and Persons and for Reformation under and correction of the same and of all manner of Errors Heresies Schisms Abuses Offences contempts and enormities should for ever by authority of that Parliament be united and annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm I shall still forbear to mention that arrogancy of granting Indulgences to reach to Eternisy to pardon Sin at which every sober Christian may grieve and will readily agree it not to be within this Act. Nor will it be denyed but that the Pope practised here the granting of Indulgence to whomsoever he pleased and in any spiritual matter whatsoever and as the Law was then taken and submitted unto he was held lawfully to exercise that Jurisdiction If it were so then the same Jurisdiction and right of Indulgence so exercised by the Pope is now by this Act annexed and united to the Crown and the King possessed and re-invested in his ancient Right and the same may be accordingly exercised by him And the Power by this Act to order Errors Schisms c. will comprehend the granting of Indulgence which some hold to be the best and safest way to order Errors and Schisms and doubtless if there ever were a right of Indulgence exercised in this Realm by any lawful power the same is by this Act vested in the King. But I shall thus briefly pass by others and come to that Act of Parliament which in express terms seems to allow this Right to be in the King or gives it to him And this is the Statute of 25 H. â—5 H. 8. c. â—1 8. in which there is this clause That the Arch-bishop and his Commissary shall not grant any other Licence Dispensation Faculty c. in causes unwont and not accustomed to be had at Rome nor by Authority thereof nor by any Prelate of this Realm until your Grace your Heirs or Successors or your or their Councel shall first be advertiz'd thereof and determine whether such Licences Dispensations c. in such Cases unwont and not accustomed to be dispensed withall or allowed shall pass or no. And if it be determined by your Grace your Heirs or Successors or your or their Council that Dispensations Licences or other writings in any such case unwont shall pass then the Arch-bishop or his Commissary having Licence of your Highness your Heirs or Successors for the same by your or their Bill assigned shall dispense with them accordingly Provided that Dispensations Licenses c. where the Taxe for expedition at Rome extended to 4 l. or above shall not be put in execution till confirmed by the King under the Great Seal And it enacts that where the Arch-bishop or Guardian of the Spiritualties deny to grant a Dispensation or Licence which ought to be granted the Chancellour shall send an Injunction under the Great Seal commanding it to be granted under a pain which not being obeyed and no just cause certified why it is not done the Bishop or Guardian of the Spiritualties shall forfeit such Penalties And the King after due Examination that such Licences Faculties or Dispensations may be granted without offending the Holy Scriytures and laws of God may by Commission under the Great Seal to two spiritual Prelates or other Persons to be named by him authorize them to grant such Licences And it gives power to the King for the ordering redress and reformation of Indulgences formerly obtained at Rome and such of them as shall seem good and reasonable for the honour of God and the weal of his People and such order shall be observed This Statute in plain terms gives the right of granting Indulgence 1. Where the cause is unwont and unaccustomâ—d 2. Where it is a cause of Importance as all will agree the Indulgence now desired to be 3. Upon a Denyal of the Bishops who will hardly take upon them to grant an Indulgence in the matter In all these Cases by the plain words of this Act the Power and Right of granting such Indulgence is clearly in the King to whom this Statute gives it in express words if it were not in him by the former Acts or as indeed it also is by the Common Law of England CHAP. VII The Answer to Objections against this Right of the King. 1. IT is objected That if this Right should be in the King object and he should exercise the same it would be a countenance and incouragement of Schisms and Divisions in the Church To which is answered That the Persecuting of different Opinions answ is that which causeth the Schism not the dissenting in Opinion for if one be a Non-conformist he troubles nor disquiets no others by his Nonconformity if they let him alone he is satisfied But when he is troubled or punished because he differs in opinion from some in Power this causeth the Rent or Schism in the Church which otherwise would be whole the Persecutors cut off the Dissenters from them and are most properly to be termed the Schismaticks But admitting these whom the Persecutors call so to be Schismaticks yet to indulge them so as that they shall not be punished is no more to incourage their Opinions than it is to incourage the wearing of Scarlet when men are not punished for wearing of that or of any other colour The way to countenance and incourage any thing except by rewards and perferments will hardly be found effectual the not punishing is no reward and the not punishing of Non-conformity will not be found such a reward or bait as to countenance and incourage Schism But admit the Prince upon Emergencies of State should evidently see it necessary to countenance or incourage Non-conformists and that the same would much tend to the preservation of the Publick peace to grant indulgence to them without which it might be endangered If this Right of Indulgence should be denied him the duty of common preservation could not be expected from him the requisites and powers necessary thereunto not being allowed to him 2. Another Objection is object That if the King should exercise this Right of Indulgence it would be a hindrance to that most desirable thing in the Church of Christ Vniformity To which is answered answ That no good Christian but will heartily pray and endeavour for this uniformity Lord St. Albans Essay of Unity in Religion yet as the Chancellor Bacon notes Vnity and Vniformity are Two things One of the Fathers observes That Christs Coat indeed had no Seam but the Churches Vesture was of divers Colours there may be an Unity though not a strict Uniformity It is a good and pleasant thing to dwell together in Vnity Psal 133.1 Eph. 4.3.13 and we must endeavour to keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace which surely is most broken by Persecution There is no way but in the unity of the Faith and knowledg of the Son of God to come unto a perfect man to the measure of the Stature of the fulness of Christ But
