and themselves And lastly the disputes whether Tithes could be appropriated to Monasteries But considering how this would have swell'd this Discourse I have wholly laid them by SECT II. What kind of Alienations have been allowed by the Canons and Constitutions of the Church Concerning the Decree of Pope Symmachus I Shall therefore in the first place shew you in what cases Alienations of Church Lands are allowed even by the Canons And first I shall note something concerning the Decree of Pope Symmachus which the Author of the Letter to Dr. Burnet principally insists upon A Synod was held at Rome under this Pope and called (a) Binnius Tom. 3. Fol. 693. and 694. Palmaris because celebrated in the Porch of the Church of St. Peter called Palmaria In this Synod at the request of the Council Symmachus caused to be Read by Hormisda the Deacon the Constitution of Odoacer King of the Heruli Published by Basilius his Praefectus Praetoriae Wherein under the Pain of Excommunication he had forbid any to alienate the Goods of the Church This was exploded by the Synod because it was a Law of a Lay-person concerning Church-affairs especially because no Lay-men could appoint the Penalty of Excommunication So Symmachus produceth his own Constitution as it is in the Decretal only the last clause b is very different in Binnius from what is in the Decretal (a) Hujus autem constitutionis legem in Apostoli â tantum volumus sede servari In universis Ecclesiis per Provincias secundum Animarum considâ—rationem quam proposito Religionis Convenire Rectores eorum viderint more servato Ibid. For in the Council it is thus That we will the Law of this Constitution only to be observed in the Apostolic See in all the Churches of the Provinces according to the consideration of Souls the use and custom being observed which the Rectors should see to be agreable to the purport of Religion But in the Decretal it is thus (c) Quod non modo in Apostolica servandum est Ecclesiâ verumetiam universis Ecclesiis per Provincias quidem dicitur convenire 12. q. 2. non liceat Papae This Canon is not only to be observed in the Apostolic Church but is said to be convenient to be observed in all the Churches through the respective Provinces By all which it appears that it was the Pope's peculiar Constitution made before and approv'd of by the Synod and extended only to the Suburbican Diocess of Rome and was not universally obliging which as well as other Reasons might induce (d) Simons History of Ecclesiastical Revenues a late Learned Author to assert that there was a time when the Pope entred not into the cognizance of the Goods of the Churches which depended not on his Diocess I shall now shew you some cases wherein Alienations are allowed even by the Canons so that you may confront these to the Canons produced by you In the 16th Canon of the 8th Council in the time of Hadrian (e) 12. q. 2. Apâ—stolicos paternos Canones the second Pope it is declared that the Holy Vessels may be Alienated for the Redemption of Captives the like St. Gregory (f) Lib. 6. Ep. 15. seu cap. 199. declares to Demetrius and Valerianus Clerks of the Church of Firman concerning 10 l. given by Fabius the Bishop of Mony belonging to the Church for the Redemption of them and their Father Passivus the Bishop Alienations for Redemption of Captives which they were affraid might be required to be repayed and St. Gregory acquits them of it You may say these Instances are only of Charities Therefore I shall now shew that in all cases Alienations according to the (g) 12. q. 2. Alienatiores â—â—â—niuâ—i Canon Law appear to be valid where the consent of the Clerks of the Church to the Grant of the Bishop is obtained Otherwise Pope Vrban had not Decreed that Alienations of all by Intrusions or of those Canonically Elected by the Name of Bishop or Abbot Alienations are valid where the Bishop and Chapter or Abbot and Convent joyns who ought to be Consecrated according to the Vse of his Church to be void if made without the Common consent of the Clerks of the Church By which it is manifest that there had been no need of that exception if such Alienation with the consent of the said Clergy had not been valid in Law. Which is more clear in the third Council (h) 12. q. 2. Abbatibus Presbyteris of Orleans C. 23. where the Canon expresseth that it shall not be lawful to Abbots Presbyters or other Ministers to Alienate Ecclesiastical Goods or things in Holy Ministry nor Pawn them without the Permission and Subscription of the Bishop c. So that it is evident that the Bishop or Abbot with his Clerks or Convents may by Authority of their Constitutions Alienate both Church-Lands and Sacred Vessels It further appears that upon necessity either the Bishop or his Clergy may Alienate the Lands c. of the Church For in the Council of Carthage (i) 12. q 2. placuit ut Presbyteri c. 5. c. ult I find it Decreed that the Presbyters shall Sell nothing belonging to the Church the Bishop not being privy to it Alienations upon necessity nor the Bishops not consulting the Council viz. their Canons or all the Presbytery without necessity So that it seems there may be some necessity which may be thought sufficient to Legitimate an Injust or uncanonical Alienation and I hope to make it appear that there could happen no greater necessity at any time than that which occasioned Pope Julius the 3d. to grant the Power to Cardinal Pool for Assuring the Abby-Lands to the Possessors how unjustly soever they had obtained them Having thus cleared Application that by the Canons there may be Alienations of Church Revenues notwithstanding the positive Canons to the contrary I shall only add that the Pope ex plenitudine Potestatis hath Power to dispense with Canons Decrees c. I shall therefore close this Section with what I find cited by a Learned (k) Bail. summa conciliorum Apparatus q. 58. Author out of St. Thomas Aquinas The Question propounded is Whether the Pope may change the Statutes of the Holy Fathers in General Councils or dispense with them In Answer to this (l) Tract contra impugnatores Religionis 25. in cap. coâ—tra q. 1. contra statuta patrum condere aliquid aut mutare Authoritas quidem hâ—jus sedis non potest St. Thomas holds the Affirmative And whereas that of Zozimus the Pope is urged which expresly determins that the Authority of the Roman See cannot change Statutes of the Fathers or Establish any thing contrary to them He replies to it that in those things which the Statutes of the Fathers have Decreed to be of Divine Right it is true But those things which the Holy Fathers have determined of positive
shew their duty by the Canons is to preserve the Goods of the Church and the care of Souls was committed to them and they were apointed Defenders Curators of the goods Jurisdictions and Rights of the said Churches by the dispositin of the Holy Canons Therefore they ought with the remedies of Law to recover to the ancient Right of the Church the Goods Jurisdictions Rights of the Church (q) de perâ—â—â—â— amâ—â—â—a spent or lost in the late pernicious Schism The reasons why they desire their confirmation as preferring public Peace before privat commodity Nevertheless having had among themselves mature counsel and deliberation they do ingenuously confess themselves best able to know how difficult and as it were impossible the recovery of the Goods of the Ecclesiastics would be by reason of the manifest and almost inextricable Contracts and Dispositions had upon them and if those things should be questioned the quiet and tranquility of the Kingdom would be greatly disturbed and the unity of the Catholic Church which by the Piety and Authority of their Majesties was introduced into the Kingdom with greatest difficulty could obtain no due progress or finishing Therefore preferring the public quiet before privat commodities and the health of so many Souls redeemed with the precious Blood of Christ before earthly Goods not seeking their own Profit but the things of Jesus Christ They earnestly request and most humbly supplicate their Majesties in their names to communicate these things to the Legat and vouchsafe to intercede Here note by Goods Bona in the Canon-law all Lands as well as Chattels are comprehended That concerning these Ecclesiastical Goods in part or in whole according to his pleasure