of Fifty years of King Edward the Third the great Charter was several times confirmed The liberties priviledges and franchises of the Clergie were new ratified in the fourteenth and five and twentieth years of His Reign And so in the first sixth and eighth and twelfth years of Richard the second In the first second and fourth years of Henry the fourth It was enacted That the Lords Spiritual as well as Temporal should have and enjoy all their Rights and Liberties I grant indeed that in the Reign of two of these preceding Kings viz Edward the third and Richard the second that the two statutes of Proviso's and Praemunire were made But he that shall duly observe the end wherefore and the matter wherein and the persons against whom these statutes were made will not be able to find that any abridgment but rather a firmer settlement of Episcopal jurisdiction in the right Constitution of it was intended and came thereby That which was mainly aimed at and provided against in these statutes was to repress the encroachments of the Pope of Rome even upon the Bishops legal jurisdiction it self The Pope by His Emissaries in England from time to time drained the Kingdom of its Wealth He invaded the Kings Soveraign Rights by Mandates De providendo and expectative Graces granted of Ecclesiastical livings before the Incumbents were dead And besides He boldly intrenched on the Kings Temporal Courts many such unreasonable greivances there were which both King and People felt the load of and which to make them the heavier were fetch as far as Rome to be put upon them But all this while here are no exemptions to any particular persons or civil Officers to free them from Ecclesiastical jurisdiction where it proceeded in due manner and was exercised in matters properly cognizable by it That which must have the note of remark put upon it is this Provision is here made under severe penalties against acting by a derived power from and in an Usurped jurisdiction under the See of Rome This no English Bishop might do then This no Bishop in England or Ireland might or does or may do now One Act of Parliament will best serve to give light to another Now the statute 25 Hen. 8. cap. 21 affirms expresly that the statute of provision and praemunire of the 16th Richard secundi was made against such as sue to the Court of Rome against the Kings Crown and Dignity so that Episcopal jurisdiction in each respective Diocess and in matters of Ecclesiastical cognizance is so far from being impaired by these statutes that in truth it is more firmly fixed and corroborated thereby All these things were before the Reformation in England towards the dawning of which we meet with a noted statute in the 23th year of King Henry 8. cap. 9. designed as is conceived to restrain the Exorbitances used in summoning people out of the Diocess wherein they inhabit without leave of their Ordinaries which thing as it tended to the great vexation of the persons so cited it also aimed at the very encroaching on the several Ordinaries Rights on pretence of some legantine power or Nuncio's Court or other extraordinary cause In the preamble of which Statute it is affirmed That all persons of any quality or condition may be cited before their Ordinaries so it be in proper cause and due Order The body of that statute provideth that no citation be made out of the Diocess where the party dwelleth but where some spiritual offence or cause is committed or done So that a contrario sensu sayes the learned and judicious Dr. Cosen Apol. p. 67. in any offence or cause spiritual any Subject may be cited within his or her Diocess And in some peculiar causes there mentioned and recited they may be cited out of their Diocess Now the power of citing presupposes a full jurisdiction that is a power to proceed further thereupon in all due requisits and forms that belong to any cause whether it be upon instance or of matter of correction Since the Reformation that all jurisdiction Ecclesiastical is de facto as it was alwayes de jure united to and so derived from the Imperial Crown of England there is by the statute of the first of Queen Elizabeth cap. 1. Full power and authority given to the Ecclesiastical Judges for the Executing of Ecclesiastical jurisdiction as before time See also a statute made in Ireland in the 28. year of King Henry the 8. called an Act against the Authority of the Bishop of Rome towards the latter end thereof Provided that notwithstanding this Act or any other Act made for the taking away of the said Bishop of Romes Vsurped power Authority Preheminence Jurisdiction or any other thing or things in the same comprised That all and every Archbishop Bishop Arch-Deacon Commissary and Official and every of them shall and may use and exercise in the name of the King only Vid. infra p. 53. all such Canons Constitutions Ordinances and Synodals provincial being already made for the direction and order of Spiritual and Ecclesiastical causes which be not contrariant nor repugnant to the Kings