2. verbo praeterea n De auctor usu Pallii cap. 3. Vid. concil Lateranense sub Innocentio 30. cap. 3. o Eadmer pag. 22 19. p Ibid. pag. 6 46. pag. 23 31. pag. 111 6 18 32. q Ibid. pag. 23 42. p. 111 32. passim apud Historicos r De jurejurando cap. 4. s Mat. Paris Vit. Abbat pag. 140 31. t Mat. Paris Hist. major pag. 410 39. u Vit. Abbat pag. 140 39. x Ibid. pag. 141 49. y Ibid. pag. 142 1. z Mat. Par. Vit. Abbat pag. 133 23. pag. 141 52 56. ⸫ Sess. 25. cap. 2. a Vitae Abbat St. Albani MS. in Iohanne 3. Abbate 25. b Wmus Thorn col 1899 22. c Ibid. col 1880 3. d Acts xx 17 to the end e Cap. 5. tom 1. Concil f Novel 123. cap. 10. g Baron to 9. Ann. 743. n. 19. * Capit. Car. c. lib. vii cap. 108 109. h Concil Spelm. pag. 237 238. i Confer Concil Spelm p. 238 §. ut Episcopi p. 251 cap. 25. k Eadmer pag. 113 2. l tom 4. Concil gen Rom. m cap. 26. Concil Lateran n Mat. Paris Ann. 1257. pag. 951. 41 44. o pag. 956 7. p Reynald Annal. Eccles. to 14. Ann. 1257. n. 50. * Monasticon Anglicanum pag. 296. col 1. q Vitae Abbat MS. r Mat. Paris pag. 972 51. s W m Thorn col 2185. sequent col 2153 46. t card Ossat Epist. 296. Rom. 22 Decembr 1601. u Cypr. Epist. 68. n. 4. edit Pamelii x Epist. 110. y Cap. 13. * turbis apud Gratianum Dist. 63 cap. 6. * Milevis z August Epist. 110. a Leo Epist. 89 cap. 5. b Caroli Magni Capit. lib. 1. cap. 84. c Lib. 2. Epist. 26. Ind. 10. Epist. 22 26. Ind. 11. alibi d Vide continuat Flor. Wigorn. Ann. 1128. p. 506. Ann. 1139. pag. 532. e Ailred de miraculis Edwardi col 406. 37. f Epist. Edwardi 3. apud Walsingh pag. 151. 42. Ann. 1343. g Rot. Parl. 50. Ed. 3. n. 94. h Ibid. n. 111. i Additament Mat. Paris MS. in Bibliotheca Çotton fol. 135 a. cui initium Dicturus c. of which hereafter k A Willielmo Lanfrancus electus est Malms fol. 116 b. 38. Rex constituit Lanfrancum Archiepiscopum Cant. Florent Wigor p. 436. Ann. 1070. Sim. Dunelm col 202 6. l Eadmeâ— p. 6 41. m Vide ibid. p. 16 48. p. 17 18. n Ibid. p. 109 40. c. o Hunt lib. 7. fol. 219 a. 1. p Apud Eadmer pag. 93 42. q Ann. 1175 col 587 21. r Vide eas apud Malmsburiensem fol. 118 a. 32. s Lanfranc Epist. 3. pag. 301. t Stubs de Arch. Ebor. col 1706 31 u Eadmer p. 118 5 15. * Eadmer p. 120 50. p. 121 6. y Eadmer pag. 125. z Sim. Dunelm Ann. 1120. col 242 25. a Eadmer pag. 136 43. b Beda lib. 4. cap. 1. Note Malmsbury fol. 26. a. â—3 says this was Ann. 904. but that agrees not with Formosus his Popedome Baronius therefore corrects it to 10. and makes Ann. 894. n. 11. but at that time Edward was not King c Flor. Wigorn p. 47â— d Eadmer pag 92 14. e supra n. 20. f Hoc per literas olini mandaverat Eadmer g Eadmer pag. 113. pag. 115. h Diceto col 506 507. i Vide Iohan. Hagulstad ab Ann. 1142. ad Ann. 1152. ⸫ Bernard Epist. 106 234 235 237 238. k Iohan. Hagulst col 276 8. l Mat. Paris Ann. 1207. pag. 222 40. m Diceto col 507 53. 508 20. * Mat. Paris Ann. 1206 p. 214 44. n Tulla Gregor 9. apud Mat. Paris Ann. 1229. pag. 355 46. o Mat. Paris pag. 355 44. p Additament Mat. Paris MS. in Bibliotheca Cotton sol 135. cui initium Dicturus quod injunctum est mihi q Mat. Paris Hist. minor Ann. 1252. pag. 287. fol. 143. b. col 1. MS. in Bibliotheca Regia Westmonast r Roger Hoved fol. 453. b. 39. 454. b. 2. Gervas Dorobern col 1682 27. in vitâ Huber s In antiquo MS. Bullarum Romanorum Pontificum Archiepisc Cant. Pulla 〈◊〉 Honor. 3. ⸫ 26. Febr. 12â—1 t In eodem MS. Gregor 9. Bulla 3. ⸫ April 17 Ann. 1230. u Mat. Pariss p. 371 18. x Mat Paris Ann 1241. pâ— 549 18 22â— c. y Idem Annâ— 1240 p. 5329 43. z Apud Mat. Paris p. 6â—7 36. a cap. 4. n. 17. b Mat. Paris Ann. 1246. pag. 6â—9 9. c Cardinal Ossat Epist. 296. dâ—t Rom 1601. Decembr 2â— d Rot. Parl. 3. R. 2. n. 37. e W m Thorn 2082 2. sequent vide Walsingham Ann. 1374. pag. 184 1. Thorn Ann. 1373. col 2187 57. See the History of Nicholaus de Spyna resigning the Abby of St. Augustins and on his nominating him Thomas Fyndon prefer'd to be Abbot thereby Martin the 4. who on the receipt of the Papall Bulls acquainted Edward the 1. with what had past at Rome himself being in England yet by command the house was seized into the Kings hand and he at the Parliament held at Acton Burnell fined at 400. marks pro eo quod sic fuerat creatus in Abbatem licentia Domini Regis minime petita Thorn Col. 1939 1. 1934. f Fide varias lectiones ad col 2117. 54. quae vero ibi debent interseri pertinent ad Hist. de qua hic agitur col 2082. g Hen. Knighton col 2601. 37 49. h Rot. Parl. octav Pâ—rif 25. Ed. 3. n. 13. See the words of the peition cap. 4. n. 15. i Walsing hist. 1374. pag. 184 6. Rot. parl 1. R. 2. n. 66. Thorn 1373. col 2187 58. k Rot. Parl. 50. Ed. 3. n. 110 115. * Gregory 11. k â— Ric. 2. cap. 3. 7. Ric. 2. cap. 12. l Christi vicarii sacerdotes sunt qui vice Christi legatione funguntur in Ecclesia Eusebii Papae Epist 3. to 1. Concil Electum à Fratribus Christi Vicariâ—m suscipiant scil in Abbatem Hydensium leges ab â—dgaro cap. 15. Concil Spelm. pag. 440. quis locus poterit esse tutus si rabies sancta sanctorum cruentat Vicarios Christi alumnos Ecclesiae dilacerat Epist. W i Senonensis apud Hoved Ann. 1171. fol. 299. b. 32. de marie Thomae Archiepiscopi m Gervas Dorobern col 1422 18. Hoved fol. 303. a. 1. Ann. 1172. n Iohan. Sarisbur Epist. 279. p. 483. ⸫ Epist. Hen Chichly in vita ejus pag. 79. o Fitz. Excommengement 4 6 10. p â—ide Hoveden fol. 284. b. 23. q Ex antiquo MS. r â—oram Hoveden s pag. 103 43. t Girolamo Catena vita di Pio 5 to pag. 96 97. 98 100. in 8 vo Romae 1587. Adriani Hist. lib. 19. pag. 1378. A. u Ger. Dorobern col 1422 50. x pag. 6. y 2. H. 4. Accion sur le case 25. Fitz. * 31. Ed. 3. Excommengement 6. z Froissard to 1 cap. 47. pag. 58. Gall. * Benedictus xii Iacobus Meierus Anâ—al Flandr Ann. 1 40. fol. 141 a. a Assise lib. 30.