and the Faculty and Power given him by the most holy Lord the Pope he would enlarge or set at liberty and relax the detainers of those goods preferring public good before private Peace and Tranquility before Dissolution and Perturbation and the health of Souls before earthly Goods They giving their assents to whatever he should do and that in the premises he would not be strict or difficult The Dispensation of the Cardinal Then follows the Cardinal's Dispensation wherein after the recital of the several breaches of the supplication of the Parliament and the uncanonical things that had been done it is added The reasons laid down why the Cardinal dispenseth c. That as to Ecclesiastical Goods they were seized and possessed by divers persons of the Kingdom which tho' by the Constitutions of the Canons they might be declared void yet if they should be revoked into any other State than in which they then were the public Peace and Quiet of the whole Kingdom would be disturbed and the greatest Confusion would follow especially if the possessors of the same Goods should be molested Therefore the Parliament have humbly supplicated their Majesties that they would vouchsafe to intercede with the Cardinal And whereas the Bishop the Clergy of the Province of Canterbury representing almost the whole body of the Ecclesiastics of the Kingdom to whom the cause of those Ecclesiastic Goods do mostly appertain have declared That these Goods cannot be recalled to the Right of the Church but the universal Peace and Quiet of the Kingdom will be disturbed and the cause of the Faith and the Unity of the Church now by the consent of all introduced into the Kingdom shall be brought into extreme danger and have supplicated c. as before is rehearsed The Cardinal's Authority Therefore We who are sent Legat de latere to your Majesties and this most Noble Kingdom from our most holy Lord Pope Julius III. his and the Apostolic See That we might reconcile the Kingdom which hath so long been separated from the Unity of the Catholic Church to God the Church of Christ and his Vicar upon Earth and should with all study procure all those things which appertain to the Peace and Tranquillity of the Kingdom After by the benignity of God and the Piety of your Majesties by the Authority of the said our most holy Lord the Pope whose Person We here represent the Reconciliation is made That we may take care for the Peace and Tranquillity of the said Kingdom and the Unity of the Church from whence the Salvation of so many Souls redeemed by the precious Blood of Christ depends now introduced into this Kingdom may be strengthened and remain safe The stability of the Reconciliation the Peace consists in the assurance of Abby-Lands And whereas the stability of either of them consists mostly in that no molestation be brought upon the Possessors of Ecclesiastical Goods whereby they may not retain them which so many and such grave Testimonies cause us to believe and the Intercession of your Majesties who have so studiously and holily labored for restoring the Unity of the Church and the Authority of the Apostolic See may have that Authority with us that is fit and that the whole Kingdom may know and in truth and reality experience the Motherly Indulgence of the Apostolic See towards it Absolving and judging to be absolved every one to whom these Writings may appertain from all Excommunications Suspensions Interdicts and other Eâ—clesiastic Sentences Censures and Punishments by Law or by Man upon any occasion or cause whatsoever Pronounced if for the cause aforesaid only they be inflicted And so the Cardinal passeth to the particulars in the Supplication And lastly as to the Ecclesiastic Goods adds these words The words of the Dispensation and confirmation of Abby-lands notwithstanding Canons and constitutions c. to the contrary And to whatever person of this Kingdom to whose hands Ecclesiastic Goods by whatever contract either Lucrative or Onerose they have come or they have held or do hold them and all the Fruits tho' unduly received of them in the whole he doth remit and release Willing and decernning that the Possessors aforesaid of the said Ecclesiastic Goods Moveable and Immoveable may not at present or for the future by the Dispositions of General or Provincial Councils or the Decretal Epistles of Roman Bishops or any other Ecclesiastic Censure be molested disquieted or disturbed in the said Goods or the Possession of them nor that any Ecclesiastic Censures or Punishment be Imposed or Inflicted for the detention and Non-Restitution of the same and so by all kind of Judges and Auditors it ought to be adjudged and defined taking from them all kind of Faculty and Authority of Judging otherwise and decerning it to be Null and void if any thing happen to be attempted to the contrary Notwithstanding the foresaid defects or whatever Apostolic Special or General Constitutions and Ordinances Published in Provincial and Synodal Councils to the contrary An Admonition to those that do hold the Goods of the Church and an exhortation to allow maintenance to Parish Parsons and Vicars Then follows the Admonition that tho' all the Moveable things of the Churches were
Tom. 1. fol. 156. c. 2. D. Omnes tales praesumptores Ecclesiae raptoresatque suarum facultatum Alienatores a liminibus sanctae matris Ecclesiae Anathematizatos Apostolica Authoritate pellimus denunciamus atque Sacrilegos esse judicamus non solum eos sed omnes consentientes eis Pope Lucius who lived about the year 253 where the Pope speaking of those who vexed the Bishops of France and Spain about the Possessions of their Churches and the Offerings of the Faithful saith That according to the Examples of the Prophets and Apostles and their Successors and all the Catholic Fathers this was adjudged Sacrilege Therefore the Pope following the said Examples expels all Foretakers Robbers of the Church and Alienators of their Profits from the Threshold of the Holy Mother Church by Apostolic authority excommunicates them Condemns them and judgeth them Sacrilegious and not only those who depriv'd the Bishops and their Churches of the offerings but all such as consented to them So in the 2d (e) Qua Divinis sunt Assignata usibus ad humanos usus sine Sacrilegio non posse transferri Idem f. 83. Epistle of Pope Pius I. An. 155. it is expressed That those things which are assign'd to Pious Vses cannot be transferr'd to Human Vses without Sacrilege And so he orders such to be esteemed and judged In the Council of (f) Concilium Agathense Id. to 3. fol. 712. Col. 1. c. â— Agatha in the time of P. Symmachus about Anno 506 cap. 1. n. 7. it is thus decreed Casellas vel mancipiola Ecclesiae sicut prisca Canonum praecipit Authoritas vel vasa ministerii quasi commendata fideli praeposito in Integro Ecclesiae Jure possideant Ideoque ut neque vendere neque per quoscunque contractus res unde pauperes vivunt alienare praesument Which is to be rendred thus That the Churches in full right possess the Houses and Farms and the Vessels of Vse in the Holy Offices as commended to a faithful Steward as the ancient Authority of the Canons command so as none presume to sell or by any contracts alienate those things on which the poor live So in the (g) Indigne enim ad Altare Dei properare permittitur quires Ecclesiasticas audet invadere c. sixth Synod under the same Pope in the time of Theodoric the King it is thus expressed He is unworthily permitted to approach the Altar of God that dare invade Ecclesiastic Goods or unjustly that is without the Bishop's License possess them or wickedly or unjustly persist in the defence of such possession And further it is declared That such are to be judged Murderers of the Poor and if they amend not the fault are to be Excommunicated In the third Council of (h) Haec Synodus nulli Episcoporum licentiam tribuit res alienare Ecclesiae quoniam Antiquioribus Canonibus prohibetur Idem Tom. 4. fol. 503. Toledo it is decreed That no Bishop have Power or License to alienate the Goods of the Church because by ancient Canons it is forbid So in the Decretals 12. q. 2. Pope Stephen I. or as the lesser Gloss Pope Anaclet I. decrees That he shall be reputed a Manslayer that takes away defrauds or robs the Moneys i.e. any Profits of Christ and the Church for which Ivo may be consulted p. 3. c. 