gross Credulity to believe him contrary to the Authentick History and more undoubted practises of those Times we read saith the Primate of many Legates but certainly they were either no Papal Legates or Papal Legates in those days were but ordinary Messengers and pretended not to any Legantine Power as it is now understood for we read so much as any one act of Jurisdiction done by them and firmly conclude thence that there Pall. was none But R. C. saith St. Sampson had a Pall from Obj. Rome He had a Pall but t is not proved that he had Sol. it from Rome 't is Certain Arch-Bishops and Patriachs in the Primitive times had Palls which they received not from Rome Besides if he did receive that Pall from Rome in all probability it was after the first six Irin Cam. p. 1. c. 1. hundred years If either according to Cambrensis he was the five and twentieth Arch-Bishop after St. David or according to Hoveden the R. Hoved. an 1199. four and twentieth and then 't is nothing to our present question St. Gregory granted to Austin the use of the Pall saith R. C. the proper badg and sign of Obj. Pall. Archiepiscopal dignity and gave him liberty to ordain twelve Bishops under his jurisdiction as Arch-Bishop of Canterbury This was done at the end of the first six hundred years and therefore not to our present Sol. question However if the Pagan Saxons had destroyed Christianity among the Brittains as they say it was very Christianly done of St. Gregory to send Augustine to convert and re-establish the Church among them but none can imagine that by receiving Augustine and his Bishops they intended to submit themselves and Posterity to the See of Rome which when pressed before the Brittains so unanimously rejected Neither indeed could they do it to the prejudice of the ancient Primacy of the Brittains existing long before and confirmed in its independency upon any foreign power For Bede himself as well as all our own Historians makes it most evident that the Brittains had Bishops long before We find the subscriptions of three of them to the first Council of Arles Eborius of York Restitutus of London and Adelfius de Civitate Coloniae Lond. and from the presence of some of them at the Sardican Synod and the Council of Ariminum as appears by Athanasius and others and that they had also an Arch-Bishop or Primate whose ancient seat had been at Caerleon who rejected the Papacy then possessing and defending the priviledge of their freedom from any foreign Jurisdiction This their priviledge was secured to them both by the Nicene Calcedonian and Ephesian Councils Contrary to these Councils if the Pope did intend to give Augustine the primacy over the Brittains it was a plain usurpation Certainly the priviledges of the Brittannick Church returned with its Christianity neither could Gregory dispose of them to Austin or he to Gregory Besides Lastly 't is not possible any sober man can imagine that that humble and holy Pope St. Gregory who so much detested if in earnest the very Title of Vniversal Bishop should actually invade the priviledge of the Brittains and If in earnest hazard his own Salvation in his own Judgment when he so charitably designed the Conversion of England by sending Austin hither T. C. saith it appears that Brittain was anciently Obj. subject to the See of Rome For Wilfred Arch-Bishop of York appealed to Rome twice Wilfred and was twice restored to his Bishoprick An 673. We see when this was done Seventy and three Sol. An. 673. years after the first six hundred He appealed indeed but was still rejected notwithstanding the sentence of Rome in his favour for six years together during the Reigns of King Egbert and Alfrid his Son so far is this instance from being a proof of the Popes possession here at that time Yet this is the most famous saith my Lord Bramhall I had almost said the only Appellant from England to Rome that we read of before the Conquest Moreover the Answer of King Alfred to the Alfred spel conc an 705. Popes Nuncio sent hither by the Pope on purpose is very remarkable He told him he honoured them as his Parents for their grave lives and honourable Aspects but he could not give any assent to their Legation because it was against reason that a Person twice Condemned by the whole Council of the English should be restored upon the Popes Letter At this time it is apparent neither the Kings of England nor the Councils of English Church-men as my Lord Bramhall expresseth it two Kings successively and the great Councils of the Kingdom and the other Arch-Bishop Theodore with all the prime Ecclesiasticks and the Flower of the English Clergy opposing so many Sentences and Messages from Rome did believe that England was under the Jurisdiction of Rome or ought to be so Yea the King and the Church after Alfred's After Alfred death still made good this Conclusion that it was against Reason that a person twice condemned by the whole Council of the English should be restored upon the Popes Bull. Malmsbury would suggest that the King and the Arch-Bishop Theodore were smitten with remorse before their deaths for the injury done to Wilfred c. But not the King only but the whole Council not Theodore alone but the whole Clergy opposed the Popes Letter which is enough both to render the dream of Malmsbury a ridiculous Fable and for ever to confirm this truth that England was not then viz. in the six hundred seventy and third Year of Christ under the Jurisdiction of the Pope either actually or in the belief of the Church or Kingdom of England The Latter viz. the non-possession of out belief of the Popes universal Jurisdiction which is so much insisted upon by the Romanists will yet more evidently appear by that which followeth SECT II. No Possession of our Belief ancient VVE have found the Brittains by the good Abbot and two several Synods Not in England we have found the State of England in three successive Kings their great Councils and body of the Clergy refused to yield Obedience both to the Popes Persuasions Injunctions Sentences and Legates Therefore it seems impossible that Brittain or England should then believe either the Popes Infallibility or their obligation to his Jurisdiction or that there was any such thing as the Tradition of either delivered to them by their Ancestors or believed among them Indeed by this one Argument those four great Characters of the Papacy are deleted and blotted out for ever viz. Possession Tradition Infallibility and Antiquity I shall add the practice and belief of Scotland Nor in Scotland too that other great part of our Kings dominions When the Popes Legate more than Math. Par. in H. 3. an 1238. twice six hundred years after Christ viz. about 1238. entred Scotland to visit the Churches there Alexander
Innovations and Tyranny are the Fruits of his Pride Ambition and Perjury but if possible the guilt is made more Scarlet by his Cruelty to Souls intended by his formal Courses of Excommunications against all that own not his usurped Authority viz. the Primitive Churches the 8 first general Councils all the Fathers of the Latine and Greek Churches for many hundred years the greater part of the present Catholick Church and even the Apostles of Christ and our Lord himself The Sum of the whole matter A touch of another Treatise The material Cause of Separation THe Sum of our defence is this If the Pope have no Right to Govern the Church of England as our Apostle or Patriarch or as Infallible if his Supremacy over us was never grounded in but ever renounced by our Laws and Customs and the very constitution of the Kingdom If his Supremacy be neither of Civil Ecclesiastical or Divine Right if it be disowned by the Scriptures and Fathers and condemned by the Ancient Councils the Essential Profession of the present Roman Church and the solemn Oaths of the Bishops of Rome themselves If I say all be certainly so as hath appeared what reason remains for the necessity of the Church of England's re-admission of or submission to the Papal Authority usurped contrary to all this Or what reason is left to charge us with Schism for rejecting it But it remains to be shewn that as the claim of the Popes Authority in England cannot be allowed so there is cause enough otherwise of our denial of obedience actually to it from Reasons inherent in the Vsurpation it self and the Nature of many things required by his Laws This is the second Branch of our defence proposed at first to be the Subject of another Treatise For who can think it necessary to communicate with Error Heresie Schism Infidelity and Apostacy to conspire in damning the Primitive Church the Ancient Fathers General Councils and the better and greater part of the Christian World at this day or willingly at least to return to the infinite Superstitions and Idolatries which we have escaped and from which our blessed Ancestors through the infinite mercy and providence of God wonderfully delivered us Yet these horrid things cannot be avoided if we shall again submit our selves and enslave our Nation to the pretended Powers and Laws of Rome from which Libera nos Domine THE POSTSCRIPT Objections touching the First General Councils and our Arguments from them answered more fully SECT I. The Argument from Councils drawn up and Conclusive of the Fathers and the Cath. Church IN this Treatise I have considered the Canons of the ancient Councils two ways as Evidence and Law As Evidence they give us the undoubted sence and Faith both of the Catholick Church and of single Fathers in those times and nothing can be said against that As Law we have plainly found that none of them confer the Supremacy pleaded for but every one of them in special Canons condemn it Now this latter is so great a proof of the former that it admits of no possible reply except Circumstances on the by shall be set in opposition and contradiction to the plain Text in the body of the Law And if neither the Church nor single Fathers had any such faith of the Popes Supremacy during the first General Councils then neither did they believe it from the Beginning For if it had been the Faith of the Church before the Councils would not have rejected it and indeed the very form and method of proceeding in those Ancient Councils is sufficient Evidence that it was not However why is it not shewn by some colour of Argument at least that the Church did believe the Popes Supremacy before the time of those Councils why do we not hear of some one single Father that declared so much before the Council of Nice or rather before the Canons of the Apostles Or why is there no notice taken of such a Right or so much as Pretence in the Pope either by those Canons or one single Father before that time Indeed our Authors find very shrewd Evidence of the contrary Why saith Casaubon was Dionysins so utterly Dionysins silent as to the Vniversal Head of the Church Reigning at Rome if at that time there had been any such Monarch there Especially seeing he professedly wrote of the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy and Government Exerc. 16. in Bar. an 34. Nu. 2â—0 The like is observable in Ignatius the most Ignatius Epist ad Tral Ancient Martyr and Bishop of Antioch who in his Epistles frequently sets forth the Order Ecclesiastical and dignity of Bishops upon sundry occasions but never mentions the Monarchy of St. Peter or the Roman Pope Ibid. he writing to the Church of Trallis to obey Bishops as Apostles instanceth equally in Timothy St. Paul's Scholar as in Anacletus Successor to St. Peter The Prudence and Fidelity of these two prime Fathers are much stained if there were then an Vniversal Bishop over the whole Church that professedly writing of the Ecclesiastical Order they St. Paul should so neglect him as not to mention Obedience due to him and indeed of St. Paul himself who gives us an enumeration of the Primitive Ministry on set purpose both in the ordinary and extraordinary kinds of it viz. Some Apostles some Prophets some Evangelists some Pastors and Teachers and takes no notice of the Vniversal Bishop but we hence conclude rather there was no such thing For who would give an account of the Government of a City Army or Kingdom and say nothing of the Mayor General or Prince This surpasseth the fancy of Prejudice it self Irenaeus is too ancient for the Infallible Chair Ireneus lib. 2. c. 3. p. 140 141. and therefore refers us in the point of Tradition as well to Polycarp in the East as to Linus Bishop of Rome in the West Tertullian adviseth to consult the Mother-Churches Tertullian praescr p. 76. immediately founded by the Apostles and names Ephesus and Corinth as well as Rome and Polycarpus ordained by St. John as well as Clemens by Peter Upon which their own Renanus notes that Tertullian doth not confine the Catholick and Apostolick Church to one place for which freedom of Truth the Judex expurgatorius corrected him but Tertullian is Tertullian still These things cannot consist either with their own knowledge of an Vniversal Bishop or the Churches at that time therefore the Church of Egypt held the Catholick Faith with the chief-Priests naming Anatolinus of Constant Basil of Antioch Juvenal of Jerusalem as well as Leo Bishop of Rome Bin. To. inter Epist illust person 147. And it is decreed saith the Church of Carthage we consult our Brethren Syricius Bishop of Rome and Simplicius Bishop of Milain Concil Carth. 3. c. 48. The like we have observed out of Origen Clemens Alex. Cyprian c. before Hence it follows that the Church and the Fathers before the Councils had no knowledge of the Popes Supremacy and we have
must differ with a particular Church in Doctrine wherein She departs from the Catholick Faith but here we must take care not only of Schism but Damnation it self as Athanasius warns us Every one should therefore endeavour to satisfie himself in this great Question What is Truth or the true Catholick Faith To say presently that it is the Doctrine of the Roman Church is to beg a very great Question that cannot easily be given I should think Athanasius is more in the right when he saith this is the Catholick Faith c. in my opinion they must stretch mightily that can believe that the Catholick Faith without which no man can be saved and therefore which every man ought to understand takes in all the Doctrines of the Council of Trent Till the contrary be made evident I shall affirm after many great and learned men that he that believes the Scriptures in general and as they are interpreted by rhe Eathers of the Primitive Church the three known Creeds and the four first general Councils and knows and declares himself prepared to receive any further Truth that he yet knows not when made appear to be so from Reason Scripture or Just Tradition cannot justly be charged with Schism from the Catholick Faith Methinks those that glory in the Old Religion should be of this mind and indeed in all reason they ought to be so unless they can shew an Older and better means of knowing the Catholick Faith than this what is controverted about it we shall find hereafter in its due place In the mean time give me leave to Note that our more Learned and Moderate Adversaries do acquit such a man or Church both from Heresie and Schism and indeed come a great deal nearer to us in putting the issue of the Controversie very fairly upon this unquestionable Point They who first Separated themselves Mr. Knot in fid unm c. 7. s 112. p. 534. from the Primitive pure Church and brought in Corruptions in Faith Practise Lyturgy and use of Sacraments may truly be said to have been Hereticks by departing from the pure Faith and Schismaticks by dividing themselves from the external Communion of the true uncorrupted Church 2. Object Worship A second band of external Communion is 2 Worship Publick Worship in which Separation from the Church is notorious But here Publick Worship must be understood only so far as it is a bond of Communion and no farther otherwise there is no breach of Communion though there be difference in Worship and consequently no Schism This will appear more plainly if we distinguish of Worship in its Essentials or Substantials and its Modes Circumstances Rites and Ceremonies 'T is well argued by the Bishop of Calcedon that none may Separate from the Catholick Church or indeed from any particular in the Essentials or Substantial Parts of Worship for these are God's ordinary means of conveying his Grace for our Salvation and by these the whole Church is knit together as Christ's visible body for Divine Worship But what are these Essentials of Worship Surely nothing else but the Divine Ordinances whether moral or positive as abstracted from all particular Modes not determined in the Word of God Such as Prayer the reading the Holy Canon interpreting the same and the Sacraments therefore that Church that worships God in these Essentials of Worship cannot be charged in this particular with Schism or dividing from the Catholick Church Aud as for the Modes and particular Rites of Worship until one Publick Liturgy and Rubrick be produced and proved to be the Rule of the Catholick Church if not imposed by it there is no such bond of Union in the Circumstantial Worship in the Catholick Church and consequently no Schism in this respect Much less may one particular Church claim from another par in parem non habet imperium exact Communion in all Rites and Ceremonies or for want thereof to cry out presently Schism Schism Indeed our Roman Adversaries do directly and plainly assert that about Rites and Ceremonies the guilt of Schism is not concerned and that particular Churches may differ from one another therein without breach of Communion Though for a Member of a particular Church to forsake the Communion of his own Church in the Essentials of Worship meerly out of dislike of some particular innocent Rites seems to deserve a greater Censure But the Roman Recusants in England have a greater difficulty upon them to excuse their total Separation from us in the Substantials of our Worship at which they can pretend to take no offence and wherein they held actual Communion with us many years together at the beginning of Queen Eliz. Reign against the Law of Cohabitation observed in the Scripture where a City and a Church were commensurate contrary to the Order as one well observes which the Ancient Church took for preserving Vnity and excluding Schism by no means suffering such disobedience or division of the Members of any National Church where that Church did not divide it self from the Catholick And lastly contrary to the Common right of Government both of our Civil and Ecclesiastical Rulers and the Conscience of Laws both of Church and State But their pretence is Obedience to the Pope which leads us to consider the third great bond of Communion Government 3. Object Government Thirdly The last bond of Ecclesiastical external Government Communion is that of Government that is so far as it is lawful in it self and exerted in its Publick Laws This Government can have no influence from one National Church to another as such because so far they are equal par in parem but must be yielded by all Members of particular Churches whether National Provincial or truly Patriarchal to their proper Governours in all lawful things juridically required otherwise the guilt of Schism is contracted But for the Government of the Catholick we cannot find it wholly in any one particular Church without gross Vsurpation as is the plain sence of the Ancient Church indeed it is partly found in every Church it was at first diffused by our Vniversal Pastor and Common Lord into the hands of all the Apostles and for ought hath yet appeared still lies abroad among all the Pastors and Bishops of particular Churches under the power protection and assistance of Civil Authority Except when they are collected by just power and legal Rules into Synods or Councils whether Provincial National or General here indeed rests the weight of the Controversie but I doubt not it will at last be found to make its way against all contradiction from our Adversaries In the mean time we do conclude while we profess and yield all due obedience to our proper Pastors Bishops and Governours when there are no Councils sitting and to all free Councils wherein we are concerned lawfully convened we cannot be justly charged wiih Schism from the Government of the Catholick Church though we stiffly deny obedience to a Forreign Jurisdiction
as universal Pastor But we leave these advantages to give the argument its full liberty and we shall soon see either its Arms or its Heels The Argument must run thus If the Bishop of Rome was the means of the English Churches Conversion then the English Church oweth obedience to him and his Successors We deny both propositions The Minor that the Pope was the means of our first Conversion and the consequence of the Major that if he had been so it would not follow that we now owe obedience to that See For the Minor Bishop Jewel knock'd it down so perfectly at first it was never able to stand since he saith it is certain the Church of Britain We were converted 9 years before Rome Baron An. 35. n. 5. Marg. An. 39. n. 23. Suarez c. 1. 1 Contr. Angl. Eccl. Error now called England received not first the Faith from Rome The Romanists proof is his bare assertion that Eleutherius the Pope was the first Apostle of the Britains and preached the Faith here by Damianus and Fugatius within little more than an hundred years after Christs death Bishop Jewel answers that King Lucius was baptized near 150 years before the Emperor Constantine and the same Constantine the first Christian Emperor was born in this Island and the Faith had been planted here long before either by Joseph of Arimathea or Simon Zelotes or the Greeks or some others which is plain because the King being Christian before requested Pope Eleutherius to send hither those Persons Damianus and Fugatius to Reform the Bishops and Clergy which were here before and to put things into better Order They also urged that as Pope Elutherius in Britain So Saint Gregory in England first planted the Faith by Austin But Bishop Jewel at first dashed this Argument out of Countenance plainly proving out An. 210. An. 212. An. 334. An. 360. An. 400. An. 367. of Tertullian Origen Athanasius Const Emp. Chrisost Theod. that the Faith was planted in England long before Austin's coming hither See his Defence of his Apol. p. 11. Some would reply that the Faith was utterly rooted out again upon the Invasion of Heathen English 't was not so saith he for Lib. 1. c. 26. lib. 2. c. 2. Beda saith that the Queen of England was christened and that there were then in this Realm Seven Bishops and one Arch-Bishop with other more great Learned Christian men and Galfridus saith there were then in England Seven Lib. 82. 24. Bishopricks and one Arch Bishoprick possessed with very many godly Prelates and many Abbies in which the Lord's People held the Right Religion Yet we gratefully acknowledge that Saint Gregory was a special Instrument of God for the further spreading and establishing the Gospel in England and that both Elutherius and this Gregory seem to have been very good men and great Examples both of Piety and Charity to all their Successors in that See and indeed of a truly Apostolical spirit and care though not of Authority but if all History deceive us not that Austin the Monk was far enough from being Saint Augustine But what if it had been otherwise and we The Consequence were indeed first converted by the means of these Popes will it therefore follow that we ought for ever to be subject to the Papacy This is certainly a Non-sequitur only fit to be imposed upon easie and prepared Understandings it can never bear the stress and brunt of a severe Disputation and indeed the Roman Adversaries do more than seem to acknowledge as much However the great Arch-Bishop and Primate of Armach hath slurred that silly Consequence Bramhall with such Arguments as find no answer I refer the Reader if need be to his Just Vindication p. 131 132. Where he hath proved beyond dispute that Conversion gives no Title of Jurisdiction and more especially to the prejudice of a former Owner dispossessed by violence or to the subjecting of a free Nation to a Forreign Prelate without or beyond their own consent Besides in more probability the Britains were first converted by the Eastern Church as appeared by our Ancient Customs yet never were subject to any Eastern Patriarch And sundry of our English and Brittish Bishops have converted Forreign Nations yet never pretended thence to any Jurisdiction over them Lastly what ever Title Saint Gregory might acquire by his deserts from us was meerly Personal and could not descend to his Successors But no more of this for fear of the scoffing rebukes of such as S. W. who together with the Catholick Gentleman do plainly renounce this Plea asking Doctor Hammond with some shew of Scorn what Catholick Author ever affirmed it There is no doubt though some other Romanists have insisted upon this Argument of Conversion some reason why these should think fit to lay it aside and we have no reason to keep it up having otherwise work enough upon our hands An end therefore of this first Plea CHAP. IV. Of the Pope's supposed Claim as Patriarch THis Point admits likewise of a quick dispatch by four Propositions and the rather for a reason you will find in the close of our Discourse upon the last of them PROP. I. The Pope was anciently reputed the Western Patriarch Pope a Patriarch To this Dignity he proceeded by degrees the Apostles left no Rule for a Forreigu jurisdiction from one Nation to another But according to the 33 Cannon of the Apostles if they were indeed theirs it behoved the Bishops of every Nation to know him who is their first or Primate and to esteem him as their Head The Adventitious Grandeur which the Ancient Patriarchs afterwards obtained is judged to arise three ways by the Canons of the Fathers the Edicts of Princes or Ancient Custom Upon the last ground viz. of Custom the C. Nice c. 6. Council of Nice setled the Privileges of those three Famous Patriarchal Sees Rome Alexandria and Antioch Saying let Ancient Custom prevail which Custom proceeded from the honour such Churches had as being founded by the Apostles if not rather from the Eminency of the Cities Therefore the Council of Calcedon gives this as a reason of the greatness of the Sees of Rome and Constantinople because they were the Seats of the Emperours PROP. II. The Pope as Patriarch had but a limited Jurisdiction Limited Jurisd 1. A Patriarchate as such is limited especially if the Title restrain it to the West for East North and South are not the West in the same respect 2. It is further evident from the first Number of Patriarchs for if there were more than one of the same Dignity and Jurisdiction they must be threfore limited for a Patriarch as such could have no Jurisdiction over a Patriarch as such for so they were equal par in parem non c. 3. But indeed the first time we hear of three and then of five Patriarchs at once viz. Five Patriarchs of Rome
