Sero recusat ferre quod subiit jugum But notwithstanding the infinite subtle arts and mighty efforts for that purpose the Papacy found it at any time a most difficult thing to carry any thing here by a high hand and to bring the Ecclesiastical State of this Nation to depend on Rome For our Princes never did doubt but they had the same Authority within their own Dominions as Constantine had in the Empire and our Bishops the same as St. Peter's Successors in the Church Ego Constantini Ailred Rival Coll. 361.16 Vos Petri gladium habetis in manibus said King Edgar in an eminent Speech unto his Clergy And what Power in the Church our Kings took themselves anciently to have appears by their Laws and Edicts published by themselves Leg. Edv. confess cap. 17. fo 142. Leg. Canut Inae apud Jornal Mart. Paris w. 2. and acknowledged by their subjects All speaking thus That the ordering and disposition of all Ecclesiastical Affairs within their own Dominions was their sole and undoubted Right the Foundation thereof being that Power which the Divine wisdom hath invested the Secular Magistrate withal for the defence and preservation of his Church and People against all attempts whatsoever And all our Laws and Lawyers concurring in this Rex sub nullo nisi tantum sub Deo Bracton Leg. Sanct. Edw. cap. 19.17 That the King of England is subject to no Power on Earth but to God only and in King Edwards Laws he is called Vicarius summi Regis as also in Bracton that being the Cognomen as it were given by Pope Eleutherius long ago to King Lucius here as not being under the power of any other And this in effect acknowledged by the whole Body of the English Clergy Reg. Hoveden in Hen. 2. pa. post fo 510. in a Letter of the Bishops of the Province of Canterbury to Tho. Becket An. D. 1167. as it stands recorded at large by Roger Hoveden To this it will be but seasonable and pertinent to add the Historical Instances and evidences some of them as occurr demonstrating as the continual claim and when they could the exercise of this Right by the Kings of this Island so the worthy resistances as from time to time have been made against all forraign usurpations and incroachments upon the same sufficient to shew that our Princes did not command the Ecclesiasticks here who made up so great a part of their subjects according to the will and pleasure of any forrain Potentate nor that they were only lookers on whilest others governed the English Church Therefore we may observe All Councils and Convocations Eadmer fo 25.5.11 Florent Wigorn An. 1070. fo 434. Stat. 25 H. 8.19 assembled at the King's appointment and by the King 's Writt Jubente praesente Rege as one says and that upon the same Authority as the Emperour Constantine had long before assembled the Council of Nice Some appointed by the King to sit in those Councils and supervise their actions Matt. Paris ad An. 1237. fo 447. ne ibi contra regiam coronam dignitatem aliquid statuere attentarent And Mat. Paris gives us the names of the Commissioners for that purpose in one of the Councils held in the time of King Hen. 3. And when any did otherwise he was forced to retract such Constitutions as did Peckham or they were but in paucis servatae Lyâ—dw de soro competent cap. 1. as were those of Boniface as Lyndwood ingenuously doth acknowledge No Synodical Decree suffered to be of force but by the King's allowance Eadmer fo 6.29 and confirmation In hoc concilio ad emendationem Ecclesiae Anglicanae assensu Domini Regis Gervas Dorobern An. 1175. fo 1429. Mat. Paris Hen. Huntingd Eadm passim Pat. 8 9 Johan R. m. 5.8 primorum omnium regni haec subscripta promulgata sunt capitula as Gervasius Dorobern informs us No Legate suffered to enter into England but by the King's leave and swearing to do nothing prejudicial to the King and his Crown All matters of Episcopacy determined by the King himself Eadmer 115.23 inconsulto Romano Pontifice No Appeals to Rome permitted None to receive Letters from the Pope Thorn Coll. 2152. Coke 3. Instit cap. 54.10.127 Hoveden Hen. 2. fo 496. without shewing them to the King who caused all words prejudicial to him or his Crown to be renounced and dis-avowed by the bringers or receivers of such Letters Permitted no Bishops to Excommunicate Eadmer fo 6.31 or inflict any Ecclesiastical censure on any Peer nisi ejus praecepto Caused the Bishops to appear in their Courts Addit Mat. Paris fo 200 to give account why they excommunicated a subject Bestowed Bishopricks on such as they approved Forent Wigorn An. 1070. fo 536. and translated Bishops from one See to another Erected new Bishopricks Godwin de Praef. Angl. So did King Hen. 1. An. 1109. Ely taking it out of Lincoln Carlile 1133. out of York or rather Durham Commanded by Writ Coke 2. Instit 625. Addit Mat. Paris fo 200. nu 6. the Bishops to Residency Placed by a Lay hand Clerks in Prebendary or Parochial Churches Ordinariis penitus irrequisitis as it is phrased in Matt. Paris By these and many other instances of the like nature exercised by our Kings it appears that the English ever took the outward Policy of this Church or Government of it in foro exteriori to depend on the King And therefore the writs of Summoning all Parliaments express the calling of them to be Pro quibusdam arduis urgentibus negotiis nos statum defensionem Regni nostri Angliae Ecclesiae Anglicanae concernentibus c. In the Reign of King Edward the first Broâ—k Tit. Praemunire pl. 10. A subject brought in a Bull of Excommunication against another subject of this Realm and published it to the Lord Treasurer of England and this was by the ancient Common Law of England adjudged Treason against the King his Crown and Dignity for which the Offendor should have bin drawn and hang'd but at the great instance of the Chancellor and Treasurer he only abjur'd the Realm King Edw. Trin. 19 Ed. 3. Fitzh Quare non admisit pl. 7. presented his Clark to a Benefice within the Province of York who was refused by the Arch-bishop for that the Pope by way of Provision had conferred it on another The King thereupon brought a Quare non admisit the Archbishop to it Pleaded that the Bishop of Rome had long time before Provided to the said Church as one having Supream Authority in that case and that he durst not nor had power to put him out who was possessed by the Pope's Bull. But for this high contempt against the King his Crown and Dignity in refusing to execute his Soveraign's commands against the Pope's Provision by Judgement of the Common Law the Lands of his whole Bishoprick were seized
