Now considering that amongst vs and the most nations in the world besides such actions haue no place but it is thought most conuenient to lcaue it to the verie shamefastnesse and good nature of him that hath reaped a benefit yet it may not therfore be said that we haue also taken awaie the generall reason wherevpon this law of the Persians was grounded being the verie instinct of nature * Herodot li. 1 Amongst the Persians it was holden a dishonest thing for a man to spit bicause it argued he gaue not himselfe to actiuitie and laudable exercise of the bodie But we may not herevpon argue that amongst vs where no such thing is noted good exercise of the bodie is condemned For the more greeuous punishment of droonkennesse Pittacus * Arist. in Polit. one of the seuen wise men of Greece made a lawe that he which should beat any man being droonken should be much more gréeuouslie punished than if he had doone so being sober Yet we which raise not the damages of a batterie in respect of the droonkennesse cannot therefore be said to allow or to dispense with droonkennesse Also for a notable reason drawne from the law of nature whereby matrimonies are established it was prouided in Greece that he which was not married before he were fiue and twentie péeres old should not be capable of any inheritance by discent In the like respect whereof * Plato a diuine philosopher saith that God would haue man to beget man that thus there might be a continuall supplie made of those which should worship him Neuerthelesse those nations which in matters of matrimonie doo yéeld a continuall freedome either to marrie or not to marrie vpon good grounds may not therfore be said to take vpon them to dispense with the reason of such lawes as séemed heerein more néerelie to exact that which the law of nature in some sort dooth require It is most agréeable to reason to haue children bred vp in all kind of good learning euen in their tender yéeres yet neuerthelesse we cannot * Lagus lib. 1. condemne Frederike the first who thrughout all Tuscia did forbid that in inferior schools nothing should be taught but Grammar and Musike least otherwise the tender wits should be ouerburdened at the first with matters of too great weight And though vpon the reason and ground of the law of nature yonger sonnes and daughters as being both in like degrée with the eldest sonne vnto the parents and more vnable than he to prouide for themselues are to succeed their father in lands and goods by the course of the ciuill law yet reteined in Germanie and manie other places sufficientlie confirmed by that reason of S. Paule which we must néeds allow to be most concludent If we be sons then are we heires yet may not the course of the common law of England giuing by discent all the land vnto the eldest as most fit for the entier conseruation of the familie and being the first fruits of his fathers strength be accounted to impugne or dispense with the reason whervpon the other course is grounded but onlie to be receiued as more fit for our common-weale and therfore agreeable to the rule of iustice as well as the other There is no man can dispense that it may be lawfull in generall that a man need not paie that which he hath borrowed yet particularlie the * ff de S. C. Maccdo ff de mincribus ciuill law hath iustlie decreed that the said reason hath no place in such which being in their nonage or being vnder gouernment of their father doo borrow monie Also * L. patronus ff de re iudicata the patrone or maister his father or his children if they become debtors to him whom he hath infranchised and made free they cannot by such a freed man be sued to paie anie more of such debt than conuenientlie they may paie without their vtter vndooing It were infinite to set downe those good and wholesome lawes which being setled vpon the reasons drawne from the law of nature are neuerthelesse vpon due consideration of circumstance restrained and abridged from their generall force in women yoong men old men soldiers clearkes scholers husbandmen artificers and such like which all to diuerse intents doo by the disposition of wholesome lawes enioie priuileges immunities and exemptions and * Vide gl in § sed naturalia instit de iure naturali yet the reasons of the said generall lawes are thereby neither impugned altered dispensed with nor released Whereby it is withall verie euident that this reason of his dooth not follow Bicause the reasons forbidding pluralities are taken from the law of nature and of God Therfore no man can dispense with the said reasons but he that may dispense with those two laws For séeing a law may be vpon circumstances dispensed with or altered whereof the generall reason or ground is not touched whie may not in like maner the reasons against pluralities be limited and restrained though that law wherevpon those reasons be grounded be no waie impeached Which reasons against pluralities how well they be grounded vpon the law of nature shall also in his due place appeare The first part of his Minor That none may dispense with the law of God if it be vnderstood that such things as he hath perpetuallie and inuiolablie commanded to be obserued no man may by any authoritie omit nor such as he hath likewise forbidden by any man be put in practise it is verie true and vndoubted Yet it is as vndoubtedlie true on the other side that manie humane actions may without spot of impietie varie and be otherwise ruled and directed in common-weales than is reported by scripture in like cases to haue béene obserued For * Matth. 19. though from the beginning it were not so wherby is signified that it swarued from the integritie of the law of God and puritie of nature yet did Christ partlie excuse the dispensation which Moses gaue to the Israelits for putting awaie their wiues vpon any mislike In the * Exod. 22. law of God theft was but punished with restitution of two-fold or foure-fold and * Prouer. 6. séemeth to be much qualified as not being so heinous a sinne in respect of adulterie yet neuertheles our law which punisheth the one by death and the other too mildlie indéed is not therefore by the word of God condemned By the law of God confirmed againe by our sauiour Christ all matter of controuersie was * Deut. 17. Iohn 8. ordered according to the depositions of two or thrée witnesses notwithstanding our trialls at the common law by twelue lawfull men being like to Pedanei iudices in the ciuill law and Pares curiae in the Feudall law not alwaies lead by two witnesses but sometimes by one and sometimes by none but onelie by violent presumptions gathered vpon the words of the witnesses are both tolerable and lawfull Likewise
li. 3. offic law of nature which commandeth man to doo good to man euen in that respect that he is a man and also bicause they are a part of our selues to the propugnation and bringing vp of whome we are taught by the liuelie examples euen of sundrie dumbe creatures f Li. 3. ca. 22. Birdes saith Lactantius almost of all sorts haue a kind of coupling in mariage and they defend their nests as their mariage beds they loue their brood whereof they are certeine and if ye put vnto them anie other than their owne they driue them awaie Beasts also for the rearing vp of their yoong will abide hunger and cold and will not be afraid to endure gréeuous blowes and wounds in their defense So that where Euripides saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Philustrat lib. 2. c cap. ◠Apollonius dooth iustlie reprehend him in that he should haue better said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bicause not to men alone but to all other liuing creatures their issue is vnto them as deare as their owne life Neuerthelesse we see by dailie experience how much this care of parents ouer their children not without good reason altereth and decaieth when the children are of that strength and discretion that they may well inough prouide for themselues In which respect emancipation of children being growen to yeares was also deuised Another part of the law of nature consisteth partlie in the repelling of danger and iniurie from vs and partlie also in the iust reuenge thereof And although some interpretors of the ciuill law being deceiued by the order set downe doo attribute the repelling of force to the law of nations yet * Dist 2. c. ius naturale Gratian directlie dooth make it of the law of nature It appeareth so to be by that which * In proëmio lib. 7. Plinie saith of beasts There is none of them but if violence be offered he hath anger in him and a mind impatient of iniurie yea and a great forwardnesse to defend himselfe when you hurt him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And * Pro Milone Tullie affirmeth this to be no written law which we haue learned but which we haue drawne euen from nature it selfe So dooth the * L. 3. vt vins ff de iust law also decide this matter of repelling of iniurie and defense of our selues agreablie to that which * Lib. 1. offic Tullie elsewhere to the same purpose noteth Who in the same booke likewise affirmeth that it is a chiefe office of iustice to hurt no man except we be prouoked first by iniuries and this reuenge of iniuries dependeth also and is strengthened by that law of nature which willeth vs to yeeld to euerie man that which is his owne which is done by benefiting the good and punishing the bad least impunitie should entise them and others to offend And that this is naturall we may gather by the like instinct in all beasts For the which cause * Plutarch li. de profectu morum Brasidas being bitten by the hand with a mouse did obserue this that there was no beast so little which would not séeke to reuenge himselfe being prouoked in which * Lucreti li. 5. respect it is said Sentit enim vim quisque suam qua possit abuti Cornua nata priùs vitulo quà m frontibus extant Illis iratus petit atque infensus inurget Yet notwithstanding vpon iust occasions men being wearie to become their owne reuengers and not able to reteine a meane in reuengement thought it best at last to runne to the remedie of lawes for the punishment of wrong and violence as that poet in the same booke testifieth Vpon which occasion though the lawes doo still permit according to the first law of nature a iust defense of our selues yet doo * L. 1. C. vnde vi they inhibit all violence offensiue and reuenge of iniurie to be vsed by vs for the which cause Baldus calleth that moderation of defense the triacle of those lawes which doo permit the repelling of force and iniurie with the like Also that law of nature concerning the succession of children in the goods and lands of their parents being reckoned by Gratian and reported to be a law of nature in sundrie places of the ciuill lawes is no lesse than the rest encountred changed and abridged vpon diuerse occasions by good and necessarie positiue lawes of seuerall nations By the * L. verbis legis 120. ff de ver signifi law of the Twelue rables which continued for manie yeares togither the fathers without any cause might disinherit their children In England it is prouided that the inheritance onelie shall discend vnto the eloest sonne and yet may the father also by sundrie meanes cut off all his children and kindred from the inioyeng of his lands and goods if he be so hardlie disposed Yea both by the ciuill law and common law if the father doo commit treason his children are deuested of his lands and by the one of them made vncapable also to take anie lands by discent from another Another lawe of nature which is reckoned by Gratian is the common dominion of all goods and lands without anie distinction of proprietie to this or that man by reason that the fruits of the earth in that searsitie of men in the beginning was innough and more than sufficient for euerie one But Gratian seemeth to misname the matter something where he affirmeth the possession of things then to haue beene common Which as as it could not possibly be so is it certeine that none without iniurie and breach of the lawe of nature might inuade the possession of that which another had first taken vp for his owne vse so long as he would so imploie it Except we will with Castrensis extend this cōmunitie onelie to vnmooueables as land and not to mooueables bicause such did fall to his share onelie which first did occupie them as he is of opinion Yet not long after and euer since as well vpon further increase of people in the world as for the auoiding of contention and for some punishment of such as otherwise by violence would haue liued idclie vpon other mens labours it was thought meet by generall good liking of all nations to bound out the dominions of euerie man in seuerall proprietie which course all the ciuill nations in the world at this daie doo inuiolablie and lawfullie practise notwithstanding the first law of nature were to the contrarie The next lawe of nature to these is * L. manumisones ff de iustitia that libertie and freedome wherein we are all borne and whereby a man may do what he list so long as he offendeth not In which * Iustit de iure naturali §. ius autens gentium respect the law saith that bondage and seruitude is contrarie to the right and lawe of nature Neuerthelesse it is verie notorious how from time to time it hath beene vsuall to
