or forced to forbeare for want of Characters As the Bishop was to be look't after by those that would come into a Religious House so also by those that would goe out So it seemeth by the Law of Alfred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nunnan 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If any leade a Nanne out of a Monasterie without the Kings leave or the Bishops hee shall pay 120 Shillings In the filling of Appropriations which were made over to the Religious Houses the Law saith that the Bishop had this power That he could binde the Proprietaries to set out for the Vicar Incumbent such a Convenable Portion of the Incomes as the Bishop in his judgement should be pleased to allot See Alexand. 3. to the * Bishop of Worcester De Prab dig C. De Monach. And there be that are well enough perswaded that the B. even now also ought in this Right to be acknowledged and the ground is for that it may be likely to stand without injurie to the Statute of Dissolution For it seemeth by the 27. of H. 8. c. 28. that these Lands are to be holden in as large and ample manner as the Proprietaries did then hold them or ought to have done And an other Clause of the same Statute Saveth to every Person and Persons and bodies politique c. other than Abbots c. all such right title interest c. as they or any of them hath ought or might have had c. But the consideration of this I restore to him from whom I had it The late learned Civilian in the Poore Vicars Plea where the Reader who desireth more of it may be further satisfied Now it is to bee observed how farre forth the Patron was to depend upon the Bishop for the filling of any other Church or Oratorie Most proper to this purpose is the Emperours Novell which was decreed litle lesse then eleven hundred yeares past about the latter end of the 5 Centurie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is If any man shall erect an Oratorie and his desire be to present a Clerke thereunto by himselfe or his heires if they furnish the Clerke with a Competencie and nominate to the Bishop such as are worthy they may be ordain'd But if those who are intimated by them be rejected by the Canons as unworthy of the Ministrie then let it be the care of the most Reverent Diocesan of the place to present such as in his discretion he shall conceive better of That we may the more certainly know what the Emperours minde is it must be considered out of Panormitan what is the meaning and originall of the Patrons Right which by the Canon is called Ius Patronatus and by the Common Law Advouson The Abbot out of the Law saith that this is Ius honorificum onerosum utile alicus competens in Ecclesia pro eo quod Diocesani consensu Ecclesiam fundavit construxit veldotavit ipse vel is à quo causam habuit Abb. in Rubric He therefore that founded a Church that is fundum dedit gave a piece of ground De Ier. Pat. C. Nobu He also that built a Church upon it 16. q. 7. c. Monasterium Or lastly he that endowed the Church built C. Piae Mentesibid was thenceforth qualified with this Right of Patronage But all this while it is especially to be noted that all this was done Consensu Dioesanâ— which seemeth to have beene so requisite by that of Clement C. Nobis De Iur. Patron Si quis Ecclesiam cum assensu Dioecesanâ— construxit ex eo lus Patronatus acquirit that if Ex eo should be referr'd to assensu nothing makes a Patron but the Will of the Diocesan And it is to bee understood that when a man dispendeth of his temporall estate towards the Founding Erecting or Endowing of a Church whatsoever shall be so conferred after consecration is actually delivered up and made over to God himselfe therefore it must needs be that from henceforth these things cannot properly belong either to the Bishop or the Patron for the Emperour saith Quod Divini juris est id nullius est in bonis Instit de Rerum Divisione §. Nullius rate that neither of them should presse too much the one upon the other and therefore in the beginning the usuall rate that they set downe betweene the beneficed man and the Religious person was the one halfe of the Benefice for that it was not thought that the Pope would charge a Church above that rate But after by the covetousnesse of Monkes and Friers themselves and the remisnesse of Bishops who had the managing of this businesse under the Apostolique See the Incumbents part came to so small a portion that Vrban the fifth by Othobon his Legate here in England in the yeare of Salvation 1262. was faine to make a Legantine whereby he forbad all Bishops of this Land to appropriate any more Churches to any Monasterie or other religious houses but in cases onely where the persons or places to whom they were appropriated were so poore as that otherwise they were not able to sustaine themselves or that the cause were so just that it might be taken rather to be a worke of charitie than any inforcement against Law and that beside with this provisâ— as that if the new proprietaries within sixe moneths next after should not set out a competent portion for the Minister of the fruits of the Benefice themselves should assigne out a sufficience thereout according to the quantitie thereof Which constitution because it tooke not the effect that was hoped there were two Statutes Only the dispensation of those things must be referr'd to Men And to that purpose who of all men could be more fit then the Bishop It seemeth therefore that the right of Presentation may be originally in the Diocesan and wee shall finde it hath beene so by a certaine passage recorded in the life of Bishop Vlrick where the Author faith That when any would build a Church in his Territorie the Bishop freely consented both to the Erection and Consecration Si confestim ille consecrata Ecclesia legitimam dotem in terrâ—s mancip 〈…〉 s in manum ejus celsitudinis dare non differret c. which is answerable to what was before said concerning the dowrie of a Church It followeth in the Author Consecrationeque per act à doteque contradita comprobato illic Prâ—sbytero altaris Procurationem commendarit Ecclesia Advocationem firmiter legitimo hareds panno imposito commendavit that the Consecration being ended and the Endowment delivered up the care of the Altar was committed to the Priest allowed and the Advouson firmely conveighed to the lawfull heire by the putting on of a Robe Author vita Vdalrici C. 7. p. 52. edit August Vindel. 1595. It is now time to consider how farre forth the Bishop departed with this Right to the Lay Patron and for what causes Wee have said that the Bishops Right was not to the things
Levell and Line The Canon Law consisteth partly of certaine Rules taken out of the holy Scripture partly of the Writings of the ancient Fathers of the Church partly of the ordinances of generall provinciall Councels partly of the Decrees of Popes of former ages Of the Canon Law there are two principall parts the Decrees the Decretals The Decrees are Ecclesiasticall constitutions made by the Pope and Cardinals at no mans suit are either Rules taken out of the Scripture or Sentences out What is the antiquity of Decrees and who were the Authors that compiled them of the ancient Fathers or Decrees of Councels The Decrees were first gathered together by Ivo B. of Carnat who lived in the time of Vrban the 2. about the yeare of our Lord God 1114. but afterward polished perfected by Gratian a Monk of the Order of S. Bennet in the yeare * Trithem in his second Booke De viris illust saith that Gratian wrote this Worke at Bononia in the Monasterie of S. Felix Anno 1127. Others say it was done in the yeare 1151. Bellarmine to reconcile the difference saith that Gratian might begin the work according to the first account and finish it according to the second 1149. and allowed by Eugenius the Pope whose Confessor hee was to bee read in Schooles and to be alledged for Law Of all the severall Volumes of the Canon Law the Decrees are the ancientest as having their beginning from the time of Constantine the great the first Christian Emperour of Rome who first gave leave to the Christians freely to assemble themselves together and to make wholsome lawes for the well government of the Church The Decrees are divided into three parts wherof the first teacheth of the origen and beginning of the Canon Law and describeth and setteth out the rights dignities degrees of Ecclesiasticall persons and the manner of their elections ordinations and offices and standeth of one hundred and one distinctions The second part setteth out the causes questions and answers of this Law which are in number 36. and are full of great varietie wisdome and delight The third and last part conteineth matter of consecration of all sacred things as of Churches bread and wine in the Sacrament what dayes and Feasts the Primitive Church used for the receiving thereof of the ministring of the Sacraments in Baptisme and the use of imposition of hands all which is set out under five distinctions SECT 2. What the Decretals are and how many parts they comprehend THe Decretals are Canonicall Epistles written either by the Pope alone or by the Pope and Cardinals at the instance or suit of some one or more for the ordering and determining of some matter in controversie and have the authoritie of a law in themselves Of the Decretals there be three Volumes according to the number of the Authors which did devise and publish them The first Volume of the Decretals was gathered together by Raymundus Barcinius Chaplain to Gregory the ninth at his the said Gregories commandement about the yeare 1231. and published by him to be read in Schooles and used for Law in all Ecclesiasticall Courts The second is the worke of Boniface the eight methoded by him about the yeare 1298. by which as hee added somthing to the ordinance of his Predecessours so he tooke away many things that were superfluous and contrarie to themselves and reteined the rest The third Volume of the Decretals are called the Clementines because they were made by Pope Clement the fifth of that name published by him in the Councell of Vienna about the yeare of grace 1308. To these may be added the Extravagants of John the xxij some other Bishops of Rome whose authors are not known and are as Novell constitutious unto the rest SECT 3. What is contained in the first Booke of the Decretals EVery of the former Volumes of the Decretals are divided into five Bookes and containe in a manner one and the same titles whereof the first in every of them is the title of the blessed Trinitie and of the Catholick faith wherein is set downe by every of them a particular beliefe divers in words but all one in substance with the ancient Symbols or beliefe of the old Orthodoxe or Catholick Church Secondly there commeth in place the treatie of Rescripts Constitutious Customes the authority of them when they are to be taken for Law after followeth the means wherby the greater Governours of the Church as namely Archbishops Bishops such like come unto their roome which was in two sorts according as the parties place or degree was whē he was called unto the roome as if he were under the degree of of a Bishop was called to be a Bishop or being a Bishop was called to be an Archbishop or to be the Pope himselfe hee was thereto to be elected by the Deane and Chapter of the Church where hee was to be Bishop or by the Colledge of the Cardinals in the Popedome but if hee were already a Bishop or an Archbishop were to be preferred unto any other Bishoprick or Archbishoprick then was he to be required by the Church he was desired unto and not elected which in the Law was called Postulation after Postulation followed translation by the superiour to the See to which hee was postulated or required after Election followed Confirmation Consecration of him that was elected which both were to be done in a time limited by the Canōs otherwise the party elected lost his right therin Bishops and other beneficed men sundry times upon sundry occasions resigne their benefices and therefore is set downe what a renunciation or resignation is who is to renounce and into whose hands and upon what causes a man may renounce his benefice or Bishoprick and because under-Ministers are oftentimes negligent in their Cure that the people in the meane time may not be defrauded of Divine Service the Sacraments the food of the word of God it is provided that the Bishop shall supply the negligence of such Ministers as are underneath him in his Jurisdiction besides because holy orders are not to be given but by imposition of hands with prayer and fasting * The old Romans instituted three yearely Solemnities in honour of their Gods for the Fruites of the Earth These also the Romish Church observed having first moderated their superstition and directed them to a more sacred end To the three one of their Popes as they say added the fourth with a respect had to those of the Jewes in Zech. 8. 19 and so they were called Iejunia quaiuor temporum Their institution at the first had many other causes for which see the Sermons of Leo and Durants Rationale but in after times at these Solemnities especiall regard was had to the Ordination of Priests and Deacons which had beene formerly performed onely once a yeare in the Moneth of December as Amalarim hath observed It seemeth therefore
