money in liew thereof Although this Tenure by the first creation thereof be perpetuall yet that the soueraignty thereof should not still remaine vnprofitable to the first Lord the whole benefyt thereof going continually to the vassall or tenant it is prouided that the Soueraigne or chiefe Lord the first yeare the heyre or Successor of the vassall comes vnto his land shall haue the whole reuenue of his liuelihood for that yeare or a certeine summe of money in token of the retorne thereof vnto the Lord and the redemption thereof made againe by the tenant which by the Law of the Nouels is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is well nigh the same that we call liuery which euery heire that holdeth in Knights seruice sueth out before he take possession of his land as heire to his ancesters This Tenure is got eyther by Inuestiture or by Succession Inuestiture is the same that we call Creation and is the primier grant of a feude or tenure to any with al rights and solemnities thereto belonging wherein the homager or feodatarie for the most part vpon his knées promiseth faith and allegeance vnder a solemne oath vnto his Lord and his successors Succession is whereby the eldest sonne succéedeth the father in his inheritance and if he faile and haue no issue then the next brother and so in order successiuely and if there be no sonne then the next heire male and if their bée no heyre male then the land escheats vnto the Lord. For the Lumbards from whom the feudes first came or at the least were chiefly deriued from them directing all their policie as the Lacedemons did to matters of warre had no seminine feudes among them but after by processe of time there were created aswell Feminine feuds as Masculine feuds insomuch as where there was no issue male to put them from it women did succéed in the inheritance Of Feuds some are regall some not regall Regall are those which are giuen by the prince only neither doe belong to any inferior to giue Of these some are Ecclesiasticall as Archbishopricks Bishopricks and such like Others are Ciuile or Temporall as Dukedomes Earledomes Vicounts and Lords who by that are distinguished from the rest of the people that they haue the conducting of the Princes Armie at home and abroad if they be thereto appointed and haue right of Peeres in making of Lawes in matters of triall and such other like businesses Not Regall are those which hold not immediatly of the Prince but are holden of such Ecclesiasticall or Ciuile States which haue had their Honours immediatly from the Prince Besides of Feuds some are Liege others not Liege Liege Feuds are they in the which the vassall or feodatorie promiseth absolute fealtie or faith to his Lord against all men without exception of the King himselfe or any other more auncient Lord to whom besids he oweth alleagance or seruice Of this sort there is none in this Realme of England but such as are made to the King himselfe as appeareth by Littleton in the title of Homage wherein is specially excepted the faith which the Homager oweth to his Lord the King Feuds not Liege are such wherin Homage is done with speciall reseruation of his faith and alleageance to the prince and Soueraigne Of such as are Vassals or Liege men some are called Valuasores maiores others Valuasores minores Valuasores maiores are such as hold great places of the State vnder the Emperour or King as are the degrées of Honour before named and are called Péeres of the Land which only giues Nobilitie Valuasores minores are those which are no Péers of the Land and yet haue a preheminence aboue the people and are as it were in a middle Region betwéene the people and the Nobilitie such as are Knights Squires and Gentlemen The Feuds are lost by sundry waies by default of issue of him to whom it was first giuen which they call Apertura feodi by surrender therof which by them is termed Refutatio feodi by forfaiture and that was in two sorts either by not doing the seruice that his tenure did require or by committing some villenous act against his Lord as in conspiring his Soueraignes death defiling his bed or deflowring his daughter or some other like act treacherous to his Lord and vnworthy of himselfe And so much of the Ciuile Law and the Bookes thereunto pertaining Now it followeth I doe in like order speake of the Canon Law which is more hardly thought vpon among the people for that the subiect thereof in many points is of many grosse and superstitious matters vsed in the time of Papistrie as of the Masse and such other like trumperie and yet there are in it beside many things of great wisdome and euen those matters of superstition themselues being in a generalitie well applyed to the true seruice of God may haue a good vse and vnderstanding The Canon Law hath his name of the Gréeke word Canon which in English is a Rule because it leads a man straight neither drawes him to the one side or the other but rather correcteth that which is out of Leuill and Lyne The Canon Law consisteth partly of certaine Rules taken out of the holy Scripture partly of the writings of the auncient fathers of the Church partly of the ordinances of general prouincial Councels partly of the Decrees of Popes of formerages Of the Canon Law there are two principall parts the Decrées and the Decretals The Decrées are Ecclesiasticall constitutions made by the Pope and Cardinals at no mans suite and are either Rules taken out of the Scripture or Sentences out of the auncient Fathers or Decrées of Councels The Decrees were first gathered together by Ivo Bishop of Carnat about the yeare of our Lord God but afterward polished and perfected by Gratian a monke of the order of Saint Bennets in the yeare 1149. and allowed by Eugenius the Pope whose Confessor hee was to bee read in Schooles and to bee alledged for Law Of all the seuerall volumes of the Canon Law the Decrées are the auncientest as hauing their beginning from the time of Constantine the great the first Christian Emperour of Rome who first gaue leaue to the Christians fréely to assemble themselues together and to make wholsome lawes for the well gouernment of the Church The Decrées are diuided into thrée parts wherof the first teacheth of the origen and beginning of the Canon law and describeth and setteth out the rights dignities degrées of ecclesiasticall persons and the manner of their elections ordinations and offices and standeth of one hundred and ten distinctions The second part setteth out the causes questions and answeres of this Law which are in number 36. and are full of great varietie wisdom and delight The third and last part containeth matter of consecration of all sacred things as of Churches bread and wine in the Sacrament what daies and Feasts the Primitiue Church vsed for the receiuing thereof of
forsooth because these words and tearmes are expressed in the Statute which is much like vnto that as one would needes haue a house to be Master Peacocks house because he saw a Peacock sit vpon the top thereof But it is not the naming of a thing in a Law or Statute that makes it to be of the Temporall cognisance or otherwise but it is the nature or qualitie of the thing named that rangeth it vnder the one Law or the other So that if the matter ordered in the Law or Statute be temporall the cognisance shall be Temporall if Spirituall then the case is determinable in the Ecclesiasticall Law for this Prouiso is not prohibitorie as the last Prouiso of this statute is whereby Ecclesiasticall Iudges are forbidden to hold plea of any thing that is in the said Prouiso conteyned but it is rather directiue and sheweth where the Ecclesiasticall Iudge is to giue way to immunities and to pronounce for them so that for any thing is conteyned in this Prouiso to the contrary the cognisance of these matters specially Priuiledge Prescription and Composition still remayneth at the triall of the Ecclesiasticall Law as they did before this Prouiso was made De praescripr lib. 2. tit 26. De Priuileg lib. 5. tit 33. for Tythes and other Ecclesiasticall dueties as may appeare by the seuerall Tytles in the same Law hereon written And for the other words Law and Statute therein mentioned when as the King hath two Capacities of gouernment in him the one Spirituall the other Temporall and his high Court of Parliament wherein Lawes are made doth stand aswell of Spirituall men as Temporall men and so ought to stand in both houses if the auncient booke De modo tenendi Parliamenti be true and authenticall which makes the vpper house of thrée states the Kings Maiestie the Lords Spirituall and the Lords Temporall and the Lower house in like sort of thrée other the Knights the Procurators for the Clergie and the Burgesses and his Maiestie hath wythin this Realme aswell Ecclesiasticall Lawyers as Temporall which are no lesse able to iudge and determine of Ecclesiasticall matters than the Temporall Lawyers of temporall businesse It is not to be imagined but as his