from the Pope he made much scruple of believing it but it being in a place where books were at hand I shew'd him on what ground I spake and asked him if he thought men could be Devils to write such an odious lie had it not been so Well says he if this were heard in Rome amongst religious men it would never gain credit but with such as have in their hands the Maneggi della corte for that was his expression it may be held true 6. Indeed the former author doth not expresse as perhaps then not so fit to be publisht the particulars those articles did contain were writ with the Abbots own hand which later pens have divulged but that in generall it should be any thing lay in the Popes power on her acknowledging his primacy and certain no other could by him have been propounded to her nor by her with honour accepted then that of his allowing the English Liturgy so that they who agree he did by his Agent according to his letter make propositions unto her must instance in some particulars not dishonorable to her self and Kingdom to accept or allow what these writers affirm to have been them And I have seen and heard weighty considerations why her Majesty could not admit her own reformation from Rome some with reference to this Church at home as that it had been a tacite acknowledgment it could not have reformed it self which had been contrary to all former precedents others to the State of Christendom as it then stood in Scotland Germany and France but with this I have not took upon me to meddle here 7. Yet what the Queen did upon this message seems to have given no very ill satisfaction for Sr Edw. Carne then in Rome advised the Pope the same year to invite her to the Councell of Trent promising him half the Kingdom with her own liking would receive his messenger which yet was found otherwise the reasons why are some toucht by Historians and may more at large be seen in Sr Nicholas Throgmortons negotiations then her Ambassador in France Certainly the French were not altogether out of an opinion or at least would have it thought so of her sending to the Synod which the Pope however he invited her was not a little troubled at But the great combination of the Popish party supported by France against England made her see she could expect no good where they were predominant upon which she caused the divines of her Kingdom in councell to consider of a just and lawfull reformation who meeting 1562 reviving the Acts of a Synod held at London ten years before under Ed. the 6th and explaining some few expressions and omitting some points rather of dispute then faith did conclude on 39 articles so just so moderate so fully agreeing with the doctrine of the primitive fathers and with the ancient tenets and practise of this very Church in the times of the Britons and Saxons as if any shall say no Clergy in any age or place have held out a more exact rule he may be easilyer contradicted then justly blamed or confuted 8. For having laid their ground that holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation so that whatsoever is not read therein nor may be proved thereby is not to be required of any man that it should be believed as an article of Faith c. they do upon that Basis establish the doctrine of the three Creeds the Nicen Athanasian and Apostles heretofore ever held to contain Ecclesiarum omnium fidem and that the Romish doctrine of Purga of Purgatory Pardons worshipping adoration of Images relicks Invocation of Saints c. is not warranted by Scripture that is are no articles of faith and then proceed to settle such other things as are juris positivi with so just a moderation as is hardly elsewhere to be found changing nothing for the generall but where the practice of their own ancestors did justify their doings without at all extending themselves to any thing where they had not antiquity their warrant 9. Following which they restored the cup having the Councell of Clermont under Vrban the 2 that Corpus Dominicum sanguis singulatim accipiantur the command of Paschalis the 2. and the practice of the English Church where sickly people women as well as men were to be provided of a pipe to receive it by as was expresly injoyned the order of the Gilbertines about â—200 The thing being already printed I need here repeat no more but onely add that this permission of theirs was no other but a restoring to minores ecclesias that is Parochial or Country Churches that liberty Peckham had deprived them of not 300 yeares before For I do not find any prohibition but the Lay might ever have been partakers of it with us in majoribus that is Cathedrall Churches for Lyndwood in his gloss upon the English constitutions about 1430 propounds this question Sed numquid in istis ecclesiis Cathedralibus aliis majoribus liceat non celebrantibus dum communicant recipere sanguinem Christiin specie vini videtur ex hac litera quod sic argumento sumpto à contrario sensu quod est in jure fortissimum ut c. hoc bene putarem verum saltem quoad ministrantes sacerdoti ministranti c. 10. For the permitting of Matrimony to the Clergy it is undoubted all here had the liberty of marrying before Lanfrank in a Councell at VVorcester 1076. did rather advise then command the contrary which Huntington who was himself the son of one in holy orders sayes was first prohibited by Anselm 1102. But multi presbyterorum statuta Concilii Londoniensis post ponentes suas soeminas retinebant aut certe duxerant quas prius non habebant c. so that his constitutions came quickly neglected Priests both marrying and retaining their wives At which though the King were somewhat displeased yet soon after he took a piece of money of them for it and they kept them by his leave Divers constitutions were after made by severall Archbishops and Legats in the point as by Steph. Langton at Oxford 1222 registred by Lyndwood yet it is manifest they did secretly contract marriage which some are of opinion they continued till towards the end of Edward the 3 ds reign This I am the rather induced to believe out of that in Knighton that Iohn de Alithwerl Clerk was slain by his wife and servant in his own house at Leicester 1344. for which fact she was burnt and he hanged Now I conceive had she been onely his concubine not his servant she had not suffer'd by the judgement of burning for the murther but hanging onely neither can I interpret the word Clericus for other then one in holy Orders prohibited marriage by the Canons of Rome though I know large loquendo as our Lyndwood hath
of the English Church so there is no question but it hath been ever the Tenet of it Pontificem Romanum majorem aliquam jurisdictionem non habere sibi à Deo collatam in Sacrâ Scripturâ in hoc regno Angliae quam alium quemvis externum Episcopum Which our Historians do mention as what proceeded from the constitutions of the Church and assent of Emperors not as of a thing in it self juris divini insomuch as 80. That proposition when it was propounded 1534. in Henry the 8 ths time in convocation all the Bishops without exception and of others onely one doubted and four placed all Ecclesiastick power in the Pope both the Universities and most of the Monasteries and Collegiat Churches of England approved avowed as the undoubted opinion of the Church of this Nation in all ages Neither can I see how it can be otherwise for if the Church of Canterbury were omnium nostrum mater communis sub sponsi sui Iesu Christi dispositione if it were Mater omnium Anglicanarum Ecclesiarum suo post Deum proprio laetatur pastore that is if th' Archbishop had no mediate spirituall superior but Christ God if the power the Pope exercised over him within this Realm were voluâ—tate beneficio gained as I have shewed by little little voluntarily submitted unto it could be no other then jure humano and then it must be granted the Church of England could not hold any necessity of being in subjection to the See or Church of Rome jure divino as it is manifest they did not in that they sometimes acknowleded no Pope otherwhiles shewed an intent of departing from his union and the Bishops as well as Lay Lords advised Anselm Vrbani obedientiam abijcere subjectionis jugum excutere c. Neither could the Church of England be any way possible guilty of Schism adhering to their Ghostly Superior next and immediate under Christ Iesus As for the temporall profits the Court of Rome received hence though the denying them can be no just cause of such a spirituall imputation especially on privat men yet certainly who will examin their beginning as he shall find it to have been by the bounty or permission of our Princes so upon search he will perceive the Kingdome went no farther then the Common Law the precedent of former times and such an exigency did force them to of which therefore I shall adde a word or two CHAP. IV. Of the Payments to the Papacy from England THe vast summes the Court of Rome did of late years upon severall occasions export out of this Kingdome mentioned in the statute of the 25. Hen. the 8. are spoken of by severall of our writers and though some have in generall expressed how much the Nation suffer'd in that kind yet none that I know in one tract did ever shew by what degrees the Papacy gained so great a revenue as the Commons in Edward the thirds dayes had cause to complain it did turn a plus grand destruction du Royaume qe toute la guerre nostre Seigneur le Roy. I have thought therefore that it will not be amisse to set down how the Pope came to have so great an influence over the treasure of the Clergy in this Land by seeking out how and when the greatest of the paiments made to him began what interruptions or oppositions were met with either at the beginning or in the continuance of them 2. The first payment that I have read of which gave the Pope an entrance as it were in to it was that bounty of our Princes known to this day by the name of Peter-Pence and this as it was given for an Almes by our Kings so was it no otherwise received by the Court of Rome Eleemosyna beati Petri prout audivimus ita perperaâ—â— doloseque collecta est ut neque mediam ejus partem hactenus Ecclesia Romana susceperit saith Paschalis the 2. So that no question Polidore Virgil very inconsiderately termes it vectigal and others who by that gift contend the Kingdome became tributarium feudatarium S to Petro ejusque successoribus for though the word tributum may perhaps be met with in elder writers yet never did any understand the Pope by it to become a Superior Lord of the Lay fee but used the word metaphorically as we do to this day terme a constant rent a kind of tribute and to those who pay it and over whom we have in some sort a command we give the title of subjects not as being Princes over them but in that particular being under us they are for it styled our inferiors 3. What Saxon King first conferred them whether Ina as Ranulphus Cestrensis sayes report carryed or Offa as Iorvalensis I will not here enquire as not greatly materiall Polidore Virgil tells some write Ethelwolphus continued it with whom Brompton seems to concur It is true our Historians remember he caused 300. mancusas denariorum Malmsbury renders it trecentas auri marcas which was ten times the value of silver as another trecenta talenta to be carried every year from hence to Rome which could be no other then the just application of Peter-Pence for amongst sundry complaints long after from Rome we find the omission of no paiment instanced in but of that duty onely neither do the body of the Kingdome in their Remonstrance to Innocentius 4. 