other but in the foundation most sound most orthodox that holy man never intending such a superiority over this Church as after was claimed The Bishops of England in their condemnation of Wicliffs opinions do not at all touch upon those concerned the Popes supremacy and the Councell of Constance that did censure his affirming Non est de necessitate salutis credere Romanam Ecclesiam esse supremam inter alias Ecclesias doth it with great limitations and as but an error Error est si per Romanam Ecclesiam intelligat universalem Ecclesiam aut concilium generale aut pro quanto negaret primatum summi Pontificiis super alias Ecclesias particulares I conceive therefore the Basis of the Popes or Church of Romes authority in England to be no other then what being gained by custome was admitted with such regulations as the kingdome thought might stand with it 's own conveniency and therefore subject to those stipulations contracts with the Papacy and pragmatiques it at any time hath made or thought good to set up in opposition of extravagancies arising thence in the reformation therefore of the Church of England two things seem to be especially searcht into and a third arising from them fit to be examined 1. Whether the Kingdome of England did ever conceive any necessity jure divino of being under the Pope united to the Church and sea of Rome which drawes on the consideration how his authority hath been exercised in England under the Britons Saxons and Normans what treasure was caryed annually hence to Rome how it had been gained and how stopt 2. Whether the Prince with th' advise of his Cleargy was not ever understood to be endued with authority sufficient to cause the Church within his Dominions be by them reformed without using any act of power not legally invested in him which leads me to consider what the Royal authority in sacris is 1. In making lawes that God may be truly honoured 2 things decently performed in the Church 3. Profainesse punished questions of doubt by their Cleargy to be silenced 3. The third how our Kings did proceed especially Queen Elizabeth under whose reformation we then lived in this act of separation from the sea of Rome which carries me to shew how the Church of England was reformed by Henry the 8. Edward the 6. and Queen Elizabeth Wherein I look upon the proceedings abroad and at home against Hereticks the obligation to generall Councells and some other particulars incident to those times I do not in this at all take upon me the disputation much less the Theologicall determination of any controverted Tenet but leave that as the proper subject to Divines this being onely an historicall narration how some things came amongst us how opposed how removed by our ancestors who well understanding this Church not obliged by any forraign constitutions but as allowed by it self either finding the inconvenience in having them urged from abroad farther then their first reception heare did warrant Or that some of the Cleargy inforced opinions as articles of faith were no way to be admitted into that rank did by the same authority they were first brought in leaving the body or essence as I may say of Christian religion untouched make such a declaration in those particulars as conserved the Royall dignity in it's ancient splendour without at all invading the true legall rights of the state Ecclesiasticall yet might keep the kingdome in peace the people without distruction and the Church in Vnity CHAP. II. Of the Britans 1. I Shall not hear inquire who first planted Christian Religion amongst the Britans whether Ioseph of Arimathea Simon Zelotes S. Peter or Elutherius neither of which wants an author yet I must confess it hath ever seemed to me by their alleadging the Asian formes in celebrating Easter their differing from the rites of Rome in severall particulars of which those of most note were that of Easter and baptizing after another manner then the Romans used their often journeying to Palestina that they received the first principles of Religion from Asia And if afterward Caelestinus the Pope did send according to Prosper Germanus vice sua to reclaim them from Pelagianisme certainly th' inhabitants did not look on it as an action of one had authority though he might have a fatherly care of them as of the same profession with him as a Synod in France likewise had to whom in their distress they address themselves to which Beda attributes the help they received by Germanius and Lupus 2. After this as the Britans are not read to have yeilded any subjection to the Papacy so neither is Rome noted to have taken notice of them for Gregory the great about 590. being told certain children were de Britannia insula did not know whether the Countrey were Christian or Pagan and when Augustine came hither and demanded their obedience to the Church of Rome the Abbot of Bancor returned him answer That they were obedient to the Church of God to the Pope of Rome and to every godly Christian to love every one in his degree in charity to help them in word and deed to be the children of God and other obedience then this they did not know due to him whom he named to be Pope nor to be father of fathers 3. The Abbots name that gave this reply to Augustine seems to have been Dinooth and is in effect no other then what Geffry Monmouth hath remembred of him that being miro modo liber alibus artibus eruditus Augustino pâ—tenti ab episcopis Britonum subjectionem diversis monstravit argument