kind ought to begin ne◠Christs Time and he that hath begun it later unless he can Evidence that he was driven out from an Ancient Possession is not to be stiled a Possessor but an Vsurper an Intruder an Invader Disobedient Rebellious and Schismatical Good Night S. W. Quod ab initio fuit invalidum tractu temporis non Convalescit is a Rule in the Civil Law Yea whatever Possession the Pope got afterwards was not only an illegal Vsurpation but a manifest Violation of the Canon of Ephesus and thereby Condemned as Schismatical CHAP. VII The Pope had not full Possession here before Hen. 8. 1. Not in Augustine's Time II. Nor After 'T Is boldly pleaded that the Pope had Possession of the Supremacy in England for nine hundred years together from Augustine till Hen. 8. 〈◊〉 no King on Earth hath so long and so clear prescription for his Crown To which we answer 1. That he had not such Possession 2. If he had 't is no Argument of a just Title SECT I. Not in Austin's Time State of Supremacy questioned VVE shall consider the Popes Supremacy here as it stood in and near St. Augustine's time and in the Ages after him to Hen. 8. 1. We have not found hitherto that in or about the time of Augustine Arch-Bishop of Canterbury the Pope had any such power in England as is pretended Indeed he came from Rome but he brought no Mandate with him and when he was come he did nothing without the King's licence at his arrival he petitions 〈◊〉 King the King commands him to stay in the Isle Thanet till his further pleasure was known he obeyed afterward the King gave him licence to preach to Bed l. 1. c. 25. his Subjects and when he was himself converted majorem praedicandi licentiam he enlarged his licence so to do 'T is true Saint Gregory presumed largly to subject all the Priests of Brittain under Augustine and to give him power to erect two Arch-Bishopricks and twelve Bishopricks under each of them but 't is one thing to claim another thing to possess for Ethelbert was then the only Christian King who had not the twentieth part of Brittain and it appears that after both Saint Gregory and Austine were dead there were but one Arch bishop and two Bishops throughout the Brittish Islands of the Roman Communion Indeed the Brittish and Scotch Bishops were Bed l. 2. c. 2 c. 4. many but they renounced all Communion with Rome as appeared before We thankfully acknowledge the Pope's sending over Preachers his commending sometimes Arch-Bishops when desired to us his directions to fill up vacant Sees all which and such like were Acts of Charity becoming so eminent a Prelate in the Catholick Church but sure these were not Marks of Supremacy 'T is possible Saint Milet as is urged might bring the Decrees of the Roman Synod hither to be observed and that they were worthy of our acceptance and were accepted accordingly but 't is certain and will afterwards appear to be so that such Decrees were never of force here further that they were allowed by the King and Kingdom 'T is not denied but that sometimes we admitted the Pope's Legates and Bulls too yet the Legantine Courts were not Anciently heard of neither were the Legates themselves or those Bulls of any Authority without the King's Consent Some would argue from the great and flattering Titles that were antiently given to the Pope but sure such Titles can never signifie Possession or Power which at the same time and perhaps by the very same Persons that gave the Titles was really and indeed denied him But the great Service the Bishop of Calcedo◠hath done his Cause by these little Instances before mentioned will best appear by a true state Vid. Bramh. p. 189. c. of the question touching the Supremacy betwixt the Pope and the King of England in which such things are not all concerned The plain question is who was then the Political Head of the Church of England the King or the Pope or more immediately whether the Pope then had possession of the Supremacy here in such things as was denied him by Hen. 8. at the beginning of our Reformation and the Pope still challengeth and they are such as these 1. A Legislative Power in Ecclesiastical Causes 2. A Dispensative Power above and against the Laws of the Church 3. A liberty to send Legates and to hold Legantine Courts in England without Licence 4. The Right of receiving the last Appeals of the King's Subjects 5. The Patronage of the English Church and Investitures of Bishops with power to impose Oaths upon them contrary to their Oath of Allegiance 6. The First Fruits and Tenths of Ecclesiastical Livings and a power to impose upon them what Pensions or other Burthens he pleaseth 7. The Goods of Clergy-men dying Intestate These are the Flowers of that Supremacy which the Pope claimeth in England and our Kings and Laws and Customs deny him as will appear afterwards in due place for this place 't is enough to observe that we find no foot-steps of such possession of the Pope's Power in England in or about Augustine's time As for that one instance of Saint Wilfred's Appeals it hath appeared before that it being rejected by two Kings successively by the other Arch-Bishop and by the whole Body of the English Clergy sure 't is no full instance of the Pope's Possession of the Supremacy here at that time and needs no further answer SECT II. No clear or full possession in the Ages after Austine till Hen. 8. Eight Distinctions the Question stated IT may be thought that though the things mentioned were not in the Pope's possession so early yet for many Ages together they were found in his Possession and so continued without interruption till Hen. 8. ejected the Pope and possest himself and his Successors of them Whether it were so or not we are now to examine and least we should be deceived with Colours and generalities we must distinguish carefully 1. Betwixt a Primacy of Order and Dignity and Unity and Supremacy of Power the only thing disputed 2. Betwixt a Judgment of direction resulting from the said Primacy and a Judgment of Jurisdiction depending upon Supremacy 3. Betwixt things claimed and things granted and possessed 4. Betwixt things possessed continually or for some time only 5. Betwixt Possession partial and of some lesser Branches and plenary or of the main body of Jurisdiction 6. Betwixt things permitted of curtesie and things granted out of duty 7. Betwixt incroachment through craft or power or interest or the temporary Ossitancy of the People and Power grounded in the Laws enjoyed with the consent of the States of the Kingdom in times of peace 8. Lastly betwixt quiet possession and interrupted These Distinctions may receive a flout from some capricious Adversary but I find there is need of them all if we deal with a subtle one For the Question is not touching
Primacy in the Bishop of Rome or an acknowledged Judgment of direction flowing from it or a claim of Jurisdiction which is no Possession or a partial possession of power in some lesser things or a larger power in greater matters yielded out of curtesie ossitancy or fear or surprize and held only for a time while things were unsetled or by power craft or interest but soon after disclaimed and frequently interrupted for this is not such a Possession as our Adversaries plead for or indeed will stand them in stead But the Question in short is this whether the Pope had a quiet and uninterrupted possession of the Supreme Power over the Church of England in those great Branches of Supremacy denied him by Henry the Eighth for nine hundred years together or for many Ages together before that time This strictly must be the Question for the Complaint is that Hen. 8. disposessed the Pope of the Supremacy which he had enjoyed for so many Ages and made himself Head of the Church of England therefore those very things which that King then denied to the Pope or took from him must be those Flowers of the Supremacy which the Papists pretend the Pope had possession of for so many Ages together before his time Two things therefore and those only are needful to be sought here what those Branches of Power are which Henry the Eighth denied to the Pope and resumed to himself and his Successors and whether the Pope and quietly and without plain interruption possest the same for so many Ages before his time and in order thereunto when and how he got it CHAP. VIII What the Supremacy was which Henry the Eighth took from the Pope the Particulars of it with Notes 'T Is true Henry the Eighth resumed the Title of the only Supreme Head in Earth of the Church of England and denied this Title to the Pope but 't is plain the Controversie was not so much about the Title as the Power the Honours Dignities Jurisdictions Authorities Profits c. belonging or appertaining to the said Dignity of Supreme Head of the Church of England as is evident by the Statute Hen. 8. 26. c. 1. The Particulars of that Power were such as these 1. Henry the Eighth prohibited all Appeals to the Pope An. 24. c. 12. and Legates from Rome 2. He also forbad all payments of money upon any pretence to the Pope An. 25. c. 12. 3. He denied the Pope the Nomination and Consecration of Arch-Bishops and Bishops and Presentations An. 25. 20. 4. He prohibited all Suits for Bulls c. to be made to the Pope or the See of Rome 25. c. 21. 5. He prohibited any Canons to be executed here without the King's Licence An. 25. 19. I have perused the Statutes of King Henry the Eighth and I cannot find any thing which he took away from the Pope but it is reducible to these five Heads touching which by the way we note 1. The Controversie was not about a Primacy of Order or the beginning of Unity but a Supremacy of Power 2. All these things were then denied him not by the King alone but by all the States of the Kingdom in many Statutes 3. The denial of all these Branches of Supremacy to the Pope were grounded upon the Ancient Laws and Customs of the Realm as is usually noted in the Preamble of the said Statutes and if that one thing shall be made to appear we must conclude that the Pope might be guilty of an Vsurpation but could never have a Legal Possession of that Supremacy that is in the question 4. Note that the States of the Kingdom in the Reign of Queen Mary when by means of Cardinal Pool they recognized the Pope's Supremacy An. 1. 11. Mar. c. 8. it was with this careful and express Limitation that nothing therein should be understood to diminish any the Liberties of the Imperial Crown of this Realm which did belong unto it in the Twentieth year of Hen. 8. without deminution or enlargment of the Pope's Supremacy in England as it was in the Twentieth year of Hen. 8. So that Queen Mary and her Parliament added nothing to the Pope but only restored what he had before and when and how that was obtained is next to be examined CHAP. IX Whether the Pope's Supremacy here was in quiet Possession till Henry the Eighth WE have found what Branches of the Pope's Power were cut off by Hen. 8. The Question is whether the Pope had Possession of them without interruption before that time and that we may proceed dictinctly and clearly we shall consider each of the former Branches by themselves and first we begin with the Pope's Power of receiving Appeals from hence which carries a very considerable part of his pretended Jurisdiction SECT I. Of Appeals to Rome Three Notions of Appeal Appeals to Rome Locally or by Legates Wilfrid Anselm Appeals to Rome we have found among these things which were prohibited by Henry the Eighth Therefore no doubt the Pope claimed and in some sort possessed the power of receiving such Appeals before But what kind of Possession how free and how long is worthy to be enquired Appeal is a word taken several ways Sometimes it is only to accuse so we find it in the 3 Senses of Appeal Statutes of the 11 and 21 Rich. 2. Sometimes to refer our selves for judgment to some worthy person so Francfort c. appealed to John Calvin 3. But now it is chiefly used for a removing a cause from an inferior to a Superior Court that hath power of disanulling what the other did In this last sense Historians tell us that Appeals to Rome were not in use with us till about five hundred years agon or a little more viz. the year 1140. These Appeals to Rome were received and judged either in the Popes Court at Rome or by his Legates in England A word or two of each For Appeals to the Pope at Rome the two famous instances of Wilfred and Anselm take up much ◠Locally of our History But they both seem at least at first to have Wilfred appealed to the Pope under the second notion Anselm of appeal Not to him as a proper or legal Judge but as a great and venerable Prelate But not to stick there 't is well known what effect they obtained As for Wilfred his account was of elder date and hath appeared before to the great prejudice of the Popes Possession in England at that time But Anselm is the great monument of Papal Obedience Anselm and as a learned man observes the first promoter of Papal Authority in England He began his Enterprise with a pretence that he ought not to be barr'd of visiting the Vicar of St. Peter causâ Regiminis Ecclesiae but he was not suffered to do that So far was the Pope then from having the power of receiving appeals that he might not receive the visit of a person of Anselm's quality without the
History that it is beyond Before Conquest question that during all the time from St. Gregory to the Conquest the Brittish Saxon and Danish Kings without any dependance on the Pope did usually make Ecclesiastical Laws Witness the laws of Excombert Ina Withred Alfrede Edward Athelstan Edmond Edgar Athelred Canutus and Edward the Confessor among which Laws one makes it the Office of a King to Govern the Church as the Vicar of God Indeed at last the Pope was officiously kind and did bestow after a very formal way upon the last of those Kings Edward the Confessor a Priviledge which all his Predecessors had enjoyed as their own undoubted Right before viz. the Protection of all the Churches of England and power to him and his Successors the Kings of England for ever in his stead to make just Ecclesiastical Constitutions with the advice of their Bishops and Abbots But with thanks to his Holiness our Kings still continued their ancient custom which they had enjoyed from the beginning in the right of the Crown without respect to his curtesie in that matter After the Conquest our Norman Kings did After Conquest also exercise the same Legislative power in Ecclesiastical Causes over Ecclesiastical Persons from time to time with the consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal Hence all those Statutes concerning Benefices Tythes Advowsons Lands given in Mortmain Prohibitions Consultations Praemunires quare impedits Priviledge of the Clergy Extortions of Ecclesiastical Courts or Officers Regulation of Fees Wages of Priests Mortuaries Sanctuaries Appropriations and in sum as Bishop Bramhall adds All things which did belong to the external subsistence Regiment and regulating of the Church and this in the Reigns of our best Norman Kings before the Reformation Arch Bishop Bramh. p. 73. But what Laws do we find of the Popes making in England or what English Law hath he ever effectually abrogated 'T is true many of the Canons of the Church of Rome were here observed but before they became obliging or had the force of Laws the King had power in his great Council to receive them if they were judged convenient or if otherwise to reject them 'T is a notable instance that we have of this 20 Ed. 3. c. 9. in Ed. 3. time When some Bishops proposed in Parliament the reception of the Ecclesiastical Canon for the legitimation of Children born before Marriage all the Peers of the Realm stood up and cried out with one voice Nolumus leges Angliae mutari we will not have the Laws of England to be changed A clear evidence that the Popes Canons were not English Laws and that the Popish Bishops knew they could not be so without the Parliament Likewise the King and Parliament made a legislative exposition of the Canon of the Council of Lions concerning Bigamy which they would 4 Ed. 1. c. 5. not have done had they not thought they had power according to the fundamental Laws of England either to receive it or reject it These are plain and undeniable evidences that when Popery was at highest the Popes Supremacy in making Laws for the English Church was very ineffectual without the countenance of a greater and more powerful viz. the Supremacy of our own Kings Now admit that during some little space Obj. the Pope did impose and England did consent to the authority of his Canons as indeed the very Consent admitted rejecting of that authority intimates yet that is very short of the Possession of it without interruption for nine hundred years together the contrary being more than evident However this Consent was given either by By Permission Permission or Grant If only by Permission whether through Fear or Reverence or Convenience it signifies nothing when the King and Kingdom see cause to vindicate our ancient Liberties and resolve to endure it no longer If a Grant be pretended 't was either from Or by Grant the King alone or joyned with his Parliament If from the King alone he could grant it for his time only and the power of resuming any part of the prerogative granted away by the Predecessors accompanies the Crown of the Successor and fidelity to his Office and Kingdom obligeth him in Justice to retrieve and recover it I believe none will undertake to affirm that the Grant was made by the Law or the King with his Parliament Yet if this should be said and proved too it would argue very little to the purpose for this is to establish Iniquity by a Law The Kings Prerogative as Head of this Church lieth too deep in the very constitution of the Kingdom the foundation of our common Law and in the very Law of Nature and is no more at the will of the Parliament than the fundamental liberties of the Subject Lastly the same Power that makes can repeal a Law if the Authority of Papal Canons had been acknowledged and ratified by Parliament which cannot be said 't is most certain it was revoked and renounced by an equal Power viz. of Henry the Eighth and the whole Body of the Kingdom both Civil and Ecclesiastical It is the Resolution both of Reason and Law that no Prescription of time can be a bar to the Supreme Power but that for the Publick good it may revoke any Concessions Permissions or Priviledges thus it was declared in Parliament in Edward the Third his Reign when reciting the Statute of Edward the First they say the Statute holdeth alway his force and that the King is bound by Oath to cause the same to be kept and consequently if taken away to be restored to its Observation as the Law of the Land that is the Common Fundamental unalterable Law of the Land Besides the Case is most clear that when Henry the Eighth began his Reign the Laws asserting the Supreme Authority in Causes and over Persons Ecclesiastical were not altered or repealed and Henry the Eight used his Authority against Papal Incroachments and not against but according to the Statute as well as the Common Law of the Land witness all those Noble Laws of Provisors and praemunire which as my Lord Bramhall saith we may truly call 25 Ed. 1. 27 Ed. 3. 2 Hen. 4. c. 3 4. 7 Hen. 4. c. 6. the Palladium which preserved it from being swallowed up in that vast gulph of the Roman Court made by Edw. 1. Edw. 3. Rich. 2. Hen. 4. CHAP. XI Of the Power of Licences c. here in Edw. 3. Rich. 2. Hen. 4. Hen. 5. Hen. 6. Hen. 7. THough the Pope be denied the Legislative and Judiciary or Executive Power in England yet if he be allowed his Dispensatory Power that will have the effect of Laws and fully supersede or impede the Execution of Laws in Ecclesiastical Causes and upon Ecclesiastical Persons 'T is confest the Pope did usurp and exercise this strange Power after a wonderful manner in England before Henry the Eighth by his Licences Dispensations Impositions Faculties Grants Rescripts Delegacies and
other such kind of Instruments as the Statute 25 Hen. 8. 21. mentions and that this Power was denied or taken from him by the same Statute as also by another 28 Hen. 8. 16. and placed in or rather reduced to the Jurisdiction of the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury saving the Rights of the See of York in all Causes convenient and necessary for the Honour and Safety of the King the Wealth and Profit of the Realm and not repugnant to the Laws of Almighty God The Grounds of removing this Power from the Pope as they are expressed in that excellent Preamble to the said Statute 25 Hen. 8. are worthy our Reflexion they are 1. The Pope's Vsurpation in the Premises 2. His having obtained an Opinion in many of the people that he had full Power to dispence with all humane Laws Uses and Customs in all Causes Spiritual 3. He had practised this strange Usurpation for many years 4. This his practice was in great derogation of the Imperial Crown of this Realm 5. England recognizeth no Superior under God but the King only and is free from Subjection to any Laws but such as are ordained within this Realm or admitted Customs by our own Consent and Usage and not as Laws of any Forreign Power 6. And lastly that according to Natural Equity the whole State of our Realm in Parliament hath this Power in it and peculiar to it to dispence with alter Abrogate c. our own Laws and Customs for Publick good which Power appears by wholsom Acts of Parliament made before the Reign of Henry the Eighth in the time of his Progenitors For these Reasons it was Enacted in those Statutes of Henry the Eighth That no Subject of England should sue for Licences c. henceforth to the Pope but to the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Now 't is confessed before and in the Preamble to the Statute that the Pope had used this Power for many years but this is noted as an Aggravation of the Grievance and one Reason for Redress but whether he enjoyed it from the time of Saint Austine or how long quietly is the proper question especially seeing the Laws of the Land made by King Henry's Predecessors are pleaded by him in contradiction to it Yea who will come forth and shew us one Instance No Instance 1110 years after Christ of a Papal Dispensation in England for the first eleven hundred years after Christ if not five hundred of the nine hundred years Prescription and the first five hundred too as well as the first eleven hundred of the fifteen are lost to the Popes and gained to the Prescription of the Church of England But Did not the Church of England without any reference to the Court of Rome use this Power during the first eleven hundred years what man is so hardy as to deny it against the multitude of plain Instances in History Did not our Bishops relax the Rigor of Ecclesiastical Canons did not all Bishops all over the Christian World do the like before the Monopoly was usurped In the Laws of Alured alone and in the conjoynt Gervis Dorober p. 1648. Laws of Alured and Gunthrun how many sorts of Ecclesiastical Crimes were dispensed with by the Sole Authority of the King and Church of England and the like we find in the Laws of Spel. Conc. p. 364. c. some other Saxon Kings Dunstan the Arch Bishop had Excommunicated a great Count he made his peace at Rome the Pope commands his Restitution Dunstan answered I will obey the Pope willingly when I Ibid. p. 481. see him penitent but it is not God's will that he should lie in his sin free from Ecclesiastical Discipline to insult over us God forbid that I should relinquish the Law of Christ for the Cause of any Mortal man this great Instance doth two things at once justifieth the Arch-Bishops and destroyeth the Pope's Authority in the Point The Church of England dispensed with those irreligious Nuns in the days of Lanfrank with the Council of the King and with Queen Maud the Wife of Henry the First in the like Case in the days of Anselm without any Suit to Rome or Forreign Dispensation Lanfr Ep. 32. Eadm l. 3. p. 57. These are great and notorious and certain Instances and when the Pope had usurped this Power afterwards As the Selected Cardinals Stile the avaritious Dispensations of the Pope Sacrilegious Vulnera Legum so our Statutes of Provisors expresly 27 Ed. 3. say they are the undoing and Destruction of the Common Law of the Land accordingly The King Lords and Commons complained of this abuse as a Mighty Grievance of the frequent coming among them of this Infamous Math. Par. Au. 1245. Messenger the Pope's non-obstante that is his Dispensations by which Oaths Customs Writings Grants Statutes Rights Priviledges were not only weakned but made void Sometimes these dispensative Bulls came to legal Trials Boniface the Eighth dispensed with the law where the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury was Visitor of the University of Oxford and by his Bull exempted the Vniversity from his Jurisdiction and that Bull was decreed void in Parliament by two Successive Kings as being obtained to the prejudice of the Crown the weakning of the Laws and Customs of the Kingdom and the probable Ruine of the said University Ex Arch. Tur. Londini Ex Antiq. Acad. Cantab. p. 91. In interruption of this Papal Vsurpation were those many Laws made in 25 Edw. 1. and 35 Et 12 Rich. 2. Edw. 1. 25 Edw. 3. and 27 and 28 Edw. 3. and afterwards more expresly in the sixteenth of Richard the Second where complaining of Processes and Censures upon Bishops of England because they executed the King's Comandments in his Courts they express the mischiefs to be the Disinherison of the Crown the Destruction of the King Laws and Realm that the Crown of England is subject to none under God and both the Clergy and Laity severally and severely protest to defend it against the Pope and the same King contested the Point himself with him and would not yield it An Excommunication by the Arch-Bishop albeit Lord Coke Cawdrie's Case it be disanulled by the Pope is to be allowed by the Judges against the Sentence of the Pope according to the 16 Edw. 3. Titl Excom 4. For the Pope's Bulls in special our Laws have abundantly provided against them as well in case of Excommunication as Exemption vid. 30 Edw. 3. lib. Ass pl. 19. and the abundant as is evidenced by my Lord Coke out of our English Laws in Cawd Case p. 15. he mentions a particular Case wherein the Bull was pleaded for Evidence that a Person stood Excommunicate by the Pope but it was not allowed because no Certificate appeared from any Bishop of England 31 Edw. 3. Title Excom 6. The same again 8 Hen. 6. fol. 3. 12 Edw. 4. fol. 16. R. 3. 1 Hen. 7. fol. 20. So late as Henry the Fourth if any Person
