EPITOME OF CERTAIN LATE ASPERSIONS CASTANNA AT CIVILIANS, THE CIVIL AND ECCLESIASTICAL LAW, THE COURT'S CHRISTIAN; AND AT BISHOPS AND THEIR CHANCELLORS.  
WHEREIN THE AUTHORS THEREOF ARE REFUTED, AND REFELLED.  
WITH An Appendix, wherein the Civil and Canon Laws, with the causes of the Cognisance or Cognition of either of them in the Church or Commonwealth in the King's Dominions, (what they are,) are opened.  
BY WILLIAM CLERK, Bach. of the Civil Law.  
CIC. lib. 2. Tusc. Et refellere sine pertinatia, & refelli sine iracundia, parati sumus.  
The aspersions follow in the next fol.  
OPUSCULI DICATIO: STUDIOSIS JURISPRUDENTIAE CANDIDATIS, CUPIDAEQVE LEGUM IWENTUTI, HANC OPELLAM QVANTVLACVNQVE SIT, GVILILLMUS CLERK DICAT CONSECRATQVE.   

THE ASPERSIONS.  

1. 
THat the Civilians themselves confess, that the Civil law is a Sea full of waves.  2. 
That every Doctor's opinion (in that learning) is a good authority.  3. 
That the like may be said of the Canon law, albeit the text thereof be scarce 400 years old.  4. 
That for the space of 300 years after Christ, the distinction of Ecclesiastical and spiritual causes, from Civil and Temporal, in point of jurisdiction, was not known, nor heard of in the Christian world.  5. 
That the Clergy, by their jurisdiction which they had from Caesar, got wealth, which begot pride, which begot their ingratitude to Princes, which blotted Caesar's name out of the style of their Courts, and called them Courts Christian.  6. 
That Bishop's Chancellors (are of late) but upstarts in the world.  7. 
That the sloth of Bishops hath brought them in.     

TO THE READER.  
GEntle and judicious Reader, if the wisdom of a King and his Parliament in England, where the Civil and Canon laws, Bishops, & their jurisdictions were in discussion, thought it not fit the wisdom of the King alone, nor with one, nor two, nor ten (with him) of the wisests of the two houses upper and neither of his Parliament, nor under two sixteens with the King, 32 in the total, the one of Temporality, the other of the Clergy, should look into these laws, to what intent, I leave the Reader to 
〈◊〉 29. H 8. 〈◊〉 19  the Act itself, Entitled an Act of the Submission of the Clergy to the King etc. Then weigh his wisdom, & his wisdom, the two wisdoms of our two Authors, who (alone) have looked into these laws, & discerned of them, & adjudged them, & their professors; The Bishops their Courts & their Chancellors with them, who do execute the same; The theses or positions named & numbered in the page ensuing next the title page, of this Epitome, had they infected but some few affected to the study of this learning, & discouraged them therein, it had been too much: But they take impression in some of our Bishops in some of the King's dominions (I except England) of whom some will have no vicar's generals, but do sit (without them) in their Consistories, where, by that occasion, whilst they determine thinking they determine (well) the causes brought before them, they determine (ill) many times therein; whose owners thereby, sometimes the widow, sometimes the Orphan, sometimes both, do suffer amongst others: And no marvel why; For though Persons, things, and Actions, all that laws do handle, or can handle in the general, are but 3, for whatsoever law we use, consists in one of these 3, Persons, things, or actions; yet there is in each of these so many points of learning in the law, that without the reading or practice thereof, or both, can no man judge aright; judge he may, and judge aright, as he that shoots & hits a mark he sees not; so the blind man hits the Crow, as the proverb is; a fearful adventure in judgement; will a man adventure a river he knows not, and knows there is a danger in it, but knows not where about, without a guide? A wise man will not, some venturous do; but die, or live, as they hit, or miss the danger; daily experience teacheth this in waters; more frequent in judgements; wherein the wisdom of the law, hath set a guide, to guide him in judgement, in matters of judgement of the Church, in whom it invests the same in his person, place, or dignity; and hath not the law, nor the practice of it, to judge accordingly, by his profession, as our Reverend Fathers the Bishop's mere divines, have not; And therefore have, or aught to have their Vicar's generals to guide them in judgement, or guide the judgement without them, otherwise, if they judge amiss, or proceed amiss, in judgement, and so destroy it, though otherwise just, as many times they do, as daily experience shows it in our Courts of Appeals and Quarrels in Jreland, they are inexcusable before GOD, and man.  
That Appeals are made, and do lie aswell from the learned and experienced ludge, be he never so circumspect in judgement, it is evident likewise; But not the difference, (Judicious Reader) these appellations do proceed from the perverseness of the Appellant, not the unskilfulness of the ludge, as the other do: Their causes are remissible to the judge again, from whom they came; & are sent unto him back again, regularly; The other are not so, but determinable, & determined by the judge of Appeal, finally; had the wisdoms of our authors of these positions attended the wisdom of the King & his Parliament in the act above mentioned, expressed, (the act, stands still in force) before they had divulged them, I will not say what they had done therein; better, or worse; but better, or worse; they have done; and I have said   

