by her assent the Emperor is endeavour'd to be stoned by the people in hatred of his Concubine Zoe pacifieth the people Ib. Impotency and Sterility is a cause of Divorce The Law of Solon allowed Impotency in the Man or Sterility in the Woman to be a good cause of Divorce Plutarch in Solon vid. Aust contra c. because then old Folks might not Marry Such was the modesty of ancient times in Rome that from the first foundation of the City for the space of Five Hundred and Twenty Years there happened no Divorce between a Husband and Wife Val. Max. l. 2. cap. 1. And the first who began it was Spurius Carbillus who put away his Wife for Sterility which though it seem'd a tolerable cause yet wanted not reprehension from divers who thought the Conjugal Faith ought to overweigh the desire of Children Anno 631. Dagobert the great King of France repudiated his first Wife for Barrenness and Marrieth Nantildis a Nun Amandus a Bishop reproves him and he banisheth the Bishop afterwards having a Son he revoketh the Bishop to baptize him Calais Anno Christ 1263. The Queen of Bohemia being old and Barren the King intendeth a Divorce she layeth the fault on him he maketh her this offer That she should appoint him a Maid and if he got her not with Child in a Year he would be reputed faulty the Queen accepteth it and in Ten Months he hath a Son and afterwards divers Daughters She is Divorced and Marrieth Kum Grand Daughter to the Duke of Muscovia Chron. Boh. Regner King of Denmark Anno 820. marrieth Langertha a Warlike Woman of Suevia and had by her Fridlanus and two Daughters Crom. After he Repudiateth Landgertha for the inequality of the Match and Marrieth the Daughter of Hezotus King of Suevia by whom he had many Sons Crom. Anno 1354. Peter King of Spain repudiateth Blanch Daughter to the Duke of Bourbon and Marrieth Jean de Castro Histor Hispan Anno 1373. The King of Portugal refused a Match in Castile and taketh a Nobleman's Wife and banisheth him his Subjects are discontented with him Hist Hisp Anno 696. Pepin King of France repudiated his Wife and married Alpaida his Concubine by whom he had Charles Martell and he kill'd Lambert Bishop of Thuring for reproving his Marriage Am. Fris. Anno 576. The Wife of Chilperic King of France was divorced and thrust into a Monastery for being Godmother to her own Child Truon Charles the Eighth of France was Espoused to Mary the Daughter of Maximilian Maximilian marrieth Ann the Daughter and Heir of the Duke of Britain by Deputy The King of France repudiates the Daughter of Maximilian and marries the Daughter of the Duke of Britain Luis the Twelfth of France repudiates his Wife and marries Ann his Predecessor's Widow Anno 1333. The Marquess of Misnia having married Judeth the Daughter of the King of Bohemia the Emperor causeth the Marquess to repudiateher and marry his Daughter The King of Bohemia taketh divers places in Misnia and giveth Judeth to John Son of the French King Dub. The Arch-Bishop of Gnesna in Polonia forced Married Priests to be Divorced from their Wives Alsted Anno 1218. Lewis the Seventh King of France having married Elianor Daughter and Heir of William Duke of Guyen and having two Daughters by her notwithstanding divorced himself from her on pretence they were Couzins in the fourth degree She was after married to Henry the Second of England who had by her Five Sons and Three Daughters and was she who revenged her self on Rosamond though not in so high a degree injurious to her as Adela the Daughter of the King of France affianced to her Son Richard who was after King was suspected to be of whom it was commonly reported That her Husband was so far inamor'd that he having Committed Elianor to Prison resolved to be divorced from her and marry Adela Bak Hist 55.59 King John having maâ—ried Avice Daughter and Heir of Robert Duke of Gloucâ—ster having no Issue by her divorced himself from her alledging that she was his Couzin in the third degree Juan Daughter of Edward the First for her Beauty called the fair Maid of Kent was married first to William Montacute Earl of Salisbury and from him divorced but it appears not for what cause and was after married to Sir Thomas Holland in her right Earl of Kent and Father of Thomas and John Holland Duke of Surrey and Earl of Huntingdon and lastly she was Wife of Edward of Woodstock the black Prince of Wales and by him Mother of the infortunate King Richard the Second Henry the Eight married first Katharine Daughter of Ferdinando King of Spain the relict of his older Brother Arthur and was after Twenty Years marriage and the Birth of his Daughter Mary after Queen of England by her divorced from her on the opinion of some Divines that it was not lawful for him to marry his Brother's Wife and having successively married two other Wives after their death he married his fourth Wife Ann Sister to the Duke of Cleave she lived his Wife six Months and then was likewise Divorced Civilians Canonists Divines Lawyers and one Pope against another Aliment of Children and all by the Ears about Divorce and unless