of the King's Supremacy in Ecclesiastical matters without professing yet a stature to reach the top of this sublime or the bottom of this profound concern In the first place then we are to know that the King 's just and lawful Authority in Ecclesiastical matters is in part declared by a statute made in the first year of Queen Elizabeth Stat. 1 Eliz. Ca. 1. Non novam introduxit sed antiquam declaravit Coke 5. Rep. Cawdrys Case fo 8. And it was one of the Resolutions of the Judges in Cawdry's Case That the said Act of the First year of the Queen concerning Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction was not a Statute introductory of a new Law but Declaratory of the Old But for our purpose it will be sufficient to transcribe the Preamble of the Act which runs thus Most humbly beseech your most excellent Majesty your faithful and obedient Subjects the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in this your present Parliament assembled that where in time of the raign of your most dear Father of worthy memory King Henry 8. divers good Laws and Statutes were made as well for the better extinguishment and putting away of all usurped and forrain powers and authorities out of this your Realm and other your Highness Dominions and Countrys as also for the * Nota. restoring and uniting to the Imperial Crown of this Realm the ancient Jurisdictions authorities Superiorities and preheminences to the same of right belonging by reason whereof we your most humble and obedient Subjects from the 25. year of the raign of your said dear Father were continually kept in good order and were disburdened of divers great and intolerable charges before that time unlawfully taken and exacted by such forrain power and authoritie as before that was usurped until such time as all the said good laws and Statutes by one Act of Parliament made in the first and second years of the raigns of the late King Philip and Queen Mary your Highness Sister Intituled An Act repealing all Statutes Articles and Provisions made against the See Apostolick of Rome since the 20th year of King Henry 8. and also for the establishment of all Spiritual and Ecclesiastical possessions and hereditaments conveyed to the Laity were all clearly repealed and made void as by the same Act of repeal more at large appears By reason of which Act of repeal your said humble Subjects were est-soons brought again under an usurped forrain power and authority and yet do remain in that bondage to the intolerable charges of your loving Subjects if some redress by the Authority of this your High Court of Parliament with the assent of your Highness be not had and provided May it therefore please your Highness for the repressing of the said usurped forrain power and the restoring of the Rights Jurisdictions and preheminences appertaining to the Imperial Crown of this your Realm that it may be Enacted by the Authority of this present Parliament c. And then it proceeds to Repeal the said Act of Philip and Mary and revives the former Statutes of King Hen. 8. and King Edw. 6. abolisheth all usurped forrain powers and authorities and restoreth and uniteth all Jurisdictions Priviledges Superiorites and Preheminences Spiritual and Ecclesiastical to the Imperial Crown of this Realm This Statute doing Right to the Queen and her Successors ever since as in Temporal Causes the Kings of England by the mouths of their Judges in the Courts of Justice have judged and determined the same by the Temporal Laws of England So in all Ecclesiastical and spiritual Causes as Blasphemy Ecclesiastical Causes Stat. de circumsuecte agatis 13 Edw. 1. Articuli Cleri 9 Edw. 2. Fitzh Nat. Bre. 41 42 43 c. Apostasie from Christianity Heresie Schisme Ordering Admissions and Institution of Clarks Celebration of Divine service Rites of Matrimony Divorces Bastardy Substraction and Right of Tiths Oblations Obventions Dilapidations Reparation of Churches Probate of Wills and Testaments Administrations and Accounts upon the same Simony Fornication Incest Adulteries Sollicitation of Chastity Appeals in Ecclesiastical causes Commutation of Penance Pensions Procurations c. the Conusans of all which belongs not to the Common Law but the determination and decision of the same hath been by Ecclesiastical Judges according to the King 's Ecclesiastical Laws of this his Realm And although the said Stat. 1 Eliz. declares how and by whom the King may appoint the same to be done yet as is intimated before the King by Law may do the same although that Statute had not bin made And hence it was that Stephen Gardiner the noted Bishop of Winchester Significantiori vocabulo competentem Principi jure Divino poâ—estâ—tem exprâ—mi clarius voluâ—runt in his Oration De vera Obedientia once said That by the Parliaments stiling of King Hen. 8. Head of the Church it was no new invented matter wrought only their mind was to have the power pertaining to a Prince by God's law to be more clearly expressed by this Emphatical compellation And certainly this was the ground of that answer which King James gave to the Non-conforming Divines at the conference at Hampton Court upon the seven and thirtieth Article of the Church of England the said Divines urging that these words in the Article viz. Confer at Hamp Court fo 37. The Bishop of Rome hath no Authority in this land were not sufficient unless it was added nor ought to have To which the King being somewhat moved roundly replyed What speak you of the Pope's authority here Habemus jure quod habemus and therefore in as much as it is said He hath not it is plain and certain enough that he ought not to have Nor is this Authority united to the Crown of England only but of right also to all other Christian Crowns and accordingly avowed by all other Christian Princes And to this purpose I could multiply the Suffrages of many antient Fathers and Doctors of the Church but my aim being rather at matter of fact I will forbear the particularizing the explicite Judgements and Declarations of those Devout and just men who were as careful in its degree and proportion to give unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's as to God the things that are God's But for the matter of practice And in the first place here I cannot but take notice That in the first Ages of Christianity Religion did not only subsist but spread by immediate influence from Heaven only but when by vertue of the same influence it had once prevailed and triumphed over all oppositions of Pagan superstition and persecution and subdued the Emperours themselves and became the Imperial Religion then Ecclesiastical Authority assumed and fixed it self in its natural and proper place and the excercise of its Jurisdiction and what that was I shall shew also was restored to the Imperial Diadem and Constantine was no sooner setled in his Imperial Throne but he took the settlement of all Ecclesiastical
matters into his care and cognisans He call'd Synods and Councils and ratified their Canons into Laws He routed the Conventicles of the Donatists made Edicts concerning Festivals the Rites of Sepulture the immunities of Churches the Authority of Bishops the Priviledges of the Clergy with divers other things relating to the outward Politie of the Church In which affair he was carefully followed by his Successors as evidently may appear to all conversant in the Civil Law And the aforesaid Stephen Gardiner in that his notable Oration of true Obedience makes instance in the Roman Emperour Justinian who with the approbation of all the world at that time set forth those Laws of the most Blessed Trinity the Catholique Faith Justiniani factum qui leges edidit de Trinitate de fide Catholica c. Steph. Wint. Orat. fo 19. of Bishops and Clergy-men and the like The like also appears by the most famous Partidas set forth by Ferdinando the Saint and his Son Alphonso for the antient Kingdoms of Castile Toledo Leon and others of Spain celebrated in the Spanish Histories Correspondent to which also hath bin the practice of the Kingdom of France Lew. Turquet Hist of Spain whose Kings have ever been esteemed in some sence the Heads of their Church and this is the reason that the opening their most ancient Councils under the first and second the Merovingian and Caroline line was ever by the power and authority and sometimes the presidency of their Kings and Princes It being a noted saying in one of their Councils Câ—ncil Parisienâ— 6. lib. 2. cap. 2. Cognoscant Principes Seculi se Deo debere rationem propter Ecclesiam quam à Deo tuendam accipiunt And according to this Doctrine C d. Lâ—g Antiq Gall. fâ— 827. Lâ—ndenbrog for matters of Church or State of Charls the Great Ludovicus Pius Lewis le Gros Pepin and others collected by the French Antiquaries And at this day generally amongst the Lawyers and most learned of the French Nation it is held and declared Vid. le Reâ—â—w de le Council de Trent Boreâ— lib. 4. de Decret Eccl. Gall. That the Bishop of Rome was anciently the First and chiefest Bishop according to the dignity of of Precedency and order not by any Divine institution but because Rome was the chief City of the Empire That he obtained this Primacy over the Western Church by the grace and gift of Pepin Charls the Great and other Kings of France And that he hath no power to dispose of temporal things That it belongs to Christian Kings and Princes to call Ecclesiastical Synods to establish their Decrees to make wholesome Laws for the government of the Church and to punish and reform abuses therein That the Laws whereby their Church is to be governed are only the Canons of the more ancient Councils and their own National Constitutions and not the Extravagants and Decretals of the Bishop or Court of Rome That the Council of Constance assembled by Sigismund the Emperour with a concurrent consent of other Christian Princes Decreeing a General Synod or Council to be Superior to the Pope and correcting many abuses in the Roman Church which yet remain in practice was a true Oecumenical Council as also was the Council of Basil That the Assembly of Trent was no lawful Council and the Canons thereof rather to be esteemed the Decrees of the Popes who call'd and continued it than the Decrees of the Council it self and that in regard the number of Bishops there met was but small bearing no proportion to the import of a General Council as also the greatest part of those present were Italian and Vassals to the Pope and nothing there resolved on but what was before determined at Rome which then occasion'd this infamous by-word That the Holy Ghost was carryed in Cloak-bags every Post from Rome to Trent That the Sacrament of the Lords Supper ought to be administred under both kinds and that at the least a great part of Divine Service ought to be performed in the vulgar Tongue Thus far the French and Many the like instances might here be added to the same purpose but yet under favour all Crowns Imperial must give place in regard of this one Flower or Jewel of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction to the Crown of England For as the first Christian King that ever the world saw is recorded to have been of this Island the renowned Lucius so is he intimated to be the first that ever exercised Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction being directed thereunto by Pope Eleutherius Vâ—d Eleuth Epist to fetch his Laws by the advice of his Council out of the Old and New Testament and by the same to Govern his Kingdom wherein he was God's Vicar According to which advice the Brittish Saxon Danish and first Kings of the Normans have governed their Churches and Church-men as may appear by the Laws by them for that purpose made Archaionem Analect Angl. Brit. li. 1 2. Hist Cambr. fo 59. Jo. Brompton c. and lately exhibited to the publick by Mr. Lambard Mr. Selden Dr. Powell and others Neither can any Ecclesiastical Canons for Government of the English Church be produced till long after the conquest which were not either originally promulged or afterwards allowed either by the Monarch or some King of the Heptarchy sitting or directing in the National or Provincial Synod Nay in the after usurping times there is to be seen the Transcript of a Record An. Manus Chronic Abb. de Bello Vide the like Charter of exemption to the Abbot of Abbindon by Kâ—nulphus in Stanf. pl. Cor. l. 2. fo 111. b. 1 Hen. 7. fo 23 25. 3 Hen. 2. wherein when the Bishop of Chichester opposed some Canons against the Kings exemption of the Abby of Battel from Episcopal Jurisdiction the King in anger replyed Tu pro Papae authoritate ab hominibus concessa contra dignitatum Regalium authoritates mihi à Deo concessas calliditate arguta niti praecogitas Dost thou go about by subtilty of Wit to oppose the Pope's authority granted by the connivence of men against the authority of my Regal Dignity given by God himself And thereupon requires reason and justice against the Bishop for his insolence And thus it is most easily demonstrable that the Kings of England have had these Flowers of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction planted in the Imperial Crown of this Realm even from the very beginning of the Christian Monarchy in this Island where we hope they have now taken such root that neither any Fanatick whispers at home nor the roaring of any Romish Bulls from abroad will ever be able to shake or blast the same And from hence was the Resolution of our Judges mentioned before in the Case of Cawary Cook 5. Rep. De Jure Reg. Eccl. that the said Statute made in the first year of the Queen concerning Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction was not introductory of a new Law but Declaratory of the old which appears
