outward policy of this Church or government of it in foro exteriori to have much depended on the King and therefore the writs for summoning Parliaments expresse the cause of his calling them to be pro quibusdam arduis urgentibus negotiis nos statum defensionem regni nostri Angliae ecclesiae Anglicanae concernentibus or as our Bishops have sometimes exprest it in the Rolls of Parliament à l' onour reverence de Dieu de seinte esglise al salvation amendement de son roialme c. Likewise the Commons that their gift of the 9th sheaf c. to Edw. the 3. to have been for his defence of the Kingdome de seinte esglise d' Engleterre Rot. Parliament 15. Ed. 3. n. 25. According to which our Kings joyned both together professing their care for amending the Church to be equall with that of the Commonwealth Item fait assavoir que nostre tressoveraigne seign r le Roy eiantz grande volunte desir de l'estate de son esglise de son Royalme en les choses ou mesteir est d' amendement al honor de Dieu pur la pees la commune profit de seinte esglise d' Engleterre come de tout son Royalme d' el ' advis assent des seig rs esperituells c. ad fait c. In pursuance of which interest residing in the Crown the Lords and Commons under Rich. the 2. fearing the opinions called Lollardy might prevail petierunt à Rege de istis remedium apponi ne forte archa totius fidei ecclesiae talibus impulsionibus in illius temporibus pro defectu gubernaculi irremediabiliter quateretur Upon whose desires he commanded th' Archbishop of Cant. and his other Bishops ut officium suum singuli iâ— suis dioe cesibus secundum jura canonica acrius ferventius exercerent delinquentes castigarent librosque eorum Anglicos plenius examinarent errata exterminarent populumque in unitatem fidei orthodoxae reducere studerent ecclesiamque urticis vepribus destoratam liliis rosis ornarent c. After which the said authour records a Commission by which his Majesty as Defender of the Catholick Faith did impower certain to seize upon hereticall books and bring them before his councell and such as after proclamation shall be found to hold such opinions being called and examined before two Commissioners who were of the Clergy and lawfully convicted thereof to be by his Majesties ministers committed to the next prison Fourteen years after which the Commons shew Hen. the 4th the Parliament might be compared to a Masse in which th' Archbishop of Cant. began th' office reading th' Epistle and expounding the Gospel which it seems they took to be the part of the Ecclesiastick as did the Saxons before à la mesne qe feust la sacrifice d' estre offeriz à Dieux pur touz Christiens le Roy mesmes à cest Parlement pour accomplir cellemesne plusieurs foitz avoit declarez pleinement a toutz ses lieges coment sa volunte feust qe la foy de seint esglise feust governez en maniere come il ' ad este en temps de ses nobles progenitors come il est affirme par seint esglise par les seints Doctours par seint Escriture c. and a little after shewing they the Commons were onely to say Deo gratias which they were obliged to do for three reasons the second of which is pur câ—o qe la ou la Foy de seint esglise par malvaise doctrine feust en point d' avoir este anientz en grand subversion du Roy du Royalme mesme nostre Seig r le Roy ent ad fait ordeignez bon joust remede en destruction de tiel doctrine de la sect d' ycel peront ilz sont ensement tenuz de dire cel parole Deo gratias By all these it must be granted they did hold the chief care of the English Church to have depended in the outward policy of it on the prince or else that they did speak and do very unadyisedly in attributing so much unto his care of it and providing that he might be supplyed to defend it without at all mentioning any other to whose care it belonged 19. Neither did these expressions and petitions passe the Commons onely or the Clergy over-ruled by the numbers of the temporality but the Bishops by themselves acknowledged how much it stood in his M tios care to provide against any novelties creeping into the English Church and that it might enjoy the rights and liberties belonging to it and therefore when the said doctrine of Lollardy continued encreasing they in the names Praelatorum cleri regni Angliae petition Henry the 4 th Quatenus inclitissimorum progenitorum antecessorum vestrorum laudabilia vestigia graciose considerantes dignetur vestra regia celsitudo pro conservatione dictae Ecclesiae Anglicanae ad Dei laudem vestrique meritum totius regni praedicti prosperitatem honorem pro hujusmodi dissentionibus divisionibus dampnis periculis evit indis super novitatibus excessibus praedictis in praesenti Parliamento providere de remedio opportuno c. Did not these then hold it the office of the King as that his progenitors had ever done to provide no dissensions scandalls divisions might arise in the Church the Catholick faith might be truely conserved and susteined and what other did any of our Princes ever challenge or assume 20. When the Clergy likewise went at any time beyond their bounds or were negligent performers of their duties the subject upon all occasions had recourse unto his M ty as to whose care the seeing what was amiss redrest did especially belong as when th' Ecclesiastick Courts were grievous for the fees or their pecuniary pennances too heavy when they were opprest by Papall provisions of which before when through the absence of their Curat they were not so well taught c. when the frequency of the writ de excommunicato capiendo made it burthensome when men were cited by them on causes neither Matrimoniall nor Testamentary and appearing were not allowed a copy of the libell against them In which case the Kings answer is not unworthy the repeating shewing clearly he directed how they should proceed le Roy voet que a quel heure la copie de le libel est grantable par la ley q'â—l soit grauntè liverè a la partie sanz dâ—fficulee It is true Kings would refer matters of that nature to their Bishops unto whose care under them it did especially belong so Richard the 2. being petitioned in point of Residency answered Il appartient aux offices des Evesques le Roy voet qu' ils facent lour office devoirs c. His successor being again prest in the same kind gives his command thus Facent les