also according to our lawes Magnates Pares regni and such as haue béene the chéefest either planters or waterers of this church vnder the time of the gospell but especiallie when it commeth from such a one as would séeme to be a professor of the gospell whereof these and such like spéeches too too manie in this booke are neither branch bud nor fruit And except they were the voices of some sonne of Beliall as was Sheba that is without yoke of all christian humilitie and patience I cannot sée how such contumelious loftie spéeches though they were maintenable could become any subiect in this land thus to publish in a printed booke but much lesse this virulent spirited companion whosoeuer he be Slaunderous speeches of the whole sâ—ate And is indéed all our Gouernment ecclesiasticall but challenged Is the policie and state of our church Perillous for the gouernement of the state of the Lords houshold Is it the policie of a Traitorous lawmaker Are our chéefe prelats Mainteiners of such by tooth and naile And are they abbettours of such Traitorous lawes or lawemakers Doo They mainteine their prelacies dignities and ministeries vnder the gospell by the lawes of Gods enimie And can the pope being no subiect be called a traitor or a traitorous lawmaker though he be a suborner or stirrer vp of as manie traitors as he can inuegle Trulie these iniuries debase the great blessings of God which by hir Maiesties gratious meanes we enioy by the pure preaching of the gospell and reformation of this church from all poperie and superstition and is dishonorable to hir Highnes gouernement yea it reacheth both to those godlie lawes and lawmakers which by parlement haue established this policie and the gouernement ecclesiasticall which we now by Gods mercie enioy men who are as loth iustlie to be accompted mainteiners of poperie or of perillous and traitorous policies and gouernements as this man is vnwilling not to shew himselfe dogged and spitefull For it is well knowne that no other policie is practised nor gouernement put in vre but such as the wholsome lawes of this land haue fortified and therefore for Factious speaking against the lawes in force him thus to carpe at the lawes in a slaunderous libell before the same authoritie hath reuersed them it is intollerable and would in some places be accompted seditious Neither will his euasion serue him bicause the question is not Inter pares amongst equals as he saith as though he could not speake better of the said lawes and acts of parlement without preiudice Of the honour of the sonne of God by accusing him not to haue giuen a perfect law for the gouernement of his fathers houshold by discipline as well as by doctrine For as hereby he would excuse himselfe for his contemptuous and opprobrious spéeches against hir Maiesties lawes and the whole state of the land and the policie and discipline of this church as though he were forced for the safegard of the honour of Christ so would he insinuate that all other not of his opinion are recklesse of Gods honor and that both the policie and gouernement of our church is contrarie to Gods will reuealed by his word and also that Christ hath left a set externall forme of policie and discipline to be exercised Disloyall presumptuous speeches grounded vpon an errour in euerie particular point throughout all the seuerall churches in the world Indéed if these two were true which I thinke will be verie long in proouing he might with more reason haue said as he dooth yet doth in milder maner and in a place more conuenient than in a pamphlet whereby a gelousie maie be bred amongst the simple that they haue béene all the time of hir Maiesties reigne misseled by their gouernors I doo therefore saie and offer in the name of the learned to him or other to consider of that it is taken by vs for an vndoubted truth the contrarie whereof by no proofe we doo essure our selues can be shewed that There are not set downe in particular by scripture or by necessarie collection to be gathered all circumstances of policie gouernement discipline and ceremonies necessarie and vniformlie to be vsed in euerie seuerall church and that the christian magistrats and gouernors are not in the said former points whereof something is touched in scripture of necessitie tied to that precise forme that is there set downe but to the generall doctrine concerning them to wit that all be doone to edifieng orderlie comelie and such like if any will affirme otherwise let him set downe his plat and his proofes for euerie particular and he shall see whether he come not short in most points Neither doo I see why he should so odiouslie traduce certeine thinges vsed in our church till he haue prooued them vngodlie in this respect onelie bicause they haue béene either inuented or practised vnder some bad popes more than he dooth all the nations of Christendome as well in reformed as not reformed churches for giuing a notable place in their common weales vnto the ciuill lawes of the Romans deuised for the most part by painims and idolaters or than he dooth the common or municipall lawes of our owne nation taken either from the old Saxons being heathen or from the Normans being but newlie christened howbeit still grosse papists and idolaters But as touching his questions How our chiefe prelats can answer to the Lord for their wilfull disloyaltie for want of carefulnes requisite séeing They continuallie place vnable men in the ministerie and why they should not let those canons before brought for a learned ministerie being now their owne lawes be auailable with them he might haue said as well his and euery Englishmans lawes for all be parties to an parlement I answer first that in those able men for the ministerie which they haue laied their hands vpon I am persuaded they haue not doone it so much for a bare satisfaction of law as for the exigence of the cause and for discharge of a good conscience Further if they haue ordered some of meane abilitie it hath béene in respect of the slender portions of liuing allotted out in most places for the finding of ministers which places other wise should be destitute wholie whereby the people would in short time become as heathens and painims or be as sauage as the wilde Irish to the great danger of their soules and hazard of this state And if it shall be said that they haue preferred any to the ministerie vtterlie ignorant and vnworthie willinglie Charitie teacheth me not to iudge the worst nor to iudge â— Cor. 4 5. before the time vntill the Lord come who will lighten things that are hid in darkenes and make the counsels of the harts manifest So far am I from iudging it to come of any disloyaltie to God especiallie of wilfulnesse which is the next degrée to the greatest sinne that may be for if any of them had wilfullie
hath told vs in his booke a Pag. 19. that Our cheefe prelats haue not yet abandoned the policie of the traitorous law-maker that it is perillous for the gouernement of the state of the Lords houshold and not meet for the Lords seruants to be guided by that they vse wilfull disloyaltie to the Lord that the procurations dispensations ceremonies non residence excommunications visitations paiments of oblations courts offaculties and licences are mainteined onelie by the popes lawes and are all popish b Pag. 19 20. that the applieng of that to good vses which hath beene abused dooth accuse the sonne of the most highest that he hath not dealt faithfullie in his fathers houshold by giuing them as perfect a law for the gouernement of his houshold by discipline as by doctrine c Pag. 20. that for their fellowe-seruants sakes they ought to be more fauourable to their Lord and maisters cause d Pag. 30. that they doo execrablie mocke and delude the Lord to his face e Pag. 35. that a Bishop and minister ought so to minister the discipline of Christ as the Lord hath commaunded though the lawes of the realme should not haue receiued the same f Pag. 36. that no discipline in truth can be said to be the discipline of Christ vnlesse it be indeed ministred as the Lord Christ hach commanded the same should be ministred that g Pag. 36. it is vtterlie vntrue to say that our discipline vsed in the church of England is in verie deed the verie same discipline which the Lord Christ hath commanded h Pag. 37. that the saints of God and loyall subiects to hir Maiestie calling for discipline commanded by the Lord and in truth established by the lawes of hir Highnesse empire haue open wrong and intolerable iniurie offered at the cheefe prelats hands i Pag. 20. that the law dooth indeed for them authorise that which the same law in appearance onelie approoueth for the other k Pag. 53. that the chéefe prelats are not so faithfull to the Lord as were expedient for them that they accompt not the Lords waies to be the best waies his counsels not to be the wisest counsels to interpret the meaning of the statute bicause they are such waies as wherein the Lords seruants applie themselues preciselie to walke and therefore ignominiouslie are termed Praecisians l Pag. 62. that the statutes of the realme giue to all the faithfull of the land an interest in choise and allowance of their pastors m Pag. 74. that at the entrie of hir Maiesties reigne the whole maner of the gouernement of the synagog should haue beene altered n Pag. 74. that at that time their lawes were vnaduisedlie translated from them vnto vs o Pag. 91. that they which be called Puritanes make conscience not to offend God in any small thing p Pag. 91. that for their conscience sake they are thought worthie to be whipped and excommunicated q Pag. 263. that it is a matter worthie inquirie whether the pastor of euerie congregation be suffered to execute the discipline of Christ authorised by Act of parlement r Pag. 264. that those who haue spoken touching matters onelie of discipline and ceremonies wherevpon before Bishops they are sifted with othes haue spoken or preached out of the word of GOD the truth of God touching the same s Pag. 227. that the freends of reformation are greater freends and mainteiners of hir Highnesse prerogatiue than the other be t Pag. 231. that the enimies of reformation are enimies to hir Maiesties prerogatiue u Pag. 228. that they onelie execute such iurisdiction as by popish constitutions or popish customes hath beene heeretofore annexed vnto their dignities and that by an vtter enimie to hir royall person state and gouernement k Pag. 238. that the popish ecclesiasticall law ought to be abandoned and as a froth or filth to be spewed out of the common-weale * Pag. 238. that hir Maiestie can by no meanes more honour the Lord than vtterlie to abandon all semblance of any gouernment proceeding from an enimie and traitor to his Maiestie z Pag. 239. that for the gouernement of the church we haue the perfect and altogither righteous law of God to rule the same by Also * Pag. 95. by waie of supposall he séemeth to doubt that the Lord hath not yet gratiouslie opened hir Maiesties eies to vnderstand all and singular mysteries of his testament that blemishes and blots remaine that aduersaries to the people of God doo hire councellours to trouble their building and deuise all the daies of Cyrus that the walles are to be reedified by some Eliashib that the church must yet tarrie some leisure and that it may be some other glorious worke is to be doone in our daies by hir Highnesse with infinite such like saiengs procéeding from the said puddle of pride faction rancor and disloialtie Wherevpon we may gather besides his vnthankefulnesse to God and vndutifulnesse to hir Maiestie by whose ministerie God hath singularlie blessed vs besides his boiling malice against the state ecclesiasticall his factious gréedinesse of innouation and his schismaticall titles of glorie laid with a kind of peculiar prerogatiue vpon those who impugne lawes vnder colour of their wished reformation that he is persuaded and so would haue others to be both that diuerse points of their new church-plot are by lawes of this land established which yet are kept from them by strong hand and also that there is some perfect exact and set order of all externall policie concerning ceremonies and discipline in all church matters prescribed by the commandement of Christ which is not yet by law established as it ought to be and from which in the meane time this church of England wholie dooth varie That he thinketh they are debarred of some thing which they wish and ought by law to enioy it may appeare partlie by some of his spéeches aboue mentioned but more plainelie * Pag. 92. where he calleth for certeine Orders and lawes to be put in practise which the magistrats haue made that such as speake for them preach for them call for them and write for them may be no more controlled c and that they may either be mainteined as lawes or else he and others be deliuered from their duties in desiring their execution and obeieng them which they could hitherto neuer be brought to obeie or like of And * Pag. 105. likewise where in the verie end of his first treatise he praiseth certeine Lawes as wholsomelie prouided against wilfull law-breakers Which lawes by him ment if they be declared in particular I hope they haue bene sufficientlie spoken vnto alreadie But if any of them which he so commendeth be parts of the Canon law then he is to be praised for a man of a good nature which after his furie being ouerpast which belike hath Dilueida interualla will
though three witnesses at the ciuill law doo directlie depose concerning a mans testament yet if no more were present the testament shall be ouerthrowne and that with good conscience where that law hath place which requireth the seales of the testator and of seauen witnesses The like may be said of our inheritances which descend onelie to the eldest in bloud though the aforesaid reason of S. Paule being sound dooth make all the sonnes heires as before was touched Concerning the other part of his Minor proposition that None can alter or dispense with the law of nature bicause all naturall things are immutable I saie first that by this vntrue translation of All naturall things in steed of All lawes of nature he hath disaduantaged greatlie his owne cause For it is verie notorious that not onelie all naturall things euen the heauens themselues which doo were old as dooth a garment are subiect to mutabilitie but euen particular nature or as the old schoolemen terme it Natura naturata is inuerted and changed by manie casualites as in production of monsters and the naturall inclinations of manie are brideled and almost wholie subdued by good education ioined with the grace of God Euen the heathen philosopher Socrates confessed that he was by nature blockish and lecherous as the Physiognomer had coniectured which yet he had altered by Philosophie But it is also requisite that we should vpon particular discourse of sundrie lawes of nature consider how well the Abstractor dooth vnderstand this law which he bringeth to prooue the vnchangeablenesse of the law of nature By the verie first law of nature no man did seeke any further than to lead a priuate life thinking it sufficient to prouide onelie for himselfe his wife and his children without anie care or thought taking for anie publike or common-weale This appeareth by * Aristot li. 1. Polit. c. 1. Aristotle who concludeth the first and simplest societie and communitie by nature within the straits of a mans owne familie Of that time an ancient * Lucretiue li. 5. poet speaking saith thus Nec commune bonum poterant spectare nec vllis Moribus inter se scibant nec legibus vti Quod cuique obtulerat praedae fortuna ferebat Sponte sua sibi quisque valere viuere doctus Whereof the wise and famous poet Homer giueth also an example of a naturall course of life in the Cyclopes where * Odysi 9. he saith as he is translated verie well Soli habitant nihilhos aliena negotia tangunt Vxori tantùm natis ius dicere docti Now how farre we and almost the sauagest Barbarians that liue vpon the face of the earth are altered and changed from this solitarie priuate life and are reduced to interteine the common-weale and publike benefit of our countrie euen with hazard and losse of our owne life and of all that is otherwise most deare vnto vs we haue experience by the dailie examples of valiant resolute men and of good subiects in all ages Which kind of prodigalitie and profusion if I may so terme it of our owne bloud and incolumitie in regard of the publike-weale of our countrie is greatlie differing from that instict whereby euerie man is naturallie lead by all meanes possible to preserue himselfe from all bodilie dangers Likewise the naturall bond and coniunction of man and * L. 1. §. ius naturale ff de iustitia woman by matrimonie as Vlpian dooth terme it hath beene subiect to changes euen by the * Matth. 