17. is to that purpose 11. In former times many Bishops had their Suffragans who were also Consecrated as other Bishops were These in the absence of the Bishops upon Embassies or in multiplicity of business did supply their places in matter of Orders but not in Jurisdiction These were chiefly for the ease of the Bishops in the multiplicity of their Affairs ordained in the Primitive times called Chorepiscopi Suffragan or Subsidiary Bishops or Bishops Suffragans and were Titular Bishops Consecrated by the Archbishop of the Province and to execute such Power and Authority and receive such profits as were limited in their Commissions by the Bishops or Diocosans whose Suffragans they were What Towns or Places to be the Sees of Bishops Suffragans and how many to a Diocess and in what Diocesses appears by an Act of Parliament made in the Reign of King H. 8. Such Suffragan Bishops are made in case the Archbishop or some other Bishop desire the same In which case the Bishop presents Two able persons for any place allowed by the said Act of Parliament whereof his Majesty doth chuse one but at present there are no Suffragan Bishops in England They were no other than the Chorepiscopi of the Primitive Times Subsidiary Bishops ordained for easing the Diocesan of some part of his burthen as aforesaid by means whereof they were enabled to perform such Offices belonging to that Sacred Function not limited to time and place by the ancient Canons by which a Bishop was restrained in some certain Acts of Jurisdiction to his proper Diocess Of these there were twenty six in the Realm of England distinguished by the Names of such Principal Towns as were appointed for their Title and Denomination The Names and Number whereof together with the Jurisdiction and preheminences proportioned to them the Reader may peruse in the Act of Parliament made An. 26 H. 8. 12. According to the Temporal Laws of this Land if a Bishop grant Letters of Institution under any other Seal than his Seal of Office and albeit it be out of his Diocess yet it is good For in Cort's Case against the Bishop of St. Davids and others where the Plaintiff offered in evidence Letters of Institution which appeared to be sealed with the Seal of the Bishop of London because the Bishop of St. Davids had not his Seal of Office there and which Letters were made also out of the Diocess It was held That they were good enough albeit they were sealed with another Seal and made out of the Diocess for that the Seal is not material it being an Act made of the Institution And the writing and sealing is but a Testimonial thereof which may be under any Seal or in any place But of that point they would advise 13. A Bishop if he celebrate Divine Service in any Church of his Diocess may require the Offerings of that day He may sequester if the King present not and 12 H. 8. 8. by Pollard he must see the Cure served if the person fail at his own Costs He may commit Administration where Executors being called refuse to prove the Will He hath power of distribution and disposing of Seats and charges of Repairs of the Churches within his Diocess He may award his Jure Patronatus where a Church is Litigious between an Usurper and the other but if he will chuse the Clerk of either at his peril he ought at his peril to receive him that hath Right by the Statute He may License Physicians Chirurgions Schoolmasters and Midwives He may Collate by Lapse He may take competent time to examine the sufficiency and fitness of a Clerk He may give convenient time to persons interested to take notice of Avoidances He is discharged against the true Patron and quit of Disturbance to whom it cannot be imputed if he receive that Clerk that is in pursuance of a Verdict after Inquest in a Jure Patronatus He may have Six Chaplains and every Archbishop may have Eight Chaplains He may unite and consolidate small Parishes and assist the Civil Magistrate in execution of some Statutes concerning Ecclesiastical Affairs And by the Statute of 1 Eliz. cap. 2. any Bishop may at his pleasure joyn and associate himself to the Justices of Oyer and Terminer or to the Justices of Assize at the open and general Sessions to be holden at any place within his Diocess in Causes of the Church And the Statute made 17 Car. 1. c. 27. for the disinabling of persons in Holy Orders to exercise Temporal Jurisdiction or Authority is Repealed by the Statute of 13 Car. 2. cap. 2. whereby they are now enabled to exercise such Temporal Jurisdiction as formerly and is commonly styled the Ordinary of that Diocess where he doth exercise his Episcopal Authority and Jurisdiction In Parliament Bishops as Barons may be present and Vote at the Trial and Arraignment of a Peer only before Sentence of death or loss of Member be pronounced that they may have no hand in blood in any kind they have by Canon Law the Priviledge and Injunction to absent themselves and by Common Law to make Proxies to vote for them 14. ORDINARY according to the acceptation of the Common Law with us is usually taken for him that hath Ordinary Jurisdiction in Causes Ecclesiastical immediate to the King He is in Common understanding the Bishop of the Diocess who is the Supervisor and for the most part Visitor of all his Churches within his Diocess and hath Ordinary Jurisdiction in all the Causes aforesaid for the doing of Justice within his Diocess in jure proprio non per deputationem and therefore it is his care to see that the Church be provided of an able Curate Habet enim Curam Curarum and may execute the Laws of the Church by Ecclesiastical Censures and to him alone are made all Presentations to Churches vacant within his Diocess Ordinarius habet locum principaliter in Episcopo aliis Superioribus qui soli sunt Vniversales in suis Jurisdictionibus sed sunt sub eo alii Ordinarii hi videlicet quibus Competit Jurisdictio Ordinaria de jure privilegio vel consuetudine Lindw cap. Exterior tit de Constitutionib 15. The Jurisdiction of the Ordinary or Bishop as to the Examination of the Clerk or as to the Admission or Institution of him into a Benefice is not Local but it follows the person of the Ordinary or Bishop wheresoever he is And therefore if a Clerk be presented to the Bishop of Norwich to a Church which is void within the Diocess of Norwich who is then in London or if it be to a Bishop of Ireland who is then in England and in London the Ordinary may examine the Clerk or give him Admission or Institution in London And so it was adjudged 16. The Ordinary is not obliged upon a Vacancy to receive the Clerk of him that comes first for as he
Vrbis Cantuar. Antiq. pag. 362 363. ubi de Decano Christianitatis But the Deans here specially meant and intended are only such as with the Chapters according to the ancient and genuine use thereof are as Senatus Episcopi to assist the Bishop in his Jurisdiction Cathedral Churches being the first Monuments of Christianity in England So Dr. Hacket in Parliament 1640. The Office and Ecclesiastical Dignity of Archdeacons which you next meet with in this Abridgment is of very great Antiquity There was a sharp Contest above Five hundred years since in the time of King H. 2. between the Archdeacons and the Priors of Winchester and Ely touching the Presentation of their Bishops Elect unto the Metropolitan in order to their Consecration wherein by the Interlocutory of the said Metropolitan the Priors had the Victory Hora congrua Consecrationis instante R. Wintoniensis R. Elyensis Archidiaconi cum Officiales Episcoporum dicantur ad suum spectare contendebant Officium Electiones c. praesentare Metropolitano W. Wintoniensis S. Elyensis Priores in contrarium sentiebant quam enim in Ecclesiis Cathedralibus ubi Canonici divinis mancipantur obsequiis Decani sibi vindicant dignitatem hanc si Monachorum Conventus in Episcopali sede praemineat sibi jure possunt vendicare Priores Sed ut omnis in posterum amputetur occasio Litigandi de Interlocutoria Metropolitani sententia c. Wintoniensis Elyensis Electiâ— ad Priorum suorum praesentationem recepti ad Priorum suorum postulationem Episcopi Consecrati sunt Radulph de Diceto Imag. Hist. By the 25th Canon of the Council of Lateran under Pope Alexander it was Ordained That an Archdeacon in his Visitation should not exceed the numqer of Five or Seven Horsemen for his Retinue Chron. Gervas de Temp. H. 2. And as to the Visitation-Articles every Bishop and Archdeacon heretofore framed a Model thereof for themselves but at the Convocation in the year 1640. a Body thereof was composed for the publick use of all such as exercised Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction And by the foresaid Canon of the Council of Lateran it was further Ordained That no Archdeacon in his Visitation should presume to exact from the Clergy more than was justly due Archidiaconi autem sive Decani nullas exactiones in Presbyteros seu Clericos exercere praesumant Notwithstanding what toleration the Law allows as to Archbishops Bishops Archdeacons c. as to the number of their Retinue in their Visitations yet therein respect is ever to be had to the condition of the Churches Persons and Places Visited as may plainly appear by the express words of the Canon aforesaid viz. Sane quod de numero evectionis secundum tolerantiam dictum est in illis Locis poterit observari in quibus ampliores sunt redditus Ecclesiasticae facultates In pauperibus autem Locis tantam volumus teneri mensuram ut ex accâ—ssu majorum minores non debeant gravari ne sub tali indulgentia illi qui paucioribus Equis uti solebant hactenus plurium sibi credant potestatem indultam So that no Archdeacon or other having Right of Visitation ought by what the Law allows them in that case to exercise their power in this matter beyond what the condition of the place Visited will reasonably admit In all Visitations of Parochial Churches made by Bishops and Archdeacons the Law hath provided that the Charge thereof should be answered by the Procurations then due and payable by the Inferiour Clergy wherein Custome as to the Quantum shall prevail but the undue Demands and supernumerary Attendants of Visitors have Anciently as well as in Later times given the occasion of frequent Contests and Complaints For prevention whereof it was Ordained by the 25th Canon of the Council of Lateran under Pope Alexander circa An. 1179. in haec verba viz. Cum quidam Fratrum Coepiscoporum nostrorum ita graves in Procurationibus subditis suis existunt ut pro hujusmodi causa interdum ipsa Ecclesiastica Ornamenta subditi compellantur exponere longi temporis victum brevis hora consumat Quocirca statuimus Quod Archiepiscopi Parochias Visitantes pro diversitate Provinciarum facultatibus Ecclesiarum 40 vel 50 evectionis Numerum Episcopi 20 vel 30 Cardinales vero 20 vel 25 nequaquam excedunt Archidiaconi vero Quinque aut Septem Decani Constituti sub Episcopis Duobus Equis contenti existant Prohibemus etiam ne subditos suos talliis exactionibus Episcopi gravare praesumant Archidiaconi autem sive Decani nullas exactiones vel tallias in Presbyteros seu Clericos exercere praesumant vid. Chron. Gervas de Temp. H. 2. col 1455. can 25. whereby it is evident that these Procurations ought to be so moderated by the Bishops as that they may not become a burthen or grievance to the Clergy The lawfulness of these Episcopal and Archidiaconal Rights of Procurations are not to be called into question at this day for in all the Establishments and Ordinations of Vicarages upon the Ancient Appropriations of Churches you shall find these Procurations excepted and reserved in statu Quo As appears by these of Feversham and Middleton when by William the Conqueror they were Appropriated to the Abbey of St. Austins as also by these of Wivelsberg Stone and Brocland in Kent when they were Appropriated to the same Abbey by the Charter of King Ed. 3. and in that of the Parish of Stone aforesaid Pentecostals by name are reserved in these words Nihilominus solvet Procurationem debitam Archidiacono Cantuariensi Visitanti expensas pro Pentecostalibus faciendis vid. Chron. W. Thorne Appropria Eccles col 2089. Hist Angl. What Procurations the Archbishop of Messena who arrived in England as the Popes Legate in the year 1261. exacted and extorted from the Bishops and Abbots with great violence in the Reign of King H. 3. you may find in Matthew Paris But by the Fourth Canon of the Council at Rome under Pope Alex. 3. An. 1180. it was Ordained That Bishops and Archbishops in their Visitations should not overcharge the Church of their Bounds with unnecessary charges and expences specially the Churches that are poor No sooner had Princes in Ancient times assign'd and limited certain Matters and Causes controversal to the cognizance of Bishops and to that end dignified the Episcopal Order with an Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction but the multiplicity and emergency of such affairs requir'd for the dispatch and management thereof the assistance of such subordinate Ordinaries as being experienc'd in the Laws adapted to the nature of such Causes might prove a sufficient Expedient to prevent the avocation of Bishops by reason of such Litigious interpositions from the discharge of the more weighty Concerns of that Sacred Function Hence it is supposed that the Ecclesiastical Office of Diocesan Chancellors Commissaries and Officials originally came into use and practice the place of their Session anciently styled the Bishops
whatsoever Name or Names they may be called in their Convocation in time coming which alwaies shall be assembled by the Kings Writ unless the same Clergy may have the Kings most Royal assent and License to make promise and execute such Canons Constitutions and Ordinances Provincial or Synodical upon pain of every one of the said Clergy doing the contrary to this Act and thereof convicted to suffer Imprisonment and making Fine at the Kings will Since this year from Archbishop Cranmer to this day all Convocations are to have the Kings leave to debate on matters of Religion and their Canons besides his Royal assent an Act of Parliament for their Confirmation And as to the General Councils there are not any of them of use in England except the first Four General Councils which are established into a Law by King and Parliament The Learned Bishop Prideaux in his Synopsis of Councils gives us the definition of Synodographie and says It is such a Methodical Synopsis of Councils and other Ecclesiastical Meetings as whereby there may be a clear discovery to him that doubts how any Case may be enquired after and what may be determined concerning the same And then immediately after gives us the definition of a Council which he calls a Free Publick Ecclesiastical Meeting especially of Bishops as also of other Doctors lawfully deputed by divers Churches for the examining of Ecclesiastical Causes according to the Scriptures and those according to the power given by Common Suffrages without favour of parties to be determined in matters of Faith by Canons in cases of Practice by Presidents in matters of Discipline by Decrees and Constitutions Of these Councils he observes some to have been Judaical others Apostolical others Oecumenical some Controverted others Rejected and some National to all which he likewise adds Conferences 1 Under the Title of Judaical Councils he comprehends the more solemn Meetings about extraordinary affairs for the Confirming Removing or Reforming any thing as the matter required Such he observes to have been at Sichem under Josuah and Eleazer Josh 24. At Jerusalem the first under David Gad and Nathan being his Assistants 1 Chro. 13. At Carmelita under Ahab and Elias 1 King 18. At Jerusalem the Second under Hezekiah 2. Chro. 29. At Jerusalem the Third under Josiah and Hilkiah 2 Kin. 33. 2 Chro. 34. At Jerusalem the Fourth under Zorobabel and Ezra and the Chief of the Jews that return'd from the Captivity of Babylon And lastly that which is called the Synod of the Wise under John Hircanus Genebrand Chron. l. 2 p. 197. 