12. but by matter of Record and that in regard of the Dignity of his Person Secondly Causa Necessitatis as in case to avoyd the Attainder of him that hath Right to the Crown As if the right Heir to the Crown be Attaint of High Treason yet shall the Crown descend to him and eo instanti when it happens without any other reversal the Attainder is purged as it fell out in the Case of King Henry 7. lest in the interim 1 Hen. 7. fo 4. b. there should be an Interregnum which the Law of England will not suffer any more than nature doth a Vacuum As also by vertue of this Politick Capacity though the King be within Age yet he may make Leases and Grants and the same shall be valid for otherwise his revenue would decay and the King would not be able to reward service c. Thirdly Causa Vtilitatis As when Lands and Tenements or Possessions descend from his collateral Ancestors being Subjects as suppose from the Earl of March c. to the King the King is seised or possessed of them jure Coronae in his Politick Capacity and they shall go with the Crown And in this Capacity it was that Queen Elizabeth had and injoyed all that belonged to Queen Mary though they were but Sisters of the half Blood which no others could do And as the Crown of England is Descendible to the Heirs males yet when a King dies and leaves no Son but Daughters only the Crown and Dignity Royal descends to the Kings eldest Daughter alone and to her Posterity and so it hath bin declared by a Parliament for Regnum non est divisibile Stat. 25 Hen. 8. cap. 22. And there shall be no Possessio fratris of the Lands of the Crown for the quality of the Person doth in these and many other likes cases alter the descent So as all the Lands and Possessions whereof the King is seised or possessed jure coronae shall attend upon and follow the Crown unto whomsoever it shall Descend for the Crown and the Possessions of the same are concomitantia The naturall Body of the King being thus invested with his Politick and Royal Capacity we behold him as the Representative and Lieutenant of God Almighty who is King of Kings All Power is from God and Imperium non nisi Divino fato datur And therefore Plato did say That God did not appoint and establish men that is men of a common sort and sufficiency and purely Humane to rule and govern others cautiously to be understood but such as by some Divine touch singular vertue and gift of Heaven do excel others and therefore they are called Heroes and stand in Comparison with others as we may conceive of the Air which if we do compare with the Heavens it is a kind of Earth but if we compare it with the Earth it is then a kind of Heaven So of King's if we compare them with God Almighty they are but a kind of men but if we compare them with other men they are a kind of gods both intimated in that of the Psalmist I have said ye are gods but ye shall dye like men This Royal majesty of the King of England is replenished with plenary and undoubted Right and Authority to rule and govern all his Subjects and that in all Causes as well Ecclesiastical as Temporal For this Kingdom of England is a Soveraign Empire or Monarchy consisting of one Head the Soveraign or King and of a Body Politick the People and this Body is distinguished into the Clergy and the Laity all of them intirely Subject to their Royal Head the King who as before is said is furnished and instituted with an intire Authority over every Subject of what degree or quality soever and that in all causes Ecclesiastical and Temporal For otherwise the King would be imperfect in his Authority contrary to the true notion of Soveraignty and thereby disabled to deliver Justice in all causes to all his Subjects or to punish all crimes and offences within his Dominions a consideration of high import for the necessary security both of Prince and People But notwithstanding the full and Soveraign Right of the King to rule and govern all his Subjects and that in all causes and consequently the just and necessary duty of all his Subjects to yield a full and intire Obedience to all the Kings good Laws for it is the Law that measures out and spiriteth the King's Authority as it directs and enforces the Subject's Obedience yet so it hath bin and so it is in our Antinomian times partly by the obstinacy and devotedness of some the weakness and ignorance of others and the peevishness and perversness of many that there is a multitude of natural born Subjects in this Kingdom who in defiance of the Laws both in their Opinions and Practices deny or oppose our Soveraigns Supremacy On the one hand there are the Sectaries who notwithstanding the Law is the Standard of true Allegiance make the ground the rule and measures of their Allegiance to be their own private fancies And though the Law is the bright Sun shining in the Horizon of this Kingdom by the Light whereof every one ought to guide his actions yet these men out-stare this Sun and giddily run some of them after the Ignis fatuus of a pretended Light within them some after the false fires of a misguided zeal too many after the Boutfeaus or male-content Incendiaries and some after the very fumes of Hypochondriacal fits mistaken for visions and Revelations On the other hand there are the Devoto's of Rome who in contempt of the King's Laws and Authority make the rules and measures of their Allegiance to be the will and pleasure of a Forrainer As the Sectaries set up a Pope in every man's Conscience whilst they invest it with a power to control the Decrees of Princes and new Lights for themselves to live and walk by these contrarily put out their own Eyes and give themselves up to be led by an infallible Head as they think to whom whilst they yield a blind Obedience they cannot see to be good Subjects These men of both sorts strike at our Supremacy the very foundation and heart-string of Government and by whom the very Sinews of Soveraignty are cut asunder when either upon the suggestions of fanatical delusions or the imperious awes of an extraneous Power the King 's natural Subjects shall audaciously lift up their Hands and Heels against him My Province at this time to wave all disputes shall only be to make some discovery of those Foundations of Law Right and Authority whereon our King's Supremacy is built by the Legal and unquestionable Historical Evidences and Manifesto's of the same and whilst I keep close there I shall be sure to be on a safe bottom I shall not pretend to wade into the vast Ocean of the King's Prerogative in all its extensions but shall confine my self to the affair
Sero recusat ferre quod subiit jugum But notwithstanding the infinite subtle arts and mighty efforts for that purpose the Papacy found it at any time a most difficult thing to carry any thing here by a high hand and to bring the Ecclesiastical State of this Nation to depend on Rome For our Princes never did doubt but they had the same Authority within their own Dominions as Constantine had in the Empire and our Bishops the same as St. Peter's Successors in the Church Ego Constantini Ailred Rival Coll. 361.16 Vos Petri gladium habetis in manibus said King Edgar in an eminent Speech unto his Clergy And what Power in the Church our Kings took themselves anciently to have appears by their Laws and Edicts published by themselves Leg. Edv. confess cap. 17. fo 142. Leg. Canut Inae apud Jornal Mart. Paris w. 2. and acknowledged by their subjects All speaking thus That the ordering and disposition of all Ecclesiastical Affairs within their own Dominions was their sole and undoubted Right the Foundation thereof being that Power which the Divine wisdom hath invested the Secular Magistrate withal for the defence and preservation of his Church and People against all attempts whatsoever And all our Laws and Lawyers concurring in this Rex sub nullo nisi tantum sub Deo Bracton Leg. Sanct. Edw. cap. 19.17 That the King of England is subject to no Power on Earth but to God only and in King Edwards Laws he is called Vicarius summi Regis as also in Bracton that being the Cognomen as it were given by Pope Eleutherius long ago to King Lucius here as not being under the power of any other And this in effect acknowledged by the whole Body of the English Clergy Reg. Hoveden in Hen. 2. pa. post fo 510. in a Letter of the Bishops of the Province of Canterbury to Tho. Becket An. D. 1167. as it stands recorded at large by Roger Hoveden To this it will be but seasonable and pertinent to add the Historical Instances and evidences some of them as occurr demonstrating as the continual claim and when they could the exercise of this Right by the Kings of this Island so the worthy resistances as from time to time have been made against all forraign usurpations and incroachments upon the same sufficient to shew that our Princes did not command the Ecclesiasticks here who made up so great a part of their subjects according to the will and pleasure of any forrain Potentate nor that they were only lookers on whilest others governed the English Church Therefore we may observe All Councils and Convocations Eadmer fo 25.5.11 Florent Wigorn An. 1070. fo 434. Stat. 25 H. 8.19 assembled at the King's appointment and by the King 's Writt Jubente praesente Rege as one says and that upon the same Authority as the Emperour Constantine had long before assembled the Council of Nice Some appointed by the King to sit in those Councils and supervise their actions Matt. Paris ad An. 1237. fo 447. ne ibi contra regiam coronam dignitatem aliquid statuere attentarent And Mat. Paris gives us the names of the Commissioners for that purpose in one of the Councils held in the time of King Hen. 3. And when any did otherwise he was forced to retract such Constitutions as did Peckham or they were but in paucis servatae Lyâ—dw de soro competent cap. 1. as were those of Boniface as Lyndwood ingenuously doth acknowledge No Synodical Decree suffered to be of force but by the King's allowance Eadmer fo 6.29 and confirmation In hoc concilio ad emendationem Ecclesiae Anglicanae assensu Domini Regis Gervas Dorobern An. 1175. fo 1429. Mat. Paris Hen. Huntingd Eadm passim Pat. 8 9 Johan R. m. 5.8 primorum omnium regni haec subscripta promulgata sunt capitula as Gervasius Dorobern informs us No Legate suffered to enter into England but by the King's leave and swearing to do nothing prejudicial to the King and his Crown All matters of Episcopacy determined by the King himself Eadmer 115.23 inconsulto Romano Pontifice No Appeals to Rome permitted None to receive Letters from the Pope Thorn Coll. 2152. Coke 3. Instit cap. 54.10.127 Hoveden Hen. 2. fo 496. without shewing them to the King who caused all words prejudicial to him or his Crown to be renounced and dis-avowed by the bringers or receivers of such Letters Permitted no Bishops to Excommunicate Eadmer fo 6.31 or inflict any Ecclesiastical censure on any Peer nisi ejus praecepto Caused the Bishops to appear in their Courts Addit Mat. Paris fo 200 to give account why they excommunicated a subject Bestowed Bishopricks on such as they approved Forent Wigorn An. 1070. fo 536. and translated Bishops from one See to another Erected new Bishopricks Godwin de Praef. Angl. So did King Hen. 1. An. 1109. Ely taking it out of Lincoln Carlile 1133. out of York or rather Durham Commanded by Writ Coke 2. Instit 625. Addit Mat. Paris fo 200. nu 6. the Bishops to Residency Placed by a Lay hand Clerks in Prebendary or Parochial Churches Ordinariis penitus irrequisitis as it is phrased in Matt. Paris By these and many other instances of the like nature exercised by our Kings it appears that the English ever took the outward Policy of this Church or Government of it in foro exteriori to depend on the King And therefore the writs of Summoning all Parliaments express the calling of them to be Pro quibusdam arduis urgentibus negotiis nos statum defensionem Regni nostri Angliae Ecclesiae Anglicanae concernentibus c. In the Reign of King Edward the first Broâ—k Tit. Praemunire pl. 10. A subject brought in a Bull of Excommunication against another subject of this Realm and published it to the Lord Treasurer of England and this was by the ancient Common Law of England adjudged Treason against the King his Crown and Dignity for which the Offendor should have bin drawn and hang'd but at the great instance of the Chancellor and Treasurer he only abjur'd the Realm King Edw. Trin. 19 Ed. 3. Fitzh Quare non admisit pl. 7. presented his Clark to a Benefice within the Province of York who was refused by the Arch-bishop for that the Pope by way of Provision had conferred it on another The King thereupon brought a Quare non admisit the Archbishop to it Pleaded that the Bishop of Rome had long time before Provided to the said Church as one having Supream Authority in that case and that he durst not nor had power to put him out who was possessed by the Pope's Bull. But for this high contempt against the King his Crown and Dignity in refusing to execute his Soveraign's commands against the Pope's Provision by Judgement of the Common Law the Lands of his whole Bishoprick were seized
