though he was Lord Chief Justice of the Kings-Bench for he saith 4. part 76. In former times some ill disposed Clerks of the Kings-Bench because they could have no Original returned out of Chancery for Debt in that Court they would Sue out an Original Action of Trespass a meer feigned Action returnable in this Court and so proceed to Exigent and when the Defendant appeared the Plaintiff would waive all the former Proceeding and file a Bill against the Defendant for Debt which he saith deserveth severe Punishment according to the Statute of Westm 1. cap. 29. If the Kings-Bench therefore ought not to entertain the Fiction of a Trespass from the Chancery to hook in the Jurisdiction of Debt with it but the Practice ought to be severely punish'd why doth that Court allow it self the Fiction of a Trespass in a Latitat to hook in the Ac etiam Jurisdiction of Debt and not severely punish the same Acts of Parliament eluded by Fictions according to the Censure of their own late famous Chief Justice Coke in a stronger Case when the Fiction comes from the Chancellor under the great Seal it self Or why should a Chief Justice be suffer'd to elude Magna Charta the Petition of Right and all other Fundamental Laws of Liberty and Propriety and starve and rot the Poor Subjects in Prisons on meer Fictions of Latitats more than a Chancellor ought to be when he pleaseth by the Fictions of his Commissions of Rebellion seeing both Latitats and Commissions of Rebellion are both point blank contrary to the Fundamental Laws of Liberty and Propriety Fictions of Summons served Then the Original Summons in the Common-pleas which should by Law issue before the Capias and Outlawry is usually by Fiction of the Clerks taken out as of a former Term and Antedated the Sheriffs Returns upon them forged the Returns of the Exigend and Proclamations forged the Outlawry forged Crimes in Clerks and Attornies which if a Law were published for it deserves death So a Clerk will Outlaw any man in an hour as well as a Twelve-month and this he doth by Fiction and as he calls it of Course and all those Acts of Parliament which have been made or will be made against the secret Stealing out of Outlawries are to no purpose and every Clerk derides and eludes them by Fictions of Course and will do unless all Fictions in all Actions and all Outlawries in Civil Actions are clean taken away root and branch Fictions in Trespass Then for the Action of Trespass 't is full of Fictions it makes a Clausum fregit where there is neither Hedg nor Ditch nor other Inclosure my Lord Coke indeed says There is one in the Eye of the Law but I am sure there is none in the Eye of the Gospâ—â—â— then there is a Fiction of a Vi Armis in the Trespass though a Woman or a Child or a Sheep or a Lamb do it Then a Fiction is made of a Continuando of the Trespass when the Trespasses were all severally committed with intervals between each Trespass then because the Writ-maker will be sure to run as far beyond the Truth as he can he will conclude with the Fiction of Alia enormia ei intulit though the Lamb did nothing there but what was scarce enough to make it a Trespass Fictions of Transitory Actions Fictions in Trovers cat some of the Grass Transitory Actions are Fictions and great Abuses A Trover is properly an Action of the Case which a man may have against another for Finding and detaining from him of his Goods so found as for his Hawk reclaimed with her Bells for his Gold-chain Purse of Money Box of Writings lost and found by another and the Declaration is Bona praedicta casualiter amisit Quae quidem bona Catalla ad manus possessionem praed ' A devenissent yet do they use to bring this Action where there was never any casual loss of the Goods nor finding of them by the Defendant as an Action of Trover may be brought by the Master for Money which a Servant sent with Corn to Sell for him received on Sale of the Corn M. 40 41. Eliz. B. R. Holiday Higs yet here is neither casual losing or finding of the Corn or Money And it may be brought for Twenty Pooks of Corn Tr. 38. Eliz C. B. Price versus Sir Walter Sands yet such Goods standing after Reaping in the same Field where they grew cannot be said to be lost when they are taken away nor found by the Trespassor who took them any more than if he had taken them before Reaping so a Trover is brought for an Hundred Load of Wood and Forty Beech-Trees No. lib. intra 41. S. 33. which quantity cannot be said to be casually lost so they use to bring Trovers for a Cow or an Horse not found but bought bona fide not knowing any other owner but the possessor who sold them and likewise on Goods lent by one to another for which Goods the proper Action is a Detinue but they turn the true Action of Detinue into the false of a Trover for these two Reasons one to deprive a Third Person injustly of his lawful Garnishment and Right of Interpleder the other in this to do what they use to do in the rest that is to say Fictions make Judicial Proceeding unintelligible Fictions in Ejectments to make Judicial Proceedings Nonsense and unintelligible that in so dark a Mist of Ignorance on the People they may judg what they please unperceived and this they may do with greater security than Latine for Latine is intelligible to some but Fictions and Nonsense to none and all this is caused by neglecting the Oath of Calumny The General Trial of Titles by Lease of Ejectment is likewise by Fictions in the Verge Coke says 2. part 548. there can be no Suit except one Party at least be of the Kings House yet Suits are there though all Parties are strangers which must be by Fictions An Obligation made beyond Sea cannot be Sued in England as saith Perk. 25. 