whatsoever Name or Names they may be called in their Convocation in time coming which alwaies shall be assembled by the Kings Writ unless the same Clergy may have the Kings most Royal assent and License to make promise and execute such Canons Constitutions and Ordinances Provincial or Synodical upon pain of every one of the said Clergy doing the contrary to this Act and thereof convicted to suffer Imprisonment and making Fine at the Kings will Since this year from Archbishop Cranmer to this day all Convocations are to have the Kings leave to debate on matters of Religion and their Canons besides his Royal assent an Act of Parliament for their Confirmation And as to the General Councils there are not any of them of use in England except the first Four General Councils which are established into a Law by King and Parliament The Learned Bishop Prideaux in his Synopsis of Councils gives us the definition of Synodographie and says It is such a Methodical Synopsis of Councils and other Ecclesiastical Meetings as whereby there may be a clear discovery to him that doubts how any Case may be enquired after and what may be determined concerning the same And then immediately after gives us the definition of a Council which he calls a Free Publick Ecclesiastical Meeting especially of Bishops as also of other Doctors lawfully deputed by divers Churches for the examining of Ecclesiastical Causes according to the Scriptures and those according to the power given by Common Suffrages without favour of parties to be determined in matters of Faith by Canons in cases of Practice by Presidents in matters of Discipline by Decrees and Constitutions Of these Councils he observes some to have been Judaical others Apostolical others Oecumenical some Controverted others Rejected and some National to all which he likewise adds Conferences 1 Under the Title of Judaical Councils he comprehends the more solemn Meetings about extraordinary affairs for the Confirming Removing or Reforming any thing as the matter required Such he observes to have been at Sichem under Josuah and Eleazer Josh 24. At Jerusalem the first under David Gad and Nathan being his Assistants 1 Chro. 13. At Carmelita under Ahab and Elias 1 King 18. At Jerusalem the Second under Hezekiah 2. Chro. 29. At Jerusalem the Third under Josiah and Hilkiah 2 Kin. 33. 2 Chro. 34. At Jerusalem the Fourth under Zorobabel and Ezra and the Chief of the Jews that return'd from the Captivity of Babylon And lastly that which is called the Synod of the Wise under John Hircanus Genebrand Chron. l. 2 p. 197. 2 The Apostolical Councils he observes to have been for the substituting of Matthias in the place of Judas Act. 1. For the Election of Seven Deacons Act. 6. For not pressing the Ceremonial Law Act. 15. 11. For the toleration of some Legal Ceremonies for a time to gain the Weak by such condescension Matth. 21. 18. For composing the Apostles Creed For obtruding to the Church 85 Canons under the notion of the Apostles authority concerning which there are many Controversies Lastly for the Meeting at Antioch where among Nine Canons the Eighth commanded Images of Christ to be substituted in the room of Heathenish Idols the other pious Canons being destitute of the Synods authority vid. Bin. Tom. 1. p. 19. Longum p. 147. 3 Of Oecumenical or General Councils some were Greek or Eastern others were Latin or Western The more Famous of the Oecumenical Greek Councils were the Nicene the first of Constantinople the first of Ephesus the first of Chalcedon Of Constantinople the second of Constantinople the third The Nicene the second The more Famous of the Oecumenical Latin Councils were at Ariminum the Lateran at Lions at Vienna the Florentine the Lateran the fifth and lastly at Trent 4 Of Controverted Councils if that distinction be admissable according to the Classis thereof digested by Bellarmine the Computation is at Constantinople the fourth at Sardis at Smyrna at Quinisext at Francfort at Constance and at Basil 5 Of Rejected Councils whereby are intended such as either determine Heretical Opinions or raise Schisms the Computation is at Antioch at Milain at Seleucia at Ephesus the second at Constantinople at Pisa the first and at Pisa the second 6 Of National Synods which comprehend the Provincials of every Metropolitan or Diocesan Bishop the distribution is into Italian Spanish French German Eastern African Britain 7 To these