the particular Members of this Society which we cannot get any the least Information of and have sufficient Power to redress them and to punish the Delinquents for the Irregularities Committed by the Statutes of the same and having brought the Fellows to the Submission to his Admission and had notice from your Lordship of the Kings Gracious pleasure This Graciousness of the King is to be observed that no punishment should be inflicted upon them by us upon the account of their former disobedience we hope we have hitherto obeyed His Majesties Command and that if he have no further pleasure to signifie to us we may have his Gracious leave to return to attend his Service at London We crave leave further to intimate to His Majesty that the Vice-Chancellor and Heads of Houses pay great respect to this Commission as will in part appear by the Inclosed Paper of the Programma See the Programma before cap. 2. sect 1. §. 5. And so begging your Lordships favourable Representation of our Duty and Service to His Majesty we rest MY LORD Your Lordships most obedient and humble Servants Tho. Cestriensis R. Wright Tho. Jenner With this Letter was sent the following account which in several particulars I have only given the abridgment of as being less necessary to the main business §. 16. The Account the Fellows gave in concerning their Hospitality c. Wednesday the 26th October 1687. THe Fellows of the College brought in an Account of their Gifts towards Hospitality Here may be noted that the Lands of this Hospital were alienated and then the Court adjourned till Thursday Morning the abridgment of the Account is this In the time of King Henry the Sixth the Hospital of St. John was dissolved and the Lands thereunto belonging were purchased by William Wainfleet then Bishop of Winton and in the place or scite of that Hospital he Built Magdalen College He himself left no Composition Injunction Statute Order or Proviso for the Maintenance of any Poor People or Strangers that ever we could find in any writing or Record whatsoever Then they relate some small Gift of John Claimond the third President who left 3 l. per Annum whereof 2 l. 10 s. is to be distributed amongst the Fellows and Scholars on the first Munday in Lent Yearly and 10 s. thereof for the repairing of four Beds and Bedsteads which he placed in a Room over the Vault of the old Chappel but he made no provision they find of Victuals or Maintenance of those who were allowed to Lodge there which at the most were to be but four at a time But in the time of the Rebellion the said Chappel with the Vault was made no other use of but to lay Fuel in whereupon at the Restauration the Visitor directed that it should be Converted into Chambers for the use of the Fellows and Demys Two other of their Benefactors Ingledue and Preston ordered 20 d. at a time to be disposed of on fourteen Feasts to the poor the whole amounting to 1 l. 3 s. which is accordingly distributed yearly by the Bursers Preston gave 6 s. per Annum for the use of two or three poor Lancashire Scholars which is yearly distributed by the President so that all the Mony which we are obliged to bestow on Charitable uses amounts to but 2 l. 3 s. 4 d. per Annum besides Perrots Composition which is faithfully performed Notwithstanding which 4 s. is given yearly to the Castle for Straw for the Prisoners and we allow 8 s. yearly to the Alms-Men of Bartholomews we allow 6 l. 6 s. 8 d. yearly to the poor of Bridewell and 20 l. per Annum to the President for the entertainment of Strangers and Forreigners and there is allowed every Meal at the Bursers Table a Commons for the Entertainment of Strangers and the Bursers have Power to add thereunto as they see occasion and besides what is constantly allowed as abovesaid there is a considerable Sum disposed of yearly by the President and Thirteen Senior Fellows at the conclusion of the Accounts and other times to Indigent Persons Strangers and Travelors and chiefly to such as are in great want but ashamed to make their necessities so public as to desire Alms of their respective Parishes amounting to above 50 l. per Annum And if we might not be thought to boast of our Charity we could instance in considerable Sums given to the Fire of London Northampton and Southwark and other places and to the French Protestants to one of which we allow at present 6 l. yearly whence it appears that we Expend out of the College Stock near 100 l. per Annum in Charitable uses Alex. Pudsey Tho. Smith Tho. Bayley Main Hammond Jo. Rogers Rob. Almont Fran. Bagshaw Hen. Holden Hen. Dobson Geo. Fulham Charles Penniston Willi. Craddock Tho. Stafford Charles Hawley John Bayley John Harwar John Davys Tho. Bateman Geo. Hunt. Jo. Gilman Rob. Charnock Steph. Weelks §. 