them St Augustine doth name some opinions for hereticall have small affinity with Divinity and who shall read Philastrius of Heresies must needs approve Cardinall Bellarmin's censure of him that he accounts amongst them many are not properly Heresies as the word is now taken The first Councell of Constantinople held 381. expresly affirms by the name of Heretick to understand such as professing the same faith yet did make a separation from those canonicall Bishops were of their communion But the construction what opinion was hereticall did ever so far as I have observed belong to the spirituall Magistrate who after the pattern held out in holy Writ if any new erroneous opinion did peep the neighbour Bishops and Clergy taking notice of it did assemble condemn it and by their letters gave notice of what had past them to absent Churches if the case were difficult the presence of any famous Clerk was desired who for settling peace as who would not was easily drawn out of his own home so was Origen sent for into Arabia And that this form continued in condemning Heresy till Constantine seems to be very plain by the proceedings against Paulus Samosatenus and divers others remaining yet in history and the writings of the fathers But for the prosecution of an Heretick farther then to avoid him I know no example till after God having given peace to his people under Christian Emperours they finding if the Church were in trouble the State to be seldome otherwise did provide as well for the calling of Bishops to Councells that might condemn Heresies as by lawes to punish Hereticks 3. The Councell of Nice therefore having in the year 325. censured the opinions of Arius for hereticall the Emperour that had formerly granted priviledges to Christians 326 declared haereticos atque schismaticos his privilegiis alienos c. and that no man might be deceived by the ambiguity of the word Heretick Gratian and Theodosius in the year 380. did declare who onely were to be so reputed viz. all who secundum Apostolicam disciplinam evangelic amque doctrinam patris filii spiritus sancti unam deitatem sub parili majestate sub pia trinitate credamus hane legem sequentes Christianorum Catholicorum nomen jubemus amplecti reliquos vero dementes vesanosque judicantes haeretici dogmatis infamiam sustinere and the year following did not onely in Ianuary renew the said Edict but in Iuly commanded all Churches to be delivered those Bishops who held that profession nihil dissonum profana divisione facientes sed Trinitatis ordinem personarum adsertionem divinitatis ordinem c. and for the more assurance as a mark of their being orthodox did hold communion with the Catholick Bishops of any one seat there remembred as Damasus of Rome Nectarius of Constantinople Pelagius of Laodicea Diodorus of Tarsus Optimus of Antioch c. omnes autem qui abeorum quos commemoratio specialis expressit fide communionis dissentiunt ut manifestos haereticos ab ecclesits expelli Which note Iustinian likewise in the year 541. having prescribed goes farther that sacram communionem in Catholica ecclesia non percipientes à Deo amabilibus sacerdotibus haereticos juste vocamus 4. Before these lawes it is not to be wondred if every one desired to be joyned in communion with some one of those seats whose Bishops were so recommended for conserving the Apostolick faith for the sanctity of their manners and for keeping schism out of the Church which being usually joyned with sedition in the Common wealth Princes seem to have an especiall eye how it might be avoided but after these Edicts they certainly did it much more and there being in the world no Bishop more famous then the Roman nor any other named in these parts of Europe then he every one endeavoured to live united to that Church whose form the Councell of Nice 325. for before that ad Romanam ecclesiam parvus habebatur respectus as Pius secundus writes approving in distribution of the ecelesiastick government and Emperours now in point of belief the Roman Chair became so eminent as for to shew themselves orthodox many especially of the Latins did hold it enough to live in the communion of that See and the Fathers in that Age to give high expressions of being in union with it S. Ambrose shewing the devotion of his brother Satyrus in a tempest adds yet farther as a mark of it Advocavit ad se Episcopum percontatus que ex eo est utrumnam cum episcopis catholicis hoc est cum Romana ecclesia conveniret and S. Hierom a person very superlative in praising and reprehending writing about the same time to Damasus Ego nullum primum nisi Christum sequens Beatitudini tuae id est cathedrae Petri communione consocior c. and in the year 602. a certain Bishop returning out of schism spontanea voluntate did swear he in unitate sanctae ecclesiae catholicae communione Romani Pontificis per omnia permansurum c. All which in time bred an opinion that Chair could not entertain an error and the beginning of the mark absolutely inverted for those men who at first were as others sought unto because they did conserve