A SHORT CENSURE OF THE BOOK OF W. P. ENTITULED The Vniversity of Oxfords Plea Refuted SAPIENTIA FELICITATE ACADEMIA OXONIENSIS Printed in the Yeare 1648. A short Censure of the Booke of VV. P. ENTITULED The Vniversity of Oxfords Plea refuted I May not in respect of the place where I am LONDON wherein it is perillous if not capitall to write Law nor I cannot in respect of my occasions which will not permit me too I have not leisure to write much make any large refutation of that Book But shall only content my self with an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the work of one day A briefe Censure of the Book First in generall next in particular In this and other of his Writings I find the Author to professe much diligence as if he were an industrious and a voluminous Compiler of the Acts and Speeches of other men many of them are very truly quoted some mis-reported most mis-understood The man may be thought perhaps to be one of a large and vast memory but certainly of a narrow and slender judgement which by an infelicity in the braine in the opinions of Aristotle in his Problemes and the Author of The Tryall of Wits doe often meet together Whence it commonly comes to passe that at the end and close of his labours he leaves his adversaries with more truth or at least more evidence on his side then he first found about him as in this Book against his once Mother the Vniversity of Oxford shall more appeare 2. And therefore I come in the second place to a more particular discussing of this his last piece The University Plea which in his Book he vaunts to have fully refuted he makes to be this Pag. 2. That the right of Visiting the University of Oxon is onely in the Kings Majestie and that it is exempt from all other Jurisdiction both by Foundation Prescription and severall Grants of Exemption Whether this be the Vniversities Plea by their Delegates in totidem verbis which he againe repeats pag. 7 8. calling it A false Plea I am not able to say having now forgotten it But because he often mentions it in his Script in the very same words I will beleeve he hath not committed that fault of mis-recitall here But I am confident he hath mis-understood it quite throughout And therefore in my duty and love to my deare Mother the Vniversity of Oxford I will be bold to render her sense and meaning of her Plea in these words a little more enlarged meaning â—â—e Plea That the Supreame and Primitive Right of Visiting the University of Oxford as it is an University not of a particular Colledge in it which hath a speciall kind of endowment of another consideration is onely in the Kings Majesty as an ancient inseparable jurisdiction annexed to his Crowne And that it is exempt from all other jurisdiction but what is immediately derived from him both by Foundation Prescription and severall Grants of Exemption are legally to be understood especially at this day since the dissolution of Papall Supremacy by the Statutes of 24 H. 8. c. 12. 25 H. 8. c. 19. 20. 21. 26 H. 8. c. 1. 1 Eliz. c. 1. c. Against this Plea thus explained he hath alledged not one materiall thing in all his Book which I shall make appeare by assayling his five men of straw which he hath drawne forth against this Plea which he calls his five Positions which I shall thus endeavour to shake if not bring down to that Nothing on which they seeme founded 1. His first Position is this That the University of Oxford was anciently of right for many Ages under the Jurisdiction if not Visitation of the Bishop of Lincolne as he was their Diocesan Wherein he saith just nothing for before Oxford was made a Bishoprick 't was never denyed but the Bishop of Lincolne was Diocesan over the Parochiall Churches nor the Clergie there be within his jurisdiction quatenus Ordinarius loci but what is that to the Visitation of the Vniversity being quite another thing and belonging of right to the King or to such as are immediately sent by him as W. P. truly alledgeth their saying pag. 54. and maketh it a doubt himselfe whether the Vniversity was anciently of right under the Visitation of the Bishop of Lincolne because he saith if not Visitation whereby he maketh his Position not positive contrary to all Logick And the proofes he brings for his first Position makes the truth of it more suspitious for he hath them all out of History as Matthew Paris B. Goodwin Arch-Bishop Barker p. 4 5 6 7. and not out of any authority of Law And a most learned Lawyer adviseth Students to take heed of Chronicle-Law as false and erroneous Sir Edw 〈◊〉 Pref. to thâ— Rep. And all his Historicall proofes doe not affirme that the Bishops of Lincolne did visit out of right but onely they did it de facto Et à facto ad jus non valet argumentum His second Position being the Body-horse of his Teame Position 2 and that which beareth the