95. France by Fiction brought into England Bro. Obligation 70. Dr. Stud. 63. but Coke Com. 261. b. g. saith It may be alledged to be made in quodam loco vocat ' Burdeaux in France in Islington in the County of Middlesex and there it shall be Tried So though in matter of Life of highest concernment in High-Treason by adhering to the Kings Enemies beyond Sea it is certain saith Coke such adherency without the Realm must be alledged within the Realm Coke Com. 261. And before the Statutes of 33. and 35. H. 8. c. they used to alledg Treasons committed beyond Sea to be committed within the Counties in England where the Lands forfeited lay though it was done on Oath ib. Stamf. 90. but this was in time of Popery when they could easily dispense with Oaths and take away not only mens Estates but
his direct Judge next the Pope and without Consent of his fellow-Bishops who then all arose and humbly desired the Kings Clemency in his behalf but finding him Resolute they took away their fellow-Bishop from the Bar and delivered him to the Custody of the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury till some other time the King should appoint for his answer to what he was charged withal Shortly after he was again taken and Converted as before which the Clergy understanding The Bishops rescue a Traitor-Bishop from the Bar of Justice the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury York and Dublin and Ten other Bishops all with their Crosses erected went to the place of Judgment and again took him away with them Charging all men on pain of Excommunication to forbear to lay violent hands on him with which audacious Act the King was much displeased and presently Commanded inquiry to be made Ex officio Judicis Concerning those objections against the Bishop whereto he Refused to appear and answer and he being found Guilty of the same Judgment was passed against him as Contumaciously absent and thereupon all his Goods and Possessions were seised into the Kings hands this Act Lost him the Clergy and added Power to the Discontented Party which by Reason of the misfortunes of the Prince and his having advanced unpopular officers As Gaveston and Spencer were grown in the people and Concurred to his after Deposeing from the Throne and horrible Murder when Deposed Hence may be very well observed in what a sad Condition a Prince is who must Depend on the Protection of Bishops and their Excommunications And how shamelesly notwithstanding they will boast that no Bishop no King For here are France and Scotland Confederated against the Kingdom the King is valiant but young and unexperiensed his Bishops and Barons are Corrupted against him by French Pensions and cause the Overthrow of his Army he discovers one of the Bishops guilty of the Treason and had he not been Rescued by the other Traytor-Bishops his Companions he might perhaps have discovered the whole Plot and all his Complices The King very Justly Sentences him both as Mute and Contumaciously absent and seises on his Estate as forfeit What more Just proceeding than this here is no condemning without Liberty of Answer and Hearing yet this must lose the King all the Arch-Bishops and Bishops in England and Ireland and all the Clergy of both Kingdomes who received Ordination from them And they will no longer be his subjects unless he will allow them to betray and sell him to his Enemies and not Punish or question the Treason But all concur to irritate the Temporal Barons the people and his own Trayterous Queen to depose and destroy him And the Bishop of Hereford Preaching before her took this Text My Head aketh my Head aketh and thence drawes this wicked Doctrine and Use to a wife that she must cut off her Husbands Head who was her Head and when after the King was deposed and his son chosen the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Preached in Westminster-Hall on this Text Vox Populi Vox Dei to encourage the people in the Treason which was after perfected by his horrible murder in Prison The next Consideration will be how this might have been prevented by his Renowned Father who was of such Wisdome Vigilance and Valour as neither Gaveston nor Spencer nor Bishops Dared to abuse if he had suspected they would have practised such Treachery against the younger yeares of his son Concerning which it seemes he was able and might have easily prevented it had