you where it is said what Law what Statute so resolves it that no Prelate or other person hath any power to visit Ecclesiasticall persons c. but he must have it immediatly from the King and confirmed by Letters patents under the great Seale of England None of the Acts of Parliament made by King Henry the eight King Edward the sixt or Queene Elizabeth speake one word that way The act of the Submission of the Clergie 25. Hen. 8. cap. 19. on which your fond conceipt is grounded if it hath any ground at all saith not as you would have it say the Clergie shall not put in ure c. any constitutions of what sort soever without the Kings royall assent and authority in that behalfe but that without the Kings royall assent and authority in that behalfe first had they should not enact or put in ure any new Canons by them made in their Convocations as they had done formerly This law observed still by the Clergy to this very day not meeting in their Convocation untill they are assembled by his Majesties writ directed to the Archbishop of either Province nor when assembled treating of or making any Canons without the Kings leave first obteined nor putting any of them in execution before they are confirmed by his sacred Majestie under the broad Seale of England Is there no difference gentle brother betweene enacting new Canons at their owne discretion and executing those which custome and long continuance of time have confirmed and ratified If you should bee so simple as so to thinke as I have no great confidence either in your law or wisedome you may be pleased to understand that by the very selfe same statute All Canons which be not contrariant nor repugnant to the Lawes statutes and customes of the Realme nor to the damage or hurt of the Kings prerogative Royall shall be now still executed and used as they were before the making of that act till the said Canons should be viewed by the 32. Commissioners in the same appointed which not being done as yet although the said Commission was revived by Parliament 3 4. to Edw. 6. c. 11. all the old Canons quallified as before is said are still in force So that for exercise of any Episcopall jurisdiction founded upon the said old Canons or any of the new which have beene since confirmed by the King or his predecessours there 's no necessity of speciall Letters Patents under the broad Seale of England as you faine would have it There was another Statute of King Henry the eight concerning the Kings highnesse to bee the supreame head of the Church of England and to have authority to reforme all errors heresies and abuses in the same But whatsoever power was therein declared as due and proper to the King is not now materiall the whole act being repealed A. 1. 2. Ph. and M. c. 8. and not restored in the reviver of Qu. Eliz. 1. Eliz. c. 1. in which you instance in your Margin Nor can you finde much comfort by that Statute 1. Eliz c. 1. wherein you instance if you consider it and the intention of the same as you ought to doe You may conjecture by the title of it what the meaning is For it 's intituled An act restoring to the Crowne the antient jurisdiction over the state Ecclesiasticall and spirituall and abolishing all forreine power repugnant to the same The preamble unto the act makes it yet more plaine Where it is sayd that in the time of King Henry the eight divers good Lawes and Statutes were made and established aswell for the utter extinguishment and putting away of all usurped and forreine powers and authorities out of this Realme c. as also for the restoring and uniting to the imperiall Crowne thereof the antient jurisdictions authorities superiorities and preheminences to the same of right belonging and apperteining by meanes whereof the subjects were disburdened of divers great and intollerable charges and exactions before that time unlawfully taken and exacted by such forreine power and authority as before that was usurped Which makes it manifest that there was no intent in the Queene or Parliament to alter any thing in the ordinary power Episcopall which was then and had long before beene here established but to extinguish that usurped and forreine power which had before beene chalenged by the See of Rome and was so burdensome unto the subject The body of the Act is most plaine of all For presently on the abolishment of all forreine power and jurisdiction spirituall and Ecclesiasticall heretofore used within this Realme there followeth a declaration of all such jurisdictions c. as by any spirituall or Ecclesiasticall power and authority hath heretofore or may lawfully be exercised or used for the visitation of the Ecclesiasticall state and persons and for reformation order and correction of the same and of all manner errours heresies schismes c. to bee for ever united and annexed to the imperiall crowne of this Realme Then in the next words followeth the establishment of the High Commission it being then and there enacted that the Queenes highnesse her heires and successours shall have full power and authority by vertue of the said act by letters Patents