THAT THE CIVILIANS THE MSELVES confess, that the Civil Law is a Sea full of waves.  
THE Author fell into 
In the 〈◊〉 to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Repoit of 〈◊〉 causes & matters in law 〈◊〉 and adjudged in 〈◊〉 King's 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 fol. 4. pa 〈◊〉 printed in 〈◊〉 1615.  this dispraise of this learning, from the praise of his own, in these words, viz. And therefore we may say for the honour of our Law, (notwithstanding that vulgar imputation of incertainety) that the judgement and reasons of it is more certain, then of any other humane Law in the world; aswell because the grounds of our Common Law, have from the beginning, been laid with such deep wisdom, policy and providence, as that they do provide for, and meet with almost all cases that can fall out in our Commonwealth. As also because these grounds are so plain, and so clear, as that the Professors of our Law, have not thought it needful to make so many glosses, & interpretations thereupon, as other Laws are perplexed & confounded withàll; which glosses, as one doth well observe, do increase doubts & ignorance in all Arts and Sciences: And therefore the Civilians themselves confess, 
〈◊〉  that their Law is a Seafull of waves, the text whereof being digested into so many volumes.  
The Professors (saith our Author) of our 
〈◊〉  learning (the Common Law he means) have not thought it needful to make so many glosses and interpretations thereupon, as other Laws (the Civil & Canon Laws he means) are perplexed & confounded withal: As if he had said, we gloss not, we interpret not; no, we are not sicut caeteri hominum, Raptores, etc. velut etiam hic Publicanus; The Author could not honour his own learning, but dishonour ours, nor extol that, but debase this. But to pass over that: Do the Civilians themselves confess, (doth any man think) their Law is a Sea full of waves? believe it not judicious Reader, that it was a Sea full of waves (as it was) digested into 2000 books or very near, before justinian's time, all Civilians do confess but (since) reduced into 50 by lustinian, as it was, which number (now) it exceeds not in books, but the same then, & now, in number & books, that Sea stood plain, and stands plain still; not a wave troubles it. To demonstrate this, let justinian begin; sayeth the Emperor when he had accomplished the work Et cum sacratissimas constitutiones, anteà confusas, 
In 〈◊〉 do confirm. 〈◊〉  in luculentam ereximus consonantiam, tunc nostram extendimus cur am ad immensa veteris prudentiae volumina, & opus desperatum, quasi per medium profundum euntes, Coelesti favore, jam adimplevimus. Hitherto the Emperor himself. And hereupon a famous learned Civilians Paraphrase 
Claud. 〈◊〉 in tres lib 〈◊〉 iustit. 〈◊〉  is this. Quis put as labour, quae difficultas fuerit, non modd sacratissimas superiorum principum constitutiones, sed universas Romanae sapientiae sanctiones, & leges, antea, temporibus ipsis, confusas, ac 〈◊〉 in unam cogere, velut symphoniam, & aequabilitatem? quicksands quid ab urbe condita, & Romuleis temporibus usque ad nostrt imperij tempora, (quae ferè in mille & quadringentos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) vel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Reipub. moderatoribus 〈◊〉, edictum, sancitum, vel à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de jure responsum esc, è quibus duo penè 〈◊〉 librorum esse conseripta, & plusquam tricies centeva millia versnum effula esse compertum est: (Haec dicimus) adeò multa legere, perscrutari, expendere, & quod ex hijs optimum esset eligere, opus profectò immensum, & ab alijs non vanis ex causis desperatum; Ac nos qui mentis nostrae conatus Reipub. nostrae commodis devoveraramus, proprijs licet diffisi virihus, sed Dei omnipotentis auxilio freti, qui 〈◊〉 penitus desperatus donare, & confirmare, 〈◊〉 virtutis magnitudine potest, vastum illud profundumque pelagus ingressi sumus, & secundo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 superatis difficultatibus, portum quem petabamus, attigimus. Name & priscorum principum constitutiones, quantumlibet vagas, sparsas, & confusas, ex densissimis tenebris, in sibi modis omnibus consentaneam formam, in utrumque 〈◊〉 retulimus, & immensa veteris jurisprudentiae volumina, quae (quot diximus erant) in paucos aliquot velut tomos, nempe in quinquaginta libros pandectarum (sic enim ex ipsa re appellare licuit) Dei oped max. favore suffulti, magna cura, collegimus.  
To come near (a little) to this aspersion that comes so near the Civil law, let the judicious Reader, the Common lawyer especially, & more especially those of them, & what others that look into our books, look into our Code, and see and read the three Constitutions there, that the Emperor lustinian sots before his entrance into that book, the I book of his Code (by way as it were) of a Proaem, preface, or introduction thereunto: 1: de novo Codice faciendo; 2. de justiniano Cod. confirmando: 3. de emendatione codicis justiniani, & secunda ejus editione, which when he shall have seen, and read, passing over the titles thereof, from the first, to the 17, de veteri jure enucleando, let him take with the rest that title into his consideration: And with these authorities, I leave him to discern, whether the Civil law now is, or then was, when this aspersion was cast upon it, which was in the year 1615. (as it was 1000 years & odd before that year (a Sea full of waves.  
To meet with that objection that may by drawn from the time, wherein we say the Civil law was digested from so many books, to so few, from that confusion to that order, the Emperor 〈◊〉 it unto 1000 years, wherein it might grow to confusion again, the same it was before; I call to witness all the manuseripts & Impressions (since) of the Civil law, whether the Tomes there of be more 
Digest or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  now, than the 4. Tomes they were then; these, the Digest, or Pandects, the Code, the authentics, and the Feuds, whereunto the Emperor 
〈◊〉 entiks 〈◊〉  had brought them from 2000 books, or upon the point, as before is said: And as all writers do agree, they were penè duo millia librorum, wherein they writ there were contained 300000 Paragraphs. Here I leave the first aspersion, and turn to the second.   