17. Dr. Thomas Smiths Paper about the College Charity c. Dr. Thomas Smith gave in the following Paper at the same time AS to your Lordships Question proposed whether we have applyed the Revenue of any Land or other Estate given for Hospitality to private uses we cannot for want of time give your Lordships that satisfaction and full Accompt which we desire and shall do hereafter when we shall look over the Evidences and the Estate of the College of which we are but the Usu-fructuaries and other Munuments locked up in the Tower. As to our Hospitality in General the Bursers Table is the place where not only our Tenants but Strangers according to their Quality are Entertained there being a dayly Allowance made by the College for that purpose which when scanty and not sufficient for a suitable Entertainment it is left in many Cases to the discretion of the Bursers to add what they shall Judge fit and becoming But besides this it is our constant Practice and Custom at the end of the Year to give Sums of Mony away to the poor which are greater or less according to the Surplusage of our Corn Rents that year Thirdly The Bursers are Impowered to give Mony away to the poor upon the greater and more solemn Festivals of the year Fourthly Oftentimes upon great Emergencies such as were the Brief for the Re-edifying the Town of Northampton for the Rebuilding the Cathedral of St. Pauls London for the relief of the French Protestants besides other Briefs for Fires and for Redemption of Captives and the like we give considerable Sums of Mony as well out of the public Stock as out of our private Purses As for turning the remaining part of the Hospital of St. John about twenty Years since into Lodging Chambers which were very much wanting for the Fellows that alteration was not made without consulting the Bishop of Winton our Local Visitor and without having obtained his Lordships consent There having been no use as we could ever
and several others were Expelled as had been done in New-College And the Society of Magdalen College were so averse from the Roman Catholic Religion that not only they got neither Altar or Holy Vestments but none of the Fellows came to Mass and the very Clerks and Choristers would not perform their Offices so that the Visitors were forced to have all Holy Offices performed by their own Priests Ibid. fol. 13. b. they punished the Juniors that refused Punishments inflicted by the Visitors either with striking them out of Commons or Scourging them and one Aldworth Bachellor of Art for Contumelious Usage of Priests and coming in unseasonably to the Mass of the Exequies of King Henry the Sixth was Commanded that every Day he should be at Mass and kneeling at the South Pillar in the middle of the Church should perform his Prayers to the Example of others The same Commissioners found the President of Corpus Christi College Robert Morwent and the Senior Fellow Henry Walsh very observant Id. fol. 276. a. who brought to light the Holy Vestments Cushions Silver Vessels Candlestics and other Ornaments which they had hid in King Edward the Sixth's time and excepting John Juel after Bishop I find none left that College but from the other two besides the Fellows Ejected in Edward the Sixth's time about Eighteen or Twenty this Year and the next were removed §. 2. Cardinal Pools Visitation Anno 1556. Id. fol. 278. b. 3 4 Ph. Mar. Cardinal Pool appointed and entire Visitation of the University of Oxford and the Visitors were James Brooks Bishop of Gloucester Nicholas Ormanet of Padua in good esteem with Julius the Third Pix M. M. n. 22. and Dator to him or Marcellus the Second Henry Cole Doctor of Laws Provost of Eaton Robert Morwent Doctor in Divinity President of Corpus Christi College and Walter Wright Arch Deacon of Oxford These proceeded upon Thirty Two Questions Two Questions proposed by the Visitors First whether their Statutes were observed two of which were the most Material First Whether the Foundations Statutes and Laudable Customs of the University and of every College and Hall were observed by all and singular that were concerned and if it were answered Negatively they were required specially to express which were not observed and for what cause The Second was Second whether after the Reformation any things were used contrary to the Canons c. whether in the time of the Schism any thing was appointed or brought into use which was against the Ancient Canons or Ancient Foundations Statutes Privileges and Customs and to this if they Answered Affirmatively they were to express particularly what they were and for what cause §. 