he not Committed two oversights the one was That he only Banish'd Gaveston and had not cut off his head if he had deserved it for assoon as he was dead Gaveston returned again and corrupting the young King was the first occasion his Enemies made Use of to cast the vices and misgovernments of his Favorites on himself It may be here objected That perhaps though Gaveston was a wicked vitious person yet he might not be Guilty of any Crime for which he might be lawfully put to death To which is answered That it possibly might be so though it be not likely And if he were not Guilty of such a Crime he ought not to have been put to Death for a Throne cannot be Established by shedding Innocent Blood But neither he nor his son needed to have been Guilty of it for his son needed not have sent for him Contrary to his Fathers Command and though he incurr'd that fault the Lords cut â—ff his Head who must answer for it and freed him from the Guilt and danger of him The second oversight was of more weight that was When he made an Act against Mortmain for the future he had not taken away as H. 8. after did all that was before Mortmained And when he took the Moiety of the Reverend Fathers Money and Goods he had not taken all and when he Lopt the Branches of Privileges and Jurisdictions of Bishops and other Ecclesiasticks he had not took both Root and Branch For it is as lawful to take present Mortmaines as 't is to prohibit Future And if lawful to take the Moiety it was lawful to take the Whole And if lawful to take the Branches it was as lawful to take the Root of Hierarchy which if he had done This clear Benefit he had Received by it he had left his son secure from any Spiritual French Pensioners who are the most Dangerous sort of all other And the Temporal Barons could not have had without them so great and specious advantages to have Betrayed him 2 He had freed him from such Audacious Traytors as would Rescue their fellowes from the Bar of Justice which Temporal Barons never dared do 3 He had fâ—eed all his successors who should happen to be superstitious from having Rebellions raised against them and themselves Deposed by Excommunication by abolishing Bishops and their ordination which had been an advantage none of his neighbour Emperours or Kings could hitherto ever obtain nor if Bishops had been taken away Episcopal or Ecclesiastical Government by halves though it was sufficient to abate their Power as to himself it was worse for his Son than if he had done nothing at all for he thereby left Bishops and a Clergy full of Rancour in their minds for those blowes they had been beaten with by the Father which though they dare not revenge themselves on him yet did they on his Son to his destruction and though there never had been a Gaveston or a Spencer would have found other pretences enough for their Treasons which they could not have done had he cleane abolish'd them and not left a See for a Bishop to fit in Arch-Bishop threatens to Excommunicate Edw. 3. Edward the Third being with his Army in France and disappointed of his Supply of Treasure upon his last Return into England had in great displeasure Removed his Chancellor and Imprison'd his Treasurer with other Officers most of them Clergy men
of the same by the Priest are inventions of Men and but Ceremonies as well as the other Heyl. 196. This was a Contract but no Matrimony Of Pulcheria Sister to Theodosius the Emperour married to Martianus Of the Lady Etheldred married to two Husbands The Lady Amigunda married to the Emperour Henry the Second The Lady Editha to Edward the Confessor The Lady Ann of Cleve to Henry the Eighth all married by the Priest but not by their Husbands Zonaras reports That the Empire being in great danger by reason of Wars with the Goths Pulcheria on consideration that there was necessary to be chosen some able person to be Emperour against them Theodâ—sius being dead without any Son and Martianus an old experienced Captain being taken to be the fittest for that purpose he was chosen Emperour by the order of Pulcheria the Sister of Theodosius and to give him the greater Authority Pulcheria assented to marry him on security given by him that they should both live Chast and he suffer her to continue in Virginity on which they were married and they both faithfully observed their agreement of Chastity This Lady made a very repugnant Vow to live a Nun yet to marry therefore I think her Vow doubly unlawful first as to her self if young open to a necessary temptation and then as to her Husband though an old Soldier to a probable one Mr. Ricaut Turk Hist p. 72. Saith Ghear Han Sultan That Ghear Han Sultan Daughter to Sultan Ibrahim hath had already five Husbands yet continues a Virgin Etheldred Etheldred was the Daughter of Anna King of the East-Angles she was married to two Husbands one after another yet continued still a Virgin and at last became a Nun and was Canonized a Saint under the name of St. Audry Amigunda Henry the Second Emperour having married Amigunda the Daughter of the Count