as we ought we wholy consult the Moral Law of God there is not a word of sence in the Laws of men but they are all for gain As Desertions and Divorces of Mothers without cause have been too frequent both amongst Gentiles Jews and Christians so likewise is the Desertion and not giving Aliment to Children Aristotle stain'd his Philosophy with the bloody Doctrine of exposing Infants The Chinoys who are poor think it Charity to strangle their Infants and save their Aliment Fornicators make it their custom to deflour Virgins and get them with Child and then illegitimate and desert both Mother and Child to save the charge of Aliment And oh horrid amongst Christians who le Parishes rise with Swords and Staves against one poor Sucking Babe to exterminate both it and the Mother naked and to be Vagabonds to beg steal or starve only to save so small an Alms as Aliment to one poor Infant not able to speak or beg for it self It is related by Travellers that some Indians use when a Child is born if it take not to suck the Dug of the Mother well they carry it out of the House and hang it naked on a Tree and leave it there returning themselves into the House after a while they go out again and bring in the Child and offer it the Teat if it take it not they carry it the second time and let it hang twice as long and fetch and offer it the Teat again if it take it not then they hang it on the Tree the third time and leave it hanging till it dies God made man righteous and writ the Moral Law in his heart but since the Devil hath seduced him to the Ceremonial he is become
cùm vix esset dare causam quin ratione peccati possit deferri ad Ecclesiam Object 3 Stat. Merton gives them no Jurisdiction It 's alledged That it appears by the Statute of Merton that Henry the Third writ in his time to the Bishop to certifie Marriage and Bastardy First It is to be understood therefore that in the time of Pope Alexander the Third Anno Dom. 1160. which was Anno 6. H. 2. in whose time all Matrimonial Causes beonged to the King's Courts This Constitution was made That Children born before Solemnization of Matrimony where Matrimony followed should be as Legitimate to inherit to their Ancestors as those that were born after Matrimony It is likewise further to be known that King John the Father of Henry the Third who made this Statute of Merton following was by the then Pope Innocent Excommunicated King John Excommunicated as likewise at the same time was the Emperor Otho and the whole Kingdom of England Interdicted and so remained for the space of Six Years Three Months and Fourteen Days during all which time there was no Church open for Marriages or Burials but the poorer People were buried like Dogs in Ditches and where they married God knows Through which King John was driven to such distress by his own Bishops and Barons and the French assisting the Pope against him that he was forced before he could get to be released of this Excommunication to pay the Pope vast Sums of Money and to lay down his Crown and Scepter Mantle Sword and Ring the Ensigns of his Royalty at the feet of Pandolphus the Pope's Legat and submit himself to the Mercy and Judgment of the Church Two Days some write Six it was before the Legat restored him to his Crown which he likewise received again on no better Terms then to hold the Kingdom of England and Lordship of Ireland from the See of Rome at the Annual Tribute of a Thousand Marks Silver and the Excommunication was not to be taken off but deferred till further and full satisfaction was made to the Clergy which was not done till Two Years after The Bishops being hereby arrived at so great an height of their Tyrannical Power over this King The Bishops usurped the exercise of Ecclesistical Laws by force over their Kings As that when the King having obtained absolution had gather'd a great Army to have been revenged on the French King the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury told him 't was against his Oath at his Absolution and the King in a great passion reply'd He would not defer the Business for his pleasure seeing Lay-judgment appertained not to him the Arch-Bishop presumed to threaten his native Soveraign that unless he desisted he would Excommunicate him Note therefore That in the time of H. 3. who was the Eldest Son of King John the Bishops continued to assume the Power of Lay-judments as well in Marriages as they did of shutting up of Churches in which they were made from the Pope to whom they had inforced King John to surrender his Crown and not from the King 's Writ as that Statute of Merton shews rather a proud Renunciation and scorn to answer the King 's Writ concerning Marriage then any use permitted by them to the King of the same unless he would as his Father had done lay down again his Crown to them and have Marriage judg'd according to the Law of the Pope for otherwise they tell him plainly They neither will nor can answer his Writ as appears by the Statute it self the words whereof follow 20 H. 3. Cap. 9. To the King 's Writ of Bastardy Whether