19. appointment of the diuine law-giuer Moses yea and moreouer vpon the necessitie of the circumstances therein considerable least that vnkind people should miserablie torment their wiues which they hated is not condemned simplie in Moses by our sauiour Christ But if we will affirme as humane writers doo teach that the first and simplest times of nature had no certeine mariages nor knew no children in certeintie till people had drawne themselues into common societies one with another and with Castrensis that the coniunction of man and woman is of the law of nature the bond of matrimonie with one certeine woman of the law of nations and the solemnities about mariage to be of the positiue law of euerie seuerall commonweale then is the law of nature herein greatlie though iustlie changed and restrained by the prohibitions of marriage in certeine degrées of affinitie and consanguinitie first set * Leuit. 18. downe amongst the people of God and afterward by the light of reason amongst most nations though heathen interteined Yea if matrimonie be of the law of nature then is the naturall libertie thereof verie much abridged by such * Instit de nuptiji § 1. wholesome ciuill lawes which make it otherwise no marriage in those who are vnder their fathers tuition except their expresse assent be first obteined therevnto * Tull. li. 2. de natura deorum l. liberorum 220. §. vlt. de ver signific Another branch of the law of nature is that care of perpetuitie which is ingraffed in man which bicause it cannot be atteined vnto in himselfe onlie he seeketh it naturallie partlie by consecrating vpon due desert his name to immortalitie but much more by substituting as it were his children in his owne place which may florish when he is in decaie and in whome he may séeme being dead in some sort as it were to liue againe And yet it is not vnlawfull no not in termes of diuinitie for a Matth. 19. 1. Cor. 7. a man that can conteine to lead a sole and a single life And that this is a kind of naturall expectation in parents as it were to were yoong and to liue againe in their children it may hereby be gathered bicause b L. isti quidem §. vlt. ff quod metus causa diuers do much lesse estéeme their owne life than the life of their children And euen as by the disputation of philosophers and decision of lawyers it is found that the c Plutarc in Theseo ship wherein Theseus was carried into Candie to subdue the monstrous Minotaure being for a memoriall of that act so long kept by the Atheniens that by continuall repairing of it no one planke or péece of timber was left which it had in the time of Theseus yet was d L. proponebatur ff de iudicijs to be accompted the same ship and as we are to be accompted the same people which we were two hundred yeares ago though no one of that age doo now remaine euen so by the continuall succession of our issue one after another we séeme to be often borne againe and thereby to enioy a kind of immortalitie The next bud of the law of nature is the defense education of our children both bicause of their weakenesse which is such that if we should but denie our helpe to anie other though far more strange vnto vs than they are being in like case we should breake that e Tull.
spoken of he assumeth by his old warrant dormant to take without proofe as granted which is verie vntrue and neuer can be proued That pluralities are prohibited by the law of nature and by the law of God and so vpon this his owne liberall vealing with himself without any further proofe in this place he denieth the Minor by him in waie of obiection set downe which assumeth Pluralities to be forbidden by the law of man alone So that if vpon the examination and ouerthrow of his proofes brought to the contrarie it may hereafter appeare that none other law besides the law of man dooth forbid them then will it follow by his owne grant of the Minor which is Whatsoeuer is prohibited by the law of man alone by the same law may be licenced againe that dispensations for mo benefices may be granted lawfullie being the verie contradictorie of his chiefe position of this discourse Where it is not also to be forgotten that the said Maior which here he suffereth to passe Inconstancie without veniall he venied though foolishlie afore when he said The said consequence was vnnecessarie and sophisticall Pag. 213. in fine The rest of this Section brought for proofe that Dispensations for pluralities doo ratifie monstruous things against nature Which is the Minor of his second syloogisme he proueth principallie hereby bicause the law against pluralities is the law of nature and of God being the Minor as yet to be proued of his former syllogisme Which is the most childish kind of Circuition begging that which Childish fallacie is in controuersie that euer I haue heard the most foolish wrangling cauiller or Sophister at anie time vse in schooles which wanted matter and yet was to speake Ad clepsydram and to talke out his taske But if the lawe be monstrous what dooth he make or how dutifullie dooth he speake of those which passed and confirmed that act The proofe which in hand that Priuileges and dispensations are bestowed where some generall lawe is to the contrarie is wholie needlesse Yet the first is wrong quoted bicause he alledgeth a Chapter in steed of the glosse vpon the Rubrike and the second is not found at all whither he sendeth vs though by waie of argument it may be gathered out of that place 9. Section Pag. 118 119 120. THat which he brought a little before to teach another to go is here in be taught how to stand alone it selfe For he would prooue bicause The reasons of the prohibition of pluralities are taken and drawne from the lawe of nature and from the lawe of God therefore pluralities are forbidden by the lawe of nature and by the law of God Which consecution though it hang togither by no knot of reason yet is it left by him without further helpe and by none other meanes approoued vnto vs but bicause he himselfe made it But if euerie thing were to be said either commanded or forbidden by the law of nature and of God which hath for a reason and cause whether néere or farre off mediate or immediate either the one or the other then should all good and wholsome Positiue lawes of euerie nation vnder heauen all which doo issue primarilie from these sourses and fountaines come vnder this rule both to be vnchangeable neither to be dispensed withall vpon any circumstance whatsoeuer according to his owne collection and also the lawes of nature and of God should be found to be diuerse and repugnant to themselues in seuerall nations and in some points also contrarie one to another which is absurd and execrable once to be imagined and therefore that absuâ—d and erronious where vpon this is gathered For as sundrie and different Positiue lawes may be drawne from one principle of the law of nature or of the law of nations called The secondarie law of nature according to the lesse or greater proportion and measure of the influence of it into them and yet all of them tolerable and to be obeied by those vnto whom respectiuelie they doo apperteine so much more no doubt may repugnant Positiue lawes be grounded and established vpon seuerall Principles and Maximes of the law of nature As may be seene by the inher it ance vpon discent after the order of Common law to the eldest by Borough-english to the yoongest and by Gauel-kind to all sonnes alike Likewise by the losse of lands in the sonne for the fathers treason by the course of the Common lawe though the lands holden in Gauel-kind cannot be so forfeited None of which lawes though contrarie one to another but they haue both good and sound reasons drawne from the lawe of God and of nature wherevpon they are setled and also may both lawfullie be reteined and vpon iust occasion in like maner be abrogated or reuersed Out of the Ciuill law this may serue for an example hereof that although by reason it may séeme that any thing is fullie prooued by two or thrée witnesses aboue all exceptions yet vpon another reason which is for the auoiding of all corrupt dealing in Testaments being the last wish of the Testator and therefore most carefullie to be prouided for it is by that law decided that no ordinarie Testament shall be effectuall which is not signed with the Testators and with seauen or in some cases at the least with fiue witnesses hands and seales The reason of taking oths in iudgement is drawne from an ill cause euen that corruption of nature wherevnto we are inclined without some strict bond to the contrarie to deliuer vntruthes and to supplant our neighbours Yet the oth is a part of the seruice of God and necessarilie in all iudgements reteined for deciding of controuersies betwixt man and man The reason and principall ground of forbidding women to procure and sollicite their freends causes being absent in iudgement was the vnshamefast importunitie of one Calphurnia yet we may not hereof gather that all women which are likewise forbidden and debarred from appearing as attorneis for other to be of like disposition vnto hir And if lawes grounded vpon reasons and principles of the law of nature and of nations were thereby as the Abstractor here gathereth to be accompted of the like condition with the verie primarie lawes of nature and of nations themselues then could it not fall out that there might be diuerse principles and reasons of lawes about one matter tending to contrarie ends which yet happeneth three maner of waies First when of diuerse principles and reasons some one amongst the rest notoriouslie beareth the swaie Therefore though the fréedome of man from bondage and thraldome of slauerie be manie waies fauoured in all good lawes as most agreeable vnto the lawe of nature whereby we all are frée-borne yet for auoiding of iniustice and iniurie among men it is prouided that a debtor maie not infranthise and manumit his villaines if thereby his creditors shall not find Assetz for their satisfaction And the like to this is obserued when as
possibilitie prooue that which he intends that no dispensation whatsoeuer in any case may be granted but vpon cause and much lesse that Vrgent necessitie and euident vtilitie be those causes and the onlie causes of all dispensations for his owne author Rebuff reckoneth foure causes of this dispensation Or yet that these causes as he gathereth doo signifie nothing else but The well gouerning of the soules of the people But it is not to be omitted that the Abstractor here contrarie to himselfe afore alloweth of dispensations with such lawes whose reasons are grounded vpon the law of nature or of God yea euen to dispense with that which is Vnlawfullie taken onlie by colour Contrarietie to himselfe of an Vnreasonable custome beeing void in lawe First the refusall to receiue moonks to cure of soules who as an ancient father saith had Officium plangentium non docentium were to moorne not to teach and were in those daies meere laie men or the refusall of any other laie man whomsoeuer is grounded vpon that scripture Let no man minister but he that is lawfullie called as was Aaron and let him not be a yoong scholar Yet I must put the Abstractor in mind that he mistaketh the matter when he thinketh that such had dispensation for the Gouernement of a Ignorance in the Abstractor church with cure of soules they remaining still laie men For Exlaico and Ex monacho doo onlie signifie that it was against the generall canons suddenlie without great cause to prefer such from meere laie men to the order of the ministerie and so to a Bishoprike or other cure of soules before they had serued as clearks in other inferior orders and ministrations For by the opinion of Fisher euen at the common * 21. H. 7. 3. law an act of parlement cannot inable a laie man so remaining to become a parson of a church bicause it is a matter meere spirituall although the parlement as Vauisoure thinketh may take order in such spirituall matters as are mixt with temporall causes Likewise the prohibition of ordering the sonne of a professed nonne is grounded vpon those canons of integritie required in all ecclesiasticall men which are set downe by S. Paule which is greatlie blemished and stained by the fault of such parents As for that generall asseueration which without all proofe or weighing of any circumstances he vseth against all inioyeng of mo benefices as simplie vnprofitable at all times to the church when he shall deliuer his proofes of it shall either be answered or yeelded vnto and in the meane time is as easilie reiected as it is by him boldlie auouched But although it did not carrie with it an vrgent necessitie or euident vtilitie of the church yet hereof it dooth not follow that a dispensation to that end is vnlawfull Bicause he can neuer prooue them to be onlie causes of that dispensation for that the law rehearseth diuerse other causes of dispensations in generall and they are gathered by the glosse vpon that verie canon which in this section he alledgeth A dispensation is granted saith the * Gl. in verb. vt plerisque in fine 1. q. c. requiritis glosse when necessitie or vtilitie requireth Infra eo tali Also sometimes a dispensation is granted bicause a greter euill is feared in which respect the Englishmen were dispensed with 35. q. 3c quaedam lex § quod scripsi Also sometimes for some good to insue as when we dispense with heretikes that other may more easilie returne to the church 23. q. 4. c. ipsapietas Also sometimes for the multitude and for auoiding of offense c. vt constitueretur 50. dist And the same canon rehearseth other considerations and inducements to dispense as mercie pietie in the person the circumstance of time and the euent of the matter Insomuch * that another glosse dooth thus gather When as Gl. in verb. causae c. exigun◠1. q. 7. rigor and extremitie is of one part and mercie of the other the iudge ought rather to follow mercie c. 2. Extra de sortileg l. placuit C. de iudic So that it seemeth a dispensation is a due bicause the precept of mercie is common to all c. non satis 86. dist Which I grant that indeed sometimes it is due the iudge should offend which in that case would not dispense though no law be set downe wherby we may demand a dispensation But bicause both schoolemen and some few lawyers who handle this matter doo varie diuerslie one from another and confusedlie speake concerning the causes of dispensations I doo take it woorth the labor vpon due weieng of all their reasons and allegations to reduce them thus brieflie to an harmonie In Dispensations of méere Grace and fauor which are such as the prince may lawfullie gratifie one man in and denie vnto another as are indenizations legitimations pardoning or remitting the penalties for faults not verie heinous there is not anie a L. 1. ff d◠constit princip it Authent quibus mod natur efficiātur legit quibus modis sui C. de sententiā passis necessitie either in court of conscience or in the ciuill court of man to the dispenser or dispensed that they should proceed vpon anie cause more than of méere bountie of the souereigne prince who onelie hath this authoritie seeing it is to be intended that the people and lawes of euery countrie in these and other small matters haue yéelded this b Arg. l. scioff de minoribus power vnto their souereigne princes But touching those Dispensations which are called of Iustice they are conuersant either about the law of God and nature or about the positiue law of man In the lawes of God and nature there is no relaxation of the bond of them which none but God himselfe may doo yet there may be vpon good grounds a declaration and interpretation that the generalitie of the words doo not in deed extend to some especiall cases As although Gods law doo indefinitelie require credit to be giuen to two witnesses yet is this generalitie by mans law rightlie declared not to haue c c. relatum 1. c. cum esses Ext. de testamentis §. 1. instit d. it place where such two witnesses are but children and haue not atteined the yeares of diseretion to accept of an oth By the law of God it is commanded that he that killeth should himselfe be done to death yet d L. v. vim ff de iust iure ibi gl DD. is this truelie interpreted not to haue place where a man killeth in his owne necessarie defense Yea not onelie in the defense of his person is this thought not vnlawfull but e Iason in d. l. qui dicit eā esse comet Diaz reg 597. also in the defense of his goods although f Felni c. 2. Ext. de homicidio some other not so truelie doo hold in this case the contrarie The generall commandement