2. That every Doctor's opinion (in that learning) is a good authority.  
Or the second aspersion, the same Author 
Supradict. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fol. 〈◊〉 pag.  comes unto that, from his reason for his first, this; The Text whereof (meaning the Civil law) being digested into so many volumes. Now he goes on with, And so many Doctor's interpreting the texts, and twice as many more commenting upon their interpretations, and so gloss upon gloss, & book upon book, (& so he is come unto that aspersion) this, viz. And every Doctor's opinion being a 
Imput.  good authority, fit to be cited and vouched among them (meaning the Civilians) must needs breed distraction of opinions, and uncertainty in that law.  
Here he comes in with so many, & so many, 
Refut.  & twice so many Texts, Doctors, Comments, Glosses, Books, Opinions, & I cannot tell what, one upon another: But were they more by twice so many as they are, that writ upon that law, their Glosses, Comments, Opinions, & what else, could no more hurt or confound it, than the frogs or Grasshoppers can the grounds, when they hop, skip and leap, one over another: For we read the Doctors, and reverence them. But we honour, and hold the law, wherein our reading assures us, and we may believe it, and we do believe it, nihil esse perplexum, nihil ambiguum, nihil diminutum, nihil quod contrarium, aut simile videri possit, nullam esse geminam legem in toto jure civili. But to the point, where the Author sayeth, that every Doctor's opinion is a good authority for us: The words of this aspersion, we say the contrary: Never a Doctor's opinion, saving the comen opinion of the Doctors, is authority for us to give or take in judgement in our Courts; Nay the common opinion of the Doctors we receive very sparingly, and many times we receive it not; For our Axiom which they call their Maxim for our plead is, first mtentionem suam per probationes in judicium deductas ostendere: Next juribus asseverare, not Doctortbus. For Doctor's opinions go no further then to bartol & Bald. Nay then to bartol: is there a Doctor more famous, more worthy, or of more authority than bartol: Bartolum verò quotusquisque non appellat 〈◊〉 juris, & dominum, & aurigam Doctorum: whose opinion, for an opinion, the whole World embraceth, with this applause, viz Bartolista, optimus jurista censendus est: yet for a judgement or final decree, it leads our Courts no more, than the rest of the Doctors their opinions do. From whose authorities though we may gather many memorable matters in point of learning in law. In disputando tamen (sayeth the Civilian) non sunt alleganda, sicut nee corum auctoritates opponendae disquisitioni veritatis. Nec peraequè valent in foro, atque de legum fontibus deducta. In a word (judicious Reader) that Doctor's opinions or Glosses the two strings the Author harps so much upon to fasten this aspersion upon our learning, as that they should be given or taken (as he writes they are) therein for fit authorities to be vouched by us, to beget that distraction and uncertainty in it, which he casts upon it, in this particular, believe not me, but our Doctors, and the Glosses themselves from whom I speak; they hold nothing more injust, nothing so inept, & foolish; whereof to give to the Reader but some little touch. I vouch and cite only but one of our Doctors, but one of our Glostes amongst the rest; sayeth that Doctor, though ancient & famous, yet not so ancient, as famous in that learning, by way of advertisement against it: Quicunque cupit juri operam dare, sit circumspectus infrascriptis I pass over nine notable documents of this Doctors, to come to his tenth & last, to this purpose, wherein thus he speaks to the Civilian: Consulo (saith he) quod solis textuum allegationibus inhoereat: Non ut quidam inepti, aut inexperti facinnt, qui arguendo, glossas allegant, & Doctores, absque jurium allegatione: illo evim, nihil apud Doctores in eptius: I counsel the Civilian (sayeth this Doctor) that he stick to, in his pleading, solely, the law-texts, or textlawes, & not as some foolish & unskilful do, who, in their plead, allege the Glosses and Doctors, & leave the laws; then the which (he saith) nothing is holden more inept amongst the Doctors. john Baptist de 〈◊〉 Documento 
〈◊〉 Rapt. de 〈◊〉 doc. 〈◊〉  decimo. Now if the Reader will have a Gloss, an exclayming gloss against such pleaders: the gloss upon the law, sed licet, in the title de officio Praesidis in the Digest, is the gloss: This Doctor & this gloss alone, without the rest that hath been said to this aspersion might show the judicious Reader, but these and the rest together with them may confirm him in the wrong, in this aspersion, to that learning, to those Courts, to that practice, and to those Professors in the Civil law, from whence I descend, as the Author leads me, to the Canon law.   

3. That the like may be said of the Canon law, albeit the text thereof be scarce 400 years old.  
FOr this aspersion at the Canon law, because 
 it is the aspersion the same Author cast at the Civil law before, or rather at us who profess it, as that, touching every Doctor's opinion etc. the which hath been spoken to already: for this, I refer the Reader unto that: For the Author's addition unto this which 
〈◊〉  he spared in that, the age of the Canon law, which he strains to make, scarce to be 400 years from the year 1615, the year wherein he wrote so. Let the Novel be believed, or (in 
〈◊〉  the Novel rather) the Emperor himself jusitnian a 1000 years before that year 1615, or as near a 1000 as 965, the Canon law was, & in use and practice in the Church: Nay more in difference & debate then between the Bishops & the secular judges of that age, touching some cognisances in some causes, whence this Novel (〈◊〉 this Emperor) proceeded: As that act of circumspectè agatis did upon such a difference between the Bishops & the judges of the Land, from King Edward I, which Act, with which Novel agreeing in substance of matter, either arising from the same ground, & pointing at the same end, because they be but short, I recite them both, the Reader may observe them, said the Emperor, (first) in his 
 Novel: si delictum sit Ecclesiasticum, egens castigatione vel multa Ecclesiastica, Deo amabiles Episcopi seopis hocdiscernant, nihil communicantibus clarissimis provincijs judicibus, neque enim volumus talia negotia scire omninò civiles judices, cum oporteat talia Ecclesiasticè examinari, & emendari secundùm sacras & divinas regulas, quas etiam sequi, nostrae non dedignantur leges. 
〈◊〉 13. Ed. 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉   
Thus fare the Novel: the Act ensueth, viz. The King to his ludges sendeth greeting. use yourself circumspectly in all matters concerning the Bishop of Norwich & his Clergy, not punishing them if they should plead in court Christian of such things as be spiritual, that is to wit, of penance enjoined for deadly sin, as fornication, advowtrie, & such like, for the which many times, corporal penance or pecuniary is enjoined specially, if a freeman be convict of such things. Also if Prelates do punish for leaving of Church yards unclosed, or for that the Church is uncovered, or nor conveniently decked, in which cases none other penance can be enjoined but pecuniary. Item if a Parson demand of his Parishioners, oblations & tithes due & accustomed: Or if any Parson plead against another for tithes more or less, so that the fourth part of the value of the benefit be not demanded. Item if a Parson demand Mortuaries in places where a mortuary hath used to be given. Item if a Prelate of a Church or the Patron demand of the Parson a pension due to themselves, all such demands are to be made in the Spiritual court: And for laying violent hands on a Priest: And in cause of defamation; it hath been granted already, that it shallbe tried in the Spiritual Court, when money is not demanded, but the suit is prosecuted for the punishment of sin, & likewise for breaking an oath. In all the cases afore reheatsed, the Spiritual judge shall have power to take knowledge, notwithstanding the King's prohibition, Anno 13. E. 1. Our Author it seems (judicious Reader) went no further for the age of that law, then to Clement 5. Bishop of Rome, who might tell him (& truly) the Clementines, that volume of our Decretals, were made & published by him in the Counsel at Vienna, but in the year 1308. Or if he went to Boniface 8. he might tell him (& as truly) he methaded the sixth, that volume of our Decretals, in or about the year 1298. Or Gregory 9, might tell him, if he went to him, the volume which Raimundus Barcinonensis his Chaplain, at his commandment had gathered, the first volume of our Deeretalls, was published by him to be read in Schools, & practised in Courts much about the year 1231. Or Gratian the Monk, Pope Eugenius his confessor, who after Iuo Bishop of Carnat, had gathered the decrees, the ancientest of our volumes in the Canon law, might tell him (& truly) he polished & perfected the same, and that it was allowed by Eugenius, and published by him in the year 1149. or thereabouts, but what of these relations 〈◊〉 so true, he that will be truly informed of the Antiquity of the Canon law, must not look at the volumes thereof Decrees or Decretals, but at the Decrees or Decretals themselves in the volumes, for they were before their volumes were, how could they else have been digested; Had the 
Isidorus 〈◊〉 lib. 6. 〈◊〉 l. 〈◊〉 16) 〈◊〉 Constan: 〈◊〉 unt. 〈◊〉 15. 〈◊〉 1.  Author gone to Constantine, the great, the first Christian Emperor who (first) gave leave to the christian Church to meet in counsels, to make Canons, to govern in the Church, Or to the Commons of the first 4 general counsels, he would never have straighted the canon law from the year 1615. to 400 years; Hitherto this 〈◊〉   