Palatine of Rhine they lived most Chastly both of them observing voluntary Virginity without having any carnal knowledge one with the other It is reported that being accused of Adultery she purged her self by going bare-foot upon plates of fiery hot Iron and that the Emperour was Penitent for exposing her to such danger being so Chast and Vertuous a Woman she was very much beholding to him to deny to Husband her himself yet quarrel so far as to suspect her of another Edward the Confessor married Editha the beautiful and indeed vertuous Daughter of Earl Godwin Editha and because he had taken displeasure against the Father he would shew no kindness to the Daughter he made her his Wife but conversed not with her as a Wife but only at Board and not at Bed or if at Bed no otherwise than David with Abishag and yet was content to hear her accused of incontinency whereof if she were guilty he could not be innocent and he not only entertained such thoughts of his Wife but the like accusation against his own Mother Queen Emma of unchast familiarity with Alwin Bishop of Winchester and suffer'd her to be put to her purgation of fire Ordeal by passing over Nine red hot Plow-shares bare-foot which she all escaped to the astonishment of the beholders and thereupon was adjudged Innocent though there might be much jugling in those Tryals but whether there were so or not it became not a Son to divulge the shame of his Mother It seems he was Chast but without discretion and not without injury to his Wife and impiety to his Mother Bak. Hist 18. Ann of Cleve The same dealing had the Lady Ann of Cleve who was married to Henry the Eighth who lay by her six Months yet left her a Virgin And when her Ladies who attended her said they looked now every day to hear of her being with Child to whom she reply'd They might look long enough unless saying How dost thou sweet-heart Good-morrow sweet-heart and such like words could make a great belly for said she more then this never passed between the King and me Bak. Hist 288. I hope therefore none of our Protestant Ladies will believe this wicked Doctrine of Pope or Turk That Consensus non Concubitus facit Matrimonium if they do we shall have no young Souldiers to fight against either Of the Custom of desertion of Virgins after deflouring Of the desertion of the Lady Lucy by Edward the Fourth for the Lady Elizabeth Grey and the infelicity followed thereon to them and their Children Of the like desertion by a Gentleman in Ireland after the birth of a Child Of the ancient Form of Marriage-Contracts Se post concubitum non deserturum now repugnantly turned into verba de praesenti Of Seditions and Civil Wars raised for the said Crime of Desertion Of the Law giving liberty of Temptation of a Minor married to an Husband of desertion of her Husband after carnal knowledg and to take a richer A relation of the same practised in Scotland Of the Law tempting Women to desert their Husbands by giving more Alimony then the Portion Desertion of the Lady Lucy by Edward the Fourth There being a Marriage in Treaty between Edward the Fourth King of England and the Lady Bona Sister to Carlot the French Queen the King happen'd to fall in love with the Lady Elizabeth Grey the Widow of John Grey who in the Civil War between the House of Lancaster and York was his Enemy and died in Battel at St. Albans against him the old Dutchess of York his Mother was very eager for the French Match but however desired if that did not please him and he would needs marry one of his own Subjects he should rather marry the Lady Elizabeth Lucy whom he had a little before inticed to his Bed which was a Marriage before God and better then the Lady Elizabeth Grey who was the relict of another Man and his Enemy too and thereupon she instigated the Lady Elizabeth Lucy to claim a Praecontract of him which Lady though set on by the King's Mother and others yet when she was solemnly sworn to speak the truth she confess'd to this effect That he never in direct express words made any Promise or Contract to her of Marriage but he spake so loving words unto her that she verily hoped he would have married her and that if it had not been for such kind words she would never have assented he should have lain with her on which pretence the flattering Bishops as though all Impediments were removed by the not proving any express or formal words of Contract though the real Contract of lying with her was apparant to please the King gave him their allowance That he should please his second Fancy and not to be tied to his first And he accordingly married Elizabeth Grey according to the Ecclesiastical Law Consensus non Concubitus facit matrimonium Which Repudiation of the Lady Lucy was certainly as much against the Law of God as the Bill of Divorce by the Law of Moses was against