Lawes statutes and customs of this Land nor to the Damage and Hurt of the Kings Prerogative Royal in such manner and form as they were used and Executed before the making of this Act till such time as the Kings Highness shall order and determine according to his Lawes of England and such order and determination as shall be requisite for the same and the same to be certified hither under the Kings Great Seal or otherwise ordered by Parliament And while I am thus enumerating the several statutes which the former position is not contrariant to but rather strengthned by I must not omit the making mention of those statutes and Acts of Parliament that are set out and published meerly upon Ecclesiastical causes and matters which are reckoned by some as those that enter into and make up the body of the Kings Ecclesiastical Laws Zouch de jure Eccles p. 1. Sec. 1. c. whether these be matters of a civil or criminal Nature matters of civil cognizance are either such as concern Precontracts and other matrimonial causes In Ireland 33 Hen. 8 cap. 6. In England 32 Hen. 8. c. 38. 1 and 2 Edward 6. c. 23. 1 Elizab. 1. oâ— such as concern Testamentary matters 21 Hen. 8. cap. 5. In this Kingdom 28 Hen. 8. cap. 18. Also matters of Tythes and the pursuits and impleadings thereup on Heâ—â— 33 Hen. 8. c. 12. In England to the two Statutes mentioned before called circumspecte Agatis and Articuli Cleris These may be added viz. 1 Richard 2. c. 14.27 and 28 Hen. 8. c. 20. 32 Hen. 8. c. 7. 2 Edward 6. cap. 13. Concerning all which all persons without distinction of place or office who are concerned in any of these causes they are subject to Episcopal jurisdiction to which the same causes do appertain and by which they are managed And for matters
King by His Ecclesiastical Judges has the hearing of them and determining in their causes and His leave and licence goes along therewith By vertue of being thus deputed and commissionated by the King the Bishops have and execute an exterior Jurisdiction which is as extensive and universal over all persons in causes belonging thereunto as is the Temporal Jurisdiction in the management of the Temporal Judges and where the Kings Commission is there is His power and there is His consent And where that Commission does not abridge and limit there all proceedings made by power from it have assuredly the Kings leave and licence in conjunction with them But if still notwithstanding all that has been said it be persisted in that there is a disparity of power in the two Jurisdictions as to the extensiveness thereof subjectively so as that the Ecclesiastical Judge in his way of proceedings may not but the Temporal Judge in his way may proceed against any civil Officers as Mayors and Sheriffs c. found Delinquents in any kind I demand How does it appear to be so What Law is there that constitutes this Disparity What legal course prescribed and set down to restrain the Ecclesiastical Judge in case he will be intermedling with such persons for it is irrational to imagine there should be such a Law and yet that it should be destitute of sufficient means to uphold and maintain it self by Truly I am not so vain as to say there is no Law extant which constitutes this Disparity because I know no such but I have been seriously inquisitive and diligent in searching after this but cannot attain a knowledge of any such and would any be so kind to inform me I should thankfully own that kindness Next for any legal course prescribed and set down to restrain Ecclesiastical Judges in case they will be intermedling with such persons If there be any such it must be one or other of these three wayes 1. By Writ of Provision and Praemunire Or 2. By a Writ of Indicavit Or 3. By a Writ of Prohibition By one or other of these the Ecclesiastical Judge is restrained in his proceedings and câ—mmanded to desist from prosecuting further such matters as being before him are referred to in those Writs Now concerning the first That Provision and Praemunire has no place nor use in this matter I do for the present plainly declare and afterwards I shall have occasion more largely to prove it 2. Then for the Writ â—f Indicavit that is notoriously known to lie there where a Suit of Tythes is commenced in the Ecclesiastical Court which does amount to a fourth part or above of the whole Benefice or it lieth for the Patron where his Clerk is impleaded for the Advowson i. e. the Right of Patronage 3. There remains only the Writ of Prohibition This is said to be two-fold Prohibitio Juris Prohibitio Hominis Prohibitio Juris is such as is grounded on any Statute or Law of this Land Prohibitio Hominis is such as has no precise word or letter of the Law to sustain it but is raised up by Argument and by way of surmise and as the wit of man will suggest Now put these Prohibitions of both sorts together and I dare boldly affirm that none of either kind have been or can or ought to be granted so as to supersede the Ecclesiastical Judge from his legal proceedings against