18. You further urge the seventh Synod (i) Si quis Episcopus vel Monasterii Praefectus inventus fuerit ex Episcopatus vel Monasterii Agris in Principis alicujus manus alienare vel alteri personae tradere nullius sit momenti Traditio Idem Tom. 6. fol. 124. of Nice under Constantine and Irene wherein it is thus decreed That if any Bishop or Superiour of a Monastery be found to alienate into the hands of any Prince or deliver to another person thâ— Lands of the Bishopric or Monastery such Alienation shall be of no force You refer me also to the Council of Milden (k) Idem Tom. 6. fol. 410 C. D. under â—ope Sergius II. wherein the Decree is in these words Quapropter secundum Statuta Canonum ab omni Ecclesiastica Communione ut Sacrilegus debet Arceri si quis quod Venerabilibus locis relinquitur vel pravae voluntatis studiis suis tentaverit compendiis retinere Which I translate thus Whâ—refore according to the Statute of the Canons if any by the study of a depraâ—ed will attempt to restrain that to his own use which is bestowed on Venerable places viz. Churches Monasteries c. he ought to be driven from Ecclesiastical Communion as a Sacrilegious person The last thing you urge is That I will peruse the Collection of the Decrees of Councils (l) 12. q. 2 pertotum and Epistles of the Popes against Alienations of Lands or Goods once given to the Church in the Canon-Law I know you expect a very positive Answer to these Canons which you think bind all that are or shall be in Communion of the Church of Rome and with the Author of the Letter to (m) p. 11. Dr. Burnet are ready to say That a man may as well be a Papist and not believe Transubstantiation nor worship the Host as be one and still enjoy Church-Lands and that no Confessor that understands the Principles of his own Religion can give Absolution to such as are involved in that Guilt without Restitution This is the sum of the Charge and I shall own that it is Incumbent upon the Governors of the Church to secure by Canons and Constitutions the rights of it both as to Jurisdiction and Patrimony The like we find enacted in our own Kingdom since the Reformation (n) Parsons Law p. 26. 1 and 13 Eliz. and 1 and 3 Jac. 1. Whereby Bishops and all other Ecclesiastical persons are restrained to Alien or discontinue any of their Ecclesiastical Lands or Livings and if they convey or Alien any of their Lands or Possessions altho ' it be to the (o) Cokes Reports Magdalin Col. case Kings Majesty himself is void in Law. All that I shall therefore endeavor to clear is that in some cases even by other Canons the dispensation with the Rigor of those you mention are allow'd and that several Popes by the plenitude of their Power have dispensed with them I had Collected out of Mr. Selden and others a large account how in the Primitive times according to the Authority of (p) Apolo cap. 39. and 42. Tertullian and St. (q) Ep. 266. you may see for these Syn. Gang. Can. 66. Selden Hist 83 84. Cyprian who lived about An. 200 and 250 after our Saviour that the maintenance of the Clergy was then by Monthly or frequenter Offerings and the last Father compares them to the Roman Sportula (r) Gelasii Dec. c. 27. Ivo Decre part 3. c. 115. Also I had noted when Tithes began to be first Introduced how the Founders of Churches Arbitrarily divided the portions of Tithes betwixt the Incumbents
right those are left under the disposition of the Pope that he may change them or dispense with them according to the opportunities of times or Countries and that the words of the Decrees may be altered (m) Servata intentione statuentium quae est utilitas Ecclesiae sicut in omni jurâ— positivo accidiâ— c. and yet the Intention of the Decrees be observed which is the profit of the Church as it happens in all positive Laws where subsequent Statutes derogate from the former I might clog you with Authorities to prove this but matter of Fact will clear it better to which I pass SECT III. Several Instances of Alienations of Ecclesiastical Revenues from the Churches or Religious Houses they were at their first Dedication conferred on in Ancienter times The History of Charles Martel THE generality of late Historians who have occasion to speak of Charles Martel accuse him as one of the first that committed manifest Sacrilege therefore I think my self obliged to refresh your memory with the most material passages of his Life relating to these matters In Paulus Aemylius (a) De Rebus Gesi is Francorum fol. 55. ad 67. you may find an account of his Noble Descent from Ausbert a Duke and Blitilda Daughter of Clothair the second King of France whose Great Grandson Ansigas the Duke who Married Begga the only Heiress of a Rich Nobleman who possessed the greatest part of Austria and was Father of this Charles Martel afterwards created Prince of France He grew Famous in the conduct of Armies under Dagobert Chilperick and Theodorick the second Kings of France Under the last of which the Sarazens who had been called out of Africk by Julian the Earl of the Vice Goths to revenge the Fact of King Roderick in abusing his Wife about the Year 730 under Abderama their King passed into Aquitain and every where spoyled the Religious Houses and out of hatred to the Christian Religion destroyed the Churches in Gascoign Angolism Sauton and Poictou Countries most Rich and plentiful and where by the Devotion of the Inhabitants the Churches were adorned and enriched with much Gold. These Sarazens were 400000 strong and Charles Martel encamping beyond the River Loyr near Turone Fought them and Slew of them 375000 losing but 1500 of his own Men. He Fought another Battle with prosperous success against them under the Conduct of Athinus their King. He was relyed upon for his assistance to the Apostolick See as appears by several (b) Binnius Tom. 3 fol. 467. Lachrymae die nocleque ab oculis nostris non dificiunt Ep. 7. Epistles writ to him by Pope Gregory the third when he was in danger to be oppressed by Luitprandus and Hilprand Kings of Lombardy wherein he calls him Subregulus and at large recites what Tribulation Danger and consternation he was in So that Tears flowed from his Eyes night and Day and applies himself to this Charles Martel as to a refuge in time of his great distress In another Epistle (c) Vt cognoscant omnes gentes tuam fidem puritatem atque amorem quem babes erga principem Apostolorum sanctum Petrum nos ejusque peculiarem populum zelando defendendo ex hoc enim poteris immortalem aeternam vitam acquirere Id. Ep. 6. the same Pope tells him that he might expect a reward before the Omnipotent God in the life to come with the Prince of the Apostles as he disposed himself for the defence of the Church of God and the Pope and speedily engaged in it So that all Nations might know his Faith purity and Love which he bore to St. Peter the Prince of the Apostles and the Pope and the peculiar People by his Zeal in defence of them for by this he might obtain Immortal and Eternal life In another (d) Ibid. fol. 466. Ep. 5. Epistle the same Pope writes to Boniface Bishop of Mentz that God by the endeavor of the said Bishop and of Charles the Prince of the Franks had been pleased to gather from the Power of the Pagans 100000 Souls into the Bosom of the Church Yet for all this the same Boniface as (e) Monasteriorum multorum eversor Ecclesiasticarum pecuniarum in usus proprios commutator Epist. ad Ethelbaldum Merciorum Regeâ—â— Malmsbury Records it saith that he was the overthrower of many Monasteries and a converter of Ecclesiastical Mony to his own use And Paulus Aemylius (f) Paulus Aemylius vitâ Chilperici 3. p. 67. c. saith that the chief personages praised Martel as one that transcended the Glory of all Captains and Emperors but on the other side the Holy Men said that tho' the splendor of his life was so great in the Eyes of the Vulgar yet he was not so to be esteemed For that he gave the Holy Right of Tithes to Military Men and permitted his Soldiers to Plunder and sweep away things profane and Sacred more than the Vice-Goths did and that the Sees of Lyons and Vienna for several years were deprived of their Bishops the one dying by Military injuries had no Successor and the other was compelled to retire into a Monastery and that to supply the necessities in the Wars with the Barbarous he used the Gold of the Temples