ationibus ipsos ei nullam debere subjectionem to which I may adde by the testimony of Beda their not only denying his propositions sed neque illum pro Archiepiscopo habiturum respondebant And it appears by Gyraldus Cambrensis this distance between the two Churches continued long even till Henry the first induced their submission by force before which Episcopi Walliae à Menevensi Antistite sunt consecrati ipse similiter ab aliis tanquam suffraganeis est consecratus nulla penitus alii Ecclesiae facta professione vel subjectione the generality of which words must be construed to have reference as well to Rome as Canterbury for a little after he shewes that though Augustine called them to councell as a legat of the Apostolique sea yet returned they did proclaim they would not acknowledge him an Archbishop but did contemn both himself and what he had established 4. Neither were the Scots in this difference any whit behind the Britans as we may perceive by the letter of Laurentius Iustus and Mellitus to the Bishops and Abbots through Scotland in which they remember the strange perversenesse of one Dagamus a Scottish Bishop who upon occasion coming to them did not only abstain eating with them but would not take his meat in the
hujusmodi de caetero emanarunt ad provisionem ipsorum inviti non teneamur nisi de hac indul gentia plenam fecerint mentionem Dat. Lateran 15. Kalend. Maii Pontificatus nostri anno 4 to c. could quiet the English or keep them from that confederation in Mat. Paris 1231. beginning Tali Episcopo tali capitulo Vniversitas eorum qui magis volunt mori quam à Romanis confundi c. Which the Popes by wisdome and joyning the Regall auctority with their spirituall sound means to bring to nought and pursuing the Papall interest without regarding what had past from them gave the Kingdome occasion 1241. to observe that in onely three years Otho had remained Legat here he bestowed more then 300. spirituall promotions ad fuam vel Papae voluntatem the Pope having contracted as the report went with the Romans to confer to none but their Children and Allies the rich benefices here especially of Religious houses as those perhaps he had most power over and to that effect had writ to the Bishops of Canterbury and Salisbury ut trecentis Romanis in primis beneficiis vacantibus providerent So that in the Councell at Lions 1245. they complain of these exorbitances and shew the revenues the Italians received in England not to be lesse then 60 thousand marks of which more hereafter and in the year following 1246. reiterated their griefs to Innocentius 4 tus quod Italicus Italico succedit Which yet was with little successe for the Popes having as we have heard first settled all elections in the Ecclesiasticks and after upon severall occasions on the submitting of the English to his desires bestowed the benefices in this and other Kingdomes on his dependents Iohn the 22. or as some seem to think Clement the 5. his immediate predecessor endeavored the breaking of elections by Cathedralls and Convents reserving the free donation of all preferments to himself alone 70. From whence proceeded the reiterated complaints â— against Papall Provisions in the Parliaments of Edward the 3. and Ric. the 2. for this Kingdome never received his attempts in that kind to which purpose the History of Iohn Devenish is remarkable The Abbot of St. Augustines dying 1346. the 20. Ed. 3. the Convent by the Kings leave chose VVm. Kenington but Clement the 6. by Provision bestowed the Abbacy on Iohn Devenish whom the King did not approve of yet came thither armed with Papall auctority The Prior and Convent upon command absolutely denyed him entrance ingressum monasterii in capite denegando who thereupon returned to Avignon The businesse lying two years in agitation the King in the end for avoyding expences and other inconveniences ex abundanti concessit ut si idem Iohannes posset obtinere à summo Pontifice quod posset mutare stylum suae creationis â—ive provisionis scilicet non promoveri Abbatia praedicta ratione donationâ—s vel provisionis Apostolicae sed ratione electionis capituli hujus loci illa vice annueret suis temporalibus gaudere permitteret sed quidem hujusmodi causa coram ipso summo Pontifice proposita concludendo dixit se malle cedere Pontificio quam suum decretum taliter revocare c. Which so afflicted the poor man as the grief killed him on St. Iohn Baptists Eve 1348. without ever entring the Abby and the dispute still continuing the Pope 1349. wrote to the King Ne Rex impediret aut impediri permitteret promotos à curia per bullas acceptare beneficia sibi taliter incumbentia To which his Mary answer'd Quod Rex bene acceptaret provisos clericos qui esseâ—t bonae conditionis qui digni essent promoveri alios non 71. But the year following 1350. the 25. Ed. 3. the Commons meeting in Parliament complain with great resentment of these Papall grants shewing the Court of Rome had reserved to it self both the collation of Abbeys Priories c. as of late in generall all the dignities of England and Prebends in Cathedrall Churches c. Upon which the statute of Provisors was in that Parliament enacted which was the leader to those other statutes 27 and 38. Ed. 3. The 48. Ed. 3. 