stresse of his whole Book is verbatim thus pag. 3. Secondly that it was aunciently of Right and so continued till this Parliament under the visitation and jurisdiction of the Arch-bishops of Canterbury as Metropolitans who have frequently visited this University and Cambridge too as being within their Province and have been acknowledged and adjudged by K. Richard 2. K. Henry 4. and an whole Parliament in his Raigne and by K. Charles himselfe upon solemne Debate to be lawfull Visitors of it de Jure And that these three Kings and the Parliament of 13 Hen. 4. have by their Charters and Votes absolutely disclamed the Kings sole Right of visiting the Universities and alwayes resolved the contrary when the Universities for their own ends have set it on foot and laid Claime unto it No King of England before Hen. 8. ever visiting either of the Universities for ought appears by any Authentique Records This Position is not doubtfull and uncertain as the former but yet it wants not that fault which is usual with him of contradiction to his former position for if it was Aunciently of Right and so continued till this Parliament for the Arch-bishop of Canterbury to visit the Universities de Jure as he speaks and so adjudged by three Kings and one Parliament then it could not Anciently and of right be visited by the Bishops of Lincolne which he avers in his first position But this second nor the proofes and records he brings in it doth give any jot of satisfaction to the Vniversity Plea but that the Right of Visitation is still in the Crowne and ever was an undoubted Right of the Crowne And that these Visitations of the arch-Arch-Bishops unlesse they had Commission so to doe under the Kings owne proper Broad Seale were meere usurpations upon the Crowne which I shall make thus shortly and plainly to appeare It is very well
knowne to men studied in our Lawes That none but the Kings of England could be truly and properly the Founders of the Vniversities par Caesari opus for it is not the erecting of Buildings that makes an Vniversity but the dedicating and consecrating of a place whether already built or to be built to the Muses as a Seminary and Nursery of Learning to perpetuity the Incorporation of it with Governours Statutes and Lawes the Endowment of it with Franchises Priviledges Immunities c. which none can doe but the King is chiefly and properly the Foundation of an Vniversity It is an old Rule in Law Patronum faciunt Dos aedificatio fundus either of these three make a man a Founder but chiefly the first which is Endowment being to an Vniversity all in all and therefore as Founder of the Vniversities the Right of Visitation did as truly and properly belong to the King as did the right of Investure into Episcopacies of which the King was likewise Founder till the Popes Canon Law was first admitted into this Kingdome which fell out in the dayes of K. Hen. 1. and King Stephen And afterwards the Extravagants of Pope Boniface the 8. called by that name because they were extra Canonem the admission of these Laws into this Kingdome together with the Popes Bulls swelled the Archi-episcopall Authority into a Papall Jurisdiction for so was Anselme called in the dayes of Hen. 1. Alterius orbis Papa which continued swelling much worse afterwards till it received a Purgation in the dayes of Hen. 8. And by this usurped power it was that the Bishops of themselves without the Kings Authority did visit Universities and doe other Acts belonging to the Crown untill the dayes of Hen. 8. c. I could say much more on this jubject but Mr. Pryn saves me a labour for it doth not appear by those two Charters which he so much boasts of throughout his Book of Rich. 2. and Hen. 4. and confirmed afterwards by Act of Parliament 13 Hen. 4. that the Archi-episcopall visitation of the Universities was any other then a usurpation de facto permitted by Rich. 2. and Hen. 4. not a Jurisdiction of Right This appears plainly by the Charter of 12. Caroli which he mentions in this Position and cites at large pag. 35 36 37 38. which Charter mentions the two forwer Charters where it is thus said Primo ante omnia per probationes legitimas per concessionem utriusque partis nobis constabat Nos jure Coronae nostrae Angliae habuisse habere potestatem visitandi Universitates praedictas quoties quandocunque nobis successoribus nostris visum fuerit And afterwards pag. 38. where the King gives the Arch-Bishop leave to visit and giving of leave declares a right not once in his life but as oft as he shall see reasonable cause which hath this restriction Ex causâ rationabili c. per nos successores nostros primitus approbanda By which it appeares that the granting of this Visitation of the Vniversities belongs to the Crowne and the cause of Visiting after the Graunt must be first approved by the King and