sacred Maiestie will haue those Lawes to be held Temporall and to haue their constructions from Temporall Lawyers which are made and promulged vpon Temporall rights and causes So also his Highnesse pleasure is and euer hath béene of all his predecessors Kinges and Quéenes of thys Land that such Lawes and Statutes as are set out and publyshed vpon Ecclesiasticall thinges and matters shall bee taken and accompted Ecclesiasticall and interpreted by Ecclesiasticall Lawyers although eyther of them haue interchangeably each others voyce in them to make them a Law And that the King doth infuse life into eyther of the Lawes when as yet their substance is vnperfect and they are as it were Embreos is in Temporall matters by his temporall authoritie and in Spirituall matters by his spirituall authoritie for to that end he hath his double dignitie in that place as also the Ecclesiasticall Prelates sustaine two persons in that place the one as they are Barons the other as they are Bishops So that euen the orders of the house doe euince that they are two sortes of Lawes in that place vnconfounded both in the head and the bodie although for communion sake and to adde more strength to each of them the generall allowance passeth ouer them all And as they rest vnconfounded in the creation of them so ought to be likewise in the execution of them and as the Temporall Law sortes to the Temporall Lawyers so the Spirituall Lawes or Statutes should bée allowed and allotted vnto the Spirituall Lawyers And as the nomination of these words Law or Statute in this precedent Prouiso makes not the Law or statute Temporall but remayneth wholie Ecclesiasticall by reason of the Spirituall matters it doth conteine and the power of him that quickneth it and powreth life thereinto so much lesse can the inserting of these tearmes Priuiledges Prescriptions or Composition reall intitle the Common Law to the right thereof or the Professors of the said Law to the interpretation thereof for that matters of these tytles so far as they concerne Tythes and other Ecclesiasticall dueties haue béen euermore since there hath been any Ecclesiasticall Law in this land which hath been neere as long as there hath béen any profession of Christianitie with vs of Ecclesiasticall ordinance neyther euer were of the Temporall cognisance vntill new of late that they transubstantiat euery thing into their owne profession as Midas turned or transubstanciated euery thing that he touched into gold But here it will not be amisse to inquire since Tythes came in the beginning of the Primitiue Church wythin a little time after the destruction of Ierusalem and the subuersion of the Iewes policie vnto the Christian Church and Common wealth void of all these incumbrances as shall appeare after by the testimonie of sundrie of the auncient Fathers which were néere the Apostles time how it comes to passe since Tythes are no lesse the Lords porcion now than they were then and in the Patriarkes time before them that these gréeuances haue come vpon them more vnder the Gospell than euer they did vnder the Law for then neuer any Lay man durst stretch out his hand vnto them to diminish any part thereof but he was charged Malach. 3. with robberie by the Lords owne mouth and in punishment thereof the Heauens were shut vp for gyuing raine vnto the earth and the Palmer worme and Grashopper were sent to deuour all the gréene things vpon the earth And for Ecclesiasticall men it is not read any where in the Scripture that euer they attempted to graunt out anie priuiledge of Tythes to any person other than to whom they were disposed by the Law or to make anie composition thereof betwéene the Lay Iew and the Lords Leuites euery of the which haue beene not only attempted agaynst the Church in Christianitie but executed with great greedynesse so far worse hath béene the state of the Ministerie vnder the Gospell than was the condition of the Priestes and Leuites vnder the Law The beginning whereof although it be hard for me to finde out because there is small memory thereof left in Stories yet as far as I can by all probabilities coniecture this great alteration in Ecclesiasticall matters came by two occasions the one by the violence of the Laitie thrusting themselues into these Ecclesiasticall rights contrarie to the first institution thereof for when they were first receyued into the Christian world they were receyued and yéelded to for the benefit of the Clergie only as in former time vnder the Law they had béen for the vse of the Priestes and Leuites only The other was the too too much curiositie of Schoolmen who beeing not content with the simple entertaynment of Tythes into the Church as the auncient fathers of the Primitiue Church receyued
that ten is the pefection of the other numbers vnder ten for that all the rest of the Digits when they come to ten returne backe againe to ten and are multiplyed by the coupling of themselues with ten yet where is this proportion betwéene Christ and ten in the Scripture that should make this Ceremony which if it cannot be found any where nor any consent of the primitiue Church shewed for it as I thinke it cannot bee then may it with as good authoritie bee reiected as it is receiued For albeit Thomas Aquinas himselfe were tâ—aâ—med a Seraphical Doctor that is such a one as had a sence in the vnderstanding of the holy Scripture aboue all others of his age and that he did much profit the study of Diuinitie with his wittie distinctions yet is not his authoritie such that it must prcuaile in cases of Diuinitie without the authoritie of the scripture the consent of the ancient fathers of the primitiue Church interpreting this péece of Scripture in that sence as he doth which wold make aswéet harmony if it might be had And therefore as to my poore sence better said a learned Iunâ—us in 2. c. 3. Genâ—sâ—â—s man of our time to this point writing vpon the Sabbaoth day in the second of Genesis which may be also proportionably vnderstood of the tenth for that they were both before the Law in their very number and were but repeated by Moses vnder the Law because they had bin approued by God before the Law in the selfe same numbers and that which he saith of the Sabbaoth is this that albeit it hath a Ceremoniall designation of the day that is that it doth figure vnto vs our perpetual rest which we shal haue in heauen after that there is a new heauen a new earth yet there is therin two parts the one naturall the other positiue as that God should haue a seuenth day of worship this is Naturall therfore doth remaine because it is perpetuall but that this seuenth day of the Lords worship shold be the seuenth day after the Creation of the word this was positiue therfore was changed by the Apostls blessedmen of the prsmitiue church into the seuenth day after the resurrection of our Sauiour Iesus Christ which as it is verified by him in the Sabbaoth so may it be in like sort vouched by like reason in the tenth wherein also by like semblance there are two parts the one naturall the other positiue The naturall is this that God out of all the fruits of the earth the increase of cattell that are worthy of him and fit for mans vse should haue a tenth both in the acknowledgement of his vniuersall gouernment ouer vs and also for the prouision of his ministers therfore this remaineth and in that sence imediatly after the dissolution of the Iews policie the good Christians of the Primitiue Church as soone as they could get any outward forme of a Church peace from persecution receiued it in the very quotitie as a thing no lesse belonging to their ministers than it did appertain to the priests and Leuites of the Law But that the Lord annexed these tyths by Moses to the Priests Leuits for their maintnance during the time of the dispensing of the mysteries vnder the law this is positiue therfore changed by the good christians in the primitiue church from the Iews Ecclesiastiques to the Christian Ecclesiastiques Neither can it be thought this number came from the Iudiciall part of the Law as a fit proportion to maintaine one Tribe out of the reuenewes of the other eleuen Tribes for that this number or quotitie was reuealed to be Gods long before the Law and before there was any such diuision of Tribes among the people of Israell which yet were not but were parted afterward by Moses into families according to the number of the Twelue sons of Iacob And therefore it is not to be presumed that the Law which came long after imprinted a forme vpon that which was so long in being before there was any Law or ceremonie But as the Apostles or prime-Christians whenas they did first change the day of the Sabbaoth by diuine inspiration or otherwise from the day of the Creation to the day of the Resurrection durst not substitute any other day into the place of the first day than a seuenth for that the Lord had reuealed his pleasure in many places of the Scripture as concerning that number for