the religion S. Peter had planted in Rome must in after-ages be onely held to maintain the same doctrine because they are in that See so that the Doctrine did not commend the person but the being in that seat and recommended from thence be it what it will it ought to be received insomuch as Cardinall Bellarmine doubts not to write Si Papa erraret praecipiendo vitia vel prohibendo virtutes teneretur ecclesia credere vitia esse bona virtutes malas nisi vellet contra conscientiam peccare for which he was afterward forced to an Apology yet is not in my opinion so absurd as the rule left by certain religious persons 1606. to their confidents at Padoua containing ut ipsi Ecclesiae catholicae understanding the Pope omnino unanimes conformesque simus si quod oculis nostris apparet album nigrum illa esse definierit debemus itidem quod nigrum sit pronuntiare c. 5. But to return whence I have a little digress't it being plain by these lawes the Emperours restrained points of Heresy to the Catholick Doctrine of the Father Son and holy Ghost the ground of the four first generall Councils and others not to be esteemed hereticks in which sense I conceive sundry of the ancients take the word as S. Hierome when he sayes all Hereticks leave God and Socrates when he agrees such as condemned Origen finding not to blame his opinion of the holy Trinity must confesse he held the right faith and Leo the first when in an epistle about 449. he exhorts the Emperour Theodosius to consider the glory of S. Peter
auctority then the Kings onely who by his edict of the 12. of Iuly commanded the Cardinalls and others of his Clergy to observe it without making any mention of the Pope So that in that Kingdome this Catholick Prince doth not take on him much less over Ecclesiastick Courts and causes then the King of England however he do not style himself Head of the Church And therefore Simanca speaking of this Inquisition plainly sayes Ferdinand and Isabella judicii ordinem quo etiam hodie utimur magna ex parte instituerunt Insomuch as if we meet it at any time termed the Popes Court there it is no question but a nominall appellation of that is neither subject to his rules nor to follow his commands but as another will 13. But this Court in Spain and other places conforming themselves much to the papall interest is become very infamous things being carried in it as we read in Monst de Thous excellent history praepostera judictorum forma contra naturalem aequitatem omnem legitimum ordinem tum etiam immanitas tormentorum quibus plerumque contra veritatem quicquid delegatis judicibus libebat à miseris innocentibus reis ut se cruciatibus eximerent torquebatur And indeed the directions Popes have set them do not agree I think with the practise of any standing Court of Justice the world ever saw as that of Innocentius 4 us and Pius 4 us that no man shall know the names either of his accuser or that testifies against him which Camillus Campegius will not have communicated to those learned men th' Inquisitors shall call to their assistance in judgement Another of Pius 5 tus that no declaratory or definitive sentence in favour of the accused though after a canonicall purgation posse facere transitum in rem judicatam but that they may again proceed tam de antiquis quam noviter super eisdem articulis which in effect is no other but that a man once accused before them can never be freed Of a third of the same Pope that whosoever should strike or terrify any belonging to the said Office even a Notary or servant should assiâ—t any to escape imbezzle any writings of that Court besides the being by that Bull declared Anathema should be guilty of treason and suffer according as men found culpable in primo capite dictaelegis their children subject to the paternall infamy to be not onely incapable of succeeding in the fathers inheritance but of receiving any legacy from friend or stranger or attaining any place of dignity whatsoever and others of the like nature too long to be insisted on 14. Certain it will not be easy at least to my understanding to prove these proceedings of a Court Christian to agree with those rules and examples Christ himself hath left us in holy Scripture but the pursuing these Maximes and the like hath brought a great obloquy upon this Court so as it is held an undoubted truth the Inquisition under the Spaniard hath an eye rather to empty the purse and is upholden more for temporall ends then to cure the conscience And to this purpose it may not be here unfitly remembred that a Spanish Inquisitor employed by Philip the 2. into Sicily writes it is found amongst the records of that Kingdome quod quando in anno 1535. fuit limitata seu suspensa jurisdictio temporalis hujus sancti officii in aliquibus casibus per invictissimum Carolum 5 tum faelicis memoriae jurisdictio spiritualis causarum fidei fuit in suspenso quasi mortua which I take no other then a confession the Church which it maintains without the temporall power would fail and come to nought as indeed Cardinall Bellarmine somewhere in effect confesseth that to restrain ecclesiastick jurisdiction to spiritualls that pertain to the soul is to reduce it to nothing 15. But because I am here entred upon this fining or confiscation of the goods of a Lay person by a spirituall judge on the conviction or rather imputation of Heresy it will not be amiss to see how the Ecclesiasticks have gained that addition to the power left them by Christ which is so necessary as without it that onely was committed to them from him which the ancient Fathers practis't would be as it were dead It cannot be denyed Princes did in former times by their edicts impose