one being born before Matrimony may Inherit in like manner as he that is born after Matrimony All the Bishops answer'd That they would not nor could not answer to it because it was directly against the common Order of the Church that is meant the Romish Church And all the Bishops instanted the Lords that they would consent that all such as were born afore Matrimony should be Legitimated as well as they who were born within Matrimony as to the succession of Inheritance for so much as the Church accepteth such for Legitimate And all the Earls and Barons answer'd with one voice That they would not change the Laws of the Realm which hitherto have been used and approved Coke 2 part Inst 97. It is said Though the Bishops are Spiritual Persons yet in case of general Bastardy when the King writes to them to certifie who is lawful Heir to any Lands or other Inheritances they ought to certifie according to the Law and Custom of England and not according to the Roman Canons and Constitutions yet if they do make their Certificate according to the Canon Law No remedy against Bishops making Certificates contrary to the King's Laws General Bastardy uâ—urped by Bishops not given them by Law and not the Law of the Land there appears no Remedy unless such a one as is worse then the Disease Sir Galfred le Scrope Cheif Justice saith Before this Statute of Merton the Party pleaded not general Bastardy but that he was born out of Espousals and the Bishop ought to certifie whether he were born before Espousals or not and according to that Certificate to proceed to Judgment according to the Law of the Land And the Prelates answered That they could not nor would not to this Writ answer and therefore ever since special Bastardy viz. that the Defendant c. was born before Espousals hath been Try'd in the King's Courts and general Bastardy in the Bishops Court and herewith agree out old Books and the constant Opinion of the Judges ever since Coke 2 part Inst 99. It being before granted That the Law of England cannot be changed but by an Act of Parliament and Magna Charta being before made and being a Declaration of the ancient Common Law First That no Freeman was to be put out of his Free-hold or Inheritance but per legale Judicium parium and there being no cause of its own Nature more Temporal or more concerning Succession to Temporal Inheritance then Marriage It was contrary to Magna Charta and the Common Law to judg the Fact of it by any other Judges then Juries and the Law of it by any other Judges then those of Temporal Courts and though the Pope and Bishops in those Superstitious times forced the Kings many times as they did King John to yeild his Crown and the Subjects to yeild their Marriages and other Temporal Rights to their Arbitrary and Saleable Sentence for fear of Excommunication yet doth not this any way prove that the Jurisdiction of Marriage was ever granted them by any Law or Act of Parliament or could be without it were contrary to a known Common Law and Act of Parliament which expressly gave the trial of Temporal Rights and Inheritances to a Legale Judicium parium and not to any Ecclesiastical Judges or Laws Now therefore it being clear they had
nane against quhome the Process beis led be received in the Kings Castle or Place or in his Presence nor admitted to Councel or Parliament heard nor answer'd in the Law of Judgment of Fee and Heritage or uther Causes bot ever Eschewed as Cursed unto the time the said Persons cum to amendis and assyith the Party and obteine Absolution in Form of Law And Jac. 6. p. 3. cap. 53. in the Kings Minority an Act was got by the Kirk ' That all Excommunicate Persons not Conforming ' in Forty Days should be denounced Rebels and put to the Horn. The English Commissioners in the said late time of the Troubles had Instructions to take from the then Kirk such Letters of Horning and not to assist any Excommunication with the Temporal Sword which we performed accordingly The King of Spain joined with Tyrone and the Rebels in Ireland against Queen Elizabeth And Don John de Aquila Landing in Ireland with 4000 Spaniards intitled himself Master-General and Captain of the Catholick King in the Wars of God for holding and keeping the Faith in Ireland only on pretence of Excommunication Sextus Quintus the Pope of Rome on the Invasion prepared by Spain against England Anno 1588. sent out his Crusado as if against the Turks and having pass'd Sentence of Excommunication and Deprivation by his Bulls against Queen Elizabeth promising Pardon of Sins Heaven and Eternal Life to all who di'd in the Invasion 1. To grant a Pope or a Bishop Power to Excommunicate Protestant-Subjects is to grant him Power to Excommunicate Protestant-Kings 2. To grant him Power to Excommunicate Protestant-Kings is to grant him Power to Levy Money Raise Soldiers Denounce War and Depose them 3. Of the Dilemma of Danger threatning Princes who seek Security of Goverement from the Excommunication of Popes or Bishops either over a People Religious or Superstitious 4. Of the Impossibility of