bound to issue out the Writ de Excom Cap. and the Sheriff to imprison the party upon a Certificate from the Bishop But I must humbly leave such things to wiser Judges THE CONTENTS OF THE CHAPTERS and SECTIONS CHAP. I. THE general Proposition The Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction as now Exercised in the Church of England is Allow'd and Establish'd by the Laws of the Land Sect. 1. An Account of the Method Page 1. Sect. 2. Mr. Hickeringill ' s Reasoning Noted and Resolv'd p. 2. Sect. 3. The Propositions suggested by M. Hickeringill are these following p. 4. CHAP. II. Our Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in England was not derived from the Pope but from the Crown before the Reformation by Henry the Eighth p. 5. Proof against this Popish principle Sect. 1. From the root and branches of Ecclesiastical Power Donation Investiture Laws p. 6. Sect. 2. Jurisdictionâ— p. 7. Sect. 3 4 5. p. 9 11 12. CHAP. III. King Hen. 8. did not by renouncing the Power pretended by the Pope make 〈◊〉 the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction neither was it void before it was restored by Edw. 6. 2. p. 13. Sect. 2 3. p. 16 20. CHAP. IV. Ecclesiastical Jurisdictition is lawfully exercised without the King's Name or Stile in Processes c. notwithstanding the 1 Edw. 6. 2. p. 22. Sect. 1 2 3. p. 23 24 26. Sect. 4. 1 Edw. 6. 2. Repeal'd appears from practice p. 28. Sect. 5. 1 Edw. 6. 2. Repealed in the Judgment of all the Judges the King and Council p. 31. Sect. 6. Mr. H. Cary ' s Reason to the contrary considered p. 36. CHAP. V. The Act of 1 Eliz. 1. Establishing the High-Commission Court was not the foundation of Ordinary Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in England against Mr. Hickeringill p. 41. CHAP. VI. How our Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in England came at first and is at present Establish'd by Law p. 46. Sect. 1. Jurisdiction of the Church in Common Law p. 51. Sect. 2. The Government Ecclesiastical is Establish'd in the Statutes of this Realm p. 54. CHAP. VII Of Canons and Convocations p. 60. The Conclusion p. 64. The Postscript p. 67. The Bookseller to the Reader THE absence of the Author and his inconvenient distance from London hath occasioned some small Errata's to escape the Press The Printer thinks it the best instance of pardon if his Escapes be not laid upon the Author and he hopes they are no greater than an ordinary understanding may amend and a little charity may forgive R. Royston CHAP. I. The General Proposition THE Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction As now Exercised in the Church of England is Allow'd and Establish'd by the Laws of the Land SECT I. An Account of the Method AFTER so many hundred years confirmation both by Law and Practice 't is a marvellous thing this should be a question yet of late two worthy Gentlemen treading in the steps of some former Male-contents have ventured to make it one Mr. Edmond Hickeringill and Mr. H. Cary the first in his Book called Naked Truth the Second part the other in his modestly stiled The Law of England And it is to be observed they were both Printed very seasonably for the setling our distractions through the fears and danger of Popery I shall note what they say discover their gross and dangerous mistakes answer and remove their pitiful Objections and then endeavour to satisfie ordinary and honest enquirers both that and how our Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction stands firm and unshaken upon the basis of our English Laws SECT II. Mr. Hickeringill's Reasoning Noted and Resolv'd Mr. Hickeringill is pleased to say that upon the Stat. 1 Eliz. 1. was built the High Commission Court and the Authority of all Canon-makers Synodiâ—al but down came the Fabrick when that Act was Repealed by 17 Car. 1. 11. and 13. Car. 2. 12. Where provision was made by striking at the foundation 1 Eliz. 1. that no more Commissions of that nature be granted any more only the Spiritual Courts by 1â— Caâ— 2. 12. were to be in Statu quo wherein they were 1639. What state no great I 'le warrant you if the Basis on which their Star-Chamber and High-Commission-Court were built be taken away All Ecclesiastical Jurisdictions till Hen. 8. were derived from the Pope as Supream of the Church â— this Head being beheaded the Supremacy was invested in the Crown But 1 Edw. 6. 2. Enacts that all Process Ecclesiastical should be in the Name and with the stile of the King c. So that if there be any Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in England distinct from his Majesties Day Courts all their Processes must be in the Kings Name c. 'T is true 1 Edw. 6. 2. is repealed by the 1 Mar. 2. but I care not for that for 't is revived by the Act of repeal 1 Jac. 25. The Clergy in Convocation acknowledged in their Petition that their Ecclesiastical power was at that time taken away So that their present Jurisdiction being not from God that 's certain 't is not from Man because his Majesty has promised 13 Car. 2. 12. never to empower them with any more Commissions to the worlds end But this I do not peremptorily assert I here protest I know not by what Authority we do these things considering the premises and the repealing of 1 Eliz. 1. By the Statute of Hen. 8. all these Ordinary Jurisdictions were cut off and were revived by 1 Edw. 6 upon Conditions only This is the very Naked Truth under his first Query and in his Conclusion and up and down this worthy Book that is such a shabby lawless Logick such a rude and shatter'd way of reasoning as deserves to be reduc'd with a rod and lasht into method and sence and better manners Especially if you single out his false and study begging Prâ—positions fraught with a wretched design of robbing his own Mother in the Kings high way with which he challenges passage to cheat and abuse the Country My business is only to apprehend the Vagabonds and commit them to the justice of some more severe and smarter hand SECT III. The Propositions suggested by Mr. Hickeringill are these following I. That before Hen. 8. all Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in England was derived from the Pope as Mr. Cary p. 6. II. That Hen. 8. when he annex'd the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction to the Crown he took it wholly away from our Ecclesiastical Ministers III. That the Church had no Jurisdiction after Hen. 8. had annex'd it to the Crown till 1 Edw. 6. 2. IV. That if there be any Ecclesiastical Power in our Church it cannot be executed but in the Name and with the Stile c. of the King according to 1 Edw. 6. 2. V. That all our Ecclesiastical Power was lately founded in 1 Eliz. 1. as it establish'd the High-Commission-Court and that Act being Repeal'd all Ecclesiastical Power was taken away with the Power of that High Commission On a Rock consisting of these Sands stands our mighty Champion triumphing with his Naked Truth but we come now to
CLARIOR E TENEBRIS BEATAM AETERNA CAELI SPECTO ASPERAM AT LEVEM CHRISTI TRACTO In verbo tuo Spes mea MUNDI CALCO SPLENDIDAM AT GRAVEM Alij diutius Imperium tenuerunt nemo tam fortiter reliquit Tarit Histor Lib. 2. c. 47. p. 417. Augustissimi CAROLI Secundi Dei Gratia ANGLIAE SCOTIAE FRANCIAE ET HIBERNIAE REX Bona agere mala pati Regium est Page 1. The Establish'd Church OR A SUBVERSION OF ALL The Romanist's Pleas FOR THE POPE'S SUPREMACY IN ENGLAND Together with A VINDICATION of the present Government of the Church of England as allow'd by the Laws of the Land against all Fanatical exceptions particularly of Mr. Hickeringill in His Scandalous Pamphlet stiled NAKED TRUTH the 2d Part. In Two Books By FRAN. FVLLWOOD D. D. Archdeacon of Totnes in Devon LONDON Printed for R. Royston Bookseller to the King 's most Sacred Majesty at the Angel in Amen-Corner MDCLXXXI REVERENDISSIMO In Christo Patri GULIELMO Archiepiscopo CANTUARIENSI Totius ANGLIAE PRIMATI Regiae Serenissimae Majestatis à Sanctioribus Conciliis FRANCISCVS FVLLWOOD Olim Collegii EMANUEL Apud CANTABRIGIENSES Librum hunc humillimè D. D. D. TO THE RIGHT REVEREND Father in God GEORGE Lord Bishop of WINTON Prelate of the Most Noble Order of the GARTER My very good Lord BLessed be God that I have Survived this Labour which I once feared I should have sunk under and that I live to publish my Endeavours once more in the Service of the Church of England and thereby have obtained my wish'd opportunity to dedicate a Monument of my deep Sence of your Lordship's manifold obligations upon me In particular I rejoyce in the acknowledgment that I ow my Publick Station next under God and His Sacred Majesty to your Lordship's Assistance and Sole Interest though I cannot think so much out of kindness to my Person then altogether unknown to your Lordship as affection and care of the Church grounded in a great and pious intention however the object be esteem'd truly worthy of so Renowned a Prelate and many other waies excellent and admired Patriot of the Church of England If either my former attempts have been anywise available to the weakning the Bulworks of Non-Conformity or my present Essay may succeed in any measure to evince or confirm the Truth in this greater Controversie I am happy that as God hath some glory and the Church some advantage so some honour redounds upon your Lordship who with a virtuous design gave me a Capacity at first and ever since have quickned and animated my Endeavours in those Services I may be permitted to name our Controversie with the Church of Rome the great Controversie For having been exercised in all the sorts of Controversie with Adversaries on the other hand I have found that all of them put together are not considerable either for weight of matter or copiousness of Learning or for Art Strength or Number of Adversaries in comparison of this It takes in the Length of time the Breadth of place and is managed with the Heighth of Wit and Depth of Subtlety the Hills are covered with the Shadow of it and its Boughs are like the goodly Cedars My Essay in these Treatises is to shorten and clear the way and therefore though I must run with it through all time I have reduc'd the place and removed the Wit and Subtleties that would impede our progress I have endeavoured to lop off luxuriant branches and swelling excrescencies to lay aside all personal reflections captious advantages Sophistical and Sarcastical Wit and to set the Arguments on both sides free from the darkness of all kind of cunning either of escape or reply in their plain light and proper strength as also to confine the Controversie as near as I can within the bounds of our own Concern i. e. our own Church And when this is done the plain and naked truth is that the meanest of our other Adversaries I had almost said the silly Quaker himself seems to me to have better Grounds and more like Christian than the glorious Cause of the Papacy But to draw a little nearer to our Point your Lordship cannot but observe that one end of the Roman Compass is ever fixed upon the same Center and the summ of their clamour is our disobedience to the See of Rome Our defense stands upon a twofold Exception 1. Against the Authority 2. Against the Laws of Rome and if either be justified we are innocent The first Exception and the defence of our Church against the Authority of that See is the matter of this Treatise the second is reserved I have determined that all the Arguments for the Pope's Authority in England are reduceable to a five-fold Plea the Right of Conversion as our Apostle the Right of a Patriarch the Right of Infallibility the Right of Prescription and the Right of Universal Pastorship the Examination of them carries us through our Work Verily to my knowledge I have omitted nothing Argumentative of any one of these Pleas yea I have considered all those little inconsiderable things which I find any Romanists seem to make much of But indeed their pretended Right of possession in England and the Universal◠Pastorship to which they adhere as their surest holds have my most intended and greatest strength and care and dilligence that nothing material or seemingly so might escape either unobserved or not fully answered let not the contrary be said but shewn I have further laboured to contract the Controversie two ways 1. By a very careful as well as large and I hope as clear state of the question in my definition and discourse of Schism at the beginning whereby mistakes may be prevented and much of matter disputed by others excluded 2. By waving the dispute of such things as have no influence into the Conclusion and according to my use giving as many and as large Concessions to the Adversary as our Cause will suffer Now my end being favourably understood I hope there is no need to ask your Lordships or any others pardon for that I have chosen not to dispute two great things 1. That in the Words tu es Petrus super hanc Petram there is intended some respect peculiar to saint Peter's Person it is generally acknowledged by the most learned Defenders of our Church that Saint Peter had a Primacy of Order and your Lordship well knows that many of the Ancient Fathers have expressed as much and I intend no more 2. That Tradition may be Infallible or indefectible in the delivery of the Essentials of Religion for ought we know By the Essentials we mean no more but the Creed the Lord's Prayer the Decalogue and the two Sacraments in this I have my Second and my Reason too for then Rushworth's Dialogues and the new Methods of Roman opposition need not trouble us My good Lord it is high time to beg your Pardon that I have reason to conclude with an excuse for
a long Epistle the truth is I thought my self accountable to your Lordship for a Brief of the Book that took its being from your Lordship's Encouragement and the rather because it seems unmannerly to expect that your good Old Age should perplex it self with Controversie which the Good God continue long and happy to the honour of his Church on Earth and then crown with the Glory of Heaven It is the hearty prayer of My Lord Your Lordships most obliged and devoted Servant FR. FULLWOOD A PREFACE TO THE READER Good Reader OUr Roman Adversaries claim the Subjection of the Church of England by several Arguments but insist chiefly upon that of possession and the Universal Pastorship if any shall deign to answer me I think it reasonable to expect they should attach me there where they suppose their greatest strength lies otherwise though they may seem to have the Advantage by catching Shadows if I am left unanswered in those two main Points the Substance of their Cause is lost For if it remain unproved that the Pope had quiet possession here and the contrary proof continue unshaken the Argument of Possession is on our side I doubt not but you will find that the Pope had not possession here before that he took not possession by Austine the Monk and that he had no such possession here afterwards sufficient to create or evince a Title ' T is confessed that Austine took his Arch-Bishoprick of Canterbury as the Gift of Saint Gregory and having recalled many of the People to Christianity both the Converts and the Converter gave great Submission and respect to Saint Gregory then Bishop of Rome and how far the People were bound to obey their Parent that had begotten them or he his Master that sent him and gave him the Primacy I need not dispute But these things to our purpose are very certain 1. That Conversion was anciently conceived to be the ground of their Obedience to Saint Gregory which Plea is now deserted and that Saint Gregory himself abhorred the very Title of Universal Bishop the only thing now insisted on 2. ' T is also certain that the Addition of Authority which the King ' s Silence Permission or Connivence gave to Austine was more than Saint Gregory ' s Grant and yet that Connivence of the new Converted King in the Circumstances of so great Obligation and Surprize who might not know or consider or be willing to exercise his Royal Power then in the Point could never give away the Supremacy inherent in his Crown from his Successors for ever 3. ' T is likewise certain that neither Saint Gregory ' s Grant nor that King ' s Permission did or could obtain Possession for the Pope by Austine as the Primate of Canterbury over all the Brittish Churches and Bishops which were then many and had not the same Reason from their Conversion by him to own his Jurisdiction but did stifly reject all his Arguments and Pretenses for it King Ethelbert the only Christian King at that time in England had not above the twentieth part of Brittain within his Jurisdiction how then can it be imagined that all the King of England ' s Dominions in England and Wales and Scotland and Ireland should be concluded within the Primacy of Canterbury by Saint Augustine ' s possession of so small a part 4. ' T is one thing to claim another to possess Saint Augustine ' s Commission was to subject all Brittain to erect two Arch-Bishopricks and twelve Bishopricks under each of them but what possession he got for his Master appears in that after the death of that Gregory and Austine there were left but one Arch-Bishop and two Bishops of the Roman Communion in all Brittain 5. Moreover the Succeeding Arch-Bishops of Canterbury soon after discontinued that small possession of England which Augustine had gotten acknowledging they held of the Crown and not of the Pope resuming the Ancient Liberties of the English Church which before had been and ought always to be Independent on any other and which of Right returned upon the Return of their Christianity and accordingly our Succeeding Kings with their Nobles and Commons and Clergy upon all occasions denied the Papal Jurisdiction here as contrary to the King 's Natural Supremacy and the Customs Liberties and Laws of this Kingdom And as Augustine could not give the Miter so neither could King John give the Crown of England to the Bishop of Rome For as Math. Paris relates Philip Augustus answered the Pope's Legate no King no Prince can Alienate or give away his Kingdom but by Consent of his Barons who we know protested against King John ' s endeavour of that kind bound by Knighs Service to defend the said Kingdom and in case the Pope shall stand for the contrary Error his Holiness shall give to Kingdoms a most pernitious Example so far is one unwarrantable act of a fearful Prince under great Temptations from laying a firm ground for the Pope's Prescription and 't is well known that both the preceeding and succeeding Kings of England defended the Rights of the Crown and disturbed the Pope's possession upon stronger grounds of Nature Custom and plain Statutes and the very Constitution of the Kingdom from time to time in all the main Branches of Supremacy as I doubt not but is made to appear by full and Authentick Testimony beyond dispute 2. The other great Plea for the Pope ' s Authority in England is that of Universal Pastorship now if this cannot be claimed by any Right either Divine Civil or Ecclesiastical but the contrary be evident and both the Scriptures Emperors Fathers and Councils did not only not grant but deny and reject the Pope ' s Supremacy as an Usurpation What Reason hath this or any other Church to give away their Liberty upon bold and groundless Claims The pretence of Civil Right by the Grant of Emperors they are now ashamed of for three Reasons 't is too scant and too mean and apparently groundless and our discourse of the Councils hath beaten out an unanswerable Argument against the claim by any other Right whether Ecclesiastical or Divine for all the General Councils are found first not to make any such Grant to the Pope whereby the Claim by Ecclesiastical Right is to be maintained but secondly they are all found making strict provisions against his pretended Authority whereby they and the Catholick Church in them deny his Divine Right 'T is plainly acknowledged by Stapleton himself that before the Council of Constance non divino sed humano Jure positivis Ecclesiae Decretis primatum Rom. Pont. niti senserunt speaking of the Fathers that is the Fathers before that Council though the Primacy of the Pope was not of Divine Right and that it stood only upon the Positive Decrees of the Church and yet he further confesseth in the same place that the Power of the Pope now contended for nullo sane decreto publico definita est is
