Commissary or any other Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Iudge Officer or Minister or any other person having or exercising Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction to tender or administer unto any person whatsoever the Oath usually called the Oath Ex officio or any other Oath whereby such person to whom the same is tendered or administred may be charged or compelled to confesse or accuse or to purge him or her self of any criminal matter or thing whereby he or she may be lyable to any censure or punishment any thing in this Statute or any other Law Custom or Vsage heretofore to the contrary hereof in any wise notwithstanding Provided alwayes that this Act or any thing therein contained shall not extend or be construed to extend to give unto any Archbishop Bishop or any other Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Iudge Officer or other person or persons aforesaid any power or authority to exercise execute inflict or determine any Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction Censure or Coertion which they might not by Law have done before the year of our Lord One thousand six hundred thirty and nine nor to abridge or diminish the Kings Majesties Supremacy in Ecclesiastical matters and affairs nor to confirm the Canons made in the year One thousand six hundred and forty nor any of them nor any other Ecclesiastical Laws or Canons not formerly confirmed allowed or enacted by Parliament or by the established Laws of the Land as they stood in the year of the Lord One thousand six hundred thirty and nine The Contents of the Chapters Chap. I. THe endeavours of the Innovators to change the course of Ecclesiastical proceedings That stupendious Fanatick Hackett his fearful end Mr. Cambdens judgment touching the Innovators Their perseverance in their design of Innovation in King James his time and afterwards The pretended taking away the Coercive power from the Ecclesiastical Courts how gained what use was made of it by the Innovators and how they boasted of their benefit by it Two passages in the Long Parliament touching two Inconformists Page 1. Chap. II. The two Proviso's in the late Act that takes away the doubt touching Coercive power in Ecclesiastical Courts Dr. Cosens Apologie for sundry proceedings by Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical That groundless Opinion That a several Royal assent to the executing of every particular Canon is required is confuted The validity of the Ecelesiastical Laws The clamours of Inconformists Innovators and Fanaticks against the putting of Ecclesiastical Laws in execution though the Ecclesiastical Officers and Ministers are by Act of Parliament severely commanded to do it p. 10. Chap. III. The Heads of the several Chapters in that Apologie of Doctor Cosens Part 1. p. 27. Chap. IV. By the late Act the manner of proceeding in Ecclesiastical Courts is not altered but left as it was A summary relation of what Dr. Cosens in his Apologie hath asserted and made good by Gods Word the practice of the Primitive Christians the opinion of the Fathers the Laws Canon and Civil and the Laws of the Land allowing and warranting them The like practice at Common Law and at Geneva and other places pretending strict Reformation p. 24. Chap. V. That it is consonant to Gods Word to give such an Oath Ex officio or otherwise p. 28. Chap. VI. That the opinion and practice of the Primitive Christians and the Fathers of the Church was to administer such Oath Ex officio or upon Accusation and for Purgation Canonical with the practice at Geneva p. 33. Chap. VII That the like practice touching these Oaths is and was in all Forreign Christian Nations and other Nations not Christian guided onely by the Light of Nature p. 37. Chap. VIII That by the known Laws of this Land the Ecclesiastical Judges were so warranted and commanded to give that Oath according to the Canon and Ecclesiastical Laws p. 39. Chap. IX That Oaths administred to parties touching matters damageable criminal and penal to themselves are urged and required by Temporal Courts and by the Laws of the Realm p. 41. Chap. X. The inconveniences and hurt that probably may follow by the forbidding the ministring of an Oath Ex officio or any other Oath whereby such person to whom the same is tendered or administred may be charged or compelled to confess or accuse or to purge him or her self of any criminal matter or thing whereby he or she may be lyable to any censure or punishment Praise of the Civil Laws Civilians first and last and greatest Sufferers Amity 'twixt both Robes His Majesties and the Lord Chancellors savours to Civilians TOUCHING The OATH EX OFFICIO AND CANONICAL PURGATION CHAP. I. The endeavours of the Innovators to change the course of Ecclesiasticall proceedings That stupendious Fanatick Hackett his fearful end Mr. Cambdens judgement touching the Innovators Their perseverance in their design of Innovation in King James his time and afterwards The pretended taking away the coercive power from the Ecclesiasticall Courts how gained what use was made of it by the Innovators and how they