any person where the matter proceeded upon is indeed of Ecclesiastical cognizance meerly because such a person bears some office of civil power is a Mayor Sheriff Portrieve or any other in like place of authority And this is the reason why I take so much confidence in delivering this affirmation because it is the incompetency of the cause brought into tryal before the Ecclesiastical Judge and not this or that quality or condition of the parties proceeded against that alwayes makes way for moving for and granting of a Prohibition Thus much has been said for the removal of these Objections and still it is clear and evident that the exercise of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction by the Bishop over all persons whatsoever within his Diocess in matters and causes truly belonging thereunto tends not at all to the impaâ—ring or invading the Kings Royal Prerogative It has been the glory of our Kings to keep the Rights and Liberties of the Church safe and entire and never to interpret a just exerting and using of their Jurisdiction to be a diminishing of their Royal dignity In some old Presidents of the Writ de Excommunicato capiendo A priviledge peculiar to the Church of England above all the Realms of Christendom that I read of sayes Dr. Cosen Apol. par 1. p. 9. The King declares thus Nolumus quod libertas Ecclesiastica per nos vel Ministros nostros quoscunque aliqualiter violetur Register in bre orig p. 69. a. And again Jura libertates Ecclesiasticas illaesa volentes in omnibus observari ibidem But I have one greater instance hereof to add here At the time of His Majesties Coronation the Oath that He is pleased then to take has this Article therein That He will grant keep and confirm to His people of England the Laws and customs to them granted by the Kings of England His lawful and religious Predecessors and namely the Laws customs and Franchises granted to the Clergy by the glorious King St. Edward his Predecessor according to the Laws of God the true profession of the Gospel established in this Kingdom agreeable to the Prerogative of the Kings thereof and the ancient customs of this Land Afterwards one Bishop present reads this Admonition to the King before the people with a loud voyce Our Lord and King we beseech You to pardon and grant and to preserve unto us and to the Churches committed to our charge all Canonical Priviledges and due Law and Justice and that You would protect and defend us as every good King ought to be aâ— Protector and Defender of the Bishops and Churches under His Government Whereto the King answereth with a willing and devout heart I promise and grant my part and that I will preserve and maintain to you and the Churches c. By Canonical priviledges that belong to them and their Churches there must needs be implyed the Honour of their several Orders as that Bishops should be above Presbyters c. together with all their due Rights and Jurisdictions Dr. Stewards Answer to a Letter concerning the Church and the Revenues thereof Of these Laws Customs and Franchises granted to the Church and Clergy this of actual exercising Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical in causes belonging thereto is as I have before shewed one and that a principal one too Now to imagine that the King will bind Himself by Oath to the confirming of such Charters and Grants which he either resolves not to keep or such as are detrimental to Him and tend to the impairing His Prerogative is neither consistent with Reason nor Loyalty
the ancient state thereof and is so far from damnifying the Prerogative Royal that it mainly asserts and vindicates the same It might perhaps be doubted That different Jurisdictions in one Kingdom and those exercised by persons of different professions though deriving from one Supreme Head would rather cause than prevent many inconveniencies and those inconveniencies so bad in their nature as to detract from rather than adde to the Supreme Magistrates Dignity and Prerogative as namely by introducing confusion and disorder in the management of both and in the causes and matters to be managed in them and occasioning continual jealousies and distastes betwixt the persons appointed to manage them observed by my Lord Bacon's Advancement of Learning Aphor. 