may be added Ecclesiastical Conferences which were only certain Meetings of some Divines wherein nothing could be Canonically determined and therefore needless to be here particularly inserted vid. B. Prideaux Synops of Counc vers fin The grand Censure of the Church whereby it punisheth obstinate Offenders is by way of Excommunication which though the Canonists call Traditio Diabolo or giving the Devil as it were Livery and Seizin of the Excommunicate person yet the Romanists have a Tradition that St. Bernard Excommunicated the Devil himself Sanctus Bernardus plenus virtutibus quadam die praesentibus Episcopis clero populo Excommunicavit quendam Diabolum Incubum qui quandam mulierem in Britannia per septeunium vexabat sic Liberata est ab eo Chron. Jo. Bromton de Temp. H. 1. A miraculous Excommunication and a Sovereign Remedy against Diabolical incubations The Excommunication which St. Oswald pronounced against one who would not be perswaded to be reconciled to his Adversary had nothing so good though a more strange effect for that Excommunicated him out of his Wits and had it not been for Wolstan who as miraculously cur'd him you might have found him if not in Purgatory then in Bedlam at this day Illi cujus es says Sanctus Oswaldus Te commendo carnem Sathanae tuam trado Statim ille dentibus stridere spumas jacere caput rotare incipit Qui tamen à Wolstano sanatus cum Pacem adhuc recusaret iterum tertio est arreptus simili modo quousque ex corde injuriam remitteret offensam If you have not faith enough to believe this on the Credit of Abbot Brompton who Chronicled from the year 588 in which St. Austin came into England to the death of King Richard the First which was in the year 1198. if you have not I say faith enough for the premisses you are not like to be supplied with any on this side Rome unless you have it from Henry de Knighton Canon of Leyster who wrote the Chronicle De Eventibus Angliae from King Edgars time to the death of King Richard the Second for he in his Second Book de Temp. W. 2. doth put it under his infallible pen for an undeniable Truth And indeed is much more probable than what the said Abbot reports touching St. Austins raising to life the Priest at Cumpton in Oxfordshire 150 years after his death to absolve a penitent Excommunicate that at the same time rose also out of his grave and walked out of the Church at St. Austins command That no
and only Six in the other In the First of these Marriage was prohibited the time of Lent and three weeks before the Feast of St. John the Baptist and during the time between Advent and Epiphany At Sidon in the Twentieth year of the Emperour Anastasius a National Council of 80 Bishops was Assembled by the procurement of Xenaeas Bishop of Hierapolis for undoing the Council of Chalcedon which as far as in them lay they did accordingly At Aurelia that is Orleance in France in the 22 d year of Anastasius and under the Reign of Clodoveus King of France were convened 32 Bishops on purpose to settle some Order in Ecclesiastical Discipline which by reason of the irruption of Barbarous people into the Countrey of France had been brought into great disorder At Gerunda and Caesaraugusta in Spain were Two Councils under Theodoricus King of Gothes then Reigning in Spain In the former of these were only Seven Bishops convened who made some Constitutions chiefly about Baptism In the latter were Eleven Bishops and they in opposition to Supersitition and the Manichaean Hereticks prohibited Fasting on the Lords day At Rome in the Sixth Century by the Mandate of Theodoricus King of Gothes Reigning in Italy a Council was Assembled by Hormisda Bishop of Rome wherein the Error of Eutyches is damned de novo and Ambassadours sent to the Emperour Anastasius and to the Bishop of Constantinople to divert them from that Error At Constantinople in the same Century under the Emperour Justinus was another Council convened wherein many great Accusations were exhibited against Severus Bishop of Antioch who was then condemned of Heresie and afterwards Banished by the Emperour At Toledo in the same Century was a Second Council assembled partly for renewing Ancient Constitutions and partly for making New in order to Ecclesiastical Discipline By the first Canon of this Second Council of Toledo Marriage was tolerated to such of the Clergy as on their initiation to that Function protested that they had not the gift