have his obedience perfect indeed the Abbot bid him thrust his naked arme into a great seething pot full of meat pull out the lowest peece of meat that was in the pot and added that if the scalding liquor did not hurt his naked arme then his obedience was perfect indeed Malmesburiensis in his second book de gestis Pontificum Anglorum in the life of Elstan saith that the Monke did doe so and his hand and arme received no harme and thereby as by a miracle his obedience was knowne to be perfect indeed In the third place they extend it to thinges wicked and ungodly Cardinall Bellarmine de Pontifice Rom. lib. 4 cap. 5. tells us that if (x) Si autem Papa erraret praecipiendo vitia vel prohibendo virtutes teneretur Ecclesia credere vitia esse bona et virtutes malas misi vellet contra conscientiam peccare the Pope should so farre forth erre as to command vices and to forbid vertues the Church were bound to beleeve that vices are good and vertues are evill unlesse she will sinne against her owne conscience and Cardinall Cusanus excitat lib. 2. Serm. 2. excitat lib. 6. serm super respice domine de caelo vide requires every man to yeild both implicite faith blind obedience not onely to the Popes erronious doctrine but also to the erronious doctrine of his own prelate and that without any further search or inquiry after the truth (y) Quam firma est aedificatio ecclesiae quia nemo potest decipi etiam per malum praesidentem si dixeris domine obedivi tibi in praeposito hoc tibi sufficiet ad salutem Tu enim per obedientiam quam facis praeposito quem ecclesia tollerat decipi nequis etimasi praeceperit alia quam debuit praesumit enim ecclesia de illa sententia cui si tu obedieris magna erit merces tua Obedientia igitur irrationalis est consummata obedientia prefectissima scil quando obeditur sine inquisitione rationis sieut iumentum obedit domino suo how strong saith he is the building of the Church for no man can be deeeiued no not by an evill prelate If thou say unto God O Lord I have obeyed thee in my prelate this shall suffice thee unto salvation for thou canst not be deceived by thine obedience which thou yeildest unto thy prelate whom the church suffereth though he command thee other thinges than he ought to doe for the Church presumeth his sentence to be good which sentence if thou obey thy reward shall be great Obedientia igitior irrationalis est consummata obedientia perfectissima Therefore saith hee obedience unreasonable obedience without reason blind obedience is consummate and most perfect obedience that is saith he when thou obeyest thy prelate without seeking a reason even as an horse obeyeth his Master Suppose now my Lord that the Pope should teach the Church and the Bishop should teach those of his diocesse and the generall of the Jesuites should teach those of his order not such doctrine as * Defens fidie lib. 6. cap. 6. mysteria patrum Iesuit p. 159. 160. 161. Swarez teaches that it is lawfull for any man actually to depose and kill a King by the Popes sentence First excommunicaed deposed and devested of his Subjects allegiance and fealty But such doctrine as * Mr. Anthony Arnoulds plea. pag. 11. 12 Varade Principall of the Iesuites in France taught Barriere namely that to murder Henry the fourth of France though a Catholique and not excommunicate was a meritorious worke and that for that deed hee should goe straight unto Paradise or that to murder any other good King good Magistrate good man is a meritorious worke and that for that deed hee that doth it shall goe straight unto Heaven In this case according to this doctrine what were the Church the Bishops subjects and the Jesuites bound to doe onely vi mandati virtute obedientiae without any reference to those manifold subtilties distinctions and subdistinctions in the Jesuites King-killing doctrine why the Church saith Bellarmine it tied in conscience to beleeve and obey the Pope though he teach vertue to be vice and vice to be vertue otherwise she sinnes against her conscience The Bishops subjects must obey him without requiring a reason as an horse having a bridle on his head followes his Master and this saith Cusanus is perfect obedience and after the fact is done if they say unto God O Lord wee have obeyed thee in our prelate they have every one his quietus est this shall suffice them unto salvation nay their reward shall be great And the Jesuites even by their vow are bound to obey their generall even as Iesus Christ himselfe ubique in omnibus every where and in all thinges yea when he commands them to kill and murder And hereupon Campian in that one of his three (z) Generalis praepositi nostri dâ—creto quod ego tanquam mandatum caelitus missum a Christo ipso sancitum veneror Praga Romam ubi Generalis nostri perpetua sedes est Roma deinde in Angliam contendi Campian Epist prefixed before his ten reasons directed to Queene Elizabeths counsell saith that he came over into England iussu sui Generalis tanquam iussu ipsius Christi at the command of his generall as at the command of Christ himselfe and what to doe Even by his owne confession as Sir Edward