96. But in truth no such ill Effects do follow hereupon for distinct Jurisdictions exercised by persons of several orders and professions in these Kingdoms and vested with authority from the Supreme Magistrates so to do though juridical proceedings therein be different from the ordinary form and prescribed coursel of the Common Law argues unplenitude not a defect of power an advancing of it not derogating from it in that Supreme Magistrate granting the same his great wisdom and prudence in a determinate stating the nature and bounds of each Jurisdiction the appropriating certain causes to be heard and determined in them respectively commanding all His Subjects to give due obedience thereunto in such causes as are limited to those Courts and which any Subject may be concerned in And as both derive from soito depend upon him in an equal poise as to the Authority belonging to each so that all the supposed inconveniencies are sufficiently provided against And the ordering all these things in this set manner is an effect of the Kings high Prerogative enabling him so to do and is both by Custom and Law among us allowed of * The King is the indifferent Arbitrator in all Jurisdictions as well Spiritual as Temporal and it is a Right of His Crown to distribute to them that is to declare their bounds Lord Hobbarts Reports Dr. Jame 's Case observe with me these following instances The Kings Majesty is plyased to confirm a peculiar Jurisdiction granted by His Royal Progenitors to the two Universities of Cambridge and Oxford The Chancellor of each University or his Commissary administer Justice according to the Civil Law and the Customs and Statutes of the University where the persons at variance together are Students or one of them at least is such insomuch as in personal Actions for Debt matters of Accounts or any Contracts made within their own Precincts and in some criminal matters likewise none of them may be called to Westminster Hall but the cognizance thereof belongs to the Chancellor of the said University or his Commissary as is before said If any Appeals be made from Sentences given in any such Trials they are first interposed to the Regents last of all to the Kings Majesty himself Cowell Interp. in verbo Privilege Dr. Duck ut supra sect 30. Will any man now say That the Exercise of this power is intrenching on the Kings Prerogative because His great Courts at Westminster are not applied to and a Jurisdiction distinct from and independent upon them is exercised Surely no because the Exercise of this power is granted by Royal Charter it proceeds from it depends upon it is done in an acknowledgment of the Kings Supreme Power and Prerogative There is a Court of great Dignity and Honour called the Court of the Constable and Earl Marshal of England Herein are determined all Contracts touching Deeds of Arms out of the Realm as Combats Blazons of Armory and the right of bearing Arms c. proper to particular Families the manner of proceeding in this Court is according to the form of the Civil Law * L. Coke Jurisdiction of Courts ca. 17. the use and authority of which is of great sway herein Appeals that are interposed from any definitive sentence in this Court are brought to the Kings Majesty Himself not to His Chancellor the municipal Law is altogether secluded from hence Justice is administred Delinquents are punished without any relation to that or the Judges thereof yet the Kings Prerogative is not infringed by the exercise of this Jurisdiction because it is derived from the King I might add here the Court of the Admiralty the peculiar Jurisdiction exercised within the Cinque Ports by the Lord Warden thereof In these Courts matters both civil and criminal are tryed according to the course prescribed by the civil Law but in the following Leafs I shall have occasion more distinctly to write something relating to these matters and respectively to these two Courts Now as it is in these different Jurisdictions they derive from the King His Subjects are bound by command from Him to obey the Authority thereof if they refuse to obey by poenal coercions proper to each they may be compelled to it yet still the Royal Prerogative is not any whit diminished nor the Rights of the Crown at all impaired hereby As it is thus I say in the distinct Jurisdictions so it is in the exercise of Episcopal Jurisdiction in the Ecclesiastical Courts And now I have uttered thus much I perceive my self beginning to walk on a narrow slippery ridge where a steep precipice is on each side The danger of falling on one hand is least I abase the Prerogative so low as to subject the King in Ecclesiastical causes and matters under the Resolves and Decisions of Classical Assemblies * Huic Disciplinae omnes orhis principes Monarchas fasers suos submittere parere necesse est Travers Disciplin Ecclesiast p. 142 143. Bishop White in his Preface to his Treatise concerning the Sabbath as the Presbyterians do or bring Him in subordination to the Bishop of Rome as the Papists do The danger on the other hand is the over-exalting of the Prerogative so that it might be thought we attribute to the King as sometimes the Papists object to us a power to exercise Sacerdotal Offices in the Church to inflict censures * And yet our Law attributes much in this particular and that very highly to the King Reges Sacro olco unctâ— spiritualis Jurisdictionâ—s sunt capaces 33 Edw. 3. Ayde de Roy. 107. Coke Cawdrie's case p. 16. c. Now to walk even and steddy betwixt these two dangerous downfalls is that which must be endeavoured and therefore whereas we own and solemnly recognize the Kings Supremacy in Ecclesiastical matters and causes it is to be understood according to the sense and meaning set down in the words of the 37th Article of the Church of England and also in the Article of the Church of Ireland concerning civil Magistrates The Kings Majesty hath the chief Government of all Estates Ecclesiastical and Civil within His Dominions see Queen Elizabeth's Injunctions set forth in the first year of Her Reign Now this Supremacy keeps the King above all