1246. mention any other as due from hence to Rome 4. This therefore thus confer'd by our Kings was for the generality continued to the Papacy yet to shew as it were that it proceeded only from the liberality of our Princes not without some stops Of those in the times of VVilliam the first Henry his Son I have spoke Henry the 2. during the dispute with Becket and Alexander the 3. commanded the Sheriffs through England that Denariibeati Petri colligantur serventur quousque inde Deminus Rex voluntatem suam praeceperit During the Reign of Edward the 3. the Popes abiding at Avignon many of them French their partiality to that side and the many Victories obtained by th' English begat the proverb Ore est le Pape devenu Françeis Iesu devenu Angleis c. about which time our Historians observe the King gave command no Peter-Pence should be gather'd or pay'd to Rome And this restraint it seems continued all that Princes time for Richard the 2. his successor at his beginning caused Iohn Wickliffe esteemed the most knowing man of those times to consider the right of stopping them whose determination in that particular yet remains entituled Responsio Magistri Iohannis Wicliff ad dubium infrascriptum quaesitum ab eo per Dominum Regem Angliae Richardum secundum magnum Concilium anno regni sui primo then the question followes Dubium est utrum regnum Angliae
during the Parliament commanded him to relinquish the title of Ambassadour and not to stir out of Rome So that if there were any departure it must needs be the Pope made it not the English who was so incensed he would not at first acknowledge her Queen nor after permit any from her in the quality of Ambassador to reside with him though she had not done any thing but according to the ancient rights of the Kingdom and the usages of former Princes But suppose which will never be proved her Matie to have gone farther then was fit for a Christian Prince in settling Religion certainly she had just cause to conceive she might do it having so many precedents of her ancestors in the case Yet Paulus 4 tus breaks off all entercourse some of his party first would not Crown her then spake of excommunicating of her indignities no Prince but must be sensible of 3. Yet it seems the first heat past the Queens moderation was better received at Rome then at home where the Pope however a violent heady man considering no doubt his own loss in breaking off all commerce with so potent a Kingdom began to hearken to terms of accommodation and was content things should stand as they are the Queen acknowledging his primacy and the reformation from him But his death ensuing the 18 August 1559. left the designe to be prosecuted by his successor Pius 4 tus who by letters sent by Vincentius Parpalia a person of great experience employed by Cardinall Poole in his former negotiations and of late in that hither of the 5th of May 1560. directed charisimae in Christo filiae Elizabethae Reginae Angliae did assure her omnia de nobis tibi polliceare quae non modo ad animae tuae salutem conservandam sed etiam ad dignitatem regiam stabiliendam confirmandam pro authoritate pro loco acmunere quod nobis a Deo commissum fuit a nobis desiderares c. Upon this and their relations who then lived and had part in the action the English affirm Pius 4 tus would have confirmed the liturgy of the Church of England and indeed how can any imagine other for doubtlesse nothing could have been more to her dishonour then so suddainly to have changed what she had with so great consideration establisht and the Pope assuring her she might promise her self from him all he could do I know not what lesse or other he could expect she would ask But where Sr Edward Cook in his charge at Norwich as it is now printed sayes this offer came from Pius 5 tuâ— I conceive it a mistake and should have been Pius 4 tus as in another place he names Clement the 9. who yet never was for Clement the 8. and the rest of the narration there not to be without absurdities and to be one of those deserves the authors censure when he says there is no one period in the whole expressed in the sort and sense that he delivered it for certainly Pius 5 tus from his coming to the Popedome 1566 rather sought by raising against her forraign power abroad and domestick commotions at home to force her to his obedience then by such civil ways as we now speak of to allure her though the thing it self is no question true how ever the person that offer'd it be mistaken in some circumstances 4. They that make a difficulty in believing this object it to have been first divulged 1606. 46 years after the profer of it That Sr Edward Cook averr'd to have received it from the Queen her self not then alive to contradict him But for my part I confess I find no seruple in it for I have ever observed the wisdome of that Court to give what it could neither sell nor keep as Paulus 4 tus did the Kingdom of Ireland to Queen Mary admitted the five Bishopricks erected by her father approved the dissolution of the Monasteries made by him c. of which nature no question this was For the being first mentioned 46 years after that is not so long a time but many might remember and I my self have received it from such as I cannot doubt of it they having had it from persons of nigh relation unto them who were actors in the managing of the businesse Besides the thing itself was in effect printed many years before for he that made the answer to Saunders his seventh book de visibili monarchia who it seems had been very carefull to gather the beginnings of Queen Elizabeth that there might be an exact history of her tandem aliquando qui omnia act a diligenter observavit qui summis Reâ—pâ—blicae negotiis consulto interfuit relates it thus 5. That a noble-man of this Country being about the beginning of the Queens reigne at Rome Pius 4 tus asked him of her Maties casting his auctority out of England who made answer that she did it being perswaded by testimonies of Scripture and the laws of the realm nullam illius esse in terra aliena jurisdictionem Which the Pope seemed not to believe her Majesty being wise and learned but did rather think the sentence of that Court against her mothers marriage to be the true cause which he did promise not onely to retract sed inejus gratiam quaecunque possum praeterea facturum dum illa ad nostram Ecclesiam se recipiat debitum mihi primatus titulum reddat and then adds extant apud nos articuli Abbatis Sanctae salutis manu conscripti extant Cardinalis Moronae literae quibus nobilem illum vehementer hortabatur ut eam rem nervis omnibus apud reginam nostram sollicitaret Extant hodie nobilium nostrorum aliquot quibus Papa multa aureorum millia pollicitus est ut istius amicitiae atque foederis inter Romanam cathedram Elizabetham serenissimam authores essent This I have cited the more at large for that Camden seems to think what the Abbot of St. Saviour propounded was not in writing and because it being printed seven years before the Cardinall Moronas death by whose privity as Protector of the English this negotiation past without any contradiction from Rome there can no doubt be made of the truth of it And assuredly some who have conveniency and leisure may find more of it then hath been yet divulged for I no way believe the Bishop of Winchester would have been induced to write it did constare of Paulus 4 tus nor the Queen her self and divers others of those times persons of honour and worth with some of which I my self have spoken have affirmed it for an undoubted truth did not somewhat more remain or at least had formerly been then a single letter of Pius 4 tus which apparently had reference to matters then of greater privacy And here I hold it not unworthy a place that I my self talking sometime with an Italâ—an gentleman verst in publick affairs of this offer
AN HISTORICAL VINDICATION OF The Church of England In point of SCHISM As it stands separated from the ROMAN and was reformed 1 Elizabeth Deuteronomy 32. 7. Remember the days of old consider the years of many generations ask thy father and he will shew thee thy elders and they will tell thee Jeremiah 6. 16. Ask for the old paths where is the good way and walk therein and ye shall finde rest for your souls LONDON Printed for Samuel Speed at the Rain-bow in Fleetstreet near the Inner Temple-gate 1663. To the READER I Know how easily men are drawn to believe their own observations and expressions may prove as welcome to others as they are pleasing to themselves And though few books live longer then the Authors who send them to the presse and fewer avoid an opinion they might have been as well spared as come abroad yet neither the hazard their makers run nor the little gain they reap can hinder those have a Genius that way from suffering others to be as well Masters and censurers of their thoughts as themselves This being then the venture every writer exposes himself unto the Reader may not a little marvell how I have been brought to hazard my self on the same Seas I have seen so many Shipwrackt in I shall desire him to adde this to what is already in the first chapter as my Apology Reading some times in Baronius that all things were well done in the Catholick Church had venerable antiquity for their warrant and that the Roman Church did not prescribe any thing as an holy tenet but such onely as delivered by the Apostles preserved by the Fathers were by our ancestors transmitted from them to us I cannot deny to have thought for certainly Truth is more ancient then Error this being made good and that she did commend them to us in no other degree of necessity then those former ages had done but she had much more reason on her side then I had formerly conceived her to have but in examining the assertions it seemed to me not onely otherwise but that learned Cardinall not to have ever been in this consonant to himself confessing the Catholick Church not alwayes in all things to follow the interpretations of the most holy Fathers On the other side it seemed to me somewhat hard to affirm the Papacy had incroached on the English and