under the great Seale of England to assigne name and authorise c. such person or persons being naturall borne subjects to her highnesse her heires and successours as her Majestie shall thinke meete to exercise use occupie and execute under her highnesse her heires and successours all manner of Iurisdictions priviledges and preheminences within these her Realmes of England c. and to visit reforme order redresse correct and amend all such errours heresies schismes abuses offences contempts enormities whatsoever which by any manner Spirituall or Ecclesiasticall power authority or jurisdiction can or may be lawfully reformed c. Plainely in all this act there is nothing contrary to that ordinary jurisdiction which is and hath beene claimed and exercised by Episcopall authority in the Church of England nothing at all which doth concerne the purchasing or procuring of Letters Patents for their keeping Courts and Visitations as you seduced by your learned Counsaile beare the world in hand My reason is because whatever jurisdiction was here declared to be annexed unto the crowne is called a restoring of the antient jurisdiction unto the same and certainely the ordinary Episcopall power of ordination excommunication and such like Ecclesiasticall censures were never in the crowne in fact nor of right could be and therefore could not be restored And secondly because whatever power is here declared to be in the Queene her heires and uccessours shee is inabled to transferre upon such Commissioners as shee or they shall authorise under the great Seale of England for execution of the same Now we know well that there is no authority in the high Commission which is established on this clause derogating from the ordinary Episcopall power and therefore there was none supposed in
the act it selfe to be invested in the Queene the said Episcopall authority remaining as it did and standing on the selfe same grounds as it had done formerly Which said the last part of the Argument touching the oath of supremacie taken and to be taken by every Bishop that 's already answered in the Premisses the said oath being onely framed for the abolishment of all forreine and extraordinary power not for the altering of the ordinary and domesticall jurisdiction if I so may call it in this Church established I hope the Prelates are now out of danger of the Premunire which you threatned them though you not out of danger of the Locrian law And if K. Edward the 6. helpe you not I know no remedie but that according to your owne conditions the executioner may be sent for to doe his office Now for K. Edward the 6. the case stood thus King Edward being a Minor about nine yeares old at his first comming to the crowne there was much heaving at the Church by some great men which were about him who purposed to inrich themselves with the spoyles thereof For the effecting of which purpose it was thought expedient to lessen the authoritie of those Bishops which were then in place and make all those that were to come the more obnoxious to the Court upon this ground there passed a statute 1 0 of this King consisting of two principall branches whereof the first tooke off all manner of elections and writs of Conge d'peslier formerly in use the other did if not take off yet very much abate the edge of Ecclesiasticall censures In the first branch it was enacted that from thenceforth no writ of Conge d' peslier be granted nor election of any Archbishop or Bishop by Deane and Chapter made but that the king may by his letters Patents at all times when any Arch-bishopricke or Bishopricke is voyde conferre the same on any whom the king shall thinke meete The second clause concerned the manner of proceeding from that time to be used in spirituall courts viz. that all summons Citations and other processe Ecclesiasticall in all suites and causes of instance and all causes of correction and all causes of bastardie or bigamie or de jure patronatus Probates of Testaments and Commissions of administrations of persons deceased c. be made with in the name and with the stile of the king as it is in writs Originall or Iudiciall at the Common Law c. As also that no manner of person or persons who hath the exercise of Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction use other seale of jurisdiction but wherein his majesties Armes bee ingraven c. on penaltie of running in his Majesties displeasure and indignation and suffering imprisonment at his will and pleasure The reason of this order is thus delivered in the Preamble To the second branch viz. because that all authoritie of jurisdiction spirituall and temporall is derived and deducted from the kings Majestie as supreame head of these Churches and Realmes of England and Ireland c. and that all Courts Ecclesiasticall within the said two realmes bee kept by no other power or authoritie either forreine or within the Realme but by the authoritie of the kings most excellent Majestie Which Act with every branch and clause thereof was afterwards repealed 1 of Queene Marie cap. 2. and hath stood so repealed to this