Part. Fol. 584. saith And here is to be observed how the Statute of 35. E. 1. hath been dealt with since the 17th of E. 3. for in an Act that Year a branch of the Statute of 35. E. 1. was recited That forbad any thing should be attempted or brought into the Realm which should tend to blemish the King's Prerogative or in prejudice of his Lords and Commons which is now wholy omitted and Fol. 585. he saith Note in the Roll of Parliament of the Statute of 38. E. 3. Cap. 1. of Provisors there are more sharp and biting words against the Pope then in Print a Mystery often in use but not to be known of all men from which examples it is manifest that this came by the Fraud of the Bishops who before Printing were Masters of the Authentick Copies of the Laws appointed for promulgation and since Printing are Masters of the Press to interdict and publish what they will Accipe nunc horum insidias Crimine ab uno Disce omnes These few Frauds are discover'd in Print against the Interdictors of Printers which discovery they would likewise have interdicted if they had been able for these latter Books of my Lord Coke were prohibited to be Printed and got out in the late time of Troubles but by these it is clear which were only spoken obiter and without any inquisition after them that all they are guilty of are not discover'd and that to give either Spiritual or Temporal Judges Power to interdict the Press is to give them Power to have what Law what Gospel what Text what Translation what Canonical what Apocryphal what Scripture what Act of Parliament what Common Law what Statute what Religion what Justice what Liberty and what Slavery they please Besides which Power of Fraud and Forgery destructive to all Truth these further mischeifs follow all interdictions of the Press but I shall first answer such Objections as are made against the Liberty of it Object 1 First If Liberty of the Press should be permitted Enemies would have it equal with Friends Papists with Protestants Hereticks with Orthodox Secondly They would Print Blasphemy Idolatry Treason Rebellion Vncleanness Calumny Reviling Derision and all manner of Heresie Answ 1 To the First is answer'd 1. That it is impossible to exclude Enemies and Papists from Printing they being possess'd of so many Transmarine Presses whence they can with far greater advantage vent their matters then from any Presses in England 2. Admit they could be excluded yet in prudence they ought not but are more necessary to be admitted then Friends for those whom we use to call Friends are pessimum inimicorum genus Adulantes the worst kind of Enemies Flatterers who flatter and sooth us up in our Vices and destroy us but any truth of our Faults we shall never hear but from Enemies Plutarch therefore calls an Enemy a School-Master which costs us nothing 2. As to the matters of Blasphemy Idolatry or Uncleanness neither Enemy or Friend will so far dishonour themselves or their Cause as to Print them openly for it is against their interest As to Treason or Rebellion who that hath an Enemy doth not desire to know before-hand wherein the strength of his Cause as well as of his Forces lies and to have the War Proclaimed in Print before it begin that he may the better provide against Besides if there were but a Law made that nothing shall be printed without the names of the Author and Printer with their Additions and Designations And that all Crimes against the publick committed by Printing should be punished by Indictment according to Law and all injuries to private persons should be reparable by the parties injured on their Actions according to Damage Who would dare make himself guilty of a publick Crime or private Injury in Print to which he had set his name 3. As to matters of Heresie such as by accident become dangerous to public safety the prudence of the Legislators may where they find cause prohibit them both Press and Pulpit but not in the Thoughts and Consciences of Men As in the end of the Wars of Germany between the Lutherans and Catholicks it was Enacted mutually on both sides on pain of death That no Catholick should Preach against the Lutheran Doctrine or Lutheran against the Catholick but both should enjoy the liberty of their own Consciences to themselves This agreement was here made otherwise those bloody Wars would never have ended without a total destruction of one of the Parties And likewise such a Law were here much more necessary between dissentient Protestants who were Brethren then it was between the Lutherans and Catholicks who were mortal Enemies That no dissentient Protestant should Print or Preach publickly on any point of Ceremonial dissentiency or other matter not necessary to Salvation except in such matters as are particularly allowed by Supream Authority to exclude Popery there being Field-room enough in the Moral Law of God to exercise gifts in Preaching and matters which have the promise of this life and of that to come and no cause for any to complain who have liberty likewise of Conscience to use what Protestant Ceremonies and Form of Worship they will to themselves though they have not power to compel the Consciences of others who are dissentients But if Protestants are tolerated to Print or Preach against one another this