boasted of their benefit by it Two passages in the Long-Parliament touching two Inconformists FOR many years together now last past some men have very earnestly endeavoured to have taken away or at leastwise have much alter'd the proceedings in the Ecclesiacal Courts of this Kingdom used according to His Majesties Ecclesiastical Laws touching the Administration of the Oath ex officio and at the instance or promotion of a party accusing or stirring up the Judges Office to any party accus'd or call'd or enquired after by the Judge Ecclesiasticall ex officio or otherwise whereby as they phrase it he must confess or accuse himself and so render himself liable to penalty or censure In the Reign of Queen Elizabeth they prosecuted it vehemently if not violently and as before that time some Anabaptists in Germany had done the like in such Cases Of their practises that way here that most Faithful Learned and Grave Historion of ours Mr. Cambden gives us an account in his Annals of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth printed at Leyden in the Low-Countries 1625. It is in the year 1590. After he hath there given a Relation of that stupendious and blasphemous Fanatick Hackett of his beginning how illiterate insolent fierce and revengeful he was that meeting one that had been his School-Master an ingenuous person under a colour of embracing him bit off his Nose and the poor miserable deformed man beseeching him to give it him again that whilst it was green and fresh he might sow it again to his face he would not do it but like a dogge swallowed it down and so averse was he to all piety that that heavenly Doctrine he had heard in Sermons he made sport with it with his pot-Companions on the Ale-benches Afterwards when he had prodigally wasted his Estate which he had got with a Widow whom he had marryed on a sudain he claps on the vizard of most specious sanctity is wholly taken up in hearing Sermons reading the Scriptures
much as to give an Oath yet how often did they then upon small matters unworthy of their cognisance in regard they might have been so easily remedied by the known ordinary Laws of the Land and the ordinary competent Judges thereof call orthodox conformable and worthy Ministers to appear before them from very distant remote places sometimes near upon 200. miles for setting a rail about the Communion Table according to the command of the Ordinary or matters of such inferiour nature these brought on and fomented by Inconformists then to the great mischief to this Nation too too much favoured promoted and prosecuted by the then prevailing power The Fees and charges were then very high insomuch as some Ministers were almost if not altogether undone before they could get up thither and when they came by reason of multiplicity of businesse in the Commons House they staid there long and upon great charge paying high Fees still to the Serjeant or other Officers of the House whilest they lay under restraint which oftentimes was very long When a charge after long delay was given in then they gave their answer after a long stay too Then a Committee of many Members was appointed to examine witnesses which was done without oath then after a long time the cause was reported many of these Members not having heard the whole cause but some one part some another yet often concurring at the voting and reporting the cause to the House of Commons which was a strange kind of proceeding to call it no worse In the Star-chamber and High-commission none used to give sentence but such as heard all the cause and they usually excused themselves when they had not heard all the cause Now when the House of Commods had proceeded thus far upon the matter yet they had done little or nothing but vexed and undone a poor and perhaps guiltless Minister for they were to transmit the cause to the Lords House and there to begin it de novo examine the witnesses again upon oath which as before the other House could not do And here 't is to be considered whether or no it were not anceps perjurium a dangerous temptation to witnesses that perhaps have spoken too largely being unsworn will if but for fear of loss of Reputation confirm upon Oath what they have said without Oath It is to be feared also some poor men foreseeing this unevitable course of undoing them have either wronged their owne cause and betrayed their innocence by confessing themselves guilty or ad redimendam vexationem compounded with their prosecutors even to their own undoing or well nigh If there had been cause and that it could not properly in an ordinary way have been remedied by the proper competent ordinary Judges why should not the cause have been begun heard and determined in the Lords House at first Could the Houses especially the Commons House then have been brought into such due order as not to act extra spheram activitatis suae 't is well to be hoped they would not as above have been desirous to lengthen or perpetuate that Parliament when they can as by right repeal no old nor make no new Law nor tax the Subjects estate nor make Ordinances to have the force of Laws without His Majesties