therefore his saying pag. 10. and pag. 21. that Rich. 2. and H. 4. in their Charters disclaimed the sole Right of visiting the Vniversities and pag. 39. that King Charles in his Charter to the late Arch-Bishop disavowed it is most notoriously untrue and no such thing is to be found in them The Author W. P. in the prosecution of the proofe of his second Position hath consumed almost 40. pages of paper and I beleeve as many dayes of time and the Logick of all amounts but to this that the Arch-bishops of Cant. have anciently been Visitors of the Vniversity of Oxford and have so been confirmed by the Letters Patents of three Kings of England The Arch-Bishops of Cant. are now extinct and gone which this Author well knowes having a cheif hand in cutting off the last Ergo the King and such as are immediately sent by him for so is the Vniversities Plea to be understood and is so confessed by W. P. pag. 54. are not the sole Visitors of the Vniversity How this Argument holds together leave it for young Sophisters to judge Only I pitty the great paines he hath taken to joyne together a rope of sand The Vniversity did expect that so learned a man as he by voluminous quotations desires to appeare would have given satisfaction in declaring who had the sole Right of her Visitation if the King and those immediately appointed by him had it not whether the two Houses of Parliament or one of them if so then by what way and meanes they had that Right whether by immediate Commission from the King if so then whether by the Great Seale which was made by the two Houses or by what other For that the King in his last Message to the Houses questions the validity of it as that which he saith was made without his Warrant Or if it had his warrant for those persons that were to visit whether they first acquainted the King with the cause of Visitation the words of the Kings Charter being Ex legitimâ causa per nos successores nostros primitus approbanda with divers more in that kind which would have given much satisfaction to the double charged Consciences of that poore Vniversity in their Oathes to God and their Allegeance to their Prince But not a word of any of these in his Booke wherein he might have much righted the Houses and himselfe onely he makes much adoe in excusing the persons of the Visitors and freeing them from the exceptions taken against them pag. 59 60 61 62. Onely one visible exception is forgot which I beleeve was thought of by the Vniversity though not exprest viz. the exception taken by an ancient Law against a Visitor or Judge that he was to be integri corporis as well as Animi and therefore by the ancient Canons if a Visitor or Judge had Corpus mutilatum or membram abscissum it was an exception And therefore if there were cause of such an exception against any of these Visitors it had been his part to have cleered it that so he might not have appeared male audere in that Vniversity which he was to Visit The other three Positions as the Refutes doth not much insist upon them so it will not hurt the Vniversity in her Plea to grant them all Position 3 For as to the third before the Statutes of 25. and 26. H. 8. 1 E. 6. 1 Eliz. Cardinall Poole the Popes Legate as Legatus factus the Arch-bishop of Canterbury as Legati nati might and did Visit without the Kings Commission And so might Chancellours of the Vniversity which heretofore were Clergie-men but then this Visitation was more de facto then de jure But since those Statutes all the Visitations of the Vniversities have been by the Kings immediate Commission And so did Sir William Cecill 1.
Eliz. visit Cambridge as Chancellour of that Vniversity Position 4 His fourth Position is That most particular Colledges and Halls in both Universities have their particular Visitors appointed by the Founders to whose Visitation they are subject and not to the Kings A most true position and the Vniversity strives not with him in it if he can rest there she onely dislikes his irrationall inference thereupon Ergo the Right of Visiting the Vniversity of Oxford is not onely in the Kings Majesty Much like to this Argument the Lord Maior of London is the proper Governour of that City Ergo the King hath not the sole right of governing the Kingdome contrary to the Statute of the 1. Eliz. and the Oath of Supremacy calling him the onely Supreame Governour According to the lines of proportion and similitude as a City is to a Kingdome so is a particular Colledg to an Vniversity The King sole Governour of the Kingdome the Lord Major with the Aldermen c. sole Governours of the City the King or those whom he immediately appoints which must ever be understood sole Visitors of the Vniversity of Oxford the Bishop of Lincolne sole Visitor of Brazen-nose Colledge when the King comes into the City the Lord Major yeilds up his Sword and his