1374. the treaty between Ed. the 3. and Gregory the XI was concluded after two years agitation wherein it was expressely agreed quod Papa de caetero reservationibus beneficiorum minime uteretur c. Notwithstanding which the Commons the next Parliament prefer'd a petition shewing all the benefices of England would not suffice the Cardinalls then in being the Pope having by the addition of XII new ones raised the number to XXX which was usually not above XII in all and therefore they desire it may be ordained and proclaimed that neither the Pope nor Cardinalls have any Procurator or Collector in England sur peine de vie de membre c. Yet the inconveniences still continuing 3. Ric. 2. produced that statute is in the print I shall not here repeat otherwise then that the Commons in the Roll seem to lay the beginning of these excesses no higher then Clement the 5. 72. By these arts degrees and accessions the Church of Rome grew by little and little to that immensenesse of opinion and power it had in our nation which might in some measure whilst it was exercised by connivence onely upon the good correspondency the Papacy held with our Kings and Church be tolerated and the Kingdome at any time by good Lawes redresse the inconveniences it susteined But that which hath made the disputes never to be ended the parties not to be reconciled is an affirmation that Christ commanding Peter to feed his sheep did with that give him so absolute a power in the Church and derived the like to his successors Bishops of Rome as without his assent no particular Church or Kingdome could reform it self and for that he as a Bishop cannot be denied to have as much power as others from Christ and may therefore in some sense be said to be Christs Vicar to appropriate it onely to the Pope and draw thence a conclusion that jure divino he might and did command in all particulars Vice Christi And though no other Church in the Christian World doth agree with the Roman in this interpretation though Historians of unquestioned sincerity have as we have in some measure heard in their own ages deliver'd when and how these additions crept in and by what oppositions gained that our Princes have with th' advise of the Lay and Clergy ever here moderated th' exorbitances of the Papacy in some particular or other and likewise reformed this Church though the stipulations between our Kings and Rome have not been perpetuall but temporary not absolute but conditionall as is to be seen in that past between Alexander the 3. and Hen. the 2. viz. juravit quod ab Alexandro summo Pontifice ab Catholicis
to the King this cause seemed to him non ad plenum tractata ideoque sicut in canonibus cautum est in pristinum locum debere restitui judicavimus Deinde causam ejus juxta censuram canonicae traditionis diligenter retractandam definiendam praedicto fratri nostro Archiepiscopo Lanfranco commisimus It is certain however some writers might upon this or for â— other causes think his degradation to have been non canonice those times did not interpret this though writ with so great earnestnesse for other then advise or intercession not as of a person had an absolute power of commanding in the businesse for we never read of any proceedings upon it not Lanfrank at all ever to meddle in the case that he ever esteemed Stigand a lawfull Bishop Epist. 27 28. who in the year 1075. being in a Councell at London according to the Decrees of it removed his Episcopall Chair from Selsey to Chichester of which he died Bishop 1087. without being at all for what appears questioned or disturbed after the first grant of it Divers examples of the like nature occur too long to be repeated where the King or his chief Iustice prohibit the Papall precepts from being put in execution and it is agreed by Lawyers that not the command but the constant obedience is it which denotes a right of commanding and in cases of this nature prohibentis potior est condito one example in the negative when the thing is stood upon being of more weight then twenty by compliance in the affirmative 77. It is probable neither the King nor the Bishops would introduce any new matter of great concernment into this Church without the privity of so great a Doctor Patriarch of a See from which their auncestors had received the first principles of Christian Religion but it is manifest what past if he were acquainted with it was by their own auctority not his When Off a intended the erecting of Litchfield into an Archbishoprick he did it by a Councell at Calcuith Lambertus as what he approved not producing crebra sedis Apostolicae vetera nova edicta against it yet the thing proceeded Lucius the 2 went so far in his intentions to raise Winchester to an Archiepiscopall Chair as he sent the pall to the Bishop yet it being not approved here as the event shews that Town never yet had the honour Henry the first having in his Lawes appointed how a Bishop Presbyter Monk Deacon c. should suffer committing homicide concludes Si quis ordinatum occidat velproximum suum exeat de patria sua Romam adeat Papam consilium ejus faciat de adulterio vel fornicatione vel Nunnae concubitu similiter poeniteat Where it is observable the King ordains the Penance permits the delinquents peregrination to Rome to receive from the Pope as from a great Doctor of the Church spirituall counsell which else he was not admitted to seek for peregrina judicia modis omnibus submovemus and again ibi semper causa agatur ubi crimen admittitur 78. VVilliam the first who began his expedition against Harald by the counsell of Alexander the 2. and received a banner from him minding the deposition of th' Archbishop of Canterbury procured the Pope to send certain Ecclesiasticks hither to joyn in the action as likewise soon after for determining the question of precedency between Canterbury and York upon which there grew an opinion Archiepiscopum Cantuariensem à nullo hominum nisi à solo Papa judicari posse vel damnari nec ab aliquo cogi pro quavis