precisely dissalowed cannot by the secōd branch of the same be generally approoued For how can one the self same law forbid and comand things so contrary and repugnant in themselues Or how can the Archbishop safely ground his iurisdiction vppon a lawe so contrary and repugnaunt vnto it selfe If the Archbyshop shall think that these two braunches may be reconciled that the meaning of the former maye and ought simply to be vnderstood as the words them selues import and that the second braunch may and ought to be vnderstoode to bound and limite such an authoritie to him selfe as whereby he might graunt such licenses as were had and obtayned at that time at the sea of Rome for matters not contrary or repugnant to the law of God yet neither by this interpretation is the Archbishop truely intituled vnto any authoritie therby to dispence for symony nonresidence many benefices marriages in Lent c. in as much as such maner of licenses obtayned at that time at the sea of Rome were obtayned for matters repugnaunt vnto the law of God and contrary to the truth of the doctrine of the Gospell and so by this statute flatly forbidden Which thinges our auncestors not thoroughly foreseeing neither duely examining for what maner of causes or matters licenses were at that time obtayned at the sea of Rome but onely in a generallitie inhibiting thinges repugnaunt vnto the law of God and neuer particularly describing what those things were but leauing the same wholy to the iudgement and discretion of one man the Archbishop alone haue fallen into two palpable absurdities the one that one man alone hath from time to time authoritie by his discretion to determine what causes are repugnaunt to the holy scriptures and lawes of God what causes matters are conuenient for the honour and safety of the King of England and what are necessary to be had for the wealth and profite of the realme three thinges of such waight and importaunce as the whole body of the realme at that time was scarceable to conceiue much lesse shall euer any one Archbish be able to practize The other absurditie is this viz. that by this statute soueraignity is giuen to the Archbishop and his successors to dispence with the king and his successors kinges and Queenes of Englande The wordes of the statute are plaine and euident But what reason is there for kinges and queenes of England to become wardes and pupils vnto an Archbishop of England Or howe agreeth it with the worde of God that a Christian king should in any sort be in subiection vnto his owne vassall Or what christian subiect dareth attempt to offer vnto his Christian soueraigne a tolleration For in case the matter of the sayde tolleration be pretended to concerne the conscience then if the matter be free and lawfull by the law of God a Christian king may as well and as freely vse the liberty of his conscience with out licence from his subiect as his subiect maye vse his freedome without dispensation from the king If it be contrary to the lawe of God then may neither a christian king neither a Christian subiecte be dispenced with For what man can dispence with the Lawe of God And in case the matter of dispensation concerne any thing appertayning vnto this life how then should the king receiue a dispensation from the Archbishop without impeaching his kingly dignitie and prerogatiue For either he must bee dispenced with for breach of the positiue Lawe of this lande and haue the payne of Lawe remitted him by the Archbishop which were to set the Archbishops keyes aboue the Kinges armes Or els he muste purchase a dispensation that he may breake his Lawe which were against his honour and safety For saith the Emperour Digna vox est maiestate regnantis legibus alligatum se principem profiteri C. De le cōstit princ l. digna It is a worde worthy the maiestie of a ruler to acknowledge himselfe as chiefe tyed vnto the lawes Moreouer this case between the king and the Archbishop is farre different from the case betweene the king and his Iustices at lawe determining matters according to the common lawes and customes of the Realme betweene the king and his subiectes For they remayne still the kinges vnderlinges and in deed giue but the kinges iudgements they iudge not the kinges person neither commeth any thing touching his person before them But dispensations from the Archbishop to the king concerne the kinges owne person The king in his royall person or by his proctor muste appeare in the Archbishops consistory he must alleage before the Archbishop sufficient matter whervpon the Archbishop but a subiect may be mooued to dispence with the King his soueraigne and finally the Kinges wisedome muste be subiected to the Archbishops discretion And therefore to confirme the Minor proposition of my third syllogisme I conclude 1 Whatsoeuer is dishonourable and dangerous for hir highnesse person the same can not be conuenient for hir honour and safetie 2 But it is