Romanum Episcopum majorem aliquam Jurisdictionem non habere sibi à Deo collatam in Sacra Scriptura in hoc regno Angliae quam alium quemvis Externum Episcopum Conformable to which was also the Resolution of all the English Clergy Upon which and presently after King Hen. 8. was by Parliament agnized Supream Head of the Church in these his Dominions Stat 26 Hen. 8 cap. 1. whereby it was also Enacted and Declared That the King his Heirs and Successors Kings of England should have and enjoy united and annexed to the Imperial Crown of this his Realm as well the Title and Stile thereof as all Honours Dignities Jurisdictions c. to the said Dignity of Supream Head of the Church of England belonging or appertaining with full power and authority to visit redress reform order correct restrain and amend all errours heresies abuses c. which Act Io. Hâ—rb Hist of Hen. 8 fo 380. though much to the support of the Regal Authority seem'd not suddenly to be approv'd by the King nor before he had consulted with his Council who shewed him many precedents of Kings of England that had used this power and with his Bishops who having fully discussed the point in their Convocations Declared That the Pope had no Jurisdiction in this Kingdom warranted by Gods word suitable to what was Declared by the Universities Colledges and Religious Houses with learned men of all sorts maintaining it necessary that such a power should be extant in the Realm for the Peace good Order and Government of the same the Reasons and Arguments of all which were couched in a Book of the King 's about that time published De vera differentiae Regiae Ecclesiasticae potestatis whence also the Learned Bishop Andrews in his Tortura Torti seems to have drawn diver assertions of the Regal Authority to which the Reader is referred A practice this I mean of consulting the Clergy and the Learned in a case of so great an import agreeable to former Presidents Tho. Walsing in An 1408. fo 420. as I find in Tho. Walsingham In concilio cleri celebrato Londoniis assistentibus Doctoribus Vniversitatum Cantabrigiae Oxoniae tractatum est de censu obedientia Papae subtrahendis vel non subtrahendis And as King Hen. 2. Rog. Hoveden in Hen. 2. pa. prior professed he would proceed in the great cause depending between him and his Archbishop Becket Now when King Hen. 8. was by Parliament agnized Supream Head of the Church within his own Dominions and by him for the reasons aforesaid owned and accepted what they meant by this may well enough be collected from the premises and from that notable Oration of Stephen Gardiner of True Obedience before mentioned which Title he neither took nor the Parliament gave in other sence than the French have always attributed it to their Princes and what the Royal Ancestors of King Hen. 8. Spelm. Conc. 437. Seld. ad Eadm 1â—5 â—â—g Edvard c. himself assumed under the Homonymous names of Tutors Protectors Governours Domini Christi Vicarii Agricolae c. and the like And this is the Supremacy which the Kings of England have always claimed and exercised within their own Dominions with the temporary obstructions above mentioned that is in Soveraign way to Rule and Govern all their Subjects of what degree and quality soever to call their own Clergy and Church-men together and with their advice to see the Church reformed and by Act of Parliament to have all Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction restored and united to the Crown as in the First year of Q. Eliz. was done inlarged on before And here it will not be unnecessary to observe and know how that Restitution was resented by the Queen's Subjects at that time And for that observe and observable it was the general complyance and complacence of the People in it as also that from the First until the Eleventh year of that Queen's raign Cokâ— 5 Rep. de ure Reg. Eâ—câ—esiastico fo 35. no person of what perswasion of Christian Religion soever at any time refused to come to the Publick Divine Service celebrated in the Church of England and established by publick Authority within this Realm until the Bull of Pope Pius Quintus in the Eleventh year of her Majesties Raign came out against her whereby he deprived her of all her Right Authority Dignity and Priviledge in or unto these her Realms and Dominions and absolved all her Subjects of their Allegiance After this Bull it was that those who regarded the Pope's power or threats more than their Prince's just Authority or their own Allegiance refused to come to Church and from that occasion first acquired the stile of Recusants Vid. Camb. Annal. This gave rise also to a multitude of treasonable practices and conspiracies against the Queens life taken up also against King James Vid. Arth. Crohagans case in Crook 1. Rep. continued against our late Soveraign King Charls