Reasons answered the Point argued Retorted p 177 CHAP. XVIII The Vniversal Pastorship its Right Divine or Humane this Civil or Ecclesiastical all examined Constantine King John Justinian Phocas c. p. 182. as to Civil Right CHAP. XIX His Ecclesiastical Right by General Councils the eight first to which he is sworn Justinians Sanction of them Canons Apostol allowed by the Council of Nice and Ephesus p. 190 Sect. 1. Canons of the Apostles p. 194 Sect. 2. 1. General Council of Nice Bellarmine's Evasion p. 195 Sect. 3. Concil 2 gen Constantinop An. 381. p. 196 Sect. 4. Concil Ephesin 3 gen An. 431. p. 197 Sect. 5. Concil Calced 4 gen An. 451. p. 199 Sect. 6. Concil Constantin 2. the fifth gen Council An. 553. p. 202 Sect 7. Concil Constant 6 gen An. 681. v. 685. Concil Nic. 7 gen An. 781. p. 203 Sect. 8 Concil gen â— Constant An. 870. p. 204 Seuen Conclusions from Councils p. 205 Sect. 9. Of the Latine Church the Councils of Constance Basil c. An. 1415. 1431. p. 206 Sect. 10. The Greek Church African Canons Synod Carthag Concil Antiochen the faith of the Greek Church since in the Point p. 208 c. Sect. 11. The Sardican Canons No Grant from their matter manner or Authority No Appendix to the Council of Nice Zozimus his Forgery they were never Ratified nor received as Vniversal and were contradicted by after Councils p. 212 CHAP. XX. The Pope's Title by Divine Right The Question Why not sooner 'T is their last Refuge p. 217 Sect. 1. Whether the Government of the Church be Monarchical Jure Divino Bellarmine Reason Scripture p. 218 Promises Metaphors and Example of the High Priest in Scripture p 221 Sect. 2. Of St. Peter's Monarchy Tâ—â—eâ— Petrus p. 223 Fathers Expressions of it p 228 Fathers corrupted and Council of Calcedon by Thomas p. 230 c. CHAP. XXI Of the Pope's Succession p 237 Sect. 1. Whether the Primacy descended to the Bishop of Rome as such by Succession from Saint Peter Neg. Bellar 28 Prerogatives of Saint Peter personal or false p. 238 239 c. Application of this Section p. 241 By three great Inferences the Pope's Ancient Primacy not that of Saint Peter not Jure Divino not to descend to succeeding Popes Sect. 2. Whether the Pope have Supremacy as Successor to Saint Peter Neg. not Primate as such Peter himself not Supreme the Pope did not succeed him at all p. 244 Sect. 3. Arg. 1. Peter Assign'd it to the Pope answered p. 245 Sect. 4. Arg. 2. The Bishop of Rome succeeded Peter because Antioch did not answered p. 246 Sect. 5. Arg. 3. Saint Peter died at Rome answered question de facto not de fide p. 247 Sect. 6. Arg. 4. From Councils Popes Fathers p. 249 Sect. 7. Arg. 5. For prevention of Schism Saint Hierom. p. 250 Sect. 8. Arg. 6. The Church committed to his care Saint Chrysostom p. 251 Sect. 9. Arg. 7. One Chair Optatus Cyprian Ambrose Acatius ibid. Sect 10. The Conclusion touching the Fathers Reasons why we are not more particular about them A Challenge touching them there cannot be a Consent of the the Fathers for the Papacy as is evident from the General Councils Reasons for it Rome's contradiction of faith the Pope's Schism Perjury c. p. 255 c. The Sum of the whole matter a Touch of another Treatise the material Cause of Separation p. 261 THE POSCRIPT Objections touching the first General Councils and our Arguments from them answered more fully SECT 1. THE Argument from Councils drawn up 't is conclusive of the Fathers and the Catholick Church p. 263 SECT 2. Obj. Touching the Council of Nice answered p. 267 SECT 3. Obj. Touching the Council of Constant Second General p. 269 SECT 4. The third General Council viz. Ephesin p. 272 SECT 5. Of the Fourth Fifth Sixth Seventh Eighth General Councils Binius his quotations of Ancient Popes considered p. 274 Conclusion p. 279 AN APPENDIX A Serious Alarm to all sorts of Englishmen against Popery from Sense and Conscience their Oaths and their Interests p. 281 The Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy p. 289 ERRATA PAge 6. line 7. for and the read and though p. 136. l. 13. add ' t is observed that p. 137. l. 23. blot out and the abundant p. 138. l. 5. add of before the grievances p. 147. l. 17. before the word evacuate add not p. 164. l. 24. for is r. are p. 175. l. 10. for his messenger r. the Popes messenger p. 177. after Sentence add with the Fathers was ever taken p. 205. l. 22. after the word Faith add of the Church p. 213. l. 31. for they r. these Canons p. 227. l 34. for Kingdoms r. the Kingdom p. 235. l. 1. for are r. are not The Printer to the Reader THe absence of the Author and his inconvenient distance from London hath occasioned some lesser escapes in the Impression of this Book The Printer thinks it the best instance of pardon if his Escapes be not laid upon the Author and he hopes they are no greater than an ordinary understanding may amend and a little charity may forgive THE INTRODUCTION The Design The Controversie Contracted into one Point viz. SCHISM THE Church of England hath been long possest both of her self and the true Religion and counts it no necessary part of that Religion to molest or censure any other Church Yet she cannot be quiet but is still vext and clamour'd with unwearied outcries of Heresie and Schism from the Church of Rome provoking her defence The Ball hath been tossed as well by cunning as learned Hands ever since the Reformation and 't is complained that by weak and impertinent Allegations tedious Altercations unnecessary Excursions and much Sophistry needlesly lengthening and obscuring the controversie it is in danger to be lost After so great and so long exercises of the best Champions on both sides 't is not to be expected that any great Advance should be made on either Yet how desirable is it that at length the true difference were clearly stated and the Arguments stript of their said Cumber and presented to us in their proper Evidence and the controversie so reduced that the World might perceive where we are and doubtful inquirers after Truth and the safest Religion might satisfie their Consciences and fix their Practice This is in some measure the Ambition of the present Essay In order to it we have observed that the Shop out of which all the Arms both Offensive and Defensive on both sides are fetched is Schism and the whole Controversie is truly contracted into that one Point which will appear by two things 1. By the State of the allowed Nature of Schism 2. By the Application of it so explain'd CHAP. I. The Definition of SCHISM SECT 1. Of the Act of Schism THat we may lie open to their full Charge we lay the Notion in as great a Latitude as I think our Adversaries themselves would have it
Schism is a voluntary division of a Christian Church in its external Communion without sufficient cause 1. 'T is a Division 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Divisions or Act. Division in the Church particular Rents among you This division of the Church is made either in the Church or from it in it as it is a particular Church which the Apostle blames in the Church of Corinth c. 11. Though they came together and did not separate from the external Communion but divided in it and about it 2. Division is made also in the Church as Catholick Catholick or Universal and some charge the Church or Court of Rome as we shall observe hereafter herewith as the cause of many deplorable Rents and Convulsions in the bowels of it and indeed in a true sence all that are guilty of dividing either in or from a particular Church without just cause are guilty of Schism in the Catholick as the Aggregatum of all particular Churches There is division as well from as in the Church and this is either such as is improperly called Separation or properly or more perfectly so 1. Separation improperly so called we may term Negative which is rather a recusancy or a denyal of Communion where it is either due or only claimed and not due but was never actually given 2. 'T is properly so where an actual separation is made and Communion broken or denyed where it has wont to be paid 3. Or yet more perfectly when those that thus separate and withdraw their Communion from a Church joyn themselves in an opposite body and erect Altar against Altar SECT II. Subject of Schism THus of the Act of Schism Division Let us briefly consider the Subject of this division Subject which is not a civil or an Infidel Society but a Christian Church I do not express it a true Church for that is supposed For if it be a Christian Church it must be true otherwise it is not at all Some learned of our own side distinguish here of the truth of the Church Physically or metaphysically considered or morally and acknowledge the Roman Church to be a true Church or truly a Church as some would rather have it but deny it to be such morally and plead for separation from it only in a moral sence or as it is not a true Church i. e. as it is a false and corrupt Church not as it is a Church But finding this distinction to give offence and perhaps some advantage to our Adversaries at least for the amusing and disturbing the method of disputation and being willing to reduce the difference as much as I am able I shall not insist upon these distinctions I confess pace tantorum I see no danger in but rather a necessity of granting the Church of Rome to be a true Church even in a moral sence largely speaking as moral is distinguished from Physical or metaphysical and the necessity of this concession ariseth from the granting or allowing her to be a true Church in any sence or a Church of Christ For to say that a Christian Church is not a true Church morally yet is so really i. e. Physically or Metaphysically seems to imply that it is a Christian Church and it is not a Christian Church seeing all the being of a Christian Church depends upon its truth in a moral sence as I conceive is not questioned by either side And when we grant that the Church of Rome or any other is a true Christian Church in any sence we do mean that she retains so much of Christian truth in a moral sence as is requisite to the truth and being of a Christian Church Indeed the very Essence of a Christian Church seems to be of a Moral nature as is evident in all its causes its Efficient The preaching of the Gospel under divine Influence is a Moral cause the form living in true faith and Religion is moral its End and all its formal Actions in Profession and Communion are of a Moral nature and the Christians as they are Men are indeed natural Beings yet as they are Christians and the matter of the Christian Church and more as they are in a Society they fall properly under a Moral Consideration But how can a Church be true and not true and both in a Moral sence How can we own the Church of Rome as a true Church and yet leave her as a false Church and true and false be both taken Morally Very well And our Learned Men intend no other though they speak it not in these terms For to be true and false in the same Moral Sence doth not imply the being so in the same respects Thus the Church of Rome may be granted to be a true Christian Church with respect to those Fundamentals retained in her Faith and Profession wherein the being and truth of such a Church consisteth and yet be very false and justly to be deserted for her gross Errors in many other points believed also and professed by her as a Bill in Chancery may be a true Bill for the substance of it and so admitted and yet in many things falsely suggested it may be very false and as to them be rejected 2. The Church as the Subject of Schism may 1. Catholick be further considered as Catholick i. e. Absolute Formal Essential and as it lies spread over all the world but united in one common Faith From this Church the Donatists and other ancient Hereticks are said to have separated 2. As Particular in a greater or lesser number 2. Particular or part of the Catholick Thus the modern Separatists forsaking the Church of England are said to be Schismaticks 3. In a Complex and mixt Sence as the particular 3. Mix'd Roman Church pretending also to be the Catholick Church calls her self Roman Catholick and her Particular Bishop the universal Pastor In which sence the Church of England is charged with separation from the Catholick Church for denying Communion with the particular Church of Rome SECT III. Object of Schism 1. Faith THe third Point is the Object about and External Communion in which Separation is made Namely External Communion in those three great Means or Bonds of it Faith Worship and Government under that Notion as they are bonds of Communion The first is Faith or Doctrine and it must Faith be acknowledged that to renounce the Churches Faith is a very great Schism yet here we must admit two exceptions it must be the Churches Faith that is such Doctrine as the Church hath defined as necessary to be believed if we speak of a particular Church for in other Points both Authorities allow Liberty Again though the Faith be broken there is not Schism presently or necessarily except the external Communion be also or thereby disturbed Heretical Principles not declared are Schism in Principle but not in Act Hast thou Faith have it to thy Self 'T is farther agreed that we may and some times
Succession except their own and appropriating all Original Jurisdiction to themselves And that which draws Sedition and Rebellion as the great aggravation of their Schism they Challenge a temporal Power over Princes either directly or indirectly Thus their Charge against us is Disobedience Our Charge against them is Usurpation and abuse of Power If we owe no such Obedience or if we have cause not to obey we are acquitted If the Pope have both power and reason of his side we are guilty If he fail in either the whole weight of Schism with all its dreadful Consequences remains upon him or the Court of Rome The Conclusion TThus we see the Controversie is broken into two great points 1. Touching the Papal Authority in England 2. Touching the Cause of our denying Communion in some things with the Church of Rome required by that Authority Each of these I design to be the matter of a distinct Treatise This first Book therefore is to try the Title The Sum of this first Treatise betwixt the Pope and the Church of England Wherein we shall endeavour impartially to examine all the Pleas and Evidences produced and urged by Romanists on their Masters behalf and shew how they are answered and where there appears greatest weight and stress of Argument we shall be sure to give the greatest diligence Omitting nothing but vnconcluding impertinencies and handling nothing lightly but colours and shadows that will bear no other Now to our Work CHAP. II. An Examination of the Papal Authority in England Five Arguments Proposed and briefly reflected on THis is their Goliah and indeed their whole Army if we rout them here the day is our own and we shall find nothing more to oppose us but Skirmishes of Wit or when they are at their Wits end fraud and force as I am troubled to observe their Use hath been For if the See of Rome hath no just claim or Title to govern us we cannot be obliged to obey it and consequently these two things stand evident in the light of the whole world We are no Schismaticks though we deny obedience to the See of Rome seeing it cannot justly challenge it 2dly Though we were so yet the See of Rome hath no power to consure us that hath no power to govern us And hereafter we shall have occasion further to conclude that the Papal Authority that hath nothing to do with the English Church and yet rigorously exacts our obedience and censures us for our disobedience is highly guilty both of Ambition in its unjust claim and of Tyranny in unjust execution of an usurped power as well in her Commands as Censures which is certainly Schism and aliquid ampliùs They of the Church of Rome do therefore mightily bestir themselves to make good their claim without which they know they can never hope either to gain us or secure themselves I find five several Titles pretended though methinks the power of that Church should be built but upon one Rock 1. The Pope being the means of our first Conversion as they say did thereby acquire a Right 1. Conversion for himself and successors to govern this Church 2. England belongs to the Western Patriarohate 2. Patriarch and the Pope is the Patriarch of the West as they would have it 3. Others found his Right in Prescription and 3. Prescription long continued possession before the Reformation 4. Others flee much higher and derive this 4. Infallibility power of Government from the Infallibility of the Governor and indeed who would not be led by an unerring Guide 5. But their strong hold to which at last resort 5. Succession is still made is the Popes Vniversal Pastorship as Successor to St. Peter and supreme Governor not of Rome and England only but of the whole Christian World Before we enter upon trial of these severally we shall briefly note that where there are many Titles pretended Right is justly suspected especially if the Pretences be inconsistent 1. Now how can the Pope as the Western Patriarcb or as our first Converter pretend to be our Governor and yet at the same time pretend himself to be universal Bishop These some of our suttlest Adversaries know to imply a contradiction and to destroy one another 2. At first sight therefore there is a necessity on those that assert the universal Pastorship to wave the Arguments either from the Right of Conversion or the Western Patriarchate or if any of them will be so bold as to insist on these he may not think the Chair of St. Peter shall be his Sanctuary at a dead lift 3. Also for Possession what need that be pleaded if the Right be evident Possession of a part if the Right be universal unless by England the Pope took livery and Seisen for the whole world Besides if this be a good plea it is as good for us we have it and have had it time out of mind if ours have not been quiet so neither was theirs before the Reformation 4. For Infallibility that 's but a Qualification no Commission Fitness sure gives no Authority nor desert a Title and that by their own Law otherwise they must acknowledge the Bishops of our Church that are known to be as learned and holy as theirs are as good and lawful Bishops as any the Church of Rome hath Thus we see where the Burthen will rest at last and that the Romanists are forced into one only hold One great thing concerns them to make sure or all is lost the whole Controversir is tied to St. Peters Chair the Supremacy of the Pope must be maintained or the Roman and Catholick are severed as much as the Church of England and the Church of Rome and a great breach is made indeed but we are not found the Schismaticks But this is beside my task Lest we should seem to endeavour an escape at any breach all the said five Pleas of the Romanists shall be particularly examined and the main Arguments and Answers on both sides faithfully and exactly as I can produced And where the Controuersie sticks and how it stands at this day noted as before we promised CHAP. III. Of the Popes Claim to England from our Conversion by Eleutherius Gregory THis Argument is not pressed with much confidence in Print though with very much in Discourse to my own knowledge Perhaps 't is rather popular and plausible than invincible Besides it stands in barr against the Right of St. Peter which they say was good near six hundred years before and extends to very many Churches that received grace neither by the means of St. Peter or his pretender Successor except they plead a right to the whole Church first and to a part afterwards or one kind of right to the whole and another to a part The truth is if any learned Romanist shall insist on this Argument in earnest he is strongly suspected either to deny or question the Right of St. Peter's Successor
Constantinople Alexandria Antioch and Hierusalem And that these had all their Jurisdictions limited to them and no one of them had any thing like a Vniversal Monarchy is evident both from Canons and History and also by this undeniable Observation that several Parts of the World had their own Primates independent and exempt from all these in the height of their power as Africk at Carthage the rest of Italy at Millain France at Arles or Lions Germany at Vienna and Britain also had the same priviledge 4. The sixth Canon of the Council of Nice C. Nice saith thus expresly Let Ancient Custom prevail according to which let the Bishop of Alexandria have power over them of Egypt Libia and Pentapolis because this was likewise the Custom for the Bishop of Rome and accordingly in Antioch and other Provinces let the priviledges be preserved to the Churches The occasion of this Canon is said to be this Miletius a Bishop of Egypt ordained Bishops and others in Egypt without the Consent of the Bishop of Alexandria the Case heard in the Council they pronounce such Ordinations Null depose Miletius and by this Canon the more venerable because the first in such Cases confirm the Ancient Customs of that and all other Churches The Romanists object the Council did not Object assign any limits to those Jurisdictions But 't is fully answered that the Council supposed Answ such limits and proceed upon that supposition to allow of them and to enjoyn the observation of them and that is so much the more than a present limitation as it is a proof of the greater Antiquity of such limitation Sure Bellarmine was hard put to it when the Object words because the Roman Bishop hath so accustomed must be forced to speak against all Sence of Words and Scope of the Matter thus i. e. saith he the Roman Bishop hath so accustomed to let the Alexandrian Bishop govern them The occasion of the Canon we had before Answ the Words themselves are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who but Bellarmine seeth not that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports a like Custom in the Church of Rome as the excellent and learned Doctor Stinlingfleet observes The Bishop of Rome had such Jurisdiction over the Churches under him and therefore ought the Bishop of Alexandria over the Churches under him upon this Consideration the Council concludes that so it should be If it be replied the Pope had limits as a Metropolitan but not as Head of the Church this grants the thing in present question that as a Patriarch the Pope's Jurisdiction was limited What Power he had as Head of the Church shall be examined in its due place What Power the Pope had anciently in confirming deposing and restoring Patriarchs will hardly be found so Ancient as the Council of Ephesus and indeed was challenged by him not as a private Patriarch but as Head of the Church and therefore is to be considered under that Head also PROP. III. The Ancient Patriarchate of Rome did not include Brittain excluded Brittain But according to Ruffinus a Roman who Ruffinus lived not long after the Council of Nice it was limited to the Suburbicary Cities i. e. a part of Italy and their Islands Sicily Sardinia and Corsica much less did it ever pretend to Brittain either by Custom Canon or Edict of any of our Princes Consequently we say the Papal Power over us was an after encroachment and usurpation and a plain violation of the general Council of Ephesus Our Argument is this the General Council Par 2. Act. 7. of Ephesus declare that no Bishop should occupy any Province which before that Council and from the Beginning had not been under the Jurisdiction of him or his Predecessors and that if any Patriarch usurped any Jurisdiction over a free Province he should quit it for so it pleased the holy Synod that every Province should enjoy its Ancient Rites pure and inviolate But it is evident the Bishop of Rome had no Power in Brittain from the Beginning nor yet before that general Council nor for the first six hundred years after Christ as will appear when we speak of the next claim viz. Possession Now if the Pope had no Patriarchal Power in Brittain before the six hundredth year of Pope Boniface Christ he could not well have any since for Pope Boniface three years after Saint Gregorie's death disclaimed this Power by assuring an Higher Title so that had we been willing to admit him our Patriarch contrary to what Augustine found time had been wanting to settle his Power as such in England From the whole we conclude either the Pope is none of our Patriarch or if such he stands guilty of Contempt of a general Council and hath done so many hundred years i. e. he is no Patriarch at all or a Schismatical one PROP. IV. To be a Patriarch and Vniversal Bishop in the Inconsistent with Head of the Church Sence of the Romanist is inconsistent Therefore the Pope must let fall his Claim as a Patriarch if he pretend to be Vniversal Bishop Thus the great Arch-Bishop Bramhall reasons wisely and strongly but S. W. gives no answer to it only that he argues weakly and sillily The Lord Primate proves the inconsistency by Arguments not yet answered the Patriarch saith he professeth Humane the Vniversal Pastor challengeth Divine Institution the one hath a limited Jurisdiction over a certain Province the other pretendeth an Vniversal Jurisdiction over the World the one is subject to the Canons of the Fathers and a mere Executor of them and can do nothing either against or besides them the other challengeth an absolute Sovereignty above the Canons to make abrogate suspend them at his pleasure with a Non-obstante when where and to whom he pleaseth Therefore the Claim of this absolute Power disclaimeth the limited and the donation and acceptance of a limited Power convinceth that there was no such absolute Power before had the Pope been unlimited before by divine donation who can imagine that he would ever have taken gradum Simeonis in this Sence by Just Vind. p. 282. stooping so low to receive from the hand of man the narrower dignity of a Patriarch Besides it is fully proved by Doctor Hammond Patriarchs subject to Civil Power in his Book of Schism beyond all the little exceptions of the Romanists as more at large hereafter that the See of a Patriarch is disposable by the Civil Power and therefore what ever Power the Pope may be thought to have had heretofore in Brittain is now lawfully otherwise disposed of by the Kings of England as well as evidently rejected by the Vsurpation of an higher and an higher kind of Title inconsistent with it and justly forfeited many other ways as will appear hereafter But though our Adversaries would seem to say something in favour of this Title they dare not stand to it as indeed it is not convenient they