husbands for adulterie i 32. q. 1. c. sicut That he is an abbettor of filthinesse that putteth not away his adultres wife k 30. q. 3. c. quod autem That a man and a wife may not promise for a child in baptisme togither l 30. q. 1. c. peruenit That if a man by any casualtie should offer his owne childe to the Bishop to be confirmed he ought to be separated from his wife m 28. q. 1. c. idololat That a man may lawfully put away his wife which seeketh to persuade him to that which is euill n Ibid. c. non solum That she which maketh an image and will not repent is to be put away by the husband o 26. q. 2. sed illud That it is a kinde of idolatry to search after the course of the starres p 24 q 2. c. vlt. That heretikes after theyr death are to be excommunicated q 23. q. 8. c. si nulla That without great necessitie it is not lawfull to goe to warre in Lent time r 23. q. 4. c. sicut That with the enemyes to religion wee are bounde to wage warre Å¿ 22. q. 5. c. honestum That a man ought to bee fasting when he taketh an oath t Ibid. c. si quis conuictu That hee shall neuer during life be admitted to communicate which hath suborned periurye u 22. q. 2. c. dolo That hee may bee accounted to haue forsworne himselfe that goeth about to doo otherwise than hee hath promised x 15. q. 3. c. terrio That a woman may not be admitted to accuse a priest or to beare witnesse against him y 14. q. 2. c. quanquam That to publike instruments priests are not to bee called to beare witnesse z 14. q. 1. c. Episcopus That a Bishop though hee bee vrged ought not to go to law about temporall matters a 12 q. â— c. vlt. That a Byshop dyeng intestate the church succeedeth wholye into all hys goods b 12. â— 4. c. presbyter That of those things which priests doo buie they should make the writings in the churches name c 12. q. 2. c. Episcopus That a Bishop hauing no heyre ought to make the church â—ys heyre d 12. q. 1. c. dilect That all clearkes are to liue togither in a communitie e 11. q. 3. c. Clericus That he which would appeale from a Bishop must she to a synod f 11. q. 3. c. si Episcopus That a priest which is deposed by a Bishop must complaine thereof to the next Bishops g 1. q. 1. c. decreuimus That the Bishop ought yearely to visit his diocesse h Ibidem c. antiquos That hee ought to haue the halfe of all oblations i 2. q. 7. c. ipsi That none should be admitted to accuse or testifie against a Priest which either was not or could not bee a priest himselfe k Ibid. c. oues That the sheepe ought not to accuse the sheepeheard except the swarue from the true faith l Ibid. c. sicut That lay men may not accuse cleargie men nor cleargie men those of the laitie m 2. q. 5. c. nullam That a Bishop cannot be condemned but with seuentie and two witnesses n 3. q. 4. c. sacramentum That an oth is not to be exacted of priests o 1. q. 2. c. Clericos That he which is able to sustaine himselfe of his owne charges should receiue no stipend of the church p c. dictum est dist 94. That Archdeacons should not exercise iurisdiction ouer priests q c. Diaconi dist 93. That there ought to be seauen Deacons in euery citye r c. si euangelia dist 55. That a priest which hath lost his eye is not to receiue anye duties Å¿ c. aliquantos dist 51. That such as haue serued in warres or haue sued in courts after they were baptized may not bee ordeyned t c. illud dist 50. That it is not lawfull for a clearke to doo publike and solemne penance nor for him that hath such penance to be performed to be ordeined u c. non oportet dist 42. That it is not lawfull to eat or to haue a bed set in a place that is dedicated to God x c. elegant dist 37. That Bishops are to be reprehended which traine vp theyr children in humaine learning y c. Episcopus ibidem That Bishops may not read bookes compiled by heathen men z c. Presbyteri dist 34. That priests may not be at mariage feasts a c. denique dâ—st 4. That those which be in clericall orders should begin to fast at Quinquagesima b gl in verb. supra vires c. illud 10. q. 3. That all clerks should absteine from flesh seauen whole weekes before Easter c ad eius dist 5 That a Bishop when he visiteth must haue nothing to drinke but milke And that a husband ought not to keepe companye with his wife till the childe that was borne betwixt them were weaned with diuers other not vnlike to these In like manner there be diuers other parts of the canon law which neither beeing repugnant to any lawes in this land nor hurtefull to hir Maiesties prerogatiue yet being disused and therefore repugnant to the customes of the realme doo stand in no force with vs at this day As a c. cum 〈…〉 ses c. relatum extra de testamentis where it is required to the testification of euerie testament euen in that which is Ad pias causas that the minister of the parish be present beside two other sufficient witnesses Whereas by generall custome among vs receiued and as it is testified by diuers lawyers reports herevpon two good witnesses are sufficient Also if a man make his sonne his heire or as we equiualently to that do now vse and speake his vniuersall and sole executor and do charge him to pay and make ouer to some other his whole goods dues and credits by the canon lawe he b c. Rainutius c. Rainaldus extra de testam may retaine Legitimam iure naturae debitum his childs part which by the ciuill law Falcidia Tâ—ebellianica is a fourth part but by the canon law a third part and also the fourth part of the remnant per Trebellianicam c L. Papinianus S. si quis impubes ff de en off testam iuncta gl in S. meminisse ib. especially if the said charge were to be performed after some certaine day or condition happening yet by the custome in England which hath preuailed he shal in this case without either of these deductions so long as there is Assetzentre les mains des biens chattels paternelles restore and pay according to the deuise comprised in the will d c. 2. Ext. de adulteriis Again if a
nisi cum pridem §. alia verò causa Ext. de renunc therefore the decretall epistle to the Bishop of Arles saith There is another cause for the which a man may desire to be released from the burthen of a Bishops charge which is weakenes of bodie arising either of sicknesse or of old age and yet euerie debilitie is not such but that onelie whereby a man is made vnable to execute his pastorall dutie for if vpon euerie weakenes of bodie the office of seruice once taken in hand might be forsaken in vaine had the apostle confessed that he did euen glorie in some his infirmities Seeing that the weakenes of age ought sometime no more to wey with a man to make him resigne than that ripenes of behauiour which often accompanieth old men ought to persuade with him to continue in his owne function For of such saith the apostle When I am in weakenes then am I stronger for sometimes the weakenes of the bodie dooth increase the valoure of the mind But now againe he leaueth the matter of resignation and for proofe of his principall issue he bringeth two allegations one out of the common Extrauagants and the other out of the Clementines which doo séeme to me to be brought in but to make a number and culled out without choise there being much more pregnant places to that purpose which in his cursorie and desultorie perusall of these bookes did escape his hands For these doo onelie require that vnfit persons in knowledge maners or age be not preferred to ecclesiasticall liuings whereof I would gladlie learne how it could follow that therefore whosoeuer is not able to preach and is not endowed with all those gifts which are in this discourse required is for want of knowledge vnfit which is his generall scope where at he leuelleth Which knowledge and skill to be able to profit the churches where they serue that it is no such exact cunning as he dooth beare vs in hand hath partlie appeared afore and better shall appeare afterward And trulie his choise was verie slender when he chose the preamble of that canon wherein the pope pretendeth bicause he would be sure to haue such chosen as should both gouerne and profit the church that therefore he taketh the prouision and bestowing of all ecclesiasticall liuings into his owne hands which should happen to fall void in the court of Rome or within two daies iorneie of the same The Constitution of Otho alledged telleth what kind of maister is indéed required yet without mention of anie preaching nor yet in that strict maner but that occasions may happen that a man more meanelie qualified may be tolerated in the ministerie In which respect the * Gl. in constit Otho Sacer ordo verbo illiteratos glosse saith If the preests should be poore either by their parentage or through the barrennes or wasting of the countrie so that they could not applie their studie but should be driuen otherwise to get their liuing by handie labour it is to be thought that then they ought with fauour to be tolerated yet so that they be something more skilfull than lay men especiallie about the sacrament of the altar whereabout they are dailie occupied Which is the verie case of this our church in manie places the more is the pitie His next allegation out of the same place he hath both mangled FalsificatioÌ„ and falsified For where the Constitution inueiheth against those that haue the liuing and roome of priests being not in orders but more like souldiers than priests As hauing no care of holie life or learning this he maketh generall vnto manie besides And where the text hath Simplex sacerdos that is saith the * Gl. ibidem verbo simplex sacerdos glosse not intituled to the church but a stipendarie curate he adding to the text translateth it A sillie ignorant priest 8. Section Pag. 14 15. THis Constitution of Otho amongst other things forbidding vnlearned men to be ordered ministers dooth not prooue euerie one to be vnlearned that is not fit to preach and expound scriptures which is a point of more competent skill than an abilitie as occasion is offered to exhort to good life to dehort from vice or to comfort in aduersitie though the same cannot to anie purpose be done without some skill and practise in the scriptures And therfore the author hauing so slenderlie prooued that which is his intention had the lesse cause herevpon thus to set vp his fethers and vntrulie and gibinglie to saie that the canons published 1571. and the aduertisements doo yéeld testimonie that the Bishops A slaunderous vntruth doo proceed first and inquire afterwards that they first giue the minister a charge appointing him to teach and afterwards send him to the Archdeacons or his Officials court to learne whereas the said canon agréed vpon but not yet that I can learne confirmed by authoritie and the aduertisements alledged doo onelie charge the Archdeacons and their Substitutes to take an accompt in their visitations of the meaner sort of the clergie of certeine chapters of the new testament without booke to the intent it may appeare both how they profit in scripture and that thereby they may be the more perfect in the text Which thing if it should be also performed voluntarilie as a priuate exercise by the best and most learned ministers that we haue I thinke it might greatlie profit them and no modest man would interpret it so that they did but then begin to learne the scriptures as héere is odiousâ—â—e insinuated It is reported of B. Latymer of reuerend memorie being accused by his persecutors neuer to haue exercised himselfe in scripture bicause they saw some debilities of old age appeare in him that he should answer that the baie trees in Clare hall in Cambridge were able if they could speake to witnesse with him that he conned without booke vnder them all the epistles of S. Paule The words of Barthol are not as our author hath alledged them but thus Qualitas adiecta verbo intelligitur secundum tempus verbi and they are brought in by him onelie in waie of obiection against the text which is contrarie to this Corrupt dealing of the author rule as his solution of the said obiection dooth plainelie shew For he saith It is a * Bartol in l. si quis posthumos §. filium ff de liberis posth sufficient verification of these words he dieth intestat though a man haue made a will the daie of his death if vpon anie occasion afterward falling out as by the birth of a child vnto him after his buriall the said will and testament be reuersed So that we sée it is not generall that The qualitie adioined to anie verbe must be construed according to the tense of the same verbe The law which he quoteth ff de ferijs hath no one word giuing anie colour or sounding anie thing that waie The other * L. 43.