2 The Apostolical Councils he observes to have been for the substituting of Matthias in the place of Judas Act. 1. For the Election of Seven Deacons Act. 6. For not pressing the Ceremonial Law Act. 15. 11. For the toleration of some Legal Ceremonies for a time to gain the Weak by such condescension Matth. 21. 18. For composing the Apostles Creed For obtruding to the Church 85 Canons under the notion of the Apostles authority concerning which there are many Controversies Lastly for the Meeting at Antioch where among Nine Canons the Eighth commanded Images of Christ to be substituted in the room of Heathenish Idols the other pious Canons being destitute of the Synods authority vid. Bin. Tom. 1. p. 19. Longum p. 147. 3 Of Oecumenical or General Councils some were Greek or Eastern others were Latin or Western The more Famous of the Oecumenical Greek Councils were the Nicene the first of Constantinople the first of Ephesus the first of Chalcedon Of Constantinople the second of Constantinople the third The Nicene the second The more Famous of the Oecumenical Latin Councils were at Ariminum the Lateran at Lions at Vienna the Florentine the Lateran the fifth and lastly at Trent 4 Of Controverted Councils if that distinction be admissable according to the Classis thereof digested by Bellarmine the Computation is at Constantinople the fourth at Sardis at Smyrna at Quinisext at Francfort at Constance and at Basil 5 Of Rejected Councils whereby are intended such as either determine Heretical Opinions or raise Schisms the Computation is at Antioch at Milain at Seleucia at Ephesus the second at Constantinople at Pisa the first and at Pisa the second 6 Of National Synods which comprehend the Provincials of every Metropolitan or Diocesan Bishop the distribution is into Italian Spanish French German Eastern African Britain 7 To these may be added Ecclesiastical Conferences which were only certain Meetings of some Divines wherein nothing could be Canonically determined and therefore needless to be here particularly inserted vid. B. Prideaux Synops of Counc vers fin The grand Censure of the Church whereby it punisheth obstinate Offenders is by way of Excommunication which though the Canonists call Traditio Diabolo or giving the Devil as it were Livery and Seizin of the Excommunicate person yet the Romanists have a Tradition that St. Bernard Excommunicated the Devil himself Sanctus Bernardus plenus virtutibus quadam die praesentibus Episcopis clero populo Excommunicavit quendam Diabolum Incubum qui quandam mulierem in Britannia per septeunium vexabat sic Liberata est ab eo Chron. Jo. Bromton de Temp. H. 1. A miraculous Excommunication and a Sovereign Remedy against Diabolical incubations The Excommunication which St. Oswald pronounced against one who would not be perswaded to be reconciled to his Adversary had nothing so good though a more strange effect for that Excommunicated him out of his Wits and had it not been for Wolstan who as miraculously cur'd him you might have found him if not in Purgatory then in Bedlam at this day Illi cujus es says Sanctus Oswaldus Te commendo carnem Sathanae tuam trado Statim ille dentibus stridere spumas jacere caput rotare incipit Qui tamen à Wolstano sanatus cum Pacem adhuc recusaret iterum tertio est arreptus simili modo quousque ex corde injuriam remitteret offensam If you have not faith enough to believe this on the Credit of Abbot Brompton who Chronicled from the year 588 in which St. Austin came into England to the death of King Richard the First which was in the year 1198. if you have not I say faith enough for the premisses you are not like to be supplied with any on this side Rome unless you have it from Henry de Knighton Canon of Leyster who wrote the Chronicle De Eventibus Angliae from King Edgars time to the death of King Richard the Second for he in his Second Book de Temp. W. 2. doth put it under his infallible pen for an undeniable Truth And indeed is much more probable than what the said Abbot reports touching St. Austins raising to life the Priest at Cumpton in Oxfordshire 150 years after his death to absolve a penitent Excommunicate that at the same time rose also out of his grave and walked out of the Church at St. Austins command That no
next in precedency hath been a Count Palatine about six or seven hundred years and hath at this day the Earldom of Sadberg long since annexed to this Bishoprick by the King Note a President hath been shewed at Common Law That the Bishop of Durham imprisoned one for a Lay-Cause and the Archbishop of York as his Sovereign cited him to appear before him to answer for that Imprisonment and the Archbishop was fined four thousand Marks Cro. par 1. The Bishop of Winchester was anciently reputed Earl of Southampton All the other Bishops take place according to the Seniority of their Consecration unless any Bishop happen to be made Lord Chancellor Treasurer Privy Seal or Secretary of State which anciently was very usual All the Bishops of England are Barons and Peers of the Realm have place in the Upper house of Parliament as also in the Upper house of Convocation The Bishopricks were erected into Baronies by William the Conqueror at his coming into England And as a special remark of Honour Three Kings viz. of England Scotland and South-Wales in the year 1200. did contribute their Royal shoulders for the conveyance of the deceased Corps of Hugh Bishop of Lincoln to his Grave And no wonder when Princes themselves and such as were of the Blood Royal were anciently Bishops in this Kingdom they have been not only of the best Nobility but divers of the Sons and Brothers of several English Kings since the Conquest and before have entred into Holy Orders and became Ecclesiasticks as at this day is practicable in the most of all other Monarchies throughout the whole Christian World Ethelwolph Son and Successor to Egbert first Sole King of England was in Holy Orders and Bishop of Winchester at his Fathers death Odo Brother to William the Conqueror was Bishop of Bayeux in Normandy Henry de Blois Brother to King Stephen was Bishop of Winchester Geofry Plantagenet Son to King Henry the Second was Bishop of Lincoln And Henry de Beauford Brother to King Henry the Fourth was Bishop also of Winchester 20. The Statute of 17 Car. 1. cap. 27. for disinabling persons in Holy Orders to exercise Temporal Jurisdiction or Authority being Repealed as aforesaid by the Statute of 13 Car. 2. cap. 2. they are thereby restored to the exercise of Temporal Jurisdiction as formerly which indeed is no more than what they ever Anciently exercised in this Kingdom For Ex Clero Rex semper sibi eligebat Primos à Consiliis Primos ad Officia Regni obeunda Primi igitur sedebant in omnibus Regni Comitiis Tribunalibus Episcopi in Regali quidem Palatio cum Regni Magnatibus in Comitatu una cum Comite in Turno cum Vice-comite in Hundredo cum Domino Hundredi sic ut in promovenda Justitia usquequaque gladii gladium adjuvaret nihil inconsulto Sacerdote vel Episcopo ageretur This Union of Persons Authority and Courts of Judicature Ecclesiastical and Civil as Mr. Selden proves continued above Four thousand years till Pope Nicholas the First about the Eighth Century to exclude the Emperour from medling in the Ecclesiastical Government began to exclude the Clergy from medling with the Civil And for the space of four or five hundred years during the Reign of the Saxon Kings in England the Ecclesiastical and Secular Magistrates sate joyntly together determining Ecclesiastical Affairs in the Morning and Secular or Civil Affairs in the Afternoon so that in those days as there was no clashing of Jurisdictions so no complaint touching Prohibitions but an unanimous harmony in a kind of Joynt-Jurisdiction in reference to all Ecclesiastical and Civil Affairs until William the Conqueror did put a distinction between Church and State in a more divided way than formerly had been practiced Also the excellent Laws made by King Ina King Athelstan King Edmund and St. Edward the Confessor from whom we have our Common Laws and our Priviledges mentioned in Magna Charta were all made by the perswasions and advice of Archbishops and Bishops named in our Histories 21. That which during the Reign of King Edw. 6. made the greatest alteration and threatned most danger to the State Ecclesiastical was the Act entituled An Act for Election and what Seals and Styles shall be used by Spiritual persons c. In which it was ordained That Bishops should be made by the Kings Letters Patents and not by the Election of the Deans and Chapters That all their Processes and Writings should be made in the Kings Name only with the Bishop's Teste added to it and sealed with no other Seal than the Kings or such as should be Authorized and Appointed by him In the compounding of which Act there was more danger as Dr. Heylin observes couched than at first appeared For by the last Branch thereof it was plain and evident says he that the intent of the Contrivers was by degrees to weaken the Authority of the Episcopal Order by forcing them from their strong hold of Divine Institution and making them no other than the Kings Ministers only or as it were his Ecclesiastical Sheriffs to execute his Will and disperse his Mandates And of this Act such use was made though possibly beyond the true intention of it that as the said Dr. Heylin observes the Bishops of those Times were not in a Capacity of conferring Orders but as they were thereunto impowred by special License The Tenour whereof if Sanders be to be believed was in these words following viz. The King to such a Bishop Greeting Whereas all and all manner of Jurisdiction as well Ecclesiastical as Civil flows from the King as from the Supream Head of all the Body c. We therefore give and grant to thee full power and License to continue during our good pleasure for holding Ordination within thy Diocess of N. and for promoting fit persons unto Holy Orders even to that of the Priesthood Which being looked on by Queen Mary not only as a dangerous diminution of the Episcopal Power but as an odious Innovation in the Church of Christ she caused this Act to be Repealed in the first year of her Reign leaving the Bishops to depend on their former claim and to act all things which belonged to their Jurisdiction in their own Names and under their own Seals as in former times In which estate they have continued without any Legal Interruption from that time to this But says the same Author in the First Branch there was somewhat more than what appeared at the first sight For though it seemed to aim at nothing but that the Bishops should depend wholly on the King for their preferment to those great and eminent places yet the true drift of the Design was to make Deans and Chapters useless for the time to come and thereby to prepare them for a Dissolution For had nothing else been intended in it but that the King should have the sole Nomination of all the Bishops in his Kingdoms it had
Nominatione non facta intra Sex menses devolvitur Nominatio plena Dispositio Episcopatus ad Papam As also appears in that remarkable Case controverted touching the Confirmation of the Election Ad Episcopatum Appamiarum For upon the death of Cardinal de Albret An. 1520. 10. Dec. that Bishoprick became void whereupon the Canons of that Church convened and proceeded to the Election of a new Bishop and chose D. Bernard de Lordat who being elected applied himself Archiepiscopo Tholosano tanquam suo Metropolitano saltem Vicariis suis for the Confirmation of his Election which was done accordingly to which Confirmation the Procurator Regius was not called who appealed from the said Election and Confirmation alledging that the Nomination to the Bishoprick belonged to the King who Nominated D. John de Puis to the Pope whereupon the Pope granted the said Bishoprick to the said John de Puis who by the Bulls and Proxies of the Pope took possession thereof From all which Appeal was again afterwards in Supremam Curiam between De 〈◊〉 and Lordat but De Puis obtaining another Bishoprick the Process on the Appeal was Extinct and Lordat by a Definitive had the Possession of the said Bishoprick Confirmed to him CHAP. VI. Of Consecration 1. What Consecration signifies the Ancient Rites and Ceremonies thereof under the Law who they were to whom it belonged 2. Consecration as specially Applicable to Bishops 3. An Ancient Canon touching the Consecration of Churches 4. The Form of Consecration of Churches by the Justinian Law the Rites and Ceremonies therein used by the Greek and Latin Churches 5. Consecration of Bishops how necessary by the Imperial Law Consonant to the practice of the Greek and Latin Churches 6. Consecration of Bishops is Character Indelebilis at the Common Law 7. Who first Consecrated Churches who first took the style of Pope The Original of Godfathers and Godmothers in Baptism 8. In case of Translations of Bishops no need of new Consecrations Requisites to Creation and Translation of Bishops according to the Common Law of England 1. CONSECRATION here chiefly refers either to Bishops or Churches The Civil as well as Canon Law takes notice of both It signifies a Dedication to God Justinian in his Novel's makes use of the word thereby signifying an Imposition of hands For in this manner says that Book of great Antiquity entituled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 began Bishops to be Consecrated It is a kind of Separation of persons Ecâ—csiastical from the Laity and of things Sacred from Prophane for the especial use and service of God The word in the Hebrew signifies a Filling of the hand thereby intimating that under the Law in the Consecration of any there was a giving them or Putting into their hands things to offer whereby they were admitted to their Priestly Office In this Consecration the holy Unction was used or the holy Oyl or holy Ointment which was not to be applied to any Prophane or Civil use but to be appropiated to the Sons of Aaron only whereas Kings were and are to be Anointed that is to be understood as by especial command from God as an Exception to the Sacerdotal practice and as a Consecrating them to the Government in relation whereto a King is a Mixt person under a double capacity Ecclesiastical and Civil as next under God the Supream in Church and State within his own Dominions And although under the Levitical Law there was an Anointing Oyl common to the High Priest with the Inferiour Priests yet the High Priest had a Consecration peculiar to himself which was by the pouring out the precious Oyntment upon his head In imitation whereof are Kings at this day anointed to the Regal Authority 2. The import of this word Consecration as practicable in all Ages specially refers to Archbishops and Bishops and with us consists in certain Benedictions and Ceremonies peculiarly requisite thereunto And when after Election and Confirmation the person is Consecrated and Invested he is then compleat Bishop as well to Temporalties as Spiritualties and then the power of the Guardian of the Spiritualties doth cease Being Consecrated he may confer Holy Orders upon others and may Consecrate Churches and Chappels which before he could not Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury deprived divers Prelates for receiving Investure of King H. 1. but after they were restored ex gratia Speed 436. The Roman Synod made a Cannon that Investure belongs to the Pope yet H. 1. used to give Investure as he did to Ralph Archbishop of Canterbury Sp. 440. b. 3. Touching the Consecration of Churches the Learned Sir H. Spelman makes mention of a very Ancient Canon made by the Synod held at Celichyth in the year 816. under Wulfred Archbishop of Canterbury and President of the said Synod Kenulph King of Morcia being threat also personally present The Canon is to this purpose viz. Wherever a Church is built or erected let it be Sanctified by the Bishop of the proper Diocess Let it have a Benediction from himself and be sprinkled with Holy Water and so be made a compleat Church in such manner as is prescribed in the Ministerial Book Afterwards let the Eucharist which is Consecrated by the same Bishop be together with other Reliques reposited and laid up in a Chest and kept and preserved in the same Church And we Ordain and Command that every Bishop take care that the Saints to whom their Churches are dedicated respectively be painted on the Church-walls or in Tables or on the Altars 4. The Emperour Justinian in his care of the Church hath prescirbed a Form of Consecration thereof in this manner viz. his Law is That none shall presume to erect a Church until the Bishop of the Diocess hath been first acquainted therewith and shall come the lift up his hands to Heaven and Consecrate the place to God by Prayer and erect the Symbole of our Salvation viz. the venerable and truly precioas Rood Likewise among other Ceremonies of Consecrating Churches the laying of the first Stone was of Ancient use in the Greek Church as may be observed out of their Euchologue where it is said That the Bishop after some other Rites performed standing in the place where the Holy Altar shall be set saith certain Prayers which being ended he giveth tho Ite Missa est and then taketh up one of the Stones and having cut a Cross upon it himself with his own hands layeth it upon the Groundwork as the first Foundation-stone then be pronounceth the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. and so the Workmen begin the Building The like Ceremonies are used in the Latin Church at this day at the Consecration of Churches as appears by their Pontificale There is this further touching the Consecration of Churches in the Euchologue of the Greek Church That the Bishop having on his Formilities fumeth the Ground-work or Foundation with his Iacense Circular-wise then the Singing-men say