neither instance when where nor how Hereupon as I perused our ancient Laws and Histories I began to observe all changes in matters Ecclesiasticall reported by them in which I had sometimes speech with that learned Gentleman I mention in the first chapter whom I ever found a person of great candor integrity and a true Englishman I noted likewise how the Reformation of Religion was begun with us how cautiously our ancestors proceeded not to invade the Rights of any but to conserve their own Many years after I know not by what fate there was put into my hands as a piece not capable of answer in relation as well to the fact as reason it carried without at all my seeking after it or hearing of it a treatise of the Schisme of England carrying the name of one Philip Scot but as told me composed by a person of greater eminency dedicated to both the Universities and printed permissu superiorum truly in my judgment neither illiteratly nor immodestly writ but in reading of it I found sundry particulars some perhaps onely intimated others plainly set down I could no way assent unto as that Clement the vij did exercise no other auctority in the Church then Gregory the great had done That the Religion brought hither by Augustine varyed not from that was before the Reformation That the English made the separation from the Church of Rome That in doing so we departed from the Church Catholick I was not ignorant it might be found in the writings of some Protestants as if we departed from Rome which I conceive is to be understood in respect of the Tenets we separate from holding Articles of faith not of the manner how it was made Having gone through the book I began to look over my former notes and putting them for my own satisfaction in order found them swell farther then I expected Vrceum institui exit amphora and when they were placed together I shewed them to some very good friends to whose earnest perswasions being such as might dispose of me and mine I have in the end been forced to yield making thee partaker of that I never intended should have past farther then their eyes Yet in obeying them I shall desire to be rightly understood That as I do not in this take upon me the disputing the truth of any controversiall tenet in difference between us and the Church of Rome so I meddle not with any thing after Pius quintus came to the Papacy who first by private practises and then open excommunication of her Majesty declared himself an enemy in open hostility with this state which therefore might have greater reason to prevent his endeavours by some more sharp laws against such as were here of his inclination then had been seen formerly with which I meddle not Thus the Reader hath the truth both how I came to compose and how to print this If he find any thing in it like him he must thank the importunity of others if to misdoubt I give him in the margin what hath lead me to that I affirm if to dislike his losse will not be great either in time or cost and perhaps it may incite him to do better in the same argument and shew me my errours which proceeding from a mind hath not other intent then the discovery of truth no man shall be gladder to see and readier to acknowledge then From my House in East-Peckham the 22. May MDCLVII Roger Twysden A TABLE Of the CHAPTERS CHAP. I. AN Historicall Vindication of the Church of England in point of Schism And how it came to be entred upon fol. 1 Chap. II. Of the Britans fol. 7 Chap. III. Of the increase of the Papall power in England under the Saxons and Normans and what oppositions it met with fol. 9 Chap. IV. Of the Payments to the Papacy from England fol. 74 Chap. V. How far the Regall power did extend it self in matters Ecclesiasticall fol. 93 Chap. VI. How the Kings of England proceeded in their separation from Rome fol. 118 Chap. VII How the reformation was made under Queen Elizabeth fol. 126 Chap. VIII How Queen Elizabeth settled in this Kingdom the proceeding against Hereticks fol. 135 Chap. IX Of the farther proceeding of Queen Elizabeth in the Reformation fol. 174 AN Historical Vindication OF THE Church of England in point of SCHISM CHAP. I. 1. IT is now more than twenty yeares since defending the Church of England as it was setled 1 Eliz. for the most perfect and conformable to Antiquity of any in Europe a Gentleman whose conversation for his Learning I
to be removed unlesse some from the Pope were admitted into the Kingdome that might at least give an essay to the guiding the English Church after the papall interest but that how earnestly soever prest came to no effect till 1125. Iohannes Crâ—mensis a person well understanding as appeares by his carriage six years before at Reims the designes of Rome came to the King in Normandy where after some stay his journey hither was permitted with what qualifications I find not but coming with Letters to Canterbury at Easter performed th' Office of the day in a more eminent chair as an Archbishop for so I English loco summi Pontificis according to the phrase of those times and though a Cardinall priest used insigniis Pontisicalibus the habit of a Bishop which being an unusuall novelty past not without scandall But in a councell which he held and presided in at London the Kingdom took more offence I shall deliver it in my authors own words Totam Angliam in non modicam commovit indignationem Videres enim rem eatenus regno Anglorum inauditam Clericum scilicet Presbiterii tantum gradu perfunctum Archiepiscopis Episcopis Abbatibus totiusque regni nobilibus qui confluxerant in sublimi solio praesidere illos autem deorsum sedentes ad nutum ejus vultu auribus animum suspen sum habentes From whence we may conclude it a thing before not heard of for any Legat though a Cardinall to precede Bishops the first Councell in which they preceded Archbishops I take to have been the Councell of Vienna 1311. where th' Archbishop of York is noted to have been placed primus praecipuus post Cardinales post Trevirensem Archiepiscopum or be seated in a more eminent place over them I have shew'd they did not subscribe in English Councells above them that these mutations were scandalous to the nation 23. As this is the first Ecclesiastick Synod called and managed by any Legat from Rome so before his credentiall Letters from Honorius the 2. as well to the Lay as Clergy I have not met with the Text Pasce oves meas used to prove him the generall Pastor of all the World it is true Paschalis the 2. ten years before uses it to prove his auctority over Bishops but neither doth Anselme 1095. produce it neither doth this Cardinall at Reims 1119. mention it though either of them did alleadge as many places of Scripture as were then common to prove th' extent of his power and Petrus Blesensis that lived a little after interprets it as spoken to all Bishops and to import no other then Evangelizare a certain signe if that exposition were hatch't before it was not common which afterward approved by St. Bernard and inserted into the Canon Law by Boniface the 8. about the year 1300. is now stood upon as the Basis of papall greatnesse But to return to that we were on 24. The Archbishop sensible of these indignities proceeds not as his predecessor by joynt Councell of the Bishops Abbots and Nobility but hath himself recourse to Rome who already knew se convertere ad oratorum versutias dummodo consulat suis profectibus where the Pope which was Honorius the 2. committed unto him vices suas in Angliâ Scotiâ Apostolicae sedis Legatum constituit So that he who before was Primas Angliae Scotiae Hiberniae necne adjacentium insularum that none else gerebat vices Apostolicas in Britannia and this of his own right without any delegatory power might now doing the same be said to do it by a power derived from Rome An invention highly advantagious to the Papacy for before the King and Archbishop or rather the Archbishop by the Kings will and appointment had ever taken cognizance of all matters of Episcopacy as the erection of Bishopricks disposing and translating Bishops c. So Paschalis the 2. expostulates with Hen. the 1. that praeter auctoritatem nostram Episcoporum translationes praesumitis c. and the deposing of them to have been in a Synod Historians of all times before assure us even unto Lanfrank who attempted it upon small grounds against Wolstan As for dividing Bishopricks and erecting new where none were Theodore did five in Mercia cum consensu Regum principum without ever sending to Rome as he did others elsewhere And Henry the 1. long after placed Episcopall Chaires at Ely and Carlisle without acquainting the Popes with it It is true Anselme an Italian either not knowing the rights of the Kingdome or rather out of a desire to interest the Pope in every thing writes to him of Ely that de vestrae pendet auctoritate prudentiae to adde strength to Ecclesiastick ordinances of this nature yet it is clear by his very Letter the King Bishops and Nobility had already concluded on it with whom he had concurr'd asking Paschalis assent after the deed done which shews rather he did it in civility then of necessity ne à posteris ulla praesumptione violetur that no cavilling might arise in the future to the disturbance of an action well settled that past by so great advice as not onely the English Church but the first Bishop of the world and Patriarch of the West joyned in seeing the needfulnesse of it And it is here not unworthy the remembring that Q. Mary how much so ever addicted to Rome yet admitted the Bishops of those Sees her Father had erected during the schism as they called it to sit in Parliament before any confirmation of them by the Pope 25. Of these and the like though cases proper for the Papacy alone yet being without scruple exercised in the Church of England and no controul from Rome it would not be easy to dispossesse the Archbishop of medling with by strong hand especially on an essay made before in the case of Wilfred it being affirmed quod esset contra rationem homini jam bis à tota Anglorum Ecclesia damnato propter quaelibet Apostolica scripta communicare the way therefore of making him the Popes Legat was invented by which those particulars he did before without interruption of his own right he whom it was not easy to barre of doing them might be said to act as his agent which was about this time first committed unto him of any Archbishop of Canterbury though Baronius not finding how the very same past before fancies Theodore to have done them cui totius Angliae à Romano Pontifice veluti Apostolicae sedis Legato cura credita erat who certainly if he were his Legat was very immorigerous in the case of Wilfred But to leave that as a Chimaera not to be assented to mentioned by no ancient author it is true not long after he conferr'd the title of Legatus natus on th' Archbishop of which hereafter 26.