assent King Henry the Eighth suffered the Houses of Parliament in Ireland for a matter of two years or thereabouts to continue petitioning him to dissolve them and dismiss them home which he would not do till he saw cause Though this is not in his commendation yet hereby the just power of the King appeared and the right of his Prerogative which hath been too long and too much trampled upon And surely the Law in this point is the same in Englaud as in Ireland that the just bounds and limits on all sides might be preserved inviolate Touching the Age of Parliament-men Age of Parliament-men In the Lords House none sit there under 21. years of age and some wish none might under 30. though there they are singly for themselves and represent not others as in the House of Commons But in the House of Commons there hath been sometimes as was in the Long Parliament Members about 16. or 17. years of age if not some of them under and their Suffrages and Votes were of as much force as the eldest most experienced in the House And it hath been the observation of some experienced and wise Parliament-men that oftentimes in that House those that had the shortest wings were the highest flyers and such as these could adde number and so consequently weight to a side The inconvenience and hurt that arose from hence is easily demonstrable and hath too much appeared by frequent experience Some have wished that there should have been no Member of the Commons House under the age of 30. years there being so large a field whereout to choose Parliament-men for every place and it being even as it were ex diametro contrary to the nature and denomination of a Parliament which is but a great Senate so called à Senioribus the constituting Members thereof Touching the Election of Parliament-men Election of Parliament-men Some have advised that it should be clearly free without such ambient means as were used in the Long Parliament by some Factions and whereas every man may give his suffrage for Counties that hath 40 s. per annum and in Cities and Corporations without such a value that being the old custom And that which was 40 s. per annum in former Ages is worth now ten times as much well nigh if not more So consequently the Electors should be of better estate The great number of Burroughs Corporations There being such a vast disproportion betwixt the Cities alwayes excepting London and Corporations Burroughs especially and the Counties wherein that Burrough and Corporation is scituate for number of Inhabitants which heightens the concernment In some Counties there being so many Corporations that the County having but two Parliament-men to represent them be the County never so great yet every petty Corporation whereof in many Counties especially in the West there are very many such hath as many to represent it of equal power in the Commons House with any other Member of County or City So that the Parliament-men serving for Cities and Burroughs are in number by many degrees far much more then for Counties which hath been conceived to have been no small cause of our late troubles Some advised for that reason and for other reasons too well known notorious and obvious to every indifferent eye that the number of these Burroughs should be much lessened or at leastwise that power of Electing Parliament-Members Especially so many of these Corporations Cities and Burroughs having in these late troubles so clearly forfeited their Charters Touching the manner of proceeding in Parliament in the Commons House in the Long-Parliament It hath been ordinarily observed as is touched above that in Committees in that Long-Parliament some have
they were taken and of their actings and not to remain as they do in the view of the owners perhaps purposely in despight exposed to such publick view This works contrary to His Majesties pious intention and that Act of Oblivion it continues does not abolish the memory of our former divisions when the spoiled shall see as a continual Eye-sore their proper goods in the possession of the spoiler whilest the spoiled for want of them perhaps is ready to starve and perhaps the spoiler makes his livelyhood out of them if not steps of preferment too The Heathen Poet could say of the Civil wars of Rome Bella geri placuit nullos habitura triumphos But surely this looks like a continued triumph after the Warre Reparation to persons spoyled Some have wished that that motion in the last Parliament or Assembly or Convention that ended in December 1660 made in the Lords House might be renewed that the spoyled party might at least in some good measure be repaired by some publick Tax made for that purpose and due consideration to be had of such suffering spoyled persons that constant never-changing Loyalty may have some encouragement and comfort besides that of a good conscience Touching the Long Parliament Some have wished that it might have been by Act of Parliament declared if thought sic that the Long Parliament notwithstanding that Act for the continuing of it till it should be dissolved by Act of Parliament was dissolved or declared void and null from such