3. The Cardinal appoints Statutes The Visitors following the Example of those that Visited in King Edward the Sixths Reign purged out of all public Libraries all Books which maintained the Protestant Doctrin and those in private Libraries they burnt and either Punished or Expelled the Possessors In E. p. 38. They certified the Cardinal especially of the Defects of the University Statutes and he being Chancellor instead of Mason that laid down the Office sent a Book of Statutes to Mr. Raynolds the Vice-Chancellor and Commanded him that they might be in force till there being joyned with him some in every Faculty they might determin which were to be Antiquated and which to be retained which being so Revised had the Sanction of the Chancellor and Convocation which being strict against the Reformed drove many from the University Our Author Notes that the Lectures were less frequent in this Queens time as well as in King Edward the Sixths and fewer received Degrees which may be Imputed to the Changes made in Religion in their short Reigns but he saith the great care of the Magistrates of the Universities in this Queens Reign was to recover the profits of the Societies and to Repair their Buildings and the Schools In this Third and Fourth Year of King Philip and Queen Mary Cui Papa commisit Visitationem Reformationem Studiorum Generalium Cardinal Pool Visited the University of Cambridge as he was Legate to whom the Pope Committed the Visitation and Reformation of the Universities called General Studies This Visitation the Cardinal performed by Delegates and I find one Robert Brassy Master of Kings College urged that his House was wholly referved to the Discretion of the Bishop of Lincoln not only by the Kings Letters Patents Fox Acts and Monuments Vol. 3. p. 763.766 but also by the Grant of Confirmation of the Bishop of Rome himself under a Penalty if he should suffer any Stranger to Intermedle But the Commissioners Answered that they were fully Authorized for the Order of the matter by the Cardinal out of whose Jurisdiction no place nor person was Exempted So that tho' he persisted the next Day in his Allegation yet he and the Students submitted and were all Sworn and Examined to the Interrogatories propounded to them yet some of them Swore conditionally so as their Faith given to the College were not Impeached thereby Something like the Salvo of some Members of St. Mary Magdalen College that they would yield obedience saving the Right of Dr. Hough which was prudently denyed to be Admitted by the Lords Visitors I now pass to the Reign of Queen Elizabeth SECT III. The Visitations in Queen Elizabeths Reign §. 1. Queen Elizabeths Inhibition ANno 1559. Fol. 281. b. Queen Elizabeth intending to Visit the University of Oxford Writ to the Magistrates of the same not to Elect any heads of Houses Fellows Scholars c. forbidding them to proceed to the Election of any President Fellow or Scholar or of any Officer of the University and forbid all Alienations or Changes of Possessions and all other things to be done by the University except what was necessary for the Cultivating their Lands till the Visitation and this she did because some were so forward to begin a Restoring things to the condition they were in in King Edward the Sixth's time before her Order By which the Queens Authority and Circumspection are clearly discovered §. 2. Queen Elizabeth appoints Visitors After some few Months she appointed her Visitors Wood lib. 1. fol. 282. viz. Richard Cox Bishop of Ely John Williams Baron of Thame but he Died in October John Mason Kt. sometimes Fellow of All-Souls and several Years after Chancellor Thomas Benger Kt. William Kingsmyll Esq John Warner Custos of All-Souls College Walter Wright Doctor of Laws Arch-Deacon of Oxford John Watson Master of Arts Chancellor of St. Pauls London Robert Benger Esq c. to whom she Commands they should Act with all Humanity and abstain from all Roughness These Visitors coming to Oxford cast out of the Chappels of the Colleges and Parish Churches all things that related to Superstitious Worship as it was Styled that is the use of the Roman Worship recalled those that were banished or put out
Moderation and Reason how great a scandal to our Religion how great a stain to the liberal and ingenuous Education which this Society would afford you and how very mischievous it will be to your selves at last I endeavored to convince you at the first Opening of our Commission Since which time some of you have been so unreasonably inconsiderate and obstinate as to run yet farther upon the score of His Royal Patience and Pardon for which you are now to receive the just and necessary Animadversions of this Court that the Honor and Authority of the King may be Vindicated and the Peace of Church and State not be endangered by your Impunity or our Connivance at this your petulant humor and contumacious behavior No Subjects can be wise or safe but they who are so sincerely honest as to take all fair occasions of doing their Prince acceptable services and executing his Will Reputation abroad and Reverence at home are the Pillars of safety and Soveraignty these you have endeavored as much as in you lies to shake nor can the King hope to be well served at home or observed abroad if your punishment be not as public as your Crimes No Society of Men in this or the other University ever had so many Male-contents and Mutineers in it as this College your continual clashings and discords sometimes with your President at others with your Visitor and so frequently among your selves ever since his late Majesties happy Restauration have been too public to be concealed I have more than once heard your late Visitor of