is the thing the Papist would have and knows will in the end make them both a prey to himself But though Protestants ought not to preach one against another yet the juncture of Affairs being not at present in great Britain as before mention'd in Germany and an appearance of War Plotted by the Papist rather to begin than end with the Protestant the Bishops ought not to be suffer'd to interdict either Press or Pulpit to the Protestants against them To come at length to the further mischiefs insuing the Interdiction of the Press any Interdiction of the Press except in Cases before mention'd either to Friend or Enemy is a dishonour to the Protestant Religion as if it dared not suffer it self to be disputed or to meet an Enemy in the open field whereas in truth it is not Protestancy but Episcopacy 'T is not the Moral Law which is the Protestant Law but the Ceremonial which is the Popish Law which dares not encounter the shock of an Enemy And 't is Fiction and not Truth Vice and not Vertue which fears either Press or Pasquil 2. The Foreign Presses being impossible to be interdicted to the Papist if the English are interdicted to the Protestant he is thereby silenced and prohibited to answer the Papist let him preach what he pleaseth 3. By Interdiction the profit of the English Protestant Print-houses will be transported to Foreign Papists which will be a great discouragement to so necessary a Trade in England and prejudice to the Protestant Religion and Policy 4. The Interdiction of the Press will multiply the greater evil
of Libels and Lampoons It increases unlearned Sects and Heresies who if drawn to Print would either not be able to form their Doctrine in Principles or Positions or if they were they would appear so absurd as would be fit to imploy boys to laugh at rather than Doctors to confute Such were Mahomet's whose Alchoran is not therefore suffered to be Printed or Translated 5. It causes the more dangerous way of spreading Heresies both learned and unlearned to be neglected how to prevent which is the secret creeping into private Houses leading Captive silly Women with whom they walk like the Pestilence in the dark whereas if they appeared in Print or publick Preaching they might be known where they are and opposed 6. It stops the truth of all intelligence which is so invaluable a Treasure and difficult to be got into the Gates of Princes 7. A free Press is the pulse of the Body politic from which is impossible for the wisest State-Physician to discern or prevent the public Distempers unless it is suffer'd to beat free without a Ligature 8. It stops all just causes of complaint and appeal of the Subject to the King and Parliament against Judges and great Officers both Spiritual and Temporal It was my own ill fortune to be prickt Sheriff of a County which enforced me to draw a Petition to be presented to the King and Parliament desiring some remedy against the old Popish Oath continued to be imposed on Sheriffs wherein they swear to destroy the Protestant Religion under the name of Lollary and likewise to be relieved against the extortions of Officers of the Exchequer on Sheriffs which not knowing how otherwise conveniently to Address I appointed the Messenger to get a License to Print which he tryed to do but though there was nothing in it but Humility and Truth as who dare present otherwise to the Legislative Power The Licenser Swore He would not License it for Five Hundred Guinneys whereby it could not be done 9. It stops all presentments by the People to the King and Parliament of public grievances in regard the extent of the Three Kingdoms is great and remote and therefore neither fit nor possible multitudes should come so far to present Petitions in person and if not done in person there are so many Papists and Foreign Agents and their favourers in the way as may and do often intercept from the King's knowledg the humble applications of his Protestant Subjects as is easie to do when perhaps comprised only in one sheet of Paper To avoid therefore the stifling of all just complaints of the Subjects and the ill consequences which have been too often occasioned thereby of presenting Petitions by Tumults and Armies It is far more safe and equal that the Press should be open to the People in all public Addresses to Supream Authority it being many times a sufficient satisfaction to them if they understand that the King and Parliament do but vouchsafe to hear their complaints and desires though they think it not fit to grant them And a Child will often times awe his Enemies from harming him if he do but threaten them he will tell his Father where they know he hath that liberty given him 10. It appears by experience That the Liberty of the Press in Holland and other Foreign States where permitted not only bring no inconveniences but very great benefits and advantages to the People By pretence of giving the King the name of Supremacy they have taken the Thing to themselves The word Supremacy is of so infinite Extent as it can properly be attributed