his day of worship so that no other day could be appointed for his day of worship than a seuenth So neither durst the good Christians of the Primitiue Church moued no doubt with no other instinct than the other were when they translated this prouision of tythes for their ministerie from the Iewish Church vnto their owne Church change the number of ten into another number beside more or lesse For that God had no lesse manifested his will in sundry parts of the Scripture as concerning this number to be a number for the maintenance of his ministerie than he had declared his pleasure as concerning that other number to be a day for his honour chalenging it euerywhere in the Scripture in the very quotitie for his owne right and counting it robberie if it were at any time withholden from him And therefore it may be well thought the Schoole-men herein did great wrong to the Church who by their quaint distinctions brought this certaintie to an vncertaintie which is no where to be found in the Scripture Which I am more bold to speak for that I sée some haue trod this path before me and shewed by good demonstration that the turning of this quotitie into a competencie is a thing nothing warrantable by the word of God but that the quotitie ought stil to stand as a perpetuall right due to God and his Church But hereof hitherto And so hauing passed ouer this whole prouiso of Law Statute Priuiledge Prescription and Composition I might well leaue the turning of this stone any more but that yet there remaineth one Prohibition of prescription to be handled which in my fancie is worse than all the rest for that it draweth away from the Parochian Church her maintnance and transferreth it vpon lay men and that which worse is it makes Bishops to be instruments hereof who are to be Patrons and defenders of Churches and not pillers or powlers of the same And yet the authors thereof doe imbrace it and kisse it as a golden birth or as if that Iuno her selfe had béene present at the Natiuitie thereof And the deuise is this A Bishop being owner of a Manor yet not diuided into Tenancies nor hauing any Parsonage erected vpon it ordeineth the one and diuideth out the other here the Bishop being seised in the whole Manor before the said diuision because he is a clergie man is supposed to be in possession aswel of the Tythes as of the Manor it selfe and therefore after creating a
is a principall But for the better cléering of these matters of accessarie and principall wée must know in bodies whose substance is all one There are some partes like which the Logicians call partes similares some other vnlike being likewise called of them partes dissimilares which in no sort are accessaries one to an other but make one continued bodie of both which the Law cals 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Simular parts are such as haue one substance forme and figure as the trunke or bodie of a trée is all one in inward essence and outward shape Dissimular parts are those which haue one inward nature with the other but are diuers in outward shew as the boughes and rootes of the Tree are diuers betwéene themselues and different from the bodie and yet all agrée in one substance and haue all the generall name of Wood whereby they are discharged from being accessaries the one to the other and yet they are not vnder one capacitie or seruice or one comprehension of Law because they are vnlike one to thother and of vnlike things there is vnlike reason and vnlike consequence Now vpon these grounds to exempt Timber Trées wholly from the seruice of him that is Lord aswell of the tall woods as of the low shrubs is verie hard for though himselfe dwels not in houses that are made with mans hand nor hath any néede of tall Trées to repaire his Tabernacle or prop vp his dwelling yet since he hath left such behind him as haue charge of his flocke and féed them in word and worke vntill he come and they dwell in earthly habitations as other men doe and there edifices and buildings haue néed of repaire in like sort as other mortall mens houses haue being all in like manner subiect to rottennesse and corruption great reason it had bin to haue allowed him some proportion of these great woods towards his seruants necessarie vses during the time of their seruice here and if not in the very tenth it selfe yet in the xxx xl or l. part of the same that God thereby might haue bin aswell acknowledged to be the Lord of the great Okes of the forrest and that by him they haue there length breadth and thicknes as he is accepted and reputed to be Lord of the small brambles and bushes of the field for as now the case standeth God may either séeme to haue forgot himselfe that he hath not made timber trées Tythable as he hath done other smaller woods specially hauing such occasion to vse them both in the Chauncels of Churches that are dedicated to his vses and also in the buyldings and repayrings of his Ministers houses who supply his roome in their seuerall Congregations vntill he retorne to Iudgement or that may wel be obiected against vs in allowing such things for Tythes as vs please and disallowing the rest as was by that auncient father of the Church Tertullian obiected against the Senate of Rome who being intreated by the Emperor Tiberius for the strange wonders and Miracles he heard to be wrought by our Sauiour Iesus Christ that he might be intertained among the number of their Gods refused so to doe for that they heard our Sauior was a Iealous God and did in no sort admit the societie and fellowship of other Gods which this graue father hearing although many yeares after said merily although wisely That God should be God if Man would let him And thus far of those causes which are held to be absolutely of the Ecclesiastical cognisance yet notwithstanding are ecclipsed by interposition of sundry contrary matters Now as concerning those things which haue béene accounted but in a certeine measure of the Ecclesiasticall cognisance and yet notwithstanding haue aunciently in a maner béen tried wholy at the Ecclesiasticall Courts such as are matters of Diffamation and matters of Bastardie both which now a dayes are much challenged by the Temporall Courts to be of their cognisance But here first of diffamation then of Bastardie To diffame therefore is as Bartol saith to vtter reprochfull Bartol l turpia ff de legat 3. spéeches of an other with an intent to raise vp an ill fame of him and therefore himselfe expresseth the act it selfe in these words Diffamare est in mala fama ponere Albeit Diffamations properly consist in words yet may they also be done by writing as by diffamatory Libels also by déeds as by signes gestures of reproch for these no lesse shew the malicious mind of the diffamer then words doe Diffamatory words are vttered eyther in some scoffing or iesting maner so as facete merie men vse to do to make the Linwood c. author tate verb. quacuâ— que de causa iâ— glos de sniÌ„a exâ—omm company merry wherin they are or they are spoken by some that haue some weaknesse or distemperature in their braine eyther by drink phrensie or other lightnesse or by any rashnesse in their tongue or they are poured out vpon some rancor malice by some that enuie an other with intent to diffame him and spred abroad a matter of disgrace vpon him If they be spoken in a testing maner to make the company Aristot. 4. ethic c. antepenâ—lt merry if it be in a fine sort deliuered it is by the Gréekes called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is by Aristotle held to be a vertue although by S. Paul it is condemned as a vice but if it be in â—phes 5. 4. homely grosse sort deliuered than is it accompted to be a kind of rudenesse or rusticitie but whether waies soeuer they be vttered there is for the most part no vantage taken of Extra de presumpt ca. 1. them vnlesse thereby there follow any discredit to the party vpon whom such iests are broken for than are they not without blame Noxius enim ludus est in vitio neyther can that ff ad l. Aquiliam l. nam induâ— be called iest or sport whereby a mans good name is hurt or any crime imposed vpon him The like may be said of those which speak hardly of any by the lubricitie of theyr tongue or weakenesse of theyr braine who for that they are not thought to speake such words malitiously passe for the most part vnpunished Lubricum ff ad l. Iul. Maiestatis l. famosi enim linguae non facilè ad poenam trahendum est no though a man in this case speak ill of the Prince himselfe which is so far off from that that the Ciuile Law takes hold of such wordes in these cases that the Emperor himselfe hath said of them thus Si id ex leuitate processerit C. Si quis Imperatori malediâ—erit contemnendum est si exinsania miseratione dignissimum est But if the cause of such words be rankor or malice then are they altogether to be punished for that there can be no iust excuse made for them Such diffamatory words as procéed of malice implie Bohic ca.