dishonourable and daungerous to haue the Archbishop to dispence with hir highnesse 3 Therefore the same is not conuenient c. WHich reason also maye as well be applied to disprooue the vnlawfulnes of the Archbishops dispensations granted vnto any of hir highnes subiectes as vnto hir highnesse owne person in as much as hir kingly prerogatiue and supreame gouernment in matters lawful by the holy scriptures is therby impeached The Arch. iurisdictiō only aduanced the surety of hir royal person peace of the cōmō weal il prouided for Againe sithence euery one of sound iudgement vnderstandeth the honour and safety of hir highnesse person onely and wholly to consist in the protection and safegarde of our most mighty and most gratious God and that nothing can bee so honourable and safe for hir highnesse as humbly and reuerently to attend and to submit hir selfe to the scepter of his word the execution of this statute by the Archbishop can not be but most inconuenient and perillous for hir highnes person in as much as partly through a corrupt construction partly by a synister iudgement not rightly discerning what thinges are repugnant to the word of God the sayde Archbishop dispenseth in causes and matters contrary and repugnaunt to the holy scriptures which causeth the name of God to be euill spoken of and is a dishonour vnto God and therefore no honour nor safety vnto hir highnes person And therfore hir highnes is humbly to be intreated to take the entier dominion and whole soueraignty due vnto hir by the word of God into hir owne handes and not anye longer to suffer such a blemishe to remayne in hir gouenement Had hir highnesse moste noble Father vnderstoode his kingly person to haue vndergone the Censorship of his subiect no doubt he wold as couragiously haue fought against an Archb. as he did against an Abbot Pouerty of the person no cause for a dispensatiō As
reason that hauing now by mine owne experience certaine knowledge of his misdemeanour and vnhonest conuersation of his vnaptnes and vnskilfulnesse and of his ignoraunce I should presume notwithstanding that he was at the first orderly called and examined found to haue such qualities as were requisite But to aunswere another obiection concerning the administration of the sacramentes by these kinde of men and execution of their offices because hitherto no controuersy hath beene moued touching the validity of their calling of their state and condition and because Cum incertum est aliquid perinde est ac sinec illud sit WheÌ„ any thing is vncertain the same is as though it were not at al Cod. de test lib. 1. That therefore I say as wel in this case and in this respect as also propter communem vtilitatem publicum errorem for common vtilitie a generall error the thinges done by them are rightly and duely done Cod de sentent interlo iud l. si Arbiter SI ARBITRER DATVS a magistratibus cum sententiam dixit in libertate morabatur quamuis postea in seruitutem depulsus sit sententia tamen ab eo dicta habet rei iudicatae authoritatem If any arbiter giuen by the magistrate were a free man when he gaue sentence though afterwarde the same Arbiter be brought againe into seruitude the sentence notwithstanding giuen by him hath authoritie of iudgement And againe ff ad Maced â— si quis Si quis patremfamilias esse crediderit non vana simplicitate deceptus nec iuris ignorantiae sed quia publicè patremfaemilias plerisque videbatur sic agebat sic contrahebat sic muneribus fungebatur cessabit senatuconsultum If any shall thinke one to be a father of any houshold not deceauing him selfe thorow a vaine simplicity or ignorance of law but because he seemed to many to be a father of an housholde indeede he did as a father of an houshold did he did couenaunt he executed offices c In this case the Senates decree shall cease And againe ff de supp l. leg l. 3. Hod è propter vsum imperatorum si in argento relatum sit candelabrum argenteum argentum esse videtur errorius facit Now a dayes because of the vse of Emperours if a siluer candlesticke be accounted amongest his money it sâ—emeth to be money and this errour maketh law c. And again Serui liberi non in hac causa tractari oportet cum eo tempore quo testamentuÌ„ c. When a testament is to be prooued by witnesses it is not materiall whether the witnesses be bond or free at the time they be produced if at the time that the Testament was signed they were by consent of all reputed in the place of free men and that no man at that time mooued any controuersie of their estate Digest do officio praetoris l. barbarius Propter publicam vtilitatem communem errorem praetura seruo decreta c For publike vtilitie and a general errour a Pretorship giuen to a bondman maketh him Pretor businesse dispatched by him are of force and he made a freeman And therefore I aunswere that thinges heretofore done and executed by our idoll ministers by law to be rightly and duely executed And yet