3. Cap. 1 2. Stat. 38 Ed. 3. Cap. 3. Stat. Statutes of Pâ—ovâ—sors and Preminire 16 Ric. 2. Cap. 5. Stat. 2 Hen. 4. Cap. 3. Stat. 6 Hen. 4. Cap. 1. Stat. 7 Hen. 7. Cap. 6. Stat. 3 Hen. 5. Cap. 4. Stat. 1 Hen. 7. Cap. 4. Stat. 24 Hen. 8. Cap. 12. Stat. 25 Hen. 8. Cap. 21. Stat. 1 Eliz. Cap. 1. c. By all which with the foregoing Resolutions and Presidents to which a multitude more to the same purpose might be added it doth appear clearly that long before the time of King Hen. 8. divers Statutes and Laws were made and declared against forrain incroachments upon the Rights of the Crown in this matter and those as sharp and severe as any Statutes for that purpose have been made in later times though then both King Lords and Commons that made those Laws and the Judges that did interpret them did for the most part follow the same Opinions in Religion which were held and taught in the Church of Rome And therefore those that will lay upon this Nation the imputation of Schism for denying the Pope's Supremacy here Vid. Case de Premunire in St. John Davys Rep. must charge it many Ages before the time of King Henry the eighth For the Kings Lords and Commons of this Realm have ever been most eminent for asserting their just Rights and Liberties disdaining to become a Tributary Province as it were to the See of Rome or part of St. Peter's earthly Patrimony in Demesn And the Faith and Loyalty of the English race hath bin generally such though true it is that every Age hath brought forth some singular monsters of disloyalty as no pretence of zeal or Religion could ever draw the greater part of the Subjects for to submit themselves to a forrain Yoke no not when Popery was in greatest height and exaltation of all which the aforesaid Statutes are manifest Evidences being generally made at the Prayer of the Commons as by their Preambles may appear most worthy to be read Particularly in the Preamble to the Statute of 16 Ric. 2. They complain Sta. 16 Ric. 2. cap. 5. That by Bulls and Processes from Rome the King is deprived of that Jurisdiction which belongs of right to his Imperial Crown That the King doth lose the service and Counsel of his Prelates and learned men by translations made by the Bishop of Rome That the King's Laws are defeated at his will the Treasure of the Realm is exhausted and exported to inrich his Court And that by those means the Crown of England which hath ever bin free and subject unto none but immediately unto God should be submitted unto the Bishop of Rome to the utter destruction of the King and the whole Realm which God defend say they and thereupon out of their zeal and loyalty they offer to live and dye with the King in defence of the liberties of the Crown And then they pray the King to examine all the Lords in Parliament what they thought of these wrongs and usurpations and whether they would stand with the King in defence of his Royal liberties which being done the Lords Spiritual and Temporal did all answer that these usurpations of the Bishop of Rome were against the liberties of the Crown and that they were all bound by their Allegiance to stand with the King and to maintain his Honour and Prerogative Upon producing and averrement of all this it is requisite some satisfaction be given about the conclusion that hapned so different to these premises For if the Kings and People of England have in all times been so sensible of and zealous for their just Rights how could the Roman Power in derogation of those Rights arrive to such a consistence and height as here it was for many years To this as to the means and manner of that acquist to keep within our Historical compass First let it be premised as undoubtedly true That before the time of the Norman Conquest the Bishops of Rome had very little or nothing to do here as well in matter of Fact as of Right For before that time the Pope's Writ did not run in England His Bulls of Excommunication and Provision came not hither no Citations or Appeals were made from hence to the Court of Rome Our Archbishops did not purchase their Palls there Neither had the Pope the Investiture of any of our Bishopricks And Ingulphus who lived in the Conquerours time a Favourite and one preferred by him thus informs Ingulph Hist fo 901. A multis namque annis retroactis nulla Electio Praelatorum erat libera mere Canonica sed omnes dignitates tam Episcoporum quam Abbatum per annulum baculum regis curia pro sua Complacentia conferebat For as it is observable that under the Temporal Empire of Rome Brittain was one of the last Provinces that was won and one of the first that was lost again So under the Spiritual Empire of the Pope England was one of the last Countrys of Christendom that received the Yoke and one of the first that cast it off But for our purpose that the Bishops of Rome had any Jurisdiction or Hierarchical Authority in the times of the Brittains Saxons or Danes there is an altum silentium in all our Histories and Records For the times of the Brittains Eleuth Epist Eleutherius Pope about 180 years after Christ writes to Lucius the Brittish King and stiles him God's Vicar within his own Kingdom and sure he would not have given that Title to the King if himself under pretence of being God's Vicar-General on Earth had claimed Jurisdiction over all Christian Kingdoms After that Beda Eccl. Hist Matt. Westm Polychron Fab. Huntingd. c. about the year 600. Austin the Monk was sent by Pope Gregory into England to convert the Saxons to the Christian Faith But the Brittish Bishops then residing in Wales gave no regard either to his Commission or his Doctrines as not owing any duty to or dependence upon Rome but still retained their Ceremonies and Traditions which they received from the East Church upon the first plantation of Christianity being both divers and contrary to those of the Church of Rome which Austin did indeavour to impose upon them Usser de Prim. Eccl. Brit. Then about the year 660 there is a famous disputation celebrated between one Colman and one Wilfrid touching the Observation of Easter wherein the Brittains differed from the practice of the Roman Church from which is plainly inferrable that the Authority of the Bishop of Rome was at that time of no estimation in this Island And that the Primitive Churches of Brittain were instituted according to the form of the East and not of the West Church Nay upon the first coming of Austin and his retinue into Brittain there was such a strangness and averseness to him that one Daganus a British Beda Eccl. Hist lib. 2. cap. 4 Spelm. Concil Tom. 1. fo 129.
or Scottish Bishop happening into their Company he would neither eat with them nor under the same roof where they were as Mellitus Laurentius and Justus complained in an Epistle of theirs to the Scots Bishops For the Saxons though King Ina Larga Reg is Benignitas or some other gave the Peter-pence partly as Alms and partly in recompence of a house erected in Rome for entertainment of English Pilgrims Yet it is certain that Alfred Athelstan Edgar Edmund Canutus Edward the Confessor so called and divers other Kings of the Saxon race gave all the Bishopricks of England per annulum baculum without any other Ceremony or any application to Rome as was usual by the Emperour the French King and other Christian Princes so to do as also in all their Laws for the Government of the Church here they consulted only with their own Clergy without any regard to the Authority of Rome But under the Norman Conquest the Papal usurpation march'd in for as the Conquerour came in with the Pope's Banner So either by the way of complemental gratitude or surprize the Pope presently layd hold upon part of the purchase as boasting all was gain'd by his aid and blessing And thereupon he sent two Legats into England favourably received by the Norman by whom a Synod of the Clergy was convened Will. Malm. de gest Ponâ—if Angl. lib. 1. fo 204. Rog. Hoveden pa. prior fo 453. and old Stigand Archbishop of Canterbury deposed because he had not purchased his Pall in the Court of Rome and many other Bishops and Abbots displaced on supposal for the like reasons of the invalidity of their Titles but speciously to place the Normans in their rooms or rather ultimately to introduce the Papal authority in cases of the Church Amongst these is to be noted that the King having earnestly moved the old Bishop of Worcester Matt. Paris Hist in Will 2. fo 20. Wulstan to give up his Staff his answer was that he would only give it up to him of whom he first receiv'd the same and so the old man went to St. Edwards Tombe and there offer'd up his Staff and Ring with these words Of thee O holy Edward I received my Staff and Ring and to thee I now Surrender the same again not acknowledging any authority in the Pope or in any other on his behalf to receive or dispose them as Matthew Paris relates the story at large And though the Conqueror did thus Complement the Pope in the admission of his Legates and some other small matters yet how far he really submitted himself appears by an Epistle to Gregory the seventh by him wrote thus Excellentissimo S. Eccl. Pastori Gregorio Gratia Dei Anglorum Rex Dux Normannorum Willielmus Salutem cum amicitia Hubertus tuus Legatus ad me veniens ex tua parte me admonuit ut tibi successoribus tuis fidelitatem facerem de pecunia quam antecessores mei ad Romanam Ecclesiam mittere solebant melius cogitarem unum admisi alterum non admisi fidelitatem facere nolui nec volo quia nec ego promisi nec antessores mees antecessoribus tuis id fecisse comperio Pecunia tribus fere annis in Gallia me agente negligenter collecta est nunc vero divina misericordia me in regnum meum reverso quod collectum est per praefatum Legatum mittetur quod reliquum est per Legatos Lanfranci Archiep. fidelis nostri cum opportunum fuerit transmittetur c. But in the time of his next successor K. Will. Rufus a further attempt was made that is to draw Appeals to the Court of Rome and that appears in the noted transactions with Anselme Archbishop of Canterbury at large reported in our stories And afterwards in the time of King Henry the first another step was made viz. to gain to the Pope the Patronage and Donations of Bishopricks and other Benefices Ecclesiastical at which the King taking courage writes roundly to the Pope thus Notum habeat Sanctitas vestra Hist Jorvall Coll. quod me vivente Deo auxiliante dignitates usus regni nostri non minuentur si ego quod absit in tanta me directione ponerem magnates mei imo totius Angliae populus id nullo modo pateretur Notwithstanding which upon the regress or restoring of Anselme and some difficulties that pressed the King in reference to his elder Brother Robert Matt. Paris in Hen. 1. fo 63. in a Synod held by Anselme at London in the year 1107. a Decree passed Cui annuit Rex Henricus statuit as Matthew Paris saith ut ab eo tempore in reliquum nunquam per donationem baculi pastoralis vel annuli quisquam de Episcopatu vel Abbatiaper Regem vel quamlibet laicam manum investiretur in Anglia But yet with this clause of salvo Sr. H. Spelâ— Concil Tom. 2. fo 28. Suis tantum juribus regalibus sepositis exceptis as appears in the Exemplification of the Acts of that Synod by the learned Collector of our English Councils In recompence whereof the Pope that there might be quid pro quo yielded to the King that thenceforth no Legate should be sent into England without the King's leave and that the Archbishop of Canterbury for the time being should be for ever Legatus natus and for the honour of the See it was obtained that the Archbishop of Canterbury should in all General Councils sit at the Pope's foot tanquam alterius orbis Papa But this agreement was soon broken on both sides the Pope sending his Legates and the King resuming the Investiture of Bishops Matr. Paris fo 65. as the same Historian relates in divers instances In the next troublesome raign of King Stephen it was won clearly that Appeals should be made to the Court of Rome established in a Synod at London Speim Concil Tom. 2. fo 44. held by Henry Bishop of Winchester the Pope's Legat for before that time In Anglia namque Appellationes in usu non erant as un unquestionable Historian hath it donec eas Henricus Wintoniensis dum Legatus esset Hen Huntingdon lib. 8. fo 395. malo suo crudeliter intrusit in eodem namque Concilio ad Romani Pontificis audientiam ter appellatus est And in the raign of King Henry the second began the claime and usage of exempting Clarks from the secular Power whatever their crimes were And from this root sprang the famous contention between this King and his Archbishop Thomas Becket together with the Constitutions of Clarendon for the rectifying that abuse at large to be read and observed in the Historians of those times To all this it will be but pertinent to subjoine some brief disquisition touching the Canon Law how and by whom compiled and when introduced into this Iland under which where admitted no small part of the Papal authority was neatly and artificially drawn in For which
Romanum Episcopum majorem aliquam Jurisdictionem non habere sibi à Deo collatam in Sacra Scriptura in hoc regno Angliae quam alium quemvis Externum Episcopum Conformable to which was also the Resolution of all the English Clergy Upon which and presently after King Hen. 8. was by Parliament agnized Supream Head of the Church in these his Dominions Stat 26 Hen. 8 cap. 1. whereby it was also Enacted and Declared That the King his Heirs and Successors Kings of England should have and enjoy united and annexed to the Imperial Crown of this his Realm as well the Title and Stile thereof as all Honours Dignities Jurisdictions c. to the said Dignity of Supream Head of the Church of England belonging or appertaining with full power and authority to visit redress reform order correct restrain and amend all errours heresies abuses c. which Act Io. Hâ—rb Hist of Hen. 8 fo 380. though much to the support of the Regal Authority seem'd not suddenly to be approv'd by the King nor before he had consulted with his Council who shewed him many precedents of Kings of England that had used this power and with his Bishops who having fully discussed the point in their Convocations Declared That the Pope had no Jurisdiction in this Kingdom warranted by Gods word suitable to what was Declared by the Universities Colledges and Religious Houses with learned men of all sorts maintaining it necessary that such a power should be extant in the Realm for the Peace good Order and Government of the same the Reasons and Arguments of all which were couched in a Book of the King 's about that time published De vera differentiae Regiae Ecclesiasticae potestatis whence also the Learned Bishop Andrews in his Tortura Torti seems to have drawn diver assertions of the Regal Authority to which the Reader is referred A practice this I mean of consulting the Clergy and the Learned in a case of so great an import agreeable to former Presidents Tho. Walsing in An 1408. fo 420. as I find in Tho. Walsingham In concilio cleri celebrato Londoniis assistentibus Doctoribus Vniversitatum Cantabrigiae Oxoniae tractatum est de censu obedientia Papae subtrahendis vel non subtrahendis And as King Hen. 2. Rog. Hoveden in Hen. 2. pa. prior professed he would proceed in the great cause depending between him and his Archbishop Becket Now when King Hen. 8. was by Parliament agnized Supream Head of the Church within his own Dominions and by him for the reasons aforesaid owned and accepted what they meant by this may well enough be collected from the premises and from that notable Oration of Stephen Gardiner of True Obedience before mentioned which Title he neither took nor the Parliament gave in other sence than the French have always attributed it to their Princes and what the Royal Ancestors of King Hen. 8. Spelm. Conc. 437. Seld. ad Eadm 1â—5 â—â—g Edvard c. himself assumed under the Homonymous names of Tutors Protectors Governours Domini Christi Vicarii Agricolae c. and the like And this is the Supremacy which the Kings of England have always claimed and exercised within their own Dominions with the temporary obstructions above mentioned that is in Soveraign way to Rule and Govern all their Subjects of what degree and quality soever to call their own Clergy and Church-men together and with their advice to see the Church reformed and by Act of Parliament to have all Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction restored and united to the Crown as in the First year of Q. Eliz. was done inlarged on before And