AN HISTORICAL VINDICATION OF The Church of England In point of SCHISM, As it stands separated from the ROMAN, and was reform 1: Elizabeth.  
Deuteronomy 32. 7. Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will show thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.  
Jeremiah 6. 16. Ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.  
LONDON: Printed for Samuel Speed, at the Rainbow in Fleetstreet, near the Inner Temple-gate. 1663.   

To the READER.  
I Know how easily men are drawn to believe, their own observations and expressions may prove as welcome to others, as they are pleasing to themselves. And though few books live longer than the Authors who send them to the press, and fewer avoid an opinion they might have been as well spared as come abroad; yet neither the hazard their makers run, nor the little gain they reap, can hinder those have a Genius that way, from suffering others to be as well Masters and censurers of their thoughts as themselves.  
This being then the venture every writer exposes himself unto, the Reader may not a little marvel how I have been brought to hazard myself on the same Seas I have seen so many Shipwrackt in. I shall desire him to add this to what is already in the first chapter, as my Apology.  
Reading some times in Baronius, 
a Veneranda Antiquitas, cujus praescrip●o cuncta bene geri in Ecclesia Catholica consueverunt. Baron. Annal. tom. 8. Anno 692, n. 5.  that all things were well done in the Catholic Church had venerable antiquity for their warrant, and that the Roman Church did not prescribe any thing as 
b Non p o arbitrio disser●ntium, verbisque pug●amium homi●um, sacra dogmata Romana Ecelesia defini●et; sed quae ab Apostolis tradita, à majoribus deducta, à patribus servata accepisset, haec ipsa, utpote sacrosancta, universae Ecclesiae se●vand●, atque inviolabili l●ge custodienda, eadem Ecclesta Romana praescri●eret; Baron. tom. 7. Anno 535. n. 90.  an holy tenet, but such only as delivered by the Apostles, preserved by the Fathers, were by our ancestors transmitted from them to us; I cannot deny to have thought (for certainly Truth is more ancient than Error) this being made good, and that she did commend them to us, in no other degree of necessity than those former ages had done, but she had much more reason on her side then I had formerly conceived her to have: but in examining the assertions, it seemed to me not only otherwise, but that learned Cardinal not to have ever been in this consonant to himself, 
c Sanctissimos patres in interpre●atione Scripturarum non semper & in omnibus Catholica Ecclesia sequitur, tom. 1. Anne 34. n. 213.  confessing the Catholic Church not always, & in all things, to follow the interpretations of the most holy Fathers.  
On the other side, it seemed to me somewhat hard to affirm the Papacy had encroached on the English, and neither instance when, where, nor how.  
Hereupon, as I perused our ancient Laws, and Histories, I began to observe all changes in matters Ecclesiastical reported by them; in which I had sometimes speech with that learned Gentleman I mention in the first chapter, whom I ever found a person of great candour, integrity, and a true Englishman. I noted likewise how the Reformation of Religion was begun with us, how cautiously our ancestors proceeded, not to invade the Rights of any, but to conserve their own. Many years after, I know not by what fate, there was put into my hands (as a piece not capable of answer, in relation as well to the fact as reason it carried) without at all my seeking after it, or hearing of it, a treatise of the Schism of England, carrying the name of one Philip Scot, but, as told me, composed by a person of greater eminency, dedicated to both the Universities, and printed permissu superiorum; truly, in my judgement, neither illiteratly nor immodestly writ: but in reading of it, I found sundry particulars, some perhaps only intimated, others plainly set down, I could no way assent unto; as that Clement the seven. did exercise no other authority in the Church then Gregory the great had done, That the Religion brought hither by Augustine varied not from that was before the Reformation, That the English made the separation from the Church of Rome, That in doing so we departed from the Church Catholic.  
I was not ignorant it might be found in the writings of some Protestants, as if we departed from Rome; which I conceive is to be understood in respect of the Tenets we separate from holding Articles of faith, not of the manner how it was made.  
Having gone through the book, I began to look over my former notes, and putting them for my own satisfaction in order, found them swell farther than I expected; Vrceum institui, exit amphora: and when they were placed together, I showed them to some very good friends, to whose earnest persuasions (being such as might dispose of me and mine,) I have in the end been forced to yield, making thee partaker of that I never intended should have passed farther than their eyes.  
Yet in obeying them I shall desire to be rightly understood; That as I do not in this take upon me the disputing the truth of any controversial tenet, in difference between us and the Church of Rome, so I meddle not with any thing after Pius quintus came to the Papacy; who first by private practices, and then open excommunication of her Majesty, declared himself an enemy, & in open hostility with this state, which therefore might have greater reason to prevent his endeavours, by some more sharp laws against such as were here of his inclination, than had been seen formerly: with which I meddle not.  
Thus the Reader hath the truth, both how I came to compose, and how to print this. If he find any thing in it like him, he must thank the importunity of others; if to misdoubt, I give him in the margin what hath lead me to that I affirm; if to dislike, his loss will not be great either in time or cost: and perhaps it may incite him to do better in the same argument, and show me my errors, which (proceeding from a mind hath not other intent than the discovery of truth) no man shall be gladder to see, and readier to acknowledge then  
From my House in East-Peckham the 22. May MDCLVII. Roger Twysden.   

A TABLE Of the CHAPTERS.  

CHAP. I. AN Historical Vindication of the Church of England in point of Schism: And how it came to be entered upon. fol. 1  
Chap. II. Of the Britan's. fol. 7  
Chap. III. Of the increase of the Papal power in England under the Saxons and Normans, and what oppositions it met with. fol. 9  
Chap. IV. Of the Payments to the Papacy from England. fol. 74  
Chap. V. How far the Regal power did extend itself in matters Ecclesiastical. fol. 93  
Chap. VI How the Kings of England proceeded in their separation from Rome. fol. 118  
Chap. VII. How the reformation was made under Queen Elizabeth. fol. 126  
Chap. VIII. How Queen Elizabeth settled in this Kingdom the proceeding against Heretics. fol. 135  
Chap. IX. Of the farther proceeding of Queen Elizabeth in the Reformation. fol. 174    

AN Historical Vindication OF THE Church of England in point of SCHISM.  

CHAP. I.  
1. IT is now more than twenty years since defending the Church of England as it was settled 1 Eliz. for the most perfect and conformable to Antiquity of any in Europe, a Gentleman, whose conversation for his Learning, I very much affected, toll me, He was never satisfied of our agreeing with the Primitive Church in two particulars; the one in denying all manner of Superiority to the Bishop of Rome, to live in whose Communion the East and Western Christian did ever highly esteem. The other, in condemning Monastique living, so far, as not only to reform them, if any thing were amiss, but take down the very houses themselves. To the first of these I said, We did not deny such a Primacy in the Pope as the Ancients did acknowledge, but that he by that might exercise those acts he of some years before Hen. the 8th had done, and had got by encroaching on the English Church and State merely by their tolerance, which when the Kingdom took to redress and restrain him in, he would needs interpret a departing from the Church; yet if any made the departure, it must be the Pope, the Kingdom standing only on those Rights it had ever used for its own preservation, which putting in practice, it was interdicted the King, excommunicated by him, etc. To which he replied in effect that of Henry the eighth in his book against Luther, That it was very incredible the Pope could do those acts he had sometimes exercised here by encroachment; for how could he gain that power and none take notice of it? That this argument could have no force if not made good by History, and those of our own Nation, how he had increased his Authority here. Which, truly, I did not well see how to deny, farther than that we might by one particular conclude of an other; As if the Church or State had a right of denying any Clerk going without Licence beyond Seas, it must follow, it might bar them from going, or Appealing to Rome: If none might be acknowledged for Pope without the King's approbation, it could not be denied but the necessity of being in union with the true Pope (at least in time of Schism) did wholly depend on the King. And so of some other.  
2. As for the other point of Monasteries, I told him, I would not take upon me to defend all that had been done in demolishing of them; I knew they had nourished men of Piety and good Learning, to whom the present Age was not a little beholding; for, what do we know of any thing passed but by their labours? That divers well affected to the Reformation, and yet persons of integrity, are of opinion their standing might have continued to the advancement of Literature, the increase of Piety, and Relief of the Poor. That the King when he took them down was the greatest loser by it himself. Whose opinions I would not contradict, yet it could not be denied, they were so far streyed from their first institution, as they retained little other than the name of what they first were.  
3. Upon this I began to cast with myself how I could Historically make good that I had thus asserted, which in general I held most true, yet had not at hand punctually every circumstance, Law, and History that did conduce unto it; in reading therefore I began to note apart what might serve for proof any way concerning it: But that Gentleman with whom I had this speech being not long after taken away, I made no great progress in it, till some years after, I was constrained to abide in London (sequestered, not only from public, but even the private business of my Estate) I had often no other way of spending my time but the company a book did afford; insomuch as I again began to turn over our ancient Laws and Histories, both printed and written, whereof I had the perusal of divers of good worth, whence I collected many notes, and began farther to observe the question between us and the Church of Rome in that point, not to be whether our Ancestors did acknowledge the Pope successor of St. Peter, but what that acknowledgement did extend to: Not whether he were Vicar of Christ, had a power from him to teach the Word of God, administer the Sacraments, direct people in the spiritual ways of heaven (for so had every Bishop, amongst which he was ever held by them the first, Pater maximus in ecclesia, as one to whom Emperors and Christians had not only allowed a primacy, but had left behind them why they did it, Sedis Apostolicae primatum sancti Petri meritum, qui princeps est Episcopalis coronae Romanae dignitas civitatis sacrae etiam Synodi firmarit auctoritas, says 
a Valentinian Novel 24. i● fi●. cod. Theod.  Valentinian 445. On which grounds, if he will accept it, I know no reason to deny his being prime) but whether they conceived his commission from Christ did extend so far as to give him an absolute authority over the Church and Clergy in England, to redress, reform, correct, amend all things in it, not by advice, but as having power over it, with or against their own liking, and farther to remove, translate, silence, suspend all Bishops, and others of the Spirituality. In short, to exercise all Ecclesiastic authority within this Church above any whatsoever, so as all in Holy Orders (one of the three Estates of the Kingdom) solely and supremely depended on him, and he on none but Christ; and whether our Forefathers did ever admit him with this liberty of disposing in the English Church.  
4. To wade through which question there was an eye to be cast on all the times since Christ was heard of in England, and therefore to be considered how Christianity stood upon the conversion of the Britan's, the Saxons, and since the irruption of the Normans, under the first of these we have but little, under the second somewhat, yet not much, under the third the Papacy swelled to that height, some parts have been constrained to cast it off, and England without his assent in that point so to reform itself, as to declare 
b Stat. 25. Hen. 8. cap. 14.  no manner of speaking, doing, communication, or holding against the Bishop of Rome, or his pretenced power or authority, made or given by humane Laws, shall be deemed to be Heresy. By which it seems those Episcopal Functions he did exercise common with other Bishops (as Baptising, conferring Holy Orders, etc.) it did not deny to be good and valid of his administration.  
5. But what those particulars were humane Laws had conferred upon the Papacy, and by what constitutions or Canons those preeminences were given him, was the thing in question, and not so easy to be found, because indeed gained by little and little, I cannot but hold Truth more ancient than Error, every thing to be firmest upon its own bottom, and all novelties in the Church to be best confuted by showing how far they cause it to deviate from the first original, I no way doubt but the Religion exercised by the Britan's before Augustine came, to have been very pure and holy: nor that planted after from S. Gregory, though perhaps with more ceremonies and commands, juris positivi which this Church embraced rejected or varied from, as occasion served to be other, but in the foundation most sound, most orthodox; that holy man never intending such a superiority over this Church as after was claimed. The Bishops of England in their condemnation of Wicliffs opinions, do not at all touch upon those 
c Apud Knighton. col. 2648, & in fasciculo zizaniorum Mss fol. 64. a col. 1. in biblio theca Archiepiscopo Armachani.  concerned the Pope's supremacy, and the 
d Concil. Constant. sess. 8. Art, 41.  Council of Constance that did censure his affirming. Non est de necessitate salutis credere Romanam Ecclesiam esse supremam inter alias Ecclesias, doth it with great limitations and as but an error: Error est si per Romanam Ecclesiam intelligat universalem Ecclesiam, aut concilium generale, aut pro quanto negaret primatum summi Pontificiis super alias Ecclesias particulares: I conceive therefore the Basis of the Popes or Church of Rome's authority in England, to be no other than what being gained by custom, was admitted with such regulations as the kingdom thought might stand with it's own conveniency, and therefore subject to those 
e Vide concordata inter Hen. 2. & Alexandrum 3. 1172. Edwardum 3. & Gregor. 11. 1373. Henricum 5. & Martinum. 5. 1418.  stipulations, contracts with the Papacy and pragmatiques it at any time hath made or thought good to set up, in opposition of extravagancies arising thence, in the reformation therefore of the Church of England two things seem to be especially searched into, and a third arising from them fit to be examined.  
1. Whether the Kingdom of England did ever conceive any necessity jure divino of being under the Pope united to the Church and sea of Rome, which draws on the consideration how his authority hath been exercised in England under the Britons, Saxons and Normans, what treasure was carried annually hence to Rome, how it had been gained, and how stopped.  
2. Whether the Prince with th' advice of his Clergy was not ever understood to be endued with authority sufficient, to cause the Church within his Dominions be by them reform, without using any act of power not legally invested in him, which leads me to consider what the Royal authority in sacris is. 1. In making laws that God may be truly honoured. 2 things decently performed in the Church. 3. profaneness punished, questions of doubt by their Clergy to be silenced.  
3. The third how our Kings did proceed, especially Queen Elizabeth, (under whose reformation we then lived) in this act of separation from the sea of Rome, which carries me to show how the Church of England was reform by Henry the 8. Edward the 6. and Queen Elizabeth. Wherein I look upon the proceedings abroad and at home against Heretics, the obligation to general Counsels, and some other particulars incident to those times.  
I do not in this at all take upon me the disputation, much less the Theological determination of any controverted Tenet (but leave that as the proper subject to Divines) this being only an historical narration how some things came amongst us, how opposed, how removed by our ancestors, who well understanding this Church not obliged by any foreign constitutions, but as allowed by itself, & either finding the inconvenience in having them urged from abroad farther than their first reception hear did warrant. Or that some of the Clergy enforced opinions as articles of faith, were no way to be admitted into that rank, did by the same authority they were first brought in (leaving the body or essence (as I may say) of Christian religion untouched,) make such a declaration in those particulars, as conserved the Royal dignity in its ancient splendour, without at all invading the true legal rights of the state Ecclesiastical, yet might keep the kingdom in peace, the people without destruction, and the Church in Unity.   

CHAP. II.  
Of the Britan's.  
1. I Shall not hear inquire who first planted Christian Religion amongst the Britan's, whether 
a Baron. to▪ 1. A. 35. n, 5.  joseph of Arimathea, 
b Niceph. Calist. lib. 2. cap, 40.  Simon zealots, 
c Metaphrastes Junii de eo vide Baron, to. 1. Ao. 60. n. 4. Bed. l. 1. c. 4.  S. Peter or Elutherius, neither of which wants an author, yet I must confess it hath ever seemed to me by their alleging the 
d Beda lib. 3. cap. 25. confer. Euseb. hist. lib. 5. cap. κδ '.  Asian forms in celebrating Easter, their differing from the rites of Rome 
e In multis nostr● consuetudini,— contraria geritis apud Bed. lib. 2. cap. 2. August, Britonibus:  in several particulars, of which those of most note were, that of Easter, and baptising after another manner, than the Romans used, their often journeying to Palestina, that they received the first principles of Religion from Asia. And if afterward Caelestinus the Pope did send (according to 
f Prosper. in Chronico Ann. 432.  Prosper) Germanus vice sua to reclaim them from Pelagianism, certainly th' inhabitants did not look on it, as an action of one had authority, though he might have a fatherly care of them as of the same profession with him, as a 
g Beda lib. 1. cap. 17.  Synod in France likewise had, to whom in their distress they address themselves, to which Beda attributes the help they received by Germanius and Lupus.  
2. After this as the Britan's are not read to have yielded any subjection to the Papacy, so neither is Rome noted to have taken notice of them, 
* Vide cap. 2. n. 2.  for Gregory the great about 590. being told certain children were de Britannia insula did not know whether the Country were Christian or Pagan, 
* joh. Diac. l. 1. cap. 21. vita Gregor. Beda lib, 2, cap, 1.  and when Augustine came hither 
h Concil. Spelm. p. 108.  and demanded their obedience to the Church of Rome; the Abbot of Bancor returned him answer: That they were obedient to the Church of God, to the Pope of Rome, and to every godly Christian, to love every one in his degree in charity, to help them in word and deed to be the children of God, and other▪ obedience then this they did not know due to him, whom he named to be Pope nor to be father of fathers.  
3. The Abbot's name that gave this reply to Augustine seems to have been Dinooth and is in effect no other than what 
i Galfrid Monumeten ubi agit de Augustino prope finem.  Geoffrey Monmouth hath remembered of him, that being miro modo liber alibus artibus eruditus Augustino p●tenti ab episcopis Britonum subjectionem diversis monstravit argument ationibus ipsos ei nullam debere subjectionem, to which I may add by the testimony of 
k Lib. 2. cap. 2  Beda their not only denying his propositions, sed neque illum pro Archiepiscopo habiturum respondebant. And it appears 
l Giral I●in. Camb. lib. 2. cap. 1.  by Gyraldus Cambrensis, this distance between the two Churches continued long even till Henry the first, induced their submission by force, before which Episcopi Walliae à Menevensi Antistite sunt consecrati, & ipse similiter ab aliis tanquam suffraganeis est consecratus, nulla penitus alii Ecclesiae facta professione vel subjectione: the generality of which words must be construed to have reference as well to Rome as Canterbury; for, a little after, he shows that though Augustine called them to council, as a legate of the Apostolic sea, yet returned, they did proclaim they would not acknowledge him an Archbishop, but did contemn both himself and what he had established.  
4. Neither were the Scots in this difference any whit behind the Britan's, as we may perceive by the letter of Laurentius justus, and Mellitus, to the Bishops and Abbots through Scotland; in which they remember the strange perverseness of one Dagamus a Scottish Bishop, who upon occasion coming to them did not only abstain eating with them, but would not take his meat in the same house they abode, yet they salute them with the honourable titles of their dearest lords and brethren. A certain sign of a wide distance between the opinions of Rome then, and now, when men are taught not so much as 
m Baronius Paraenesis ad Rempub, Venetam p, 52. atque his tandem sinisesto, sed doleo vehementèr quod absque valete. johannes enim Apostolus id vetat & ●um eo omnis simul Ecclesia quod indignos salu●atio●e justè judice● qui non communicantes Romanae Ecclesiae omnis penitus sunt salutis expertes (2. johan.)  bid them farewell do not submitunto it, sure our first Bishops know no such rule, who placed in their Calendar for Saints and holy men, as well Hilda, Aydon, and Colman, the opposers of Rome, as Wilfred, Agilbertus, and others who stood for it.   

CHAP. III.  
Of the increase of the Papal power in England under the Saxons and Normans, and what oppositions it met with.  
AFter the planting of Christian religion amongst the Saxons, th' Archbishop of Canterbury became a person so eminent, all England was reputed his 
a Eadmer. p. 12, 29. p. 137, 1. G●rvas. Dorobern, col, 1661., 54.  Diocese, in the college of Bishops 
b Lyndwood de poenis. cap. Tanquam.  London his Dean, whose office it was to 
c Gervas'. Dorobern. col. 1566, 10.  summon Counsels, Winchester his Chancellor, 
d Sic Lynd. ubi supra, at Ger. Dorobern. col. 1382, 61. col. 1429, 23  Salisbury or (as some) Winchester his Prec●tor, or that begun the service by singing, 
e Sic Lyndwood, at Ger. Dorobern. col. 1382, 61. col. 1429, 23. Rof. at 1565. 1. Wigor.  Worcester or rather Rochester his Chaplain, and the other the carrier of his Cross: 
f Malms. fol. 121. a & Diceto col. 437, 64.  expected no less obedience from York, than himself yielded to Rome 
g Rodulph. Arch. Epist. inter script. x. Angliae, etc. col. 1736, 17. , voluntate & beneficio, it being th' opinion of the Church of England, it was but equal 
h Malms. fol. 121; a, 8.  ut ab eo loco mutuentur vivendi disciplinam, à cujus fomite rapuerunt credendi slammam. The dependence therefore of the Clergy in England being thus wholly upon th' Archbishop, it will not be amiss to take a little view both of what esteem he was in the Church, and how it came to be taken off, and by degrees transferred to a foreign power.  
2. Upon the conversion of the Saxons here by the preaching of Augustine and his companions, and a quiet peace settled under Theodore, 
i Beda lib. 4. cap. 2.  to whom all the English submitted, 
k Lib. MS. in aula Tri●itatis Cantabrig.  Parochial Churches by his encouragement began to be erected, and the Bishop of Rome greatly reverenced in this nation, as being the successor of Saint Peter the first bishop of the world, Patriarch of the West, that resided in a town 
l Hall 20. Hen. 8. f. 179.  held to nourish the best Clerks in Christendom, and the seat of the Empire: insomuch, as the devout Britan (who seems (as I said) to have received his first conversion from Asia) 
m Divisus ab orbe nostro Britannus, si in religione processerit, quaerit locum fama sibi tantum & scripturarum relatione cognitum. Epist. Paulae & Eustochii de commigrat. Bethlchem, inter opera Hieronymi Script. circa Ann. 386.  did go to judea as a place of greatest sanctity, so 
n lib. 4. ●. 23. Beda.  amongst the Saxons Romam adire magnae virtutis aestimabatur. But as this was of their part, no other then as to a great Doctor or Prelate, by whose solicitude they understood the way to heaven, and to a place in which religion and piety did most flourish; so th' instructions thence were not as coming from one had dominion over their faith, the one side not at all giving, nor the other assuming other than that respect is fit to be rendered from a puisne or less skilful to more ancient and learned Teachers. As of late times when certain divines at Frankford 1554. differed about the Common-prayer used in England, Knox and Whittingham appealed to Calvin for his opinion; and receiving his 200. Epistle, 
o Troubles at Frankford pag. xxxvi. Edit. 1575.  it so wrought in the hearts of many, that they were not so stout to maintain all the parts of the Book, as they were then against it. And Doctor Cox and some other, who stood for the use of the said Book, wrote unto him, 
p ibid. pag. ●1.  excusing themselves that they put order in their Church without his counsel asked. Which honour they showed him, not as esteeming him 
q ibid. pag. ●xlvii.  to have any authority of Office over them; but in respect of his learning and merits.  
3. As these therefore carried much honour, and yielded great obedience to Calvin, and the Church of Geneva by them, 
r ibid. p. ●lix.  than held the purest reformed Church in Christendom: so it cannot be denied but our Ancestors the Saxons attributed no less to the Pope and Church of Rome, who yet never invaded the rights of this, as contrary to the 
s Concil. general. edit. Romae 1608, ●o. 1. pag. 498. A.  council of Ephesus, and the Canons of the Church of 
t Beda l. 4. cap. 5.  England; but left the Government of it to the English Prelates, yet giving his best advice and assistance for increasing devotion, and maintenance of the Laws Ecclesiastical amongst them, in which each side placed the superiority. From whence it proceeded that however the Pope was sought to from hence, he rarely sent hither any Legat. 
u Concil. Spelm. Ann. 787. p. 293.  In the Council of Calcuith held about 180. years after Augustine, it is observed, a tempore Sancti Augustini Pontificis sacerdos Romanus nullus in Britanniam m●ssus est, nisi nos. And 
x pag. 58, 4●.  Eadmerus, that it was inauditum in Britannia, quemlibes hominum super se vices Apostolicas gerere, nisi solum Archiepiscopum Cantuariae.  
4. But after the Pope instead of being 
y Caus. 2. q. 1. cap. 7, 15. q. 2. cap. 2. 3. 4. etc.  subject, began to be esteemed above th' Ecclesiastic Canons, and to pretend a power of altering, and dispensing with them, and what passed by his advice and counsel only, was said to be by his authority, he did question divers particulars had been formerly undoubtedly practise't in this Kingdom, he seeing them, and not showing any dislike at it; as 
z Ingulph. fol. 500 a. 43.  The receiving Investitures of Churches from Princes, 
a vide literas Paschal. 2. Hen. 1. apud. Eadme●um, pag. 113. pag. 115.  The calling Synods, The determining causes Ecclesiastical without Appeals to Rome, The transferring Bishops, etc. but the removing these from England unto a foreign judicature, being as well in diminution of the rights of the Crown, as of this Church, passed not with out opposition.  
5. For Anselm an Italian, the first great promoter of the Papal authority with us, pretending he ought not be barred 
b Eadmer. pag. 38, 35.  of visiting the Vicar of St. Peter causa regiminis Ecclesiae, was told as well by the Bishops as lay Lords, 
c Eadmer. p. 39, 30.  That it was a thing unheard, and altogether against the use of the realm, for any of the great men, especially himself to presume any such thing without the King's licence: who affirmed, 
d Eadmer. pag. 26, 1.  nequaquam fidem quam sibi debebat simul & Apostolicae sedis obedientiam contra suam voluntatem posse servare. And the Archbishop persisting in his journey thither, had not only his Bishopric seized into the King's hand, but the Pope being showed how his carriage was resented here, did not afford him either 
e ibid. pag. 52, 17.  Consilium or Auxilium, but suffered him to live an exile all that Prince's time 
f— Nil judicii vel subventionis per Romanum praesulem nacti. Eadmer. pag. 53, 28.  without any considerable support, or adjudging the cause in his favour. Which makes it the more strange that (having found by experience what he had heard before, that it was the King not the Pope could help or hurt him) this visit being so little to his advantage, at his first presenting himself to Henry the first, he should oppose 
g Eadmer. pag. 56, 7.  that Prince in doing him homage, and being invested by him, a right continued unto that time from his Ancestors, and by which himself had received 
h Eadmer. p. 18, 4. p. 20, 35.  the Archbishopric from his brother, and this on a suggestion that it was prohibited in a council held at Rome: in which he went so far as to tell the King, 
i Ibid. pag. 70, 9  quod nec pro redemptione capitis mei consentiam ei de iis quae praesens audivi in Romano Concilio prohiberi, nisi ab eadem sede interdictorum absolutionis prodeat, à qua constitutionis ipsorum vinculum prodiit.  
6. This is the first, if not the only time that to what was acted at Rome an obedience was required here, as not to be dispensed with but from thence: for it is undoubted, this Kingdom never held itself tied by any thing past there, till received here; as 
k Eadmer. pag. 92, 40. vide Concil. Spelm. pag. 166, 9  Eadmerus rightly observes, things done there not ratified here to be of no value. And when 
l Hen. Knighton 1296. col. 2491. vide Mat. West. & Wm. thorn.  Winchelsea 1296. would have introduced the contrary, it cost him dear, the Clergy forced to reject the command, 
m de immunitate Eccles. cap. 3. in S●xto. Et Tit. ●odem cap. 1. in Clement.  and the Court to quit her pretences.  
7. But the dispute, however the right stood, grew so high, the King told Anselm 
n Eadmer. p. 70, 5.  the Pope had not to meddle with his rights, and wrote that free letter we find in jorvalensis, col. 999, 30. which I have likewise seen in an old hand recorded amongst divers other memorials of the Archbishops of Canterbury: though I must needs say it seems to me by 
o Apud Eadmer. pag. 59, 48.  Paschalis his answer, repeating a good part of it, not sent by those he names, 
p Ibid. pag. 56. 22.  but former messengers. In this controversy the Pope's returns were so ambiguous, that he writ so differing from their relations were sent, it was thought fit Anselm should himself go to Rome: with whom K. Henry sent another, 
q Ibid. p. 73, 13.  who spoke plainly, his master nec pro amissione regni sui passurum se perdere investituras Ecclesiarum; and (though Rome were willing to comply in other particulars) told Anselm denying that, 
r pag. 75, 27. ibid.  he could not assure him of a welcome in England, who thereupon retired to Lions: where finding 
s Ibid. pag. 79, 24.  slender comfort from Rome, he sought the King by letters, and after by the means of Henry's 
t Eadmer. pag. 80, 27.  sister made his peace; at which yet he was not permitted (such was his spirit) to enter England, denying to communicate with them had received Bishoprics from the King, but by the Pope's dispensation. The conclusion was, Paschalis taught by experience, neither the Court of Rome nor th' Archbishop gained aught by this contest, however he would not at first abate 
u Ibid. p. 63 3.  praedecessoris sui sententiae rigorem, yet now admitted great limitations to what urban had established. So as the King 
x Eadmer. pag. 91, 21.  assenting none for the future should be invested per laicam manum (which was no more, but what he formerly did himself, he would now cause to be performed by a Bishop) the other agreed no prelates to be barred of promotion, etiamsi hominia Regi fecerint, 
y Ibid. p. 87, 35.  & hoc donec per omnipotentis Domini gratiam ad hoc omittendum cor regium molliatur, etc. which yet the King soon after, on the Pope's permission of them to the Dutch, did threaten 
z Ibid. p. 100, 1.  sine dubio se resumpturum suas investituras, quia ille suas tenet in pace; but for aught I find, it went no farther than their swearing fealty to the King, which seems to have been long 
a Gervas'. Derobern. Anno 118●. col. 1503, 36. R. de Glanvilla Abbati de Bello, etc. praecipio tibi ex parte Domini Regis, per fidem quam ei debes & per sacramentum quod ei fecisti, etc. Wm. Thorn, Ann. 1220. col. 1873, 56. Hugo 3. Abbas S ●. Augustini gratanter admissus juravit fidelitatem D. Regi super crucem ipsius▪ legati.  continued.  
8. The Papacy finding by this contest the difficulty of carrying any thing here by an high hand, thought of more moderate ways for bringing the Clergy of this nation wholly to depend on Rome; but that could not be without diminishing the power the Archbishop held over them, and therefore must be won by degrees: to advance which nothing could more conduce, then to have a person of wisdom reside here, who might direct this Church according to the Papal interest. But this was thought fit to be given out before practise't, and likely to be doubly opposed; for th' Archbishop well understood the admitting a Legate for that end to be 
b Mat. Paris pag. 440, 17. Anno 1237. Lond. 1640.  in suae dignitatis praejudicium: And the King suffered none to be taken for Pope, but whom he approved, nor any to receive so much as a Letter from Rome, without acquainting him with it, and held it an undoubted right of the Crown, 
c Eadmer. pag. 125, 53. p. 6, 25. p. 113, 1.  ut neminem aliquando legati officio in Anglia fungi permitteret, si non ipse, aliqua praecipua querela exigente, & quae ab Archiep●scopo Cantuariorum caeterisque Episcopis regni terminari non posset, hoc fieri à Papa postularet, etc.  
9 Things standing thus in the year 1100. th' Archbishop of Vienna coming into England, 
d Eadmer. pag. 58, 41.  reported himself to have the Legatine power of all Britain committed unto him; which was with so much admiration of the Nation (as a thing had not been heard of before) that (if he had any) at least he thought not fit to make use of his Commission, but departed a nemine pro Legato susceptus, nec in aliquo Legati officio functus.  
10. Fourteen years after 
e Eadmer. p. 113. p. 116.  Paschalis the 2. by Letters of the 30. of March and 1. of April, expostulates with the King about several particulars; of which one is, his admitting neither messenger nor Letter to be received, but by his leave: but see the words; Sedis Apostolicae nuncii vel literae praeter jussum regiae majestatis nullam in potestate tuâ susceptionem aut aditum promerentur, nullus inde clamour, nullum inde judicium ad sedem Apostolicam destinantur, etc. and the year following addressed 
f Eadmer. pag. 118, 28.  Anselm (nephew to the late Archbishop, and after Abbot of St. Edmundsbury) hither, showing by Letters he had committed unto his administration vices Apostolicas in Anglia. This made known here (though the bearer were not permitted to enter the Kingdom) the Clergy and Nobility gathered in council at London concluded th' Archbishop should go to the King in Normandy, make known unto him the ancient custom of the Realm, and by his advice to Rome, (as being the person was most interessed in it) ut haec nova annihilaret; from whence he obtained the Letter, or rather declaration to the King and Clergy the same author hath 
g pag. 120.  recorded. So by this care the matter was again stopped.  
11. The King 1119. 
h Ordericus Vitalis pag. 857, d. pag. 858, a.  sent his Bishops to a Council held by Calixtus the 2. at Reims, at their departing gave them these instructions: Not to complain of each other, because himself would right each of them at home; That he paid that rent his predecessors had formerly done, and enjoyed likewise those privileges had been formerly permitted them; That they should salute the Pope from him, hear his precepts, but bring no superfluities into his Kingdom: but see the words; Rex Anglorum praelatis regni sui ad Synodum ire permisit; sed omnino ne alicujus modi querimoniam alterutrum facerent, prohibuit: Dixit, omni plenariam rectitudinem conquerenti faciam in terra mea: redditus ab anterioribus constitutos Romanae Ecclesiae singulis annis errogo, & privilegia nihilominus ab antiquis temporibus pari modo mihi concessa teneo. Ite, dominum Papam de parte mea salutate, & Apostolica tantum praecepta humiliter audite, sed superfluas adinventiones regne meo inferre nolite, etc. Certainly this prince did hold, the Pope with the advice of a Council might labour to introduce superfluous inventions, which the English were not tied to receive, the disputes of his Bishops be by him ended at home without carrying their complaints beyond Seas, according to th' Assize 
i cap. 8.  of Clarendoun; the King in nothing obliged to Rome, but in the payment of Peter-pences, as his father had before 
k Baron. to. 11. anno 1079. n. 25. & Lanfranci Epist. 7.  expressed himself.  
12. In November following the Pope and King had a 
l Eadmer. p. 125, 51.  meeting at guysor's in Normandy, where Calixtus confirmed unto him the usages his father had practise't in England and Normandy, and in especial that of sending no Legate hither, but on the Prince's desire. Yet notwithstanding the same 
m Eadmer. pag. 137, 46. pag. 138, 21.  Pope not fully two years after addressed another Legate to these parts: but he by the King's wisdom was so diverted, ut qui Legati officio fungi in tota Britannia venerat, immunis ab omni officio tali via qua venerat extra Angliam à Rege missus est, etc.  