whereof I said there was no special Tractat in the Digest sauing that it deuideth the publike right into that which concernes the Church and Church men the Magistrates of the Common wealth prosecuting the latter branch thereof only omitting the first because out of that heathenish Religion which was vsed in those ancient Lawyers daies and those supersticious Rites whereof their Bookes were full nothing could be taken that might serue for our Religion wherupon he instituted a new discourse thereof in the Code beginning first with the blessed Trinitie one in essence and thrée in person wherein he sets downe a briefe summe of our Christian faith agréeable to the doctrine of the Prophets Apostles and the fower first generall Counsels the Nicene Constantinopolitan Ephesine and Calcedon forbidding any man publikely to dispute or striue thereabout taking occasion vpon the Nestorian Heresie which not long before had sprung vp and had mightily infected the Church which Iustinian by this confession of Fayth so published to the whole world and penall Edict ioyned thereunto hoped to represse After he hath set downe a full and sound confession of the Christian faith conformable to the Primitiue Church next he addeth a title of the holie Church it selfe and of her priuiledges which either concerne Ecclesiasticall mens persons themselues or their state and substance or the actions one Ecclesiasticall man had against an other or with or against Lay persons where also he prosecuteth the degrées of Priests or Ministers their offices orders and how the same are to be come by that is without bribes or Simonie or other worldly respect saue the worth of the person onely and the rights of holie places Priests are so called because they were consecrated and as it were seuered from the rest of the people and giuen vp to God which also were called Elders eyther because they were so in age or ought to be in such manners and carefull cariage of themselues Amongest Priests or Ministers Bishops haue the first place who are as it were the Ouerseers and Superintendents of the rest so called of their watchfulnesse care labour and faithfulnesse in teaching the people and doing other dueties which they owe vnto the Church The lowest degrée of men among the Ecclesiasticall hierarchy were the Clarkes so called of their lot by which they were chosen and allotted to Gods seruice To Bishops Priests and other of that rank did appertaine the care of Hospitals whereof some were for Orphans some for Infants some for Impotent and diseased persons some for Poore people some for Strangers other like miserable persons therefore together with the title of Bishops Clarks is ioyned the title of Hospitals or Almes-houses In place next after the Bishops themselues comes their power audience for albeit the chiefest office of a Bishop is to instruct the people in the doctrine of the word in good example of life yet forasmuch as all will not be obedient vnto the word neither brought by the persuasion thereof to good nurture to be kept in order the eminency of the degrée wherin the Bishops are placed is not sufficient to kéepe the people in obedience without some power iurisdiction and because the Church it selfe is the mother and maintainer of Iustice therefore there is by the Emperor himselfe and his predecessors as many as professed Christianitie certaine peculiar iurisdictions Ecclesiasticall assigned to the Bishops more worthy then the Ciuill ouer persons and causes Ecclesiasticall such as touch the Soule and Conscience or do appertaine to any charitable or godlie vses and ouer the Laitie so far forth as eyther the Laitie themselues haue bin content to submit themselues vnto their gouernment that is so far as eyther it concernes their Soules health or the outward gouernment of the Church in things decent or comly or that it concernes poore and miserable persons such as widowes orphans captiues and such other like helplesse people are or where the Ciuile Magistrates cannot be come by or doth voluntarily delay iudgement in all which anciently a Bishop was to performe double fayth and sanctitie first of an vncorrupt Iudge and then of a holy Bishop But in many of these matters in these dayes the Laitie will not suffer themselues to be controld and therefore hath taken away most of these dealings from them yea euen in charitable causes Immediatly followeth a title of Heretickes Maniches Samaritans Anabaptists Apostataes abusers of the Crosse of Christ Iewes and worshippers of the hoast of heauen Pagans and of theyr Temples and Sacrifices whom the Bishop is not only to confute by learning but also to suppresse by authoritie for he hath not the Spirituall sword in vaine The Heretickes Iewes and Pagans shall not haue Christian men and women to be their seruants that such as flie to the Church for Sanctuarie or claime the ayde thereof shall not be drawen from thence vnlesse the offence be haynous and done of a pretensed and purposed malice in which case no Immunitie is to be allowed them but wicked people are to be punished according to their desert agréeable to the word of God it selfe which would not haue his Altar be a refuge vnto the wicked And so far of that part of publike right which appertayneth to the Priestes or Ministers and their Function which was omitted in the Digest but prosecuted in the Code Now it followeth that wyth like breuitie I run ouer the thrée last Bookes of the Code which themselues were rather shadowed in the Digest in the title of the right of the Exchequer then in any iust proportion handled The first therefore of them setteth out what is the right of the Exchequer and in what things it standeth as in goods excheted because there is no Heire vnto them or that they are forfeyted by any offence worthie death or otherwise How such as are in debt to the Exchequer and their suerties are to be sued Of the right of those things which the Exchequer sels by outcry where he that offereth most carrieth it away and how the same may be reuoked vnlesse all rights and ceremonies bee solemnly performed therein How things that are in Common betwéen the Exchequer and priuat men may be sold and that the Exchequer euict nothing that it hath once sold for that it were a thing against the dignitie of the Exchequer would terrifie priuat men for bargaining with it Of those that haue borrowed money out of the publicke receipts and what penaltie they incurre if they repay it not at their daies couenanted sometimes the forfaiture of foure double of that they haue borrowed sometimes danger of life it selfe That in cases of penalties the Exchequer be not preferred before such as the Offender was truely indebted vnto but that they be first serued and then the Exchequer haue onely that which is left What vsurie the Exchequer may take that is for money lent and not for such sums as grow out of Mulcts and