should if they would save their Head whole Therefore after much ado to very Schis diarm p. p. 157. little purpose S. W. concludes against Doctor Hammond thus Besides saith he were all this granted what is it to your or our purpose Since we accuse you not of Schism for breaking from the Pope's Subjection as a Private Patriarch but as the chief Pastor and the Head of the Church So there is an end of their Second Plea CHAP. V. The Third Papal Claim viz. Prescription or long Possession Case Stated Their Plea our Answer in three Propositions THe true state of the case here is this Case stated It cannot be denied but the Church of England was heedlesly and gradually drawn into Communion with the Roman Church in her additions superinduced upon the ancient Faith and Worship and likewise into some degrees of subjection to Papal Jurisdiction And in this Condition we had continued for some considerable time before King Henry the Eighth and that bold King upon what Motives is not here material with the consent of his three Estates in Parliament both houses of the Convocation and both the Vniversities of the Land threw off the Roman Yoke as a manifest Vsurpation and a very grievous oppression and recovered the people and Church of England to their ancient liberties of being governed by their own domestick Rulers Afterwards in the Reigns of Edward the Sixth and Queen Elizabeth and by their proper Authority we reformed our selves by throwing off the Roman Additions to our Faith and Worship Had we gone about a Reformation while we acknowledged subjection to the See of Rome or indeed before we had renounced it there had been more colour to charge us with Schism and disobedience But now the proper question is first whether the State of England did then justly reject the Jurisdiction of the Pope in England and only consequently whether we did afterwards lawfully Reform without him The cause of our Reformation belongs to another Argument which we shall meet hereafter The papal Plea here is the Popes Authority was established here by long Possession and therefore Plea if nothing else could be pleaded for it Prescription was a good Title and therefore it was injurious and Schismatical first to dispossess him and then to go about to reform without him Our Answer is home and plain in these Three Propositions 1. The Church of England was never actually Ans under the Popes Jurisdiction so absolutely as is pretended 2. The Possession which it had obtained here was not sufficient to create the Pope a good Title 3. Or if it were yet that Title ceased when he lost his Possession CHAP. VI. Prop. I. The Papacy had no Power here for the first Six Hundred Years St. Aug. Dionoth THe first Proposition is this that the Church of England was not actually under the Papal Jurisdiction so absolutely as is pretended that is neither Primarily for Plenarily First not Primarily in that we were free from 1. Not Primarily the Papal Power for the first Six Hundred Years This is confirmed beyond all exception by the entertainment Augustine found among the sturdy Brittains when he came to obtrude that Jurisdiction upon them whence 't is evident that at that time which was near six hundred In Fact or Belief years after Christ the Pope had neither actual possession of Government over nor of the belief of the Brittains that he ought to have it The good Abbot of Bangor when pressed to submit to the Roman Bishop answered in the name of the Brittains That he knew no Obedience Spel. conc an 601. due to him whom they called the Pope but the Obedience of Love and adds those full peremptory exclusive words that under God they were to be Governed by the Bishop of Caerleon Which the Lord Primate Bramhall saith is a full demonstrative convincing proof for the whole time viz. the first six hundred years Vind. p. 84 But 't is added that which follows strikes the question dead Augustine St. Gregories Legate proposing three things to the Brittains 1. That they should submit to the Roman Bishop 2. That they should conform to the Roman Customs 3. Lastly That they should joyn with him in Preaching to the Saxons Hereupon the Brittish Clergy assembled themselves together Bishops and Priests in two several Synods one after another and upon mature deliberation they rejected all his propositions Synodically and refused flatly and unanimously to have any thing to do with him upon those terms Insomuch as Augustine was necessitated to return over Sea to obtain his own Consecration and after his return hither to consecrate the Saxon Bishops alone without the assistance of any other Bishop They refused indeed to their own cost Twelve hundred innocent Monks of Bangor shortly after lost their lives for it The foundation of the Papacy here was thus laid in Blood 'T is objected that the story of the Abbot of Obj. Bangor is taken by Sir H. Spelman out of an old Welch Author of suspected credit but all Objections to that purpose are removed by my Lord Primate and Dr Hammond Besides we have other Authority sufficient for it and beyond contradiction The Story in Bede himself as vouched by Bed li. 2. c. 2. T. H. himself against Dr. Hammond puts it beyond all doubt that the Abbot and Monks opposed Austin and would not subject themselves to the Pope of Rome but referred themselves only to their own Governours which is also the general result of other Authors account of this matter and if the matter of Fact be established 't is enough to disprove the Popes Posession at that time whether they did well or ill is not now considered Baleus speaking of that Convention saith Dinoth In Dinoth disputed against the Authority of Rome and defended stoutly fortitèr the Jurisdiction of St. Davids in the affairs of his own Churches The same is observed by Geoffrey of Monmouth and Sigebert and others for which Dr. In an 602. Hammond refers us to the Collection of the Anglicane Councils and Mr. Whelocks Notes on the Saxon Bede p. 115. And indeed the Author of the Appendix written on purpose to weaken this great instance confesseth as much when he concludes Austin in the Right from the miracles and divine vengeance upon the refusers continuing still refractory to his proposals Of the right of the cause we now dispute not and he acknowledgeth that Augustine had not Possession the thing we contend for However this instance being of great moment in the whole Controversie let us briefly examine what T. H. hath said against it T. H. questions the Authority of the Welch Obj. 1 M. S. But the account there is so perfectly agreeable An. to the general account given by others most competent Witnesses and even Bede himself that as we have no necessity to insist much upon it so they have no reason at all to question it Besides if the Reader would more
the Nicene Canons they were contented to yield that it should be so till the true Canons were produced Now what can the Reader desire to put an eternal end to this Controversie and consequently to the claim of the universal Pastor in this Age but an account of the Judgment of this Council when they had received the Copy of the Nicene Canons on which the point depended out of the East This you have in that excellent Epistle of theirs to Pope Celastine who succeeded Boniface and the elaborate Dr. Stillingfleet who searcheth R. ac p. 410 411. all things to the bottom hath transcribed it at large as a worthy Monument of Antiquity and of very great light in the present Controversie To him I shall refer the Reader for the whole and only note some few expressions to the purpose We say they humbly beseech you to admit no more into your Communion those whom we have cast out For your Reverence will easily perceive that this is forbid in the Council of Nice For if this be taken care for as to the inferior Clergy and Laity how much more would it have it to be observed in Bishops The Decrees of Nice have subjected both the inferior Clergy and Bishops to their Metropolitans for they have most wisely and justly provided that every business be determined in the place where it begun Especially seeing that it is lawful to every one if he be offended to appeal to the Council of the Province or even to an universal Council Or how can a Judgment made beyond the Sea be valid to which the Persons of necessary Witnesses cannot be brought by reason c. For this sending of men to us from your Holiness we do not find it commanded by any Synod of the Fathers And as for that Council of Nice we cannot find it in the truest Copies sent by holy Cyril Bishop of Alexandria and the venerable Atticus Bishop of Constantinople which also we sent to your Predecessor Boniface Take heed also of sending any of your Clerks for Executors to those who desire it lest we seem to bring the swelling pride of the World into the Church of Christ and concerning our brother Faustinus Apiarius being cast out we are confident that our brotherly Love continuing Africa shall no more be troubled with him This is the sum of that famous Epistle the Pope and the African Fathers referred the point in difference to the true Canons of the Nicene Council The Canons determine against the Pope and from the whole story 't is inferred evidently 1. That Pope Boniface himself implieth his Jurisdiction was limited by the general Council of Nice and that all the Laity and Clergy too except Bishops that lived beyond the Seas and consequently in England were exempted from his Jurisdiction by that Council 2. Pope Boniface even then when he made his claim and stood upon his terms with the African Fathers pleads nothing for the appeals of transmarine Bishops to Rome but the allowance of the Council of Nice no tu es Petrus then heard of 3. Then it seems the practices of Popes themselves were to be ruled and judged by the ancient Canons and Laws of the Church 4. The African Fathers declared the Pope fallible and actually mistaken both to his own power and sense of the Council Proving substantially that neither Authority from Councils nor any foundation in Justice Equity or order of Government or publick Conveniency will allow or suffer such Appeals to Rome and that the Pope had no authority to send Legates to hear causes in such cases All these things lye so obviously in prejudice both of the Popes Possession and Title as universal Pastor at that time both in his own the Churches sence that to apply them further would be to insult which I shall forbear seeing Baronius is so ingenious as to confess there are some hard things in this Epistle And Perron hath hereupon exposed his Wit with so much sweat and so little purpose but his own Correction and Reproach as Dr. Still notes Yet we may modestly conclude from this one plain instance that the sence of the Nicene Council was defined by the African Council to be against the Popes Supremacy and consequently they did not submit to it nor believe it and a further consequence to our purpose is that then the Catholick Church did not universally own it i. e. the Popes Supremacy then had not Possession of the faith of the whole Church For as A. C. p. 191. maintains the Africans notwithstanding the contest in the sixth Council of Carthage were always in true Communion with the Roman Church even during the term of this pretended Separation And Caelestine himself saith that St. Augustine one of those Fathers lived and dyed in the Communion of the Roman Church SECT IX The Conclusion touching Possession Anciently VVE hope it is now apparent enough that the Popes Supremacy had no possesion in England from the beginning or for the first six hundred years either de facto or in fide Our Ancestors yielded not to it they unanimously resisted it and they had no reason to believe it either from the Councils or practice of the Church or from the Edicts and Rules of the imperial Law or the very sayings of the Popes themselves Thus Sampson's Hair the strength and Pomp of their best Plea is cut off The foundation of the Popes Supremacy is subverted and all other pleas broken with it If according to the Apostles Canons every Nation had its proper Head in the beginning to be ackonwledged by them under God And according to a general Council all such Heads should hold as from the beginning there can be no ground afterwards for a lawful possession to the contrary If tu es Petrus pasce Oves have any force to maintain the Popes Supremacy why did not the ancient Fathers the Authors of those Canons see it Why was not it shewn by the Popes concerned in bar against them when nothing else could be pleaded When both Possession and Tradition were to be begun and had not yet laid their Foundation Yea when actual opposition in England was made against it when general Councils abroad laid restraints upon it and the Eastern Church would not acknowledge it Indeed both Antiquity Universality and Tradition it self and all colour of Right for ever fails with possession For Possession of Supremacy afterwards cannot possibly have either a divine or just Tâ—â— but must lay its Foundation contrary to Gods Institution and Ecclesiastical Canon And the Possessor is a Thief and a Robber our Adversaries being Judges He invades others Provinces and is bound to Restore And long Possession is but a protracted Rebellion against God and his Church However it be with the secular Powers Christs Vicar must certainly derive from him must hold the power he gave must come in it at his door And S. W. himself P. 50 against Dr. Hammond fiercely affirmeth That Possession in this
Legate of his Holiness indeed But let us examine what entertainment the Power of a Legate found here the Arch-Bishop Math. Par. p. 440. 17. An. 1237. was jealous that a Legate residing here would prove in suae dignitatis praejudicium and the King himself was not without suspitions and therefore would suffer none so much as to be taken for Pope but whom he approved nor any to receive so much as a Letter from Rome without acquainting him with it and held it an undoubted Right of the Crown that ut neminem Eadm p. 125. 53. p. 6. 25. p. 113. 1. c. none shauld be admitted to do the office of a Legate here if he himself did not desire it Things standing thus in 1100. the Arch-Bishop of Vienna coming over reported himself that he had the Legantine Power of all Brittain committed no him but finding no encouragement Eadm p. 58. 41. to use his Commission departed à nemine c. by none received as Legate nor doing any part of that office Fourteen years after Paschalis the Second by Letters expostulates with the King about Eadm p. 113. p. 116. several things in particular his non-admitting either Messenger or Letter without his leave A year after addrest Anselm Nephew to the late Arch-Bishop shewing his Commission Vices gerere Apostolicas in Angliâ this made known the Clergy and Nobility in Council at London sent the Arch-Bishop to the King in Normandy to make known unto him the Ancient Custom of Eadm p. 118. 120. the Realm and by his advice to Rome ut haec nova annihilaret After this An. 1119. the King sent his Bishops to a Council held by Calixtus the Eleventh at Rhemes with Instructions among other things that they should humbly hear the Pope's Precepts but bring no superfluas adinventiones into his Kingdom In November following the Pope and King had a meeting at Gisors in Normandy where Calixtus confirmed unto him his Father's Usages in special that of sending no Legate hither but on the King's desire and when the same Pope not full two years after his Grant to the contrary addrest another Legate to these parts Eadm p. 137 46. p. 138. 21. the Kings wisdom so ordered it that qui Legati c. he which came to do the office of a Legate in all Brittain was sent as he came without doing any part of that Office But it is said that Calixtus confirmed unto the Obj. King his Fathers usages Therefore it was in the Popes power originally and by delegation and not in the King Accordingly in our best Authors and in particular Eadmer we find these words Collata Concessa Impetrata Permissa as is urged in answer to my Lord Cook These words indeed intimate the Popes kindness Ans and peaceable disposition at present viz. that he will not disturb but allow our enjoyment of our ancient priviledges Concessa fungi permissa the same Eadm calls Antiqua Angliae consuetudo libertas Regni p. 118. 33 40. 2. The words do seem also to intimate the Popes claim at that time but the true question is about his Possession which in placing Legates there was ever denied him not as a thing granted formerly by the Pope but as one of the dignitates usus consuetudines as Hen. 1. claimed and defended 3. Lastly they rather intimated the Popes want of power than proved his Authority here and what our Princes did in their own right he would continue to them as a Priviledge for no other reason but because he could not take it from them or durst not deny it to them so he dealt with Edw. the Confessor Vobis Regibus Angliae committimus advocationem ejusdem loci but long before that our Kings looked upon it as their Office regere populum Domini Ecclesiam Baron an 1059. n. 23. ejus which the Pope knew well enough Therefore a Legate landing in England in Ed. 4. time was obliged to take Oath that he would attempt nothing to the derogation of the Rights of the King or Crown In Hen. 4's Nonage his Vncle was sent Legate Edw. 4. 16. by Martin 5. Rich. Cawdry the Kings Attorney made protestation that None was to come as Legate from the Pope or enter the Kingdom without the Kings appointment a Right enjoyed from all memory In the Reign of Hen. 5. the design of sending a Legate from Rome though it were the Kings own Brother was opposed the enterprise took no effect during that Kings Reign Vit. Arch. chic p. 78 80. And in the eleventh of the same King the Judges unanimously pronounce that the Statutes mentioned were only declaratory of the common custom of England fol. 69 76. It was in the Year 1242. when the whole Matth. par 1245 1246. State of England complained of the Popes infamous Messenger non obstante by which Oaths Customs c. were not only weakned but made void And unless the grievances were removed Opportebit nos ponere Murum pro domo Domini libertate Regni Yea long after this in the year 1343. Edw. 3. made his Addresses likewise to Rome which the Pope branded with the Title of Rebellion But to requite him that wise and stout Prince made the Statutes of Proviso's and Praemunire directly opposed to the Incroachments and Vsurpations Walsing p. 161. of the Court of Rome whereby he so abated their power in England for sundry Ages following that a Dean and Chapter was able to deal Bramhall p. 99. with the Pope in England and to foil him too an 1420. The Sum is during the Reigns of all the Brittish and Saxon Kings until the Norman Conquest Legations from Rome were seldom and but Messengers A Legantine or Nuncio's Court we find not Gregory Bishop of Ostium the Popes Spel. conc an 784. own Legate did confess that he was the first Roman Priest that was sent into those parts of Brittain from the time of St. Austin When these Legates multiplied and usurped Authority over us the Kingdom would not bear it as appears by the Statute of Clarendon confirming the ancient Brittish English Custom with the consent and Oaths of all the Prelates and Peers of the Realm and upon this custom was the Law grounded Si quis inventus c. If any one be found bringing in the Popes Letter or Mandate let him be apprehended let justice pass upon him without delay as a Traitor to the King and Kingdom Math. Par. an 1164. Hoved. in Hen. 2. And all along afterwards we have found that still as occasion required the same custom was maintained and vindicated both by the Church and State of the Realm till within an hundred years before Hen. 8. So that the rejection of the Popes Legate is founded in the ancient Right the common and Statute Laws of the Realm and the Legantine power is a plain Vsurpation contrary thereunto and was ever lookt upon as such it never having any real possession
of Stat. 2 Hen. 4. c. 3. Religion obtain of the Bishop of Rome to be Exempt from Obedience Regular or Ordinary he is in case of a praemunire which is an offence contra Regem Coronam dignitatem suam Again more plain to our purpose in Henry Hen. 5. the Fifth's time after great Complaint in Parliament the Grievances by reason of the Pope's licences to the contrary it was enacted that the King willing to avoid such Mischiefs hath ordained and established that all Incumbents by the Patronage of Spiritual Persons might quietly 3 Hen. 5. c. 4. enjoy their Benefices without being inquieted by any colour of Provisions Licences and Acceptations by the Pope and that all such Licenses and Pardons upon and by such Provisions made in any manner should be void and of no valour aod that the Malefactors by virtue thereof incur the punishments contained in the Statutes of Provisors before that time made The King only may grant or licence to found a 9 Hen. 6. fol. 16. Spiritual Corporation as it is concluded by our Law even in Henry the Sixth's time Further in Edward the Fourth's Reign the Pope granted to the Prior of Saint Johns to have 1 Hen. 7. fol. 20. a Sanctuary within his Priory and this was pleaded and claimed by the Prior but it was resolved by the Judges that the Pope had no power to grant any Sanctuary within this Realm and by Judgment of the Law it was disallowed We have thus fully I hope justified the words of the Statute of Henry the Eighth that the Laws made in the times of his Predecessors did in effect the same things Especially those of Edw. 1. Edw. 3. Rich. 2. Hen. 4. which that Parliament 24 Hen. 8. c. 12. refer us to expresly and particularly and how small time is left for the Pope's Prescription if any at all for his quiet possession of the power of licences in England Yet it is confest he had usurped and by several instances been heedlesly or timerously permitted to exercise such a Power for many years together as the Parliament acknowledgeth though contrary to the Ancient Liberty the Common Law and so many plain Decrees of our Judges and Statutes of the Land from Age to Age as have appeared CHAP. XII Of the Patronage of the English Church in our Kings by History Law THis Flower of the Crown was derived from our ancient English and Brittish Kings to William the Conqueror William Rufus and Hen. 1. who enjoyed the Right of placing in vacant Sees by the Tradition of a Ring and a Crocier Staff without further Approbation Ordination or Confirmation from Rome for the first eleven hundred years Indeed then Hildebrand and after Calixtus did condemn and prohibit all Investitures taken from a Lay-hand That before Hildebrand this was the undoubted right of the Crown is evident both by History and Law For History we find Malms notes that King Edgar did grant to the Monks of Glastenbury the free Election of their Abbot for ever But he reserved to himself and his Heirs the power to invest the Brother elected by the Tradition of a Pastoral Staff Malms de gest R. l. 2. c. 8. Therefore Ingulf the Abbot of Crowland in the time of the Conqueror saith for many years Ibid. he might have said Ages past there hath been no free Election of Prelates but the Kings Court did confer all dignities by a Ring and a Crocier Staff Lanfrank desired of William the Conqueror the Patronage of the Abby of St. Austin but the King answered se velle c. that he would keep all the Crociers Staffs i. e. Investitures in his own hand The same is testified of Anselm himself by Eadm He after the manner and example of his Predecessor was instructed according to the custom of the Land and did homage to the King as Lanfrank his Predecessor in the See of Canterbury in his time had done and William the Agent of Hen. 1. protested openly to Pope Paschal I would have all men here to know that my Lord the King of England will not suffer the loss of his Investitures for the loss of his Kingdom Indeed Pope Paschal was as resolute though it be said not so just in his answer I speak it before God Eadm l. 3. p. 73. Paschal the Pope will not suffer him to keep them without punishment no not for the Redemption of his Head Here was indeed a demand made with confidence and courage but had that Pope no better Title than that of Possession to claim by he had certainly none at all For as Eadm concludes the case seemed a new thing or Innovation to this our Age and unheard of to the English from the time that the Normans began to Reign that I say not sooner for from the time that William the Norman conquered the Land no Bishop or Abbot was made before Anselm who Eadm â—er in Praef. p. 2. did not first do homage to the King and from his hand by the gift of a Crocier Staff receive the investiture to his Bishoprick or Abbacy except two Bishops of Rochester who were Surrogates to the Arch-Bishop and inducted by him by the Kings leave Indeed now the Pope began to take upon him in earnest and to require an Oath of Fidelity of the Arch-Bishop when he gave him the Pall and to deny that Pall if he would not take it A new Oath never before heard of or practised An Oath of Obedience to himself as it it is expresly called in the Edition of Gregory 13. An Oath not established by any Council but only by Papal Authority by Paschalis himself as Gregory the Ninth recordeth This Oath at first though new was modest bounding the Obedience of the Arch-Bishops only by the Rules of the holy Fathers as we find in the old Roman Pontifical But it was quickly changed from Regulas Sanctorum Patrum to Regalia Sancti Petâ—i The change as my Lord Bramhall observes not great in words but in Sence abominable P. 320. Twisd p. 47 Bellarmine would persuade us that the like Oath was given in Gregory the firsts time but that was nothing like an Oath of Obedience and was only an Oath of Abjuration of Heresie not imposed but taken freely no common Oath of Bishops nor any thing touching the Royalties of St. Peter as may be seen Greg. Epist 1. 10. Ep. 30. Indic 5. About an hundred years after in the time of Gregory the Ninth they extended the subjects of the Oath as well as the matter enlarging it from Arch-Bishops to all Prelates Bishops Abbots Priors and now they cry up the Canons above all Imperial Laws But to decide this point of swearing Allegiance to the Pope which could not be done without going in person to Rome it is sufficient that by all our Laws no Clergyman could go to Rome without the Kings Licence and that by an ancient Brittannick Law if any subject enter into League with another