Coke in Caudreys case saith to make a party for the Catholicke cause that is to withdraw the Queenes subjects from her allegiance and to reconcile them to the Church of Rome which as Sir Edward Coke there saith is treason and punishable with death by the common lawes of the Land And if any will further see the fruites and effects of this arbitrary and blind obedience let him cast his eyes upon Felton at the command of Pope Pius Quintus setting up upon the Bishop of London his gates an excommunication against his owne Soveraigne Queene Elizabeth that peerelesse Lady Let him cast his eyes upon Iacob Clement murdering King H. the 3. upon Francis Ravaillac murdering King Henry the fourth both of France And lastly upon the Gun-powder treason plotted and contrived by the advice and approbation of Henry Garnet superiour of the Jesuites here in England and of Oswold Tesmond Iohn Garrard and other Jesuites as appeares by the 2. of the third of Iames. And this is the reason my Lord that such monstrous impieties and such matchlesse villanies are done by the inferiour at the command of the superiour in the Church of Rome not in the Church of England because the Church of Rome doth approve and embrace arbitrary and blind obedience and the two parts and kinds thereof uncanonicall and anticanonicall and extends it to thinges fond and frivolous ridiculous and absurd yea wicked and ungodly which the Church of England doth utterly reject and contents her selfe with Canonicall
obedience unto the canons testantibus ad versarijs the person but meane poore but a Presbyter a minister an incumbent and that onely of a single benefice and never any waies contumacious this matter belongs not to the cognisance of the High commission but to the jurisdiction of the ordinary and then it hath beene all this while coram non judice and so the sentence and whole proceedings are utterly voyd And thus much concerning this first question which my refusall to preach the Archdeacons visitation Sermon if it be a breach of Canonicall obedience begets namely that the breaches of canons or of canonicall obedience to the canons according to the Lawes and customes of his land belong to the jurisdiction of the Ordinary and not to the cognisance of the High commission court or that for the breach of a canon or of canonicall obedience to the canons according to the Lawes and customes of this land men are not to be fetcht from the judgement jurisdiction of the Ordinary up to the High Commission court and there to be fin'd imprisond but are to be left to the judgement and jurisdicton of the ordinary and he to proceede against them according to the power of the Keies Now on the other side my Lord if this my refusall to preach the Archdeacons visitation sermon be no breach of canonicall obedience then it begets this question whether the high commissioners your Lordship this court the Barons of the Exchequer and the Lords of the counsell have power to punish me for that which is no fault no breach of any law And least the high commissioners this court the Barons of the Exchequer and the Lordes of the counsell should all thinke to escape by maintaining the affirmative that they have power to punish me for that which is no fault no breach of any law and peradventure in a desperate case they will not sticke to maintaine a desperate opinion especially seeing your Lordship hath shew'd and lead them all the way For termino trinitatis 1637. When your Lordship delivered your opinion in the especiall verdict betweene Allen and Nash your Lordship not onely affirmed the high commission sentence of deprivation and degradation against me but also maintained that your Lordship and this court were bound to affirme it whether it were true or false grounded upon a cause or upon no cause Therefore my Lord to stoppe up that gap to prevent that starting hole to overthrow that parodox and with one argument to confute those foure Honorable senates whereof the first and the last the high commissioners and the Lords of the counsell challenge as great authority as the King himselfe hath and all of you in this my case usurpe a greater for you all punish me for that which is no fault no breach of any law I must in the first place Thesis 1 shew that no Magistrate whatsoever no not the supreame hath any power prerogative or authority to punish any man within his jurisdiction except it be for some fault some offence some vice some error some evill some sinne some transgression of some law Thesis 2 And secondly I must shew that my refusall to preach the Arch-deacons Visitation Sermon my principall or especiall fault in the judgement of my adversaries is no fault no offence no vice no error no evill no sinne no transgression of any Law whatsoever and that therefore neither the high commissioners your Lordship this court the Barons of the Exchequer the Lords of the counsell nor any other Magistrate whatsoever no not the supreme hath any power prerogative or authority to punish me muchlesse to imprison me for it And for the first of these positions that no Magistrate whatsoever no not the