into the King's hands and lost during his life And this Judgement was before any Act of Parliament made in that case Nota. And there it is said That for the like offence the Archbishop of Canterbury had bin in worse case by the Judgement of the Sages in the Law if the King had not extended favour to him Although by the Ordinance of Circumspecte agatis Coke 5 Rep. Case de jure R. Eccl. made in the thirteenth year of King Edward the first and by a general allowance and usage the Ecclesiastical Court held Plea of Tithes Oblations Obventions Mortuaries Redemption of Penance Laying of violent hands on a Clark Defamations c. yet did not the Clergy think themselves assured nor quiet from Prohibitions purchased by subjects till King Edward the second by his Letters Patents under the Great Seal Staâ— 9 Edw. 2. Artic. cler ca. 16. in and by consent of Parliament upon Petition of the Clergy had granted them Jurisdiction in those cases An Excommunication by the Archbishop Finzh Excom 4.16 Ed. 3. Broâ—k Excom pl. 5.14 H. 4. although it be dis-annulled by the Pope or Legate is to be allowed Neither may the Judges give any allowance of any such sentence of the Pope or his Legate And it hath often bin adjudg'd 30 Ed 3 Lib. Assiz pl. 19.12 Ed. 4.16 and declared That the Pope's Excommunication is of no force in England It is often Resolved in our Books that all the Bishopricks in England were founded by the King's Progenitors and the Advowsons vowsons of them all belong to the King and at first they were * Per traditionem annuli pastorasis baculi Donative And that if an Incumbent of any Church with cure dyes if the Patron Present not within six months the Bishop of that Diocess ought to collate that the cure be supply'd if he neglect by the space of six moneths the Metropolitan of that Diocess shall confer one unto that Church and if he also neglect six moneths then the Law gives to the King as Supreame within his own Kingdom and not to the Pope power to provide a Pastor The King may not only exempt any Ecclesiastical Person from the Jurisdiction of the Ordinary but may grant unto him Episcopal Jurisdiction as it appears the King had done of antient time to the Archdeacon of Richmond 17 Ed 3.13 20 Ed. 3. And the Abbot of Bury was exempted from Episcopal Jurisdiction by the King's Charter The King Presented to a Benefice 21 Ed. 3.40 and his Presentee was disturbed by one that had obtained Bulls from Rome for which offence he was condemned to perpetual imprisonment If Excommunication be the final end of any suit in the Court of Rome as indeed it is and be not allowed Fitzh Nat. Br. fo 64. f. or allowable in England as it hath often bin Declared It then follows that by the Ancient Common Law of England no suit for any cause though it be spiritual arising within this Realm may or can be determined in the Court of Rome Quia frustra expectatur eventus cujus effectus nullus sequitur At a Parliament held An. Stat. 25 Ed. 3. de Provisorib 25 Edward the third It was Enacted That as well they that obtained Provisions from Rome as they that put them in execution should be out of the King's Protection and that they should be dealt withal as the King's Enemies and no man so dealing with them should be impeached for the same At a Parliament held An. Stat. 16 Ric. 2. cap. 5. 16 Ric. 2. It is declar'd That the Crown of England hath bin so free at all times that it hath bin in subjection to none but immediately subject to God and none other and that the same ought not in any thing touching the Regality of the said Crown to be submitted to the Bishop of Rome nor the Laws and Statutes of this Realm by him frustrated or defeated at his Will And the Commons in that Parliament affirmed that the things attempted by the Bishop of Rome be clearly against the King's Crown and his Regality used and approved in time of all his Progenitors in which points the said Commons professed to live and dye and to all which the Lords assented also as being thereto bound by their Allegiances It is resolved that the Pope's Collector 2 Hen. 4 fo 9. though he have the Pope's Bull for that purpose hath no Authority within this Realm And there it is said That the Archbishops and Bishops of this Realm are the King 's spiritual Judges And in another place it is said Papa non potest mutare Leges Angliae 11 Hen. 4. fo 37. Per Curiam In the raign of King Henry the sixth 1 Hen. 7. fo 10. the Pope wrote Letters in derogation of the King and his Regality and the Church-men durst not speak any thing against them But Humfrey Duke of Glocester for their safe keeping put them into the fire In the raign of King Edward the fourth 1 Hen. 7. fo 20. the Pope granted to the Prior of St. John's to have Sanctuary in his Priory and this was pleaded and claim'd by the Prior but resolved by the Judges Keilway Reports 8 H. 8. fo 191. b. That the Pope had no power to grant any Sanctuary within this Realm and therefore the same was disallowed by Judgement of Law In Brook Tit. Presentation al Esglise Bro. Present al Esglise p. 12. It is affirmed That