a day as should have been by advice of the Judges and learned in the Laws agreed upon And that also if thought fit consideration should have been had particularly from what time that dissolution annulling or making void should have commenced whether from the time that His late Majesty was driven from the Parliament by tumults and riots which as is known some if not many Members especially of the then Commons House in that Long Parliament that took up Arms against the King were so far from causing to be suppressed though His Majesty desired it that they were set on by them as is notorious And also if thought fit that if not from that time yet from the time they voted to live and dye with the Earl of Essex by them voted to be their General against the King and upon the matter causing those Members to leave the House that would not vote with them And whether that His Majesty calling them afterwards a Parliament as they alledged when they were in Arms against him though perhaps His Protestation to the contrary was entred in the Council-book could any wayes entitle them to a lawful Parliament And also if thought fitting that it should have been by Act of Parliament declared that any Member of Parliament offending against 25 E. 3. in raising or bearing Arms or maintaining them against the King ipso facto ceases to be a Member of Parliament for that a Rebel and a Parliament-man are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And also if thought fit that the Judges of the Land consulting together should have declared as they did in King James his time in that case about Watson and Clerk the Seminary Priests that the Kings Coronation was but a Ceremony and that without it the King was a complete King that that Long Parliament was dissolved from such a day as they should have found by Law that it was dissolved or annulled whether it was from the time of His late Majesties expulsion from his Parliament as before or from the time of voting to live and dye with the Earl of Essex or of their Votes of no further addresses to the King who called them to consult with him whether they did not then openly dissolve themselves by refusing to consult with him or from his death when they could consult no more with him And also if thought fit that it should have been so declared and enacted that though the King had passed an Act that the Parliament should fit till they were dissolved by an Act of Parliament and that if it had been expressed that it should be so notwithstanding that His Majesty should dye in the interim yet such an Act could not bind him nor his Successor especially when in that Act for continuing that Parliament till by such Act it should be dissolved there is no such mention that it should continue after his death that called it and that the King cannot be concerned at leastwise concluded any wayes in any Act of Parliament to his damage prejudice or diminution of his Royal Prerogative or Authority except at least he explicitely and freely consent to it be specially comprized and named in that Act to that purpose or whether he can though he so consent it following plainly that if by taking up Arms or bearing Arms against the King a Parliament-man ceases to be so nor can sit any longer in the House Then in that case none ought truly to be accounted secluded or excluded Members but onely these that would not then vote to live and dye with the Earl of Essex nor would assent to the raising of arms against the King but thereupon left the House or were expelled thence either by the Votes of the rest or by menaces just fear that might incidere in constantem virum or by tumultuous force so that if the Parliament if not by the reasons aforesaid yet at least by the death of the King being dissolved as to think the contrary is most void of reason or truth if I say it had not been so dissolved then those secluded or excluded Members they onely ought to have been restored and none of the rest that acted against the King by taking up Arms against him or acting against him ought to have been restored Such offended against the Act of 25 E. 3. raising Arms against the King c. counterfeiting or making a new Great Seal c. and their being Members of Parliament being as before inconsistent and for the void places His Majesty to issue out Writs for free legal and new Elections The keeping of the Records in the Tower And also that the keeping of the Records in the Tower should be in the hands of a known trusty Loyalist and none other in regard of the danger of imbezelling or corrupting them by any person of other principles not affected to Monarchical government by Law established to the great damage of the King and his Subjects The Militia And also that the Militia and all Offices and places of trust and concernment for the peace and safety of the Kingdoms and for the prevention of future Faction Sedition and disturbance of such peace and endangering such safety should be committed onely to the hands and especially for a competent space of time as by such free and legal Parliament or by His Majesty shall be agreed upon of known experienc'd Loyalists and not to any that may be reasonably presumed or suspected to be otherwise That rule may somtimes hold and not