notwithstanding I vrge still that they are not in trueth any lawfull ministers and that they ought and maye iustly be deposed from their ministeries and depriued from their benefices An Arbiter reputed to be a freeman if in truth he be a bondman obtayneth not by this common opinion or by giuing iudgement his freedome and libertie but continueth still a bond man vnto him whose bond man he was before any iudgement giuen by him or that anye suche fame went of his freedome the decree of the Senate ceasseth against me for contracting with one vnder rule and gouernement so long as he is generally reputed to haue power and authoritie ouer himselfe but if I willingly contract with him afterwardes it shall appeare that in deede he was a Sonne vnder the guarde and tuition of his parentes then the decree shall be effectual and take place against me Witnesses at the time of signing anye Testament commonly reputed freemen after a controuersie mooued of their estate maye in other matters be refused as vnlawfull witnesses For though common errour make a lawe in respect of publike profit yet common errour plucketh not from any priuate man the possession or interest of his priuate goodes And therefore though Barbarius Philippus in that the people decreed vnto him the Pretorshippe vvas by the decree made a Freeman the people of Roome hauing authoritie to make a Freeman yet for that he was in deede a seruaunt fugitiue from his maister his maister was by lawe to haue the price of the same his seruannt at the peoples handes muche lesse can common errour of a fewe in authoritie or a common errour of a fewe in their owne right barre the publike wealth or the Churche from a publike benefite due vnto them But there is a defence commonly vsed by some to excuse the Bish and to exempt them from iuste reprehension for placing vnlearned men in benefices The Patrons say some are couetous they will present none but such as from whome they may lawfull for me a poore Gentleman in the countrey hauing the patronage of a benefice to bestowe the same vpon some honest poore man conditionally to let me haue the profites thereof at a reasonable price allowing him a resonable stipend for his seruice and paines in the ministerie though he cannot preach as it were for me to giue the same benefice vnto you an Oxenford man and a great scholler and able to preache and yet will not or doe not preach Is it not as lawfull for me to place such a one as I haue spoken of in a benefice of my gift and to allowe him his wages sixteene or twenty pound by the yeare and to get quarter sermons preached for him as it were lawful for you had I frankly bestowed the same benefice vpoÌ„ you to hire the same person or some other more ignoraunt and to giue him lesse wages and scarcelie to preache quarter sermons your selfe Had not this man sodainely beene strooken dumbe and dead as a doore nayle you shoulde as well haue heard his reply as you haue read the demaunde And in good sooth what greater losse and hinderaunce hath the people of W. by an vnlearned maÌ„ their parson not preaching and hiring out his benefice to his patroÌ„ for 15. pound by the yeare then hath the people of P. by a learned maÌ„ their parson not resideÌ„t not preaching and hiring out his benefice of the same valew to his curate for 40. pound by the yeare Surely as there coÌ„meth no greater good to the people of the one place by the one then commeth to the people of the other place by the other so is the one both lesse hurtful to the
otherwise then that there hath but little good growen to the Common weale hitherto by the bishops and Cleargie men in the Administration of Ciuill iustice And that therefore such as haue written or spoken or preached againste Ciuill iurisdiction in the Eclesiasticall state haue done it for two vrgent and waightie considerations Friendes of reformation friendes of the queenes maiesties prerogatiue First not to encounter hir maiesties prerogatiue as it is falsely supposed but to teach their Lorde and maisters truth They haue not doone it in disobedience to hir crowne but in obedience to their God They know it is better to obey God then men and therefore they haue laboured faythfully by the worde of God to perswade hir maiestie and the estates of the Realme that these offices ought not by the Lawe of God to be resiaunt in one person and therefore hath exhorted hir maiestie and them in the name and feare of God to vse hir prerogatiue and theire authorities to the seuering of them Secondly they haue preferred the generall welfare and commoditie of the common weale before the vnlawfull honours and promotions of priuate men They know by learning and haue prooued by experience what detriment maye insue to the Common weale when offices are committed to men ignoraunt of such duties as belong vnto their charge A man that hath spent all the dayes of his lyfe in the studie of Grammar or Oratorie and hath alwayes taught the