Causes Ecclesiastical as Temporal it was with great Wisdom ordained Matters of the Church being many ways impugned and the Censures of it grown into contempt That there should be a Commission consisting as well of Temporal as Ecclesiastical Persons who might have power for one Offence at one time and by one sentence to inflict as there should be cause both Spiritual and Temporal punishment but as to the Inquiry by Juries it hath not for many Years been practised And we are content that hereafter it be omitted in our Commission And concerning Appeals the use hath always been to exclude them in Commissions of this nature And yet if any of our Subjects shall be justly grieved with any Sentence given by our Commissioners we shall be content as we find just cause to grant unto them a Commission of Review Also for the Execution of divers Statutes aimed at in your Grievances although it hath been from time to time committed in some sort unto our Commissioners And that every such Commission hath been still penned by the Attorney-General with the Advice of the chief Temporal Judges yet we are well pleased and will give commandment accordingly that our Temporal and Ecclesiastical Judges assisted with our Learned Council shall confer together concerning the Exceptions by you taken to the end that hereafter our said Commissioners may have no further power to intermeddle with the Execution of any part of the said Statutes then it shall be found fit for our Service necessary for the suppressing of Popery and Schism and no ways repugnant to the Laws and Pollices of this our Realm But for making any Innovations in the forms and proceedings heretofore used by our said Commissioners we know no cause to depart therein from the Examples of our Progenitors nor from that which the Laws of this our Kingdom hath Approved And touching Fees since it is a Court by Statute erected and no Fees in the Statute expressed it was very fit That the Commissioners should have Authority to limit and Appoint to every Officer his Reasonable Fees And we will commend the further care thereof to some Principal person of our Commissioner to take a view of them and as to reform what they find amiss so to Establish such as shall be Moderate and Reasonable touching the Grievances found in the Execution of the Commission We know that there is no Commission nor Court either of Ecclesiastical or Temporal Jurisdiction but may be subject more or less to Abuse in the execution of their Authority Nevertheless it is Our part to have our Ear open to receive Complaints of that kind especially from our Parliament when we shall find them to be just And therefore our purpose is to see such Reformation made of all Abuses made in the execution of the said Commission as may best procure the ease of Our Subject from charge of Vexation And such punishment to be inflicted upon any Pursivants or other inferior Ministers which shall be Offenders as may repress such Misdemeanors in time to come Sure if this Record be considered there is ground enough to justifie that the Spiritual Courts cannot be holden but by the Kings Commission Therefore I need say no more the Case being plain the Law was so to this Year of 1610. which I set down the rather because a use will be made of it by and by But in King Charles the First 's time the Bishops cast about them how to get rid of these Shackles And therefore in Bishop Laud's time the point about Holding Courts in their own Names without the Kings Commission was by him stated and in the Star-Chamber where he ruled the Rost got the Judges there tho' it was but an extra Judicial Judgment to declare in their favour which was easie enough to be done when both the Judges and His Grace were resolved upon the point for those very Judges most of them were the same that gave their Judgment about the Shipp-Money And we know what became of that Judgment and them And for your Prelate he met with his due at Tower-Hill after but before his Lordship had finished his Ministry so prevalent he was that I am told he got a Proclamation to publish the Extra judicial Opinion which made a great noise in the World for Noyse and Decency was all along the Cheat that was put upon the People in those Days by that Prelate and his Gang. But I think no Man will say that that Extra Judicial Opinion is either equal with the Statute Law or with the Judgement of Parliament therefore I shall say no more but proceed After that Extra Judical Opinion of the Judges and by means of the long Intervals of Parliament the Spiritual Courts as well as the Star-Chamber were Lords Paramont and so great that they became a most Heavy Burden to the people of all sorts therefore before the Troubles began the Parliament in 16 Car. primi made an Act to take away the Power that was given by the Statute of 1 Eliz. for the Granting any Commissions at all by which means they well knew that no Courts could be held at all And therefore an Act passed to Repeal that Branch of the