Pious Memory bewaile the great unhappiness of this Noble Foundation in being over-stockt with a sort of Men whom a wantonness of Spirit had made restless and unquiet who would never be satisfied whose disease was fed by Concession and then most violent when they knew not what they would have You have been long experienced in the Methods of Quarreling with your Visitor President and your selves and by these steps you are at last arrived to the top and highest degree of insolence which is to Quarrel with your Prince which as it dis-honors your Religion so it Proclaims your Pride and Vanity for every dis-obedient Man is proud and would obey if he did not think himself wiser than his Governor You have dealt with His Sacred Majesty as if he Reigned only by Courtesie and you were resolved to have a King under you but none over you and till God give you more self denyal and humility you will never approve your selves to be good Christians or good Subjects whose Patience and Petitions are the only Arms they can ever honestly use against their Prince You could not be ignorant of the Kings being your Supreme Ordinary by the Antient Common Law of this Land of which the Statutes are not Introductory but declaratory you have Read what Bracton says de leg lib. 1. c. 8. ◠5. who was Lord Chief Justice of England for Twenty Years in Henry the Thirds time Nemo de factis suis praesumat disquirere multò minùs contra factum suum venire Now His Majesty the Fifth of April sent his Letters Mandatory to you to Elect and Admit one Mr. Farmer into your Presidents place then void by the Death of Dr. Clark your last President Whom the Tenth of April you represented to His Majesty as incapable of that Character in several respects and besought him as His Majesty should think fittest in His Princely Wisdom either to leave you to the discharge of your Duty and Consciences according to his late Gratious Declaration and your Founders Statutes or to recommend such a person who might be more serviceable to His Majesty and the College This Paper was delivered to my Lord President the Tenth of April and on the Fifteenth of April without expecting His Majesties Answer as your Hypocritical submission would have persuaded all Charitable Men to believe you did and would expect in Contempt of his former Mandate which had the force of an Inhibition you proceeded to Elect Dr. Hough for your pretended President Upon the first notice whereof the Sixteenth of April my Lord President sent a Letter by His Majesties Command to the Bishop of Winchester not to Admit him But they who have ill designs in their Heads are always in hast by which you surprized your Visitor which occasioned my Lord President the 21st of April to Write another to you to let you know how much the King was surprized at your Proceedings and that he expected an Account of it Then were you Cited before the Ecclesiastical Commissioners at Whitehall where upon mature deliberation and a Consultation had with the best Common Lawyers and Civilians Dr. Houghs Election was declared void the 22d of June and he amov'd from the same by their Lordships just Sentence Of this you were certified by an Instrument under the Seal of the Court of the same Date affixed to your College Gates which being dis-obeyed you were once more Cited by an Instrument of the first to appear before their Lordships the 29th of July to Answer your Contempts You pretended when you came before their Lordships that you were deeply affected with the late Sense of His Majesties heavy dis-pleasure and beg'd leave to prostrate your selves at His Royal Feet offering all Real Testimonies of Duty and Loyalty as Men that abhorr'd all stubborn and groundless resistance of His Royal Will and Pleasure So said and so done had been well but you were resolv'd it seems to give him nothing but good words and that your Practice should confute your Profession I wish you had known in time as well as you pretended to do how entirely your welfare depended upon the Countenance and Favour of your Prince it would then have been as great a grief to you to have dis-obeyed His Majesties Commands as it was a guilt and will be a punishment both in this Life and that to come if not repented of in time On the 14th of August His Majesty signified His Will and Pleasure to you by His Letters Mandatory and thereby Authorized and required you forthwith to Admit the Bishop of Oxon into the place of President any Statute or Statutes Custom or Constitution to the contrary notwithstanding wherewith he was Graciously pleased to dispense to which he expected your ready obedience but all in vain for to your shame be it spoken you had done an ill action and resolv'd to set your busie Wits on work to defend it And Conscience the old Rebellious Topick must be call'd in at a dead lift to plead for you But you are not the first who have mistaken an humor or a disease for Conscience your scruples were not such but that they might without sin have been Sacrificed to your Princes pleasure as a Peace-offering to the Father of your Country to your Mother Church and to the good of this and all other such Charitable Seminaries of good Learning and Religion and Men as wise as you perhaps may think