into England to reëstablish the Faith decayed by the Saxons who set downe sundry ordinances for the Church framed it in uniformity of Prayer and government to that which then was used in the Church of Rome but long before Aug. time as it may by our Stories appeare even in the dayes of King Lucius who sent to Elutherius a Bishop of Rome for Ethelward lib. unico learned men to instruct him and his people in the Faith which was about a hundred and forty yeares after the Ascention of our Lord Jesus Christ the Faith of Christ was here preached in Britaine and fifteene Archbishops are by our Stories reported one to have succeeded Iocelin of Furnes in his Booke of Brittish Bishops Marianus Scotus an other in the See of London before the irruption of the Saxons into this Land All which time it is not like the Churches of God that were in the Land were void of this provision for the Ministerie so that I assure my selfe the payment of Tythes was farre more ancient than the time of Augustine albeit the Conquerour citeth there the authoritie of Austin rather than any former precedent of the Britons both for that the doctrine of Austin was better knowne unto the Saxons among whose Ancestours Austin taught governed as an Archbishop than any of the Fathers of the Brittish Church to whom the Saxons were enemies and their tongue altogether unknowne unto them and beside for that this doctrine of Austin concerning Tythes best suited with the generall custome that was then used thoroughout all Europe in paying thereof The next Prince after William the Conquerour that ordered any thing about payment of Tythes for ought that I have read to the contrary was Ed. 1. who at the petition of the Clergie established the Articles of the Clergie which his Sonne Edw. 2. confirmed by his Letters Patents under his great Seale by consent of Parliament at the petition of the Clergie in the IX yeare of his Reigne In Edward the thirds time Writs of Scire facias were granted An. 18. Ed. 3. cap. 14. out of the Chancerie to warne Prelates and other Clerks to answer for Dismes there but after the matter was well understood by the King the parties were dismissed from the Secular Judges for such manner of pleas saving to the King his right and such as his Ancestours had and were wont to have of Reason During the Reigne of Richard the second Parsons of holy Church An 1. Rich 2. cap. 14. were drawne into secular Courts for their owne Tythes by the name of goods taken away And it was decreed by the King that in such case the generall averment of the plaintife should not be taken without shewing specially how the same was his Lay-cattell By the Statute of the first of the same King cap. 14. it is acknowledged that the pursuing for Tythes of right doth and of old times was wont to pertaine to the Spirituall Court and that the Judges of 15. Ed. 3. holy Church onely have the cognisance in these matters By the Statute of the 15. of Edw. the third it is ordered That Ministers of holy Church neither for money taken for the redemption of corporall penance nor for proofe and account of Testaments nor for travell taken about the same nor for solemnitie of Marriage nor for any other thing touching the Jurisdiction of holy Church should be appeached or arrested or driven to answer the Kings Justices or other Ministers and thereupon they should have writs in 2. Henr. 4. the Chancerie to the Justices when they demanded them In the second yeare of Henry the fourth the Religious of the order of the Cystercians that had purchased Buls from the Pope to be discharged of the payment of Tythes were by act of Parliament reduced 5. H. 4 C. 11. to that state that they were in before In the 5. yeare of the same King it was ordered That all Farmers and Occupiers of any lands or possessions belonging to any Fryers Aliens should pay all manner of Tythes due to Parsons and Vicars of holy Church in whose Parishes the same were as the Law of holy Church required notwithstanding the same were seised into the Kings hand or any Prohibition were made or to be made to the contrary About the 7. yeare of the same King such religious persons as had purchased Buls from the Pope in the dayes of Richard the second to bee discharged of Dismes pertaining to Parish Churches Prebends Hospitals or Vicarages not put in execution were forbid from that time forward to put them in execution or to purchase any other in time to come After King Henry the eigth had dissolved the Monasteries and other like religious houses and sold the Churches and Tythes thereto belonging to Lay men who before that time were not capable of the same insomuch as after the dissolution when the Purchasers demanded the same they were denied to hold plea thereof by reason 27. Hen. 8. cap. 20. of their incapacitie a Statute was made in the 27. yeare of the same King whereby all Subjects of the Kings Dominions were to pay their Tythes and other dueties of holy Church according to the Ecclesiasticall Lawes and ordinances of the Church of England and after the laudable uses and customes of the Parishes places where they dwelt or occupied lands and the same to bee sued for before the Ordinarie or some other competent Judge of the place according to the course and processe of the Kings Ecclesiasticall Courts of England which Statute because it tooke little effect by reason of the obstinacie of the people in not yeelding these duties to the Laitie who had purchased them and that the said Purchasers could neither by the order or course of the Ecclesiasticall Lawes sue for them in any Ecclesiasticall Court of this Land neither was there found any remedy in the Common Law of this Land whereby they might be releeved against them that wrongfully detained the same Therefore in the 32. following an other Statute was made wherein it was 32. Hen. 8. c. 7. enacted that all singular persons of this Realme and other of the Kings Dominions of what state degree or condition soever they were should fully truely and effectually divide set out yeeld and pay all and singular their Tythes and Offerings to the owners proprietaties and possessors of Parsonages Vicarages and other Ecclesiasticall places according to the lawfull customes and usages of the Parish and places where such Tythes or other duties rise and grow due And in case where any are wronged and greeved being either an Ecclesiasticall or Lay person for the wrongfull deteining or with-holding of the said Tythes or Offerings or any part or parcell thereof the same to have full power and authoritie to convent the same person or persons so deteining the same before the Ordinarie or other competent Judge of the place where such wrong was done and the same Ordinarie
of them both but left them severed as they found them onely affording either of them an equall proportion of protection for that by these two parts the Kings Monarchie is compleat and himselfe is the head and chiefe Governour of the whole and entire body of his Realme For this was exemplaried unto them in all former ages since the Church and common-wealth had any loving and kind cohabitation together as hath beene before remembred And therefore doe they wrong to the ashes of those Kings deceased which by subtill sence and strained interpretations draw these Lawes which they intended for the benefit of the Church and Church-government to the overthrow of the same as though the Positive Lawes of the Kingdome could not stand if the Lawes of the Church continued and stood up right SECT 4. That the limits and bounds of Parishes are of the Ecclesiasticall cognisance onely VPon the same words of the same Statute if perhaps at any time there grow any controversie about the limits or bounds of Parishes they draw the same by like importunitie from the triall of the Ecclesiasticall Law unto the Common Law avouching the same also to be of the Temporall cognisance and yet Linwod who lived in the dayes of Henry the fifth making a Catalogue of the principall matters that in his dayes belonged unto the Ecclesiasticall Courts reckoneth the bounds of Parishes for one And very like it is that it should so be for that Ecclesiasticall men first in this Kingdome made divisions of Parishes as by our owne Chronicles it appeareth and the first practice thereof within this Realme came from Honorius the fourth Registro Eccl. â—pâ— Cant. Stew. Archbishop of Canterbury after Augustine who himselfe died in the year of our Lord God 693. * He that shall trace the Writers for that which concernes the originall of Parishes may finde some probable issue if the course of Antiquitie runne cleere Those that first gave example to others in this matter are conceived to bee the ancient Roman Bishops for it was recorded in the Pontifical of Damasus as some would have it But in Anastasius Bibliothecar wee finde it that when Peter had appointed ordained Priests c. and Cletus had reduced them to a certaine number Pope Euarest assigned to each of them his Parish or as they then said his Title For so a Title is understood by Onuphrius and so in effect it may be taken though otherwise Paroecia is Accolatus ad sacram Aedem Titulus autem Aedes ipsa And it may seeme that Titulus might bee taken for Paroecia because this hath beene taken for that For in the Councels wee shall sometimes finde a Parish put for a Parish Church which is the meaning of Titulus See Baronius ad annum Christ 112. where the learned Cardinall setteth downe at large what these Titles were and why they were so called As for the time when these Parishes were assigned by Euarist it must be about the beginning of the 2 Centurie This done and the number of new Converts increasing Higinis placed severall Priests in singular Parishes and the chiefe of those he called Cardinales Presbyteros and heere we must beleeve that the Romish Cardinals began if at least wee will bee guided by their Historians In after-times Pope Denis improoved these conveniences invented by his Ancestours and set limits