recourse to Rome without the Kings leave to be inauditum usibus ejus omnino contrarium and therefore required of him an Oath quod nunquam amplius sedem Sancti Petri vel ejus vicarium pro quavis quae tibi ingeri queat causa appelles I know Anselm an Italian where the opinion of the Papall absolutenesse had now begun to root did maintain this was Petrum abjurare and that Christum abjurare and is the first of our Bishops spake any thing in that sort with whose sense the Kingdome did not concur in it For it is manifest in those dayes and after Appeals to Rome were not common In the year 1115. Paschalis the 2. expostulates with Henry the 1. that Nullus inde clamor nullum judicium ad sedem Apostolicam destinatur and again vos oppressis Apostolicae sedis appellationem subtrahitis And Anselme himself speaking of the proceeding of the King in a case by him esteemed onely of Ecclesiastick cognizance lays down the manner to be that it should be onely ad singulos Episcopos per suas parochias aut si ipsi Episcopi in hoc negligentes fuerint ad Archiepiscopum primatem adding nothing of carrying it to Rome of which I know no other reason but that it was not then usuall to remove causes from the Primate thither Yet after this either the importunity of the Pope prevailed with the King or the passage was inserted after his dayes into the Lawes carry his name as some other in the same chapter may seem to have been but certain in them though he give for a rule that of Pope Fabian or Sixtus 3. ibi semper causa agatur ubi crimen admittitur yet a Bishop erring in faith and on admonition appearing incorrigible ad summos Pontifices the Archbishops vel sedem Apostolicam accusetur This is the onely case wherein I find any English Law approve a forreign judicature 31. But whether from the countenance of this Law or the great oppressions used by the Legat King Stephens Brother or the frequency of them it is certain 1151. Appeals were held a cruell intrusion on the Churches Liberty so as in the Assize at Clarendoun 1164. collected by the body of the Realm the 8. Chapter is solely spent in shewing the right of the Kingdome in that particular which Iohannes Sarisburiensis interprets quod non appellaretur pro causâ aliquâ ad sedem Apostolicam nisi Regis Officialium suorum venia impetraâ—a Upon which the Bishop of London moved Alexander the third Beckets cause might be determined appellatione remota at which the Pope seems to be moved and told him haec est gloria mea quam alteri non dabo And though it seems by a Letter of the same Prelat the King would have restrained his power onely to such as had first made tryall of receiving justice at home claiming ex antiqua regni institutione ob civilem causam nullus clericorum regni sui fines exeat c. and that too if amiss would have corrected by th' advise of the English Church yet while th' Archbishop lived that would not be hearkened to but after his death at the peace which 1172. ensued between him and the Church of Rome it was onely concluded the King not to hinder Appeals thither in Ecclesiastick causes yet so as a party suspected before his going was to give security not to endeavour malum suum nec regni But the Kingdom meeting in Parliament at Northampton 1176. not fully four years after would not quit their interest but did again renew th' Assize of Clarendoun using in this particular somewhat a more close expression Iusticiae faciant quaerere per consuetudinem terrae illos qui à regno recesserunt nisi redire voluerint infra terminum nominatum stare in curia Domini Regis utlagentur c. in effect the same as Gervasius Dorobernensis well understood who tells us Rex Angliae Henricus convocatis regni primoribus apud Northamptoniam renovavit assisam de Clarendonia eamque praecepit observari pro cujus execrandis institutis beatus martyr Thomas Cantuariensis usque in septennium exulavit tandem glorioso martyrio coronatus est 32. After which the going to Rome remained during this Kings and his Son Richard's time onely according to their pleasures the Clergy lying under the penalty of this Law if they did attempt farther then the Princes liking of which we have a very pregnant example in the case of Geffrey Archbishop of York K. Richards Brother who accused to Coelestinus 3 us that he did not onely refuse Appeals to Rome but imprisoned those who made them upon it the Pope commits the cause to be heard by the Bishop of Lincoln and others who thereupon transfer themselves to York where hearing the Testimonies of those appeared before them assigned him a time to make his defence to the Pope But the Archbishop being then well with his Brother pretended he could not present himself in Rome for the Kings prohibition and the indisposition of the aire Not long after the King and he fell so at odds quod praecepit illum dissaisiri de Archiepiscopatu suo c. Coelestinus upon this takes an opportunity to declare a suspension to be notifyed through all the Churches of his Diocese injoyning what the King had before the Lay as well as the Clergy ne ipsi Archiepiscopo vel officialibus ejus in tempor alibus respondere praesumant donec de ipso Archiepiscopo aliud duxerimus statuendum The offence with his Brother still remaining the Bishop expecting now no help at home goes upon this to Rome makes his peace with the Pope and returns but the King committed the â—are even of the Spiritualls of his Archbishoprick to others without permitting him or his Agents to meddle with ought till about two years after he reconciled himself to the Crown after which he gave Innocentius 3 us occasion to write Non excusare te potes ut debes quod illud privilegium ignoraris per quod omnibus injuste gravatis facultas patet ad sedem Apostolicam appellandi cum iu ipse aliquando ad nostram audientiam appellaris and a little after Nec auctoritatem nostram attendis nec factam tibi gratiam recognoscis nec appellationibus defers quae interponuntur ad sedem Apostolicam c. And about the same time Robert Abbot of Thorney deposed by Hubert th' Archbishop was laid in prison a year and half without any regard had of the Appeal by him made to the Pope and this to have been the practice during King Richards time the continued quarrells of Popes for not admitting men to appeal unto them doth fully assure as 33. But Innocentius 3 us having prevailed against King Iohn and the Clergy great instruments in obtaining Magna Charta from that Prince either in favour of
doubts of their being as lawfull Archbishops as Augustine was Giraldus Cambrensis and Hoveden agree the Bishops of St. Davids in Wales did use the Pall till Samson about the time of the Saxons flying from an infection carryed it with him yet neither of them report him to have fetch 't it from Rome nor after the wanting it did the rest of the Bishops there either refuse his consecration deny obedience to the See or make profession to any other before Henry the first induced them by force But to come to the Saxons after Paulinus there are five in the Catalogue of York expressely said to have wanted it amongst which Wilfred that ruled all the North as his Bishoprick yet are reputed both Archbishops and Saints and of others in that series it will not be easy to prove they ever used it Albertus the 8. Bishop about 767. had it not till the seventh year accepti Episcopatus nor Adilbaldus or Ethelbaldus the 14. Anno 895. till the fourth year postquam acceper at Episcopatum An undoubted argument that Canon of Pelagius recorded both by Ivo and Gratian that no Metropolitane should defer above three months sending for it to Rome was never received in this Church Gregory the great sayes it ought not to be given nisi fortiter postulanti and the same Father with a Councell at Rome Anno 595. decreed pro pallio omnino aliquid dare prohibeo So that in those times the one side perhaps did not much urge the taking of it nor the other greatly seek after a thing brought small advantage and was so far to be fetch 't 48. But after the Court of Rome began to raise to it self a revenue from other Churches this Pallium that was no other then a distinctive ornament not to be payed for began to be set at so immense a rate that Canutus going to Rome 1031. did mediate with Iohn the 19 that it might be more easy to his prelats in which though he had a favourable answer yet in Hen. the 1. his time it was so much th' Archbishop of York could not pay the money without an heavy debt Mat. Paris doth intimate as if Walter Gray translated from Worcester to that See 1215 had not his Pall at lesse then ten thousand pounds accepto pallio saith he Episcopus memoratus rediit in Angliam obligatus in curia Romana de decem millibus librarum estirlingorum which was about the silver of 30000l. now Coin being then after the rate of 20d. the ounce But after times according to the Bishop of Landaffe reduced it to the certainty that each Bishop payed 5000. duckets for it every one of the value of 4s. 6d. our money which yet I do not see how to make agree with the Antiquit. Brit. Ecclesiae that speakes onely of 900. aureos ducatos payed by Cranmer 49. But to omit the gain came by the garment that certainly was a means of drawing a great obligation from all Archbishops to the Papacy for about 1002. a new oath de fidelitate canonica obedientia was devised to be tender'd every Archbishop at the reception of it For the more full understanding of which we are to know VVilliam the first after he had settled the Kingdome in quiet wholy possest of it would not in any kind acknowledge a farther obedience to Rome then his predecessors had but maintained the rights of the Kingdome in every thing against the liking of that Court in many particulars barring all men for taking any for Pope but whom he designed insomuch as after Gregory the 7. 