same were a very vnfit man at the age of threeschore yeares to be made a publique Keader in Phisicke or Law and yet notwithstanding to remayne a Schoolemaister still Expedit reipublicae vt quisque officio suo fungatur It is expedient for the Common weale that euery one execute his owne office And I am of opinion that the friendes of reformation are greater friendes and mayntainers to and of hir highnesse prerogatiue then the others be For they ascribe vnto hir maiestie indeede truth and veritie that which the others do but in worde shew and semblaunce onely They earnestly desire and craue that as hir highnesse hath beene annoynted and Crowned by the Lord him selfe Queene and gouernesse ouer them and as she is their naturall and onely lawfull Ladie and Mistresse and as she hath the name title and stile of supreame and chiefe ruler ouer all persons in all causes So likewise the causes now accōpted Ecclesiasticall beeing meere Ciuill shee might in deed truth and veritie haue all and all maner of iurisdiction executed in hir maiesties owne name as well in Courts and iudgements nowe reputed Ecclesiasticall as in other hir maiesties Courtes temporall whereby hir Ciuill gouernement might be more enlarged Which thing the abettours of reformation perceiue now to be otherwyse Forall summons actes proceedinges sentences decrees and iudgementes in all causes and controuersies determinable before Archbishops Bishops and Archdeacons are begunne continued and ended in the Archbishops bishops Archdeacons their Commissaries or Officials names stiles and dignities without any relation or mention of authoritie gyuen unto them as proceeding from hir maiestie then the which there can not seeme anye thing more preiudiciall to hir state Crowne and dignitie For be it that they be created Archbishops and Bishops by hir highnesse and inuested into their seas at hir Graces commaundement yet this argueth no greater prerogatiue belonging vnto hir maiesty ouer them then such as she hath ouer hir other subiectes whom she createth Barons or dubbeth knights But as concerning common and ordinarie iurisdiction in causes reputed Ecclesiasticall they haue no letters patentes from hir maiestie conuaying vnto themas from hir royall person any power ouer hir subiects to heare and determine their causes in hir highnesse name and vnder hir gouernement Onely they execute such iurisdiction as by popishe constitutions or popish customes hath beene heretofore annexed to their Archbishopprickes bishopprickes and Archdeaconries and that by an vtter enemy to hir royall person state and gouernment B. L. to his colleague Comissioners In so much that some of them by Letters hath signified vnto their Colleague Commissioners that common and ordinarie authoritie in causes ecclesiasticall chiefly and almost onely belong to them selues and their officers And that commissions from hir maiestie for reformation in matters ecclesiasticall graunt onely an extraordinarie authoritie And that therefore the sayde Commissioners haue not to heare matters of instance and such as requyre iudgement of lawe for that such causes belong onely to them selues and their officers whereby they haue insinuated hir maiestie to haue no common or ordinarie authoritie in causes ecclesiasticall as they them selues haue Whereas all other courts within hir highnesse Empyre as leetes courtes Baron courtes of regarde courtes of Forrestes I leaue to speake of hir highnesse owne Courtes at Westminster all liberties and franchises all parkes and free warrens belonging to any of the Nobilitie Gentrie or any Citie or borow of this Realme haue euer had their beginninges and establishmentes by the gratious fauour of the Kinges of this Realme as from whose prerogatiue such dignities and immunities ought franckly to proceed and by whom onely they haue beene graunted Onely oure Church gouernours challenge not their authoritie as from hir sacred seate of iustice and princely throone but they challenge their authoritie as a power belonging to their owne seats deriued from an vsurped and forren power 17. pag. ◠28. Henry c. 16. The statute made that euery Archbishop and bishop of this realme and of other the kings dominions may minister vse and exercise all and euery thing and thinges pertayning to the office or order of an Archbishop and bishop with all tokens ensignes and ceremonyes therevnto belonging and that all Archdeacons and Deanes and other hauing offices cures and dignities spiritual may by authoritie of this act and not by vertue of any forren power or authoritie administer vse and exercise all things appertaining to their dignities offices orders cures religions felowships and may lawfully hereafter vse all tokens ensignes and ceremonyes which they haue beene accustomed to vse in times past so it be not expresly against the lawes of God and this Realme This statute I say hauing beene the rule of our Archbishops and bishops