Security for Princes unless their Subjects are Educated or Instructed to be free from the Superstition of Excommunication and to contemn it 5. Of the Impossibility of obliging Popes or Bishops either by Benefits or Oaths Excommunication is as Proscription made a pretetence of Confiscation without shewing cause The Romans saith Aman. Marcellus proscribed Ptolomy the then King of Cyprus being their Confederate for no fault only they wanted Money in the Treasury who therefore poison'd himself and the Isle became Tributary to the Romans In the like manner do Popes and Bishop fall on the Richest with their Excommunication to fill their empty Purses Pope Gregory the Tenth Commanded Percham Arch-Bishop of Canterbury to pay him Four Thousand Marks within Four Months on pain of Excommunication So Excommunication is a ready way to Levy Money for War Anno 1230. The Pope having Excommunicated the Emperor the Emperor was fain to pay for his Absolution an Hundred and Twenty Thousand Ounces of Gold Plat. Nam Anno 1231. The Emperor for memory of this hard Penny-worth for his Absolution put into a Pool at Helbrand divers Pikes and other Fishes with Brass Rings having Inscriptions of his name and the Year of the Lord one of the Fishes was taken up 267. Years after Ann. Suev Calv. Henry the Second after that Traitor Beckett the then Arch-Bishop of Canterbury had been Slain though not by the Kings Command was enjoined amongst other things this Slavish Penance He walked Three Miles bare-foot on the sharp Stones that he at length had so cut his Feet they marked the ground with Blood every step he went And after this which was worse than Running the Gantilope he Received of the Priests Monks Bishops and Abbots on his naked Flesh so many Jerks with Rods Oh brave Pedants and Pontifical Government for Princes as according to Baronius amounted to at least Fourscore Lashes which doubtless was the Number the Jew administred to the vilest Rogues lest their Brothers should be despised in their Eyes and not heard to have been Exercised in their Eyes and not heard to have been Exercised on the Priests Bishops and Abbots themselves though they kill'd and murder'd many Lay-men without Law or Justice they incur'd only a deprivation and instead of Hanging which they deserved sometimes no more than a suspension Temporary ab Officio In the time of King John Anno 1211. The Pope Excommunicated him and gave the Kingdom of England to the King of France Paris Wend. The Pope Excommunicated Henry the Eighth and gave the Kingdom Primo Occupanti Queen Elizabeth was Excommunicated by Three Popes Pius Quintus Gregory the Thirteenth and Sextus Quintus Anno 1308. The Pope Excommunicateth Andronicus Emperor of the East and setteth up the King of Russia against him Bzou So he dealt alike with the East and Western Emperors Excommunications have brought the Venetians to extreme Straights formerly therefore they are yet no Friends of it Dandalus Duke of Venice was compell'd by Pope Clement the Fifth to Crouch under the Table Chain'd like a Dog before he could obtain Peace for the Venetians The Pope Excommunicated John King of Navar and Granted his Kingdom to the Spaniards Nicephorus Phocas Emperor of the East was Excommunicated by Polyeuchus then Patriarch of Constantinople because he had been God-father to a Child of Theophania Wife to his Predecessor and after his Predecessor's Death Married her Pope Zachary deposed Chilperick the French King and gave the Crown of France to Pepin The two French Kings H. 3. and H. 4. who were Assassinated had great Guards whereby it appears though Princes may secure themselves in Vaults and Caves from Thunderbolts yet can they not against the Bishops of Romes Ignis Fatuus of Excommunication but that to Assault them Per medios ire Satellites Et perrumpere amat saxa potentius Ictu fulmineo Eight Emperors were Excommunicated by Popes who were these Frederick the First Frederick the Second Philip Conrad Otho the Fourth Lewes of Bavaria Henry the Fourth and Henry the Fifth The Emperor Henry the Fourth Fought in Threescore and Two several Battles and had for the most part Victory he was Excommunicated by the Pope and to obtain his Absolution came Three Days together bare-foot to the Gates of the City Canusium where the Pope then was and with much difficulty obtain'd it The Catholick Majesties of Spain cannot secure themselves from Excommunication without Money nor their great Vice-Roys in America for a Rebellion was Raised in Mexico by the Arch-Bishop there Excommunicating the Governors the People by Superstitious Episcopal Education made more afraid of the Counterfeit Power of the Keys than of the true Power of the Sword and will side in Rebellion with the Bishop against the Secular Governor men may talk therefore and believe what they please that the Supremacy of the Temporal Sword is Consistent with the Spiritual of Excommunication but when it comes to Trial amongst a Superstitious People they will be very much deceived and perhaps Ruin'd Bzovius de Pont. Roman 611 612. to maintain the Power That the Popes may depose Kings