1084. till 1095. about 11. years there was no Pope acknowledged in England denying any to receive letters from thence but acquainting him with them and many more of which elsewhere all which being exercised by him were never questioned during his time nor while Lanfrank lived after him though he hath been ever reputed an holy man But Anselme succeeding in his seat great contentions arose between him and VVilliam the second The King with the Nobility pressing him as the usage of the Realme not to depend on Rome as of necessity he on the other side deciating all such customes to be contrary to Divinity right c. chose rather to live an exile all that Kings time then any way submit to those customes had been practis't never disputed or questioned by any Archbishop here before 50. But that Prince being soon after taken away and Paschalis the 2. succeeding almost at the same time considering as it seems by what weak bands forraign Bishops were tyed to the Papacy how easy it was for them to fall from it that Gregory the 7 th was not satisfied even with Lanfranks carriage in Episcopali honore positus who restrained his obedience to canonum praecepta that Anselme alone had opposed the whole body of the Kingdome that every Prelat might be neither of his temper or opinions framed an oath the effect of which you may see in Diceto Ann. 1191. in Mat. Paris and others the full which every Archbishop at the reception of the Pall was to render At the tendring this one in Sicily made a scruple of taking it as that Nec ab Apostolis post Dominum nec in conciliis inveniri posse statutum the like did some in Polonia to whom the Pope answers as in cap. significasti objurgatorily quasi Romanae Ecclesiae legem concilia ulla praefixerint And going on with the designe whereas at the assuming of this Pall by Anselme 1095. it was no otherwise then thus Pallium super altare delatum ab Anselmo assumptum est atque ab omnibus pro reverentia Sancti Petri suppliciter deosculatum c. at the taking of it by Raulf 1115. his immediate successor we find it with this addition Sicque delatum super Altare salvatoris pallium est à Pontifice inde susceptum facta prius de fidelitate canonica obedientia professione Deiâ—de pro reverentia beati Petri ab omnibus deosculatur c. Which profession being never met with as made by any Archbishop of Cant. before but frequently after by such as were his near successors as Tho. Becket Baldwine c. we must conclude him to have been the first from whom it hath ever been required I know Bellarmine interprets a Bishops returning out of schisme 602. and voluntarily by oath promising to live in communion with the Pope to be a swearing of obedience to that chair but certain there is a difference between obeying and living in communion of which see cap. 7. n. 4. between an oath inforced and one voluntarily taken After this as wayes to augment the Court many priviledges were annexed to it as that none before his receiving that ornament might convocate councells make Chrisme dedicate Churches ordain Clerks consecrateâ—Bishops that being Pontificalis officii plenitudo
hujusmodi de caetero emanarunt ad provisionem ipsorum inviti non teneamur nisi de hac indul gentia plenam fecerint mentionem Dat. Lateran 15. Kalend. Maii Pontificatus nostri anno 4 to c. could quiet the English or keep them from that confederation in Mat. Paris 1231. beginning Tali Episcopo tali capitulo Vniversitas eorum qui magis volunt mori quam à Romanis confundi c. Which the Popes by wisdome and joyning the Regall auctority with their spirituall sound means to bring to nought and pursuing the Papall interest without regarding what had past from them gave the Kingdome occasion 1241. to observe that in onely three years Otho had remained Legat here he bestowed more then 300. spirituall promotions ad fuam vel Papae voluntatem the Pope having contracted as the report went with the Romans to confer to none but their Children and Allies the rich benefices here especially of Religious houses as those perhaps he had most power over and to that effect had writ to the Bishops of Canterbury and Salisbury ut trecentis Romanis in primis beneficiis vacantibus providerent So that in the Councell at Lions 1245. they complain of these exorbitances and shew the revenues the Italians received in England not to be lesse then 60 thousand marks of which more hereafter and in the year following 1246. reiterated their griefs to Innocentius 4 tus quod Italicus Italico succedit Which yet was with little successe for the Popes having as we have heard first settled all elections in the Ecclesiasticks and after upon severall occasions on the submitting of the English to his desires bestowed the benefices in this and other Kingdomes on his dependents Iohn the 22. or as some seem to think Clement the 5. his immediate predecessor endeavored the breaking of elections by Cathedralls and Convents reserving the free donation of all preferments to himself alone 70. From whence proceeded the reiterated complaints â— against Papall Provisions in the Parliaments of Edward the 3. and Ric. the 2. for this Kingdome never received his attempts in that kind to which purpose the History of Iohn Devenish is remarkable The Abbot of St. Augustines dying 1346. the 20. Ed. 3. the Convent by the Kings leave chose VVm. Kenington but Clement the 6. by Provision bestowed the Abbacy on Iohn Devenish whom the King did not approve of yet came thither armed with Papall auctority The Prior and Convent upon command absolutely denyed him entrance ingressum monasterii in capite denegando who thereupon returned to Avignon The businesse lying two years in agitation the King in the end for avoyding expences and other inconveniences ex abundanti concessit ut si idem Iohannes posset obtinere à summo Pontifice quod posset mutare stylum suae creationis â—ive provisionis scilicet non promoveri Abbatia praedicta ratione donationâ—s vel provisionis Apostolicae sed ratione electionis capituli hujus loci illa vice annueret suis temporalibus gaudere permitteret sed quidem hujusmodi causa coram ipso summo Pontifice proposita concludendo dixit se malle cedere Pontificio quam suum decretum taliter revocare c. Which so afflicted the poor man as the grief killed him on St. Iohn Baptists Eve 1348. without ever entring the Abby and the dispute still continuing the Pope 1349. wrote to the King Ne Rex impediret aut impediri permitteret promotos à curia per bullas acceptare beneficia sibi taliter incumbentia To which his Mary answer'd Quod Rex bene acceptaret provisos clericos qui esseâ—t bonae conditionis qui digni essent promoveri alios non 71. But the year following 1350. the 25. Ed. 3. the Commons meeting in Parliament complain with great resentment of these Papall grants shewing the Court of Rome had reserved to it self both the collation of Abbeys Priories c. as of late in generall all the dignities of England and Prebends in Cathedrall Churches c. Upon which the statute of Provisors was in that Parliament enacted which was the leader to those other statutes 27 and 38. Ed. 3. The 48. Ed. 3. 1374. the treaty between Ed. the 3. and Gregory the XI was concluded after two years agitation wherein it was expressely agreed quod Papa de caetero reservationibus beneficiorum minime uteretur c. Notwithstanding which the Commons the next Parliament prefer'd a petition shewing all the benefices of England would not suffice the Cardinalls then in being the Pope having by the addition of XII new ones raised the number to XXX which was usually not above XII in all and therefore they desire it may be ordained and proclaimed that neither the Pope nor Cardinalls have any Procurator or Collector in England sur peine de vie de membre c. Yet the inconveniences still continuing 3. Ric. 2. produced that statute is in the print I shall not here repeat otherwise then that the Commons in the Roll seem to lay the beginning of these excesses no higher then Clement the 5. 72. By these arts degrees and accessions the Church of Rome grew by little and little to that immensenesse of opinion and power it had in our nation which might in some measure whilst it was exercised by connivence onely upon the good correspondency the Papacy held with our Kings and Church be tolerated and the Kingdome at any time by good Lawes redresse the inconveniences it susteined But that which hath made the disputes never to be ended the parties not to be reconciled is an affirmation that Christ commanding Peter to feed his sheep did with that give him so absolute a power in the Church and derived the like to his successors Bishops of Rome as without his assent no particular Church or Kingdome could reform it self and for that he as a Bishop cannot be denied to have as much power as others from Christ and may therefore in some sense be said to be Christs Vicar to appropriate it onely to the Pope and draw thence a conclusion that jure divino he might and did command in all particulars Vice Christi And though no other Church in the Christian World doth agree with the Roman in this interpretation though Historians of unquestioned sincerity have as we have in some measure heard in their own ages deliver'd when and how these additions crept in and by what oppositions gained that our Princes have with th' advise of the Lay and Clergy ever here moderated th' exorbitances of the Papacy in some particular or other and likewise reformed this Church though the stipulations between our Kings and Rome have not been perpetuall but temporary not absolute but conditionall as is to be seen in that past between Alexander the 3. and Hen. the 2. viz. juravit quod ab Alexandro summo Pontifice ab Catholicis