4. That for the space of 300 years after Christ the distinction of Ecclesiesticall and Spiritual causes in point of jurisdiction, was not known nor heard of in the Christian world.  
TO come to this distinction of Ecclesiastical 
In the said printed 〈◊〉 in the case of praemunire. sol. 95. pag. 2.  and spiritual causes, from civil & Temporal, in point of jurisdiction, as when it should begin, and his reasons why it was not known nor heard of in the Christian world before, Let the Reader observe how the Author writes; first (then) sayeth he, let us see, when this distinction of Ecclesiastical or Spiritual causes, from Civil and Temporal causes, did first begin in point of jurisdiction. Assuredly for the space of 300 years after Christ, this Distinction was not known, nor heard of in the Christian world: For the causes of Testaments of Matrimony, of Bastardy, of Adultery, & the rest, which are called Ecclesiastical, or Spiritual causes, were merely civil, & subject (only) to the jurisdiction of the civil Magistrate, as all civilians will testify with me: But after that the Emperor had received the Christian faith, out of zeal, & desire they had to grace, and honour the learned and godly Bishops of that time, they were pleased to single out certain special causes, wherein they granted jurisdiction unto the Bishops. namely in causes of tithes, because they were paid to men of the Church: In causes of Matrimony, because mariagas were, for the most part, solemnised in the Church; In causes Testamentary, because Testaments were many times made in extremis, when Churchmen were present, giving spiritual comfort unto the Testator; and therefore they were thought to be the fittest persons to take the probates of such Testaments; How be it the Bishops did not 
Imput.  proceed in these causes, according to the decrees and Canons of the Church for the Canon law was not (then) hatched.  
For this Distinction the Author's reason for 
Refut.  his assurance, that it was not known nor heard of in the Christian world, in point of jurisdiction, for the space of 300 years, after Christ, is, (he sayeth) for the causes of Testaments, Matrimony, Bastardy, Adultery and the rest, which the Emperor (after he had received the Christian faith) had granted to the jurisdiction of the Bishops were merely Civil, & determined by the rules of the Civil law, & subject (only) to the jurisdiction of the Civil Magistrate: As though whom the Emperor had translated these causes & the rest from the jurisdiction of the Empire, to the jurisdiction of the Church He translated (not therewith) the laws that belonged to them, & their Cognition or Cognizance: Or that the causes could become (when they were translated to the Church) Ecclesiastical or spiritual causes in the Church, and the laws that belonged to their cognizance or cognition remain ciull, & Temporal laws in the Empire? what had the Emperor done (then) when he had translated the causes, & not the laws? this; given the causes to the Church without laws; And left the laws unto the Empire without causes; the causes (I mean) whereunto these laws belonged, & the laws to the causes. Now these Bishops (sayeth this Author) did not proceed in the causes aforesaid according to the Canons & Decrees of the Church, because (he sayeth) the Canon law was not (then) hatched. A goose reason, was not the Church (then) hatched? and were there not 〈◊〉 (then) in the Church, the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fesseth the translation of the causes to the Bishops: why then Cicero tells him in his offices Libro. 1. non remanet res apud cos, a quibus transfertur And so it holds, translato aliquo, transfertur et lex: as in holy writ, translato 〈◊〉 necesse est, ut legis translatio fiat. But how soever 
Cap. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de coust it  judicious Reader this distinction of Ecclesiastical & Spiritual causes, from Civil & 〈◊〉 in point of jurisdiction. that so much hath troubled the Author, is as auneient in the courts of the kingdom, as this of the Lords spiritual & Temporal is, in the house of Parliament, which he might have challenged aswell in the Persons, and in their actions, as in the causes (which indeed) he hath done, for the distinction is the same, in one, in all, Persons, things & actions; touched in one, touched in all, Hero I leave him for that distinction, from whence I am come to his next aspersion cast at the Bioshops and their Clergy.   