pecuniary penalties on some actions concerned religion so did Theodosius 392. on such as did ordain or were ordained in Haereticis erroribus which law a Councell held in Africk about 404. provoked by the inhumanity of the Donatists did petition th' Emperour Honorius might be of force against them but never any holy Bishop of those times took upon him to confiscate any mans estate for his opinions much lesse to damnify the son for the fathers tenets and the lawyers do expresly resolve si poena alicui trrogatur ne ad haeredes transeat and give this reason Poena constituitur in emendationem hominum quae mortuo eo in quem constitui videtur desinit again no man is alieni criminis successor and accordingly many imperiall constitutions do expresly provide the Catholick children of hereticall parents though the father were deprived of them should succeed in their paternall goods and thus it stood for ought I know for above a 1000 yeares the Christian world thinking it hard the son should suffer for an erroneous perswasion of the father neither did ever any holy Bishop for that space unlesse as Deputy to some Prince take upon him that way of punishing and if any did it was not approved in him 16. In the year 1148. th' Archbishop of Canterbury called by Eugenius 3 us to a Councell at Reims the King denied him passage yet he stole thither for which on his return he was expell'd England into which notwithstanding he got shrouding himself as it seems in those tempestuous times and to make himself the more formidable interdicted divine service through the Kingdome which is the first experience the nation ever had of that censure To this the Prior of S. Augustines refused to yield obedience and th' Archbishop having now made his peace with Stephen got the sentence confirmed from Rome upon which omnes seculares in hoc monasterio servientes praeter censuram ecclesiasticam ad gravem pecuniae redemptionem contra juris aequitatem sanctorum patrum decreta cocgit On this complaint being made to the Pope he writ unto him Sicut nobis significatum est homines ejusdem monasterâ—i pro participatione excommunicatorum praeter ecclesiasticam poenam fuerunt ad redemptionem coacti and thereupon commands him quatenus omnia quae hac occasione sunt eis ablata sine vexatione restitui facias nolumus enim ut nova in vestra ecclesia inducantur c. so that certainly it did but then begin to bud after 1160 Alexander the 3. condemns
did the Papacy having gained the possession as I may term it of taxing impose these payments for one year onely upon forreign Churches as at first but for six successively one after the other So did Iohn the 21. in the year 1277. and Clement the 5. in the Councell of Vienna 1311. pretending an employment against the Infidells but procuring Princes to joyn with them in the collecting that it might be pay'd with more facility and therefore gave them either the whole or part of what was so raised from whence no doubt grew that proverb so full of infamy That the King and Pope were the Lion and Wolf did in the end as we have heard convert the treasure to the ransoming their friends the maintenance of their wars and such like mundane ends The French affirm the first of their Kings who shared with Rome in these levies to have been Charls le Bel about 1326. which if it were our Kings were before them but such as succeded knew there as well as elsewhere how to apply what was thus gather'd wholy to themselves wiping the Popes clean out and notwithstanding all complaints in that kind from Rome Duarenus observes the Crown of France to have none more certain or speedy revenue then that is thus raised of the Ecclesiasticks 14. But these exactions grew so burthensome Martin the 5 th at the Councell of Constance 1417. was constrained to establish Nullatenus imponantur generaliter super totum clerum nisi ex magna ardua causa utilitate universalem Ecclesiam concernente de consilio consensu subscriptione fratrum nostrorum sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae Cardinalium Praelatorum quorum consilium commode haberi poterit nec specialiter in aliquo regno vel provincia inconsultis praelatis ipsius regni vel provinciae c. Upon which Decree a supply of the Tenth being twice demanded viz. 1515 and 1518. by Leo the x th against the Turk th' English Clergy denyed them both times Thus the Papacy by little and little gained in England the power of sometimes laying that Tax on Church-men is to this day known by the name of a Tenth which became limited as we have seen and after by statute the 26. Hen. 8 th transfer'd to the King to be pay'd annually unto him as were likewise the First fruits or profits of one year commonly called Annats for I take them to be the same of all spirituall livings of which a word 15. The first raising of them seemeth to have been that when the Court of Rome did confer on Clerks and Chaplains residing with them benefices in the Dioceses of others they who thus obtained from that Chair not onely the Spirituall of Ordination but likewise the Temporall of Profit did at first either to shew their gratitude or for that the Pope would have it so voluntarily give the whole or some part of the first years revenue to the Court by whose favour they received all and the Papacy perceiving the gain did thus accrue laboured to extend it farther was in some sort imitated by other Bishops and for avoyding the shew of Simony cover'd what was thus took with the names of Annates Vacantiae Minuta servitia Scripturae and such like But as St. Gregory tolerating onely a liberality to be given after the reception of the Pall his successors knew how to turn it to a revenue so these