the ministring of the Sacraments in Baptisme and the vse of imposition of hands all which is set out vnder fiue distinctions The Decretals are Canonicall Epistles written either by the Pope alone or by the Pope and Cardinals at the instance or suite of some one or more for the ordering and determining of some matter in controuersie and haue the authoritie of a law in themselues Of the Decretals there bee thrée volumes according to the number of the authors which did deuise and publish them The first volume of the Decretals was gathered together by Ramundus Barcinius Chaplein to Gregory the ninth at his the said Gregories commaundement about the yeare 1231. and published by him to be read in scholes and vsed for Law in all Ecclesiasticall Courts The sext is the worke of Boniface the eight methoded by him about the yeare 1298. by which as hee added something to the ordinance of his predecessors so hee tooke away many things that were superfluous and contrarie to themselues and retained the rest The third volume of the Decretals are called the Clementines because they were made by Pope Clement the fift of that name and published by him in the Councell of Vienna about the yeare of grace 1308. To these may be added the Extrauagants of Iohn the xxij and some other Bishops of Rome whose authors are not knowne and are as Nouell constitutions vnto the rest Euery of these former volumes are diuided into fiue Bookes and containe in a manner one and the same titles whereof the first in euery of them is the title of the blessed Trinitie and of the Catholicke faith wherein is set downe by euery of them a particuler beliefe diuers in words but all one in substance with the auncient Symbols or beliefe of the old Orthodox or Catholicke Church Secondly there commeth in place the treatie of Rescripts Constitutions and Customes and the authoritie of them and when they are to be taken for Law after followeth the meanes whereby the greater gouernours of the Church as namely Archbishops Bishops and such like come vnto their roome which was in two sorts according as the parties place or degrée was when he was called vnto the roome as if he were vnder the degrée of a Bishop and was called to bee Bishop or being a Bishop was called to be an Archbishop or to be the Pope himselfe he was thereto to bee elected by the Deane and Chapiter of the Church where he was to bee Bishop or by the Colledge of the Cardinals in the Popedome but if he were alreadie a Bishop or an Archbishop and were to be preferred vnto any other Bishopricke or Archbishoprick then was he to be required by the church he was desired â—nto and not elected which in the Law was called Postulation after Postulation followed translation by the superior to the Sea to the which he was postulated or required after Election followed Corfirmation and Consecration of him that was elected which both were to be done in a time limited by the Canons otherwise the partie elected lost his right therein Bishops and other beneficed men sundry times vpon 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 vpon what causes a man may renounce his benefice or bishopricke and because vnder-Ministers are oftentimes negligent in their Cure that the people in the meane time may not bee defrauded of Diuine Seruice the Sacraments and the food of the word of God it is prouided that the Bishop shal supply the negligence of such Ministers as are vnderneath him in his Iurisdiction besides because holy orders are not to be giuen but by imposition of hands with prayer and fasting foure fit times in the yeare are for the same lymitted where also is set downe how they are to bee qualified which are to be ordered what triall or examination is to bee had of them what age they are to bee of and what gifts of body or mind they are to be indowed withall what Sacraments may be reiterated what not that Ministers sons are not to succéed their fathers in those benefices wherein their fathers immediatly before were Pastors or gouernours lest happily thereby there might be claimed a succession or inheritance in the same that no bondmen or accomptants men distorted or deformed in body bigamists or twice married men be admitted to holy orders Of wandering Clarkes and how that they are not to be admitted to minister in another Diocesse then where they are ordered without the Dimissarie Letters of the bishop vnder whom they were ordered Of Archdeacons Archpriests Sacrists vicars what they are and wherin their particular offices do consist Of the office of Iudges in generall and their power whether they bee Delegats Legats a latere or Iudges ordinarie Of difference in Iurisdiction betwéene Ministers Ministers and what obedience the inferior Ministers are to yéeld vnto their superiors Of Truce and Peace which Ecclesiastical Iudges are to procure that truces be kept from Saturday in the euening vntill Monday in the morning and that there be no fighting from the first day of the Aduent vntill the eight day after Twelfe tide and that warre likewise doe cease from the beginning of Lent vntill the eight day after Easter vnder paine of Excommunication against him that presumeth to doe the contrarie and that in time of war neither Priests Clarkes Marchant 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 Iudges before men enter into the dangerous euents of Law are to persuad the parties litigant by priuat couenants and agréement to compound the controuersie betwéen them wherein if they preuaile not then the parties are to prouide themselues of Aduocats Proctors or Sindects according as they are priuat men or bodies politicke to furnish their cause and direct them in procéeding If any Church hath bin hurt in any contract of bargaine 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 selfe which is agréeable to Law and conscience The like grace is to be graunted to all other Litigants whatsoeuer who haue by feare or violence or any other like vniust cause béene hindered from the prosecution of their right If any séeing a suite like to be commenced against him do either appeale before he be serued with Processe or alienat away the thing whereupon the suite was like to grow he is to bee compeld to hold plee of the same cause before the Iudge from whom he did appeale and to answere his aduersarie as though still he were owner of the thing he did in policie sell or alienat away Many times things which otherwise can haue no spéedy end by Law are compounded by arbiterment Arbitrators
the Councell that reformed it and was holden vnder Alexander the third was not celebrated before the yeare of the Incarnation 1189. neither was the reformation therof at that time totall nor suitable to the first institution of Tythe among Christians For neither could many wilfull and refractarious persons be then brought to obey the Canons of the Councell in restoring any part thereof againe vnto the Church although they were charged so to doe vnder paine of damnation Neither did all such as did then restore them restore them to the Churches from whence they were taken which had béene most agréeable to the ordinance of the Church set downe by Dionysius who first diuided Parishes and assigned vnto them Tythes as hath béene aforesaid and also to the Scripture it selfe from whence Dionysius tooke his light to diuide Parishes and dispose of Tythes as hee did by which it was not lawfull for him that paid his Tythes to pay them to what Priest or Leuite Deuteron 18. him liked but hee must pay them to the Priest or Leuite that dwelt in the place where himselfe made his aboad but yet this libertie that was giuen them by the Councell then gaue cause vnto the errour that the common Lawyers hold at this day not knowing the auncient procéedings of the Church in these cases that before the Lateran Councell it was lawfull for euery man to giue his Tythes to what Church he would which was so farre otherwise as that before this violence offered vnto the Church there was a flat Canon more auncient then the fact of Charles Martellus Leo. 4. 