the First and still fermenting to break forth upon all opportunities to promote the Catholick cause and all abetted by the traitorous Doctrine of King-killing justified and proclaimed to the World by Bellarmin Co licenzâ— con priviâ—egio Baronius Mariana Emanuel Sa Allen Creswell and others both Natives and Strangers the consequence whereof was this That though Treason was always in the intention yet God be praised nothing hath yet been brought to Execution but the Traitors In this affair St. Jo. Davys D sc of Ireland fo 242. I find a memorable Observation of a grave Statesman That in the Indentures of submission of the Irish to King Hen. 8. all the Irish Lords did acknowledge him to be their Soveraign Lord and King and owned his Supremacy in all causes utterly renouncing the Pope's Jurisdiction most worthy of note says he in that when the Irish had once resolved to obey the King they made no scruple to renounce the Pope Besides these which have been experienc'd in our own Country infinite have been the mischiefs occasion'd in the World upon this score of Supremacy and Dominion and that by the mighty strugling and bickerings that have been maintained between the Papacy and the Princes of the Earth about the gaining and keeping this Power Besides the general Observations that a great means of the growth of the Turkish Empire to it s now formidable stature hath been the Wars and disturbances wrought upon this ground amongst the Christians themselves Also the decay and corruption of sincere piety and devotion by the turning the current of Religion out of its pure primitive channel into the sink of disputes and controversies about the Rights and Bounds of Dominion when Christ himself hath told us That his Kingdom is not of this world This caused Divine Religion to degenerate into Humane Policy and upon this it was that Machiavel too truly observed Mach. Disc on Tit. Liv. lib. 1. cap. 12. That there was now here less Piety
Silver gilt A Silver gilt Cross with the Crucifix St. Mary and St. John having on the top some part of the wood of the Holy Cross Many other curious Crosses and Crucifixes Many other Coffers Chests Boxes and Vessels all stuffed with precious Reliques Agnus Dei's Beads c. The Rochet of St. Edmund Archbishop of Cant. The Reliques of St. Apollonia and a multitude more On the top of the spire was a great Cross Contin Matt. Westm in An. 1314. wherein were many Reliques of divers Saints put there by Gilbert de Segrave Bishop of London to the intent that by the glorious merits of those Saints the Steeple might be preserved from Tempests King Canutus Speed Chron. in Canut as our Historians generally say in his return from Rome bought at Pavia the Arme of St. Augustin the great Doctor of the Church and gave it unto Coventre for which he paid one hundred Talents of Silver and one of Gold though others say it was Egelnotus Hen d'Knighton cod fo 2318. Godwin in vita Egelnoti Archbishop of Canterbury that bought it and as a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of his respect to Earl Leofric gave it to his City of Coventre But were it the one or the other I find not any abatement in the price which being so large it gave it the greater reputation to draw multitudes with great expences to visite it But the bounty of this K. Canutus appear'd most excessive to the Abby of Hide near Winchester to which he gave a Cross Cambd. Britt in Hanshire fo 266. Speed in vita Canuti so costly for the materials and curious for the making that he bestowed as much thereon as his own years revenue of all England amounted to But the fate of this Costly Cross was that about the raign of K. Henry the sixth it was burn'd with the whole Monastery by the malice and practice of Honry de Blois Bishop of Winchester To all these Reliques and hallowed wares and infinite more ejusdem farinae wherewith our Abbies monasteries and Cathedrals were furnished according to the blind and extravagant devotion of those times a strange veneration and esteem was had by the People until the Reformation made many notable discoveries of the cheats and delusions wrought in and by them as Our Lady's Girdle shewed in eleven several places and her milk in eight Lo. Herb. Hist Hen. 8. fo 431. The Bell of St. Guthlac and the Felt of St. Thomas of Lancaster both remedies for the Head-ach The Penknife and Boots of St. Thomas of Canterbury and a piece of his shirt much reverenced and confided in by great-bellyed women The Coals that roasted St. Laurence Two or Three Heads of St. Vrsula Malchus his Ear. And the parings of St. Edmund's nails The Image of an Angel with one wing which brought hither the spears head that pierced Christ's side An Image of our Lady with a Taper in her hand as burned nine years without wasting till one forswearing himself thereon it