and promised when Peace was restored he would repay it manifold But after he had obtained the richest and gloriousest Victories he changed his promise and afflicted Holy Men being mindful of old offences that he expelled Eucherius Bishop of Orleance and Robert Bishop of Rhemes because he said they took part with Ramenfride his Enemy In an Ancient Chronicle (g) Le Rozier Historial de France of France it is said that by the Counsel of the Bishops the Tithes of the Churches were given him to pay his Troops Dupleix saith he banished several Bishops from their Sees and put Lay-men in them the like is repeated by Nicholas Giles and enlarged by (h) Per le conseil des Princes donna bailla aucunes des dismes que tenoyent les â—glise a ses Gens d' Armes Belle forest who saith that by the Council of the Princes he gave certain Tithes which the Churches had to his Men at Arms. With these concurs du Tillet and du Haillan Dupleix (i) Il recompensa la Nobless de partir des dismes du Clergis c. saith that he recompensed his Nobility with part of the Tithes of the Clergy with a promise of Restitution but in this he saith the ingratitude of the Clergy that condemn this is more to be blamed than the enterprize of Charles for was it not good reason saith he that those who besides their cost and charge had so generously hazarded their Lives for the defence of the Church should be rewarded with some small portion of the Revenue thereof Sr. Thomas Ridley (k) View of Civil and Ecclesiastical Laws 1. c. 3. §. 2. hath a long Discourse on this Subject charging
all the violations done to the Church to have risen from his Practice and that from France the president was imitated by others so that the example thereof passed the Alps into Italy and mounted above the Pyrenean Hills into Spain and within a short time Sailed over into England in such sort that even to this day sundry Monuments of it appear where any Title of Immunity for payment of Tithes is challenged in any place reaching beyond the Lateran Council and tells out of the Legend (l) Apud Servinum Tom. 1. fol. 10. of Eucherius or some (m) Gratian c. 16. q. 1. Authors else what you may find there and in Paulus Aemylus That Eucherius (n) Sepulcrum inane nullis humani corporis vestigiis reliquiisque apparuisse dicitur Intus vastitas borror diraque species ac velut incendio atrum ld Aemyl vita Chilperic Bishop of Orleance being warned in a Vision took Fulrade Bishop of St. Dennis to Martels Tomb where he had but lately been Buried and how they found only a Serpent in the Grave otherwise empty and no Foot-steps or marks of an human Body there but all within black as if it had been burnt I know this Legend is questioned by Baronius and Mr. Selden saith Eucherius was Dead before Charles Martel and will no ways allow Tithes to be then so setled But I think it cannot be questioned what a Learned (o) Father Simons History of the Original and progress of Ecclesiastical Revenues p. 40.41 Priest and Antiquary observes that when Barbarous Kings became Masters of a part of the Roman Empire the great want that Princes were engaged in was the cause that so great parts of the Revenues of the Church fell into the hands of Lay-men and that they made contracts of Alienation about them as about other possessions and those contracts past for lawful when they were made in the usual Form. I had composed a large Collection of the Infeodations of Church-lands Infeodations whereby for small Rents and Services great portions of such Lands were given in Fee from Bishops Abbots and Priors to Knights or other Secular persons to answer the Services due to the Prince from the Bishops c. but you may find them in Mr. Seldens History of Tithes Sect. 113.117 and other places By custom also Lay-men held Tithes Customs and other Religious Lands paying either no Tithe to Parochial Churches or very little for which you may consult the same Mr. Selden pa. 181.186 187. There were also Arbitrary Consecrations Arbitrary Consecrations Tit. de locat conduct clericis verbo portione Modus whereby the Patron gave sometimes a third half or two thirds to the Church reserving the rest to himself and his Heirs for which you may peruse Linwood Also Modus of Tithes was another Infringement of the Canons for which see Mr. Selden pa. 288. Exemptions likewise were in use Exemptions granted to certain Religious which was contrary to the Ancient Canons of paying Tithes to the Baptismal Church and was restrained by Pope Hadrian the 4th to the Cistertians Templars and Hospitalers Compositions or by compositions the Church-Revenues were Decreed For which you may consult Mr. Selden p. 408. I purposely pass these by tho' they be so many several instances that the Canons did not universally bind against all Alienations lest I should swell this Treatise too big SECT IV. Several Instances of particular Alienations of Church-lands more Modern in England I Shall now descend to latter evidence of Alienations of Church-lands transferring their Revenues to the endowment of Colleges or other Charitable Uses or encreasing the Exchequer of Princes and suppressions of Orders even by the Bulls of Popes long before the Reformation Pope Clement the (a) Ex Archivis Scaccarii Ex Autograph The suppression of the Knights Templars 5th by his Bull dated at Poictou the 10th of the Kalends of December 3o. Pontificatus Anno. 1307. Ordered the seizing of the Knights Templars here in one night according to the example of the French King and gave the Custody of their Lands and Goods to King Edward 2d till further order from the Apostolic See. In this Bull the King is required (b) Sic prudenter sic caute sic secretariorum tuorum consilio studeas ordinare quod omnes singulos Templarios Regni tui eorum bona mobilia immobilia capi facias vno die personas eorum in locis tutis sub fida custodia detinâ—re with the Council of his wise Secretaries so prudently so cautiously and so secretly by good Men of whom there may be no suspicion of imbezling their Goods in one day to cause to be seized all and singular the Templars in his Kingdom and all their Goods movable and immoveable and to keep their Persons in safe places in Faithful Custody and commit the custody of their Goods Movable and Immovable to certain good persons of whom it is not likely that in this or the like matters they will use any deceit and all this to be done till it be otherwise ordered by the Pope c. This (c) Concil Viennense General Council of Vienna was Celebrated Anno Domini 1311. Under Pope Clement the 5th In the Sentence of the Pope I observe these expressions (d) Ad providentem Christi Vicarii praesidentis in specula Apostolicae dignitatis circumspeâ—tiâ—nem pertinet c. It belongs to the provident circumspection of Christs Vicar presiding in the Watch-Tower of Apostolic Dignity c. After reciting how the Order of the Knights Templars had been Instituted and the Crimes of the present Knights he saith not without bitterness of Heart and griefs the Holy Council approving it not by way of definitive Sentence because he could not do that by Law according to Inquisitions and Process but by way of Provision or Apostolical Ordination (e) Irreffragabili perpetua valitura sancivimus sanctione with a Sanction Irreffragable and perpetually to be of force he hath Decreed the said Order to be prohibited perpetually suppressing it Strictly forbidding any for the future to enter into the said Order or receive the Habit or to repute himself a Templar And by Apostolic Authority hath appointed (f) Vniversa etiam bona ordinu praelibati Apostolicae sedis Ordinationi dispositioni Authoritate Apostolica duximus referenda all the Goods of the foresaid Order to be referred to the Ordination and disposition of the Apostolic See. Concerning this matter (g) Chron. His Fargiensi Trithemius the Abbot Writes thus the Order of Templars which had stood almost 182 Years was condemned by Pope Clement and in one day abolished through the whole World at the Instance of Philip King of France by whose promotion the Pope was Elected The Templars saith he were very Rich whose Possessions that the King might acquire to himself he accused them of Heresy and proscribed them to be totally extinguished as