the Pope was permitted to do certain things within this Realm by usurpation and not of right untill the Raign of King Kenry the eighth quod nota sayes the Book Stat. 24 Hen. 8. ca. 12.25 H. 8.21 And in what esteem the Pope's Authority here was in that King's time may sufficiently be collected from the Tenor and Purview of the Statutes about that affair in his raign made In the raign of King Kenry the sixth Henry Beaufort Uncle to the King being Bishop of Winchester was made Cardinal and thereupon purchased from the Pope a Bull Declaratory that he might still hold his Bishoprick yet it was held and adjudged that the See of Winchester was become void by the assumption of the Cardinalship and therefore the Cardinal fallen into a Praemunire 4 Hen. 6. in Arch. Turr. Lond. for which he was glad to purchase his pardon as by the Records of all this it doth appear It was Adjudged in the Court of Common Pleas Dier 12 Eliz. by Sir James Dyer Weston and the whole Court That a Dean or any other Ecclesiastical Person may resign as divers did to King Edward the sixth Vid. Grend ca. in Plowd Com. for that he had the Authority of the Supream Ordinary With all this may be noted also the several Statutes heretofore made against the usurpations of the Bishops of Rome in this Kingdom the principal whereof these viz. Stat. 25 Ed. 3. de Provisorib Stat. 27 28 Ed.
purpose we must know that after the Power of the Bishops of Rome came to some consistency in the world and the Pope began to look upon himself as a spiritual Prince or Monarch he presently began to attempt to give Laws to Nations and People as a badge of his Soveraignty but then well knowing That ubi non est condendi authoritas ibi non est parendi necessitas he would not impose those Laws at first peremptorily upon all People but offered them timide and precario and in such places where he presumed they would find the freest reception and in order to this at first he caused certain Rules to be collected for the Order and Government of the Clergy only which he called Decreta and not Laws or Statuta and these Decrees as they were called were first published in the year 1150 in the raign of our King Stephen and whereas Sr. Edward Coke Sr Ed. Coke Pref. aâ— 8. Relat. in the Preface to the eighth Report sayes that Roger Bacon the learned Fryer saith in his Book de impedimentis Sapientiae That King Stephen forbad by publick edict that no man should retain the Laws of Italy then brought into England we may with some assurance intend it of these Decrees about that time compil'd and publish'd And these were received Keilways Rep. 7 Hen. 8. fo 184. and observed by the Clergy of the Western Churches only for those of the Eastern Churches would never admit these Rules or Canons Afterwards the Bishops of Rome attempted to bring the Laity also under the obedience of these Canons and for that purpose they first began with Rules or Canons about abstinence and dayes of Fasting to be observed by the Laity Maâ—sil Pat. lib. Defens Pac. pa. 2. c. 23 Durard Rat. Di. l. 4. c. 6 7. as well as Clergy which at the first institution were termed by that mild word Rogationes and thence the week of Fasting before the Feast of Pentecost came to be called Rogation week in regard this time of Abstinence was at first appointed by an Ordinance called Rogatio and not Praeceptum or Statutum When the Laity had swallowed this Ordinance of Fasting then De una praesumptione ad aliam transivit Romanus Pontifex as Marsil Pata hath it that is the Bishop of Rome proceeded to make and publish several other orders by the name of Decretals and these were published about the year 1230. An. 14 Hen 3. Mat. Paris in Hen. 3. fo 417. and made or proposed to bind all the Laity as well Princes as their Subjects in several matters relating to their Civil and Temporal concerns As That no Lay-man should have the Donation of Ecclesiastical Benefices That no Lay man should marry within certain degrees out of the degrees limited by the Levitical Law That all Infants born before Espousals should after Espousals be adjudged Legitimate and capable to inherit That all Clarks should be exempt from the Secular Power and divers more such like But then we must know that these Decretals so made were not intirely and absolutely receiv'd in all parts of Christendom but only at first in the Temporal Territory of the Pope which on that account is call'd by the Canonists Patria Obedientiae but wholly rejected in England France and other Christian Countreys which thence are sometimes called Patriae consuetudinariae as resolving to adhere to their old Laws and Customs As the Canon that prohibits Donation of Benefices per Laicam manum was always disobeyed in England France the Realm of Naples and divers other Countrys The Canon to legitimate Infants born before marriage was specially rejected in England when in the Parliament held at Merton Stat. de Merton An. 20 Hen. 3. Omnes Comites Barones una voce responderunt Keilway 7 H. 8. fo 181. b. Nolumus Leges Angliae mutari quae hucusq usitatae sunt c. The Canon that exempted Clerks from the Secular Power was never observed fully in any part of Christendom Infallible arguments that these Canons received not the force of Laws from the Court of Rome as if that had power to give Laws to all Nations without their respective consents but the approbation and usage of the People received them as they pleased partially and specially as to Places Times and parts of those Canons and for the same reason that some rejected one others did more and some all of them as Bodin says Bodin de Repub lib. 1. cap. 8. That the Kings of France upon erecting of their Universities there declare in their Charters that the Profession of the Civil and Canon Laws may there be receiv'd and used according to discretion