calumnia cuâ—quam eo excepto contra suum velle respondere This no doubt was promoted by th' Archbishops as what exempted them from all home jurisdiction the Bishops in generall did after think in some sort to introduce and thereupon put in this petition in Parliament 18. Ed. 3. qe pleise a Roy en maintenance del estat de seint Esglise graunter ordeiner en cest Parlement qe nul Ercevesque ou Evesque â—oit desormez arreynez ne empesâ—hez devaunt ses Iusticos en cause criminele par quecunque voye de si come sur tiele cause nulle alme ne les poet juger si noun le Pape seulement But to this the answer is no other then Il est avis qe en cause de crime nul Ercevesque ou Evesque soit empesche devant les Iustices si le Roy ne le commande especialment tant qe autre remedie soit ordeinez which he did likewise confirm by Charter there registred and as Walsingham hath truly recorded 79. This opinion though new to the English questionlesse incouraged Anselme to oppose the King in many particulars and Popes to go farther as to claim Princes should not confer Investitures nor define matters of Episcopacy c. then to bestow preferments within this Kingdome at first by consent and with the limitation no Italian to succeed another then to reserve to themselves the collation of all benefices of which before To conclude this whosoever will without prejudice weigh the reformation of England by Hen. the 8. Edward the 6. and more especially Queen Elizabeth in the point of supremacy must grant these Princes did not assume to themselves any thing but such particulars as the Court of Rome had in a long series of time incroached in on the Crown and English Church If at any time our auncestors styled the Pope Princeps Episcoporum it was in no other sense then they did St. Peter Princeps Apostolorum by which what principality they intended him we cannot better understand then by the Saxon who renders it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apostola the Elder of the Apostles If they called him successor or Vicarius Petâ—i they were not alone appropriated to him for Petrus Blesensis and others give the Bishop of York the same titles and the Bish. of Bath who had a Church dedicated to St. Peter he bids remember quia Petri Vicarius estis So did they likewise in some sense call Kings Christs Vicars as well as Bishops If at any time they gave the Pope the title of head of the Church it was as being the first Bishop he was held to be as St. Bernard tells us in beneficam causam as they termed Oxford the fountain and mother of our Christian faith I cannot therefore but with a late writer that sayes England had a known subjection to Rome acknowledged even by our Laws ever from the conversion of our Country under St. Gregory had expressed in what particulars that subjection did consist what those Laws are and where to be found The truth is as there is no doubt our Auncestors in former times would not have joyned with the Synod of Gap in causing so disputable ambiguous a question as that the Pope is Antichrist to have been taught as the faith
of the English Church so there is no question but it hath been ever the Tenet of it Pontificem Romanum majorem aliquam jurisdictionem non habere sibi à Deo collatam in Sacrâ Scripturâ in hoc regno Angliae quam alium quemvis externum Episcopum Which our Historians do mention as what proceeded from the constitutions of the Church and assent of Emperors not as of a thing in it self juris divini insomuch as 80. That proposition when it was propounded 1534. in Henry the 8 ths time in convocation all the Bishops without exception and of others onely one doubted and four placed all Ecclesiastick power in the Pope both the Universities and most of the Monasteries and Collegiat Churches of England approved avowed as the undoubted opinion of the Church of this Nation in all ages Neither can I see how it can be otherwise for if the Church of Canterbury were omnium nostrum mater communis sub sponsi sui Iesu Christi dispositione if it were Mater omnium Anglicanarum Ecclesiarum suo post Deum proprio laetatur pastore that is if th' Archbishop had no mediate spirituall superior but Christ God if the power the Pope exercised over him within this Realm were voluâ—tate beneficio gained as I have shewed by little little voluntarily submitted unto it could be no other then jure humano and then it must be granted the Church of England could not hold any necessity of being in subjection to the See or Church of Rome jure divino as it is manifest they did not in that they sometimes acknowleded no Pope otherwhiles shewed an intent of departing from his union and the Bishops as well as Lay Lords advised Anselm Vrbani obedientiam abijcere subjectionis jugum excutere c. Neither could the Church of England be any way possible guilty of Schism adhering to their Ghostly Superior next and immediate under Christ Iesus As for the temporall profits the Court of Rome received hence though the denying them can be no just cause of such a spirituall imputation especially on privat men yet certainly who will examin their beginning as he shall find it to have been by the bounty or permission of our Princes so upon search he will perceive the Kingdome went no farther then the Common Law the precedent of former times and such an exigency did force them to of which therefore I shall adde a word or two CHAP. IV. Of the Payments to the Papacy from England THe vast summes the Court of Rome did of late years upon severall occasions export out of this Kingdome mentioned in the statute of the 25. Hen. the 8. are spoken of by severall of our