deputed to the Episcopall or ordinary jurisdiction and not reserved to the jurisdiction of the crowne or cognisance of the high commission Ratio 4 My fourth reason my Lord is taken from his Majesties commission granted to and pleaded by the commissioners which gives unto them onely a particular and a limited jurisdiction consisting in certaine Ecclesiasticall causes and certaine particuler offences against certaine particular lawes and not a generall jurisdiction in and over all Ecclesiasticall causes and offences as large and spatious as the canons and Ecclesiasticall lawes themselves And this will appeare my Lord by a particular enumeration of all the severall branches of the commission it selfe But this would bee a great labour and will be altogether needlesse whether the Defendants can shew any such branch of their commission or not for if they cannot shew any such branch of their Commission then doubtlesse the labour will bee needlesse seeing the proofe lies on their side no proofe being made sufficet neganti ut neget dummodo non probetur in contrariū And if they can shew any such branch of their commission then it shall suffice to confute that branch when the defendants or their counsell shal produce it I confesse my Lord that the Commission dated 11. Iacobi extends as far as the canons ecclesiasticall lawes themselues in cases concerning the reformation of Ministers for it gives in expresse termes power and authority to the commissioners to punish a Minister for any fault committed in his owne cure or else where that is punishable by the Ecclesiasticall lawes of the Land but I am sure my Lord that there is no such branch in the commission pleaded by the Defendants and therefore in that very respect if in no other an information lies good against the commissioners and this court hath rightly assigned me for a prosecutor in an information against the commissioners for going beyond their commission And if there were any such branch in their commission that branch under favour were void because it is contrary to the sence and meaning to the scope and drift to the very letter and text of the 1 of the 1 Eliz. the statute whereupon their commission is grounded as shall now appeare by my next and Ratio 5 Fifth reason which is taken from the 1 of the 1 Eliz. and from the 19 of the 25. of Hen. 8. reviv'd in the first of Eliz. and therefore whatsoever the 1 of the 1 Eliz. doth particularly and expressly establish by reviving the 19 of the 25. of Hen. the 8. It is to bee presumed that it doth not in the same statute afterwards by generall tearmes abrogate for that were to make that statute like the high commission sentence against me to be at variance with it selfe and to have our part contrary to another why then my Lord seeing the first of the first of Eliz. by reviving the 19 of the 25. of Hen. 8. doth particularly and expressly allow unto the ordinary with in his diocesse a generall jurisdiction in reference to the canons and Ecclesiasticall lawes of this land It is not to bee supposed that in the following parts of that statute the Parliament did afterwards by generall tearmes take that away from the ordinary and therefore those insuing generall words which enables the King to nominate commissioners and by his commissioners to reforme and correct all manner errors heresies schismes faults offences enormities which by any manner of power or authority may be reformed doe not make voide the the former statute and generall jurisdiction of the ordinary but only shew that be the fault never so great so that the ordinary by vertue of his subordinate jurisdiction cannot sufficiently punish it yet it may be sufficiently punished by the Kings supreame jurisdiction within the land without going to the Pope out of the land for by that paragraph that is invested in the crowne which by the former paragraph was abolished and extinguisht in others and in the former paragraph all forraigne usurped power onely and not the ordinary jurisdiction is extinguisht So that by those former generall wordes such grear grievous and enormous crimes onely as the ordinary by vertue of his subordinate jurisdiction cannot sufficiently punish may be brought to the high Commission court and there fully punisht and yet the former statute and generall jurisdiction of the ordinary remaine whole and intire namely that breaches of Cannons or of Canonicall obedience unto the Canons belong to the jurisdiction of the ordinary and that be within his diocesse hath power to punish any fault punishable by the Ecclesiasticall lawes of this land And this interpretation My Lord is warranted first by the very title of that statute which is an act to restore unto the crowne the ancient jurisdiction over the state Ecclesiasticall and for abolishing all forraigne power repugnant to the same not for abolishing the ordinary jurisdiction which is subordinate unto it but for abolishing all forraigne power repugnant to the same And the abolishing of the one and the restoring of the other is the whole and sole cause and occasion of that statute as is more fully exprest in the beginning of that statute where the Lords Spirituall and Temporall and the Commons do all acknowledge that from the 25. yeare of Henry the 8. at which time all forraigne usurped power was by divers good lawes and statutes abolisht and the ancient Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction fully restor'd and united unto the Crowne they were kept in good order and were disburdened of divers great and intollerable charges and axactions untill such time as the aforesaid good laws an Statutes made since the 20. yeare of Henry the eight by one act in the first and second of Philip and Mary were all cleerely repeal'd whereby as they there complaine they were againe brought under an usurped forraigne power and yet remaine in that bondage to their intolerable charges if some releife be not had and provided and thereupon they supplicate that both the foresaid statute of repeale may be repealed and the foresaid good laws and Statutes for abolishing all forraigne usurped power and for restoring the ancient Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction unto the Crowne may be revived In all which there is not any one word spoken against the Ordinary jurisdiction but onely against forraigne usurped power and this being the onely greivance and the totall occasion of that law must direct us in the interpretation of that law for occasio legis indicat mentem legislatoris sensum legis Secondly by the oath of Supremacy extant in the same statute and made for the same purpose namely to abolish all forraigne power repugnant to the jurisdiction of the Crowne not to abolish the ordinary jurisdiction which is subordinate unto it Thirdly by those generall wordes wherein the Kings jurisdiction is exprest namely by these wordes all errors heresies schismes faults offences enormities which last word doth and must qualifie all the rest and doth shew that by those wordes
obedience unto the canons testantibus ad versarijs the person but meane poore but a Presbyter a minister an incumbent and that onely of a single benefice and never any waies contumacious this matter belongs not to the cognisance of the High commission but to the jurisdiction of the ordinary and then it hath beene all this while coram non judice and so the sentence and whole proceedings are utterly voyd And thus much concerning this first question which my refusall to preach the Archdeacons visitation Sermon if it be a breach of Canonicall obedience begets namely that the breaches of canons or of canonicall obedience to the canons according to the Lawes and customes of his land belong to the jurisdiction of the Ordinary and not to the cognisance of the High commission court or that for the breach of a canon or of canonicall obedience to the canons according to the Lawes and customes of this land men are not to be fetcht from the judgement jurisdiction of the Ordinary up to the High Commission court and there to be fin'd imprisond but are to be left to the judgement and jurisdicton of the ordinary and he to proceede against them according to the power of the Keies Now on the other side my Lord if this my refusall to preach the Archdeacons visitation sermon be no breach of canonicall obedience then it begets this question whether the high commissioners your Lordship this court the Barons of the Exchequer and the Lords of the counsell have power to punish me for that which is no fault no breach of any law And least the high commissioners this court the Barons of the Exchequer and the Lordes of the counsell should all thinke to escape by maintaining the affirmative that they have power to punish me for that which is no fault no breach of any law and peradventure in a desperate case they will not sticke to maintaine a desperate opinion especially seeing your Lordship hath shew'd and lead them all the way For termino trinitatis 1637. When your Lordship delivered your opinion in the especiall verdict betweene Allen and Nash your Lordship not onely affirmed the high commission sentence of deprivation and degradation against me but also maintained that your Lordship and this court were bound to affirme it whether it were true or false grounded upon a cause or upon no cause Therefore my Lord to stoppe up that gap to prevent that starting hole to overthrow that parodox and with one argument to confute those foure Honorable senates whereof the first and the last the high commissioners and the Lords of the counsell challenge as great authority as the King himselfe hath and all of you in this my case usurpe a greater for you all punish me for that which is no fault no breach of any law I must in the first place Thesis 1 shew that no Magistrate whatsoever no not the supreame hath any power prerogative or authority to punish any man within his jurisdiction except it be for some fault some offence some vice some error some evill some sinne some transgression of some law Thesis 2 And secondly I must shew that my refusall to preach the Arch-deacons Visitation Sermon my principall or especiall fault in the judgement of my adversaries is no fault no offence no vice no error no evill no sinne no transgression of any Law whatsoever and that therefore neither the high commissioners your Lordship this court the Barons of the Exchequer the Lords of the counsell nor any other Magistrate whatsoever no not the supreme hath any power prerogative or authority to punish me muchlesse to imprison me for it And for the first of these positions that no Magistrate whatsoever no not the supreame hath any power Thesis 1. Tractatio prerogative or authority to punish any man within his jurisdiction except it be for some fault some offence some vice some error some evill some sinne some transgression of some law this appeares out of the 13. chapter to the Rom. verse 3. where the Apostle speaking of that Magistrate to whom the sword is committed of that Magistrate to whom we pay tribute of that magistrate to whom we must submit not onely for wrath but for conscience sake of that Magistrate to whom every soule is to be subject that is of the soveraigne supreme Monarchicall Magistrate Gods immediate deputy and vicegerent he saith of that Magistrate the Magistrate is not a terror to good workes but to evill wilt thou then be without feare of the power doe well so shalt thou have praise of the same for he is the Minister of God for thy wealth But if thou do evill then feare for he beares not the sword in vaine for he is the Minister of God to take vengeance on him that doth evill Saint Paul then is cleere that no Magistrate whatsoever can justly punish any man except it be for some evill And Saint Peter testifies as much 1 Epist 2. chap. 13. and 14. verses Submit your selves saith he to every ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be unto the King as the supreame or unto governours as them that are sent of him sent of him for what purpose Even for the same purpose that he before is sent of God namely for the punishment of them that doe evill and for the praise of them tbat doe well So that by the expresse word of God no Magistrate whatsoever no not the supreame hath any power prerogative or authority to punish any man within his jurisdiction except it be for some fault some offence some vice some error some evill some sinne some transgression of some law And this much my Lord king Artashast saw by the very light of nature as appeares by the wordes of his Commission granted to Ezra and expressed Ezra 7. chap. 25. 26. verse And thou Ezra after the wisedome of thy God that is in thy hand set Magistrates and Iudges which may judge all the people beyond the river even all that know the law of thy God and teach-yee them that know it not And whosoever will not doe the law of thy God and the law of thy King let judgement be speedily executed upon him whether it be unto death or to banishment to confifcation of goods or to imprisonment In which wordes King Artashast just as Saint Peter and Saint Paul before did gives power unto Ezra to punish men not for well doing but for evill doing no for keeping but for breaking Gods lawes and the Kings not for obedience but for disobedience not for vertue but for vice Nay God himselfe chalengeth no greater prerogative then to reward the observers and to punish the transgressers of his law Cursed be he saith Moses that confirmeth not all the wordes of Gods law to doe them Deut. 27. or as the Apostle expresseth it Gal. 3. Cursed is every man that continueth not in all things which are written in the booke of the law to doe them And if