supreame hath any power Thesis 1. Tractatio prerogative or authority to punish any man within his jurisdiction except it be for some fault some offence some vice some error some evill some sinne some transgression of some law this appeares out of the 13. chapter to the Rom. verse 3. where the Apostle speaking of that Magistrate to whom the sword is committed of that Magistrate to whom we pay tribute of that magistrate to whom we must submit not onely for wrath but for conscience sake of that Magistrate to whom every soule is to be subject that is of the soveraigne supreme Monarchicall Magistrate Gods immediate deputy and vicegerent he saith of that Magistrate the Magistrate is not a terror to good workes but to evill wilt thou then be without feare of the power doe well so shalt thou have praise of the same for he is the Minister of God for thy wealth But if thou do evill then feare for he beares not the sword in vaine for he is the Minister of God to take vengeance on him that doth evill Saint Paul then is cleere that no Magistrate whatsoever can justly punish any man except it be for some evill And Saint Peter testifies as much 1 Epist 2. chap. 13. and 14. verses Submit your selves saith he to every ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be unto the King as the supreame or unto governours as them that are sent of him sent of him for what purpose Even for the same purpose that he before is sent of God namely for the punishment of them that doe evill and for the praise of them tbat doe well So that by the expresse word of God no Magistrate whatsoever no not the supreame hath any power prerogative or authority to punish any man within his jurisdiction except it be for some fault some offence some vice some error some evill some sinne some transgression of some law And this much my Lord king Artashast saw by the very light of nature as appeares by the wordes of his Commission granted to Ezra and expressed Ezra 7. chap. 25. 26. verse And thou Ezra after the wisedome of thy God that is in thy hand set Magistrates and Iudges which may judge all the people beyond the river even all that know the law of thy God and teach-yee them that know it not And whosoever will not doe the law of thy God and the law of thy King let judgement be speedily executed upon him whether it be unto death or to banishment to confifcation of goods or to imprisonment In which wordes King Artashast just as Saint Peter and Saint Paul before did gives power unto Ezra to punish men not for well doing but for evill doing no for keeping but for breaking Gods lawes and the Kings not for obedience but for disobedience not for vertue but for vice Nay God himselfe chalengeth no greater prerogative then to reward the observers and to punish the transgressers of his law Cursed be he saith Moses that confirmeth not all the wordes of Gods law to doe them Deut. 27. or as the Apostle expresseth it Gal. 3. Cursed is every man that continueth not in all things which are written in the booke of the law to doe them And if
they onely who breake Gods law be cursed then all those who keep his law must needs be blessed and this much Moses expresly telleth the Israelites Deut. 11. Behold saith he I set before you this day a Blessing and a Curse the Blessing if ye obey the commandements of the Lord your God The Curse if ye will not obey the commandements of the Lord your God And if God the supreme Magistrate of all the world and the creator of all men and Magistrates will not punish any man except it be for some breach of his law how can any of his deputy Magistrates without pride or presumtion arrogate more or chalenge any power prerogative or authority to punish any man for that which is no fault no offence no vice no error no evill no sinne no transgression of any law whatsoever And here now my Lord behold the conformity both of our Kings and of the lawes of our Kingdom unto the word of God in this particuler our (d) King Iames confesseth so much in his speech to the Lords commons at whitehall on Wednesday 21 Martii 1609. p. 12. pag. 13. hee saith all Kings that are not tirants or periured wil be glad to bound them selves within the Jimites of their lawes they that perswad them the contrary are vipers pests both against them and the Common Wealth Kings chalenge no more our lawes made by their owne appointment confirmed by their owne authority which by oath they are bound to maintaine and which his (e) K. Charles in his declaration to all his loving subiects published by the advice of his privy councell 1641. pag. 20. saith wee doubt not it will bee the most acceptable declaration a King can make to his subiects that for our part we are resolved not only duely to observe the lawes Our selfe but to mainetaine them against what opposition soever though with the hazard of our being Majesty professeth he will maintaine against whatsoever opposition with the hazard of his owne being gives them no more This appeares out of the first of the first of Eliz. an act to restore unto the crowne the ancient jurisdiction over the state Ecclesiasticall which Sir Edward