the same word Elsewhere is to be ment and conceiued of the places of remoue the Popes vsed in those dayes being somtimes at Rome in Italy sometimes at Auignion in France semetimes in other places as by the date of the Bulls and other processe of that age may be séene which seuerall remoues of his gaue occasion to the Parliament of inserting the word Elsewhere in the bodie of those Statutes that thereby the Statutes prouiding against Processe dated at Rome they might not bée eluded by like Processe dated at Auignion or any other place of the Popes aboade and so the penaltie thereof towardes the offender might become voyd and be frustrated Neyther did the Lawes of this Land at any time whiles the Popes authoritie was in his greatest pride wythin this Realme euer impute Praemunire to any Spirituall Subiect dealing in anie Temporall matter by any ordinarie power wythin the land but restrained them by Prohibition only as it is plaine by the Kings Prohibition wherein are the greatest matters that euer the Clergie attempted by ordinarie and domesticall authoritie and yet are refuted only by Prohibition But when as certeine busie-headed fellowes were not content to presse vpon the kings Regall iurisdiction at home but would séek for meanes for preferment by forrein authoritie to controul the Iudgements giuen in the kings Courts by processe from the Pope then were Premunires decréed both to punish those audacious enterprises of those factious Subiects and also to check the Popes insolencie that he should not venter hereafter to enterprise such designements against the King and his people But now since the feare thereof is past by reason all entercourse is taken away betwéene the Kings good Subiects and the Court of Rome it is not to be thought the meaning of good and mercifull Princes of this land is the cause of these Statutes being taken away the effect thereof shall remaine and that good and dutifull subiects stepping happily awry in the exercise of some part of their Iurisdiction but yet without preiudice of the Prince or his Regall power shall be punished with like rigor of Law as those which were molesters gréeuers and disquieters of the whole estate But yet notwithstanding the edge of those Premunires which were then framed remaine sharpe and vnblunted still against Priests Iesuits other like Runnagates which being not content with their owne natural Princes gouernment séek to bring in againe that and like forrein authoritie which those Statutes made prouision against but these things I leaue to the reuerend Iudges of the land and others that are skilfull in that profession onely wishing that some which haue most insight into these matters would adde some light vnto them that men might not stumble at them and fall into the daunger of them vnawares but now to Prohibitions A Prohibition is a commaundement sent out of some of the Kings higher Courts of Records where Prohibitions haue bin vsed to be graunted in the Kings name sealed with the seale of that Court and subscribed with the Teste of the chiefe Iudge or Iustice of the Court from whence the said Prohibition doth come at the suggestion of the Plaintife pretending himselfe to be grieued by some Ecclesiasticall or marine Iudge in not admittance of some matter or doing some other thing against his right in his or their iudiciall procéedings commaunding the said Ecclesiasticall or marine Iudge to proceed no further in that cause if they haue sent out any censure Ecclesiasticall or Marine against the plaintife they recall it and loose him from the same vnder paine of the Kings high indignation vpon pretence that the same cause doth not belong to the Ecclesiasticall or Marine Iudge but is of the temporall cognisance and doth appertaine to the Crowne and dignitie Prohibitions some are Prohibitions of Law some other are Prohibitions of fact Prohibitions of Law are those which are set downe by any Law or Statute of this Land whereby Ecclesiasticall Courts are interdicted to deale in the matters therein contained such as are all those things which are expressed in the kings Prohibition as are also those which are mencioned by the second of Edward the sixt where Iudges Ecclesiasticall C. 13. 