they onely who breake Gods law be cursed then all those who keep his law must needs be blessed and this much Moses expresly telleth the Israelites Deut. 11. Behold saith he I set before you this day a Blessing and a Curse the Blessing if ye obey the commandements of the Lord your God The Curse if ye will not obey the commandements of the Lord your God And if God the supreme Magistrate of all the world and the creator of all men and Magistrates will not punish any man except it be for some breach of his law how can any of his deputy Magistrates without pride or presumtion arrogate more or chalenge any power prerogative or authority to punish any man for that which is no fault no offence no vice no error no evill no sinne no transgression of any law whatsoever And here now my Lord behold the conformity both of our Kings and of the lawes of our Kingdom unto the word of God in this particuler our (d) King Iames confesseth so much in his speech to the Lords commons at whitehall on Wednesday 21 Martii 1609. p. 12. pag. 13. hee saith all Kings that are not tirants or periured wil be glad to bound them selves within the Jimites of their lawes they that perswad them the contrary are vipers pests both against them and the Common Wealth Kings chalenge no more our lawes made by their owne appointment confirmed by their owne authority which by oath they are bound to maintaine and which his (e) K. Charles in his declaration to all his loving subiects published by the advice of his privy councell 1641. pag. 20. saith wee doubt not it will bee the most acceptable declaration a King can make to his subiects that for our part we are resolved not only duely to observe the lawes Our selfe but to mainetaine them against what opposition soever though with the hazard of our being Majesty professeth he will maintaine against whatsoever opposition with the hazard of his owne being gives them no more This appeares out of the first of the first of Eliz. an act to restore unto the crowne the ancient jurisdiction over the state Ecclesiasticall which Sir Edward Coke in Cawdreys case calls an act onely declaratory and assertory of the ancient jurisdiction of the Crowne not collatory or introductory of any new right And what jurisdiction doth that act restore or more properly declare to be restored to the Crowne Namely all such spirituall and Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction as by any manner spirituall or Ecclesiasticall power or authority hath heretofore beene or may lawfully be exercised for the Uisitation of the state Ecclesiasticall and for the reformation of all manner errors heresies schismes abuses faults offences contempts enormities In which wordes my Lord there are three things expressed incident to the ancient jurisdiction of the Crowne First it is Soveraigne and supreame over and above all excluding and abrogating all forreigne including but not abrogating all domesticke jurisdiction Secondly it is such a jurisdiction as may lawfully be exercised it is not then an unlawfull but a lawfull jurisdiction And Thirdly it is for the reformation of all errors heresies schismes abuses faults offences contempts enormities It is no power then to punish men for truthes for conformity to the doctrine and discipline established for vertues for obedience to the Ecclesiasticall lawes of this land no but for errors heresies schismes abuses faults offences contempts enormities And this my Lord doth likewise appeare by the end of that ancient jurisdiction of the Crowne expressed in that statute which is that all thinges in the Ecclesiasticall courts by vertue of that ancient Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction of the Crowne may be done to the pleasure of Almighty God to the increase of vertue and to the maintenance of the peace and unity of this realme Now my Lord if the end of that ancient jurisdiction of the Crowne be for the maintenance of the peace and unity of this realme then that ancient iurisdiction of the Crowne cannot punish men for peace and unity but for discord and dissention not for obeying the lawes of this land which is a principall meanes to maintaine the peace and unity of this realme but for violating the lawes of the land which is a forcible meanes to breed discord and dissention Againe if the end of that ancient jurisdiction of the Crowne be for the increase of vertue then that ancient jurisdiction of the Crowne cannot punish men for their vertues but for their vices for otherwise that would be a meanes to decrease vertue and to increase vice And thirdly seeing the end of that ancient jurisdiction of the Crowne is that thereby all thinges in the Ecclesiasticall courts should be done to the pleasure of Almighty God and the pleasure of Almighty God as I have before shew'd out of Saint Peter and Saint Paul is that the Magistrate shall not be a terror to good workes but to evill Therefore the ancient jurisdiction of the Crowne cannot punish men for well doing but for evill doing not for keeping but for breaking Gods lawes and the Kings not for obedience but for disobedience not for vertue but for vice And this much my Lord is evident by all lawes for all lawes doe consist of a direction and a punishment and they inflict the punishment onely upon the transgressers not upon the observers of the direction of the law and this the Apostle sheweth in his 1. Epist to Tim. chap. 1. ver 8. We know the law is good if a man use it lawfully howe 's that why thus knowing this saith the Apostle that the law is not given to the righteous but to the lawlesse and disobedient what is not the law given to the righteous yet in respect of the direction not in respect of the punishment for because he observeth the direction of the law he is freed from the punishment of the law but to the lawlesse and disobedient the law is given in respect both of the direction and punishment and because they observe not the direction of the law they and they onely are liable to the punishment of the law and thereupon if any judge shall impose the punishment of the law upon any that doth not violate the direction of the law he crosses and confounds the very law it selfe and incurres that foule fault committed by Aâ—aniae the high Priest and excepted against by Saint Paul Acts. 23. Thou sittest to judge me after the law and contrary to the law commandest thou me to be smitten And therefore my Lord seeing the nature property and purpose of all lawes is to secure the observers and to lay the punishment of the law onely upon the violaters of the direction of the law It is needlesse to alleage any more particuler lawes to prove that which is the scope and intent of all lawes Yet I cannot pretermit one and I will alleage but one law of the land more to this purpose and that 's the
witchcraft and transgression is wickednesse and idolatrie In which wordes my Lord as God require that his word be taken first for a law secondly for an universall law or a law in all thinges and thirdly for a law of that authority that if he command any man to kill a man yea a King the cheife of men and Gods immediate deputy he must doe it and if he doe it not hee sinnes greatly which was Sauls case here So doe the defenders of this arbitrary obedience strive in these three thinges to be similes altissimo to be very Gods First they wil have their bare word to be taken for a law secondly for an universall law or law in all thinges and thirdly for a law of that authority that if they bid kill a man it must be done by them that are under their jurisdiction And this appeares my Lord by a plea or argument stiled the arraignement of the whole society of the Jesuites in France made in the Court of Parliament in Paris the twelfth and thirteenth of Iuly 1594. by Master Anthony Arnould Counsellour for the Vniversity of Paris against the Iesuites wherein he shewes that the Jesuites fourth vow is to obey their generall ubique in omnibus every where and in all thinges and he further addes that the wordes of their fourth vow are that they must acknowledge Jesus Christ present as it were in their generall and that if Jesus Christ should command them to goe and (s) There are above 3000. persons that know that Commoâ— let Preaching at Christmas last in Saint Bartholomewes Church tooke for his theme the third chap. of the booke of Iudges where it is reported that Ehud slew the King of Moab and scaped away and after he had discoursed at large upon the death of the King and exalted and placed amongst the Angels this Tyger this Devill incarnate Iames Clement he fell into a great exclamation we have neede of an Ehud we have neede of an Ehud were he a Frier were he a Souldier were he a Lackey were he a sheapherd it made no matter needes we must have an Ehud one blow would settle us fully in the state of our affaires as we most desire The Arraignement of the whole society of the Iesuites fol. 12. kill they must doe so And to this purpose Ignatius Loyola in his Epist de virtute obedientiae sect 18. gives his Disciples the Jesuites this one generall rule of obedience (t) Statuere debetis vobiscum quicquid superior praecipit ipsius Dei praeceptum esse voluntatem atque ut ad credenda quae Catholica fides propo-nit toto animo assensuque vestro statim incumbitis sic ad ea facienda quaecunque superior dixerit caeco quodam impetu voluntatis parendi cupidae sive ulla prorsus disquisitione feri mini Sic egisse credendus est Abraham filium Issaac immolare iussus Mysteria Patrum Iesuitarum pag. 62. Statuere debetis vobiscum quicquid superior praecipit ipsius Dei praeceptum esse voluntatem c. You must resolve with your selves that whatsoever the superiour commands is the very praecept and will of God himselfe and as you betake your selves with a full mind and assent to beleeve those thinges which the Catholicke faith proposeth so be ye carried with a blind zeale and an obedient will to doe all thinges which the superiour shall say without making any question or disquisition at all for so Abraham is thought to have done being commanded to offer his sonne Isaac in the twentieth section of his former Epist Ignatius Loyola adds (u) Quae de obedientia diximus aeque privatis