the grounds of Piety not to grant Indulgence to them especially if we consider that we are not only uncertain in finding out Truths in disputable matters but we are certain that the best and ablest Doctors in Christendom have been actually deceived in matters of great Concernment which thing is evident in all those Instances of Persons from whose Doctrines all sorts of Christians respectively take liberty to dissent The Errors of Papias Iraenaeus Lactantius and Justin Martin in the Millenary opinion of St. Cyprian the Asian and African Fathers in the question of Rebaptization St. Augustine in his uncharitable Sentence against the Vnbaptized Children of Christian Parents The Roman or the Greek Doctors in the question of the Procession of the Holy Ghost and in the matter of Images are Examples beyond exception Now if these great Personages had been persecuted or destroyed for their Opinion who should have answered the invaluable loss the Church of God should have sustained in missing so excellent so exemplary so great Lights But then if these Persons Erred and by consequence might have been destroyed what would have become of others whose Understanding was lower and their Security less their Errors more and their Dangers greater At this rate all men should have passed through the Fire for who can escape when St. Cyprian and St. Augustin cannot But since good Men are so apt to Err the Piety of Christians did then and ought now to indulge the Men though not the Errors 9. The last ground of Piety for this Indulgence which I shall now mention is from the consideration of the Introduction of Christianity It is saith Bishop Taylor one of the Glories of Christian Religion that it was so Pious Excellent Miraculous and Perswasive that it came in upon its own Piety and Wisdom with no other force but a terrent of Arguments and demonstration of the Spirit a mighty rushing Wind to break down all strong Holds and every high Thought and Imagination But towards the Persons of Men it was always full of Meekness and Charity Compliance and Toleration Condescention and bearing with one another restoring Persons overtaken with an Error in the Spirit of meekness considering least we also be tempted The consideration is as prudent and the Proportion as just as the Precept is charitable and the President was pious and holy Now every thing is best conserved with that which gave it the first Being and is agreeable to its temper and constitution The Precept which the Christian Religion chiefly preaches in order to all the Blessedness in this and the other World is Meekness Mercy and Charity And this should also help and preserve it self and promote its own interest for indeed nothing will do it so well nothing doth so excellently insinuate it self into the understandings and affections of Men as when the actngs and perswasions of a Sect and every part and principle are tending to a universal Good. And it would be a mighty disparagement to so glorious an Institution That in its Principles it should be merciful and humane and yet in the promotion and propagation of it so inhumane And it would be improbable and unreasonable that the Sword should be used in perswasion of one Proposition and yet in the perswasion of the whole Religion nothing like it To do so may sometimes seem and but seem to serve the Interests of a Temporal Prince but never promote the honour of Christ's Kingdom it may secure a Design of Inquisitors but it will much disserve Christendom to offer to support it by that which good Men believe to be a distinctive Cognizance of the Mahumetan Religion from the Excellency and Piety of Christianity whose Essence and Spirit is described in these excellent words of St. 2 Tim. 2.14 Paul The Servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle unto all men in meekness of instructing those that oppose themselves if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging the Truth And as it is unnatural so it is unreasonable that Sempronius should force Caius to be of his Opinion because Sempronius is Consul this Year and commands the Lictors as if he that can kill a man cannot but be infallible and if he be not why should I do violence to my Conscience because he can do violence to my Person There is nothing under the Almighty that hath power over the Soul of Man so as to command a Perswasion or to judge a disagreement and because no Man's command is a satisfaction to the Vnderstanding or a verification of the Proposition therefore the Understanding is not subject to Humane Authority We see that the greatest Persecutions that ever have been were against Truth even against Christianity it self and it was a Prediction of our Blessed Saviour That Persecution should be the Lot of true Believers And if we compute the experience of Suffering Christendom and the Prediction That Truth should suffer with those few Instances of Suffering-Hereticks it is odds but Persecutions are on the wrong side and that is Error and Heresy that is cruel and tyrannical especially since the Truths of Jesus Christ and of his Religion are so meek so charitable and so merciful And we may in this Case exactly use the words of St. Paul But as then he that was born after the Flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit even so it is now and so it ever will be till Christ's second coming This may give us a good ground of Piety from the meekness of the Introduction of Christianity that the most proper way and most agreeable to the example of our Saviour and of his holy Disciples for the propagation thereof is by the same Meekness Charity and Mercy in which it was Instituted and consequently to give Indulgence to tender Consciences CHAP. IV. Of Supreme Spiritual Jurisdiction and consequently a Right of Indulgence in KINGS 1. OF Spiritual Matters somewhat hath been before discoursed We may now for the clearer understanding of the Intent of this Chapter inquire the meaning of Supreme Spiritual Jurisdiction Supreme is that which is the Highest on Earth next under God according to Law. So the meaning thereof is expressed in the Statute of H. 8. 24 H. 8. C. 12. That this Realm is an Empire governed by one supreme Head and King whom both the Spiritualty and Temporalty ought to obey 28 H. 8. C. 1. 1 E. 6. C. 12. So another Act declareth him supreme Head of the Church upon Earth So the King is declared by an Act of E. 6. Supreme Head of the Church in England immediately under God. The Oath of Supremacy is enacted 5 Eliz. C. 5. Pro supreme Jupiter The Latins from whence we borrow the Word have it in the same sense for the highest and chiâ—fest So Terence faith O supreme Jupiter and Virgil calls the highest Mountains Supremi Montes the Supreme Mountains Supreme Jurisdiction then is the highest and chiefest Authority according to Law
in usu non erant donee H. Winton Episcop malo suo dum Legatus esset crudeliter intrusit whereof a Monk writes that Appeals to Rome were not in use until Henry Bishop of Winchester by his mischief while he was Legate did cruelly intrude them before this they were made to the King as having supream spiritual Jurisdiction H. 2. was a strong opposer of the Sea of Rome as appears by the Story of Thomas of Becket and by the Laws made at Clarendon abridging the Popes authority forbidding Appeals and payment of Peter pence Guliel Nubrigens Cro. Anglor 1.2 c. 16. Mat. Paris Anno 1164. Roger Hovenden f. 496. and commanding that none should bring Decrees from Rome to be executed here on pain of Imprisonment and confiscation nor Bulls of interdicting the Realm on pain of high Treason Generally this King asserted and maintained his supream spiritual Jurisdiction but he began a little to relent when the Pope armed his sons and Neighbours against him he constantly made all the resistance he was able against the incroachment of the Clergie and for the vindication of his own Right as his Laws also testifie in matters spiritual King Richard 1. Coke Epist 6 Rep. gave the Bishopricks by the investiture of the Ring and Staffe which was a great testimony of this Jurisdiction acknowledged to be in him He went further in a Droll which brought him in Money to make a Bishop an Earle Mat. Paris p. 144. 