5. That the Clergy, by their jurisdiction 〈◊〉 bich they had from Caesar, got wealth which begot Pride, which begot their Ingratitude to Princes, which blotted Caesart name out of the style of their Courts, and called them Courts Christian.  
THe distinction hath brought the Author to the jurisdiction of the Church, As great an Ei: sore to him, nay a greater than the distinction, (the church must have no jurisdiction) whereupon thus he writes; The Clergy (saith 
Impur  he) having gotten, by this jurisdiction, great 
〈◊〉 said printed re 〈◊〉 eod ca su. fell 96. p: g. 1.  wealth, their wealth begot pride, their pride begot Ingratitude towards Princes: who (first) gave them their jurisdiction, & then, according to the nature of all ungrateful persons, they went about to extinguish the memory of the benefit: For where their jurisdiction was first derived from caesar, in the execution, whereof they were caesars judges; So as both their courts and causes ought still to have borne Caesar's Image, & superscription, as belonging unto caesar, they blotted caesars name out of the style of their courts, & called them Courts Christian, As if the Courts holden by other Magistrates had been (in comparison) but Courts of Ethnics: & the causes, which in their nature were mecrely Civil, they called spiritual, and 〈◊〉 So as if the Emperor should challenge his Courts & causes again, & say Reddi te Caesari quae sunt Cesaris, they would all crie-out on the contrary part, & say, Date deo, quae sunt dei, Our Courts bear the name & title of Christ, the superscription of Caesar is quite worn out, and not to be found upon them.  
A strange fantasy, fiction, imagination, that 
5 esut.  the styling of the one Court, the Court Christian, should hammer into any head, such a toy, to make the other (as it were as the Author sayeth in comparison) Courts of Ethnics: so the Author would insinuat; not to speak of other kingdoms or (common wealths) then whereunto we do belong; come not they both from one fountain, from one head? arethey not set both, & do they not sit both Sister like, in one crown? thanked be God, they do so, hand in hand, Christian Courts both; though not styled (both) Courts Christian, Saint Hieromes' distinction upon the point, that settled 
〈◊〉 q. 1. 〈◊〉 7.  his Levite, might have settled the Author aswel if he had hit upon it, as he could not easily miss it, turning our books as it seems he did for the hatching of the Canon law; But as he writes who hath written truly of some sort of men, Cancros priùs recte ingredi facias, quam his qui non tam judicio, quam proposito, et voluntate aberrant, quibusuis rationibus satisfacere possis, quibus, Ne si persuadeas quidem, unquam persuaser is; Touching that distinction, thus that Father writes unto that Levite whom he calls Levitan suum; duo sunt genera christianorum; est autem unum genus quod mancipatum est divino officio etc. ut sunt Clerici et deo devosis; aliud vero genus est Christianorum, ut sunt Laici, his temporalia etc. The Sages of the Author's learning in the law of the land, that have been to this time, did never stumble at that style, before, but passed (sagely) by it: the beginning whereof in the Courts of the church was when she was not loaden with wealth, Nec tunc divitiae ecclesiam onerabant: Alas she was not loaden with persecutions, they were not Caesar's courts then, as the Author makes them, Caesar had not (then) received the faith, But the Church held them even in the thickest of Ethnics who called them the Christian Courts, whence they came 
C desum. 〈◊〉 et sid. 〈◊〉 eod. de Epis 〈◊〉 Cler. etc. eod. de Episcop. and etc. eod de Haenerman. et sam. eod de Apostate eod de jud. et 〈◊〉 eod de 〈◊〉 etc.  styled the Courts christian: under which style they came unto caesar, when caesar came to the christian faith, And from Caesar to the church, with sundry sacred constitutions, as of the holy 〈◊〉 & catholic faith: of churches: of Bishops of the Bishop's audience, or jurisdiction: with sundry more, in maintenance of the saith: as against Heretics, Manichees, Samaritans, Apostats, jews, Caelicols, Pagans, & thelike, all in assistance of the Christian faith, whereunto he added afterwards, as the Author says, other Cognisances or Cognitions of causes, as of marriages, Testaments, and the like. 
〈◊〉 de 〈◊〉 coal. de 〈◊〉   
Now, weigh (judicious Reader) woe things one, what the wealth could be, that our Author dreams of, the Clergy could have gotten then, when (he writes) they got it by their jurisdiction which they had from Caesar, to beget their pride, to beget their ingratitude to Princes, to blot out Caesar's name out of the style of their Courts? Another, how they could have blotted Caesar's name out of the style of their Courts, by styling them, (if they had so styled them) Courts christian? when Caesar had embraced Christ, was he less Caesar, than he was before, with this Quere, I leave this a spersion with this intimation, that our Author who cnvies (it seems) herein that the Courts of the Church should be styled Courts Christian, arrogates to Caesar more than Caesar to himself & more than Caesar would he should do, & derogates from Christ, from whom the style 〈◊〉 indeed (& rightly) how soever (so) styled under God, & whom, Caesar, & the Bishops under him, hold them, & whose Tribunals they are, & not Caesar's, nor the Bishops, more than in their execution.   

