him that he might be ashamed yet ver 15. Count him not as an Enemy but admonish him as a Brother Yet in some respects it appeareth to be the will of God that an Excommunicated Person should be treated worse than an Heathen 1 Cor. 5.9 10. I wrote you an Epistle saith the Apostle not to company with Fornicators Yet not altogether with the Fornicators of this World or with the Covetous or with Extortioners or Idolaters for then must you needs go out of the World Ver. 11. But now I have written to you not to keep Company if any Man that is called a Brother be a Fornicator or Covetous or an Idolater or Railer or a Drunkard or an Extortioner with such a one no not to eat By which it appeareth that such Persons as are here specified were to be withdrawn from and to that degree that Men should rather have an Intimacy of Communion with Heathens than with them What further Direction we have in this Case is in the Epistles to Tituâ— and Timothy Tit. 3.10 A Man that is an Heretick after the first and second Admonition reject 2 Tim. 3.2 Men shall be lovers of their own selves Covetous Boasters Proud Blasphemers disobedient to Parents unthankful unholy without natural Affection Truce-breakers incontinent fierce Despisers of that which is good Traitors Heady-minded Lovers of Pleasures more that Lovers of God Having a Form of Godliness and denying the Power thereof from such turn away Rom. 16.17 Mark them which make Divisions amongst you contrary to the Doctrine which you have received and avoid them This is the most of what we find in Holy Writ concerning this Institution of Christ both as to the Doctrine concerning it and concerning the Practice of it from whence may be easily gathered that the Description which the Canonists anciently gave of it is not much amiss for Panormitan telleth us That Excommunication is nothing else but a Censure pronounced by the Canon or the Judg Ecclesiastical by which a Person is deprived of the Communion of the Sacraments and sometimes with Men. The former of which he calleth the lesser the latter the greater Excommunication It is a more Theological Description of it to say It is an Institution of Christ for keeping the Purity of his Church by which such as he hath authorized thereunto have Power in such order and manner as he hath appointed to separate from the more intimate Communion of a Church in such Ordinances as may not be administred to Pagans such Persons as Christ hath declared unfit for that Communion untill they have declared their bearty Repentance for such Miscarriages CHAP. II. A further Inquiry concerning the Persons whom God intrusted with the Power of Excommunication being one of the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven they are proved to be Apostles and Pastors of Churches with the consent of the Body of the Church WE are for the fuller understanding of the Will of God in this Institution in the first place to inquire to whom our Lord Jesus hath trusted this Power He tells Peter Mat. 16.19 And I will give unto thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven A Text the Papists make great use of But is no more than he tells all his Disciples of John 20.23 Whose soever Sins you remit they are remitted to them and whose sover Sins you retain are retained and in the Rule he gives us Mat. 18. concerning Offences not committed publickly for such Cases there is no need of fraternal Correption as appears 1 Tim. 5.20 Those that sin rebuke before all he commands the third time they should tell the Church and if the Offender would not hear the Church he should be as an Heathen or a Publican The Church can be no single Person nor doth he write to the Bishops or Pastors but to the Church of Corinth about the incestuous Person 1 Cor. 5. and directs them that the Act should be done when they should be gathered together in the Name of Christ There are in Excommunication two things The Judgment of the Cause and the Pronouncing of the Sentence The pronouncing or publishing of the Sentence is a meer Ministerial Work yet we do not find that it was ever done but by a Bishop or Minister But the main business is to inquire whom Christ the Lord of the Church hath betrusted with hearing these Causes and judging concerning them for of his Appointment they must be who hath any thing to do to turn any out of his House but either he himself who is the Lord of the House or such as he hath delegated thereunto St. Paul saith he had delivered up to Satan Hymeneus and Philetus He ordereth Titus the Bishop or Pastor at least of Crete to reject an Heretick after the first and second Admonition He writes to the Church of Corinth where they were gathered together to deliver up the incestuous Person to Satan From whence we may indeed conclude That the Minister is concerned but not