Immunitatibus gaudeant quibus Milites Burgenses Parliamenti Ant. Brit. fo 284. nu 30. 6. The Jurisdiction of the Convocation in this Realm though relating to matters meerly Spiritual and Ecclesiastical yet is subordinate to the establish'd Laws of the Land it being Provided by the Statute of 25 H. 8. c. 19. That no Canons Constitutions or Ordinances shall be made or put in execution within this Realm by Authority of the Convocation of the Clergy repugnant to the Prerogative Royal or to the Customes Laws or Statutes of this Realm To the same effect was that of 9 Ed. 1. Rot. Parl. Memb. 6. Inhibitio Archiepiscopo omnibus Episcopis aliis Praelatis apud Lambeth Conventuris ne aliquid statuant in praejudicium Regis Coronam vel dignitatem For although the Archbishop and the Bishops and the rest of the Clergy of his Province Assembled in a Synod have power to make Constitutions in Spiritual things yet they ought to be Assembled by Authority of the King and to have as aforesaid his Royal Assent to their Constitutions which being had and obtained the Canons of the Church made by the Convocation and the King without Parliament shall bind in all matters Ecclesiastical as well as an Act of Parliament as was Resolved in Bird and Smiths Case Although the Saxons who founded and endowed most of our Churches and made many good Laws in reference to the Jurisdiction power and priviledges thereof yet the Royal Prerogative with the Laws and Customes of the Realm were ever so preserved as not to be invaded thereby King AEthelbert the first Saxon King King Ina AEthelstane Edmund Edgar and King Kanute all these made Laws in favour of the Church but none of them ever entrenched on the Prerogative of the Crown or on the Laws or Customes of the Realm nor any of those ancient Church-Laws ever made without the Supream Authority to ratifie and confirm the same 7. The Laws and Constitutions whereby the Ecclesiastical Government is supported and the Church of England governed are the General Canons made by General Councils also the Arbitria Sanctorum Patrum the Decrees of several Archbishops and Bishops the Ancient Constitutions made in our several Provincial Synods either by the Legates Otho and Othobon or by several Archbishops of Canterbury All which by the 25 H. 8. are in force in England so far as they are not repugnant to the Kings Prerogative the Laws and Customes of England Also the Canons made in Convocations of Later times as Primo Jacobi Regis and confirmed by his Regal Authority Also in some Statutes Enacted by Parliament touching Ecclesiastical affairs together with divers Customes not written but in use beyond the memory of Man and where these fail the Civil Law takes place Among the Britain Councils according to Bishop Prideaux his Synopsis of Councils Edit 5. those amongst the rest are of most remark viz. At Winchester in King Edgars time under Dunstane at Oxford by Stephen Langton Archbishop of Canterbury at Claringdon under King Henry the Second The Council under King Edward the 6 th in which the 39 Articles of the English Confession was concluded and confirmed The Synod under the same King from which we receive the English Liturgy which now we have composed by Seven Bishops and Four Doctors and confirmed by the publick consent of the Church which as also the said 39 Articles the succeeding Princes Queen Eliz. King James and King Charles ratified and commended to Posterity At London a Synod in which 141 Canons or Constitutions relating to the pious and peaceable Government of the Church presented to King James by the Synod and confirmed by his Regal Authority and at Perth in Scotland where were Articles concerning Administring the Sacrament to the Sick Private Baptism where Necessity requires Confirmation admitting Festivals Kneeling at the Receiving the Sacrament and an allowance of Venerable Customes But de Concil Britan. vid. D. Spelman The Ancient Canons of the Church and Provincial Constitutions of this Realm of England were according to Lindwood the Canonist who being Dean of the Arches compiled and explained the same in the time of King H. 6. made in this order or method and under these Archbishops of Canterbury viz. The Canons or Constitutions 1. Of Stephen Langton Cardinal Archbishop of Canterbury in the Council at Oxford in the year of our Lord 1222 who distinguish'd the Bible into Chapters 2. Of Otho Cardinal the Popes Legate in Anno 1236. on whose Constitutions John de Athon Dr. of Laws and one of the Canons of Lincoln did comment or gloss 3. Of Boniface Archbishop of Cant. 1260. 4. Of Othobon Cardinal of St. Adrian and Legate of the Apostolical Chair on whose Constitutions the said John de Athon did likewise Glossematize His Canons were made at London in Anno 1268. 5. Of John Peckham Archbishop of Canterbury at a Synod held at Reding An. 1279. 6. Of the same Peckham at a Synod held at Lambeth An. 1281. 7. Of Robert Winchelse Archbishop of Canterbury An. 1305. 8. Of Walter Reynold Archbishop of Canterbury at a Synod held at Oxford An. 1322. These Constitutions in some Books are ascribed to Simon Mepham but erroneously for the date of these Constitutions being An. 1322. the said Walter Reynold according to the Chronicle died in An. 1327. and was succeeded by Simon Mepham 9. Of Simon Mepham Archbishop of Cant. An. 1328. 10. Of John Stradford Archbishop An. 13 ... 11. Of Simon Islepe Archbishop An. 1362. 12. Of Simon Sudbury Archbishop An. 1378. 13. Of Tho. Arundel Archbishop at a Synod or Council held at Oxford An. 1408. 14. Of Henry Chichley Archbishop An. 1415. 15. Of Edmond Archbishop of Canterbury 16. Of Richard Archbishop of Canterbury The Dates of the Canons or Constitutions of these Two last Lindwood makes no mention by reason of the uncertainty thereof but withal says it is clear That Richard did immediately succeed the foresaid Stephen Langton and the said Edmond succeeded Richard Lindw de Poen c. ad haec infra in verb. Mimime admittatur If so then it was most probably Richard Wethershed who was Archbishop of Canterbury An. 1229. And St. Edmond Chancellor of Oxford who was Archbishop of Canterbury An. 1234. 8. Councils were either General or Oecumenical from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereunto Commissioners by the Emperours Authority were sent from all quarters of the World where Christ hath been preached Or National or Provincial or Particular by Bullenger called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such were the Councils of Gangra Neo-caesarea and many others commonly Assembled by Patriarchs and Bishops in some particular place of a Countrey The ends of these Councils chiefly were either for the suppression of Heresies the decision of Controversies the appeasing of Schisms or the Ordaining of Canons and Constitutions for decency of Order in the Church Vid. AElfrici Canones ad Wulfinum Episcopum Can. 33. where it is said That there were Four Synods
I do allow the Printing of this Book entituled An Abridgment of the Ecclesiastical Laws FRA NORTH Imprimatur hic Liber cui Titulus AN ABRIDGMENT OF THE. ECCLESIASTICAL LAWS Guil. Sill R. P. D. HENR Episc Lond à Sacris Dom. Repertorium Canonicum OR An Abridgment OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL LAWS OF THIS REALM Consistent with the TEMPORAL WHEREIN The most Material Points relating to such Persons and Things as come within the Cognizance thereof are succinctly Treated Principio Comperto facile est adjicere Reliquum Cooptare Tho. Cana. in Proaem Decret nu 3. T. 1. By JOHN GODOLPHIN LL. D. LONDON Printed by S. Roycroft for Christopher Wilkinson at the Black Boy against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet 1678. THE Introduction THE Question which King Henry the Eighth did once put to both the Universities of this Realm viz. An aliquid Authoritatis in hoc Regno Angliae Pontifici Romano de jure competat plusquam alii cuicunque Episcopo Extero being Resolved in the Negative and that Resolution ratified in the Convocation An. 1534. an Act of Parliament passed about two years after for the extinguishing of that Papal Authority in this Realm This succceded so well in consequence of what the Convocation An. 1530. had before acknowledged him viz. The Supream Head on Earth of the Church of England that that Supremacy was likewise after confirmed by Act of Parliament to him his Heirs and Successors This is that Supremacy here tenderly touch'd at in the first Chapter of the ensuing Abridgment and without which all that follows would be but insignificant and disfigured Cyphers When King Henry the Eighth was thus both Parliamentarily and Synodically invested herewith although it was with all the Priviledges and Preheminences incident thereto yet no more accrued to the Crown thereby than was legally inherent in it before yet in regard of the Usurpations that in divers Kings Reigns had successively invaded the Rights of the Crown in that most splendent Jewel thereof another Convocation in An. 1532. to give the King as it were Livery and Seisin of the said Supremacy promised him in verbo Sacerdotii That they would not from thenceforth Assemble in any Convocation or Synod without his Majesty's Writ nor make any Canons or Constitutions without his License and consent nor execute the same until they were Ratified under the Great Seal of England All which was done without the least diminution of any Archiepiscopal or Episcopal Power or Priviledges in the free exercise of that Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction which they anciently enjoyed The whole of this Design being only to eject the Roman Pontifex and annul his Usurpation in a matter of that weighty Consequence to which the Crown was so undoubtedly Entituled And this only in a way consonant to that Allegiance which every Subject without distinction owes to his lawful Sovereign in all matters as well Ecclesiastical as Civil within his Majesty's Realms and Dominions whereby the Clergy as well as Laity being all Subjects alike might be reduced not only to their Primitive Obedience unto but also to their Dependance on their own Sovereign in preference to any Forein Potentate whatever That the Supream Civil Power is also Supream Governour over all Persons and in all Causes Ecclesiastical is a Rule says the Learned Bishop Taylor of such great necessity for the conduct of Conscience as that it is the measure of determining all Questions concerning the Sanction of Obedience to all Ecclesiastical Laws the duty of Bishops and Priests to their Princes the necessity of their paying Tribute and discharging the burthens and relieving the necessities of the Republick It was never known says the same Author in the Primitive Church that ever any Ecclesiastical Law did oblige the Catholick Church unless the Secular Prince did establish it The Nicene Canons became Laws by the Rescript of the Emperour Constantine says Sozomen When the Council of Constantinople was finished the Fathers wrote to the Emperour Theodosius and petitioned Vt Edicto Pietatis tuae confirmetur Synodi sententia The confirmation of the Canon and Decrees of the great Council at Ephesus by the Emperour is to be seen at the end of the Acts of the Synod And Marcian the Emperour wrote to Palladius his Prefect a Letâ—er in which he testifies that he made the Decrees of the Council of Chalcedon to become Laws Ea quae de Christiana fide à Sacerdotibus qui Chalcedone â—convenerunt per nostra Praecepta Statuta sunt c. Thus also the Fathers of the Fifth General Synod petitioned Justinian to confirm and establish their Canons into a Law The same Prince also Published a Novel in which he commands Vim Legum obtinere Ecclesiasticos Canones à quatuor Synodis Nicena Constantinopolitana prima Ephesina prima Chalcedonensi expositos confirmatos Vid. Concil Tolet. All which confirms it for a Truth That even in the Primitive Church the Supremacy in matters Ecclesiastical was in the Supream Secular Prince Touching Archbishops our Malmesbury confesses that in the Ancienter times of the Britains it was unknown where the Archbishoprick was At the Council of Arles An. 314. Silvester the Pope is but plain Bishop as appears by the Nomenclature of those that were at that Council The High Title of Archbishop was for a long time in use in the Eastern Church before it came into the West For whereas our Beda tells us That Augustine was Ordained Archbishop of the English Nation by Etherius Archbishop of Arles aforesaid he therein follows the mode of speaking current in his own times for Gregory the then Pope in his several Letters written to them affords neither of them that Title no not when he bestows the Pall upon Augustine and gives him the precedency and priority in respect of York and all other Bishops of Britain Yet the incomparable B. Vsher affirms that they did not quite deny Archbishops among the Old Britains for he proves they had such but that all Memorials were lost where the Archiepiscopal or Patriarchal Seat resided For although London hath been for many Ages the Chiefest of Britain and was no less than 1300 years since reputed Vetus Oppidum and Augusta yet a Modern Writer of great Learning and Authority would have York as the more Ancient Metropolis of the Diocess of the Britains and that not only because it was a Roman Colony which London was not as Onuphrius contrary to so great and plain Authority of Tacitus doth affirm but also for that the Emperours Palace and Praetorium likewise Tribunal or chief Seat of Judgment was there whence by the Old Historian Spartianus it was called Civitas by way of excellency It must be acknowledg'd that the very Original of things are to us much clouded in obscurity and uncertainty yet he that duly consults Antiquity will find That what Radulphus de Diceto writes touching the Original of Episcopacy and Archiepiscopacy in Britain seems to have