here it will not be unnecessary to observe and know how that Restitution was resented by the Queen's Subjects at that time And for that observe and observable it was the general complyance and complacence of the People in it as also that from the First until the Eleventh year of that Queen's raign Cokâ— 5 Rep. de ure Reg. Eâ—câ—esiastico fo 35. no person of what perswasion of Christian Religion soever at any time refused to come to the Publick Divine Service celebrated in the Church of England and established by publick Authority within this Realm until the Bull of Pope Pius Quintus in the Eleventh year of her Majesties Raign came out against her whereby he deprived her of all her Right Authority Dignity and Priviledge in or unto these her Realms and Dominions and absolved all her Subjects of their Allegiance After this Bull it was that those who regarded the Pope's power or threats more than their Prince's just Authority or their own Allegiance refused to come to Church and from that occasion first acquired the stile of Recusants Vid. Camb. Annal. This gave rise also to a multitude of treasonable practices and conspiracies against the Queens life taken up also against King James Vid. Arth. Crohagans case in Crook 1. Rep. continued against our late Soveraign King Charls the First and still fermenting to break forth upon all opportunities to promote the Catholick cause and all abetted by the traitorous Doctrine of King-killing justified and proclaimed to the World by Bellarmin Co licenzâ— con priviâ—egio Baronius Mariana Emanuel Sa Allen Creswell and others both Natives and Strangers the consequence whereof was this That though Treason was always in the intention yet God be praised nothing hath yet been brought to Execution but the Traitors In this affair St. Jo. Davys D sc of Ireland fo 242. I find a memorable Observation of a grave Statesman That in the Indentures of submission of the Irish to King Hen. 8. all the Irish Lords did acknowledge him to be their Soveraign Lord and King and owned his Supremacy in all causes utterly renouncing the Pope's Jurisdiction most worthy of note says he in that when the Irish had once resolved to obey the King they made no scruple to renounce the Pope Besides these which have been experienc'd in our own Country infinite have been the mischiefs occasion'd in the World upon this score of Supremacy and Dominion and that by the mighty strugling and bickerings that have been maintained between the Papacy and the Princes of the Earth about the gaining and keeping this Power Besides the general Observations that a great means of the growth of the Turkish Empire to it s now formidable stature hath been the Wars and disturbances wrought upon this ground amongst the Christians themselves Also the decay and corruption of sincere piety and devotion by the turning the current of Religion out of its pure primitive channel into the sink of disputes and controversies about the Rights and Bounds of Dominion when Christ himself hath told us That his Kingdom is not of this world This caused Divine Religion to degenerate into Humane Policy and upon this it was that Machiavel too truly observed Mach. Disc on Tit. Liv. lib. 1. cap. 12. That there was now here less Piety
Statutes and Priviledges was vacated and overthrown and his own revenues established upon the ruins of the Nation Dispensing with any thing nay every thing by which he might gain any thing as may be read at large in that notable Historian to whom for brevities sake we referr those that would receive further satisfaction therein and pass on to the CHAP. VII Indulgences Pardons INdulgences and Pardons shall in the next place be remembred as most powerful devices to draw money to Rome And because the import of these generally hath not been so well apprehended we will take liberty to make a little enquiry into the nature and vertue of them In the Primitive Times when the Christians had committed any hainous offence as for example either in denying their Faith or sacrificing to Idols for fear of persecution the parties offending were injoyned some severe and long Penance and the rigour of this the Bishops and Pastors had power if they saw cause to mitigate at their discretion which mitigation or relaxation of Punishment was called Indulgence or Pardon And this derived from St. Paul who released the incestuous Corinthian from the bond of Excommunication upon his humiliation and serious repentance And this manner of Indulgence was ancient and continued long in the Primitive Church But the Indulgence in the Roman Church is of another nature for seeing that Sin as they say deserveth as well some Temporal punishment as Eternal Damnation their Indulgence is a supposed Absolution from the guilt of Temporal punishment Vid. Pol. Vergil de invent rerum lib. 8. cap. 1. which punishment is inflicted they say in Purgatory and all this as they further add by the application of the merits of Jesus Christ and his Saints by the medium and method of the Church and these merits are termed Thesaurus Ecclesiae The Treasure of the Church and appliable to the souls of the dead burning in Purgatory to work out their Temporal punishment And this is the notion of Indulgence in the Roman Church if I mistake not for it is a Doctrine as difficult to understand as to maintain But this is certain that these modern new coin'd Indulgences differ infinitely from that of the Primitive Times for those which were first used for mitigation of Penance or Punishment are now reduced to be in stead of real private satisfactions and that which was formerly left to the discretion of every Bishop in his own Diocess to dispence in that manner with summum jus is now solely transferred to the Power and authority of the Pope and that not only from Penances and Punishments in this life but also from imprisonment pains and tortures in Purgatory for many thousands of years As whosoever in the state of Grace shall say seven prayers before the Crucifix Horae beaâ—ae Mar. Virg. secundum usum Sarum and seven Pater nosters and seven Ave Marys shall obtain Six and Fifty Thousand years of pardon fourteen thousand granted by St. Gregory fourteen thousand by Nicholas the First and eight and twenty thousand by Sixtus the 4th Bulâ—a Pli Quarti Dat. Rom. 1564. And amongst the Articles framed at the Council of Trent to be owned super forma juramenti professionis fidei this is one That the power of Indulgences was left by Christ in the Church and that the use thereof is most wholesom for Christs people For the Antiquity Authority and validity of these Indulgences as now practised let those maintain if they can whom it most concerns and who get by them for my business now is not to dispute only I cannot forbear to tell you what a learned Romanist says of them Cunerus Declam Dolendum mirandum c. It is to be lamented and admired how Catholicks write of Indulgences so timorously so coldly so diversly so doubtfully as if they were so far fetch'd or so uncertainly framed that they could hardly be proved We will therefore only take notice of their efficacy to draw money out of the Peoples purses our present purpose and for their power of drawing Souls out of Purgatory we leave it to another opportunity For the purpose of drawing money from the people there could not have been a more neat contrivance Rivet and therefore by one they have not improperly been called Emulgences Romarorum loculos impraegnare Mat. Paris Hen. 3. and by the Romanists themselves in their truest signification The Treasury of the Church For seeing the Pope was become the sole dispencer and disposer of them when he had occasion or a mind to amass moneys it was a ready and sure way upon pretence of Wars against the Turks or of Wars against Hereticks or Wars against the Emperour or any neighbor Prince or State with whom the Pope was at odds to send out and proclaim Marts and Sales for these Indulgences upon terms that those who would disburse any summs of money for the purposes aforesaid as the occasion was they should have Pardons and Indulgences for numbers of years proportionable to the summs they could or would deposite Hen. de Knighton Coll. 2671. Nam aliter non absolvebantur nisi tribuerent secundum posse suum facultatem suam For people could not be absolv'd except they did disburse as much as their abilities would afford as Hen. de Knighton deals plainly in the case And then for the poor and indigent truly they deserve our pitty when the Taxa Camerae Apostolicae deals thus plainly with them Taxa Cam. Apost Impress Paris Nota diligenter quod hujusmodi gratiae non conceduntur pauperibus quia non habent ergo non possunt consolari Note diligently that such graces are not granted to the poor because they have not wherewithal they cannot be comforted A very sad Case Now for those people that were conscious and certain they were guilty of many sins and perswaded they should lye frying in Purgatory many thousands of years to purge themselves and make them fit for Heaven who would not presently unstring and give even almost all they were worth for such advantages and to be freed from those bitterly represented pains and torments Then to assure people they were not cheated in these penny-worths and bargains the Mysterie of the Pope's Triple Crown was sufficient for anciently if not still the word Mysterium Mysterium was engraven thereon to denote and signifie the Rule and Authority the Pope bears in Heaven in Earth and in Purgatory And so these Indulgences and Pardons were trucked for and bought up at any rates untill people began a little to consider and look about them and to observe upon what terms and for what purposes these Indulgences were sent abroad wherein no distinction of persons or sins was made which reasonably might have been expected from Christ's Vicar that whosoever performed some religious rites and paid certain summs of money should have all their sins forgiven whatever they were so that all men who would come to the price
excepting those that were Conventual and thereupon Summons was given to all the said Priors to appear on the Octaves of St. Hillary at Westminster and to bring with them all their Charters and Evidences whereby the King and his Council might be satisfied whether they had been Priories Conventual time out of mind or not But notwithstanding this Act and that the former seisures had been made upon this ground that by transportation of the revenues belonging to these English Cells to those Houses in France whereunto many of them belonged and were subordinate the King's Enemies at such times as he had warrs with the French were assisted in the Parl. held at Leic. An. 2 Henry the fifth it being considered that though a final peace might afterwards be made between England and France yet the carrying over such great summs of money yearly to those forraign Monasteries would be much prejudicial to this Kingdom and the People thereof there was an Act then made that all the possessions in England belonging to the said Priories-Alien should thenceforth remain to the King his Heirs and Successors for ever excepting such whereof special declaration was then made to the Contrary Rot. Parl. 2 Hen. 5. nu 9. Al intent sayes the Act que divine Services en les lieux avantdictz purront pluis duement estre fait per genti Anglois en temps avenir que n'ount este fait devant cest heurs en icelles per gents Francois c. intimating the mis-imployment of the same And so from thenceforth our Kings disposed of these Priories-Alien and all their revenues arising hence in such manner as they thought most conducible to the good and ease of themselves and the People Which Act of State proved a Praeludium to the dissolution which befel the intire English Monasteries in the raign of King Henry the eighth CHAP. XVIII Knights Templars and Hospitallers THE Orders of the Knights Templars and Hospitallers were also possessed of large revenues and lands here a great part of the profits whereof was transported away and spent out of the Kingdom For the Original Rule and nature of these Orders several have collected and exhibited them particularly Mr. Dugdale W. Dâ—gd Hist of Warw. fo 704 An. 1 Ed. 2. to whom those that would be satisfied therein are referred For our purpose let it be sufficient to note That in the year 1307. by the King 's special command Hen. d'Knighton coll 2531 and a Bull from the Pope the Templars were generally throughout the Kingdom laid hold on and cast into prison and all their possessions seised into the King's hands Th. Walsingh Hist fo 73. An. D. 1311. The crimes objected against them were very hainous contain'd in divers Articles but whether true or false we will not now examine And it was not long after that the whole Order was condemned and suppress'd in a General Council at Vienna under Pope Clement the fifth and their possessions given to the Knights Hospitallers who injoyed the same here till the 32. year of King Hen. Stat. 32 H. 8â— cap. 24. 