2. Edw. 6. are forbid to hold plea of any matter contrarie to the effect intent or meaning of the statute of W. 2. Capite 3. The statute of Articuli Cleri Circumspecte agatis Sylua Cedua the treaties De Regia Prohibitione the Statute Anno 1. Edwardi 3. Capite 10. or oght else wherein the Kings Court ought to haue Iurisdiction Prohibitions of fact are such which haue no precise word or letter of Law or Statute for them as haue the other but are raised vp by argument out of the wit of the Deuiser These for the most part are méere quirks and subtilties of law and therfore ought to haue no more fauour in any wise honourable or well ordered Consistorie than the equity of the cause it selfe doth deserue for such manner of shifts for the most part bréed nought else but matter of vexation and haue no other commendable end in them though they pretend the right of the Kings Court as those other Prohibitions of the law doe but the Kings right is not to be supposed by imagination but is to be made plaine by demonstration and so both the Statute of the 18. of Edward the third Capite 5. is where it is prouided no Prohibition shall goe out but where the King hath the cognisance and of right ought to haue and also by the forenamed Statute of Edward the sixt which forbids that any Prohibition shall bee graunted out but vpon sight of the libell and other warie circumstances in the said Statute expressed by which it is to bee intended the meaning of the Lawgiuers was not that euery idle suggestion of euery Attorney should bréed a Prohibition but such onely should bee graunted as the Iudge in his wisdome should thinke worthy of that fauour and of right and equitie did deserue it although as I must déeds confesse the Statute is defectiue in this behalfe for to exact any such precise examination of him in these cases as it is also in other points and is almost the generall imperfection of all statutes that are made vpon Ecclesiasticall causes but I feare me as emulation betwéene the two lawes in the beginning brought in these multitudes of Prohibitions either against or beside law so the gaine they bring vnto the Temporall Courts maintaineth them which also makes the Iudges they cesse not costs and damages in cases of of Consultation although the statute precisely requires their assent and and assignement therin because they would not feare other men from suing out of Prohibitions and pursuing of the same The Prohibitions of the law as haue beene before shewed are neither many nor much repined at because they containe a necessarie distinction betwéene Iurisdiction and Iurisdiction and imply the kings right and subiectes benefit but the
forsooth because these words and tearmes are expressed in the Statute which is much like vnto that as one would needes haue a house to be Master Peacocks house because he saw a Peacock sit vpon the top thereof But it is not the naming of a thing in a Law or Statute that makes it to be of the Temporall cognisance or otherwise but it is the nature or qualitie of the thing named that rangeth it vnder the one Law or the other So that if the matter ordered in the Law or Statute be temporall the cognisance shall be Temporall if Spirituall then the case is determinable in the Ecclesiasticall Law for this Prouiso is not prohibitorie as the last Prouiso of this statute is whereby Ecclesiasticall Iudges are forbidden to hold plea of any thing that is in the said Prouiso conteyned but it is rather directiue and sheweth where the Ecclesiasticall Iudge is to giue way to immunities and to pronounce for them so that for any thing is conteyned in this Prouiso to the contrary the cognisance of these matters specially Priuiledge Prescription and Composition still remayneth at the triall of the Ecclesiasticall Law as they did before this Prouiso was made De praescripr lib. 2. tit 26. De Priuileg lib. 5. tit 33. for Tythes and other Ecclesiasticall dueties as may appeare by the seuerall Tytles in the same Law hereon written And for the other words Law and Statute therein mentioned when as the King hath two Capacities of gouernment in him the one Spirituall the other Temporall and his high Court of Parliament wherein Lawes are made doth stand aswell of Spirituall men as Temporall men and so ought to stand in both houses if the auncient booke De modo tenendi Parliamenti be true and authenticall which makes the vpper house of thrée states the Kings Maiestie the Lords Spirituall and the Lords Temporall and the Lower house in like sort of thrée other the Knights the Procurators for the Clergie and the Burgesses and his Maiestie hath wythin this Realme aswell Ecclesiasticall Lawyers as Temporall which are no lesse able to iudge and determine of Ecclesiasticall matters than the Temporall Lawyers of temporall businesse It is not to be imagined but as his sacred Maiestie will haue those Lawes to be held Temporall and to haue their constructions from Temporall Lawyers which are made and promulged vpon Temporall rights and causes So also his Highnesse pleasure is and euer hath béene of all his predecessors Kinges and Quéenes of thys Land that such Lawes and Statutes as are set out and publyshed vpon Ecclesiasticall thinges and matters shall bee taken and accompted Ecclesiasticall and interpreted by Ecclesiasticall Lawyers although eyther of them haue interchangeably each others voyce in them to make them a Law And that the King doth infuse life into eyther of the Lawes when as yet their