13. But here by the way the reader may take notice, these words, 
n Eadmer. pag. 116, 23.  Collata, 
o Ibid. p. 125. 21.  Impetrata, Concessa, Permissa, used by our best authors in speaking of the Rights of the Crown in points of this nature, do not import as if it had only a delegatory power from the Pope by some grant of his, as is fancied by those 
p Answer to Sr. Ed. Cook, de jure Regis Ecclesiast c. 9 ●▪ 8. p. 200.  would have it so; for we read of no such concessions from him, unless that of Nicholas the 2. of which in the next: But that they were continually exercised, the Pope seeing, & either approving, or at least making no such show of his disliking them, as barred their practice, which by comparing the said authors is plain. Eadmerus, p. 125, 53, 54. speaks as if these customs were concessa, fungi permissa from Rome; which pag. 118, 33, 40. he calls antiqua Angliae consuetudo, libertas Regni, etc. So pag. 116, 22. he terms them privilegia Patri & Fratri suo, sibique à Romana Ecclesia jam olim collata, etc. about which yet it is manifest, even 
q Eadmer. p. 6, 23. & lib. 2. per totum. p. 113, 1. etc. p. 115.  by him, the Court of Rome was ever in contest with our Kings, about them, who maintained them as their Royalties against it, and challenged by Henry the 1. by no other title then 
r Hen. 1. Epist. apud Jorval. col. 999, 46, 49.  dignitates, usus, & consuetudines, quas Pater ejus in regno habuit, etc. which the Pope 
s Eadmer. p. 59, 50.  calls honores quos antecessorum nostrorum tempore Pater tuus habuer at, and affirms to be grata in superficie,— interius requisita & Legati vocibus exposita, gravia & vehementissima paruerunt: so far have Popes been from conferring the least unto them. see cap. 3. n. 19  
14. It is true, things done by Princes as of their own 
⸫ vide cap. 5. n. 4.  Right, Popes finding not means to stop, would in former ages as later, by privilege continue unto them. Nicholaus Papa hoc Domino meo privilegium, quod ex paterno jure susceperat, praebuit, 
t Baron. 11. Ann. 1059. n. 23.  said th' Emperor's Advocate. And the same Pope finding our Kings to express one part of their Office to be regere populum Domini, & Ecclesiam ejus, wrote to Edward the Confessor, Vobis & posteris vestris regibus Angliae committimus advocationem ejusdem loci, & omnium totius Angliae Ecclesiarum, & vice nostra cum Concilio Episcoporum & Abbatum constituatis ubique quae justa sunt. As a few years since, 
u Maurocen. Hist. Ven. Ann. 1 Cor. p. 629. c. Ann. 1609. p. 687. b. Card. Ossat. Epist. Romae 17. Sept. 1601.  the Republic of Venice not assenting to send their Patriarch to an examination at Rome, according to a Decree of Clement the 8 th', Paulus Quintus declared that imposterum Venetiarum Antistites Clementis decreto eximerentur: so that now that State doth by an exemption what they did before as Sovereign Princes. Besides, Kings did many times as grants ask those things of the Pope, they well understood themselves to have power of doing without him. 
x Narrantur haec p. 56. 57 in vita Henrici Chichley ab Arthuro Duck edit. 1617.  Henry the 5 th'. demanded of Martin the 5. five particulars: to which his Ambassadors finding him not so ready to assent, told him see in mandatis habere, ut coram eo profiteantur, Regem in iis singulis jure suo usurum, utpote quae non necessitatis, sed honoris causa petat, & ut publicam de ea re coram universo Cardinalium coetu protestationem interponant. And to the same purpose there are sundry examples yet remaining on record, where 
y Ro●. Parl. 17. Ed. 3. n. 59 in sine. 25. Ed. 3. Oct. puri●. n. 13. 7. H. 4. n. 114. 3. H. 6. n. 38. ●ee cap. 4. n. 20.  the King on the petition of the Commons for redress of some things (of Ecclesiastic cognizance) amiss, first chooses to write to the Pope; but on his delay, or failing to give satisfaction, doth either himself by statute redress th' inconvenience, or command the Archbishop to see it done.  
15. But here before I proceed any farther, because it cannot be denied, in former times there was often intercourse between the Church of England and Rome, and such as were sent from thence hither are by some styled Nuncii, by others Legati; I think it not amiss to consider what the cause was one side so much opposed the sending a Legate, and the other so laboured to gain it.  
16. After the erection of Canterbury into an Archbishopric, the Bishops of that See were held quasi alteri●s orbis Papae, as Vrban the 2. 
z Malms. de l ontis. l. 1. in Anselm. fol. 127. 15. Gervas'. Dorobern. col. 1527, 58.  styled them, did only exercise 
a Eadmer. p. 58, 44.  vices Apostolicas in Anglia, that is used the same power within this Island the Pope did in other parts; the one 
b Ibid. p. 115, 17.  claiming, because Europe had been converted by disciples sent from Rome; the other, that he had sent 
c Diceto col. 437, 64.  preachers through England. And is therefore called frequently in our writers 
d Eadmer. pag. 27, 34. principi vestro Anselmo.  princeps Episcoporum Angliae, 
e Ibid. p. 107, 33. pag. 113, 47.  Pontif●x summus, 
f Gervas'. Dorobern. col. 1663., 55.  Patriarcha, 
g Eadmer. p. 30, 9  Primas, and his seat 
h Eadmer. pag. 113, 47. continuatio Florent. Wigorn. Ann. 1136. pag. 513.  Cathedra Patriarchatus Anglorum; and this not in civility only, but they were as well 
i Gervas'. Dorobern. col. 1663., 55.  sic habiti as nominati. It is true, the correspondency between it and the Roman was so great, they were rather held one then two Churches: yet if any question did arise, the determination was in a council or convocation here; as 
k Florent. Wigorn. Ann. 1070.  the deposing Stygand, 
l post, n. 18, 10, 60.  the settling the precedency between Canterbury and York, 
m supra n. 11.  the instructions I mentioned of Hen. 1. to his Bishops, 
n vid. Mat. Paris Ann. 1246. p. 699, 10. vide post n. 38. in textu & in margin.  the right of the Kingdom that none should be drawn out of it auctoritate Apostolica, do enough assure us; if recourse were had to Rome, it was only 
o Malms, fol. 152, b. 12. see n. 8.  ut majori Concilio decidatur quod terminari non p●tuit, as to the more learned divines, to the elder Church, of greatest note in Europe, by whom these were converted, and therefore more reverenced by this, as that was most solicitous of their well-doing, and most respected for their wisdom. All which is manifest by that humble Letter 
⸫ Ibid. de Regibus lib. 1. fol. 16.  Kenulphus & others of Mercia wrote about 797. to Leo the 3. wherein it plainly appears, he seeks to that See for direction, because the conversion of the Nation first came from thence, and there resided in it men of sound learning, whom he doth therefore desire as quibus à Deo merito sapientiae clavis collata est, ut super hac causa (which was the placing an archiepiscopal chair at Litchfield,) cum sapientibus vestris quaeratis, & quicquid vobis videatur nobis postea rescribere dignemini. By which it is clear his inquisition was as unto persons of profound literature, (had the key of knowledge conferred on them) not as to those had authority over this Church.  
17. As for acts of Ecclesiastic authority, what proceeded not from the King, did from th' Archbishop, who was not at all commanded by any, 
p Gervas'. Dorobern. col. 1663., 55.  nullius unquam legati ditioni addictus, but 
q Ibid. col. 1485, 63.  preceded them all. 
r Non est a●te haec tempora Archiepiscopo Cantuariensi talis illata injuria, ut in Provincia ejusdem archiepiscopi, immo & in Ecclesia, ut de cruse sileam, Legatus aliquis mitratus incederet. Gervas'. Dorobern. Ann. 1186. col. 1485, 63.  None did were a Mitre within his Province, or had the Crosier carried, nor laid any excommunication; and when he did, the 
s Ger. Dorobern. Ann. 1187. col. 1531, 38.  Clergy of the place did teach, both from the King and Archbishop, not to value it, on this ground, that in Dioecesi Archiepiscopi Apostolicam non tenere sententiam.  
18. As for Counsels, it is certain none from Rome did, till 1125. call any here: if they did come to any, as to Calcuith, the King upon the Advise of th' Archbishop 
t Concil. Spelman. pag. 293.  statuit diem concilii. So when William the first held one at Winchester 1070. for deposing Stygand, though there came to it three sent from Alexander the second, yet it was held 
u Florent. Wigorn. Ann. 1070, pag. 434.  jubente & present Rege, who was 
x Vita Lanfranci cap. 7. p. 7. col. 1. d.  precedent of it. The difference touching precedency between the Sees of Canterbury and York having been before the same Pope, and by him sent back for a determination at home, it is observable, that in a Council said therefore to be called ●x praecepto Alexandri Papae annuente Rege, the Pope's Legate subscribed the 16 th'. after all the English Bishops: as is truly 
y Note, you must 〈◊〉 these subscriptions in the London edition 1572. for in that of Hanau 1605. they are for the most, (I know not on what warrant,) omitted.  recorded in the Antiquitat. Britannicae Ecclesiae p. 95, 40. agreeing with a very ancient Ms. copy I have seen of the said Council; as Diceto and others do 
z Diceto col. 485, 24.  rank him after the King, Canterbury, and York. If any shall ask whether I have met no copies in which he was placed otherwise, I must confess I have seen some books wherein he was above the English Bishops, next after the Queen; but they were only late Transcripts, not of any Antiquity, as in a 
a in bibliotheca Cotton fol. lxxiiii.  book of Crouland writ since the beginning of Henry the 7.  
19 The Pope for many years now past, for being a Spiritual Pastor, and Patriarch of the West, hath been treated with more reverence than any Bishop, and for being a potent temporal Prince, with more observance then merely a Ghostly Father. A 
b Mat. Paris hist. minor. Ann. 1107.  grave writer notes, Henry the first having gone through the troubles were on him with his brother, and likewise Anselm, subjugatis omnibus inimicis securus erat, nec aliquem ut primìtus formidabat praeter Papam, & hoc non propter spiritualem, sed temporalem potestatem. Which as it is recorded of that Prince, so no question is true of many others.  
20. By which we may see, when Rome did in former times Apostolica authoritate praecipere, it was to Bishops (whom he styled his brothers,) no other than such fraternal commands the elder may and doth ordinarily lay upon the younger brother, of whom he is solicitous; such as St. Paul's were 
c ● Thess. iii 12.  to the Thessalonians, 
d Philem. 8.  Philemon, etc. No other than of late calvin's were to Knox, who being chosen by certain of Frankford to be Preacher unto them, 
e Knox Hist. Church of Scotland p. 93▪ edit. 1644.  their vocation he obeyed, albeit unwillingly, at the commandment of that notable servant of God john Calvin, etc. And a little after the Lords of Scotland sending for him home, 
f Ibid. p. 110  did accompany their letters to him with others to Mr. Calvin, craving of him, that by his authority he would command the said john once again to visit them, etc. And truly whosoever will without partiality seriously consider the whole contexture of our Laws and Histories, weighing one circumstance with another, must conclude the Pope's commanding to have been volentibus, not nolentibus, (as 
g Epitaph. Nepotiani ad Heliodorum to. 1.  St. Hierom says those of a Bishop ought to be) for if disliked, his precepts were 
h Eadmer. pag. 92, 40. p. 125, 29.  questioned, 
i Gervas'. Dorobern. col. 1315, 66. 1316, 8. & 1318, 39 1359, 41, 59 W mus Thorn 1802, 26. 1848, 28. and these may serve in lieu of many others may be alleged.  opposed, 
k Ger. Dorobern. col. 1558, 54.  those he sent not permitted to meddle with that they came for, their prohibitions that others should not, neglected: The English having ever esteemed the Church of Canterbury in spirituals, that is quae sunt ordinis; without any intervening superior 
l Ibid. col. 1663., 24. col. 1615, 62.  omnium nostrum mater communis sub sponsi sui jesu Christi dispositione; in other things, as points of Government, the ordering that of right and custom ever to have belonged to the King assisted 
* Si Episcopi tramitem justitiae in aliquo transgrederentur, non esse Regis, (viz. alone,) sed c●●onum judicium, sine publico & Ecclesias●ico Concilio illos nulla possessione privari debuisse; Regem id non rectitudinis zelo, sed commodi sui compendio fecisse. Malms. fol. 103. a. 18. reports this saying of a Legat. see n. 24.  with his council of Bishops, and others of the Clergy, who was therefore called Vicarius Christi, etc. as I shall show hereafter more at large. 
m Contra Crescon. Gramm●att. l. 3. cap. 51. to. 7.  The Church of England holding that of S ●. Augustine an undoubted truth, In hoc Reges, sicut eis divinitus praecipitur, Deo serviunt in quantum Reges sunt, si in suo reg no bona jubeant, mala prohibeant, non solum quae pertinent ad humanam societatem, verum etiam quae ad divinam religionem: and accordingly our Kings, so far as any Laws or Records of their actions are extant, from Ethelbert by the Saxons to the Conquest, and from the Normans to these later times, have upon occasion exercised a power, showing such titles were not in vain conferred on them. Neither did any decision, though never so punctually had in Rome, unless the parties agreed, stint the strife, till the King concurred with it; as the frequent determinations on the behalf of Canterbury in point of superiority above York, found in 
n Malms. de Pont. lib. 1. fol. 118, a. to fol. 120, b.  Malmsbury and others, may teach us, which yet never received a final end, till Edward the 3. under the great seal set a 
o Antiquit. Britan. Ecclesiae, in Simone●slep ●slep. p. 269, 15.  period to that long controversy.  
21. But after the Pope began to think (or rather to say) himself had only 
p De auctoritate & usu Pallii cap. 4.  plenitudo Ecclesiasticae potestatis, 
q De Electione & electi potestate c. 4.  that no Council could give Laws to him, but all receive strength from him, and the Canonists flattery extended to declare him 
r Lyndwood de temp. ordinand. cap. 2. ad verbum express.  supra jura, & in ●o sufficit pro ratione voluntas; his missives ran in an higher tone then formerly, and his commands, which were at first according to 
s Philip. iiii. 3.  th' example of St. Paul joined with exhortations, entreaties, and the like, to carry 
t Wm. Thorn. col. 1801, 53.  Apostolica auctoritate comprimere; and to th' Archbishop demurring in th' execution of them, 
u Ibid. 1814, 34.  tuum candelabrum concutiemus, & tantam praesumptionem cum gravibus usuris exigemus; and, 
x Gervas'. Dorobern. Ann. 1193. col. 1602, 64.  si mandatum nostrum neglexeris vel distuleris adimplere, quia justum est ut ei obedientia subtrahatur qui sedi Apostolicae neglexerit obedire, venerabilibus fratribus suffraganeis tuis per scripta nostra mandavimus, ut tibi reverentiam non impendant. Quod si etc. tibi feceris exhiberi, s●ias te tunc ab Episcopali dignitate suspensum, etc. phrases and manners of writing denoting much more of authority than was used by Popes in elder times. By which is manifest, the point in difference between the Archbishop and the Pope to have been not the sending a Legate hither, but of one with a power above him, to command the English Clergy, that is to remove their dependency from him to Rome as a superior over him.  
22. To his gaining which these usages of th' Archbishops were great stops, drawing so near an equality, and so pregnant testimonies of his no-divine right to meddle here, not easy to be removed, unless some from the Pope were admitted into the Kingdom, that might at least give an essay to the guiding the English Church after the papal interest: but that, how earnestly soever pressed, came to no effect till 1125. johannes Cr●mensis, a person well understanding (as 
y Ordericus Vitalis pag. 862.  appears by his carriage six years before at Reims) the designs of Rome, 
z Simeon Dunelmensis Ann. 1125, col. 251, 61.  came to the King in Normandy; where after some stay, his journey hither was permitted; with what qualifications I find not; but coming with Letters to Canterbury at Easter, performed th' Office of the day in a more eminent chair as an Archbishop, for so I English loco summi Pontificis, according to the 
a Eadmer. pag. 107. 33. pag. 113, 4. Ger. Dorobern. col. 1663., 55.  phrase of those times, and, though a Cardinal priest, used insigniis Pontisicalibus the habit of a Bishop: which being 
b Inusuata novitas. Dorobern. Ibid.  an unusual novelty, passed not without scandal. But in a council which he held and presided in at London, the Kingdom took more offence: I shall deliver it in my authors own words; 
c Ger. Dorobern. Acta ●ont. ibid. col. 1663., 42.  Totam Angliam in non modicam commovit indignationem: Videres enim rem eatenus regno Anglorum inauditam, Clericum scilicet Presbiterii tantum gradu perfunctum, Archiepiscopis, Episcopis, Abbatibus, totiusque regni nobilibus qui confluxerant, in sublimi solio praesidere; illos autem deorsum sedentes, ad nutum ejus vultu & auribus animum suspen sum habentes. From whence we may conclude it a thing before not heard of, for any Legate, though a Cardinal, to precede Bishops, (the first Council in which they preceded Archbishops I take to have been the Council of Vienna 1311. where th' Archbishop of York is noted to have been placed 
d Thomas Stubs, Act. Pont. Ebor. col. 1730, 30.  primus & praecipuus post Cardinals, & post Trevirensem Archiepiscopum;) or be seated in a more eminent place over them; (I have 
e Supran 18.  showed they did not subscribe in English Counsels above them;) that these mutations were scandalous to the nation.  
23. As this is the first Ecclesiastic Synod called and managed by any Legate from Rome; so before his credential 
f Apud Sim. Dunelm. col. 252. 22.  Letters from Honorius the 2. as well to the Lay as Clergy, I have not met with the Text 
g john xxi. 15, 16, 17.  Pasce oves meas used to prove him the general Pastor of all the World: it is true, Paschalis the 2. 
h Apud Eadmer. pag. 115, 9 〈◊〉. 1115.  ten years before uses it to prove his authority over 
i Ecclesiarum praepositi.  Bishops; but neither doth 
k Eadmer. pag. 27, 37.  Anselm 1095. produce it, neither doth this Cardinal at 
l Ordericus Vitalis pag. 862, §. omnes.  Reims 1119. mention it, though either of them did allege as many places of Scripture as were then common to prove th' extent of his power; and Petrus Blesensis, that lived a little after, 
m Petr. Blesens. Epist. 148.  interprets it as spoken to all Bishops, and to import no other than Evangelizare: a certain sign, if that exposition were hatched before, it was not common, which afterward approved by 
n De consideratione ad Eugen. lib. 2. cap. 8.  St. Bernard, and inserted into 
o Ext. Com. de Majoritat. & obedient, c, 1.  the Canon Law by Boniface the 8. about the year 1300. is now stood upon as the Basis of papal greatness. But to return to that we were on.  
24. The Archbishop sensible of these indignities, proceeds not as his predecessor, by joint Council of the Bishops, Abbots and Nobility, but hath himself recourse to Rome (who already knew 
p Malms. de Pont. lib. 1. fol. 131. b. 39  se convertere ad oratorum versutias, dummodo consulat suis profectibus) where the Pope, (which was Honorius the 2.) committed unto him 
q Gervas'. Dorobern. col. 1663., 64.  vices suas in Angliâ & Scotiâ, & Apostolicae sedis Legatum constituit: So that he who before was 
r Eadmer. pag. 14, 13. pag. 30, 9 pag. 93, 3.  Primas Angliae, Scotiae & Hiberniae, necne adjacentium insularum, that none else 
s Ibid. 58, 43.  gerebat vices Apostolicas in Britannia, and this of his own right, without any delegatory power, might now doing the same be said to do it by a power derived from Rome. An invention highly advantageous to the Papacy: for before the King and Archbishop, or rather the Archbishop by the Kings will and appointment, had ever taken cognizance of all matters of Episcopacy; as the erection of Bishoprics, disposing and translating Bishops, etc. So Paschalis the 2. expostulates with Hen. the 1. 
t Apud Eadmer. p. 115. 48. &  that praeter auctoritatem nostram Episcoporum translationes praesumitis, etc. and the 
* pag. 129, 52. seen. 20.  deposing of them to have been in a Synod 
u See Bed. lib. 4. cap. 2, 6● Gervas'. Dorobern. col. 1638, 37.  Historians of all times before assure us, even unto Lanfrank, who 
x Mat. Pa●●● 1095, pag. 20. 46. Ailredus col. 406, 10.  attempted it upon small grounds against Wolstan. As for dividing Bishoprics, and erecting new where none were, 
y Flor. Wigor. pag. 55●.  Theodore did five in Mercia cum consensu Regum & principum, (without ever sending to Rome) as he did others 
z Beda lib. 3. cap. 7. lib. 4. cap. 6, 12. li. 5. cap. 19  elsewhere. And Henry the 1. long after placed Episcopal Chairs at Ely and Carlisle, without acquainting the Popes with it. It is true, Anselm an Italian, either not knowing the rights of the Kingdom, or rather out of a desire to interest the Pope in every thing, writes to him of Ely, that 
a Eadmer. pag. 95, 50.  de vestrae pendet auctoritate prudentiae to add strength to Ecclesiastic ordinances of this nature; yet it is clear by his very Letter, the King, Bishops and Nobility had already concluded on it, with whom he had concurred, ask Paschalis assent after the deed done: which shows rather he did it in civility, then of necessity, ne à posteris ulla praesumptione violetur, that no cavilling might arise in the future to the disturbance of an action well settled, that past by so great advice, as not only the English Church, but the first Bishop of the world and Patriarch of the West joined in seeing the needfulness of it. And it is here not unworthy the remembering, that Q. Marry, how much so ever addicted to Rome, yet admitted the 
b Gloucester and Chester in Parliament 1 Mar. 2. April 1554. Parl. 2. item Parl. the 3. 12 November 1554. ●. and ● Ph. & Mar. journal des Signior: yet the Act of reconciling this Kingdom to Rome, and confirming those Bishoprics by the Pope, passed not till the 30. of November after, however they were reputed lawful Bishoprics before.  Bishops of those Sees her Father had erected during the schism (as they called it) to sit in Parliament, before any confirmation of them by the Pope.  
25. Of these and the like, though cases proper for the 
c Caus. 3. quaest. 6. cap. 7. & de 〈◊〉, Epist. cap. 2. Bellarm. lib. 4. de Eccles. cap. 8. §. Ratio, etc.  Papacy alone, yet being without scruple exercised in the Church of England, and no control from Rome▪ it would not be easy to dispossess the Archbishop of meddling with, by strong hand, especially on an essay made before in the case of Wilfred, it being affirmed, 
d Apud Malmsb. fol. 152, a. 34.  quod esset contra rationem, homini jam bis à tota Anglorum Ecclesia damnato, propter quaelibet Apostolica scripta communicare: the way therefore of making him the Pope's Legate was invented, by which those particulars he did before without interruption of his own right, he (whom it was not easy to bar of doing them) might be said to act as his agent: which was about 
* 1127.  this time first committed unto him of any Archbishop of Canterbury; though 
e Baron. tom. 8. Ann. 676. n. 10.  Baronius, not finding how the very same past before, fancies Theodore to have done them, cui totius Angliae à Romano Pontifice veluti Apostolicae sedis Legato cura credita erat; who certainly if he were his Legate, was very immorigerous in the case of Wilfred. But to leave that as a Chimaera not to be assented to, mentioned by no ancient author, it is true, not long after he conferred the title of Legatus natus on th' Archbishop, 
f n. 40. p. 3●  of which hereafter.  
26. To return to th' Archbishop, who came home with this Legatine power 1127. 
g Florent. Wigorn. Annis 1126. 1127. & alii.  crowns the King at Windsor, and in May following holds a Council at Westminster, cui praesedit ipse, sicut Apostolicae sedis legatus; which is the first Council any Archbishop is noted to have held as a Papal Legate; and during his life, which was seven years, England did not see any other.  
27. After his death the See of Canterbury lay two years vacant, so a fit time for the Pope to look this way, especially K. Stephen making it part of his title, that he was 
h Apud Malmsbur. fol. 101. johannes Ha●ulstad. col. 259, 9 Richardus Hagulstad. col. 314, 18. vid. col. 313, 32.  confirmed by him in his Kingdom: therefore 1138. Innocentius the second sent hither Albericus Bishop of Hostia, the second stranger I find exercising the Legatine authority in England; yet he was not at first received for one, but 
i Gervas'. Dorobern. col. 1344, ●.  vix tandem pro reverenti● Domini Papae. He indeed went farther than ever any had, for he not only called the Clergy Apostolica auctoritate (as our Historians term it) to a Synod, (I confess he avoids the word in his letters of summons, styling it 
k Gervas'. Dorobern. col. 1346, 58.  colloquium, perhaps not to enter into dispute with the King, who then took himself to be the only 
l Eadmer. p. 6, 29. p. 24. 11.  caller of them, and the allower of what they did) but did farther command the Prior and Convent of Canterbury, etc. 
m Ger. Dor. ibid. lin. 65.  to choose such an Archbishop, cui sacrorum canonum auctoritas in nullo valcat obviare, cui comprovinciales Episcopi pariter debeant assentire, & cui Dominus Rex nec possit nec debet assensum suum juste denegare: but farther not at all intromitting himself. And in the Council he held, amongst other particulars, he ordained, that if any injured an Ecclesiastic person, 
n Cap. 9 apud Gervas'. Dorob. 1348. & Richard. Hagust. 328.  Nisi tertio admonitus satisfecerit, anathemate feriatur, neque quisquam ei praeter Romanum Pontificem, nisi mortis urgente periculo, modum poenitentiae finalis injungat. This is the first that by Canon, aught done in England was referred to Rome, as having a greater power than the English Bishops to absolve: (of the Laws of Hen. the 1. I shall speak 
o n. 30.  hereafter.) But whether it were not here much regarded, or th' excesses used by King Stephen against certain Bishops, and the prohibiting a Council held 〈◊〉 Winchester to send to Rome, as 
p Malms. fol. 103. a. 1. b. 54, 55.  against the dignity of the realm, or that he freed of imprisonment desired to make so potent a party, as the Clergy then was, more of his side, I cannot say; but assuredly it was again renewed in a 
q H. Hunt. fol. 225. a ●6. Ann. 1142, 8. Steph.  Council at London about some four years after.  
28. The same Pope 1139. conferred upon Henry, K. Stephen's Brother, and the potent Bishop of Winchester, this Legatine power, which was by him published in a Council at Winchester, where his faculties w●re read 
r Malms. fol. 103. a. 31.  bearing date the 1. March; and being as well 
s Ger. Dorobern. col. 1343, 44.  Angliae Dominus by reason of the power he held wi●h Stephen, as Apostolicae sedis Legatus, he called thither th' Archbishop that had then some contest with the Monks of St. Augustine's, (whom the Pope generally favoured against him) referred to his decision from Rome, so that he caused both parties the 
t Wm. thorn col. 1853, 32.  second time to appear there before him 1143. as Legate, and by compromise ended the business. Yet this calling of the Archbishop 
u Gervas'. Dorobern. col. 1665, 24. indignatus Theobald▪  unto him was not taken well: and the same year 1143. he did by Apostolic command restore jeremy, removed by Theobald, (notwithstanding his appeal to Rome) to be Prior of Canterbury: which restitution the said Prior did not think fit to stand by, but for avoiding trouble took an 100 marks to pay his debts, and placed himself in St. Augustine's. By these carriages there grew great distastes between these two great Prelates: the one as Archbishop prohibited Winchester 
x johan. Hagulstad, col. 275, 42. interdixit Episcopo, Episcopale & sacerdotale officium.  all Ecclesiastic functions, however the Pope's Legate; and both apply themselves to the Pope; from whence our Historians do fetch the use of Appeals to Rome; as indeed there could not well be any cause of them before: for as the one case is the first ever any Archbishop was called out of his Diocese to make answer to any Legate as his Superior; so I believe it will be hard to give an example of aught done by th' Archbishop in his own Bishopric till now altered by a foreign authority. And here, having mentioned the introducing of Appeals, the reader will give me leave to digress a little, both to show what is meant by them, and the manner of prosecution of them; and then 
y Num. 40.  to return, and observe the event of the Archbishops and Legates in the Court of Rome.  
29. It cannot be denied, the word Appeal to have been used in former times with reference to the Papacy. 
z Malmsb. f. 149, a. 50.  Cum praesul sedem Apostolicam appellasset, says Malmsbury of Wilfred; and a Council held in Italy concerning him, 
a Bed. lib. 5. cap. 20. & in jugulpho MS. se● addi●ionibus eius, in Biblio●●●●a Cotton▪  Apostolicam sedem de suâ causâ appellans▪ and of some others. Yet nothing is more certain than those in whose time this was did not at all hold the Pope to have any power of righting him, other then by intercession; not as a superior Court, by sentencing in his favour, to undo what had past Theodore; (
* Stubs de Archiepisc, Ebor. col. 1691. 10.  without whose assent the King could not have deprived him of his seat,) for when the Pope's 
b Malm. fol. 150, a, 43.  Letters were brought hither for his restitution, Egfrid, with th' advice of his Bishops, not only refused, but clapped Wilfred in prison; and after his death the 
c Ibid. fol. 152. a▪ 32, 34,  Pope sending others vita graves & aspectu honorabiles, Alfrith though he received the men with great reverence, yet would by no means admit the restauration they came about, but affirmed it against reason to do it (he having been twice condemned) proper quaelibet Apostolica scripta. And as this was in a time when Christianity most flourished in this Nation, having in general 
d Beda lib. 4. cap. 2.  fortissimos Christianosque Reges; so of the Kings that did it, of Egfrid 
e Apud Malmsbu●. f. 10. b, 23, 36●  Beda left, that he was piissimus & Deo dilectissimus: neither can he find any other thing to blame in Alfrith worthily, and the Bishops that did 
f Stubs de Archiepisc. Ebor. in Wilfrido col. 1691, 10.  concur in the action were 
g Bed. lib. 4▪ cap. 2. cap. 9 lib. 5. cap. 20.  holy men, well seen in divine and secular learning; so that it is not imaginable any thing past them not warranted by the Doctrine and rules of this Church.  
30. For the understanding of which, we are to know the word Appeal is taken several ways; sometimes 
h Blasius Dasium de proditione appellabat. Liv. lib. 26. such were those Appeals in Parliament, the 11. and 21. of Ric. the 2. which might be otherwise called accusations.  to accuse, sometimes for referring ourselves to some one for his judgement; such was that of Wilfreds' appealing to Rome, as to a great spiritual Doctor and Church whose judgement was very venerable in the World, as of late john calvin's and the Church of Geneva was to them of Scotland and Frankford, etc. another way we take it for removing a cause from an inferior to a superior Court or judge, that hath power of disannulling whatsoever the former did; and this is that our Historians affirm not to have been in use till after 1140. It is certain, long after Wilfred 
i Eadmer. pag. 39, 21, 30.  the Bishops and Nobility did assure Anselm, that for any of the great ones, especially him, to have recourse to Rome without the King's leave, to be inauditum & usibus ejus omnino contrarium; and therefore required of him an Oath, quod nunquam amplius sedem Sancti Petri, vel ejus vicarium, pro quavis quae tibi ingeri queat causa appelles. I know Anselm, an Italian, where the opinion of the Papal absoluteness had now begun to root, did maintain this was Petrum abjurare, and that Christum abjurare, and is the first of our Bishops spoke any thing in that sort; with whose sense the Kingdom did not concur in it. For it is manifest, in those days and after, Appeals to Rome were not common. In the year 1115. 
k Apud Hadmer. p. 113, 3.  Paschalis the 2. expostulates with Henry the 1. that Nullus inde clamour, nullum judicium ad sedem Apostolicam destinatur: and again, 
l Ibid. p. 115. 33.  vos oppressis Apostolicae sedis appellationem subtrahitis. And Anselm himself speaking of the proceeding of the King in a case by him esteemed only of Ecclesiastic cognizance, lays down the manner to be, that it should be only 
m pag. 85, 41.  ad singulos Episcopos per suas parochias, aut si ipsi Episcopi in hoc negligentes fuerint, ad Archiepiscopum & primatem; adding nothing of carrying it to Rome, of which I know no other reason, but that it was not then usual to remove causes from the Primate thither. Yet after this, either the importunity of the Pope prevailed with the 
* Henry the 1st.  King, or the passage was inserted after his days into the Laws carry his name; (as some other in the same chapter may seem to have been) but certain in them though he give for a rule that of Pope 
n Fabiani Epist. 3. & Sixti 3. tom. 1. Concil. & apud Gratian. c. 3. q. 6. cap. 1. Leg. Hen. 1. cap. 5. p. 178. 28.  Fabian or Sixtus 3. ibi semper causa agatur ubi crimen admittitur, yet a Bishop erring in faith, and on admonition appearing incorrigible, 
o Leg. Hen. 1. pag. 179, 9  ad summos Pontifices (the Archbishops) vel sedem Apostolicam accusetur. This is the only case wherein I find any English Law approve a foreign judicature.  
31. But whether from the countenance of this Law, or the great oppressions used by the Legate King Stephen's Brother, or the frequency of them, it is certain, 1151. Appeals were held a 
p Hunt. fol. 227. b. 7. & alii.  cruel intrusion on the Church's Liberty; so as in the Assize at Clarendoun 1164. collected by the body of the Realm, 
q Gervas'. Dorobern. col. 1387.  the 8. Chapter is solely spent in showing the right of the Kingdom in that particular: which 
r Epist. 159. pag. 254.  johannes Sarisburiensis interprets, quod non appellaretur pro causâ aliquâ ad sedem Apostolicam, nisi Regis & Officialium suorum venia impetra●a. Upon which the Bishop of London moved Alexander the third, Beckets cause might be determined 
s Gervas'. Dorobern. col. 1396.  appellatione remota: at which the Pope seems to be moved, and told him, haec est gloria mea quam alteri non dabo. And though it seems by a 
t Apud Hoveden, Ann. 1166. fo. 287. b. 44. apud Dicet. Ann. 1168.  Letter of the same Prelate, the King would have restrained his power only to such as had first made trial of receiving justice at home, claiming ex antiqua regni institutione, ob civilem causam nullus clericorum regni sui fines exeat, etc. and that too, if amiss, would have corrected by th' advice of the English Church: yet while th' Archbishop lived, that would not be harkened to; but after his death, at the peace which 1172. ensued between him and the Church of Rome, it was only concluded, the King not to hinder Appeals thither in Ecclesiastic causes, yet so as a party suspected before his going was to give security not to endeavour malum suum nec regni. But the Kingdom meeting in Parliament at Northampton 1176. not fully four years after, would not quit their interest, but did again renew th' Assize of Clarendoun, using in this particular somewhat a more close expression: 
⸫ Apud Hoved. fol. 314. b. 3.  justiciae faciant quaerere per consuetudinem terrae illos qui à regno recesserunt, & nisi redire voluerint infra terminum nominatum, & stare in curia Domini Regis, utlagentur, etc. in effect the same as Gervasius Dorobernensis well understood, who tells us, 
u Gervas'. Dorobern. Ann. 1176, col. 1433, 19  Rex Angliae Henricus convocatis regni primoribus apud Northamptoniam, renovavit assisam de Clarendonia, eamque praecepit observari; pro cujus execrandis institutis beatus martyr Thomas Cantuariensis usque in septennium exulavit, & tandem glorioso martyrio coronatus est.  