50. Juvenem feci Comitem de Episcopo veterano saying That of an old Bishop he had made a young Earle He granted great priviledges and exemptions to some of his Clergy and Subjects of Normandy as well as those in England 5. The next are the Reigns of King John and Henry the 3. who exercised the like Jurisdiction Mat. Paris anno 1203. 1216. yet it must be acknowledged that in King Johns time the power of the Bishop of Rome did swell to a great height in this Kingdom the Pope neglecting no means for the increase thereof For which end he scrupled not to absolve the people of England from their Oaths and Allegiance to their Soveraign And then turning the Tables interdicting the Kingdom for opposing his will and pleasure By which means he brought the King to surrender the Crown to the Popes Legate and to take it again as his Farmer But the Barons were so sensible of the Right and Supremacy of the Crown of England that they told the Legate That the Kingdom of England never was nor should be St. Peters Patrimony and spoke homely of the Clergy Polydore Virgil. in Joh. l. 15. who assisted the Popes proceedings crying out upon these shrivled Ribbaulds Neither this King nor any that succeeded him observed any part of this Submission And notwithstanding all this Not. in Eadmar p. 143. donationem baculi pastoralis Abbathiae de Nutlega the same King held it not only his Right himself to give the Pastoral Staff but granted this Right to others As to William Marshal and his Heirs he granted the Donation of the Pastoral Staffe of the Abbey of Nutlege which was a meer spiritual Right and exercise of Supream Jurisdiction in those matters In the time of his son H. 4 H. 3 7 H. 3. prohibition 15. H. 3. prohibit 15. 22. to 5. respectes Cas. 11. f. 3. prohibitions were very frequent which is a strong vindication of this Jurisdiction in the King. So was the writing in the Kings name to the Bishop to absolve a Person Excommunicate and to certifie Loyalty of Marriage Bastardy and the like which were often done in this Kings Reign Also in this Kings time 45 H. 3. rot stans in 14. dorso there are some Records yet extant by which it is forbidden that any man be drawn in Plea out of the Realm there being sufficient Jurisdiction in the King to do his Subjects Justice in all matters whatsoever 6. We may now look into the Reigns of Edw. 1. and Edw. 2. and find the same Jurisdiction exercised by them E. 1 E. 1. rot stans in 5. dors 1. A stout and wise Prince did much recover this right to his Crown He would not suffer those of the Clergy to go to Rome without his Licence In his time the Statute of Mortmaine was made 7 E. 1. stat of Mortmain which much â—mpaired the growth of the Clergy and increased the Kings Juâ—isdiction He forbad the Popes Provisions without his knowledge and leave 11 E. 1. rot fin M. 5. 11 E. 1. c. 32. â—nd shortly after this was the Statute of Carlisle made which reâ—ites the Usurpations of the Pope in giving Ecclesiastical Benefiâ—es to Aliens and Enacts that those oppressions should be no more suffered This King denyed William of Nottingham to prosecute his Appeal to Rome because it would infringe the Kings Jurisdiction 18 E. 1. Petitiones coram Rege f. 1. 3. but bad him to enter it here if he would He set a penalty upon the Provisions of Appropriation 18 E. 1. Pleas in Parliament 28 E. 1. in Scaccario and being cited by the Pope to appear before him The great Council were highly offended at it and wrote to the Pope that it was notorious That the King of England was not to appear before â—he Pope or any other and although he would yet he could not do it being himself Supream in those as well as other matters This King denyed the Popes Bulls and Peter pence 33 E. 1. lib. â—pud Turrim f. 1. 114. 35 E. 1. 16 f. 150. 35 E. 1. rot Pat. M. 25. Sr Jo. Davis Rep. f. 95. and other Exactions of Rome and would not Licence his Bishops to repair to the General Council till they had taken an Oath not to receive the Popes Blessing He regarded not the Popes prohibition of his Wars against Scotland He forbad the payment of First fruits to the Pope and seized the Temporalties of the Clergy for refusing to pay him a tenth though the Pope forbad them In his time 50 E. 3. lib. Assis pl. 19. Brook praemunire 10. Coke 5 Rep. Eccles Case f. 12. 9 E. 1. quare admisit 7. 39 E. 3. it was adjudged Treason for one Subject to bring in a Bull of Excommunication against another and a high contempt against the Crown to bring in Bulls of Provision or Briefs of Citation And the Arch-bishop of York had all his Lands seized into the Kings hands and lost during his life for a contempt in refusing to admit the Kings Clerk to a Benefice against the Popes Provision and all this was held to be according to the Common Law of England and an high Testimony of the Kings Supremacy In E. 2. time Stat. 9 E. 2. the Clergy put up again for a share of this Supremacy and got the Statute of Articuli Cleri to be made but in them the Right of the Crown is reserved and manifested This King by his
Letters civilly and filially intreated the Pope and Cardinals 14 E. 2. lib. apud Turrim f. 85. not to hold plea at Rome of things done in England And though in his time the Spiritual Courts held plea Sr. John Davis Rep. f. 95. by the Statute of circumspectè agatis and by general allowance and usage yet they thought themselves not safe till the King had granted them Jurisdiction in these Cases Coke 5 Rep. Eccles Case f. 13. Stat. Articuli Cleri 9 E. 2. wherein the Parliament consented by their Act before mentioned And it was objected nevertheless against this King that he had given allowance to the Popes Bulls and Authority here 7. We meet with the same practice in the time of E. 3. and of his Grand-son R. 2. Edward the third was a wise and Powerful Prince and his time affords us a large view of this matter in the Records and Printed Statutes In his minority and in the heat of his wars in France the Pope sent many Briefs into England at which the King and his Subjects were much offended and did smartly oppose them By the Resolutions of the Judges Coke 5 Rep. Eccles Case f. 15.16 17. and of the Parliaments in his time they admitted no Jurisdiction of the Court of Rome here but punished those who did bring any Bulls from thence or obtained any Provisions of Benefices and the like He entirely resumed the right of his Crown in supream spiritual Jurisdiction The Statute of Provisors recites the Statute of Carlisle 25 E. 3. Stat. de provisor and Asserts That the Church of England was founded in the Estate of the Prelacy by the Kings and their Predecessors And this 27 E. 3. Stat. provis c. 1. and a subsequent Statute forbidding Provisions of Benefices by the Pope do testifie the authority of the King to be Supream in Spiritual matters So doth another Act forbidding those to be curst 32 E. 3. c. 1 2 3. who shall execute the former Laws In the Annals of our Law 17 E. 3.23 we also find Resolutions to the same effect for the Kings right of granting Exemptions from the Jurisdiction of the Ordinary which manifests his own Supream Spiritual Jurisdiction In his time it was resolved 28 Assis pl. 20. 