erga proximos superiores atque rectoribus praepositisque localibus erga Provinciales Provincialibus ergo gralem grali denique erga illum quem ipsi praefecit Deus nempe suum in terâ—is vicarum observanda sunt Ibidem Pag. â—1 Quae de obedientia diximus c. Those thinges which we have said concerning obedience are equally to be observed by private men towards their next superiours by inferiour governours and Rulers of severall places to their provincialls by provincialls to their generall and by the generall to him whom God hath set over him namely to Gods Vicar on earth Here then my Lord we have now the full extent of this religious irreligious blind detestable damnable devillish obedience in two respects in respect of the persons to whom it is due and in respect of the nature of the thing it selfe In respect of the persons to whom it is due it is to be given by every inferiour to every Ecclesiasticall superiour In respect of the nature of the thing it selfe it is a generall and universall obedience to all their commands whatsoever And if we looke a little more perticularly and narrowly into it wee shall find that they extend it sometimes to thinges fond frivolous sometimes to thinges ridiculous and absurd and sometimes to thinges wicked and ungodly First to thinges fond and frivolous an instance hereof we have in Anselmus Arch-bishop of Cant. who after he was bishop of that See wrote to Pope Vrban to appoint him some man according to whose commands he might frame his whole life and Pope Vrban appointed him Edmerus and as Malmesburien in his first booke de gestis pontificum Anglorum in the life of Anselmus saith the Arch-bishop did so much esteeme the command of Edmerus that being in bed he would not so much as rise nay he would not so much as turne himselfe a latere ad latus from one side to the other sine praecepto Edmeri unlesse Edmerus first commanded him and herein the Arch-bishop shewed himselfe a true patterne a lively portraiture of blind obedience For Caeca obedientia est ut quis sit tanquam corpus exanime quod requiescit ubi quis reposuerit sine motu This is blind obedience that a man be like a dead body which rests where it is laid without motion untill it be stirred as my late Lord of Ely Bishop White in his explanation of the Orthodox faith and way cap. 3. parag 13. shewes Secondly they extend it to thinges ridiculous and absurd Ethelwold the Abbot of Abington having set workemen to repaire the Abbey charged one of his Monkes called Elstan to see their diet well prepared for them Thereupon the Monke betakes him into the Kitchin makes it cleane trimmes up the vessels and prepares meat for the workmens dinner a little before dinner the Abbot comes into the kitchin and finding the Monke busie in preparing meate for the workemens dinner askes him what his meaning was The Monke answers that he was yeilding obedience to his command the Abbot replied that he gave him no such command he commanded him only to over-see others not to doe those thinges in his owne person yet he told him that he had done well to let his obedience outstrippe his command but added withall that his obedience was not yet perfect if he would
themselves and in the very same net that they have joyntly laid for mee is their owne foote taken and I am deliver'd Hic est digitus Dei This is the Lords doing and it is wonderfull in my eyes And that all that heare mee may further behold the wonderfull worke of God being acquitted in this first particuler by vertue of Canonicall obedience I am likewise by vertue thereof acquitted in all the rest and that by the testimony of my very adversaries For the defendants themselves confesse that my refusall to preach the Archdeacons visitation Sermon is my principall or especiall fault and therefore by the force of comparison drawne from the adversaries owne estimate whatsoever else they charge mee with must needes be inferiour and accessory and then seeing the principall or especiall fault prooves no fault at all noe breach of any law whatsoever but a vertue and an eminent vertue even the vertue of canonicall obedience all the other being by the testimony of my adversaries which is the strongest proofe against them and for me lesser than that refusall they must needs be vertues and great vertues no faults or vices And yet once againe my Lord behold the wonderfull worke of God qui non tantum liberat innocentes sed etiam capit astutos in astutia sua By vertue of this first particuler I am not onely acquitted but the defendants themselves convicted and found culpable of a double crime First in that they bring into this Orthodox church arbitrary or * 2 Kings c. 6.18.19 ver Patemur sacerdotes non esse audiendos nisi docuerint iuxta legem Domini Canus lib. 3. c. ultimo Beleeve no every spirit but try the spirits whether they are of God 1 Iohn 4. Trie all things and hold fast that which is good 1 Thes 5. Bee not unwise but understand what the will of the Lord is Ephes 5. He that is spirituall discerneth all thinges 1 Cor. 2. you may have a thousand like both places and proofes that the faithfull looke and take heede they be not seduced And except you will excuse the people before God if you mislead them why should you barre them all triall and understanding whether they follow faith unto Salvation or withdraw themselves unto perdition when the blind leadeth the blind and they fall both into the pit of destruction is not he that followeth as sure to perish as he that leadeth Bishop Bilson in his difference betweene Christian subiection and unchristian rebellion 2 Part. pag. 261. blinde obedience and the worst part or kind thereof namely anticanonicall or contracanonicall obedience A thing preiudiciall to Gods glory repugnant to his word contrary to the doctrine and discipline of this Orthodox Church dangerous to the safety of all good Kings good Magistrates good men the introduction of tyranny and slavery and the subversion of all lawfull authority obedience and liberty and lastly the seminary noursery of vices the bane and ruine of vertues and one of the most damnable villanies and profound subtilties that ever Satan brought into the Church of Rome And therefore to be opposed and cried out against by every good man and Minister not onely though he should with me be fin'd imprison'd deprived degraded and excommunicated for it but also though it should be his loâ— to were a Tiburne tippet for it And secondly in that they have called the Canons the oath of canonicall obedience his Majesties letters patents his royall prerogative the first of the first of Elizabeth the 19. of 25. of Henry the eight the oath of supremacy the 37. Article of our Church and the word of God breaches of Canonicall obedience principall or especiall faults greivous and enormous crimes and have fin'd imprison'd deprived degraded and excommunicated a provinciall synode the high Court of Parliament this Orthodox Church of England and his Majesty for in calling my obedience to the former a breach of Canonicall obedience a principall or especiall fault a greivous and enormous crime they doe virtually by consequence and by necessary implication call all the former breaches of Canonicall obedience principall or especiall faults greivous and enormous crimes and in fining imprisoning depriving degrading and excommunicating mee for my obedience to the latter they doe virtually by consequence and by necessary implication fine imprison deprive degrade and excommunicate all the latter for requiring such obedience of mee For as Saint James in his Epist 4. cap. 11. vers saith Hee that speaketh evill of his brother or he that condemneth his brother speaketh evill of the law and condemneth the law which wordes of Saint James are absolutely unavoidable with this limitation he that speaketh evill of his brother or he that condemneth his brother walking according to the law he speaketh evill of the law or condemneth the law according to which his brother walketh and threfore seeing the defendants call my obedience to the word of God and to all the former a breach of canonicall obedience a principall or especiall fault a greivous and enormous crime they doe virtually by consequence and by necessary implication call (m) If you be railed on for the name of Christ blessed are yee for the spirit of glory of God resteth upon you which on their part is evill spoken off but on your part is glorified 1 Pet. cap. 4.14 the word of God and all the former breaches of canonicall obedience principall or especiall faults greivous and enormous crimes and seeing they doe fine imprison deprive degrade and excommunicate me for my obedience to the King and to all the latter they doe virtually by consequence and by neccessary implication fine imprison deprive degrade and excommunicate the King and all the latter for requiring such obedience of mee And so my Lord the defendants have eminently committed that foule fault in these very wordes condemned in the canon law Turpissimum est ut inde nascerentur injuriae ubi iura nascuntur It is a most shamefull thing that Courts of Justice should be courts of injustice and not onely against private persons but also against that Orthodox Church wherein they live against the Churches doctrine and discipline Articles and Canons which ought to be rules not onely to guide the lives and opinions of private men but also to regulate the censures and sentences even of the highest ecclesiasticall Courts And to conclude this point my Lord If to punish for obedience to the word of God to the Articles Statutes Canons to his Majesties Letters Patents Royall prerogative and oath of supremacy be to punish for vertue piety and to beginne that their sentence In the name of God Amen And in the body of the sentence to affirme That they did first call upon the name of Christ And that they had God himselfe alone set before their eyes be to hide iniquity under the cloake of Hypocrisie and fained sanctity Then the high Commissioners have both punisht me for vertue and piety and have covered that
every one to challenge and defend his own right and to repell injurie So did I. And the oath of Supremacie bindes me to the utmost of my power to defend and maintaine all jurisdictions of the Crown and therefore this among the rest that none of the Clergie in their severall jurisdictions can go beyond much lesse contrary to the Canons without incroaching upon the Prerogative royall and supreame Jurisdiction of the Crowne accessory The third The wager And this doth likewise justifie the wager of an hundred pounds laid down to defend the Kings supreame Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction over the Clergie to the utmost of my power according as I was and am expressely bound by the oath of supremacie And for that purpose I have made choice rather to be fin'd imprison'd depriv'd degraded and excommunicated by the High-Commissioners and to endure those tedious delaies and those manifold disgraces indignities and injuries in this Court than by betraying the Kings supremacie to the Arch-deacons usurpation with the High-Commissioners this Court the Barons of the Exchequer and the Lords of the Counsell to violate that oath and so to commit perjury knowing it a thing most acceptable in Gods sight to endure the greatest punishments for to avoid the least sin much more for to avoyd the greatest sin so that set aside this one untrue circumstance there is nothing at all culpable in these three first accessories The manner of speaking and of laying the wager And though the Defendants say that I did speake very malepertly and irreverently to Master Arch-deacon and offered to lay the wager with him in a very arrogant and irrespective maner yet seeing they mention no one particular evill word or deed I hope your Lordship after so many arguments upon the generall sentence of deprivation and degradation and this argument of mine upon the speciall matter will