Stonor John Clerk Thomas Elyot and John Brome Knights to Survey all the Temporal and Spiritual Lands and Tythes and enter them into a Book like Dooms-day Book And in the same Year Richard Layton (b) Coll. Charter c. Acad. Oxon. Bib. Cotton sub faustina c. 7. alias Leighton Bachellor of Divinity John London Doctor of Laws Warden of New-College Dr. Lee and others were sent from the King to Visit the University their Liberties and Privileges being then in the Kings hands The Kings Visitation of the University These Visitors Erected new Lectures Chastned ill Manners and by the account they gave to Cromwel it appears they ridiculed all the School-mens Learning especially that of Duns Scotus They did little in Merton College because Dr. Richard Gwent the Commissioner for Thomas Cranmer Arch-Bishop of Canterbury had Visited it the Year before and endeavored to abolish the Ancient commendable Customs of the College Wood ad Annam as the Author saith and it was thought by some that they came with the same Intention to the University as they did to Monasteries which they also Visited Before I proceed further The usual Method of proceeding in Visitations of the Universities I think it fit to give an account of the ordinary Method of proceeding in Visitations in these following particulars First Some of the Commissioners were usually persons of great Dignity and Employment to create esteem and Authority to the Action others of meaner Quality who were at more leisure to attend the work but always some of them were Members of the University Secondly Their proceedings Ordinarily were after the manner of the Bishops or Arch-Deacons Visitations proposing and delivering Articles upon which to examin whereof some are yet extant Thirdly That there was praevious to such Visitation a Command from the King not to choose any into places of profit and sometimes not to Lett Leases without leave of the King or Arch-Bishops Fourthly That public notice was given to the Vice-Chancellor and by him to the University in Convocation Fifthly They were Commanded to bring in their Statutes Charters Repositories and all their public Muniments to be examined Sixthly They commonly first Cited all the University to appear before them in the Convocation-house to publish their Commission c. Seventhly In Visiting they examined every Man or at least such as they thought good particularly and privately upon their Articles and set down their Answer in Writing Eighthly They punished with Ecclesiastical censures as well as Secular § 2 Having found nothing further concerning the Visitation of Oxford in King Henry the 8ths Reign I pass on to that of King Edward the 6th wherein the Reader will find a more particular and full discovery of the Visitatorial power and having obtained by the favor of Sir Thomas Powis the Kings Atturny General a Copy of the Commission granted by that King I shall here insert it at length in the Latin. King Edward the Sixths Commission REx praedilecto Consiliario nostro Johanni Comiti Warwici The Commission of King Edward the 6th for Visiting Oxford Vicecomiti Lysle Magno Camerario Angliae Consanguineo nostro Charissimo Reverendo in Christo Patri Henrico Lincoln Nicho. Rosfen The Names of the Visitors John Dudley Earl of Warwick Henry Holbeck Bishop of Lincoln and Nicholas Heath Bishop of Rochester c. Epis Dilecto Consiliario nostro Will. Paget Hospitii nostri Antigrapho seu Contrarotulatori Gulielmo Petre Mil. ac Secretario nostro Ric. Cox Eleemosinario nostro ac nostrae Juventutis Institutori Simoni Haynes Exoniensi Decano Christophero Nevenson Legum Doctori Ric. Moryson Armo. salutem Cum Praeclarum insigne Monumentum serenissimi nostri Regni posteris edere studeremus deliberemus cum Avunculo nostro Charissimo Edwardo Duce Somerset The Kings Supremacy and Authority to Visit personae nostrae Gubernatore ac omnium Terrarum Dominiorum subditorum nostrorum Protectore caeteris Conciliariis nostris super hac re super Exornatione Ecclesiae nostrae Anglicanae Hiberniae cujus Supremum caput sub Christo in Terris nos sumus The grounds of the Visitation Agnoscimus ut Nobiles praeclarae scientiae Virtutesque ac boni Mores in illa crescerent per Regiam Culturam augerentur nulla ratio prius in mentem venit quam ut primos praecipuos Fontes Eruditionis virtutis vitiis si quae in illis essent purgatos favore nostro Regia Munificentia prosequentes aliqua commoda ratione auctos am plificat osque redderemus Quod cum fecissemus in aliis Conventibus Parochiis ac privatis in Ecclesiis Regni nostri Angliae licet postremo sumus agressi tamen prima fuit cura in Academias nostras Oculos Mentem adjicere equibus omnis ratio Disciplinae ac semina bonarum Litterarum ac virtutis in reliquas partes Provinciarum nostrarum Regnorum nostrorum solet propagari ut Illae in integrum perfectumque