went out and was then found to be but a piece of wood Our Lady of Worcester from which certain veils and dressings being taken away there appear'd the Statue of a Bishop ten foot high Our Lady of Walsingham Cambd. Brit. in Norfolk Stow in An. 1538. the termina of many a costly but fruitless Pilgrimage The Rood of Grace at Boxley in Kent made with divers vices and wiers to turn the eyes and move the lips was shewed publickly at Paul's Cross by John Bishop of Rochester and there broken and pull'd in pieces the people laughing at that which they ador'd but an hour before And here it will not be amiss a little further to give you the Legend of this famous H. Rood which I find this Lambert Peramb of Kent in Boxley An English Artist being taken Prisoner in the warrs between us and France and wanting money for his ransome set his wits on work to make some famous piece and having got some materials he made a curious Rood the like had never bin seen The Rood of Grace at Boxly for it's gestures and moving all it's Joints as bowing the head lifting up it's self rolling the eyes shaking the hands knitting the brows c. which being finished he got leave upon his parol to bring it into England to sell and make money of it for a ransome and layd it on the back of a Jade which he drove before him coming to Rochester and staying there to drink the Jade went forwrds a way not intended by the Master and stayed not till he came to Boxly and running to the Abby Church dore he made such a knocking and bouncing against the dore with his heels that at the noise the Abbot and Monks came and open'd the dore which no sooner done but the beast rush'd in and ran to a certain piller and there stood whilst the monks were busie in taking off the load in comes the owner puffing and sweating and satisfying them that the Jade with his load was his property endeavours to lead him out of the Church but notwithstanding all his beating and pulling the resty beast would not stir one inch from the piller then he takes off the Image thinking to carry it away himself but that would not stir neither and therefore after much heaving and lifting to no purpose they all thought that God had sent and destin'd it to that House like another Palladium and so the Abbot and Monks giving the Master his price for it they set it up just at that piller where it stood for many years doing rare feats to the inriching of the House till it was easily removed to Paul's Cross and there uncased as you have heard before In the same Church there was also the Image of St. S. Rumwald Rumwald which was a very small one the representation of a Boy-Saint and the use of this Image was this If you were minded to have any Benefit by the Rood of Grace you must be shriven by one of the Monks first and then by lifting at this St. Rumwald proof was made whether you were in clean life as they said or no and if you proved to be clean then was your way made for your offering to be accepted before the holy Rood If you were not clean which was known by your not being able to lift that little Image then you must be confess'd again on presumption you had conceal'd some foul sins But then here was the trick on 't the Image being small hollow and light that a Child of seven years old might easily lift it there was a divice to fasten it to a post with a pin of wood which a Knave standing behind could put in and out as he list which pin being put in the strongest man could not stir it and then when any person offered bountifully the pin was pulled out that he might easily lift it but to one that prov'd stingy the Image would not stir at all and
And that of Vzziah a King indeed proclaming aloud both the sin and danger in trespassing beyond the stated and just bounds and limits in Religious Offices whilst under his usurped Pontifical Robes 2 Chron. 26.21 he wore a loaâ—hsome leprosie to his dying day as a most signal mark of the Divine vengeance for Exchanging his Scepter for a Censer to offer up unwarranted and noisome Incense But God be thanked neither of these is the case of our Kings who otherwise have taken f r their patterns divers other Noble Hâ—zekiah Jâ—siah c. vertuous and Religious Princes to whose Honour it is recorded how though they neither offered Sacrifice nor Incense yet that they cleansed the polluted Temple reformed the corrupted Religion and manners of their times and caused Judah and Jerusalem to serve the Lord. So ours never assumed to themselves a Power or Authority of Preaching Teaching binding or loosing in foro animae Administring the Holy Sacraments conferring Orders or any thing in particu ar properly annexed to those Orders But only in matters External that is of Jurisdiction external the last Branch of Ecclâ—siastical Authority and what belongs to the outward Polity of the Church they