to Parishes And this was done about the yeare 260. If these things bee answerable as they are generally received by the Romish Antiquaries then it may seeme that other Nations made the like provision sooner or later according to their example And this is the rather to be beleeved because this Pope Dionyse wrote an Epistle to Severus Bishop of Corduba to observe this order in his Diocesse and looke what course himselfe tooke that hee should direct other Bishops to doe in like manner What was else-where done doth not so neerely concerne but here at home the first division of Parishes is ascribed to Honorius Archbishop of Canterbury as the Author here hath cited out of the Register and it is approved by Cambden Sedcavendum c. saith Marsil in his Booke de â—od Eccles cap. 12. But heed must be taken to the Equivocation of the word Parish for it hath not alwayes had one and the same acception Somtime when nothing is named but a Parish the whole Diocesse is understood and this notion of the word often occurres in the Councels and else-where According to this sence Barbatia spake a wide word for the Pope where he saith that in respect of him the whole world was but one Parish tract de praestant Cardinal Otherwise A Parish is taken for such a part of the Diocesse which is assigned to some Priest arbitrarily sent and maintained by the Bishop for it is to bee noted that such a Parish paid all dues to him and he to his Clergie for the primitive communitie of living because of inconvenience ceasing in the Church this custome was introduced that all Church dues should be at the Bishops disposing so that being geometrically divided into foure portions he should have one part and his Clergie an other the third to be disstributed to the poose and strangers and the last part to be reserved to the Parishioners for the repairing of Churches And that this was the use especially of the Romish Church plainely appeareth by the answer of Gregorie to our Austin in Bede lib. 1 cap. 27. The collection of these dues was committed to the care of the Chorepiscopus as appeareth by an Arabick Canon of the first Councell of Nice which together with other Occumenicall Councels and those Canons which are called the Apostles and some history of the primitive times out of Clement c. wee enjoy and esteeme as a most peculiar monument transported hither out of the Easterne world and placed in our publick Librarie by the bouatie of a worthy Benefactor Sir Thomas Roe The latter end of that Canon saith thus but for our great want of Arabick Characters it must be read in Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where the Canon provi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deth that it should belong to the charge of the Chorepiscopâ— to see that in every of their severall Cities and Countrey-villages these dues should be collected proportionably as every place should be found able and that these dues so collected should bee every yeare brought to the Bishops place of abode that there they might bee disposed of toward the maintenance of the Bishop the reliefe of the poore and strangers and the encouragement of his Clergie that so there might be concord and unanimity betweene him and them c. The Latine Translation of these Canons is set forth by Turrian and Alphons Pisan and is to bee found in the 1. Tome of the Councels set forth by Binius In the Translation this Canon is the 54. but hee that mindeth to see it in the Arabick must looke for the 58. Some say that these Canons are
imbrace it and kisse it as a golden birth or as if that Juno her selfe had beene present at the Nativitie thereof And the devise is this A Bishop being owner of a Manor yet not divided into Tenancies nor having any Parsonage erected upon it ordaineth the one and divideth out the other here the Bishop being seised in the whole Manor before the said division because hee is a Clergie man is supposed to be in possession as well of the Tythes as of the Manor it selfe and therefore after creating a Parsonage and dividing out his Tenancies may retaine and keepe to himselfe and his said Tenants so much of the said Manor discharged of Tythes as him listeth and assigne over the rest for the maintenance of the Minister and that his Tenants after may challenge exemption from Tythe as the Bishop did for that they were exempted by his capacitie while they were in his owne hand Neither of which is so by Law for insomuch as a Bishop is an owner of a Manor and is a prime founder of a Benefice hee hath no more right to the Tythe thereof than a meere Lay Patron hath who for his zeale to the Church to incourage others to be like affected to Gods Religion as himselfe is may have some small pension assigned him and his for ever by the Bishop out of the same benefice in acknowledgement of the erecting founding or ondowing thereof but for any portion of Tythes to him or his hee could never retaine any nor can to this day neither yet can the Bishop himselfe unlesse perhaps hee will be like to Ananias and Saphira which held part of the price of their ground from the Lord and were worthily punished for the Actorun 〈…〉 same And as they cannot detaine it themselves being spirituall men so much lesse can they passe it over to any Lay man for that Lay people neither by Gods Law neither by Canons and Decrees of the Church were ever capable of Ca quamvis de decimis thâ— Abnum 5. them yea it was so farre off that ever any Bishops durst infeoffe any Lay man in Tythe that whosoever did it was to be deposed excommunicated untill such time as he restored the same to the Church againe And to say the truth Ca tua nobis de decimis Tythes were never at any time in Bishops as in Fee but in very few cases as where the Bishop had a Parish himselfe distinct from other Parishes for sundry Bishops in sundry places had so and then the Tythes of the Parish did belong unto them in such sort as they do now belong unto the Incumbents thereof Or if the Tythe were not within any Parish for then in like sort it did belong unto the Bishop of the Diocesse in whose Territory it was albeit now within this Realme it belongs unto the King or where the Parishes were undistinguished for then were they the Bishops not to convert to his owne use but to divide among the Ministers and Clerkes which laboured in the Diocesse under him in Preaching Teaching Ministring of the Sacraments and executing of other Ecclesiasticall functions every one according to his desert Or that it were the fourth part of the Tythe for then did it belong to the Bishop in Law towards his owne reliefe and the repairing of the Parish Church where they grew and not to conferre or bestow the same as him thought best which notwithstanding now also is growne out of use and nothing left unto the Bishop from the Churches of his Diocesse beside his Procurations and Synodals to be paid by the Incumbents in the time of his Visitation Beside which cases it cannot be found that ever any Bishop had to doe with Tythes much lesse to alyen dispose and transferre the same as him listed and to whom him listed SECT 2. That Bishops endowments in the beginning stood not in Tythes but in finable Lands FOr it is very certaine Bishops endowments themselves in the beginning of the Primitive Church stood not in Tythes but in good Temporall and finable Lands which gracious Princes and other good benefactors of former Ages bestowed upon them as it doth appeare out of the Câ—de sacrosanct Eccl. de Epist Cler 〈…〉 titul first booke of the Code where sundrie Lawes of Constantine the great and other gracious Emperours even to the time of Justinian himselfe are recorded both for the conferring of Lands upon the Church and those such as should neither be barren neither charged with Statute or other debts of the Exchequer as also for the conserving and safe keeping of such Lands as vvere in such sort conferred Authent multo magis C. de sacro sanct Eccles and bestowed upon them and it is manifest also out of our owne stories both in the Britans time during whose Raigne there are reported to have beene fifteene Iocelin of Furnis in his booke of British Bishops Sâ—ow fol 37. Archbishops in the See of London well endowed with possessions and if they were Archbishops then must it necessarily also follow there were Bishops for that these are respective one to the other The like is vvritten of the Saxons Raigne under whom the See of Canterburie Hen. Huntington lib. 3. the See of London the See of Rochester and the See of Yorke for these foure vvere first set up againe after the Saxons first received the faith at the Preaching of Augustine Melitus and Justus Paulinus are namely reported to have beene inriched vvith large Dominions Charta regis Ethelberts charta Wâ—ll primâ— Stow fol â—7 and possessions given to every of them for their maintenance And vvhat course hath beene held vvith Bishoprickes erected since the Conquest the ruinated state of them and others doe shew amongst whose ancient livelihood is not to be found any indowment by Tythes but such as of late have come unto their hands and that for the most part by change of their good finable Lands for impropriate parsonages And therefore much to blame are some of our time who when as their predecessours in former ages never admitted of any impropriate parsonage into their possessions but onely in such cases as have beene before remembred for the name and place of a Bishop will be content to make Glaucus Homer Iliad change with Diomede that is give their golden Armour for the others brazen Armour or doe like as Roboam Regum 1. c. 14. did who in stead of golden shields that his father Salomon did hang up in the Temple put in their places shields of brasse for the change is no better and so well know they that procure the same otherwise would they never so instantly desire it SECT 3. That the turning of Bishops indowments into tenthes or Tythes for impropriate Parsonages is unsutable to the first institution and very dangerous ANd therefore an unsutable devise was that and contrary to the course of former Ages which was procured in the first yeare of the