all their forces are but wast wind and papershot The first reason he vseth for proofe that The administration of sacraments and execution of their offices hitherto is rightlie doone by such as he iudgeth to be no ministers is taken from the vncerteintie of their lawfulnesse and quoted verie strangelie Cod. de test li. 1. which would require a longer time to seeke it out where it cannot be found than I may affoord him Yet I thinke he ment L. 1. C. de testamentis which decideth in another cause something to the like purpose that It is not to be discussed whether the witnesses were bond or free which in opinion of all men were holden as freemen at that time when the testament was consigned and such as against whome none to that daie had mooued any controuersie of their condition So that the reason of the decision of this law is not the vncerteintie of their state which could not be called vncerteine being not so much as doubted of but the generall error which is his second reason in this behalfe And where â—e saith I know not vpon what warrant Contrarietie That the thing which is vncerteine is as though it were not at all he ouerthroweth his owne purpose in this place for if such ministers State before controuersie therof mooued were vncerteine then are they hereby euen at that time to be reputed as no ministers at all In the first place brought for proofe that a generall error maketh lawe and that therfore the generall error conceiued hitherto of such ministers lawfulnesse shall vphold all publike functions of the ministerie by them till this time performed no direct mention of any common error is made but that the award of a compromittée shall stand which is giuen by a bondman in truth yet being in possession of his fréedome His second place is false quoted Ad Maced in stead of De S. C. Macedoniano In his third place both in his originall and in his translation by following the corruption of the old text yeelding no perfect sense and contrarie to the credit of the Florentine or Pisane Pandects he taketh Propter Mistaking vsum imperatorum bicause of the vse of emperors in sted of Propter vsum imperitorum by reason it is so vsed by rude and ignorant His fourth place * L. 1. C. de lestamentis to this purpose which is the place he quoted wrong afore in this section is here left quotelesse Out of which places togither with the lawe Barbarius Philip. he concludes that in those seuerall cases so in the matters doone by these onelie pretended ministers the common error shall make them auaileable and to be reputed Rightlie and dulie doone where vpon I doo further aske as Barbarius Philip. though a bonduÌ„aue indeed being dulie chosen pretor in Rome was reputed a lust possessor of his office though he himselfe knew that he was of seruile condition and * L. quod attinet ff de reg luris therfore not capable Pag. 94 whether an vnskilfull minister for mallie ordeined though as our author heareth him in hand he himselfe full well doo knowe that he was vnworthie and therefore came in by guile and deceit may not in like sort be cleared from intrusion and be adiudged a iust possessioner by the said common error And if he may so why may he not continue still his said possession séeing he is no more In mala fide than he was in at the first by our authors supposall But he is afraid of another doubt least as the said Barbarius being once chosen pretor though the people who elected him knew not so much and therfore could not haue any such intention was by the verie operation of law thereby infranchised so our ministers though indéed vncapable yet by the ordination of the Bishop being a publike person trusted by the whole realme in this action should be likewise reputed in the eie of the law thereby inabled against anie incapacitie This knot he wrestleth with to vntie thus that as the award of an Vmpier reputed generallie a fréeman shall therfore be in force though he remaine a bondman as afore to his former maister and as the sonne being once commonlie reputed otherwise but afterward indéed detected to be vnder his fathers power and tuition cannot become a debtor vnto me vpon borrowing of monie which our author contrarie to law extendeth generallie to any contract and as bondmen vpon common reputation Ignorance in law for fréemen hauing profitablie béene vsed for witnesses being knowne as they are may be reiected from bearing witnesse euen so though Barbarius were Childish babling made frée by the people yet the maister was by lawe to haue the price of his seruant at their hands Which being thus anatomized we may well perceiue are so far from all consecution that they haue not so much as any similitude togither But what if the people must paie the price of the seruant may he not be frée as the law appointesh And may not any thing here notwithstanding the minister duelie ordeined for outward forme reteine in like maner his ministerie as Barbarius did his fréedome But I cannot coniecture either why he saith that Common error cannot take a waie priuate interest which no man affirmeth or how he can conclude with any colour vpon these vnlikelie comparisons That much lesse can common error of a few barre the whole church from a publike benefit due vnto them And I pray you if this be the error but Contrarietie Of a few in authoritie how can it be common and thereby vphold the functions of the ministerie executed by no ministers Pag. 89 Naie how can it be the error of the Bishops whom he meaneth when as he chargeth them to be In mala fide and to Knowe at the time of ordination that such cannot be qualified accordinglie as is required for the ministerie But to cut off all at once and to shew plainelie that if such as be no preachers or any other be indéed and truth no ministers at all as our author hath laboured to prooue then Common errour though in some cases it be a L. 1. ibi DD. C. de testamentis l. 2. C. de sentent ex pericrecitandis in l. Barbarius ff de officio Praetoris holden for truth and doo b 3. q. 7. §. tri ver verum make law yet in this point it shall not make good those pretended functions of the ministerie which erroniouslie such men haue executed and performed It is to be vnderstood that among manie exceptions and limitations of that rule this is one First if the partie vpon whome the common error runneth be not c Bart. in l. actuariorum C. de nummularijs li. 12. in l. de qui. ff de legibus Bald. in l. 2. C. de manumiss vind solemnelie and dulie elected to his place then dooth it make no lawe nor make the acts of force
vs vz. Whether by these mens platformes which I haue mentioned agréeing so hardlie among themselues or by some one of them or yet by none of them but that we must expect some other more skilfull than all the rest to arise vp hereafter to reconcile or confute all those which haue hitherto written hereof Whether it be good and sound diuinitie that hath béene alledged concerning excluding christian princes from their gouernement in church matters of excommunicating them of releasing their subiects from obedience and in some cases of deposing them or no Where anie pregnant and concluding proofe may be found either in scripture or anie antiquitie which dooth iustifie the gouernement of church matters in euerie parish by the minister and by certeine men termed Presbyteri being otherwise méere laie men and of no ecclesiasticall function Whether if the generall conceiued error be not by law sufficient to make the marriages and baptizings of force which hath béene done and celebrated by such as our Abstractor reputeth not to be ministers would he wish them to be remarried ouer againe and baptized afresh by such as he taketh to be ministers indéed as hauing beene hither to not baptized and so make void all benefits of subiects by purchase or discent hitherto growne vnto them and to their children according to the course of the common lawes of this land or no And in case that either he or any other be of iudgement that the baptisme conferred with water and the words of institution seriouslie pronounced by him that is no lawfull minister neither in fact nor reputation or by him that is in reputation onelie one and not in déed nor in law be so vtterlie void that the partie ought to be baptized or dipped againe Then I doo demand how this may be warranted either by the word of God or example and testimonie of antiquitie in the time of the primitiue church Further I demand hereof whie all those in like sort which haue béene baptized by Popish priests whome our Abstractor holdeth neither for lawfull ministers indéed nor in law and who were but admitted at taking order of préesthood Ad sacrificandumpro viuis defunctis ought not as well as the former to be baptized againe Againe whie the sacrament of the supper should be to the true receiuer thereof at the hand of an vsurper and no lawfull minister more effectuall than the sacrament of baptisme by this supposition is being conferred by the same man vnto his child which is the séed of the faithfull Whether the inequalitie of Gods gifts for the building vp of his church being the cheefest ground of the inequalitie of rewards to the ministers thereof must we yet of necessitie and in iustice require as great abilitie in him that hath but twentie nobles or ten pounds by yeare as is required or to be found in him that hath an hundred marks by yeare to mainteine him And whether the like difference and inequalitie both of gifts and rewards be not to be found in the vplandish townes of their dominions and territories which our reformers thinke to be without spot or wrinkle in their externall gouernement Whether such a minister that is of reasonable knowledge in diuerse points of doctrine yet not able either to preach methodicallie or to confute errors and heresies sufficientlie as he that would improoue the praieng for the dead out of that place There is a sinne vnto death for the which I say not that you shall praie Whether I saie were it more expedient to permit him to preach and to expound publikelie or but to read godlie and learned homilies and to exhort and dehort his parishoners onelie as present occasion should be offered Whether in any other reformed church beyond the seas where no such rite is by law established if a minister would néeds continuallie weare a surplesse in his ministration might he ought he in iustice or should he in fact be put from his ministerie for the disturbance of the peace and vniformitie of that church or no Whether a minister in the like forreine church after monitions giuen vnto him to the contrarie that will neuerthelesse publikelie in his sermons inueigh against the vse of vnleauened bread in the sacrament or simplie or absolutelie condemne all vsurie whether it be biting or but nibling as sinfull and wicked the orders of that church being in both to the contrarie might in iustice or were like in fact to be remooued from his ministerie in that place or no The end of the Appendix to the former Treatise Pag. 107 DISPENSATIONS FOR MANY BENEFIces vnlavvfull QVIA NONNVLLI c. Forasmuch as some putting no measure to their couetousnesse Extra de ele non residen c. quiâ— nonnulli c. 1. de consuet lib. 6. endeuour to take many Ecclesiasticall dignities and many Parish Churches against the ordinances of holie Canons and beeing scarce able to discharge one office yet notvvithstanding challenge vnto themselues stipends due vnto many vve straightlie command that hence-forth this abuse be not anie more permitted And that vvhensoeuer anie Church or Ecclesiastical ministerie ought to be coÌ„mitted vve vvill such a parsoÌ„ to be sought that may bee resident in the same place discharge the cure by himselfe And if anie thing shal be done othervvise let both the receiuer loose that that he hath so receiued and let the giuer be depriued of power to giue againe Out of which prohibition these conclusions may be made 1 Whatsoeuer tendeth to the maintenance of couetousnesse is vnlawfull 2 But to suffer one man to inioy manie benefices tendeth to the maintenance of couetousnesse 3 Therfore for one man to haue manie benefices is vnlawful 1 Whatsoeuer is contrarie to the holie Canons is not to be tollerated 2 But for one man to haue many Churches with cure of soules is contrarie to the holie Canons 3 Therefore for one man to haue manie Churches with cure Pag. 108. of soules is not to be tollerated 1 Whosoeuer taketh vnto himselfe the stipend due vnto manie the same doth commit an vnlawfull act 2 But he that taketh vnto himselfe manie benefices taketh the stipends due vnto manie 3 Therefore hee that taketh vnto himselfe many benefices doth commit an vnlawfull act 1 Whosouer is scarce able to discharge his office in one place is not to haue the office of many committed vnto him in manie places 2 But he that hath the cure of soules committed vnto him in one place is scarce able to discharge his dutie in that one place 3 Therefore he is not to haue the offices of many committed vnto him in many places 1 Whatsoeuer is an hinderance to him that hath cure of soules to be resident to discharge his câ—re by himselfe the same is not to be suffered 2 But for one man to haue many benefices is an hinderance for him to be resident to discharge his cure by himselfe 3 Therfore it is not to be admitted that one should haue many