did after step so far as to prohibit their giving the King at all without his license endeavouring the gaining a supremacy over them as well in Temporalls as Spiritualls who hitherto had not meddled with collections of that nature For the same Henry about 17 years before after th' example of the French did cause a supply be made for the relief of the Eastern Church but I do not find it to have been either upon any motion from Rome or any part of what was so levyed to have been converted that way 9. But the former granted 1183. passing with so great circumspection perswaded the Popes not to think fit sodainly as it seems of attempting the like yet that the Church of England might not be unaccustomed to paiments they sometimes exhorted Christians to the subvention of the Holy Land and thereupon did distribute Spirituall Indulgences which cost them â—ot a farthing and procured Princes to impose on their Subjects for that end so did Clement the 3. or rather Gregory the 8 th about 1187. stir up Hen. the 2. and Philip Augustus Innocentius 3. King Iohn and as a generall Superintendent over the Clergy did then intromit himself and his Agents in the raising of it and so did convert some good proportion to his own use insomuch as Iohannes Ferentinus sent hither 1206. from the same Innocentius 3 us carryed hence a good quantity upon which King Iohn writ unto the Pope 1207. quod uberiores sibi fructus proveniant de regno Angliae quam de omnibus regionibus citra Alpes constitutis c. Yet truly to raise any considerable summe of mony from the whole body of the Clergy for support of the Papall designs I do not find any great attempt before Gregory the ix 1229. demanded a tenth of the moveables of both Lay and Ecclesiasticks to which the Temporall Lords would not at all assent Nolentes Baronias vel laicas possessiones Romanae Ecclesiae obligare and the Clergy were unwillingly induced to the contribution The Pope thus entred meddled no more with the Lay but of the Clergy eleven years after he demanded by his Legat a fifth part of their goods Many meetings were had about it they shewed the King they held their Baronies of him and could not without his assent charge them that having formerly given a tenth this of a fifth might create a custome and at a meeting in Barkshâ—re exhibited sundry solid reasons too long to be here repeated against the contribution But nothing would serve the King made for it and th' Archbishop out of private ends paying it they were in the end forced to yield such a supply as at his departure the year following it was say'd there did not remain so much treasure in the Kingdome as he had in three years extorted from it the vessells and ornaments of Churches excepted 10. But neither the paying it with so great reluctancy nor the Remonstrance prefer'd in the Councell of Lions 1245. from the body of the Kingdome of the severall exactions the Nation lay under from Rome and likewise to the Pope himself the year following could any way stop the proceedings but Innocentius 4 tus 1246 invented a new way to charge every Religious house with finding and paying a quantity of souldiers for his service in the wars for one year which being required from both the English and French produced here those prohibitions in the same Author against raising any Tallagium or auxilium But the French caused their Agent to use a serious expostulation in the businesse which because it is not printed I shall deliver at large as I find it Nuncii de novo accesserunt nova gravamina addentes supradictis Nuper enim mandavistis Ecclesiis ut quia persecutor vester ad partes istas venturus est mittant vobis militiam munitam ad resistendum ei quia non est concilium cedere venienti super quo satis excusabiles sunt Ecclesiae quia non habent militiam nec est in parte eorum mittere quod non habent quos etiamsi haberent mitterent non est tutum confidâ—re de ipsis Nec scitur etiam de illis utrum venturus sit quia etiamsi veniret praeferendum esset ut videretur concilio humano concilium Domini qui dicit Si persecuti fuerint vos in unam civitatem fugite in aliam c. And in the same year he attempted the making himself heir to any Clerk that should die intestate and the year following received from the Clergy eleven thousand marks exceptis exemptis tribus clericis as an addition to six thousand he had received the year before 11. I shall not here take upon me to repeat all the times and wayes by which the subject had his purse thus drained the labour would be too great and the profit too little it shall suffice to note the Court of Rome by much strugling overcame in the end all difficulties did arrive to that height the Commons were forced in Parliament 1376. to prefer this petition Si tost come le Pape voet avoir monoie pur maintenir ses guerres de Lombardy ou ailleurs pur despendere ou pur raunson auscuns de ses amys prisoners Fraunceys prises par Englois il voet avoir subsidie de Clergie d' Engleterre tantost celuy est grantez par les Prelats a cause qe les Evesqes n'osent luy contrestere est leve de Clergie sans lour assent ent avoir devant Et les Seculers Seigneurs my preignent garde ne ne font face coment le Clergie est destruict la monoye de Royalme malement emporte 12. And indeed the Kingdome had great reason thus to complain see one of many examples that may be alledged In the year 1343 the 17. Ed. 3. Clement the 6. sent hither to provide for two Cardinall Priests one out of the Province of York the other Canterbury in spirituall livings to the value of 1000. marks a piece sur une si generale coverte maniere qe la somme passer a dix mille marqes avant qe le doun soit accept But the State would not endure this but chasing their Agents out of the Kingdome the King sent through every County Ne quis ab eo tempore deinceps admitteretur per bullam sine speciali licentia Regis And a little after the Parliament held the 20. of Ed. 3. 1346. the Commons yet more plainly Nous ne voulons soeffrer qe payement soit fait as Cardinalx pour lour demoere en France de treter c. And soon after they represent this very particular of 2000. marks to be en anientissement de la terre and encrese de nos enemies and therefore qu'â—ls ne soient en nul maniere soâ—fferts c. In both which his Ma tie gives them content 13. Neither
all the Bishops of the Province of Canterbury both to the Pope and Becket enough assure us how undoubted it was in those dayes that our Kings following the advise of the English Church did proceed on safe grounds for their justification in such quarrells 6. Neither was the opinion returned by these Divines so differing from the writings of other learned men as might make them any way guilty of schism Gerson speaking of the severall degrees of Divine truths places for the first such as are expresse in Scripture secondly those that are by evident consequence deduced from thence thirdly such as being delivered by Christ have been by the constant tradition of the Church derived to us of which he holds this proposition Vniversalis Ecclesia Pontifici Romano subjecta sit and adds non enim posset evidenter aut per consequentiam pure de fide ex legibus primi generis humana deductione fulciri c. and Contarenus in a small tract de potestate Pontificis of that question sayes An Auctoritas illa potestas qua Pontifex maximus fungitur sit ei consensu quodam hominis tributa an potius divinitus tradita qua de re hisce temporibus maximos tumultus excitatos esse perspicimus nec etiam veriti sint viri in omni disciplinarum genere celebres ac in Christianae Theologiae studio illustres in magno hominum conventu asserere hoc jus Pontificis humanume esse then adds that he ab horum hominum sententia maxime dissentire ac prope compertum habere divinitus concessum esse Pontifici jus illud c. So that this learned Cardinall was not altogether resolved in the point but as a disputable question had it prope compertum The truth of which I leave him to dispute with the Orientall Christians It is manifest Francis the first was of the contrary judgement and our Countryman Stapleton delivers it as a Catholick tenet of former times undoubtedly agreeing with that of the English Church non divino sed humano jure positivis ecclesiae decretis primatum Romani Pontificis niti c. 7. But I return to our King who now fortifyed by the opinion of the Universities publick disputations in the convocation and severall precedents of former Princes his predecessors in his rights whereas the Parliament before in some particulars restrained the profits of Rome as in the payments of Annates Peter-pence making Appeals to it whose beginnings with us I have formerly noted did the 26. Hen. 8. 