but not to bind as Laws Now when the Bishop of Rome perceived that many of his Canons were embraced in several Countreys under colour thereof he claim'd Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction within those Realms with power to interpret and dispence with his own Canons and for that purpose sent his Legates about with Commissions to hear and determine causes according to those Laws which upon their first exhibition Marsil Pat. ut supr pa. 2. c. 23. as is before noted he durst not call Laws or Statuta ne committeret crimen laesae Majestatis in Principes as Marsil Patav observes who further says that these Canons inasmuch as they were made by the Pope neque sunt humanae leges neque divinae sed documenta quaedam narrationes But as is said when he perceiv'd they were allowed and used in part or in whole in divers Countreys they were revised digested and compil'd into Volumes and called Jus Canonicum and being appointed to be read and expounded in publick Schools and Universities they were commanded to be obeyed by all under pain of Excommunication with declaration of the Pope's power to interpret abrogate or dispence with them at his pleasure and thereupon the Canonists say Lib. 6. de Const cap. Licet Papa in omnibus pure positivis in quibusdam ad jus Divinum pertinentibus dispensare potest quia dicitur omnia jura habere in scrinio pectoris sui quantum ad interpretationem dispensationem In the 25th year of King Ed. 1. An Dom. 1297 Tho. Walsing Stow in hoc anno one Simon a Monk of Walden began first to read the Canon Law in the University of Cambridge and the year after it began to be read also in the University of Oxford in the Church of the Friers Praedicants and from that time got ground in England being sometimes admitted and sometimes rejected according to the Ebb or Flow of the Papal interest here but how really this Canon Law was an innovation and usurpation here it is sufficient but to peruse the Preamble to the Statute of Faculties Stat. 25 Hen. 8. cap. 21. and Dispensations made in the raign of King Hen. 8. to which the Reader is referred As another Branch of the Pope's power in the matters aforesaid we may observe that
Guardians and Chiefs without framing or proposing any more doubts subtilties or scruples With all this contained in a very fair Bull the Delegates and Agents returned home And the Guardians and Chiefs of the Order in pursuance thereof applyed themselves to order and settle these matters But then besides the differences that arose amongst themselves when ever they agreed on any thing those Fryers against whose Opinion it was carryed would quarrel insolently at it and would be so far from yielding conformity that they did not spare to revile their Superiours calling them Fools and Dunces for no better understanding the Text of St. Francis his Rule And in this disorder they continued a long time untill In the year 1323. in the time of Pope John the 22. who resided at Avignion the Guardians and superiours of the Order went to complain once more to his Holiness that the Fryers would not obey the Orders they had agreed upon by vertue of the Bull of Pope Clement and humbly prayed his Holiness further directions and aid therein Whereupon the Pope sent Summons to all those Fryers who refused to obey their Superior's Decrees in all those controverted points that they should either personally or by writing certifie the Reasons of their obstinacy and when these were come in the Pope assembled all his Cardinals in Conclave where the Allegations for and against the Fryer's disobedience were all canvassed and debated at large and many offers and proposals made for a final conclusion of all but nothing of that nature was accepted and no agreement there was like to be except the Pope would juridically and openly and plainly give his Sentence in the case And thereupon the Pope gave Order for his definitive Bull to be drawn up wherein in the first place he highly extolled the Bulls of his Predecessors the Popes Nicholas and Clement wondring why men should decline the import and â—enor of them and then for himself he ordained and declared That the vilitie of Habits should be measured by the custom of every Country and after gave power and Commission to the Guardians and Superiors of the Order as did Pope Clement to make a Rule for the longitude latitude colour thickness fashion substance and vility as well of the Tunics as the Hood and upon all other circumstances accidents and dependances upon the same commanding all the Fryers to obey the Rules that should be made without any more Objections Arguments or Contradictions But neither would this Third Bull do the business for men esteemed it in effect no more than what had bin order'd before without any fruit And so the heats and disputes continued amongst the Fryers as high as ever Nay some spared not to reflect on the Pope himself saying that he did not rightly understand the points in controversie Others that he used too many Councellors and that one honest Tailor if the Pope could have found him would better have inform'd how to stitch up these rents than the whole Conclave and the greatest Scandal was that if the Pope the Vice-deus the Oracle of Truth the unerring Head the infallible Guide could not settle and put an end to differences of such inferiour nature how could he did many say infallibly judge and determine in matters of Faith and the more sublime points of Religion about which there were such differences in the world But at last these heats amongst the Fryers were somewhat allayed and cool'd with time and the generality of the Order betook thmeselves to the White and Black Colours as they come purely from the Beast and thence the denomination to the white and black Fryers and some of them intermingled the two