however at first begun did afterwards become anâ—ually a profit What others did in this kind is not necessary to that I treat of but upon the practice of the Church of Rome the 25. Ed. 3. the Commons exhibit this petition to the King Prie sa Commune c. de veer regarder c. d'Engleterre Provendres en Esglises Cathedralles les donne si bien as Aliens come as Denezeins issint ad le Pape toutz les primers fruicts des dits benefices By which it appeares the Papacy that formerly took the first-fruits of onely such livings as men dyed possest of in the Court of Rome had an intent of extending them to all were de Patronage espiritel but whether an active King stopt upon this the endeavours of that See or the Popes wise men thought it not â—it to make too sodain an irruption into the profits of other Churches is not greatly materiall but 25. years after the Commons again represent the Popes Collector Ore de novel cest an nele prest unqes devant al oeps du Pape les primiers fruitz de chesâ—un benefice dont il fait provision ou collation except de graces grantez aux povres ou il ne soleit prendre nulles fruictes â—orsqe soulement des beneficez vacantz en la Court de Rome 16. But in whose time these first-fruits began to be taken there seems to me some difference amongst writers Theodoricus à Niem who lived in the Court of Rome Secretary as some write to Gregory the xi or rather as it seems to me of Vrban the vi sayes Boniface the ix circa decimum annum sui regiminis viz. 1399. primos fructus unius anni omnium Ecclesiarum Cathedralium Abbatiarum vacantium suae camerae reservavit it a quod quicunque extunc per eum promoveri voluit ante omnia cogebatur solvere primos fructus ecclesiae vel monasterii cui praefici voluit c. With whom Platina agrees Annatarum usum primus imposuit Bonifacius ix hac conditione ut qui beneficium consequeretur dimidum annui proventus fisco Apostolico persolverent sunt tamen qui hoc inventum Iohanni xxii ascribunt c. The same likewise Polidore Virgil affirms though he speak as if some thought them of an higher time which under favour I do not credit for Nicholaus Clemanges in the treatise he writ concerning them saith that when such reservations fell into consideration in the Councell of Constance he lived whilst it â—ate no beginning could be assigned before Iohn the xxii began them pro certo passagio ultramarino quibusdam aliis necessitatibus suis. To which I may adde the opinion of the wise and learned Cardinall d'Ossat Iâ—han xxii François de nation dont il me deplaist fust le primier que outre les taxes Annates qu'il inventa c. And Ranulphus Cestrensis one of that time saith of him Beneficiorum per mortem seu resignationem vacantium sive per translationem primos fructus reservavit ita ut Rector iustitutus taxationem beneficii sui aut residuum taxationis acceptaret ex qua cautela innumerabiles thesauri ad manus Papae devenerunt c. and Knighton himself reservavit curiae omnes primos fructus vacantium Ecclesiarum sive per mortem sive per resignationem c. Walsingham 1316. Summus Pontifex reservavit camerae suae primos fructus beneficiorum omnium in Anglia per trienntum
himself an Inquisitor in Sicily and expresly writes of that subject is clearly of an opinion it could not be before the conclusion of the Councell of Lateran and for proof gives in my judgement a very probable reason viz. That no Papall Decretall or History preceding did ever name any such Inquisitor that very Councell when it treats of Heresy speaks of no other Judge then the Bishop now it ending about Easter 1216. as I shall shew hereafter if granted by Innocentius it must be at some time between March and the 16. Iuly 1216. when that Pope dyed Yet I cannot omit that Camillus Campegius in his additions to Zanchinus speaks as if after that Councell Friar Dominick had not his auctority from the Papacy immediately but from one Bertram or Bertrand a Cardinall Priest but who that Bertram was I confess I have not been able to satisfie my self Ciaconius remembers one of the name employed against the Albigenses promoted to that honour by Innocentius 3 us 1212. but he styles him onely a Cardinall Deacon as he hath another so called that was a Priest but he was no Cardinall till Honorius 3 us in December 1216 preferr'd him to the honour so was not capable of serving Pope Innocent in that degree 10. But whosoever first began it Frederick the 2d certainly much augmented their power publishing the 22. of February 1224. three lawes at Padua by which he did constitute the Dominicans Inquisitors through the Empire yet taking all others under his protection and appointing such as should be convict of Heresy ut vivi in conspectu hominum combur antur flammarum commissi judicio c. That these edicts were publisht at the onely instance of Honorius 3 us is very probable in that they are not any way recorded but in papall bulls quoad verba as I shall shew hereafter After which severall persons in divers parts proceeded against them by commission from Rome so as the Bishop who was the ordinary detector of Heresy had little to do and became daily to have lesse and lesse that although his power be not in those cases absolutely taken off yet it is so impaired as it gives place to the Inquisitor insomuch as if one suspected of Heresy be cited by him and the Bishop at the same time his appearance must first be in the Inquisition and the reason given is because they have a power by a delegated commission from the Pope whereas to the other jure divino haec cura incumbit in haereticos inquirere and Simanca yet more plain Cum Episcopi non habeant secretum carâ—erem nec ministros idoneos ad procedendum adversus