38 E. 3. c. 7. Coke 5 Rep. Eccles Case f. 16. That a Priour being the Kings debtor might sue a Spiritual Person for Tithes in the Exchequer for until a Statute of this King the right of Tithes was determinable at the Kings Temporal Courts and in many Mannors of the King and of other Lords they had probate of Wills. This King translated Canons Secular into Regular and Religious 38 Assis pl. 22.49 E. 3. lib. Assis pl. 8. and made of the Priour and Covent of Westminster who were Regular Persons capable in Law to sue and to be sued All which and divers others omitted are proofs of this Jurisdiction in him In the Nonage of R. 2. the Power of Rome again budded and they attempted to incroach by sending hither Bulls Briefs and Legates Whereof the People were so impatient that they offered to live and dye with the King in withstanding this Usurpation In his time an Act makes it Death to bring any Summons 13 R. 2. c. 3. Excommunication c. against those who executed the Statute of Provisors Another Statute makes it a Praemunire to purchase or pursue in the Court of Rome or elsewhere any Translations Provisions 16 R. 2. c. 5. and Sentences of Excommunication Bulls Instruments or any other things which touched the King his Crown and Regality or his Realm And declares that the Crown of England hath been in no Earthly Subjection but free at all times and immediately Subject to God in all things which is full Supremacy and in all things includes Spirituals The King had also the ill fortune to have it objected against him in Parliament that he had allowed of some Bulls from Rome 8. We come now to the times of several Kings who found this point so well settled that there was not much need of their stirring in it yet the same Jurisdiction was exercised by them In H. 4. time were several Resolutions of the Judges Coke 5 Rep. Eccles Case f. 22 23 24. expresly disallowing the Supremacy of the Pope in this Realm and confirming the Kings A Statute makes it a Praemunire to purchase Bulls from Rome 2 H. 4. c. 3. 6 H. 4. c. 1. Another forbids the horrible Mischiefs and damnable Customes of the Court of Rome about compounding with the Popes Chamber for First-fruits Another makes it a Praemunire for any to put in execution here any Bulls for the discharge of Dismes 2 H. 4. c. 6. In his sons time an Act makes it a Praemunire for one by colour of Provisions from Rome and Licences thereupon 2 H. 5. c. 9. to molest any Incumbent In his time the Lands of Religious houses were in some danger to be taken away Martin Chron. p. 142. the King being Petitioned to suppress them as Nurseries of Idleness Gluttony Leachery and Pride and that their Revenues would bring yearly to the Kings Coffers 200000 l. and also maintain 15 Earls 1500 Knights and above 6000 men at Arms. But by the Policy and liberal offer of the Clergy to supply the Kings occasions in furtherance of his Title to France this business was diverted In the minority of H. 6. Sir Jo. Davis Rep. f. 96. when the Commons had deny'd the King a Subsidy the Prelates offered a large supply for his Warrs if the Act of Provision were repealed But Humphrey Duke of Gloucester who not long before had cast the Popes Bull into the fire caused this motion to be denyed as derogatory to the Kings Right and Supremacy In this Kings Reign it was adjudged 1 H. 6. f. 10. 8 H. 6. f. 1. that the Popes Excommunication is of no force in England by the Common Law. The succeeding Kings were not so active in these matters nor was there so much occasion for it in their time as in the Reigns of their Predecessors E. 1 H. 7.20 9 E. 4. f. 3. Fitz. N. B. f. 44. 12 E. 4.46 4. was full of trouble yet we find mention of a resolution in his time that the Pope could not grant any Sanctuary in England And that if one Spiritual Person did sue another at Rome where he might have Remedy here he should incurr a Praemunire Another Judgment was that the Popes Excommunication was of no force in England And when two Legates 1 H. 7. f. 10. one after another came into England they could not be admitted till they had taken an Oath to attempt nothing against the King and his Crown R. 2 R. 3. f. 22. 3. had a short and unhappy Reign after his wicked Usurpation and was careful to please the Clergy yet in his time it was resolved That a Judgment or Excommunication at Rome
did not prejudice any man here H. 7. was a prudent and wary man not forward to disoblige any party 1 H. 7. f. 10. especially so great a one as the Clergy yet in his time divers Resolutions passed to the same effect as before for the vindication of the Kings Supremacy The Judges affirmed 10 H. 7. f. 18. Persona mixta that the King is a mixt person having both spiritual and temporal jurisdiction in him And that the King may dispense with the Ecclesiastical Law for Pluralities 11 H. 7. f. 12. and for a Bastard to be made Priest 9. We are now come to the great Wheel which turned upside down the whole course of Ecclesiastical Affairs King H. 8. who not only resumed absolutely the whole spiritual Jurisdiction into his own hands but totally abolished the Supremacy of the Pope in England The cause hereof some would attribute to his Covetousness but he was rather prodigal and though none are more covetous than some prodigal men to get fuel for their flames yet the humour of covetousness was spent in his Father and his own Education and Practice was otherwise His displeasure against the Pope about the business of Queen Katherine and the precedent of Woolsey added to his private grudge and Haughtiness might put him upon this work which he went through with and that by Parliament which he sufficiently commanded It chiefly began in the 24 year of his Reign 24 H. 8. c. 2. when an Act was made which fully recites the Kings supreme Jurisdiction both in Spiritual and Temporal matters without Appeal to any foreign Princes or Potentates It enacts that all Causes determinable by any spiritual Jurisdiction shall be adjudged within the Kings Authority and if any procure Appeals Process c. from Rome he shall iucurre a Praemunire The next year an Act was made 25 H. 8. c. 19. wherein the Clergy acknowledged the Kings Supremacy and that they are convened by his Writ And no Canons to be of force without his assent which is enacted accordingly And that the King may assign 32 persons to examine the Canons and to continue such of them as they think fit and to restrain the rest Appeals to Rome are forbid and that Appeals from places exempt and which were formerly to the Sea of Rome shall for the future be to the King in Chancery which is a great asserting of the Kings Supremacy Another Act the same year declares 25 H. 8. c. 20. that the King may grant his Conge deslier for Bishops and in default of Election of them the King may nominate the Bishop by his Letters Patents and they to be consecrated here Another Act reciting the Popes Exactions for Dispensations 25 H. 8. c. 21. Licences c. in derogation of the Imperial Crown and Authority Royal enacts that none be had from Rome and gives power to the King therein which will be mentioned in another place The next Parliament unites to the Crown the title of Supreme Head of the Church 28 H. 8. c. 1. and all Jurisdictions and Authorities thereto belonging Another Act gives to the King First-fruits as the Pope had them 26 H. 8. c. 3. Another Act forbids Appeals to Rome 28 H. 8. c. 7. Another since repeal'd makes it a Praemunire to extoll or defend the Authority of the See of Rome 28 H. 8. c. 10. And Officers to be sworn to renounce and resist it Another Act makes void Licenses and Indulgences from Rome 28 H. 8. c. 16. and those allowable to be confirmed under the Great Seal In the 31 year of his Reign 31 H. 8. c. 9. an Act gives him power to nominate such number of Bishops Bishops Seas and Churches and to endow them with such Possessions as he will. Another Act gives to the King all the rest of the Monasteries not dissolved and their Possessions An Act of as much neglect of the Romish Power and of as much Supremacy in the King in matters spiritual as may be imagined Which Supremacy was further exercised by this King in the Laws made for confirmation of the Romish Doctrine and the Six Articles upon which was great severity some being put to death for affirming the Popes Supremacy others for denying his Doctrine all at the same time 10. We come now to the succeeding Princes Edw. 6. proceeded in spiritual matters as to the Doctrinal part concerning which sundry Acts of Parliament were made 1 E. 6. c. 12. One makes it Treason to affirm that the King is not or that the Pope is supream Head of the Church in England An Act ordains the Book of Common Prayer 2 3 E. 6. c. 1 12.19 2 3 E. 6. c. 20 21. 