Colours and made a third and from them came the Grey Fryers And for the Garments and Hoods they came to wear them long and large only the difference about the Sleeves was never yet accorded for some wear strait and little Sleeves and others wear large and wide for some conveniences and of this sort was that Fryer who when he was Preaching against stealing had all the time a Goose in his Sleeve And thus though their Infallible Judge could not or would not put an end to these differences amongst his own Creatures with all his Decretals and Extravagants as those Bulls were called yet at this time we shall here to them all put a FINIS An Essay of the Supremacy of the King of England within his Majesty's Realms and Dominions IN our view of the resplendent Majesty of our Soveraign Lord the King of England it must needs fare with us as with a curious eye that looks on the Sun in its full luster thereby discovering its own weakness sooner than the nature of that Glorious Body being dazell'd if it gaze too long and scorched Excellens objectum destruit sensum if it approach too near such a refulgent and disproportion'd Object And therefore that I may proceed with Truth and safety in this affair I must make use of the Instruments of Law and the skreen of Authorities to direct and defend me in my intended progress therein In the first place therefore we are to know That the King of England hath two capacities in him viz. One as a natural Body being descended of the Blood Royal of this Realm and this Body is of the same nature with his Subjects Plowd Comment seig Barkly's Case fo 234. Id. Case de Duchy fo 213. and subject to Infirmity Death and the like The other as a Politick Body or Capacity so called because it is framed by the Policy of man and in this Capacity the King is esteemed to be Immortal not subject to Infirmity Death Nonage c. And therefore when a King of England dyes the Lawyers have a peculiar way of expressing the same not saying the Death of the King but the King's demise Demise le Roy. And therefore in respect of this Politick Capacity it is often said That the King of England never dyes and by the Law of England there can be no Interregnum for upon the King's Demise his lawful Successor is ipso facto King without any essential Ceremony or Act ex post facto to be done For the coronation is but a Royal ornament Calvin's Case fo 10 11. and solemnization of the Royal Descent but no part of the Title And all this may be collected from the Resolutions of all the Judges in the case of Watson and Clark Seminary Priests who with others Hill An. 1 Jac. Cok. Pl. Coron 7. entered into Treason against King James before his coronation So King Henry the sixth was not crowned untill the eighth year of his Raign and yet several men before his Coronation were Attaint of Treason and Felony as by the Records thereof it doth appear The Reasons and causes wherefore by the Policy of the Law the King of England is thus a Body Politick are three viz. First Causa Masestatis The King cannot give or take Calvin's Case fo
matters into his care and cognisans He call'd Synods and Councils and ratified their Canons into Laws He routed the Conventicles of the Donatists made Edicts concerning Festivals the Rites of Sepulture the immunities of Churches the Authority of Bishops the Priviledges of the Clergy with divers other things relating to the outward Politie of the Church In which affair he was carefully followed by his Successors as evidently may appear to all conversant in the Civil Law And the aforesaid Stephen Gardiner in that his notable Oration of true Obedience makes instance in the Roman Emperour Justinian who with the approbation of all the world at that time set forth those Laws of the most Blessed Trinity the Catholique Faith Justiniani factum qui leges edidit de Trinitate de fide Catholica c. Steph. Wint. Orat. fo 19. of Bishops and Clergy-men and the like The like also appears by the most famous Partidas set forth by Ferdinando the Saint and his Son Alphonso for the antient Kingdoms of Castile Toledo Leon and others of Spain celebrated in the Spanish Histories Correspondent to which also hath bin the practice of the Kingdom of France Lew. Turquet Hist of Spain whose Kings have ever been esteemed in some sence the Heads of their Church and this is the reason that the opening their most ancient Councils under the first and second the Merovingian and Caroline line was ever by the power and authority and sometimes the presidency of their Kings and Princes It being a noted saying in one of their Councils Câ—ncil Parisienâ— 6. lib. 2. cap. 2. Cognoscant Principes Seculi se Deo debere rationem propter Ecclesiam quam à Deo tuendam accipiunt And according to this Doctrine C d. Lâ—g Antiq Gall. fâ— 827. Lâ—ndenbrog for matters of Church or State of Charls the Great Ludovicus Pius Lewis le Gros Pepin and others collected by the French Antiquaries And at this day generally amongst the Lawyers and most learned of the French Nation it is held and declared Vid. le Reâ—â—w de le Council de Trent Boreâ— lib. 4. de Decret Eccl. Gall. That the Bishop of Rome was anciently the First and chiefest Bishop according to the dignity of of Precedency and order not by any Divine institution but because Rome was the chief City of the Empire That he obtained this Primacy over the Western Church by the grace and gift of Pepin Charls the Great and other Kings of France And that he hath no power to dispose of temporal things That it belongs to Christian Kings and Princes to call Ecclesiastical Synods to establish their Decrees to make wholesome Laws for the government of the Church and to punish and reform abuses therein That the Laws whereby their Church is to be governed are only the Canons of the more ancient Councils and their own