enjoyed them the Kingdom was so intolerably burthened with Papal Taxes before of which we shall speak hereafter and these First-Fruits and Tenths being a Remembrance of those extraordinary Taxes and a way devised to settle and continue them upon us they were presently felt and complained of The Parliament complained in general of such oppressions 25 Edw. 3. An. 1351. and again more particularly among other things of First-Fruits in the fiftieth of Edward the Third and desire Rot. Parl. n. 105 106. his Majesty no Collector of the Pope may reside in England The King not complying they again instance the year following that the Pope's Collector Rot. Parl. 51 Edw. 3. n. 78 79. was as very an enemy to this State as the French themselves that he Annually sent away 20000 Marks and sometimes 20000 Pounds and that he now raised for the Pope the First-Fruits of all Dignities which in the very beginning ought to be crusht Yet they prevailed not to their minds and in the next Parliaement the Commons preferred three Petitions First touching the payment of Rot. Parl. 1 R. 2. n. 66 67 68 First-Fruits not used in the Realm before these times Secondly Reservation of Benefices Thirdly Bestowing them on Aliens c. praying Remedy as also that the Petitions of the two last Parliaments might be considered and convenient Remedies ordained the King hereupon refers the matters for Remedy to his grand or Privy-Council But neither yet was full satisfaction obtained as appears for that the Commons renewed Rot. Parl. Rich. 2. n. 37. in effect the same Suits in the third and fifth of Rich. 2. the inconveniences still continuing after which the next Parliament obtained the Statute 13 Ri. 2. c. 2. of Praemunire which as Pol. Virgil observes was a Confining the Papal Authority within the Ocean To which Law three years after some 16 R. 2. c. 5. Additions were made and none of these Laws were repealed by Queen Mary To say the Bishops were pressed by the Laity to pass that last Act is so much otherwise as that it is enrolled as Twisden observes on the desire of the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Rot. Parli 16. Rich. 2. n. 20. in fine Neither would Answer to Sir Edward Cook the Pope tolerate as one insinuates any thing so exceedingly prejudicial to him upon any reasonable pretence whatsoever In the same Parliament the Commons Petition that the Popes Collector may have forty days for his Removal out of the Kingdom the King considers But in the Sixth of Hen. 4. upon grievous 6 Hen. c. 1. complaints made by the Commons to the King of the horrible mischiefs and damnable Customs which are introduced of new by the Church of Rome that none could have provision for an Arch-Bishoprick or Bishoprick until he had compounded with the Popes Chamber to pay great excessive Sums of Money as well for the first fruits as other lesser fees it was Enacted that whosoever shall pay such Sums shall forfeit all they had This Statute was made about an hundred years before Hen. 8. an inconsiderable time for so considerable a Prescription 3. We have noted that the Clergy of England were not free from Roman Taxations before Payments extraordinary the payment of Annates and Tenths as they were afterwards stated For there were occasional charges exacted from us by the Pope which afterwards terminated in those constant payments as before was intimated The first extraordinary contribution raised by allowance for the Popes use in this Kingdom Twisden observes to have been an 1183. far enough Hoved. an 1183. f. 354. b. 43. off from the time of St. Austin When Lucius the third at odds with the Citizens of Rome sent to Hen. 2. Postulans auxilium of him and his Clergy whereupon two things considerable are observed 1. The King in this point concerning the Pope consulted his own Clergy and followed their advice 2. The great care the Clergy took to avoid ill presidents for they advised the King that he would receive the monies as given by them to him and not to the Pope leaving the King to dispose it as he thought fit This wariness being perceived the Pope did not suddenly attempt the like again We do not find any considerable sum raised from the Body of the Clergy for the support of the Papal designs till Gregory 9. demanded a Tenth of all the moveables both of them and the Laity an 1229. The Temporal Lords refused and the Clergy unwillingly were induced to the Contribution for it was no other The Pope ventured no more upon the Laity but eleven years after he demanded of the Clergy a fifth part of their goods And after many Math. par an 1240. p. 526. 20. p. 534. 8. 39. Contests and struglings and notwithstanding all the arguments of the poor Clergy by the Kings and Arch-Bishops means they were forced to pay it But neither that Reluctancy nor the Remonstrance of the Kingdom at the Council of Lions 1245. nor that to the Pope himself the year following could prevail then to change the Shoulder or the method of Oppression For Innocent 4. 1246. invents a new way by charging every Religious house with finding of Souldiers for his Service for one year c. which amounted to eleven thousand Marks for that year with many devices for his advantage but did he Rot. Parl. 50. Ed. 3. n. 107. go on more quietly than he began No certainly See the Petition of the Commons in Parliament 1376. The two Cardinals Priests Agents were not suffered to provide for them a thousand marks a year apiece But the State chased them out of the Kingdom and the King sent through every County that none henceforth should be admitted per Bullam without the special License of the King And a while after the Parliament held the 20 Ed. 3. 1346. Petition more plainly and mention the matter of the two Cardinals as an intollerable Ro. Par. n. 33 35. grievance in which the King gave them satisfaction However the Vsurpation grows against all opposition and 't is no longer a Tax for one year only as at first but for six years successively pretending war with Infidels so dealt John 21. an 1277. and Clement 5. in the Council of Vienna 1311. Exactions of this kind were so abominable that Martin 5 at the Council of Constance 1417. Sess 43. was constrained to make that Remedy Nullatenus imponantur c. upon which decree a supply of the Tenth being twice demanded viz. 1515 and 1518. by Leo 10. against the Turk the English Clergy denied them both times Thus the Papacy by little and little and through great opposition at length brought the Taxes to that we now call Tenths and Annates proceeded gradually but by milder measures to a like Settlement yet neither continued without the disturbances before mentioned 4. There is nothing remains under the head of Money but the casual and accidental profits accrewing by Bulls
Lord the King do or in the least wise attempt to do any of the Premises viz. owning the Authority of the Pope by his answer touching his Right to Scotland so strange so unlawful prejudicial and otherwise unheard of though the King would himself See that famous Letter sent to the Pope the 29 of Edw. 1. taken out of Cor. Christi College-Library and printed this year at Oxford the reading of which gave the occasion of these Meditations 3. It appears further in the Sheet where you have that Letter that the Commons in Parliament have heretofore held themselves bound to resist the invasion and attempts of the Pope upon England though the King and the Peers should connive at them their words are resolute Si Dominus Rex Regni majores hoc vellent meaning Bishop Adomers Revocation from Banishment upon the Popes order Communitas tamen ipsius ingressum in Angliam nullatenus sustineret This is said to be recorded about the 44 of Hen. 3. 4. It is there observed also that upon the Conquest William the Conquerour made all the Freeholders of England to become sworn Brethren sworn to defend the Monarchy with their Persons and Estates to the utmost of their Ability and manfully to preserve it So that the whole Body of the people as well as the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament stood anciently bound by their Oath to defend their King and their Country against Invasion and Usurpation 5. The present Constitution of this Kingdom is yet a stronger Bulwark against Popery Heretofore indeed the Papal pretensions were checkt sometimes in temporal sometimes in spiritual concerns and Instances But upon the Reformation the Popes Supremacy was altogether and at once rejected and thrown out of England and the consequence is an universal standing obligation upon the whole Kingdom by Statutes Customs and most solemn Oaths to defend our Monarchy our Church our Country and our Posterity against those Incroachments and that Thraldom from which we were then so wonderfully delivered and for this hundred years have been so miraculously preserved blessed be God Accordingly in our present Laws both the Temporal and Ecclesiastical Supremacy is declared to be inherent in the Crown and our Kings are sworn to maintain and govern by those Laws And I doubt not but all Ministers of the Church and all Ministers of State and of Law and War all Mayors and Officers in Cities and Towns corporate c. together with all the Sheriffs and other Officers in their several Countries and even all that have received either Trust or power from his Majesty within the Kingdom All these I say I suppose are sworn to defend the King's Supremacy as it is inconsistent with and in flat opposition to Popery In the Oath of Allegiance we swear to bear true Allegiance to the King and to defend him against all Conspiracies and Attempts which shall be made against his Person and Crown to the utmost of our power meaning especially the Conspiracies and Attempts of Papists as is plain by that which follows in that Oath and yet more plain by the Oath of Supremacy In which Oath we swear that the King is the only Supreme Governor in this Realm as well in all spiritual things and causes as temporal and that no foreign Prince or Prelate hath or ought to have any Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical within this Realm and that we do abhor and renounce all such We swear also that we will bear Faith and true Allegiance to the King and to our power assist and defend all Jurisdictions viz. Ecclesiastical as well as Temporal granted or belonging to the Kings Highness 6. Now next to Oaths nothing can be thought to oblige us more than Interest But if neither Oaths nor Interest neither Conscience nor Nature neither Religion nor self-Preservation can provoke us to our own defence what remains but a certain fearful expectation of judgment to devour a perjur'd and senseless Generation If either our joynt or several Interests be considerable how are we all concern'd 1. Is there any among us that care for nothing but Liberty and Mony they should resist Popery which would many ways deprive them of both 2. But if the knowledge of the Truth if the Canon of life in the holy Scriptures if our Prayers in our own tongue if the Simplicity of the Gospel the purity of Worship and the Integrity of Sacraments be things valuable and dear to Christians let them abhor Popery 3. If the ancient Priviledges of the Brittish Church the Independency of her Government upon Foreign Jurisdiction if their legal Incumbencies their Ecclesiastical Dignities if their opportunities and capacities of saving Souls in the continuance of their Ministries if their judgment of discretion touching their Doctrine and Administrations their judgment of Faith Reason and Sence touching the Eucharist if exemption from unreasonable impositions of strange Doctrines Romish Customs groundless Traditions and Treasonable Oaths And lastly if freedom from spiritual Tyranny and bloody Inquisitions if all these be of consequence to Clergy-men let them oppose Popery 4. If our Judges and their several Courts of Judicature would preserve their Legal proceedings and judgments and decrees if they would not be controlled and superseded by Bulls Sentences and Decrees from the Pope and Appeals to Rome let them never yield to Popery 5. If the Famous Nobility and Gentry of England would appear like themselves and their heroick Ancestors in the defence of the Rights of their Country the Laws and customs of the Land the Wealth of the people the Liberties of the Church the Empire of Brittain and the grandeur of their King or indeed their own honour and Estates in a great measure let them never endure the re-admission of Popery 6. Yea let our great Ministers of State and of Law and of War consider that they stand not firm enough in their high and envied places if the Roman Force breaks in upon us and remember that had the late bloody and barbarous design taken effect one consequence of it was to put their places into other hands And therefore in this capacity as well as many other they have no reason to be Friends to Popery 7. As for His Most Excellent Majesty no suspicion either of inclination to or want of due vigilance against Popery can fasten upon him and may he long live in the Enjoyment and under a worthy Sence of the Royalties of Monarchy and the honour and exercise of his Natural and Legal Supremacy in all Causes and over all Persons within his Dominions both Civil and Ecclesiastical his Paternal Inheritance of Empire and at last leave it intirely to his Heirs and Successors upon Earth for a more glorious Crown in Heaven And in the mean time may he defend the Faith of Christ his own Prerogative the Rights Priviledges and Liberties and Estates of his People and the defensive Laws and Customs of his Royal Progenitors And therefore may he ever manage his Government both with Power Care
perhaps may be contrived by wise men without prejudice to the said Jurisdiction 3. That there is reason to reascertain the Fees for Probates of Wills and granting Letters of Administration with some moderate respect had to the difference of the value of Mony when the former Act was made and at this time so as the Officers in the Kings Spiritual Courts may live upon their Employment 4. And why Excommunication decreed in Court may not be sent to the Parochial Minister to be not only declared but Executed by him as the Bishops Surrogate and convenient time allowed him to endeavour to reconcile the offender and to prevent the Sentence if it may be I see not if that may give any satisfaction Such kind of Alterations perhaps may be admitted without real prejudice to the Church or rather with advantage as well as those made by the Conqueror when he divided the Ecclesiastical from the Civil Courts The Law by which he made that Division is famous the clauses of it concerning this matter may be desired by the Reader therefore I shall take the pains to transcribe them they are these Willielmus Gratia Dei Rex Anglorum c. William by the Grace of God King of England to all that have Land in the Bishoprick of Lincoln know ye all and all others my faithful People in England that the Episcopal Laws that have Non benè not well been exercised nor according to the Precepts of holy Canons even to my time in this Kingdom Concilio Communi with Common Counsel and with the Counsel of the Bishops and Abbots and all the chief men of my Kingdom I judge fit to be amended Moreover I Command and by my Kingly Authority injoyn That no Bishop or Archdeacon de Legibus Episcopalibus hold Placita Pleas any longer in Hundret nor bring any Ecclesiastical Cause to the Iudgment of Secular men but whosoever shall be called or questioned for any Cause according to the Ecclesiastical Laws he shall come to the place which the Bishop shall chuse and there shall answer for his Cause and not secundum Hundret and he shall do right to God and the Bishop not according to the Hundred but according to the Canons and Episcopal Laws But if any through pride will not appear Venire ad Justiciam Episcopalem let him be called the first second and third time and if yet he will not come let him be Excommunicated and if need be let the Strength and Iustice of the King or Sheriff ad hoc Vindicandum adhibeatur This also I defend and by my Authority interdict that no Sheriff or other Minister of the King or any Lay-man do intermeddle with the Laws which belong to the Bishop Give me leave to subjoyn a few Notes upon this Law of the Conqueror and I have done 1. The substance and matters of Ecclesiastical Power and Connusance was the same long before this Law was made and not Altered by it 't was a Law of King Alured Si quis Dei rectitudines aliquas deforciat reddat lathlite cum Dacis witam cum Anglis And the same is afterwards confirmed and renewed by Canutus and other Kings whereby it appeareth that long before the Conquest the Authority and Jurisdiction of the Church was maintained by the setled Laws of the Kingdom and that Ecclesiastical Judges had power so anciently to Excommunicate and had the help of the King and the Sheriff to proceed against the obstinate 2. 'T is yet very remarkable that for the form and manner of their Spiritual Courts and proceedings before the Conquest it was not here in England as it was at Rome and therefore our most Ancient Church-Government was not derived or Received from Rome This Law observes that before the Conqueror the Precepts of holy Canons as to distinct Jurisdictions were not observed in England that is the Canons of the Imperial Church for six or seven Hundred years before the Jurisdiction of that Church was divided from the Civil even by the Emperor Constantine himself but for so many hundred years before the Conquest our Jurisdictions were exercised together in Hundret as the Law acknowledgeth and is confessed 3. We here see a plain Establishment of our Spiritual Courts with power of Excommunication for non-appearance in the letter of this Ancient Law under the Kings defence and enforced with the Secular Arm and 't is observable that the distinction of the Ecclesiastical front the Civil Courts was made in the Kings own Name and not the Pope's by the Kings power and none other with the Counsel of his own Subjects only and not of Rome that we read of and only with respect and not in any obedience to the ancient Canons or foreign methods And thus the Jurisdiction in our Courts Ecclesiastical as distinct from the Civil is as far from being Popish in their Original as it was when they were conjoyned and therein so unlike to the distinct proceedings of the Spiritual power beyond the Seas so many hundred years before And thus our Spiritual Courts both before they were divided and when they came to be divided from our Civil Courts stand firm in the Ancient Laws of this Land 4. There are certain great Epoche's of the Legal Establishment of the Churches power which I shall but touch 1. It was received with Christianity and grew and flourished by our Ancient Laws before the Conquest 2. In the beginning of our Norman Constitution it was thus distinguished and establish'd by the Conqueror So it was in Magna Charta the first Statute 3. Vpon the Reformation in Hen. 8. it was re-establish'd 4. So it was upon the Return of Reformation after Queen Mary by Queen Eliz. And 5. so likewise upon the Return of our present gracious Soveraign King Charles II. 5. Further I hence observe that some Alterations in Ecclesiastical proceedings may be made by Law without any prejudice to the Churches power 'T is observed out of Spelman before that by this Law the Conqueror did not lessen the Churches power indeed some Inconveniences are usually consequent to publick changes and 't is thought by our Civilians that the many prohibitions which interrupt our Ecclesiastical Courts are occasioned by their being divided from the Temporal but may not that inconvenience be accidental to that Division Or if at any time there be just cause for the Church to complain in that respect is it not rather of the Judges than the Laws or the Constitution But to the matter before us admit for Instance that after Summary hearing and Sentence of the Judge in Cases of small Tithes Church rates and such trivial matters a Justice of the Peace or some other person being legally certified were impowered and obliged to grant Warrants of Distress It seems to me a greater inconvenience in exposing Excommunication in such light Causes would be hereby removed than any contracted by such an Alteration and methinks no one should disdain the new Office seeing the Superior Judge hath been ever
sift them CHAP. II. Our Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in England was not derived from the Pope but from the Crown before the Reformation by Henry the Eighth DARE any Protestant stand to the contrary had the Pope really Authority here before Henry the Eighth did our Bishops indeed receive all their power exercised so many hundred years together originally from the Pope was not their Political Jurisdiction derived from and depending on the Crown Imperial and founded in our own Laws the Customs and Statutes of the Realm are these the Popes Laws and not the Kings was there not Ecclesiastical power in England both for Legislation and Execution ab origine before the Papal Vsurpation was not Popery at first and all along till Hen. 8. an illegal usurpation upon our more Ancient Government never own'd much less establish'd in the true Ancient Laws of England and under that very Notion rejected and expelled by him How then did our Bishops c. derive all their power from the Pope before Hen. 8. to say so is not more like an Hobbist than a Papist I thought I had caught an Hobby but War-Hawk Proof against this Popish principle SECT I. From the root and branches of Ecclesiastical Power Donation Investiture Laws I. It was a known Law long before Hen. 8. that the Church of England was founded â—5 Edw. 3. 25 Edw. 1. in Episcopacy by our Kings c. and not in the Papacy II. The Collaetion and Donation of Bishopricks and Nomination of Bishops did always belong to the King yea all the Bishopricks in this Realm are of the Kings Foundation and the full Right of Investiture was ever in the Crown Coke 1. Inst 2. S. 648. to deny it may be a praemunire III. When once the Bishops are legally invested their proper Jurisdiction came into â—5 Hen. 8. 20. their hands by the Laws without any power derived from the Pope Who saith otherwise knows nothing or means ill IV. It was acknowledg'd That Convocations are always have been and ought to be Assembled by the Kings Writ only 't is Law 35 Hen. 8. 19. V. As the power to make Laws for the Church was ever in the King so the Laws themselves must be his and none other bind us This Realm Recognizing no Superiour 35 Hen. 8. 21. As 16 Rich. 2. 5. under God but the King hath been and is free from any Laws but such as have been devised within this Realm or at our Liberty have been consented to and made custom by use and not by any foreign power SECT II. Jurisdiction THUS our Ancient Ecclesiastical Governours and Laws depended upon the Crown and not upon the Pope by the Laws of England and in the Judgment of all the States of the Kingdom before Hen. 8. and so did also the execution of those Laws by those Governours in the same publick Judgment a little better than Mr. Hickeringill's Popish opinion 2. In sundry old Authentick Histories and Chronicles it is manifest that this Realm is an Empire having an Imperial Crown to which belongs a body Politick compacted of Spiritualty and Temporalty furnished thus with Jurisdiction to yield Justice in all causes without restraint from any foreign Prince The body Spiritual having power when any Cause of Divine Law hapned to come in question the English Church called the Spiritualty which always hath been reputed and also found of that sort for knowledge c. without any exteriour person to declare and determine all such doubts and to administer all such offices as appertain to them for the due administration whereof the Kings of this Realm have endowed the said Church both with honour and possessions both these Authorities and Jurisdictions do conjoyn in the due Administration of Justice the one to help the other And whereas the King his most noble Progenitors and the Nobility and Commons of this Realm at divers and sundry Parliaments as well in the time of King Edw. 1. Edw. 3. Rich. 2. Hen. 4. all which were certainly before Hen. 8. and other noble Kings made sundry Ordinances Laws Statutes and provisions for the entire and sure preservation of the Prerogatives and Jurisdiction Spiritual and Temporal of the said Imperial Crown from the annoyance and Authority of the See of Rome from time to time as often as any such attempt might be known or espied Vid. 25 Hen. 8. 12. These things plainly shew that the whole State in Hen. 8's time was not of Mr. Hickeringill's mind but that before that time the whole power of the Church was independent on the Pope and not derived from him but originally inherent in the Crown and Laws of England whatever he blatters to the contrary Vid. 25 Edw. 3. Stat. 4. cap. 22. pag. 123. Sect. 3. 27 Edw. 3. cap. 1. 38 Edw. 3. c. 4. Stat. 2. c. 1. 2 Rich. 2. cap. 6. 3 Rich. 2. c. 3. S. 2. 12 Rich. 2. c. 15. 13 Rich. 2. Stat. 2. c. 2. 16 Rich. 2. c. 5. 2 Hen. 4. c. 3 4. 7 Hen. 4. c. 6. 9 Hen. 4. c. 8. 1 Hen. 5. 7. 3 Hen. 5. Stat. 2. c. 4. Adde to these Mr. Cawdries Case in my Lord Coke and he must be unreasonably ill affected to the Church of England that is not more than satisfied that the chief and Supream Governours thereof were the Kings of England and not the Pope before the Reign of Hen. 8. 3. Also it was the sence of the whole Kingdom that the Pope's power and Jurisdiction here was usurped and illegal contrary to Gods Laws the Laws and Statutes of this Realm and in derogation of the Imperial Crown thereof and that it was timorously and ignorantly submitted unto before Hen. 8. as the words of that Statute are 28 Hen. 8. cap. 16. SECT III. BUT if our Gentleman be wiser than to believe their words the matter is evident in our ancient Laws and constant practice accordingly before Hen. 8. his time Indeed all the Statutes of provision against foreign powers are to own and defend the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction at home under this Crown Yea all the Statutes made on purpose to restrain and limit the Spiritual Jurisdiction in certain cases and respects do allow and establish it in others exceptio confirmat Regulam in non exceptis 2. Much plainer all the Statutes that prohibit the Kings Civil Courts to interrupt the Ecclesiastical proceedings but in such cases and the Statutes granting consultations in such cases and the Statutes directing appeals in the Spiritual Courts and appeals to the Chancery it self and the Laws ratifying and effectually binding their Sentence by the Writ de exc cap. much more plainly do these establish the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in the laws of the Land before Hen. 8. 3. By this time 't is vain to mention the Statutes which of old did specifie and allow particular matters to be tried only in the Ecclesiastical Courts such as Tithes 18 Edw. 3. 7. the offences of Ecclesiastical persons 1 Hen. 7. c. 4.