admit it can it be truelie said that the lawes doo so forbid reteining vpon anie occasion or by anie meanes two benefices that the cause of that prohibition shall be déemed to be perpetuall Séeing the lawes themselues do directlie as you haue heard vpon sundrie occasions determine the contrarie Neither yet dooth it follow bicause a bond is void which is taken against such a law which hath perpetuall cause of prohibition that therefore an indulgence and dispensation of like sort should be also void For he will not denie I hope but that the reason why malefactors ought to be punished is perpetuall as not being of that nature which may be wholie abrogated and yet in some speciall respects it is lawfull euen In foro conscientiae for the prince to pardon their faults and to release their punishment For I trust our Abstractor is not of * T. C. pag. 98. his opinion which thinketh both that the law of Moses for capitall punishments ought exactlie euen among vs to be obserued and also * T. C. pa. 100. that hir Maiestie ought not to pardon the life of anie which God by the Iudiciall law giuen to the Iewes did punish by death Now hauing by the examples of Murther theft and blasphemie which haue a perpetuall cause of prohibition shewed his meaning herein he ariseth from these particulars to collect a generall Ab hypothesi ad thesin that seeing None may take awaie or dispense with the reason of a law being the life and soule of the law therefore no man can dispense with the law or take awaie the law Which being spoken indefinitelie of a law must needs be equiualent as law dooth teach vs vnto an vniuersall and then both he shall be found to be contrarie to himselfe hauing before Contrarietie Pag. 113. deliuered that In things depending vpon the meere disposition of man the magistrate may dispense and also verie absurd in taking awaie all priuileges and exemptions from the generall rigor of sundrie lawes Moreouer we are taught by law that of * L. non omnium ff de legib Abb. in c. si quando Extr. de rescriptis manie lawes a reason can not be rendered neither ought we too curiouslie to search after the reason of them Whereby will follow vpon this mans words that manie good wholsome lawes doo want their life and soule But if he will saie he onlie meant such like lawes as he brought his examples of which doo seeme immediatlie to flow from the law of nature besides that it had baene méet he should haue expressed herein his meaning plainlie yet is the cōsecution of his argument faltie for that it is not necessarie whersoeuer anie of these laws which are deriued immediatlie from the law of nature are vpon anie circumstances dispensed withall or taken awaie that it should be concluded therevpon that The reason the life the soule of the law which is the law of nature is taken awaie For though God whose will is perfect iustice and who prescribeth lawes to other and not to himselfe did appoint the children of Israël to rob the Aegyptians yet this notwithstanding the generall law against theft grounded vpon this reason and law of nature That one man may not hurt or doo iniurie to another was not after this time hereby taken awaie or out of this case dispensed withall Likewise though Moses for the hardnesse of their harts did permit the children of Israël to put away their wiues vpon anie mistike and to marie else where yet was not the reason of the law of matrimonie being reckoned by ciuil law to be the first law of nature cleane taken awaie by this indulgence and dispensation giuen vnto them Yet the Abstractor vpon this false position that None can dispense for pluralitie of benefices but he that may dispense with the reasons wherevpon pluralitie of benefices is forbidden dooth ground as absurd a reason to prooue that none can dispense with the reasons of such prohibition as that is an vntrue assertion in this maner None can alter or dispense with the reasons forbidding pluralities but he that can alter or dispense with the law of nature and the law of God But no man can alter or dispense An absurd reason with the law of nature or with the law of God Therfore none can alter or dispense with the reasons forbidding pluralities Which argument I was content a little to helpe and to frame in this forme though he had made it much woorse and in diuerse respects contrarie to rules of Logike For he did put a part of the Medium in the conclusion where he saith Dispense with the reasons of either of them to wit the law of nature or law of God which is the Medium of his syllogisme had put in also Quatuor terminos For in the one proposition he nameth The equitie of the law of God in the other onlie The law of God The consecution of his Maior he prooueth hereby Bicause the reasons which forbid pluralities are taken from the law of nature and the equitie of the law of God The one part of his Minor that No man can alter or dispense with the law of God he prooueth by this Bicause the will of God is the onelie cause of the law of God and his onelie will the rule of all iustice vnchangeablie Now concerning the forme of his argument it is verie absurd such as anie child of ten yéeres old being in the Unsuersities can tell him to be Neither in mood nor figure consisting wholie of negatiue propositions and therefore dooth no more follow than this argument No man is without sense No stone is a man Ergo No stone is without sense And bicause the matter of this reason here by him deliuered is one of his chéefest fortresses and bulworks of this treatise by him opposed against Pluralities though I persuade my selfe neither he nor anie other shall euer be able to frame a sound reason vpon these termes yet it shall not be amisse a little to examine also the pith of all these his last seuerall assertions which he taketh as vndoubted truths And first that None may dispense for pluralities but such as may also dispense with the reasons that doo forbid them may apparentlie be shewed to be false by infinite positiue lawes which may be changed abrogated or dispensed with though the reasons wherevpon they were grounded be not subiect to such alteration or qualification but onelie then declared vpon some circumstances necessarilie weighed to cease or not to haue place in such especiall cases Naturaliter obligamur ad antidora we are euen by c. § consuluit in l. sed si lege 25. ff de petit haered nature bound to recompense one good turne with another * Xenoph. li. 1. Cyri. Seneca li. 3. de beneficijs c. 6. In which respect amongst the Persians and Macedonians there laie an action against him which should shew himselfe vnthankfull
denie as vntrue both his Minor the Antecedent and also Consecution whereby he would prooue it For he would prooue Churches to be established and distinguished by the Lord himselfe bicause Though the limits of parishes be bordered by man and that a certeine number of people called to make one congregation and to heare at one time in one place one certeine pastor be at the rule and disposition of man yet that these things should be thus done is the speciall commandement of the Lord. As if he should saie Though it be so yet it is not so For how dooth this follow God hath commanded Churches to be established and distinguished Ergo he did establish and distinguish them more than these like reasons God commanded there should be places comelie and decent for holie assemblies Ergo he himselfe built all our faire churches Or God commanded euerie man to get his liuing by the sweat of his owne browes Ergo God getteth euerie mans liuing by the sweat of his owne browes Yet would I also gladlie learne where this Speciall commandement vnto men for the Bordering out of their parishes and for a certeine number of people to be called to heare one certeine pastor may be found But I will take that which he here yéeldeth and prooue thereby contrarie to his intent that the law of man may yéeld seuerall congregations vnto one pastor Whosoeuer hath the rule and disposition of bordering out parishes of calling a certeine number of people to heare at one time in one place one certeine pastor and may lawfullie take awaie and vnite churches and liuings where they be too little and diuide them where they be too great he may as lawfullie assigne the like or greater number of people to heare one man at seuerall times and in seuerall places which is that which is called pluralitie bicause of the partie of reason Quia contrariorum eadem est scientia But man * as the Abstractor here confesseth hath the rule and Pag. 123. 124. disposition hereof and may lawfullie doo the one Therefore man may lawfullie doo the other and consequentlie grant a pluralitie But he seemeth to reason against this which he saw must needs follow of his owne assertion by an allusion from a naturall bodie in which it were monstrous to haue one head set vpon two bodies and that therefore it is as vnfitting a thing in a politike bodie and consequentlie for one shéepeheard to haue manie flocks But if this be the onelie fault then let him call both the flocks but one as to this intent and purpose yet none can be ignorant how slender reasons such allusions be and what insinite absurdities would follow if we should vrge a conformitie in all points betwixt a naturall and a politike bodie For then were it also a monstrous thing for one king to rule ouer two seuerall and distinguished kingdomes and when the king who is the head dieth the common-wealth also should decaie withall But that the distinction of parishes is indeed onelie of the meere positiue lawe of man besides that which the Abstractor himselfe péeldeth whose confession must needs be strong against himselfe it may appeare by Platina who setteth downe in what Bishop of Rome his time they were first distinguished And therefore a famous Canonist * Abb. inrub de Paroch saith Though Bishoprikes and prouinces were diuided before Christes time yet parishes were afterward diuided So that vpon good * Gl. in c. 1. di 10. in c. mâ—lli dist 93. Abb. in c. audientiaÌ„ Ext. de eccles aedific Card. c. auaritie in finde praeb cause and with consent required one parish may lawfullie be diuided into two parishes by the Bishop And Rebuff who hath furnished out our author with all his stuffe of this treatise and therefore may not be by him refused being by himselfe produced a witnesse telleth vs that although it be a part of the law of nature and of God to haue a liuing allotted for the ministerie and dooing of the office yet * 13. q. 1. c. 1. Panor in c. olim Ext. de consuetud Benefices are brought in by law positiue and therefore about them dispensations are tolerable And the glosse * Gl. in verbo aut in electa c. nec monerus 10. q. 3. saith that diocesses or parishes were distinguished by Dionysius Where vpon in like maner may be gathered that it is lawfull vpon iust cause especiallie and the vtilitie of the church so requiring to permit vnto one sufficient man two seuerall parishes bicause otherwise they were not able perhaps seuerallie to mainteine a man of qualitie and for the scarsitie of such men in regard of the seuerall parishes in England they should be but slenderlie furnished though with two yet both perhaps more insufficient men by manie degrées 11. Section Pag. 124 125. IN this section he laboureth to ouerthrow the dispensations for mo benefices by the definition of a dispensation Which is not auailable being done by anie besides Him that hath authoritie which the Archbishop of Canturburie he saith cannot haue though the act of parlement haue so enabled him bicause he Being a man may not dispense with the positiue lawes of man against pluralities which are all grounded either vpon the law of nature or vpon the law of God and therfore the one must be as immutable as the other In effect thus much neither the makers of the act being men could yéed nor he receiue any such authoritie But what is this else but plainlie to derogate all authoritie from the parlement and from all other states whomesoeuer of establishing any lawes For it is certeine there is no good lawe can be deuised being lawfull to be obserued that hath not his ground either neere or farre off from the lawe of God and of nature And if herevpon it might be gathered that they which are grounded and deriued from thence are subiect no more to mutabilitie than the lawes of God then should it not be lawfull for his Maiestie to take to The Abstractor derogateth from hir Maiesties prerogatiue and the common law hir selfe felons goods and traitors lands from the children of the male factor for whome he had prouided them For it is the law of God and of nature for parents to prouide for their children Upon the commandements against murther and theft are these secondarie lawes drawne that he which committeth such offenses shall suffer the penaltie of death Which penaltie neuerthelesse the prince dooth and may lawfullie pardon bicause they are but positiue lawes shewing in what maner such crimes shall be punished and are prouided for the benefit of the common-weale to ensue by cutting awaie such vnprofitable members and by terrifieng others thereby from offending And yet in some especiall case the common-weale may receiue more damage and hurt by the taking awaie of some men who may happen in that maner to offend than it can receiue profit by their death Upon which or like