and stipend and that they sweare they shall so sincerely and uprightly execute their office as knowing they shall give an account thereof to God and the King which oath they shall undergoe before the Bishop of the place and the chiefe men of that Province whither they are sent to be Judges or Governours Of the Masters of Requests and their office which offer to the Prince suters Petitions and report them back from the Prince unto the Judges Of wicked and incestuous Marriages and that such as marrie within those degrees forfeit all that they have unto the Exchequer for that when they might make lawfull marriages they rather chuse to make unlawfull marriages SECT 4. The Argument of the third Collation THe third Collation conteineth matter against Bawdes that they be not suffered in any place of the Roman Empire that being once warned to forbeare their wicked profession if they offend therein again they die the death therefore If any man let any house to a bawd knowing him to be a bawd that he shall forfeit * Sciat se decem librarum auri sustinere poeram circa ipsam periclitaturum habitationem In Auth. De Lenonibus § Sancimus Coll. 3. x. li. to the Prince and his house shall be in danger to be confiscated Of Maiors and Governors of Cities that such be chosen that be honest people and men of credit and that no man of the Citie being thereto chosen refuse the same and that such as are thereto chosen shall sweare they will proceede in every matter according to Law and Conscience That there be a certaine number of Clerkes in every Church and that it be neither diminished nor increased and therefore that there be a translation of those that abound in one Church into an other Church that wanteth The precepts which Princes gave to Rulers of Provinces were these in effect that wheras themselves were freely chosen thereunto they should in due sort and order goe into their Provinces that they should keepe their hands pure from bribes that they should carefully looke unto the Revenues of the Exchequer and the peace and quiet estate of the Province represse outrages and rebellions procure that causes be ended with all indifferencie and ordinary charges to foresee that neither themselves nor any of their officers or under ministers doe injurie to the people and so those that ought to helpe them should hurt them To provide that the people want not necessary sustenance and keepe the Walls of the Citie in reparation that they punish offences according to the Law without respect to any mans priviledge neither admit any excuse in the examining or correcting of the same save innocencie onely that they keepe their Officers in order that they admit to their Counsell such as are good men are milde towards such as are good and sharpe towards such as are evill that they afford not Protections to every man neither to any one longer then it is fit and convenient it should be that where they remove they vexe not the Countrey-men with more carriages then is needfull that they suffer not Churches and other like holy places to be a Sanctuarie to murtherers and other such like wicked men that they suffer not Lands to be sold without fine made to the Exchequer that they regard not Letters or rescripts contrary to Law and against the weale publick unlesse they be seconded that they suffer not the Province to be disquieted under pretence of Religion heresie or schisme but if there be any Canonicall or ordinary thing to be done they advise thereabout with the * Auxiliabuntur autem tibi ad hoc etiam Deo amabiles Ecclesiarum defensores De Mand Princip § Neque autem homicid Bishop that they doe not confiscate the goods of such as are condemned that they patronize no man unjustly that no man set his Armes or Cognisance upon an other mans Lands neither that any carrie any weapon unlesse he be a Souldier What is an hereditary portion and how children are to succeed of such as deny their owne hand-writing and * Condem 〈…〉 onem adversus eum duplicem in utroque casâ— fieri sancimus De Trient semiss § Studium vero how they are to be punished as well in personall as in reall actions and that such deniers after their deniall be not admitted to other exceptions and the taking away the thing in controversie from him which denied the true owner to be Lord thereof SECT 5. What is comprehended in the fourth Collation THe fourth Collation handleth matters of Marriage and that marriage is made onely by consent without either lying together or instruments of dowrie Of women that marrie againe within the yeare of mourning which by Law in sundry sorts was punished for confusion of their issue that there be an equall proportion in the Dowrie and the Joynture Of Divorce and separation of marriages and for what causes by consent for impotencie for adulterie and that Noble women which after the death of their first husband being noble personages marry to inferiour men shall lose the dignity of their first husband and follow the condition of their second husband Of Appeales and within what time a man may appeale and from whom and to whom the appeale is to be made That none which lends money to a husband-man take his land to morgage and †Nihil amplius quam siliquam unam pro singulo sâ—lâ—do annuam praestare Nequia quod Agricol § Sancimus how much usury-money a man may take of a husbandman Of her that was brought to bed the eleventh moneth after her husbands decease and that such as are borne in the The Glosse relateth a matter of fact contrary to this Law A widow in Paris that was delivered of a childe the 14. moneth after her husbands decease neverthelesse the good repute which was generally conceived of this womans continencie prevailed so much against the letter of the Law that the reverend Judges awarded the case of child-birth to be extraordinary the woman to be chaste and the childe legitimate Haec tamen in exemplum trahi facilè non oportet as the Glosse there concludeth beginning of the same moneth are to be accounted for legitimate but such as are borne in the end thereof are to be holden for bastards Of instruments and their credit and that in every instrument there be Protocols left that is signes and notes of the time when such a contract was made and who was notarie and witnesses to the same and that after it be written faire and ingrossed in a lidger or faire * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chartam puram mundum Booke SECT 6. What is comprised in the fifth Collation THe fifth Collation forbiddeth the alienation or selling away of the immoveable possessions of the Church unlesse it be done under certaine solemnities and then onely when the moveable goods are not sufficient to pay the debts of the Church or
to be otherwise then as Bellarmine hath disputed whose opinion it is that these Fasts may be fetch 't from the Apostles times and that one of these foure is mentioned by S. Luke in S. Pauls voyage to Rome Act. 27. though the Syriack Paraphrast in that place plainely setteth downe for the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 calling it a Fast of the Jewes not Christians But the great and learned Cardinall in his devotion to sacred Orders tooke any opportunitie to make these Solemnities in every circumstance Apostolicall Foure fit times in the yeare are limited for the same where also is set downe how they are to be qualified which are to bee ordered what triall or examination is to be had of them what age they are to be of and what gifts of body or minde they are to be indowed withall what Sacraments may bee reiterated what not that Ministers sons are not to succeed their Fathers in those benefices wherein their Fathers immediately before were Pastors or Governours lest happley thereby there might In what manner and with how much care and Christianitie these Fasts have been heretofore observed it may bee noted out of the second Councell of Mâ—lâ—aine Tit. 1. Decret 22. where the Bishop is to command that upon the Sunday before these Fasts Paroâ—ht non solùm solenne illud jejuntum denunctent verumetiam in sua unusquisque eorum parochtali Ecclesia supplicationes Litaniasque pie ac religiose vel intùs habeat vel prosequente fidelium multitudine foris Ecclesiam sicut moris est obeat ut Dei ope imploratâ tum Episcopus in eorum delectatu quibus ordenes conferet Spiritûs Sancti lumine illustretur tum illi quibus conseruntur in vitae sanctitate doctrina religiosisque virtutibus proficiant In the fourth Councell of Millaine is set downe out of Leo the forme of bidding these Fasts in the Church Quod sacrorum temporum ratio c. and afterwards Quartaigitur sexta feria Sabbato â—eâ—unemus frequentes in Cathedrali Parochialique Ecclesia ad litanias Orationémque conveniamus quò sacris illis Feriâ—â—â— cibo abstinentiores esse debemus â—o abundantsore eleemosynarum liberalitate erga Christs pauperes effusiores sinius tum Sabbato sub vesperum orationem Parochialem communem celebremus qua pro spe foelicitatis aterna ad quam per fidem currimus pro sacra ordinatione quam eo die a Reverendissimo Episcopo haberi solenne est pro â—is commodis qua singulorum annorum revolutione consequimur Deo omnipotents gratias agamus c. Tom. Concil 4. Edit Bin. These foure Fasts at this present day are observed in our owne Church and are known unto us by the name of Emberweekes And so I finde it in Thomas Becon by opinion of much people these dayes beene called Imber-dayes because that our elder Fathers would on these dayes eate no bread but Cakes made under ashes so that by the eating of that they reduced into their mindes that they were but ashes and so should turne againe and wist not how soone c. And that these Imber-dayes were duely and devoutly observed by our Ancestours wee may bee perswaded out of the Lawes of King Cnute where it is said Chap 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That every man observe the Fasts which are commanded with all earnest care whether it be the Imber Fast oâ— the Lent Fast or any other Fast And Chap. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where the Law saith That it is meete and right that at these Fasts all malice being laid aside all men should bee at peace And concerning the outward observance in the 43. Chap. it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Evill it is that upon a fast day a man should eate any thing till Meale time and it is much worse if hee should eate flesh meate This was the Religion of our Ancestours and if ignorance could admit of so much devotion how much more would bee expected from these knowing times be claimed a succession or inheritance in the same that no bondmen or accountants men distorted or deformed in body bigamists or twice married men bee admitted to holy orders Of wandering Clerkes and how that they are not to be admitted to minister in an other Diocesse than where they are ordered without the Dimissorie Letters of the Bishop under whom they were ordered Of Archdeacons Archpriests Sacrists Vicars what they are and wherein their particular offices doe consist Of the office of Judges in generall and their power whether they be Delegats Legats à latere or Iudges ordinarie Of difference in Jurisdiction betweene Ministers Ministers and what obedience the inferiour Ministers are to yeeld unto their superiours Of Truce and Peace which Ecclesiasticall Judges are to procure that truces be kept from Saturday in the Evening untill Munday in the Morning and that there be no fighting from the first day of the Advent until the eight day after Twelfe tide and that warre likewise doe cease from the beginning of Lent untill the eight day after Easter under paine of Excommunication against him that presumeth to doe the contrarie and that in time of warre neither Priests Clerkes Merchant-men country men either going to the field or comming from the field or being in the field or the cattell with which they plough or the seed with which they sow be hurt or violated Judges before men enter into the dangerous events of Law are to perswade the parties litigant by private covenants and agreements to compound the controversie betweene them wherein if they prevaile not then the parties are to provide themselves of Advocates Proctors or Sindects according as they are private men or bodies politick to furnish their cause and direct them in proceeding If any Church hath beene hurt in any contract of bargain or sale or in demising of any Lease or by the Proctors negligence it is to be restored againe into her former state to alledge and plead that for it self which is agreeable to Law conscience The like grace is to be granted to all other Litigants whatsoever who have by feare or violence or any other like unjust cause beene hindered from the prosecution of their right If any seeing a suit like to be commenced against him doe either appeale before he be served with Proces or alienate away the thing wherupon the suit was like to grow he is to be compell'd to hold plea of the same cause before the Judge from whom he did appeale and to answer his adversarie as though still he were owner of the thing hee did in policie sell or alienate away Many times things which otherwise can have no speedy end by Law are compounded by Arbitrement Arbitrators ought to be odde in number that if they disagree that which is concluded by the greater part may prevaile An arbitrement is a power given by the parties litigant to some to heare and determine some matter in