of Continency At Constantinople in the year 532. under Justinian was another Council consisting of One hundred Sixty five Bishops Menes being President or rather his Successor Eutychius Patriarch of Constantinople but Pope Vigilius who came to Constantinople to Summon the Emperour yet would not himself be present at the Council lest a seeming yielding to Eutychius might be prejudicial to his Supremacy The Emperour endeavoured to reconcile the Eutychians and the Orthodox for the Publick Tranquillity and therefore would have revoked the Articles concerning the condemning of Theodorus of Mopsuesta and of Theodoret against Cyrillus that was Anathematized But the Western Churches with Pope Vigilius constantly opposed it and confirming not only the Decrees Anathematizing those Hereticks with their Heresies of former Councils but also of Chalcedon The Errors of Origen also expunged which either denied the Divinity of Christ or the Resurrection of the Body or affirmed the Restitution of Reprohates and Devils Consult concering this Council Zonar in vit Justinian If this be that Council which some report to have been at Constantinople under the Emperour Justinian in the year 551. there appears above Twenty years difference in computation of Time This Council is said to have been occasioned chiefly for pacifying the Controversie between Eustochius Bishop of Jerusalem and Theodorus Ascidas Bishop of Caesarea Cappadocia touching Origens Books and Tenets as also for the determination of other Contentious Disputations In this Council a Question was moved Whether men that were dead might lawfully be Cursed and Excommunicated To which it was Answered That as Jâ—sias not only punished Idolatrous Priests while they were alive but also opened the Graves of them that were dead to dishonour them after their death who had dishonoured God in their life time Even so the Memorials of men might be accursed after their death who had disturbed the Church of Christ in their life At Orleans under Childebertus King of France were frequent Meetings and Assemblies of Bishops the 2 3 4 5 Councils whereby many Constitutions were made prohibiting Marriage to Priests and in the Fourth Canon of the Second Council Simony was damned At Overnie in France under Theodobertus King of France the Bishops who were present at the Councils of Orleans did assemble and Ordained That no man should presume to the Office of a Bishop by Favour but by Merit At Tours under Aribertus King of France a Council was held wherein Provision was made against such Poor as wandered out of their Parishes In this Council several Constitutions also were made relating to Bishops and the other Clergy in reference to Marriage At Paris a Council was held wherein order was taken concerning the Admission of Bishops to their Offices and that not to be by favour but with the consent of the Clergy and People At Toledo Assembled a Council of 62 Bishops where Recaredus King of Spain and the whole Nation of the West-Gothes in Spain renounced the Arrian heresie At Constantinople under the Reign of Maruitius a Council was held for trying the Cause of Gregorius Bishop of Antioch accused of Incest but declared to be Innocent and his Accuser scourged with Rods and Banished At Matiscon about the time of Pelagius the Second a Council was held wherein Command was given That none of the Clergy should Cite another having a Spiritual Office before a Secular Judge And that she who is the Wife of a man that becomes a Bishop or a Presbyter should after such Dignity become his Sister and he be changed into a Brother At Matiscon another Council was Convened under Gunthranns King of France in the 24 th year of his Reign wherein it was Ordained That Children should be Baptized at Easter and Whitsontide and that Secular men should reverence the Clergy At Rome in the year 595 and in the Thirteenth year of the Reign of the Emperour Mauritius was a Council assembled of 24 Bishops and 34 Presbyters wherein the first Four General Councils were confirmed and that for Ordination of men in Spiritual no Reward should be given or taken Before the Conclusion of this Sixth Century and precedent to the Councils last mentioned there were some other Councils of less moment such as Concilium Gradense Braccarense Lataranense Lugdunense Pictaviense Metense which being for the most part employed chiefly in damning Old Heresies and in contentious Disputations are here omitted At Rome in the year 607. under Phocas the Emperour a Council of 72 Bishops 30 Presbyters and 3 Deacons was Assembled In this Council the priviledge of Supremacy given by Phocas to the Roman Church was published And in the Eighth that is the last year of Phocas Boniface the Fourth assembled another Council at Rome wherein he gave power to the Monks to Preach Administer Sacraments hear Confessions to Bind and Loose and associate them in equal Authority with the