National Constitutions and not the Extravagants and Decretals of the Bishop or Court of Rome That the Council of Constance assembled by Sigismund the Emperour with a concurrent consent of other Christian Princes Decreeing a General Synod or Council to be Superior to the Pope and correcting many abuses in the Roman Church which yet remain in practice was a true Oecumenical Council as also was the Council of Basil That the Assembly of Trent was no lawful Council and the Canons thereof rather to be esteemed the Decrees of the Popes who call'd and continued it than the Decrees of the Council it self and that in regard the number of Bishops there met was but small bearing no proportion to the import of a General Council as also the greatest part of those present were Italian and Vassals to the Pope and nothing there resolved on but what was before determined at Rome which then occasion'd this infamous by-word That the Holy Ghost was carryed in Cloak-bags every Post from Rome to Trent That the Sacrament of the Lords Supper ought to be administred under both kinds and that at the least a great part of Divine Service ought to be performed in the vulgar Tongue Thus far the French and Many the like instances might here be added to the same purpose but yet under favour all Crowns Imperial must give place in regard of this one Flower or Jewel of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction to the Crown of England For as the first Christian King that ever the world saw is recorded to have been of this Island the renowned Lucius so is he intimated to be the first that ever exercised Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction being directed thereunto by Pope Eleutherius Vâ—d Eleuth Epist to fetch his Laws by the advice of his Council out of the Old and New Testament and by the same to Govern his Kingdom wherein he was God's Vicar According to which advice the Brittish Saxon Danish and first Kings of the Normans have governed their Churches and Church-men as may appear by the Laws by them for that purpose made Archaionem Analect Angl. Brit. li. 1 2. Hist Cambr. fo 59. Jo. Brompton c. and lately exhibited to the publick by Mr. Lambard Mr. Selden Dr. Powell and others Neither can any Ecclesiastical Canons for Government of the English Church be produced till long after the conquest which were not either originally promulged or afterwards allowed either by the Monarch or some King of the Heptarchy sitting or directing in the National or Provincial Synod Nay in the after usurping times there is to be seen the Transcript of a Record An. Manus Chronic Abb. de Bello Vide the like Charter of exemption to the Abbot of Abbindon by Kâ—nulphus in Stanf. pl. Cor. l. 2. fo 111. b. 1 Hen. 7. fo 23 25. 3 Hen. 2. wherein when the Bishop of Chichester opposed some Canons against the Kings exemption of the Abby of Battel from Episcopal Jurisdiction the King in anger replyed Tu pro Papae authoritate ab hominibus concessa contra dignitatum Regalium authoritates mihi à Deo concessas calliditate arguta niti praecogitas Dost thou go about by subtilty of Wit to oppose the Pope's authority granted by the connivence of men against the authority of my Regal Dignity given by God himself And thereupon requires reason and justice against the Bishop for his insolence And thus it is most easily demonstrable that the Kings of England have had these Flowers of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction planted in the Imperial Crown of this Realm even from the very beginning of the Christian Monarchy in this Island where we hope they have now taken such root that neither any Fanatick whispers at home nor the roaring of any Romish Bulls from abroad will ever be able to shake or blast the same And from hence was the Resolution of our Judges mentioned before in the Case of Cawary Cook 5. Rep. De Jure Reg. Eccl. that the said Statute made in the first year of the Queen concerning Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction was not introductory of a new Law but Declaratory of the old which appears
3. Cap. 1 2. Stat. 38 Ed. 3. Cap. 3. Stat. Statutes of Pâ—ovâ—sors and Preminire 16 Ric. 2. Cap. 5. Stat. 2 Hen. 4. Cap. 3. Stat. 6 Hen. 4. Cap. 1. Stat. 7 Hen. 7. Cap. 6. Stat. 3 Hen. 5. Cap. 4. Stat. 1 Hen. 7. Cap. 4. Stat. 24 Hen. 8. Cap. 12. Stat. 25 Hen. 8. Cap. 21. Stat. 1 Eliz. Cap. 1. c. By all which with the foregoing Resolutions and Presidents to which a multitude more to the same purpose might be added it doth appear clearly that long before the time of King Hen. 8. divers Statutes and Laws were made and declared against forrain incroachments upon the Rights of the Crown in this matter and those as sharp and severe as any Statutes for that purpose have been made in later times though then both King Lords and Commons that made those Laws and the Judges that did interpret them did for the most part follow the same Opinions in Religion which were held and taught in the Church of Rome And therefore those that will lay upon this Nation the imputation of Schism for denying the Pope's Supremacy here Vid. Case de Premunire in St. John Davys Rep. must charge it many Ages before the time of King Henry the eighth For the Kings Lords and Commons of this Realm have ever been most eminent for asserting their just Rights and Liberties disdaining to become a Tributary Province as it were to the See of Rome or part of St. Peter's earthly Patrimony in Demesn And the Faith and Loyalty of the English race hath bin generally such though true it is that every Age hath brought forth some singular monsters of disloyalty as no pretence of zeal or Religion could ever draw the greater part of the Subjects for to submit themselves to a forrain Yoke no not when Popery was in greatest height and exaltation of all which