3 4 E. 6. c. 10. 3 4 E. 6. c. 10. Another is about payment of Tythes prohibiting flesh on Fasting dayes For payment of Tenths to the King and Repeal of Laws against Marriage of Priests Another takes away Popish Books and Images repealed by Queen Mary Another gives Power to the King to name 32 persons to examine the Ecclesiastical Laws and to set forth such as they think fit People are required to come to Church 5 6 E. 6. c. 1.3 5 6 E. 6. c. 12. 1 M. c. 2.9 the Common Prayer with some Alterations enacted Fasting dayes to be observed Priests Marriages lawfull But all the good Laws made by this King were repealed by his Sister Queen Mary and such Service as was in the last year of Hen. 8. to be used That she may make Orders for governance of Cathedral and Collegiate Churches Acts against Heresie are revived 1 M. c. 6. but this was repealed 1 El. c. 1. Cardinal Pool dispensed with the Lay-mens possession to retain Abbey-Lands 2 3 P. M. c. 4. And the Queen remitted First-fruits and renounced Ecclesiastical Livings Queen Elizabeth turned all about again 1 El. c. 1. and by Act of Parliament all foreign Jurisdictions spiritual are abolished the Statutes of H. 8. her Father for this purpose are revived So are the Statutes of her Brother 1 E. 6. c. 1. and she repeals the Statute 1 2 P. M. c. 6. And it is enacted that such Jurisdictions spiritual as lawfully were exercised before shall be united to the Imperial Crown of this Realm And the Queen hath power to assign Commissioners in matters Ecclesiastical and enacts the Oath of Supremacy The Act of 1 M. is repealed and the Book of Common Prayer of 5 6 E. 6. C. 1. is established 'T is made Penal to maintain the Authority of the Sea of Rome 1 El. c. 4. the Oath of Supremacy to be taken 5 El. c. 1. Fasting dayes to be observed The Bible and Common Prayer to be translated and confirmed Bulls from Rome are prohibited 5 El. c. 5.5 13 El. c. 1. and reconciling to that Church and bringing in of Agnus Dei Pictures Crosses c. Made
of E. 3. and to his Predecessors 〈◊〉 Successors And Guimer in his Comment upon the Pragmatical Sanction of France is peremptory that anointed Kings are not meerly lay Persons And he adds that from thence it is that the Kings of England do bestow Benefices The anointed King David puts Prophets and anointed Persons together Touch not mine anointed and do my Prophets no harm and Christs Ministers are frequently stiled Gods anointed If our King as undoubtedly he is be a spiritual Person it is not improper for him to grant Indulgence in matters Spiritual The Kings of Israel took themselves to be spiritual Persons and and to have spiritual Jurisdiction as the Judgment and Actions of Moses Joshua the Judges and their Kings do show The excellent and Pious Sermons and Exhortations made by Moses Joshua Samuel David Solomon Hezekiah Jehoshaphat and others do testifie their being Spiritual Persons So doth that passage of our first Christian King Lucius Antiquit. Britan p. 6. that he laboured the Propagation of the Gospel of Christ and that having transported an Army into France Dum Duces sui bellica tractarent officia ipse evangelio praedicando assiduus suit whilst his Captains were imployed about the business of the War he himself was diligent in Preaching of the Gospel Our last Saxon King Edward gained the title of Confessor And who so reads the Book of our late King Charles the first will find that he had admirable Endowments in Spiritual as well as Temporal things Though it be not a personal Duty in a Prince to Preach yet he is trusted to promote the Gospel as a principal part of his Duty and for a Prince to Preach is no strange thing nor any disparagement the great Solomon is called the Preacher and they may Preach if they please which is an argument of their being Spiritual Persons and that of their fitness to give Indulgence in Spiritual matters 3. If our King were not to be taken as a Spiritual Person he could not so properly be Head of the Church in England which by our Law he is and therefore the more capable and fit to grant Indulgence in Spiritual Matters The Passages before in part remembred of the actings of our elder and later Kings 16 R. 2. c. 5. do sufficiently evince them to have been Heads of the English Church An Act as ancient as R. 2. time declares that the Crown of England hath been so free at all times that it hath been in no earthly subjection but immediately subject to God in all things H. 8. settling this Supremacy in himself and his Successors by the Act in the 24th year of his Reign 24 H. 8. c. 12. recites that by authentick Histories and Chronicles it appears that this Realm is an Empire and so hath been accepted in the World governed by 〈◊〉 supream Head and King unto whom the Spiritualty and Tempor 〈…〉 een bounden and owen to bear next under God a natural and humble Obedience In the next year an Act prayes thus 25 H. 8. c. 21. In regard your Majesty is supream Head of the Church which the Convocation hath recognised that it may be enacted c. Another Act settles it more expresly which recites That although the King rightfully is and ought to be supream Head of the Church of England and so is recognized by the Clergy in their Convocation yet for confirmation thereof and increase of Virtue and to extirpate Errors and Heresies it enacts That the King shall be taken and reputed the only Supream Head in Earth of the Church of England And shall have and enjoy annexed and united unto the Imperial Crown of this Realm as well the Title and Stile thereof as all Honours Dignities Preheminencies Jurisdictions Priviledges and Immunities to the said Dignity of Supream Head belonging In his Sons time it was enacted to be High Treason 1 E. 6. c. 12. to affirm that the King is not or ought not to be Supream Head in Earth of the Church in England immediately under God or that the Bishop of Rome or any other than the King of England is or ought to be by the Laws of God Supream Head of the same Church This Title was challenged by the Pope over all the Churches of Christendome but the several Acts of Parliament declare it to have been and to be the right of our Kings And if it ever did belong to any Spiritual Jurisdiction to grant Indulgence in Spiritual Matters it is by these Acts given to the King. The Pope when he claimed the Title did give Indulgence in greater matters therefore it may be allowed to our Kings under this Title