in foro externo contentioso in such causes as belong thereto so in the exercise and proceedings made in the same he depends upon the King from whom he derives his a thority and right to exercise In all Appeals made to the King in His Chancery He defers to him as habenti Supremam authoritatem Ecclesiasticam being the chief and Supreme Ordinary and acquiesces in his final and ultimate decisions A little before I mentioned a Grant of King William the Conqueror wherein great scope was given to Episcopal Jurisdiction it is now proper to set down what that was and this Historical account we may take thereof By this King an entire Jurisdiction was assigned to the Bishops by themselves wherein they should have cognizance of all matters and causes relating to Religion It seems by the Ancient Saxon Law the Bishops and Sheriffs jointly kept their Courts together at certain set times of the year in the Conquerors time these two Jurisdictions thus concurring were parted asunder Fullers Church History of Britain Book 3. p. 5. from Eadmer who lived in the time of King Henry the first gives some account hereof * Spelman in Glossar v. Hundredum But I shall set down the same in the words of a late and a learned Writer proper to the occasion he was upon Conquestor porro Forum Ecclesiasticum à Laico distinxit Nam cum antea sub Anglo-Saxonibus singulis mensibus Aldermannus seu Praeses unà cum Episcopo jus dixissent in Curia Centenaria quam Hundredum dicimus mandavit Episcopis Archidiaconis ne deinceps jus dicant in Curia Centenaria sed in loco per Episcopum designando ibique judicent secundum Canones Leges Episcopales contumaces contra corum mandata Excommunicationis sententiâ Brachio Regio parere cogantur cum Praecepto Vicecomitibus Praepositis Regiis dato ne aliquem in jus vocent coram se de iis quae ad Forum Episcopalem spectant Dr. Duck de Authoritate Juris Civilis in Regno Angliae lib. 2. cap. 8. p. 2. sect 26. And in the margent of his Book alledges * Apud quemâ—â— See this Charter more amply and fully declared the same being granted and directed to Rhemigius the first Bâ—shop of Lincoln ib. Coke's Instit p. 4. cap. 54. lib. 2. cap. 6. sect 135. Char. 2. Rich. 2. m. 1. By this it appears how early the exercise of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction by Bishops was on foot in the Kingdom of England and that as it derived it self from the Crown for besides this distinct constituting of an Ecclesiastical Court from the Court of the Tourn even before the separation before spoken of was made yet the Bishops had then the judicial cognizance of Ecclesiastical causes and matters peculiarly reserved to them so it is plainly colligible from the Laws of King Edgar among which this was one Celeberimus autem ex omni Satrapia conventus his quotannis Agitor cui quidem illius Dioceseos Episcopus Aldermannus intersunto quorum alter jura divina alter jura humana populum edoceto Lord Coke on the Statute of Circumspecte Agatis v. Curia Christianitatis I might yet trace Antiquity higher in this point but my reading is too slender and my opportunities too mean that I should think my self able to give a punctual and exact Account thereof Take notice only in brief what the Pen of a learned Writer has set down The British Saxon and Danish Kings did usually with their Clergy or great Council make Ecclesiastical Laws and regulate the external Discipline of the Church within their Dominions Among the Laws of King Edward the Confessor these were two of them one that makes it the office of a King to govern the Church as the Vicar of God another supposes a paramount power in the King over the Ecclesiastical Courts because they were to take cognizance of wrong done in Ecclesiastical Courts Archbishop Bramhall's Vindication of the Church of England c. p. 67. King Edward the Confessor was indeed after the time of King Edgar before mentioned but taking both together and what was done by both thence is shewed that the practice of former Kings was followed by them and that there was an Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction then and before exercised by Bishops which exercise thereof derived from and was regulated by these and other preceding Kings of England That which has been said makes very fair for our purpose and points out to us to take notice of these several observable things 1. That the Exercise of Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical by Bishops in the right constitution thereof in the Kingdom of England had no deperdance on Rome 2. That much of the intermediate practice in this kind degenerated from its first and right institution and until the time