13. q. 1. c. Eccl. which did precisely forbid any man to pay or a Bishop to giue leaue to any man to pay his Tythes from the baptismall Church to another and that the contrary was yeelded to in the Lateran Councell was not that they held it lawfull to inrich one Church in this sort with the impouerishment of another but the cause was the hardnesse of mens hearts who scarcely could bee wun by this fauour to restore that little againe vnto the Church that their forefathers had in such abundance taken away from it and that the Fathers of the said Councell did yeeld thereunto although it were an inconuenience thus to doe was for that they did count although they did admit that for the present yet there might bee a better time found out after for the reformation thereof and so sustained the inconuenience for the present vpon this reason that the vniuersall Church of Christ is one bodie and euery particular Church a part of that bodie and so it lesse mattered to what particular Church they were restored so that they were restored at all for that by the restitution to one they hoped in time they might with more likelyhoode come vnto the other for in those things wherein there is an Identitie or like representation of Nature and condition as is betwéene Church and Church is easier passage the one from the other than is in those that are of different nature and disposition as is in a lay man and a Church Out of these ruines of these violent and presumptuous prescriptions which haue now obtained strength of a statute in the world haue issued out sundry petty prescriptions which also are confirmed by law and custom as the other were as the prescription wherein one Church prescribeth Tythes against another Church the Law punishing therein the negligence of the one and rewarding the vigilancie of the other Prescriptions wherein one Ecclesiasticall body corporate or politique prescribeth Tythes or other Ecclesiasticall duties against the Parson or Vicar of the Parish and the Parson and Vicar againe against them A prescription whereby a Lay man hauing no right to prescribe Regul sine posssessionâ—d regulâ—â— iâ—ris in 6. Tythes because he can in no right possesse Tythes and prescription cannot procéed without possession doth notwithstanding by pernancie or giuing some part of his ground or pension in money in licu thereof prescribe a discharge therof A prescription wherein a lay man doth prescribe the manner of Tything which albeit by the coÌ„mon Law is counted to be good by paying a thing neuer so small in lieu thereof yet neither by the Canon Law neither by the Law of God it selfe it could euer be lesse than the iust tenth it selfe so that the manner of Tything with them is not vnderstood in that sence as the Common Lawyers doe take it by paying any thing whatsoeuer in place of the iust tenth but their intendment hereby is that no country can be bound to an vniformitie Liâ—wod Prouin quâ—â—am verbo vnâ—formâ—â— in Glo. de decim of payment of Tythes to be vsed euerywhere but euery man is to pay Tythes according to the manner of the Country where he dwels that is that one paies his Tythe corne and binds vp the same in sheaues another leaues it scattered in the furrowes another Tythes it in Cocks or Pookes and this is that that they meane that there cannot be an vniformitie of Tything prescribed to euery man after which he is of necessitie to set out his Tyths but that he may prescribe some other manner of Tything against the Parson or Vicar but against that vniformitie that the whole tythe â—â—d verbo consâ—â—tudines should not be paid was neuer any prescription allowed among them for they euermore haue beene of this minde contrary to that that the Schoolemen hold that Tythes are part of the Morall Law and not of the Iudieiall or Ceremoniall Law and that in the Precept of Tythes there is a double Ca. a nobis de decimis in Glos. consideration one of the honour of God whereby be retained tythes vnto himselfe in signe of his vniuersall Lordship ouer the whole world which is irremissable the other of the profit or vtilitie of man in that it concerns the prouision of the Minister in all ages which is vndispensable And yet notwithstanding all this the Ecclesiasticall Iudge admitteth all kinds of prescription beforenamed and according to the proofes thercon brought giueth sentence either to absolution or condemnation albeit the reuerent Iudges of the Land vpon an erronious report made in the eight yeare of Edward the fourth haue a conceipt to the contrarie viz. That no Ecclesiasticall Iudge will admit any Plea in discharge of Tythe or the manner of Tything as it is in their sence taken and therfore they hold whatsoeuer the defendant doth alledge in his suit for a consultation and namely that the Ecclesiasticall Iudge did allow of the Plaintifes Plea and allegation and did admit him to the proofes thereon without deniall are idle speeches and rather words of course than of effect and substance And therefore notwithstanding whatsoeuer is alledged by the Defendant as concerning the Ecclesiasticall Iudges well acceptance thereof it is counted nothing materiall by the Temporall Iudges for that they haue a preiudicate opinion of the Ecclesiasticall Iudge in these cases and therefore
howsoeuer the refusal be or be not they grant out their Prohibition in these cases And yet if the Iudges Ecclesiasticall procéedings might be séene and vouchsafed to be read before them it would bee plaine there were no such cause of their hard opinion against them for euerywhere they doe allow such like allegations And if perhaps one inferiour Iudge shold make refusal as they pretend yet could it not be reformed by another in an ordinarie course of appeale but that there must néeds be brought a Prohibition out of the Common law to redresse the same vnlesse happily they can shew it is a generall conspiracie in the Ecclesiasticall Iudges or a Marime in their learning that they will not or cannot admit any Plea of discharge in this case which they can neuer doe And therefore they are to be intreated to change their opinion in this point and doe not the Ecclesiasticall Iudges that wrong as to charge them with such an imputation whereof their whole practise is witnesse to the contrarie for it is vnworthy such mens grauitie as theirs is who propound vnto themselues the inquirie of the truth in all matters thus to be misconceiued and masked in an errour and that for so many yeares and not to bee willing to heare the contrarie which is an obstinacie in policie no lesse indurat than the Papists is in Religion who see the truth and will not beleeue it And so far as concerning Prescriptions and the first cause and beginning thereof Now it followeth I speake of Priuiledges which are immunities graunted vnto priuat men beside the Law Of these some are very auncient such as true zeale toward the Church bred and the iust admiration of the holy men of God for their sanctimonie of life their great knowledge in the word of God their great patience in persecution for Christ and his Gospell the vigilancie and care they had in their Office stirred vp both in Prince and people So Constantine the great being rauished with the loue of Religion and the good opinion he had of the Ministers of his time erected Churches and endowed them with large possessions and graunted them sundry immunities whereby they might more securely intend to the preaching of the word of God and the winning of soules to the Christian congregation wherein they laboured with all their might and power God still adding to the number of the Elect. Neither did he this alone in his owne person but he also gaue leaue to all other of his subiects that would doe the like whereupon L. 1. C. de sacros Ecclesiis §. si quiâ— authent de Ecclesia the Church was so inriched within a short time that as Moses in the building of the Arke was faine to make Proclamation no man should bring in more towards the building thereof the people bringing in continually such great abundance of all things necessarie towards the furnishing thereof as that there was enough and much to spare So also Theodosius the thirtéenth Emperour after Constantine although otherwise a most louing and fauourable Prince towards the Church was faine to make a Law of Amortisation or Mortmaine to moderate the peoples bounty towards the Church as did also many wise Princes in other Nations vpon like occasion and in imitation of this Act of Theodosius many yeares after and among the rest diuerse Magna charta cap. â—6 W. 1. 