consciences for their gracinges there Lordinges there vsheringes their kneelinges there tastinges their cupbearinges and such like improoueth no whit any part of the force of the former assertions but rather confirmeth and fortifieth the same First the statute hauing relation onely to tokens ensignes and ceremonies accustomably administred vsed and exercised before the making of the statute all which beeing Antichristian and therefore expreslye against the lawes of God are plainely by this statute abrogated and therfore ought no more to bee administred vsed or exercised For though the Kinge the peeres and commons at that time not instructed in the vnlawfulnesse of them did not holde and repute them to be againste the lawes of God and therefore did not specially abridge any particuler
rites ensignes and ceremonies c. yet now foras much as we are certaynely infourmed that they bee altogeather Antichristian and therefore expresly against the worde of God we maye and ought to vrge the generall intendement of the statute generally to take them awaye Secondly were not the foresayde popishe rites ensignes and ceremonyes Antichristian and expresly against the lawes of GOD and therefore by this braunche of the statute might bee ministred vsed and exercised yet notwithstanding it is manifest that the sayde rites ensignes and ceremonies haue not beene appoynted by the prerogatiue of anye of the Kinges of this Realme but haue beene transferred from Italye vnto Englande by a forren and vsurped power and therefore by the seconde braunch of the statute as thinges authorized contrarye to the Lawes of the Realme are not anye more to be vsed or exercised In the time of King Henry the seconde we haue seene before that this priuiledge was graunted to Archbishops and Bishops that they shoulde holde their possessions of the King as a Baronie and shoulde be present in the Kinges courtes as other of his Barons If in these dayes they did sitte them selues in their owne Consistories and exercise gouernement by the lyke authoritie their Courtes happely woulde not be so contemptible as they bee nor their iudgement seates so abused as they are The people woulde be better quyeted in those places and offer lesse iniurie to the magistrate then now they doe And therefore I conclude that though hir highnesse and the lawes indirectly and as it were alatere tollerate these men to rule and gouerne according to those forreigne lawes whereof they haue the execution yet the more faythfull and loyall euery subiect is the more he should and doth contende to haue the whole and entyre gouernement of the Church and Common weale directly immediately and absolutely to spring from hir highnesse as from the heade and fountaine vnder Christe of all gouernement to be executed amongest hir subiectes In dooing wherof they shall dutifully and Christianly more and more mayntaine hir prerogatiue The Emperour forbidding Ecclesiasticall men to vsurpe Ciuill offices lost no whit of his imperiall prerogatiue ouer the subiectes yea rather hereby he openly declared the magnificence of his Empyre and the absolute authoritie he had ouer them and that as well by forbidding things not to be doone as by commaunding thinges to bee done Enemies of reformation enemies vnto hir maiesties prerogatiue For though he spoyled them of vnlawfull preeminences yet he enriched them with lawful liberties I know not the inward intent and meaning of such as mislike to haue ciuill gouernment translated frō Archbish Bish and Archdeacons vnto the ciuill magistrate But if I may speake that which may shrewdly be suspected they may seeme to be greater enemies to hir highnes prerogatiue then others be For though outwardly in wordes they seeme to graunt vnto hir all libertye in the disposition of ciuill offices whervnto the others do likewise agree and condiscende yet they seeme in deede to be loath she shoulde drawe the sword of hir prerogatiue cut a sunder the coards of their cōsistories They graunt hir authoritie to make them selues iustices of peace and ecclesiasticall commissioners and so wage law for hir prerogatiue An easie matter for them to stande in plausible to flesh and bloud their outwarde man delighteth with outwarde pompe and credit But suppose the case stood between the Archb. Bish and Archd. and hir maiesty for hir prerogatiue in abolishing their iurisdictiō trāslating the same to others that the matter were to be decided by the gretest part of their own voyces that their voyces were to be giuen in scrutiny not any waies to be knowen who had giuē his voice with or against hir prerogatiue in this case I feare me rather then their Lordeshippes shoulde take the foyle they woulde lay hir prerogatiue in the dust selfe loue woulde haue a strooke and fleshe and bloud woulde be loath to loose any liberty The history of Henry the fifth and the Oration of Henry Chychuby Archbishop of Caunterbury made in the Parliament house to