32. After which the going to Rome remained during this Kings and his Son Richard's time, only according to their pleasures, the Clergy lying under the penalty of this Law, if they did attempt farther than the Prince's liking: of which we have a very pregnant example in the case of Geffrey Archbishop of York, K. Richard's Brother, who accused to Coelestinus 3us that he did not only 
x Epist. Coelestini apud Hoveden. Ann. 1195. fol. 426. b. 26.  refuse Appeals to Rome, but imprisoned those who made them; upon it the Pope 
y Eadem Epist.  commits the cause to be heard by the Bishop of Lincoln and others, who thereupon 
z Idem, f. 427. a. 26. lin. 38.  transfer themselves to York, where hearing the Testimonies of those appeared before them, assigned him a time to make his defence to the Pope. But the Archbishop being then well with his Brother, pretended he could not present himself in Rome 
a Hoveden, Ann. 1195, fol. 427. a. 48.  for the King's prohibition, and the indisposition of the air. Not long after the King and he fell so at odds, 
b Ibid. f. 428. a. 42.  quod praecepit illum dissaisiri de Archiepiscopatu suo, etc. Coelestinus upon this takes an opportunity to declare a suspension to be notified through all the Churches of his Diocese, enjoining, what the King had before, the Lay as well as the Clergy, 
c Hoved. Ann. 1196. fol. 434. a. 23.  ne ipsi Archiepiscopo vel officialibus ejus in tempor alibus respondere praesumant, donec de ipso Archiepiscopo aliud duxerimus statuendum. The offence with his Brother still remaining, the Bishop expecting now no help at home, goes upon this to Rome, makes his peace with the Pope, and returns: but the King 
d Ibid. fol. 435. b. 52.  committed the ●are even of the spirituals of his Archbishopric to others, without permitting him or his Agents to meddle with aught, till about two years after he 
e Ibid. fol. 442. b. 19  reconciled himself to the Crown; after which he gave Innocentius 3us occasion to write, 
f Hoveden, Ann. 1●01. fol. 465. a. 21  Non excusare te potes ut debes, quod illud privilegium ignoraris, per quod omnibus injuste gravatis facultas patet ad sedem Apostolicam appellandi, cum & in ipse aliquando ad nostram audientiam appellaris; and a little after, Nec auctoritatem nostram attendis, nec factam tibi gratiam recognoscis, nec appellationibus defers quae interponuntur ad sedem Apostolicam, etc. And about the same time 
g Hoveden, Ann. 1195. fol. 430. b. 37.  Robert Abbot of Thorney, deposed by Hubert th' Archbishop, was laid in prison a year and half without any regard had of the Appeal by him made to the Pope: and this to have been the practice during King Richard's time, the continued quarrels of Popes for not admitting men to appeal unto them doth fully assure as.  
33. But Innocentius 3us having prevailed against King john, and the Clergy great instruments in obtaining Magna Charta from that Prince, either in favour of them, or for some other reason, there was inserted, 
h Magna Charta apud Mat. Paris pag. 258, 53. Lond. 1640.  Liceat unicuique de caetero exire de regno nostro & redire saluò & securè per terram & per aquam, salva fide nostra, nisi in tempore guerrae per aliquod breve tempus: which clause seems likewise to have been in that of Henry the 3. to his Fathers 
i Mat. Paris Ann. 1224. pag. 323, 28.  in nullo dissimilis: after which it is scarce imaginable how every petty cause was by Appeals removed to Rome, and th' Archbshop forced to appear before any had the least authority from thence.  
The Popes themselves wise men saw th' inconvenience, that these carriages must end either in rendering th' Archbishop contemptible, by taking all power out of his hands, or the Realm resume its ancient right, and prohibit the carrying aught beyond seas, or admitting any Legate into the Kingdom; thought of the way of granting several privileges to the Archbishopric, which first began about the time of Innocentius the 2. whom others followed.  
34. Gregory the ninth therefore moved by one of them (which seems to be St. Edmund) writes thus unto him: 
k Bulla Gregor. ix. in antiquo MS. dat. Interamnae 27. junii, 1236.  Vt cum appellationis remedium non ad defensionem malignantium, sed ad oppressorum subsidium sit inventum, yet th' Archbishop attempting sometimes excessus corrigere subditorum, quidam eorum, ut correctionem effugiant, appellationes frustratorias interponunt, quibus si cite pro reverentia sedis Apostolicae humiliter deferatur, illi ex impunitate deteriores effecti pejora praesumunt, & alii eorum exemplo redduntur ad vitia proniores; unde humiliter postulastis, etc.— ut providere super haec solita diligentia deberemus: ut igitur auctoritati tuae in rectis dispositionibus nihil tali praetextu deesse contingat, fraternitati tuae praesentium auctoritate concedimus, ut, non obstante 
* Frivola Appellatio quae dicitur, vide Lindwood cap. 2. verbo frivole, de Appellationibus. scil. quae vana & inanis— vel quando nulla causa est expressa, vel non legitima, dato quod sit vera, vel licet sit legitima, est tamen manifeste falsa. Et vide ibid. verbo Pallietut.  frivolae appellationis objectu, libere valeas in corrigendis subditorum tuorum excessibus officii tui debitum exercere.  
35. 
⸫ At Viterbo 4. Martii, 1235.  And for that his Agents here in their citations of th' Archbishop did not use that respect unto him which was fit, but as Gervasius Dorobernensis observes of one of them, 
l Col. 1665, 23.  Legati privilegium plusquam deceret extenderet in immensum, suumque Archiepiscopum & Episcopos Angliae ut sibi occurrerent quolibet evocaret; the same Pope did therefore declare, that, cum nimis indecens videatur, ut per literas Apostolicas tacito 
* Sic MS. sed legendum tuae.  tuo nomine dignitatis inter privatas personas stare judicio compellaris, nos fraternitatis tuae precibus inclinati, auctoritate tibi praesentium indulgemus, ut per literas à sede Apostolicâ impetratas quaede dignitate tua non fecerint mentionem respondere minime teneris; etc. Dat. Viterbii 4. Non. Martii, Pontif. nono.  
36. 
⸫ At Perusium 6 Maii 1235.  And because th' Archbishop had on many slight occasions been drawn beyond seas, to the great impoverishing th' Episcopacy, the same Pope two months after writes, Ea propter, venerabilis in Christo frater, tuis supplicationibus inclinati, fraternitati tuae auctoritate praesentium indulgemus, ut per literas Apostolicas extra Angliam invitus non valeas conveniri, nisi de indulgentia hujusmodi fecerint eaeliterae mentionem, aut per te aliquod factum fuerit per quod sit indulgentiae huic derogatum. Dat. Perusii 4. Non. Maii, Pontificat. nono.  
Innocentius 4. 
At Lions the 19 September  ut nullus sine speciali Apostolicae sedis licentia, praeter Legatos ipsius ab ejus latere destinatos, in personam tuam praesumat excommunicationis sententiam promulgare. Lugduni 13. Kalend. Octob. Pontif. 4.  
37. It would be tedious to repeat all the bulls found in the said old MS. and other books since 1130. (for before it seems there was none in this kind) to conserve some power in th' Archbishopric, yet so as it might ever depend on Rome; and how much the Papacy gained by these, every man sees.  
I. The right of th' Archbishopric was, none by appeal might remove any Ecclesiastic cause from his judicatory: the Pope grants, he shall proceed notwithstanding a frivolous Appeal.  
II. The right was, 
See before n. 17.  he was not at all under any Legate: the grant is, he should not be tied to answer, if they did not mention his dignity in their citations.  
III. The right was, he should not be drawn beyond the seas (of which in the next:) the grant is, he should not be compelled to go, unless mention were made of that Bull.  
FOUR The question was, 
Cap. 2. n. 17▪  whether the Pope might excommunicate any within the Diocese of Canterbury: the grant is, None but a Legate de latere should th' Archbishop.  
Yet certainly Popes did what they well could, retaining to themselves that vast power they then pretended, to conserve in the Archbishopric some authority.  
38. But the frequent citing him and others out of the Realm, and the carrying their causes to Rome, did not at all satisfy the subject; whereupon the body of the Kingdom, 
m Apud Mat. Paris p. 〈◊〉.  in their querulous letter devised and sent by them to Innocentius 4tus. 1245, (or rather to the Council at Lions) claim as an especial privilege, That no Legate ought to come here, but on the King's desire, 
n Note, this is omitted in the copy of this letter in Mat. Paris which is found in other MS. copies of the same, as in one my learned friend Mr. Wm. Dugdale helped me to the sight of, the Book itself belonging to Mr. Roper of Lin●olus Inn, in which it is fol. 117, b. and aught to be in all; for in the Gravamina Angliae sent to the same Pope 1246. one is, quod Anglici extra regnum in causis auctoritate Apostolicâ trahuntur. Mat. Paris pag. 699, 10.  & ne quis extra regnum trahatur in causam: and at the revising of Magna Charta by Edward the first, the former clause was left out, since when none of the Clergy might go beyond seas but with the King's leave, as the 
o Regist. 193, b. Cook, Instit. 3. pag. 179.  writs in the Register, and the 
p Parl. at Cambridge 12. Ric. 2. cap. 15. apud Henricum Knighton col. 2734, 40. 5. Ric. 2. cap. 2.  Acts of Parliament assure us; and what is more, if any were in the Court of Rome, the King called them 
q Hen. Knighton col. 2601, 44.  home, not permitting any to go or abide there longer than his pleasure. Yet I do not say these times do not furnish examples of Appeals or recourse thither, or receiving commands from thence; I know the contrary: but it was only between those, and in such cases, as the King (holding good correspondency with the Pope) and State did either tacitly connive at, as in matters of small moment, or expressly give allowance unto: for if otherwise, no person was so great, but he was forced to gain his pardon for the offence. To which purpose th' example of the 
* Henry Beaufort.  rich Bishop of Winchester may not be unfitly remembered, who being a Cardinal of the King's blood, was employed by Martin the 5. as general against the Bohemians, and to that end erected the Cross 1429. 8. Hen. 6. but two years after caused a petition to be exhibited in Parliament, 
r Rot. Parl. 10. Hen. 6. n. 16.  That he the said Cardinal nor none other should be poursued, vexed, impleaded, or grieved by the King, his heirs or successors, nor by any other person, for cause of any Provision, or offence, or misprision done by the said Cardinal against any statute of Provisions, or per cause of any exemption, receipt, acceptation, admission or execution of any Bulls Papal to him in any manner made: Which was granted, and shows that without it he had been liable to punishment for his accepting and receiving of them. And here it is not unworthy the remembering, that this was the first Cardinal England ever saw a Privy Councillor. He having sometimes sought that dignity in Henry the 5ths time, upon the news, the Archbishop of Cant. gave the King notice of it, in a letter yet extant; which did so affect that Prince, as he was sometimes heard to say, 
* Halle 20. Hen. 6. The complaint made by the Duke of Gloucester against the said Cardinal, Art. 2.  that he had as lief set his crown beside him, as see him wear a Cardinal's hat. But he being soon after taken away, and the honour conferred on this Prelate in june 1426. by Martin the 5. 
* Rot. Parl. 8. Hen. 6. n. 17.  at his coming into England, the Lords of his Ma.tie Council caused him to make a Protestation for his comportment in the future; and the 8th of Hen. the 6. it was agreed by the Lords in Parliament, he should be on the King's part required to attend his Ma.tie Counsels, sub protestatione tamen subsequent, quod quotiens aliqua, materiae, causae, vel negotia ipsum Dominum Regem aut regna seu dominia sua ex parte una, ac sedem Apostolicam ex parte altera concernentia, hujus concilii regiis communicanda & tractanda fuerint, idem Cardinalis se ab hujusmodi consilio absentet, & communicationi earundem causarum, materiarum, & negotiorum non intersit quovis modo, etc. and yet his former engagement made to the Council to be firm and inviolable. Upon which the said Cardinal the 18. of December 8. H. 6. Ann. 1429. after his thanks to the King and Lords, and his admitting the said Protestations tanquam rationi consonas, was received for one of the Council. But I return to that I was treating of.  
39 The truth of this barring Appeals is so constantly averred by all the ancient monuments of this Nation, as one not finding how to deny it, falls upon another way, 
s Philip Scot of Schism of England pag▪ 174.  that if the right of Appeals were abrogated, it concludes not the See of Rome had no jurisdiction over this Church, except one should be so senseless as to imagine the Perfect of the Praetorian Court were not subject to th' Emperor's authority, because it was not lawful full to appeal from them, according to the Law in the 
t ff. de officio Praefect. Iraetor. leg. unica. Vide Cassiodor. lib. 6. rariar. 3.  Digests. To which I answer, that if it be granted (which is very disputable) this Law is to be extended to th' Emperor, yet it proceeded from himself, who might limit his own power: but he is desired to consider, this canon of Appeals did not from any Pope; for the Africans did, and the Church of England doth maintain it as an inherent right of their own, to give Laws in that particular, and ever had strong contests with the Papacy about it, which held it an honour not to be parted with; and they opposing him in it, must of necessity have held that superintendency he exercised over them not to be jure divino, for then no man could have exempted himself from having recourse unto him. In France there are several Courts of Parliament from which no Appeal lies, who receiving that privilege from the King, it cannot be said to be in diminution of his Royalty, because that they have, he gave: but if ever any of them should claim this as of their own right, denying the King to have at any time a power of intermeddling with them, I shall leave the objector to draw what consequence he will from it; for my part I can no other, but that they esteemed themselves very little his subjects.  
40. The reader will pardon this digression, which I have the longerstood upon, to give him the more full satisfaction how Appeals were first brought in, and how pursued; I shall now, in what manner the Legate and Archbishop prosecuted theirs: who being 
u Wm. Thorn col. 1804, 44.  both before Lucius the 2. 1144. the Bishop of Winchester was 
x johan. Hagulstad. col. 273, 61. Ann. 1145.  dismissed his legatine commission; and the Pope finding with how great difficulty the Ecclesiastic affairs of this Kingdom could be managed by any Legate without the Archbishop of Canterbury, thought of a very subtle invention to conserve his own authority, and not have any crossing with that Prelate, which was to create him and his successors Legatinati; by which, such things as he did before, and had a face of enterfeering with the Papal plenitude, and were not so easy to divest th' Archbishop of exercising, he might be said to do by a Legatine power: of which it was not long before the Pope made use, as is to be seen in his 
y De Officio Legati cap. 1.  decretals; where Alexander the 3. resolves he could not hear jure metropolitico matters Episcopal that came not unto him per appellationem, (that is in a legal way) but jure Legationis he might such as were brought unto him only per quaerimoniam: an invention 
z Vide ●ochell. Decreta Eccles. Galsican. pag. 918. Concil. Trident. sess. 5. cap. 1. 2. & multis aliis locis.  often practise't afterward, and highly advantageous to the Court of Rome, as what made Bishops but his Deputies.  
41. The 
a In Theobaldo p. 115, 47. edit. 1572.  Antiquitates Britannicae Eccles. and from him 
b Seculo xii. p. 328, 15.  Harpsfield, speak as if this honour were first bestowed on Theobald; which it seems to me could not be, till the taking it away from Winchester by Lucius the 3. after the death of Innocentius 2. 
c Ann. 1195. col. 679, 7.  Diceto says, Caelestinus 3. (about some ten years after Lucius) bestowed on Hubert plenitudinem potestatis in officio Legationis inauditam à seculis. I confess I do not well understand in what it did consist, that had not been formerly heard of, to whom the Pope had committed 
d Ger. Dorobern. col. 1663., 64.  Vices suas in Anglia & Scotia; but it fully proyes that power derived from 
⸫ The Bishop of Ely 1191. says Rich. the 1. acquired him that honour. Ger. Dorobern. col. 1565, 46. and the King himself expostulates in Hoveden with the Bishop of Hostia, that it cost 1500. marks. Hoved. Ann. 1190. col. 380. b. 14. So that the Court of Rome knew how to turn this, notwithstanding all opposition, to it's no small advantage.  Rome was then looked on as a thing newly crept in. But whosoever did first confer it, the matter is not great: certain it is, by it the Papal authority was not a little in time increased, there being none of the Clergy almost to question ought-came from Rome, the Archbishop, on whom the rest depended, himself operating but as a Delegate from thence.  
42. To which purpose it may not unfitly be observed, that when the Papacy did first attempt the exempting some great monasteries from the jurisdiction of their Ordinary, it was 
e Eadmer▪ 62, 34▪ Malms. f▪ 137. a, 5,  salva primatis reverentia, or, as Malmsbury explains it, Archiepiscopi tantum nutum in legitimis spectaturus. But however thus carefully penned not to thwart with th' Archbishop, being brought hither was taken away by Lanfrank, not permitted to be made use of, the Abbot finding no other way to regain it but 
f Eadmer. ibid. lin. 37.  multorum preces. Yet afterward the Pope without scruple exempted them not only from their Diocesan, but even such as were under th' Archbishop's nose, with all pertaining to them, were taken out of his own jurisdiction; and he who at first preserved others rights, had those houses now at an 
g Vide Petri Blesens. Epist. 68  easy rate removed from his own. A fact of infinite advantage to the Papacy, by which it had persons of learning in all parts, who depending wholly on it, defended what was done to be by one had a power of doing it; and he who at first did solely 
h Eadmer. pag. 58, 44.  agere vices Apostolicas in Anglia, was 
i G. Dorob. col. 1663., 55.  under no Legate, permitted no Bull from Rome to be made use of in England, but by his approbation, was so far now from taking them away from the bearers, as 
k Vide bul. johan. 22. apud Gulielm. Thorn, col. 2041, 1.  private Clerks by deputation from thence did sit his superiors in determining differences between him, and others who by strength were taken from his jurisdiction.  
43. After which, Popes having gained an entrance, found means to reduce the grant of Legatus natus to no more than stood with their own liking, by inventing a new sort of Legate styled Legatus à latere (
l De Officio Legati cap. 9 Gloss. ad verbum Commissam.  by reason of his near dependence on the Pope's person) who employed in matters of concernment, at his being here the power of the former slept: 
m Vide Ger. Dorobern. Ann. 1188. col. 1532, 55. & 1533, 8.  which distinction of Legates seems to me to have had its birth after 1180. first applied by any of our writers to 
n Hoveden, Ann. 1189. fol. 377. a. 10.  johannes Anagninus Cardinalis 1189. by Hoveden; which style yet 
o Diceto col. 649, 42. Ger. Dorob.  others who then lived do not give him. Of this Legate it is that 
p Habetur in vita Henrici Chichley ab Arthuro Duck edita. 1617.  Henry Chichley in a letter, yet extant under his own hand, wrote to Henry the 5. that Be inspection of Laws and Chronicles was there never no Legate à latere scent in to no land, and specially in to your rengme of Yngland, witoute great and notable cause. And they when they came, after they had done her legacy abiden but litul wile, not over a yer, and sum a quarter or ij. months as the needs requeryd: And yet over that he was tretyd with or he come in to the land, whon he schold have exercise of his power and how much schold be put in execution: An aventure after he had be reseyved he would have used it to largely to greet oppression of your people: as indeed if he stayed long, he sometimes gained the censure of being 
q M. Paris Ann. 1240. pag. 524. 43.  occultus inimicus regni; but this was not till the Popes had brought th' Archbishops much under, by laying a necessity on them of receiving the Pall from Rome, and at the taking of it of making profession de fidelitate & canonica obedientia, that is, had obliged them by Oath to defend regalia Sancti Petri. Of which, because I find th' introducing (not much touched by our writers) a great means to advance this foreign power, it will not be amiss to say somewhat; and first of the Pall.  
44. The Pallium (from whence our English word Pall) was a garment with which the Professors of Arts, as Grammar, Rhetoric, Music, might clothe themselves (as it seems to me by 
r De Pallio cap. 6.  Tertullian they did); yet was held most proper for such as professed Philosophy: And therefore when a 
s Aul. Gellius Noct. Attic. lib. 9 cap. 2.  begging fellow came to a noble Roman palliatus & crinitus, being asked what he was, the man half angry replied he was a Philosopher, & mirari cur quaerendum putasset quod videret: to which the Gentleman returned, Barbam & Pallium, Philosophum nondum video. From whence I gather, it was for the most peculiar to them. So 
t Euseb. Hist. lib. 6. cap. 13. Graec. k.  Eusebius shows on Heraclas, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 taking the habit of a Philosopher, notwithstanding his being a Christian, retained it: and lib. 8. cap. 21. at the martyrdom of Porphyrius a disciple of Pamphilus, he describes that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be a short cloak or Pall covering the shoulders.  
45. But it seems the primitive Christians in wearing of it did attribute some Sanctity to the garment; for 
u Tertul. de Pallio cap. 6.  grande pallii beneficium est (saith Tertullian) sub cujus recogitatu impii mores vel erubescunt: whereupon the 
x Council Gangrense circa Ann. 350. can. 12.  Council of Gangra, not an 100 years after, pronounced him Anathema used the Pallium quasi per hoc habere se justitiam credens, etc. Now from the danger of superstition of the one side, and the being especially worn by Philosophers of the other, I am apt to think it became in the end proper only to some Bishops, who might challenge it as learned Philosophers, yet not at all likely to attribute more to the Robe then reasonable; and in time, either by collation of Emperors, or otherwise, appropriated to some particular Churches, who having that mark, were after the seats of Archbishops for the most part. For though 
y Pallium nihil aliud est nisi discretio inter Archiepiscopum & ejus suffraganeos. Alcuinus de Divinis Officiis cap. quid significent vestimenta.  Alcuinus be of opinion the Pall is nothing but a distinction between an Archbishop and his suffragans: yet, underfavour, I conceive that must be taken of th' acception of the word in the time he lived; not as used in St. Gregory's days, who gives 
z Gregor. lib. 12. Epist. 15.  Augustine at the bestowing the Pall upon him the title of Archbishop no more than he doth 
a Greg. lib. 7. Epist. 112.  Syagrius Bishop of Austun in Burgundy; which Town, notwithstanding that gift by St. Gregory, was never reputed to have other than an Episcopal chair, and suffragan to the Archbishop of Lions to this day. So that certainly, at first, all that had the Pall were not eo nomine Archbishops, to whom it became especially proper after the Emperor relinquished it to the Pope's disposing, who at first no question had a good part in the conferring of it himself.  
46. The deed is yet extant by which Valentinian bestowed it on the Church of Ravenna, about the year 430. I know 
b Hieron. Rubeus Hist. Ravennae. Italia Sacra, to. 2 col. 331. & 332.  some, who find not how to deny it, hold this an honourable vestment, such as Emperors themselves wore; which opinion 
c to. 5. Ann. 432. n. 93.  Baronius justly confutes, and rather thinks it forged: yet he, 
d Baron. to. 7. Ann. 536. n. 17.  citing out of 
e Brevic. Liberat. cap. 21. to. 2. council.  Liberatus, that Anthemius expelled the Church of Constantinople, Pallium quod habuit, imperatoribus reddidit, & discessit, gives no gloss how he could return to the Emperor his Pall and depart, if he had nothing to do with it: and it is manifest, in Gregory the greats days, that Church did not only prescribe for the use of the Pall, but for doing it contrary to the will and opinion of that Father. And the same Doctor elsewhere 
f Lib. 1. Epist. 27.  saith, he had dealt apud piissimos dominos, the Emperors, to send him Anastasius, concesso usu Pallii: and afterward being desired by Brunichilda to grant it to Syagrius, (of whom before) he shows his readiness, 
g Greg. lib. 6. Epist. 5. Indict. 1.  propter quod & serenissimi Domini Imperatoris prona voluntas est, & concedi haec omnino desider at. So that certainly, at the beginning, if Princes did not bestow it, yet it was not done against their wills; which aftertimes did in Europe solely appropriate to the Pope: who yet gave it not against their liking; as 
* Diceto Ann. 1142. col. 508.  Lucius the 2. sending it to the Bishop of Winchester, who yet never made use of it, teacheth us.  
47. But what this Pall imported, or what the receiver had of advantage by it, writers I think do not always agree. 
h Lib. 1. Epist. 136. apud Baron. to. 2. Ann. 216. n. 15. & to. 7. Ann. 553. n. 7.  Isidorus Pelusiota, who writ about the year 430, is of opinion, the Bishop, as a type of Christ, wears that cloak of wool, to show himself imitator of the great shepherd that will bear the strayed sheep on his shoulders. 
i Lib. 7. Epist. 129. Indic. 2.  St. Gregory says, it signifies humility, justice, etc. I have showed before Alcuinus his opinion of it. But what soever signification it was at first thought to carry, certainly, the necessity of fetching it from Rome was not so urgent, as in these later the Papal interest made it esteemed. We do not read that ever Laurentius or Mellitus received thence the Pall; yet no man doubts of their being as lawful Archbishops as Augustine was. 
k Itin. Cambr. lib. 2. cap. 1. Hoved. Ann. 1199. fol. 453. b  Giraldus Cambrensis and Hoveden agree, the Bishops of St. David's in Wales did use the Pall, till Samson, about the time of the Saxons, flying from an infection, carried it with him; yet neither of them report him to have fetch't it from Rome: nor after the wanting it, did the rest of the Bishops there either refuse his consecration, deny obedience to the See, or make profession to any other, before Henry the first induced them by force. But to come to the Saxons: after Paulinus, there are five in the Catalogue of York expressly 
l Thom. Stubbs invit. Archiepiscop. Ebor. col. 1697. 2.  said to have wanted it, (amongst which Wilfred, that 
m Bed. lib. 5. cap. 20. Vide lib. 4. cap. 12.  ruled all the North as his Bishopric) yet are reputed both Archbishops and Saints; and of others in that series it will not be easy to prove they ever used it. Albertus' the 8. Bishop about 767. had it not till the seventh year 
n Sim. Dune●m. Epist. ad Hugonem col. 78, 49. & T. Stubs, col. 1697, 15.  accepti Episcopatus: nor 
o Ibid. col. 79, 25. & col. 1698, 57  Adilbaldus or Ethelbaldus the 14. Anno 895. till the fourth year postquam acceper at Episcopatum. An undoubted argument that Canon of Pelagius, recorded both by 
p Part. 5. can. 136.  Ivo and 
q Dist. 100 cap. 1.  Gratian, that no Metropolitan should defer above three months sending for it to Rome, was never received in this Church. 
r Lib. 7. Epist. 5.  Gregory the great says, it ought not to be given, nisi fortiter postulanti: and the same 
s Lib. 4. Epist. 44. Ind. 13.  Father with a Council at Rome Anno 595. decreed, pro pallio omnino aliquid dare prohibeo. So that in those times the one side perhaps did not much urge the taking of it, nor the other greatly seek after a thing brought small advantage, and was so far to be fetch't.  
48. But after the Court of Rome began to raise to itself a revenue from other Churches, this Pallium, that was no other than a distinctive ornament, not to be paid for, began to be set at so immense a rate, that 
t Florent Wigorn. pag. ●95. & Ingulph. fol. 508. a. 53. Malms. f. 41. b. 39  Canutus going to Rome 1031. did mediate with john the 19 that it might be more easy to his prelates: in which though he had a favourable answer, yet in Hen. the 1. his time it was so much, th' Archbishop of York could not pay the money, without an 
u Graviter mutuatam, Eadmer. pag. 98, 30.  heavy debt. 
x Mat. Paris pag. 274, 4.  Mat. Paris doth intimate as if Walter Grace, translated from Worcester to that See 1215, had not his Pall at less than ten thousand pounds: accepto pallio (saith he) Episcopus memoratus rediit in Angliam, obligatus in curia Romana de decem millibus librarum estirlingorum; which was about the silver of 30000l. now, Coin being then after the rate of 20d. the ounce. But after times, according to the Bishop 
y In Catalogue. Episc. in five Archiepise. tam Cant. quam Ebor.  of Landaffe, reduced it to the certainty, that each Bishop paid 5000. ducats for it, every one of the value of 4s. 6d. our money: which yet I do not see how to make agree with the 
z Autiq. Britan. Lond. pag. 382, 32. Hannoviae pag. 327, 48.  Antiquit. Brit. Ecclesiae, that speaks only of 900. aureos ducatos paid by Cranmer.  
49. But to omit the gain came by the garment; that certainly was a means of drawing a great obligation from all Archbishops to the Papacy: for about 1002. a new oath de fidelitate & canonica obedientia was devised, to be tendered every Archbishop at the reception of it. For the more full understanding of which, we are to know, William the first, after he had settled the Kingdom in quiet, wholly possessed of it, would not in any 
a Vide Baron▪ to. 11. Ann. 1071. n. 21, 25. & inter Lanfranci Epist. 7. pag. 304.  kind acknowledge a farther obedience to Rome then his predecessors had; but maintained the rights of the Kingdom in every thing, against the liking of that Court in many particulars, barring all men for taking any for Pope, but whom he designed; insomuch as after 
b Eadmer. pag. 25, 40. Vide Lanfranci Epist. 59 pag. 329. col. 1. §. Nonlando.  Gregory the 7. 1084. till 1095. about 11. years, there was no Pope acknowledged in England; denying any to receive letters from thence, but acquainting him with them, and many more; of which elsewhere: all which being exercised by him, were never questioned during his time, nor while Lanfrank lived after him, (though he hath been ever reputed an holy man.) But Anselm succeeding in his seat, great contentions arose between him and William the second: The 
c Eadmer. pag. 38. p. 39 peri●●.  King with the Nobility pressing him, as the usage of the Realm, not to depend on Rome as of necessity: he, on the other side, 
d Ibid. p. 40, 5. 32.  deciating all such customs to be contrary to Divinity, right, etc. chose rather to live an exile all that King's time, than any way submit to those customs, had been practised, never disputed or questioned by any Archbishop here before.  
50. But, that Prince being soon after taken away, and Paschalis the 2. succeeding almost at the same time, (considering, as it seems, by what weak bands foreign Bishops were tied to the Papacy, how easy it was for them to fall from it; that 
e Lanfranc. Epist. 8. pag. 305. col. 1.  Gregory the 7 th'. was not satisfied even with Lanfranks carriage in Episcopali honore positus, who restrained his obedience to canonum praecepta; that Anselm alone had opposed the whole body of the Kingdom; that every Prelate might be neither of his temper or opinions,) framed an oath, the effect of which you may see in Diceto 
f col. 663, 6.  Ann. 1191. & in Mat. Paris and others, the 
* Note, where you read in the lives of the Abbots p. 140, 22. regalem, and in his Hist. p. 414, 22. regalis, both should be regalia, for so we find it at the end of the Council of Vienna, 10. 4. council. gen. Romae 1608. & 1612. agreeing with an old Copy of that oath I have seen in th' Exchequer, which the decretals de jure jurando cap. 4. read thus: Papatum Romanae Ecclesiae & regulas Sanctorum Patrum adjutor er●, etc. but Ordericus Raynaldus 10. 13. Ann. 1233. n. 65. citing out of the records in the Vatican the oath St. Edmund Archbishop of Canterbury took, reads it rightly regalia.  full which every Archbishop at the reception of the Pall was to render. At the tendering this, one in Sicily made a scruple of taking it, as that Nec ab Apostolis post Dominum, nec in conciliis inveniri posse statutum; the like did some 
g Baron. 10. 12. Ann. 1102. n. 6, 7, 8.  in Polonia: to whom the Pope answers, as in cap. 
h De electione & electi potes●ate cap. 4.  significasti, objurgatorily, quasi Romanae Ecclesiae legem concilia ulla praefixerint. And going on with the design, whereas at the assuming of this Pall by Anselm 1095. it was no otherwise then thus, 
i Eadmer. p. 34, 33.  Pallium super altare delatum ab Anselmo assumptum est, atque ab omnibus pro reverentia Sancti Petri suppliciter deosculatum, etc. at the taking of it by Raulf 1115. his immediate successor, we find it with this addition, 
k Eadmer. p. 113, 43.  Sicque delatum super Altare salvatoris pallium est, & à Pontifice inde susceptum, facta prius de fidelitate & canonica obedientia professione. Dei●de pro reverentia beati Petri ab omnibus deosculatur, etc. Which profession being never met with as made by any Archbishop of Cant. before, but frequently after by such as were his near successors, as 
l Diceto col. 534, 8. Ger. Dorober. col. 1307. 2.  Tho. Becket, Baldwine, etc. we must conclude him to have been the first from whom it hath ever been required. I know 
⸫ De Rom. Pont. lib. 3. cap. 11. §. juramentum.  Bellarmine interprets a Bishop's returning out of schism 602. and voluntarily by oath promising to live in communion with the Pope, to be a swearing of obedience to that chair: but certain there is a difference between obeying and living in communion; (of which see cap. 7. n. 4.) between an oath enforced, and one voluntarily taken. After this; as ways to augment the Court, many privileges were annexed to it; 
m De Elect. & Elect. potest. cap. 28. §. 2. verbo praeterea.  as that none before his receiving that ornament might convocate counsels, make Chrism, dedicate Churches, ordain Clerks, consecrate●Bishops, that being 
n De auctor. & usu Pallii cap. 3. Vid. council. Lateranense sub Innocentio 30 cap. 3.  Pontificalis officii plenitudo, till he had it, none to be styled an Archbishop; things added after men's holding a necessity of seeking it, did so much contribute to the Papal advantage, both in point of honour and profit. For it is manifest, Lanfrank, Anselm and Raulf did dedicated 
o Eadmer. pag. 22, 19  Churches, 
p Ibid. pag. 6, 46. pag. 23, 31. pag. 111, 6, 18, 32.  consecreate Bishops and Abbots, were called 
q Ibid. pag. 23, 42. p. 111, 32. & passim apud Historicos.  Archbishops, whilst they wanted it.  
51. Now the ice broken, this Oath (at first required only of Archbishops when they took the Pall) was by 
r De jurejurando cap. 4.  Gregory the 9, mutatis mutandis, imposed on Abbots and Bishops. About 1235. came into England 
s Mat. Paris Vit. Abbat. pag. 140, 31.  occulta clausa sub bulla, the 
t Mat. Paris Hist. major. pag. 410, 39  like to which had not been seen, was proffered to john 23. Abbot of St. Alban unacquainted with it, when he could not 
u Vit. Abbat. pag. 140, 39  ab illa obligatione resilire; who is therefore noted, that 
x Ibid. pag. 141, 49.  primo invitus & dolens Romanorum jugum subiit servitutis, and that 
y Ibid. pag. 142, 1.  prae omnibus Romanorum oppressionibus novis & inauditis coepit molestari, etc. The thing I find of greatest exception is, the obligation enjoining them to visit Rome, which being in pursuance of the 26. chapter of the Council of Lateran, held only 20. years before, is censured 
z Mat. Par. Vit. Abbat. pag. 133, 23. pag. 141, 52, 56.  Damnum, gravamen, praejudicium, injuria, jactura, as that which altered the nature of the Church, which had been from the foundation libera & ingenua, and was thus brought to serve the ends of the Court of Rome. Truly after this I cannot see how there can be said to have been a free Papal Council in Europe, when such as it consists of (being, for the most, Bishops and Abbots) come with so high an obligation as an oath to defend the usages of Rome, under the title of Regaliae Sancti Petri. In pursuance of which the 
⸫ Sess. 25. cap. 2.  Council of Trent did expressly charge all Patriarches, Archbishops, Bishops, and other, who in future should meet in Provincial Synods, that veram obedientiam summo Romano Pontifici spondeant, & profiteantur. I wish it had expressed what that had been.  