substance is vnperfect and they are as it were Embreos is in Temporall matters by his temporall authoritie and in Spirituall matters by his spirituall authoritie for to that end he hath his double dignitie in that place as also the Ecclesiasticall Prelates sustaine two persons in that place the one as they are Barons the other as they are Bishops So that euen the orders of the house doe euince that they are two sortes of Lawes in that place vnconfounded both in the head and the bodie although for communion sake and to adde more strength to each of them the generall allowance passeth ouer them all And as they rest vnconfounded in the creation of them so ought to be likewise in the execution of them and as the Temporall Law sortes to the Temporall Lawyers so the Spirituall Lawes or Statutes should bée allowed and allotted vnto the Spirituall Lawyers And as the nomination of these words Law or Statute in this precedent Prouiso makes not the Law or statute Temporall but remayneth wholie Ecclesiasticall by reason of the Spirituall matters it doth conteine and the power of him that quickneth it and powreth life thereinto so much lesse can the inserting of these tearmes Priuiledges Prescriptions or Composition reall intitle the Common Law to the right thereof or the Professors of the said Law to the interpretation thereof for that matters of these tytles so far as they concerne Tythes and other Ecclesiasticall dueties haue béen euermore since there hath been any Ecclesiasticall Law in this land which hath been neere as long as there hath béen any profession of Christianitie with vs of Ecclesiasticall ordinance neyther euer were of the Temporall cognisance vntill new of late that they transubstantiat euery thing into their owne profession as Midas turned or transubstanciated euery thing that he touched into gold But here it will not be amisse to inquire since Tythes came in the beginning of the Primitiue Church wythin a little time after the destruction of Ierusalem and the subuersion of the Iewes policie vnto the Christian Church and Common wealth void of all these incumbrances as shall appeare after by the testimonie of sundrie of the auncient Fathers which were néere the Apostles time how it comes to passe since Tythes are no lesse the Lords porcion now than they were then and in the Patriarkes time before them that these gréeuances haue come vpon them more vnder the Gospell than euer they did vnder the Law for then neuer any Lay man durst stretch out his hand vnto them to diminish any part thereof but he was charged Malach. 3. with robberie by the Lords owne mouth and in punishment thereof the Heauens were shut vp for gyuing raine vnto the earth and the Palmer worme and Grashopper were sent to deuour all the gréene things vpon the earth And for Ecclesiasticall men it is not read any where in the Scripture that euer they attempted to graunt out anie priuiledge of Tythes to any person other than to whom they were disposed by the Law or to make anie composition thereof betwéene the Lay Iew and the Lords Leuites euery of the which haue beene not only attempted agaynst the Church in Christianitie but executed with great greedynesse so far worse hath béene the state of the Ministerie vnder the Gospell than was the condition of the Priestes and Leuites vnder the Law The beginning whereof although it be hard for me to finde out because there is small memory thereof left in Stories yet as far as I can by all probabilities coniecture this great alteration in Ecclesiasticall matters came by two occasions the one by the violence of the Laitie thrusting themselues into these Ecclesiasticall rights contrarie to the first institution thereof for when they were first receyued into the Christian world they were receyued and yéelded to for the benefit of the Clergie only as in former time vnder the Law they had béen for the vse of the Priestes and Leuites only The other was the too too much curiositie of Schoolmen who beeing not content with the simple entertaynment of Tythes into the Church as the auncient fathers
be light with vs for by what laws their leagues and negotiations are to bee directed by the same must ours bee ordered so that for that point one kind of learning must serue for both for that otherwise one Nation will not bee conceiued by the other what their capitulations are Surely such as ouer and besids their owne experience haue the knowledge of the Ciuile law haue herein a double helpe aboue another man that wanteth the same First their owne vnderstanding which for the most part is of like proportion as other folkes is Then the skill of the law it selfe which is a quintessence of wit aboue other humane learning as being either wholy composed of the mature and deliberate resolutions of such Emperours as then swayed the whole world or were the domes and