to grant Indulgence to some of their Subjects Dissenters as to some minuter matters of Religion as Forms or Ceremonies in Church Discipline c. 4. We may examine from the ground of Reason whether it be not fit that this Right should be in the King. When a suddain Tumult and Insurrection hath broke forth into a dangerous Rebellion the King hath in that exigency granted some temporal Indulgences Manumissions and other Immunities and Pardons which at another time he would not grant yet this in reason and consequence hath been approved a violent Storm being thereby avoided and appeased and danger to the King and Kingdom prevented May it not fall out upon the like grounds of reason that the King who is the publique Sentinel forseeing any Tempest or Danger or the decay of the Trade Wealth or Strength of the Kingdom may thereupon and to prevent it grant Indulgence to his Subjects in Spiritual Matters If this Power should be denyed him it cannot in reason be expected that he should be so well furnished without it as he should be to prevent a common Mischief or Danger Bishop Taylor hath a Rational as well as Theological Discourse on this Subject It is saith he a great fault Bishop Taylor 's Book of the Liberty of Prophecying pag. 536 537. that men will call the several Sects of Christians by the name of several Religions All the Sects and all the Pretences of Christians are but several Species of Christianity if they do but serve the great End as every man for his own Sect and Interest believeth for his share he does In reason the Prince is to Order and Indulge such of them as he thinks fit the better to serve his great end To Tollerate is not to Persecute and the Question Whether the Prince may Tolerate divers Perswasions is no more than whether he may lawfully Persecute any man for not being of his Opinion If he ought not in Justice and Reason to do this it follows in reason that he have a Power to Indulge them The Prince is just to Tolerate diversity of Perswasions as he is â—o Tolerate publique Actions for no Opinion is Judicable nor â—o Person Punishable but for a sin If the Non-conformity be no Sin it is reason that it be Indulged and in reason none is so
E. 1 Rot. fin M◠5. It was a great Indulgence which King John granted to William Marshal to have the Donation of the Pastoral Staffe of the Abbey of Nutlege H. 3. exercised this Right of Indulgence when he forbad that men should not be drawn in Plea out of the Realm E. 1. indulged whom he pleased to go to Rome and indulged his People against the Provisions of the Pope In E. 2. time as frequently before and since were Prohibitions to the spiritual Courts and Indulgences and Licenses granted by the King in cases of Pluralities and Dispensations of several Natures upon the same reason and ground of Law as the present Indulgence is desired In our Law Annals of E. 〈…〉 3. 3. is a Resolution that the King may exempt any Ecclesiastical Person from the Jurisdiction of the Ordinary and may grant him Episcopal Jurisdiction and that this King did so to the religious Houses founded by him An Act of as high exercise of the right of Indulgence in Spiritual matters as may be And indeed all Monasteries and religious Houses in England and elsewhere are testimonies of this right of Indulgence in the King for they all enjoyed such Exemption the fruits of that Right and yet the Spiritual Judges did not think themselves injured thereby The Precedents in R. 2. H. 4. and H. 5. time as to the like Exemptions and granting of Licences dispensing with the then received Law in matters Spiritual are obvious in our Records The like are in H. ◠f. 1. 6. time when it was adjudged that the Popes Excommunication was of no force and his Subjects were much Indulged against them This right of the King was also asserted by that Judgment in his time ◠f. 16. That the King only may grant a License to found a Spiritual Incorporation King E. 4. granted the like Exemptions Dispensations and Licenses in spiritual Matters as his Predecessors had done So did H. 〈…〉 7. 7. and in his time the Judges resolved That the King might dispence with the Ecclesiastical Law for Pluralities and for a Bastard to be made a Priest as hath been remembred King H. 8. not only exercised this right himself but abolished all pretence and practice thereof by the Bishop of Rome as hath been mentioned and procured this to be done and his own right to be acknowledged by the Parliament E. 6. and his Sister Queen Mary exercised the same right only Queen Mary advanced that which her Father and Brother had abolished Queen Elizabeth followed the Precedent of her Brother and in the beginning of her Reign when there was a scarcity of Ministers that would conform to the Reformation and it was difficult to get Preachers after that way the Queen took upon her to give License and Indulgence to Lay-men to Preach publiquely although they were not in Orders And I have been particularly and credibly informed of a Gentleman in Oxford-shire who being High Sheriff of that County about 1 Eliz. whose Grandchild at the writing hereof was the worthy High Sheriff there That the Grandfather by special License from the Queen being a Gentleman of Parts and Learning did himself Preach publiquely to the Judges at the Assizes when he was High Sheriff Nor would the like be more a crime now than it was in those dayes if there were the same necessity but Blessed be God we are more plenteously furnisht We may now look upon some Precedents of our own time such as many yet alive may remember in the times of the late K. James K. Charles 1. c. In King James his time it was Resolved by the Judges That all Proceedings in the Ecclesiastical Courts Ex Officio are for the King for which reason 2 Ja. c. B. Tr. Hall's Case Coke 5 Rep. f. 51. whatsoever the Suit there be the King may Pardon it for those Suits are only to Convict or Punish the Party for the Offence or Fault which the King may Pardon and not for the perticular Interest of the party This Precedent and Resolution seems much to testifie the Kings Right of Indulgence to any of his Subjects whose Opinions in some Ceremonies or other matters of Discipline are different from the Opinions of their Magistrates to which in tenderness of Conscience they cannot conform and for their Non-conformity are Punishable by the Spiritual Judges as they are termed and by other Officers for the Correction of that fault and this the Judges Resolved that the King might Pardon And for the King to grant an Indulgence in these matters is no other but a Pardon of the Offence in them and the particular Interest of no Man is concerned to hinder this Pardon or Indulgence And therefore by this and divers Precedents pursuant to this Resolution the Kings right of giving this Indulgence is affirmed Another Precedent in King James and King Charles 1. time seems to me to have a great resemblance if not to be the same with the Indulgence now discoursed of and therefore I shall be the more particular in the recital of it It pleased those Kings in their Clemency and Wisdom by their Letters Patents under the great Seal of England to grant to divers persons of the French and Dutch Nations Protestants then residing England this Liberty and Indulgence That they in distinct Congregations by themselves and in publique Churches or other Places might meet and exercise the Reformed Religion and Worship of God in such Order and according to such