of King Kanute made for the indemnity of such as should have recourse to Tribunals for their safe coming and going to and from Courts of Justice Et volo ut omnis homo pacem habeat eundo ad gemotum vel rediens de gemoto id est placito nifi fit fur probatus It is a word from the Saxon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 convenire unde Nostratium to meet But this digression the Reader must put on the Abbots score in regard the word Abbates gave the occasion thereof which may be but a Venial offence in regard that that Ecclesiastical Dignity is with us laid aside though their Possessions had better Fortune yet when King H. 8. did dissolve them he did not only augment the number of Colledges out of the Revenues thereof but also erected divers new Bishopricks as at Westminster Oxford Peterborough Bristol Chester and Glocester all remaining at this day save that at Westminster which being restored to its pristine Institution by Queen Mary and Benedictines placed therein was after by Queen Elizabeth converted to a Collegiate Church In this Chapter there is mention also made of Chauntries Cantaria or if you please Aedes Sacra ideo Instituta Dotata Praediis ut missa ibidem Cantaretur pro anima Fundatoris propinquorum ejus Ita Spelm. Of these and Free Chappels about 2374. were dissolved by King H. 8. to whom they were given by Parliament in the 38th year of his Reign The Religious Houses under 200 l. per An. were granted to him in An. 1535. All greater Monasteries in An. 1538. The Chantery and Free Chappels in An. 1545. Of these Chanteries Forty seven belonged unto St. Pauls London And as for Annates or First-Fruits it is Historically reported to us that they were first introduced into England in the time of King Edward the First by Pope Clement who succeeded Benedict For this Pope Clement after the death of Pope Benedict was no sooner Elected and Enthron'd in France but he began to exercise his new Rapines here in England by a compliance with the said King Edward in granting him a Two years Disme from his Clergy for his own use though pretended for the aid of the Holy Laud that with the more ease himself might exact the First Frutts of vacant Ecclesiastical Benefices to augment his own Revenues though not within his own Territories This is said to be the first President of any Popes reserving or exacting Annates or First-Fruits of all Ecclesiastical Dignities and Benefices throughout England extant in our Histories which though reserved but for Two years by the Pope at first yet afterwards grew into a Custome by degrees both in England and elsewhere And thus they remained in the Pope until an Act of Parliament entituled the Crown thereunto in the time of King Henry the Eighth which afterwards were restored again to the Pope by Queen Mary but in the first year of Queen Elizabeth an Act pass'd for restoring the Tenths and First-Fruits to the Crown Notwithstanding what some Historians have as aforesaid reported touching the first introduction of First-Fruits into England by Pope Clement in the time of King Edward the First it is most evident that they were to be yielded and paid here in England some hundreds of years before that time as appears by the Laws of Ina King of the West Saxons who began his Reign in the year 712. The Law was this viz. Primitias seminum quisque ex eo dato domicilio in quo ipso Natali die Domini commoratur Lambert de Leg. Inae Reg. And by the Laws of King Edgar who began his Reign in the year 959. it is Ordained in these words Ex omni quidem ingeniorum terra ipsae Seminum Primitiae primariae penduntor Ecclesiae Idem de Leg. Edgari Reg. Ipsas autem Seminum Primitias sub Festum Divi Martini reddito Ibid. The like you have in the Laws of King Kanute who began his Reign in the year 1016. Seminum Primitiae ad Festum Divi Martini penduntor si quis dare distulerit eas Episcopo undecies praestato ac Regi Ducenos viginti Solidos persolvito Idem Lamb. It is supposed that Boniface Archbishop of Canterbury in the Reign of Ed. 3. was the first that made way for Popes to Appropriate Annates and First-Fruits in this Kingdom to themselves for the said Archbishop An. 1246. upon a feigned pretence that his Church of Canterbury was involved in very great Debts by his Predecessor but in truth by himself to carry on Forein Wars and gratifie the Pope procured from Pope Innocent a grant of the First years Fruits of all Benefices that should fall void within his Diocess for the space of Seven years till he should thence raise the Sum of Ten thousand Marks yearly out of the Bishoprick So that this Grant of First Fruits of Benefices to Boniface the said Archbishop made way for Popes Appropriating First-Fruits and Annates to themselves soon after But in process of time the Parliament having as aforesaid settled them on King H. 8. there was an Office thereof established in London An. 1538. whereby the Kings Revenue increased exceedingly from this Office for the receipt of Tenths and First-Fruits which was then first erected in London such Moneys being formerly paid to the Pope for that the Tenths and First-Fruits of the English Clergy were yearly return'd to Rome But now the Pope being dead in England the King was found his Heir at Common Law as to most of the Power and Profit he had usurped and the Rents which the Clergy paid were now changed together with their Landlord for Commissioners whereof the Bishop of the Diocess was ever one were appointed to estimate their Annual Revenues that so their Tenths and First-Fruits might be proportioned accordingly At this time the Oblations from the Living and Obits from the Dead were as duly paid as Predial Tithes and much advanced the Income but Queen Mary did after by Act of Parliament exonerate the Clergy from all these First-Fruits and ordered the payment of the Tenths to Cardinal Poole for discharge of Pensions allowed to certain Monks and Nuns but Queen Elizabeth in the first year of her Reign resumed these First-Fruits and Tenths only Personages not exceeding ten Marks and Vicarages ten Pounds were freed from First-Fruits vid. Stat. 1 Eliz. cap. 4. That which in the method of the ensuing Treatise next offers it self to consideration is Altarage Altaragium taking its denomination from the Altar because to speak properly Altargium est Emolumentum Sacerdoti provenieus ratione Altaris ex Oblationibus sc vid. Jo. de Athon in Constit. Legatim Otho c. Auditu ver Proventus Touching this Altarage there is an Ancient Record in the time of King H. 3. about the year 1234. in the Chronicle of William Thorne the Augustine Monk of Canterbury whereof among other things there is mention made in a certain Composition between Edmond Archbishop
Secular who within that Province whereof he is Archbishop hath next and immediately under the King Supream power Authority and Jurisdiction in all causes and things Ecclesiastical Of such there are only Two in England one of the Province of Canterbury styled Metropolitanus Primas Totius Angliae the other of York styled Primas Metropolitanus Angliae Under the two Archbishops are twenty six Bishopricks whereof twenty two in the Province of Canterbury and four in the Province of York so that besides the two Archbishops there are twenty four Bishops The Christian Religion in England took root first in the See of Canterbury St. Austin who first preached the Gospel to the one was the first Archbishop of the other Canterbury once the Royal City of the Kings of Kent was by King Ethelbert on his Conversion bestowed on St. Augustine the Archbishop and his Successors for ever and so the Chair thereof became originally fixed in that City of Canterbury Cantuarienses Archiepiscopi Dorovernenses antiquitus dicti sunt quia totius Anglicanae Ecclesiae Primates Metropolitani fuerunt The Archbishop whereof being styled Primate and Metropolitan of all England is the first Peer of the Realm and hath Precedency not only before all the Clergy of the Kingdom of England but also next and immediately after the Blood Royal before all the Nobility of the Realm Sr. Edward Cokâ— says more and lets us to understand That in Ancient time they had great Precedency even before the Brother of the King as appears by the Parliament Roll of 18 E. 1. and many others which continued until it was altered by Ordinance in Parliament in the Reign of H. 6. as appears by a Roll of Parliament of that Kings Reign entred in the Back of the Parliament Roll. The Precedency in Parliament and other Places of Council at this day is That the two Archbishops have the Precedency of all the Lords Temporal and every other Bishop in respect of his Barony hath place of all the Barons of the Realm and under the estate of the Viscount and other Superiour Dignities And at this day in all Acts Ordinances and Judgments c. of Parliament it is said The Lords Spiritual and Temporal The Bishops among themselves have this Precedency 1. The Bishop of London 2. The Bishop of Duresme 3. The Bishop of Winchester The Archbishop of Canterbury as he hath the Precedency of all the Nobility so also of all the great Officers of State He writes himself Divina Providentia whereas other Bishops only use Divina Permissione The Coronation of the Kings of England belongs to the Archbishop of Canterbury and it hath been formerly resolved that wheresoever the Court was the King and Queen were Speciales Domestici Parochiani Domini Archiepiscopi He had also heretofore this Priviledge of special remark That such as held â—ands of him were liable for Wardship to him and to compound with him for the same albeit they held other Lands in chief of our Sovereign Lord the King All the Bishopricks in England except Duresme Carlisle Chester and the Isle of Man which are of the Province of York are within the Province of Canterbury The Archbishop whereof hath also a peculiar Jurisdiction in thirteen Parishes within the City of London and in other Diocesses c. Having also an Ancient Priviledge That wherever any Mannors or Advowsons do belong to his See they forthwith become exempt from the Ordinary and are reputed Peculiars and of his Diocess of Canterbury If you consider Canterbury as the Seat of the Metropolitan it hath under it twenty one Suffragan Bishops whereof seventeen in England and four in Wales But if you consider it as the Seat of a Diocesan so it comprehends only some part of Kent viz. 257 Parishes the residue being in the Diocess of Rochester together with some other Parishes dispersedly scituate in several Diocesses it being as aforesaid an Ancient Priviledge of this See that the places where the Archbishop hath any Mannors or Advowsons are thereby exempted from the Ordinary and are become Peculiars of the Diocess of Canterbury properly belonging to the Jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Canterbury whose Provincial Dean is the Bishop of London whose Chancellour is the Bishop of Winchester whose Vice-Chancellour anciently was the Bishop of Lincoln whose Precentor the Bishop of Salisbury whose Chaplain the Bishop of Worcester and the Bishop of Rochester when time was carried the Cross before him Lind. Const de Poenis gl ibid. c. 1. ver tanquam 2. The Metropolitan See of York had its Original at the first reception of the Gospel in England when King Lucius established Sampson the first Archbishop thereof Not long after the Conversion of the Saxons Paulinus by Pope Gregory's appointment was made Archbishop thereof An. 622. This Province of York anciently claimed and had a Metropolitan Jurisdiction over all the Bishops of Scotland whence they had their Consecration and to which they swore Canonical Obedience The Archbishop of York styles himself Primate and Metropolitan of England as the Archbishop of Canterbury Primate and Metropolitan of All England About two hundred years since viz. An. 1466. when George Nevil was Archbishop of York the Bishops of Scotland withdrew themselves from their obedience to him and had Archbishops of their own The Archbishop of York hath precedency before all Dukes not being of the Blood Royal as also before all the Great Officers of State except the Lord Chancellour Of this Province of York are the Bishopricks of Duresme Chester Carlisle and the Isle of Man who write themselves Eboracenses or Eborum The Diocess belonging to this See of York contains the two Counties of York and Notingham and in them 581 Parishes whereof 336 are Impropriations 3. It hath been question'd whether there be any difference between Archbishop and Metropolitan the DD. herein seem to be divided some conceiving that there is some difference between them others affirming that they are both one the Canon Law seems in a sense to favour each of these Opinions saying in one place that the Archbishop as President hath the charge and oversight of the Metropolitans and other Bishops 21. Dist Cleros In another place That Archbishop and Metropolitan are but one and the same in deed and in truth although they differ in Name Wilhel in Clem. ult de Privileg verb. Archiepiscopo vers fin Metropolitanus Archiepiscopus idem sunt Sed Metropolitanus nomen trahit à numero Ecclesiarum viz. à metro mensura polis Civitas Otho glo in verb. Archiepiscopus De Offic. Archiepisc He is called Archiepiscopus quasi Princeps Episcoporum in respect of the other Bishops whereof he is chief and Metropolitanus in respect of the number of the Cities or Cathedral Churches where the Bishopricks are Lindw ubi supr gl ib. ver Metropolitanum For the word Civitas doth signifie with us as it doth in other Kingdoms such a Town
manner viz. The Bishops See being vacant the Dean and Chapter of that Cathedral gives notice thereof to the King humbly requesting his Majesty's leave to chuse another the King grants his Congé d'Eslire Thereupon the Dean summons a Chapter they elect the person recommended by his Majesties Letters that Election after a first or second modest refusal being accepted by the party elected is certified to the King and to the Archbishop of that Province hereupon the King grants his Royal Assent under his Great Seal exhibited to the said Archbishop with Command to Confirm and Consecrate him upon this the Archbishop subscribes his Fiat Confirmatio withal giving Commission under his Archiepiscopal Seal to his Vicar-General to perform all the Acts requisite for perfecting his Confirmation Hereupon the Vicar-General in the Archbishops name issues a Citation summoning all Opposeâ—s of the said Election to make their appearance at a certain time and place then and there to offer their Objections if they have any This done by an Officer of the High-Court of Arches usually at Bow-Church London by Proclamation thrice and affixing the said Citation on that Church-door an Authentick Certificate thereof is by the said Officer returned to the said Archbishop and Vicar-General At the time and place aforesaid the Proctor for the said Dean and Chapter exhibits the Royal Assent and the Commission of the Archbishop to the Vicar-General who after the reading thereof accepts the same Then the Proctor exhibits the Proxy from the Dean and Chapter presents the elected Bishop returns the Citation and desires that the Opposers may be thrice publickly called which done and their Contumacy accused desires that in poenam Contumaciae the business in hand may proceed which the Vicar-General in a Schedule by him read and subscribed doth order Then the Proctor gives a Summary Petition therein deducing the whole Process of Election and Consent and desires a time may be assign'd him to prove it which the Vicar-General admits and decrees After this the Proctor exhibits the Royal Assent again with the elected Bishops Assent and the said Certificate to the Archbishop desiring a time to be presently assigned for Final Sentence which the Vicar-General decrees Then the Proctor desires that all Opposers may again be thrice publickly called which done and none appearing nor opposing they are pronounced Contumacious and a Decree made to proceed to Sentence by a Schedule read and subscribed by the Vicar-General Whereupon the Bishop elect takes the Oaths of Supremacy Simony and Canonical Obedience After this the Dean of the Arches reads and subscribes the Sentence Next after the Confirmation follows the Consecration of the elected Bishop according to the Kings Mandate which is solemnly done by the Archbishop with the assistance of two other Bishops according to the approved Rights and Ceremonies of the Church of England and in conformity to the manner and Form of Consecrating Bishops according to the Rule laid down in the Fourth