look upon it as their duty and honour to become Nursing Fathers to see that the true God be publickly worshipped to see that Atheists Polyâ—heists and all such as break the Moral and eternal Law be Corrected chastised and restrained upon which acconut it is often said that Rex est Custos utriusque Tabulae To see that good and wholesome Laws be made and established for the good government of the Church That both the Church and Church-men be regulated and defended in their respective Rights Possessions Interests and concerns and that such as do transgress the lawful constitutions of the Church be duely punished and to this purpose the Regal Office is thus described in King Edward's Law Rex Leg. Edv. Confes cap. 17. fo 142. quia vicarius Summi Regis est ad hoc est constitutus ut regnum terrenum populum Domini super omnia Sanctam veneretur Ecclesiam ejus regat ab injuriosis defendat Jo. Brompt Coll. 761 923. c. And much to the same purpose in those of Ina Canutus and others And hence it also is that in those Laws we often find the Prince extending his Commands unto the same things the Priest did his Exhortations And thus the premises considered it plainly may be collected wherein the formalis ratio of our King's Supremacy and Ecclesiastical Authority doth consist which being inherent in their Crowns they do and may at all times put in practice sine ulla labe Christianitatis and without praying the Aid of any forraign Power or Potentate whatsoever And further to anticipate all prejudice and Scandal in this matter Queen Elizabeth in the same year of the Restitution of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction to her Crown did declare she did not challenge any other authority Admoniâ—ions annexâ—d unto the Injâ—â—ctions 1 El. then was challenged and lately used by King Henry the eighth and King Edward the sixth which is and was of ancient time due to the Imperial Crown of this Realm that is under God to have the Soveraignty and rule over all manner of persons within her Realms and Dominions c. And for the Oath of Supremacy appointed by the said Stat. 1 Eliz. whereby her Highnesse's Supremacy was Declared in the stile aforesaid It was Dâ—clared in a Statute made the next Parliament Stâ—t 5 El. Ca. 1. That the said Oath shall be taken and expounded in such form as is set forth in an Admonition annexed to the Q. Majesty's Injunction c. At which time also a Synod being held for avoiding of diversity of Opinions and establishing of consent touching true Religion c. It did expresly declare Artic. 37. That they did not give to our Princes the ministring of God's word or the Sacraments But only that Prerogative as is given in the Holy Scriptures by God himself viz. That they should rule all Estates and degrees committed to their charge by God whether they be Ecclesiastical or Temporal and restrain with the Civil sword the stubborn and evil doers c. Stat. 13 Eliz. cap. 12. And thâ— Articles of this Synod were likewise confirmed by Parliament So that now no man need doubt but that all this was but acknowledgement that what our Kings and Princes had done in former Ages might lawfully be continued by their Royal Successors and that therein they did not usurp upon the Rights and Offices of others but only maintained their own and that all these Declaratory Supervening Statures passed and Enacted upon the most weighty Reasons of State were not Introductory of any new Law but only Assertory of the just Rights and Prerogative of the Kings and Crown of England Like as a Reformation once made in the ancient Roman Empire Jul. Capitolin vit Ant. 〈◊〉 by the Emperour Antoninus Philosophus is thus celebrated by Julius Capitolinus in his life Jus autem magis vetus restituit quam novum fecit Applicable as well to all the other points and branches of the Reformation here as to that of the King 's Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction But the clearing that I leave to the Divines And thus have taken a brief view only for much more might have bin added out of our authentick Records and Histories as of the ancient Rights of Kings and Princes in general so particularly of our own in matters Ecclesiastical How the same have for some time been suppressed and usurp'd upon by the Papal Faction but happily Vindicated and restored in these latter Ages In which affair no Country hath proceeded more regularly laudably or legally than this our Kingdom of England the Princes of the same as Supream within their own Dominions calling together their own Clergy and with their assistance and advice reforming the Church And what remains now but my submission and pardon for the presumption of this attempt upon my Soveraign's Supremacy seeing that Prince may be said in a manner to be deposed that is made the Subject of an usurping Pen. FINIS