iudgements of such wise men as then managed the whole world and the affaires thereof vnder them But who when hee seeth a sword in a scaberd knoweth whether it will cut or not although the forme thereof bee a presumption that it will cut but doe but drawe it out of the scaberd and try the blade thereof and then shall you see the sharpensse of it I make no application hereof for that my meaning by my words may be well inough knowne But in these matters the wisdome of the State knowes best what is to bee done and I onely remember what other Nations doe leauing the rest to their grauest considerations who by precedents of former times and men of experience furnished with exoticke tongues haue carried this part of policie verie well and safely hitherto but now to the ordering of Martiall causes Martiall causes are either Ciuile or Criminall whereof both are determinable by the Ciuile law A Ciuile Martiall cause is where either the Captaine or the Soldier requireth some thing that is due withholden from him as his stipend his apparell which among the Romanes was due twice a yeare that is for Sommer apparell from the first day of April to the first of September and their Winter againe from thence to Aprill his dyet which among the Romans was two daies hard bisket the third softer bread one day wine one other day vineger one day bacon and two daies mutton his priuiledges either in cases of preferment as to be remoued from one degrée to another or in cases of immunitie as ff de re militari C. eod tit lib. 12. ff de priuilegio veteranorū de castrensi peculio C. eodem tit lib. 12. C. de erogatione militaris annone C. de vest militari to be freed from all seruile functions and sundry other like which a diligent reader may gather out of the titles of the Digest and Code of militarie affaires and other like titles which accompany them Soldiours faults are either proper to themselues or common with others Those are common with others which fall into other men and are corrected with like ordinarie procéeding as other crimes of like nature are as manslaughter theft adulterie and such like Those are proper which doe properly appertaine to militarie discipline and are punished by some vnusuall or extraordinarie punishmēt as are these not to appeare at Musters to serue vnder him he ought not to serue to vage or wander long from the Tents although he returne on his owne head to forsake his Colours or his Captaine to leaue his standing to fly ouer to the Enemy to vtter the councell of the Armie vnto the Enemy to betray the Hoast to be disobedient to his Captaine Coronell or Lieutenant to loose or sell his Armour or to steale an other mans to be negligent in forage or prouiding of victuall to neglect his watch to make a mutiny or fly first out of the field or other like which are deliuered in the late cited titles of whom Arrian who wrote the life of Alexander the great thus saith Euery thing is coūted an offence in a Souldiour which is done contrarie to the common discipline as to be negligent to be stubborne to bee slothfull The punishments wherwith Soldiers are corrected are these either corporall punishment or a pecuniarie mulct or iniunction of some seruice to be done or amotion or remouing out of their places and sending away with shame By capital punishmēt is vnderstood for the most part death or at the least beating vnlesse happily it bee pardoned either for the vnskilfulnesse of the soldior or for the mutinie of the companie being thereto drawen by wine and wantonnesse or for the miseration or pitty of the party offending All which a wise Iudge moderateth according to the qualitie of the person the quantitie of the crime and the opportunitie of the time The last extraordinary matter that the Ciuile Law Iudge dealeth in is the bearing of Armes and the ranging of euery man into his roome of honor according as his place requires and here first of Armes For skill in Armory although it be a thing now almost proper to the Herauldes of Armes who were in olde time called Feciales or Caduceatores because they were messengers of war and peace eyther to proclaime the one or denounce the other yet the ground thereof they haue from the Ciuile Law so that thereby to this day they may be directed in their skill or controled if they doe amisse For besides that there are many other places in the Law C. vt nemo priuaetus praedijs suis vel alienis vela regia imponat vt nemini liceat sine Iud. author signaimponere c. De statuis imaginib vt nemini liceat signum saluatoris c. De hi◠qui potentiori◠nomine titulos praedijs suis affigunt ibi dect ff de rerū diuisio l. sanctum which touch Armory as appeareth by the titles here quoted in the margent Barthol himselfe maketh a speciall tractat thereof and diuideth the whole matter of Armes into 3. rancks according to the diuerse sorts of men