8. when an Act of Parliament was made reciting That divers of the King's subjects called Knights of St. John of Jerusalem abiding beyond the Sea receiving yearly out of this Realm great summs of money have unnaturally and contrary to the duty of their allegiances substained and maintained the usurped power and authority of the Bishop of Rome lately used and practised within this Realm he the said Bishop being common Enemy to the King our Soveraign Lord and this his Realm and considering that it were better that the possessions in this Realm belonging to such as adhered to the Bishop of Rome should be imploy'd and spent within this Realm for the defence of the same than converted to and amongst such unnatural subjects c. It was enacted That the said Corporation of Knights Hospitallers within his Majesties Dominions should be utterly dissolved and that the King his Heirs c. should have all their Mannors Lands c. And so the Kingdom was freed of that mischief which their transporting so much money yearly out of it had occasioned Queen Mary a Princess more zealous than wise or politick made some attempt to restore the Convents dissolved by her Father Sand. de Schism lib. 2. fo 30â— and Brother particularly re-instating the Benedictines at Westminster The Carthusians at Shone The Brigetteans at Sion The Dominicans at Smithfield in London A sort of Franciscans heretofore zealous for the legality of her Mother's marriage at Greenwich And the Hospitallers of St. John's of Jerusalem in Clarkenwell But her example was not followed by any of the Nobility or others who had incorporated any of the Abby Lands into their estates but the Queen restored only what remained in the Crown un-aliened from the same But yet such a beginning of hers gave a shrewd alarme to all the rest that they should be attaqued in convenient time with some Acts of resumption which would compel them to refund and that the rather because Cardinal Pool in that Act in this Queen's raign to secure the Abby Lands to the then Owners without a formal passing whereof to quiet at present so many persons concerned Popery would not so easily have bin restored at that time would not absolve their consciences from restitution but only made as it were a temporary palliate cure the Church of Rome but suspending that power which in due time was to be put in execution But for our Hospitallers as I said before they were with some others restored and placed in their shatter'd mansion in Clarkenwell Stow. Survey fo 483. Sir Thomas Tresham being made the Prior of the Order But the short raign of that Queen prevented further restitutions And Queen Elizabeth coming to the Crown permitted all things to remain for some time as she found them so that at her first Parliament she sent writs to the Lo. Prior Tresham and Abbot Fecknam to appear as Barons therein but they were scarce warm in their Seats but they with all the rest of the late restored Orders were once again dissolved and the Kingdom 's fears of refunding and resumption for that time cured with addition of hope never to be so frighted again As Allies and Successors to these Knights Templars and Hospitallers it will not be amiss something to note of the Knights of Malta How they were first expulsed out of the Holy Land and then out of Rhodes by the Turks how afterwards they seated at Nice and Syracuse successively and at last setled in the Island Malta where now they are we referr those that would be satisfied therein to the Historians and Travellers that have taken notice of them Gro. Sandies Trav. lib. 4. fo 229. Travels of Jo. Ray. fo 303. But we are informed by our late Travellers That now in the City of Valetta in Malta they have Alberges Halls or Seminaries of the eight several Nations of the Order
which are the French Italians German English Provençal Auvergnois Castilian and Arragonian These Albergs are buildings like Colledges and the Seignior of each Nation is Superiour of the Alberg Grand Prior of his Nation of the Gran Croce as they call it and of the Privy Council of the Great Master Amongst these there is an Alberg or an apartment for the English Nation or rather a piece of ground inclosed with the foundation of an Alberg the Walls being not quite reared up This standing now void for want of English to stock it some of the Citizens would have bought the ground to have built upon but the Grand Master and Council would not sell it expecting that one day the English Nation would be reduced again to the Obedience of the Roman Church and then it would be finished and replenish'd with such for whom it was first designed In the time of Mr. Sand's being there an Irish-man living in Naples and receiving a large Pension from the King of Spain bore the Title of Grand Prior for the English but who hath since succeeded in that Office I have not thought it very necessary to inquire And in like manner as we are informed the other dissolved Orders especially those as were of greatest note and most richly endowed still keep up and continue their Successions as well as they can with Rentals and Particulars of the possessions of their respective Houses in hopes they will revert once again to their former use CHAP. XIX Elections of Popes and Cardinals THE Election and making of Popes and Cardinals was another way of carrying great summs frequently out of England to Rome And that upon this account The Pope being both a spiritual Monarch and a Temporal Prince it could not otherwise be but by that sway which he bore in the Consciences of such as owned his authority he came to have a great influence over all the State affairs of Christendome besides his challenging a power to depose Kings absolve Subjects of their Oaths of Allegiance dispence with Vows and Oaths and dispose of Kingdoms and States as he pleased and then the Kings and States of Europe acting according to their respective rules of State and Policy there continually happen'd a reciprocation and recurrence of Treaties Leagues Alliances Quarrels and Warrs amongst them And the Popedome being Elective all those Princes and States amongst whom our Kings had their proper concerns made it their interest and utmost endeavour in a vacancy to procure the promotion of such a one to that See as might be favourable or at least not noxious to their interests and designs And hence all the subtile contrivances the secret Cabals sometimes the twisting and at other times the unravelling of interests and factions the canvassing of parties the buying of votes the purchasing of intelligence the bribing of Officers and any thing or every thing that money would do must be set on foot and carryed on with utmost vigour cost and pains At such a time and occasion Rome becomes throng'd with Ambassadors and Agents with their Guards and Retinue from all quarters and all at a vast expence watching labouring and sweating every one for his Master's business whilst the roads are pester'd with Messengers Curriers and Posts carrying and re-carrying of News intelligence and instructions Then by reason of all this packing and canvassing it often happens that the Conclave cannot agree in many moneths though generally those Princes who had bin most liberal have had their turns serv'd and many times again by reason of the fierce opposition and difficulties the Cardinals not to disgust the contending factions are fain to pitch upon some heavy old overgrown man who is likely to do neither hurt nor good or at least not long and sometimes again the Conclave becomes so divided and rent that one part of them chooses a Pope and another part an Anti-Pope and when these with their partisans have for some time scuffl'd tug'd and fought for 't in comes a third dog and catches the hare from them both and sometimes three Popes have been up and in play at one time In this hurly-burly St. Peter's chair is overturn'd and broke in pieces one Pope snatches up part of it and runs into Germany another scrambles for another part and runs with it into France whilst another pieces up the remaining shivers and seats himself at Rome Presently the world is fill'd with complaints Remonstrances and Manifesto's The Emperour storms and sayes his man had foul play and that his Imperial Eagle shall fly his utmost pitch to do him right The surly Spaniard grumbles and protests he will hazard all his Indies before his Creature shall be so baffled And the French King swears that all his Flowers de Lis shall wither before his Confident shall be rooted out neither are our Kings of England only lookers on whilst this game is in playing but either their Arms or their money must be layd to stake on one side In this Battle-Royal after many incounters and ran-counters the weakest though not alwayes the worst most commonly goes to the Walls one of them perhaps sent out of the world with a Fig or a Potion another entrapp'd and thrown into a Dungeon whilst the third for a few moneths or it may be years struts up and down claps his wings and crows as victor and then goes himself to the Pot and leaves the Pit for other Combatants and the spectators to their expectation of more sport Of this sort Bellarmine reckons up six and twenty schisms in the Roman Church but Onuphrius a more exact accountant Onuphr in vita Clem. 7. reckons up thirty whereof some lasted ten some twenty and one fifty years The Contemplation whereof hath caused some to make a very shrewd objection against the perfect unity compleat succession and Divine Infallibility so much boasted of in that Church I might and could easily here make particular instance of all these famous bickerings scuffles and counter-scuffles but the same being obvious to all that converse with books Dr. Stilling-fleet of the divisions of the Rom. Churâ—h and something having bin lately worthily done to that purpose and it being a Parergon to the drift of these papers we will no further ingage in these quarrels than to note that they were cause for the reasons aforesaid of great expence to our English Kings when they thought it their interest to have a friend seated in the Pontifical chair and the reason of that Policy now ceasing we being altogether unconcern'd in that affair the money that used to leak that way is kept within the Kingdom to the great ease quiet and benefit both of King and People I will only here take liberty to mention one famous schisme the procedure and conclusion thereof justifying all that we have before pointed at in this matter About the year 1404. Platina in vitis Innoc. 7 Greg. 12. Alex. 5. Jo 24 Innocent the seventh being Pope by the prevalence of a
Guardians and Chiefs without framing or proposing any more doubts subtilties or scruples With all this contained in a very fair Bull the Delegates and Agents returned home And the Guardians and Chiefs of the Order in pursuance thereof applyed themselves to order and settle these matters But then besides the differences that arose amongst themselves when ever they agreed on any thing those Fryers against whose Opinion it was carryed would quarrel insolently at it and would be so far from yielding conformity that they did not spare to revile their Superiours calling them Fools and Dunces for no better understanding the Text of St. Francis his Rule And in this disorder they continued a long time untill In the year 1323. in the time of Pope John the 22. who resided at Avignion the Guardians and superiours of the Order went to complain once more to his Holiness that the Fryers would not obey the Orders they had agreed upon by vertue of the Bull of Pope Clement and humbly prayed his Holiness further directions and aid therein Whereupon the Pope sent Summons to all those Fryers who refused to obey their Superior's Decrees in all those controverted points that they should either personally or by writing certifie the Reasons of their obstinacy and when these were come in the Pope assembled all his Cardinals in Conclave where the Allegations for and against the Fryer's disobedience were all canvassed and debated at large and many offers and proposals made for a final conclusion of all but nothing of that nature was accepted and no agreement there was like to be except the Pope would juridically and openly and plainly give his Sentence in the case And thereupon the Pope gave Order for his definitive Bull to be drawn up wherein in the first place he highly extolled the Bulls of his Predecessors the Popes Nicholas and Clement wondring why men should decline the import and â—enor of them and then for himself he ordained and declared That the vilitie of Habits should be measured by the custom of every Country and after gave power and Commission to the Guardians and Superiors of the Order as did Pope Clement to make a Rule for the longitude latitude colour thickness fashion substance and vility as well of the Tunics as the Hood and upon all other circumstances accidents and dependances upon the same commanding all the Fryers to obey the Rules that should be made without any more Objections Arguments or Contradictions But neither would this Third Bull do the business for men esteemed it in effect no more than what had bin order'd before without any fruit And so the heats and disputes continued amongst the Fryers as high as ever Nay some spared not to reflect on the Pope himself saying that he did not rightly understand the points in controversie Others that he used too many Councellors and that one honest Tailor if the Pope could have found him would better have inform'd how to stitch up these rents than the whole Conclave and the greatest Scandal was that if the Pope the Vice-deus the Oracle of Truth the unerring Head the infallible Guide could not settle and put an end to differences of such inferiour nature how could he did many say infallibly judge and determine in matters of Faith and the more sublime points of Religion about which there were such differences in the world But at last these heats amongst the Fryers were somewhat allayed and cool'd with time and the generality of the Order betook thmeselves to the White and Black Colours as they come purely from the Beast and thence the denomination to the white and black Fryers and some of them intermingled the two Colours and made a third and from them came the Grey Fryers And for the Garments and Hoods they came to wear them long and large only the difference about the Sleeves was never yet accorded for some wear strait and little Sleeves and others wear large and wide for some conveniences and of this sort was that Fryer who when he was Preaching against stealing had all the time a Goose in his Sleeve And thus though their Infallible Judge could not or would not put an end to these differences amongst his own Creatures with all his Decretals and Extravagants as those Bulls were called yet at this time we shall here to them all put a FINIS An Essay of the Supremacy of the King of England within his Majesty's Realms and Dominions IN our view of the resplendent Majesty of our Soveraign Lord the King of England it must needs fare with us as with a curious eye that looks on the Sun in its full luster thereby discovering its own weakness sooner than the nature of that Glorious Body being dazell'd if it gaze too long and scorched Excellens objectum destruit sensum if it approach too near such a refulgent and disproportion'd Object And therefore that I may proceed with Truth and safety in this affair I must make use of the Instruments of Law and the skreen of Authorities to direct and defend me in my intended progress therein In the first place therefore we are to know That the King of England hath two capacities in him viz. One as a natural Body being descended of the Blood Royal of this Realm and this Body is of the same nature with his Subjects Plowd Comment seig Barkly's Case fo 234. Id. Case de Duchy fo 213. and subject to Infirmity Death and the like The other as a Politick Body or Capacity so called because it is framed by the Policy of man and in this Capacity the King is esteemed to be Immortal not subject to Infirmity Death Nonage c. And therefore when a King of England dyes the Lawyers have a peculiar way of expressing the same not saying the Death of the King but the King's demise Demise le Roy. And therefore in respect of this Politick Capacity it is often said That the King of England never dyes and by the Law of England there can be no Interregnum for upon the King's Demise his lawful Successor is ipso facto King without any essential Ceremony or Act ex post facto to be done For the coronation is but a Royal ornament Calvin's Case fo 10 11. and solemnization of the Royal Descent but no part of the Title And all this may be collected from the Resolutions of all the Judges in the case of Watson and Clark Seminary Priests who with others Hill An. 1 Jac. Cok. Pl. Coron 7. entered into Treason against King James before his coronation So King Henry the sixth was not crowned untill the eighth year of his Raign and yet several men before his Coronation were Attaint of Treason and Felony as by the Records thereof it doth appear The Reasons and causes wherefore by the Policy of the Law the King of England is thus a Body Politick are three viz. First Causa Masestatis The King cannot give or take Calvin's Case fo