his forces were nothing but a volée of colubrines puffed and hissed off with serpentine powder of a spitefull toong fitter to scare children than to atchiue anie such enterprise Where vpon this neuerthelesse may be gathered that he imagineth there is cause whie it should be thought that the statutes of the realme are more loose in permitting pluralities which he so detesteth than the verie canon law it selfe He answereth this point of our statutes which establisheth dispensations with a wish and a praier That these lawes might be respected and that the law of England might rule an English man in this case Pag. 126 But whie dooth he then inforce as afore that they must receiue interpretation and addition from the common ecclesiasticall law And whie dooth he seeke to deface them as Inconstancie vngodlie contrarie to nature and permitting things vnlawfull Whereby he would steale awaie The clappers of these bels that they should not sound and would vntie their bands which should tie him and others more short vp to the obseruation and due estimation of them For if there be anie lawes that doo not Sound or bind they are such especiallie as he his clients not onlie dailie breake but doo gnaw vpon in their conuenticles and barke at in their publike speeches And here this wrangler confesseth in discourse which he denieth in the title of his treatise that some Dispensations are tollerable for qualified men in cases of necessitie of conueniencie for the honor of hir Highnesse person and being warranted by scripture Touching the first of these the statute in truth restraineth it to dispensations vnto the princes person in cases vnwoont but not contrarie to the law of God Concerning the second the words of the statute Are necessarie c vpon due examinations of the causes and qualities of the persons which after is left in some part to the Archbishops discretion The Falsificatiō third is more wressed than the former for the words are thus Not contrarie or repugnant to the holie scriptures and lawes of God In stéed whereof he saith they must be warranted by them Whereas in truth manie things be not contrarie nor repugnant to Gods word which are not positiuelie and expresselie warranted there otherwise than that nothing is to the contrarie And no lesse than the former is that vntrue and contrarie to the statute where in saieng that the Archbishop may dispense if he will in some cases not contrarie to the word he would insinuate that he needeth not at any time ercept he list And these things thus by him corrupted he dooth before he come to his breefe reasons recapitulate as falselie almost as he had done before The Minor of his first syllogisme of the three being vnture and to be denied wherein he assumeth the Hauing of manie benefices or non residencie to be repugnant to the lawes of God though he haue not named non residencie afore he telleth vs if we may beléeue him that he hath alreadie prooued By infallible conclusions of law and vndoubted truthes of the word of God Yet his lawes alledged doo not once mention repugnancie with the word and scripture Pag. 121 And out of scripture to this purpose he hath alledged none but one place out of the first to the Corinthians that ministers ought to haue maintenance But he inforceth this matter by this argument as I doo gather it Whatsoeuer cause or matter is repugnant to the word of God is by statute vndispensable The cause or matter of hauing manie benefices is repugnant to the word of God namelie ambition pride couetousnes perill of soules c Therefore the cause or matter of hauing manie benefices is by statute vndispensable First to speake to the matter hereof the Minor is vntrue bicause the sufficient maintenance of the minister and the enioieng of a preacher rather than none are the immediate impulsiue causes of permission to enioy mo benefices But if pluralitie should be an efficient cause of ambition pride couetousnes perill of soules c which it cannot be otherwise than Per accidens by indirect occasion then are these vices effects of it and not they causes thereof as here is auowched But if we should admit these crimes to be causes of hauing mo benefices then would I grant his conclusion that the Archbishop may not dispense with those enormities whereof neuerthelesse will not follow but that he might this notwithstanding dispense with hauing of mo benefices being but the effect as he supposeth To the A fallacie of equiuocatiō sorme I answer that it is Paralogisticall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vpon the diuersitie of signification of the word Cause which in his Maior and the statute is taken for the matter it selfe to be dispensed with so it be not repugnant to Gods word but in the Minor of this argument it is taken by relation to the effect of that matter which is to be dispensed with for the verie reason of the prohibition it selfe In his second syllogisme I haue shewed afore out of the statute that the Maior is by him fained For neither is any mention made of Peace or conseruation neither is The wealth and profit of the realme spoken of there in all dispensations absolutelie but in cases vnwoont and vnto the person of the prince And yet his Minor proposition thereof is also vnsufficientlie vpholden For the enioieng of two benefices is as far off from making vp such follie and wealthie prelats as they doo seeme onelie vnto the left enuious eie of this Detractor as this assertion is from the truth that Hereby stipendarie curats and poore ministers are kept in beggerie For it may be their allowance is according to the measure of their sufficiencie and it is verie small indeed if it be not more than he himselfe thinketh them worthie of who holdeth most of such curats for no ministers at all neither in fact nor lawe But if it were granted that some such as are too meanlie prouided for might be placed in some seuerall benefices that are enioied by another dooth he thinke that the releeuing of him hereby will ease the common-wealth or profit the church as much as the abridging of sufficient maintenance will decaie both the number and abilities of our best grounded and most learned diuines who are onelie fit to impugne the errours and heresies of poperie and of other sects His second reason of proportion drawne from diuerse other mysteries and trades forbidden to be exercised by one rich and mightie man to the intent to prooue that a damage groweth to the common-wealth by one mans enioieng of two poore benefices which can be accounted indeed but one trade if it be a sound reason of iustice and equitie as it is pretended it will not onelie inferre that a seuerall gift and facultie of learning is required for euerie seuerall congregation as the cunning in seuerall trades is different but also must inforce an vnlawfulnesse in all sorts of men to
inioy seuerall lordships or any inequalitie of possessions and substance whatsoeuer bicause manie of The poorer sort might liue of such possessions in one mans hand well and honestlie in the common-wealth which is a bitter roote of the wéed of Anabaptisticall equalitie and communitie The last reason which he bringeth for proofe of his second Minor is taken from the conueniencie of fulfilling the deads wils and testaments as though all foundations and dotations of churches had béene by last wils and testaments onelie established and as though they had especiallie regarded by their said wils the seruing of those churches by pastors continuallie resiant and not hauing anie liuing elsewhere But I praie you how was it lawfull for the latter men to alter the wils of the former founders by making new distinctions of parishes and allotments of liuings if other parishes and liuings were established before as he absurdlie seemeth to fansie euen by God himselfe And why should he be so carefull for the fulfilling of their wils who for the most part in time of ignorance in regard onelie of massing for their soules rather than for teaching of the people and vpon opinion of meriting heauen thereby did erect and endow churches perhaps with some little glebe though the chiefest benefit doo arise by tythes Seeing he is of opinion that a matter grounded vpon anie cause or reason is of like nature and His reason retorted vpon himselfe condition with the reason it selfe so that if the cause and reason wherevpon they grounded their building and endowment of churches be impious then euen the things themselues shall be stained with like impietie and not woorthie thus to be tendered by him But this his supposall is in deed a verie weake and slender coniecture not worth the name of a presumption and meerelie consisting in fact without proofe And it might be better gathered seeing pluralities within these last six hundred yéeres in compasse of which time most churches haue béene built were verie rife as may appeare by lawes especifieng multitudes of benefices incroched and reteined without all licence or toleration that patrones of churches could not be ignorant thereof and therefore meant to prouide for no such matter which otherwise they would haue expressed and met with either in dotation composition or by testament And hee might with more colour vse this reason euen against the iust dissolution of religious houses being directlie and expreslie contrarie to the mind of the founders yet with no better authoritie warranted than dispensations for pluralities both of them euen by act of parlement And therefore as the three seuerall Minor propositions of these his last syllogismes built vpon these vnsure and feeble grounds for the proofe of the Minor in his second syllogisme afore are to be denied so are the verie Maior propositions all thrée brought as grounds to build the other vpon as weake themselues as these which should be vnderpropped by them For the great riches of some few is no small occasion why some other doo want which might haue more plentie if all the wealth of the richest in the land were distributed abroad in the world and yet are they necessarie for the profit and conseruation of the common-weale which consisteth by inequalities as the wise doo know which may serue also for answer of his second Maior although he which by especiall priuilege hath some two liuings assigned vnto him can not properlie be said to enioy manie mens liuings or any more than that which is his owne by law The like is to be affirmed of the dispositions in last wils and testaments as though whatsoeuer did preiudice them being made to lawfull and holie vses could not be accompted necessarie to the welth and profit of the realme For if a man would deuise and bequeath to neuer so lawfull and holie vses his lands holden In capite in chiualrie or entailed or another mans lands or goods which course is allowed of by the ciuill law yet is it thought necessarie in law for the wealth and profit of this land that in some part the one and that the other should wholie be encountered So dooth the ciuill lawe disannull and reuerse a testament contriued neuer so solemnelie or to how good and godlie vses soeuer if the testators sonne be omitted or be without iust cause disinherited in it or if a some be borne within ten moneths after his death of the bodie of his wife Thus hauing as shortlie as I could run ouer his reasoning it resteth to shew that by the statute law of this land which is the iudgement of the whole church common-weale representatiuelie dispensations for pluralities are lawfull First the * 21. H 8. ca. 13. statute 21. Hen. 8. saith that men so qualified as is there prescribed may take and receiue two benefices with cure of soule by dispensation and therfore it cannot be vnlawfull But if it be answered as the Abstractor goeth about to doo that all * 25. H. 8. ca. 21. dispensations are by a later statute restrained sauing such as be not contrarie or repugnant to the scriptures intending withall this kind of dispensation to be vngodlie and against the word of God this may be refelled easilie by the preamble of the said latter statute where it is affirmed To stand with naturall equitie and good reason in all and euerie lawes humane made within this realme or induced by custome that the parlement should haue authoritie not onlie to dispense but also to authorize some elect person or persons to dispense with those all other humane lawes of this realme and with euerie one of them as the qualities of the persons and matter shall require Now the iudgment of the parlement is that the lawes prohibiting one man to inioy mo benefices are but humane agréeablie vnto that which to this end I haue set downe but namelie in the glosse last before alledged and therefore that it may be dispensed with it is hereby verie euident in that this latter statute calleth all these dispensations so authorized An ordinance by policies necessarie and conuenient and dooth againe establish the act for dispensations in these words That the same act for pluralities non residencies of benefices euerie thing therin conteined shall stand good and effectuall to all intents which they could not without manifest contrarietie newly strengthen if these prohibitions of mo benefices were not by humane law onelie but had béene prohibited also by the law of God himselfe 15. Sect. Pag. 135 136 137 138 139 140. THE Minor proposition of the third syllogisme pag. 133. that It is not for the honor and suertie of hir Highnes person to leaue any maner of authoritie for the Archbishop to dispense he goeth about to prooue bicause the statute conteineth A contrarietie and absurditie And before he come thus farre he affirmeth that this is To set an English Archbishop in the roome of the pope ouer the king and his subiects and to