that it was ever committed to him alone without the consent of the Congregation and it is a Rule of Reason Quod omnes tangit ab omnibus tangi debet the whole Body is concerned in the cutting off of any Member and in vain shall any Officers cast one out of Communion with the Church with whom yet the Church will keep Communion Nothing appears more clear to me than that it belongeth to the Bishop or Pastor with the whole Church to hear such Causes and the Pastor and Officers to judg of them which being granted I cannot see how any Person can be lawfully Excommunicated by any Council or Synod it must proceed from the Church gathered together and that the Officers of many Churches gathered together should make a Church clothed with Authority from Christ to Excommunicate I cannot understand from any thing of Holy-Writ And indeed I take one of the first warpings from the Rule of Christ as to this Ordinance to have been then For had the Cause been of much more weight than the mis-timing of Easter I cannot understand by what Authority unless usurped Victor could Exccommunicate the Churches of Asia But to pass this for more than five hundred Years after Christ the Churches never allowed it within the Power of any but either of the Collective Church or the Bishops and Pastors in their respective Churches to hear the Causes of Persons with reference to the Solemn Sentence of Excommunication and to determin any to it In the third Century the Power rested penes Seniores Ecclesiae in the Elders of the Church as appears from Tertullian's Apologetick and the Denunciation of the Sentence was by a Bishop or Presbyter this Origen hinteth to us again and again Thus it was in Cyprian's Time in the Case of Fortunatus Foelicissimus Maximus and Jevinus and thus if we will believe Ecclesiastical History Fabranus Excommunicated the Emperor Philip tho I give little Credit to Eusebius in that Story believing the course of excommunicating Emperors of
great while they studied by their Canon Laws to uphold its Authority denying the Excommunicated Persons Burial in Church-yards a Power to make a Will and such other things as were within their Power which things by the Popes long Usurpations became a kind of Common Law in Nations subjugated to that Religion yet they found all this too little to uphold the Authority of an Ordinance of God whose Virtue themselves had extinguished by their horrible Profanation of it And at the last were forced to fly to the Secular Magistrate from whom in times of Popery when almost all Civil Magistrates were made their Slaves to execute their Lusts they obtained several other things which were civil Punishments of the Person that durst adventure to stand their Sentence of Excommunication He might not be either Judg or Witness in any Court. If he had occasion to sue any for his just Right in any Court his Excommunication might be pleaded in bar to his Proceedings If he stood excommunicated forty days the Bishop might signify it to the Civil Magistrate and have from him a Writ to imprison the Person to be kept without Bail or Mainprize until he had given Satisfaction to the Church and obtained its leave to come out The Writ with us here in England made in Popish Times ran thus The King to the Sheriff of L. greeting The Venerable Father H. Bishop of London hath signified to us by his Letters Patents that B. a Member of his Diocese hath been Excommunicated by his ordinary Authority for his manifest Contumacy and will not be reformed by the Ecclesiastical Censures whereas the Royal Power ought not to be wanting to Holy Church in its Complaints we command you to imprison the Body of the said B. according to the Custom of England until he shall have satisfied Holy Church as well for his Contempt as the Injury which he hath done unto it They not satisfied with this obtained also another writ from the Civil Magistrate commanding the burning of the Person whom they had once determined to be an Heretick by virtue of which many good Christians were burned as in former times so in the time of King Hen. 8th and Queen Mary of which our Martyrology speaks sufficiently but this is by a late Act destroyed Being furnished with this Power they were busy enough in the Execution of it and themselves found Inconveniences arising from the extravagant use of it so as even the Canon Law it self regulated divers things Among others it ordained a threefold Caution for such as were Excommunicated upon the giving of any of which they were to be discharged even by the Canon Law A Caution by Pledg a Caution by Sureties and a Caution by Oath that is the Party was either to lay in some Cledg to the Bishop or enter into a Bond with Sureties or take an Oath that he would afterwards be obedient to the Commands of the Church in form of Law and