Council of Carthage about the year 470 generally received in all the Provinces of the Western Church After the Premises there issues a Mandate from the Archbishop to the Archdeacon of his Province to install the Bishop Elected Confirmed and Consecrated who or his Proxy which is usual being in presence of a Publick Notary introduced into the Cathedral Church on any day between the hours of 9 and 11 by the said Archdeacon doth first declare his assent to the Kings Supremacy c. Then the Archdeacon with the Canons c. having accompanied the Bishop to the Quire and placed him in the Episcopal Seat doth pronounce as followeth viz. Ego authoritate mihi Commissa Induco Inthroâ—izo Reverendum in Christo Patrem Dominum J. S. Episcopum Et Dominus custodiat suum introitum exitum ex hoc nunc in saeculum c. Then after the Divine Service proper for the occasion the Bishop being conducted into the Chapter-house and there placed on a high Seat the Archdeacon and all the Prebends c. of the Church acknowledge Canonical Obedience to him And the Publick Notary by the Archdeacons command records the whole matter of Fact in this Affair in an Instrument to remain as Authentick to Posterity After all which the Bishop is introduced into the Kings presence to do his Homage for his Temporalties or Barony by kneeling down and putting his hands between the hands of the King sitting in his Chair of State and by taking a solemn Oath to be true and faithful to his Majesty and that he holds his Temporalties of Him When Matth. Parker in the second year of Queen Eliz. 1559. elected to the Archbishoprick of Canterbury had his Confirmation in the Court of Arches according to the usual form in that behalf This being performed an entertainment for the Vicar General the Dean of the Arches and other Officers of that Court whose presence was requisite at this Solemnity was provided at the Nagâ—head Tavern in Cheapside Lond. whereby occasion was taken by the Roman Adversaries maliciously to report That the Nagshead Tavern was the place of Consecration Heyl. The form or manner of making a Bishop and of translating him from one Bishoprick to another differs only in this that in the latter there needs no Consecration And the translation of a Bishop to an Archbishoprick differs only in the Commission which is directed by his Majesty to four or more Bishops to Confirm him 5. Each Archbishop every Bishop and their Officials have their Seals of Office respectively which being affixed to a writing makes the Instrument Authentick whereby the use and practice of Tabellions or Publick Notaries as in Forreign parts is with us much abated For that of a Tabellion allowed by Authority to Engross and Register private Contracts and Obligations his Office in some Countries did formerly differ from that of a publick Notary but now they are as one and the same Office Quoniam Tabellionum usus in Regno Angliae proper quod magis ad Sigilla Authentica credi est necesse ut â—orum facilius habeatur Statuimus ut Sigillum habeant non solum Archiepiscopi Episcopi sed eorum Officiales And all Bishops Ordinaries Archdcacons and all others exercising any Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction ought to have the Kings Arms engraven on their Seal of Office but the Archbishop of Canterbury may use his own Seal And all Process Ecclesiastical and Certificates into any Court of Record are to be in the Kings name Teste the Bishop But as to the making admitting ordering and reforming of Chancellors Commissaries Officials Advocates Proctors and other Officers Ministers and Substitutes This the Bishops may do in their own Names and under their own Seals 6. If one be Elected and the Temporalties granted to him yet he is not Bishop before Consecration 41 E. 3. 6. 46 E. 3. 32. Quaere For he may refuse to be Bishop after Election and before Consecration but not after 41 E. 3. 5. b. When upon
1 Jac. cap. 3. vid. 17 Ed. 3. cap. 40. 2. The Congé d'Eslire being granted to the Dean and Chapter they proceed accordingly to Election which in the sense here intended as appropriated to this Subject is that Regular Choice which is made of an Ecclesiastical person to succeed in the office and dignity of Bishop in and of that Diocess whose See at the time of such Election is vacant This Election referring to an Episcopacy or the choice of a new Bishop in a vacant See is done by a Dean and Chapter but there are also other Elections Ecclesiastical relating to a Regular choice of other persons to other Offices and Dignities in the Church subordinate to the former but here it is specially meant of such an Election or choice of a new Bishop as is precedent to Confirmation Consecration and Investure or Instalment being made as aforesaid by the Dean and Chapter of a Cathedral Church by vertue of the Kings License and Letters Missive according to his Majesties nomination and pleasure contained in such Letters Missive in pursuance of such License to Elect under the Great Seal of England which Election being made accordingly the Dean and Chapter are to return a Certificate thereof under their Common Seal unto his Majesty This Election alone and of it self be it to an Archbishoprick or Bishoprick if the person Elected were before the Parson or Vicar of any Church Presentative or Dean of any Cathedral or held any other Episcopal Dignity doth not ipso facto make void in Law such former Benefice or Dignity or Deanry because he is not compleat and absolute Bishop meerly by such Election but only Bishop Elect And an Election only of such one to a Bishoprick who had before a Benefice with Cure or any other Ecclesiastical Dignity or promotion doth not make a Cession thereof And it hath been adjudged that a Commendam retinere made to such a person of such a Parsonage Deanry or other dignity Ecclesiastical which the said Parson had before his Election to the Bishoprick is yet good to him notwithstanding such Election and so remains good to him until his Consecration 3. Confirmation hath various senses according to the different Acceptation of the word but here it is mainly intended for that which in order to an Investure of a Bishop is done by the Archbishop or Metropolitan of that Province in which a Bishoprick is void and unto which a new Bishop is to be Invested with such usual Benedictions and Ceremonies as are requisite to the same Note That before an Archbishop or other Bishop is Confirmed Consecrated or Invested he must take the Oath of Fealty unto the Kings Majesty only after which the King under his Great Seal doth signifie his Election to one Archbishop and two other Bishops otherwise unto four Bishops within his Majesties Dominions thereby requiring them to Confirm his Election and to Consecrate and Invest the person Elected After which Confirmation and Consecration he is compleat Bishop to all intents and purposes as well to Temporalties as Spiritualties And now he hath plenam potestatem tam Jurisdictionis quam Ordinis and may therefore after his Consecration certifie an Excommengment and upon his Confirmation the power of the Guardian of the Spiritualties doth cease and a Writ for Admission of a Clerk to a Benefice awarded Episcopo Electo Confirmato hath been held to be good Likewise the King may by his Letters Patents after such Confirmation and before Consecration grant unto such Bishop his Temporalties which Grant from his Majesty is held to be potius de gratia quam de jure but if the Bishop of one Diocess be translated to a Bishoprick in another there needs no new Confirmation of him In the Canon de Confirmatione Episcoporum of Othobon's Constitutions it is Ordained in haec verba viz. Vt cujus Electionis Episcopalis Confirmatio postulatur inter caetera super quibus Inquisitio Examinatio praecedere debet Secundum Canonum Instituta illud exactissime inquiratur utrum plura Beneficia cum animarum cura qui Electus est antequam eligeretur habuerit Et si habuisse inveniatur an cum eo super hoc fuerit dispensatum Et an Dispensatio si quam exhibuerit vera sit ad omnia beneficia quae obtinuit extendatur Et si in aliquo Praemissorum is ad quem Confirmatio spectat Electam deficere sua discussione compererit eidem nullatenus munus Confirmationis impendat 4. There is also Confirmation of another kind and far remote in sense from the former not of any Ecclesiastical consideration nor of any Affinity with the other otherwise than Nominal and that is the ratifying or confirming of an Office or an estate in a Place or Office to one who hath or formerly had the possession thereof by a good Title but voidable though not actually and at present void To explain this A Bishop grants his Chancellorship by Patent to one for term of his Natural life this Grant is good to the Patentee and not in it self void yet upon the Bishops death it is voidable unless it be corroborated and ratified by the Confirmation of the Dean and Chapter This is not the Confirmation here intended but the Confirmation of the Election of a new Bishop in order to his Consecration and Investure which though heretofore was by the Bishop of Rome when he claimed a Spiritual Jurisdiction in this Realm yet now since the Stat. of 25 H. 8. c. 20. the same is at his Majesties Command performed by the Archbishop or Metropolitan of the Province wherein such Bishoprick is void and two other Bishops otherwise by four such Bishops within his Majesties Dominions as to whom under his Broad Seal he shall signifie such Election commanding them to Confirm the same as also to Consecrate and Invest the person whose Election to the Bishoprick is so Confirmed as aforesaid 5. The Confirmation of the Election of Bishops to vacant Sees according to the Canon Law and as practised in such Kingdoms beyond Sea where the Pope doth claim and exercise a Spiritual Jurisdiction is as to the mode and solemnity thereof quite another thing to what the practice is with us in this Realm 6. In France though the Nomination of a Bishop to succeed in a vacant See belongs to the French King yet if he doth not Nominate within Six or Nine months next after the death of the former Bishop Jus devolutum est ad Papam if a Bishoprick be there void be it quomodocunque whether by Cession or otherwise the Law speaks indefinitely in that case the King shall Nominate in France who shall be the new Bishop but then he must Nominate within Six or Nine months which being Elapsed and no Nomination he cannot afterwards Nominate Nam jus sit ad Papam devâ—lutum nec poterit purgare moram For the Law in that Case and in that Kingdom is that
Fee-simple may pass to them without the word Successors because in Construction of Law such Body Politick is said never to die This must be understood only in reference to their taking of the thing granted in their Politick not Natural Capacity 11. One Bishop may possibly have two Chapters and that by Union or Consolidation as in the Bishop of Waterford's Case who had the Bishoprick of Lismore and the Chapter thereof united to that of Waterford In which Case although the Chapter of Lismore only Confirmed the Grants of Lands belonging to Lismore and the Chapter of Waterford only confirmed the Grants of Lands belonging to the Bishoprick of Waterford yet because the Union there was not extant the Judges held the Confirmation in manner aforesaid to be good but otherwise all the Judges held that both Chapters ought to have Confirmed For it seems if a Bishop hath two Chapters both must Confirm his Leases 12. A Parsonage in the Diocess of W. is annexed to a Prebend in S. the Prebend makes a Lease for years which is Confirmed by the Bishop and Dean and Chapter of S. It was held by the Court to be good without the Confirmation of the Bishop of W. in whose Diocess it is In Eyre's Case it was resolved That Chapters are not of a capacity to take by Purchase or Gift without the Dean who is their Head And in the Case of Eaton-Colledge where a Lease was made by the Dean and Chapter of the Colledge of Eaton whereas they were incorporated by the Name of the Dean and Chapter of the Colledge of St. Maries of Eaton Resolved that the Lease was void for the Misnosiner Yet whereas the Dean and Canons of Windsor were Incorporated by Act of Parliament by the Name of the Dean and Canons of the Kings Free-Chappel of his Castle of Windsor and they made a Lease by the Name of the Dean and Canons of the Kings Majestie 's Free-Chappel of the Castle of Windsor in the County of Berks Resolved the Lease was good For although the King in the Act of Parliament calls it his Castle yet when another speaks of it it is more apt to call it the Castle and therefore such variance shall not avoid the Lease Likewise whereas Christs-Church in Oxon is incorporated by the Name of Dean and Chapter Ecclesiae Cathedralis Christi de Oxon and they made a Lease by the Name of Dean and Chapter Ecclesiae Cathedralis Christi in Academia de Oxon and the Liberties de Academia did extend further than the Liberties of the City yet it was adjudged a good Lease because the substance of the Corporation was inserted in the words of the Lease CHAP. VIII Of Archdeacons 1. What an Archdeacon is his Office and Jurisdiction 2. The several kinds of Archdeaconries and how many in England 3. Whence the Archdeacons power is derived and whether a Quare Impedit doth lie of it or not 4. In what case Action lies against an Archdeacon for refusing to give Induction to a Clerk Instituted by the Bishop 5. Archdeaconry not comprized under the notion of a Benefice with Cure of Souls 6. Process of Quorum Nomina prohibited by the Canon to be issued by any Archdeacon 7. How often an Archdeacon may have his Visitation and what his Office or Power therein is 8. How a person ought to be qualified that may be an Archdeacon It is an Ecclesiastical Dignity 9. Cardinal Otho's Constitution touching the Archdeacons government in his Visitations 10. How Archdeacons are distinguished at the Canon Law 11. Conformity thereto in the practice of the Common Law 12. A Case at Common Law touching a Lease for years of a Glebe made by an Archdeacon 13. The same Case somewhat otherwise reported 14 Whether a Quare Impedit lies of an Archdeaconry 1. ARCHDEACON from archos Princeps or Chief and Diaconos Deacon that is the first or chief of the Deacons Sum. Host de Offic. Archid. c. 1. de Scrut in Ord. fac being according to the Canon Law such as hath obtained a Dignity in a Cathedral Church to have the Priority among the Deacons and first in Jurisdiction next after the Bishop Sum. Host ibid. For as of Common Right all Ecclesiastical matters within the Diocess appertain to the cognizance of the Bishop so under him to the Archdeacon excepting only such things as by Law are specially prohibited And therefore is said to be dignified with this Title for that in many things he doth supply the room of the Bishop to whom he is in precedency to others subservient and unto whom his service chiefly relates Every Bishop be it Archbishop or other hath under him an Archdeacon for the better discharge of his Cure He hath Jurisdiction of Common right which may vary according to Circumstances and the Custome of the place and therefore in some cases it is Jurisdictio Ordinaria in others it is Delegata And although regularly as such he doth not exercise any Jurisdiction within the Church it self yet it cannot be denied but that an Archdeaconry is an Ecclesiastical Dignity Fran. de Aret. in Concil 23. His Office and Jurisdiction by the Canon Law is of a far larger extent than is now practicable with us otherwise we should not there find him so frequently styled Oculus Episcopi for that he is by the very Law the Bishops Vicar in several respects and therefore may where the Bishop himself conveniently cannot keep the Triennial Visitations or not oftner than once a year save where emergent occasions do require it oftner He hath also under the Bishop the power of Examination of Clerks to be Ordained as also of Institution and Induction likewise of Excommunication Injunction of Penance Suspension Correction Dispensations of hearing determining and reconciling of Differences among the Clergy as also of enquiring into inspecting and reforming Abuses and Irregularities of the Clergy with a power over the Sub-deacons and a charge of the Parochial Churches within the Diocess In a word according to the practice of and the latitude given by the Canon Law to supply the Bishops room and as the words of that Law are in omnibus vicem Episcopi gerere Synt. jur l. 15. cap. 20. de Archidiacono 2. The Diocesses within this Realm of England are divided into several Archdeaconries they being more or less in a Diocess according to the extent thereof respectively and in all amounting to the number of Threescore And they divided again into Deanaries which also are subdivided into Parishes Towns and Hamlets Of these Archdeaconries some are by Prescription some by Law and some by Covenant Which difference hath this Operation in Law That the Jurisdiction of an Archdeaconry by Prescription or de jure is exclusive to the Jurisdiction of the Bishop insomuch that a Prohibition lies for such Archdeacon against the Bishop if he intermeddle Juridically with any matters or things within such Archdeaconries