devour her Child as soon as it is born The People who are Terrae Filii to be the Earth helping the Woman Prelacy being wroth and going to make War with Dissentient Protestants to be the Dragons being wroth with the Woman and going to make War with the Remnant of her Seed which keep the Commandments of God Old Teslament false translated by Bishops in 848 places and have the Testimony of Jesus Christ And that these are not the only false translations which Bishops make of the Scripture appears by the great Linguist Broughton who in his Advertisements of Corruptions affirms to the then Bishops of England That their publick translations of Scriptures is such as that it perverts the Text of the Old Testament in no less then Eight Hundred Forty Eight places and causeth Millions to reject the New Testament and to run into Eternal Flames Sixthly To shew that Coke needs no other to confute him in the signification of Nothus not to be a Child born out of Wedlock but a plece of his own Rhime I shall recite it which is by him set down Manseribus scortum notho Moechus dedit ortum and is a false Verse for No in Notho is short which might happen by some Error of his Scribe but the true Verse is in Calv. Lex whence I suppose he might have it Sed Moecha Nothis dedit ortum which Moecha signifies an Adulteress which she cannot be unless she is a Married Woman therefore it is plain the Rhime it self confutes him that Nothus is not a Child born out of Wedlock but in Wedlock which is unanswerable as to him because ex ore suo though not as to others who are on better reasons unanswerably answer'd before They corrupt the Press both as to Scripture and Law and interdict Protestants to write against Papists or answer them Act of Parliament against Lollards counterfeit by Bishops Coke 3. part 40. saith There was a Statute supposed to be made 5. R. 2. That Commissions should be by the Lord Chancellor made and directed to Sheriffs and others to Arrest such as should be Certified into the Chancery by the Bishops and Prelates Masters of Divinity to be Preachers of Heresies and notorious Errors their Fautors Maintainers and Abetters and to hold them in strong Prison until they will justifie themselves to the Law of the Holy Church By colour of this supposed Act certain Persons that held Images were not to be worship'd c. were holden in strong Prison until they to redeem their vexation miserably yielded before these Masters of Divinity to take an Oath and did swear to worship Images which was against the Moral and Eternal Law of Almighty God We have said by colour of the supposed Statute c. not only in respect of the said Opinion but in respect also that the said supposed Act was in truth never any Act of Parliament though it was Entred in the Rolls of Parliament for that the Commons never gave their consent thereunto And therefore in the next Parliament the Commons prefer'd a Bill reciting the said supposed Act and constantly affirmed that they never assented thereto and therefore desired that the supposed Statute might be aniented and declared void For they protested that it was never their intent to be justified and to bind themselves and their Successors to Prelates more then their Ancestors had done in times past And hereunto the King gave his Royal Assent in these words Ypleist au Roy. And mark well the manner of the penning the Act for seeing the Commons did not assent thereunto the words of the Act are It is Ordained and Assented in this present Parliament That c. And so it was being but by the King and the Lords It is to be known that of ancient time when any Acts of Parliament were made to the end the same might be published and understood especially before the use of Printing came into England the Acts of Parliament were ingrossed into Parchment and bundled up together with a Writ in the King's name under the great Seal to the Sheriff of every County sometime in Latine and sometime in French to command the Sheriff to proclaim the said Statutes within his Bailwick as well within Liberties as without And this was the course of Parliamentary Proceedings before Printing came in use in England and yet it continued after we had the Print till the Reign of H. 7. Now at the Parliament holden in 5. R. 2. John Braibrook Bishop of London being Lord Chancellor of England caused the said Ordinance of the King and Lords to be inserted into the Parliamentary Writ of Proclamation to be proclaimed amongst the Acts of Parliament which Writ I have seen the purclose of which Writ after the recital of the Acts directed to the Sheriff of N. in these words Nos volentes dictas concordias sive ordinationes in omnibus singulis suis Articulis inviolabiter observari tibi praecipimus quod praedictas concordias sive ordinationes in locis infra Balivam tuam ubi melius expedire volueris tam infra libertates quam extra Publice Proclamari teneri facias juxta formam Praenotatam Teste Rege apud Westm 26. Maij. Anno Regni Regis R. 2.5 But in the Parliamentary Proclamation of the Acts passed in Anno 