upon this he was to be absolved The Caution by Oath was only admitted in case the Party was able to give no other as appears from the Canon Law Sexti decretat l. 5. tit 9. But the Civil Power even in the times of Popery quickly found the unreasonable Inconveniences accruing to the Nation by this extravagant Power formerly either indulged to or usurped by Church-men which it took care to restrain by several Statutes and Writs To this purpose was the Writ of Prohibition invented I cannot tell the just Original of it but it appears by the Statute of Circumspecte agatis made 13 Edw. 1. that was 1285 that is now near 400 Years since that it was before that time in use for that Statute restraineth the issuing of it in Cases of Fornication and Adultery leaving the Church-yard unclosed or the Church uncovered in case of Oblations and accustomed Tithes and in case of Mortuaries and Pensions Defamation and laying violent Hands on Clerks By which it is plain it was in use before that time and that before that time Prohabitions were wont to issue when any was questioned for these things in the Courts Ecclesiastical It is the Error of some that Writs of Prohibition do not lye where the matter is not cognoscible in the Spiritual Court but properly belongs to the Court Ecclesiastical But Dr. Cozens in his Apology for Ecclesiastical Proceedings pag. 1. c. 17. gives us a much truer Notion of that Writ telling us The Prohibition is a Charge by the King 's Writ to forbear to hold Plea either in some matter or manner which it is supposed a Man dealeth in beyond his Jurisdiction or otherwise than the Law will warrant A Writ of Prohibition commanding the Ecclesiastical Court to proceed no further may be had not only where the thing doth properly belong to the Ecclesiastical Court but also where they proceed in a manner which the Laws of England do forbid As 1. If an Ecclesiastical Court will proceed before they have given the Party accused a true Copy of Articles a Prohibition lies upon the Statute 2 Hen. 5. 2. Also whether in case of a Prosecution by Informers if the Court will proceed before the Informer hath done what is required by the Statute 18 Eliz. 15. and other Statutes made to regulate Informers a Prohibition will not lye in those Cases 3. According to the Canon Law also every Prostor ought to have a Letter Procuratory under the Hand and Seal of him who imployeth him And an Act of Court ought to be made to admit him as a Proctor for such Persons and if this be not the Party prosecuted can recover no Charge because there is no Legal Adversary to recover it from By that Law also voluntary Promoters which may be Vagrants ought first to give Security to pay Charges if over thrown If the Ecclesiastical Judg refuseth these things Query Whether a Prohibition will not lye 4. By the Canon Law also Vox unius est nox millius No one Witness makes a Proof If a Judg in those Courts will give Sentence upon the Proof of a single Witness a Prohibition will lye 5. If the Judg of an Ecclesiastical Court will allow a Person to be charged generally or incertainly it is against the Common Law of England the Judg in that case will prohibit the Ecclesiastical Judg. So in many other Cases where the manner of the Proceedings in the Court Ecclesiastical is either plainly against the Civil and Canon Law Rules or against the known Rules of Common Law so that I conceive a Prohibition is A Common law-writ forbidding the Ecclesiastical Judg to proceed either in a Case which doth belong to his Jurisdiction or in such a manner as is manifestly against the Rules of the Civil and Canon Law according to which he ought to judg or against the Common or Statute Laws of this Realm of which and the true sense of which his Majesties Judges in the Courts at Westminster are the Judges and the Benefit of which is the Liberty
THE CASE and CURE OF Persons Excommunicated According to The present Law of England In Two Parts I. The nature of Excommunication as founded in Holy Writ the Persons intrusted with that Power the Objects of that Censure and the Method prescribed by God for it The Corruptions of it in times of Popery with the Acts of the Popish Clergy to fortify it with under these Corruptions The several Writs of Common Law and the Statute Laws made in those times and still in force to restrain the abuse of this Censure and to deliver the Subjects from the Oppression of it II. The Mischievous Consequents of Excommunication as the Law now stands at present in England With some Friendly Advice to Persons pursued in Inferior Ecclesiastical Courts by Malicious Promoters both in order to their avoiding Excommunication or delivering themselves from Prisons if imprisoned because they have stood Excommunicated Fourty days LONDON Printed for J. R. Sold by Richard Janeway 