of Henry the eighth was a meer usurpation and encreachment on the English Crown 3. That whereas 't is said The Bishops were to judge secundum Canones Leges Episcopales by Canons I understand the Canons of General and Provincial Councils abroad especially the first four General Councils according as was Enacted by the Emperor Justinian Authent collat 9. Novell 131. cap. de Regulis cap. Sancimus igitur And by Leges Episcopales I understand their Home-laws I mean the Ecclesiastical Laws made by the British Saxon and Danish Kings with the Council of their Bishops variety of which may be found by him that will consult Sir Henry Spelman's Councils The body of the Canon Law was not then in being my meaning is it was not so as such The several particulars that the Decrees consist and were made up of were indeed then and long before in being but they were not compiled together till near fourscore years after thisâ—s and that was done by Gratian the Monk in the year as some say for there is much difference in the computation of this time 11 49. Ridley's view c. p. 74. And by Eugenius the third allowed to be read in the Schools * Of Greg. 9. set forth Anno 1230. The Decret in sexto Anno 1297. The Clementines of Clent 5 set forth Anno 1317. And not long after were extant the Extravagan's of John the 22d and other Popes and to be alledged for Law And for the Decretals c. Clementines and Extravagants they came in successively along while after Here by the way is seen the vanity and wildness of some mens fancies that by all means will have Bishops Courts to be of Popâ—sh extraction and that both in their Erection and Constitution they receive influence and authority from the Romish Consittory Than which nothing is more untrue in its self and unhist or ical as to the right deducing the primitive Institution hereof not to speak of the Eastern Churches even in the Kingdom of England it self 4. This is also hence observable That the present course commanded and observed by the Bishops in the Exercise of this Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction suits nearly with
these men did That a Bishop the Kings principal Ecclesiastical Judge within his own Diocess has put the Inhabitants of a City into very much disorder by such arbitrary and unheard of manner of proceedings when all the disorder proceeded from themselves and no other but legal proceedings have been used herein this comes very near the saying That they are wronged in spight of any thing that can be said against it and that if they to whom they make their Application will not believe and redress them as they would have it themselves they will venture to speak as hardly of them too They will commit faults and then complain and be pettish and froward if they be not stroak't and soothed up in their complaints He that charges any in subordinate power with arbitrariness of proceedings and may escape so will at the next turn charge as bad upon those that are in superiour Authority if he have but any matter of concern then at stake and may think to be secure when he does so This begins in the Ecclesiastical Courts but will it end there it's to be feared it will not Success impunity and hopes of being countenanced therein will embolden such men to go further even to pronounce the like upon all judiciary proceedings in Civil Courts where their persons or interests are concerned and where they may be heard with freedom and safety of popular approbation it might pass for a pretty smooth contrivance for a Criminal to avoid the force of a judiciary sentence by first traducing it and to get free from the Obligation of submitting to what is decreed by affirming confidently and standing to it That the proceedings were illegal and therefore not to be obeyed If this would serve the turn who would be such a Fool as ever to be guilty or so careless of his own ease as ever to undergo any punishment But 't is worth the wonder of a sober man to think that any one should shew himself and believe others ought to think him serious herein But in truth what has preceded so much out-does this that all our wonder may be well spent upon it That men called to answer in Law should question the known and approved course and proceedings thereof carries something extraordinary with it but here is much more That they themselves should against Law so plainly fore-judge their own cause and their own persons as to exempt both from what and to confine them to what Jurisdiction they themselves best liked of The Enquiry into the absurdity unreasonableness and ill consequences of which and the evincing the Right of Episcopal Jurisdiction in the case in hand against any such illegal pretensions and attempts The putting a new mound about that ancient and established Jurisdiction which every pragmatical pettish and conceited Novelist is now seeking either by detraction in his speech or other crafty Machinations in his practice first to retrench a little and by and by utterly to abolish has hitherto employed