peaceable ages they drew nearer and made bold to build their Fonts a little distance from the Church afterwards they obtained that they might bee set in the Church-porch and at last got them into the Church But they were not placed in every Church for at the first they were onely found in Cities where the Bishop himselfe resided and onely in the great Church of such a Citie and though Service might be said in the lesser Minsters and rurall Churches yet the right of Sepulture and Baptisme belonged to the Cathedrall Church unlesse it were in case of necessitie and it was therefore called the Mother-Church because that as the people in their Mothers wombe were borne Men so in the Fonts of Baptisme as in the Churches wombe they were borne Christians In succeeding ages when it was found that the Mother church was too farre distant from some Villages and so situated that in the Winter time the people could not repaire thither consideration was had of this inconvenience and the Bishop tooke occasion from hence to transferre the right of Baptisme and Sepulture to the Rurall Churches and this together with the right of Tythes c. made it a Parochiall Church of that kinde which wee now have But because also in many Parishes some Families liv'd so remote from their Church that they could not conveniently frequent it it was indulged to those that they might build themselves either in or neere their mansion-places a private Oratorie reserving for the most part the right of Baptisme and Sepulture to the Parish-Church which in respect of these lesser Oratories was to be accounted their Baptismall and Mother-Church It was also provided that these Families notwithstanding their grant of a private Oratorie should upon high dayes repaire to their chiefe Church as it seemeth by the Councell held at Agatha Can. 21. Tom. 1. Si quis extra parochias in quibus legitimus est ordinariúsque conventus oratorium in agro habere voluerit reliquis festivitatibus ut ibi Missasteneat or as Grattan hath it in the Decree Audiat propter fatigationem familiae juxta ordinem permittimus Paschate verò Natali Domini Epipbania Ascensione Domini Pentecoste Natali S. Iohannis Baptistae si qui maximè dies in festivitatibus haebeautur nonnisi in Civitatibus aut Parochiiâ—…ean or as Gratian hath it audiant Those private Oratories were afterwards called Capellas Chappels and those that in them exercised the Ministeriall function were called Capellans Chaplaines But for the reason of the name see Baronius upon the Roman Martyrologue at the 11. of Iune Or if the Cardinall there satisfie not see what Cujacius hath observed out of Hesychius Ad 4. lib. Decretal C. Capellanus De Secundis Nuptus By that which hath bin said it may appeare in some sort what was a Baptismall Church And it is agreeable to that which Linwood hath noted upon the Provinciall Constitution Baptisterium in verb. Baptismal Eccles A Baptismall Church saith he is Sive Cathedralis sive Parochialis talis viz quae habet populum nam in Ecclesia collegiata vel conventuali qua non habet populum non debet esse Baptisterium Dicitur etiam Ecclesia Baptismalis respectis Capellarum subjectarum quarum plebis infantes in ea baptizantur non in ipsis Capellis imn ò ad ipsas Ecclesias Baptismales tanquam matrices pro Baptismo recurritur c. Concerning these Baptismall Churches the Canon saith that there can be but Vna in eadem terminatione cum suis Capellis cap. Plures 16. q. 1. And that the Tythes were of right to be paid to these Churches it is evident by the Decree where Anastasius provideth that no man under paine of Excommunication should Tenere aut extra Ecclesiam Baptismalem dare decimas oblationes Ecclesiae quas dare debet populus C. Statuiums eod tit And Leo Non tantùm nebis sed etiam Majoribus nostris visum est decimas justo ordine plebibus tantùm ubi Sacrosancta Baptismata dantur debere dari C. De Decimis ibid. Yet notwithstanding all the care that could be taken the complaint was Quidam Laici vel in propriis vel in beneficus suas habent Basilicas contempta Episcopi dispositione non ad Ecclesias ubi Baptismum pradicationem manuum impositionem alia Christi Sacramenta acci piunt decimas saas dant sed vel propriis basilicis vel aliis Ecclesiis pro libitu suo tribuunt C. In Sacris ibid. What distinction of Churches our owne Ancestours had and how neare it commeth to that which hath beene said wee may observe out of the Decree made at Winchester in the Reigne of King Cnute where it is provided that all those that any wayes violate the peace of the Church should receive a proportionable penaltie Therefore saith the Decree num 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 can be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ealle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 na 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 habban 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mid 120 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 60 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 First let the breaking of the Church peace bee according to the deede it selfe and according to the dignitie of the Church All Churches have not alike dignitie in worldly worth though they have a holy Consecration alike 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or peace-breaking in the head Church hath the same punishment as that of breaking the Kings peace and that is five pounds by English Law In an inferiour Minster 't is 120 shillings and that also is the Kings mulct In lesser Churches where litle Service is said and yet there is a burying place 't is 60 shillings In field-Churches where there is no burying place 't is 30 shillings How Tythes were to be paid to these Churches it may be understood by an other Decree of the same Parliament num 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 haebbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 haebbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on ne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aele 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be aelcan 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is in the Lawes of Edgar where this Decree also is set downe num 3. that is If a Thane have a Church in his bocland to which there belongeth a burying place let him give the third part of his owne Tything to that Church if hee have a Church without a burying place let him give of the nine parts to his Priest that which he will and let all Cyricsceat goe to the elder Minster out of all free-hold For that which the Law calleth Bocland see Lambard in the Explication of words premised to his Archatonomia where also hee telleth what a Thane is baptismall
disease for so I call their unsatiable desire I finde not which way I may provide a cure for this maladie or how to punish their excesse For what Fathers could perswade them or from whence could they take occasion so superfluously to abound or to say with holy David to bee so vainely madde Their care is every houre to purchase to themselves Lands without number sumptuous and stately Buildings troupes of Horses droves of Oxen and Camels and other Cattell innumerable and bending all the sollicitude of their mindes this way they make a monasticall life litle different from that of the world which is incumbred with varietie of anxious care For these and the like Reasons the Novell forbids to build any more Monasteries but this was afterwards repeald by the Junior Basil An other great inconvenience would have beene the impoverishing of secular States by Amortization of Lands which Princes foreseeing set a bound to these exorbitant Donations restraining the excesse of that Charitie by mature and timely Decrees In Spaine the Lawes of Mortmaine began under the Kings of Aragon in France nihil usitatius as one saith The like provision hath beene made here at home for which see the Statute De Religiosis in the Great Charter which also hath been confirmed by the succeeding Princes of this Land Yet in what cases Lands may be divised in Mortmaine See the Writ Ad quod Damnum in the Natura Brevium Concerning the reason of the name Polydore Virgil speaking of the Confirmation of the former Statute by Ed. the first saith thus Et Legem hanc ad Manum 〈…〉 vocârunt quòd res semel data Collegus Sacerdotum non utique rursus venderentur velut mortuae hoc est usui aliorum mortalium in perpetuam adempta essent That which the Author saith concerning this is the reason of Peckius in his Booke De Amortizatione bonorum Cap. 2. But the notation of the word is otherwise observed out of the Statute by a great Lawyer Lands saith he were said to come to Dead Hands to the Lords for that by Alienation in Mortmaine they lost wholly their Escheats and in effect their Knight service for the defence of the Realme Wards Marriages Reliefes and the like and therefore was called a Dead Hand for that a dead hand yeeldeth no service It is the obsetvation of Sir Edward Cooke upon Judge Littleton's Tenures under the Title Fee-simple upon the words Car si homme purchase c. What everuse there might be of these Lawes of Mortmaine in time past certaine it is the present needeth them not for in these dayes few men are so rash handed as to give too much to the Church And that which was heretofore said of those things that were given that they were in a Dead Hand may now more justly be said of those that are taken away And yet whosoever lookes into this constitution whereby it was forbidden that any man should passe any Lands or other unmoveable possession unto the Church without the Princes leave for that thereby the things that are so passed come as it were into a dead hand which holdeth surely fast that which it once apprehendeth neither easily parteth with it so that it cannot without much difficulty be reduced and brought again to the commerce and common use of men shall finde it was rather for the benefit of the Common-wealth than for the dislike of the Church that it was so ordered For if that course had beene holden on still the greatest part of the livelihood of the Common-wealth would in short time have come unto the Church and so Lay-men should not have beene able to have borne the publicke burthens of the Common-wealth which it concernes Secular Princes to be carefull of and to foresee that by over-much bountie towards the Church they impoverish not their owne state and lose the right of Escheats Primer seisin and other Priviledges of the Crown in cases of forfeiture and specially make bare their Lay-subjects upon whom a great service of the Common-wealth doth lye And yet otherwise the beneficiallest state of this Realme unto the Prince is the Clergie as from whom the King hath a continuall revenue in Tenths and is deepest in Subsidie and not the least in all other extraordinarie charges according to the proportion of their place And therefore as the King is to maintaine the one so he is also to cherish the other and not to suffer their state in any sort to be diminished for that all other states are made for the service of the Church and the Church againe for the benefite of them But this was none of those Priviledges that I spake of for these are more ancient than they and granted out upon better devotion than the other but after this the zeale of Religion being almost extinguished in the Christian World partly by the great uproares and tumults