Bishop of Rome had assumed or tooken upon him to be the Spiritual Prince or Monarch of all the World he attempted also to give Laws to all Nations as one real Mark or Signal of his Monarchy but they well knowing Quod ubi non est condendi authoritas ibi non est parendi necessitas did not impose their Laws at first peremptorily on all Nations without distinction but offered them timide precario And therefore he caused certain Rules in the first place to be collected for the Government of the Clergy only which he called Decreta and not Leges vel Statuta These Decrees were published in An. 1150. which was during the Reign of King Stephen And therefore what the Lord Coke observes in the Preface to the Eighth part of his Reports Quod Rogerus Bacon frater ille perquam Eruditus in Libro De impedimentis Sapientiae dicit Rex quidem Stephanus allatis Legibus Italiae in Angliam Publico Edicto prohibuit ne in aliquo detinerentur may probably be conjectured to be meant and intended of those Decrees which were then newly compiled and published Yet these Decrees being received and observed by the Clergy of the Western Churches only for the Eastern Church never received any of these Rules or Canons Kelw. Rep. 7 H. 8. fo 184 the Bishop of Rome attempted also to draw the Laity by degrees into obedience to these Ordinances and to that purpose in the first place he propounds certain Rules or Ordinances for Abstinence or days of Fasting to be observed as well by the Laity as the Clergy which were upon the first Institution thereof called by the mild and gentle name of Regationes as Marsilius Pat. lib. Defensor Pacis par 2. cap. 23. hath observed and thence it seems the Week of Abstinence a little before the Feast of Pentecost was called the Rogation-week that time of Abstinence being appointed at the beginning by that Ordinance which was called Rogatio and not Praeceptum vel Statutum Now when the Laity out of their devotion had received and obeyed these Ordinances of Abstinence then the Bishop of Rome proceeds further De una praesumptione ad aliam transivit Romanus Pontifex as Marsil Pat. there says and made many Rescripts and Orders per Nomen Decretalium which were published in the year 1230. which was in the Fourteenth year of King H. 3. or thereabout Vid. Matth. Par. Hist mag 403. and these were made to bind all the Laity and Sovereign Princes as well as their Subjects in such things as concerned their Civil and Temporal Estates As that no Lay-man should have the Donation of an Ecclesiastical Benefice That no Lay-man should marry within certain Degrees out of the degrees limited by the Levitical Law That all Infants born before Marriage should be adjudged after Marriage Legitimate and capable of Temporal Inheritance That all Clerks should be exempt from the Secular power and others of the like nature But these Decretals being published they were not entirely and absolutely received and obeyed in any part of Christendom but only in the Pope's Temporal Territory which by the Canonists is called Patria obedientiae But on the other hand many of those Canons were utterly rejected and disobeyed in France and England and other Christian Realms which are called Patriae Consuetudinariae As the Canon which prohibited the Donation of Benefices per manum Laicam was ever disobeyed in England France the Kingdom of Naples and divers other Countries and Common-wealths And the Canon to make Infants Legitimate that were born before Marriage was specially rejected in England when in the Parliament held at Merton omnes Comites Barones una voce responderunt Nolumus Leges Angliae mutari quae hucusque usitatae sunt c. And the Canon which exempts Clerks from the Secular power was never fully observed in any part of Christendom Kelw. 7 H. 8. 181. b. which is one infallible Argument That these Ordinances had not their force by any Authority that the Court of Rome had to impose Laws on all Nations without their consent but by the approbation of the people which received and used them For by the same reason whereby they might reject one Canon they might reject all the other Vid. Bodin lib. 1. de Rep. cap. 8. where he saith That the Kings of France on the erection of all Universities there have declared in their Charters that they would receive the Profession of the Civil and Canons to use them at their discretion and not to be obliged by these Laws But as to those Canons which have been received accepted and used in any Christian Realm or Common-wealth they by such acceptation and usage have obtained the force of Laws in such particular Realm or State and are become part of the Ecclesiastical Laws of that Nation And so those which have been embraced allowed and used in England are made by such allowance and usage part of the Ecclesiastical Laws of England By which the interpretation dispensation or execution of these Canons being become Laws of England doth appertain sole to the King of England and his Magistrates within his Dominions and he and his Magistrates have the sole Jurisdiction in such cases and the Bishop of Rome hath nothing to do in the interpretation dispensation or execution of those Laws in England although they were first devised in the Court of Rome No more than the Chief Magistrate of Athens or Lacedemon might claim Jurisdiction in the Ancient City of Rome for that the Laws of the XII Tables were thither carried and imported from those Cities of Greece and no more than the Master of New-Colledge in Oxford shall have Command or Jurisdiction in Kings-Colledge of Cambridge for that the private Statutes whereby Kings-Colledge is governed were for the most part borrowed and taken out of the Foundation-Book of New-Colledge in Oxford And by the same reason the Emperour may claim Jurisdiction in Maritime causes within the Dominions of the King of England for that we have now for a long time received and admitted the Imperial Law for the determination of such Causes Vid. Cawdries Case Co. par 5. and Kelw. Rep. 184. a. Now when the Bishop of Rome perceived that many of his Canons were received and used by divers Nations of Christendom he under colour thereof claimed to have Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in every Realm and State where these Canons were received and sent his Legates with several Commissions into divers Kingdoms to hear and determine Causes according to these Canons which Canons although neither the Pope nor his Ministers at the first venting and uttering thereof dared to call Laws Ne committerent crimen Laesae Majestatis in Principes as Marâ—il Pat. lib. Defensor pacis par 2. cap. 23. observes who also says That these Canons being made by the Pope Neque sunt humanae Leges neque divinae sed documenta quaedam Narrationes yet when he perceived that these Canons were received allowed
Or thus The Next Avoidance was granted to Two the one Released to the other who brought a Quare Impedit in his own Name and it was adjudged maintainable because it was before the Church was void 20. A. seized of the Mannor of D. to which an Advowson was Appendant granted the Next Avoidance to B. and D. eorum cuilibet conjunctim divisim Haered Executor Assignatis suis The Church void B. Presents D. to the Church Adjudged that the Presentment of him was good though he were one of the Grantees CHAP. XXVI Of Pluralities 1. Pluralities condemned by the Council of Lateran yet dispenc'd with by Kings and Popes 2. What in this matter the Pope anciently exercised by way of Vsurpation the King may now do de jure The difference between them in the manner how 3. What persons are qualified for granting or receiving Pluralities 4. Several Laws relating to Pluralities Dispensations and Qualifications 5. How the 8 l. annual value of a Benefice shall be understood whether as in the Kings Books or according to the true value of the Benefice 6. The Lord Hobart's Opinion touching the Statute of 21 H. 8. relating to Pluralities 7. What the Pope's Power in England was before the making of the said Statute And whether the taking of a Bishoprick in Ireland by a Dean in England makes the Deanary void by Cession 8. The Chaplains of Persons of Honour having divers Benefices shall retain them for their Lives though they be discharged of their Service 9. Whether the Ecclesiastical Court may take cognizance of Plenarty or Voidance after Induction And whether the cognizance of Cession or no Cession belongs to the Temporal or Spiritual Count. 10. Difference between Voidance by Act of Parliament and Voidance by the Ecclesiastical Law 11. A Prohibition granted upon Sequestration of a Benefice by the Bishop 12. The Fifth Paragraph aforesaid Adjudged and determined 13. How the Voidance in case of Three Benefices in one person 14. Benefice not void if the King License the Incumbent to be an Incumbent and a Bishop 15. How the taking of a Second Benefice is a Voidance of the First 16. Whether so in case of a Chaplain of the King 17. Whether so in case of a Si modo or Modo sit by way of a Limitation in the Dispensation 18. Whether the word Dispensamus be necessary in the Letters of Dispensation for a Plurality 19. The Kings Retainer of a Chaplain by Word only qualifies him for a Plurality within the Statute of 21 H. 8. 20. Whether a Third Chaplain retained by a Countess Widow is qualified to purchase a Dispensation for Plurality 21. In reference to Plurality whether regard is to be had to the value mentioned in the Statute of 25 H. 8. or to the true value of the Benefice 22. Whether Admission and Iustitution makes the First Benefice void without Induction 23. Whether before the Statute of 25 H. 8. the Pope might here grant Dispensations for Pluralities 24. Whether the Retainer of a Chaplain may be good and sufficient without a Patent 25. In what case a Dispensation for Plurality may come too late though before Induction 26. Three Resolutions of Law in reference to Avoidance by reason of Plurality 1. PLurality according to the Common acceptation of the word is where one and the same person is possessed of Two or more Ecclesiastical Benefices with Cure of Souls simul semel It was long since condemned by the general Council of Lateran whereby it was Ordained That whatever Ecclesiastical person having one Benefice with Cure of Souls doth take another such shall ipso jure be deprived of the former and if he contest for the retaining thereof shall lose both Notwithstanding which Canon it was heretofore usual with the Pope to usurp a power of Dispensation in this matter the which de jure was anciently practised by Kings as Supream and as the original Donors of Benefices and Ecclesiastical Dignities witness Edmond that Monk of Bury who by virtue of such Dispensations held several Ecclesiastical Benefices at one and the same time The said Canon as to the substance thereof relating to Pluralities is now Confirmed by the Statute of 21 H. 8. 13. which limits the former Benefice with Cure of Souls to the yearly value of Eight pounds or upwards and the time of Avoidance thereof to be immediately after possession by Induction into the other with Cure of Souls with power of Presentation de novo granted to the Patron of the former Benefice and all benefit of the same to the Presentee as if the Incumbent had died or resigned Q. Whether the said yearly value of Eight pounds or above ought to be computed according to the valuation in the Kings Books as returned into the Exchequer and now used in the First-Fruits Office or according to the just and true value of the Benefice Q. likewise Whether a Parson of a Church Impropriate with a Vicar perpetually endowed accepting of a Presentation unto the Vicarage without Dispensation be a Pluralist within the Canon and Statute aforesaid The Negative is supposed to give the best Solution to the Question 2. The same power of granting Faculties Pluralities Commendams c. which anciently the Pope exercised in this Realm by Usurpation is by the Statute of 21 H. 8. cap. 13. and 1 Eliz. transferr'd unto and vested in the Crown de jure also from and under the King in the Archbishop of Canterbury and his Commissaries by Authority derived from the Crown The Pope anciently granted to Bishops after Consecration Dispensations Recipere obtinere Beneficium cum cura animarum to hold the same in Commendam the which he did in this Realm by Usurpation and which the Crown may now do de jure for the same power as aforesaid which the Pope had is by the Acts of Parliament in 25 H. 8. 1 Eliz. in the King de jure But there is a very material difference between the Dispensations anciently here granted by the Pope and those at this day by the King and Archbishop Confirmed by the Kings Letters Patents which are not good otherwise than to such as are Compleat Incumbents at the time of granting thereof whereas it was sometimes otherwise with the other whence it is observable that in Digbie's Case the Dispensation came too soon A. is Instituted and Inducted into a Benefice with Cure value Eight pounds per ann Afterwards the King presenting him to another with Cure he is Admitted and Instituted Afterwards the Archbishop of Canterbury grants him Letters of Dispensation to hold Two Benefices the King confirms the same Afterwards he is Inducted into the Second Benefice In this case the Dispensation comes too late because by the Institution into the Second Benefice the First Benefice was void by the Stat. of 21 H. 8. 3. The Acceptance of a Second Benefice with a Dispensation comes not under the notion of prohibited Pluralities in case