my Thoughts and my Pen. In prosecution of which design it is now no more than time I should tell the Reader so much I have promiscuously made use of English Statutes since the time of King Henry the seventh and some memorable passages of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction done in England as well as what peculiarly relates to this Kingdom And I cannot altogether deny but that I have done this for the Nonce for setting aside some particular Statutes relating to the peculiar state and condition of this Kingdom As to Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction we here conform in the practice and exercise of it and in the Rules and Laws it is exercised by to the same that are used in England If I be blamed for this I protect my self with what a Learned person has collected from Sir John Davys Reports in Case de commendam Ex quibus constat Hibernos sese accomodare non ad jura Anglicana tantum sed ad Leges Caesareas etiam jus Canonicum quatenus ea inter Leges Anglicanas admittuntur Dr. Duck de Authoritate Juris Civilis in Regno Hiberniae Sect 8. To whom I may add the Authority of that greatly Learned Prelate Primate Vsher for to this Chapter of the said Book as he did to all the rest he gave his particular Attestation under his own hand I mentioned at first two ends which I proposed to my self in this undertaking these I have had all along in my eye The one was that by the best reason I had and was able to improve and by the best authority I could find and was able to prâ—duce I might justifie the Right and in the present case the right proceedings of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and so give my self a true satisfaction therein The other end is to give a satisfaction to others also for what concerns my self I have sufficiently attained it for what concerns others I have at least endeavoured to do something in Order thereto FINIS Some mistakings or omissions in Pointing the intelligent Reader may easily observe and correct And that he may please to do the like in such Lapses as are either Literal or tend to vitiate the Sense they are here in one view set down before him ERRATA PAge 17 line 7 for Jurisdictions read Jurisdiction ibid. line 8 for cognizances read cognizance page 24 margent line 2 for Statutis read Statute page 25 line 29 for in read is ibid. line 32 for paenes read penes ibid. line 34 for sine read five page 26 line 4 for vir read viz. ibid. line 8 for tali read rati ibid. line 27 for sanctis read sanctio page 29 margent Sect. 2 for amplytude read amplitude page 30 margent line 32 for without read without page 32 line 16 instead of propper cause read a proper cause page 34 line 13 for Clerii read Cleri page 41 line 20 for Regie read Regiae ibid. line 32 for Prerogativa read Praerogativa page 44 line 34 for King read King page 56 line 26 for beee read been page 68 line 15 for cognizanced read cognizance page 73 line 12 for powers read power page 82 line 4 for has read had page 103 line 26 for diversi read diversae FINIS
others within His own Kingdoms and it keeps Him from a subordination either to the Presbytery or the Papacy and it is such a Supremacy as is only Political and Architectonical as it is phrased that is a power paramount over all His Subjects to see that each sort of such as are under His Government as well Ecclesiasticks as others do their duties in their several and respective stations and that all things be acted by proper and fit Agents for preserving both Church and State in tranquility and safety Thus it appears that nothing either belonging to Ecclesiastical Order or Jurisdiction is exercised by our Kings in their own persons according as is fully declared in the following parts of the said Article Neither does this give any countenance to Erastianism as some have improperly enough inferred from thence herein as has been described is seen the Kings Supremacy By it He is the Keeper of both Tables He governs and regulates Affairs so both in Church and State as may best conduce to the preservation of true Piety to God and right Justice to Men. From this power paramount and Supremacy does descend the Bishops power of exercising Jurisdiction that is exercising the same actually I say actually for as our Divines do distinguish Archbishop Bramhall's answer to R.C. p. 160 161. Bishop Sanderson de conscient obligat praelect 7. sect 29 30. Bishop Bilson of Subjection par 3. p. 293. in octavo Mr. Hooker Eccles Pol. B. 8. p. 213 c. There is an habitual and there is an actual Jurisdiction habitual Jurisdiction flows from Episcopal Order actual Jurisdiction is a Right and liberty granted opportunity and means afforded of exercising and reducing that habit into act and that in foro externo contentioso after a certain and peculiar manner appointed therein Thus the King has His Ecclesiastical Laws and His Ecclesiastical Courts and His Ecclesiastical Judges * See Sir Joh. Davies Reports Pramunire versus finem there are causes of such and such a Nature