1682. PART I. The Case and Cure of Persons Excommunicated according to the present Law of England CHAP. I. The Foundation of Excommunication both in Reason and from Scripture both of the Old and New Testament EXcommunication being the Separation of a Person from the Communion of the Church at least in some Ordinances seems to be founded in the Law of Reason as well as in Holy Writ for it is very irrational to imagine that any Political Body should be left without a Power to purge it self from such Members of it as are unfit for Communion with it And as the God of Order never left any Kingdom or Commonwealth without a Power to make and execute or at least to execute such Laws as were necessary for its Preservation So it is most of all unreasonable to imagine That that Body whereof Christ is the Head should not be cloathed with Authority sufficient to free it self from disorderly Members God who himself instituted all the Laws of the Jewish Church did not leave that Church without a Power to keep their Communion pure and holy Hence we shall find that Penalty He shall be cut off from his People so often annexed to those Laws which doubtless is not to be understood of Eternal Condemnation for it is unreasonable to imagine that the Child of eight days old should be eternally condemned for the Parents neglect to circumcise it Gen. 17.14 Nor of Corporal Punishments alone for tho God was about to have killed Moses for not circumcising his Child yet we read of no danger the Child was in but the Phrase is certainly to be understood of a penal judicial Separation of the Person from the visible Communion of the Church And that some such thing was in practice amongst the Jews appears in their most corrupt times both by their casting one out of the Synagogue in Christ's time whom he received and by his Prediction to his Disciples that the Jews would for their Confession of him turn them out of the Synagogues Upon the Reformation and the Settlement of the Christian Church Christ is supposed to have clothed his Church with such a Power Mat. 16.19 And I will give unto thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and whatsoever thou shalt bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven The same Power he committed to more of his Disciples John 20.23 Whosoever Sins ye remit they are remitted and whosoever Sins ye retain they are retained Our Saviour seemeth more particularly to direct in the Case Mat. 18.15 Moreover if thy Brother shall trespass against thee go and tell him his Fault betwixt thee and him alone if he shall hear thee thou hast gained thy Brother But if he will not hear thee then take with thee one or two more that in the mouth of two or three Witnesses every Word may be established And if he neglect to hear them tell it the Church if he neglect to hear the Church let him be unto thee as an Heathen and a Publican Verily I say unto you whatsoever you shall bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever you shall loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven More than this we find not in our Saviour's Directions given by himself But he ascending up on high gave Gifts unto Men Apostles Evangelists Prophets Pastors and Teachers Apostles to plant Churches and to put them in order revealing his Will unto them for their Order and Government Pastors and Teachers for the ordinary Government of them by putting the Laws in Execution which Christ personally gave or which the Apostles gave for the ordering and Government of them we find the Apostle Paul more fully instructing us as to this Ordinance of Excommunication we have an eminent Instance 1 Cor. 5. A Person that was a Member of the Church of Corinth had taken his Father's Wife the Apostles Judgment concerning him is declared ver 4. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ when ye are gathered together and my Spirit with the Power of our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver such a â—â—e unto Satan for the Destruction of the Flesh that the Spirit may be saved in the day of our Lord Jesus That Phrase of delivering unto Satan is again mentioned 1 Tim. 1.20 of whom is Hymeneus and Alexander whom I have delivered unto Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme Most agree that the Apostle in these Texts by delivering to Satan and understands Excommunication why he expresseth it by the notion of delivering up to Satan is not so uniformly agreed Some think that Excommunicated Persons were in these Times corporally vexed by Satan I could never see it well proved at least that it was ordinarily done tho God might make some such remarkable Instances of his Vengeance There is a sense in the Canon Law which pleaseth me much better which is by the Apostle called The God of the World as the Church