Eruditioni ac Virtuti maxime convenientem Statum reponerentur Et ut hae Leges Mores Consuetudines atque ordines in Oxon. Cantabr Academiis per nos constituerentur quae possent maxime facere in honorem Christi Gloriam Regni nostri ut virtutum ac bonarum Litterarum uberrimum proventum unde non Anglia solum Hibernia verum exterae quoque Nationes Lucem possent accipere In qua deliberatione cum circumspiceremus quosdam viros idoneos literariae rei non ignaros ad Istud quod maxime cupimus nomine ac vice nostris praeficiendos delegare possemus De Avisamento Concilio praedicto Assignavimus vos septem sex Quinque Quatuor Tres Duos § 3 The places to be Visited Unum vestrûm Delegatum seu Delegatos nostros Commissarium sive Commissarios ad ea quae infra scribuntur exequenda ad Visitandum igitur in Capite Membris tam. Liberam Capellam nostram infra Castrum nostrum de Windsor Collegium de Wynton The free Chappel of Windsor The College of Winchester ex fundatione Will. de Wickham quam Universam Dioecesin nostram Oxon. praecipue vero Universitatem nostram Oxon. ac omnia singula Collegia Aulas The University of Oxon. Hospitia Loca alia quaecunque exercitio Scholastico Deputata tam Exempta quam non Exempta ibidem constituta eorumque Praepositos Magistros Gardianos Rectores sive Custodes ac Socios Scholares Studentes The persons to be Visited Ministros personas alias quascumque in eisdem commorantes deque Statu Locorum hujusmodi nec non Studio vitâ Moribus Conversatione What Qualifications to be enquired after ac etiam qualitatibus personarum in eisdem degentium seu Ministrantium modis omnibus quibus id Melius efficacius poteritis inquirendum investigandum Criminosos ac delinquentes socordes ignavos atque culpabiles condignis
itaque non tollit nec excludit solitas conditiones gives the reason why in such like Oaths Tacit Conditions are to be understood Because an Oath follows the nature of the Act upon which it falls for the Accessory follows the nature of the principal as it is a known Rule in Law Therefore if the Act have a Tacit Condition the Oath is likewise to be Judged to have the same and this is Confirmed because the Oath is not therefore added that the promise purpose or contract shall be otherways observed than as it is wont in it self to be understood But in that manner to be Interpreted as those things are which cannot be revoked if the obligation be to keep them or e contra Therefore such an Oath neither takes away nor excludes the Customary conditions that is such as are before mentioned and are always supposed to be implyed Thus far that Judicious Author §. 7. If it be objected that the General Oath Objection See p. 16. here p. 25. which the Fellows take at their Admission to observe the Statutes which had the Kings Tacit consent did oblige the Fellows to take that Oath before the Election and so to go to Election ☞ For Answer we may consider Answer that tho' an Oath in it self be lawful especially so long as the Prince or Superior forbids not the performance of what was Sworn to yet in the case of the Magdalenians the King had expresly commanded them to choose one he appointed and that Included a Prohibition for he that Commands me to Elect this Man forbids me to Elect another and this is agreeable to the Explication the Church of England gives of the Fifth Commandment He that Commands me to Honor Father and Mother forbids me to dis-honor them And Bishop Sanderson (a) Si Superior quamprimum rem rescierit Statim dissensum suum palam peremptorie subdito significaverit prohibueritque Id in quod Juratum est fieri cessare continuò obligationem Illam Juramenti Transitorii subditum vi obligationis Officii quae permanens est perpetua rencri contra quam Juraverat facere Sanderson de Jurament oblig praelect 7. sect 6. pag. 243. well observes that if a Superior as soon as he knows the matter doth presently openly and peremptorily signifie to the subject his dissent and forbids that to be done which is Sworn to Instantly that Transitory obligation of the Oath ceaseth and the subject by force of the obligation to his Office or Supremacy which is permanent and perpetual is obliged to do contrary to what he hath Sworn to And the same most Judicious Bishop is so far from allowing such subjects at least Fellows of Colleges to resist the Mandate of their Sovereign under pretence that they have Sworn to the contrary that he saith expresly that the subject ought not in those things in which he is subject to another Swear to do any thing without at least presuming his Superiors consent his words are Non debet Subditus in iis rebus in quibus alteri subest Jurare se facturum quicquam absque praesumpto saltem Superioris sui Consensu Hence in the Instance Bishop Sanderson brings of the Sons obligation to obey his Fathers Command tho' it hinder him from performing his own Oath he observes that the Son Swore to act with the Tacit consent of his Father which he had reason to suppose the thing being lawful in it self and yet the Oath is rescinded which directly