remember that in generalibus latet fraus and vir dolosus versatur in universalibus and will then conceive that that which they say was spoken and done very malepertly irreverently and arrogantly was spoken and done discreetly resolutely and heroically that I might to the utmost of my power defend the Kings supreame Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction over the Clergy according as I was and am expressely bound by the oath of the supremacie and then there is no fault at all either in my words or wager in the things or circumstances But now my Lord though that one circumstance be false and the Defendants according to their own law are not to be credited in the accessories because they have falsified the Law in the principalls Yet my Lord seeing we are now in a demurrer according to the nature of a demurrer let all be granted in these three first accessories that the Defendants themselves affirme Let the words be uttered very malepertly and irreverently let the wager be offered in a very arrogant and irrespective manner let the Archdeacon at the same time be in Saint Margarets Church in Canterburie at the Visitation among the Clergie and sitting there to heare Causes Yet now I will make it appeare by the Defendants owne confession and by a necessary consequence from their confession that in these foure accessories there is no fault at all The Defendants as your Lordship may remember charge me with six particulars amongst which they make my refusall to preach the Visitation Sermon and my maintaining it to be the Arch-deacons duty to preach his own Visitation Sermon the two principall or especiall faults And if they two be the principall and especiall faults then by the force of comparison drawne from the adversaries own estimate the other foure must needs be inferiour and accessory And then if the principall and especiall faults be no faults no breach of any Law much lesse can the inferiours or accessories be any faults or any breaches of Law for si principalis causanon subsistat ea quae sequuntur locum non habent Now I have before shewed that the two principall or especiall faults are no faults but vertues and eminent vertues even the vertues of Canonicall obedience and therefore the other foure being in the Defendants own judgement lesser and inferiour vices than the two former they cannot be any faults but must needs be vertues and greater and superior vertues And the Defendants cannot except against this consequence because it is necessarily drawne from their own estimate and testimony and testimonium ab adversario contra se fortissimum accessory The fourth Now for the fourth and last accessory my refusall to performe the submission conceptis verbis which the Defendants pretend to be a great affront and contempt both to the Kings supremacy and to the High-Commission authority seeing therein I was enjoyned to acknowledge my refusall to preach the Arch-deacons Visitation Sermon at the Arch-deacons and Arch-bishops mandate to be a breach of Canonicall obedience It is certain my Lord that if that my refusall to preach that Sermon be no breach of Canonicall obedience then my refusall to perform that submission conceptis verbis is no affront or contempt either to the Kings or Commissioners authority And if I make good the former the Defendants must of necessity grant the latter And for the cleering of this former it is to be observed that there is a two-fold Canonicall obedience the one due to the Canons only the other to the Prelates mandate according to the Canons To the former we are bound by the Canons themselves and by his Majesties Letters Patents confirming the Canons To the latter we are beside bound by the Prelates mandate and by the oath of Canonicall obedience The breach of the former in all such as submit unto the canons is but only disobedience The breach of the latter is not only disobedience but also contumacie yea and perjury too in all them that have taken the oath of Canonicall obedience This will appeare my Lord by the oath of Canonicall obedience extant in the instrument of my Admission and Institution which I have here to shew wherein the oath runs thus Te primitus de legitima Canonica obedientia nobis successoribus nostris in omnibus licitis honestis mandatis per te praestanda exhibenda ad sancta Evangelia ritè junatum admittimus we admit thee saith the Ordinary having first been rightly sworn by the holy Gospels to perform lawfull and Canonicall obedience to us and our successours in all lawfull and honest mandates In which words my Lord it is first to be observ'd that the thing that I sweare is not arbitrary and blinde obedience that is such obedience as the Prelate shall require by his Dictates whatsoever it be but lawfull and Canonicall obedience that is such obedience as the Canons and Ecclesiasticall lawes of this Land require Secondly that the persons to whom I have sworn are only the Bishop and his successours not the Arch-deacon and therefore though I am bound to yeeld Canonicall obedience to all the Arch-deacons lawfull
of the Exchequer my Lord chiefe Baron sir Humphrey Daverport and the other Barons of the Exchequer refusing to grant me a certiorarj to the High Commition Court to command them to certfie the cause to permit mee to pleade to the foresaid fine did the 10. of May 1633. commit me to the Fleet in execution of the foresaid fine there detained me a full yeare untill I to procure my liberty paid the fourth part of the said fine to Mr. Motershed pecunijs numeratis and stal'd the other three parts to the Kings use And for which and also for a Petition delivered at the Counsell Table to crave justice therein according to his Majesties mandate under sir Edward Powels hand to my Lord chiefe Justice sir Iohn Bramston and the other Judges of the Kings Bench court dated the 29. of December 1635. and delivered with mine owne hand to the said Judges in open Court the first day of Hilary Tearme 1635. I was by my most reverend Diocesan and provinciall William Lord Archbishop of Cant. his Grace and other right Honorable Lords of his Majesties most honorable privie Councell on the third day of February 1636. committed to custodie of the Warden of the Fleet by a warrant wherein no cause of commitment was exprest and there detain'd a prisoner by him untill Trinity Tearme 1639. and then upon an habeas corpus issuing out of the Kings Bench Court I was brought to that court in Trinity Tearme 1639. and the foresaid warrant for my commitment returned and then I was presently bayled and thereby tyed to appeare in court divers daies both that Tearme and the Tearme thence next following and because none of the Kings Counsell in all that time came in against me I was on the last day of that Michaelmas Tearme 1639. delivered from the said baile and imprisonment by the joynt consent of all the Reverend Judges then of that court As I formerly had beene in the same court Termino paschae 1629. after the first two yeares imprisonment upon the foresaid originall matter returned to an habeas and fully debated by Counsell on both sides and Mr Justice Bertley then the Kings Sergeant in open court professing himselfe fully satisfied And for the former originall matter onely may for nothing at all in the judgement of the Law even for the foresaid sentence of deprivation and degradation charging mee with grievous and enormous crimes excesses delicts mentioned in the said Articles and those Articles not given in evidence nor found by the Jury in the speciall verdict betweene Allen and Nash entred upon record in the Kings Bench court termino Sancti michaelis 8. Car. rot 508. my Lord chiefe Justice of that court sir Iohn Bramston did for himselfe and his brethren Termino Trinitatis 1637. affirme the foresaid sentence and deliver his opinion against me for the intruder Robert Carter Whence it followeth that if the Commissioners aforesaid first finall sentence against me the 500 pounds fine thereby imposed upon me the two yeares imprisonment thereby sustained by me be just legall then all the other sentences censures and punishments following and depending thereupon may be just and legall But if the former the only ground of all the rest be unjust and illegall then all the other must of necessity be unjust and illegall And whether the former be just or unjust let the indifferent reader judge impatially upon the perusall of the following argument MY Honoured Lord cheife Iustice and my Honored Iudges the first thing in this Controversie concerning the points of the Canon law in question whereunto cheifly I am to speake is the very stating of the controversie it selfe between me my adversaries And for that purpose in the first place I humbly desire your Lordship the Court to observe that the defendants charge me with faults of severall degrees some principall and especiall others inferiour and accessory· The Principall and Especiall are two as appeares by their first finall sentence alleaged in their plea wherein they say that upon the opening of the cause they found the aforesaid George Huntley charged in the said Articles with these two perticulers principally (a) This word specialiter in this sence is 3. times used in the defendants plea. twice in the first part of their first finall sentence and once in the Commission of 14. Articles obiected against me 12. doe expresly mention my refusall to Preach the Visitation sermon as a fault or prepare the way theieunto and the fourth saith that I offered two or three peeces to the Arch-deacon to procure one to preach that sermon only the sixth and thirteenth Articles doe not mention it or especially first that he refused to preach a visitation sermon at the Arch-deacons of Cant. Doctor Kingsleys command contrary to his Canonicall obedience and secondly that he raised an opinion amongst the Clergy that the said Arch-deacon had no power to command him the said Huntley or any other incmbent to preach the said visitation Sermon The Inferiours or Accessories are foure first that the said Huntley came unsent for or uncal'd for to Master Arch-deacon aforesaid he being in his visitation amongst the Clergie and sitting there to heare causes Secondly that the said Huntley did then and there very malepertly and irreverently charge the said Arch-deacon of falsehood or injustice thirdly that the said Huntley did at the same time and place in a very arrogant irrespective manner lay downe an hundred pounds in Gold upon the table and offered to lay wagers with him the said arch-deacon that he had done him the said Huntley wrong or the like in effect and fourthly and lastly that the said Huntley refused to performe his submission conceptis verbis as was enioyned him by the Commissioners and therein gave a great affront and contempt both against his Maiesties supreame power and authority in matters and causes Ecclesiasticall and also against the high commission court to whom the same by letters patents under the great seale of England is delegated and committed And for these six particulers the defendants confesse that they imprison'd me two yeares namely from the nineteenth day of Aprill 1627. to Aprill 1629. In which moneth upon my appearance in this court the first day of that Easter Terme 1629. to save my baile you Master Iustice Heath then the Kings Attourney Generall were first call'd for by the Court in the Kings behalfe against me and you came and confest that you had nothing to say against me and then Master Iustice Bertley being then the Kings Sergeant whose (b) Master Iustice Bertley at this time was in the custody of the Sheriffe of London absence I much lament whose presence I much desire was called for by the court for the same purpose against mee and hee came and confest that he had formerly spoken twice against mee upon the matter return'd to the habeas corpus which was the very same for substance that is now pleaded