Coke in Cawdreys case calls an act onely declaratory and assertory of the ancient jurisdiction of the Crowne not collatory or introductory of any new right And what jurisdiction doth that act restore or more properly declare to be restored to the Crowne Namely all such spirituall and Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction as by any manner spirituall or Ecclesiasticall power or authority hath heretofore beene or may lawfully be exercised for the Uisitation of the state Ecclesiasticall and for the reformation of all manner errors heresies schismes abuses faults offences contempts enormities In which wordes my Lord there are three things expressed incident to the ancient jurisdiction of the Crowne First it is Soveraigne and supreame over and above all excluding and abrogating all forreigne including but not abrogating all domesticke jurisdiction Secondly it is such a jurisdiction as may lawfully be exercised it is not then an unlawfull but a lawfull jurisdiction And Thirdly it is for the reformation of all errors heresies schismes abuses faults offences contempts enormities It is no power then to punish men for truthes for conformity to the doctrine and discipline established for vertues for obedience to the Ecclesiasticall lawes of this land no but for errors heresies schismes abuses faults offences contempts enormities And this my Lord doth likewise appeare by the end of that ancient jurisdiction of the Crowne expressed in that statute which is that all thinges in the Ecclesiasticall courts by vertue of that ancient Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction of the Crowne may be done to the pleasure of Almighty God to the increase of vertue and to the maintenance of the peace and unity of this realme Now my Lord if the end of that ancient jurisdiction of the Crowne be for the maintenance of the peace and unity of this realme then that ancient iurisdiction of the Crowne cannot punish men for peace and unity but for discord and dissention not for obeying the lawes of this land which is a principall meanes to maintaine the peace and unity of this realme but for violating the lawes of the land which is a forcible meanes to breed discord and dissention Againe if the end of that ancient jurisdiction of the Crowne be for the increase of vertue then that ancient jurisdiction of the Crowne cannot punish men for their vertues but for their vices for otherwise that would be a meanes to decrease vertue and to increase vice And thirdly seeing the end of that ancient jurisdiction of the Crowne is that thereby all thinges in the Ecclesiasticall courts should be done to the pleasure of Almighty God and the pleasure of Almighty God as I have before shew'd out of Saint Peter and Saint Paul is that the Magistrate shall not be a terror to good workes but to evill Therefore the ancient jurisdiction of the Crowne cannot punish men for well doing but for evill doing not for keeping but for breaking Gods lawes and the Kings not for obedience but for disobedience not for vertue but for vice And this much my Lord is evident by all lawes for all lawes doe consist of a direction and a punishment and they inflict the punishment onely upon the transgressers not upon the observers of the direction of the law and this the Apostle sheweth in his 1. Epist to Tim. chap. 1. ver 8. We know the law is good if a man use it lawfully howe 's that why thus knowing this saith the Apostle that the law is not given to the righteous but to the lawlesse and disobedient what is not the law given to the righteous yet in respect of the direction not in respect of the punishment for because he observeth the direction of the law he is freed from the punishment of the law but to the lawlesse and disobedient the law is given in respect both of the direction and punishment and because they observe not the direction of the law they and they onely are liable to the punishment of the law and thereupon if any judge shall impose the punishment of the law upon any that doth not violate the direction of the law he crosses and confounds the very law it selfe and incurres that foule fault committed by Aâ—aniae the high Priest and excepted against by Saint Paul Acts. 23. Thou sittest to judge me after the law and contrary to the law commandest thou me to be smitten And therefore my Lord seeing the nature property and purpose of all lawes is to secure the observers and to lay the punishment of the law onely upon the violaters of the direction of the law It is needlesse to alleage any more particuler lawes to prove that which is the scope and intent of all lawes Yet I cannot pretermit one and I will alleage but one law of the land more to this purpose and that 's the