6. R. 2. the said Act of the 6. R. 2. whereby the said supposed Act of 5. R. 2. was declared to be void is omitted and afterwards the said supposed Act of 5. R. 2. was continually Printed and the said Act of 6. R. 2. hath been by the Prelates ever from time to time kept from the Print A Counterfeit Act Printed by Bishops against Protestants What English Protestant can read this without horror what doth he not observe it why 't is that Counterfeit Act of Parliament 5. R. 2.1382 whereby Bishops usurp to be Judges of the Souls and Consciences of Protestants and to put them in strong Prison till they conform and submit to the will of the Bishop 't is that Counterfeit Act whereby they usurp to be Judges of Heresie and to make Protestants Hereticks when they please 't is that Counterfeit Act whereby they have compell'd the Subjects to swear to worship their Idols 't is that Counterfeit Act whereby they have dragged so many Pious Martyrs to the Stake and burnt them filling the whole Land with fiery Furnaces 't is that Counterfeit Act by which the Bishops have usurped Power to destroy Religion Liberty Propriety and Lives of all Protestant Subjects at their pleasure 't is that Counterfeit Act which was never assented to but disclaimed detested abrogated and declared null and void by the House of Commons 6. R. 2. Anno 1383. and hath been yet most presumptuously caused to be printed as a valid Act by the Bishops being Masters of the Press and the true Act of Abrogation 6. R. 2. Whereon all the Subject hath depends most wickedly suppress'd and never Printed Coke 2.
Patriarchs and Bishops they dare not Excommunicate an Emperor of such a People who Contemn their Excommunication and would Revenge it on themselves if they should presume to make a vain noise with it Christ commands Wisdom to be learnt of the Serpent and the experience of all Ages witnesseth to whosoever will but consult Histories That there was never any Prince Gentile or Jew Mahumetan or Christian who admitted near his Throne Episcopal or Pontifical Consecration Ordination or Excommunication could that remain He or his Posterity secure or not Ruin'd or Plagued by those Devils Transformed which he Superstitiously or Impudently had Raised against himself or them as may sufficiently appoar by the Examples before Recited Presbyters independent Lastly 9. If Parochial Bishops and Presbyters were Elected by the Congregations or several Parishes these were Independents in the Primitive Christians time and no Prelacy was amongst them for though the Cities or Parishes in greatness might exceed one another in greatness and in Precedence yet the Presbyters Elected were as Independent one of another as Members of Parliament Elected from great and small Shires As to the Impossibility of obliging Bishops by Oath Bishops not to be obliged by Oath It is impossible to oblige those by Oaths who claim to be Judges of Oaths and Perjury as all Bishops do and their Spiritual Courts for how many and easie pretences will they find to Evade and Nullifie them sometimes a Parte Ante Force or Circumvention sometimes matter Ex post Facto that though at first Law yet by new matters since arising the same is became unlawful to be kept So grant a Bishop the Jurisdiction of Perjury he will never Judg himself guilty of it nor any Subject who breaks his Oath of Allegiance to the King in obedience to the Bishop and the rather because he is not bound to shew any Cause or Reason of his Judgment neither as Coke will have it to be question'd in the Kings Courts of what he hath the Jurisdiction 25. H. 8. Cap. 19. The Clergy Promise the King in verho sacerdotii that they will never her ceforth Praesume to attempt alledge claime or put in ure enact promulge or execute any Canons Constitutions Ordinance Provinciall or other or by whatsoever other name they shall be called in the Convocation unless the Kings most Royal assent may be to them had and that his Majesty do give his most Royal assent so it appeares they used to make them before presuming on their Power of Excommunication yet when Queen Mary came in they were as high again as ever notwithstanding their Promises Holy water to wash off Oaths There was a water which Ran in the way Appia dedicated to Mercury wherein the old Pagan Romans did believe if they dipped a Laurell Branch therewith calling on Mercury That they were discharged thereby from any breach of Oath and Perjury they had Committed Alex ab Alexandr Genial Dier The Popes have store of this Holy Water and no doubt can spare some to the Bishops as well as Holy Oyle Guiccuardin Com. de Pol. Relates a then in use Proverb Proprium esse Ecclesiae odisse et timere Caesares Ecclesiastical Lawes and Excommunications therefore made by such Enemies are not likely to be friends to Kings or subjects Bishops are Ecclesiastical Persons Aiming at a supremacy in Judgement of Heresy in Judgement of Oaths in Excommunication all inconsistent with Temporal Supremacy as is their Interest which hath alwayes made them perfidious to Temporal Powers Popes perjured The