Forms and with such Ceremonies as were or should be agreed upon among themselves and after the Rites and Usages of their particular Churches and Congregations without Conforming to the Order and Ceremonies of the Church of England This Indulgence and Liberty was injoyed by them all the time of King James after the grant of it And under his Son King Charles 1. it was continued and enjoyed also by them and they were not compelled to come to any Parish Church or other place than their own particular Congregations and Assemblies Nor were they at all questioned for the breach of any Law of Conformity but this Indulgence of the King did wholly free them from Penalties of those Laws or molestation in the different Exercise of their Religion The Parliament so far declared their Judgment that this right of Indulgence was in the King that it was one of their Objections against the late Arch-Bishop Laud That he endeavoured to disturb these Dissenting Protestants in their enjoyment of this Indulgence and to have it taken away from them The Arch-Bishop answered That the reason of his so doing was because the first Indulgence being granted to Forreigners and Strangers who fled hither from Persecution and as to a Sanctuary to preserve the Liberty of their Consciences in the Reformed Religion and therefore it was fit and charitable to afford them such Protection and Indulgence But that those who enjoyed it at present were not such persecuted People who fled hither for their Religion
pardon the punishment or remit the penalty which the Law imposeth upon Nonconformists and yet this is no countenancing of disobedience 5. It is further objected That if this right be allowed in the King Object it would be in his power by the exercise of it to repeal Statutes without the assent of his Parliament Several Acts of Parliament ordain conformity but if the King may indulge those who do not conform he doth in effect repeal those Acts of Parliament and make them to be of no force as to the Nonconformists To this somewhat mentioned in the last Section may in part be for an Answer Answ The Law enjoyns conformity or else a penalty he that submits to the penalty doth conform to the Law. And when the King indulgeth particular persons as to part of these Laws he doth not thereby repeal the Laws but remit some of the Penalties To repeal an Act of Parliament is wholly to take it away and to make it of no force which our Law saith must be done by the same power that made it the concurrent assent of the King Lords and Commons in Parliament But when the King grants Indulgence to some Nonconformists he doth not thereby repeal the Acts of Conformity which still continue but only to some particular persons he remits some of the penalty The Law is that a Traytor shall suffer death yet many have experience by his Majesties clemency that it is his right if he please to indulge and pardon the life of the Traytor Nevertheless none will say that hereby the King repeals the Law of Treason Upon a sentence of one to be an Heretick the Law heretofore was that a Writ de Haeretico comburendo be taken out and the Heretick to be burned Yet none of our Kings have been denied the Right and have frequently practised it to pardon the lives of such sentenced Hereticks as they thought fit to be indulged and yet thereby the Laws against Hereticks were not repealed By the same reason the King may pardon and indulge some Nonconformists and remit the Penalties which the Law imposeth on them and yet the Acts for Conformity are not thereby repealed 6. But to come nearer to the great point in question Object the main objection is That this Right of the King if it were before in him Stat. 14 Car. 2. cap. 14. yet now by his own consent it is barred and taken away by the late Act of this present Parliament for Uniformity If this be so our question is determined the wisdom and judgment of Parliament ought to bind and conclude all persons in the Kingdom who are parties and involved in their judgments and ought to acquiesce therein And with my particular due submission thereunto it seems to me that nothing in this Act doth take away or impeach but rather confirm this Right of Indulgence in the King. One Clause in this Act provides that the Penalties thereof shall not extend to the Foreigners or Aliens of the foreign Reformed Churches allowed or to be allowed by the King his Heirs or Successors in England By this Proviso the Parliament declares their judgment That this Right was and is fit to be in the King. And there occurs to me no reason but that the same Right is in the King to grant the like Indulgence to any other of his Subjects as by this Proviso is approved to these Foreigners whose posterity now become Natives do enjoy it This Right was in the King either before the Statute of Queen Elizabeth or annexed to the Crown by that Act. And either it was in him before the Statute of 25 H. 8. or is granted to him by that Act as hath been before shewed If any way this Right was once in the King as unquestionably it was then it cannot be barred nor taken away from him without express words in some subsequent Act of Parliament But there are no words in the late Act of Uniformity to bar or to take away this Right from the King therefore it remains in him as it was before and there is nothing in this Act to the contrary It is true that the King doth not dispence with a Law or any part of it whereby particular Interests are concerned as to those particular Interests Therefore that part of this Act which giveth a Right of Presentation to particular Patrons upon the Nonconformity is not to be dispensed with But as to the Penalties of this Act and of those other Acts to which it relates and which are reformation of manners and wherein no particular Interest is concerned the King may dispence with such Laws and Penalties as the resolution is in Halles Case Coke 5. Rep. Eccles Case f. 6.51 That the King may pardon Suites in the Ecclesiastical Courts because they are only to correct or punish the party for the offence or default which saith the Book the King may pardon and not for the particular interest of the party By the same reason the King hath a right to pardon or indulge the Penalties and execution of these Acts in which no particular Interest is touched and which are to correct and punish the party for his offence and default against these Laws especially when there are no words in the Act to impeach but rather to allow this right to be in the King and which clearly was in him before the making of this Statute CHAP. VIII Observations upon Examples of Persecution 1. PErsecution is a word taken from the Latin Persequor which signifies to follow to the extremity and denotes the execution of Revenge and slaughter That the good of Indulgence and the evil of Perfecution may the better appear some observations upon a few of very many Examples thereof in the Holy Story are here inserted and to begin with these of Persecution It is observed that for the most part ungodly men excited by pride and envy have persecuted the godly So it was in the first Persecution in the World when the elder Son of Adam persecuted his Brother Abel Cain was an ungodly man Gen. 4.5 for unto him and to his offering the Lord had not respect but Abel was a godly man for he brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof Gen. 4.4 and the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering because Abel and his offering had respect from God therefore was his Brother very wroth Bishop Halls Contemplatition upon Cain and Abel and persecuted Abel for his Religion such was the pride and envy of his heart upon which the Ingenious Bishop of Exon thus contemplates What then was the occasion of this capital malice Abel's Sacrifice is accepted what was this to Cain Cains is rejected What could Abel remedy this Oh envy the corrosive of all ill minds and the root of all desperate actions The same cause that moved Satan to tempt the first man to destroy himself and his posterity the same moved the second man to destroy the