52. To return to that I was treating of. This visiting the Roman Court, however much pressed on this Monastery of St. Alban, yet was ever-excused till 1290. john the 3. and 25. Abbot was forced to go thither for his confirmation: but because the book is not printed, I will give you my 
a Vitae Abbat. St. Albani MS. in johanne 3. Abbate 25.  Author's own words. johannes de Berkamsted, vir religiosus & honestae conversationis, Hic in crastino conceptionis beatae & gloriosae virgins Mariae, scilieet quinto idus Decembris, anno Domini MCC. nonagesimo, per viam compromissi de gremio Ecclesiae concorditer electus, ad curiam Romanam primus omnium abbatum hujus Ecclesiae, pro confirmatione electionis suae obtinenda, personaliter accessit, ibique confirmatus est à summo Pontifice Nicholas; & à venerabili L. Ostiensi Episcopo & Cardinali apud urbem veterem munus accepit benedictionis; & sic data maxima pecunia Papae, & Cardinalibus, & aliis de curia, quam de mercatoribus Papae duris conditionibus ex mutuo recepit, ab illa insatiabili curia ●vasit, expletisque negotiis domum redire festinavit, etc. By which we may see who of this house went on this occasion first thither, and why it was so earnestly urged from thence. As for the Monastery of St. Augustins, by reason of the often contentions with th' Archbishop, the Monks there were much more prone to yield obedience to Rome (who maintained them for the most against him) than these other were: yet the first of them I find to have 
b Wmus Thorn, col. 1899, 22.  took this oath was Roger the 2. elected Abbot 1253. For though the 
c Ibid. col. 1880, 3.  benediction of Robertus de Bello 1224. were at Rome, where he gained th' Abbacy; yet there being no mention of any oath presented to him then, we must think it came in afterwards. But for the fuller understanding how this visiting the Roman Church came in, the Reader will give me leave a little to digress.  
53. Christians in all ages have esteemed it a point of singular piety and devotion, for any Ghostly Father or Doctor to have a care of those to whom they have the relation of being a Spiritual Superior, either by planting Christian Religion amongst them, reducing them out of error, or otherwise some engagement on them. Saint Paul sent for the Elders of Ephesus to come unto him at Miletus, from whom they received those wholesome instructions we read in the 
d Acts xx. 17, to the end.  Acts of the Apostles; and according to this example there are divers exhortations in the writings and Epistles of the Fathers. Before the year 517. a 
e Cap. 5. tom. 1. Concil.  Council held at Tarragona in Spain did ordain, that every Bishop, impletis duobus mensibus, se Metropolitani sui repraesentet aspectibus, ut ab illo monitis Ecclesiasticis instructus, plenius quid observare debeat recognoscat: quod si forte hoc implere neglexerit, in Synodo increpatus à fratribus corrigatur. Agreeing to which, 
f Novel. 123. cap. 10.  justinian in the year 541. did establish by Law, that for the better observance of th' Ecclesiastic rules, every Archbishop, Patriarch, and Metropolitan, Sanctissimos Episcopos sub se constitutos in eadem Provincia semel aut secundo per singulos annos ad se convocare. And Pope 
g Baron. to. 9 Ann. 743. n. 19  Zachary Ann. 743. in a Council at Rome, Omnes Episcopi qui hujus Apostolicae sedis ordinationi subjacebunt, qui propinqui sunt, annuè idibus mensis Maii sanctorum Principis Apostolorum Petri & Pauli liminibus praesententur, omnioccasione seposita, etc. 
* Capit. Car. etc. lib. seven. cap. 108, 109.  After which Charles the Great did by law ordain, ut unusquisque presbyter per singulos annos Episcopo suo rationem ministerii sui reddat, tam de fide Catholica, quam de Baptismo, atque de omni or dine ministerii sui.  
54. About which time Boniface an Englishman, the Pope's Legate in Germany, and Archbishop of Mentz, in a Council held in Germany (the decrees whereof he sent to Cuthbert then in the seat of Canterbury) 
h Concil. Spelm. pag. 237, 238.  declaring how great the care of the Metropolitan aught to be of those under him, shows how every Presbyter should once a year in Lent give an account to his Bishop, who was to instruct him, and with such things as he could not correct himself, to acquaint th' Archbishop in a Synod; Vt si Sacerdotes vel plebes à lege dei deviasse viderim, & corrigere non potuerim, fideliter semper sedi Apostolicae & vicario Sancti Petri ad emendandum indicaverim: Sic enim, ni fallor, omnes Episcopi debent Metropolitano, & ipse Romano Pontifici, si quid de corrigendis populis apud eos impossibile est, notum facere, & sic alieni fient à sanguine animarum perditarum. Cuthbert, according to this advice, doth appoint the proceedings of the Bishop to be to the Archbishop, in the same words he had received it from Boniface; but 
i Confer Concil. Spelm p. 238, §. ut Episcopi, & p. 251, cap. 25.  passeth no farther to the Pope: an undoubted argument, it was not then usual in England. I have touched before, the Conqueror did suffer no other correspondency with Rome then what he liked; Paschalis the 2. quarrelled with Hen. the 
k Eadmer. pag. 113, 2.  first, that Nullus inde clamour: to prevent which, this visiting Rome was at the very first inserted into the oath of an Archbishop, who being head of the Province, all the rest might have the same dependence.  
55. But because this did not reach such houses and persons as were exempt from the jurisdiction of th' Ordinary, acknowledging no superior but the Pope; the Council of Lateran under Innocentius 3. 1215. 
l tom. 4. Concil. gen. Rom.  provided, such as pertained immediately to his rule should present themselves before him for confirmation, si commode potest fieri; which was here misliked▪ But this Council speaking not home, in that it tolerated the sending 
m cap. 26. Concil. Lateran.  personas idoneas, per quas diligens inquisitio super electionis processu & electis possit haberi, etc. to make th' excuse, (and being itself (as I shall show hereafter) not much regarded till Gregory the 9, nephew to Innocentius, inserted it for the most into the decretals, and framed, as I have said, an oath too, for the stricter obligation unto him;) it was again urged by Alexander the 4. 
n Mat. Paris Ann. 1257. pag. 951. 41, 44.  ut quilibet qui in Abbatem exemptum extun● eligeretur, Romanam curiam adiret confirmandus & benedicendus: which the same author styles 
o pag. 956, 7.  Statutum enorm and cruentissimum. And whereas some, finding the burden of running to Rome, had obtained as a privilege from thence, 
p Reynald. Annal. Eccles. to. 14. Ann. 1257. n. 50.  ut non teneantur sedem Apostolicam usque ad certa tempora visitare, contra formam praestiti juramenti, ex quo illud evenit inconveniens, quod Apostolicae sedis dignitas rarius visitatur, in derogationem reverentiae quae ab omnibus debetur eidem, etc. the same Pope therefore revokes all manner of such concessions to whomsoever formerly granted. In which year, or perhaps 1258, Simon (elected Abbot of St. Edmundsbury) confirmed by Alexander the 4. the 22 October, is 
* Monasticon Anglicanum pag. 296. col. 1.  noted to have been primus exemptorum in Anglia ad curiam Romanam pro sua confirmatione vocatus.  
56. Yet the Court of Rome, however thus earnest at first, (either perceiving it ill relished abroad, and that forcing sudden mutations in Religion not to be of so good consequence) in her prosecution was more moderate. 
q Vitae Abbat. MS.  On Roger the xxiiii Abbot of St. Albon's 1263. I do not find at all pressed; his successor john the xxv, I have showed, was the first went thither for it. So likewise 
r Mat. Paris pag. 972, 51.  Philip Abbot of Westminster 1258. obtained the favour to stay at home, and Richard Beware his successor fetched his consecration first thence. But after the Court was fully in possession of what turned so much to her advantage, an excuse was 
s Wm Thorn, col. 2185. & sequent. col. 2153, 46.  hardlier admitted; and if any did obtain the favour to stay at home, he paid a good round sum for it. It is remembered, Michael Abbot of St. Augustins, elected 1375, did give Papae & Cardinalibus ut possit benedici in Anglia 183l-02 -02s-06 -06d. and accordingly some other. The Papacy having by these ways abated the power of th' Archbishop, found it easy, his let removed, to bring the rest of the Clergy wholly to depend upon it, by raising whom it liked to oppose that Prelate, who were bound to maintain the Papal authority which supported them in what they did, and wring the Investitures (so far as lay in their power) out of the hands of Princes, to interest the Pope and his party in several particulars, under the notion of being matters Ecclesiastical; by which he brought the elections of Bishops solely to the Convent, excluding both King and others, and became as Patron of most Spiritual promotions in England: which 
t card. Ossat. Epist. 296. Rom. 22 Decembr. 1601.  form he yet laboured in the end to break too, by reducing all to his own gift. For the understanding of which, as not impertinent to that I treat of, it will be necessary to look a little higher.  
57 When any place became destitute of a Bishop, it is certain, in the primitive Church, the Lay as well as the Clergy did concur in nominating who were to succeed in the charge; that he who was to have th' inspection of all, might not be brought into it with the repugnancy of any. And this custom was so general, as 
u Cypr. Epist. 68 n. 4. edit. Pamelii.  St. Cyprian and 36. Bishops more, meeting in Council about the year 255. writing to certain in Spain, spoke as if it did descend the divina auctoritate. It is not to be doubted but this course gave sometime opportunity to ambitious and contentious spirits (as 
x Epist. 110.  St. Augustine calls them) of troubling the Church's peace: and therefore 
y Cap. 13.  the Council of Laodicea before the year 360. did appoint the elections to Priesthood not to be 
* turbis. & apud Gratianum, Dist. 63, cap. 6.  by multitudes; and divers holy Bishops desiring peace might continue after them in their flock, were careful or ever they died to know the person was to succeed in their chair. Severus Bishop of 
* Milevis.  Mela in Africa had expressed to the Clergy only, whom he thought fit to have been admitted after him to his Episcopacy. This was likely to have bred some stir, in respect the people were not acquainted with it; had not 
z August. Epist. 110.  St. Augustine by his pains and wisdom allayed the dispute: to avoid which, that good man nominated one Eradius for his successor, whom the people with loud acclamations approved.  
58. This concurrence or joining of the Lay with the Clergy (that qui praefuturus est omnibus ab omnibus eligatur, as 
a Leo Epist. 89, cap. 5.  Leo speaks) in choice of Bishops, I do no way question to have continued in the Church till after Charles the Great, in whose Capitulars we find, 
b Caroli Magni Capit. lib. 1. cap. 84.  Episcopi per electionem cleri & populi eligantur; and to have been sent hither by Gregory the Great, who in 
c Lib. 2. Epist. 26. Ind. 10. Epist. 22, 26. Ind. 11. & alibi.  his Epistles makes often mention of it, as we do find 
d Vide continuat. Flor. Wigorn. Ann. 1128. p. 506. Ann. 1139. pag. 532.  steps of it in our own Historians. Yet certainly, however there might be some formalities of the people, the chief of elections here ever depended on the Prince; as may be gathered by that Speech of Wolstan to the Confessors tomb, 
e Ailred de miraculis Edwardi, col. 406. 37.  that he had compelled him to take the pastoral staff. And Edward the 3. wrote to Clement the 6. 
f Epist. Edwardi 3. apud Walsingh. pag. 151. 42. Ann. 1343.  Cathedrales— Ecclesias progenitores nostri dudum singulis vacationibns earundem personis idoneis jure suo regio libere conferebant, & postmodum, ad rogatum & ad instantiam dictae sedis, sub certis modis & conditionibus concesserunt; quod electiones fierent in dictis Ecclesiis per capitula earundem, etc. So likewise in the Parliament the 50. Ed. 3. the Commons show, the King and great men were formerly in peaceable possession of giving preferments in holy Church. But I will give the words themselves, because I will not err in the Translation. 
g Rot. Parl. 50. Ed. 3. n. 94.  Le Roy & les grandes— feurent en peisible possession the donor les Esvesches & les benefices de seint Esglise, come le fest le Roy St. Edward, qe dona l' Evesche de Worcestre a saint Wolston; & putteth par devotion des Roys fust, & par la Courte de Rome confirm, qe les Cathedralx Esglises averoient frank election de lour Prelatz, solonc la ley de Dieu & de seint Esglise, enter ordeigne perpetuelment a durer, etc. and a little 
h Ibid. n. 111.  after, Les Roys d'Engleterre soleient donor Eveschez & autres grantzes dignities trestouz, come il fait aujourdui Esglises parochiels, & le Pape ne se medlast de doner nul benefice deinz le Royalme tanqez deinz brief temps pass, etc.  
59 And this to have been likewise the custom in France, the complaint of the French Ambassador to Innocentius 4tus assures us. 
i Additament. Mat. Paris MS. in Bibliotheca Çotton. fol. 135, a. cui initium Dicturus, etc. of which hereafter.  Non est multum temporis (saith he) quod Reges Francorum conferebant omnes Episcopatus in camera sua, etc. and our writers do wholly look upon the placing Lanfrank in Canterbury as 
k A Willielmo Lanfrancus electus est. Malms. fol. 116, b. 38. Rex constituit Lanfrancum Archiepiscopum Cant. Florent. Wigor p. 436. Ann. 1070. Sim. Dunelm. col. 202, 6.  the King's act, though it were not 
l Eadme●. p. 6, 41.  without th' advice of Alexander the 2. Neither did 
m Vide ibid. p. 16, 48. p. 17, 18.  Anselm ever make scruple of refusing the Archbishopric, because he was not chosen by the Monks of Canterbury: and in that letter of them to Paschalis the 2. 1114. though they write Raulf in praesentia gloriosi Regis Henrici electus à nobis & clero & populo; yet whosoever will note the 
n Ibid. p. 109, 40. etc.  series of that election, cannot see it to have been other than the King's act; insomuch as our 
o Hunt lib. 7. fol. 219, a. 1.  writers use often no other phrase then the King gave such preferments, etc. And whilst things stood thus, there was never any interposing from Rome, no question who was lawfully chosen: the Popes therefore did labour to draw this from the Princes meddling with, as much as was possible. Some essay might be 1108. at the settling Investitures, for then Anselm 
p Apud Eadmer. pag. 93, 42.  writ to Paschalis, Rex ipse in personis eligendis nullatenus propria utitur voluntate, sed religiosorum se penitus committit consilio. But this, as the practice proved afterwards, was no more but that he would take the advice of his Bishops, or other of the Clergy: for, as 
q Ann. 1175, col. 587, 21.  Diceto well observes, our King did in such sort follow the Ecclesiastic Canons, as they had a care to conserve their own rights. The ●ittest way therefore for the Pope to get in was, if there should happen any dissensions amongst themselves, that he, as a moderator, a judge, or an Arbitrator, might step in.  
60. About the Conquest, an opportunity was offered on the contentions between the two Archbishops for primacy; in which Canterbury stood on 
r Vide eas apud Malmsburiensem fol. 118, a. 32.  the bulls (true or false) of former Popes, that had as a great Patriarch made honourable mention of them. When they were both 1071. 
s Lanfranc. Epist. 3. pag. 301.  with Alexander the 2. by his advice it was referred to a determination in England; and accordingly 1072. Wm. the first with his Bishops made some settlement, which by them of York was ever stumbled at, pretending the King 
t Stubs de Arch. Ebor. col. 1706, 31▪  out of reason of State sided with Canterbury. But this brake into no public contest till 1116. Thurstan elected to York, 
u Eadmer. p. 118, 5, 15.  endeavoured at Rome to divert the making any profession of subjection to Cant. but failing in th' attempt (that Court not liking to fall into a contest it was not probable to carry) resigned his Archbishopric, Spondens Regi & Arch●epi●copo, se dum viveret non reclamaturum: yet after the 
* Eadmer. p. 120, 50. p. 121, 6.  Clergy of York sued to the Pope for his restitution, which produced that letter from Paschalis the 2. in his behalf to Hen. the 1. is in Eadmerus; wherein he desires, if there were any difference between the two Sees, it might be discussed in his presence. Which was not harkened to; but Calixtus the 2. 
y. pag. 125.  in a Council by him held 1119. at Rheims (of which before) (the English Bishops not arrived, the King's Agent protesting against it, the Archdeacon of Cant. telling the Pope that jure he could not do it) consecrated him Archbishop of York: upon which Henry prohibits him all return into his dominions. And in the interview soon after at guysor's, though Calixtus earnestly laboured th' admitting him to his See, the King would by no means hearken to it. So the Pope left the business as he found it, and Thurstan to prove other ways to gain th' Archbishopric.  
61. Who thereupon became an actor in the peace about that time treated between England and France: in which his comportments were such, that 
z Sim. Dunelm. Ann. 1120. col. 242, 25.  proniorem ad sese recipiendum Regis animum inflexit; so as upon the Pope's letters he was afterwards restored, 
a Eadmer. pag. 136, 43.  ea dispositione, ut nullatenus extra provinciam Eboracensem divinum officium celebraret, donec Ecclesiae Cantuariensi, etc. satisfaceret. This I take to be the first matter of Episcopacy that ever the Pope (as having a power elsewhere of altering what had been here settled) did meddle with in England. It is true, whilst they were raw in Christianity, he did sometimes recommend Pastors to this Church; so 
b Beda, lib. 4. cap. 1.  Vitalian did Theodore: and farther showed himself solicitous of it, by giving his fatherly instructions to the English Bishops to have a care of it; so did Formosus or some other by his letters 904. 
Note, Malmsbury fol. 26. a. ●3. says this was Ann. 904. but that agrees not with Formosus his Popedom: Baronius therefore corrects it to. 10. and makes Ann. 894. n. 11. but at that time Edward was not King.  upon which Edward th' elder congregated a Synod, wherein five new Bishops were constituted, by which an inundation of Paganism ready to break in on the West for want of Pastors was stopped. But it is apparent, this was done not as having dominion over them; for he so left the care of managing the matter to their discretion, as he did no way interest himself in it farther than advise.  
62. A meeting of English Bishops 1107. at Canterbury, or (as Florentius Wigorniensis styles it) a Council restored the Abbot of Ramsey deposed 1102. 
c Flor. Wigorn. p. 47●.  jussu Apostolico, or, as Eadmerus, 
d Eadmer. pag 92, 14.  juxta mandatum Domini Papae. It is manifest, this command from Rome to be of the same nature those I mentioned of 
e supra n. 20.  calvin's, or at the most no other than the intercession of the Patriarch of a more noble See, to an inferior, that by his means had been converted: For his restitution (after the reception of the Papal letters) seems to have been a 
f Hoc per literas olini mandaverat. Eadmer.  good while deferred; so that what passed at Rome did not disannul his deprivation here, till made good in England, as at a time when nothing thence was put in execution but by the Regal approbation; as the Pope himself 
g Eadmer. pag. 113. pag. 115.  complained to the King. But after the Church of Rome, with th' assistance of th' English Clergy, had obtained all elections to be by the Chapters of the cathedrals, upon every Scruple she interposed herself.  
63. The greatest part of the Convent of London 1136. 
h Diceto col. 506, 507.  chose Anselm Abbot of St. Edmundsbury for their Bishop, contrary to the Deans opinion and some few of the Canons, who appealed to Rome; where th' election 1138 was disannulled, the Bishopric by the Pope recommended to Winchester, his then, or rather soon after, Legate; which so remained till 1141. This is the first example of any Bishop chosen, received and in possession of a Church in this Kingdom, whose election was after quashed at Rome, and the sentence obeyed here; as it is likewise of any Commendam on Papal command in the Church of England: all which seems to have passed with the King's concurrence.  
64. For to 
i Vide johan. Hagulstad. ab Ann. 1142. ad Ann. 1152.  deprive William elected some whatafter Archbishop of York, where he did not join, was not so easy: This man chosen 1142 by the greater part of the Chapter, after five years' suit in the Court of Rome, 
⸫ Bernard. Epist. 106▪ 234, 235, 237, 238.  St. Bernard opposing him, had in the end his election annulled by Eugenius 3. in a Council held at Reims; the Canons of York exhorted to choose another; some of which made choice of Henry Murdack, then as it seems with the Pope: who coming as Archbishop into England, was not suffered to enter on his Archbishopric, and excommunicating Hugh de Puzat, a person preferred by William, was himself by him excommunicated, no intermission of divine service in the City admitted; and Henry's means to gain his See was by drawing the Bishop of Duresme, Carlisle, the King of Scots, and, by the Pope's advice, this very Hugh by sweetness to his party, and in the end by the King's Son (whom it seems he promised to get advanced to the Crown by the power of Rome) making his peace with Stephen, who soon after employed him thither on that errand. And this I take to be the second English election was ever here annulled by Papal authority.  
65. Here I may observe, that at first, when ever the Pope made void an election, he did not take upon him to appoint another in the place vacant: but either sent to the Clergy of the same Church to choose another, as those to whom it appertained; so did Eugenius 3. to York when this 
k johan. Hagulst. col. 276, 8.  H. Murdack was chosen, Innocentius 3. when 
l Mat. Paris Ann. 1207. pag. 222, 40.  Stephen Langton; or else the Bishopric lay vacant, as 
m Diceto col. 507, 53. & 508, 20.  London after Anselm from 1139. to 1141. But elections being with much struggling settled wholly in the Clergy, and Innocentius 3. having 
* Mat. Paris Ann. 1206, p. 214, 44.  by definitive sentence excluded the English Bishops from having any part in that of th' Archbishop of Canterbury, they becoming wholly appropriated to the Chapters of cathedrals, the Pope began to creep in, and 
n Tulla Gregor. 9 apud Mat. Paris Ann. 1229. pag. 355, 46.  ex concessa plenitudine Ecclesiasticae potestatis, as he speaks, without any formality of choice, to confer not only Bishoprics, but other Ecclesiastic promotions, within the precincts of others Dioceses, and by that means to fill the fat benefices of the Nation. The first Archbishop of Canterbury promoted by this absolute power of the Church of Rome seems to have been Richard 1229. 
o Mat. Paris pag. 355, 44.  non electo, sed dato ad Archiepiscopatum.  
66. The 
p Additament. Mat. Paris MS. in Bibliotheca Cotton. sol. 135. cui initium, Dicturus quod injunctum est mihi  French Agent, in his Remonstrance to Innocentius 4tus, attributes the beginning of these collations to Innocent the 3d. and I have not read that either Paschalis the second, Gelasius, Calixtus, or Innocent 2. though forced to live sometimes out of Rome, did ever exercise authority that way. But I will give it in his own words.  
Certe non multum temporis clapsum est, ex quo Dominus Papa Alexander, persecutionis cogente incommodo, venit in Franciam, confugiens ad subsidium inclytae recordationis Regis Ludovici patris Regis Philippi; à quo benigne susceptus est, & stetit ibi diu; & forte vivunt aliqui qui viderunt eum: ipse tamen in nullo gravavit Ecclesiam Gallicanam, ut nec unam solam praebendam aut aliud beneficium ipse Papa dederit ibi, sed nec aliquis praedecessor suus, nec multietiam de successoribus dederunt in sua auctoritate beneficium aliquid, usque ad tempora Domini Innocentii 3. qui primus assumpsit sibi jus istud in tempore suo: Revera dedit multas praebendas, & similiter post ipsum Dominus Honorius & Dominus Gregorius simili modo fecerunt; sed omnes praedecessores vestri, ut publice dicitur, non dederunt tot beneficia ut vos solus dedistis, etc.  
67. In what year th' Ambassador from France made this complaint, is not set down: But 
q Mat. Paris Hist. minor. Ann. 1252. pag. 287. fol. 143. b. col. 1. MS. in Bibliotheca Regia Westmonast.  Mat. Paris in his Historia minori makes mention of it as done in or about 1252.  
Diebus sub eisdem, Episcopo Lincolniens● computante, compertum & probatum est quod iste Papa, scilicet Innocentius quartus, plures redditus extortos ad suam contulit voluntatem, quam omnes ejus praedecessores; prout manifeste patet in lugubri querimonia quam reposuerunt Franci coram Papa pro suis intolerabilibus oppressionibus, quae redacta est in scriptum Epistolae admodum prolixae, quae sic incipit, Dicturus quod injunctum est mihi, etc. quaere Epistolam, etc. By which it appears, that great liberty the Papacy took in conferring Ecclesiastic preferments within the Dioceses of others, took its rise from Pope Innocent, and, as it seems to me, not at the very beginning of his time; for 1199. 
r Roger, Hoved. fol. 453. b. 39 454. b. 2. Gervas'. Dorobern. col. 1682, 27. in vitâ Huber.  Gelardus Archdeacon of St. David's coming from Rome, quia idem G. Menevensis Ecclesiae in curia Romana se dicebat electum, hoc ipsum cassavit Archiepiscopus, & alium-sacravit canonice electum; though he after bestowed on him a Church of 25. marks: and this in a case the Pope had so earnestly espoused, as he wrote to the Bishops of Lincoln, Duresme and Ely, si Archiepiscopus Cantuariae saepe dictum Gilardum consecrare differret, ipsi Apostolica authoritate freti illum consecrare non differrent: which yet th' Archbishop, as against the English liberty, did not doubt to oppose, and disannul.  
68 But thus it continued not long; for 
s In antiquo MS. Bullarum Romanorum. Pontificum Archiepisc, Cant. Pulla 〈◊〉. Honor. 3.  Honorius, the immediate successor to Innocentius 3 us, showing such as served th' Apostolic see, and resided with it, were worthy congruis beneficiis honorari, and were therefore possessed of divers both in England and other parts, which they did administer with so great care, quod non minus beneficiantibus quam beneficiatis utiliter est provisum; unde, quia nonnunquam beneficiatis hujusmodi decedentibus, beneficia quae obtinuerant, inconsultis hiis ad quos eorum donatio pertinebat▪ aliis successive collata, perpetuo illis ad quos pertinent videbantur amitti, propter quod etiam murmurabant plurimi, & alii se difficiliores ad conferendum talibus beneficia exhibebant: Nos volentes super hoc congruum remedium adhibere, ne cuiquam sua liberalitas sit dampnosa, per quam potius meruit gratiam & favorem, statuimus, ut clericis Ecclesiae Romanae, vel aliis Ytalicis, qui praebendas vel Ecclesias, seu alia Ecclesiastica beneficia in Anglia obtinent vel obtinuerint à modo decedentibus, Praebend●e vel Ecclesiae, seu alia beneficia nequaquam à nobis vel alio illa vice alicui conferantur, sed ad illos libere redeant ad quos illorum donatio dinoscitur pertinere, etc. Dat. Lateran. 
⸫ 26. Febr. 12●1.  quarto Kalend. Martii, Pontificatus nostri anno quinto.  
69. Yet neither this, nor the renewing of it by Gregory the 9 with a special indulgence 
t In eodem▪ MS. Gregor. 9 Bulla 3.  directed venerabilibus fratribus universis Archiepiscopis & Episcopis, a● dilectis fill▪ is Abbatibus, & aliis Ecclesiarum Praelatis per Angliam constitutis— ut si quando ad vos literae Apostolicae pro beneficiandis hujusmodi de caetero emanarunt, ad provisionem ipsorum inviti non teneamur, nisi de hac indul gentia plenam fecerint mentionem. Dat. Lateran. 
⸫ April. 17: Ann. 1230.  15. Kalend. Maii, Pontificatus nostri anno 4 to., etc. could quiet the English, or keep them from that confederation in Mat. Paris 1231. beginning, 
u Mat. Pariss p. 371, 18.  Tali Episcopo & tali capitulo, Vniversitas eorum qui magis volunt mori quam à Romanis confundi, etc. Which the Popes, by wisdom, and joining the Regal authority with their spiritual, sound means to bring to nought; and pursuing the Papal interest without regarding what had passed from them, gave the Kingdom occasion 1241. to 
x Mat: Paris▪ Ann▪ 1241. p●. 549, 18, 22●, etc.  observe, that in only three years Otho had remained Legate here, he bestowed more than 300. spiritual promotions, ad fuam vel Papae voluntatem; the Pope having 
y Idem Ann●. 1240, p. 5329, 43.  contracted (as the report went) with the Romans, to confer to none but their Children and Allies the rich benefices here, especially of Religious houses, (as those perhaps he had most power over) and to that effect had writ to the Bishops of Canterbury and Salisbury, ut trecentis Romanis in primis beneficiis vacantibus providerent. So that in the Council at Lions 1245. they complain of these exorbitances, 
z Apud Mat. Paris p. 6●7, 36.  and show the revenues the Italians received in England not to be less than 60 thousand marks; of which more 
a cap. 4. n. 17.  hereafter: and in the year following 1246. reiterated their griefs to Innocentius 4tus. 
b Mat. Paris Ann. 1246. pag. 6●9, 9  quod Italicus Italico succedit. Which yet was with little success: for the Pope's having (as we have heard) first settled all elections in the ecclesiastics, and after upon several occasions, on the submitting of the English to his desires, bestowed the benefices in this and other Kingdoms on his dependants, 
c Cardinal. Ossat. Epist. 296. d●t. Rome, 1601. Decembr. 2●.  john the 22. (or, as 
d Rot. Parl. 3. R. 2. n. 37.  some seem to think, Clement the 5. his immediate predecessor) endeavoured the breaking of elections by cathedrals and Convents, reserving the free donation of all preferments to himself alone.  
70. From whence proceeded the reiterated complaints ● against Papal Provisions, in the Parliaments of Edward the 3. and Ric. the 2. for this Kingdom never received his attempts in that kind: to which purpose the History 
e Wm Thorn 2082, 2. & sequent, vide Walsingham Ann. 1374. pag. 184, 1. Thorn, Ann. 1373. col. 2187, 57 See the History of Nicholaus de Spyna resigning the Abbey of St. Augustins, and on his nominating him, Thomas Fyndon preferred to be Abbot thereby Martin the 4. who on the receipt of the Papal Bulls, acquainted Edward the 1. with what had passed at Rome himself being in England; yet by command the house was seized into the King's hand, and he at the Parliament held at Acton Burnell fined at 400. marks, pro eo quod sic fuerat creatus in Abbatem, licentia Domini Regis minime petita. Thorn, Col. 1939, 1. & 1934.  of john Devenish is remarkable. The Abbot of St. Augustine's dying 1346. the 20. Ed. 3. the Convent by the Kings leave chose VVm. Kenington; but Clement the 6. by Provision bestowed the Abbacy on john Devenish, whom the King did not approve of, yet came thither armed with Papal authority. The Prior and Convent upon command absolutely denied him entrance, ingressum monasterii in capite denegando; who thereupon returned to Avignon. The business lying two years in agitation, the King in the end, for avoiding expenses and other inconveniences, 
f Fide varias lectiones ad col. 2117. 54. quae vero ibi debent interseri pertinent ad Hist. de qua hic agitur col. 2082.  ex abundanti concessit ut, si idem johannes posset obtinere à summo Pontifice quod posset mutare stylum suae creationis ●ive provisionis, scilicet non promoveri Abbatia praedicta ratione donation●s vel provisionis Apostolicae, sed ratione electionis capituli hujus loci, illa vice annueret, & suis temporalibus gaudere permitteret: sed quidem hujusmodi causa coram ipso summo Pontifice proposita, concludendo dixit, se malle cedere Pontificio, quam suum decretum taliter revocare, etc. Which so afflicted the poor man, as the grief killed him on St. john Baptists Eve 1348. without ever entering the Abbey; and the dispute still continuing, the Pope 1349. wrote to the King, 
g Hen. Knighton col. 2601. 37, 49.  Ne Rex impediret, aut impediri permitteret promotos à curia per bullas acceptare beneficia sibi taliter incumbentia. To which his Mary answered. Quod Rex bene acceptaret provisos clericos qui esse●t bonae conditionis, & qui digni essent promoveri, & alios non.  
71. But the year following 1350. the 25. Ed. 3. the 
h Rot. Parl. octav. P●rif. 25. Ed. 3. n. 13. See the words of the peition, cap. 4. n. 15.  Commons meeting in Parliament complain with great resentment of these Papal grants, showing the Court of Rome had reserved to itself both the collation of Abbeys, Priories, etc. as of late in general all the dignities of England, and prebend's in Cathedral Churches, etc. Upon which the statute of Provisors was in that Parliament enacted; which was the leader to those other statutes, 27, and 38. Ed. 3. 
i Walsing. hist. 1374. pag. 184, 6. Rot. parl. 1. R. 2. n. 66. Thorn, 1373. col. 2187, 58.  The 48. Ed. 3. 1374. the treaty between Ed. the 3. and Gregory the XI, was concluded after two years' agitation, wherein it was expressly agreed, quod Papa de caetero reservationibus beneficiorum minime uteretur, etc. Notwithstanding which, the Commons the next Parliament preferred a petition, showing 
k Rot. Parl. 50. Ed. 3. n. 110, 115.  all the benefices of England would not suffice the Cardinals then in being, the 
* Gregory 11.  Pope having by the addition of XII. new ones raised the number to XXX. which was usually not above XII. in all; and therefore they desire it may be ordained and proclaimed, that neither the Pope nor Cardinals have any Procurator or Collector in England, sur peine de vie & de member, etc. Yet the inconveniences still continuing, 3. Ric. 2. produced that 
k ●. Ric. 2. cap. 3. 7. Ric. 2. cap. 12.  statute is in the print: I shall not here repeat otherwise, then that the Commons in the Roll, seem to lay the beginning of these excesses no higher than Clement the 5.  
72. By these arts, degrees and accessions, the Church of Rome grew by little and little to that immenseness of opinion and power it had in our nation; which might in some measure (whilst it was exercised by connivance only, upon the good correspondency the Papacy held with our Kings and Church,) be tolerated, and the Kingdom at any time by good Laws redress the inconveniences it sustained. But that which hath made the disputes never to be ended, the parties not to be reconciled, is an affirmation that Christ commanding Peter to feed his sheep, did with that give him so absolute a power in the Church, (and derived the like to his successors Bishops of Rome,) as without his assent no particular Church or Kingdom could reform itself: and for that he as a Bishop cannot be denied to have as much power as others from Christ, and may therefore in some sense be said to be 
l Christi vicarii sacerdotes sunt qui vice Christi legatione funguntur in Ecclesia. Eusebii Papae Epist. 3. to. 1. Concil. Electum à Fratribus Christi Vicari●m suscipiant, (scil. in Abbatem:) Hydensium leges ab ●dgaro cap. 15. Concil. Spelm. pag. 440. quis locus poterit esse tutus, si rabies sancta sanctorum cruentat? & Vicarios Christi, alumnos Ecclesiae dilacerat? Epist. W ⁱ, Senonensis, apud Hoved, Ann. 1171. fol. 299. b. 32. de marry Thomae Archiepiscopi.  Christ's Vicar, to appropriate it only to the Pope, and draw thence a conclusion that jure divino he might and did command in all particulars Vice Christi. And though no other Church in the Christian World doth agree with the Roman in this interpretation; though Historians of unquestioned sincerity have, as we have (in some measure) heard, in their own ages delivered when and how these additions crept in, and by what oppositions gained; that our Princes have, with th' advice of the Lay and Clergy, ever here moderated th' exorbitances of the Papacy in some particular or other, and likewise reform this Church; though the stipulations between our Kings and Rome have not been perpetual, but temporary, not absolute, but conditional, as is to be seen in that past between Alexander the 3. and Hen. the 2. viz. 
m Gervas'. Dorobern. col. 1422, 18. Hoved fol. 303. a. 1. Ann. 1172.  juravit quod ab Alexandro summo Pontifice, & ab Catholicis ejus successoribus non recederet, quamdiu ipsum sicut Regem Catholicum habuerint; that the English Bishops being excommunicated by the Pope 
n johan. Sarisbur. Epist. 279. p. 483.  might not take an oath of obedience to his commands, quia regni consuetudines impugnabat; though he did never exercise any authority here, but according to such stipulations, contracts and agreements with our Princes, as the Laws permitted; and therefore when he sent hither a Legate à Latere, 
⸫ Epist. Hen Chichly in vita ejus, pag. 79.  he was tretyd with or he come in to the land, whon he schold have exercise of his power, and how much schold be put in execution: An aventure after he had be reseyved, he whold have used it to largely, to greet oppression of your people, etc. as the Archbishop wrote to Hen. 5. as I have showed numb. 53.  