alienate the Kings minde and to disswade his Nobles from the enterprise whereof hee and they had consulted touching the ouerthrow of irreligious houses and to draw their endeuours to make warre and to leauie an armie against the French king might be a forcible argument to anye to perswade him selfe the same thing in this case though he had no other reason to induce him therevnto But the vnciuill intreaty of hir highnesse owne schollers elected by hir gratious commaundemement from Westminster to hir owne Colledges in Cambridge and Oxenforde euen by such as would seeme in words to set vp mightie propes vnder hir prerogatiue argueth manifestlye the same thing For otherwise hir maiesties schollers in all respectes as well qualified as their owne and alwayes elected halfe a yeare before their owne might once in the space of twenty foure yeares though not for their owne sakes yet for their honorable Lady and mistresse sake haue receiued some more fauourable intertainment and preferment in those houses then hitherto they haue done The maisters of those houses woulde not haue placed them next vnto the screene and set them next vnto the Porters lodge as by elections vnto fellowships in the one schoolerships in the other they a long time haue doone Whereas on the contrary side it is apparantly knowen that sometimes the Dean of Christ church in Oxenford a great friend to reformation and a man for his excellent knowledge and wisedome in gouernment singularly commended euen by his enemies in these small matters gaue an apparant and rare example of his humble dutie and loyaltie vnto hir highnes For the reuerent estimation he had caryed of vnto hir highnes ordinance and institution he placed a scholler sent thither by hir maiesties appointment firste and senior vnto all those that were elected into the house at that time he him selfe brought the same hir scholler to his chamber and placed him in a Chamber and studie commonly appoynted for the ancients of the house all his owne schollers were inferior vnto hirs and placed beneath hirs Since the departure of which man if the Audite or butterie bookes of that house were sought you shall finde hir schollers names written alwayes in the latter ende of the booke the last of forty and placed after his scholler whom hir highnesse but the day before had preferred to be a Deane or prebendary in that house The Deanes schollers they goe and sit and are placed foremost the prebendaries in the middest and hirs hindermost and if they were to go a procession as in the time of popery hirs must go foremost as vnworthiest to go next to the crosse And because hir maiestie sometimes by hir letters heretofore requested the Deane and chapiter to receiue into hir Colledge such as she thought meet to be placed Now forsoth to preuent hir bountifulnes
and to take awaye all occasion from others to seeke preferment in that house at hir maiesties hands they of late haue inuented a new deuice and practized a new tricke where they were by the order and foundation of the house bound yearely to make elections of such schollers as might presently at the time of the election be placed in the vacant roomes they now either at one time choose a greater number of schollers for them selues then are places vacant and so make but one election in two yeares or else so soone as any place by the departure of any schooler is voyd they foorthwith in the name of the Deane or some Prebendarie chop an other in his roome by meanes whereof either hir maiesties letters are delayed vnto the ende of two yeares or else remayne altogeather frustrated so kinde hearted these no Precisians and these no Puritanes haue beene and so thankfull they haue shewed them selues for their maisterships Deanries and Prebendaries receiued at hir maiesties hands by hir gratious bountie and liberallitie And therefore since they striue so egerly for such tryfles and vse such foule shiftes to shut hir out of doores and make hir schollers packehorses and set them at the Cartes tayle in hir owne Colledges I thinke a man may gesse twice and yet not gesse so nigh as to gesse that Cleargie men enemies to reformation rather then they woulde loose their dignities woulde if it laye in their power gyue hir Highnesse prerogatiue the Canuysadoe They allow hir maiestie a royall power to shred greene Olyue braunches but to roote vp olde rotten dotterelles they deny hir anye such authoritie they can bee contented hir maiestie shoulde strippe poore men cloathed with sackecloath but mighty men decked in scarelet shee may not touch or once looke awrye vppon No cause of the name of ecclesiastical court Concerning the Courtes and iudgement seates of Archbishops bishops and Archdeacons hitherto reputed and called Ecclesiasticall Courtes I can see no reason in the worlde why they shoulde be any more so esteemed taken or reputed or why anye matter or cause or suite or controuersie commenced in those