that were in every Countrie by the breaking in of one barbarous Nation or other upon them who pulled downe Churches faster than ever they were built and made havock both of Priest and people that professed the name of Christ partly by the heresies that rose every-where in the Church in those dayes which distracted mens mindes and made them waver in the constancie of their Religion it was revived againe upon this Occasion SECT 2. Of the beginning of Cloystered Monkes in the West Church of Christendome and that the Author thereof was one Benedict a Roman about the yeare 606. ONe Benedict vvho otherwise had beene a man of action in the Common-wealth that Benedict which was as it were the Father of all those that professed a Regular life within the West Hospintan de origine Monachatâ—s part of Christendome for before his time the Monkes of the West Church served God freely abroad without being shut up in a Cloyster he I say finding himselfe wearied with the tumults broyles which happened under the government of Justinian 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 give himselfe wholly to the service of God where when he had a while remained he grew so famous by his Christian exercises of fasting and prayer and the good and wholesome exhortations that he made to those who resorted unto him that within a very little time after there was great confluence of people unto him not onely from divers parts of Italy but even from sundry other parts of the World so that within a short time they grew into Fraternitie underneath him to whom he gave rules to live by to the imitation of that which Saint Basil did in the East Church to which his Disciples submitted themselves with all alacritie leading a life farre different from the common sort of men denying unto themselves all those ordinary delights that other men doe commonly take out of meat drinke apparell marriage Temporall preferment and such other things which worldly
and carnall men seeke for very greedily humbling themselves onely 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 Ordes sprang out from them within few yeares as the Praemonstratenses Cluniacenses Templarians Hospitallers Cystertians and the order of Saint John of Jerusalem but even Popes Princes and people were wholly carried away with the wonderment of them insomuch as every of them did as it were strive who might shew themselves most kinde unto them whereupon Princes built them houses every one in his Kingdome as Clito Ethelbald King of Mercia built the Monasterie of Crowland here in England of blacke Monkes under the rule of the said Benedict in the yeare 716. Popes and Princes granted them priviledges so farre as it concerned either of their particulars the Clergie Nobilitie and People conferr'd goods and lands upon them every one according to his abilitie SECT 3. That the admiration which these Religious Men did breed of themselves in the head of Princes and Popes did procure appropriations of Parsonages and Immunities from Tythes And that the over-conceit which men had of Prayer above Preaching in the Church was an adjuvant cause thereunto IN this zealous bounty of every degree towards these new sorts of men there are two undigested Priviledges granted them both of them so hurtfull and injurious to the Church of God as never any was the like The one was the Annexation or Appropriation of presentative Benefices to these Religious Houses The other the freeing 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 School-mens Divinity gave great advantage as shall be shewed hereafter Either 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 and knowes but onely the Articles of the Christian Faith the Lords Prayer the Ten Commandements Linwood provin eisdem de offic Archidiacont cap. Igncrantia Sacerdotum de officio Archipresbyters and other Principles and Rudiments of Christian Religion is nothing so necessary for the Salvation of a mans Soule as Prayer is Besides that Preaching oftentimes gives more cause of Schisme and dispute in Religion than it doth of profiting and edifying the Soule and therefore it was not permitted by the Provinciall Constitutions of this Realme that Parsons or Vicars of Churches should expound or preach any other matter or doctrine than the Lords Prayer the Ten Commandements the two Precepts of the Gospel that is the love of God and the love of a mans Neighbour the sixe workes of Mercy the seven principall Vertues the seven Sacraments for so many then the Romish Church held the seven deadly Sinnes with their progeny and this to be done vulgarly and plainely Absque cujustibet subtilitatis texturafautastica for so they call learned and orderly Preaching whereas notwithstanding Prayer is evermore profitable every where necessary and never dangerous Furthermore Preaching onely profiteth those that be present and doe beare it and attend upon it but Prayer is availeable even to those that be farre 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 provided for the home Pastors who by Gods owne institution were to watch over their Soules to forreine and strange Guides who never communicated to their necessitie in any heavenly comfort but onely tooke the milke of the flock and fed themselves withall But by this pretence of theirs ought not Preaching to have beene disgraced for albeit Prayer bee a necessarie peece of Gods service and so necessary that the Soule of man is as it were dead without it yet is it not †But here it will neede that the Reader use a sober judgement for it cannot but bee thought unequal that Prayer and Preaching should bee so unwarily plac'd in competition as that Prayer should lose by the comparison There may bee alwayes neede of Preaching but then most of all when the Auditorie is unchristian This reason prevailed for all places in the first times but in these last onely for some according to which it were unprofitable to goe about to convert the Indies no otherwise than by our Prayers Yet even in those primitive times which had most cause to call for Preaching we shall find that this duty was of rarer exercise lesse solemnity than that of Prayer as it may abundantly be discovered out of the Liturgies of both the Charches And it is observeable that where Preaching hath beene of the greatest account it hath bin so much beholden to Prayer that it was not onely begun and ended but also discontinued by devotion For wee shall finde the Reverend Fathers Chrysostome and Basil of Seleucia at prayers in the middle of a Sermon See the one in his 39. Orat. the other in his 3. Hom. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Moses the Sonne of Maimon that profound Doctor of the Iewes instituting a comparison betwixt their Sacrifices and the more substantiall Services required in stead of all other nameth that of Prayer and Invocation and of these hee saith that they are c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nearer to Gods first intention and that our way thereunto is bythem afterwards he saith that these are necessarie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at all times in all places and for every man See his More Neuoch Helec 3. C. 32. p. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And holy Antioch in his 106 Hom. which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith of Prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it is of a more sublime Condition than any other vertue And how our Lord himself stood affected to this wee may acknowledge by that where hee calleth the Church his House of Prayer not Preaching which took so well in the elder times that all their Temples were known by the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oratories Nay the Preacher himselfe Prov. 15. is so confident of a just mans Prayer that he dares say that God will even be obedient to it for so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is rendred by the Interpreter of the forenamed Antiochus However It may seeme to be so for when all the Preaching of Lot could prevaile no otherwise than to bring vexation to his righteous Soule the Prayers of Abraham might have saved Sodom if among so many thousands there had beene but ten just men All this while wee would not detract anything from Preaching but considering our selves to live under a State so maturely compos'd and so throughly advis'd and setled in the Faith it will be expected that we should so farre moderate our opinion of Preaching as that our magnifying thereof may no way
late blessed Queene not as I thinke by her owne seeking for shee good Lady did in this as shee was directed but upon some other policie that it should be lawfull for her to take away so much fineable Land from any of the Bishops as her pleased and to give them backe againe in lieu therof Tenthes or Parsonages impropriate which hath patcht them up againe but with unsutable peeces to their coate whereby they are both brought into obloquie as though they detained the due provision of the Parochian Church from it and are set in a way ready to be overthrowne if every bird have his owne feather againe And therefore those good Emperors are most worthy Authent de noÌ„ alienand aut permut and. roh Eccles c. § si 〈…〉 of commendations that when they had any occasions to make change of Landes with the Church would still allow them the like in value or better for a small gaine it is unto a Prince for a few thousands of increase of temporarie benefices unto his Exchaqner to draw a perpetuall losse upon a Church or Bishopricke for so deere ought the Spirituall state to be unto a Prince upon whom God hath bestowed so many Kingdomes and other things of price as hee hath done and put such an infinite number of people in subjection under his feet that hee would not in any case be hard with God but thinke every greatest libertie towards God and the Church to be the best For certaine it is the Empire and Church do not much Dic. § si minus Authent ut supra differ the one from the other for as the Empire doth governe the outward man and frameth him by outward policie to be a good and loyall subject to the state So also the Church frameth the inward man by the word of God and causeth him not onely to be a dutifull subject unto his Prince but also to be an acceptable servant unto his Maker So that there must be had as well an awfull care of those things that are consecrated to God as there is a heedfull regard had of those things that belong unto the good of the Common state for the Church was not made of God for the Common-wealth but the Common-wealth for the Church And therefore most gracious hath beene the Anno primo Iacob Regis cap. 3. consideration of our deare Soveraigne vvho to stop all importunate suits made to Bishops for the granting away of any of their revenues to himselfe or any other and to meete with the too too easie facilitie of many Bishops in yeelding unto such suits of his Christian and Princely pietie and care hath made a Law whereby to protect the Churches possessions from alienation or diminution that they may remaine and continue according to the true intent of their foundation to their successours for ever to the uses and purposes therein limited SECT 4. That is had beene a worthy worke in the first Reformers of Religion if they had returned to every Parish their owne Parsonage and the dislike that God may seeme to have conceived of that BUt here is occasion offered by the example of our gracious King to wish that such as were authors to the King for the dissolving of Monasteries and other houses of Religion had beene likewise Councellers to him for the restoring of all appropriated