writers and though some have in generall expressed how much the Nation suffer'd in that kind yet none that I know in one tract did ever shew by what degrees the Papacy gained so great a revenue as the Commons in Edward the thirds dayes had cause to complain it did turn a plus grand destruction du Royaume qe toute la guerre nostre Seigneur le Roy. I have thought therefore that it will not be amisse to set down how the Pope came to have so great an influence over the treasure of the Clergy in this Land by seeking out how and when the greatest of the paiments made to him began what interruptions or oppositions were met with either at the beginning or in the continuance of them 2. The first payment that I have read of which gave the Pope an entrance as it were in to it was that bounty of our Princes known to this day by the name of Peter-Pence and this as it was given for an Almes by our Kings so was it no otherwise received by the Court of Rome Eleemosyna beati Petri prout audivimus ita perperaâ—â— doloseque collecta est ut neque mediam ejus partem hactenus Ecclesia Romana susceperit saith Paschalis the 2. So that no question Polidore Virgil very inconsiderately termes it vectigal and others who by that gift contend the Kingdome became tributarium feudatarium S to Petro ejusque successoribus for though the word tributum may perhaps be met with in elder writers yet never did any understand the Pope by it to become a Superior Lord of the Lay fee but used the word metaphorically as we do to this day terme a constant rent a kind of tribute and to those who pay it and over whom we have in some sort a command we give the title of subjects not as being Princes over them but in that particular being under us they are for it styled our inferiors 3. What Saxon King first conferred them whether Ina as Ranulphus Cestrensis sayes report carryed or Offa as Iorvalensis I will not here enquire as not greatly materiall Polidore Virgil tells some write Ethelwolphus continued it with whom Brompton seems to concur It is true our Historians remember he caused 300. mancusas denariorum Malmsbury renders it trecentas auri marcas which was ten times the value of silver as another trecenta talenta to be carried every year from hence to Rome which could be no other then the just application of Peter-Pence for amongst sundry complaints long after from Rome we find the omission of no paiment instanced in but of that duty onely neither do the body of the Kingdome in their Remonstrance to Innocentius 4. 1246. mention any other as due from hence to Rome 4. This therefore thus confer'd by our Kings was for the generality continued to the Papacy yet to shew as it were that it proceeded only from the liberality of our Princes not without some stops Of those in the times of VVilliam the first Henry his Son I have spoke Henry the 2. during the dispute with Becket and Alexander the 3. commanded the Sheriffs through England that Denariibeati Petri colligantur serventur quousque inde Deminus Rex voluntatem suam praeceperit During the Reign of Edward the 3. the Popes abiding at Avignon many of them French their partiality to that side and the many Victories obtained by th' English begat the proverb Ore est le Pape devenu Françeis Iesu devenu Angleis c. about which time our Historians observe the King gave command no Peter-Pence should be gather'd or pay'd to Rome And this restraint it seems continued all that Princes time for Richard the 2. his successor at his beginning caused Iohn Wickliffe esteemed the most knowing man of those times to consider the right of stopping them whose determination in that particular yet remains entituled Responsio Magistri Iohannis Wicliff ad dubium infrascriptum quaesitum ab eo per Dominum Regem Angliae Richardum secundum magnum Concilium anno regni sui primo then the question followes Dubium est utrum regnum Angliae
possit legitime imminente necessitate suae defensionis thesaurum Regnidetinere ne deferatur ad exteros etiam Domino Papa sub poena censurarum virtute obedientiae hoc petente relicto viris peritis quid dici debet in ista materia secundum jus canonâ—cum secundum jus Angliae velcivile solum restat suadere partem affirmativam dubii secundum principia legis Christi then shews those paiments being no other then Almes the Kingdome was not obliged to continue them longer then stood with its own convenience and not to its detriment or ruine agreeing therein with that of Divines extra casus necessitatis superfluitatis Eleemosyna non est in praecepto 5. But in the Parliament held the same year the question was concluded for there this petition being prefer'd que y puisse estre declaree en cest present Parlement si la charge de la denir Seint Pierre appelle Rome peny seraleve des dites Commes paye al Collector nostre Seint Perele Pape ou noun the answer was soit fait come devant ad este usee By which the use of them being again returned did so remain till Henry the 8 ths time For though in a councell held at London 1408 it was treated de censu obedientia Papae subtrahendis vel non subtrahendis yet that it past farther then words I have not observed But King Henry 1533 4 took them so absolutely away as though Queen Mary repealed that Act and Paulus Quartus dealt earnestly with her Agents in Rome for restoring the use of them yet I cannot find they were ever gather'd and sent thither during her time but where some Monasteries did answer them to the Pope and did therefore collect the taxe that in processe of time became as by custome pay'd to that house which being after derived to the Crown and from thence by grant to others