French King besieged Pope Alexander the Sixth in his Castle of St Angelo from whence after a time he came out swearing to such capitulations as he could obtain and the French King kissing his foot Amongst other Articles he agreed the French King should have his Son Caesar Hostage for the Performance but not long after Caesar making an Escape his Father the Pope contrary to his Oath contracted a League Contrary to the French to their great Prejudice and it was the Custom of that Pope to use most Oaths when he intended most to deceive Pope Julius the second had obliged himself by Oath to have a General Council within two years after his Election to the Popedome but this being not performed Maximillian the Emperour and Lewes the French King Conven'd a Synod at Pisa whither some Cardinals under protection of the French King caused the Pope to be summon'd to make his appearance but the Pope instead thereof Excommunicated them and the French King and call'd an Anti-Synod at Rome to whom he Excuses his Oath and Dies but how he Excused it after he was Dead the Historian doth not mention Anno. 1414. In the Council of Constance convened by Sigismond the Emperour and Pope John the Third Consisting of about a Thousand Bishops and Doctors and Continued four years yet amongst so many Bishops Vix una Fides Bishops perjured for though these declared that the Council was above the Pope yet they Resolved to be as perfidious to Protestants as he and accordingly there ordained That faith ought not to be kept with Hereticks Here they order'd the bones of John Wickliff that famous Primitive Protestant of England to be digged out of his Sepulchre and burnt at this Council likewise was John Hus and Jerome of Prague contrary to the safe conduct and faith given them by the Emperour and Bishops Perfidiously and Cruelly made Martyrs and burnt for the Protestant Religion Here you see were a thousand Bishops yet none kept the Promise of safe conduct Burchard Arch-Bishop of Magdeburg taking some offence at his Citizens besieged them with Armed Power but they Redemed their liberty with a summe of money he thereupon Swearing he would molest them no more yet shortly after he besieged them again but this Perjury was justly met with for in a Sally they took him Prisoner at which time by his humble Demeanor and counterfeit Oaths never to molest them more They Released him but when he was at Liberty getting a Despensation for his Oath from Pope John the 23d he began to molest them again Murthering them whom he had sworn to Maintain But it was Gods will he should be once again caught and cast into Prison and Punished for his wickedness Magdeb. Cent. And did not the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Becket as well as Burchard Arch-Bishop of Magdeburg as is before mention'd commit as great a Perjury against his native King Henry the second after all the Labour and pains taken with him both by fair and foul meanes to bring him to Agreement assoon as he Recovered home to his House by Retracting his Oath and getting an absolution from the Pope for the same Bishops compell H. 2. to accept the Kingdom on their Terms or not to have it By the Pretended Power of Consecration Ordination and Excommunication Popes and Bishops Pretend a Divine Mission to Anoint and Crown Kings and then again to Excommunicate and Depose them all to
Null all Oaths of allegiance unless they will buy their Crownes of them and pay Tribute There is in our own English History a Manifest Example of the same in that noble King Henry the second who Complaines to his Parliament against the Bishops and the whole Clergy That in their Election of King Stephen his Predecessor who was a Collateral Heir they had imposed on him their own Conditions with all advantages to themselves whereby they Deprived his Mother Maud the Empress and him who was her issue and the right Lineal Heir of the Succession to the Crown And how they dealt with the People as well as with the King appears by the Complaint of the Lay-Nobility to the King at the same time That the Privileges of the Clergy hindred all Execution of Justice that the same could have no Passage through the Kingdom and having Exempted themselves from the Jurisdiction of the Magistrate there had been since the beginning of his Reign above an Hundred Man-slaughters Committed within the Realm of England by Priests and men within Holy Orders Dan. Hist 83. Such were the Fruits of Bishops and persons within Holy Orders and the three fine Knacks of Consecration Ordination and Excommunication wherewith they both Allured and Terrified the Superstitious People And such were the fruits of their pretended Divine Mission with the Olive Branch of Peace for tho Unction and Crowning of Kings who confected their Oyntment of the Ingredients mention'd in Psal 55.21 The words of his mouth were smoother than butter but War was in his heart his words were softer than oyle yet were they drawn swords 1. Of Gods Preservation of John Keysar notwithstanding his Excommunication and Delivery to Satan by an Arch-Bishop of Canterbury 2. Of Delivery to Satan by Bishops and their Prohibition to cast him out again by Fasting and Prayer without the Bishops Licence 3. All Excommunication and delivery to Satan by Bishops without a Sign of Mission from God if Malefice follow ought to be Punished as Witchcraft if not as a Cheat. 