is God's House so Men out of the Church are in Satan's Territories and under his Government and this certainly is the meaning of that Phrase The Apostle delivered up Hymenâ—â—s and Philetus who had put away Faith and a good Conscience to the World that is Shut them out of the Communion of God's House which is the Church and left them to the World and this comporteth with our Saviour's Institution Let him be to them as an Heathen and as a Publican From which also appeareth that Persons under that Sentence might according to the Will of God be admitted to such Ordinances as Heathens might be admitted to who might be preached to and prayed for Yea the Excommunicated Person was in something a better Condition than a meer Pagan for the Church was under an Obligation to admonish him as one that had been a Brother 1 Thess 3.6 14. he had given command That if any Brother did walk disorderly they should withdraw themselves from him ver 14. they should note him and have no company with
Sentence it speaketh so much as one would think more were needless to be said So as the hasty thundering out of Excommunications which we see in our Days is so far from deriving any Repute or Authority from Holy Writ that it cannot so much as derive from the Popish Canon Law CHAP. V. The Original of those Corruptions which have been or are found in the Church as to Excommunications SInce the Pope claimed to himself the Title of the Head of the Visible Church all Ecclesiastical Power hath been pretended to derive from him who grants it or such part of it as he pleaseth to Archbishops Bishops Arch-deacons c. with a Power also to them to delegate it unto others Those who are broken off from the Church of Rome and yet will have National and Diocesan Churches must make Bishops the Spiritual Heads of them clothed with immediate Power from Christ to influence their several Churches and to deal out God's Ordinances unto them To keep my self to that particular Ordinance which is the Subject of my Discourse The Canon Law of old determined That Laymen being licensed from the Pope the Vicar of Christ might excommunicate and even Bishops might not in some particular Causes reserved to his Holiness Since Bishops extended their Dioceses beyond the reach of their own Eye and the possibility of their own Personal Care there was a necessity also of their delegating their Power as to Jurisdiction Whether this necessity did not arise from their own Error in taking Charges which according to the Divine Rule they could not discharge I leave to others to inquire as also by what Authority any Ecclesiastical Officer can depute another to use the key of Discipline committed to him more than the Key of Knowledg or the Administration of Sacraments Supposing them to have a Power to delegate they must either delegate it to Ministers or Lay-men To have deputed only Ministers of particular Congregations had been both very unreasonable and dangerous unreasonable that a Minister of a particular Congregation should have a Power to excommunicate the Members of another for the Bishop could not make him Pastor of the whole Diocese And dangerous too to the Episcopal Function lest People should have been nursed up in an Opinion that the Minister did it by his own Power immediately derived from Christ and so there had been no need of a Bishop for Jurisdiction Thus when one absurdity is granted an hundred follow Upon this point I will only add the Testimony of Sir Francis Bacon sometimes Lord Chancellour of England not so much for the Authority as for the Reason of it Two things there are saith he in our Episcopal Government in which I was never satisfied 1. The single Exercise of their Authority 2. Their Deputation of it After he had spoken fully to the first he comes to the latter Our Bishops saith he exercise their Jurisdiction by Chancellours Commissaries Officials c. We see that according to the Laws of all Nations throughout the World Offices which require Skill and Trust are not executed by Deputation unless it be so expressed in the Original Commission and in that case it is lawful No Judg in any Court ever substituted a Deputy The Bishop is a Judg and that in Matters of an higher Nature how cometh he to substitute another when as all Trust is personal and inherent in the Person trusted and cannot be transferred to another Certainly as to this from the beginning it was not so It is saith he probable that when Bishops gave themselves too much to the Pomp of this World and in Kingdoms became Peers and Councellours to Princes they delegated their Jurisdiction which was proper to them as a thing beneath their Greatness and like Kings and Count-Palatines would have Councellours and Judges under them That learned Author speaks a great deal more in this Cause Nor hath any