dated the 4th of the Nones of November 5 Pontificatus Anno 1528. 20 of H. 8. where he gives Cardinal Wolsey a Power to Dissolve and Suppress such Monasteries as maintained but six four or three Monks to the value of 8000 Ducats of Gold of yearly Rent and to transfer all their Possessions and Movable Goods toward the encrease of the Revenues of the Kings Collegiate Church at Windsor Castle begun by E. 4th his Grand-father by the Mothers side and the College at Cambridge built by H. the 6th Grand-father to the same King by the Fathers side In this Bull are the fullest recitals of the Popes dispensing Power that I have yet met with therefore I think it fit being no where that I know of Printed to give you the words that you may at once see how far the Popes Power extends in dispensing with the Canons The words are The Popes dispensing with all Canons Councils c. in the suppresing those Abbies c. Non obstantibus voluntate nostrâ predictâ ac aliis Apostolicis nec non bonae memoriae Othonis Ottobonis olim in dicto Regno Apostolicae sedis legatorum ac in Provincialibus Synodalibus Conciliis Editis Generalibus vel Specialibus Constitutionibus Ordinationibus ac Statutis Consuetudinibus Monasteriorum Ordinum quorum Monasteria ipsa fuerint Juramento confirmatione Apostolica vel quavis firmitate alia roborata Privilegiis quoque Indultis ac Literis Apostolicis etiam in forma Brevis Monasteriis Ordinibus praedictis sub quibuscumque tenoribus formis etiam per modum Statuti Ordinationis perpetuae cum quibusvis etiam derogatoriorum derogatoriis fortioribus efficacioribus Insolitis clausulis ac Irritantibus aliis decretis etiam motu proprio ex certa nostra scientia ac de Apostolicae potestatis plenitudine etiam per nos sedem eandem etiam iteratis vicibus concessis confirmatis innovatis etiamsi in illis caveretur expresse quod illis etiam per quascunque liter as Apostolicas nullatenus derogari possit nisi in literis per quas illis derogare videretur illorum omnium Tenores de verbo ad verbum insererentur expresse appareant Romanum Pontificem illis derogare voluisse causa urgens sufficiens exprimeretur aliis certis modis formis observatis quibus omnibus illorum Tenores ac si de verbo ad verbum insertis forma in illis tradita observata foret presentibus pro expressis habentes Illis alias in suo robore permansuris hac vice duntaxat specialiter expresse ex certa nostra scientia potestatis plenitudine derogamus ac etiam quibuscumque defunctorum Testamentis ultima voluntate Ordinatione quod dispositionibus quacunque Auctoritate confirmatis corroboratis consolidatis ac quibuscumque poenis censuris Ecclesiasticis Communitis super quorum omnium Testamentorum ultimam voluntatem Ordinationem dispositionem ac omnia singula ac illorum tenores etiam presentibus pro expressis recitatis insertis habentes Immutationes alterationes in vestrorum collegiorum praedictorum conversionem translationem specialiter expresse in eventum suppressionis applicationis per eandem circumspectionem tuam faciendo licentiam potestatem praedictam dispensamus ac specialiter quacunque allegatione de non expresso valore fructuum bonorum Monasteriorum hujusmodi literis nostris praetextu alicujus constitutionis inde editae curiaeve nostrae stili aut alias requisitio inserendo contrariis quibuscunque The Constitutions of Otho and Othobon that are here dispensed with I suppose are those viz. (p) Constitutiones Othonis Tit. 12.14 of Otho that no Goodsshall be taken out of the Houses Manors or Granges belonging to Bishops or the Religious without their consents and that of Othobon (q) Constit Othobonis Tit. 11.13 21 22. forbidding Bishops to confirm or assign by appropriation any Church in his Diocess to another Bishops Monastery or Priory unless he to whom the Bishop would appropriate it were so poor or other lawful cause were that the Appropriation might not appear so much contrary to Laws as agreeable to Piety In the Archives (r) Ex iisdem Archivis Instructions how to proceed legally to suppress Monasteries of the Exchequer there are the Instructions how to proceed to obtain this suppression of these Monasteries which were on the Kings part to supplicate the Pope for a Commission to be granted to Cardinal Wolsey and Cardinal Campegius Legates de Latere then the Pope to grant by his Bull to the Legat or Legates a Faculty then a Commission of Enquiry what Monasteries were fit to be suppressed and then the Legat's executing his Power and the Pope's Confirmation In the same (Å¿) Ibidem Suppressing of Religious Houses for building and endowing Cardinal Wolseys College at Oxford and Ipswich whereof the yearly Rent was 19582. Archives of the Exchequer are to be found the Bull of Pope Clement the 7th the day before the Kalends of June 5 Pontificatus to Cardinal Wolsey for the suppressing of several Religious Houses for the building and endowing of the Cardinal College of Oxford now called Christ-Church as likewise (t) Ibidem that of the Nones of February 6 Pontificatus of the same Pope and many other Bulls not only for that College but for his Cardinal College at Ipswich where he was born but all our Historians relating the matter so particularly I shall refer you to them Only give me leave to note one thing out of the Instructions given by the same Cardinal to his Chaplains and Counsellors as they are Stiled Sir Robert Carter Steward of his House Instructions for demolishing a Church for building the Cardinal College at Oxford Mr. Lawrence Stubbs his Almoner and Sir Nicholas Towrs about the building of his Cardinal College of Oxford that for enlarging the College the Parish Church of St. Nicholas was necessarily to be pulled down and taken away wherefore by his Legantine Power he Authorizeth them to cause it to be done and to Translate and annex the Parishioners of the same Church of St. Nicholas to the Parish of St. Aldate * Now St. Aldate near the great Gate of Christ-Church being next adjoyning and to compound for a part of the Church-yard of St. Fridiswold belonging to the Monastery of that Name This leads me to another remark I find in the Survey of (u) â—bidem At Bridlington a Church converted into a Bake-house and Brew-house Bridlington Abby in Yorkshire upon it's dissolution where it is worded thus Item on the South-side of the said Monastery is a Bake-house and Brew-house which by report of old Men was sometimes a Nunnery by sight the Bake house was the Body of the Church the Roof whereof is covered with Slate and the Isle with Lead the Brew-house is where the Quire seemed to be and is
of the Congregations of the Canons of St. Gregory in Alga at Venice and the Brethren Jesuits of Saint Jerom in Fesulis Styled Congregationem Canonicorum St. Gregorii in Alga Venetiarum ac fratrum Jesuitarum St. Hieronymi in Fesulis How the Revenus of the two first were disposed of I know not but the last and I believe so of the former were given to the State of Venice for defraying the charge of the defence of Candy and the Senate sold them and the Buyers are in no danger of Resumption In the like manner Cardinal Vrsini Protector of Poland hath of late Interceded with the Pope for dissolving of several Religious Houses in that Kingdom to supply the Treasury in the Important War that Kingdom sustains against the Turks and I doubt not but it is or will be effected The Abby of Burgh de Diâ—u Alienated To return to France the Famous Abby called Burgh de Dieu which with the appurtenances is valued at 20000 l. yearly Rent is Possessed by the Prince of Conde and it is little more than two years since that two thirds of the Rich Abby of St. Denis in France hath been given for ever by the Pope Two thirds of the Abby of St. Denis Alienated for the Education of Young Gentlewomen the King having sollicited the Alienation and caused it to be confirmed by the Arch-bishop and Parliament of Paris At Liege in (h) Lord Castlâ—maine Peply p. 219. Germany the Prince enjoys the Cloyster Garden and Appendices belonging to the Nuns there by the Popes Bull and all Catholic Divines and Lawyers are satisfied In Germany as well as in other places Alienations in Germany it hath been long Practized that such a portion of Religious Lands as have been imployed for the Table of the Arch-bishops Bishops Abbots or Priors have been Converted to Secular Pensions In General we may observe that as the Statute of Mortmain here was made to restrain Peoples too Prodigal giving to the Church