very time For howsoever you pretend and all your fellow libellers insist upon it that the said statute was revived in the first yeare of K. Iames of blessed memorie and therefore that you are yet safe from the Locrian law yet this pretence will little helpe you That their assertion or pretences if examined rightly will proove to be a very poore surmise invented onely by such boutefeus as you and your Accomplices to draw the Prelates into obloquy with the common people and make your Proselytes beleeve that they usurpe a power peculiar to his sacred Majestie it being positively delivered by my Lords the Iudges with an unanimous consent and so declared by my Lords chiefe Iustices in the Starre-chamber the 14 of May now last past that the sayd Act of Repeale 1 of Queene Mary doth still stand in force as unto that particular statute by you so much pressed your desperate clamours unto the contrary notwithstanding Nor doth there want good reason why the said Statute of K. Edward was at first repealed or why the said Repeale should bee still in force For being it was enacted in that Statute that from thenceforth all Ecclesiasticall processe should bee made in the kings name and stile not onely in all suites or causes of instance bastardy bigamie Probates of Testaments c. which have much in them of a civill or a mixt nature at the lest but in all causes of correction also it came to passe that excommunication and other censures of the Church which are spirituall meerely in no sort civill were therby either quite abolished or of none effect And it continued so all King Edwards reigne to the no small increase of vice because it nourished a presumption of impunitie in the vicious person This Father Latimer complaineth of in his sermon preached before that King at Westminster Anno 1550. thus Lecherie is used throughout England and such Lechery as is used in none other place of the world And yet it is made a matter of sport a matter of nothing a laughing matter and a trifle not to be passed on nor reformed c. Well I trust it will one day be amended c. And here I will make a suite to your highnesse to restore unto the Church the discipline of Christ in excommunicating such as be notable offenders nor never devise any other way For no man is able to devise any better way than that God hath done with excommunication to put them from the congregation till they bee confounded Therefore restore Christs discipline for excommunication And that shall be a meane both to pacifie Gods wrath and indignation and also that lesse abomination shall be used than in times past hath beene and is at this day I speake this of a Conscience and I meane to move it of a will to your Grace and your Realme Bring into the Church of England open discipline of Excommunication that open sinnes may be stricken withall So farre Father Latimer What thinke you sir of this See you not reason for it now why your sayd Statute was repealed and why the sayd repeale should continue still Put all that hath beene sayd together and I can see no hopes you have to scape the penaltie of the Law by your selfe proposed but that you cry peccavi and repent your follies So farre in answere to your Cavils for Arguments I cannot call them I have beene bold to justifie the proceedings of the Bishops in their Courts Episcopall wherein there is not any thing that they usurpe upon the King or that authoritie which is inseparably annexed to the Regall diademe For
granting that all authority of jurisdiction spirituall is derived from the King as supreme head of the Church of England although that title by that name be not now assumed in the stile Imperiall and that all Courts Ecclesiasticall within this Realme be kept by no other authoritie either forreine or within this Realme but by authority of the kings most excellent majestie as is averred in the sayd Preamble of King Edwards statute yet this if rightly understood would never hurt the Bishops or advantage you But my reason is because that whensoever the king grants out his Conge d' peslier for the election of a Bishop and afterwards doth passe his royall assent to the said election send his Mandate to the Metropolitan for consecration of the party which is so elected he doth withall conferre upon him a power to exercise that jurisdiction which by his consecration done by the kings especiall Mandate he hath atteined to And this may also serve for answere to your other cavill but that Bishops may not hold their courts or visitations without letters Patents from the king For were there such a law as there is no such yet were the Prelates safe enough from your Praemunire because the Royall assent to the election and Mandat for the consecration passing by broad seale as the custome is inable them once consecrated to exercise what ever jurisdiction is by the Canon incident to Episcopall power No neede of speciall letters Parents for every Act of jurisdiction as you idly dreame No more than if a man being made a Iustice of the Peace under the broad seale of England and having tooke his oath as the law requires should