as well by the Title of the said Act as by the Body of it An Act restoring to the Crown the ancient jurisdiction over the state Ecclesiastical and spiritual 1 Eliz. 1. in divers places for that Stat. doth not annex any Jurisdiction to the Crown but that which in truth was or of right ought to be by the ancient Laws of this Realm parcel of the Kings Jurisdiction Now it is not unknown how from the root as it were of this inherent Authority grow the several Branches of the same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As that he hath the supream Right of Patronage over all England and all Ecclesiastical Benefices within the same so that if the immediate Patron present not a Clark in due time nor the Ordinary nor Metropolitan the Right of Presentation devolves on the King and there rests Nullum tempus occurrit Regi He only hath the Patronage of all Bishopricks and none can be chosen but by his Conge d' Eslier and whom he nominates none can be consecrated Bishop or take possession of the Revenues of the Bishoprick without a special Writ or Assent from the King The King only calls National or Provincial Synods and by his Commissioners or Metropolitans gives life to Canons Orders Ordinances and Constitutions relating to the Government and Ceremonies of the Church for reformation and correction of Heresies Schismes Contempts c. Halls Case Coke 5 Rep. The King hath Power to pardon the violation of Ecclesiastical Laws to dispence with the rigour of them and to regulate all Ecclesiastical Persons as that a Bastard may be made a Priest 11 Hen. 7.12 a. That a Priest may hold more Benefices than one That he may succeed his Father That he may be non-Resident c. And for his Superintendency over the whole Church the King hath the First-Fruits and Tenths of all Ecclesiastical Benefices And from him lyes no Appeal to any forrain Jurisdiction whatsoever Neither is it unknown what strange incroachments and usurpations have been made upon the fundamental Right of our Kings by the Popes and Court of Rome and again how strenuously in all times it hath been asserted and vindicated by the Kings and People of England the Papal Dominion rising and falling here according to the quality of the Times and the measures of resistance which it met withall And evident is it also by what means this forrain Dominion came to be owned here for in the Empire the Bishops of Rome usurp'd one half of the Imperial Power and annexed the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and Supremacy to their own See for taking advantage of the publick distractions occasion'd partly by the incursions of the Barbarians on the North and East parts and chiefly by the divisions of the Empire it self and by some opportunities of serving some weak and vicious Emperours in their unworthy purposes they gain'd at last by force or fraud the whole Dominion of Religion to themselves and by pretending to the Spirit of Infallibility they usurp'd an absolute Empire over the Faiths and Consciences of men which yet they could not maintain without the continual disdained affronts to the Princes of Christendom the last whereof reduced under this yoke were the Kings of this Island and for which there were not Arts enough wanting As by making a bad use of innocent and good meanings and improving the humility of others for an advantageous step whereon to mount it self For when Religion came to a consistency here the Bishop of Rome was greatly reverenced by the Christians of this Island as one that was the Primate of one of the then most glorious Churches in the World Patriarch of the West and residing in a City famous for Arts and Learning and the seat of the Empire And then the fame of this eminent Bishop crescens eundo Tacit. Hist lib. 2. and majora credi de absentibus as Tacitus speaks acquired a mighty reverence for him in these remoter parts though the devout Brittains who received more probably their first conversion from Asia applyed themselves chiefly to Judaea as a place of the greatest sanctity yet amongst the Saxons for the reasons aforesaid Beda Hist li. 4. cap. 23. Romam adire magnae virtutis aestimabatur as Ven. Beda hath it But as this was of their part no other than as to a great Doctor or Prelate from whose countenance and assistance they hoped for great advantages so those Instructions they received from Rome were not as coming from one that had Dominion over their Faith the one side not at all giving nor the other assuming more respect than what was decent and fit out of Charity Reverence and Christian affection each unto the other And therefore observable is it in that famous transaction of the Kingdom of France Platina in vita Zach 1. Spondan in eod about the deposing of Childerick and setting up Pepin in his room which some have contended to have been done by the Pope's Authority The Truth is Mente stupidus vitâ ignavus Paul Aemil. Childerick was set aside by the Peers of France for a Fool or Frantick and Pepin stepping up applyed himself to the then Pope Zachary to confirm not to confer his new obtained Kingdom for in those days they gave no such power neither did Pope Zachary claim it Only that such an extraordinary action might carry the better face in the world it was thought requisite to have the suffrage of so grave an Oracle and therefore Baronius confesses and that you will will say is much Baron Annal. Francos non Zachariae paruisse decreto sed acquievisse consilio and there is great difference between an Authoritative Injunction and a Prudential Advice which is only an Answer out of discretion and left to discretion and so can imply no obligation at all And Sabellicus relates it thus That the Peers of France deposed Childerick Sabell Ennâ—ad 8 lib. 8. and set up Pepin in his stead Romano Pontifice consulto whence this Gloss upon one of their Laws Papa deposuit id est deponentibus consensit But enough of this But certain it is that by one way or other the Papal Dominion arrived to a great height in the World and particularly in this Island in after times and then the former addresses of the Christians of this Island to the Bishop of Rome were made use of as notes and evidences of subjection and what had passed by the Popes advice and Counsel only was afterward said to have been done by his Authority And so the ordering and determining of Ecclesiastical affairs was endeavoured to be drawn to a forraign Judicature to the apparent prejudice and diminution as well of the Rights of the Crown as of this Church And therefore in this case it fared with our Ancestors as with her in the Tragedy Quisquis in primo obstitit Repulitque amorem tutus ac victor fuit Sâ—nec Trag. Hippolyt Qui blandiendo dulce nutrivit malum
into the King's hands and lost during his life And this Judgement was before any Act of Parliament made in that case Nota. And there it is said That for the like offence the Archbishop of Canterbury had bin in worse case by the Judgement of the Sages in the Law if the King had not extended favour to him Although by the Ordinance of Circumspecte agatis Coke 5 Rep. Case de jure R. Eccl. made in the thirteenth year of King Edward the first and by a general allowance and usage the Ecclesiastical Court held Plea of Tithes Oblations Obventions Mortuaries Redemption of Penance Laying of violent hands on a Clark Defamations c. yet did not the Clergy think themselves assured nor quiet from Prohibitions purchased by subjects till King Edward the second by his Letters Patents under the Great Seal Staâ— 9 Edw. 2. Artic. cler ca. 16. in and by consent of Parliament upon Petition of the Clergy had granted them Jurisdiction in those cases An Excommunication by the Archbishop Finzh Excom 4.16 Ed. 3. Broâ—k Excom pl. 5.14 H. 4. although it be dis-annulled by the Pope or Legate is to be allowed Neither may the Judges give any allowance of any such sentence of the Pope or his Legate And it hath often bin adjudg'd 30 Ed 3 Lib. Assiz pl. 19.12 Ed. 4.16 and declared That the Pope's Excommunication is of no force in England It is often Resolved in our Books that all the Bishopricks in England were founded by the King's Progenitors and the Advowsons vowsons of them all belong to the King and at first they were * Per traditionem annuli pastorasis baculi Donative And that if an Incumbent of any Church with cure dyes if the Patron Present not within six months the Bishop of that Diocess ought to collate that the cure be supply'd if he neglect by the space of six moneths the Metropolitan of that Diocess shall confer one unto that Church and if he also neglect six moneths then the Law gives to the King as Supreame within his own Kingdom and not to the Pope power to provide a Pastor The King may not only exempt any Ecclesiastical Person from the Jurisdiction of the Ordinary but may grant unto him Episcopal Jurisdiction as it appears the King had done of antient time to the Archdeacon of Richmond 17 Ed 3.13 20 Ed. 3. And the Abbot of Bury was exempted from Episcopal Jurisdiction by the King's Charter The King Presented to a Benefice 21 Ed. 3.40 and his Presentee was disturbed by one that had obtained Bulls from Rome for which offence he was condemned to perpetual imprisonment If Excommunication be the final end of any suit in the Court of Rome as indeed it is and be not allowed Fitzh Nat. Br. fo 64. f. or allowable in England as it hath often bin Declared It then follows that by the Ancient Common Law of England no suit for any cause though it be spiritual arising within this Realm may or can be determined in the Court of Rome Quia frustra expectatur eventus cujus effectus nullus sequitur At a Parliament held An. Stat. 25 Ed. 3. de Provisorib 25 Edward the third It was Enacted That as well they that obtained Provisions from Rome as they that put them in execution should be out of the King's Protection and that they should be dealt withal as the King's Enemies and no man so dealing with them should be impeached for the same At a Parliament held An. Stat. 16 Ric. 2. cap. 5. 16 Ric. 2. It is declar'd That the Crown of England hath bin so free at all times that it hath bin in subjection to none but immediately subject to God and none other and that the same ought not in any thing touching the Regality of the said Crown to be submitted to the Bishop of Rome nor the Laws and Statutes of this Realm by him frustrated or defeated at his Will And the Commons in that Parliament affirmed that the things attempted by the Bishop of Rome be clearly against the King's Crown and his Regality used and approved in time of all his Progenitors in which points the said Commons professed to live and dye and to all which the Lords assented also as being thereto bound by their Allegiances It is resolved that the Pope's Collector 2 Hen. 4 fo 9. though he have the Pope's Bull for that purpose hath no Authority within this Realm And there it is said That the Archbishops and Bishops of this Realm are the King 's spiritual Judges And in another place it is said Papa non potest mutare Leges Angliae 11 Hen. 4. fo 37. Per Curiam In the raign of King Henry the sixth 1 Hen. 7. fo 10. the Pope wrote Letters in derogation of the King and his Regality and the Church-men durst not speak any thing against them But Humfrey Duke of Glocester for their safe keeping put them into the fire In the raign of King Edward the fourth 1 Hen. 7. fo 20. the Pope granted to the Prior of St. John's to have Sanctuary in his Priory and this was pleaded and claim'd by the Prior but resolved by the Judges Keilway Reports 8 H. 8. fo 191. b. That the Pope had no power to grant any Sanctuary within this Realm and therefore the same was disallowed by Judgement of Law In Brook Tit. Presentation al Esglise Bro. Present al Esglise p. 12. It is affirmed That the Pope was permitted to do certain things within this Realm by usurpation and not of right untill the Raign of King Kenry the eighth quod nota sayes the Book Stat. 24 Hen. 8. ca. 12.25 H. 8.21 And in what esteem the Pope's Authority here was in that King's time may sufficiently be collected from the Tenor and Purview of the Statutes about that affair in his raign made In the raign of King Kenry the sixth Henry Beaufort Uncle to the King being Bishop of Winchester was made Cardinal and thereupon purchased from the Pope a Bull Declaratory that he might still hold his Bishoprick yet it was held and adjudged that the See of Winchester was become void by the assumption of the Cardinalship and therefore the Cardinal fallen into a Praemunire 4 Hen. 6. in Arch. Turr. Lond. for which he was glad to purchase his pardon as by the Records of all this it doth appear It was Adjudged in the Court of Common Pleas Dier 12 Eliz. by Sir James Dyer Weston and the whole Court That a Dean or any other Ecclesiastical Person may resign as divers did to King Edward the sixth Vid. Grend ca. in Plowd Com. for that he had the Authority of the Supream Ordinary With all this may be noted also the several Statutes heretofore made against the usurpations of the Bishops of Rome in this Kingdom the principal whereof these viz. Stat. 25 Ed. 3. de Provisorib Stat. 27 28 Ed.