and pretending to I know not what heavenly Revelations and counterfeiting an extraordinary calling insinuated himself into the acquaintance of severall Divines that with inflamed zeal labour'd to bring in the Presbyteriall Discipline of the Church of Geneva into the Church of England amongst whom was one Wigginton a Minister and if ever any an haire-brain'd one and a contemâ—er of Magistrates Then he goes on and relates Hacketts and his Complices most horrid and ridiculous madness such as had not such a worthy Author and others related it we might now doubt of the truth of it as the next Age will probably do of our Modern Fanaticks late pranks there he relates his fearful blasphemous speeches as he expired and was turn'd off the Gallowes upon whom that pious and Learned Author gives this grave censure Ita hostis humani gencris dementat quos sanctitatem simulare ad solrietatem nolle sapere deprehendit Thus the enemy of Mankinde infatuates those whom he perceives to be counterfeitors of holiness and will not be wise with sobriety And then after a line or two upon Arthington and Coppinger two of Hacketts Complices he goes on thus Nec hii soli sed etiam alii qui receptam in Ecclesia Anglicana Doctrinam Episcoporum vocationem damnando Praesules contumeliosè calumniando hactenus frustra impugnarant Nunc pertractis in eorum partes nonullis juris Anglici peritis in corum Jurisdictionem delegatam à Regina in Ecclesiasticis causis authoritatem ut prorsus injustam linguas calamos strinxerunt declamando ubique etiam libris publicatis homines contra Regni leges in Foris Ecclesiasticis indignè opprimi Reginam ejusmodi authoritatem ex jure non posse delegare nec alios exercere delegatam Fora illa non posse a reo Jusjurandum Ex Officio exigere cum Nemo seipsum accusare teneatur Jusjurandum illud homines ad sui condemnationem cum ignominiosa confusione vel in spontaneum perjurium cum animarum exitio praecipitare Praeterea de aliis quam matrimonialibus causis non debere cognoscere ex hujusmodi Veteri Rescripto Mandamus Vice-Comiti Comitatuum nostrorum S. N. c. quod non permittat quod aliqui in Balliva sua in aliquibus locis conveniant ad aliquas Recognitiones per sacramenta sua faciendas nisi in causis Matrimonialibus Testamentariis Contra Juris Ecclesiastici Professores Regiam in Ecclesiasticis authoritatem propugnarunt utique Parlamentariâ Authoritate in Regina investitam Hanc oppugnare nihil aliud esse quam in Majestatem irruere Sacro Sanctae Praerogativae violato obsequii juramento insultare Fora Ecclesiastica de aliis quam Matrimonialibus Testamentariis posse cognoscere ex statuto Circumspecte agatis Articulis Cleri sub Edvardo Primo docuerunt Rescriptum sive legem illam prolatam suspectam esse quia temporis est incerti variae Lectionis Alibi enim legi Ad recognitiones vel sacramenta praestanda Recognitionem item facere non significare testimonium perhibere vel respondere in jure sed debitum agnoscere fateri vel placita de Catalogis vel debitis tenere Juramentum ex officio in foris illis ut in aliis ex omni memoria fuisse exactum ad simoniam adulterium alia tenebrarum opera rimanda praesertim cum Insinuatio ut loquuntur fuerit clamosa Et quamvis nemo teneatur seipsum prodere tamen per famam proditum teneri ostendere utrum possit suam innocentiam defendere seipsum purgare quandoquidem poenitentia imposita non sit poena sed medicina ad peccatores curandos alios à peccato deterrendos scandalum tollendum juxta illud in Sacris Literis Pro anima tua ne confundaris dicere verum Est enim confusio adducens peccatum confusio adducens gloriam gratiam Sed quid de hiis immoror quum dissertationes Richardi Cosini Legum Doctoris Johannis Morrisii Lanceloti Andrewes eruditae hac de re utrinque praestent Regina haud ignara suam authoritatem per Episcoporum latera in hoc negotio peti adversantium impetus tacite infregit Ecclesiasticam Jurisdictionem illaesam conservavit That is Not onely these speaking of Hackett and his Complices but others also who had hitherto though in vain impugned the received Discipline of the Church of England by condemning the calling of Bishops and contumeliously slandering the Praelates having now drawn into their party some Common-Lawyers sharpned both their Tongues and Pens against their Jurisdiction and the Authority which the Queen delegated in Ecclesiasticall Causes as altogether unjust declaiming every where even in Books published that men were unworthily oppressed in the Ecclesiasticall Courts contrary to the Lawes of the Kingdom That the Queen could not by Law delegate such kinde of Authority nor others to whom it was delegated could exercise it That these Courts could not require the Oath ex officio from the defendent party when as no man is bound to accuse himself That Oath precipitates men to condemn themselves with ignominious confusion or into wilful perjury to the destruction of their Souls Besides they ought not to hold cognizance of any other causes then Matrimoniall and Testamentary according to that old Mandate