twenty nine chapter of Magna Charta most fully and strongly confirmed 3. Caroli by the Kings Majesty in his answer to the Commons Petition of right in these wordes let right be done as is desired according to that twenty nine chapter of Magna Charta Now what saith that twenty nine Chapter of Magna Charta No freeman saith that chapter shal be taken or imprisoned or be disseised of his freehold or liberties or free customes or be outlawed or exiled or any otherwise destroyed neither will we passe upon him nor condemne him saith the King but by the lawfull iudgement of his Peeres or by the law of the land That is under your Lordships the Courts correction whose office it is to interpret statutes unlesse that party be first convicted found culpable of the breach of some law of this land by a legall proceeding either at the common law or else in some other court and whosoever shall either condemne or punish any freeborne subject of this kingdome either for his obedience to the lawes of this land or for that which is no breach of any law of this land he doth violate that twenty nine chapter of Magna Charta and for that he stands excommunicate by a double excommunication the one deliver'd publikely here in Westminster Hall (f) Tempore Bonifacii Archie◠regnante tunc in Anglia H. 3. videlicet anno Dom. 1253. Id ibus Maii. inaula Westmon 15. Epis leguntur sententiam de qua hic sit mentio fulminasse Lyndew Prov. lib. 5. tit de sententia excom cap. cum malum Parag. Item excom verbis ab omnibus Daniell in the life of H. 3. 37. Henry 3. by Bonifacius then Archbishop of Cant. assisted with 14. other Bishops all in their pontificalls and tapers in their hands which after the excommunication denounced they threw upon the ground and as they lay there smoaking they cried so let all them that incurre this sentence be extinct and stincke in hell and all this was done in the presence of the Commons Nobles yea and of the King himselfe who at the same time with a loud voyce said as God me helpe I will as I am a man a Christian a Knight a King crowned and anointed inviolably observe all these things and the excommunication it selfe is set downe at the end of the statutes made 52. H. 3. in the booke of statutes at large put out by judge Rastall the other is extant in the same booke at the end of the statutes made 25. Edward 1. and uttered by Robert Winchelsee Arch-bishop of Canterbury in his time both against the violaters of this renowned law of Magna Charta often confirmed not onely by the following Kings the successours of Henry the third and Edward the first but also by the Pope him selfe as appeares out of the fift booke of Lyndewodes provinciall titulo de sententia excommunicationis cap. Cum Malum parag Item excommunicatj And besides the former confirmations and excommunications the authority of Magna Charta was made sacred and inviolable as it were 25. Edward 1. first by decreeing that that charter under the Kings seale should be sent unto all the Cathedrall Churches throughout the Realme there to remaine and to bee read before the people twice a yeare And secondly by enacting that that Charter should ever after be propugnated and vindicated by the sentence of excommunication to be denounced twice a yeare by all Archbishops and Bishops in their Cathedralls against all those that by word deede or counsell did doe contrary to the foresaid charter or that in any point did breake or undoe it and if the same Bishops or any of them should be remisse in the denuntiation of the said sentence that then the Archbishops of Cant. and Yorke for the time being should compell and distraine them to the execution of their duties in forme aforesaid as appeares by the 3. and 4. chap. 25. Ed. 1. And surely my Lord those two former solemne excommunications were those other continuall semiannuall excommunications might have beene hitherto and may hereafter bee rightly and justly denounced against the violaters of this 29. chap. of Magna Charta for this 29. chapter that no free man is to be punished but for the breach of some law is good Divinity accords excellently with the word of God The Apostle Rom. 4.15 telles us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the law causeth wrath that is punishment and how doth the Law cause wrath or punishment not simply singly of it selfe not observ'd but transgrest and therefore in the next words the Apostle saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where there is no Law there is no transgression And as where there is no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no law there there cannot bee any 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any transgression of Law so where there is no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no transgression of law there there cannot be any 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any fault or offence and where there is no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no fault or offence there there ought not to be any 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any wrath or punishment Nay my Lord though there be a law yet if that law be not transgrest there cannot justly be any 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any wrath or punishment At most though there may bee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 proposita 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 denuntiata wrath proposed or denounced in the Law to terrifie all persons from sinne which is nothing but the binding power of the Law yet justly there cannot be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imposita 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inflicta wrath imposed or inflicted by the Judge upon any person to punish him for sinne untill the Law be transgrest and sinne committed by that person And this the Apostle Rom. 5.12 doth most acutely divinely shew by imputing the punishment partly to the Law and partly to the transgression of the law to the Law as to a just rule inflicting punishment upon the transgression to the transgression as to a meritorious cause deserving that punishment according to the just rule of the Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By sin which is the transgression of the law Death the wrath punishment of the law entred into the world So then my Lord this is most certainely and most undoubtedly true wheresoever there is any 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any wrath or punishment any fining or imprisonment any deprivation degradation excommunication or any other censure sentence mulct or punishment whatsoever rightly and justly inflicted There there must of necessity of necessity my Lord there there must be some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some fault or offence Wheresoever there is any 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any fault or offence there there must of necessity of necessity my Lord there there must be some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some transgression of Law Wheresoever there is any 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any transgression of Law there there must of
the very Letter and text of some Commissions that I have seene have this power that they may punish a Minister for any fault committed in his owne cure or else where that is punishable by the Ecclesiasticall lawes of this land By which words my Lord it appeares that first there must bee some fault Secondly that that fault must be against some law Thirdly that it must bee against some Ecclesiasticall law of the land or else that Honorable Court by the very Letter and text of the largest commissions that I ever saw have no power to punish a Minister And though this their Commission my Lord doth much outstrip the first of the first of Eliz. the statute whereon it is grounded for that statute extends not to every fault punishable by the Ecclesiasticall lawes of this land for then it would swallow up all the ordinary jurisdictions over England but onely to greivous and enormous crimes punishable by the Ecclesiasticall lawes of the land as the Counsell on both sides in the speciall verdict betweene Allen and Nash have confest and the wordes of the statute as I before have shewed doe necessarily enforce Yet in this case of mine to shew mine owne innocency and the goodnesse of my cause not to make a precedent in other mens cases I will give the defendants free leave and liberty to exceed both the statute and their Commission I will not coope them up and confine them within the lists and limits of the Ecclesiasticall lawes as the most indulgent and munificent Commissions that ever I saw doe yea and must doe unlesse they will make their Commission as well Temporall as Ecclesiasticall no my Lord I will not require an Ecclesiasticall law let them produce an law canon civill common statute or divine nay my Lord I will once againe deale more Nobly and generously more heroically and munificently with that Honorable court with those Augustins Hieromes Gregories Ambroses with those Nazianzens Chrysostomes Origens Basils with those reverend right reverend most reverend Prelates and Patriarchs of our church I will not require a whole law noe not a full period of a law Let them onely produce some colon nay some comma of law onely nay my Lord I will once againe deale more Nobly and generously more heroically and munificently with that Honorable court I will not require a whole colon no nor a whole comma of law neither that were too too an Herculean labour for that Honorable Court for those Canonists Civilians and Divines for those commissaries chancellours Arch-deacons Deanes Bishops Arch-bishops let them onely produce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some shaving some scraping some paring some shred peece particle or fragment of Law nay let them onely produce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unum unum apicem one jot one apex one tittle one pricke or point of law of any law my Lord and I doe most willingly and most instantly submit And now my Lord as the defendants doe pretend a fault so likewise they doe pretend a law the pretended fault is my refusall to Preach the Archdeacons Visitation Sermon the pretended law is the Law of Canonicall obedience They say that my refusall to preach the Arch-deacons visitation sermon at the Arch-deacons command is a breach of Canonicall obedience And now my Lord we are come to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad statum causae ad caput controversiae for this Canonicall obedience is the whole and sole ground and foundation and supportation of the whole sentence against mee and it cannot be understood and determined whether my refusall to preach the visitation sermon be a breach of canonicall obedience or not unlesse it be first knowne and understood what this Canonicall obedience is so that in the first place my Lord there is a necessity imposed upon mee breiflly to present unto your Lordship what this Canonicall obedience is The high Commissioners in the first part of their finall sentence as it was given in their owne Court make Law custome and Canonicall obedience three different and distinct thinges For therein they say that the Archdeacon in injoyning Huntley to preach his visitation sermon hath commanded him no more than the said Huntley was bound to doe by law custome and by his Canonicall obedience and herein by making Canonicall obedience a third and distinct thing from law and custome they shew that they onely use the name of Canonicall obedience but intend arbitrary or blind obedience that is a generall and universall obedience to all the Arch-deacons commandes though they swarve both from law custome whereby they make every Arch-deacon Bishop and Arch-bishop a law-maker within his owne jurisdiction and every of their commands binding and compulsive though fortified neither by law nor Custome But your Lordship