〈◊〉 31. an 13. Eâ— 1. Princes of this Land did the like vpon the dotage of the people towards the Religious Parsone specially towards the foure Orders of Friers that were then newly sprung vp in the world But yet this Act of Theodosius was done with the great dislike of these blessed men Ierom and Ambrose who liued in those daies for that Ierom thus complaineth of that Law to Nepotian I am ashamed to saie it the Priests of Idols Stage-players Coach-men and Common Harlots are made capable of Inheritance and receiue Legacies onely Ministers of the Gospell and Monkes are barred by Lawe thus to doe and that not by persecutors but by Christian Princes neither doe I complayne of the Lawe but I am sorie wee haue deserued to haue such a Law made against vs In like manner and vpon the same occasion doth Ambrose deplore the state of the Clergie in his one and thirtieth Epistle Wee count it saith hee no iniurie in that it is a losse wee are not grieued that all sorts of men are made capable of Wils none excepted how base prophane or lauish of his life or honestie soeuer hee bee but I am sorie that the Clergie men only of all sorts of people are bard the benefit of the Law that that is common to all who notwithstanding onely pray for all and doe the common celebration of the Seruice for all So far they And yet whosoeuer lookes into this constitution whereby it was forbidden that any man should passe any Lands or other immoueable possession vnto the Church without the Princes leaue for that thereby the things that are so passed come as it were into a dead hand which holdeth surely fast that it once apprehendeth neither easily parteth with it so that it cannot without much difficultie bee reduced and brought againe to the commerce and common vse of men shall find it was rather for the benefit of the common wealth than for the dislike of the Church it was so ordered For if that course had béene holden on still the greatest part of the liuelyhood of the common wealth woule in short tune haue come vnto the Church and so Lay men should not haue béene able to haue borne the publicke burthens of the common wealth which it concerns Seculer Princes to be carefull of and to foresée that by ouermuch bountie towards the Church they impouerish not their owne state and loose the rights of Escheats Primer season and other Priuiledges of the Crowne in cases of forfaiture and specially make bare their Lay subiects vpon whom a great seruice of the common wealth doth lye And yet otherwise the beneficiallest state of this Realme vnto the Prince is the Clergie as from whom the King hath a continuall reuenew in Tenths and is déepest 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 seruice of the Church and the Church again for the benefit of them But this was none of those Priuiledges I spake of for these are more auncient than they and graunted out vpon better deuotion than the other but after this the zeale of Religion being almost extinguished in the Christian world partly by the great vproars and tumults that were in euery Country by the influence of one barbarous Nation or other into them who pulled downe Churches faster than euer they were built
and made hauock both of Priest and people that professed the name of Christ partly by the heresies that rose euery where in the Church in those daies which distracted mens minds and made them wauer in the constancie of their Religion it was reuiued againe vpon this occasion One Benedict who otherwise had béen a man of action Hospinian de Origine Monachatuâ— in the Common wealth that Benedict which was as it were the Father of all those that professed a Regular life within the West part of Christendome for before his time the Monkes of the West Church serued God fréely abroad without being shut vp in a Cloister he I say finding himselfe wearied with the tumults and broyles which hapned vnder the gouernment of Iustinian and some yeares after by the incursion of those barbarous Nations before named into Italy retired himselfe into a desert and solitary place intending there to giue himselfe wholy to the seruice of God where when he had a while remayned he grew so famous by his Christian exercises of fasting and prayer and the good and holsome exhortations that he made to those that resorted vnto him that within a very little time after there was great confluence of people vnto him not only from diuers parts of Italy but euen from sundry other parts of the world so that within a short time they grew into fraternities vnderneath him to whom he gaue rules to liue by to the imitation of that that Saint Basill did in the East Church to which his disciples submitted themselues with all alacritie leading a life far different from the common sort of men denying vnto themselues all those ordinary delights that other men doe commonly take out of meat drink apparell mariage Temporall preferment such other things which wordly and carnall men séeke for verie gréedily humbling themselues only to God and the rule of their Master Which thing bred such an admiration of him and of his Schollers that not only many other orders sprang out from them within few yeres as the Premonstratenses Clunacenses Templarians Hospitallers Cystertians and the order of Saint Iohns of Ierusalem but euen Popes Princes and people were wholy carried away with the wonderment of them insomuch as euery of them did as it were striue who might shew themselues most kind vnto them whereupon Princes built them houses euery one in his kingdome as Clito Ethelbald king of Mercia buylt the Monasterie of Crowland here in England of black Monks vnder the rule of the said Benedict in the yeare 716. Popes and Princes graunted them priuiledges so far as it concerned eyther of their particulers the Clergie Nobilitie and People conferd goods and lands vpon them euery one according to his abilitie In this zealous bountie of euery degrée towards these new sort of men there were two vndigested Priuiledges graunted them both of them so hurtfull and iniurious to the Church of God as neuer any was the like The one was the annexation or appropriation of presentatiue Benefices to these Religious houses The other the fréeing of such lands or hereditaments as they held in sundry Parishes from the payment of Tythes to the Parsons and Vicars thereof to both of which the Scholmens diuinitie gaue great aduantage as shall be shewed hereafter Eyther of these had their beginning of one roote that is to say of this false ground that Preaching which is the most true and most naturall foode of the Soule in a congregation that is come to the profession of Religion already knowes but onely the Articles of the Christian Faith the Lords Prayer the ten Commaundements and other principles and Rudiments of Christian Religion is nothing so necessarie for the saluation of a mans Soule as Prayer is beside that preaching oftentimes giues more cause of Schisme and dispute in Religion than it doth of profiting edifying the Soule and therefore it was not permitted by the Prouinciall constitutions of this Realme that Parsons or Vicars Linwood puin eisdem de offiâ— Arâ—hidiaconiâ— et ca. ignorantia Sacerdotum de officio Archipresbyteri of Churches should expound or preach any other matter or doctrine than the Lords prayer the ten Commaundements the two precepts of the Gospell that is the loue of God and the loue of a mans Neyghbour the sixe works of Mercie the seuen principall Vertues the seuen Sacraments for so many then the Romish Church held the seuen deadly Sinnes with their progenie and this to be done vulgarly and plainly Absque cuiuslibet subtilitatis textura fantastica for so they call learned and orderly Preaching whereas notwythstanding Prayer is euermore profitable euery where necessarie and neuer dangerous Furthermore Preaching onely profiteth those that be present and doe heare it and attend vpon it but Prayer is auailable euen to those that be far distant yea though they be in the remotest place of the world By which and other like arguments they translated away that maintenance that was prouided for the home Pastors who by Gods owne institution were to watch ouer their Soules to forrein and strange Guids who neuer communicated to their necessitie in any heauenly comfort but only tooke the milke of the flock and fed themselues withall But by this pretence of theirs ought not Preaching to haue béen disgraced for albeit Prayer be a necessary péece of Gods seruice and so necessary that the Soule of man is as it were dead