Parsonages of Tythes which were as it were in captivitie under those houses of Reliligion unto their proper parishes from vvhence they vvere taken Which had beene a memorable vvorke and easie to have beene persuaded the King having so many great mountaines of temporalties and Seas of goods and chatels come unto his hand so that these spiritualities would have seemed matter of small account unto him in comparison of those other great riches possessions that came unto him Which if it had beene done how blessed a state and Church had this beene when every congregation should have had a sufficient provision to maintaine a learned Preacher among them for so was it by the first institution and so continued till violence and superstition changed it But I feare those men which began this worthy worke had not such a sincere minde towards Almightie God in this reformation as they ought to have had but that they sought therein their owne advancement more than they did the glory of God which I doubt mee lest God hath remembred in some of their posteritie which being left in great state have either so vanisht away as that their place is scarce to be found or else doe so continue as that their posteritie ever since hath beene as it vvere in a minoritie so that they are as though they vvere not great in place but small in reputation yea the three fairest branches or boughes that ever were in the world issuing out of that tree under whose shadow all these things were done are quite gone and live by no other posteritie but by their owne worthy fame and glorious acts which they did in their life time which also now being gone doe follow them and so shall doe unto the worlds end for they were all three memorable Worthies in their place So dangerous a thing it is to mixe our own ambition or any other carnall consideration with Gods glory But God be thanked such is the carefull consideration of our most gratious Governour that now is in this behalfe that it may be hoped that God will remember him and his posteritie in goodnesse according to all that good that hee hath done for the Church that hee and his posteritie after him may sit upon his Seat so long as the Sunne and Moone endures for certainly his godly and gratious comportment hath beene such hitherto as that hee may bee verily thought to be a man according unto the heart of God as David was But now to the losse that comes to the Church by these Impropriations Whil'st the Parochian Churches stood in their essentialities that is while they did enjoy the naturall endowments due unto their place that is all manner of Tythes and other Ecclesiasticall dueties growing and arising within the compasse of their Parish due by the word of God they preached unto their Congregation they prayed for them they ministred unto them the Sacraments they kept hospitality among their Parishioners and beleeved the poore so farre as their portion would reach unto which was a comely thing to behold acceptable to God comfortable to their Parishioners convenable to their calling but after the same were appropriated to Religious houses these good courses were much disguised for albeit those Religious men to whom these Parochian Churches were annexed did much pray for those congregations as they pretended from whom they had the fat of the Benefices yet they preached â—iâ—â— to them kept small hospitality among them or did any other spirituall work belonging to any Pastorall charge yet notwithstanding the whole institution for which benefices in the beginning were erected was not altogether
of such Bishops as were in his Province as may appeare by the Lord Archbishops Ex Registro Archâ—epâ—scopi Cant. Records of Canterbury so that it cannot be thought any prescription could runne in these times being so often interrupted by vacancies as they were Which being well considered the conclusion is very doubtfull whether ever any prescription ran in this case neither would it easily bee beleeved by those that know the course of Antiquity but that there hath a judgement passed in this part and therefore will I stay my selfe here and prosecute this point no further SECT 2. That Tythes of Minerals are due I Intended to say nothing in this Treatise of the Tythes of Minerals and other subterraneous bodies because I know by Law they are holden by the like right as the Tythes of those things are which grow in the upper face of the earth but yet because I see there is a question made of them by some that will make every thing controversable that is due unto the Church I will satisfie also their curiosity And therfore for Mettals other substances which are digged out of the bowels of the Earth and therefore are called Fossilia this is certaine that what God worketh here in the superficies of the Earth for those things that spring out of the earth by the heat of the Sunne the temperature of the Aire and the influence of the Celestiall Bodies the same he effecteth below in the depth of the Earth for the generation of Mettals and other subterraneous bodies by the heat and cold of the Earth that is included in the bowels Erastustract at de ortu Metallorum thereof For by the heat hee raiseth up vapours and exhalations in the matrix thereof as the matter of those subterraneous bodies but by the cold he drieth thickneth hardneth and indurateth the same into a Mettall or Minerall whereby hee giveth as it were a forme unto it And as the disposition of every exhalation so compacted and drawne together is finer or grosser hotter or colder so is the Mettall or Minerall or other subterraneous body more noble or more base yea somtimes by reason of this diversitie of exhalations and vapours drawne together at one time are divers conditions of Mettals there confounded together whereof some are noble as Gold Silver and Copper some other are of lesse estimate as Tin Lead and such like Neither doe these grow onely in the beginning but they renew againe when they are digged up as Trees and Plants in the upper face of the Earth doe rise out of the rootes and stemmes of those trees which have beene cut downe if the place of their new generation be prepared accordingly For whereas the place of their generation is farre below in the Earth Nature of a certaine modesty in her selfe will not yeeld to the generation of these subterraneous bodies but in secret places far remote from the sight of the Sun and the privity of other Meteoricall bodies which are under the firmament And by that meanes it hapneth that these Minerall bodies are rarely known perceived to renew againe for that being once exposed to the light of the Sunne they are seldome or never closed up againe by reason of the greatnesse of the gulfe that is made in opening of them But yet the nature of them is such that if their bed were thereto prepared accordingly ff Soluto Matrimonio l. fructus eos §. 13. plin lib. 36. c. 15. 18. de naturali Hist they would conceive a new Which is a thing so notorious in Quarries of stone which are lesse abashed at the sight of the Sunne and the presence of other Meteoricall bodies in their generation that the Law it selfe and other good Authors have set it downe for an undoubted experience that being digged up they doe renew againe by the nature and disposition of the mould wherein they are ingendered Strabo lib. 〈◊〉 For some Earths doe as naturally yeeld stones and other minerals out of them as others bring forth Corne Hay and other fruits which if it be true in those bodies which are in the upper crust of the Earth why not also in those bodies which are found and framed below in the Matrix thereof And if these bodies doe both ingender and renew which are conceived so farre below in the Navell of the Earth why is not Tythe due of them aswell as it is of other fruits that are in the summitie or heigth of the earth Whether is it that Gods hand lesse laboureth in the procreation of these subterraneous bodies than it doth in the ripening and quickning of that fruit that springs out of the upper face of the Earth But that is farre otherwise for here in these upper fruites one planteth an other watereth and God onely gives the increase But in the other Minerall bodies God alone doth all for hee only is the planter hee is the waterer and he gives the increase alone Or is it that God hath lesse delight to be honoured with these hid treasures of the earth than he hath to be worshipped with the labour of the plow or the increase of the cattell of the field But that this is not so it is plaine by the glorious Temple that Salomon made which had not only Cedar trees for 2. Chron. cap. 2. the roofe thereof and Algummin wood for the ornaments thereof but also had quarrie stone for the wals thereof and gold of Paruaim for the beautifying of it and for the overlaying of it within And of all other kinde of Mettals Gold is first remembred in the Scripture immediately after the Genes 2. vers 11 12. creation of the world so that God himselfe may soeme to have a speciall regard of this Mettall above the rest for that this alone above all the rest by purifying is not diminished Or is it that God loveth his Ministers lesse than other men so that hee would have the Laity to have all the precious things of the earth and his Ministers to have no part of any other thing but that which is vulgar and common But how unlike that is who sees not when hee seeth that God hath committed unto them the inestimable treasures of his word in comparison where of both these upper fruits of the earth and those hid treasures below are meere drosse and corruption and therefore it is not like when he hath committed unto them those great matters hee would deny unto them these smaller blessings Or is it that there hath beene paid Tythes of the upper fruit of the earth already and therefore cannot Tythe be twice demanded of one ground Ca. ex parte de Decimis ibi Ab. 18. in one yeare according to a new over-ruled doctrine But that opinion is both contrary to Law many hundred yeares obtained in the Church without contradiction whereby it is ordained that as often as the earth fructifieth in one yeare so often shall Tythes in the same