and Religion than in those that dwelt nearest to Rome the main point of Religion there practised being how to draw this Prince or that State or Territory under the Spiritual Dominion of the Pope Pâ—atin in vits Gâ—â—g 7. there esteemed the very Atlas of the World with power to depose dispose and impose in all Kingdoms as he please But for true Christianity Hosâ— in de Orâ—g Monac li. 6. ca. 66. Hospinian affirms that the name of Christian in the Italian tongue was used to note a Block-head and a Fool. Add to this the many Treasons Rebellions Perjuries Wars and Commotions raised in Christendom about this very quarrel And for this main drift of the Papacy for Dominion in all places but now mentioned it is visible that the Pope's Supremacy is the foundation that supports the whole building of that Hierarchy and therefore it hath been thought necessary by them always to lay that stone in the first place As about the year 1594. the Bishops of South Russia being under the King of Poland but of the Greek Church submiâ—ted themselves to the Bishop of Rome in the point of Jurisdiction yet not without special reservation of the Greek Religion Brierw Inquir cap. 18. fo 138. and Rites before they would acknowledge their subjection as appears by the Articles of conditions extant Whereby it is manifest that the Pope aim'd not so much to reduce those Churches to the Truth as to his own Obedience As the Emperours and our Kings John and King Hen. 8. thunder'd against only for impugning the Pope Supremacy though they held all other points of Romish Religion And as the Papacy gained in this matter in some places and in some measure so it lost much more in others by straining and aspiring to an unlimitted authority suis ipsa Roma viribis ruitâ— For when the Pope and his Clergy endeavoured the advancement of their Sâ—veraignty over the World upon this occasion any Countreys fell away not only from 〈◊〉 Dominion but also from many other corrupt Dâ—ctrines of the Church of Rome For when they perceived that the chief struggle and design was for Temporal Greatness that many conclusions tending to that end were obtruded as Articles of Faith so manifestly contrary to the Dictates of Christianity and prejudicial to the Rights of others Then both Princes and People began to look into their Title and examine their Evidences and finding them all defective and defeasible thought there was no other remedy but quite to cut off that Power that would not be confin'd whereby this Image of Papal Supremacy became broken and thrown down in many Countreys and is but in a tottering condition in several others at this day The Kings and Princes of the Earth maintaining the just Rights of their Crowns and Kingdoms against this Usurpation on these and the like grounds and reasons viz. That the Title and Power of Kings is far more ancient than this pretended Spiritual Dominion and Quod prius est tempore potius est jure and that in this sence Grace destroyeth not nature and Kings must not lose by becoming Christians That Dominion is expresly given in Scripture unto Kings and is as expresly denyed in Scripture unto the Clergy That as the Pope claimeth at best to be but the Vicar of Christ and that not as he was God it is most certain that Christ never impeach'd impair'd or impos'd upon the Temporal Right of any man the same Authority that Princes had either by the Law of Nature or of Nations before his coming the same he left untouch'd at his departure neither did any of the Apostles or Disciples after his recess ever innovate in the same That the Church in this world is not at home but in a state of perigrinancy and militancy and it is neither Reason nor Justice that strangers should either expell or domineer over the ancient Inhabitants and Melior est conditio possidentis as the Lawyers speak That the proper Rights 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sacra Regni Sacra sublimâ—â— and Qualities of Majesty and Soveraignty are to be both perpetual and absolute as not depending upon any other nor subject to any exception or restraint That these Rights consist in managing affairs of the highest nature which cannot be separated from the Soveraign Power for upon the guiding of them all the fortunes of a State depend That nothing is of so high a nature in a State as Religion for inasmuch as Religion commandeth the Conscience Religio à Religando and holdeth the soul in subjection if supremacy therein be acknowledged in any forrainer the very sinews as I may say of Soveraignty are cut asunder And it is the most destructive Error in Policy and Government to allow to any other a power of disposing or declaring in matters of Religion either besides above or against the Prince himself by which means any King or Prince would soon be despoil'd of his Authoriâ—y and his Subjects drawn from their due Allegiance upon pretences of Conscience and Religion But now for a Conclusion of this Discourse touching the Kings Supremacy it will be but pertinent and reasonably expected to clear one thing viz. whereas upon restitution of that Right to the Crown by the Statute made in the First year of Queen Elizabeth some were induced to conceive by the generality of the words that affirm her Majesty to be Supream Governor as well in all Spiritual or Ecclesiastical causes as Temporal c. as if it had bin an usurping upon the Sacred function of the Church properly belonging to them in Sacred Orders To give satisfaction in this we may in the first place observe in what Sphears and in what distances all the Divines agree that Ecclesiastical Authority doth move and for our purpose at this time Bellarmine shall suffice for all Bellarm. de Rom. Pont. li. 4. c. 22. s 1. who divides Spiritual Power into that of Ordinis and that of Jurisdictionis For that of Ordinis it appears chiefly in the Administration of the Sacraments That of Jurisdiction is held to be double First Internal where the Divine or Holy man by Demonstrations Perswasions Instructions Heavenly Counsel and the like so convinceth the inward Conscience of a man as it presently resigns and yields obedience to that which is proposed as did those Three Thousand Souls Acts 2.37 41. which were converted at the Preaching of St. Peter Secondly External when Christians in foro exteriori are compelled to their duty and Obedience Now for that first power of Order and for that power of Jurisdiction Internal our Kings never claimed or pretended to claime or excercise them or either of them The example of Vzza sufficiently lessoning all persons to keep within their due and proper distances and Offices in God's service 2 Sam. 6.7 this bold person being immediately stricken by the Divine Hand for his error and for his acting an irregular part in the holy Procession of the Ark.
And that of Vzziah a King indeed proclaming aloud both the sin and danger in trespassing beyond the stated and just bounds and limits in Religious Offices whilst under his usurped Pontifical Robes 2 Chron. 26.21 he wore a loaâ—hsome leprosie to his dying day as a most signal mark of the Divine vengeance for Exchanging his Scepter for a Censer to offer up unwarranted and noisome Incense But God be thanked neither of these is the case of our Kings who otherwise have taken f r their patterns divers other Noble Hâ—zekiah Jâ—siah c. vertuous and Religious Princes to whose Honour it is recorded how though they neither offered Sacrifice nor Incense yet that they cleansed the polluted Temple reformed the corrupted Religion and manners of their times and caused Judah and Jerusalem to serve the Lord. So ours never assumed to themselves a Power or Authority of Preaching Teaching binding or loosing in foro animae Administring the Holy Sacraments conferring Orders or any thing in particu ar properly annexed to those Orders But only in matters External that is of Jurisdiction external the last Branch of Ecclâ—siastical Authority and what belongs to the outward Polity of the Church they look upon it as their duty and honour to become Nursing Fathers to see that the true God be publickly worshipped to see that Atheists Polyâ—heists and all such as break the Moral and eternal Law be Corrected chastised and restrained upon which acconut it is often said that Rex est Custos utriusque Tabulae To see that good and wholesome Laws be made and established for the good government of the Church That both the Church and Church-men be regulated and defended in their respective Rights Possessions Interests and concerns and that such as do transgress the lawful constitutions of the Church be duely punished and to this purpose the Regal Office is thus described in King Edward's Law Rex Leg. Edv. Confes cap. 17. fo 142. quia vicarius Summi Regis est ad hoc est constitutus ut regnum terrenum populum Domini super omnia Sanctam veneretur Ecclesiam ejus regat ab injuriosis defendat Jo. Brompt Coll. 761 923. c. And much to the same purpose in those of Ina Canutus and others And hence it also is that in those Laws we often find the Prince extending his Commands unto the same things the Priest did his Exhortations And thus the premises considered it plainly may be collected wherein the formalis ratio of our King's Supremacy and Ecclesiastical Authority doth consist which being inherent in their Crowns they do and may at all times put in practice sine ulla labe Christianitatis and without praying the Aid of any forraign Power or Potentate whatsoever And further to anticipate all prejudice and Scandal in this matter Queen Elizabeth in the same year of the Restitution of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction to her Crown did declare she did not challenge any other authority Admoniâ—ions annexâ—d unto the Injâ—â—ctions 1 El. then was challenged and lately used by King Henry the eighth and King Edward the sixth which is and was of ancient time due to the Imperial Crown of this Realm that is under God to have the Soveraignty and rule over all manner of persons within her Realms and Dominions c. And for the Oath of Supremacy appointed by the said Stat. 1 Eliz. whereby her Highnesse's Supremacy was Declared in the stile aforesaid It was Dâ—clared in a Statute made the next Parliament Stâ—t 5 El. Ca. 1. That the said Oath shall be taken and expounded in such form as is set forth in an Admonition annexed to the Q. Majesty's Injunction c. At which time also a Synod being held for avoiding of diversity of Opinions and establishing of consent touching true Religion c. It did expresly declare Artic. 37. That they did not give to our Princes the ministring of God's word or the Sacraments But only that Prerogative as is given in the Holy Scriptures by God himself viz. That they should rule all Estates and degrees committed to their charge by God whether they be Ecclesiastical or Temporal and restrain with the Civil sword the stubborn and evil doers c. Stat. 13 Eliz. cap. 12. And thâ— Articles of this Synod were likewise confirmed by Parliament So that now no man need doubt but that all this was but acknowledgement that what our Kings and Princes had done in former Ages might lawfully be continued by their Royal Successors and that therein they did not usurp upon the Rights and Offices of others but only maintained their own and that all these Declaratory Supervening Statures passed and Enacted upon the most weighty Reasons of State were not Introductory of any new Law but only Assertory of the just Rights and Prerogative of the Kings and Crown of England Like as a Reformation once made in the ancient Roman Empire Jul. Capitolin vit Ant. 〈◊〉 by the Emperour Antoninus Philosophus is thus celebrated by Julius Capitolinus in his life Jus autem magis vetus restituit quam novum fecit Applicable as well to all the other points and branches of the Reformation here as to that of the King 's Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction But the clearing that I leave to the Divines And thus have taken a brief view only for much more might have bin added out of our authentick Records and Histories as of the ancient Rights of Kings and Princes in general so particularly of our own in matters Ecclesiastical How the same have for some time been suppressed and usurp'd upon by the Papal Faction but happily Vindicated and restored in these latter Ages In which affair no Country hath proceeded more regularly laudably or legally than this our Kingdom of England the Princes of the same as Supream within their own Dominions calling together their own Clergy and with their assistance and advice reforming the Church And what remains now but my submission and pardon for the presumption of this attempt upon my Soveraign's Supremacy seeing that Prince may be said in a manner to be deposed that is made the Subject of an usurping Pen. FINIS