or Rescript We command our Sheriff of our Counties of S. N. c. that they suffer not any in their Balive to come together in any places to make any Recognizances upon their Oaths but in Matrimoniall and Testamentary causes On the other side the Professors of the Ecclesiasticall Lawes maintain'd the Royall Authority in Causes Ecclesiasticall as vested in the Queen by Authority of Parliament To oppose this was nothing else then to offer violence to Royall Majesty and violating the Oath of obedience to insult over the Sacred Prerogative Royall The Ecclesiasticall Courts may hold cognizance of other Causes then Matrimoniall and Testamentary by the Statute of Circumspecte agatis and Articuli Cleri in the time of Edward the first as they made it appeare That Rescript or Law which they produc'd was suspected because it was incertain for the time and is variously read Elsewhere I have read it To perform Recognisances and Oaths and to make recognition or recognizance doth not signifie to give testimony or to answer in Law but to acknowledge and confesse a debt or to hold plea of Inventaries or Debts That the Oath ex officio hath time out of mind been given in these Courts as in others to sift out Simonie Adultery and other works of darkness especially when the Insinuation as they call it becomes loude And though no man is bound to betray himself yet being betrayed by fame he is bound to shew himself whether he can defend his innocence and purge himself seeing the penance enjoyned is not a punishment but a medicine to cure sinners and to deter others from sinning and to take away scandall according to that in
others were these A grave and able Civilian and then a Member of the House of Commons was accused by an Inconformist that he had excommunicated him for not kneeling at the Communion when he received I was present and saw and heard it and to my best remembrance it was for not kneeling at the Communion at least it was for not performing some other Ceremony so that as to this matter 't is all one The Civilian being called up to a Committee of the Lords then in the Long Parliament out of the House of Commons to answer it By his Counsel he desir'd time to send into the Countrey where it was pretended to be done to know whether he had done any such thing it being impossible for him to remember every particular that he had done in his Jurisdiction and that particular he said he did not remember He had time given and informed himself thereof and at the next appointed time of his appearance by his Counsel pleaded that he had done no such thing as he was accused of The Accuser said then it was done by his Deputy or Surrogate That was denyed too Then he said he was sure it was done by the Spiritual Court and so it was but not by any Spiritual Court where that Civilian had to do Then the Civilian pleaded that if he had done that whereof he was accused he doubted not but he could have justified it but since it appears that he was unjustly accus'd and reap'd some discredit by being thus question'd and had been put to trouble and charge thereabouts he desired reparation and charges which by many of the Lords was yielded to yet by the major part it was carried that he ought not to have it and the reason was rendred because it would deter others from complaining Si satis est accusasse quis erit innocens Nay how far may it tend to the ruine of some if some men be maliciously set upon them to multiply accusations against them The other was Another Inconformist complaining of his being question'd in the Ecclesiastical Courts for his Inconformity In defence it was alledged against him and proved that he had said He would as soon bow at the name of Judas as at the Name of JESUS and I diligently enquir'd but never heard he was punish'd for it But would there had been no more then these though these are too much Would some had not gloried had not triumphed in their shame Bella geri placuit nullos habitura triumphos CHAP. II. The two Proviso's in the late Act that takes away the doubt touching Coercive power in Ecclesiastical Courts Dr. Cosens Apology for sundry proceedings by Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical That groundless Opinion That a several Royal assent to the executing of every particular Canon is requir'd is confuted The validity of the Ecclesiastical Laws The clamours of Inconformists Innovators and Fanaticks against the putting of Ecclesiastical Laws in execution though the Ecclesiastical Officers and Ministers are by Act of Parliament severely commanded to do it BY the late Act before mentioned where the Doubt so it is called there about the Coercive power in Ecclesiastical Courts is clear'd and taken away One Proviso is That that Act nor any thing therein conteined shall extend or be construed to extend to give unto any Archbishop or Bishop or any other Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Judge c. any power or authority to exercise c. If any be peccant that way it ought to be amended Another Proviso forbids any Archbishop Bishop c. to tender or administer unto any person the Oath usually called the Oath Ex officio