the aforesaid Statutes are manifest Evidences being generally made at the Prayer of the Commons as by their Preambles may appear most worthy to be read Particularly in the Preamble to the Statute of 16 Ric. 2. They complain Sta. 16 Ric. 2. cap. 5. That by Bulls and Processes from Rome the King is deprived of that Jurisdiction which belongs of right to his Imperial Crown That the King doth lose the service and Counsel of his Prelates and learned men by translations made by the Bishop of Rome That the King's Laws are defeated at his will the Treasure of the Realm is exhausted and exported to inrich his Court And that by those means the Crown of England which hath ever bin free and subject unto none but immediately unto God should be submitted unto the Bishop of Rome to the utter destruction of the King and the whole Realm which God defend say they and thereupon out of their zeal and loyalty they offer to live and dye with the King in defence of the liberties of the Crown And then they pray the King to examine all the Lords in Parliament what they thought of these wrongs and usurpations and whether they would stand with the King in defence of his Royal liberties which being done the Lords Spiritual and Temporal did all answer that these usurpations of the Bishop of Rome were against the liberties of the Crown and that they were all bound by their Allegiance to stand with the King and to maintain his Honour and Prerogative Upon producing and averrement of all this it is requisite some satisfaction be given about the conclusion that hapned so different to these premises For if the Kings and People of England have in all times been so sensible of and zealous for their just Rights how could the Roman Power in derogation of those Rights arrive to such a consistence and height as here it was for many years To this as to the means and manner of that acquist to keep within our Historical compass First let it be premised as undoubtedly true That before the time of the Norman Conquest the Bishops of Rome had very little or nothing to do here as well in matter of Fact as of Right For before that time the Pope's Writ did not run in England His Bulls of Excommunication and Provision came not hither no Citations or Appeals were made from hence to the Court of Rome Our Archbishops did not purchase their Palls there Neither had the Pope the Investiture of any of our Bishopricks And Ingulphus who lived in the Conquerours time a Favourite and one preferred by him thus informs Ingulph Hist fo 901. A multis namque annis retroactis nulla Electio Praelatorum erat libera mere Canonica sed omnes dignitates tam Episcoporum quam Abbatum per annulum baculum regis curia pro sua Complacentia conferebat For as it is observable that under the Temporal Empire of Rome Brittain was one of the last Provinces that was won and one of the first that was lost again So under the Spiritual Empire of the Pope England was one of the last Countrys of Christendom that received the Yoke and one of the first that cast it off But for our purpose that the Bishops of Rome had any Jurisdiction or Hierarchical Authority in the times of the Brittains Saxons or Danes there is an altum silentium in all our Histories and Records For the times of the Brittains Eleuth Epist Eleutherius Pope about 180 years after Christ writes to Lucius the Brittish King and stiles him God's Vicar within his own Kingdom and sure he would not have given that Title to the King if himself under pretence of being God's Vicar-General on Earth had claimed Jurisdiction over all Christian Kingdoms After that Beda Eccl. Hist Matt. Westm Polychron Fab. Huntingd. c. about the year 600. Austin the Monk was sent by Pope Gregory into England to convert the Saxons to the Christian Faith But the Brittish Bishops then residing in Wales gave no regard either to his Commission or his Doctrines as not owing any duty to or dependence upon Rome but still retained their Ceremonies and Traditions which they received from the East Church upon the first plantation of Christianity being both divers and contrary to those of the Church of Rome which Austin did indeavour to impose upon them Usser de Prim. Eccl. Brit. Then about the year 660 there is a famous disputation celebrated between one Colman and one Wilfrid touching the Observation of Easter wherein the Brittains differed from the practice of the Roman Church from which is plainly inferrable that the Authority of the Bishop of Rome was at that time of no estimation in this Island And that the Primitive Churches of Brittain were instituted according to the form of the East and not of the West Church Nay upon the first coming of Austin and his retinue into Brittain there was such a strangness and averseness to him that one Daganus a British Beda Eccl. Hist lib. 2. cap. 4 Spelm. Concil Tom. 1. fo 129.
Romanum Episcopum majorem aliquam Jurisdictionem non habere sibi à Deo collatam in Sacra Scriptura in hoc regno Angliae quam alium quemvis Externum Episcopum Conformable to which was also the Resolution of all the English Clergy Upon which and presently after King Hen. 8. was by Parliament agnized Supream Head of the Church in these his Dominions Stat 26 Hen. 8 cap. 1. whereby it was also Enacted and Declared That the King his Heirs and Successors Kings of England should have and enjoy united and annexed to the Imperial Crown of this his Realm as well the Title and Stile thereof as all Honours Dignities Jurisdictions c. to the said Dignity of Supream Head of the Church of England belonging or appertaining with full power and authority to visit redress reform order correct restrain and amend all errours heresies abuses c. which Act Io. Hâ—rb Hist of Hen. 8 fo 380. though much to the support of the Regal Authority seem'd not suddenly to be approv'd