haereticos non possunt servare ordinem illum qui praefinitus est Inquisitoribus quam ob remusque eo tantum procedere debent ut in haereticos vel suspectos inquirant summariam probationem Inquisitoribus secreto mittere debent So that what power the Bishop hath in this kind from Christ he is now become little other then agent or substitute to the Inquisitor in point of Heresy 11. But these Commissioners exercising their auctority with Fire Tortures and the like in short time found themselves infinitely mistaken in expecting by such violence to render that peace in the Church and obedience in the world the primitive Fathers by the truth of their Dictats evidence of reason and piety of their lives drew men unto for in some places they were expell'd by the peoples fury hardly any where continued but by strong hand their carriage being so full of Scandall as Clement the 5. in the Councell of Vienna could not but acknowledge they had so exceeded the power committed to them by the Apostolick See ut quod in augmentum fidei per circumspectam ejusdem sedis vigilantiam salubriter est provisum dum sub pietatis specie gravantur innoxii cedat in fidelium detrimentum For these men took upon them under the Pope not onely to construe what was heresy or complying with it but on those imputations to imprison fine confiscate mens goods to the destruction of honest people and families which forced some States to limit their proceedings barre them of prisons proper to themselves and the wise Venetian appoint three Senators to supervise their actions insomuch as this delegated power did so decline as notwithstanding the many constitutions of Innocentius 4 tus Alexander the fourth and severall other popes yet extant for regulating of it out of Italy it was little taken notice of in Spain it remained obscurum debilitatumque till Ferdinand and Isabella 1479. by agreement with Xistus 4. or as others 1484. with Innocentius 8 did so renew it as Simanca doubts not to write they did introduce it into that Kingdome which I conceive to be in respect of the alterations in the proceedings now used to those were formerly for that tribunall in preceding times committed from the Papacy to Friars regulars who most depended on Rome and therefore said to be the Popes Court is since by this concord become in effect no other then the Kings being recommended to the care of Clerks secular and Lawyers the Dominicans who formerly governed it altogether excluded unlesse where the Inquisitors require their counsell 12. The style or manner there used being that his Maty names an Inquisitor generall whom the Pope approves and after is not at all admitted to interpose for that Inquisitor nominates a Councell of which himself is President for number and persons as the King likes as sometimes five to which Philip the 2. added two more and these be of the gravest divines of Spain ever residing at or near the Court who compose all differences arising in particular Courts receive all appeals punish the defect of agents and relates to none but the King Of this Councell as I said the Inquisitor generall is President whose auctority is very ample for he nominates all provinciall Inquisitors and their Officers who yet enter not on their charges but by the Kings allowance whom on occasion he removes and punishes releases all penances appoints visitors over particular Courts and though he be directed by the rule of the Canon Law and papall bulls yet on occasion varies from them as is manifest by these Instructions Relinquendum est arbitrio prudentiae Inquisitorum ut procedant juxta juris dispositionem in his quae hic non expresse dâ—clarantur is answerable to none but the King admitting the Pope either very little or not at all insomuch as Pius 4 tus 1565. sending the Cardinall Buon compagno into Spain upon the cause of the Archbishop of Toledo committed by the Inquisition there six yeares before on an imputation of heresy the Kings counsell liked not he should alone examine that Prelate without joyning two Spaniards both in the processe and sentence Neither did that State receive the Councell of Trent 1564. by other
sculptilibus dicimus quae adbeatae Mariae Virginis vel aliorum sanctorum sunt fabricata memoriam quae tamen gratis grata prout de serico praediximus ad sororum altare vel hospitium vel alio apto loco honeste ponenda decernimus So that it is apparent then their use was esteemed no other then that of silk and these two articles seem to have been resolved on nigh the first foundation being in an hand differing from some other I shall mention by the Founder himself 16. In the year 1200 the house of Sixle or Sixhill in Lincolnshire was visited by the Abbat of Waredune as Commissioner of Otho the Popes Legat where about 20 articles were concluded for the government of the Order the fifth of which though it gave some more liberty then the former yet was not without restraint but take it from an hand of those times Anno gratiae MCC in visitatione facta de Sixl ' per Abbatem de WarduÌ„n auctoritate Domini Otonis Legati statuta sunt haec firmiter observanda Inprimis c. cap. 5. Item inhibetur ne picturarum varie tas aut superfluâ—tas sculpturarum de caetero fieri permittatur nec liceat alicubi yconias haberi nec imagines praeter ymaginem Salvatoris y. beatae Mariae Sancti Johannis Evangelistae Hitherto questionlesse the Church of England following the doctrine of St Gregory had been taught by testimonies of holy writ that omne manufactum â— adorare non liceat and though they might be lawfully made yet by all means to avoid the worship of them but see the progress 17. Sixty eight years after this Othobon being the Popes Legat