or any other Oath whereby such person to whom the same is tendred or administred may be charged or compelled to confess or accuse or to purge him or her self of any criminal matter or thing whereby he or she may be lyable to any censure or punishment This being now forbidden by Act of Parliament every Subject ought to give obedience therein But some now insulting and upbraiding the Ecclesiastical Courts that all this while they have oppressed the Subject with that proceeding which the Parliament hath taken away renewing the old cry in Queen Elizabeths time and ever since against such proceedings which never till now I alwayes except what was done in the late times of usurped government were legally prohibited Though I am far from questioning the reasons whereupon that Act passed but do humbly submit to it both in word and practice yet I hope it will be allowed to make some defence against such persons as so tax such proceedings before the passing of this Act. And herein I shall follow that most able Civilian Richard Cosin Doctor of the Laws and Dean of the Arches in that his Apology for sundry proceedings by Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical c. Mr. Cambden as before mentions him with honour as surely he well deserv'd and that work of his if nothing else evinces it Mr. Swinburn in that Work of his of Last Wills and Testaments printed at London for the Company of Stationers 1611. in the first part sect 6. numb 8. fol. 17. writes thus of him and of that Work of his that Apology I find saith he written by that learned and no less religious man Doctor Cosins as I take it in that worthy Work entituled An Apology for sundry proceedings by Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical c. and so he goes on Upon this subject he hath written so fully that I believe little can be added to it and if any should go about it excepting such additions as well may be added by reason of some emergencies since the time he wrote and some other additions and explications not derogatory from him they would be forced very much to plough with his Heyfer which would but look too much like a Plagiary I could wish the book were reprinted and haply it will be so which may serve for Topicks to this subject For as all the Poets after Homer are said to drink of his Fountain according to that picture or statue of his that denotes as much with that Inscription Ridet anhelantem post se vestigia turbam Even so must I conceive all do from Doctor Cosin that shall write upon this subject I was upon Epitomizing that Apology of his and had made some progress therein but upon second thoughts desisted thinking it better to refer the Reader to him rather then to adventure to abbreviate him and thereby perhaps wrong him an offence that too many Epitomizers are guilty of therefore I say I shall onely make use of some Notes as confessed arrows out of his quiver and sippe of some others elsewhere and point the Reader to his full stream where any that list may drink their fill Upon these words in the late Act Provided that this Act. nor any thing therein contained shall extend or be construed to extend or give unto any Archbishop Bishop c. any power or authority to exercise or execute c. any jurisdiction which they
might not have done before the year of our Lord 1639. or to abridge or diminish the Kings Majestics Supremacy in Ecclesiastical matters or affairs nor to confirm the Canons made in the year 1640. I say upon these words some are ready mistaking questionless the words and meaning of that Act to renew that old exploded Opinion or rather groundless Fancy That a several Royal assent to the executing of every particular Canon is required Hereto Doctor Cosin answers That admitting this were true then all the other opinions of those that oppugn the ordinary Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical stand in no stead and might be spared because this would cut off all at once For none that exercise ordinary Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical have it in particularity which by the oppugners seems to be meant otherwise then by permission of Law to every of their proceedings and impossible were it by reason of the infinity of it and troublesomness to procure such particular assent to the execution of every Canon His Majesties Delegates when Appeals are made to His Majesty in Chancery would signifie nothing could not exercise the power to them delegated by reason of the want of such particular assent and it is a gross absurdity to grant as even the Oppugners and Innovators do That Testamentary and Matrimonial causes are of Ecclesiastical cognizance to say nothing of the rest of Ecclesiastical causes and yet cannot by reason of this want be dispatched nor can be dealt in by any other authority according to any Law in force This would speak a defect in the publick Government that the Subject should have a right but no likely or ready mean to come by it and great offences by Law punishable and yet no man sufficiently authorized to execute these Laws Since the abrogation of Papal pretended Supremacy when the ancient