1533 declare his Maty his heirs and successors Kings of this realm shall have full power auctority from tyme to tyme to visit represse redresse c. all such errors heresies abuses c. which by any manner spirituall authority or jurisdiction may be lawfully reformed repressed ordered redressed c. This the Court of Rome interpreted a falling off from the Church and the English no other then a declaration of that right had ever resided in the Crown and which I believe it will be a difficult task to disprove them in 8. For those two articles Paulus 3. accuses the King of as Hereticall and schismaticall viz. quod Romanus Pontifex caput ecclesiae Christi vicarius non erat quod ipse in Anglica ecclesia supremum caput existebat c. for the first I never heard it affirmed by the King in that generality the words import for the Pope is a temporall prince as well as a spirituall father and so far as I know he never denyed him to be the head of the Church of his own dominions nor of France and Spain c. if those Kingdomes will admit him to so great a preeminence the thing he onely stood upon is that he was not so instituted by Christ Universall Bishop and had alone from him such an omnipotency of power as made him absolute Monarch in effect of the universall Church and was so in England For his being vicar of Christ in that sense other Bishops may be said to be his vicegerents as before I do not see how it can be well denyed him but that this Vicarship did import the giving him that power he did then exercise here is what the Church of England hath ever constantly denied As for the Kings being Head of Church I have before shewed he neither took it nor the Parliament gave it in other sense then the French have alwayes attributed it to their Princes neither for ought I find was it so much sought by King Henry as prest on him by the Clergy of which the Bishop of Rochester was one that subscribâ—d to it and his Ancestors did the same things before he did after under the names of Protectors Tutors Christi vicarii Domini Agricolae c. 9. For the other particulars mentioned in the Bull as his beheading the Bishop or Cardinall of Rochester the burning of Beckets bones the taking the treasure and ornaments at his Shrine to which may be added the suppressing and converting into Lay hands the Monasteries of the Kingdome I shall not say much having not taken on me to defend that Princes actions Yet for the taking off the head of Rochester if he were convict of treason I must give the answer of Edward the 3. to the Clergy in that kind en droict de Clerks convictz de treason purceo qe le Roy toutz ses progenitors ount este seisis tut temps de faire jugement execution de Clercz convictz de treson devers le Roy sa Royale Mageste come de droict de la corone si est avis au Roy qe la ley en tien cas ne se poet changer and then he cannot be said to have dyed other wise then by law As for the goods and ornaments of Churches by him layd hold on it is certain his predecessors in their extremities had shew'd him the way as the Conquerour who took all the ready money was found in Religious houses Richard the first who took all to the very Chalices of Churches and yet th' Archbishop afterwards regio munimine septus universos monachorum to wit of Christ Church redditus oblationes tumbae beati martyris Thomae fecit saisiari in manu Regis and Edward the first 1296 fecit omnia regni monasteria perscrutari pecuniam inventam Londonias apportari fecitque lanas corias arrestari c. And in those dayes Bishops did tell Kings The saurus ecclesiae vester est nec absque vestra conscientia debuit amoveri to which the King verum est The saurus noster est ad defensionem terrae contra hostes peregrinos c. And perhaps it would be no hard labour to shew all Princes not onely here but elsewhere to have had how justly I will not determine a like persuasion And he then being excommunicated by Paulus 3. for maintaining what the Crown had ever been in
possession of can no way be said to have departed from the Church but the Pope to have injuriously proceeded against him who maintained onely the just rights and liberties of his kingdome according to his coronation oath 10. And this is the case and fully answers so far as it appears to me whatsoever can be objected against the reformation begun by him or made more perfect by Edward the 6. for the manner of doing it viz. that they as supreme Princes of this Kingdome had a right to call together their own Clergy and with their advise to see the Church reformed by them And if otherwise I should desire to know how the Masse without any intermission was restored by Queen Mary for it is manifest she returned the use of it immediately after her brothers death yet Cardinall Pool reconciled not this Kingdome to Rome till the 30th of November above a year after and then too on such conditions onely as the Parliament approved during which space she as Queen gave directions to the Ordinaries how they should carry themselves in severall particulars which as it is probable she did by th' advice of her Bishops so there is no reason to condemn the like proceedings in Edward the 6. 11. I have before shewed how far the royal power went in compiling the book of Common prayer for a Catechism published by the same Prince it being composed by a learned person presented to his Maty and by him committed to the scrutiny of certain Bishops and other learned men quorum judicium sayes his Maty magnam apud nos authoritatem habet after their allowance it was by him recommended to be publickly taught in Schools Likewise the Articles for taking away diversity of opinions in points of religion were agreed upon in a Synod at London by the Bishops and other learned men Regia authoritate in lucem editi The King in framing them taking no farther on himself then he had in the book of Common prayer And Queen Mary though she quitted the title of head of the Church which yet she did not so suddenly as Saunders intimates did in effect as much So that hitherto there is no way of fixing any schism on the English Church for neglect of obedience it having been eversubject to the Archbishop of Canterbury and others its lawfull superiors restoring to him the ancient right belonged to his chair of being their spirituall pastor next and immediately under Christ Iesus But the Kingdome being re-united to the See of Rome by Queen Mary though what I have said doth in a good part free it of schism yet in respect the reformation I onely took upon me to defend was made by Queen Elizabeth and continued since it will be necessary to make some more particular mention how it did passe CHAP. VII How the reformation was made under Queen Elizabeth 1. ELizabeth the daughter of Henry the 8th by Queen Anne Bolen being received by all the estates of the Kingdome assembled in Parliament and proclaimed Queen caused her sisters Ambassador Sr Edward Kerne then residing at Rome to give an account of this her being called to the Crown to Paulus 4 tus the Pope who being in union with France and out with the house of Austria then strictly joyned with England and both at odds with the French told him either perswaded by them or upon his own heady disposition England was a Fee of the Church of Rome That she could not succeed as illegitimate That he could not go against the declarations of Clement the 7. and Paulus 3 ius That her assuming the name and government without him was so great an audacity she deserved not to be hearkned to But he being willing to proceed paternally if she would renounce her pretensions and freely remit her self to his arbitrement he would do what lay in his power with the dignity of the Apostolick See A strange reply to a civil message were it not derived to us by an unquestionable hand and that it came from Paulus 4 ius to whom it was not an unusuall saying that hee would have no Prince his compagnion but all subjects under hys foot Upon this unwillingnesse to acknowledge her Queen at Rome th' Archbishop of York who had before affirmed no man could doubt of the justnesse of her title and the rest of the Bishops refused to Crown her As for that some write it was because they had evident probabilities she intended eyther not to take or not to keep the