Answers the Objection ☞ It is further urged Second Objection that the Fellows bind themselves by Oath neither to seek to obtain any Dispensation with any of their Statutes nor yet Admit of any directly or indirectly obtained which is the highest of Tyes that an Oath can bind to without a direful Imprecation which is annexed in some Statutes To this I Answer that such Oaths are ill imposed by Founders not so much because the obligation is in it self not to be dissolved but because it may perplex some scrupulous Consciences and may afford Umbrages to such as are unwilling to yield to their Superiors dispensation to insist more earnestly and tenaciously upon the obligation I rather believe such Clauses have been Inserted by Founders to prevent as much as in them lay the Members of the Societies to Innovate matters than that they could foresee that it was more obligatory by the addition of that Clause We may easily Judge that all Munificent Founders would contrive all the ways whereby their Gifts and the uses and applications of them might be perpetuated as we see in several persons settlements of their Estates whereby they endeavor to Entayl them to their Heirs past all possibility of Alienations yet by the Laws of the Land which are not favorable to such perpetuities we find dayly examples of docking the most Artificially contrived Entayls ☞ Now that any Founder in the time when the Roman Catholic Religion was Established here could think that such Clauses could be perpetually obliging I can see no reason when they could not but know that none of their Statutes or Constitutions had any force but as they were confirmed by their Sovereigns whether Civil or Ecclesiastical and in all such Cases tho' the present Sovereigns whether the King of England or the Pope did ratifie them yet this could bind neither of their Successors ☞ For as to the King it is a Rule in Common-Law that general words of an Act of Parliament where the King is not named cannot bind him as may be seen in the Authorities Cited in the (a) Cro. 3d. part Ascoughs case fol. 225 Magna Charta c. 11. Margent ☞ If therefore the Common-Law which seems in many particulars less to favor the Prerogative be so just to the King that he is Exempted from the force of an Act of Parliament in which he is not named surely he must be exempted from a College Statute in which he is not named Secondly If the King had been excepted by Name the exception had been Null for the Founder neither if Living would have Exempted the Society from the Kings Paramount Jurisdiction neither could being a subject if he would have done it as (b) Cujus i. e. Regis Jurisdictioni sodalitium Illud neque voluisse fundatorem neque subditus cum fuerit si vellet potuisse omnino constare Wood Antiq. Oxon lib. 1. fol. 403. Dr. Bayly urged to Mr. Prynn upon the Parliaments Visitation Anno 1647. ☞ Thirdly If it be further urged that the Founders Founded the Colleges and Endowed them on condition the King would allow the Society to be Governed by their Statutes which is but an unproved presumption as not appearing in any Charter I have met with yet if such conditions were to be found the Succeeding Kings at least are not obliged in point of strict Justice to observe such Orders or Decrees of their Predecessors because Par in Parem non habet potestatem aut
alledged that he should have been proceeded against by Libel and have had a Copy of his Charge and used such expressions as gave just offence to the Court so that tho' the Sentence of Suspension was pronounced See p. 35. here for his Contempt in not obeying His Majesties Letters Mandatory for Electing and Admitting Mr. Anthony Farmer President of that College yet if it had not been because of his disagreeable deportment to the Court it is probable he had at that time no more Incurred the Censure of the Court than the rest of the Fellows who concurred in the said Election As to the affixing the Sentence on the College Gates See chap. 1. sect 2. p. 43. that was not a material circumstance nor whether Mr. Anthony Farmer was then or after laid by or whether he was unfitting by reason of his Immorality or otherwise It is necessary for every Court to Assert it's Jurisdiction and much more ought the Lords Commissioners to do it being they have such Ample powers from the King so that whatever Contempt was offered to their Lordships was to the King himself and that Dr. Fairfax persisted to the last in denying the Authority of the Lords Commissioners and disobeying the Kings Mandate for Admitting the Bishop of Oxford President or submitting to him as such appears by his last Answer to the Question proposed October the 25th whether he owned their Lordships Jurisdiction To which he replyed See here p. 84. 