rights of the Kings of England of being Supreme Governors over all persons within their Dominions as well in all Spiritual or Ecclesiastical things or causes as Temporal and that no forreign Prince Person Prelate State or Potentate hath or ought to have any jurisdiction power superiority preeminence or authority Ecclesiastical or Spiritual within this Realm and so forth as in the Act and the Oath Since these rights were as it were ex postliminio restored and declared to have been as they ever ought to have been in the Kings of England many Laws have been made in several Parliaments for the strengthning of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and the more effectual execution thereof and some of the Ecclesiastical Laws were enlarged astered and explained * 25 H. 8.19 The Statutes for Delegates upon Appeals †27 H 8 130. 32 H 8.7 Not long after two Statutes for assistance of ordinary Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and for the speedier recovery of Tithes in Courts Ecclesiastical * 34 35 H. 8 19. The like for the recovery of Pensions Procurations c. †1 Ed. 6. c. 2. In the time of Edw. 6. in a Statute since repealed by Queen Mary a great number of particular causes of Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical are there by the way rehearsed that Ordinaries and other Ecclesiastical Judges might and did then put in execution So 1 Mar. c. 3. 1 Eliz. c. 1. 5 Eliz c. 23. 9. That Perjury or Subornation in a Court Ecclesiastical shall and may be punished by such usual and ordinary Laws as heretofore have been and yet are used and frequented in the said Ecclesiastical Courts Which proveth the usual practice of Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical hitherto used without any special assent to be lawful So 13 Eliz. c. 4. c. 10. and many more in the same Queens time and King James and King Charles the First that blessed King and Martyr I say many are the Laws that have been made for the strengthning of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and the more effectual execution of it and some of these Laws were enlarged altered and explained But never was there any Law Custom or Act of Parliament that required a several Royal assent to the executing of every particular Canon Many are the reasons which Dr. Cosens gives in the first Chapter of his Apology against that particular Assent wherein he shews his great candor and ingenuity and desire to give abundant satisfaction to all Opponents though never so unreasonable that were it not as clear as the Noon-tide light that no such particular assent is needful some might think that he fear'd his cause and be ready to say that Defensio nimis operosa reatum quasi arguit But touching the validity of the Ecclesiastical Laws there needs I conceive no more be said then what is expressed in that Act of Parliament 25 H. 8.19 the Ecclesiastical Laws that were in use and practice before that Statute are thereby established thus Provided that such Canons Constitutions Ordinances and Synods Provincial being already made which be not contrariant nor repugnant to the Laws Statutes and Customs of this Realm nor to the damage or hurt of the Kings Prerogative Royal shall now still be used and executed as they were before the making of this Act untill such time as they be viewed c. by the 32. persons mentioned in that Act which is not yet done The Ecclesiastical Laws which have been made since that Act and all that ever hereafter shall be made so long as that Statute stands in force the requisites in that Act being observ'd are thereby I conceive confirmed or to be confirmed The Submission and Petition of the Clergy mentioned in that Act is That they would not enact or put in ure any new Canons c. in their Convocation without the Kings Royal assent and authority in that behalf There it is said That the Convocation in the time coming shall alwayes be assembled by authority of the Kings Writ and that the Clergy must have the Kings most Royal assent and licence to make promulge and execute such Canons Constitutions and Ordinances Provincial and Synodal else they may not enact promulge or constitute any such Canons c. And this course hath ever since been observed Every Convocation called by His Majesties Writ and the Clergy had especial license from His Majesty to enact such Canons c. and to execute them The Provision following being observed which is this Provided that no Canons Constitutions or Ordinances shall be made or put in execution in this Realm by authority of the Convocation of the Clergy which shall be contrariant or repugnant to tho Prerogative Royal or the Customs Laws or Statutes of this Realm any thing contained in that Act to the contrary thereof notwithstanding If any be put in execution contrary to this Proviso and contrary to any after-Acts of Parliament whereby His Majesty hath further power acknowledged in causes Ecclesiastical then 't is illegal but that is much sooner alledged than proved The particular Ecclesiastical Laws in force have by Dr. Cosens and others been sufficiently demonstrated I humbly conceive In case any Jurisdiction