causes Testamentary 18 Edw. 3. 6. Synodals and procurations and pensions c. 15 Hen. 8. 19. Defamations 9 Edw. 2. 3. 1 Edw. 3. c. 11 c. all which are clear evidences that the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction was establish'd by the Statute-laws of this Realm and consequently did not depend upon was not derived from any foreign power before the 20 of Hen. 8. SECT IV. TO seek for the Original of our Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and Courts in the Statute-book is more than ridiculous seeing they both stood in a flourishing estate long before the beginning of that book and are among the number of the great things which were then secundum consuetudinem leges Angliae and are plainly establish'd in the Common Law of the Land by which they have stood and been practis'd ever since as we shall prove more fully anon 2. Magna Charta which is found first in the book of Statutes and is said by Lawyers to be Common Law i. e. shews us what is Common Law in this Kingdom begins thus We have granted and confirmed for us and our Heirs for ever that the Church of England shall be free and shall have all her whole Rights and Liberties Inviolable Reserving to all Archbishops and Bishops and all persons as well Spiritual as Temporal all their Free Liberties and free Customs which they have had in times past and which we have granted to be holden within this Realm and all men of this Realm as well Spiritual as Temporal shall observe the same against all persons 3. Now what can any man that knows the practice of the Spiritual Courts before that time at that time and ever since imagine what is meant by the Liberties and Customs of the Church i. e. in the sence of Mr. Hickeringill and the words of Magna Charta Archbishops Bishops and all Spiritual men but the Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical in the first and chief place And these by the great Charter are confirm'd for ever and the like confirmation hath been made by the many succeeding Kings and Parliaments in their confirmation of Magna Charta 4. Therefore I cannot but conclude that the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction being founded in the Common Law Magna Charta and the Statutes by so long practice beyond all Records is in the very Constitution of the Kingdom The great men of the Church having always had authority in the very making of Laws as they had before Magna Charta and been reputed as in the Statute of Eliz. one of the three States in Parliament and the Execution also of the Ecclesiastical Laws of the Church of England SECT V. LASTLY All this is plainly confirm'd by ancient Ecclesiastical Canons which seems to be an Argument of great weight with Mr. Hickeringill as well as by the Ancient Laws and Customs of the Land In the Apostles Canons 't is ordained that every National Church should have its own chief or head and thence derive all Power under the Crown 'T is acknowledged against the Papists that we had our Arch-bishops and Bishops before the Vsurpation of the Pope We were anciently a Patriarchate independent upon Rome The four first Councils confirm'd the Apostles Canons and establish'd our ancient Cyprian priviledge Let after encroachments of the Pope be accordingly renounced as lawless Vsurpations Let us quietly enjoy our restored ancient priviledges and let ancient Custom prevail according to the Sentence of the ancient Councils in spight of all Papists and Hobbists CHAP. III. King Hen. 8. did not by renouncing the Power pretended by the Pope make void the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction neither was it void before it was restored by 1 Edw. 6. 2. IT 's somewhat difficult to make this Proposition than it is in its self more plain pray Mr. Wise-man where and by what words did Hen. 8. cut off as you say all those ordinary Jurisdictions Did that great Prince and his Parliament intend by any Statute then made to cut them off or not If they did intend it how came it to pass that they continued in their usual course of power and proceedings all the rest of his Reign which may be presumed to be near ten years Was that watchful Prince so asleep was the whole Kingdom so stupid so long a time to suffer such oppression by invasion of the Crown and the peoples Liberties by a company of Church-men now deprived of the Pope's assistance and without any power at all or were the Ecclesiastical Governours so desperate or careless as to lie under so much danger of praemunire neither desisting to act without power nor to sue for it 2. But perhaps though the King and Parliament did not intend it yet the words of the Statute express enough to dissolve and cut off all those ordinary Jurisdictions and no body could see through this milstone or tumble it upon the Churches head before Mr. Hickeringill was inspired to do it in a lucky time I will answer him with a story There was a certain Lord laid claim to a Mannor that was in another Lord's possession upon Trial it was found that the Plaintiffe had the Right of it and he that had had possession was thrown out and the other the Right Owner was as he ought to be put into the possession of the said Mannor but it was observed that though the Lords were changed yet the Customs and Courts and Officers were not changed at all but all things proceeded as before 3. Thus King Hen. 8. and his Parliament express'd themselves as if on purpose to our present case only that the Pope's power then was rather in a pretended claim than in possession as is evident from that notable Statute 24 Hen. 8. c. 12. where we have the Kings Supremacy first asserted with a body Politick of the Spiritualty and Temporalty every way furnish'd with Authorities and Jurisdictions to administer Justice to the whole Realm Thus the Imperial Crown fully accomplish'd throws off the pretence of the Pope as King Edw. Rich. and Hen. 4. had done before yet as they also did reserves as well the Spiritualty and its Jurisdiction as the Temporalty and its Jurisdiction Afterwards 4. The King doth by his Royal assent and by the assents of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons Assembled and by the Authority of the same Enact Establish and Ordain that all Causes Testamentary Causes of Matrimony and Divorces rights of Tithes Oblations and Obventions the knowledge whereof by the goodness of Princes of this Realm and by the Laws and Customs of the same appertaineth to the Spiritual Jurisdiction of this Realm shall be from henceforth heard examined discuss'd clearly finally and definitively adjudged and determined in such Courts Spiritual and Temporal as the natures of the controversie shall require 5. 'T is plain therefore that though Hen. 8. did cut off the Pope's pretence which is the great intention of that excellent Law yet the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction was not dissolved but annex'd or declared to be annex'd to the Imperial Crown
of this Realm and to continue to exercise its power in the Spiritual Courts as before according to the Laws and Customs of the Land Read the Statute and you will not only see a continuance of the Spiritual Courts supposed and allow'd but special directions touching proceedings and Appeals therein SECT II. IF King Hen. 8. did take away the Ecclesiastical Authority of the Church of England he did either remove the Officers or deny their power to make Canons or destroy their Courts and the exercise of their Jurisdiction but he did do neither but rather by Acts of Parliament establish'd them all I. For the first touching the Governours of the Church consult Statute 31 Hen. 8. 3. that it may be Enacted by the Authority of this present Parliament that all Archbishops and Bishops of this Realm may by Authority of this present Parliament and not by any provision or other foreign Authority enjoy and retain their Archbishopricks and Bishopricks in as large and ample manner as if they had been promoted elected confirmed and Consecrated according to the due course of the Laws of this Realm And that every Archbishop and Bishop of this Realm may minister use and exercise all and every thing and things pertaining to the Office or Order of any Archbishop or Bishop with all Tokens Ensigns and Ceremonies thereunto lawfully belonging Further that all Ecclesiastical persons of the Kings Realm all Archdeacons Deans and other having Offices may by Authority of this Act and not c. administer use and exercise all things appertaining to their Dignities and Offices so it be not expresly against the Laws of God and this Realm II. Neither did King Hen. 8. take away the power of the Bishops and others to make Canons in Convocation as appears by the Statute of the 25 of Hen. 8. 19. In that Statute among other things upon the Petition of the Clergy two things are granted to our purpose touching Ecclesiastical Canons 1. The old ones 't is provided that such Canons being already made which be not contrariant nor repugnant to the Laws Statutes and Customs of this Realm nor to the damage of the Kings prerogative Royal shall now be used and exercised as they were before the making of this Act till such time as they be viewed by the said Thirty two persons according to the Tenor of this Act which was never done therefore such old Canons are yet of force by this Act. Vid. Sect. 6. 2. For the making of new Canons the Convocation hath power reserved by this same Act provided the Convocation be called by the Kings Writ and that they have the Royal assent and licence to make promulgate and execute such Canons as you may read Sect. 1. of the said Statute Indeed the Convocation used a larger power in making Canons before as is there noted which they say they will not henceforth presume to do but it therefore follows that they may still use their power so limited and derived from the Crown which is the evident intention of the Act. For by restraining the Clergy thus to proceed in making Canons the Law allows them the power so to do and by making the exceptions and limitations confirms their Authority so far as it is not excepted against III. Neither lastly did King Hen. 8. take away the ordinary Jurisdiction of Ecclesiastical Governours as exercised in the Spiritual Courts according to the Laws and Canons of this Church but indeed establish'd them by Acts of Parliament as is plainly to be seen in the 37 Hen. 8. c. 16. Sect. 4. in these words May it therefore please your Highness that it may be Enacted that all singular persons which shall be made deputed to be any Chancellor Vicar-general Commissary Official Scribe or Register by your Majesty or any of your Heirs or Successors or by any Archbishop Bishop Archdeacon or other person whatsoever having Authority under your Majesty your Heirs and Successors to make any Chancellor Vicar-general Commissary Official or Register may lawfully execute all manner of Jurisdiction commonly called Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and all Censures and Coercions appertaining unto the same c. 2. 'T is acknowledged that in the Sect. 2. of this Statute it seems as if the Parliament concluded that by the 25 of Hen. 8. 19. the ancient Canons were abrogated which I wonder Mr. Hickeringill his sagacity had not discovered yet 't is plain enough that wise Parliament did not thereby reflect upon or intend all the Canons but such Canons as the present matter before them was concerned in that is such Canons as forbad Ecclesiastical Officers to marry as the words Sect. 1. are that no Lay or married man should or might exercise any Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction c. directly repugnant to your Majesty 's as Supream Head your Grace being a Lay-man then it follows in the next words And albeit the said Decrees viz. being contrary to the Royal prerogative as supream Head of the Church be in the 25 year of your most Noble Reign utterly abolished That this is the meaning of that clause is reasonable to believe because they take no further care to correct the matter but only by enacting persons lawfully deputed though they be Lay persons though married or unmarried shall have power and may exercise Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction notwithstanding any Law or Constitution to the contrary as the Statute is concluded 3. Besides we are assured that all the ancient Canons that were not repugnant to the Kings Prerogative or the Laws and Customs of this Realm were not abrogated but declared to be of force i. e. to be executed in the Spiritual Courts as was noted in the very letter of that Statute 25 Hen. 8. 19. and that this clause speaking only of such Canons as were abrogated by that Statute abrogates nothing that was not so by the Act referred to 4. And thus the Jurisdiction and Canons of the Church stood in force at the latter end of the Reign of Hen. 8. this Statute being made in the last year wherein any were made by that great Prince 5. Thus we have found in the time of King Hen. 8. an Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction exercis'd in England without any dependance on the Pope and other Authority for Canon-makers Synodical as Mr. Hickeringill cants besides the Statute for the High Commission 1 Eliz. upon which Statute of Eliz. Mr. Hickeringill very learnedly asserts the Authority of all Canon-makers Synodical was built qu. Naked Truth SECT III. NO more is needful under this Head but to shew my respect to Mr. Hickeringill his doughty and only Argument taken out of the Petition of the Clergy to Queen Mary whereby he would fain prove that the extinguishing Act of Hen. 8. took away all ordinary Jurisdiction from the Church of England and that there was no such thing till she revived it 2. The words of the Petition from whence he thus argues you shall have in his own Translation in this manner they pray that her Majesty would make
such provision that those things which belong to our Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and Liberties without which we cannot duly discharge c. and taken from us lately by the Iniquity of the times may be again restored and that all Laws which have taken away or do any ways hinder our Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and liberties may be made null and void Hence he concludes that in the judgment of the Convocation at that time their Jurisdiction and Liberties were taken away Is this proof sufficient against all the laws and practice of the Kingdom during the Reign of Hen. 8. after the extinguishing Act or do they say that Hen. 8. took away the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction how can Mr. Hickeringill divine that it was not the renouncing the Pope as Head of their Jurisdiction and Liberties that was the very grievance that they complain'd of 3. This is certain that Queen Mary succeeded Edw. 6. that Edw. 6. did require more express Testimonies of the Clergie's Recognition of the Crown in the exercise of the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction by the Statute of which we shall take more notice presently than Hen. 8. did and 't is past Mr. Hickeringill his skill to prove that the Convocation in their said Petition did not principally if not only intend that severe Act of Edw. 6. However that pass Mr. Hickeringill his argument deserves not the strength of a Convocation to confute it 4. I leave it to Mr. Hickeringill himself for if he think that that Convocation spake that which was not true he hath said nothing to the purpose but if he think they did speak truth then he thinks that the Jurisdiction of the Church of England as derived from the King according to the Statute of Edw. 6. or in Hen. 8's time was no lawful Jurisdiction that is Mr. Hickeringill thinks as the Papists think War Hawk again Mr. Hickeringill and a praemunire too But this brings us to consider the Statute of Edw. 6. CHAP. IV. Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction is lawfully exercis'd without the Kings Name or Stile in Processes c. notwithstanding the 1 Edw. 6. 2. THat all Ecclesiastical Processes should be in the Name and Stile of the King c. according to the Statute of 1 Edw. 6. 2. is the great and old Objection not only of Mr. Hickeringill but several others SECT I. Answ But first if this Statute were not repealed as indeed it is there are several things in the body of it very considerable against Mr. Hickeringill and to our advantage 1. The Statute observes in the very foundation of it that it 's justly acknowledged by the Clergy of the Realm that all Courts Ecclesiastical within the Realms of England and Ireland be kept by no other Power or Authority but by the Authority of the King which it seems was then known without the Testimonies thereof then to be required and indeed is so still by the Oaths which all Ecclesiastical persons chearfully take before their Instalment 2. That there was such a thing in practice before the making this Act as Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in the Church of England for the Statute saith that Archbishops c. do use to make and send out their Summons c. in their own names at that time who yet acknowledged all their Authority from the Crown Sect. 3. 3. The Statute allows the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction it self and that the Archbishops and Bishops shall make admit c. their Chancellors and other Officers and Substitutes which supposeth the Constitution of the Spiritual Courts under their own names and with their own Seals Sect. 6. 4. This Statute also allows that some things are limited by the Laws and Customs of this Realm and if such things are depending in the Kings Courts of Record at Common Law are to be remitted to the Spiritual Courts to try the same Sect. 7. 5. But what is the penalty if they do not use the Kings Name and Stile and put the Kings Arms into their Seals of Office This is considerable 'T is well the Statute provided Sect. 4. a better hand to punish the delinquents than Mr. Hickeringill and a milder punishment than he interprets the Law to do the punishment is the Kings displeasure and imprisonment during his pleasure not the voiding the Jurisdiction as Mr. Hickeringill would have it And while the King knows the Statute is repealed as shall next appear we fear not but his Majesty is pleased with and will defend our Jurisdictions while we humbly acknowledge their dependency on the Crown and exercise the same according to his Laws though we presume not to use his Name and Stile and Arms without the warrant of Law SECT II. 1. FOR that Statute of 1 Edw. 6. 2. was repealed by the first and second of Philip and Mary c. 8. wherein we have these plain words The Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of the Archbishops and Ordinaries are declared to be in the same state for process of suits punishment of crimes and execution of the Censures of the Church with knowledge of causes belonging to the same and as large in these points as the said Jurisdiction was the said twentieth year of Hen. 8. whereby that Statute is also revived as my L. Coke affirmeth Thus by Act of Parliament of which that Queen was the undoubted Head and by the power of the Crown of England and not the Pope the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of this Realm was established by our own Law is the same state wherein it stood before the twentieth of Hen. 8. and then we find that by our ancient Laws and Customs it was dependent on the Crown whatever some Church-men thought to the contrary 2. I have read that this same Queen Mary wore the Title of Head of the Church of England her self though in other points too too zealous for Popery and by this very Statute it is Enacted That nothing in this Act shall be construed to diminish the Liberties Prerogatives or Jurisdictions or any part thereof which were in the Imperial Crown of this Realm the twentieth year of Hen. 8. or any other the Queens progenitors before And we have found that the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of this Kingdom was subject to and dependent on the Imperial Crown secundum consuetudinem legem Angliae in her Ancestors time We have found also that this was the undoubted Judgment of the whole Kingdom in the Statutes of Hen. 8. Edw. 6. Queen Eliz. King James c. Now let it be shewn that this clause of the Statute of Queen Mary is repealed which is so agreeable to the ancient Customs and Rights of the Crown let this be shown and you do something This Statute of my Lord Coke's is not repealed by the 1 of Eliz. or King James though the 1 of Mary should be granted to be so Also the 25 Hen. 8. 20. being contrary to 1 Edw. 6. 2. is revived by 1 Eliz. and never repealed Rep. Coke 12. p. 9. I. Mr. Hickeringill indeed is bold enough but I find Mr. Cary timerous in