as it seemes not content herewith steps a degree further and makes Canonicall obedience not onely a third and distinct thing from law and custome but also a thing opposite and contrary to law and custome for termino trinitatis 1637. when when your Lordship delivered your opinion in the speciall verdict betweene Allen and Nash your Lordship said that if the Arch-deacon did owe me an 100. pounds by bond he might by vertue of my Canonicall obedience command mee to deliver up that bond the money not being yet paid Or he might command me by vertue of my Canonicall obedience to send him a yoke of fat oxen a couple of good Coach-horses or a score of fat weathers which I am sure is not onely beyond but contrary to law and custome and more than either his Majesty or any of his royall predecessours did ever chalenge of any freeborne subject either by the oath of allegiance or oath of supremacy whether your Lordship have altered this your opinion or no I know not the high Commissioners I suppose have altered theirs For certaine it is that the former wordes of the first part of their first finall sentence as it was given in their owne Court are altered in the defendants plea wherein they make Canonicall obedience not a third and distinct thing from law and custome as before but a subordinate relative and a proportionable thing to law and custome by changing these their former wordes law custome and his canonicall obedience into these law and custome according to his Canonicall obedience And this alteration as I suppose proceeded from the acute and polite wit of you Master Justice Heath at that time the Kings Attourney Generall and Commissioners counsell who seeing that the Commissioners by the former wordes did make canonicall obedience a third and distinct thing from law and custome that thereby they did under the name of canonicall obedience chalenge arbitrary and blind obedience to and for every Arch-deacon Bishop and Arch-bishop that thereby they made themselves all lawmakers within their severall jurisdictions and that so at once by two wordes they gave two deadly woundes one to his Majesties supreame jurisdiction who under God is the onely lawmaker within this land
of the Canon Law writes thus Si quid de quocunque clerico ad aures tuas pervenerit quod te juste possit offendere facile non credas nec ad vindictam te res accendat incognita sed praesentibus Ecclesiae tuae senioribus diligenter est perscrutanda veritas tunc si qualitas rei poposcerit canonica districtio culpam feriat delinquentis Let a Canonicall punishment bee inflicted upon the offender for his offence now what 's this canonica districtio or canonica paena The most learned Bishop Bilson in that excellent treatise of his De perpetua Christi Ecclesiae gubernatione 11. cap. interpreting the former words of Gregory doth in these very words shew paena canonica 1. paena canonibus congruens A canonicall punishment that is a punishment agreeable to the Canons and so doth William Lyndewode in the 5. booke of his Provinciall tit de Paenis Cap. Evenit verbo Canonicas paena canonica id est paena a sacris canonibus approbata A canonicall punishment that is a punishment approved by the Canons and (k) Iohanes de vanquall in Breviario in sextum Decretalium fol 43. tit de supplenda praelatorum negligentia ultima conelusio Episcopum excommunicatum pro culpa sua punire potest Archiepiscopus paena canomica et arbitraria Probatur hic in fine tex glo fi et facit c. de causis de offi deleg si dicatur puniri debet paena arbitraria tum non canonica quia paena canonica dicitur quae est in canone iure expressa ut in l. siqua paena ff de verbo sig solutio Dicit Io. Mo. Archid. quod paena expressa de terminata a Canonibus proprie dicitur canonica ut in dict lo. Siqua paena Illa tamen quae non est expressa determinata a canone datur tamen secundum moderationem canonum qualitate personae quantitate culpae consideratis dicitur proprie completive arbitraria eo quod iudex sua discretione supplet quod in canone non est expressum potest tamen talis paena dici canonica saltem inceptive quia per canones dirigitur iudex in moderatione Iohanes de vanquall Iohanes Molanus and Archidiaconus do all make this the difference betweene a canonicall and an arbitrary punishment that the one is expressed in the Canons the other is not but left to the discretion of the Prelate Paena Canonica dicitur quae in Canone jure est expressa determinata illa autem quae non est expressa determinata a canone est arbitraria Now to recollect the force and strength or this argument If canonicall houres bee so called because they are assigned deputed and appointed by the canons as in the judgement of Brentius Bellarmine and Petro Soave Polano they are and againe if a canonicall punishment bee such a punishment as is agreeable to the Canons such a punishment as is approved of the canons such a punishment as is expressed and determined in the Canons and if not expressed and determined in the Canons not a canonicall but an arbitrary punishment in the judgement of Bishop Bilson William Lyndewode Iohanes de vanquall Iohones Molanus and Archidiaconus Then by the same analogie canonicall obedience must bee such obedience as is assigned deputed and appointed by the canons such obedience as agreeable to the canons such obedience as is approved by the canons such obedience as is expressed and determined in the Canons otherwise it is not canonicall but arbitrary obedience and this is my second reason which being drawne from the joynt consent of learned men ought to be of great authority according to this former rule of Vincentius Lerinensis quod ab omnibus quod ubique quod semper tenetur illud pro certissima veritate habendum tenendum est My third reason my Lord Ratio 3. strikes the naile on the head and drives it home it is the very definition of canonicall obedience delivered by William Lyndewode in the first booke of his Provinciall tit de maioritate et obedientia cap. Presbyteri verbis in virtute obedientiae where he doth in the former words terminis terminantibus define canonicall obedience thus (l) Nota circa hanc materiam obedientiae quod obedientia quae homini debetur ab homine est debita minoris ad maiorem reverentia Vnde si mandatur id quod iustum est obediendum est si in iustum nequaquam si dubium tunc illud propter bonum obedientiae est explendum Lyndewode Prov. 1. lib. tit de Constitutionibus cap. Quia incontinentiae ver obedientiae Canonica obedientia est obedientia secundum canones constitutiones rite editas et publicatas canonicall obedience is such obedience as the canons and constitutions rightly made and published doe require Now this mans testimony and authority ought to bee of great esteeme for divers reasons first because he is the only glossator commentator upon the provinciall constitutions of our Archbishops of of Cant. Secondly because he was Doctor of both lawes and singulerly verst both in Church governement and in deciding of controversies and the efâ—re doubtelesse did well understand what this canonicall obedience was and unicuique in sua arte perito credendum especially if he be not Judge in his owne case as the Defendants against mee are Thirdly because hee was officiall to Henry Chichley Archbishop of Cant. to whom he did dedicate his provinciall and therefore in all likely hood he would not write any thing therein in the behalfe of the Rectors and Uicars of this kingdome to the prejudice of the Episcopall or Archiepiscopall authority or Sea of Cant. Lastly because he lived about 200. yeares since and was long dead before this controversie was on foote although this * It began at the Archdeacons Visitation Octob. 1624. and continued at his Uisitations Aprill 1625. and 26. and the last day of that Aprill 1626. Articles were exhibited in the High Commission against me and the 19. of Aprill 1627. I was by the Commissioners committed to prison and there continued two yeares and then being delivered on the 29. of Aprill 1629. I did that Tearme begin an Action in the Kings Bench Court against the Commissioners which this 24th day of March 1641. hath depended 12. yeares three quarters hath beene on foot full 16. yeares which is a larger portion of time than the tearme of two mens lives is valued at by the common law and and therefore certainely hee wrote the truth without all respect of persons without prejudice or partiality on either side and for these reasons his definition of canonical obedience standes good against all exception Besides that Canonicall obedience is such obedience as the canons require appeares by the opposite member of the division for the obedience now used in the Church of Rome is either canonicall that is such as the canons require and the Prelate by vertue
obedience onely that is with such obedience as the canons require For as Bishop Bilson in his forcited treatise de perpetua Christi Ecclesiae gubernatione saith In our Church metropolitani dâ—aecesani scriptis in quaque re legibus diriguntur and againe in our Church minime sibi sumunt diaecesani ut diaecesibus suis leges constituant quod tamen presbyteriis vestris in qualibet paraecia licere contenditis He speaks against the Presbyterians sed ut quas pii principes concilia rite celebrata decreverius executioni mandari faciant And thereupon afterwards he calls the Bishops of our Church in their severall jurisdictions custodes non conditores canorum which wordes of his doe fully approve of canonicall obedience and utterly exclude all arbitrary and blind obedience out of our Church And so my Lord by the definition both of canonicall and arbitrary obedience it appeares that Canonicall obedience is such obedience as the canons require and if if it exceed the Canons never so little it is no longer Canonicall but arbitrary My fourth reason to prove that canonical obedience is such obedience as the canons require is in my apprehension of more strength and force than the three former and it is taken from the 19. and 21. chap. of 25. of Henry 8. which acts doe so limit and confine the Clergy of this land unto the canons either made by a provinciall synode in this land and confirmed by his Majesties letters patents out of his prerogative royall or else made beyond sea and received here for lawes of this land by the Kings sufferance and the subjects free consent and usage that none of the Clergy in their severall jurisdictions can goe beyond those canons without incroaching upon the supreme Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction of the Crowne and therefore the Canonicall obedience approved and required in our Church by the oath of canonicall obedience must of necessity be such obedience as those canons require because the superiour clergy cannot out of command require more nor the inferiour clergy out of obedience yeild more without prejudice to the Kings supreme Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction This will appeare most evidently by the first of the first of Eliz. by the 19. and 21. chap. of the 25. of Henry 8. and by the oath of supremacy The first of the 1. of Elizabeth is an act to restore unto the crowne the ancient jurisdiction over the state Ecclesiasticall and Spirituall then the crowne hath a jurisdiction and an ancient jurisdiction over the state Ecclesiastical And as the first of the first of Eliz. doth shew that the crowne hath an ancient jurisdiction over the state Ecclesiasticall so the 19. and 21. chap. of the 25. of Henry 8. both revived in the first of the first of Elizabeth as parts of that ancient jurisdiction of the crowne over the state Ecclesiasticall doe shew how farre that ancient jurisdiction of the crowne doth extend over the state Ecclesiasticall and they doe extend it over the whole clergy and submit the whole clergy unto it in these two points or respects First concerning canons made beyond sea and then concerning canons made in this land Concerning canons