by the King nor before he had consulted with his Council who shewed him many precedents of Kings of England that had used this power and with his Bishops who having fully discussed the point in their Convocations Declared That the Pope had no Jurisdiction in this Kingdom warranted by Gods word suitable to what was Declared by the Universities Colledges and Religious Houses with learned men of all sorts maintaining it necessary that such a power should be extant in the Realm for the Peace good Order and Government of the same the Reasons and Arguments of all which were couched in a Book of the King 's about that time published De vera differentiae Regiae Ecclesiasticae potestatis whence also the Learned Bishop Andrews in his Tortura Torti seems to have drawn diver assertions of the Regal Authority to which the Reader is referred A practice this I mean of consulting the Clergy and the Learned in a case of so great an import agreeable to former Presidents Tho. Walsing in An 1408. fo 420. as I find in Tho. Walsingham In concilio cleri celebrato Londoniis assistentibus Doctoribus Vniversitatum Cantabrigiae Oxoniae tractatum est de censu obedientia Papae subtrahendis vel non subtrahendis And as King Hen. 2. Rog. Hoveden in Hen. 2. pa. prior professed he would proceed in the great cause depending between him and his Archbishop Becket Now when King Hen. 8. was by Parliament agnized Supream Head of the Church within his own Dominions and by him for the reasons aforesaid owned and accepted what they meant by this may well enough be collected from the premises and from that notable Oration of Stephen Gardiner of True Obedience before mentioned which Title he neither took nor the Parliament gave in other sence than the French have always attributed it to their Princes and what the Royal Ancestors of King Hen. 8. Spelm. Conc. 437. Seld. ad Eadm 1â—5 â—â—g Edvard c. himself assumed under the Homonymous names of Tutors Protectors Governours Domini Christi Vicarii Agricolae c. and the like And this is the Supremacy which the Kings of England have always claimed and exercised within their own Dominions with the temporary obstructions above mentioned that is in Soveraign way to Rule and Govern all their Subjects of what degree and quality soever to call their own Clergy and Church-men together and with their advice to see the Church reformed and by Act of Parliament to have all Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction restored and united to the Crown as in the First year of Q. Eliz. was done inlarged on before And here it will not be unnecessary to observe and know how that Restitution was resented by the Queen's Subjects at that time And for that observe and observable it was the general complyance and complacence of the People in it as also that from the First until the Eleventh year of that Queen's raign Cokâ— 5 Rep. de ure Reg. Eâ—câ—esiastico fo 35. no person of what perswasion of Christian Religion soever at any time refused to come to the Publick Divine Service celebrated in the Church of England and established by publick Authority within this Realm until the Bull of Pope Pius Quintus in the Eleventh year of her Majesties Raign came out against her whereby he deprived her of all her Right Authority Dignity and Priviledge in or unto these her Realms and Dominions and absolved all her Subjects of their Allegiance After this Bull it was that those who regarded the Pope's power or threats more than their Prince's just Authority or their own Allegiance refused to come to Church and from that occasion first acquired the stile of Recusants Vid. Camb. Annal. This gave rise also to a multitude of treasonable practices and conspiracies against the Queens life taken up also against King James Vid. Arth. Crohagans case in Crook 1. Rep. continued against our late Soveraign King Charls the First and still fermenting to break forth upon all opportunities to promote the Catholick cause and all abetted by the traitorous Doctrine of King-killing justified and proclaimed to the World by Bellarmin Co licenzâ— con priviâ—egio Baronius Mariana Emanuel Sa Allen Creswell and others both Natives and Strangers the consequence whereof was this That though Treason was always in the intention yet God be praised nothing hath yet been brought to Execution but the Traitors In this affair St. Jo. Davys D sc of Ireland fo 242. I find a memorable Observation of a grave Statesman That in the Indentures of submission of the Irish to King Hen. 8. all the Irish Lords did acknowledge him to be their Soveraign Lord and King and owned his Supremacy in all causes utterly renouncing the Pope's Jurisdiction most worthy of note says he in that when the Irish had once resolved to obey the King they made no scruple to renounce the Pope Besides these which have been experienc'd in our own Country infinite have been the mischiefs occasion'd in the World upon this score of Supremacy and Dominion and that by the mighty strugling and bickerings that have been maintained between the Papacy and the Princes of the Earth about the gaining and keeping this Power Besides the general Observations that a great means of the growth of the Turkish Empire to it s now formidable stature hath been the Wars and disturbances wrought upon this ground amongst the Christians themselves Also the decay and corruption of sincere piety and devotion by the turning the current of Religion out of its pure primitive channel into the sink of disputes and controversies about the Rights and Bounds of Dominion when Christ himself hath told us That his Kingdom is not of this world This caused Divine Religion to degenerate into Humane Policy and upon this it was that Machiavel too truly observed Mach. Disc on Tit. Liv. lib. 1. cap. 12. That there was now here less Piety