so where some Church-mens Revenues are thought too great and some Merit was thought fit to be rewarded Commendams and Pensions have been thought to be dispensed with By these and multitudes of other instances I might produce if the cause râ—quired you may easily Judge that the Canons of Councils the Decretals of Popes and other Constitutions Ecclesiastical prohibiting Alienation of Church Lands have been Infringed sometimes by Secular Princes without and sometimes with the Popes Dispensation in all Ages SECT VI. Concerning the Alienations of Church-lands in Germany and the establishment of a Tolleration of Religion there by the Treaties of Munster and Osnaburgh Objecti ∣ on Objection that the disseizing of the Religious in England was very different from that in other places I Believe you had considered the force of these particulars of which you could not be ignorant therefore you tell me how different our case is from any other Alienation of Church-lands since in all the foregoing Examples the Sacred Patrimony was either commuted to some other Charitable use or employed for the support of Armies for defence of the Prince or his Dominions or of Christians against Pagans or Turks But here was a total suppression and Abolition of Religious Orders under pretext that they had degenerated into Sloth Vice and Superstition and that their Lands being given to the Crown would so Augment the Kings Revenue as the Subjects for the future would be eased of Subsidies and other Taxes the King might erect new Bishopricks and imploy some of their Lands to better Religious Uses which were the popular Arguments to obtain the Assent of the two Houses of Parliament to their Dissolution Yet for want of appointing how particularly these Lands should be applyed to such uses and the absolute Investing them in the Crown without Limitation of Uses they were squandred away by piece-meal and the Subjects very little eased of any publick burthen You further add that when you consider these things and the Artifices used to obtain surrenders from the Convents of these Lands and then make them pass for their voluntary Acts and as such obtain their confirmation by Acts of Parliament so that in no Kingdom or State any such unpresidented Innovation upon the Rights of the Church or such a sweeping devastation of these Lands so legally settled upon the Religious was ever known You cannot conceive but that if the Roman Catholic Religion can ever be Introduced here those Lands will be claimed and in Justice ought to be restored Since no defence can be made for so violent a possession of them In the proper place when I come to consider the Act it self I hope to give you satisfaction that tho' I grant all this yet no Resumption can possibly be obtained How the Religious Lands in Germany were setled by the Treaty of Munster But before I speak to this I shall pass with you into the Empire and own how the Churches there have lost their Lands and that the condition of them in Germany is nearest akin to ours and that there the Entrance upon the Church Revenues was by Violence during a Civil War by the Princes of the Augustan Confession seized upon as out of the Hands of their Enemies and that during the Treaties of (i) Tractat. Pacis c. p. 140. The Nuncio of the Pope protests against it Munster and Osnaburgh the Restitution of these Lands being debated Fabius the Popes Nuncio afterwards Pope by the Name of Alexander the 7th made his protestation against it both by the (k) Testatum facio me tum jussu Pontificis ac muneris mihi demandati Intuitu tum propriae Deo dante voluntatis propensione c. Command of the Pope by Vertue of his Character then and the propensity of his own Will and entr'd his Protestation against it Dated at Munster October 26. 1648. Also Pope Innocent the 10th Published his (l) Ibid. p. 148. The Pope condemns it by Bulls Bull the 26th of November following in 5o. Pontificatus against both the Treaty of (m) He Presaceth the Bull thus Zelo Domus Dei animum nostrum assiduo commovente in eam praecipue curam sedulo incumbimus ut Orthodoxae fidei Integritas ac Ecclesiae Catholica Dignitas Authoritas ubique sarta tecta conservetur Osnaburgh concluded the 6th of August 1648. and that of Munster the 24th of October the same year declaring both against the Possession of Ecclesiastical Goods by the Heretics to them and their Successors and the permission of the Heretics as he Stiles them of the Augustan Confession to have free liberty of Exercising their Heresie in several places and the Assignment of places to to build Churches and their enjoying of Publick Employments Offices and Participation of Arch-bishopricks Bishopricks and other Ecclesiastical Benefices Provost-ships Baly-wicks Commendams Canon-ships other Benefices c. Which at large may be Read in the Tracts Published at Leyden 1651. In Answer to these I
persons of the Augustan Confession they only addicted to that Religion shall be deputed and so of the Catholics and if it be betwixt Catholics and Augustans then the Commissioners to be equal In the 19th Section It is ordered that in causes of Religion and in all other things where the State was divided in the points of Religion all differences and suits should be ended by Amicable Composition (k) Non attenta votorum pluralitate and not by plurality of Vote I might Transcribe the whole Treaty with some Advantage to the design of composing Mens minds not to apprehend the danger of Resumption and to shew how the Germans have accommodated Matters and live Amicably in the several professions of their Religion with great advantage as to Peace and Concord without Tests and Persecution for Religion But I dare not lengthen this Letter too much and so must refer you to the Treaty it self Concerning the Nuncios Protestation and the Popes Bull against the Treaty As to the Objection of the Nuncio's protesting and Pope Innocent the 10th's Bull against it you may easily conceive that it stood not with the Dignity Honor or Ecclesiastical Interest of his Holiness to give his open Assent to such an agreement as allowed not only such a publick exercise of a contrary Religion but spoyled the Church of such great and Opulent Arch-bishopricks as Magdeburg called the Metropolis of Germany or that of Bremen Erected into a Dukedom or of the Rich Bishopricks of Osnaburg Minden Halberstadt and Verdon together with most of the Great Monasteries and Church-lands of the North part of Germany which were swallowed up by the Reformed Princes Tacit connivance of the Pope Yet that there has been a Tacit Connivance or Confirmation of this appears in that the Pope (l) Artic. n. 122. disturbs not the same and in Anno 1657. Ten years after the said Treaty the French King in the Treaty betwixt him and Spain Styles himself a Confederate for the Maintainance of the Treaty of Munster yet neither the Pope who was Alexander the 7th Nuncio at the Treaty of Munster or his Plenipotentiary dissallowed the Title The present Duke of Bavaria (m) Castlemain pa. 248. What Catholic Princes in Germany enjoy Religious Lands as well as his Father Maximilian not only enjoys the Revenues of several Abbies but have endowed new Colleges with some of the same Lands and charged others with great Pensions and all this with the Popes positive consent The Duke of Newburg also that now is Palatin hath obtained a dispensation for what he and his Father possessed since Luthers time which belonged to the Church and the Landgrave of Hess has obtained the like However since upon the account of these Treaties That the Reformed Princes enjoy the Religious Lands notwithstanding the Popes Bull prohibiting it Therefore greater security here where confirmed by two Popes betwixt the Empire King of France and Sweden with the Concurrence of the Catholic Princes of Germany as well Ecclesiastical as Secular these so great Portions of Church-lands are enjoyed to this Day peaceably by the Reformed Princes and States notwithstanding the foresaid Protestation and Bull of the Pope so directly dissallowing thereof It is to me a very Convincing Argument that we in England have no reason to fear any Resumption of such Lands when they are so well Confirmed by Act of Parliament and have obtain'd the Confirmation of two Popes Neither is it so new a matter as some may imagin that an Act of Parliament in England hath been here Judged valid tho' it Diametrically thwarted a Canon of the Church which is evident in the Statute (n) Stat. Merton c. 9. of 20 H. 3. the words are To the Kings Writ of Bastardy whether one born before Matrimony may Inherit in like manner as he that is born after Matrimony all the Bishops answer that they would not nor could not answer to it because it was directly against the common Order of the Church See Fortescue de Legibus c. â—9 Selden Comment and Waterhouse Comment fol. 466. and 483. and all Bishops Instanted the Lords that they would consent that all such as were born after Matrimony should be Legitimate as well as they that be born within Matrimony as to the Succession of Inheritance for so much as the Church accepteth such for Legitimate And all the Earls and Barons with one voice answered That they would not change the Laws of the Realm which hitherto have been used and approved This is esteemed as good a Statute Law as any in the Printed Books or upon Record and yet it is most evident that the Church judgeth otherwise as is apparent in the (o) Decret Greg. Tit. 17. c. 1. Decree of Pope Alexander the 3d. Circa Annum 1159. 