places shoulde or ought to be called or counted Ecclesiasticall For though in times past I meane in time of popery they might probably and coullorably be so called either for that Cleargy men alone were Iudges and exercised iudgement in them either for that such parties as betweene whom suites did depend were for the most part meere church men either for that all peticions and actions made and begunne in those Courtes were for such matters and causes as whereof church men onely by vsurpation challenged vnto them selues the decision and determination yet now so it is that all these reasons fayle and are of no force For with vs at this day though Archbishops bishops and Archdeacons be Cleargie men and chiefe amongest the ecclesiasticall seat yet notwithstanding Doctors of the Ciuill lawe meere laye men as they call them and no whit beneficed by priuiledge of Cleargie exercise all iurisdiction reputed Ecclesiasticall in their consistories and by the ordinaunces of the Realme are made competent and lawfull Iudges in these Courtes 25 Henrici octui Where one suite now dependeth or these manye yeares hath depended in the same Courtes betweene Cleargie men alone one hundreth almost are and hath beene depending betweene laye men alone the causes them selues are all for the moste part mere Ciuill and belong onely to the Ciuill court Approbations and insinuations of Willes and Testamentes by expresse wordes as you haue hearde out of the Ciuill lawe are absolutely prohibited vnto Bishops and all other Cleargie men And so consequently for that Appendices sequuntur principalis subiecti naturam Accessories follow the nature of the principall subiect All causes of Legacies Bequestes Accountes Inuentaries Commissions of Orphanes gooddes and whatsoeuer else may be incident to anye of those causes are vtterly forbydden Causes of wrongfull and iniurious slaunders infamous Libels and contumelious crymes causes of contractes and marriages causes of dowrie and diuorce causes of filiation and legitimation of children matters of Vsurie and whatsoeuer appertayneth to the decision of these causes are causes meere ciuill and pertaine to the ciuill magistrate and therefore sithence Archbish Bish and Archdea to disburthen them selues may lawfullye commit the hearing of these causes from them selues yea and very seldome or not at all execute their iurisdictions by them selues but continually and effectually do surrogate and depute Doctors or Bachelors of the Ciuill lawe What iniurie to their persons or alteration of the state and gouernment can it be in case hir maiestie by hir prerotiue did commit the same causes vnto the same men and make the bishops men hir men and their commissaries hir presidentes Touching matters of tith it is lawfull for the chiefe Iustice of the kings bench where any vsage or custome by any partie is pretended to paye lesse then the whole tith as suppose the twenteth or forteth part of his tithes Yea in some cases where no tith at all is payde as vpon the statute of tith wood beeing timber trees aboue twentie yeares groweth to prohibite in hir maiesties name euery iudge ecclesiasticall that hee proceed not to the determination of any such cause and so to take vnto him selfe the hearing and determination of the same according to the common lawes of hir highnesse realme There is small diuersitie of reason why the same or some other Ciuill magistrate may not as well heare and determyne all and singular causes of tithes after what maner or forme soeuer they be payde as whereby long continuaunce of tyme they haue beene customablye payde after such and such sort or where no payement at all hath beene made In the seconde or thirde instaunce when appeale is made from an Archbishop Bishop or Archdeacon into hir highnesse high Court of Chauncerie or Delegates in any case whatsoeuer hir maiestie by the prerogatiue of hir Crowne and dignitie hath absolute power to appoynt such men to set a finall ende and ordinate direction therein as by their wisedomes shall be thought consonant to equitie right and good conscience There is no disparity of reason why in the first instaunce shee maye not as well haue like authority or why like authority from her or by her Maiesty may not lawfullye bee committed to any of her subiectes though no ecclesiasticall persons but onely seculer and laye men Neyther by this meanes shoulde the course of Lawe touching appeales be taken away but the same might be still practised as now it is In the prouinces belonging to the Romaine Empire though presidents and Proconsulles had their Commissions from the Emperour yet appeales were notwithstanding made from those Gouernours vnto the Consistories and tribunall Seates of the Emperoures imperiall City of resyaunce and cheefe aboade And therefore though the Gouernmentes nowe reputed Ecclesiasticall but in trueth Ciuil were absolutely translated from Ecclesiasticall men and put into the hands