73. Though the Lawyers of the Kingdom do 
o Fitz. Excommengement, 4, 6, 10.  constantly affirm, as the Law and Custom of the Realm, the King's Courts never to have carried regard to any foreign excommunication, and if any such came from Rome, 
p ●ide Hoveden. fol. 284. b. 23.  not to be put in execution, but by allowance first had: to which effect it is remembered, the Bishops of London and Norwich having published in their Dioceses the Pope's excommunication of Hugh Earl (as it seems) of Chester, without the privity of Hen. the 2. or his Chief justiciar, the Kings writ issued out in this manner; 
q Ex antiquo MS.  Londoniensis & Norwicensis Episcopi sint in misericordia Regis, & summoneantur per Ficecomites & Bedelloes, ut sint 
r ●oram. Hoveden.  contra justicias Regis, ad rectum faciendum Regi & justiciis ejus de eo quod, contra statuta de Clarendone, interdixerunt ex mandato Papae terram comitis Hugonis, & excommunicationem quam Dominus Papa in ipsum fecerat per suas parochias divulgaverunt sine licentia regis. This however contracted in Hoveden 1165. and in 
s pag. 103, 43.  Paris 1164. yet the difference is such as may deserve a remembrance. It seems to me, what our Kings claimed, not to be altogether unlike the 
t Girolamo Catena vita di Pio 5º. pag. 96, 97. 98, 100 in 8 vo. Romae 1587. & Adriani Hist. lib. 19 pag. 1378. A.  Exequatur of Naples, observed to this day in that Kingdom, notwithstanding all contests from Rome.  
74. Neither did the Crown ever relinquish this right, not at the peace after Beckets death, when 
u Ger. Dorobern. col. 1422, 50.  Henry the 2. assented to quit no other than Consuetudines quae introductae sunt tempore suo; which it is manifest this was not, as appears by 
x pag. 6.  Eadmerus. It is farther observable, that by the common Laws (that is 
y 2. H. 4. Action sur le case. 25. Fitz.  the common Custom of this Realm) the 
* 31. Ed. 3. Excommengement. 6.  sentence of the Archbishop is valid in England, and to be allowed in the King's Courts, though controlled by the Pope: and to show our Princes had no regard to anything of this nature from thence, other than such a complying with a reverend Prelate as I have formerly mentioned did admit, it may not here be unfitly inserted what 
z Froissard. to. 1, cap. 47. pag. 58. Gall.  Froissard writes of Edward the third, with whom the Flemings joined against the French; upon which, (but I shall deliver it in his own words) Adonc le Roy de Frances ' en complaignit au Pape 
* Benedictus xii. jacobus Meierus An●al. Flandr. Ann. 1▪ 40. fol. 141, a.  Clement sixieme, qui getta une sentence d' excommuniement si horrible, qu'il n' estoit nul prestre qui asast celebrer le divin service: De quoy les Flamens envoyerent grande complainte au Roy d' Engleterre; lequel pour les appaiser, leur manda, que la primiere fois qu'il rappasseroit la mer, il leur ammeneroit des Prestres de son pais qui leur chanteroient la Messe, vousist le Pape ou non ●ar il estoit bien privilegié de ce fair: & par ce moyen s' appaiserent les Flamens, etc. As for the privilege here spoken of, that can be no other than the obligation all Kings owe unto God, for seeing his word sincerely taught them live under their protection, without the disturbance of any.  
75. In which kind ours have been so far from yieldding obedience to the Papal attempts, as Edward the first could not be induced to spare the life of one brought a 
a Assize lib. 30. placit. 19  Bull from the Pope, might have made some disturbance, but by his abjuring the Realm; as his grandchild Edward the 3. did 
b Walsingham Hist. Ann. 1358. pag. 165, 48.  cause some to suffer for the same offence. And on occasions our Kings have prohibited all intercourse with Rome; 
c Vide Hoved. fol 284. b. 13. Rot. Parl. 16. March, 3. H. 5.▪ n, 11, see the 9 11. 4. 11. 37.  denied their Bishops going thither so much as for confirmation, but the Metropolitans, if need were, should by the Kings writ be charged to confirm them; 
d Gervas'. Dorobe●. col. 1552, 51.  commanded their subjects not to rely on any should come from thence, affirming, quoth in regnum nostrum nec propter negotium nostrum nec vestrum ullatenus intrabit ad terram nostram destruendam. Yet notwithstanding so notorious a truth, backed with so many circumstances, grounded upon unquestioned monuments of antiquity, hath not been received; but the bare affirmation, Christ by pasceoves meas intended Peter, and by consequence the Pope, to be the general Pastor of the world, and the meaning of those words to be, that he should 
e Bellarm. Recognit. pag. 21. Edit. Ingolstat. 1608.  regio more imperare, hath so far prevailed with some, as to esteem the standing for the rights of the Kingdom, the Laws and Customs of the Nation, to be a departing from the Church Catholic; and to esteem no less than Heretics those, who defending that which is their own from th' invasion of another, will not suffer themselves to be led hoodwinked, to think the preservation of their proper liberty is a leaving Christ, his Church, or the Catholic faith.  
76. I dare boldly say, whoever will without partiality look back, shall find the reverence yielded from this Church to Rome for more than a thousand years after Christ, to have been no other than the respect of love, not of duty, and Popes rather to consulere then imperare; their dictates to have been of the same nature 
f Tacit. de moribus Germanorum. Vide Lanfranci Epist. 8. p. 305.  the Germane Princes were of old, auctoritat● suadendi magis quam jubendi potestate; never requiring a necessity of obedience eo nomine that they came from Rome, but for that they were just and reasonable: neither did the Pope send any Agent hither to see them put in execution; but th' Archbishop, according to the exigent of times, receiving his wholesome advices, caused such as he held of them did conduce to the good of the English Church to be observed. So Theodore 
g Beda lib. 4. cap. 17.  received those of Pope Martin, but 
h Malmsbur. fol, 150, etc.  did not them concerning Wilfred, from Agatho. When Alexander the 2. had exempted the 
i Vide Eadmer. pag. 62, 36. Lanfranci Epist. 20. pag. 311.  Abbot of St. Edmunds-bury from the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Norwich, Lanfrank took the Act from the Abbot: and Gregory the 7. is so far from using commands in the cause, as he only earnestly entreats the Archbishop he would stop the Bishop of Norwich from molesting the said Abbot; yet himself as it seems did not restore the Bull of immunity to him during that Pope's life. (but of this before.) In the year 1070. on the King's desire in a Council at Windsor, 
k Florent, Wigorn. Ann. 1070. pag. 435. & 436. Sim Dunelm. col. 29●.  Age●●icus Bishop of the South-Saxons is degraded, and his Bishopric conferred on Stigandus: Alexander the 2. not approving what had passed, 
l Baron. 10. 11. Anno 1071. n. 11.  writes to the King, this cause seemed to him non ad plenum tractata, ideoque sicut in canonibus cautum est, in pristinum locum debere restitui judicavimus; Deinde, causam ejus, juxta censuram canonicae traditionis diligenter retractandam & definiendam, praedicto fratri nostro Archiepiscopo Lanfranco commisimus. It is certain (however some writers might upon this or for ● other causes think his degradation to have been non canonice) those times did not interpret this (though writ with so great earnestness) for other than advise or intercession, not as of a person had an absolute power of commanding in the business; for we never read of any proceedings upon it, not Lanfrank at all ever to meddle in the case, that he ever esteemed 
m Lanfranci Epist. 27, 28. & apud Eadmer. pag. 13.  Stigand a lawful Bishop Epist. 27, 28. who in the year 1075. 
n Malms. de pontiff. lib. 1. fol. 121. b. 27. Vita Lanfranci cap. 12. pag▪ 13. C. col. 1.  being in a Council at London, according to the Decrees of it, removed his Episcopal Chair from Selsey to Chichester, of which he 
o Florent. Wigorn. Ann. 10●7. pag. 449.  died Bishop 1087. without being at all, for what appears, questioned or disturbed after the first grant of it. Divers examples of the like nature occur too long to be repeated, where the King or 
p Vide Gervas'. Do●obern. Ann. 1087. col. 1503, 38.  his chief justice prohibit the Papal precepts from being put in execution: and it is agreed by Lawyers, that not the command, but the constant obedience, is it which denotes a right of commanding; and in cases of this nature prohibentis potior est condito, one example in the negative, when the thing is stood upon, being of more weight than twenty by compliance in the affirmative.  
77. It is probable, neither the King nor the Bishops would introduce any new matter of great concernment into this Church, without the privity of so great a Doctor, Patriarch of a See, from which their ancestors had received the first principles of Christian Religion; but it is manifest, what passed, (if he were acquainted with it) was by their own authority, not his. When Off a intended the erecting of Litchfield into an Archbishopric, he did it by a Council at Calcuith: Lambertus (as what he approved not) producing 
q Malms. de regibus lib. 1. fol. 15. b. 34.  crebra sedis Apostolicae & vetera & nova edicta against it, yet the thing proceeded. Lucius the 2 
⸫ Diceto Ann. 1142. Mat. West.  went so far in his intentions to raise Winchester to an archiepiscopal Chair, as he sent the pall to the Bishop: yet it being not approved here (as the event shows) that Town never yet had the honour. Henry the first having in his 
r Leg. Hen. 1. cap. 73. pag. 204, 29,  Laws appointed how a Bishop, Presbyter, Monk, Deacon, etc. should suffer, committing homicide, concludes, Si quis ordinatum occidat, velproximum suum, exeat de patria sua, & Romam adeat, & Papam, & consilium ejus faciat; de adulterio, vel fornication, vel 
* Legendum Nunnae cum MS. London. Seld. & nostro, non nimio, ut MS. Schachar.  Nunnae concubitu similiter poeniteat. Where it is observable, the King ordains the Penance, permits the delinquents peregrination to Rome, to receive from the Pope (as from a great Doctor of the Church) spiritual counsel, which else he was not admitted to seek; for 
t Leg. Hon. 1. cap. 31. p. 187. 29.  peregrina judicia modis omnibus submovemus; and again, 
u Ibid. cap. 5. pag. 17●, 28.  ibi semper causa agatur, ubi crimen admittitur.  
78. William the first (who began his expedition against Harald by the counsel of Alexander the 2. and received a 
x Ingulph. sol. 522, a. 6.  banner from him) minding the deposition of th' Archbishop of Canterbury, procured the Pope to send certain ecclesiastics hither to join in the action, as likewise soon after for determining the question of precedency between Canterbury and York; upon which there grew an opinion, 
y Eadmer. pag. 29, 23.  Archiepiscopum Cantuariensem à nullo hominum, nisi à solo Papa, judicari posse vel damnari, nec ab aliquo cogi pro quavis calumnia cu●quam, eo excepto, contra suum velle respondere. This no doubt was promoted by th' Archbishops, as what exempted them from all home jurisdiction, the Bishops in general did after think in some sort to introduce; and thereupon put in this petition in Parliament 
z Ro●. Parl. 18. Ed. 3. n. 23. 24. pet. 1. du Clergy.  18. Ed. 3. qe pleise a Roy, en maintenance del estate de seint Esglise, granter & ordainer en cest Parliament, qe nul Ercevesque ou Evesque ●oit desormez, arreynez, ne empes●hez devaunt ses justicos, en cause criminele, par quecunque voye, de si come sur tiele cause nulle alme ne les poet juger, si noun le Pape seulement. But to this the answer is no other then, Il est avis, qe en cause de crime, nul Ercevesque ou Evesque soit empesche devant les justices, si le Roy ne le commande especialment tant qe autre remedie soit ordeinez: which he did likewise confirm by Charter there registered, and as 
a Walsing. Hist. Ann. 1344. p. 155, 1.  Walsingham hath truly recorded.  
79. This opinion, though 
b Protinus in tellexerunt quod prius n●n animadverterunt. Eadmer. p. 29, 21.  new to the English, questionless encouraged Anselm to oppose the King in many particulars, and Popes to go farther; as to claim Princes should not confer Investitures, nor define matters of Episcopacy, etc. then to bestow preferments within this Kingdom, at first by consent, and with the limitation no Italian to succeed another, then to reserve to themselves the collation of all benefices; of which before. To conclude this; whosoever will without prejudice weigh the reformation of England by Hen. the 8. Edward the 6. and more especially Queen Elizabeth in the point of supremacy, must grant these Princes did not assume to themselves any thing, but such particulars as the Court of Rome had in a long series of time encroached in on the Crown and English Church. If at any time our ancestors styled the Pope Princeps Episcoporum, it was in no other sense than they did▪ St. Peter Princeps Apostolorum; by which what principality they intended him, we cannot better understand then by the Saxon, who renders it 
c Beda Latin-Saxon edit. 1644. lib. 2. cap 6 p. 123. lib. 4. cap. 18. p. 302. & a. libi.  〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apostola, the Elder of the Apostles. If they called him successor or Vicarius Pet●i, they were not alone appropriated to him, for 
d Epist. 113, 148. Vide▪ Stubs de Archiepisc. Ebor. in Aldredo col. 1703, 37. 1704, 13. vide supr. c. 2. n 72.  Petrus Blesensis and others give the Bishop of York the same titles; and the bishop of Bath, who had a Church dedicated to St. Peter, he bids remember quia Petri Vicarius estis. So did they likewise in some sense call Kings 
e ●eg. Edwardi Confessoris cap. 17. Seldeni Notae ad Eadmer. p. 155, 12, etc.  Christ's Vicars, as well as Bishops. If at any time they gave the Pope the title of 
f Rot. Parl. at Glocest. n. 7●. in ●ounullis libris impressis cap. 6, & 7.  head of the Church, it was, as being the first Bishop, he was held to be, as St. Bernard tells us, 
g Bernard. de consideratione lib. 3. cap. 3.  in beneficam causam; as they 
h Rot. Parl. 1. jien. 6. n. 43.  termed Oxford the fountain and mother of our Christian faith. I cannot therefore but with a 
* Philip Scot his treatise of Schism, p. 165.  late writer, that says England had a known subjection to Rome acknowledged even by our Laws, ever from the conversion of our Country under St. Gregory, had expressed in what particulars that subjection did consist, what those Laws are, and where to be found. The truth is, as there is no doubt our Ancestors in former times would not have joined with the Synod of Gap, in causing so 
⸪ I will not undertake to maintain that the Pope is Antichrist, professing my weakness & ignorance of those prophetical Scriptures to be so great, that I dare not be confident in my interpretations of them, Paxter his Christian concord's Explication, p. 69.  disputable ambiguous a question as that the Pope is Antichrist to have been taught as the faith of the English Church; so there is no question, but it hath been ever the Tenet of it, Pontificem Romanum majorem aliquam jurisdictionem non habere sibi à Deo collatam in Sacrâ Scripturâ in hoc regno Angliae, quam alium quemvis externum Episcopum: Which our 
⸫ Diceto, Ann. 607. & 608. col. 437, 23.  Historians do mention as what proceeded from the constitutions of the Church and assent of Emperors, not as of a thing in itself juris divini: insomuch as,  
80. That proposition, 
i Antiquit. Britan. Eccles. pag. 384, 37. edit. London, 1573.  when it was propounded 1534. in Henry the 8 this time in convocation, all the Bishops without exception, (and of others only one doubted, and four placed all Ecclesiastic power in the Pope,) both the Universities, and most of the Monasteries and Collegiate Churches of England, approved & avowed as the undoubted opinion of the Church of this Nation in all ages. Neither can I see how it can be otherwise: for if the Church of Canterbury 
k Ger. Dorobern. col. 1663., 24. col. 1615, 60, 63.  were omnium nostrum mater communis sub sponsi sui jesu Christi dispositione, if it were Mater omnium Anglicanarum Ecclesiarum, & suo post Deum proprio laetatur pastore; that is, if th' Archbishop had no mediate spiritual superior but Christ & God; if the power the Pope exercised over him within this Realm were 
l Epist. Radulph. Archiepisc. Calixto 2. col. 1736. 1.  volu●tate & beneficio, gained, as I have showed, by little & little, voluntarily submitted unto; it could be no other than jure humano: and then it must be granted, the Church of England could not hold any necessity of being in subjection to the See or Church of Rome jure divino; as it is manifest they did not, in that they 
m Eadmer. pag. 25, 40.  sometimes acknowleded no Pope, 
n Mat. Paris, Ann. 116●. pag. 107, 45. pag. 111, 24. Vide Epist. Gilberti Londonensis Episc. apud Hoveden. fol. 288, 34. 38. Ann. 1166.  otherwhiles showed an intent of departing from his union, and the Bishops as well as Lay Lords advised Anselm, 
o Eadmer. p. 28, 23.  Vrbani obedientiam abijcere, subjectionis jugum excutere, etc. Neither could the Church of England be any way possible guilty of Schism, adhering to their Ghostly Superior next and immediate under Christ jesus.  
As for the temporal profits the Court of Rome received hence, though the denying them can be no just cause of such a spiritual imputation, especially on private men; yet certainly who will examine their beginning, as he shall find it to have been by the bounty or permission of our Princes, so upon search he will perceive the Kingdom went no farther than the Common Law, the precedent of former times, and such an exigency did force them to: of which therefore I shall add a word or two.   

CHAP. IU.  
Of the Payments to the Papacy from England.  
THe vast sums the Court of Rome did of late years upon several occasions export out of this Kingdom, mentioned in the 
a 25. Hen. 8. cap. 21.  statute of the 25. Hen. the 8. are spoken of by several of our writers: and though some 
b Apud Mat. Paris Epist. universitat. Anglice, Anno 1245. p. 667. 38.  have in general expressed how much the Nation suffered in that kind; yet none, that I know, in one tract did ever show by what degrees the Papacy gained so great a revenue, as the Commons in Edward the thirds days had cause to complain, it did turn 
c Rot. Parl. octav. Purific. 25. Ed. 3. n. 13. of which hereafter n. 15.  a plus grand destruction du Royaume qe toute la guerre nostre Seigneur le Roy. I have thought therefore that it will not be amiss to set down, how the Pope came to have so great an influence over the treasure of the Clergy in this Land, by seeking out how and when the greatest of the payments made to him began, what interruptions or oppositions were met with, either at the beginning or in the continuance of them.  
2. The first payment, that I have read of, which gave the Pope an entrance as it were in to it, was that bounty of our Princes known to this day by the name of Peter-pences: and this as it was given for an 
d Vide Epist. W m●. 1. apud Baron. to. 11. Ann. 1079. & inter Lanfranci Epist▪ 7.  Alms by our Kings, so was it no otherwise received by the Court of Rome; 
e Epist. Henrico 1. apud Eadmer. pag. 113, 27.  Eleemosyna beati Petri, prout audivimus, ita perpera●● doloseque collecta est, ut neque mediam ejus partem hactenus Ecclesia Romana susceperit, saith Paschalis the 2. So that no question 
f Hist. lib. 4. p. 89, 40, 43.  Polidore Virgil very inconsiderately terms it vectigal, and others, who by that gift contend the Kingdom became 
g Notae in Lanfranci Epist. 7. p. 347. col. 2. d.  tributarium feudatarium S to. Petro ejusque successoribus: for though the word tributum may perhaps be met with in elder 
h Malmsbur. sol. 128. b. 25.  writers, yet never did any understand the Pope by it to become a Superior Lord of the Lay fee, but used the word metaphorically; as we do to this day term a constant rent a kind of tribute, and to those who pay it, and over whom we have in some sort a command, we give the title of subjects; not as being Princes over them, but in that particular being under us, they are for it styled our inferiors.  
3. What Saxon King first conferred them, whether Ina, as 
i Polychronic. lib. 5. cap. 24. See Brompton col. 802, 23.  Ranulphus Cestrensis says report carried, or Offa, as 
k Col. 7●6, 37.  jorvalensis, I will not here inquire, as not greatly material. 
l Lib. 4. p. 89, 44.  Polidore Virgil tells, some write Ethelwolphus continued it: with whom Brompton seems to concur. It is true, our Historians remember he caused 
m Florent. Wigorn. Ann. 855. pag. 300. & Sim. Dunelm.  300. mancusas denariorum (
n De Regibus lib 2. cap. 2. fol. 22. a. 27.  Malmsbury renders it trecentas auri marcas (which was ten times the value of silver) as 
o jorvalensis col. 802, 27.  another trecenta talenta) to be carried every year from hence to Rome; which could be no other than the just application of Peter-pences: for amongst sundry complaints long after from 
p This appears by the Epistle of William the 1. to Paschalis the 2. before cited, and so to Henry the 1.  Rome, we find the omission of no payment instanced in, but of that duty only; neither do the body of the Kingdom in their 
q Apud Mat. Paris p. 698, 51.  Remonstrance to Innocentius 4. 1246. mention any other as due from hence to Rome.  
4. This therefore thus conferred by our Kings, was for the generality continued to the Papacy; yet (to show, as it were, that it proceeded only from the liberality of our Princes,) not without some stops. Of those in the times of William the first & Henry his Son I have 
r Cap. 3. n. 11. cap. 4. n. 2.  spoke, Henry the 2. during the dispute with Becket and Alexander the 3. commanded the Sheriffs through England, that 
s Apud Mat. Paris Anno 1164. p. 103, 45. & Hoveden Anno 1165, so. 284. b. 26.  Denariibeati Petri colligantur, & serventur, quousque inde Deminus Rex voluntatem suam praeceperit. During the Reign of Edward the 3. the Pope's abiding at Avignon, many of them French, their partiality to that side, and the many Victories obtained by th' English begat the proverb, 
u Hen. Knighton col. 2615, 41.  o'er est le Pape devenu Françeis, & jesus devenu Angleis, etc. about which time our Historians observe, the King gave command 
x Caxton. Continuat. Polychronic. ca●. 2. Stow Ann. 1365.  no Peter-pences should be gathered or paid to Rome. And this restraint, it seems, continued all that Prince's time; for Richard the 2. his successor at his beginning caused john Wickliff, esteemed the most 
y Hen. Knighton c●l. 2664, 66, & 2644, 31.  knowing man of those times, to consider the right of stopping them; whose determination in that particular yet remains, entitled 
z In fasciculo ziz●niorum MS. in Bibliotheca Antistitis Arm●chani, fol. 59, b. col. 2.  Responsio Magistri johannis Wicliff ad dubium infrascriptum, quaesitum ab eo per Dominum Regem Angliae Richardum secundum & magnum Concilium, anno regni sui primo: then the question follows, Dubium est, utrum regnum Angliae possit legitime, imminente necessitate suae defensionis, thesaurum Regnidetinere, ne deferatur ad exteros, etiam Domino Papa sub poena censurarum & virtute obedientiae hoc petente; & relicto viris peritis quid dici debet in ista materia, secundum jus canon●cum, secundum jus Angliae velcivile solum restat suadere partem affirmativam dubii, secundum principia legis Christi: then shows, those payments being no other than Alms, the Kingdom was not obliged to continue them longer than stood with its own convenience, and not to its detriment or ruin; agreeing therein with that of Divines, extra casus necessitatis & superfluitatis Eleemosyna non est in praecepto.  
5. But in the Parliament held the same year, the question was concluded: for there this petition being preferred, 
a Rot. Parl. 1 Ric. 2. n. 84.  que y puisse estre declaree en cest present Parliament, si la charge de la denir saint Pierre, appelle Rome penny, seraleve des dites Commes, & pay all Collector nostre saint Perele Pape ou noun; the answer was, soit fait come devant ad este usee: By which the use of them being again returned, did so remain till Henry the 8 this. time. For though in a 
b Walsing. Hist. Anno 1408. p. 420, ●.  council held at London 1408, it was treated de censu & obedientia Papae subtrahendis vel non subtrahendis; yet that it passed farther than words I have not observed. But King 
c 25. Hen. 8. cap. 21.  Henry 1533/4 took them so absolutely away, as though Queen Mary repealed that Act, and Paulus Quartus dealt earnestly with her 
d Hist. Concil. Trident. lib. 5.  Agents in Rome for restoring the use of them; yet I cannot find they were ever gathered, and sent thither during her time: but where some Monasteries did answer them to the Pope, and did therefore collect the tax, that in process of time became as by custom paid to that house; which being after derived to the Crown, and from thence by grant to others, with as ample profits as the Religious persons did possess them, I conceive they are to this day paid as an appendent to the said Manors, by the name of Smoak-mony.  
6. Before I pass from this, one thing is not to be omitted: that however the Pope had this as a due, and for that end his Collector did abide in England; yet he might not raise the ancient accustomed proportion of the Tax, nor in any kind alter the manner of taking it: for when Rigandus from the Pope endeavoured that, he was straight prohibited by Edward the 2. The 
e Fox Acts Monuments in Edw. 2.  Act itself is printed.  
As for the value these Peter-pences did amount to, I have seen in an old MS. belonging to the Church of Chichester, a Bull said to be of 
f Vide Concil. Spelm. p. 313.  Gregory 5 this. that did proportion them after this manner.  
Episcop. Episcop.  l. s. d.  l. s. d. Cant. 07 18 00 Exoniensis 09 05 00 London. 10 10 00 Wigorniensis 10 05 00 Roffensis 05 10 00 Herefordens. 06 00 00 Norwicensis 21 00 00 Bathon. 12 00 00 Eliensis 05 00 00 Sarisbur. 17 00 00 Lincolniensis 42 00 00 Coventrensis 10 00 00 Cicestrensis 08 00 00 Eborac. 11 10 00 Winton. 17 06 08      
Dat. apud Vrbem Veterem x. Kalend. Maii, Pontificatus nostri anno secundo.  
But this could not be the Bull of Gregory the 5. who died about 997. before 
g Florent. Wigorn. Ann. 1109. p. 482. & alii.  Ely was erected, or Episcopal chairs placed in 
h Remigius circum Ann. 1080. tr●nslulit sedem Episcopalem de Dorkecestra Lincoln. & Herebertus circa 1086. de Thetfordia, Norwi●ch. Malmsbur. de Pont.  Lincoln or Norwich.  
7. The last article in the oath prescribed the Clergy from the Pope, of obedience to him, was, not any way to alienate the possessions of their houses inconsulto Romano Pontifice. Whether this clause were inserted when 1115, it was first required of 
i Cap. 3. n. 50.  Raulf th' Archbishop of Cant. I have not been able to certify myself; and am apt to believe it was not: for though we find it in 
k Vitae Abbat. p. 140, 27. Hist, major. pag. 414, 26.  Math. Paris, when it was first imposed on Abbots and Bishops, yet that was after the Court of Rome had tasted the sweetness of taxing other Churches; neither is it in any of those conditions mentioned by 
l Ann. 1191. col. 663. 6.  Diceto. But when ever it came in, it implying a right of alienating the possessions of Religious houses and Churches, with the Papal licence, bred an opinion, that without his assent there could be no good sale made of their estates, by any temporal or spiritual power whatsoever, though with their own concurrence: and the Court of Rome grew to maintain, 
m Mat. Paris Ann. 1226. pag. 328, 13.  That being a Mother, she ought to be relieved by her Children. 
n Ordericus Vitalis pag. 846. c.  Gelasius the second in his distress 1118, is said to have desired à Normannica Ecclesia subsidium orationum, & magis pecuniarum: yet certainly the Norman Church did not then at all condescend to any; for the French Agent in the 
o Mat. Paris Additament. MS. ubi supra, cap. 3. n. 66.  Lugubri querimonia (of which before) mentions him amongst divers others who, expelled Italy, fled into France for succour, yet, non in aliquo gravaverunt Ecclesiam Gallicanam, nec dando beneficta, nec petendo subsidium pecuniae vel armorum, sed spiritualibus armis, scilicet lacrymis & orationibus, quae sunt arma ministrorum Christi, maluerunt esse contenti, etc. So that certainly if any collection were made for Gelasius, it was so private, public notice was not taken of it.  
8. The first extraordinary contribution raised by allowance for the Pope's use in this Kingdom, I take not to have been before 1183. when Lucius 3 us. at odds with the Citizens of Rome, not any ways able to resist their fury, sent to Henry the 2. postulans ab eo & à clericatu Angliae auxilium. The thing was taken into consideration, and for the precedent, it was not thought fit any thing should be given as from the Clergy, but that they might raise a supply amongst themselves for the King, without permitting a foreign Agent to intermeddle; and his Majesty might with that relieve the Pope as he should see occasion. But take in the Historian his own words. 
p Hoveden Ann. 1183. fol. 354. b. 43.  Consuluit Rex Episcopos suos & clerum Angliae de petitione summi Pontificis: cui Episcopus & Clerus consuluerunt, ut ipse secundum voluntatem suam & honorem faceret auxilium Domino Papae, tam pro se quam illis; quia tolerabilius esset, & plus placeret eye, quod Dominus Rex, si vellet, accepisset ab eis recompensationem auxilii illius, quam si permisisset nuncios Domini Papae in Angliam venire, ad capiendum de iis auxilium; quia si aliter fierek, posset verti in consuetudinem, ad detrimentum regni. Adqu●●vit Rex consilio corum, & fecit auxilium magnum Domino Papae in auro & argento. The judicious reader may observe hence things very remarkable: as, that the King did in points concerned the Pope consult with the English Church, and followed their advice; the great care the Clergy took to avoid any sinister consequence in future, and therefore did themselves give to the Prince, as to whom it was due from them, and not to the Pope, who by custom might come to claim it: as indeed he did after step so far, as to prohibit their giving the King at all, without 
q De immunitate Ecclesiae in Sexto cap. 3. vid. Knig●ton col. 2489, 37.  his licence, endeavouring the gaining a supremacy over them as well in temporals as spirituals, who hitherto had not meddled with collections of that nature.  
For the 
r Gervas'. Dorobern. Ann. 1166. col. 1399▪ 7.  same Henry, about 17 years before, (after th' example of the French) did cause a supply be made for the relief of the Eastern Church; but I do not find it to have been either upon any motion from Rome, or any part of what was so levied to have been converted that way.  
9 But the former granted 1183. passing with so great circumspection, persuaded the Popes not to think fit suddenly (as it seems) of attempting the like; yet that the Church of England might not be unaccustomed to payments, they sometimes exhorted Christians to the subvention of the Holy Land, and thereupon did distribute Spiritual Indulgences (which cost them ●ot a farthing) and procured Princes to impose on their Subjects for that end: so did 
s Newbrigensis lib. 3. cap. 21, 22, 23, etc. Hoved. Ann. 1187. fol. 363. b. & sequentibus. Ger. Dorobern. c. 1522. 11.  Clement the 3. or rather Gregory the 8 th'. about 1187. stir up Hen. the 2. and Philip Augustus, 
t Mat. Paris Ann. 1201. pag. 206, 54. Ann. 1292, pag. 20●. 12.  Innocentius 3. King john: and, as a general Superintendent over the Clergy, did then intromit himself and his Agents in the raising of it, and so did convert some good proportion to his own use; insomuch as johannes Ferentinus, sent hither 1206. from the same Innocentius 3 us, 
u Mat. Paris Ann. 1206. pag. 214, 33.  carried hence a good quantity; upon which King john writ unto the Pope 1207. 
x Mat. Paris p. 224, 25.  quod uberiores sibi fructus proveniant de regno Angliae, quam de omnibus regionibus citra Alpes constitutis, etc. Yet truly, to raise any considerable sum of money from the whole body of the Clergy, for support of the Papal designs, I do not find any great attempt before Gregory the ix. 1229. 
y Mat. Paris pag. 361, 2, 49. pag. 362, 9  demanded a tenth of the moveables, of both Lay and ecclesiastics: to which the Temporal Lords would not at all assent, Nolentes Baronias vel laicas possessiones Romanae Ecclesiae obligare; and the Clergy were unwillingly induced to the contribution. The Pope thus entered, meddled no more with the Lay, but of 
z Mat. Paris Ann. 1240. pag. 526, 20.  the Clergy eleven years after he demanded by his Legate a fifth part of their goods. Many meetings were had about it: 
a Pag. 534, 8, 39  they showed the King, they held their Baronies of him, and could not without his assent charge them; that having formerly given a tenth, this of a fifth might create a custom: and at a meeting in Barksh●re exhibited sundry solid reasons (too long to be here repeated) against the contribution. But nothing would serve; the King made for it, and th' Archbishop out of private ends paying it, they were in the end forced to yield such a supply, as at his departure the year following it was said, 
b Mat. Paris Ann. 1241. pag. 549, 2●.  there did not remain so much treasure in the Kingdom, as he had in three years' extorted from it (the vessels and ornaments of Churches excepted.)  
10. But neither the paying it with so great reluctancy, nor the 
c Apud Mat. Paris p. 666, 51.  Remonstrance preferred in the Council of Lions 1245. from the body of the Kingdom, of the several exactions the Nation lay under from Rome, and likewise 
d Apud Mat. Paris Anno 1246, p. 698, 40, 51, etc.  to the Pope himself the year following, could any way stop the proceedings; but Innocentius 4 tus. 1246, 
e Ibid. pag. 701, 56. pag. 707, ●0. pag. 708.  invented a new way, to charge every Religious house with finding and paying a quantity of soldiers for his service in the wars for one year: which being required from both the English and French, produced here those prohibitions in the same Author against raising any Tallagium or auxilium. But the French caused their Agent to use a serious expostulation in the business; which, because it is not printed, I shall deliver at large as I 
f In Lugubri querimoni● Additament. Mat. Paris MS. de qua supra, cap. 3. n. 59, 67.  find it. Nuncii de novo accesserunt, nova gravamina addentes supradictis: Nuper enim mandavistis Ecclesiis, ut quia persecutor vester ad partes istas venturus est, mittant vobis militiam munitam ad resistendum ei, quia non est concilium cedere venienti; super quo satis excusabiles sunt Ecclesiae, quia non habent militiam, nec est in parte eorum mittere quod non habent, quos etiamsi haberent & mitterent, non est tutum confid●re de ipsis. Nec scitur etiam de illis, utrum venturus sit, quia etiamsi veniret, praeferendum esset (ut videretur) concilio humano concilium Domini, qui dicit, Si persecuti fuerint vos in unam civitatem, fugite in aliam, etc. And in the same year he 
g Mat. Paris Ann. 1246. pag. 707, 2. ut si clericus ex tunc decederet intestatus, ejusdem bona in usus Domini Papae converterentur.  attempted the making himself heir to any Clerk that should die intestate; and the year 
⸫ Mat. Paris p. 730, 16.  following received from the Clergy eleven thousand marks, exceptis exemptis & tribus clericis, as an addition to six thousand he had received the 
.˙.˙ Ibid. Ann. 1246. p. 715, 16.  year before.  