6. That Bishop's Chancellors (are of late) but upstarts in the world.  
WHether the Author of the former aspersions cast at Civilians, the Civil & Canon laws, and at the Clergy, be the Author of this aspersiou and the next & last I find of this kind, thrown at Bishop's Chancellors, or some other upstart Author that hath gleaned after him or that went, before him in the same field, I cannot tell 
D. Ridley it. his view of the 〈◊〉 Sc ecls 〈◊〉 law 〈◊〉 104.  I find them (by relation) to be printed, as the rest but not printed with the rest, but howsoever let them go together, and their Author be whom he willbe, thus he writes: Bishops Chancellors 
〈◊〉  are but upstarts in the world. Bishop's 〈◊〉 (judicious Reader) whom we call their vicar's general, (other Chancellors know we none to Bishops) saving this upstart opinion, are upstarts of no less than 1200. years standing 
Resut.  in the world, so long have Bishops had their Episcopal audience which made them ordinaries, and so long have 〈◊〉 had their vicar's generals whom we call their Chancellors; For which audience & their becoming ordinaries hereupon, & the Emperor's reasons therefore: Let the reader understand that when the Bishop's constancy in Religion sealed with so many of their bloods, and their Clergies, had brought the Emperors thereunto, wherein Constantine began: the succeeding Emperors thought not enough their superiority in the church, with out power & jurisdiction to strengthen them therein: For said the Emperor in his Christian zeal thereunto,  
Et si praecipuum pontificis seu Episcopi munus est doctrina verbi, populum moderari, tamen, quia nonomnes, dicto audientes sunt, nec ejusmodiper suasiomad disciplinam perduci, vel in officio retinere possunt et superioritas in qua sunt ecclesiastici, absquen Imperio et jurisdictione, non satis habet neruorum et authoritatis, deniquè quoniam ecclesia matter et cultrix est justitia. Ideo Episcopis peculiaris quaedam jurisdictio ecclesiastica Civili dignior in personas et causas ecclesiasticas, legibus Impp: est attributa etc. ut ius dicant Clericis etc.  
And lest the Emperor in his constitution in these words ut ius dicant Clericis etc. should seem to the Reader to strait the Bishops, in their audience, or consistories, to Clerks only, there follows a praeterea in the same title, in the Code de Episcop audient:: not long after: this; praeterea (sayeth the Emperor there) ius dicunt Laicis &c But to the point; became the Bishop's ordinaries (then) by this jurisdiction? and the same ordinaries in the law; that (now) they are? & if they did, did this beget their vicar's generals (then) whom (now) we call the Bishop's Chancellors necessarily, They did so; become (by this) ordinaries then; & the same ordinaries in the law, than (that now) they are; And from whence proceeded their vicar's generals, and the same we call the Bishop's Chancellors now whom the Author calls upstarts in the world the laws or constitutions in the same title of the Bishop's audience in the Code do teach the same fro point to point, For not to speak out of them, but to go on with them as they lie concatenatae in the title sayeth another, Ac cum sint ordinarij judices, meaning the Bishops, sayeth a third, semiles 〈◊〉 praetorio, A fourth, ordinariè quoque procedunt; These linked texts in that title in the Code, as they stand cited, do answer to the points in the question (before) proposed, punctually, saving to the point of the Bishop's vicar's generals, whereunto, though they answer fully, yet because not plainly to the Reader, no Civilian; let him be pleased but to cast his eye, a few lines back again to the words similes praefectis praetorio, where the Emperor parallels the Bishops having made them ordinaries, with Magistrates called praefecti praetorio, of whom there were but three in the wide world, one in Asia, Praefectus praetorio orientis, Another in Europe, Praesectus praetorio Illirici, The third in Africa, Praefectus praetorio legionibus & militiae Africanae. These Civil Magistrates were (respectively,) judges of the causes which the Emperor had translated from the Empire to the Church, whereof mention is made in this Epitome before, of the which when the Emperor 
〈◊〉  had made the 〈◊〉 the same judges in the Church, the Praefecti Praetorio were in the Empire before; & had made them similes praefectis praetorio. who were Illustres judices, & so styled in the law, with this addition of their 〈◊〉 generals. How, could the Bishops be (without their vicar's generals) similes praefectis praetorio? that they had jurisdiction, as the praefecti had, that they were ordinaries, as the praefecti were, and Illustres judices, made them not, (as the Empevor made them) like unto them, without their vicar's generals. Now, if the Reader will have the reason why the Praefecti had their vicar's (all one binding in the Bishops;) it is this Quia illustres erant: & ante stabant caeteris dignitatibus, Ideo habebant vicarios suos in Civilibus causis audiendis, et terminandis. So were the Bishops then. & so are they now, Illustres judices & antestabant ceteris dignitatibus in ecclesia: Now, if the Praefecti praetorio, because they were Illustres judices & autestabant ceteris dignitatibus in the Empire, had their vicar's, as they had, why the Bishops whom the law parallels with them in the Church, should not be as like unto them in their vicar's generals in the Church, as in the rest of the pats of their honour wherewith the Emperor had honoured them, & the law honours them at this day, let the Author (if he can) show the difference, justinian's Code hath sundry laws, some, of his own, some of the Emperors before him, even from the days of Constantine the great, that show that Bishops in their Episcopal audience sat not without their Chancellors. Their Chancellors often without the Bishops whose higher charge in CHRIST Church endured not the Bishop's presence in court causes, ordinarily. And though (likely) not under the name & title of Chancellors, nor always Vicars generals officials, nor Comissaries they had other titles, but the same offices, as Ecclesiecdici, or Episcoporum Ecdici, as much to say as Church Lawyers, or Bishop's lawyers professed Civilians, & Canonists, of that age, the very selfsame officers & offices that the Bishop's Vicar's generals than were, & now are, who, & the Bishops then made, & do now make but one, & the same Tribunanll, or Consistory, no sooner vicurs generals, but or dinaries, their Commissions they hold from the Bishops: But their jurisdiction from the law, These be the 〈◊〉 officers in the world, our upstart Author would make; I am come to his next aspersion, the last I find of this kind, as the root of these officers, the Bishops vicar's generals, whom we call their Chancellors, from whence (he writes) they did proceed from the sloth of Bishops.   