Statute of 1 Eliz. which was only one Clause about the granting Commissions as by the Act of Car. primi appears and all Spiritual Courts were utterly Abolished by that Act The Title of the Act runs thus VIZ. A Repeal of the Brauch of a Statute primo Elizabethe concerning Commissions for Causes Ecclesiastical VVhereas in the Parliament holden in the first Year of the Reign of the late Queen Elizabeth 16 Car. c. 11. late Queen of England there was an Act made and Established Intituled An Act Restoring to the Crown the Antient Jurisdiction over the State Ecclesiastical and Spiritual and Abolishing all Forreign Power Repugnant to the same In which Act amongst other things there is contained one Clause Branch Article or Sentence whereby it was Enacted to this effect Namely That the said late Queens Highness her Heirs and Successors Kings or Queens of this Realm should have full Power and Authority by vertue of that Act by Letters Patents under the Great Seal of England to Assign Name and Authorize when and as often as her Highness her Heirs or Successours should think meet and Convenient and for such and so long time as should please her Highness her Heirs or Successors such Person or Persons being Natural Born Subjects to her Highness her Heirs or Successors as her Majesty her Heirs or Successors should think meet to exercise use occupy and execute under her
Objections which I have met with in this Affair the First is this That the King permits it and if any wrong be done by the Spiritual Courts it is to him and what hath any private person to do to concern himself therein In that the King may pass it by 't is true but wrong may be done by these Courts to the Subject as well as to the King and there may be Damage to a single Person by these Courts by being Excommunicated which cannot be to the King and whoever suffers under that Burden hath cause enough to complain and seek their Remedy tho' the King think fit to forgive the wrong done to himself The other Objection is That the Course of the Ecclesiastical Courts hath been such time out of mind and no hurt comes to the Subject by their Courts whether it be done by Commission or not To which I Answer That I never yet heard of any Good ever did come from those Courts but many have been ruined and undone by them And in the next place for their Custome time out of mind there is no such thing if Custome should prevail against Law which it cannot be for the longest time they can bring for this Custome is but 1610 at the furthest time and there are some persons yet living can remember that time But I believe it will be hard for them to prove that they exercised Ecclesiastical Power by their own Authority in any time in the Reign of King James However if they do they cannot make it a Law for an evil Custom against Law never yet made a Law and for them to say Custome will carry it the Highway-Man may as well plead the same for Robbery and say Oh Sir I have been accustomed to Rob tho' there be a Law against it There is another Objection which carries as little weight as the rest and that is the Opinion of the Judges in the Star-Chamber which ought to have the Answer that before is given that it was an Extra-Judicial Opinion and given at such a time and by the same Judges that over-ruled the Plea of the Lord Hollis and Elliot which was many Years after reversed in Parliament Therefore to Sum up all the case lies thus before the 20 of H. the 8. The Spiritual Jurisdiction and all the proceedings in England by the Ecclesiastical Courts was by from and under the power and authority of the See of Rome and by there Cannon Law afterwards to the end of his Reign all that power was invested wholly in the King and no authority belonged to them in any matters whatever but what must be derived by from and under him King Edward the 6. of Famous memory did by his honest and wise Councel not only approve of what was dune in the Church affairs in H. the 8ths time but goes on furder and takes away the very form and mould of the Spiritual Courts by making a Law that those Courts should not so much as beheld in their one name but in the name of the King and all there Citations and Prosses whatever was to be in the Kings name as in Judicial proceeding at Law and the Bishops name of the Diosess to be at the bottom as test to the writ and not as Lord Paramount the Kings authority and by this Kings Law they were not to use any Seal to the Court but with the Kings Arms in Graven so it rested in his time Queen Mary she came in Popishly affected and by the help of Cardinal Poole Legate from Rome prevails with her for the good of her Soul and Honour to the unholy Church of Rome to pass an Act called an Act of repeal to take away all those Laws that abridged the Power and Supremacy of the See of Rome sence the 20 year of H. the 8. And as some will have it this Law of Edward the 6. must be meant to be one of those but what reason can be in Law given is not yet known for it is not