in England did in his own person visit the chiefhouse of this Order and committed the others to Rodulphus de Huntedune the said Cardinalls Chaplain and penitentiary who associating to himself one Richard generall inquisitor of the Order of Semplingham did in the year 1268. conclude upon 74 or 75. heads or chapters for the government of them the 54 of which under the title de ymaginibus habendis is this Item cum secundum Johannem Damascenum ymaginis honor ad prototypum id est ad eum cujus est ymago pertineat ad instantiam Monialium earum devotionem ferventius excit andam conceduntur eis ymagines crucifixi beatae Mariae sancti Johannis Evangelistae quod possint habere in quolibet altari dedicato ymaginem ipsius sancti in cujus honore altare dedicatum est Sitamen gratis detur eisdem sicut beatus G. de serico de ymaginibus duxit statuendum celebretur ipso die festivitatis illius sancti die dedicationis ejusdem altaris missa ad dicta altaria etiamsi sint infra clausuram monialâ—um Thus they 18. By which it is manifest this Kingdom had not then received the 7th Councell for if they had there can be no thought they would have built their Article upon Damascens opinion onely But by all these we may see Images were brought into this Church by degrees by little and little First they were to have none onely wooden crosses were tolerated then they might not buy any but being given they might accept the image of our Lady and other Saints then an inhibition of all Saints except our Saviour the Blessed Virgin and St Iohn the Evangelist to which was added the image of that Saint their Altars were dedicated unto and these onely by concession not bought but given So that it is plain they were then taken for things onely indifferent as silk which they might use or be without no processions bowings kissing c. of them prescribed but how the practise was afterward that chapter of Arundell registred by Lyndwood may tell you which because it is long I shall not farther repeat it being printed then to adde that it is in him lib. 5. de Magistris cap. Nullus quoque and in another place he propounds this question Numquid ymago Christi sit ador anda cultu latriae and resolves si consideretur ut ymago tunc quia idem motus est in ymagiginem in quantum est ymago ymaginatum unus honor debetur ymagini ymaginato ideo cum Christus latria adoretur ejus imago debet similiter latria adorari Nec obstat Exod. xxvi ubi dicitur non facies tibi ymaginem nec sculptam similitudinem quia illud pro eo tempore erat prohibitum quo Deus humanam naturam non assumpserat c. 19. The Synod at Westminster finding things in this posture and their retention in many parts to have been joyned with a great abuse if not impiety took a middle course first to condemn all manner of adoration or worship of them and therefore every Sculptile had been removed out of Churches but whereas some use might be made of them for remembrance of histories past to retain in sundry parts such windows and pictures as might without offence instruct the ignorant in severall passages not unworthily preserved which if any man have since been offended at it must be on other grounds then I understand 20. As they proceeded with this circumspection not to depart from the primitive Church in matters juris positivi so did they take no less care in points of opinion for having declared which were the books of holy Scripture they did not absolutely reject the use of the other though they had been taught by the doctrine of St Hierom and St Gregory not to repute them in Canone but to admit them quia fidem religionem aedificant or as they say for example of life and instruction of manners 21. For praying to Saints however the Saxons might honor holy men departed â—o cultu dilectionis societatis quo in hac vita coluntur homines as S. Augustine speaks which what it is he explains elsewhere yet I am hardly perswaded to think they did admit any publick praying to them in the Church for I have seen and perused three ancient Saxon Psalters full of prayers but no one petition to any Saint whatsoever Eadmerus sayes the report went of VV â— the second that crederet publica voce assereret nullum sanctorum cuiquam apud Deum posse prodesse ideo nec se velle neo aliquem sapientem debere beatum Petrum interpellare yet he doth not censure this as hereticall but onely mentis elatio Gabriel Biel long after confesseth in his time some Christians as well as Hereticks were deceived in thinking Saints departed nobis auxiliari nec meritis possunt nec precibus The Church of England therefore following S. Augustine condemns all religious invocation of them as those were non adorandi propter religionem yet in respect they were honorandi propter imitationem to retain their commemoration by appointing a set service for the dayes on which it celebrated their memorialls thereby to