appointed by the King to be judged of by them in those Courts according to those Laws * Many things the Popes formerly have taken upon them to give directions of and Enact Canons concerning Episcopal Jurisdiction under this salvo in ordine ad spiritualia which things are matters meerly of civil intercourse and commerce betwixt man and man such are those titles in the Canon Law de emptione venditione de rerum permutatione de transactionibus de depesito c. Testamentary and Matrimonial and Decimal matters are amongst these likewise but although these may better seem to have the aspect of matters spiritual yet that spiritual men have any Jurisdiction therein must not be imputed to the nature of the things themselves nor to any superiority that they have over other men by reason of them but this must be imputed to the Roval bounty and munificence of pious Kings who for the Honor of the Church have so ordered those Causes to be of Ecclesiastical cognizance and that their Subjects concerned therein should be obedient to Ecclesiastical Judges therein Hereupon a Learned Bishop declares That the Popes Decrees Judgments and Executions in these Cases if claimed from Christ as things spiritual and not granted by Caesar are but open invasions of Princes Rights calling those things Spiritual which indeed be Civil and Temporal Bishop Bilson's Christian Subjection page 2. Sir Robert Wiseman The Law of Laws All persons within their respective Diocesses that is certain circuits and precincts of Jurisdiction by the King set out to each Bishop and those in their bounds and limits either to be contracted or extended as He pleases are commanded to be subject to them if they refuse may buâ— constrained to it In matters of Appeal the last complaint is ever to be made to Him He is the final and ultimate Judge who by fit Delegates appointed thereunto does redress grievances answer complaints and finally and absolutely determine what is brought before Him The Learned Archbishop and Primate of all Ireland a little before mentioned has given a full and satisfactory Account of this matter his words are these worthy our best observation Neither do we draw or derive any spiritual Jurisdiction from the Crown but either liberty and power to exercise actually and lawfully upon the Subjects of the Crown that habitual Jurisdiction which we received at our Ordination or the enlargement of our Jurisdiction objectively by the Princes referring more causes to the cognizance of the Church than formerly it had or lastly the increase of it subjectively by their giving to Ecclesiastical Judges an external coercive power which before they had not To go yet one step higher in cases that are indeed spiritual or meerly Ecclesiastical such as concorn the Doctrine of Faith or Administration of the Sacraments or the ordering or degrading of Ecclesiastical persons Sovereign Princes have and have only an Architectonical power to see that Clergy men do their Duties in their proper places but this power is alwayes most properly exercised by the advice and ministry of Ecclesiastical persons and sometimes necessary as in the degradation of one in Holy Orders by Ecclesiastical Delegates Vindication of the Church of England from Schism c. The Exercise of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction by Bishops thus being stated and setled in the likeness that it carries with the other instances before set down neither invades not impairs but much advances and amplifies the Kings Prerogative It comes to pass indeed by this means that the Kings Supremacy is preserved firm and safe in the Ecclesiastical Polity I know a great Objection is made against all this from hence because that in Ecclesiastical proceedings Citations Decrees and other instruments issue forth in the Bishops but not in the Kings Name whence would be infer'd That such attempts and judiciary proceedings made not in the Kings Name are invasive on the Royal Prerogative In order to the Answering of this Objection let it be observed That there are two great Offices in the Kingdom of England the one that of the Lord High Admiral the other that of the Lord Warden of the Onque Ports These have great inflience in foreign parts upon the Sea and within the Lands I before gave you some intimation of their distinct Jurisdiction and manner of jurisdical proceedings different from the Courts of the Common Law Both the jurisdictions of these two great Officers are ample and authoritative yet both the Lord Admiral and the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports do send forth Writs in their own Names and they do it sayes Dr. Cowell in verbo Court as the Bishops hold their Courts by the Kings Authority virtute Magistratus sui In the High Court of the Earl Maishal the same practice is observed In the Universities Processes and Writs issue forth in the Chancellor Vice-chancellor or their Commissaries Name Will any now presume to challenge any of these jurisdictions for invading the Kings Prerogative Will