the very Letter and text of some Commissions that I have seene have this power that they may punish a Minister for any fault committed in his owne cure or else where that is punishable by the Ecclesiasticall lawes of this land By which words my Lord it appeares that first there must bee some fault Secondly that that fault must be against some law Thirdly that it must bee against some Ecclesiasticall law of the land or else that Honorable Court by the very Letter and text of the largest commissions that I ever saw have no power to punish a Minister And though this their Commission my Lord doth much outstrip the first of the first of Eliz. the statute whereon it is grounded for that statute extends not to every fault punishable by the Ecclesiasticall lawes of this land for then it would swallow up all the ordinary jurisdictions over England but onely to greivous and enormous crimes punishable by the Ecclesiasticall lawes of the land as the Counsell on both sides in the speciall verdict betweene Allen and Nash have confest and the wordes of the statute as I before have shewed doe necessarily enforce Yet in this case of mine to shew mine owne innocency and the goodnesse of my cause not to make a precedent in other mens cases I will give the defendants free leave and liberty to exceed both the statute and their Commission I will not coope them up and confine them within the lists and limits of the Ecclesiasticall lawes as the most indulgent and munificent Commissions that ever I saw doe yea and must doe unlesse they will make their Commission as well Temporall as Ecclesiasticall no my Lord I will not require an Ecclesiasticall law let them produce an law canon civill common statute or divine nay my Lord I will once againe deale more Nobly and generously more heroically and munificently with that Honorable court with those Augustins Hieromes Gregories Ambroses with those Nazianzens Chrysostomes Origens Basils with those reverend right reverend most reverend Prelates and Patriarchs of our church I will not require a whole law noe not a full period of a law Let them onely produce some colon nay some comma of law onely nay my Lord I will once againe deale more Nobly and generously more heroically and munificently with that Honorable court I will not require a whole colon no nor a whole comma of law neither that were too too an Herculean labour for that Honorable Court for those Canonists Civilians and Divines for those commissaries chancellours Arch-deacons Deanes Bishops Arch-bishops let them onely produce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some shaving some scraping some paring some shred peece particle or fragment of Law nay let them onely produce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unum unum apicem one jot one apex one tittle one pricke or point of law of any law my Lord and I doe most willingly and most instantly submit And now my Lord as the defendants doe pretend a fault so likewise they doe pretend a law the pretended fault is my refusall to Preach the Archdeacons Visitation Sermon the pretended law is the Law of Canonicall obedience They say that my refusall to preach the Arch-deacons visitation sermon at the Arch-deacons command is a breach of Canonicall obedience And now my Lord we are come to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad statum causae ad caput controversiae for this Canonicall obedience is the whole and sole ground and foundation and supportation of the whole sentence against mee and it cannot be understood and determined whether my refusall to preach the visitation sermon be a breach of canonicall obedience or not unlesse it be first knowne and understood what this Canonicall obedience is so that in the first place my Lord there is a necessity imposed upon mee breiflly to present unto your Lordship what this Canonicall obedience is The high Commissioners in the first part of their finall sentence as it was given in their owne Court make Law custome and Canonicall obedience three different and distinct thinges For therein they say that the Archdeacon in injoyning Huntley to preach his visitation sermon hath commanded him no more than the said Huntley was bound to doe by law custome and by his Canonicall obedience and herein by making Canonicall obedience a third and distinct thing from law and custome they shew that they onely use the name of Canonicall obedience but intend arbitrary or blind obedience that is a generall and universall obedience to all the Arch-deacons commandes though they swarve both from law custome whereby they make every Arch-deacon Bishop and Arch-bishop a law-maker within his owne jurisdiction and every of their commands binding and compulsive though fortified neither by law nor Custome But your Lordship as it seemes not content herewith steps a degree further and makes Canonicall obedience not onely a third and distinct thing from law and custome but also a thing opposite and contrary to law and custome for termino trinitatis 1637. when when your Lordship delivered your opinion in the speciall verdict betweene Allen and Nash your Lordship said that if the Arch-deacon did owe me an 100. pounds by bond he might by vertue of my Canonicall obedience command mee to deliver up that bond the money not being yet paid Or he might command me by vertue of my Canonicall obedience to send him a yoke of fat oxen a couple of good Coach-horses or a score of fat weathers which I am sure is not onely beyond