other things of like nature are and the Statute comes in derogation of their ordinary course as in this case great timber anciently was no lesse tytheable than small trees are and so by nature ought to be if the Statute were not to the contrary yet notwithstanding these limitations of the same if great wood bee cut downe to any other use than to sale as to build or to burne to a mans owne use a prohibition in this case lyeth and yet is there no Identitie of reason to extend it nor any absurdity would follow if it were not extended for here is neither money sought which gave occasion unto the Law-givers to make this Statute of exemption neither is it an unnaturall thing for to pay Tythes of great wood for before this time they were paid and by the Law of God it seemes they ought to bee Gal. 6. 6. paid for that he that is taught ought to communicate to him that teacheth him in all things and therefore since the reason that moved the Law-givers to order it so in one case ceaseth in the other there is no reason of exemption and when there is not an Identitie of reason in the things that are in demand there can no sound inference be brought in from the one to the other for of severall things there is a severall reason and a severall consequence neither can there bee framed thereof a good implication either positively or remotively neither hath this interpretation of theirs any warrant of Law for it save that it hath beene so defined and decided but what is that to the purpose if it hath beene wrested and wronged contrary to the true sense of the Statute and that by those that take benefit thereby whose partiality being taken away the thing it selfe would easily turne againe to his owne nature and right would take place The reason they yeeld for the exemption of great woods of the ages aforesaid although to themselves it be plausible yet to others it is strange as namely that great Trees are Plowd in Soby contra Molyns part of the Free-hold and that men use not to pay Tythes of their free-hold but of those things which spring out of their free hold as out of Corne Grasse Fruit and such other whereas indeed the tallest Timber tree that is if it were as high as the highest Cedar in Lebanon is no more part of the inheritance or free-hold than the lowest bramble that groweth in the field for they are both equally part of the ground wherein they grow and doe take alike nourishment and sustenance from the same neither doe they differ in that they are trees the one from the other secundùm magis minus as the Logicians say but in that the one is a great tree and the other a small shrub and the cause of this provision here in England for these great trees was not for that one was more of the inheritance than the other but for that the one yeeldeth more profite to the common-wealth than the other and therefore they have made the cutting downe of the one more penall than the other as in like case by the Civile Law whosoever privily cutteth downe or barketh a Vine an Olive or a Fig-tree or doth ff Arborum furtim caesarum toto tit any other unlawfull act whereby any fruitfull tree or any Timber tree doth perish and decay it is Theft and it is punished in the double value of the hurt which is done and if he be Tenant to the ground which hath done this villany he loseth his hold which commeth not of that that one kinde of Tree hath more state in the ground than an other hath but that the Law hath respected the necessary use of the one more than the other By the Civile Law although this word Wood be generall L. Ligni appellatione de Leg. 3 et L. Carbonum ff de verb. significat yet it is thus distinguished that some is wood some is Timber which the Law cals Materia Timber is that which is fit to build or underprop withall Wood is whatsoever is provided for fewell so that under that name there passeth Reed Cole Turfe Cow-dung and whatsoever is any L. Ligni appellatione §. Ofiliu◠§. idem ff de lega◠〈◊〉 where ordinarily used for fewell Timber is of a higher consideration than wood is insomuch as if a man bequeath unto an other all his wood that is in grove field there shall not passe by this legacie such Trees as are cut downe for Timber but if they were dotterd Trees or the owner thereof purposed them for fewell and so cut them out into billet or fagot in such sort as there could be no other use thereof than to burne then it is otherwise for by this meanes of great wood it is become small wood as being cut out in shides or splinters fit for to burne So that in the reckoning of the Civile Law Timber stands not onely in the nature of the wood it selfe but is in the destination and purpose of the owner who according to his good liking may make that wood which is fit for timber fire-wood or timber which if it were so in account with the great Lawyers of this Land the Church should have more Tythes of Wood appointed for fewell and lesse suite for the same As they exempt the bodies of great Trees above xx Plowd ut supr yeares growth from payment of Tythes so also they free the boughes thereof upon this reason that the boughes thereof are fit and serviceable for building which although happily may be in some of them that are next to the Trunck of the tree yet it is farre otherwise in those that are more remote from the same whereof there can bee no other use than to burne and therefore the Law precisely holds in case where wood is bequeathed by which is meant fire-wood onely unlesse the Testator otherwise expresse his minde the lops of timber trees which the Law cals Superamenta L. Ligni Appellat §. Ofilius De Leg. Fod 3. materiarum are bequeathed for that the lops have not that use that the Timber hath that is to build or prop up withall but they serve to burne onely By which severall ends there is severall consideration and account made of them Neither is it to the purpose that they alledge for the defence hereof that the accessorie followeth the nature of the principall for that rule is not true in every accessory L. Etsi C. de Praediis minorum but onely in such wherein is the like reason as in the principall which in the trunck and lop of a tree cannot bee alike for building Further how the Boughes of a tree that are of the same substance as the body of the tree is should be accessories to the tree I see not for nothing can bee an accessory to an other that is of the same nature and substance as the other is as the
reforming of that which is over-plus or defective is in the Parliament so notwithstanding as that the Prince evermore breatheth life into that which is done Lawes Statutes or Customes are then best interpreted when as the very plaine and naturall sense of them is sought after and no forraine or strained exposition is mixt with them for that turneth justice into worme-wood and judgement into gall then that the Judge be not too subtill in his interpretation but follow such exposition of the Lawes as men of former age have used to make if they be not plainly absurd and erronious for oft shifting of interpretations breedeth great variance in mens states among such as have busie heads and much discrediteth the Law it selfe as though there were no certaintie in it with which although the fage Judges of our time cannot be charged for ought that I know yet I cannot tell how men much complaine that Lawes are farre otherwise construed in these daies than they were in former ages which as it is an ordinarie complaint in the Temporall Courts so it is not without cause much lamented at the Spirituall Court where the interpretation upon the three Statutes of Tythes made by King Henry the eight and Edward his sonne among other inconstancies of other Lawes hath such great varietie of sense and understanding in sundrie points thereof as that if the makers thereof were now alive and the first expositors thereof sate in place of Judgement againe the Statutes being measured by the interpretation they now make of them vvould hardly acknowledge them either to be the Statutes that they then made or the other did after expound and declare for every of these Statutes and the sense that was given of them vvas wholy for the benefit of the Church according to the tenor thereof but as they now receive explication they are not onely not beneficiall unto the Church but the greatest hinderance to the same that may be for the words are made to jarre with the sense and the sense vvith the vvords neither is there kept any right analogie in them and therefore the Reverend Judges are to be intreated because they challenge unto themselves the opening of the Statutes alone albeit peradventure that be yet subjudice where the Statute of Ecclesiasticall causes is to be interpreted that they would recall such exorbitant interpretations as have of late gone abroad upon these Statutes and restore them to their ancient sense and understanding No man can so cunningly cloake an interpretation but another will be as cunning as hee to spie it out and then the discredit will be the Lawes Lib. 1. Politâ—â— A small errour saith Aristotle in the beginning is a great one in the end and hee that goeth out of the way a little the longer he goeth on the further he is off from the place his voyage was to and therefore the speedier returne into the way againe is best The old Proverbe is He that goeth plainly goeth surely which may be best verified in the exposition of the Law if any where else for commonly men offend no where more dangerously than under the authoritie of the Law and therefore one saith very well that There are two salts required in a Judge the one of knowledge whereby hee may have skill to Judge uprightly the other of conscience whereby hee may be willing to judge according to that as his skill leadeth him unto both which being in the grave Judges it is not to be doubted but they will be easily induced to review their owne and their predecessours interpretations and reduce such exorbitant expositions as have scaped out thereof unto the right and naturall sense thereof which if perhaps they shall be loath to do for because it makes for them or for some other like partiall respect then humble supplication is to be made unto his Majestie that hee himselfe will be pleased to give the right sense of those things which are in controversie betweene both the Jurisdictions for his Majestie by communicating his authoritie to his Judge to expound his Lawes doth not thereby abdicate the same from himselfe but that hee may assume it againe unto him when and as often as hee pleaseth Whose interpretation in that is to be preferred before theirs first for that his interpretation is impartiall as hee that will not weaken his left side to make strong his right for so are these jurisdictions as they are referred unto his politique bodie but will afford them equall grace L. 1. num 8. C. de legibus L. 1. num 7. C. codâ— omnes populi ff de justit jure and favour that hee may have like use of them both either in forraigne or domesticall businesse as occasion shall serve then that his Judges interpretation maketh right onely to them betweene whom the cause is but his highnesse exposition is a Law unto all from which it is not lawfull for any subject to recede neither is it reverseable by any but by himselfe upon a second cogitation or him that hath like authoritie as himselfe hath and therefore most fit to be interposed betweene Jurisdiction and Jurisdiction that the one partie be not Judge against the other in his owne cause which is both absurd and dangerous And let this suffice for the right interpretation of Lawes and Statutes Now it followeth that I speake something of the supplies that may be made to the defects that are in the same SECT 2. The second thing required to the first correcting of superstition and supplying of defective Statutes IT is not to be doubted but it was the full minde and intent of the Lawmakers which made those three Statutes to infeoffe the Ecclesiasticall Courts in the inheritance of all those causes that are comprised in those Statutes save those that are by speciall name exempted and that they did by the said Statute as it were deliver unto them full and quiet possession of the same for even so sundrie branches of the said Statute do shew as I have elsewhere made it manifest and that there hath growne question upon many points thereof and that the professours of the Ecclesiasticall Law have beene interupted in the quiet possession thereof commeth of the unperfect penning of the same and not of any just title or claime that may be made by the professours of the other Law thereunto but this is a thing not onely proper to these three Statutes but also common to all other Statutes which are writ of any Ecclesiasticall causes within this Land which notwithstanding may be remedied if it seeme good unto his sacred Majestie and the rest of the wisedome of the land assembled together at any time for the making of wholsome Lawes and the reforming of the same by supply of a few words in some places or periods that are defective and yet keeping the true meaning and sense of the same As for example in the Statute of the two and thirtieth of Henry the eight in the §