to none but the Divine Power of God and the words Jurisdiction and Government with which it is joyned in the Stat. 1. Eliz. 1. which gives the Form of the Oath of Supremacy are of that Vast Latitude that in their large literal Sense they include all Legislative Judicial and Executive Power amongst men and the Subject matters over which it is exercised are all Divine and Human Rights yea what is more all things Spiritual and Ecclesiastical as well as Temporal circumscribed in nothing to difference it from the Papal Supremacy pretended over Heaven Earth and Hell but the Bounds of her Majesties Dominions within which no wise man ever believed Heaven and Hâ—ll to be contained though the Bishops under pretence of the same Supremacy given her Majesty which the Pope had have in the Royal name exercised the same not only in matters of Marriage Filiation and Succession concerning which I intend here only to contend with them but in all other matters of Oppression of the Consciences and Rights of the Subjects both as to Religion Liberty and Propriety as high as ever the Pope did though never any such Supremacy was intended either by the Statute or Oath to make Canons Judg or Execute but what hath before been or lawfully may be exercised or used so the word lawfully refers to time past as well as future and that neither Pope nor Bishops had ever any lawful Supremacy or Power to make or use Canons or Ecclesiastical Laws concerning Marriage Filiation or Succession but did the same by Usurpation in this Realm is sufficiently proved before against my Lord Coke's Ecclesiastical Law P. 31. and the Form of the Oath makes the Ecclesiastical Supremacy no higher than the Temporal Supremacy which every one knows in all Acts of Legislation is joyntly in the King and Parliament and not singly in either Estate And therefore Bishops can claim to exercise no Supremacy from one unless they have it from both nor of any matter which is not within the Kings Dominions or of any other human Power but only belongs to the Kingdom of God And that Pious Queen her Self who began her Reign with the Statute and Oath of Supremacy soon found the words so general and thereby obscure and the letter wrested to such extremity by Episcopal Expositions that she endeavour'd by a Subsequent Declaration published to have explained and limited according to the true intention but the same not being done by Act of Parliament became not of that Force was desired and left the Bishops more liberty to exercise more Supremacy in the Royal Name by pretence then was in truth intended in the Act or Oath And the subtlety wherewith they glossed their designs appears in the Act it self of which they were the chiefest contrivers For first they begin with a Nolo Episcopare alas as if they intended never to Episcopate or seek for Ecclesiastical Supremacy againâ— for they utterly abolish all Foreign Power which was the Popes and all usurped Power which was their own and annex all Spiritual and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction to the Crown which includes the Jurisdiction of Marriage Filiation and Succession and many other matters for they knew if any part of the Supremacy had been left at Rome they could never have got it to Canterbury and though the one eased the Burden of the Subject no more than the other but rather by
withal Threatens a Proceeding against his Person Becket thereupon flies the Realm and appeals to the Pope and procures an Excommunication from the Pope of such Bishops as kept not their Oath of Canonical Obedience to him who was their Arch-Bishop The King of France Intercedes for Becket and the Pope Threatned Excommunication against the King himself if he Restored him not The King out of a Superstitious Fear of his Excommunication as appears by his Receiving afterward the Servile Penance imposed on him for Becket's death Restores Becket again to his See of Canterbury whither again arrived he continued notwithstanding the favour of the Kings Restauration as bad as before in Prosecuting his Excommunications he had got at Rome against such Bishops as sided with the King of which when the Excommunicated Bishops complained to the King and moved thereby his Passion He cried out Shall I never be quiet for this Priest if I had any about me that lov'd me they would find some way or other to Rid me of this trouble Whereupon Four Knights standing by took their Journey to find the Arch-Bishop whom they found at Church on the steps where they strook him on the Head with their Swords and killed him which though in the manner of doing it was no way Justifiable being without lawful Hearing and Trial Yet 't is very manifest that the Arch-Bishop by the Common Law it self without the trouble of an Attainder by Parliament might have been proceeded against Legally by Indictment of High-Treason and he was manifestly Guilty for it was by the Common Law High-Treason to appeal to a Foreign Prince And likewise for any Subject to bring an Excommunication from Rome against another Subject without