places it is not obscurelie signified that both he might haue exacted his entier maintenance of them that they in dutie were bound to procure him in all necessarie worldlie reliefe Furthermore we Inconstancie are to note that he which could find but two causes of dispensations before hath now light vpon two more He alledgeth also to prooue that Pouertie is no sufficient cause of dispensation the saieng of the apostle applied by the law that A man hauing food and raiment ought to be ther with content Wherevnto if he will assume that those who purchase dispensations for mo benefices haue these things afore wherwith therfore they ought to hold themselues content then will it being scripture and not spoken of ecclesiasticall men alone but of all whomsoeuer as well serue to prooue that no man may séeke be the meanes neuer so honest the bettering of that his estate wherein he is at the verie first settled And yet is it not meant of anie food how little or anie apparell how meane soeuer but of a sufficiencie in both according to the calling and degrée of the person and is but set downe to meet with the couetous vnmeasurable and distrustfull desire of riches which when we haue atteined them in highest measure can yeeld none other necessarie vse at all but that which tendeth either to the one or the other Now he going on this course saith that he which knowing the smalnesse of a liuing hath vndertaken it hath therby debarred himselfe of all iust cause to forethinke him séeing it was his owne follie to prouide at the first no better for himselfe Which he prooueth by no other ground but that which hath beene answered before And if none of this will serue yet will he by examples of two men shew that no pluralitie-man wanteth liuing or may pretend anie necessitie but so childishlic ridiculouslie that I am faine euen to blush in his behalfe For when a man hath alreadie a pluralitie of benefices as he surmiseth though they may be such as be farre from a competencie The Abstractor his foolish malicious mirth of liuing then there is no likelihood that he would desire that which he hath or more which can not be had or yet alledge or pretend want when it is as far supplied as law dooth yeeld But if these two whosoeuer with whom he thus plaieth vpon enuie no doubt to the great gifts of God in them and malice to their persons neither iustlie can nor yet will pretend anie want of liuing but will humblie and thankfullie acknowledge in modestie that God hath dealt verie mercifullie with them aboue manie of their bretheren dooth it hereof follow that none other hauing but one benefice can iustlie pretend insufficiencie of maintenance whereby he may be induced by ordinarie meanes to procure an increase thereof O shallow and barren pate or else brasen forehead which dare thrust out into this learned age such doltish yet malicious fooleries But we may sée by his dealing here that there is more lustie spirits in this man than are leapes in a beare 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now therefore to answer his mild question in the like key may a melancholike mate a shifting corner-creeper who in corporat townes where he commeth is of all spices most afraid of mace whose credit is so cracked that euerie man will be as readie to giue him trust vpon the paring of his nailes or pawning of an old razor as vpon his single bond whose learning in law is not woorth a liard whose reasoning is rude whose modestie is not woorth a mite may I saie such a sonne of the earth with toleration of good men in an infamous libell renew the practise of the old comedie and plaie both foole and vice himself cynicallie to nip such men as is thought he dooth in this plaie in comparison of whom he is in all respects but riffe raffe and as base as a verie dishclout If he be such as I haue described who hath doone them this iniurie then doo I bowle at him would hit him full patch But if there be none such then I doo onlie aske the question and put the case But whosoeuer they be that will speake and write which they ought not let them be assured that in the necessarie defense of the good and learned whom they thus maliciouslie doo traduce they shall heare that which they would not nor yet happilie looke for But their iniustice which he exclaimeth of and will as he saith Descrie and discouer by law he had need for the couering of his owne shame and his corrupt or loose dealing to decrie and call backe againe For the verie * Gl. in verb. tenues c. ean◠te Ext. de etate qual glosse vpon the place which belike made him vnwilling to quote it dooth bewraie his packing and fond collection as though there were no cause of reteining mo benefices but when they are verie small whereas that verie glosse gathereth in a verse other causes also which I haue touched afore Paupertas pendens defectus gratia seruans Ecclesias retinere duas dat quodlibet horum And bicause he saw that this ouerthrew his former deuise whereby he affirmed that a man hauing once made choise of a benefice be it great or small might not séeke anie augmentation therefore as a pope which is fained to haue all lawes and interpretations In scrinio pectoris he taketh vpon him to declare that this lawfull inioieng of two small benefices is to be vnderstood onlie when as the one of them being a competent liuing at his entrance is by some casualtie afterwards impouerished euen cleane contrarie to the circumstance of the place and so by his owne bold surmise he dareth to distinguish against law where the law maketh no such distinction Which like dexteritie also dooth he handle that matter where it may iustlie be said that churches are to the effect afore mentioned small in reuenue For * 10. q. 3. 6. vnio the canon which he hath wrong quoted dooth not once mention smalnesse in reuenue which he would haue vs beléeue that it goeth about to define but onlie a politike direction is there set downe in a councell according to the vse of those times for Bishops to looke vnto in vniting of parishes which were meet to be gouerned by one priest Ecclesia quae vsque ad decem habuit mancipia super se habeat sacerdotem quae verò minùs alijs coniungatur ecclesijs That church which at the least had ten seruants or bondmen let it haue a priest ouer it and that which hath lesse let it be ioined vnto other churches That which this canon setteth downe for an estimat of some sufficiencie of reuenue by the bondment belonging to the propertie of the church the Abstractor ignorantlie and vntrulie dooth transtate Corrupt ignorant translations Housholds and would hereby gather wheresoeuer ten housholds be that there the ministers maintenance
Ordinaries priuitie or where two beneficed persons in good and plaine meaning without allowance of the cause by the Ordinarie doo deale about a change of their benefices or where a man is circumuented by suborned witnesses and depriued for it without remedie of appellation and the ill dealing is detected afterward In which in like cases it is meet that they should be restored to their ministerie and liuing if they be otherwise vnspotted and be profitable to the church And I verelie doo persuade my selfe that hir Maiestie would be loth in such cases to haue them depriued that the might haue the first-fruits of their benefices as the Abstractor dishonorablie would insâ—â—uat Yea and those also are directlie within compasse of that simonie which we call Mentalis of mind onelie which sée well inough what is meant by their patrons but willinglie doo winke and so enthrall themselues by large bonds to their patrones vpon warning prefixed to resigne either to grant a lease for a little to paie or to packe Whom assuredlie I doo so little pitie that I thinke them as vnworthie to obteine a dispensation for dallieng with the law and their owne conscience as those other merchants which bluntlie go to worke agree with their patrone pitch and paie That dispensations for manie benefices which is the last of the three is a decrease of hir Maiesties reuenues he would prooue thus bicause they being hereby in a few mens hands doo not fall void so often as they would doo if euerie seuerall man had a seuerall benefice and thereby hir Highnes first-fruits are not so often paid ouer as they might be For the discussing of which weightie point let vs imagine that a hundred men haue two hundred benefices and on the other side that two hundred men haue two hundred benefices Now can anie man giue a reason why it is not as likelie that ten men of the one hundred shall die in one yeare as twentie of the two hundred seeing it is the same proportion Then I praie you what difference or alteration to hir Highnesse treasure is it whether twentie benefices fall void by the death of ten men or the same number become void by the death of twentie seuerall persons in one yeare So that if hereby there arise no diminution and the taxe for the dispensation be an increase of the reuenues then shall the Abstractors argument Ab vtili be found to be scarse to his owne honestie and credit And if the time of expectance of the auoidance of his benefices which hath two did worke anie diuersitie betwixt the two cases yet were this delaie of time sufficientlie recompensed vnto hir Maiestie by the taxe of dispensation paid to hir cofers Yea if those which haue mo benefices doo fat vp and grease themselues as he afore obiecteth hir Maiestie shall be in great likelihood to haue first-fruits paid ouer for both their benefices much sooner than for him that liueth vpon one more â—rugallie and sparinglie yea and further these times are so quarelsome that by one quirke or other of circumstance about them and their dispensations which haue two benefices more auoidances a great deale doo happen than in such seuerall benefices which are and haue beene inioied for the most part by seuerall men as dailie experience teacheth Now for the better remouing of a scruple which happilie might be obiected by some vnskilfull man against all dispensations priuileges indulgences exemptions pardons and immunities whose effects are either To benefit to exempt to helpe or to release I hope it will not seeme impertinent to speake something For it may be alledged that the office and nature of a law is generallie and in common to ordeine concerning the guiding of the affaires of men as Aristotle teacheth in his Politikes And the law a L. 5. ff de legibus saith that Lawes are to be applied rather to those matters which happen easilie often than to those which chance but seldome And b L. 1. ibid. againe A law is a common commandement where vpon it séemeth that the old lawgiuers among the Romans as holding it vnequall to set downe lawes which were not to reach indifferentlie vnto all in generall did c 12. Tabule decrée thus Priuilegia ne irroganto let no priuileges be granted In which respect a d L. 16. ff de legibus priuilege is described That it is a singular right or law which for some vtilitie by authoritie of the lawmakers established against the tenor of reason Whereby it might séeme that all immunities are vnlawfull But it is to be answered hervnto that the naturall iustice and reason wherby mans mind is directed vnto ciuill societies dooth not alonelie rest in the generalitie of lawes but aduisedlie weieth by the circumstances whether right to all men be well distributed in them whervpon the Graecians called the law vouâ— as it were a distribution So that if anie person vpon something especiallie considerable be not well and iustlie prouided for vnder the common and generall precept of lawe then he is to be respected â—â— a priuate and speciall law wherevpon the name of â—â—â—â—â—lege floweth Quasi priua id est priuata lex as 〈◊〉 Romans vsed to speake For not onelie they but all other nations as they afterwards grew more prudent daie by daie through long experience and vse of things did well perceiue that no law generallie written without all moderation by circumstances occurrent could possiblie but deliuer in stéed of right oftentimes plaine iniurie and tyrannie according to that common prouerbe Omne ius habet annexam gratiam Euerie law hath or ought to haue grace and sauour annexed an * L. respiciendum ff de poenis example also whereof is reported in law and therefore sumum ius est summa iniuria Exact and precise law is great iniurie being once disioined from equitie And therefore those words Against the tenor of reason are not to be vnderstood as though a priuilege were against naturall equitie but bicause it is an abridgement or exception of the generall principles and rules of law which are grounded vpon reason Neither yet so as though it did cléerelie contrarie and impugne the reason of the common and generall law which it onelie dooth in some appearance but being considered vpon other good grounds it is for the most part verie agréeable to reason right and equitie which may be made plaine by this one example It is of common right and equitie For euerie * L. 1. ff de pactis instit de fideiuss in princ man to keepe touch to performe promise and to satiffie the credit giuen him either in his owne or in an others behalfe Yet if we should comprehend children vnder age in the generalitie of this rule who be subiect by reason of their tender yeares and slender discretion to be circumuented and manifoldlie ouer-reached it were a verie vniust and vnequall law And therefore seeing there is such inequalitie betwixt them and men of riper yeares the same rule cannot without iniusties alike perteine vnto them both so that it is méet by some exemption and speciall priuilege that their tender yeares should be considered and prouided for To conclude neither are all priuileges and dispensations against reason or right neither hath the Abstractor sufficientlie prooued any of these particulars of this treatise which here he dooth recapitulate and rehearse but much lesse hath he prooued his principall issue that Dispensations for manie benefices are vnlawfull Which at the closing vp of all for verie shame he was forced a little to change by pretending to haue spoken all this while of Two or mo benefices and not of Manie as the verie title which he hath prefixed to his treatise and his whole discourse therevpon dooth plainelie import FABIVS Foelices essent artes si de illis soli artifices iudicarent FINIS Quorundam vocabulorum semiclausularum recognitio Pag. Lin. Recognitio 6 16 Of 9 31 legatine 45 1 mustered 64 13 euer 64 30 whence 57 36 from other churches 58 24 sound 69 22 where 71 21 hir 73 17 holdeth not when 76 25 yet with this 82 17 seeketh 105 7 deposition 105 23 legatine 110 4 end 111 22 Bishop 117 9 altercation 117 11 matter 121 7 tossing 127 15 deconship 136 16 generallie it is 161 29 for him not to 191 3 or 193 24 vtilitie 196 34 Apostatare 227 19 deodans 228 13 as being 257 13 aboue 295 19 no man taketh this honour 318 31 the dust of the féet of their seniorie Addatur 3. lineâ— termino in pag. 227. istud subsequens Ergo without a dispensation it is not lawfull to enioy mo benefices