Government is for that time suspended So when the King visits the Vniversity of Oxford the Visitation of the Bishop of Lincolne is then suspended like as in the Metropoliticall Visitation the Episcopall Visitation is suspended And these subordinations are full of Harmony and doe not contradict each other as he thinketh when he thus speaketh How then the King can truly and really be stiled the sole Founder and Visitor of the University of Oxford when there are but three Colledges there of his Foundation and but one of his Visitation I desire the Vniversity at leisure to resolve Truly his once Mother the Vniversity of Oxford hath resolved it already and will take no further time But wisheth him hereafter to be a good Child and leave an old fault of his of mistaking the question For the Vniversity never made it a Question Whether the King was sole Founder or Visitor of a particular Colledge but of an Vniversity they being two distinct things distinct Corporations having distinct Governours distinct Officers distinct Statutes c. But the Conclusion of this fourth Position may not be passed by without reproof where he calls this Right of the Kings sole visiting the Vniversity The Kings pretended Royall Monopoly which being spoken of him a sacred person especially in this his day of affliction by his owne naturall born Subject and by a man professing Religion favours more of a son of Shimei then a servant of Christ Position 5 That the pretended Grants of exemption from Visitation c. now pleaded by the University were not procured from the Kings of England but from Popes by their Bulls and that our Kings themselves and one Parliament have damned them as derogatory to the Kings Prerogative c. This Position he braggingly saith pag. 43. that he hath already substantially proved in every syllable amongst the proofs of his second Position and surceaseth any farther proof But concludes thus bitterly against the Vniversity in this manner The Author of the Universities Priviledges was very ill advised to plead the Popes exploded illegall Antichristian Bulls in Bar against the Jurisdiction of both Houses and the Visitors deputed by them in these anti-papall times of Reformation which might justly induce them to suspect that the Heads and Members of the University have a higher and more reverend esteem of the Popes usurped abandoned authority and illegall Bulls then of both Houses rightfull power and Ordinances A very reproachfull and that though I could say more a most envious and causlesse Censure for the Popes Bulls were leges temporum though not leges scripturarum as they say in schools and custom and time had set them up for Lawes and as they were pleadable then so in the way that the Vniversity hath pleaded those Bulls they may be pleaded at this day without making such a noise and roaring against all the Heads and Members of the Vniversity not a man excepted I will give one instance instead of many divers Parliament-men have Impropriations of Church-livings and some of them perhaps discharg'd from payment of Tythes by reason of the Cisterstian order an Order of Fryars exempted by the Popes Bulls from the payment of Tythes of Lands in their owne possession shall not a Parliament-man therefore in a suite against him for Tythes plead the Popes Bull by way of discharge without being counted a Papist and inclining to Popery there is no doubt but he may Besides the pleading of the Popes Bulls of Exemption by the Vniversity was so far from Popery that nothing could more advance their Princes supremacy and their own Loyalty having this inference in it That if the Pope by an usurped power upon the Crown could visit and exempt from Visitation at his pleasure how much more might the King which hath in himself that auncient true and proper Right of the Crowne And therefore for Conclusion the Vniversity of Oxford out of her Motherly affection to one that pretends to be her son adviseth W. P. to read often that place Deut. 27. v. 16. Cursed be he that setteth light by his Father or his Mother and all the people shall say Amen The same application of it to his Prince the Father of the Country And the Lord give him repentance for the Evill he hath done And thus have I shortly examined all his five Positions and his proofs of them being the substance of his whole Book I will now for Conclusion passe my particular Censure upon it in the words of the Emperour Julian upon a Book brought to him containing a Confession of Faith of the best Church in the world And what he corruptly censured of that Confession I will truly and sincerely censure the same of the script of W. P. in refutation of the Plea of the best Vniversity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have read it I have considered it and I doe utterly condemne it Et cedo mihi quemvis arbitrum FINIS