Supreme in his Kingdom But Philip the Fair before that clapt the Popes Legat by the heels and Sequestred himself and his whole Realm from his Obedience and at length caught the Popes own Person and kept him in Prison till he dyed Here was exercise of Supreme Power to he highest And when Francis I. Concordat Gall. Budovus de Astr in his Interview with Leo X. did remit the Force of the Pragmatical Sanction his Secretary said That the Garland of France was betrayed So much they valued the King's Supreme Spiritual Jurisdiction whereof many more Instances are in the Story of that Nation 8. The like Supreme Jurisdiction was exercised by the Kings of Spain In Castile they have some limitted Ecclesiastical Power by a late Priviledge of Adrian VI. granted to Charles V. But when they see their time they are pleased to take so much as shall serve their turn As Philip II. seized upon the Temporalties of the Archbishop of Toledo then when the Bishop of Gorusa was apprehended at Rome for New Heresie And when Sixtus V. sent to him That if he would undertake the War against England Thuanus Hist l. 71. Prudentissimus princeps respondit se nil de suo Pontifici largiri Thesaur Polit. Apol. Epist 49. Nullis personis Ecclesiastici vel Sacres Locis ullam rem immobilem absque Principis licentia acceptare vel habere Hug. tui Jul. de Repub. Portugal Botar Net. orais quaest l. 3. Guicchard Hist l. 4. Boron Annal. 1209. he would remit to him the Revenues of that Bishoprick This wise Prince answered That he would receive nothing from the bounty of his own Bishop And though at home his Power is but what he pleaseth to take yet in other his Territories it is lawfully and in Spiritual matters as large a Jurisdiction as that of any other Prince As in Burgundy and Flanders he had the same Right that the King of France once had As Charles V. made a Statute of Mortmain That it should not be lawful for any Ecclesiastical Persons or Sacred Places to take or have any Immovable Things without the Licence of the Prince and his Indulgence in that behalf Philip II. his Son in publishing the Council of Trent in the Netherlands did not let it pass in all points with the strength of an Ecclesiastical Law but restrained it with an express Clause That it should not prejudice any priviledge of the King touching Possessory Judgments or Ecclesiastical Livings or Nominations thereunto In Portugal they had the Right of Presentation to all Bishopricks and Abbeys which is no small Testimony of Supreme Spiritual Jurisdiction Sicily hath been held of the See of Rome as a Spiritual See yet there the Kings of Spain do not only claim Supremacy of Over-seeing but likewise Superindency in doing of Ecclesiastical or Spiritual Affairs and there in all his Dominions the King of Spain doth exercise Supreme Spiritual Jurisdiction to which the Right of Indulgence is incident 9. The like Supreme Jurisdiction was also exercised and still is by the Kings of Sweden in Spiritual matters They bestow the Bishopricks and Superintendencies upon such Persons as they judge fittest for them which Donation is no slender Proof of this Supreme Jurisdiction and the Bishops and Superintendents there who are the same in Office and Authority though not in Name with the Bishops These chief Rulers I say of the Clergy and the Clergy themselves are in perfect Obedience and Submission to the King as their Supreme in matters Spiritual All Appeals from the Proceedings of their Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Courts as they likewise term them are made to the King in his Chancery who thereupon Ordains under the Great Seal of Sweden certain Commissioners or Delegates who hear and determine those matters by the King's authority And in some Cases of extraordinary weight or difficulty the King himself with the advice of his Senate or Council of State as in the last Resort resolves them The Bishops Superintendents and the rest of the Clergy are excluded from any Office or intermedling with Secular Publick Affairs which some of them relate to be occasioned by the height and busie interposing in such matters by some of their Archbishops and Bishops But of that I can say nothing only I know the present Archbishop and some of their Bishops to be learned grave and pious Men and very observant to their King whose Supreme Spiritual Jurisdiction is acknowledged by them and all other his Subjects and surely comprehends therein his clear Right of Indulgence which he exercises in many places 10. Thesaur Pol. Apol. 50. Herbert Hist Pol. l. 2. c. 7. Thesaur Hist l. 56. Dicunt suoque arbitrio eligunt Garnier Comment Pragmat Sancta de Sanat Patriam a Daniaes simul Pontificis servitute asseruit Sir Jer. Davis rep f. 88. 10 H. 7. C. 5. 33 H 6. C. 9. 22 H. 6. C. 3. 40 E. 3. C. 13. 7 E. 4. C. 10. 16 E. 4. C. 4. This Jurisdiction was likewise in several other if not in all the rest of the Princes of Christendom Poland and Hungary were by Benedict VII Converted from Paganism and thereupon wholly at the dispose of the Pope in matters Spiritual yet they appoint and choose at their pleasure Archbishops Bishops and Abbots The Kings of Hungary use the same Power as the Kings of England do whereof a Canonist saith Tho of Right they cannot yet the Kings of England and Hungary bestow Benefices by allowance from the Pope Thus he is pleased to declare his opinion tho grossly mistaken as to the Allowance whereas they claim and exercise this Right only by Virtue of their own Supreme Spiritual Jurisdiction according to Law. In which point besides the Presidents as to England an English Lawyer may hope for as much Credit as a Canonist The Princes of Germany Sweden Denmark and of the Netherlands have exercised the like Spiritual Jurisdiction especially when they Introduced the Reformation of Religion and abolished the Power of the See of Rome Whereupon it is said that Gustave I. of Sweden asserted his Country from the Danish and Popish Servitude Scotland hath likewise vindicated the Jurisdiction of her Prince in these Spiritual matters And of Ireland it is affirmed That they have there made as many Laws against Provisions Citations Bulls and Briefs of Rome as are to be found in all the Parliament Rolls of England Besides Poynings Law Enacts there the Statutes of Provision and all other Laws against the See of Rome Also in the Parliament of Kilkenny and in another Parliament in that Kingdom it is declared That the publishing of Bulls of Provision from Rome is High Treason But I may incur the Censure of tediousness to bestow more time on this Argument which can receive little opposition but it must be acknowledged that generally the Princes of Christendom and other Princes before and out of Christanity and the first Princes and Fathers of Families have exercised Supreme Jurisdiction