with as ample profits as the Religious persons did possesse them I conceive they are to this day pay'd as an appendant to the said Mannors by the name of Smoak-mony 6. Before I passe from this one thing is not to be omitted that however the Pope had this as a due and for that end his Collector did abide in England yet he might not raise the auncient accustomed proportion of the Taxe nor in any kind alter the manner of taking it for when Rigandus from the Pope endeavored that he was streightly prohibited by Edward the 2. The Act it self is printed As for the value these Peter-Pence did amount to I have seen in an old MS. belonging to the Church of Chichester a Bull said to be of Gregory 5 ths that did proportion them after this manner Episcop Episcop  l. s. d.  l. s. d. Cant. 07 18 00 Exoniensis 09 05 00 London 10 10 00 Wigorniensis 10 05 00 Roffensis 05 10 00 Herefordens 06 00 00 Norwicensis 21 00 00 Bathon 12 00 00 Eliensis 05 00 00 Sarisbur 17 00 00 Lincolniensis 42 00 00 Coventrensis 10 00 00 Cicestrensis 08 00 00 Eborac 11 10 00 Winton 17 06 08     Dat. apud Vrbem Veterem x. Kalend. Maii Pontificatus nostri anno secundo But this could not be the Bull of Gregory the 5. who dyed about 997. before Ely was erected or Episcopall chaires placed in Lincoln or Norwich 7. The last article in the oath prescribed the Clergy from the Pope of obedience to him was not any way to alienate the possessions of their houses inconsulto Romano Pontifice Whether this clause were inserted when 1115 it was first required of Raulf th' Archbishop of Cant. I have not been able to certify my self and am apt to believe it was not for though we find it in Math. Paris when it was first imposed on Abbots and Bishops yet that was after the Court of Rome had tasted the sweetnesse of taxing other Churches neither is it in any of those conditions mentioned by Diceto But when ever it came in it implying a right of alienating the possessions of Religious houses and Churches with the Papall licence bred an opinion that without his assent there could be no good sale made of their estates by any temporall or spirituall power whatsoever though with their own concurrence and the Court of Rome grew to maintain That being a Mother she ought to be relieved by her Children Gelasius the second in his distresse 1118 is said to have desired à Normannica Ecclesia subsidium orationum magis pecuniarum yet certainly the Norman Church did not then at all condescend to any for the French Agent in the Lugubri querimonia of which before mentions him amongst divers others who expell'd Italy fled into France for succour yet non in aliquo gravaverunt Ecclesiam Gallicanam nec dando beneficta nec petendo subsidium pecuniae vel armorum sed spiritualibus armis scilicet lacrymis orationibus quae sunt arma ministrorum Christi maluerunt esse contenti c. So that certainly if any collection were made for Gelasius it was so private publick notice was not taken of it 8. The first extraordinary contribution raised by allowance for the Popes use in this Kingdome I take not to have been before 1183. when Lucius 3 us at odds with the Citizens of Rome not any ways able to resist their fury sent to Henry the 2. postulans ab eo à clericatu Angliae auxilium The thing was taken into consideration and for the precedent it was not thought fit any thing should be given as from the Clergy but that they might raise a supply amongst themselves for the King without permitting a forraign Agent to intermeddle and his Majesty might with that relieve the Pope as he should see occasion But take in the Historian his own words Consuluit Rex Episcopos suos clerum Angliae de petitione summi Pontificis cui Episcopus Clerus consuluerunt ut ipse secundum voluntatem suam honorem faceret auxilium Domino Papae tam pro se quam illis quia tolerabilius esset plus placeret eis quod Dominus Rex si vellet accepisset ab eis recompensationem auxilii illius quam si permisisset nuncios Domini Papae in Angliam venire ad capiendum de iis auxilium quia si aliter fiereâ— posset verti in consuetudinem ad detrimentum regni Adquâ—â—vit Rex consilio corum fecit auxilium magnum Domino Papae in auro argento The judicious reader may observe hence things very remarkable as that the King did in points concerned the Pope consult with the English Church and followed their advise the great care the Clergy took to avoid any sinister consequence in future and therefore did themselves give to the Prince as to whom it was due from them and not to the Pope who by custome might come to claim it as indeed he
eam conspurcare sit nefas 8. This Letter received about the beginning of the Parliament which met the 24. of November 1548. may have been the cause of deferring th' exhibition of it to the House of Commons till the 19. December 1548. when the consideration of it was referred to Sr Thomas Smith his Maties Secretary and a very learned Knight who returned it back again the 19. Ianuary having kept it by him a full moneth after which it was expedited and printed in March following and the 6th of April 1549. the Mass by Proclamation removed But this book was not so perfect as it yielded no exceptions whether just or not I shall not hear examine I know learned men have judged variously it shall suffice me to say it was again revised by Bucer a great patron of Discipline and Martyr both in England and reprinted 1552. and to ought in or of this second edition during King Edwards reign I have not heard any Protestant did ever except 9. In Queen Maries time divers learned men retired from the heat of Persecution and by the favour of the