5o. H. 2. to which I refer you SECT VII Whether Cardinal Pools Confirmation of Church-lands to the Possessors was delusory or not IN the next part of your Letter you take up another of Dr. (a) Hist Reformation lib. 2. p. 298. Burnets Arguments That Cardinal Pool's Confirmation was an Artifice and the Point was carried by those who did not understand the true danger their Estates were in But considered the present Advantages they were to have from the consenting to the Act. The Reason he gives for this Assertion is because the Cardinal gave a charge to all to be afraid of the Judgment of God that fell on Balthazar for converting the Holy Vessels which had been taken by his Father and not by himself to profane uses which saith the Doctor was to pardon the thing and yet call it Sacrilege and that it was studiously designed to possess the People with an opinion of the sin of retaining Church-lands so that the Confirmation might be looked upon as an Indempnity and Permission to keep them rather than a Declaration that the Possessors had a Lawful Title This you enforce from the Authority of (b) Letter to Dr. Burnet one who assures us he had met with a Register of Cardinal Pool's Letters and among them the two Breves and the Letters that passed betwixt the Cardinal and the Bishop of Arras who was afterwards Cardinal Granvil and others that passed betwixt the said Cardinal and the Cardinal de Monte and Cardinal Morone and Soto the Emperors Confessor and some from Cardinal Pool to the Pope and to King Philip. This Gentleman having said this to gain himself credit with his Readers proceeds to prove that it was never intended to confirm the Alienation that was made of the Abby-Lands and you having made an Abbreviation of what he there lays down to make a plausible proof I shall Insert them justly But because these require distinct Answers that I may both shew the Infidelity of the Author of this Letter and the designed misapplication of the whole you must give me leave to shew first in General how the whole business was Transacted and the Reasons of the
to desire him to Establish the Sale of Abby and Chantry Lands for the Lords and the Parliament would grant nothing on the Popes behalf before their Purchases were well secured As to a Messengers sending no doubt several dispatches were made to and from Rome during this Transaction but I cannot conceive that in so short a time a Currier could go and come from Rome and bring new Powers to the Cardinal yet I will not insist upon that But I believe he Writes truly that what preparation soever was made by Debates Conferences c. concerning the Repeal of other Laws against the See of Rome they never passed into Bills till the Bill for securing Religious Lands was perfected Hence we may conclude the Reason why the Solemn Procession related in Mr. Fox was not till the 25th of January after this Parliament was Dissolved which was on the 16th of the same Month which Procession (m) Hist Reformation part 2. fol. 300. Dr. Burnet saith was to thank God for the Reconciling them again to the Church And to keep up a constant remembrance of it it was ordered that St. Andrews Day should be still observed as the Anniversary of it and be called the Feast of the Reconciliation and Processions with all the highest Solemnities they at any time use were to be on that day Duditius tell us That there was every where great (n) Vita Cardinalis Pol. p. 30. De Angliae ad Pristinam Fidem reditu magna ubique gratulatio facta est magnaque laetitiae significatio Omnibus locis supplicationes decretae ac meritae Deo gratiae actae sunt Praeterea Julius III. Pont. Max. amplissimum Jubilaeum promulgavit rejoycing for the return again of England to the ancient Faith and great expressions of the joy In all places Prayers being decreed and due Thanks returned to God. Besides which Pope Julius III. published a most ample Jubilee upon that occasion And there was good reason for it in all the Territories of the Roman Catholic Communion that had any regard for England since it was the greatest revolution of that Age and no less to be wondred at than that K. Henry VIII could suppress so many Abbies in such a way as he did Having given you this prospect of the conduct of this great affair I come now to the Act if self which in Pulton is entituled All Statutes against the See of Rome repealed The Act wherein Abby-Lands are confirm'dto the Possessors 1 2 Ph. Mar. 6.8 The first supplication for reconciliation Repeal of several Statutes according to promise The Act first recites That much false Doctrin had been preached and written since the 20th of King Henry VIII How Cardinal Pool was sent from Rome Legat de Latere to call the Realm into the right way from whence it had strayed Then relates at length the supplication of the Parliament to the King and Queen to be a mean to reduce them into the Catholic Church by their intercession with the Legat-Cardinal for which I refer you to the Statute Then immediatly follows a Repeal of all Statutes made against the Supremacy and See Apostolic since the time of the Schism in accomplishment of their promise made in their supplication Upon which at the intercession of their Majesties by the Authority of their holy Father Pope Julius III. and of the Apostolic See they were assoyled How they were absolved discharged and delivered from Excommunications Interdictions and other Censures Ecclesiastical which had hanged over their heads for their said defaults since the time of the said Schism mentioned in their supplication Second supplication for taking away all occasion of contention Then follows another supplication to their Majesties That all occasion of contention hatred grudge suspicion and trouble both outwardly and inwardly in mens consciences which might arise among them by reason of Disobedience might by Authority of the Pope's Holiness and by ministration of the same unto them by Cardinal Pool by Dispensation Toleration or Permission respectively as the case shall require be abolished and taken away After some other things follows in these words Concerning Abby-Lands c. Finally when certain Acts and Statutes have been made in the time of the late Schism concerning the Lands and Hereditaments of Archbishoprics and Bishoprics the suppression and dissolution of Monasteries Abbies Priories Chantries Colleges and all other the Goods and Chattels of Religious Houses since the which time the Right and Dominion of certain Lands and Hereditaments goods Chattels belonging to the same be dispersed abroad and come to the hands and possessions of divers and sundry persons who by Gift Purchase Exchange and other means according to the Laws and Statutes of the Realm for the time being have the same For the avoiding of all scruples that might grow by any of the occasions aforesaid or by any other ways or means whatsoever The Petition of the two Houses to the K. Q. to be Intercessors to Card. Pool to confirm Abby-Lands it may please your Majesties to be Intercessors and Mediators to the said most Reverend Father Cardinal Pool that all such causes and quarrels as by pretence of the said Schism or