made beyond sea they so farre submit the whole Clergy unto the prerogative royall and supreme jurisdiction of the Crowne that none of the clergy in their severall jurisdictions can execute or put in use any such forreine canons untill those forreine canons are first received heere for lawes of this land by the Kings sufferance and the Subjects free consent and custome Secondly among the canons in this land formerly made they abrogate all such canons as are contrary either to the supreme jurisdiction of the Crowne or to the statutes customes or common lawes of this land and approve and establish all the rest untill they be otherwayes ordered and determined by the 32. persons there mentioned and then concerning canons hereafter to be made in this land they submit the whole clergy unto the supreme jurisdiction of the crowne in these foure particulers The first particuler is that the Clergy cannot make any canons in their severall jurisdictions but onely when they meete in a provinciall synode The second particuler is that they cannot meete in a provinciall synode untill they be first call'd thither by the Kings writ The third particuler is when the clergy are so met being so call'd and have made canons that they cannot execute or put in use nay they cannot promulge or publish any one of these canons untill those canons are first confirmed by his Majesties letters patents out of his supreme Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction And the fourth perticular is that so farre they may goe further they cannot And then in the third place comes the oath of supremacy and that binds every Bishop every judge every Clergie-man and every other person that hath taken that oath to defend and maintaine all those foresaid particulers of the prerogative royall of the crowne over the whole Clergy For the last clause of that oath bindes every one that takes it (a) The words of the oath are to his power but they are so interpreted by the right Honorable Thomas Earle of Arundell and Surrey Earle Marshall of England and Generall of his Maiesties forces in his treatise stiled Lawes and Ordinances of warre pag 26. where he expounds the former wordes by these even to the utmost of my power and hazard of my life to the utmost of his power to defend and maintaine all jurisdictions priviledges preheminences and authorities united or annexed to the imperiall Crowne of this realme So that if any of them shall extend canonicall obedience or the oath of canonicall obedience or the archidiaconall Episcopall or Archiepiscopall jurisdiction by vertue of canonicall obedience or of the oath of canonicall obedience beyond those canons he doth incroach upon the prerogative royall of the crowne withdraw his submission from his Maiesty presume to make canons within his owne jurisdiction violate the oath of supremacy transgresse the first of the first of Elizabeth and the 19. of the 25. of Henry 8. and is therefore by that statute liable to be fined and imprison'd at the Kings pleasure And so my Lord I have by foure reasons proved that the canonicall obedience in force in our church is such obedience as the canons in force in our church doe require and that all arbitrary and blind obedience is quite excluded as a thing utterly repugnant to the word of God to the doctrine and discipline of their orthodox church to the supreme jurisdiction of the crowne and to the ancient and just libertie and freedome of every free-borne Subject And now my Lord by one syllogisme grounded upon this canonicall obedience I will acquit my selfe and all other incumbents from preaching the visitation Sermon and shew that every visiter every Arch-deacon Bishop and Arch-bishop is bound to preach his owne visitation Sermon and both these by vertue of canonicall obedience so that these two wordes which the defendants have
for though he be not Pater generans Ecclesiam yet he is pater nutrient Ecclesiam as the Prophet Esay speakes Kings shall be thy nursing fathers and Queenes thy nursing mothers Esay 49.23 nay above the command of God himselfe who hath commanded us to render unto Cesar those things which are Cesars Mat. 22. and to obey Cesars just lawes not only for wrath but for conscience sake Rom. 13.5 and that in the first place above and before the command of any subordinate officer whatsoever 1 Pet. 2.13.14 So that Sir Henry Martin deales with the fift commandement just as Pope Gregory the seventh did with the words of Samuell to unto King Saul 1 Sam. 15.22 for whereas the word of God saith to avoid fornication let every man have his owne wife and every woman her owne Husband 1 Cor. 7.2 which is an absolute precept enioyning all those to marry who cannot otherwaies avoid fornication Gregory the seventh by the foresaid * In concernentibus fidem etiam dictum vnius privati esset praeferendum dicto Papae si ille moveretur melioribus rationibus novi veteris testamenti quam Papa Panormit de elect cap. significasti prope finem text of Samuell doth contrary to the foresaid word of God 1 Cor. 7.2 command all Priests to put away their wives under pretence of fornication He saith Gregory that will not obey his most wholesome precept of ours forbidding Priests their wives under colour of fornication incurreth the sin of Idolatry as Samuel witnesseth not to obey is the sinne of witchcraft and not to be content is the wickednesse of Idodolatry Distinct 81. si qui sunt So that Pope Gregory the seventh and Sir Henry Martin agree both in this They both approve of Arbitrary or blinde obedience they both make the word of God the ground of it they both derive it from generall texts of Scripture and by vertue of those generall texts they challenge a power to command even contrary to God himselfe speaking in other plaine evident and perspicuous texts they differ only in this Pope Gregory the seventh derives this arbitrary obedience from the former words of Samuell 1. Sam. 15.22 and chalengeth it onely for himselfe Sir Henry Martin deduceth it from the fift commandement and chalengeth it for every spirituall father for every incumbent Archdeacon Bishop and Archbishop Nay farther Sir Henry Martin by his former argument from the fift commandement endeavours to make our Church like the Church of Rome as it is defined by Gasper Scioppius in his Ecclesiasticus cap. 147. both in his summe and booke at large where he thus defines the Church of Rome Ecclesia * As Bishops ought to discerne which is truth before they Teach so must the people discerne who teacheth right before they beleeve Bishop Bilson in his true difference between Christian subiection and unchristian rebellion 2. part pag. 259. est mandra sive grex aut multitudo jumentorum asinorum The Chrurch is a society or a company or a multitude of cattell and asses And where there are horses asses mules there if there be any good done with them must be Horse-keepers Assekeepers Muletors and their whole Church as Scioppius saith consists of these two The Horses Asses Mules are the Laity the Horsekeepers Assekeepers Muleters are the Clergy of the former he saies Nos Dei jumenta sumus sive peccora subiugalia tanquam equi aut muli sive asini Clitellarij veterini dossuarij sarcinarij sagmarij we are Gods juments or yoke cattell as it were horses or mules or asses to carry packes to be girt with circingles to carry Dossours to beare burdens to bee sumpters And of the latter he saith illi agasones illi muliones nos fraenant nos loro alligant nos agunt nos stimulant nobis jugum onus imponunt those horse-keepers Sic nimirum se reshabet Iudicant oves privati omnes iudicio discretivo Judicant Episcopi pastores iudicio directivo clavium potestate coactivo sed iudicant saepe errante Clave quo casu videntur solum ligare non ligant Judicat Christus solus iudicio infallibili nec unquam errante clave Non sic vel Pontifex vestere suo tripode vel Concilium vel tota Ecclesia Iudicat Doctor Crakanthorpe Def. Ecclsiae Anglic. contra Archiep. Spalat cap. 13. parag 20. those muletors put the bridle upon us they tye us with the raines they drive us they spurre or goade us they put the yoke and burden upon us And doth not Sir Henry Martin endeavour to make our Church like theirs in giving power by the former argument to every incumbent to lay his burthen upon his Parishioners to every Arch-deacon Bishop and Arch-bishop to lay their burdens upon the Clergie and Laity within their jurisdiction This is so evident my Lord that it cannot be denied and all the harm I would wish him for it si revivisceret is only this ut patiatur interpretationem quam tulerit that the blessing of Ishachar Gen 49.14 which by his former argument he endeavours to bring upon the whole Church of England may fall upon himselfe only and that in the highest degree Confutatio 5 But my Lord in the same Author and in the same place there is one thing of an higher ranck and nature and so high that it transcends all Religion and piety all modesty and honesty all humanity and civility and savours altogether of Antichristian and Luciferian pride and arrogancie and that 's this That Scioppius ranks amongst these Asses not only such as are Subjects but also such as are Soveraigns even Kings and Princes Gods immediate Deputies as well those of their Religion as those of ours but with this difference those of their Religion he calls understanding and obedient Asses those of our Religion refractory Asses without understanding He calls them all (*) To Bishops speaking the word of God Princes as well as others must yeeld obedience but if Bishops passe their Commission and speak beside the word of God what they list both Prince and people may despise them If Apostles and Angels be tyed to this condition much more others our first addition which speake unto you the word of God is ever intended in the Bishops function though it be not expressed Bishop Bilson in his true difference betweene Christian subiection and unchristian rebellion pag. 261 262. Asses for his former reason because they were to beare what burdens those Agasones those Muliones the Popish Clergie should lay upon them and their Kings he calls obedient and understanding Asses because they did do so they did submit their backs and shoulders to those burdens And amongst them he especially commends Charles the Great for a wise morigerous and a patient Asse because he was a ringleader to all other Asses to submit to this his own rule in the Canon law In memoriam B. Petri honoremus sanctam Romanam Apostolicam sedem