the King Confirms and afterwards he is Inducted to the Church of D. In this Case it was Adjudged That the Dispensation came too late because it came after the Institution for by the Institution the Church is full against all persons except the King and as to the Spititualties he is full Parson by the Institution 2. Resolved That admit the Church was not full by the Institution until Induction yet the Dispensation came too late for that the words of the Statute of 21 H. 8 of Pluralities are may purchase Licence to receive and keep two Benefices with Cure of Souls and the words of Dispensation in this case were recipere retinere and because by the Institution the Church was full he could not purchase Licence to receive that which he had before and he cannot retain that which he cannot receive 26. In the case of a Prohibition it was Resolved That by the Common Law before the Statute of 21 H. 8. the first Benefice was void without a Sentence Declarative so as the Patron might present without notice 2. That the Statute of 21 H. 8. of Pluralities is a general Law of which the Judges are to take notice without pleading of it 3. That the Queen might grant Dispensations as the Pope might in case where the Archbishop had not Authority by the Statute of 25 H. 8. to grant Dispensations because all the Authority of the Pope was given to the Crown by the Statute But yet the Statute as to those Dispensations which the Archbishop is to grant hath Negative words and the Bishop shall make the Instrument under his Seal CHAP. XXVII Of Deprivation 1. What Deprivation is and in what Court to be pronounced 2. The Causes in Law of Deprivation 3. In what Cases Deprivation ipso facto without any Declaratory Sentence thereof may be 4. A Cardinal 's Case of Deprivation by reason of Miscreancy 5. The Papal Deprivation by reason of Marriage 6. What the Law is in point of Notice to the Patron in case of Deprivation by reason of meer Laity or Nonage 7. The difference of operation in Law between Malum prohibitum and Malum in se and in what Cases of Deprivation Notice ought to be given to the Patron 8. Deprivation by reason of Degradation which Degradation at the Canon Law may be two ways 9. Cawdry's Case of Deprivation for Scandalous words against the Book of Common Prayer sentenced by the High Commissioners 10. Deprivation for Non-conformity to the Ecclesiastical Canons by the High Commissioners agreed to be good 11. Deprivation for not Reading the Articles of Religion according to the Statute of 13 Eliz. 12. Deprivation by the High Commissioners for Drunkenness 13. The Church is not void by the Incumbents being Deprivable without Deprivation 14. For an Incumbent to declare his Assent to the Articles of Religion so far as they agree with the Word of God is not that unfeigned Assent which the Statute requires 15. A Church becomes void presently upon not Reading the Articles and there needs not any Deprivation in that Case 16. A Case wherein a Sentence declaratorie for Restitution makes a Nullity in the Deprivation 17. An Appeal from a Sentence of Deprivation prevents the Church's being void pro tempore 18. Vpon Deprivation for meer Laity or Incapacity the Lay-Patron must have Notice ere the Lapse incurrs against him 19. An Incumbent Excommunicated and so obstinately persisting 40 daies is Deprivable 1. DEprivation is a discharge of the Incumbent of his Dignity or Ministery upon sufficient cause against him conceived and proved for by this he loseth the Name of his First Dignity and that either by a particular Sentence in the Ecclesiastical Court or by a general Sentence by some positive or Statute-Law of this Realm So that Deprivation is an Ecclesiastical Sentence Declaratory pronounced upon due proof in the Spiritual Court whereby an Incumbent being legally discharged from Officiating in his Benefice with Cure the Church pro tempore becomes void So that it is in effect the Judicial incapacitating an Ecclesiastical person of holding or enjoying his Parsonage Vicarage or other Spiritual promotion or dignity by an Act of the Ecclesiastical Law only in the Spiritual Court grounded upon sufficient proof there of some Act or Defect of the Ecclesiastical person Deprived This is one of the means whereby there comes an Avoidance of the Church if such Sentence be not upon an Appeal repealed The causes of this Deprivation by the Canon Law are many whereof some only are practicable with us in the Ecclesiastical Laws of this Realm and they only such as are consonant to the Statutes and Common Law of this Kingdom 2. All the Causes of Deprivation may be reduced to these Three Heads 1 Want of Capacity 2 Contempt 3 Crime But more particularly It is evident that the more usual and more practicable Causes of this Deprivation are such as these viz. a meer Laity or want of Holy Orders according to the Church of England Illiterature or inability for discharge of that Sacred Function Irreligion gross Scandal some heinous Crime as Murther Manslaughter Perjury Forgery c. Villany Bastardy Schism Heresie Miscreancy Misbelief Atheism Simony Illegal Plurality Incorrigibleness and obstinate Disobedience to the approved Canons of the Church as also to the Ordinary Non-conformity Refusal to use the Book of Common Prayer or Administer the Sacraments in the order there prescribed the use of other Rites or Ceremonies order form oâ— celebrating the same or of other open and publick Prayers the preaching or publishing any thing in derogation thereof or depraving the same having formerly been convicted for the like offence the not Reading the Articles of Religion within Two months next after Induction according to the Statute of 13 Eliz cap. 12. The not Reading publickly and solemnly the Morning and Evening Prayers appointed for the same day according to the Book of Common Prayer within Two month next after Induction on the Lord's Day the not openly and publickly declaring before the Congregation there Assembled his unfeigned assent and consent after such Reading to the use of all things therein contained or in case of a lawful Impediment then the not doing thereof within one month next after the removal of such Impediment a Conviction before the Ordinary of a wilful maintaining or affirming any Doctrine contrary to the 39 Articles of Religion a persistance therein without revocation of his Error or re-affirmance thereof after such Revocation likewise Incontinency Drunkenness and 40 daies Excommunication To all which might also be added Dilapidation for it seems anciently to have been a Dilapidator was a just cause of Deprivation whether it were by destroying the Timber-trees or committing waste on the Woods of the Church-Lands or by putting down or suffering to go to decay the Houses or Edifices belonging to the same as appears by Lyford's Case as also in the Bishop of Salisbury's Case
Church-gemote Int. Leges H. 1. c. 8. The Convocation is under the power and Authority of the King 21 Ed. 4. 45. b. Assembled only by the Kings Writ 13 Ed. 3. Rot. Parl. M. 1. vid. Stat. 25 H. 8. c. 19. The King having directed his Writ therein assigning the time and place to each of the Archbishops to the effect aforesaid the Archbishop of Canterbury doth thereupon direct his Letters to the Bishop of London as his Dean Lindw Provin Sec. 1. de Poenis ver Tanquam in Gloss First Citing himself peremptorily then willing him to Cite in like manner all the Bishops Deans Archdeacons Cathedral and Collegiate Churches and generally all the Clergy of his Province to the Place at the day in the said Writ prefixed withal directing that one Proctor for every Cathedral or Collegiate Church and two for the other Clergy of each Diocess may suffice In pursuance whereof the Bishop of London directs his Letters accordingly willing them to certifie the Archbishop the Names of all such as shall be so Monished by them in a Schedule annexed to their Letters Certificatory whereupon the Cathedral and Collegiate Churches and the other Churches having Elected their Proctors it is certified to the Bishop who makes due Returns thereof which method is likewise observed in the other Province of York It is said That these Proctors anciently had Place and Vote in the Lower House of Parliament a good expedient for the maintenance and preservation of the Liberties of the Church The Prolocutor of the Lower House of Convocation is immediately at the first Assembly by the motion of the Bishops chosen by that Lower House and presented to the Bishops as their Prolocutor by whom they intend to deliver their Resolutions to the higher House and to have their own House specially ordered and governed His Office is to cause the Clerk to call the Names of the Members of that House as oft as he shall see cause likewise to see all things propounded to be read by him to gather the Suffrages or Votes and the like Trin. 8 Jac. It was Resolved by the two Chief Justices and divers other Justices at a Committee before the Lords of Parliament concerning the Authority of a Convocation 1 That a Convocation cannot Assemble without the Assent of the King 2 That after their Assembling they cannot conferr to constitute any Canons without License del Roy. 3 When upon Conference they conclude any Canons yet they cannot execute any of them without the Royal Assent 4 They cannot execute any after Royal Assent but with these Limitations viz. 1 That they be not against the Kings Prerogative 2 Nor against Statute Law 3 Nor against the Common Law 4 Nor against the Customes of the Realm All which appears by 25 H. 8. c. 19. 19. Ed. 3. Title Quare non Admisit 7. 10. H. 7. 17. Merton cap. 9. By 2 H. 6. 13. a Convocation may make Constitutions to bind the Spiritualty because they all in person or by Representation are present but not the Temporalty Q. And 21 Ed. 4. 47. the Convocation is Spiritual and so are all their Constitutions Vid. The Records in Turri 18 H. 8. 8 Ed. 1. 25 Ed. 1. 11 Ed. 2. 15 Ed. 2. Prohibitio Regis ne Clerus in Congregatione sua c. attemptet contra jus seu Coronam c. By which it appears that they can do nothing against the Law of the Land or the Kings Prerogative 5. The word Convocation and the word Synod are rather words of two Languages than things of two significations for although they have different derivations the former from the Latin the other from the Greek yet in effect they both center in the same thing Convocation à Convocando because they are called together by the Kings Writ It is of very great Antiquity according to Sir Edward Coke who mentions out of Mr. Bede and other Authors and ancient Records such as were nigh a thousand years since and more expresly of one great Synod held by Austins Assembling the Britain Bishops in Council An. 686. And affirms That the Clergy was never Assembled or called together at a Convocation but by the Kings Writ And in the year 727. there was a Convocation of the Clergy called Magna Servorum Dei frequentia It was by the assistance and authority of Ethelbert the first Christian King of Kent that Austin called the aforesaid Assembly of the British Bishops and Doctors that had retained the Doctrine of the Gospel to be held in the borders of the Victians and West-Saxons about Southampton as supposed to which resorted as Mr. Bede says Seven Bishops and many other Learned Divines but this Synod or Convocation suddenly brake up without any thing done or resolved This Assembly was conven'd for determining the time for the Celebration of Easter touching which the Controversie continuing no less than 90 years after was at last concluded at another Convocation purposely called at Whitby by the Authority of Oswy King of Northumberland and whereof the Reverend Cedda newly Consecrated Bishop was Prolocutor and King Oswy himself present at the Assembly Likewise about the year 1172. at Cassils in Ireland a Convocation was held by Authority of King H. 2. soon after he had Conquered that Island which Convocation was for the Reformation of the Irish Church where amongst many other Constitutions it was Decreed That all the Church-Lands and all their Possessions should be altogether free from the Exaction of Secular men and that from thenceforth all Divine things should be handled in every part of Ireland in such sort as the Church of England handleth them Likewise about the year 1175. at London a Synod or Convocation was held at which King H. 2. was present where among other Canons and Constitutions it was both by Authority of the King and Synod decreed That every Patron taking a Reward for any Presentation should for ever lose the Patronage thereof Which together with other Canons then made for the better government of the Church of England were Published by Richard Archbishop of Canterbury with the Kings Assent Likewise a Provincial Synod was held at Oxford by Stephen Langton Archbishop of Canterbury under King H. 3. about the year 1222. for Reformation of the Clergy with many others in subordination to the Laws of the Land One special Priviledge of the Convocation appears by 8 H. 6. cap. 1. All the Clergy from henceforth to be called to the Convocation by the Kings Writ and their Servants and Familiars shall for ever hereafter fully use and enjoy such liberty and Immunity in coming tarrying and returning as the Great men and Commonalty of the Realm of England called or to be called to the Kings Parliament have used or ought to have or enjoy 8 H. 6. In Parliamento Statutum est ut Praelati atque Clerici câ—rumque Famulatus cum ad Synodos accesserint iisdem Privilegiis ac
c. The Venerable Mr. Bede doth suppose that this answers to the heaviest Curse amongst the Jews for they had 1 their Niddui 2 their Cherem that is Anathema This their Cherem was either the simple and single Anathema or their Shematha or Maranatha For this dreadful kind of Excommunication here called Maran-atha the Jews called Sammatha Sem signifying the name of God Tetragrammaton or Jehovah and atha he cometh though others will have that Sammatha to be derived from Sam that is their and Mitha that is death their death But not to insist further on the words whereby this Ecclesiastical Censure of Excommunication is signified for that is but as a Flash of Lightning in respect of the Thunder of the Curse it self 3. Although every Excommunication is an Ecclesiastical Censure yet every Ecclesiastical Censure is not an Excommunication for an Ecclesiastical Censure may be as well per Suspensionem and per Interdictum as per Excommunicationem Extr. de verb. sig c. quaerenti Hanc autem Censuram fulminare possunt Eccles Praelati quibus ab homine Lege vel Canone aut Consuetudine tribuitur Jurisdictio Ordinaria De Offic. Ord. c. cum ab Ecclesiar 4. It hath been sometimes question'd what the Law intends by Excommunication ipso facto that Clause imports ac si diceret ipso jure that is nullo hominis ministerio interveniente Not. per Arch. de Rescrip c. 1. verb. ipso jure li. 6. Lindw de Offic. Archid. gloss in c. Vt Archidiacont verb. ipso facto And regularly when a person is Excommunicated it is not intended only of the Lesser Excommunication Nam Excommunicatio simpliciter prolata intelligitur de Majori Extr. de Sen. Excom c. Si quem 11. q. 3. debent Lindw glos verb. Excommuni c. Exhorrenda De Procuratorib 5. Notwithstanding the Law doth not exclude the Excommunicate from such lawful Acts as sine quibus vix potest consistere vita hominis Glos ibid. in verb. Actu Legitimo And although depending the Excommunication he is disqualified to commence Actions at Law as a Plaintiff yet he may ad sui defensionem appellare caetera in Judicio facere exercere quae ad ejus defensionem pertinent Gloss Lindw ibid. And according to Lindwood he may Matrimonium Contrahere etiam Testari Lindw ibid. 6. This Sentence of Excommunication ought not to be pronounced against Offenders otherwise than rite cum debita solennitate that is juris ordine servato and therefore the Canon requires That there issue a Summons or previous Citation to the Delinquent before Sentence of Excommunication be pronounced against him Primo vocetur Delinquens propositurus Causam rationabilem quare pronunciari non debeat incidisse in dictam Sententiam Ad effectum namque quod aliquis denuncietur Excommunicatus à Canone vel Constitutione requiritur Citatio praevia C. Si per vim vel alio modo l. fin de Man Obed. c. inter quatuor de Cens c. fi in Oec cum glos So likewise the Canon is That Nemo Excommunicationem promulget ubi Excessus non est manifestus nisi Monitione Canonica praecedente Lindw de Sentenia Excom c. Vt Archidiaconi unless the same party for the same cause be Excommunicated again in which case there needs not any previous Citation or Monition as before Nam Excommunicatio quae sit saepius ex eadem Causa potest fieri nulla Citatione nullaque Monitione praevia Ibid. c. praeteria ver Excommunicentnr For in truth this Excommunication in such case is not any new Sentence of Excommunication but only a Renâ—vation of the former with an Aggravation for which reason it is that such Excommunication as is again pronounced against the same person for the same cause repeated by him may be nulla Citatione nullave Monitione praecedente Ibid. Extr. de Judaeis c. ita quorundam Whence it doth appear That a person Excommunicated may be Excommunicated again either for the same or some other new Cause Ibid. 3. q. 4. engeltrudam And although the First Excommunication is in effect sufficient for the ejecting such an one out of the Church so that he who is once cast out of the Church amplius excludi non potest yet