85. Under Correction he did not And being asked whether he would submit to the Bishop of Oxon as President His Answer was he would not nor could not because he was not his Legal President Whoever considers this obstinacy persisted in to the last cannot think the Lords Commissioners could do less than they did Had this been done in another Kings Reign perhaps it might have been Interpreted a Questioning the very Supremacy it self which how fatal it was to John Fisher Bishop of Rochester and Sir Thomas Moor is worthy to be considered both as a demonstration of our Kings Clemency and that the Doctor hath not so much reason to complain of the hard usage However the Doctor thought himself obliged to the observation of the Statutes and to submit to the President only he and the rest of the Fellows had chosen yet he ought to have considered what Baldus in his Comment upon the Code 3. Tit. 14 n. 7. saith * Qui sunt in aliquo Collegio ratione professionis vel negotiationis Jurisdictionem ejus qui praeest Collegio recusare non possunt non minus tamen sunt sub praeside vel alio Superiore That those that are in any College by reason of their Profession or Negotiation there ought not to refuse the Jurisdiction of him that presides in it yet they are no less subject to the President or another Superior which Superior or rather Supreme I take the King to be Besides if the Doctor and the rest of the Fellows would have considered that in relation to College Statutes however it may be disputed in other matters the King hath the same power as the Emperors had and that is to be found in the Digests thus * Quodcunque igitur Imperator per Epistolam subscriptionem Statuit vel cognoscens decrevit vel de plano Interlocutus est vel Edicto praecepit Legem esse Statuit Dig. lib. 1. Tit. 4. n. 1. Therefore whatever the Emperor appoints by Epistle and Subscription or knowing doth Decree or plainly doth express or Commands by Edict is to be esteemed a Law. Which is Literally true in all the Kings power of dispensing with or Suspending College Statutes for since it is clear by many Instances before insisted upon that the Kings of England have power to alter abrogate and annihilate Statutes of Colleges much more must they have the power to Dispense with or Suspend them ☞ Therefore when any person refuseth to submit to the Kings Authority in this particular he is deservedly punishable by Suspension or Deprivation Neither ought Fellows of Colleges assume to themselves a power of Judging of the Reasons why the King Grants Mandates in favor of any particular person or to deny their obedience to the person so recommended by Mandatory Letters because they have heard or can prove some Immortalities against him for if that liberty of opposing the Kings Mandate upon any such grounds were once allowed the Kings power must be solely precarious and every Mandate of the Kings would be lyable to disputes and debates and the Kings Sovereignty and Authority would dwindle to an Impotent wish that he might obtain his desire instead of being positively obeyed which would be such a condition of the Monarchy as would render it contemptible and whoever endeavors to lower the Dignity of the Crown in such a manner deserves just Chastisement for it which was but the bare Suspension of the Doctor from his Fellowship at first but by his perfisting in his undutifulness to the highest Degree of denying the Kings Authority he was justly punished by Expulsion and after with Incapacitating §. 9. The seventh Objection It is Seventhly Objected by some of Magdalen College that no Commission can be granted under the Great Seal to Visitors to place and dis-place Members of Colleges whose places are Free-holds ad Libitum or discretion These are the words of the Oxford Relation pag. 21. But they must proceed according to Legal discretion that is by the Laws and Statutes of the Land and Local Statutes of the College And places concerned consigned rather for the Headship and Fellowships of Colleges are Temporal Possessions and cannot be Impeached by Summary Proceedings For this they Allege the Case of Dr. Thomas Coveney President of the same College who was deprived in Queen Elizabeths time by the Bishop of Winton the Local Visitor thereof Established by Royal Authority and he Appealed to the Queen But by the Advice of all the Judges it was held that the Queen by her Authority as Supreme Visitor could not medle in it but he must bring his Action in Westminster Hall because Deprivation was a cause merely Temporal The King they own has a great Authority Spiritual as well as Tmeporal but no Commissioners can be Authorized by the Crown to proceed in any Commission under the Great Seal or otherwise but according to Law in Spiritual Causes by the Canon Law in Temporal by other Laws and Statutes of the Land. And wherein the Proceedings in some Commissions are directed to be Summarie de plano sine strepitu forma Figura Judicii those words are to be applyed to shorten the Forms of Process and not for matter of Judgment For Magna Charta provides for our Spiritual as well as Temporal Liberties §. 10. Answer to it by parts To Answer this Objection distinctly we must consider the several parts of it for it is an huddle of several matters jumbled something confusedly to set off the matter