11. I shall not here take upon me to repeat all the times and ways by which the subject had his purse thus drained, the labour would be too great, and the profit too little: it shall suffice to note, the Court of Rome, by much struggling, overcame in the end all difficulties, & did arrive to that height, the 
h Rot. Parl. 50. Ed. 3. n. 107.  Commons were forced in Parliament 1376. to prefer this petition: Si tossed come le Pape voet avoir monoie pur maintenir ses guerres de Lombardy, ou ailleurs pur despendere, ou pur raunson auscuns de ses amiss prisoners Fraunceys prizes par Englois, il voet avoir subsidie de Clergie d' Engleterre; & tantost celuy est grantez par les Prelates, a cause qe les Evesqes n'osent luy contrestere, & est leve de Clergy sans lour assent ent avoir devant: Et les Seculers Signior my preignent guard, ne ne font face comment le Clergie est destruict, & la monoye de Royalme malement emporte.  
12. And indeed the Kingdom had great reason thus to complain: see one of many examples that may be alleged. In the year 1343, the 17. Ed. 3. Clement the 6. sent hither to provide for two Cardinal Priests, one out of the Province of York, the other Canterbury, in spiritual livings, to the value of 1000 marks a piece, 
i Rot. Parl. 17. Ed. 3. n. 59  sur une si generale & coverte manner, qe la somme passer a dix mille marqes avant qe le doun soit accept. But the State would not endure this, 
k Walsing. Hist. p. 150, 30.  but chase their Agents out of the Kingdom, the King sent through every County, 
l Hen. Knighton. col. 25●3, 50.  Ne quis ab eo tempore & deinceps admitteretur per bullam, sine speciali licentia Regis: And a little after, the Parliament held the 20. of Ed. 3. 1346. the Commons yet more plainly, 
m Rot. Parl. 20. Ed. 3. n. 33. ●. 35▪  Nous ne voulons soeffrer qe payment soit fait as Cardinalx, pour lour demoere en France de treter, etc. And soon after they represent this very particular of 2000 marks to be 
n N. 35.  en anientissement de la terre, and increase de nos enemies; and therefore qu'●ls ne soient en nul manner so●fferts, etc. In both which his Majesty's tie. gives them content.  
13. Neither did the Papacy, having gained the possession (as I may term it) of taxing, impose these payments for one year only upon foreign Churches, as at first, but for six successively one after the other. So did 
o W mus thorn col. 1926, 27.  john the 21. in the year 1277. and 
p Wasing. Hist. p. 73, 3.  Clement the 5. in the Council of Vienna 1311. pretending an employment against the Infidels; but procuring Princes to join with them in the collecting, that it might be paid with more facility, (and therefore gave them either the 
q Vide Mat. Paris Anno 1252. p. 849, 12.  whole, or part of what was so raised; from whence no doubt grew that proverb so full of infamy, 
r Ibid. Anno 12●5. p. 917. 39  That the King and Pope were the Lion and Wolf) did in the end (as we have heard) convert the treasure to the ransoming their friends, the maintenance of their wars, and such like mundane ends. The 
s Chronicon de Regibus Francorum ad finem Pauli Aemilii, Ann. 1326. & du Tillet in Chronico.  French affirm, the first of their Kings who shared with Rome in these levies, to have been Charles le Bel, about 1326. which if it were, our Kings were before them; but such as succeeded knew there as well as elsewhere, how to apply what was thus gathered wholly to themselves, wiping the Pope's clean out: and notwithstanding all 
t Vide Hist. deal Concil. Trident. in 4 to, lib. 5. p. 408.  complaints in that kind from Rome, 
u De beneficiis lib. 7. c. 1. in fine.  Duarenus observes the Crown of France to have none more certain or speedy revenue, then that is thus raised of the ecclesiastics.  
14. But these exactions grew so burdensome, Martin the 5 th'. at 
x Concil. Constant. Sess. 43. de Decimis & aliis oneribus: concii. gen. Romae, pag. 279. & pag. 297.  the Council of Constance 1417. was constrained to establish, Nullatenus imponantur generaliter super totum clerum, nisi ex magna & ardua causa, & utilitate universalem, Ecclesiam concernente, & de consilio & consensu & subscriptione fratrum nostrorum, sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae Cardinalium & Praelatorum, quorum consilium commode haberi poterit; nec specialiter in aliquo regno vel provincia, inconsultis praelatis ipsius regni vel provinciae, etc. Upon which Decree a supply of the Tenth being 
y. Hist. Hen. 8. pag. 57 p. 59▪ & ●ullae sive Epistolae Leonis de eadem re, quas vidi manuser.  twice demanded, viz. 1515, and 1518. by Leo the x th'. against the Turk, th' English Clergy denied them both times. Thus the Papacy by little and little gained in England the power of sometimes laying that Tax on Churchmen, is to this day known by the name of a Tenth, which became limited, as we have seen; and after by 
z 26. Hen. 8. ●ap. 3.  statute the 26. Hen. 8th. transferred to the King to be paid annually unto him; as were likewise the First fruits or profits of one year, commonly called Annats, (for I take them to be the same) of all spiritual livings: of which a word.  
15. The first raising of them seemeth to have been, that when the Court of Rome did confer on Clerks and Chaplains residing with them, benefices in the Dioceses of others, they who thus obtained from that Chair not only the Spiritual, of Ordination, but likewise the Temporal of Profit, did at first, either to show their gratitude, or for that the Pope would have it so, voluntarily give the whole, or some part of the first years revenue to the Court, by whose favour they received all: and the Papacy perceiving the gain did thus accrue, laboured to extend it farther; was in some sort imitated by other Bishops; and for avoiding the show of Simony, covered what was thus took with the names of Annates, Vacantiae, 
* Minuta servitia were small payments, such as had any expedition in the Court of Rome were liable unto, as fees to certain Officers or servants of the Pope, called therefore familiares Dui. Papae: as of late, such as renewed leases of the Archbishop of Cant. did to his Secretaries, and others of ●is retinue. 1389. there was paid 4 of these to the ●ope, and one to the dependants on the Cardinals. Thorn col. 2194, 31. the rest have no difficulty.  Minuta servitia Scripturae, and such like. But as St. Gregory 
a Lib. 4. Epist. 44. Indict. 13.  tolerating only a liberality to be given after the reception of the Pall, his successors knew how to turn it to a revenue; so these, however at first begun, did afterwards become annually a profit. What others did in this kind, is not necessary to that I treat of; but upon the practice of the Church of Rome, the 25. Ed. 3. the Commons 
b Rot. Parl. Octau. Purif. 25. Ed. 3. n. 13.  exhibit this petition to the King: Prie sa Commune, etc. de veer & regarder, etc. d'Engleterre, & Provendres en Esglises Cathedralles, & les donne si bien as Aliens come as Denezeins, & issint ad le Pape toutz les primers fruits des dits benefices. By which it appears, the Papacy, that formerly took the first-fruits of only such livings as men died possessed of in the Court of Rome, had an intent of extending them to all were the Patronage espiritel: but whether an active King stopped upon this the endeavours of that See, or the Popes, wise men, thought it not ●it to make too sudden an irruption into the profits of other Churches, is not greatly material; 
c ●ot. Parl. 50. Ed, 3. n. 1●9.  but 25. years after, the Commons again represent the Pope's Collector, o'er de novel cest an & nele pressed unqes devant all oeps du Pape les primiers fruitz de ches●un benefice, dont il fait provision ou collation, except de graces grantez aux povres, ou il ne soleit prendre nulles fruits ●orsqe soulement des beneficez vacantz en la Court de Rome.  
16. But in whose time these first-fruits began to be taken, there seems to me some difference amongst writers. Theodoricus à Niem (who lived in the Court of Rome, Secretary as some write to Gregory the xi. or rather, as it seems to me, of Vrban the vi.) 
d De schismate● inter Vrban●m 6. etc. lib. 2. 〈…〉.  says, Boniface the ix. circa decimum annum sui regiminis, viz. 1399. primos fructus unius anni omnium Ecclesiarum Cathedralium & Abbatiarum vacantium suae camerae reservavit, it a quod quicunque extunc per eum promoveri voluit, ante omnia cogebatur solvere primos fructus ecclesiae, vel monasterii cui praefici voluit, etc. With whom 
e Platina in Vita Ponifucii ix.  Platina agrees; Annatarum usum primus imposuit, (Bonifacius ix.) hac conditione, ut qui beneficium consequeretur, dimidum annui proventus fisco Apostolico persolverent: sunt tamen qui hoc inventum johanni xxii. ascribunt, etc. The same likewise 
f De invent. rerum lib. 8. cap. 2.  Polidore Virgil affirms, though he speak as if some thought them of an higher time, which under favour I do not credit; for 
g Tract, de Annatis non solvend's, in fasciculo rerum expetend. & fugiend. fol. 18. 9 E● interopera ejus pag. 82. col. 2.  Nicholaus Clemanges, in the treatise he writ concerning them, saith, that when such reservations fell into consideration in the Council of Constance (he lived whilst it ●ate) no beginning could be assigned before john the xxii. began them, pro certo passagio ultramarino, & quibusdam aliis necessitatibus suis. To which I may add the opinion of the wise and learned 
h Epist. 296. Romae 22 Decembr. 1601.  Cardinal d'Ossat: I●han xxii. François de nation, dont il me deplaist, fust le premier que outre les taxes & Annates qu'il inventa, etc. And Ranulphus Cestrensis, one of that time, 
i Polychron. lib. 7. cap. 42. apud Hen. Knighton col. 2534, 8.  saith of him, Beneficiorum per mortem seu resignationem vacantium, sive per translationem, primos fructus reservavit, ita ut Rector iustitutus taxationem beneficii sui aut residuum taxationis acceptaret: ex qua cautela innumerabiles thesauri ad manus Papae devenerunt, etc. and Knighton himself, 
k col. 2565, 47.  reservavit curiae omnes primos fructus vacantium Ecclesiarum, sive per mortem sive per resignationem, etc. 
l Hist. Anno 1316. p. 84, 45.  Walsingham 1316. Summus Pontifex reservavit camerae suae primos fructus beneficiorum omnium in Anglia per trienntum vacantium: which not occurring of any Pope before, I cannot ascribe other to have begun them then he; who though, in a 
* De praebendis & dignitatibus cap. 11. extravagant. Commun.  bull dated the 5. january 4. Pontificatus, he mention Fructus redditus, proventus, primi anni beneficiorum, yet by the doubts he there resolves, shows the practice of them then newly brought into the Church. But whereas the 
m Clemanges, Platina, Polidor.  writer's beforenamed agree, the English, of all Nations, never received in this the full extent of the Papal commands, I conceive it to arise from the good Laws they made against them: of which before, and after.  
17. It is hardly credible how great a mass of treasure was by these ways sent hence into Italy. 
n Mat. Paris Ann. 1245. pag. 658, 49. pag. 667, 36.  The revenues th' Italians were possessed of in England 1245. are accounted not less than 60. thousand Marks; 
o Ibid. pag. 859, 48.  1252. it was thought they did amount to 70. thousand (all which for the most drained thither:) and in 
p Rot. Parl. Octau. purif. 25. Ed. 3. n. 13. tent. Ann. 1351.  the Parliament held about an hundred years after, the Commons show, what went hence to the Court of Rome, turn a plus grand destruction du Royalme qe toute la guerre nostre Seigr. le Roy: yet, notwithstanding so many statutes as were made by that Prince, for moderating the excesses in this kind, the 50 th'. they complain, (I shall give it contractedly) 
q Rot. ●arl. 50. Ed. 3. n. 105. 100LS  the Pope's collector here held a receipt equal to a Prince or Duke; sent annually to Rome from the Clergy, for Procuration of Albeys, Priories, First-fruits, etc. xx. thousand Marks, some years more others less, and to Cardinals and other Clerks beneficed in England as much, besides what was conveyed to English Clerks remaining there to solicit the affairs of the Nation: upon which they desire his Majesty's ●y, no collector of the Pope may reside in England.  
18. But the King, as it seems, not greatly complying with their desires, the 
r Rot. ●arl. 51. Ed. 3. n. 78, 79.  year following they again instance, that certain Cardinals, notorious enemies, had procured a clause d'anteferri to certain benefices, within the Provinces of Canterbury and York; that the Pope's Collector was as very an enemy to this State as the French themselves; that his house-keeping here at the Clergies cost was not less than 300l. by the year; that he sent annually from hence beyond Seas 
* a la foitz xx. Mill. mares; a la foitz xx. Mill. lib.  at one time 20 thousand marks, sometimes 20. thousand pounds; and what was worse, espied the secrets of the Kingdom, vacations of benefices, and so daily made the certainty known to the said Court; did now raise for the Pope the first-fruits of all dignities and other smaller promotions, causing by oath to pay the true value of them, surmounting the rate they were formerly taxed at: which now in the very beginning ought to be crushed, etc. Upon which considerations they desire, all stranger's, Clerks and others (excepting Knights, Esquires, Merchants, Artificers) might suddenly avoid the Kingdom; no subjects, without the King's express licence, to be Proctors, Aturneys, Farmers to any such Alien, under the pain, after Proclamation made, of life, member, loss of lands and goods, and to be dealt with as thiefs and robbers; no money during the wars to be transported out of the Kingdom by exchange or otherwise, on the forfeiture of it. But to this the answer only was, Setiegnent les estatutz & ordonances ent faites. Whereupon the 
s Rot. Parl. 1. Ric. 2. n. 66, 6●. 68  next Parliament the Commons preferred again three Petitions, touching I. The payment of 
* What each Bishop paid to the See of Rome at his entrance for First-fruits, vide Godwin. Catal. in fine unius cujusque Episcopatus.  First-fruits taken come due a la chambre nostre seint Pere, yet not used in the Realm before these times, was contrary to former treaties with the Pope, etc. II. Reservations of benefices. III. By that way bestowing them on Alyens, who sundry times employed the profits of them towards the ransoming or araying their friends, enemies to the King. Of all which they desire his Majesty's tie. to provide remedy; as also that the Petitions the two last Parliaments (of which before) might be considered, and convenient remedy ordained. To which the answer is, Les Seigrs. du grand conseil ordeigneront due remedy sur les matires comprises en●estes trois bills precedentes. And here I take the grand Council to be the Privy Council, not the Lords in or out of Parliament; called the grand Council for the greatness of the affairs fell within their cognizance, and 
t Rot. Parl. 5. Hen. 4. n. 37. vide 10. Ric. 2. n. 20. 13. Ric. 2. n. 6. 7. Hen. 4. n. 31. 11. Hen. 4. n. 39  named the 5. of Hen. the 4. to consist only of six Bishops, one Duke, two Earls, and other in all to the number of 22.  
19 What order they established, I have not met with; it is manifest not to have been such as gave the satisfaction hoped for, by the Commons 
u Rot. Parl. 3. Ric. 2 n. 37. & cap. 3. & Crast. animarum. 5. R. 2. n. 90, 91.  renewing in effect both 3 o. and 5 to. Ric. 2. the same suits: and the inconveniences still continuing, 
x Wm. Thorn col. 2184, & sequent.  in the year 1386/7. 10. Ric. 2. William Weld was chosen Abbot of S. Augustins (in the place of Michael newly dead,) who troubled with a quartan ague, the French and Dutch on the seas, the King inhibited his going to Rome for confirmation, etc. He thereupon employs William Thorn, (from whose pen we have the relation) hoping to be excused himself of the journey; who 
⸫ col. 2187, 62.  showing the sufferings of the house, the miserable state he must leave it in, that he would expose it irrecuperabili casui & ruinae, that the King had commanded his stay, was in the end told by the Pope (after all means he could use) 
⸪ col. 2186, 40.  Rex tuus praecipit quod non veniat electus ille, Ego volo quod compareat & examini se subjiciat: and again, after yet more earnest solicitation, quia audivimus turbationem inter Regem & Barones suos, (the fittest time to contest with a prince) & multa sinistra de persona electi, & quod cederet Romanae ecclesiae in 
.˙.˙ cap. 3. n. 13, 14.  praejudicium, absque personali comparitione non intendimus ipsum confirmare, ne daretur posteris in exemplum. The cause hanging three years in suspense, the Abbot in fine was forced to appear in Rome for his benediction, and returned with it not to his house till about the end of March 1389. the 12. Ric. 2. After which, the next 
y 13. Ric. 2. cap. 2. & 3. stat. 2.  Parliament obtained the statute of Praemunire, against the Pope's conferring any Benefice within the said Kingdom from the 29 of january then ensuing; and no person to send or bring any summons, or sentence of excommunication against any for the execution of the same law, on the pain of being arrested, put in prison, forfeiture of his lands, tenements etc. and incurring the pain of life, member, etc. The intent of which law 
⸫ In Ric. 2. hist. lib. 20. pag. 417, 32.  Polidor Virgil rightly interprets to have been, a confining the Papal authority within the Ocean, and for the frequent exactions of Rome, ut nulli mortalium deinceps liceret pro quavis causa agere apud Romanum Pontificem; ut quispiam in Anglia ejus autoritate impius religionisque hostis publice declararetur, neve exequi tale mandatum si quod ab illo haberet, etc. To which law three years after some other 
⸪ 16. Ric. 2. cap. 5.  additions were made: and none of these were ever repealed by Queen Mary, who though she did admit a union with the Church of Rome, yet in restoring the Pope's Supremacy the State used so 
.˙.˙ 1. & 2. P. & M. c. 8. see Cook Iust. 3. pag. 127.  great caution, as it ever seemed to me rather a verbal then real admission of his authority; which it seems her Majesty well understood, in that she would never permit Peito to appear before her in the quality of either Cardinal, Bishop, or Legate, to all which he was preferred by Paulus 4. But where 
˙.˙. Catholic Divine his answer to Sr. Ed. Cook, cap. 12. n. 37. 49. pag. 305, 311.  some would excuse these and such like laws, as past by consent and toleration from Rome, or at least by the importunity of the Lay; that I have said doth enough show the Papal care, in suffering nothing, they could stop, might any way prejudice that See. And for the Bishops passing the 16 Ric. 2. pressed by the Temporalty, it is so much otherwise, as that Statute is enroled on the desire of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rot. Parl. 16. Ric. 2. numero 20. in fine.  
20. In the same Parliament, the Commons, as it seems, much exasperated against the Pope's collector, do yet farther 
z Rot. Parl. 13. Ric. 2. n. 43.  petition, he may have the warning of forty days given him to be gone out of the kingdom, sur peine d'estre pris come enemy du Roy & ranceone; & qe desore en avant▪ nul collectour soit demoerant deinz le Royalme d' Engleterre, s'ilne soit lige du Roy, & qe mesme cestui face nul rien a contraire de l'estatute de Provisors fait en cest present Parliament, sur peine de vie & de member, sanz pardon, considerant les meschiefs & damages qe les Collectors estranges ount faitz deinz le Royalme devant ces heures. But to this the answer only is, Le Roys ' advisera.  
21. After these petitions and laws, however they sufficiently barred the Court of Rome from meddling with this Church, and enough showed the right of the Kingdom in reforming of itself, and redressing all inconveniences came unto it from beyond sea; yet the King having a power of dispensing with those statutes, this mischief ensued: divers who easily obtained letters of provision to a good benefice from the Papacy, sued to the King (who held fair correspondency with the Popes) that they might put his bulls in execution; who delayed his concessions sometimes a year or longer, after the vacation of the living, during which the Ordinary had admitted some able person into the place, who then began to be disturbed: for prevention of which, the 
a 7 Hen. 4. cap. 8. 3 Hen. 5. cap. 4.  statutes of 7. Hen. 4. and 3. Hen. 5. were made, that no licence should be available against any possessed of a living at the day of the date thereof, and farther to make void all so granted. After 
⸪ Concordata inter Martinum 5. & Ecclesiam Anglicanam in Actis publicis Archiepisc. & in Bibliotheca Cotton. Manuser.  which the contract, too long to be here inserted, between Martin the 5. and the English Church, for settling several disputes of Ecclesiastic cognizance, as of uniting benefices, consolidations, etc. was concluded; in which the Papacy seems to permit such particulars to the English Clergy, as they would not be restrained in, though formerly claimed not to be exercised but by his authority. Yet the 8. Hen. 5. n. 10. the Commons petition, qe nul person, de quel estate ou condition qu'il soit, ne amesne etc. horse du Royalme d' Engleterre— or ne argent pour merchandise de seinte Esglise, ou autre grace ou privilege d'seinte Esglise avoir, ne pour autre cause queconque, etc.  
22. It would be here tedious, and not greatly pertinent, to repeat all the provisions made in this kind, for the well-governing the Clergy of this Kingdom, and preserving of them free of destruction from abroad; which yet were never such, but the Pope and his officers did export a great quantity of treasure from them. William thorn hath recorded the disbursements to the Court of Rome at the election of Michael Abbot of Saint Augustine 1375. not to have been less than 428l.— 17s.— 10d. beside the expense of such as were sent, and what was paid for the loan of money to make these payments, viz. 130l.— 18s.— 2d. Our Historians 
b Antiquitat. eccles. Britann. in vita Cranmeri pag. 381. 2. edit. 1572. Hall 24. Hen. 8. fol. cciii. a. Herb. in Hen. 8. p. 330.  observe, in the Parliament held 1532. 23 Hen. 8. it was computed, the Papacy had received out of England for only the Investitures of Bishoprics, in the forty years' last passed, an hundred and sixty thousand pound sterling, which is four thousand pound by the year: an incredible sum, considering the poverty of the Realm for lack of silver, the weight of the money than currant, and the strict laws of former Princes against such like transportations.  
23. Thus having showed the beginning of the Papal authority with us, and how from the general power all Bishops received from Christ, and the fatherly care such as were instrumental in the conversion of a people did carry to them as their spiritual children, and the obedience they likewise yielded to their ghostly fathers, the Pope began by steps (as I may say) to exercise a dominion over the Clergy here, and not stopping there, upon various pretences, by several ways, and (as it appears) degrees, to become so far lord of their temporals, that they might not dispose of them, well, contrary to his liking, because he had the sole rule of all committed to him from Christ: the first point I conceive sufficiently proved, viz. that what was gained thus by great industry, at sundry times, by several means, could no way speak his superintendency over this Church jure divino.  
The second point remains, whether our Princes, by the advice of their Clergy, had not authority to cause them reform this Church, without any new assumption of power, not formerly invested in the Crown: which leads me to show what the Regal power in sacris was here held to be, before Hen. the 8. and Rome divided each from other.   

CHAP. V.  
How far the Regal power did extend itself in matters ecclesiastical.  
1. BEfore I enter into the dispute of the right the kings of England did exercise in the regiment of this Church, I hold it not unnecessary to see, in what Divines hold ecclesiastic authority doth consist. 
a De Roman● Pontif. lib. 4. cap. 22. §. 1.  Bellarmine, 
b Sum Eccles. lib. 1. cap. 93, 96.  Turrecremata and others divide spiritual power into Ordinis, which they refer to the administration of the Sacraments; and jurisdictionis, which they hold double, internal, where the Divine by persuasions, wholesome instructions, ghostly counsel, and the like, so convinces the inward conscience, as it is wholly obedient to his dictates, such as those of St. Peter were Acts two. 37. and external, where the Church in foro exteriori compels the Christians obedience. Now for the first and second of these, the King did not take upon him at all to meddle: for he neither assumed to himself a power of preaching, teaching, binding, or losing in foro animae, administering the holy Sacraments, conferring Orders, nor to any particular is properly annexed to them; only to such things as are of the outward policy of the Church, as that God may be truly served, such as transgress the received lawful constitutions even of the Church, fitly punished, by the right of his Crown, the continued practice of his Ancestors, he could not doubt but he might deal in, causing all others, be they Clerks or other, that offend, to suffer condign punishment.  
2. For the better understanding how far the ecclesiastic rule of our Princes did extend, we are to know, they were never doubted to have the same within their dominions, Constantine had in the Empire; and our Bishops to have that St. Peter had in the Church. Ego Constantini, vos Petri gladium habetis in manibus, said King Edgar to his Clergy, in that his speech so 
e apud Ailredum col. 361, 16. Bea●o Petro cujus vicem Episcopi gerunt. Capitul. Carol. & Ludovic. lib. 5. cap. 163.  recommended to posterity. And therefore, as after the Christian magistrate began to have government, affairs of most concernment in the Church (as is 
d Socrat. prolog. ad lib. 5. Hist.  said) had their dependence on the Emperor, the greatest Synods called by him, and the holy men of those times did not doubt the continuing to him the title of Pontifex maximus, as 
e tom. 3. Anno 312. n. 100  Baronius notes, sine ulla Christianitatis labe; and as 
* Euseb. de vita Constantini lib. 4. cap. 24.  Constantine did esteem the ecclesiastics 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, but himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, them for things within, but himself for matters without by God appointed a Bishop: so the same King Edgar, 
f Flor. Wigorn. Anno 974. p. 360.  no less to be remembered by the English then Charles the Great by the French, was 
g Regularis concordia etc. notis Seldeni ad Eadmer. pag. 146, 16. & 155, 6, 15. & Concil. Spelm. pag. 437. cap. 7. pag. 438. cap. 8. vide leg. Edwardi cap. 17.  solicitous of the Church of his Kingdom, veluti Domini sedulus Agricola, and Pastorum Pastor, was reputed and writ himself the Vicar of Christ, and by his 
h Concil. Spelm. à pag. 444, ad pag. 476.  laws and Canons assured the world he did not in vain assume those titles, and yet sine ulla Christianitatis labe, so far as antiquity ever noted.  
3. What particulars those were the Emperors did hold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to be without the Church, belonging as I may say to their Episcopacy, nothing can better teach us then their commands yet remaining in the laws they published; as in Cod. Theodos. de feriis, de nuptiis, etc. de fide catholica, de Episcopis eccleis. & Clericis, de Monachis, de Haereticis, de Apostatis, de religione, de episcopali judicio, etc. Cod. Iust. lib. 1. Tit. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. & passim in eo: and in the Novels, Novel. 6. Quomodo oporteat episcopos & caeteros clericos ad ordinationes perduci. Novel. 137. de ordinatione Episcoporum & Clericorum. The prefaces to which two laws are remarkable: the first showing the Priestly office is Divinis ministrare, and the Princely, maximam habere sollicitudinem circa vera D. idogmata, & circa sacerdotum honestatem, etc. the other beginning thus, Si civibus leges, quarum potestatem nobis Deus pro sua in homines benignitate credidit, firm as ab omnibus custodiri ad obedientium securitatem studemus, quanto plus studii adhibere debemus circa sacrorum Canonum & divinarum legum custodiam? And accordingly Novel. 123. in 43 chapters he did establish many particulars pertaining to the government of the Church and Churchmen; and Novel. 131. not only 
l cap. 1.  appointed the observance of the four first general Counsels, but 
m cap. 2, 3, 4.  decrees the place or precedency of the Pope of Rome and Archbishop of Constantinople should be according to their definitions above all other seats, and how far the Dioceses of some Chairs by him newly erected should extend, besides other points in several chapters to the number of 15, 
See Novel. 146.  treating of particulars solely held now of ecclesiastic cognizance; as did likewise Charles the Great, and Ludovicus Pius in their capitulars in very many places. But with these I have not took upon me farther here to meddle, then by naming some, to show, they having been practised by Emperors, the Kings of England, endowed from above with the same authority in ecclesiasticis, might very lawfully within their dominions exercise the like: the question therefore will be, what they did understand their power in the Church to be, and accordingly how far they did extend it in use.  
4. As for the first, nothing can speak more clear than what themselves published on mature and sad deliberation, yet remaining in their laws; in which we find the Regal office thus 
n Leg. Edw. Confes. cap. 17. pag. 142.  described: Rex, quia vicarius sammi Regis est, ad hoc est constitutus, ut regnum terrenum, & populum Domini, &, super omnia, sanctam veneretur ecclesiam ejus, & regat, & ab injuriosis d●fendat: and a little after, Debet Rex Deum timere super omnia, & diligere, & mandata ejus per totum regnum suum servare; debet etiam sanctam ecclesiam regni sui, cum omni integritate & libertate, juxta constitutiones patrum & praedecessorum, servare, fovere, manutenere, regere, & contra inimicos defendere, ita ut Deus prae caeteris honoretur, & prae oculis semper habeatur, etc.  
Canutus, 
o Leg. Canut. cap. 11. pag. 109. jorval. capite 31. col. 923. vide cap. 25. pag. 106. jorval. cap. 23.  Nobis omni ope atque opera enitendum erit, qua potissimum ratione ea exquiramus consilia, quae ad Reipublicae pertinent utilitatem, pietatem confirment Christianam, atque omnem funditus injustitiam evertant, etc. jorvalensis renders it, quomodo possit— recta Christianitas propensius erigi.  
Ina, 
p Leg. Inae in praefat. pag. 1. apud jorval. col. 761, 41.  In magna servorum Dei frequentia religiose stud bam, tum 
* ●apla Saxon.  animorum nostrorum saluti, tum communi regni nostri conservationi; which jorvalensis reads, sollicitus de salute animarum nostrarum & de statu regni, showing the care both of his subjects souls and bodies, however after a differing way, did in some measure pertain unto him.  
5. Neither did these expressions pass only from the worst of our Kings; but from Ina, Rex maxime pius, as 
q tom. 9 Anno 740. n. 14. See Hunt, fol. 194, 30, 42.  Baronius styles him; from Canutus, who not only himself 1031. went in devotion to Rome, but was acknowledged 
r Fubbert, Carnotensis epist. 97. fol. 93. a. edit. Paris. 1608.  erga ecclesias atque Dei servos benignissimus largitor; Edward the Confessor, a canonised Saint; famous for being the best Kings and holiest men: who did not only leave us in their laws the King's part, but what they conceived likewise the Bishops was, viz. to be 
s Leg. Canut. cap. 26. pag. 106. apud jorval. cap. 24. col. 922, 17.  Dei praecones, divini juris interprete, that they were rerum divinarum commoda praedicare palam, that for and to the people they should vigilare, excubare, proclamare, etc. as those that 
t Sequor in reliquis jorvalensem.  contra spirituales nequitias debent populo praevidere, by letting them know, qui Dei praeceptis obedire negl●xerit, hic cum ipso Deo commune non habeat. And this is that sword of St. Peter mentioned by King Edgar, which when the holy Bishops of the primitive times did only put in execution, they neither found Princes backward in supporting their designs, nor people refractory to their exhortations. Thus we see, as they declared the office of a King, they were not silent in that of a Bishop, showing how either laboured in his way the reducing people to piety, and a virtuous life; the one by making good laws for compelling the wicked, the other by giving such instructions as convinced the inward man.  
6. So that we often meet with the Prince extending his commands to the same things the Priest did his persuasions: as  
I. In point of Sacraments, 
u Jorval. cap. 2. col. 761.  That children should be baptised within 30 days after birth. Leg. Inae cap. 2. pag. 1.  
II. And, because it seems some Priests were negligent performers of that duty, 
x jorval. leg. Aluredi cap. 5. col. 830.  That such as were not prepared, or denied the baptising of them, should be punished. Leg. Ed. & Guthruni cap. 3. pag. 42. excerptiones Egberti cap. 10, 11, 12. in council. Spelm. pag. 259. where you may observe the King's precept to impose on the transgressor the payment of 12 
y What Ora was, see Mr. Sumners Glossary.  ora, but the Bishops to be only persuasive.  
III. No person to be admitted to the Eucharist, be a Godfather, receive confirmation from a Bishop, not knowing the Pater Noster and Belief. Canon's dati sub Edgaro & legibus ejus annexi, cap. 17. 22. p. 67. & 
z jorval. cap. 23. col. 921. 57  Leg. Canuti cap. 22. p. 105. Spelm. Concil. cap. 22. pag. 599.  
IV. That persons instructed should receive the Communion thrice every year. 
a Jorvalensis cap. 21. col. 921. 57  Leg. Canut. cap. 19 p. 104.  
V. Restrained by their laws matrimony to the 6th degree of consanguinity. 
b Apud jorval. cap. 11 co. 919  Leg. Canut. cap. 7. p. 101.  
VI Reserved to themselves a liberty of dispensing with the marriage even of Nuns. 
e jorval. cap. 9 col. 823.  Leg. Alured. cap. 8. p. 25. And it is not to be forgot, in that particular, Lanfrank joins the King's advice (as a person of equal power) with his own, 
⸫ Lanfranc. Epist. 32.  & hoc est, saith he, consilium Regis & nostrum.  
VII. Commanded th' observance of Lent principali auctoritate. Beda lib. 3. cap. 8.  
VIII. Appointed certain days to be held festival by the better sort, but allowed the servant and labourer to work in them. 
d jorvalensis cap. 50. col. 826, 60.  Leg. Aluredi cap. 39 pag. 33. which the laws of Canutus seem after to take away. 
e jorval. cap. 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, col. 927. vide ibidem col. 920. cap. 17, 18, 19, 20. Thorn col. 2197, 15.  Leg. Canut. cap. 42, 43. pag. 118. See there pag. 103. cap. 14, 16, 17. which was likewise exercised 1393. by Richard the 2.  
I omit here their edicts for the observation of the Lords day, payment of Tithes, Incontinency, and such like, (held now merely of Ecclesiastic cognizance) for the multiplicity of them.  
IX. Divided old, and erected new Bishoprics. Beda lib. 3. cap. 7. lib. 4. cap. 12. lib. 5. cap. 19  
And yet this is that 
f de eccles. lib. 4. cap. 8. §. Nota tertio.  Cardinal Bellarmine holds a point of so high concernment, no man can do it without authority obtained from Rome: which yet we never read to have been asked, 
⸫ Florent. Wigor. p. 559.  though Theodore 679 erected five (consensu Regis) at one time; and some other altogether without the Pope's liking, as those in the North, after th' expulsion of Wilfrid. Confer Beda lib. 4. cap. 12. cum libro 5. cap. 20. But of this before.  
X. Caused the Clergy of their Kingdom to meet in counsels. Malms. fol. 26. a. 38. and sometimes presided themselves in them, though the Pope's Legate were present. Concil. Spelm. pag. 292, 293. pag. 189, & passim ibid. Vita Lanfranci cap. 6. col. 1. pag. 7. Vide Florent. Wigorn. An. 1070. pag. 434.  
7. Of the Crowns commanding in these particulars, it is apparent to have been in possession, the Pope seeing and not interrupting any whit, whilst the Saxon and Dane bore here the sway; when, to speak truth, it seems to me not so much to have been insisted on, by whose authority the thing commanded was done, as a care taken of all sides nothing should be required but just, and pious; which made each precept, without dispute, from what author soever it proceeded, be readily yielded unto: and so the Normans found it, under whom the first contentions (concerning jurisdiction) with the See of Rome began. For before William the first possessed himself of this Crown, it is certain, the English Bishops had no ordinary Courts distinguished from the Lay, but both secular and ecclesiastic Magistrate fate and judged together, what pertained ad observantiam religiovis locis suis, & à suae diaoeceseos synodis; as was likewise the custom 
* Carol. & Ludovic. cap. lib. 6. cap. cxi.  in France.  