without it yet is it not equall to the dignitie of Preaching which God hath ordeyned to be the onely meanes to come to Saluation by for Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God and without Faith it is impossible to be saued for Faith is a gift that purifies the hart and makes a mans prayers acceptable to God and therefore neyther of them ought so to take place as that the one should shoulder out the other but they ought so to go hand in hand together as that one should help assist and countenance thother But how these annexations of Benefices first came into the Church whether by the Princes authoritie or the Popes licence it is verie disputable and there are reasons on both sides for to shew the same For whereas there are reported by Ingulphus Abbot of Crowland before mentioned to haue bin viij Churches beside the Patronage of some other annexed and appropriated to the said Abbey by sundry Saxon Kings it doth not appeare by oght that I can find whether they were done by the soueraigne authority of the kings alone to the imitation of that that was done by Martellus who made all Christian Kings to sinne in this point or that it was done by any other Ecclesiastical authority for that there is nothing extant for the allowance thereof saue the seueral Charters of those auncient Kings only and that I should be rather induced to beléeue that it was done by those Kings authoritie only I am thereto persuaded that I find William the Conqueror immediatly vpon the
great victorie that he got ouer this kingdome to haue appropriated thrée Parish Churches to the Abbey of Battaile which he buylt in memorie of his Conquest And whereas William his sonne had depopulated ouerthrowen sundry Churches in the new Forrest Henrie his brother by his Letters Patents gaue the Tithe therof to the Cathedrall Church of Sarum and annexed thereto xx other Churches in one day if the copie of that Record that I haue séene as concerning these appropriations be true yea the matter was gon so far in those dayes that euen Noble persons and other meaner men would commaund Corrodies and Pensions to their Chapleines and other seruants out of Churches and could not be redressed vntill such time as there was made a Statute to Aâ—no 1. Edw. 3. cap. 10. reforme it On the contrarie side that I should take it to be a deuise of the Pope I am moued thereto that I find euery of these orders of Religious men were confirmed by one Pope or other and as they confirmed them so it is like they made prouision for them and that most especially this way and that chiefly after the Lawes of amortisation were deuised and put in vre by Princes and thereupon it is that we finde sundry sorts of annexation made by Popes Bishops vnder Linwood c. licet bona memoria gloss in verb. asserunt non ligari de locato conducto them euery one in their Diocesse as some were made so far as concerned the Patronage only then had the Monks therein presentation only some other were made pleno iure and then might the Monkes both institute destitute therin without the Bishop and turne all the profit thereon to their owne vse reseruing onely a porcion to him that should serue the Cure there some other Churches did they graunt simply to them without any addition of full right or otherwise and then if the Church were of their owne foundation they might chuse the Incumbent being once dead whether they would put any other therein vnlesse perhaps the same Church had people belonging vnto it for then must they of necessity still maintaine a Curat there and of this sort were their Granges Priories those which at this day we call Donatiues but if it were of another mans foundation then was it otherwise To this also I adde that that the Pope euery where in his Decretals arrogateth this right vnto himselfe as a Prerogatiue of the Apostolike Sea to graunt these priuiledges to Religious orders to take and receiue Benefices at lay mens hands by the mediation of the Diocesan whose office it was to be a meane betwéene the Religious house and the Incumbent for an indifferent rate that neither of them should presse too much the one vpon the other Gloss in verb. de Decim and therefore in the beginning the vsuall rate that they set downe betwéene 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 aboue that rate But after by the couetousnesse of Monkes and Friers themselues and the remisnesse of the Bishops who had the managing of this businesse vnder the Apostolike Sea the Incumbents part came to so small a portion that Othobon c. quoniam de Appropriationibus Ecclesiarum Vrban the fifth by Othobon his Legate here in England in the yeare of Saluation 1262. was faine to make a Legantine whereby he forebad all Bishops of this Land to appropriat 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 susteine themselues or that the cause were so iust that it might be taken rather to be a worke of charitie than any inforcement against Law and that beside with this Prouiso as that if the new Proprietaries within sixe Monethes next after should not set out a competent porcion for the Minister of the fruites of the Benefice themselues should assigne out a sufficient maintenance thereout according to the quantitie and qualitie thereof Which constitution because it tooke not that effect that was hoped there were two Statutes made the one by Richard the second the An. 15. Rich. 2. cap. 6. An. 4. H. 4. cap. 12. other by his successor Henry the fourth both for the conuenable indowment of the Vicar there to doe diuine Seruice and informe the people and to kéepe hospitalitie among them Albeit most of these Appropriations were principally in Monkes and Fryers and such other Religious persons yet were not Bishops Seas and Cathedrall Churches altogether frée from them as I haue before shewed in the Cathedrall Church of Salisburie to whom Henry the first appropriated néere twentie Churches in one day And the Sea of Winchester which hath had two Benefices aunciently annexed to the Bishops table the Parsonage of Eastmeane and the Parsonage of Hambleden Neither do I doubt but the like was done in other Bishops Seas and other Cathedrall Churches if I had as good instruction to report of them as I haue had information to speake of these And so far as concerning the first effect of Priuiledges whereby sundry fat Benefices haue béene iniuriously drawen from their owne Churches and vnnaturally appropriated to Monkries and Fryeries and other seculer and Religious places which as I haue said hath béene partly the act of Lay men and partly of Ecclesiasticall men Now followeth the second effect hereof And that is the exemption of these Religious mens possessions from payment of Tythes which is a priuiledge of the Pope alone for Monkes aunciently paied Tythes of Ca. ex parte tua gloss in verb. laborum de decim their land before these priuiledges as other Lay men did But Pascalis the second casting a more fauorable aspect towards Monkes and other Religious men than any of his predecessors before time had done did order together with the Councell of Ments That neyther Monkes nor other Religious persons or any other that lyued in common should pay Tythes of their owne labors Which immunitie Fod in deaÌ„ gloc verb. laboris in processe of time Pope Adrian recald so far as it concerned the rest of the Religious persons and limitted it onely to the Cystertians Hospitallers Templers those which were of the order of S. Iohns in Icrusalem leauing onely to the rest fréedome from paying Tythes of landes newly broken vp and laboured wyth their owne hands and of their garden and of their cattell In which state the matter stood vntill Innocent the thirds dayes who although he were in no other point of better mould than the rest of the Popes were yet was he in this more pittifull towards poore Incumbents of Parish Churches than any of his predecessors had béene who séeing hereby the inconueniences of beggery and ignorance that grew vpon sundry of the Parochian Priestes by