by any other coccasion or means whatsoever might be moved by the Pope's Holiness or by any other Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical may be utterly removed and taken away so as all persons having sufficient Conveyance of the said Lands and Hereditaments Goods and Chattels may without scruple of conscience enjoy them without Impeachment or Trouble by pretence of any General Council Canons or Ecclesiastical Laws and clear from all dangers of the Censures of the Church Before I proceed further I think fit to note That by the consent of both Houses it seems clear that they looked upon those Lands to be well secured according to the Laws of the Land which appears because I find in the Journal of the (p) Second Parliament 1o. Mariae Bill prepared before the Cardinal's arrival Commons House That upon the 25th of April 1555. a Bill was engrossed that Bishops should not convent any person for Abby-Lands and the next day I find the Bill passed their House that the Bishop of Rome nor any other Spiritual Person shall convent any person for Abby-Lands So that what is to be cleared is that for removing of scruples of conscience and preventing the causes and quarrels moved by the Pope See-Apostolic or any other Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction there was effectual course taken The Clergy in Convoâ—ation petition that the Lands may be confirmed Therefore because that part in the Act is put in Latin whereby every Reader of it doth not or will not observe the force of it I shall render the most material passages of it into English First the Bishops and Clergy in Convocation present their supplication to the King 's and Queen's Majesties shewing That they viz. the Clergy were the Praefects of the Church The Clergy petition
per vim adempta ad Regia Vectigalia adjunxerat ac Regii omnino Juris possessionisque esse Decreverat ipsa Ecclesiae redderet pa. 32. B. All our Authors say that the Queen her self first designed this Restitution that she should restore to the Church the Goods which Henry her Father by force had taken from it and had Annexed to the Revenue of the Crown and had Enacted them to be the Rights and Possessions of the Crown Concerning this he sent an Exhortation to the Queen excellently penned Nor did the Queen suffer her self long to be intreated but lâ—ying aside all delay dismissed all and permitted them to be disposed of at the Will of the Roman Bishop and his Legat. Which Goods Pool having first deliberated the matter with the Bishops so appointed and distributed to every Church as might be most expedient to encrease the Worship of God and Establish the Ecclesiastic State and these were said to be almost the half of the Fruits This was much less than our Author mentions which in the former more flourishing times the Ecclesiastics had received Now mark what follows But (l) Ac ne qua Turba excitaretur placuit consentiente Pontifice nihil de reliquis bonis quaeri quae passim multi possidebant sed liberum omnibus relinqui id agere quod quisque vellet Id. pa. 32. B. least troubles might be raised it pleased the Cardinal the Pope consenting that nothing of the rest of the Goods viz. Moveable and Immoveable should be enquired after But to be left at Liberty to all to do with them what every one willed The 4th proof The whole matter further appears in the Decrees of the Cardinal for the Reformation of England Anno 1556. for in the 10th Decree wherein any future Alienation of Church-lands is prohibited this exception is annexed in these words (m) Exceptis ta men semper iis quas circa bona Ecclesiastica ante ab Ecclesiis ablata Jam Autoritate Apostolica constituta sunt Quibus per hoc nullo modo derogari Volumus Labbei concil Tom. 14. fol. 1753. Those things always excepted which concerning Ecclesiastic Goods before time taken from the Church by Apostolic Authority now are constituted from which by this Decree they viz. the Cardinal and the Clergy met to appoint these Decrees will no ways derogate SECT X. The Application of what hath been offered towards the Assurance of Abby lands to the present Possesors I know nothing can rationally be urged now against the security Objecti ∣ on but that either the Pope hath no such Power of dispensing with what is obtained by Intrusion or that what one Pope doth another Succeeding Pope may disannul especially where so great concerns of the Church may invite to it As to the first Answer ∣ ed whatever Opinion hath been or is held by some of the Popes want of Power to dispense it is most evident that de facto for many 100 of Years they do and have dispensed with Canons c. and such Dispensation is looked upon by all of the Roman Catholic Communion to secure not only their Title in all Ecclesiastical Courts but likewise it removes all scruples of Conscience I shall give you the resolution as to this particular of an Author (a) Rebufâ—us dâ— pacifâ—â—â—â— poâ—sâ—â—â—orâ—â—â— fol. 2 9. 〈◊〉 256. beyond exception The question he proposeth thus Quid si violentus petit à Papa sibi confirmari Beneficium per vim obtentum Papa hoc facit postea possidet per triennium ultra an posset molestari After he hath argued in the negative he thus determins it Quod si Papa ex certa scientiâ de novo concederet Invasori expressa habita mentione Intrusionis violentiae videtur illam violentiam remittere de novo conferre nec obstat quod violentus semper potest molestari Verum est says he non purgatâ violentiâ Sed hic purgavit violentiam Impetrando à Papa ergo non amplius dicitur violentus nec Intrusus quod notandum The summ of which is that it being questioned whether a violent Possessor of Church-lands A violent Intruder may be dispensed with by the Pope desiring of the Pope to confirm him in his Benefices obtained by force and the Pope do it and after the Intruder Possess it for three Years or more whether such an one can be molested viz. Ejected by course of Law His answer is that if the Pope on his certain knowledg grant the same anew to the Intruder and violent Possessor it seems the violence is remitted and the thing is granted anew Neither saith he doth the General Rule hold good in this case that the violent Intruder may always be molested For that is only true where the violence is not purged but here the violence is purged by obtaining the Popes Grant therefore he is no more to be called a violent Possessor or Intruder which saith he is to be noted By this you see a dispensing Power is owned I know this is spoken of Church Livings Possessed by Church Men Objecti ∣ on but here you will say are Church Lands Possessed by Lay men which extreamly alters the case In Answer to which Answer all that I have in the last two Sections discoursed proves it as applicable to our case for if the Popes Authority be good in any case where the necessity of the matter was so urgent in the Opinion of his Holiness and all Roman Catholics that the Reconciliation to the Roman Catholic Church was to be preferred before the comparatively few Religious enjoying their Possessions I suppose it is good here How much in all cases the public is to be preferred before the private appears in the resolution given by a Learned (b) Joachemi Mynsingeri Comment in Instit Lib. 2. Tit. 16. de usucaptions n. 20. Civilian thus we are to know saith he that there is a Superior Law that the public Society of Men be conserved and it is an Inferior Law that right shall be done to every one When this Infeior Law therefore cannot be preserved without the violation of the Superior the Inferior Law is neglected that the Superior may be fulfilled viz. that the public good and tranquility be conserved and there be an end of strife So in another case the forecited (c) De pacificis possessionibus fol. 217. n. 31. Rebuffus saith this is Introduced for public good lest suits about Benefices should be Immortal and for the ease of the Subject lest he should Eternally doubt of his right Alcuin's Opinion rather to dispense with payment Tithes than hinder Pagans to turn Christians This calls to mind what Alcuin the great English Dr. and Chaplain to Charles the Great writes to him concerning the Hunns and Saxons who being Conquered by the Emperor had lately received the Christian Faith Alcuin there adviseth the Emperor that it were better for the benefit of the Christian Faith not to