perticularly Repealed as other Laws are in that Statute of Repeal and then in the next place being not so perticularly it is believed it could not be Repealed by that Act of Repeal because that in the very same Act it doth set fourth perticularly all other Acts intended to be repealed and not that Then Queen Elizabeth in her first year Repealed the Act of Repeal made in Queen Mary's days and restores all again as was in Henry the 8ths time and Edward the 6. And declared particularly that all manner of Ecclesiastical power must be from and under her and by her Authority and none else and more particularly to shew all the Church power was then lost without new power given by that Act a Clause is incerted in the said Act that She and her Successors shall give command under the great Seal of England to such commmissions as she pleased from time to time to hold Court Ecclesiastical and not otherwise To the same effect it is again declared by the Statute made the 8th of her Reign And it is most certain that by Vertue of the Clause in that Statute Primo Eliz. That gives power of granting Commissions to hold Spiritual Courts they did Act and without it neither Queen or King could grant such Commissions nor they hold any Courts without such Commissions Thus then it continued all the time of Q. Eliz. and by such Commissions they acted and no other Authority was known nor from her time can they shew other Authority to impower them but on the contrary they will find themselves lessened For in King Jame's time they acted by the same Authority and in full Parliament in 1610 it was owned of all hands In King Charles the first 's time the Spiritual Courts became a Burden to the Nation so great that the people were not able to bear them although they did Act by such Commissions or at least ought so to do which appears plain by the Statute 16 Car Primi which takes away all their whole power and as a reason or means to take away their power what do the Parliament do why it is most clear both by the Title and Body of the Act they tell you they must repeal that part of the Law of Q. Eliz. that gave power to grant Commissions for them to hold Spiritual Courts Therefore the taking away and Repealing that Branch of the Statute of Eliz. that gives power to grant Commissions it was taken for grant then that they had no power at all For no more of that Statute was Repealed is evident then what related to the Comissions they did not let them loose to Act as before it was so far from that that it appears they intended not to let them Act at all neither under the King in his Name nor any otherways whatever then in this of Car. 2d The Ecclesiastical persons meant to Repeal the Act of Primo Car. But mistook the year so in truth they did nothing at all but they may be liable to be called to account for all they have acted ever since nor can they Act with safety till this Law be mended for Acts of Parliament must be punctually repealed and exactly recited or else in Law it will not do But if that had been well Repealed it is far short of giving them any power for it is only to take away the Clause that was repealed about given Commissions to hold Courts but gives them no new power at all it doth not tell them notwithstanding the Laws of H. 8. Ed. 6. The rest of the Statutes of Elizabeth and the practice in King James time that they shall hold Courts in their own Names no it is so far from that that the Act saith expresly they shall have no other power by this Act or was it intended them then what they had in 1639 now if they can shew that they had any power given them between the year 1610 to the year 1639. Then I say they are right and may go on if not I appeal to all mankind what culler or pretence these men can have to hold Courts Spiritual at all much less by their own Prerogative or in their own Names which I take to be as unlawful and as directly against the Kings Prerogative as any thing can be For that since all power Spiritual and Temporal is by Law invested in the King they may as well hold Courts again under the Popes Authority and in his Name as in their own Names and it is a wonderful thing to consider that these Churchmen who cry down all for Phanaticks and tells the World at every turn they are Sedious and Disloyal that do not obey the Kings Laws and say as they say although sometimes they say and do they know not what themselves And yet what Phanatick is there this day in England does or ever did make so bold with the Kings Prerogative as these high Churchmen who in every of their Courts as they call them and every process they make say in effect as the great Cardinal Woolsey did when in his splender and glory in England Ego Rex meos But I considering we are here discoursing of Protestant Churchmen and knowing well their very Tongues are tipped with Loyalty We must not therefore venture to say more or meddle further then to beg their Charitable opinion once to a Discenter both from their Courts and Cannons FINIS