but contrary to law and custome and more than either his Majesty or any of his royall predecessours did ever chalenge of any freeborne subject either by the oath of allegiance or oath of supremacy whether your Lordship have altered this your opinion or no I know not the high Commissioners I suppose have altered theirs For certaine it is that the former wordes of the first part of their first finall sentence as it was given in their owne Court are altered in the defendants plea wherein they make Canonicall obedience not a third and distinct thing from law and custome as before but a subordinate relative and a proportionable thing to law and custome by changing these their former wordes law custome and his canonicall obedience into these law and custome according to his Canonicall obedience And this alteration as I suppose proceeded from the acute and polite wit of you Master Justice Heath at that time the Kings Attourney Generall and Commissioners counsell who seeing that the Commissioners by the former wordes did make canonicall obedience a third and distinct thing from law and custome that thereby they did under the name of canonicall obedience chalenge arbitrary and blind obedience to and for every Arch-deacon Bishop and Arch-bishop that thereby they made themselves all lawmakers within their severall jurisdictions and that so at once by two wordes they gave two deadly woundes one to his Majesties supreame jurisdiction who under God is the onely lawmaker within this land
themselves and in the very same net that they have joyntly laid for mee is their owne foote taken and I am deliver'd Hic est digitus Dei This is the Lords doing and it is wonderfull in my eyes And that all that heare mee may further behold the wonderfull worke of God being acquitted in this first particuler by vertue of Canonicall obedience I am likewise by vertue thereof acquitted in all the rest and that by the testimony of my very adversaries For the defendants themselves confesse that my refusall to preach the Archdeacons visitation Sermon is my principall or especiall fault and therefore by the force of comparison drawne from the adversaries owne estimate whatsoever else they charge mee with must needes be inferiour and accessory and then seeing the principall or especiall fault prooves no fault at all noe breach of any law whatsoever but a vertue and an eminent vertue even the vertue of canonicall obedience all the other being by the testimony of my adversaries which is the strongest proofe against them and for me lesser than that refusall they must needs be vertues and great vertues no faults or vices And yet once againe my Lord behold the wonderfull worke of God qui non tantum liberat innocentes sed etiam capit astutos in astutia sua By vertue of this first particuler I am not onely acquitted but the defendants themselves convicted and found culpable of a double crime First in that they bring into this Orthodox church arbitrary or * 2 Kings c. 6.18.19 ver Patemur sacerdotes non esse audiendos nisi docuerint iuxta legem Domini Canus lib. 3. c. ultimo Beleeve no every spirit but try the spirits whether they are of God 1 Iohn 4. Trie all things and hold fast that which is good 1 Thes 5. Bee not unwise but understand what the will of the Lord is Ephes 5. He that is spirituall discerneth all thinges 1 Cor. 2. you may have a thousand like both places and proofes that the faithfull looke and take heede they be not seduced And except you will excuse the people before God if you mislead them why should you barre them all triall and understanding whether they follow faith unto Salvation or withdraw themselves unto perdition when the blind leadeth the blind and they fall both into the pit of destruction is not he that followeth as sure to perish as he that leadeth Bishop Bilson in his difference betweene Christian subiection and unchristian rebellion 2 Part. pag. 261. blinde obedience and the worst part or kind thereof namely anticanonicall or contracanonicall obedience A thing preiudiciall to Gods glory repugnant to his word contrary to the doctrine and discipline of this Orthodox Church dangerous to the safety of all good Kings good Magistrates good men the introduction of tyranny and slavery and the subversion of all lawfull authority obedience and liberty and lastly the seminary noursery of vices the bane and ruine of vertues and one of the most damnable villanies and profound subtilties that ever Satan brought into the Church of Rome And therefore to be opposed and cried out against by every good man and Minister not onely though he should with me be fin'd imprison'd deprived degraded and excommunicated for it but also though it should be his loâ— to were a Tiburne tippet for it And secondly in that they have called the Canons the oath of canonicall obedience his Majesties letters patents his royall prerogative the first of the first of Elizabeth the 19. of 25. of Henry the eight the oath of supremacy the 37. Article of our Church and the word of God breaches of Canonicall obedience principall or especiall faults greivous and enormous