the point though against the hair for though he toll on his weak and prejudic'd readers to their great hazard in putting their whole case upon this one point whether the Court can shew the broad Seal c. yet when he comes home to the matter he tells them that the aforesaid Statute of Edw. 6. not being mentioned by King James's Act of repeal and expresly revived is thought not to be of force so that a citation in the Bishops own name may at this day be good in Law Law of Engl. c. 2. p. 12. Mr. Hickeringill should have taken the advice of this his friend a great Lawyer certainly that entitles his minute and thin piece the Law of England SECT III. Mr. CARY indeed mistakes the Statute for it is the first of King James 25. not the fourth yet we have his learned opinion that Citations in the Bishops own name may at this day be good in Law and for ought I know his reason for it may be good too viz. because the Statute of Queen Mary especially that of the first and second of Phil. and Mar. c. 8. is not in the said Act of repeal expresly revived according to the express words of the Act vid. 1 Eliz. sect 13. But O Mr. Cary though we have here your opinion and your reason where was your Conscience where was your kindness to your beloved dissenting Clients when you dared to betray them to the Devil and the Gaoler to speak in Mr. Hickeringill's language a far heavier sentence than Curse ye Meroz and that upon no other ground that I can find in your English Law but this Statute only which yet for the reason aforesaid you say is thought not to be of force and though you say the Bishops may at this day send forth Citations in their own names by Law yet your grave advice to those friends is this When you are Cited appear and demand whether they have any Patent from the King for the same and under his great Seal or no if they will not shew you by what Authority protest against their proceedings and go your way i. e. the way of disobedience contempt the way to the Gaol and the Devil but that 's no matter he hath shewed his spite to Ecclesiastical Authority against his own Law and Conscience he was not to satisfie a doubt but a lust and his confidence is as able to secure the deluded people from the danger of contempt of the Kings Ecclesiastical Courts as his wise Notion of Magna Charta c. 14. from paying their Tithes See this point excellently and fully argued on both sides and the Judges c. Opinion and Reasons silencing this Objection in King James's time Coke Rep. 12. p. 7 8 9. SECT IV. 1 Edw. 6. 2. repeal'd appears from practice II. A further Argument that the Stat. 1 Edw. 6. 2. is repeal'd is taken from the uninterrupted practice both of the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and the Kings of England and their own immediate Courts contrary to it and I think it is a rule in Law that in doubtful cases Lex currit cum praxi 1. The Ecclesiastical Judges have ever since the Repealing Act of Queen Mary before and since the Statute of Queen Eliz. and King James called Statutes of repeal uncontroulably proceeded in their own names and not expresly in the name or stile of the King let one instance be shewn to the contrary then who can imagine without a fancy possest that the Crown and States of the Realm should intend so great an alteration in the Ecclesiastical government and that in the behalf of the supremacy and for the Rights of the Crown as is pretended by reviving that Act of 1 Edw. 6 and yet neither then not even since expect a conformity to and observance of it Were Queen Eliz. and King James so easie and careless of their Crowns as this would make them were all the Bishops who were concerned in making those Acts of Repeal and all Ecclesiastical Judges ever since so dull and stupid as not to know the force of those Acts not to mind either their duty or their safety in so great and hazardous a point as some would have it of a praemunire or so fool-hardy as to bear against the Crown it self on which alone they know they depend against plain Acts of Parliament in the midst of froward and watching enemies on every side them who can think it I must conclude that if it be possible that the Act of Queen Mary should be repeal'd in this point either by Queen Eliz. or King James 't is more than ever the Law-makers themselves thought of understood or intended 2. For secondly the practice of the Crown that was in the first place highly concern'd in that Stat. 1 Edw. 6. 2. hath been ever since the Act of Queen Mary that repeal'd it directly contrary to it and in a very great point or flower of the supremacy manag'd it self ever since just as it did before that Act of Edw. 6. and as I said directly contrary to it therefore 't is past all doubt but that the sence of the Queen and Kings of England and the sence of those great Lawyers and States-men that direct the Crown in such great affairs is evident that the Statute of Edw. 6. stands repealed and is not revived for in that Stat. 1 Edw. 6. 2. 't is expresly enacted that whereas elections of Bishops by Deans and Chapters upon a Writ of Congee d'eslire seeming derogatory and prejudicial to the Kings prerogative Royal for a due reformation thereof be it enacted that from henceforth no such Congee d'eslire be granted not election made but c. yet ever since Congee d'eslires have been granted and such elections thereupon have been returned and accepted 3. The Kings immediate Courts so far as they have been concerned with Jurisdiction of the Church and the Kings Civil Judges therein have ever since own'd and as occasion hath required ratified fortified and made effectual all our Ecclesiastical proceedings ever since though not acted in the Kings name contrary to the said Statute though 't is a great part of their places and offices to secure the Prerogative against all Invasion especially of the Church thus by their constant practice it appears that they never understood that Statute of Edw. 6. to be in force since Queen Mary repealed it Was the whole Kingdom so long and in so deep a sleep to be awakened by such impertinent and little barkings SECT V. 1 Edw. 6. 2. Repealed in the Judgment of all the Judges the King and Council THE objection from the 1 Edw. 6. is no new light of Mr. Hickeringill's we find it busie in the time of King Charles the first Anno 1637. and by the Kings Proclamation it seems it had troubled the Kingdom before as indeed it had in the Fourth of King James In that year 1637. upon an order out of the Star-chamber the learned Judges were commanded to give their
opinion in this matter and they all met together and deliberately and distinctly and fully declared that the 1 Edw. 6. 2. is repealed and is not in force and that the Ecclesiastical Judges did in all the points called in question act legally and as they ought to do hereupon the King and Council being satisfied issued forth the said Proclamation to silence and prevent all such objections against Ecclesiastical Judges Courts and proceedings for the future and the judgment of the Judges under their hands was inrolled in the Courts of Exchequer Kings Bench Common Pleas c. as Law where any one may find it that desires to be further satisfied in the truth of it 2. Hence I argue that that Statute of 1 Edw. 6. is repealed in Law at least that the subjects ought so to esteem it until they have the judgment of the Judges declared otherwise yea though those Judges which is profane to imagine did erre in that their Declaration through ignorance or fear of the High Comission as Mr. Hickeringill meekly insinuates p. ult For the Law is known to the subject either by the letter or by the Interpretation of it and if the letter of the Law be not plain or be doubtful we take the Interpretation of it from such as by law are of right to make the Interpretation to be the law and this I think is the Common Law of England and believe that Mr. Cary himself thinks so too 3. Now who is or can be thought to be the most proper Interpreter of a doubtful Law but the King with his Council by all the Judges of the Land especially if that law concern Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and the Ecclesiastical Supremacy of the Crown as the law in question plainly doth But the King himself with his Council by all the Judges of the Land hath solemnly declared that the 1 Edw. 6. 2. is repealed and not of force this is a legal interpretation of the law this is law and ought so to be taken rebus sic stantibus by all the subjects of England whatever little men that talk of the law in their own narrow and private sentiments presume to vent to the scandal of the people the trouble of the Kingdom and slander of the Church and Ecclesiastical proceedings and indeed it would be an insufferable sawciness to say no worse for any Ecclesiastical Judge to act by a law that is none against the so solemn declaration of the King the Council and all the Judges of the Land and this is the case I shall therefore trouble if not pleasure my reader with the Declaration of the Judges and the sence of the King and Council of it Primo Julii 1637. The Judges Certificate concerning Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction May it please your Lordships ACcording to your Lordships Order made in his Majesties Court of Star-Chamber the Twelfth of May last we have taken consideration of the particulars wherein our Opinions are required by the said Order and we have all agreed That Processes may issue out of the Ecclesiastical Courts and that a Patent under the great Seal is not necessary for the keeping of the said Ecclesiastical Courts or for the enabling of Citations Suspensions Excommunications or other Censures of the Church and that it is not necessary that Summons Citations or other Processes Ecclesiastical in the said Courts or Institutions or Inductions to Benefices or Correction of Ecclesiastical Offences by Censure in those Courts be in the Name or with the Stile of the King or under the Kings Seal or that their Seals of Office have in them the Kings Arms. And that the Statute of primo Edvardi Sexti c. 2 which Enacted the Contrary is not now in force We are also of Opinion that the Bishops Archdeacons and other Ecclesiastical Persons may keep their Visitations as usually they have done without Commission under the great Seal of England so to do John Brampstone John Finch Humph. Davenport Will. Jones Jo. Dinham Ri. Hutton George Crooke Tho. Trevor George Vernon Ro. Berkley Fr. Crawly Ri. Weston Inrolled in the Courts of Exchequer Kings Bench Common Pleas and Register'd in the Courts of High Commission and Star-Chamber Hereupon followed the Kings Proclamation declaring that the proceedings of his Majesties Ecclesiastical Courts and Ministers are according to the Law of the Land as are the words of the Title I shall only transcribe the Conclusion of the Proclamation which you have faithfully in these words AND his Royal Majesty hath thought fit with the Advice of his Council that a publick Declaration of these Opinions and Resolutions of his Reverend and Learned Iudges being agreeable to the Judgment and Resolutions of former times should be made known to all his Subjects as well to Vindicate the legal proceedings of his Ecclesiastial Courts and Ministers from the unjust and Scandalous imputation of invading or entrenching on his Royal Prerogative as to settle the minds and stop the mouths of all unquiet Spirits that for the future they presume not to censure his Ecclesiastical Courts and Ministers in these their Iust and Warranted proceedings And hereof his Majesty admonisheth all his Subjects to take Warning as they shall answer the Contrary at their Perils Given at the Court at Lindhurst Aug. 18. in the Thirteenth Year of his Majesties Reign God save the King You may see the Case fully the Reasons on both sides and the Judges determination the Fourth of King James to which this Proclamation may refer Coke Rep. 12. p. 7 8. Now I could almost submit it to Mr. Cary or Mr. Hickeringill himself whether it be fitter or safer for Ecclesiastical Judges to proceed in their Courts as they now do or alter their proceedings and presume upon the King by using his Royal Name and Stile and Arms contrary to all this Evidence and Reason and Law SECT VI. Mr. H. Cary's Reason to the contrary considered BUT Mr. Cary saith He seeth not a drachm of Reason why the Spiritual Courts should not make their Processe in the Kings name as well as the Temporal Courts since those as well as these are the Kings Courts He seems to talk Pothecary without so much as a drachm of Reason the usage of the Courts and the evidence aforesaid is better Law than his pitiful guesses Neither is there colour of Reason in what he saith if these two things appear 1. That the Ecclesiastical Ministers do sufficiently and openly acknowledge the dependance of their Courts upon the Crown without using his Majesties Name or Stile or Arms. 2. That there is not the same reason that the Spiritual Courts should use the Kings Name c. that there is for the Temporal 1. For the first the Ecclesiastical Judges accept their places thankfully as the Kings donation and not the Popes then they readily grant they depend upon the Crown even for the exercise of their Spiritual function and that they receive all coercive and external Jurisdiction immediately from the Crown and the Laws of the
first gave liberty to build and defend Churches in publick Lucius the first Christian King built Churches at his own charge first constituted Bishops Seats and built dwellings for Priests and much enriched all things of that nature and that Religious men might with more safety enjoy what they had given them amplis munivit privilegiis fortified them with large priviledges Here was born also as Baronius confesseth Constantine the Great who brought peace to the whole Church who was the first Christian Emperor and likewise the first Christian Queen his Mother Helen If we come to the Kings of the Ages following quis non stupeat as Spelman saith who can chuse but be astonish'd at the eximious Piety incredible Zeal Ardorem extraordinary Insignes Alms manifold works of mercy munificence towards Gods Ministers and their magnificent and wonderful profusionem liberality and expence in building adorning inriching Churches insomuch as one saith Mirum tunc fuer at Regem videre non sanctum And as another There were more holy Kings found in England than in any one though the most populous Province in the World The day would fail that worthy Antiquary adds in his most excellent Epistle before his Councils enough to enflame the coldest Age with zeal for Religion The day would fail me saith he should I speak of Edwin Ina Offa Ethered Edmund Ethelstan Canute Edward the Confessor and many others seeing among all the Illustrious Kings who were West-Saxons the third is scarce found qui Ecclesiam Dei in Aliquibus non Ornaverit Auxerit Ditaverit who did not Adorn Augment and Inrich the Church of God In these early times of Zeal and Piety among the Kings of England the Jurisdiction and Authority of the Church took root and began and proceeded to flourish now no doubt but Religion sincerely managed by good and meek Church-men was a great mean to move the Nation towards a better Order in the Civil State both in Government and Law Now I say to use Spelman's words when Os Sacerdotis Oraculum esset plebis Os Episcopi Oraculum Regis Reipublicae The mouth of the Priest was an Oracle to the People and the mouth of the Bishop was an Oracle to the King and the Commonwealth In the time of Ethelbert the first Christian King of the Saxons we find a Convention at Canterbury of Bishops and Lords to settle the affairs of Church and State In the time of the Heptarchy Summons was Ad Episcopos Principes c. Decrees were made afterward Cum Concilio Episcoporum thus during the time of the Saxons c. and until the Pope got footing here by the Conqueror Ecclesiastical Authority went on apace Yea 't is evident that it went on step by step with the progress of the Civil and was gradually own'd enlarged and establish'd in the very Essence and degrees and together with the Establishment of the Civil State Insomuch that Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction was so twisted and Interwoven and as it were wrapt in the very Bowels of the Civil and the Ecclesiastical Law so concern'd and intimately wrought into the Temporal Law and Government that 't was hard to make the separation or indeed clearly to assign the distinction betwixt them which hath taken up the care both of Lawyers and Statutes to do it effectually and throughly and perhaps may be in some measure a Reason of many Prohibitions against Ecclesiastical Prohibitions to this day Hence also it was that beyond all known time of Christianity in England our great Church-men have had no small hand in making all our Laws both Ecclesiastical and Civil and also sate many hundred years together with our Temporal Judges in all places of publick Judicature Primi igitur sedebant in omnibus Regni Comitiis Tribunalibus Episcopi In Regali quidem palatio cum Regni magnatibus in Comitatâ—s unà cum Comite Justitiario Comitatus in Turno Vicecomitis cum Vicecomite in Hundredro cum Domino Hundredi So that in promoting Justice every where the sword might aid the sword nihil inconsulto Sacerdote qui velut suburra in Navi fuit ageretur Sp. Epis Conc. Yet we must remember and 't is carefully minded in our Statutes before mentioned that our Kings were the true and acknowledged fountains of the beginning and encrease of that wealth and honour and power which the Church and Church-men then enjoy'd and that the Kings of England were ever Supream over this Church and all its Ministers and not the Pope or any foreign power the Pope's Collector or Minister so say our ancient Books had no Jurisdiction in this Land Lord Coke of Courts p. 321. In our Law before the Conquest the King was the Vicar of the highest King ordained to this end that he should above all govern the Church Edw. Laws c. 19. and this hath been carefully maintained by our Laws ever since See Cawdries Case SECT I. Jurisdiction of the Church in Common Law THUS the power and Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical grew up with and received much perfection by and in Common Law By Common Law I mean long and general use in the whole Land for as I take it my Lord Coke saith That time and use make a Custom when that 's general in England it 's called Common Law that is my meaning whether my Notion be right I weigh not if the matter and Argument prove and express the manner of the Churches ancient Authority and Jurisdiction before the Statutes 'T is most evident William the Conqueror found the Bishops and other Ecclesiastical Ministers in great power and with large Jurisdiction which they had long enjoy'd according to the Law and Custom of the Realm Call that Law what you will by that they enjoy'd their ancient Rights and government and that 's enough 'T is true indeed William changed the ancient Custom we spake of and distinguish'd the Tribunals one from the other but saith Spelman Secrevit non diminuit Jurisdictionem Cleri he did not lessen the Jurisdiction of the Clergy Yea by swearing he confirm'd the Laws of holy Church Quoniam per eam Rex Regnum solidum subsistendi sistendi habent fundamentum Prooemium ll suarum ut Spel. Epis because by the Church both King and Kingdom have a solid foundation of subsisting Thus the Churches Rights in being before were confirm'd by the Conqueror My Lord Coke notes two excellent Rules of Common Law to our purpose 1. The Law doth appoint every thing to be done by those unto whose office it properly appertaineth 2. 'T is a Maxim of the Common Law that where the Right is Spiritual and the Remedy thereof only by the Ecclesiastical Law the Connusance thereof doth belong to the Spiritual Court Coke Instit p. 1. 3. Hence it follows that there being many Cases in which there is no remedy any other way provided by Common Law Vid. Cawdries Case Answ to Object 4. they belong to the Spiritual Courts and the Common Law both impowers and requires
way vents so wild a notion p. 3. 12. or when that of 25 Hen. 8. 19. was repealed or how they are made less than nothing at this day than they were before since that Statute of limitations as he is pleased to insult He saith They are far from being the Representative Church of England for that the people have not the least Vote in their Election Pray when was it otherwise than 't is now If the Law by Institution make the Clerk a guide to his flock in Spirituals if the people do expresly make choice of him for such or virtually consent in Law he should be so and thereupon the Law allows this Clerk to elect members for the Convocation and also reckons the Convocation to be the Representative Church of England how comes it that Mr. Hickeringill who is so great a stickler for a Legal Religion should be so much wiser than the Law and to scoff at its Constitutions I wish Mr. Hickeringill to beware of touching Foundations with his rude and bold Fancies and disturbing the frame of Government I am sure he will not abide by his own Rule if he be well advised of the manner of Electing the great Representative of the people of England 't is our duty to study to be quiet but some study to be otherwise The wisest word in his Naked Truth is this If men once come to dispute Authority and the wisdom of the Laws and Law-makers the next step is Confusion and Rebellion p. 11. The Conclusion THUS you have a Taste of the Spirit and Sence that runs through the Book called Naked Truth his other little gross mistakes are not worthy observing much less insisting on such as these 1. First That all Archdeaconries have Corpses annex'd which is certainly otherwise in most Archdeaconries in some Dioceses 2. Then that Archdeacons require Procurations when they do not Visit which is not done in some and I hope in no Diocese 3. Lastly That Procurations and Synodals are against Law and not to be recovered by Law or Conscience when he himself confesseth that they are due by ancient Composition That provision notwithstanding his old Canons in Visitations is due for which the money paid for Procurations is paid for them by vertue of that Composition and whereas they are due by undoubted and long possession and Custom which is as Law in England And to conclude are not only expresly allow'd as due but declared to be recoverable in the Ecclesiastical Courts by the Statute of 34 Hen. 8. 19. I have at this time done with his Materials and for the Manner of his Writing let the Sentence of every Reader reproach and shame him I like not the office of Raking Kennels or emptying Jakes and all the harm I return him is to pray heartily for him That God would give him Grace soberly to read over his own Books and with tears to wash these dirty sheets wherein he hath plai'd the wanton and indeed defiled himself more than his own Nest whatever the unlucky Bird intended and that with such a barbarous wit and vile Railery as is justly offensive to God and Man with such wild triumphs of scorn and contempt of his own Order and Office his Betters and Superiors with such a profligate neglect of Government and Peace and of his own Conscience and Law against which he confesseth he still acts yea against his own Interest Safety and his very Reputation For all which Notorious and publick Miscarriages I wish he thought it fit to do publick Penance in another new and cleaner Sheet I have to do with two Adversaries Mr. Hickeringill and Mr. Cary the first wisheth the Church of England had more power than it now hath the other that it had less I presume in the name of the true Sons of this Church that we are very thankful for the power we have by the favour of our gracious King and his good Laws And as we do and always shall acknowledge the Dependance of our Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction upon the Imperial Crown of this Realm So whether it seem good to the King and his High Court of Parliament to augment or lessen it or to continue it as it is we shall still maintain our Loyalty and manifest our duty and chearfully submit our selves But Lord forgive our Enemies Persecutors and Slanderers and turn their hearts THE POSTSCRIPT I Have reserved a few Authorities for the satisfaction of such as have no mind or leisure to read the Book which alone are sufficient to oppose and expose my Adversaries Objections I. Episcopal Government in the Church of England is as Ancient as the Church and at first was subordinate under God only to our Kings without any relation to or dependance on the Pope and declared to be so with the grounds and reasons thereof very early by Edw. 1. and Edw. 3. and so Established by Acts of Parliament Read 25 Edw. 3. the summ is thus Here we have a Recital of the first Statute against Provisors to this effect Whereas the Holy Church of England was founded in the Estate of Prelacy by the Grandfather of this King and his Progenitors c. and by them endowed with great Possessions c. for them to inform the People in the Law of God to keep Hospitality c. And whereas the King and other founders of the said Prelacies were the Rightful Adowers thereof and upon Avoidance of such Ecclesiastical Promotions had power to advance thereunto their Kinsmen Friends and other Learned men of the birth of this Realm which being so advanced became able and worthy to serve the King in Council and other places in the Common-wealth The Bishop of Rome Usurping the Seigniory of such Possessions and Benefices did give the same to Aliens as if he were Rightful Patron of those Benefices whereas by the Law of England he never had the Right Patronage thereof whereby in short time all the Spiritual Promotions in this Realm would be ingrossed into the hands of strangers Canonical Elections of Prelates would be abolished works of Charity would cease the Founders and true Patrons would be disinherited the Kings Council weakned and the whole Kingdom impoverished and the Laws and Rights of the Realm destroyed Upon this complaint it was resolved in Parliament That these Oppressions and grievances should not be suffered in any manner and therefore it was Enacted That the King and his Subjects should thenceforth enjoy their Rights of Patronage that free Elections of Archbishops and Bishops and other Prelates Elective should be made according to the Ancient Grants of the Kings Progenitors and their Founders and that No Provision from Rome should be put in Execution but that those Provisors should be Attached Fined and Ransom'd at the Kings Will and withal imprisoned till they have renounced the benefit of their Bulls satisfied the Party grieved and given sureties not to commit the like offence again II. Before this forementioned Act was made the Spiritual Courts were in Being