of the like nature farther then is proved by the Law and the Prophets c. Yet there is one thing in my opinion very considerable what the Apostles did were such and in those places no man could deny them but these the Church of Rome holds out for confirmation of their religion are either in corners as Garnets Face in the Eare with so dark proofs as when they are looked into res tota cum contemptu dimissa est or else done in Italy or Spain where the Inquisition will suffer none but themselves to examine the fact whereas if they followed th' Apostles example they should be in England or Germany that the Protestants might say indeed a notable miracle hath been done by our Lady is manifest to all and we cannot deny it Acts iiij 16. 26. Another will have that homily at least what he takes on him to confute to contain no other then Catholick doctrine and then falls upon the Archbishop of Armach whom he conceives to have ill translated it out of the Latin in which language there is not now found any ancient copy of it insisting that though it were printed at London 1623. it was not to be heard of when he writ which was about 1631. insinuating as if more might be said if he could see the author himself For the first of these it must be said to contain Catholick Doctrine on the grounds before but if it be that the Church of Rome admits for such I am glad to understand that from him For the Primat of Ireland's translating the Latin to the disadvantage of the Romish I shall give no answer but that his English are indeed some parts of that sermon but the Latin pieces of Bertram so agreeing with them as they were undoubtedly taken out of him by which he gives a far elder testimony to that author then Oecolampadius who was no question a Catholick Doctor but being so why is he prohibited by the Roman Index why if at all permitted must it be excogitato commento For the other that it could not be had in London only eight years after it was printed I can say nothing but some men will not hear that they mislike for that Homily of which if he say any thing he speaks first set out by Iohn Day with the subscription of 15 Bishops attesting the truth of the Copy after 1623 reprinted by Henry Seal alwayes in the book of Acts and monuments c. in the life of Hen. the 8 and of late by Mr. VVhelock put into Latin and taken without any intervening transcription from the originall Saxon that he might not vary in a tittle was with his translation of it printed at Cambridge 1644. amongst divers other excellent notes of that learned man upon Beda that such as understand not the language may in that point see the doctrine of our forefathers 27. A third Doctor who cannot deny but it makes directly against Transubstantiation gives an answer I could not have expected yet in my opinion more ingenuous That it is unreasonable to produce the forcelesse auctority of these Saxon Homilies which have no warrant of truth from any other but from our selves and the margin These Homilies were never heard of but now of late amongst Protestants onely framed and printed by themselves without the warrant of any one indifferent witnesse This is I say what I could not have looked for Can any man imagine two Archbishops thirteen Bishops besides divers other personages of honour and credit could have been induced to subscribe so palpable a lye as it must be if this and the other passages by them there testified to be found in the ancient monuments of this Church were lately framed But the old books that yet remain writ above five hundred yeares since do enough vindicate the Protestants in that which I dare say no one of them who alledge it do in their hearts believe not to have been extant in them as the Archbishop first sent them to the Press 28. Of the little credit the Councell of Lateran in this point gained here I have touched before neither did Peckham's constitution sub panis specie simul dari corpus c. speak home nor was the thing ever absolutely determined with us till 1382 so that the opinion of Transubstantiation that brought so many to the stake had not with us 140 yeares prescription before Martin Luther began for in that year VVickliff having propounded quod substantia panis materialis aut vini manet post consecrationem c. the Archbishop taking it into consideration did not think fit to condemn the Tenet without farther advice with the University of Oxford where libratis singulis every saying weighed and in especiall as it seems those concerned the Eucharist he did condemn some as hereticall others as onely erroneous and farther singulos defensores eorum imposterum sententia excommunicationis innodatos fore and gave command ne quis de caetero cujuscunque status c. haereses seu errores praedictos vel corum aliquem teneat doceat praedicet seu defendat The Chancellor likewise of the Academy repeating VVickliffs opinions touching the holy communion shews they had been diligently discuss't by Doctors in Divinity and professors in the Canon Law ac tandem finaliter est compertum atque judicio omnium declaratum ipsas esse erroneas fidei orthodoxae contrarias determinationibus Ecclesiae repugnantes and then after all this search delivers the doctrine of Transubstantiation as the conclusion agreed to be held Quod per verba sacramentalia à sacerdote prolata panis vtnum in altari in verum corpus Christi sanguinem transubstantiantur seu substantialiter convertuntur sic quod post consecrationem non remanent in illo venerabili sacramento panis materialis vinum secundum suas substantias sed secundum species earundem And this I take to have been the first plenary determination of the Church of England in the case which yet how well it will be liked by such as hold the manner of conversion to be by a succession of Christs body to the substance of the bread I leave others to dispute But certainly the Archbishop not adventuring to proceed in it alone nor by his own councell by his extending what he did onely to the future both for punishment and Tenet and after long enquiry concluding the truth of it enough proves it not to have been in former times fully resolved on in this Church so that we may say of our Auncestors as the Iesuites here about some 60 yeares since did of the Fathers rem Transubstantiationis ne attigerunt And it may not here unfitly have a place that Iohn Tissington a Franciscan whom Pitseus from Baleus not Leland as he would have us think affirms to have been an assistant in this dispute at Oxford 1382 or as some