7. That the sloth of Bishops hath brought in Chancellors.  
AProper Parent (Sloth) to breed upon. 
imput  could his learning which commends 
related by D. Ridley in his view of the 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 law pag. 104.  him, find no other, or (if none but that) no other stock, to bear it then the Bishops, The Bishops and their Chancellors both, are much beholding to him: But let the ludicious indifferent Reader, but consider how the brother of this aspersion can fasten it upon the Bishops, or their Chancellors, How could the 
Resut  Bishop's sloth bring in their Chancellors, certainly, the Bishops Nascentis ecclesiae, the ancient Fathers of the Church were under persecution; no sooner set in their Seas, but beset with Ethnics: alas, they had no rest to beget sloth, to beget their Chancellors: And for the Bishops Citerioris saeculi, the later Fathers, they brought them not in, they found them in their Consistories, when they came themselves; In a word (judicious Reader) Th'imperial power, th'immediat power, under GOD, & Christ. (as it is set down in what hath been said to the aspersion next before) brought them in and not the sloth of Bishops, as the Author dreams. Now the cause why the Th'imperial power furnished the Bishops: with these officers was (indeed) the multitude & 〈◊〉 of Ecclesiastical causes, than (more now) by as many more, the decisions whereof in their Consistories, left to the Bishops: the Emperor doubted might have drawn them from prayer, & divine exercises. A second reason was, that the causes of the Cognizance of their Courts, were more likely (as they are) to have, thereby a more speedy, ready, and judicious trial before judges of the same learning, which require a whole man, then before judges of another, though a higher, requiring (as the Bishop's pastoral office doth) a whole man too. If the Author will have a third reason, it was that Clerks, suits and quarrels, should not be divulged & spread abroad amongst the secular sort, which trenched many times, upon the whole profession; especially in Capital matters wherein Princes (anciently) so much tendered the clergy; that if a Clerk had committed an offence worthy of death, or open shame, whereby he became (perpetually) in famous, he was not first executed or put to open shame, before he was degraded by the Bishop, & his Clergy, & so was executed & put to sname, not as a Clerk, but as a lay Malefactor; for the honour & dignity of Priesthood. It were to be wished this order were retained still, that Clerks should not pass (immediately) when they fall into such Excesses) from the Altar to the halter, but hang, or suffer other shame without their Priest hood: which order if it were retained still or might be restored, would much honour the Church, and no whit deerogate from the jurisdiction of the Crown; For the second of the foresaid reasons, as where the Bishops in their Consistories have not had their vicar's generals, whom we call their Chancellors, as in many parts in this kingdom wherein we live, they have not; how many just causes upon grievances in proceeding before the Bishops: given have been appealed & quareled, & the plaintiffs in the first instances before the Bishops: the judge à quo, in the cause of appeal or quarrel overthro wen before the judge of the Appeals or quarrel, the judge ad quem, to the insupportable travel and expense of the subject, their transmissions in the causes in the Registries of the Courts of Appeals, & quarrels, do show; which do cut so sore upon the poor, many times, that (spent) by that occasion, in the second instance, he is not able to prosecute in the principal, the first, and so looseth all, operam & oleum: To meet with this mischief, or Inconvenience rather, the law hath provided in great wisdom, that if a Bishop will hold himself so complete a judge within himself, as that he needs no Chancellor, but will proceed without him ordinarily, his Metropolitan the Archbishop, of whose province he is may compel him thereunto, or if he will not be compelled, may put upon him a Chancellor, as the King the supreme ordinary may upon the Metropolitan, in the case, and supply his neglect in the Suffragan Bishop. If the Metropolitan supplies it not; For as, each superior ordinary over the immediate under him, hath his supplitorie power by the law, so hath the King the supreme ordinary over them all, subordinate's underhim, his supplitorie power by the same rule; so necessarily holds the law those officers (whom it may not be omitted) 
Published by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Lords 〈◊〉 and counsel: 622: 〈◊〉 In his  his late Majesty in his late instructions for the ordering & settling the Courts, and course of justice, within this kingdom, hath confirmed, viz. in his 45 instruction or direction thus; That the Bishop of every 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 order to appoint honest & sufficient 〈◊〉 Chancellors & Commislaries to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 risdiction under them. judicious Reader I 〈◊〉 said, though not so much, by much, as might be said, to this, & the rest of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have passed over, yet more than I 〈◊〉 to deal with their Authors, out of their Elements, in this kind. Apelles sent the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to his last, when he gave his judgement, though 
 but of the foot of the picture he had 〈◊〉 though a part of the body whose picture 〈◊〉 was, that belonged to his trade; Our Authors have gone as high above the foot, as the height of the head; the Bishops of the Church: The laws of the Church: The Courts of the Church; & the judges of the Church, under the Fathers, their Chancellors, when we call their vicar's generals; with whom they have dealt, as Painters use to do, with the Image of GOD whom no man ever saw, nor that Ma.tie seen with mortal eyes; yet they can imagine an Image of him, as our Authors have done of the Bishop's Courts, laws, and the rest: whom, & which, though they have seen, yet not in judgement, not prosessing their learning, of whom, & which they have (more than boldly) written, though of learning & judgement, yet without learning or judgement. Let not any Reader therefore of their Theses or positions in the premises, if he stood, or stands, or shallbe affected to the study of that learning, in those laws, be discouraged thereby: what the Civil & Canon laws are, and what the causes are, of the Cognizance or Cognition of either of them in the king's dominions, in the Church or Common wealth, the Reader might expect in the body of this Epitome; but omitted there, th'appendix thereunto ensuing opens them, whereunto, the Reader is referred.   

AN APPENDIX. Wherein, the Civil and Canon lamb, with the causes of the Cognisance or Cognition of either of them in the Church, or Common. wealth, in the King's Dominions, (what they are) are opened.  

What the Civil law is?  
THe law of the Ancient Romans it is; the same we call the Roman Civil law, that was reduced by justinian, from 2000 books, or very near 2000 books, to the 4 Tomes or Volumes mentioned before in this 
c de vet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 1. § 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  Epitome pag. 4. whereof the Digest or Pandext is the first, so called, Quia digeritomnes disputationes legum, & in se, quasi in suoe aluo, continet.  
The second, the Coàe, of caudex, as much to say as plurium tabularum contextus: unde tabulae codices dicuntur: compiled (as a learned Doctor 
D. Ridley in his view of the Civil & 〈◊〉 law pag 〈◊〉  of ours related) of 56 answears of so many Emperors, with their counsel famous learned men, to as many consulations: whereof, that Tome compiled, is called the Code.  
The authentics, the third Tome or Volume 
Of his 〈◊〉 at large in D. Rid. view &c, pag 〈◊〉  of the Civil law, are a Tome or Volume, of new 〈◊〉 of Emperors, after the Code, brought into the body of the law, called the Authenticks, as authentical of themselves proceeding (as they did) from the Emperors own mouths.  
The Volume is divided into 9 collations, or 
 coustitutions or Sections: and they into 168. Novels and the Novels into Chapters: they were called Novels because they were new laws, whereof, some were general, concerning all, all alike, Persons and Places, some special or private, unto some special or private persons, and places:  
The three Volumes above mentioned were the Tomes or Volumes of justinian the Emperor, gathered by him, some, from some Emperors his predecessors, decrees and constitutions, some from his own, as time & occasion had bred them, the latest no later than 500 years after CHRIST.  
The fourth and last Tome of the Civil law 
feuds explained by D Rid in his view &c to be Customs & services that the subject or vassal oweth to his Princeor Lord for such kinds or fees as he hold 〈◊〉 of them pag. 61.  are the Feuds of Feudum, of Faedus, or fides, or (as some say) of Fidius, whom they fain the God qui fidei praeest, by whom they used to swear per deum Fidium credis? iurato mihi. Plaut. And not unlike: For howsoever justinian the Emperor takes notice of them in his Novels, he took it from the ancient Romans before Christ, at the least from Alexander Severus an Ethnic Emperor 224 years after Christ, very near 400 years before justinian's time, who made Foudataries, of whom, (likely) he took the oath of faith, and Homage (and they yielded it) per deum Fidium &c iurabis etc. But from whence, or whomsoever they proceeded, they became and are a particular Tome or Volume of the Civil law, which is, as that learned Doctor in his view &c saith pag. 3. for the great wisdom 
〈◊〉 Reg. iur. Reg suae a 〈◊〉 muni 28.  and equity of it, at this day, as it were the Common law of all well governed common wealths, a very few excepted: whereof, all-be it sundry of them by the light of nature have many rules of the Civil law, yet if all the laws, of all other Countries were put together (none excepted saving the laws of the Hebrews which came immediately) from God, for wisdom, gravity, law, or equity, they come not near to the law of the Romans, whence it is, that all other nations, (saving our own) although they receive not the Civil law (wholly) for their law, yet they honour and admire so much the equity thereof, that they interpret their own laws thereby. For the canon law, it followeth.   