8. This were enough manifest, in that we find the Lay not only present, but subscribers to many of our ancient 
g in council. Spelman. passim.  Counsels; did not the laws of 
h apud jorval. col. 845, 36.  Ethelstan, 
i cap. 5. p. 64. jorval. pag. 872, 13. cap. 10.  Edgar, 
k cap. 17. pag. 3. jorval. cap. 38. pag. 924.  Canutus farther assure us. It is probable, inferior judicatures did refer matters of doubt to the greater Courts or scy●egemor, to be held twice a year, as the former edicts and 
l Concil. Calcuith, apud Spelman. cap. 3. pag. 293.  some Counsels did establish: which produced that care in the Council of 
m pud Spelman. council. p. 3●0. cap. 9  Celichyth 816. the Bishop should transcribe judgements given in qualicunque synodo of what pertained to his diocese, and he to keep one copy, and the party whom it concerned another of such determination (which I take to be those laws mentioned by 
n Ead●erus apud Gervasium Dorobernensem, col. 1292, 18.  Eadmerus, which as they were reposed in some parts of the Church, so were the pleas (as it seems) usually 
o Apud Gervas' & Sim Dunelm. five Turgot. de Du●elmensi ecclesia lib. 3. cap. 10 col. 35. 6.  there held.) But the Conqueror, finding these proceedings to be non bene, neque secundum sanctorum canonum praecepta, etc. did by his Charter make a distinction of the Courts, that such as were convented by the Bishop should answer non secundum Hundred, sed secundum canon's & episcopales leges etc. The Charter to Remigius Bishop of Lincoln is upon record, 
p See it in Sr. Ed. Cook Inst. 4. cap. 53. p. 259.  published by many, and was certainly by the Conqueror directed to every Diocese through the Kingdom: for I have seen in an hand of 
q in antiquo Manusur.  Edward the first one for London, testifying it was then found in the Episcopal register there.  
9 When this past the King, whether at the Pope's Legates being here for deposing Stygand 1070. (about which time Historians remember he made some beginning for settling the English laws, and is therefore likely to have then past this) or when they were here for settling the dispute between York and Canterbury, or at what other time, is uncertain. Yet I cannot deny, it seemeth to me to have given th' occasion of those expressions in 
r apud Baron. tom. 2. Anu. 1071. n. 9  Alexander the 2. his letter to him, that the world, in maligno positus, plus solito pravis incumbat studiis; tamen inter mundi principes & rectores egregiam vestrae religionis famam intelligimus, & quantum honoris sanctae Ecclesiae tum Simoniacae vires opprimendo, (which is apparently spoken of Stygand) tum catholicae libertatis usus & officia (by which questionless he points at this charter) confirmando, vestra virtus impendat, non dubia relatione cognoscimus, etc. Now certainly, if he did grant it during the life of the Pope, it must not have been after 1073. in which year he died. I confess, I have not met with any clear example of the practice of it during the reigns of that King, or either of his children: For though Anselm about 1106. writes to Henry the first, (who had punished certain Clerks not observing the decrees of a Council held at Westminster 1102) 
t Eadmer. p. 85, 40.  quod hactenus inauditum & inusitatum in ecclesia Dei de ullo Rege & de aliquo principe; non enim pertinet secundum legem Dei hujusmodi culpam vindicare, nisi ad singulos episcopos per suas parochias: yet I conceive this is to be interpreted of the King doing it alone without the Bishop, not when they both joined together after the manner then in use, which himself elsewhere 
u apud Ead●er. pag. 24, ●8.  advises Rufus unto; Conemur una, tu regia potestate & ego Pontificali authoritate, quatenus tale quid inde statuatur, quod cum per totum fuerit regnum divulgatum, solo etiam auditu, quicunque illius fautor est paveat & deprimatur. I can take this for no other, but that in the laws of 
x Apud I orvalensem, col. 845, 36.  Ethclstan, Debent episcopicum seculi judicibus interesse judiciis, ne permittant, si possint, ut aliqua pravitatum germina pullulaverint. And the laws of 
y Leg. Hen. 1. cap. 7. p. 180. 30.  Henry the first are express, the use to have continued in his days; for they approve the ancient institution, That generalia Comitatuum placita certis locis & vicibus convenire debere, That the judges in those Courts were Episcopi, Comites, Vicedomini, etc. The causes they dealt in, and order of proceeding, agantur primo debita verae Christianitatis jura, secundo Regis placita, postremo causae singulorum, etc. And why may not certa loca here be what Anselm calls Parochia, the Conqueror Hundred?  
10. But good laws are not always suddenly put in execution; 
Leges instituuntur cum promulgantur, firmantur cum moribus utentium approbantur. Dist. 4. cap. 3.  and this of the Conqueror we may take to have slept, till towards the beginning of King Stephen's time it had got some strength, for than we meet with plain precedents of the Ecclesiastic Courts being severed from the Lay. Theobald of Canterbury molesting the monastery of St. Augustine's concerning certain Privileges granted from the Papacy, th' Abbot obtained a bull from Innocentius 2. of the 20 November 1139. in his houses favour, in which the Pope expostulates with th' Archbishop, 
z Habetur haec bulla in splendido Ms. reposito in aula Stae. Trinitatis Cantabr. ante 200. annos exarato, & in alio Ms. optime notae ante quadringentos annos scripto in Scachario. fol. 49. b.  quod occasione privilegii nostri, idem monasterium vehementer infestas, & ecclesias eidem coenobio pertinentes eundem abbatem ordinare non sins, quin potius violent a dominatione ecclesias eorum firmatas diceris infregisse, & presbyteros tous, invito Abbate, & ejusdem loci fratribus, contra Romanae ecclesiae privilegia, quibus idem coenobium est munitum, in eyes ponere praesumpsisse: nec his contentus, abbatem ipsum, & homines ejus, ad placitandum super hoc in curiam tuam, prout asserunt, praesumptuose traxisti, eisque ob eam rem poevam molieris infligere, etc.  
11. William thorn, who 
a Col. 1800. 46.  mentions this 1139. 4. Steph. observes (which is warranted by the bull itself) quod iste Theobaldus primo Abbatem & conventum ad causas trahere conatus est, and is the first I have noted in which th' ecclesiastics alone did force men to plead in their Courts; which, as it doth prove they then had them, so we may conclude them not long to have been possessed of that power: for it is altogether improbable, if that act of King William had been in his and his son's time generally practise't, but some Archbishop, in above fifty years, might have attempted as much, if not to the Abbot, at least to some other; as after this the examples are frequent, of which one in the 122 epistle of johannes Sarisburiensis is not unworthy the remembering. Symphorian a Clergyman of York, accused one Osbert, Archdeacon of the same Church, before king Stephen, the Bishops and Lords, 1154. for making away William the late Archbishop of that See by poison. A question grew, to whether Court this cause belonged. The King affirmed it to belong to the temporal, for the heinousness of the fact, and because it was first entered upon in his presence. But before the decision Stephen died, and Henry the 2. succeeded; de cujus manibus (saith my Author) vix cum summa difficultate, in manu valida, cum indignatione Regis & omnium procerum, jam dictam causam ad examen ecclesiasticum revocavimus; from whence it was by Appeal carried to Rome.  
12. But what this manus valida should be, that took the case from the King, I cannot imagine: for it is undoubted, in all disputes of this nature, the King's Courts have been ever judges to what Court the cause did belong. Bracton speaks very clearly; 
b Lib. 5. de exceptionibus cap. 15. §. 3. fol. 412. a.  judex ecclesiasticus cum prohibitionem à Rege susceperit, supersedere debet in omnicasu, saltem donec constiterit in curia Regis ad quem pertineatat jurisdictio: quia si judex Ecclesiasticus aestimare possit an sua esset jurisdictio, in omni casu indifferenter procederet non obstante regia prohibition, etc. and 1080 William the first, in a 
c Concil. Illebon. cap. 47. apud Ordericum Vitalem p. 552, 554.  Council at Illebon in Normandy, by th' advice of both estates, Ecclesiastic and Secular, did settle many particulars to belong to the cognizance of the spiritual judge; and concludes, that if any thing were further claimed by them, they should not enter upon it, donec in curia Regis monstrent quod habere debeant. Neither were the Lay to molest them in the exercise of aught there mentioned, Donec in curia Regis monstrent quod Episcopi inde habere non debeant. So in both reserving the decision to his own Courts, of what pertained to each: in so much as, what that strong hand should be, did thus take this from the King, I must profess not to understand. And that our Kings had ever an inspection over those Courts, is not to be doubted, by the Charge against Becket, in which Henry the 2. urgeth, 
d Apud Ger. Dorobern. col. 1389, 37. An● 1164. see Rot. Parl. at Leicester, 2. Hen. 5. pet. des Coes. 5.  quod cuidam johanni coram ipso litiganti plenam justitiam non exhibuit, & super hoc ad Regis praesentiam vocatus, venire contempsit. To which th' Archbishop answered, praefato johanni condignam non defuisse justitiam, & johannem non legaliter curiam suam infamasse, qui non super evangelium, ut moris est, sed super veterem cantuum codicillum, quem secum tuler at, voluerit pejer are, etc. and for his not attending the King, to give him satisfaction in the point, pleaded th' excuse of sickness; yet for that contempt was adjudged to lose his moveables.  
By which it is evident, th' Archbishop did then 
e Gervas'. Dorobern. col. 1389, 42. Hoveden, An. 1165. fol. 283, a. ●2.  exact oaths of such as were called into his Court, that he was to give an account to the King of his carriage in it, who by his constitutions hath ever directed the manner of proceedings in it. See Mat. Paris Anno 1247. pag. 727, 29. Anno 1246. pag. 716. 1. But of this 
f n. 17. §. xvii.  more hereafter.  
13. The Conqueror, though he did show so much compliance with the Romanist, as not to deny any thing former Kings had acknowledged to the Papacy as due, yet farther than 
g W mu●. Cregor. 7. inter Lanfrance. ep. 7. p. 304. & apud Baron. tom. 11. An. 1079. n. 25.  they had gone would in nothing submit unto it: and as they had by their edicts guided the ecclesiastic affairs of this kingdom, so he proceeded in his laws, 
h Hoveden, fol. 343. a. 19  à l gibus sanctae matris Ecclesiae sumens exordium, as did his son 
i Leg. Hen. 1. cap. 5, 7. & p●ssim ibidem.  Henry the 1. How far they did conceive this their power to extend in those to matters, nothing can better teach us then the laws they and such as came after them (princes against whom no exceptions can lie) established, and usages they maintained as the rights of the Kingdom, in opposition of all encroachments whatsoever.  
14. To enumerate all these Privileges (I conceive them with our ancestors better called Rights) I hold impossible, the foundation or ground upon which they are built being that power the divine wisdom hath invested the secular Magistrate with, for preservation of his Church and people in peace, against all emergencies from whomsoever proceeding; as the Bishops of the Province of Canterbury writ to Thomas Becket 1167. 
k Apud Hoved fol. 292. b. 5.  Rex à Domino constitutus paci providet subjectorum per omnia; ut hanc conservet Ecclesiis, & commissis sibi populis, dignitates Regibus ante se debitas & exhibitas sibi vult exhiberi. And this issuing from so great authority, as in effect the body of all the Clergy of the realm, cannot be imagined to be other than the constant opinion of th' English Church. In what these Rights have been put in practice in opposition to Rome (of which I now treat) may in some sort be told: but to say these they are, and no other, is that I mean cannot be. So that we may say the affirmative, these they are, but not the negative, others they are not. Therefore Eadmerus will have it of the Conqueror, that 
l Eadmer. p. 6. 21.  Cuncta divina simul & humana ejus nutum expectabant, that is in foro exteriori; insomuch as, when the Clergy 1530. gave the King the title of Head of the Church, they intended no other than their forefathers, when they called him the 
m Mat Paris An. 1241. pag. 555. 15.  Defender, Patron, governor, 
n Epist. Vniversu. Angliae ibid. An. 1245. pag. 667. 38. ibidem.  Tutor of it.  
15. Which the French do attribute to their Kings with more hard expressions; 
o Claude Fauchet en les libertes de l' Esglise Gallicane in 4 to. à Paris 1612. avec Privilege, p. 234. & 1639. p. 179.  Ce que monster (says one) que les evesques de ce temps la, estimerent le Roy, assistè de son conseil d' estate, estre apres Dieu Chef terrien de l' Esglise de son royalme, & non pas le Pape, in the negative: Which another 
p Charles' le Say ibid. pag. 287. in edit. 1639. p. 230.  explains thus, Ce n'est point pour cela que je vueille dire, ce que aucuns ount trop indistinctement proferè, que les dits Roys & Princes Souveraignes soient en leurs estates privativement à tous autres, Chefs uniques & absolus de l' Esglise, & de tous les minister d' icelle; car pour lereguard de ce que concerne le maniement des choses purement sacrees, come l' administration de la parole de Dieu, & des Sacrements, & la puissance de lier ou delier, voire de regler en particulier le dedans de chacune Esglise, la sur-intendance en appartient aux Evesques, & autres Chefs de la Hierarchy Ecclesiastic, a chascun selon leur rang & degr●. Then showing by a comparison, that as the head-Architect leaves to his inferior Agents the use of such instruments as are proper for their undertake; so, il n' appartient poynt au Roy de manier les choses sacrees, ny supporter comme l' on dit l' arche d' alliance, ils doivent laisser cela a ceux de la vocation; mais ils peuvent voire so●● tenuz devant Dieu, veiller sans cease, & avoir l' oeil ouvert a ce que ceux de cest ordre & profession principale, aussi bien que ceux des autres moindres, apportent enloyaute & said conscience tout soin, diligence, purity, & sincerite, au maniement des charges a eux commises, conformement a leur loix, regles & canons; lesquels au cas qu' ils serroient negligez, & ●ffacez par la rouille de l' antiquity, ou que par la malice des hommes il fust besoign d' enfaire des noveaux, ils sont tenu user de leur puissance, pourn y sapporter des remedes, soit par leur Ordonances & pragmatiques, soit par leurs jugements, arrests, & executions d' iceux. e'est ce qu'en France nos predecesseurs ont tousjours appelle, la police exterieure sur l' Esglise, de la quelle les Emperors, Roys & Princes on't use & jovy sans contredit, tant que l' esglise s'est conservee en sapurete, & qu' aucuns d' icelle ne se sont ingerez, sortants de leurs bornes & l. miles d' usurper les functions Royales. Insomuch as Benign Miletot doth not only affirm their Kings to be 
q du delict commun p. 528. edi●●onis 16, 9  Chess, Protecteurs, & Conservateurs de leur esglise Gallicane; but pag. 657. recites a speech of th' Archbishop of Vienna made to Henry the 4. 1605. in which he did affirm, que le Roy estcit le Coeur & la Teste de l. ur corpse.  
16. And other Headship than this I do not know to have been ever attributed to any of our Princes: Certainly they did never take on them the exercise of any thing purely sacred, but as supreme 
r 26. Hen. 8. cap. 1. 1. Eliz. cap. 1.  Head, Rulers or Governors, under God, by their Commissioners (of which such as bore most sway were ever the Spirituality) to visit, reform, redress etc. all errors, Heresies, schisms, abuses, etc. And for that the rust of antiquity (as that author styles it) had much overspread the Canons of the Church, 
t Stat. 3. & 4. Ed. 6. cap. 11. see before. 25. lien. 8. cap. 19 27. Hen. 8. cap. 15. 35. Hen. 8. cap. 16.  to assign sixteen of the Clergy, whereof four to be Bishops, and as many of the Lay, of which four to be learned in the Common laws of this realm, to peruse and examineth ' ecclesiastical laws of long time here used, and to gather, order and compile such laws ecclesiastical, as shall be thought to his Majesty, his said 
* Council.  Counsel, and them or the more part of them, to be practised and set forth within this realm. In pursuance of which, the 11. November 5º of Edward the 6. he nominated two Bishops, two Divines, two Doctors of the Law, two Esquires, to supervise the ecclesiastic laws of this Kingdom, and to compile such a body as were fit to be put in practice within his Dominions; whose intendments (for it passed no further) were after printed by john Day 1571. and are no other than what the French (for the manner of doing) maintain their King might do: neither doth th' Inquisition of Spain publish any thing of that nature, without th' allowance of their King, as I shall show 
u cap 7. n. 12.  hereafter.  
17. So that, in my opinion, the question cannot be, whether Princes are not capable of such a Right; but whether it were invested in the Crown formerly, and made good by such a continued practice, as might authorize ours to take that title (when offered by the Clergy 1530.) as well as the French Kings have, without encroaching on that power th' ecclesiastics had, and by our laws ought to exercise in England. Now, certain, our Kings did in many things go along with the French in causes ecclesiastical: 
x Mat. Paris Anno 1247. p. 727, 26.  Rex Anglorum, exemplum accipiens ab illis Baronibus qui sua statuta sanxerunt in Francia, quibus & Dominus Francorum favorem jam praebuit, & sigillum apposuit, etc. Clement the 7. being held prisoner 1527. by th' Emperor, the 18 th'. of August Cardinal Woolsy made an agreement with the French, for settling ●h' ecclesiastic government of each Kingdom during the Pope's captivity. For the French, I shall remit the reader to the 
y Preuves des libertes de l' esglise Callicane, cap. 20 n. 33, p. 529.  Deed which is printed; but th' English were to be such as should be agreed to, praelatis accitis de mandato & auctoritate praedicti invictissimi Angliae Regis, whose determinations were to be consensu ejusde invictissimi Angliae Regis. But where 
z Hist. Hen. 8. p. 219.  my Lord Herbert conceius this to have been the first taste our King took in governing the Clergy, I can no way be of his opinion; for, without peradventure, the Cardinal neither did nor durst have moved one step in making the ecclesiastics less depend on the Papacy, than the Common law or custom of the realm warranted, knowing he must without that back have lost not only Clement the 7. but all Popes and the Court of Rome, which must and had been his support, on the declining favour of so heady and dangerous a Prince as Henry the 8 th', had he not cast off both the Cardinal and his obedience to that See almost together. But how much he had the Clergy before this under his government, the History of 
a See Hall 6. Hen. 8.  Richard Hun is witness sufficient: and the rights the Conqueror and his successors were ever in contest with the Papacy about, and maintained as the laws & customs of the Realm, enough show they did not command th' ecclesiastics hear according to the will of any foreign potentate, nor were mere lookers on, whilst another governed the English Church: some of which I shall therefore here set down.  
I. They 
b Eadmer▪ p. 6, 26, ride epist. Hen. ●●ic●ley in vita ejus, edit. 1617. p. 77, 78.  admitted none to be taken for Pope but by the King's appointment.  
II. 
c Eadmer. ibid. & pag. 113, 1. Thorn, col. 2152, 1. & 2194, 18. & alibi. Cook Inst. 3. p. 127.  None to receive letters from him without showing them to the King, who caused all words prejudicial to him or his crown to be renounced by the bringers, or receivers of them.  
III. 
d Eadmer. p. 24. 5. 11.  Permitted no counsels, but by their liking, to assemble; which gained the name of convocations; as that 
e Stat. 25. Hen. 8. cap. 19  always hath been and aught to be assembled by the King's writ.  
IV. 
f Mat. Paris Anno 1237. p. 447, 51.  Caused some to sit in them might supervise the actions, and legato ex parte Regis & regni inhiberent, ne ibi contra Regiam coronam & dignitatem aliquid statuere attentaret: and when any did otherwise, he was forced to retract that he had done, as 
g Vide Seld. de Synedriis part. 1. p. 373.  did Peckham; or were 
h Lyndwood de ●oro competenti, cap. 1. Gloss. 1.  in paucis servatae, as those of Boniface.  
V. 
i Eadmer. p. 6, 29.  Suffered no Synodical degree to be of force, but by their allowance and confirmation. 
k Flor. Wigorn. Anno 1127. p. 505.  Rex auditis concilii gestis, consensum praebuit, auctoritate regia & potestate concessit & confirmavit statuta concilii à Gulielmo, Cantuariensi Archiepiscopo, & sanctae Romanae ecclesiae legato, apud Westmonasterium celebratt. 
l Gervas'. Dorobern. Anno 1175. col. 1429, 18.  In hoc concilio, ademendationem ecclesiae Anglicanae, assensu Domini Regis & primorum omnium regni, haec subscripta promulgata sunt capitula, etc.  
VI Permitted no Bishop to 
m Eadmer. p. 6. 31.  excommunicate, or inflict any ecclesiastic censure on any Baron or Officer, nisi ejus praecepto.  
VII. 
n M. Paris Additament. p. 200 num. 7. See Articuli cleri 9 Ed. 2. cap▪ 7.  Caused the Bishops appear in their Courts, to give account why they excommunicated the subject.  
VIII. 
o ibid. n. 10.  Caused such as were imprisoned, after forty days standing excommunicate, to be freed by writ, without th' assent of the Prelate, or satisfaction giving; 
p ibid. n. 12.  the King and his judges communicating with them tam in divinis quam profanis, 
q ibid. n. 13.  and commanding none to shun them, though by the Ordinary denounced excommunicate.  
IX. 
r Eadmer. p. 58, 40. p. 113, 1 p. 118, 28.  Suffered no Legate enter England but with their leave; of which before.  
X. 
s Eadmer. p. 115, 23, 31.  Determined matters of Episcopacy, inconsulto Romano Pontifice.  
XI. Permitted no Appeal to Rome; of which before.  
XII. 
t Flor. Wigorn. Anno 1070. p. 536. Hunt. fol. 219. a. 1.  Bestowed Bishoprics on such as they liked, and 
u Eadmer. p. 95. Flor. Wigorn. Anno 1109.  translated Bishops from one See to another.  
XIII. Erected new Bishoprics: so did Hen. the 1. 1109. Ely, taking it out of Lincoln, 
x Johannes Hagulstad. col. 257, 48.  Carlisle 1133. out of York or rather Duresme: but of this before.  
XIV. 
y Vide Cook Instit. 2. p. 625.  Commanded by writ their Bishops to residency.  
XV. 
z Rot. Parl. 16. March 3. Hen. 5. n. 11. Anno 1414. Io●n 23. ●ope.  Commanded their Bishops, by reason of Schism, vacancy of the Popedom, etc. not to seek confirmation from Rome, but the Metropolitan to be charged by the Kings writ to bestow it on the elected.  
XVI. 
a Mat. Paris Additament, p. 200. n. 6.  Placed by a lay hand Clerks in Prebendary or Parochial Churches, Ordinariis penitus irrequisitis. And it is not here unworthy the remembering, that VVm Lyndwood, a very learned Canonist, who writ about an 100 years before Henry the 8 this difference with Clement the 7. finding the Crown in possession of this particular not agreeing with the rules of the Canon law, is so perplexed, as in the end he finds no way to make the act valid, 
b De cohabitatione Clericorum & Mulierum, cap. 1. ad verbum Beneficiati, fol. 64. b.  but that he doth it by Papal privilege: For if by prescription, Episcopo s●iente & tolerante, it could not be good; for though the King might confer the temporals of the Church, non tamen potest dare jure suo potestatem circa spiritualia, viz. circa ea quae pertinent ad regimen ecclesiasticum, & ministrationem sacramentorum & sacramentalium, nec non circa ecclesiasticae jurisdictionis exercitium, & hujusmodi, quae jure spiritualia sunt; nec in hoc casu potest sibi prodesse praescriptio etiam longissimi temporis, quia talia spiritualia non possunt per regem possideri, &, per consequens, nec ut transeant sub sua potestate possunt praescribi, nec consuetudine introduci, etc. In which he will havean hard contest with divers French and Italians, who maintain, 
c Considerationi di ●adre ●aolo Venet. 1606. fol 31. a. vide Fulgentio in difesa d'essi, p. 312. & sequent.  Che tutte le raggioni che si possono acquistare per dispensa del Papa, si possono acquistar anco per consuetudine, la quale sopravenga contraria alla leg: that a prince may prescribe for such acts as he can acquire by the Pope's dispensation.  
XVII. 
d Mat. Paris Additament. p. 200, n 9 & in historia majori p. 716, 7. vide Selden. de Synedriis part. 1. c. 10. p. 383.  Prohibited the Lay yielding obedience, or answering by Oath to their Ecclesiastic superior enquiring de peccatis subditorum: which I take to have been in cases not properly of their cognizance, not of witnesses either in causes Matrimonial or Testamentary.  
XVIII. I shall conclude these particulars with one observation in Mat. Paris; where the ecclesiastics, having enumerated several cases in which they held themselves hardly dealt with, add, 
e Mat. Paris Additament. p. 202. n. 30.  That in all of them, if the spiritual judge proceeded contrary to the King's prohibition, he was attached, &, appearing before the justices, constrained to produce his proceedings, that they might determine to which court the cause belonged: and if found to pertain to the secular, the spiritual judges were blamed, and, on confession they had proceeded after the prohibition, were amerced; but denying it, were compelled to make it good by the testimony of two 
* Vilissimi ribaldi.  vile Varlets, but refusing such purgation, were imprisoned, till by oath they freed themselves to the justices; that being cleared even by the Lay, they had no satisfaction for their expense and trouble. By which, by the way, it is manifest how much the King's Courts had the superintendency over the Ecclesiastic.  
18. These, and many other particulars of the like nature, daily exercised, notwithstanding the clamour of some ecclesiastics, more affecting their own party then the rights of the Crown, make there can be no scruple, but the English did ever understand the outward policy of this Church, or government of it in foro exteriori, to have much depended on the King; and therefore the writs for summoning Parliaments, express the cause of his calling them to be, pro quibusdam arduis, urgentibus negotiis, nos, statum, & defensionem regni nostri Angliae & ecclesiae Anglicanae concernentibus, 
⸫ Evesque d' Exce●re chancellor. Rot. Parl. 20. Ric. 2. n. 1.  or, as our Bishops have sometimes expressed it in the Rolls of Parliament, à l' onour & reverence de Dieu & de seinte esglise, & all salvation & amendment de son royalme, etc. Likewise the Commons, that their gift of the 9th sheaf, etc. to Edw. the 3. to have been for his defence of the Kingdom, & de seinte esglise d' Engleterre: Rot. Parliament. 15. Ed. 3. n. 25. According to which our Kings joined both together, professing their care for amending the Church to be equal with that of the Commonwealth. 
f Rot. Parl. at Leicester 2. Hen. 5. ●. 10.  Item fait assavoir, que nostre tressoveraigne seigneur le Roy, eiantzes grande volunte & desir de l'estate de son esglise, & de son Royalme, en les choses ou mesteir est d' amendment, all honour de Dieu, & pur la pees & lafoy common profit de seinte esglise d' Engleterre, come de tout son Royalme, d' el ' adviss & assent des seig rs esperituells, etc. ad fait, etc. In pursuance of which interest residing in the Crown, the Lords and Commons under Rich. the 2. fearing the opinions called Lollardy might prevail, 
g Hen. Knighton col. 2708. 40. Anno 1387.  petierunt à Rege de istis remedium apponi, ne forte archa totius fidei ecclesiae talibus impulsionibus in illius temporibus, pro defectu gubernaculi, irremediabiliter quateretur. Upon whose desires, he commanded th' Archbishop of Cant. and his other Bishops, ut officium suum singuli i● suis dioe cesibus secundum jura canonica acrius & ferventius exercerent, delinquentes castigarent, librosque eorum Anglicos plenius examinarent, errata exterminarent, populumque in unitatem fidei orthodoxae reducere studerent, ecclesiamque urticis, [&] vepribus destoratam liliis & rosis ornarent, etc. After which, the said author records a Commission, by which his Majesty, as Defender of the Catholic Faith, did empower certain to seize upon heretical books, and bring them before his council: and such as after proclamation shall be found to hold such opinions, being called and examined before two Commissioners (who were of the Clergy) and lawfully convicted thereof, to be by his Majesty's ministers committed to the next prison. 
⸪ R●●. Parl. 2. Hen. 4. n. 47.  Fourteen years after which, the Commons show Hen. the 4th the Parliament might be compared to a Mass, in which th' Archbishop of Cant. began th' office, reading th' Epistle and expounding the Gospel, (which, it seems, they took to be the part of the Ecclesiastic, as did the 
⸫ cap. hoc, n. 6.  Saxons before) & à la mesne qe feust la sacrifice d' estre offeriz à Dieux pur touse Christiens, le Roy mesmes à cest Parliament, pour accomplir cellemesne, plusieurs foitz avoit declarez pleinement a toutz ses lieges, comment sa volunte feust, qe la foy de seint esglise feust governez en manner come il' add este en temps de ses nobles progenitors, & come il est affirme par seint esglise, par les seints Doctors, & par saint Escriture, etc. and a little after, showing they the Commons were only to say, Deo gratias, which they were obliged to do for three reasons, the second of which is, pur c●o qe la ou la Foy de seint esglise, par malvaise doctrine, feust en point d' avoir este anientzes, en grand subversion du Roy & du Royalme, mesme nostre Seig r le Roy enter ad fait & ordeignez bon & joust remedy, en destruction de tiel doctrine, & de la sect d' ycel, peront ilz sont ensement tenuz de dire cel parole Deo gratias. By all these it must be granted, they did hold the chief care of the English Church to have depended (in the outward policy of it) on the prince; or else that they did speak and do very unadyisedly in attributing so much unto his care of it, and providing that he might be supplied to defend it, without at all mentioning any other to whose care it belonged.  
19 Neither did these expressions and petitions pass the Commons only, or the Clergy overruled by the numbers of the temporality; but the Bishops by themselves acknowledged how much it stood in his M tios care to provide against any novelties creeping into the English Church, and that it might enjoy the rights and liberties belonging to it: and therefore, when the said doctrine of Lollardy continued increasing, they, in the names Praelatorum & cleri regni Angliae, petition 
h Rot. Parl. 2. H. 4. n. 48.  Henry the 4 th'. Quatenus— inclitissimorum progenitorum & antecessorum vestrorum laudabilia vestigia graciose considerantes, dignetur vestra regia celsitudo pro conservatione dictae Ecclesiae Anglicanae, ad Dei laudem, vestrique meritum, & totius regni praedicti prosperitatem & honorem, & pro hujusmodi dissentionibus, divisionibus, dampnis & periculis evit indis, super novitatibus & excessibus praedictis in praesenti Parliamento providere de remedio opportuno etc. Did not these then hold it the office of the King, as that his progenitors had ever done; to provide, no dissensions, scandals, divisions might arise in the Church, the Catholic faith might be truly conserved and sustained? and what other did any of our Princes ever challenge or assume?  
20. When the Clergy likewise went at any time beyond their bounds, or were negligent performers of their duties, the subject upon all occasions had recourse unto his M tie, as to whose care the seeing what was amiss redressed did especially belong: as 
i Rot. Parl. 50. Ed. 3. n. 84. 1 R. 2. n. 108.  when th' Ecclesiastic Courts were grievous for the fees, 
k Rot. Parl. Octau. Purif. 25. Ed. ●. n. 35.  or their pecuniary pennances too heavy, when they were oppressed by Papal provisions (of which before) when through the absence of their Curate they were not so well taught etc. 
⸫ Rot. Parl. Octau. Purif. 25. Ed. 3. n▪ 31.  when the frequency of the writ de excommunicato capiendo▪ made it burdensome, 
.˙.˙ Rot. Parl. at Leicester 2. Hen. 5. pet. des Cones. 5. vide Rot. Parl. 46. Ed. 3. n. 36, 37. n. 41, 42.  when men were cited by them on causes neither Matrimonial nor Testamentary, and appearing were not allowed a copy of the libel against them. In which case the King's answer is not unworthy the repeating, showing clearly, he directed how they should proceed; le Roy voet que a quel heure la copie de le libel est grantable par la ley, q'●l soit grauntè & liverè a la party, sanz d●fficulee. It is true, Kings would refer matters of that nature to their Bishops, unto whose care under them it did especially belong: so Richard the 2. being 
l Rot. Parl. 17. Ric. 2. n. 43.  petitioned in point of Residency, answered, Il appartient aux offices des Evesques, & le Roy voet qu' ils facent lour office & devoirs &c. 
m Rot. Parl. 7. H. 4. n. 114.  His successor being again pressed in the same kind, gives his command thus, Facent les Ordinaires lour office & devoirs: & per cause qe les pluralites q' ont este grantees devant ces heures sont & ount este la greindre cause de l' absence des tiels' curates, y plest au Roy nostre Seigr. de l' advis & assent des Seig rs▪ en Parliament, es●rire par ses honourables letters a nostre saint pier le Pape, de revoker & repeller toutes les pluralites generalement, & qe d' es o'er en avant nulle pluralite soit graunte a ascuny en temps a venir. But the Pope, it seems, giving no satisfaction in the particular, the 
n Rot. Parl. 11 Hen. 4. n▪ ●0.  11. Hen. 4. the Commons again petition, That the riches of the kingdom being in the hands of Churchmen, those livings upon which the incumbent of common right aught to reside, half of the true value should remain to himself, but the other to the King. To which the answer is, Geste matter appertient a seinte Esglise, & quant a la residence, remedy ent fust purveuz en la darrain Convocation. Yet this matter of nonresidence still molesting the Commonwealth, 3. Hen. 6. the King tells them, by th' advice of the Lords of Parliament, 
o Rot. Parl. 3. Hen. 6. n. ●37, 38. vide 4. Hen. 6. n. 31.  He had delivered their bill to my Lord of Canterbury, charging him to pourvey of remedy for his Province, and semblably shall write to the Church of York for that Province. By which we may see the King, Archbishop, and Convocation did conceive themselves to have a power of redressing things in this Church, which yet in civility they thought ●it 
p See cap. 3. n. 14, 19  first to acquaint the Pope with, as a spiritual Doctor or Patriarch, however of great esteem, yet not endued with a power of commanding in this Church otherwise then the laws of the Kingdom, the contracts with the Papacy did bear.  
21. Now it cannot be doubted that all these petitions of the Commons, and sundry more which may be produced, had been by them vainly preferred, had they not taken the King to have been vested with a power of redressing things unblamable in the government of the Church. But when we say the Prince, as the principal, without whom nothing is done, may be rightly termed Head in the act of reformation; our meaning is not, that he will deal in points of Ecclesiastic cognizance without the advice of his Bishops, and other learned of the Clergy: we know, in things proper 
q Numbers xxvii. 21.  josuah is to take counsel of Eleazar, and the Kings of this nation have ever done so.  