That the Land was parcel of the Glebe of the Parsonage and that the said Stile did Lett the said Glebe being twenty four acres to Miles for years rendring thirteen shillings four pence Rent and in a Prohibit on the Case was if Tithes were to be paid And Wray said That although it was parcel of the Glebe yet when it was Leased out Tithes ought to be paid without question But there may be a doubt where the Rent is reserved to the true value of the Land but here the Rent is of small value wherefore Tithes shall be paid also And the Reservation of the Rent was Pro omnibus exactionibus demandis yet the Justices took no regard of these words But Godfrey said that those words would discharge him But Wray on the contrary for that this Tithe is not issuing out of the Land but is a thing collateral and if a Parson do Release to his Parishioners all demands in the Land yet Tithes are not thereby Released for such general words will not extend to such a Special matter 27. A. Parson of B. in consideration of 120 l. paid by C. one of his Parishioners did accord and agree with him That he and his Assigns should be discharged of Tithes during the time that he should be Parson C. made a Lease to D. A. did Libel against him for Tithes and D. pray'd a Prohibition upon the said Contract And if this were sufficient matter for a Prohibition was the question because it was by word only and without writing which amounts only to a Cause of Action upon a Promise for C. but no Action for his Lessees neither can this amount to a Release of Tithes for as Tithes cannot be Leased without Deed so they cannot be Released or discharged without Deed. Gawdy Justice Tithes cannot be discharged without Deed unless by way of Contract for a Sum of money and he cited the 21 H. 6. 43. Fenner for that year in which the Discharge was made it was good by way of Discharge without Deed because the Parson for that year had as it were an Interest but such Discharge can have no continuance for another year for default of a Deed and so a Promise being no Discharge it is no cause of a Prohibition But Gawdy held as afore And the Court Popham succeeding Wray Chief Justice upon his death held that the Agreement being by parol was not good and Fenner then said That without Writing the Agreement could not be good between the parties but for one year And the Court awarded a Consultation But upon search made no Judgment was entered in the Roll 28. Note That in Layton's Case it was said by the Court That a Parson may sue pro modo Decimandi in the Ecclesiastical Court. As if a Parishioner will not put his Tithes into Cocks when he ought by the Custome so to do But then the Suit ought to be Special for not putting it in Cocks and not generally for not setting forth the Tithe 29. It was likewise agreed by the Court in Clark's Case against Proâ—se that the Ecclesiastical Court may take cognizance of a Modus Decimandi The Case was this Clark a Parson sued Prowse one of his Parishioners per mod Decimandi in the Ecclesiastical Court and alledged a Custome in his Bill so called in the Report to have two shillings of the pound for every House and Shop in the Town and upon that Suit the Defendant there answered to the Custome Quod non credit esse vera And so to have here a Prohibition it was alledged That the Defendant was a Butcher that set open Stall in the Market only to fell Flesh there and that he had not any other Shop or House And it was agreed by the Court That a Parson may sue per mod Decimandi in the Ecclesiastical Court But if it be denied the Chief Justice as also Jones said That in that case they could proceed no further because they cannot try matters of Prescription there and if they proceed a Prohibition But in this Case the Prohibition was denied because Doderidge said That for the Reasons supra power is given to the Spiritual Court to examine that matter because it is not a denial of the Prescription but it ought