What the Canon law is.  
THat it is, which is concluded in the Volumes thereof mentioned in the 10 page of the Epitome, the Decrees, decretals, Sect, clementines, & Extravagants. But let the Reader be advertised by the way, that, not all that is concluded in those Volumes, nor in the Tomes of the Civil law before, but only the laws, constitutions & extravagants, such as are 
a, 〈◊〉 H 8: Cap: 19: in an 〈◊〉 England intit. An Act of the 〈◊〉 of the Clergy, And 〈◊〉 8 H 8 cap 〈◊〉 Act 〈◊〉 Act against the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the 〈◊〉 of R me an act for 〈◊〉  not crossing to the law of God, nor adverse to the 4 first general counsels that at Nice; That at Constantinople; That at Ephesus, & that at Chalcedon. Nor contrary nor repugnant to the Royal Prerogative of the King. Nor yet to the laws Statutes & Customs of his Kingdoms, are the laws we hold and follow, for the Civil and Canon laws in the King's Dominions, whereinto they were induced out of their volumes, not the volumes themselves; where, though we read them, because they be not volumed by themselves, but lie (dispersed) here, and there, amongst the rest therein: we hold not the rest, amongst them, as we hold them, for the King's Ecclesiastical laws, no more than we hold the Apocryphas in the Bible, (though, in the Bible) for Canonical scripture; with this intimation, I descend to the causes of 
 the Cognizance or Cognition of these laws in the Church, or Commonwealth, in the King Dominions, what they are.   

A Schedule of Such causes or actions of the Church, by the Civil and Canon laws, as do atise between party, and party, ordinarily. (As they call them) causes of instance, or At instance, viz.  


Debates in  1 
Church services withheld from their Chappells.  2 
Ecclesiastical promotions, dignities or benefices.  3 
Spiritual pensions.  4 
Tithes.  5 
Sedile causes, or seats in Churches.  6 
Dilapidations.  7 
Procurations.  8 
Testaments.  9 
Legacies  10 
〈◊〉  11 
Divorces  12 
Diffamations    
With their and every of their Incidents and Emergents.   

A Schedule of such causes or actions of the Church, as, by the Civil and Canon laws, do arise by Accusation, Inquisition or Denunciation.  


Such are against  1 
Offences against the act of 20 Elizabeth. Cap. 20 for the uniformity of Common prayer etc.  2 
Pollutions of churches, and church yards.  3 
Fight or quarrelling in Churches, or churchyards  4 
Heresies.  5 
Schisms.  6 
Apostasy,  7 
Idolatry,  8 
Violation of the Sabbath.  9 
Violation of the Interdicts of the Church.  10 
Excesses in Prelates.  11 
Excesses in Clarks.  12 
Sacrilege.  13 
Sortilege, witcheraft, Enchantment  14 
Laying violent hands upon a Clerk.  15 
A Clerk a striker  16 
blasphemy.  17 
Perjury ecclesiast;  18 
Simonye.  19 
Usury.  20 
Execrations.  21 
Imprecations, Imprecantes 

debilitates,  
Naufragia.  
Morbos etc.    22 
Incest,  23 
Adultery,  24 
Fornication,  25 
Lenocinie,  26 
Obscenity, or Ribaldry.  27 
Drunkenness.    
Non frustra sunt instituta Regis Potestas, & Cognitoris ius; ungulae carnificis; arma militis; disciplina dominantis, severitas etiam boni patris.  
Habent omnia ista modos, causas, rationes utilitates, Haec; cum rimentur, & malicoërcentur, & boni, quieti, inter malos viwnt.  
Cap frustra. 23. q. 5.   

sundry other matters and causes there are, some, ordinary, some, extraordinary, some, Civil some, Criminal, of the Conusance of the Civil law, within the dominions of the King, which not of the Cognizance, of the Church (whereunto this Appendix straits me) I set them not in the Schedules thereof: And yet for the honour of that learning, & more satisfaction of the Reader, I will point thereat herein, & no more, lest it should exceed compass (I mean) the compass of an Appendix to so small an 〈◊〉 of which learning let the Reader understand that (first) the Lord Admiral of the Sea: Next the two Universities, Cambridge, and Oxford, have a larger exercise therein, than the Church, or other places in the Commonwealth have, to season (thereby) the professors of that learning there, with that practice thereof, to make them the apt for such services therein, as the Prince & his Common wealth at home, with Princes and their Common wealths abroad, may require: Now, where the Nations round about us, fare & near, are ruled by the Civil law, wherein Princes treat with Princes, of peace, or war, or other Common wealth-affayres, by their Ambassadors, if not Civilians, attended by Civilians, by whom they treat, (How meanly soever the Penmen of the Theses or positions, in the Epitome before, or their followers therein, hold the Civilian & his learning) how Princes and their, Common wealths esteem of them, their employments in their services in that learning show; But what do I point at treaties between Princes no ordinary object of the Civil law: neither deals it ordinarily, but incidently, therein by Commission from the Prince: So it doth in Martial affairs in an Army; So it doth in Ensigns and Arms: And so 〈◊〉 doth in decisions of rights in Precedency in Place, & Honour, when such debates do happen, as many times they do, sometimes in the Church, sometime in the Common wealth, & so in 〈◊〉 of like kind, which of the Science of the 〈◊〉 law, though not of the practice of it, ordinarily, for the honour of that learning, I could not pass by them, and not point at them, nor leave untouched their honouring that Science whose authorities (for judgement) all the world honours. Latret igitur Criticus quisquis volet, modo nunquam latrare desinat: (Sayeth one of these authorities of that law) Ea est, (meaning the same) nobilis 
〈◊〉 iudi. 〈◊〉  omnia, & fine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de vas.  Ipsa est quae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non est 〈◊〉 A 
 third, Ipsa est quae nobilitat addiscentes: And (sayeth a fourth, And I 
Cap. 〈◊〉 do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cap. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  say no more) Conduplicat 〈◊〉