Cause And yet what they cannot prove my Lord I out of a desire of peace and concord with them will voluntarily grant unto them Concessio 1. retortio in adversarios Dabo ex supposito quod non dabo ex animo Let it then be custome what followes why this Then the Cause is a civill Ecclesiasticall Cause and not a criminall Cause and then it is and hath been all this while coram non judice and so the sentence and whole proceedings of the Commissioners are utterly voyd Concessio 2. retortio in adversarios Secondly be it custome then the Arch-deacon hath broken the custome and not I for the Commissioners in the first part of their first finall sentence extant in their Plea made an Order that I upon the Arch-deacons Mandate and a competent warning thereby to me given should preach a Sermon at the Arch-deacons next Visitation Now this Order is the custome or else it is not If this Order be not the custome then I being bound to observe the custome am not bound to observe this order or else being bound to observe this order I am not bound to observe the custome Let them chuse which they will they are faulty in either If this Order be the custome then the Arch-deacon and not I hath broken both Order and custome because he only sent an Apparitor with a postscript private letter or message to warne me to preach his Visitation Sermon but sent no mandate or processe or publike instrument for that purpose out of his Court by his Apparitor as he should have done both by the Order and custome and both these the Defendants confesse in their Plea and they shall be both shewed against them at large in my answer to to the fourth accessory Confutatio 1 Thirdly it is not custome for if it be custome then it is custome contrary to the 36. 49. and 52. Canons made 1. Iacobi that is about 39 years since and then it must be custome either before those canons were made or else only since If it were custome before those canons were made then it was before that time tried and obtained in some contradictory judgement for consuetudo non valet nisi sit obtenta in Contradictorio judicio Now can the Defendants shew any contradictory judgement before that time wherein this pretended custome was determined to be custome If they can let them shew it and I submit If they cannot idem est nen esse non apparere If it were not custome before the former Canons were made it cannot grow to be a custom since Nine and thirty years prescription is not sufficient to make a custome for consuetudo est cujus contrarium memoria hominum non existit and if this custome be but of 39. years standing there are divers men yet living which can remember the contrary Nay my Lord seeing a custome cannot grow in the time of opposition if we will make an exact computation we must from the former 39. years defalke full 16. years because so long this controversie hath been on foot and this custome oppos'd And then at the begining of this controversie there remains but 23. years since the making of the former Canons and since the begining of this pretended custome if it began since those Canons were made And then at begining of this controversie this pretended custome being but of 23. years standing could not be custome according to the former rule seeing at the begining of this controversie there were divers men then living who could remember the contrary Concessio 3 Confutatio 2 But in the fourth place my Lord let it be custome and a tried and determined custome in a contradictory judgement and that before those Canons were made yet by those Canons it is abrogated For cannot an Act of Parliament cut off a known custome of England tried and determined in a contradictory judgement at the Common Law There is I suppose no question of it and the reason as I conceive is because all the parties that have right in that custome are either personally or vertually present in Parliament and there by making a contrary Act give up their right to that custome and then by the same reason seeing none had right in the former custome but the Arch-deacons Bishops and Arch-bishops on the one side and the Incumbents under them on the other side and the three former were personally present in a provinciall Synod and the others vertually present in the Clerks of the Convocation and all on both sides by making the former Canons gave up their right to the former custome that custome is and must be abrogated by the former Canons Confutatio 3 But in the fift place my Lord it cannot be custome First because it is contrary to the Word of God as appears by my three first arguments Secondly because it is contrary to the whole course and tenour of the Canon Law in the body of the Canon Law in Lyndewodes provinciall in the Legantine Constitutions of Otho and Othobon and in our last Canons all which I have formerly shewed And lastly because it is contrary to naturall equitie and contra naturalem aequitatem nulla valet consuetudo etiamsi omnes homines de mundo aliter facerent saith the Canon Law Now this rule of naturall equity is deliver'd by our Saviour Luke 10 7. The labourer is worthy of his hire which is true e converso he that hath the hire is bound to performe the labour And this labourer is the Visiter and his labour is to Visit that is to preach and to correct and his hire for that labour is Procurations and all these I have formerly proved It is then contrary to naturall equitie for us to detain Procurations from the Visiter when he Visits us that is preacheth unto us and correcteth us It is likewise contrary to naturall equity for the Visiter to require Procurations when he doth not Uisit that is preach and correct It is most apparently contrary to naturall equitie for the Visiter to require Procurations of the Incumbents for Visiting them that is for preaching unto them and for correcting them and yet to impose upon them the Visitation Sermon the speciall part of that labour for which the Visiter requireth and receiveth his Procurations of the Incumbents And upon this ground the Canon Law affirms quod in procuratione ratione visitationis debita non currit praescriptio And then there can be no custome to binde the Incumbents either to pay Procurations or to preach the Visitation Sermon The third Argument There is one weake argument my Lord yet remaining and that 's this The Arch-deacon is tanquam oculus Episcopi and therefore may enjoyn the Ministers within his jurisdiction to preach his Visitation Sermon that thereby he may see and learn and know their sufficiency I do confesse my Lord that in the Canon Law the Arch-deacon is called oculus Episcopi and which is more vicarius
not every fault punishable by the Ecclesiasticall lawes of this land but only all great greivous and enormous crimes punishable by the Ecclesiaticall lawes of this land are reserved to the jurisdiction of the Crowne and cognisance of the high Commission for otherwise those wordes will abrogate the nineteenth of the twenty fifth of H. the eight before revived in that Statute and will also swallow up all the ordinary Jurisdictions over England contrary to an other Statute there revived in behalf of the ordinary jurisdiction made 23. Henry 8. intituled an act that no person shall be cited out of the diocesse where he or shee dwelleth except in certaine cases and also contraty to the foresaid fift Proviso of the second cap. of the first of Elizabeth And Lastly by this excellent rule of Saint Hilary in his ninth book de trinitate Intelligentia dictorum ex antecedentibus consequentibus expectetur For this makes the severall parts of that Statute accord one with another and the whole Statute to be as a body at unity in itself and yet herein my Lord by making one part of a statute interpret another we give no more to that Honourable Court than is due to every discret man for unusquisque suorum verborum optimus interpres condentis est interpretari Ratio 6 My sixt reason My Lord is taken from the oath of Canonicall obedience which every Bishop administers and which every incumbent takes at his admission and institution and it is alleaged against me in the defendant plea both in the first and third articles and also in the high Commission sentence and the oath it selfe is expressed in the instrument of my admission and institution in these very wordes Te primitus de legitima canonica obedientia nobis successoribus nostris in omnibus licitis honestis mandatis per te praestanda exhibenda ad sancta evangelia rite iuratum admittimus We admit thee saith the ordinary having first been rightly sworne by the holy Gospells to performe lawfull and Canonicall obedience to us and our successours in all our lawfull and honest mandates And this canonicall obedience as Lyndewode in the first booke of his provincicall tit de maior obedientia cap. Presbiteri verbis in virtute obedientiae shewes is such obedience as the canons and constitutions rightly made and published doe require and the Cannon law shewes that this canonicall obedience consists in these three things In reverentia exhibenda in mundato suscipiendo in iudicio subeundo In yeilding canonicall reverence to the ordinaries person in undertaking his canonicall mandates and in standing to his canonicall judgements And therefore my Lord as wee the incumbents by taking this oath of Canonicall obedience are bound by this oath in thinges concerning the Canons to stand to the ordinaries canonicall judgements so the ordinary by administring this oath unto us and by accepting this oath from us is bound by this oath in things concerning the canons to judge us according to the canons And by both these it appeares that the breaches of canons or of Canonicall obedience unto the Canons belongs to the Jurisdiction of the ordinary and not to the cognisance of the High Commission Court And this reason my Lord is stronger against my adversaries by their own confession in their plea then it is in truth and by my allegation for the defendants in their plea challeng canonical obedience from every incumbent to and for every ordinary and they do extend this canonicall obedience not onely so farre as the Canons but also as far as the lawes in generall and the custome reacheth and therefore in challenging canonicall obedience from every incumbent to and for every ordinary and in extending that canonicall obedience not onely so farre as the Canons but also as farre as the laws in generall and the custome reacheth they doe under the name of canonicall obedience challenge from every incumbent to and for every ordinary a jurisdiction as generall as the canons lawes in generall and the custome will warrant whieh is as generall as can be unlesse they would bring in arbitrary and blind obedience Ratio 7 My seaventh and last reason My Lord to prove that the breaches of canons or of canonicall obedience unto the canons belongs to the iurisdiction of the ordinary and not to the cognisance of the high Commission is taken from the opinion of our late Lord and Soveraigne King Iames and of Arch-bishop White-gift whereof the former being ad miraculmm usque acutissimus did in his time give the authority to the High Commission court and the latter being a Bishop according to this rule of Saint Paul a Bishop must be holy just and unrebukeable was in his time the cheife person under the other to excercise and execute that authority in the high Commission court And this their opinion as it was at first publickely deliv'rd in a solemne assembly of the church to reforme what was amisse and confirme what was well established so it hath beene extant in print to the view of the world full 30. yeares and upwards in a Treatise stil'd the summe and substance of the conference at Hampton Court In the eighty ninth pag. whereof King Iames makes this exception against the High Commissioners that the matters wherein they dealt were base and meane and such as ordinaries at home in their owne jurisdictions might censure whereunto in the 90. pag. Arch-bishop Whitegift answereth that though the matters be base and meane and the fault of that nature that the ordinary jurisdiction may censure it yet in two cases no more onely in two cases the high Commission may interpose First when the party delinquent is to great so that the ordinary dares not proceed against him or Secondly so wealthy in his estate or so wilfull in his contumacy that he will not obey the summons and censure of the ordinary and so the ordinary is forced to crave helpe at the High commission And it seemes My Lord that the High Commissioners and the defendants would make this latter my case for in the 14. Article objected against me in the high Commission court and pleaded against me in this court by the defendants they both say that the ordinary desired the assistance of the High commission against me But it is certaine My Lord that in this matter I am not within either of these cases for I being but a Presbyter and of a single benefice am not so great as great as I am and as great as the defendants would make me that the ordinary my Lords Grace of Canterbury Primate of all England should be afraid to proceed against me at his ordinary jurisdiction if his cause were good neither was I ever contumacious for I was never summoned or cited to appeare at the ordinary jurisdiction And therefore in this case seeing the fault if it be a fault is but petty and small but the breach of a canon or of canonicall