neede for every speciall Act some speciall warrant or any other kinde of warrant than what was given him in the generall when first made a Iustice And yet I trow the King is the immediate fountaine also of all temporall power and no man dare execute authority but from and by him Touching his Majesties supremacie more than in answere to your clamours I shall say nothing at this present as neither of this place nor purpose It is an Argument of great weight fit rather for a speciall treatise than an occasionall replication Only I will be bold to tell you that if the kings supremacy were not more truely and sincerely without any colour or dissimulation as the Canon hath it defended by my Lords the Bishops than by such as you it would be at a losse ere long and setled on the vestrie wherein you preside For wot you what King Iames replied on the like occasion When Dr. Reynolds in the Conference at Hampton Court came in unseasonably once or twice with the Kings Supremacie Dr. Reynolds quoth the King you have often spoken for my supremacie and it is well But know you any here or any elsewhere who like of the present Government Ecclesiasticall that finde fault or dislike with my supremacie And shortly after putting his hand unto his hat his Matie sayd My Lords the Bishops I may thanke you that these men doe thus pleade for my Supremacie They thinke they cannot make their party good against you but by appealing unto it as if you or some that adhere unto you were not well affected towards it But if once you were out and they in place I know what would become of my supremacie No Bishop no King as before I sayd How like you this Mass Burton is not this your case Mutato nomine de ie fabula narratur You plead indeed for the Kings supremacie but intend your owne The next great crime you have to charge upon the Bishops is that they doe oppresse the kings Leige people against law and conscience How so Because as you informe us Prohibitions are not got so easily from the Courts of Iustice as they have beene formerly and being gotten finde not such entertainement and obedience as before they did This you conceive to be their fault and charge them that by stopping the ordinary course of law the Kings people are cut off from the benefit of the Kings good lawes so as it is become very geason and a rare matter to obteine a Prohibition against their illegall practises in vexing and oppressing the kings good subjects Nay they are growne so formidable of late as if they were some new generation of Giants that the very motion of a Prohibition against a Prelate or their proceedings in the high Commission makes the Courts of Iustice startle so as good causes are lost and Innocents condemned because none dare pleade and judge their cause according to the Kings Lawes whereby wee ought all to be governed p. 69.70 My Masters of the Law and my Lords the Iudges will conne you little thankes for so soule a slander greater then which cannot be laid on the profession or the Courts of Iustice What none dare pleade nor none dare judge according to the Lawes So you say indeed And more then so in your addresse unto the Iudges What meane's say you that difficulty of obtaining prohibitions now adayes whereby the Kings innocent Subjects you are an innocent indeed God helpe you should be relieved against their unjust molestations and oppressions in the Ecclesiastical Courts and high Commission What meaneth that consternation of spirit among Lawyers that few or none can be found to pleade a cause be it never so just against an oppressing Prelate and are either menaced or imprisoned if they doe p. 29. Hoc est quod palles Is this the thing that so offends you that prohibitions are restrained or not sent out so frequently from the Courts of Law as of late they were to the diminishing if not annulling the authority of the Court Christian I trow you are the onely Clergie-man that complaines of this Or if there be more such they be such as you who onely make a property of the civill Courts by them to scape their censures in the Ecclesiasticall Were you so innocent as you would have us thinke you rather should rejoyce for the Churches sake that Prohibitions flie not out so thicke as they have done formely to the great oppression of the Clergie in their suites and businesses especially in those which did concerne the Patrimony of the Church their tithes And if my Lords the Iudges are with more difficulty mooved to send abroad their Prohibitions then were their predecessours in the place before them it is a pregnant evidence of their great love to justice Nor can it but be counted an honour to them to leave every Court to that which is proper to it and for the which it was established And God forbid the Church should aske or doe any thing that should incroach upon them or invade any of their rights What doth this greeve your conscience also Good Sir consider with your selfe what mischiefes Clergie-men were put to when they could scarce commence a suite but prohibitione cautio est a Prohibition was sent out to stop the course of his proceedings