the Kings Assent was Treason for this was the ready way to give the Pope Power to Raise Rebellions against the King when he pleased Bishops Traitors to King John The Bishops in the time of King John Conspired with the Pope and the French and the Temporal Barons and the Pope laid an Interdiction or Excommunication on the Kingdom for Six Years Three Months and Fourteen Days during which the Church Doors were shut up and there was neither Exercise of Religion Mass Marriage Baptism or Burial allowed in the Church or Church-Yard 'till the King would Surrender his Crown and take the Kingdom from the Pope and hold it Feudatory from him which the King was by the Treachery of his Bishops deserting him compell'd to do and accordingly he took off the Crown from his Head and laid it at the Feet of Pandulphus the Popes Legate the Pope to dispose of it how he pleased which he kept Three or Four Days from him and would not Restore again but on condition agreed That he and his Successors should hold it of the Pope and pay him for it the Yearly Tribute of a Thousand Marks which was a great Sum in those days besides all the other Tributes and Exactions which the Pope then had from the Subjects but this the King was fain to do before the Excommunication would be taken off from him and his Kingdom which being done and be perceiving himself clear from the Pope Resolved to Raise an Army and be Revenged on the French King whose Pensions had set all this on work against him and accordingly had Levied a very great Army having his Fleet all ready at Portsmouth to have Shipt them The Arch-Bishop of Canterbury thereupon told him He broke his Oath to the Pope at his Absolution if he Warr'd against the French King which in truth the Bishops had themselves by their Treason compell'd Him to To whom the King Replied in a great Passion That he would not defer the Business for his pleasure seeing Lay-Judgment belonged not to him The Arch-Bishop Threatned his Native Sovereign he would Excommunicate him unless he desisted and this was in behalf of a Foreign Prince his Enemy So far could French Pensions prevail with Prelats whereby the King to his great loss was enforced to Dissolve and Disband again his Army in the nick of Time when it was ready for Action Henry the Third the Tempest of the Barons-Wars beginning to Threaten him was asked by Robert Bacon a Frier Predicant What Sea-men feared most that they knew best themselves The Frier Replied My Lard I will tell you It is Petrae Rupes alluding to Petrus de Rupibus The name of the then Bishop of Winchester and under him meaning the whole Body of the Bishops Edward the First that wise and valiant Prince disdaining to be Priest-Ridden as his two Predecessors had been to so great danger of their Persons and Kingdoms and taught by their Experience that it was in vain to think of obliging by Benefits or Oath the Power of those who being a Body United and as it were an Army more firmly Banded under their Arch-Bishop than 't was possible to make the Lay-Nobility to be under their King he began first to Lop off from their Ecclesiastical Auxiliaries such Branches of Royal Power as he could do himself without a Parliament and Anno Reg. 6. Deprived many famous Monasteries of England of their Privileges and took from the Abbot and Covent of Westminster the Return of Writs granted them by the Charter of Henry the third And after he got to be Inacted by Parliament the Statute of Mortmaine against the so enormous Increase of their Temporal Possessions which was so detrimental to the Military Service of the Kingdom and in the Statute of Westminster 2. defalked the Jurisdiction of Bishops and Ecclesiastical Judges He left not here but growing more upon them he Required the Moiety of all their Goods as well Spiritual as Temporal for one year and I think their money and moveables could grow no more the next year which he took in one year And at the first one Sr. John Knight stands up amongst them in their assembly and said Reverend Fathers if any here will Contradict the King's Demand in this Business let him stand out in the midest of this Assembly that his person may be known and seen as one Guilty of the Breach of the King's Peace At which speech they all sate mute and though it put them into Extreme grief and perplexity they yet were fain to yield to his demand Dan. Hist Which if he had been possessed with a dastardly fear of Excommunication he had no more dared to do than his Predecessors Yet some say to be able to deal with his own Bishops he was fain to send the Pope a Furnish of gold for his Chamber to have his Connivence Edward the second Anno Regni 17 after the Overthrow he Received by the Treachery of his own in Scotland Bishops Traitors to E. 2. Caused the Bishop of Hereford to be Arrested and Accused of High treason for aiding the Kings Enemies in their Late Rebellion but he Refused to Answer being a Consecrated Bishop without leave of the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury whose Suffragan he was and who he said was