that bare them for some are Armes of some publike dignitie and office as the Armes of the Legat or Proconsull the Armes of Bishops the Armes of the Lord Admirall other are Armes of speciall dignities as Armes of Kings and Princes which no man is to beare or paint in his house or stuffe vnlesse it be for to shew his duetie or subiection therein The third sort is of those which are priuat mens Armes of whom part haue them by the grant of the Prince or by authoritie of those to whom the Prince hath giuen power to grant Armes to other as hath the Earle Marshall within this Realme of England others haue taken them by their owne authoritie which albeit in former times they might doe as also they might take such names as euery one did C. de ingenuis manumiss l. ad recognoscenda ff de rerū diuisione l. sanctum like of for names and signes in the beginning were inuented for to know and to discerne one man from an other and as euery
the rest of the matters that belong to the triall of the Ecclesiasticall Courts some are acknowledged to be absolutely in vse some other are challenged to be but in a certein measure in vse In absolute vse are those which neuer had any opposition against them which almost are those alone which belong to the Bishops degrée or order for all things which come within the compasse of the Ecclesiasticall Law are either belonging to the Bishops degrée or his Iurisdiction To his degrée or order belong the ordering of Ministers and Deacons the confirmation of Children the dedication of Churches and Churchyards and such like none of which haue béen challenged at any time to belong to any other Law The second sort is of them that belong to the Bishops iurisdiction which is partly voluntarie partly litigious Voluntarie is when those with whom the dealing is stand not against it but litigious it is when it is oppugned by the one part or the other Of this latter sort many things in sundry ages haue bin cald in question but yet rescued and recouered againe by the wise graue Iudges themselues who haue found the challenge of them to be vniust But what doth belong to either of them in priuat or what causes do appertaine to the whole Iurisdiction in generall because they haue bin alreadie particulerly set downe by that famous man of worthy memory Doctor Cosin in his learned Apologie for certaine Cos in in his Apologie part 1. c. 2. procéedings in Ecclesiasticall Courts I will not make a new catalogue of them but send the Reader for the knowledge thereof vnto his Booke but yet in my passage will I note which of them haue bin most chiefly oppugned and as occasion shall fall out speak to them And thus much as concerning those parts of the Ecclesiasticall Law which are here in vse with vs Now it followeth to shew whereby the exercise of that Iurisdiction which is granted to be of the Ciuile and Ecclesiasticall cognizance is defeated impeached by the Common Law of this Land which is the third part of this Diuision The impeachment therefore is by one of these meanes by Praemunire by Prohibition by Iniunction by Supersedeas by Indicauit or Quare impedit but because the fower last are nothing so frequent nor so harmfull as the others and that this Booke would grow into a huge volume if I should prosecute them all I will only treat of the two first and put ouer the rest vnto some better opportunitie A Praemunire therefore is a writ awarded out of the kings Bench against one who hath procured out any Bull or like processe of the Pope from Rome or elsewhere for any Ecclesiasticall place or preferment within this Realme or doth sue in any forteine Ecclesiasticall Court to defeat or impeach any Iudgement giuen in the Kings Court whereby the bodie of the offender is to be imprysoned during the Kings pleasure his goods forfeyted and his lands seized into the Kings hand so long as the offender liueth This writ was much in vse during the time the Bishop of Romes aucthoritie was in credit in this land and very necessary it was it should be so for being then two like principal authorities acknowledged within this Land the Spirituall in the Pope and the Temporall in the King the Spirituall 25. Edw. 2. 27. Edw. 3. ca. 1. 38 Edw. 3. ca. 1. 2. 7. Rich. 2. ca. 12. 13. Rich. 2. ca. 2. 