by this Second Denunciation there follows another effect and that is That thereby he may be reputed and held by all the Faithful in all places as a person utterly shut out of the Church donec per suum Judicem secundum formam Ecclesiae fuerit absolutus Gloss ibid. verb. denuncientur 7. Also when a person Excommunicated hath Forty daies persisted in his obstinacy contrary to Law under that Sentence the Bishop may then make his humble address to the King for the apprehending and imprisoning such obstinate Excommunicates but this may not be done by any inferiour to a Bishop Nam ad rogatum praelatorum inferiorum Rex non consuevit scribere pro Captione Excommunicatorum Lindw de Sententia Excom c. praeteria glos in verb. Praelatorum And therefore if a man be Excommunicated by any inferiour to a Bishop as by a Dean Archdeacon or the like yet the Supplication for his Majesties Writ ought to be by the Bishop of that Diocess and in his Name Nam Inferiores Episcopis non possunt invocare Brachium Seculare Ibid. Lindw de Cohab. Cler. Mul. c. 1. § si nec ver Brachium Seculare And in case the Bishop shall herein refuse to do what the Law requires he may be constrained thereto by the Archbishop Ibid. de jur patron c. nullus Nor can the Excommunicated person who after Forty daies persisting in his obstinacy is upon the Kings Writ on the Significavit pro Corp. Excom Capiendo apprehended or like to be apprehended evade Imprisonment or defend himself by an Appeal or by virtue thereof or by shewing the same to the Temporal Judge that so under pretence of a dependency of an Appeal he may escape Imprisonment because such Appeal as to the validity or invalidity thereof or teneat vel non teneat legitima vel non legitima falls under the scrutiny and examination not of the Temporal but Ecclesiastical Judge and therefore si talis indagâ— sive discussio pertains not to the Secular Judge it were frivolous to alledge that before one not qualified to examine the merits of the Appeal Dict. c. praeteria glos in verb. Dari debet And as persons Excommunicated cannot legally have any shelter or subterfuge under pretence of such Appeals so neither do the Canons suffer the Contemners of this Sentence of Excommunication to go unpunished under which number regularly and generally are computed all such as animo indurato do persevere under Excommunication by the space of Forty daies according to the Custome of the Realm of England Lindw de Sententia Excom c. ut Archidiaconi glos in verb. Contemnentes But more particularly the Canons hold them Contemners of this Excommunication who add Culpam culpae or go
into the Church albeit Divine Service be not then celebrating unless it be to hear the word preached which being ended he is immediately to depart or stand at the Church-door in the time of Divine Service and hearing the same albeit he go not within the Church it self or thrust himself into the company of others when it is in his power to avoid it or lastly when he continues too long secure under such Sentence of Excommunication without repentance whereby the Law concludes him so manacled by his obstinacy as no Spiritual Physick can have any operation upon him And although regularly the Return of such a one is to be expected usque ad annum yet in this Kingdom quoad incovationem Brachii Secularis it is sufficient if Forty daies be expired after his Excommunication Ibid. c. 1. authoritate glos in verb. Contemnentes And whereas we often in the Law meet with certain Cases of Offences incurring the Sentence of Excommunication ipso facto that is as aforesaid nullo hominis ministerio interveniente Requiritur tamen even in that case Sententia Declaratoria C. cum secund Leges de Haeret. li. 6. Lindw de Foro Comp. c. 1. glos in verb. ipso facto 8. It is therefore not impertinent here to insert what principally those Offences are on the Guilty whereof the Law doth inflict this Excommunication ipso facto Lindwood tells us that there are found among the Canons and Constitutions Provincial these Cases following wherein Excommunication ipso facto is incurr'd viz. 1 A wilful and malicious impeding the execution of the Canon against Incontinency specially in Ecclesiasticks as to Concubines 2 A clandestine and surreptitious Proceeding at Law even to the Writ of Banishment against an innocent person and ignorant of the Proceedings 3 Bigamy 4 False Accusing of any Innocent Clergy-man before a Temporal Judge whereby he happens to suffer under the Secular Power 5 A laying Snares to entrap any in holy Orders whereby afterwards to charge them falsly before the Secular Powers with Crimes whereof they were not guilty 6 A violation of lawful Sequestrations made by the Bishops their Vicars general or principal Officials 7 The exercise of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction by any Clerk married or by any Lay-person in matters only and properly pertaining to the Cognizance of the Church 8 Disobedience to the Gregorian Constitution forbidding the holding of Two Benefices Incompatible cum Cura animarum without a Dispensation 9 A procuring to be Presented to a Benefice that is already full of an Incumbent by virtue of the Writs of Quare non admisit or Quare impedit or the like 10 Abettors and Advisors of any to fraudulent Conveyances or Deeds of Gift in fraudem Ecclesiae Regis Creditorum aut haeredum 11 All such as hinder any of what quality soever that are legally Testable from making their last Wills and Testaments or afterwards do unjustly obstruct the due execution of the same 12 All such as hinder the devotion of the people in making their Offerings and paying their Tithes converting them to their own use 13 All such as deny the gathering of the Tithes of any Fruit or molest and hinder the Collectors thereof 14 All Lay-persons who usurp upon such Oblations and Offerings as are due and appertain only to Ecclesiastical persons without their assent and the assent of the Bishop 15 Sacrilegious persons and all such as invade the just Rights Liberties or Revenues of the Church or otherwise unjustly possess themselves de bonis Ecclesiasticis 16 All Bayliffs and other Officers that unjustly enter upon the Goods of the Church or unduly exact from the same or commit Waste upon any the Revenues of a Church vacant 17 All Oppugners of Episcopal Authority or that resist and oppose the exercise of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and all such as disswade others from their due Obedience thereunto 18 All such as being imprisoned for their Contempt to some Ecclesiastical Sentence are thence set at liberty contrary to the Liberties and Customes of the Church of England being Excommunicate persons when they were first apprehended 19 All such as violently usurp upon the propriety of such Trees and Fruits as grow in the Church-yards rooting them up or felling them down or mowing down the Grass thereof contrary to the will and without the consent of the Rector or Vicar of any Church or Chappel or their Tenants 20 All such as should non ritè solemnize Prohibited Marriages that is such as have any Canonical Impediment 21 All such as contrary to the true Catholick sense shall assert any thing or lay down positions or make propositions sauouring of Heresie publickly in the Schools 22 All such as in their Preaching or otherwise shall violate the Canon that enjoyns a due examination and approbation of persons before they are admitted to Preach the Word of God 23 All such as touching the Sacraments assert any thing beside or contrary to the determination of the Church or call such things into doubt publickly as are defined and stated by the Church 24 All such as in the Universities do after a premonition to the contrary hold any Opinions or assert any Doctrines Propositions or Conclusions touching the Catholick Faith or good manners of an ill tendency contrary to the determination of the Church 25 All such Clerks as without Ecclesiastical Authority shall of themselves or by any Lay-power intrude themselves into the possession of any Parochial Church or other Ecclesiastical Living having Curam animarum These Cases and some others now not of use in this Realm are enumerated by Lindwood Lindw de Sententia Excom c. ult gloss in verb. Candelis accensis But there are very many other Cases in the Canon Law that fall under this Excommunication ipso facto by which in the Law is ever understood the Major Excommunicatio and was wont to be published and denounced in the Church Four solemn daies in every year when the Congregation was likeliest to be most full and that in Majorem terrorem 9. The Causes of Excommunication ipso facto according to the Constitutions and Canons Ecclesiastical of the Church of England now in force are such as these viz. 1 Impugners of the Kings Supremacy 2 Affirmers of the Church of England as now established to be not a true and Apostolical Church 3 Impugners of the Publick Worship of God establish'd in the Church 4 Impugners of the Articles of Religion establish'd in the Church of England 5 Impugners of the Rites and Ceremonies established in the Church of England 6 Impugners of the Government of the Church by Archbishops Bishops c. 7 Impugners of the Form of making and Consecrating Archbishops Bishops c. in the Church of England 8 Authors of Schisms in the Church 9 Maintainers of Schismaticks Conventicles and Constitutions made in Conventicles Likewise by the said Canons the Ecclesiastical Censure of Excommunication is incurr'd by all such Ministers as Revolt from the Articles unto which they subscribed at their
Fees wherewith Churches have been endowed otherwise in possessions of the Church newly purchased by Ecclesiastical persons 10 That such as Abjure the Realm shall be in peace so long as they be in the Church or in the Kings High-way 11 That Religious Houses shall not by compulsion be charged with Pensions resort or Purveyors 12 That a Clerk Excommunicate may be taken by the Kings Writ out of the Parish where he dwells 13 That the examination of the Ability of a Parson presented unto a Benefice of the the Church shall belong unto a Spiritual Judge 14 That the Elections to the Dignities of the Church shall be free without fear of any Temporal power 15 That a Clerk flying into the Church for Felony shall not be compelled to abjure the Realm 16 And lastly That the Priviledge of the Church being demanded in due form by the Ordinary shall not be denied unto the Appealor as to a Clerk confessing Felony before a Temporal Judge 2. In conformity to the premisses there were other Statutes after made in the time of King Ed. 3. whereby it was Enacted 1 That the goods of Spiritual persons should not without their own consents be taken by Purveyors for the King 2 That the King shall not collate or present to any vacant Church Prebend Chappel or other Benefice in anothers Right but within Three years next after the Avoidance 3 That the Temporalties of Archbishops Bishops c. shall not be seized into the Kings hands without a just cause and according to Law 4 That no waste shall be committed on the Temporalties of Bishops during Vacancies and that the Dean and Chapter may if they please take them to Farm 5 And lastly That the Lord Chancellor or Lord Treasurer may during such vacancies demise the Temporalties of Bishopricks to the Dean and Chapter for the Kings use 3. And as there are Articuli Cleri so there are also Articuli Religionis being in all thirty nine Agreed upon at a Convocation of the Church of England Ann. 1562. Ratified by Q. Elizabeth under the Great Seal of England Confirmed and Established by an Act of Parliament with his Majesties Royal Declaration prefixed thereunto Which Act of Parliament requires a Subscription by the Clergy to the said thirty nine Articles the same also being required by the Canons made by the Clergy of England at a Convocation held in London Ann. 1603. and ratified by King James The said Subscription referrs to three Articles 1. That the Kings Majestie under God is the only Supream Governour of the Realm and of all other his Highness Dominions and Countreys c. 2. That the Book of Common Prayer and of Ordaining of Bishops Preists and Deacons containeth nothing in it contrary to the Word of God c. 3. That he alloweth of the said thirty nine Articles of Religion and acknowledgeth them to be agreeable to the Word of God By the Statute of 13. Eliz. 12. the Delinquent is disabled and deprived ipso facto but the Delinquent against the Canon of King James is to be prosecuted and proceeded against by the Censures of the Church And it is not sufficient that one subscribe to the Thirty Nine Articles of Religion with this Addition so far forth as the same are agreeable to the Word of God For it hath been resolved by Wray Cheif Justice and by all the Judges of England That such subscription is not according to the Statute of 13. Eliz. because the Subscription which the Statute requires must be absolute But this is no other then Conditional 4. The Circumspecte agatis is the Title of a Statute made in the 13 th year of Ed. 1. Ann. D. 1285. prescribing certain Cases to the Judges wherein the Kings Prohibition doth not lie As in Case the Church-yard be left unclosed or the Church it self uncovered the Ordinary may take Cognizance thereof and by that Statute no Prohibition lies in the Case Nor in case a Parson demands his Oblations or the due and accustomed Tythes of his Parishioners nor if one Parson sue another for Tythes great or small so as the fourth part of the Benefice be not demanded nor in case a Parson demand Mortuaries in places where they have been used and accustomed to be paid nor if the Prelate of a Church or a Patron demand of a Parson a Pension due to him nor in the Case of laying violent hands on a Clerk nor in Cases of Defamation where Money is not demanded nor in Case of Perjury In all which Cases the Ecclesiastical Judge hath Cognizance by the said Statute notwithstanding the Kings Prohibition So that the end of that Statute is to acquaint us with certain Cases wherein a Prohibition doth not lie And the Statute of 24 Ed. 1. shews in what Case a Consultation is to be granted And by the Statute of 50. Ed. 3. cap. 4. no Prohibition shall be allowed after a Consultation duely granted provided that the matter of the Libel be not enlarged or otherwise changed CHAP. XLIV Of several Writs at the Common Law pertinent to this Subject 1. What the Writ of Darrein Presentment imports in what case it lies and how it differs from a Quare Impedit 2. Assise de utrum what and why so called 3. Quare Impedit what for and against whom it lies 4. What a Ne admittas imports the use and end thereof 5. In what case the Writ Vi Laica removenda lies 6. What the Writ Indicavit imports and the use thereof 7. What the Writ Advocatione Decimarum signifies 8. Admittendo Clerico what and in what Case issuable 9. The Writ Beneficio primo Ecclesiastico habendo what 10. That Writ Cautione Admittenda and the effect thereof 11. The writ of Clerico infra Sacros ordines constituto non eligendo in Officium What the use or end thereof 12. The Writ Clerico capto per Statutum Mercatorum what 13. What the Writ of Clerico convicto commisso Goalae in defectu Ordinarii deliberando was 14. What the Writ of Annua Pensione was anciently 15. The Writ of Vicario deliberando occasione cujusdam Recognitionis what 16. Three Writs relating to Persons excommunicated 17. Assise of Darrein Presentment brought after a Quare Impedit in the same cause abates 18. Difference of Pleas by an Incumbent in respect of his being in by the Presentment of a stranger and in respect of his being in by the Presentment of the Plaintiff himself 19. Notwithstanding a recovery upon a Quare Impedit the Incumbent continues Incumbent de facto until Presentation by the Recoverer 20. Of what thing a Q. Imp. lies and who shall have it 21. Who may have a Quare Impedit and of what things 22. How and for whom the Writ of Right of Advowson lies 23. What the Writ de jure patronatus and how the Law proceeds thereon 24. The Writ of Spoliation what and where it lies 25. The Writ