to be by Allegation 30. It was said in Catesby's Case That if a Copyholder of the Kings Mannor pretendeth Prescription for a Modus Decimandi against the Parson the Right of Tithes shall be tried in the Exchequer and a Prohibition was granted to the Ecclesiastical Court in this Case 31. In Pool's Case against Reynold Prescription to have Deer out of a Park in discharge of all Tithes and after the Park is disparked P. brought a Prohibition against R. the Surmise was That de temps d'ont memory c. within the Parish of C. there was a Rectory appropriate and the Chappel of S. annexed therewith Et una Vicaria perpetua ejusdem Ecclesiae de C. dotat And whereas the said P. â—or six years last past had occupied one House 100 acres of Land 20 of Meadow 40 of Pasture called Shute-Park within the said Parish of C. which said Tenements were anciently a Park and now disparked c. and converted into the said House 100 acres c. And that all the Occupiers of the said Park de temps d'ont memorie until the Disparking had paid to the Vicar there one Buck of the Summer-season and one Doe of the Winter-season c. in discharge of all Tithes of the said Park until the Disparking and after the disparking in discharge of all Tithes of the said Tenements which they had accepted for all the time aforesaid until the Disparking and after or otherwise agreed with the Vicar for them and traversed this Prescription and found for the Plaintiff In Arrest of Judgment it was moved by Henden That this Prescription extends to the Land quatenus it is a Park and that being destroyed the Prescription is gone c. and if it be to be paid or delivered out of the Park then it is determined vid. Lutterel's Case Coke lib. 4. Also this Prescription is against the benefit of the Church and shall not be enlarged and the Wood which is sold out of the Park shall not be discharged 14 Jac. Conyer's Case in C. B. Prescription That the Parson had two acres of Meadow given in discharge of all Tithes of Hay-ground viz. of all the Meadow in the Parish if any Arable Land be converted into Meadow it extends not to discharge that vid. Lutterel's Case Coke lib. 4. fo 8â— That an Alteration in prejudice to the Parson determines the Prescription vid. Terringham's Case lib. 4. He which hath Common purchased part of the Land all is extinct for it is his own Act but vide the principal Case in that of Lutterel adjudged That building of new Mills in the same place and converting of Fulling-Mills into Corn-Mills
Catholick Faith or any of the Articles thereof grounded on the word of God 5. By a Proviso in the Act of 1 Eliz. c. 1. no matter or cause shall be adjudged Heresie but such only as hath been so adjudged by the Authority of the Canonical Scriptures and by the first four General Councils or by any other General Council wherein the same was declared Heresie by the express and plain words of the Canonical Scripture or such as shall hereafter be determined to be Heresie by Parliament with the assent of the Clergy in their Convocation as appears by the said Statute the occasion of the making whereof was as suppos'd by reason of an Indictment against certain persons called Lollards upon the Statute of 2 H. 4. c. 15. Whose Opinions were 1. That it was not meritorious to go in Pilgrimage to St. Thomas nor to St. Mary of Walsingham Nor 2 To adore the Image of a Crucifix or of Saints Nor 3 To confess sins to a Priest but to God onley c. 6. Sir Ed. Coke in the third part of his Institutes cap. 5. doth assert that both by the Books at Common Law and by History it doth appear that an Heretick may be convicted before the Archbishop and other Bishops and other the Clergy at a General Synod or Convocation Bract. Lib. 3. fo 123 124. in Concil Oxon. Newburgh l. 2. c. 13. 6 H. 3. Stow. Hol. 203. 2 H. 4. Rot. Parl. nu 29. Sautries Case F. N. B. 269. 2. 