2. H. 4. cap. 3. grew on so fast on the temporal that it was to be feared had not these statutes bin prouided to restraine the Popes interprises the spirituall Iurisdiction had deuoured vp the temporall as the temporall now on the contrary side hath almost swallowed vp the spiritual But since the forreine authoritie in Spirituall matters is abolished and eyther Iurisdiction is agnised to be setled wholy and only in the Prince of this land sundry wise mens opinion is there can lye no Praemunire by those Statutes at this day against any man exercising any subordinat Iurisdiction vnder the King whether the same be in the kings name or in his name who hath the same immediatly from the King for that now all Iurisdiction whether it be Temporall or Ecclesiasticall is the Kings and such Ecclesiasticall Lawes as now are in force are called the Kings Ecclesiasticall Lawes and the Kings Ecclesiasticall Courts For that the King cannot haue in himselfe a contrarietie of Iurisdiction fighting one against the other as it was in the case betwéene himselfe and the Pope although he may haue diuersitie of Iurisdiction within himselfe which for order sake and for auoyding of confusion in gouernment he may restraine to certeine seuerall kinds of causes and inflict punishment vpon those that shall go beyond the bounds or limits that are prescribed them but to take them as enemies or vnderminers of his state he can not for the question here is not who is head of the cause or Iurisdiction in controuersie but who is to hold plea thereof or exercise the Iurisdiction vnder that head the Ecclesiasticall or temporall Iudge Neyther is that to moue any man that the Statutes made in former time against such Prouisors which vexed the King and people of this land with such vniust suits doe not onely prouide against such processe as came from Rome but against all others that came elsewhere being like conditioned as they for that it was not the meaning of those Statutes or any of them thereby to taxe the Bishops Courts or any Consistory within this land for that none of them euer vsed such malepert sawsinesse against the King as to call the Iudgements of his Courts into question although they went far in strayning vpon those things and causes which were held to be of the Kings Temporall cognisance as may appeare by the Kings Prohibition thereon framed And beside the Archbishops Bishops and other Prelats of this Land in the greatest heat of all this businesse being then present in the Parliament whith the rest of the Nobilitie disauowed the Popes insolencie toward the King in this behalfe and assured him they would ought to stand with his Maiestie against the Pope in these and all other cases touching his Crowne and Regalitie as they were bound by their allegeance so that they being not guilty of these enterprises against the King but in as great a measure troubled in theyr owne Iurisdiction by the Pope as the King himselfe was in the right of his Crowne as may apppeare out of the course of the said Statutes The word Elsewhere can in no right sence be vnderstood of them or their Consistories although some of late time thinking all is good seruice to the Realme that is done for the aduancement of the Common Law and depressing of the Ciuill Law haue so interpreted it but wythout ground or warrant of the Statutes themselues who whollie make prouision against forreine authoritie and speak no word of domesticall proceedings But
and made hauock both of Priest and people that professed the name of Christ partly by the heresies that rose euery where in the Church in those daies which distracted mens minds and made them wauer in the constancie of their Religion it was reuiued againe vpon this occasion One Benedict who otherwise had béen a man of action Hospinian de Origine Monachatuâ— in the Common wealth that Benedict which was as it were the Father of all those that professed a Regular life within the West part of Christendome for before his time the Monkes of the West Church serued God fréely abroad without being shut vp in a Cloister he I say finding himselfe wearied with the tumults and broyles which hapned vnder the gouernment of Iustinian and some yeares after by the incursion of those barbarous Nations before named into Italy retired himselfe into a desert and solitary place intending there to giue himselfe wholy to the seruice of God where when he had a while remayned he grew so famous by his Christian exercises of fasting and prayer and the good and holsome exhortations that he made to those that resorted vnto him that within a very little time after there was great confluence of people vnto him not only from diuers parts of Italy but euen from sundry other parts of the world so that within a short time they grew into fraternities vnderneath him to whom he gaue rules to liue by to the imitation of that that Saint Basill did in the East Church to which his disciples submitted themselues with all alacritie leading a life far different from the common sort of men denying vnto themselues all those ordinary delights that other men doe commonly take out of meat drink apparell mariage Temporall preferment such other things which wordly and carnall men séeke for verie gréedily humbling themselues only to God and the rule of their Master Which thing bred such an admiration of him and of his Schollers that not only many other orders sprang out from them within few yeres as the