consciencious learned Man that I know defended this Power of hearing and judging Causes in order to Excommunication in the hands of any save only such as have been Ministers of the Gospel or the whole Church or the Lawfulness of Deputations in the Case It was first practised in the Church of Rome and that in latest and most corrupt Ages From the same Authors are derived Excommunications for light and trivial things a thing condemned by all Ancient Councils and up and down in the Canon-Law which forbiddeth all Excommunications unless for Heresy or for some Mortal Sin But we must know to what an heighth of Power the Advocates for the Church of Rome had cryed up that Church That it was impossible any could be guilty of a more Mortal Sin than not coming when any Officers of that Church said Come or not going when they said Go or not doing this or that when they said Do it Hence it came to pass that when as originally the Church had nothing to do to send for any as a Criminal but he that was accused as such for some Crime for which according to the Law of God he was if found guilty to be excommunicated in which Case indeed his non-appearance might be interpreted a Confession of the Guilt and a Contumacy in it The Church of Rome having from the Favour of Princes got for their Bishops the Cognisance of a Multitude of temporal Causes and consequently Authority to summon People to answer and to decree in the Cause their not appearing to such Summons or not obeying such Decrees was also judged a Contumacy to the Church and the Crime deserving Excommunication than which a greater Abuse cannot easily be imagined And it is no wonder that after that Excommunication came to be the Work of those who had no place in the Church of Christ as to matters of Judgment and also came to be thundred out upon every light occasion and so had lost all the repute of a Divine Institution thence it came as slightly to be managed or denounced all the Gravity and Seriousness of the Administration was lost The leisurable Admonitions given with the Interposition of many Days and Months were turned to the slighty saying thrice in a breath I admonish you the first time I admonish you the second time I admonish you the third time CHAP. VI. The Reason of the contempt of Excommunications frome hence The Arts of the Papists to strengthen it with other Penalties from Canon and Common and Statute Laws The Magistrates discerning their Errors even in Popish Times restraining them again by several Writs of Prohibition and Supersedeas and Attachments and the Writ de Cautione admittenda BY this time Excommunication which rightly administred was the most formidable Sentence that could be pronounced in any Court under Heaven at once depriving the Person of that special Providence of God peculiar to his Church and of the Communion of Saints and of the hope of the Pardon of Sins without a Repentance testified became a contemptible thing in the Eyes of the People and tho a
I do not remember that this Case hath been tried but were it my own concern I do think that I should upon a Refusal to admit my Appeal either presently appeal to the King in his High Court of Chancery that is to the Delegates or else complain in some of his Majesties's Courts at Westminster that my Appeal was refused contrary to the Stature 24. Hen. 8.12 and hear the Opinions of the Judges about it for this Practice is a meer Artifice to â—y up the Subject to the pleasure of a single Arbitrary Judge This is all I know can be done to avoid an Excommunication and I dare not promise my Reader but that notwithstanding this he may be excommunicated for besides that this is the great Prize they wait for and so take all Advantages they think they have to wound one with this Thunder-bolt there is nothing more ordinary then for Judges and Surrogates in those Courts to go on notwithstanding Prohibitions and Appeals The last thing therefore which I have to do is to inform my Reader what Course he may take if he be imprisoned upon the Writ de Excommunicato capiendo to get out of Prison He must know no Prohibition nor Inhibition will serve him in that Case not the first because no Prohibition will lye against the King's Writ Besides the Prohibition is to the Bishop who hath done his utmost and hath no more to do in the Case till be come to signify for the Delivery of the Person and for the same Reason an Appeal and an Inhibition will do him no good for no Ecclesiastical Court shall controul the King 's Writ No Writs of Habeas Corpus or de Homine replegiando will help him nor any Indictment upon Magna Charta because tho the Person be not imprisoned per judicium parium upon the Verdict of a Jury yet he is imprisoned per Legem Terrae according to the Common Law of England They are therefore ill advised who