crimes and have fin'd imprison'd deprived degraded and excommunicated a provinciall synode the high Court of Parliament this Orthodox Church of England and his Majesty for in calling my obedience to the former a breach of Canonicall obedience a principall or especiall fault a greivous and enormous crime they doe virtually by consequence and by necessary implication call all the former breaches of Canonicall obedience principall or especiall faults greivous and enormous crimes and in fining imprisoning depriving degrading and excommunicating mee for my obedience to the latter they doe virtually by consequence and by necessary implication fine imprison deprive degrade and excommunicate all the latter for requiring such obedience of mee For as Saint James in his Epist 4. cap. 11. vers saith Hee that speaketh evill of his brother or he that condemneth his brother speaketh evill of the law and condemneth the law which wordes of Saint James are absolutely unavoidable with this limitation he that speaketh evill of his brother or he that condemneth his brother walking according to the law he speaketh evill of the law or condemneth the law according to which his brother walketh and threfore seeing the defendants call my obedience to the word of God and to all the former a breach of canonicall obedience a principall or especiall fault a greivous and enormous crime they doe virtually by consequence and by necessary implication call (m) If you be railed on for the name of Christ blessed are yee for the spirit of glory of God resteth upon you which on their part is evill spoken off but on your part is glorified 1 Pet. cap. 4.14 the word of God and all the former breaches of canonicall obedience principall or especiall faults greivous and enormous crimes and seeing they doe fine imprison deprive degrade and excommunicate me for my obedience to the King and to all the latter they doe virtually by consequence and by neccessary implication fine imprison deprive degrade and excommunicate the King and all the latter for requiring such obedience of mee And so my Lord the defendants have eminently committed that foule fault in these very wordes condemned in the canon law Turpissimum est ut inde nascerentur injuriae ubi iura nascuntur It is a most shamefull thing that Courts of Justice should be courts of injustice and not onely against private persons but also against that Orthodox Church wherein they live against the Churches doctrine and discipline Articles and Canons which ought to be rules not onely to guide the lives and opinions of private men but also to regulate the censures and sentences even of the highest ecclesiasticall Courts And to conclude this point my Lord If to punish for obedience to the word of God to the Articles Statutes Canons to his Majesties Letters Patents Royall prerogative and oath of supremacy be to punish for vertue piety and to beginne that their sentence In the name of God Amen And in the body of the sentence to affirme That they did first call upon the name of Christ And that they had God himselfe alone set before their eyes be to hide iniquity under the cloake of Hypocrisie and fained sanctity Then the high Commissioners have both punisht me for vertue and piety and have covered that
every one to challenge and defend his own right and to repell injurie So did I. And the oath of Supremacie bindes me to the utmost of my power to defend and maintaine all jurisdictions of the Crown and therefore this among the rest that none of the Clergie in their severall jurisdictions can go beyond much lesse contrary to the Canons without incroaching upon the Prerogative royall and supreame Jurisdiction of the Crowne accessory The third The wager And this doth likewise justifie the wager of an hundred pounds laid down to defend the Kings supreame Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction over the Clergie to the utmost of my power according as I was and am expressely bound by the oath of supremacie And for that purpose I have made choice rather to be fin'd imprison'd depriv'd degraded and excommunicated by the High-Commissioners and to endure those tedious delaies and those manifold disgraces indignities and injuries in this Court than by betraying the Kings supremacie to the Arch-deacons usurpation with the High-Commissioners this Court the Barons of the Exchequer and the Lords of the Counsell to violate that oath and so to commit perjury knowing it a thing most acceptable in Gods sight to endure the greatest punishments for to avoid the least sin much more for to avoyd the greatest sin so that set aside this one untrue circumstance there is nothing at all culpable in these three first accessories The manner of speaking and of laying the wager And though the Defendants say that I did speake very malepertly and irreverently to Master Arch-deacon and offered to lay the wager with him in a very arrogant and irrespective maner yet seeing they mention no one particular evill word or deed I hope your Lordship after so many arguments upon the generall sentence of deprivation and degradation and this