Premonstratenses Clunacenses Templarians Hospitallers Cystertians and the order of Saint Iohns of Ierusalem but euen Popes Princes and people were wholy carried away with the wonderment of them insomuch as euery of them did as it were striue who might shew themselues most kind vnto them whereupon Princes built them houses euery one in his kingdome as Clito Ethelbald king of Mercia buylt the Monasterie of Crowland here in England of black Monks vnder the rule of the said Benedict in the yeare 716. Popes and Princes graunted them priuiledges so far as it concerned eyther of their particulers the Clergie Nobilitie and People conferd goods and lands vpon them euery one according to his abilitie In this zealous bountie of euery degrée towards these new sort of men there were two vndigested Priuiledges graunted them both of them so hurtfull and iniurious to the Church of God as neuer any was the like The one was the annexation or appropriation of presentatiue Benefices to these Religious houses The other the fréeing of such lands or hereditaments as they held in sundry Parishes from the payment of Tythes to the Parsons and Vicars thereof to both of which the Scholmens diuinitie gaue great aduantage as shall be shewed hereafter Eyther of these had their beginning of one roote that is to say of this false ground that Preaching which is the most true and most naturall foode of the Soule in a congregation that is come to the profession of Religion already knowes but onely the Articles of the Christian Faith the Lords Prayer the ten Commaundements and other principles and Rudiments of Christian Religion is nothing so necessarie for the saluation of a mans Soule as Prayer is beside that preaching oftentimes giues more cause of Schisme and dispute in Religion than it doth of profiting edifying the Soule and therefore it was not permitted by the Prouinciall constitutions of this Realme that Parsons or Vicars Linwood puin eisdem de offiâ— Arâ—hidiaconiâ— et ca. ignorantia Sacerdotum de officio Archipresbyteri of Churches should expound or preach any other matter or doctrine than the Lords prayer the ten Commaundements the two precepts of the Gospell that is the loue of God and the loue of a mans Neyghbour the sixe works of Mercie the seuen principall Vertues the seuen Sacraments for so many then the Romish Church held the seuen deadly Sinnes with their progenie and this to be done vulgarly and plainly Absque cuiuslibet subtilitatis textura fantastica for so they call learned and orderly Preaching whereas notwythstanding Prayer is euermore profitable euery where necessarie and neuer dangerous Furthermore Preaching onely profiteth those that be present and doe heare it and attend vpon it but Prayer is auailable euen to those that be far distant yea though they be in the remotest place of the world By which and other like arguments they translated away that maintenance that was prouided for the home Pastors who by Gods owne institution were to watch ouer their Soules to forrein and strange Guids who neuer communicated to their necessitie in any heauenly comfort but only tooke the milke of the flock and fed themselues withall But by this pretence of theirs ought not Preaching to haue béen disgraced for albeit Prayer be a necessary péece of Gods seruice and so necessary that the Soule of man is as it were dead without it yet is it not equall to the dignitie of Preaching which God hath ordeyned to be the onely meanes to come to Saluation by for Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God and without Faith it is impossible to be saued for Faith is a gift that purifies the hart and makes a mans prayers acceptable to God and therefore neyther of them ought so to take place as that the one should shoulder out the other but they ought so to go hand in hand together as that one should help assist and countenance thother But how these annexations of Benefices first came into the Church whether by the Princes authoritie or the Popes licence it is verie disputable and there are reasons on both sides for to shew the same For whereas there are reported by Ingulphus Abbot of Crowland before mentioned to haue bin viij Churches beside the Patronage of some other annexed and appropriated to the said Abbey by sundry Saxon Kings it doth not appeare by oght that I can find whether they were done by the soueraigne authority of the kings alone to the imitation of that that was done by Martellus who made all Christian Kings to sinne in this point or that it was done by any other Ecclesiastical authority for that there is nothing extant for the allowance thereof saue the seueral Charters of those auncient Kings only and that I should be rather induced to beléeue that it was done by those Kings authoritie only I am thereto persuaded that I find William the Conqueror immediatly vpon the