4. To grant a Bishop Power of Excommunication is to grant him Power to set up Idolatry to make all Sins equal to Pardon all Sins for Money Coke part 3.42 Ex Mich. 5. E. 4. Rot. 143. Coram Rege Keysar deliver'd to Satan protected by God John Keysar was Excommunicated by the greater Excommunication before Thomas Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and Legate of the Aposto lick See at the Suit of another for a reasonable part of Goods and so Remained Eight Months and the said Keysar openly affirmed That the said Sentence was not to be feared neither did he fear it and albeit the Arch-Bishop or his Commissary hath Excommunicated me yet before God I am not Excommunicated And he said he spoke nothing but the Truth And so it appeared for that the last Harvest standing so Excommunicate he had as great plenty of Wheat and other Grain as any of his Neighbours saying to them in scorn That a man Excommunicate should not have such Plenty of Wheat the Arch Bishop denying these words to be within the Statute of H. 4. concerning Lollards who were the Primitive Protestants and Protomartyrs of England did by his Warrant in writing comprehending the said Cause by Pretext of the said Statute Commit the Body of the said Keysar to the Gaol at Maidstone for that saith he in respect of publishing the said words Dictum Johannem non immerito habemus de Haeresi suspectum by reason whereof the said John Keysar was Imprison'd in Maidstone Gaol and in Prison detained under Custody of the Keeper there untill by his Councel he moved Sir John Markham then Chief-Justice Justice of England and other the Judges of the Kings-Bench to have an Habeas Corpus and thereupon as it ought a Habeas Corpus was granted upon which Writ the Gaoler Returned the Cause and Special Matter and withal according to the Writ had his Body there The Court upon mature Consideration and on Conference with Divines Resolved That upon the said words Keysar was not to be Suspect of Heresie within the said Statute as the Arch-Bishop took it and therefore the Court first Bailed him and after he was deliver'd for that the said Arch-Bishop had no Power by virtue of the said Act to Commit to Prison John Keysar hereby proved the Arch-Bishop to be no Incantor Messium but he thereby proved though he was no Witch yet he was a Cheat. Prohibition to cast out the Devil by Fasting and Prayer In the Book of Canons newly Printed 1673. the Canon 72. contains these words No Minister or Ministers shall without the Licence and Direction of the Bishop of the Diocess first had and obtained under his Hand and Seal attempt upon any pretence whatsoever either of Possession or Obsession by Fasting and Prayer to cast out any Devil or Devils under pain of Imputation of Imposture or Cozenage and Deposition from the Ministery The Bishops in prohibiting to cast out the Devil without their Licence imitate something the Popish Exorcists part of whose Exorcism is according to Mengus Flagell Daemon p. 36. The Exorcist ties a Stole about the Neck of the Party with three knots saying Oh ye Abominable and Rebellious Spirits I Adjure Conjure and Compell you wheresoever you have your Residence in this man by the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost that ye immediately understand the words of my Conjuration and the virtue of it and that ye dare not depart from the Creature of God and Image of Christ without my Licence This is not only Anti-Protestant and the way to bring in all the Popish Magick and Exorcisms into the Church but is Anti-Christian for Christ himself affirms There is no holier or higher way of casting out the Devil than by Fasting and Prayer as appears Matth. 17.14 And when they were come to the multitude there came to him a certain man kneeling down to him and saying Lord have mercy on my Son for he is Lunatick and sore vexed for oft-times he falleth into the fire and oft into the water And I brought him to thy Disciples and they could not cure him And verse 18. And Jesus rebuked the Devil and he departed out of him and the Child was cured from that very hour Then came the Disciples to Jesus apart and said Why could not we cast him out And Jesus said unto them Because of your Vnbelief for verily I say unto you if ye have Faith as a grain of Mustard-seed ye shall say unto this Mountain Remove hence uâ—to yonder place and it shall remove and nothing shall be impossible unto you Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by Prayer and Fasting Christ agian will not suffer the Disciples to prohibit any to cast out the Devil as Mark 9.38 And John answered him saying Master we saw one casting out Devils in thy Name and we forbad him because he followed not us But Jesus said Forbid him not for there is no man that shall