argument of mine upon the speciall matter will remember that in generalibus latet fraus and vir dolosus versatur in universalibus and will then conceive that that which they say was spoken and done very malepertly irreverently and arrogantly was spoken and done discreetly resolutely and heroically that I might to the utmost of my power defend the Kings supreame Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction over the Clergy according as I was and am expressely bound by the oath of the supremacie and then there is no fault at all either in my words or wager in the things or circumstances But now my Lord though that one circumstance be false and the Defendants according to their own law are not to be credited in the accessories because they have falsified the Law in the principalls Yet my Lord seeing we are now in a demurrer according to the nature of a demurrer let all be granted in these three first accessories that the Defendants themselves affirme Let the words be uttered very malepertly and irreverently let the wager be offered in a very arrogant and irrespective manner let the Archdeacon at the same time be in Saint Margarets Church in Canterburie at the Visitation among the Clergie and sitting there to heare Causes Yet now I will make it appeare by the Defendants owne confession and by a necessary consequence from their confession that in these foure accessories there is no fault at all The Defendants as your Lordship may remember charge me with six particulars amongst which they make my refusall to preach the Visitation Sermon and my maintaining it to be the Arch-deacons duty to preach his own Visitation Sermon the two principall or especiall faults And if they two be the principall and especiall faults then by the force of comparison drawne from the adversaries own estimate the other foure must needs be inferiour and accessory And then if the principall and especiall faults be no faults no breach of any Law much lesse can the inferiours or accessories be any faults or any breaches of Law for si principalis causanon subsistat ea quae sequuntur locum non habent Now I have before shewed that the two principall or especiall faults are no faults but vertues and eminent vertues even the vertues of Canonicall obedience and therefore the other foure being in the Defendants own judgement lesser and inferiour vices than the two former they cannot be any faults but must needs be vertues and greater and superior vertues And the Defendants cannot except against this consequence because it is necessarily drawne from their own estimate and testimony and testimonium ab adversario contra se fortissimum accessory The fourth Now for the fourth and last accessory my refusall to performe the submission conceptis verbis which the Defendants pretend to be a great affront and contempt both to the Kings supremacy and to the High-Commission authority seeing therein I was enjoyned to acknowledge my refusall to preach the Arch-deacons Visitation Sermon at the Arch-deacons and Arch-bishops mandate to be a breach of Canonicall obedience It is certain my Lord that if that my refusall to preach that Sermon be no breach of Canonicall obedience then my refusall to perform that submission conceptis verbis is no affront or contempt either to the Kings or Commissioners authority And if I make good the former the Defendants must of necessity grant the latter And for the cleering of this former it is to be observed that there is a two-fold Canonicall obedience the one due to the Canons only the other to the Prelates mandate according to the Canons To the former we are bound by the Canons themselves and by his Majesties Letters Patents confirming the Canons To the latter we are beside bound by the Prelates mandate and by the oath of Canonicall obedience The breach of the former in all such as submit unto the canons is but only disobedience The breach of the latter is not only disobedience but also contumacie yea and perjury too in all them that have taken the oath of Canonicall obedience This will appeare my Lord by the oath of Canonicall obedience extant in the instrument of my Admission and Institution which I have here to shew wherein the oath runs thus Te primitus de legitima Canonica obedientia nobis successoribus nostris in omnibus licitis honestis mandatis per te praestanda exhibenda ad sancta Evangelia ritè junatum admittimus we admit thee saith the Ordinary having first been rightly sworn by the holy Gospels to perform lawfull and Canonicall obedience to us and our successours in all lawfull and honest mandates In which words my Lord it is first to be observ'd that the thing that I sweare is not arbitrary and blinde obedience that is such obedience as the Prelate shall require by his Dictates whatsoever it be but lawfull and Canonicall obedience that is such obedience as the Canons and Ecclesiasticall lawes of this Land require Secondly that the persons to whom I have sworn are only the Bishop and his successours not the Arch-deacon and therefore though I am bound to yeeld Canonicall obedience to all the Arch-deacons lawfull