oath was then to be administred unto her especially in the particular of not maintaining holy Churches lawes in respect she had shewed an aversenesse to some ceremonies as commanding the Bish of Carlile not to elevate the consecrated Host. who stoutly refused her and out of fear she would refuse in the time of her sacre the solemn divine ceremony of Vnction these are certainly without any colour and framed since For as for the last the ceremony of anointing she had it performed as had King Iames who succeeded her who would not have his Queen crowned in Scotland without it For the other it is altogether improbable that he to whom the command was by her given would of all the rest have assented to crown her had he conceived that a cause why it might have been denied neither indeed did she alter any thing materiall in the service of the Church till after the conference at Westminister 1559. the 31. March and the Parliament ended 2. To passe therefore by these as excuses found out after the deed done the true reason being no question something came from the Pope in pursuance of that answer he had given her Agent the Queen seeing she could expect nothing from the Papacy laboured to make all safe at home or to use her own phrase to take care of her own house and therefore as she had reason desired to be assured of her subjects fidelity by propounding an oath to certain of them which is seldome a tie to other then honest minds But the way mens minds distracted in points of religion the law of Henry the 8. extinguishing the auctority of the Bishop of Rome being very severe for securing himself in bringing such as did but extoll the said auctority for the first offence within the compass of a praemunire and that refused to take it of treason was not easy to be pitcht upon besides styling the King head of the Church which many made a scruple at to which effect a bill being presented to the house of Commons the 9. of February after many arguments had upon it the 13. of February upon the second reading it was absolutely dasht and upon great consideration taken the 14. Febr. a Committee appointed to draw a new Bill in which an especiall care was taken for restoring onely the ancient jurisdiction of the Crown and the Queen neither styled supreme Head nor the penalty of refusing the Oath other
then onely Rex Francorum and by him 792. hither where it was rejected 42. From hence it proceeded that part of the Acts of one Councell did not bind some Churches which did others as some parts of the Councell of Chalcedon and Ephesus seem not to have been received in Rome in S. Gregories time to which may be added some Canons of the 7th Councell But I believe it will be hardly shewed from the ancients that any Church neither intervening in Councell by proxy nor that did after admit of it were ever held concluded by any though never so numerous Certainly none was ever held of greater esteem amongst Catholicks then the Councel of Nice yet S. Augustine in his dispute with an Arrian confesses neither the Councell of Nice ought to prejudice the Arrian not that held at Ariminum him sed utrisque communibus testibus res cum re causa cum causa ratio cum ratione concertet And St. Hilary comparing two Councells one of 80. Bishops which refused the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with that of Nice which received it sayes si contraria invicem senserunt debemus quasi judices probare meliora so not onely taking from them all infallibility but allowing others to judge of their doings before they submitted unto their determinations And this hath been the so constant observance in all times as no age ever held the Latin obliged by the Grecian Synods which they have not received neither doth the Greek Church to this day hold themselves tyed by the determinations of Florence or to the many other of the Latin touching the procession of the holy Ghost and other points in difference to which they have not submitted 43. But for that the Acts of Councells without temporall auctority to inforce the observance of them were no other then persuasive Princes either on the incitation of their Bishops or convinced of the justnesse and piety of what had past in those Ecclesiastick Assemblies did often by their letters exhort or by their laws command the observance of what resulted from them So Constantine after the Councell of Nice wrote that letter remains recorded in Socrates and Theodoret to some absent Churches for their admitting the resolutions of it in which he tells them he had undertook that what the Romans had already 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that their judgment would willingly receive And Gratian Valentinian Theodosius did in the year 381. by their rescripts establish the same Councell as Iustinian by the law before mentioned did all the fourfirst which I take to be the same St Augustin calls inserting them actis proconsularibus 44. Of later times Popes having by severall arts acquired the greatest part of Episcopall power to be devolved to them have likewise claimed it as a right belonging to the Papacy not onely to call Councels but to determine which are generall who are to vote in them and therefore though properly or dinarie none but Bishops have there say they jus suffragii yet ex privilegio consuetudine Cardinalls Abbats and Generalls of Orders are to be allowed voice and that there needs no other then the Popes confirmation in Rome to oblige all Christians to the observance of any he shall hold out for such as Pius 4 tus by his bull of the 18 Iuly 1564. declared all in the Councell of Trent juris positivi did the world from the first of May before c. And though all History agree and the very Councells themselves assure us the causing the East and West to meet in those assemblies to have been ever done by Emperours and that Princes on occasions have called the Clergy within their estates together for composing disputes in religion yet the bare affirmation without any real proof hath so far prevailed with some men as to esteem him little other then an heretick shall maintain the contrary 45. But Kings have not so easily parted with these rights for the State of France notwithstanding the many sollicitations of Popeâ— from abroad and their Clergy at home hath no hitherto been induced to approve what was determined at Trent however you shall hardly meet with any of the Roman party but he will tell you that the points of faith there agreed upon are received in France but not of manners and government which is in a kind true yet contains a notable fallacy for the Ecclesiasticks of that kingdom finding the difficulty of procuring that Councell to passe have in their provincial Synods conspiratione quadam venia in quaque Dioecesi cogendi Synodos impetrata inserted the greatest part of the doctrinall points of it into those Councells so that it is truth they are indeed there received yet not for that they were concluded upon in Trent but because Episcopall Councells have each in their Dioceses establisht what they could perswade nec regibus nec supremis Parlamentorum curiis ut Synodi istius Canones in acta sua referrent observandos publicarent Neither hath the Councell of Florence under Eugenius 4 tus or of Lateran held by Iulius the 2. and Leo the 10 been hitherto allowed by France or England where the most zealously affected to Rome as Sr Thomas Moore have maintained the superiority of a generall Councell above the Pope in opposition to either of them though that be a point rather of faith then manners Upon which grounds those Councells before spoken of did not bind here farther then what was in them hath been made good by provinciall Synods within the Nation By all which it being certain neither this Church nor Kingdom hath ever been tyed by the Acts of any forraign councell not admitted here and being perhaps a thing of some intricacy what determinations the Realm had received after the four first generall Councells her Majesty took the way of receiving them as absolutely necessary but others with such limitations as are in the statute and for the future nothing to be heresy but what should be determined to be such by the Parliament with th' assent of the Convocation CHAP. IX Of the farther proceeding of Queen Elizabeth in the Reformation 1. THings thus settled in 1º Eliz. the Parliament ended the Liturgy of the Church commonly called the book of Common prayer reformed and published the Queen following the examples of her predecessors and relying on the ancient Symbols as the doctrine of the Catholick Church gave command the Creed the Pater-noster and ten Commandements as the grounds for a Christian to believe and frame his life after should be taught her subjects and none to presume to come to the Lords table before they could perfectly say them in English 2. Hitherto to my understanding her Majesty had not done any thing not warranted by the practise of her predecessors not that could be justly interpreted a departing from the Apostolick faith or indeed from Rome it self where she kept an Agent till Paulus 4 â—s