Magistrate permitted a Church 1554. at Frankford laboured to retain this Liturgy whom Knox VVhittingham and some others opposed so far as one Haddon desired to be their Pastor excused himself and Mr. Chambers coming for that end from Zurick finding it would not be allowed retired back again and xvi learned men then at Strasburgh amongst which this Haddon Sandis afterward Archbishop of York Grindall of Canterbury Christopher Goodman famous for his book of Obedience remonstrated unto them That by much altering the said book they should seem to condemn the framers now ready with the price of their bloud to confirm it should give their adversaries occasion to accuse their doctrine of imperfection themselves of mutability and the Godly to doubt of what they had been perswaded that the use of it permitted they would joyn with them by the first of February their Letter bearing date the 23. of November 1554. 10. But nothing could move them to be like Saint Paul all things to all that he might gain some or relent any thing of their former rigour onely a Type of it drawn into Latine was sent to Calvin for his judgement who returned an answer the 18. Ianuary 1554 5. somewhat resembling the Delphick oracles That the book did not contein the purity was to be wisht that there were in it ineptias yet tolerabiles that as he would not have them be ultra modum rigidos so he did admonish others ne sibi in sua inscitia nimis placeant c. And here I cannot deny to have sometime wondred why in these disputes the opinion of Peter Martyr then at Strasburgh a person for learning no lesse eminent was never required but I have since heard him to have been alwayes a profest patron of it as one by whose care and privity it had been reformed 11. Whilst matters went thus in Germany certain learned men at Geneva were composing a Form for the use of the English Church there which 1556. was printed by Crispin with this title Ratio forma publice orandi Deum atque administrandi Sacramenta c. in Anglorum ecclesiam quae Genevae colligitur recepta cum judicio comprobatione D. Iohannis Calvini But this did not satisfy all for Mr. Lever coming to Frankford to be their Minister requested they would trust him to use such an order as should be godly yet without any respect to the book of Geneva or any other But his endeavours were soon rejected as not fit for a right reformed Church and the book it self hath received since sundry changes from that first type 12. In this posture Queen Elizabeth found the Church the Protestant party abroad opposing the book of Common prayer few varying in judgement not at unity with themselves nor well agreeing what they would submit unto She hereupon caused it to be again revised by certain moderate and learned men who took a great care for removing all things really lyable to exception and therefore where Henry the 8. had caused to be inserted into the Letany to be delivered from the Tyranny of the Bishop of Rome all his detestable enormities which remained all King Edwards time this as what might give offence to that party was thought fit to be strook out and where in the delivery of the Eucharist the first book of Ed. the 6. had onely this clause The body of our Lord Jesus Christ which was given for thee preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life and at the giving of the Cup no other then The bloud of our Lord Iesus Christ which was shed for thee preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life and the second book which was in force at his death had removed those two clauses and instead of them inserted Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ dyed for thee and feed on him in thy heart by faith with thanksgiving and accordingly at the delivery of the Cup from whence some might and perhaps did infer the faithfull Receiver not to have a real communication of Christs body in taking the Sacrament but onely a remembrance of his sufferings it was now thought fit both expressions should be retained that no man might have any just cause of scandall for be Christs presence never so reall even by Transubstantiation in the holy Sacrament we may upon Saint Pauls warrant do it in remembrance of him Thus at the first of her reign matters in religion past with so great moderation as it is not to be denyed very few or none of the Romish inclination if they did at any time go to Mass refused to be present in our Churches during the time of Divine Service But of another thing that likewise past at the same time it will be necessary to make some more particular mention CHAP. VIII How Queen Elizabeth settled in this Kingdome the proceeding against Hereticks 1 ANother particular no small argument of the Queens disposition fell into consideration this Parliament Her Sister had revived all the laws of former Princes against Hereticks even that of Hen. the 4. which her Father had on weighty considerations repealed and all proceedings against them till they came to their very execution pertaining to the Ecclesiastick how to find a means to preserve her subjects and yet not leave a license to every old heresy new invention fanatick spirit to ruffle the Church and trouble the world was a matter of no small difficulty But for the better understanding of what then past it will be requisite to consider how the condemning of Heresy and proceeding against Hereticks hath been both here and elsewhere how her Maty found it abroad in the Christian world and at home how thereupon she settled it 2. The words Heresy and Heretick were in the primitive Church not alwayes of so ill a sound as these later Ages have made