wend And do what ever thing he did intend His name was Talus made of yron mould Immoveable resistless without end Who in his hand an yron flail did hold With which he thresh'd out falshood and did truth unfold This Yron man when commanded and set on could rout seditious multitudes destroy tyrannick Giants quell hideous Monsters and knock down inchanted Castles Our Heroick Laws do no less when by their commanded Officers they dissipate superstitious concourses truss up the Gigantick Jesuite drag out the monstrous Plotters and batter down that second Babel of Confusion which the sons of the Earth would be rearing in our English plain What thoughts these Collections and Observations will raise in you or others I can but guess at I am sure they have sufficiently discover'd to me the drift of the Papal Policy That is to establish and uphold a Spiritual Dominion in the World to effect which it was necessary the Consciences of men should first be inslaved by superstition and ignorance and then by the Usurpation of Temporal Power and the ingrossing of Temporal Riches the work was done and the Papal interest so carryed all in the middle and dark Times when Kings durst not exercise their just authority nor the People call that which they had their own and in this despondency it was that the Laws were muffled up But when towards the latter Ages the revolution came of Learning and Knowledge with a reviviscence and improvement of all Arts and Sciences and men became tyred with groping so long in the dark and those great Lights began to dawn in the World then both Kings and People rouzed up themselves and their Spirits revived the shades vanished the Birds of darkness flew away and the Beasts of prey retired to their dens Every man then with alacrity addressed himself to his proper Office Princes took their Scepters in their hands and swayed them again without controul the People applyed themselves all to their honest callings and what they got by God's blessing and their own industry they injoyed whilest they liv'd and when they dyed left it to their posterity which formerly used to be snatch'd away before their faces by the Romish Harpyes The consideration of all which as it clearly manifests the great abuses poverty and slavery which this Nation once and for a long time suffered under the Pope's yoke so it cannot but make us reflect on that proportionable mischief which still lyes upon those that have not yet shak'd him off with this further observation how an entire subjection unto Popery corrupts and debases the spirits of men for nothing is more obvious than that in Italy Spain Flanders and other Countreys wholly the Popes as to his spiritual raign the Inhabitants are either the most Atheistical debauched and dissolute or those who with a blind zeal apply themselves to an observance of the Rites of that confused and absurd Religion presently become fond and stupid giving themselves up only to admire their Holy Father the Pope their Confessors and Priests fancying Rome to be the true model of the Heavenly Jerusalem and the Pope and his Cardinals ruling therein like Christ and his Apostles gazing upon the formality and gaudiness of their Church and intangled with a multitude of ridiculous Ceremonies and Observances all which tends to make them unactive and unfit for all those generous and ingenious courses that bring Honour and Riches to a People When on the contrary the Reformed part of the World being manumitted from such slavery and incumbrances beat out the Popish every where in Trading and generally excell them in all Arts and Sciences And this may be noted in our selves when presently after the Reformation the English grew potent at Sea sent forth great Colonies and Plantations maintained traffick and commerce over the World and brought home Honour Plenty and Riches to the Nation So the Netherlanders after they had freed themselves from the Romish briers presently got good fleeces on their backs grew rich and powerful eclipsing the glory of Venice that once famous Republick which hath ever since been in the wane Amsterdam supplanted Antwerp Flanders truckled under Holland and the Hanse Towns generally Protestant outstrip'd all their Popish Neighbours in wealth and strength Whilest the once great and dreadful Monarchy of Spain is fallen into a Consumption supported only with a little Indian Gold which they steal home sometimes The Austrian Eagle hath molted his Feathers Portugal losing both in their Plantations abroad and reputation at home And in those Countreys where Protestants and Papists are mingled as in Fâ—ance Germany Poland c. the Protestants generally are the Traders and grow rich as all Travellers testifie For besides that an addicted zeal to the Romish Religion contracts and debaseth the spirits of men their Guides endeavour also by all possible means to contain them in a dull ignorant and formal way knowing Learning and knowledge to be their common Enemy as at once discovering and overthrowing all the superstructures reared upon their sandy foundation But then what Wealth what Honour and Riches do their Clergy and Orders enjoy How glorious the Popes How splendid the Cardinals How abounding in Riches and Titles all their Relations Kindred and Dependants all suck'd from the People Whilest to lull and gratifie the abused multitude they have infinite devices they have perpetual provisions for the dull souls in their Cells the austere may take their fill of Discipline and rigour the impure and voluptuous have their conveniences at hand the lawless who find themselves too strait lac'd may be eased by Dispensations the credulous shall never want Miracles the fantastical visions nor the superstitious Ceremonies with infinite baubles more to keep the uneasie Babes quiet Now when any person comes to claim or exercise any extraordinary power or authority in a place or shall levy and take up what moneys he please he must reasonably expect to have a Quo Warranto sued out against him to which he must plead his Title to his Priviledge and that I must confess hath been very fairly done by the Papal Attorneys in this cause on the behalf of their Holy Client and they have drawn their Plea from the written Text of the Divine Law in this manner God made two great Lights in the firmament Gen. 1.16 the greater Light to rule the day and the lesser Light to rule the night from which they inferr the infallible Dominion of the Church for Pope Innocent the Third wrote to the Emperour of Constantinople thus Epist ad Imp. Decret lib. 1. de major Obed. Tit. 33. You ought to know says he that God made two great lights in the Firmament of Heaven the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night both great but the one greater To the Firmament of Heaven that is the Catholick Church God made two great Lights that is instituted two Powers the Papal Authority and the Regal Dignity but
that which is to rule by day that is over spiritual things is the greater but that over carnal things the less that there may be known to be as much difference between Popes and Kings as there is to be between the Sun and Moon And then comes the Gloss upon the Canon Law which sayes Whilest the Earth is seven times bigger than the Moon and the Sun Eight times bigger than the Earth the Papal Power must consequently be fifty seven times bigger than the Regal Dignity Again that great Hebrew Prophet sets forth a most exact Image of the Royal Papacy in Melchisedeck Campanel de Mon. Hisp cap. 5. who did prefigure say they the Majesty of St. Peter and his Successours who had Melchisedeck for their Prototype and therefore the Pope must needs be invested with a Royal Priesthood and armed as well with the Civil as the spiritual Sword for if it were otherwise Christ and so his Vicegerent would be a diminutive Law-giver and not as Melchisedeck who was at once both King and Priest Further to fortifie this Plea to a Royal Jurssdiction in the World they alledge that Jacob and Esau were perfect Types of the Catholicks and the Hereticks signifying that the Catholicks should abound in Power and Riches but the Calvinists and Lutherans should be low and poor expressed fully in the Salutation of the Angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary Luke 1.33 That our Lord the Pope was to rule over the House of Jacob for ever and of his Kingdom there shall be no end That is in a word The Pope is to govern the World Another Argument to prove this Plea is fetch'd out of the Eighth Psalm Psal 8.5 6. viz. Thou hast Crowned him with glory and honour Thou makest him to have Dominion over the works of thy hands thou hast put all things under his feet All Sheep and Oxen yea and the beasts of the field The Fowl of the air Anton. Sum. Theol. p. 3. cap. 5. and the Fish of the Sea c. By this they say is clearly meant St. Peter and the power given to him and his Successors in the See of Rome to whom God hath subjected the Sheep that is the Christians the Oxen that is the Jews and Hereticks the Beasts of the Field that is the Pagans the Fishes of the Sea that is the Souls in Purgatory and the Fowls of the Heaven that is the blessed Spirits and Angels So much for Dominion and Command now for Wealth and Riches nothing is more plain say they than the Holy Prophet Isaiah speaking of the Roman Church The Gentiles shall come to thy light Isa 60. and Kings to the brightness of thy rising Then shalt thou see and wonder and rejoice when the riches of the Sea and all the substance of the Gentiles shall come unto thee they shall bring gold and incense The sons of Strangers shall build up thy Walls and their Kings shall minister unto thee Thy Gates shall be open day and night that they may bring unto thee the Riches of all Nations and their Kings shall be brought For the Nation and Kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish The sons of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee and all they that despised thee shall bow down at the soles of thy feet Thou shalt suck the milk of the Gentiles and shalt suck the breasts of Kings For Brass I will bring Gold and for Iron Silver and for Wood Brass and for Stones Iron A most plain description of the glory and splendor of the Roman Church but the dull Hereticks will not understand the meaning and St. John they say was surprised with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when he describes the Angel refusing the honour offered to him but now dutifully paid to Christs Vicar Then when Christ told St. Peter that he would make him a Fisher of men though possibly the innocent and meek Apostle not fully apprehending the full import of that right which thereby was conferred on him applyed himself to a kind of spiritual Fishing hunting after some mystical Fishes to inclose them in the net of some invisible Kingdom in the Heavens and Cardinal Pool interprets the donation thus Regin Pole in Ioc. Thou and thy Successors shall have dominion over all men ruling over Kings and commanding regulating and casting out Emperours yet the good Apostle's more illuminated successors have now hit upon the true import and meaning and conclude that Christ did not only give them a power to fish for men but for money also and for that purpose conferred on them a Right to Fish in all secular Ponds and Rivers For The Kings of the Earth says Christ to Peter from whom do they receive Tribute not certainly from us for we are free But go thou to the Sea and cast forth a hook and take up the first Fish that cometh up that take and when thou hast opened his mouth thou shalt find a piece of money that take And by this a great fishing right was established in him and from him derived to his Successors that is to fish in all waters now by Waters the Holy Scriptures intend People and Nations and Tongues and Languages And Christ commanded Peter to lanch out into the Deep and then they inclosed such a multitude of Fishes that the net brake and it was very well Serm. 2. in Fest Petri. and pertinently observed by Pope Innocent 3. that the meaning of that advice or command Lanch out into the deep was this Go up to Rome which had a vast dominion over all People and from whence they might spread their Nets over all the World to catch all Nations And so in pursuance of this Right this Fishing Trade for money hath been driven with all possible art and industry all the World over to the great profit of the Roman Merchants But in process of time so it fell out that several Kings and States looking upon these Romish Fishermen as Trespassers and Intruders after a due examination and consideration had of all the Pleas and allegations in this matter and canvassing the Pope's Title to a free Piscary in all Waters not only upon this Globe but in the Coelestial and Infernal Waters also his Title was adjudged and declared to be of no force or value and thereupon he was prohibited to fish any more in the Brittish Ocean the Baltick Sea the Lake Lemane and in many Rivers of Germany and he was in great danger of being prohibited fishing also in the Neighbouring Adriatick so that what prizes he gets now amongst us it is by stealth and now and then a few silly Fishes are drawn and enticed into his Nets But in many places still the Trace is freely driven with great returns and profit how formerly it was managed here the ensuing Pages will make some discovery as also how it came to be stop'd But certainly vast Riches are continually brought in by the Factors of Rome and thereby