seek Deliverance any of these ways and they only augment their own Charge Dr. Cozens who I think was in Queen Elizabeth's time Dean of the Archers in his Apology for some Proceedings in Causes Ecclesiastical tells us He could never learn more than two ways by which a Person so imprisoned could deliver himself The first is by Submission to the Bishop and giving him Caution by Bond by Pledg or by Oath that for the time to come he will be obedient to the Commands of the Church in Form of Law The second is In case the Party appealeth to a Superiour Court Ecclesiastical He might have reckoned many more of the same nature with the second which supposeth the Court from whence the Excommunication proceeded to have proceeded wrongfully In which case there are several Remedies according to the various Errors committed in the Proceedings I will mention some of them 1. If the Party imprisoned hath brought a Prohibition by which the Ecclesiastical Court hath been commanded to proceed no further and to absolve the Person if excommunicated and the Judg hath disobeyed the Writ and signified and procured the Party to be imprisoned the Person that is imprisoned at any time in Term upon a motion shall have first an Attachment against the Judg and then a Writ of Supersedeas to the Sheriff to deliver the Prisoner to follow the Attachment without any Submission to the Bishop at all or any Caution Such a Writ may be found in the Register of Original Writs p. 66. Nay if the Attachment be granted and the Person be imprisoned or a Writ out commanding him to be taken and the Term be done before the Attachment can be served the Register tells us that he shall have the same Writ during the Vacation out of Chancery Nay it is the Opinion of Men skilled in the Law that he shall have such a Supersedeas upon Affidavit made that the Proceedings are contrary to a Prohibition served upon the Judg tho no such Attachment be taken out 2. If the Party imprisoned or against whom the Writ is to take him tho he be not taken hath appealed according to the Statute 24. Hen. 8.12 if he bringeth into the Court of Chancery an authentick Copy of his Appeal he shall have a Writ of Supersedeas to stop the Sheriff from apprehending him or to deliver him if he be apprehended only this must be within a Year after his Appeal that it may appear to the Court he hath not deserted his Appeal you may find Forms of such a Supersedeas also in the Register of Original Writs both these are founded upon excellent Reason The Law of England will not suffer Ecclesiastical Judges either to invade their Right or to exalt themselves against their Authority nor yet suffer Inferiour Ecclestastical Courts to invade the Right Power and Authority of Superiour Courts in their own order 3. If a Person be sued in the Ecclesiastical Courts for a matter not within their Jurisdiction and they have caught him upon Contempt in not appearing or not obeying their Sentence Upon a Suggestion to the King's Courts if it appear to them that the Original Matter was not cognoscible in the Ecclesiastical Courts they will supersede the Proceedings and order the imprisoned Person to be discharged 4. If the imprisoned Person or he against whom the Writ is out tho he be not taken bring a Copy of the Bishops Significavit into the Courts at Westminster and make it appear to the Judges there that the cause of Excommunication is not therein expressed together with the day when it was pronounced if he be not said to be excommunicated majori Excommunicatione if it be not signed by the Bishop or said to be done Authoritate nostra ordinarta If the Party excommunicated be not expressed by Name the Court will deliver the Person Dr. Cozens mentions three of these Cases and the Reader also may find them in the Register of Writs The first he saith he cannot find in the Register viz. That the Articles or matter of the Libel must be expressed nor indeed do I find it there but it is in several Reports The Reasons are 1. Because the Law will not suffer Men to be imprisoned for every light Offence this Dr. Cozens gives 2. The second is because the King's Courts can receive Significavits from none but the Person to whom if need be they may write to discharge the Prisoner Nor will the Court suffer a Person to be excommunicated and lye in Prison for a Crime which the Ecclesiastical Court hath no Judgment in nor yet unless it appeareth to the Court he hath stood forty days excommunicated Again heretofore whole Cities and Communities have been excommunicated therefore the Person must be expressed by Name or he shall not lye there 5. Let him procure the Copy of the Writ de Excommunicate capiendo and observe 1. If it be issued in Term-time 2. If there were full twenty days betwixt the Test and the Return 3. If it be made returnable