1 El. c. 1. And the Bishop of every Diocess may convict any for Heresie and so might have done before the Statute of 2 H. 4. c. 15. For the Diocesan hath Jurisdiction of Heresie and so it was practised in all Q. Elizabeths Reign and accordingly it was resolved by all the Justices in the the Case of Legate the Heretick And that upon a conviction before the Ordinary of Heresie the Writ de Haeretico comburendo did lye Without the aid of the Act of 2 H. 4. c. 15. it seems the Diocesan could Imprison no person accused of Heresie but was to proceed against him by the censures of the Church And now says the Lord Coke in the forecited place In as much as not only the said Act of 2 H. 4. but also that of the 25 H. 8. c. 14. are repealed the Diocesan cannot Imprison any person accused of Heresie but must proceed against him as he might have done before these Statutes by the censures of the Church as it appears by the said Act of 2 H. 4. c. 15. according to Sir Ed. Coke in that place aforesaid where he also saith that no person at this day can be indicted or impeached of Heresie before any Temporal Judge or other that hath Temporal Jurisdiction But every Archbishop of this Realm may cite any person dwelling in any Bishops Diocess within his Province for causes of Hersie if the Bishop or other immediate Ordinary thereunto consent or if that the same Bishop or other immediate Ordinary or Judge do not his duty in punishing the same 7. Again Sir Ed. Coke in the forementioned place affirms that it appears by Bracton Britton Fleta Stanford and all the Books of the Common Law that he who is duly convicted of Heresie shall be burnt to death Mir. c. 4. de Majesty Bract. ubi sup Britt c. 9. Fleta l. 1. c. 35. Reg. F. N. B. 269. But the Ecclesiastical Judge cannot as he says at this day commit the person that is convict of Heresie to the Sheriff albeit he be present to be burnt but must have the Kings Writ De Haeretieo Comburendo according to the Common Law F. N. B. 269. Rot. Par. 2 H. 4. nu 29. Sautries Case Bre. de haeret Combur per Reg. Concil in Parliam The reason Sir Ed. Coke gives wherefore Heresie is so extremely and fearfully punish'd is for that Gravius est aeternam quam Temporalem Laedere Majestatem And Haeresis est lepra animae The party duly convicted of Heresie may recall and abjure his Opinion and thereby save his life but a relapse is fatal And if the Heretick will not says he after conviction abjure he may by force of the said Writ be burnt without abjuration 2 H. 4 Rot. Parl. N. 24. A Writ was issued by the advice of the Lords Temporal in Parliament to the Sheriffs of London and subscribed per ipsum regem concilium in Parliamento by which the Sheriffs were commanded to burn William Sautre who had been before condemned for a relapsed Heretick by the Archbishop of Canterbury Apostolicae sedis Legatum and other Suffragans and all the Clergy of that Province in Concilio suo Provinciali Congregat juris ordine Note 1 Eliz. cap. 1. Proviso that such as have Jurisdiction by Letters Patents shall not have power to Judge Heresie but in such Cases as have been before adjudged c. or such as shall hereafter be ordered judged and determined to be Heresie by the High Court of Parliament of this Realm with the assent of the Clergy in their Convocation as aforesaid Before a man shall be adjudged an Heretick he ought to be convicted by the Provincial Synod for the Common Law doth not take notice what is heresie If an Heretick convict shall after abjuration relapse into the same or any other Heresie and thereof be convict again the Writ De Hoeretico Comburendo may be directed to the Sheriff after the party is delivered by the Clergy unto the secular power And by the Statute of 2 H. 4. c. 15. Every Bishop in his own Diocess might as aforesaid convict a man of Heresie and upon another conviction after abjuration might by the Sheriff proceed unto comburation But that Statute is repealed by the Statute of 25 H. 8. c. 14. vid. co lib. 12. in a Case of Heresie Note 2 Ma. tit Heresie Brook per omnes Justiciarios Baker Hare The Archbishop in his Province in the Convocation may and doth use to convict Heresie by the Common Law and then to put them convicted into Lay-hands and then by the Writ De Haeretico Comburendo they were burnt but because it was troublesome to call a Convocation It was ordained by the Statute 2 H. 4. cap. 15. That every Bishop in his Diocess might convict Hereticks And if the Sheriff was present he might deliver such to be burnt without the Writ aforesaid but if the Sheriff were absent or he were to be burnt in another County then the said Writ ought to be had who are Hereticks vid. 11. H. 7. Book of Entries fo 319. vid. Doctor and Stu. lib. 2. cap. 29. Cosin 48. 2. 1 2. P. M cap. 6. Also 3 F. N. B. fo 269. And the Writ in the Register proves this directly 4 Bracton l. 3. cap. 9. fo 123 124. And it is also true that every Ordinary may convent any Heretick or Schismatick before him pro salute animae and may degrade him