22. When Edgar intended the advancing Christi gloriam, he chose him three Bishops to be his 
⸫ Concil. Spelm p. 433.  patres spirituales and consiliarios. But to speak of later times: 
r Hall 23. Hen. 8. fol. 202. b. 24. Hen. 8. fol. 205. a. Herbert p. 329. 153 ½.  when the Commons endeavoured a reformation of some things in the Church, Hen. the 8 th'. would not answer their desires, till he had first acquainted the Spirituality. When he intended to publish a 
s Stat. 32. H. 8. cap. 26.  book of the principal articles and points of our faith, with the declaration.— of other expedient points, and also for the lawful rites and ceremonies to be observed within this realm, he ordained it to be by th' Archbishops and sundry Bishops of both Provinces, and also a great number of the best learned, honestest, and most virtuous sort of Doctors of Divinity, men of discretion, judgement, and good disposition, etc. And Edward the sixth minding a farther reformation of some usages in the administration of the Eucharist, he caused it to be 
t Fox Acts and Monuments, tom. 2. p. 6, 8. col. 1. & pag. 659. col. 2.  made by the most grave and learned of his realm, for that purpose by his directions assembled at Windfor; who afterwards, 
u Statut. 2. & 3. Ed. 6. cap. 1.  for taking away divers and sundry differing forms and fashions had formerly been used in sundry Churches of England and Wales, apppointed th' Archbishop of Canterbury, and certain of the most learned and discreet Bishops, and other learned men of the realm, to consider of the premises, who, by the aid of the Holy Ghost, with one uniform agreement concluded on and set forth the book of Common prayer etc. Upon which the two houses of Parliament, considering as well the most godly travel of the King's highness,— in gathering and collecting the said Archbishops, Bishops and learned men together, as etc. do give to his Highness' most hearty and lowly thanks etc. So that it is apparent, the King, in composing this book, did not assume to himself, or the Parliament attribute unto him any other then assembling of the Bishops and other learned men together, to take their consultations.  
23. And they observing the great 
Preface to the book of Ed. the 6. 1549.  diversity in saying and singing in several Churches, the difficulty of finding what was proper for each day, (apt to breed confusion) reduced the public service of the Church to one form more facile and of better edification, following therein the examples of divers holy Bishops and others: for if 
y Mat. Paris vi●. Abba●. S▪ Albani, p. 101, 17, 19 p. 123, 28.  Guarinus Abbot of St Alban, in the Office used in his Church about 1190, might superflua resecare, to reduce the prayers there to one form, if 
z Agobardi opera, Paris, 1605 p. 392.  Agobardus in France might amputare superflua vel levia etc. if 
a Harpsfield Hist Anglican. Eccles. sect. xi. cap. 19 p. 251, 48.  Osmund Bishop of Salisbury in England, quoniam singulae fere Dioeceses in statis & precariis horis dicendis variabant, ad hanc varietatem tollendam, & ut quasi absolutum quoddam precandi, quo omnes uti possent, exemplar exstaret, eas in eum fere ordinem & commodam rationem, quam hodie omnes prope Angliae, Cambriae, & Hiberniae (viz. the Course of Salisbury) Ecclesiae sequuntur, magno & prudenti rerum ex sacris scriptures, & probatis Ecclesiae historiis delectu, distribuit & digessit; if these, I say, might do it on their own motion, there is no question, such of the Clergy as were appointed by the King, might on his desire take it into consideration, and remove matters offensive, or less to edification.  
24. Neither did Queen Elizabeth at the beginning of her reign 
b Camden. annal Eliz.  alter some passages in it, but by the opinions of Divines eruditis & moderatis; to whom was added a learned Knight Sr Thomas Smith, to whose care the supervising of it had by the house of Commons been committed the second of Edward the sixth, and therefore knew better than any other to give an account of that book.  
Nor did herself, or the house of Lords use differing ways, 
c Iourn. des Cones 23. Eliz. March 3. & 7. & 27. Eliz. Februar. 25.  when the Commons at other times have sought some change in the Ecclesiastic government; as the 23. and 27. of her reign, where though the Lord Treasurer made a short beginning, yet he left the satisfactory answers to be given them by th' Archbishop of York.  
Insomuch as we may safely conclude, when the Clergy in Convocation styled Henry the 8th Ecclesiae Anglicanae protectorem unicum, & supremum dominum, &, quantum per Christi leges licet, supremum caput, they added nothing new unto him but a title; for he and his successors after it, did never exercise any authority in causes Ecclesiastic, not warranted by the practice of former Kings of the nation.  
By all which the second question remains sufficiently proved, that our Kings were originally endued with authority to cause the English Church be reform by th' advice of their Bishops, and other of the Clergy, as agreeing with the practice of all ages. For who introduced the opinion of Transubstantiation? made it an article of Faith? barred the Lay of the Cup? Priests of marriage? who restored the Mass in Queen Mary's days before any reconciliation made with Rome? but the ecclesiastics of this Kingdom under the Prince for the timebeing, who commanded or connived at it.   

CHAP. VI  
How the Kings of England proceeded in their separation from Rome.  
1 IT being by what is already said undoubted, the Clergy called together by the Prince, or meeting by his allowance, have ever had a power of reforming this Church, commanding things juris positivi in it, and likewise dispensing with them, and that the statute 24. Hen. 8. cap. 12. that saith in effect as much, is no other than a declaration of the Common law, that is the custom of the realm; the next enquiry will be, for acquitting the Church of England in point of schism, how this separation from Rome was made.  
2. Henry the 8th having long pursued a cause Matrimonial with Clement the 7. who showed so much compliance to determine it in his favour, as he sent Cardinal Campeius hither to join with Wolsey the King's creature in the business, and upon the Emperor's success in Italy, the cause, after many delays, being revoked to Rome, the King, upon the opinions of many foreign Divines of the invalidity of his marriage with Queen Katherine, caused the case to be determined by the English Church: which judgement yet he would have in some measure submitted to the Court of Rome, so as he might have given the persons to whom it was delegated by the Pope full information, and the Cardinals of the Imperial faction excluded having any part in the decision. But Clement hearing what had passed in England, with more than ordinary haste determins the cause against him: which how much it would irritate any Prince of so great power, and so high a spirit as our Henry, I shall leave others to judge. And here I might allege many foreign examples, of those who upon less indignities have stopped all intercourse with Rome, as 
* Whose coin is yet extant, having on one side his picture, and an inscription showing him to be King of France and Naples, on the other the arms of France, and these words, Perdam Babylonis nomen. Thuanus lib. 1. p. 11. c.  Lewis the 12. and Henry the 2. of France, if I had undertaken to write an apology for him.  
3. The King, upon the advertisement of these proceedings by the Pope, which was at the beginning of the year 1534, falls first to those courses his ancestors had formerly done, when they had occasion to know how they ought to comport themselves in any thing towards Rome, which was to have the advise of the English Church; and thereupon wrote to the Universities, great Monasteries and Churches of the Kingdom, & the 18. May 1534. to the University of Oxford, 
† In archivis Oxon. ad Annum 1534. p. 127, etc.  requiring them, like men of virtue and profound literature, to diligently entreat, examine, and discuss a certain question, viz. An Romanus Episcopus habeat majorem aliquam jurisdictionem sibi collatam in sacra Scriptura in hoc regno Angliae, quam alius quivis externus Episcopus; and to return their opinion in writing under their common seal, according to the mere and sincere truth of the same, etc. To which, after mature deliberation, and examination not only of the places of holy Scripture, but of the best interpreters, for many days, they returned answer the 27. june 1534. (without all peradventure according to the ancient tenet of the English) Romanum Episcopum majorem aliquam jurisdictionem non habere sibi à Deo collatam in sacra Scriptura in hoc regno Angliae, quam alium quemvis externum▪ Episcopum. Of this answer I have thought fit to make particular mention, (though assented to by all the English Clergy) because Oxford hath been ever 
a Mat. Paris Anno 1252. p. 859, 3. & Anno 1257. p. 945, 28.  held aemula Parisiensis, Ecclesiae fundamentum, 
b Rot. Parl. 1. Hen. 6. n. 43.  fountain & Mere de nostre foy Chrestiene, as I formerly touched: whose opinion the English Church hath therefore highly esteemed, and sought on all occasions of this nature; of which to give some examples.  
4. Upon the election of urban the 6. France, Scotland, Flanders, and divers other parts adhering to Clement, who resided at Avignon, 
c Hen. Knighton col. 2671, 24. col. 2742, 23.  the French King 1395. caused a meeting of the Clergy of his dominions, to search whether had the better right to the Papacy: whose judgement was for Clement; which under the seal of the University of Paris was sent to Richard the 2. who thereupon fecit convocationem Oxoniae de peritioribus Theologis tam regentibus quam non regentibus totius regni, and they on the contrary judged urban to have the better title; whose opinion under the seal of the University of Oxford returned to the King was by him transmitted into France. 1408, 
d Walsing. Hist. Anno 1408. p. 420, 1.  in Concilio Cleri celebrato Londoniis, assistentibus doctoribus Vniversitatum Cantabrigiae & Oxoniae, tractatum est de censu & obedientia Papae subtrahendis vel non subtrahendis: about which time twelve of the University of Oxford, on the Archbishop's desire, in the name of the rest, examined the books & Doctrines of Wickliff, & sent their resolutions to a Synod at London in an epistle yet 
e In fascie●lo zizaniorum Ms. in bibliotheca Archiepiscopi Armachani.  extant. By all which it is manifest, how much their opinions were esteemed in this Kingdom. And I hold it undoubted, a Prince following so great advice, chalked out to him by the practice of his ancestors, could not be guilty of so heinous a crime as schism, arising only from disobedience to any spiritual superior whatsoever. 
f Circa maleriam excommunicationum resolutio, considerate. 11. to. 2. col. 349. a. Ed. Paris 1606.  Gerson says, a private person runs into no contempt of the Keys in divers cases by him enumerated; as one, dum dicit aliquis juristarum vel theologorum juxta conscientiam suam, quod hujusmodi sententiae non sunt timendae vel tenendae, & hoc praesertim si observetur informatio seu ca●tela debita, ne sequatur scandalum pusillorum, qui aestimant Papam esse unum Deum: And Navarre, the greatest Canonist of his time, 
g N●var. cap. cum contingat de Rescript. remed. 2. n. 30. to. 2. editionis Colon. Anno 1616. p. 59 col. 1. § 〈◊〉▪  qui unius doctoris eruditione ac animi pietate celebris auctoritate ductus fecerit, aliquid excusatur, etiamsi forte id non esset justum, & alii contrarium tenerent. And to this purpose many more Doctors may be alleged.  
5. This as it was done by him, so he was led unto it by the example of his predecessors, as I have partly touched before; and shall therefore allege no other, but that in the disputes between Becket and Henry the 2. the Archbishop endeavouring to interest Alexander the 3. in the difference, that Prince 
h Hoveden Anno 1166, fol. 287. b. 48.  caused it to be written unto him, Si juri vestro vel honori praejudicatur in aliquo, id se totius Ecclesiae regni sui consilio correcturum in proximo pollicetur: and a little after, 
i Ibid. fol. 288▪ ●.  Dominus Rex plurimum sibi justificare videtur, cum in omnibus quae dicta sunt, Ecclesiae regni sui consilio simul & judicio se pariturum pollicetur. And this the often repeating of it, not only in a particular letter of the Bishop of London, but of all the Bishops of the Province of Canterbury, both to the 
k Apud Hoveden fol. 292. b. 11. 49. 293. a. 33.  Pope and Becket, enough assure us how undoubted it was in those days, that our Kings following the advice of the English Church, did proceed on safe grounds for their justification in such quarrels.  
6. Neither was the opinion returned by these Divines so differing from the writings of other learned men, as might make them any way guilty of schism. 
l Gerson de vita spirituall animae corol. 7. to. 3. col. 183. b. c.  Gerson speaking of the several degrees of Divine truths, places for the first such as are express in Scripture, secondly those that are by evident consequence deduced from thence, thirdly such as being delivered by Christ, have been by the constant tradition of the Church derived to us, of which he holds this proposition, Vniversalis Ecclesia Pontifici Romano subjecta sit; and adds, non enim posset evidenter aut per consequentiam pure de fide ex legibus primi generis humana deductione fulciri, etc. and 
⸫ Cont. de potestate Pontificis ad Nicholaum Teupolum.  Contarenus, in a small tract de potestate Pontificis, of that question says, An Auctoritas illa & potestas, qua Pontifex maximus fungitur, sit ei consensu quodam hominis tributa, an potius divinitus tradita; qua de re hisce temporibus maximos tumultus excitatos esse perspicimus, nec etiam veriti sint viri in omni disciplinarum genere celebres, ac in Christianae Theologiae study illustres, in magno hominum conventu asserere, hoc jus Pontificis humanume esse; & then adds that he ab horum hominum sententia maxime dissentire, ac prope compertum habere, divinitus concessum esse Pontifici jus illud etc. So that this learned Cardinal was not altogether resolved in the point, but as a disputable question had it prope compertum. The truth of which I leave him to dispute with the Oriental Christians. It is manifest, 
m Sleidan▪ lib. 9 prope finem.  Francis the first was of the contrary judgement; and our Countryman 
n Staplet. de principiis fidei lib. 13. cap. 15. § Dixeram.  Stapleton delivers it as a Catholic tenet of former times, (undoubtedly agreeing with that of the English Church) non divino, sed humano jure, & positivis ecclesiae decretis primatum Romani Pontificis niti etc.  
7. But I return to our 
* Hen the viij.  King, who now fortified by the opinion of the Universities, public disputations in the convocation, and several precedents of former Princes his predecessors, in his rights, whereas the Parliament before in some particulars restrained the profits of Rome, as in the payments of Annates, Peter-pences, making Appeals to it, whose beginnings with us I have formerly noted, did 
o Stat. 26. Hen. 8. cap. 1. begun the 3. November and ended the 18. December 1533.  the 26. Hen. 8. 1533, declare his Ma.tie, his heirs and successors, Kings of this realm, shall have full power & authority from time to time to visit, repress, redress, etc. all such errors, heresies, abuses, etc. which by any manner spiritual authority or jurisdiction may be lawfully reform, repressed, ordered, redressed, etc. This the Court of Rome interpreted a falling off from the Church, and the English no other than a declaration of that right had ever resided in the Crown, and which I believe it will be a difficult task to disprove them in.  
8. For those two articles 
p Bulla Pauli 3. in Bullar●o dat. 17. januar. 1538.  Paulus 3. accuses the King of, as Heretical and schismatical, viz. quod Romanus Pontifex caput ecclesiae & Christi vicarius non erat, & quod ipse in Anglica ecclesia supremum caput existebat etc. for the first, I never heard it affirmed by the King in that generality the words import; for the Pope is a temporal prince, as well as a spiritual father; and so far as I know he never denied him to be the head of the Church of his own dominions, nor of France and Spain etc. if those Kingdoms will admit him to so great a preeminence: the thing he only stood upon is, that he was not so instituted by Christ Universal Bishop, and had alone from him such an omnipotency of power, as made him absolute Monarch in effect of the universal Church, and was so in England. For his being vicar of Christ in that sense other Bishops may be said to be his vicegerents, (as 
q Cap. 3. n. 72. 〈…〉  before) I do not see how it can be well denied him; but that this Vicarship did import the giving him that power he did then exercise here, is what the Church of England hath ever constantly denied. As for the Kings being Head of Church, I have before showed he neither took it, nor the Parliament gave it, in other sense then the French have always attributed it to their Princes: neither for aught I find was it so much sought by King Henry, as pressed on him by the Clergy, of which the Bishop of Rochester was one that subscribed to it; and his Ancestors did the same things before, he did after, under the names of Protectors, Tutors, 
⸫ Concil. Spelm. p. 437▪ cap. 7, 8. Seld. notis ad ●●dmer. p. 175. ●▪ 17.  Christi vicarii, Domini Agricolae, etc.  
9 For the other particulars mentioned in the Bull, as his beheading the Bishop or Cardinal of Rochester, the burning of Beckets bones, the taking the treasure and ornaments at his Shrine, to which may be added the suppressing, and converting into Lay hands the Monasteries of the Kingdom, I shall not say much, having not taken on me to defend that Prince's actions. Yet for the taking off the head of Rochester (if he were convict of treason) I must give the answer 
r Rot. Parl. sest. S. Hillair 25. Ed. 3. n. 60. petitions de Clergy.  of Edward the 3. to the Clergy in that kind, en droict de Clerks convictz de treason; purceo qe le Roy, & toutz ses progenitors ount este seisis tut temps de fair judgement & execution de Clercz convictz de treason devers▪ le Roy & sa royal Mageste, come de droict de la corone, si est avis au Roy, qe la ley en tien cas ne se poet changer: and then he cannot be said to have died other wise then by law. As for the goods and ornaments of Churches by him laid hold on, it is certain, his predecessors in their extremities had showed him the way; as the 
s Flor. Wigorn. Anno 1070.  Conqueror, who took all the ready money was found in Religious houses; 
t Neubrigensis lib. 4. cap. 38.  Richard the first, who took all, to the very Chalices of Churches, and yet th' Archbishop afterwards 
u Hoveden. Anno 1198. fol. 444. a 8.  regio munimine septus— universos monachorum (to wit, of Christ Church) redditus & oblationes tumbae beati martyris Thomae fecit saisiari in manu Regis; 
x Walsingh. anno 1296. p. 29, 24.  and Edward the first 1296, fecit omnia regni monasteria perscrutari, & pecuniam inventam Londonias apportari, fecitque lanas & corias arrestari, etc. And in those day's Bishops did tell Kings, 
y Gervas'. Dorobern. ●el. 1554. 44.  The saurus ecclesiae vester est, nec absque vestra conscientia debuit amoveri: to which the King, verum est, The saurus noster est ad defensionem terrae contra hostes peregrinos etc. And perhaps it would be no hard labour to show, all Princes, not only here, but elsewhere, to have had (how justly I will not determine) a like persuasion. And he then being excommunicated by Paulus 3. for maintaining what the Crown had ever been in possession of, can no way be said to have departed from the Church; but the Pope to have injuriously proceeded against him, who maintained only the just rights and liberties of his kingdom, according to his coronation oath.  
10. And this is the case, and fully answers (so far as it appears to me) whatsoever can be objected against the reformation begun by him, or made more perfect by Edward the 6. for the manner of doing it, viz. that they, as supreme Princes of this Kingdom, had a right to call together their own Clergy, and with their advice, to see the Church reform by them. And if otherwise, I should desire to know how the Mass without any intermission was restored by Queen Mary: for it is manifest, she returned the use of it immediately after her brother's death, & yet Cardinal Pool reconciled not this Kingdom to Rome till the 30th of November above a year after, and then too 
* Stat. 1. 2. P. & Mar. cap. 8.  on such conditions only as the Parliament approved; during which space, she as Queen gave 
a See Fox, vol. 3. p. 38.  directions to the Ordinaries how they should carry themselves in several particulars; which as it is probable she did by th' advice of her Bishops, so there is no reason to condemn the like proceedings in Edward the 6.  
11. I have before showed how far the royal power went in compiling the book of Common prayer: for a Catechism published by the same Prince, it being composed by a learned person, presented to his Ma.tie, and by him committed to the scrutiny of certain Bishops and other learned men, quorum judicium (says 
b Literae aute Catechismum directae omnibus Ludimagistris, & iis qui scholas grammaticas aperiunt, dat. 20. Maii anno regni 7.  his Ma.tie) magnam apud nos authoritatem habet, after their allowance it was by him recommended to be publicly taught in Schools. Likewise the Articles for taking away diversity of opinions in points of religion, were agreed upon in a Synod at London by the Bishops and other learned men, & Regia authoritate in lucem editi. The King in framing them taking no farther on himself, than he had in the book of Common prayer. And Queen Mary, though she quitted the title of head of the Church (which yet she did not so suddenly as Saunders intimates) did in effect as much. So that hitherto there is no way of fixing any schism on the English Church, for neglect of obedience, it having been eversubject to the Archbishop of Canterbury and others its lawful superiors, restoring to him the ancient right belonged to his chair, of being their spiritual pastor 
c Cap. 3. n. 80.  next and immediately under Christ jesus. But the Kingdom being reunited to the See of Rome by Queen Mary, though what I have said doth in a good part free it of schism, yet in respect the reformation I only took upon me to defend was made by Queen Elizabeth, and continued since, it will be necessary to make some more particular mention how it did pass.   

CHAP. VII.  
How the reformation was made under Queen Elizabeth.  
1. ELizabeth, the daughter of Henry the 8th by Queen Anne Bolen, being received by all the estates of the Kingdom, (assembled in Parliament) and proclaimed Queen, caused her sister's Ambassador, Sr Edward Kerne, then residing at Rome, to give an account of this her being called to the Crown to Paulus 4tus the Pope; who being in union with France, and out with the house of Austria then strictly joined with England, and both at odds with the French, told him, either persuaded by them, or upon his own heady disposition, 
a Hist. Council of Trent Ital. lib. 5. Anno 1558. p. 399. edit. Lond. 1619. & Genevae p. 420.  England was a Fee of the Church of Rome; That she could not succeed, as illegitimate; That he could not go against the declarations of Clement the 7. and Paulus 3 ius; That her assuming the name and government without him, was so great an audacity, she deserved not to be harkened to: But he being willing to proceed paternally, if she would renounce her pretensions, and freely remit herself to his arbitrement, he would do what lay in his power with the dignity of the Apostolic See. A strange reply to a civil message, were it not derived to us by an unquestionable hand, and that it came from Paulus 4 ius, to whom it was not an unusual saying, 
b Ibid. paulo ante eodem libro.  that he would have no Prince his companion, but all subjects under his foot. Upon this unwillingness to acknowledge her Queen at Rome, th' Archbishop of York (who had before 
c His speech at the making known Queen Mary's death to the Commons, in Camden, Holinshead, Grafton, & aliis  affirmed no man could doubt of the justness of her title) and the rest of the Bishops refused to Crown her. Asdruball for that 
d The defence of the Catholics against the book styled The Execution of Justice in England, pag. 51.  some write, it was because they had evident probabilities she intended either not to take, or not to keep the oath was then to be administered unto her, especially in the particular of not maintaining holy Churches laws, in respect she had showed an averseness to some ceremonies, as commanding the Bish▪ of Carlisle not to elevate the consecrated Host. (who stoutly refused her) and out of fear she would refuse in the time of her sacre the solemn divine ceremony of Unction; these are certainly without any colour, and framed since. For as for the last, the ceremony of anointing, she had it performed; as had King james who succeeded her, who 
e See Spotswood's History of the Church of Scotland, p 381.  would not have his Queen crowned in Scotland without it. For the other, it is altogether improbable that he to whom the command was by her given, would of all the rest have assented to crown her, had he conceived that a cause why it might have been denied: neither indeed did she alter any thing material in the service of the Church, till after the conference at Westminister. 1559. the 31. March, and the Parliament ended.  
2. To pass therefore by these, as excuses found out after the deed done, the true reason being (no question) something came from the Pope, in pursuance of that answer he had given her Agent; the Queen seeing she could expect nothing from the Papacy, laboured to make all safe at home, or, to use her own phrase, to take care of her own house; and therefore (as she had reason) desired to be assured of her subjects fidelity, by propounding an oath to certain of them, (which is seldom a tie to other then honest minds.) But the way (men's minds distracted in points of religion, the 
f Stat. 28. Hen. the 8. cap. 10.  law of Henry the 8. (extinguishing the authority of the Bishop of Rome) being very severe, for securing himself, in bringing such as did but extol the said authority, for the first offence, within the compass of a praemunire, and that refused to take it, of treason,) was not easy to be pitched upon: besides styling the King head of the Church, which many made a scruple at; to 
g Iourn. des C●es 1. Eliz.  which effect a bill being presented to the house of Commons the 9 of February, after many arguments had upon it, the 13. of February upon the second reading it was absolutely dashed, and upon great consideration taken the 14. Febr. a Committee appointed to draw a new Bill, in which an especial care was taken for restoring only the ancient jurisdiction of the Crown, and the Queen neither styled supreme Head, nor the penalty of refusing the Oath other, than the being excluded from such places of honour and profit as they held in the Commonwealth: yet with this proviso, that he who had an estate of inheritance in a temporal Office, & refused to take the said oath, did after upon better persuasion conform himself, should be restored unto the said estate; and that such as should maintain or defend the authority, preeminence, power or jurisdiction, spiritual or ecclesiastical, of any foreign Prince, Prelate, Person, State or Potentate whatsoever (not naming the Pope, as her father had done) should be three times convict before he suffered the pains of death.  
3. This Bill, which no doubt the Pope's carriage drew on, being expedited in the house of Commons, received reformation by the Lords, committed the 13. March to the Lord Marquis of Winchester, Lord Treasurer, the Duke of Norfolk, the Earls of Westmoreland, Shrewsbury, Rutland, Sussex, Penbrook, viscount Montague; Bishops, Exeter, Carlisle; Barons, Clinton Admiral, Morley, Rich, Willoughby, North, no one of them then noted for Protestantisme; the 18. March past the Lords, none dissenting but 8. Bishops, the Earl of Shrewsbury, Viscount Montague, and the Abbot of Westminster: and the same day sent to the house of Commons, who upon perusal found again what to amend it in; so as it had not its perfection in both Houses till Saturday the 6th of May (when the Parliament ended the Monday following) at which time only Viscount Montague & the interessed Clergy opposed it. By which it cannot be questioned, but the generality of the Lords did interpret that law, no other then, as indeed it was, a restoring the Crown to it's ancient rights; for if otherwise, without doubt there would have been as great an opposition at least made against it, as some other statutes which past that Parliament met with, that the Marquis of Winchester, the Lords Morley, Stafford, Dudley, Wharton, Rich, North, joined with the Earls of Shrewsbury, Viscount Montague, and the Prelates, to have stopped.  
4. But whereas some were induced to think by the generality of the words, that affirm her Highness to be supreme governor as well in all spiritual or ecclesiastical causes as temporal, as if it had been an usurping upon the sacred function in the interior (as I may say) of the Church, properly belonging to them in holy Orders, her Ma.tie the same year 
h The Admonition in Injunctions 1 Eliz.  did declare, She did not challenge any other authority than was challenged and lately used by King Henry the 8th and Edw. 6. which is, and was of ancient time due to th' imperial crown of this Realm; that is, under God to have the Sovereignty and rule over all manner of persons born within these her realms, etc. And that to be the only sense of the Oath she caused to be confirmed the next 
i 5 Eliz. cap. 1.  Parliament; at which time a Synod being held, for avoiding diversity of opinions, and establishing of consent touching true religion etc. it did expressly declare, 
k Art. 37.  they did not give to our Princes the ministering either of God's Word or the Sacraments,— But that only prerogative is given in holy Scripture by God himself, that is, that they should rule all estates and degrees committed to their charge by God, whether they be ecclesiastical or temporal, and restrain with the civil sword the stubborn and evil-doers, etc. And these articles were likewise confirmed by Parliament 13. Eliz. cap. 12. so that no man can doubt this to have been other than an acknowledgement, what Princes had done formerly in all ages might be justly continued; not an introductory of a new law, but the assertion of the old right of our Kings.  
5. Another matter of great weight then likewise expedited was, the settling the public service of the Church in one uniform way. King Edward the 6. intending such a reformation as might serve for edification, caused certain pious and learned men to meet together, who (as it seems) taking for their pattern the practice of the primitive times, casting out of the Liturgies than used such particulars as were any way offensive, showed their scope to be, what they pretended, to reform, not make a new Church or Service; and thereupon had, by the aid of the holy Ghost, (
l Stat. 2. & 3. Ed. 6. cap. 1.  as the Act of Parliament speaks) concluded on, and published the book of Common prayer, with a form of administration of the holy Communion, commonly called the Mass. But nothing humane is perfect at first: this Book some few years after received in his time alteration, and the word Mass (I know not why more offensive in it then the 
m Cap. de Missa. Relinetur Missa apud nos, & summa reverentia celebratur.  Augustane Confession) expunged, with some other phrases in it.  
6. But for the better understanding how Queen Elizabeth found this Church, it will not be amiss to look a little back. Henry the 8. dying in january 154 6/7, leaving the Roman Service, with some alterations not greatly considerable in it, the wisdom of the State (however intending a farther reformation) was not immediately to abolish it; so as the Lords meeting in Parl nt. 1547. November the 4. though they had the Mass sung in English, yet the Liturgy of the Church was not common in that language till after Easter 1548. This Session continuing till December 23. restored the Communion in both kinds, upon which certain learned men by appointment met at Windsor, to consider of a decent Form for the administration of it; which in March his Ma.tie gave out backed with a Proclamation, so as at Easter it began (without compulsion of any,) to be put in practice, and after Easter, several parochial Churches to celebrate divine Service in English, which at Whitsuntide was by command introduced into Paul's; but hitherto no book of Common prayer extant, only the manner of administering the holy Eucharist somewhat altered.  
7. During this while, the Archbishop of Cant. 6. Bishops, 3. Deans Doctors, and 3. other only Doctors, were busied in reforming the public Liturgy of the Church, john Calvin of Geneva, a person then of high esteem, advertised of it, thereupon wrote to the Duke of Somerset the 22. October 1548, giving his judgement in these 
a johan. Calvin. Epist. 87.  words [quod ad formulam precum & rituum ecclesiasticorum, valde probo ut certa illa extet, à qua pastoribus discedere in functione sua non liceat, tam ut consulatur quorundam simplicitati & imperitiae, quam ut certius ita conslet omnium inter se ecclesiarum consensus, postremo etiam ut obviam eatur desultoriae quorundam levitati qui novationes quasdam affectant.] and taking notice of the form already had for celebrating the Communion, adds this, Audio recitari isthic in Coenae celebratione orationem pro defunctis, neque vero hoc ad purgatorii Papistici approbationem referri satis s●io, neque etiam me latet proferri posse antiquum ritum mentionis defunctorum faciendae, ut eo modo communio fidelium omnium in unum corpus conjunctorum declaretur; sed obstat invictum illud argumentum, nempe Coenam Domini adeo sacrosanctam esse, ut ullis hominum additamentis eam conspurcare sit nefas.  
8. This Letter received about the 
* Note, the printed book of statutes is, as if their meeting were the 4. November: which I conceive ●rroueous, as not at all agreeing with the journal.  beginning of the Parliament, which met the 24. of November 1548. may have been the cause of deferring th' exhibition of it to the House of Commons till the 19 December 1548. when the consideration of it was referred to Sr Thomas Smith, his Ma.tie Secretary, and a very learned Knight, who returned it back again the 19 january, having kept it by him a full month; after which it was expedited and printed in March following, and the 6th of April 1549. the Mass by Proclamation removed. But this book was not so perfect, as it yielded no exceptions, whether just or not I shall not hear examine, I know learned men have judged variously: it shall suffice me to say, it was again revised by Bucer (a great patron of Discipline, and Martyr, both in England,) and reprinted 1552. and to aught in or of this second edition during King Edward's reign I have not heard any Protestant did ever except.  
9 In Queen Mary's time divers learned men retired from the heat of Persecution, and by the favour of the Magistrate permitted a Church 1554. at Frankford, laboured to retain this Liturgy; whom Knox, Whittingham, and some others opposed so far, as one Haddon desired to be their Pastor, excused himself, and Mr. Chambers coming for that end from Zurick, finding it would not be allowed, retired back again, and xuj. learned men then at Strasburgh (amongst which this Haddon, Sandis afterward Archbishop of York, Grindall of Canterbury, Christopher Goodman famous for his book of Obedience) remonstrated unto them, 
Troubles at Frankford p. xxii.  That by much altering the said book they should seem to condemn the framers, now ready with the price of their blood to confirm it, should give their adversaries occasion to accuse their doctrine of imperfection, themselves of mutability, and the Godly to doubt of what they had been persuaded; that the use of it permitted they would join with them by the first of February: their Letter bearing date the 23. of November 1554.  
10. But nothing could move them to be like Saint Paul, all things to all that he might gain some, 
1 Corinth. ix. 22.  or relent any thing of their former rigour; only a Type of it drawn into Latin was sent to Calvin for his judgement, who returned an answer the 18. january 1554/5. 
Epist. 200.  somewhat resembling the Delphic oracles, That the book did not contain the purity was to be wished; that there were in it ineptias, yet tolerabiles; that as he would not have them be ultra modum rigidos, so he did admonish others ne sibi in sua inscitia nimis placeant, etc. And here I cannot deny to have sometime wondered, why in these disputes the opinion of Peter Martyr, then at Strasburgh, a person for learning no less eminent, was never required: but I have since heard him to have been always a professed patron of it, as one by whose care and privity it had been reform.  
11. Whilst matters went thus in Germany, certain learned men at Geneva were composing a Form for the use of the English Church there, which 1556. was printed by Crispin, with this title,  
Ratio & forma publice orandi Deum atque administrandi Sacramenta etc. in Anglorum ecclesiam, quae Genevae colligitur, recepta, cum judicio & comprobatione D. johannis Calvini.  
But this did not satisfy all, for Mr. Lever coming to Frankford to be their Minister, requested they would trust him to use such an order as should be godly, yet without any respect to the book of Geneva or any other. But his endeavours were soon rejected, as not fit for a right reformed Church, and the book itself hath received since sundry changes from that first type.  
12. In this posture Queen Elizabeth found the Church, the Protestant party abroad opposing the book of Common prayer, few, varying in judgement, not at unity with themselves, nor well agreeing what they would submit unto: She hereupon caused it to be again revised by certain moderate and learned men, who took a great care for removing all things really liable to exception; and therefore where Henry the 8. had caused to be inserted into the Litany, to be delivered from the Tyranny of the Bishop of Rome & all his detestable enormities, which remained all King Edward's time, this, as what might give offence to that party, was thought fit to be struck out; and where in the delivery of the Eucharist the first book of Ed. the 6. had only this clause, 
u The first book of Ed. 6. sol. 130. b.  The body of our Lord Jesus Christ which was given for thee preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life, and at the giving of the Cup no other than The blood of our Lord jesus Christ which was shed for thee preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life, and the second book which was in force at his death had removed those two clauses, and instead of them inserted Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee, and feed on him in thy heart by faith with thanksgiving, and accordingly at the delivery of the Cup, from whence some might, and perhaps did infer the faithful Receiver not to have a real communication of Christ's body, in taking the Sacrament, but only a remembrance of his sufferings; it was now thought fit both expressions should be retained, that no man might have any just cause of scandal: for be Christ's presence never so real, even by Transubstantiation, in the holy Sacrament, we may upon 
o 1 Cor. xi. 〈◊〉, 25 ●  Saint Paul's warrant do it in remembrance of him.  
Thus at the first of her reign matters in religion passed with so great moderation, as it is not to be denied very few, or none, of the Romish inclination (if they did at any time go to Mass,) refused to be present in our Churches during the time of Divine Service.  
But of another thing that likewise past at the same time, it will be necessary to make some more particular mention.   

CHAP. VIII.  
How Queen Elizabeth settled in this Kingdom the proceeding against Heretics.  
1 ANother particular, no small argument of the Queen's disposition, fell into consideration this Parliament. Her 
a 1. 2. P. M. cap. 6.  Sister had revived all the laws of former Princes against Heretics, even that 
b 2. Hen. 4. cap. 15. repealed. 25. H. 8. cap. 14.  of Hen. the 4. which her Father had on weighty considerations repealed, and all proceedings against them, till they came to their very execution, pertaining to the Ecclesiastic: how to find a means to preserve her subjects, and yet not leave a licence to every old heresy, new invention, fanatic spirit, to ruffle the Church and trouble the world, was a matter of no small difficulty. But for the better understanding of what then past, it will be requisite to consider, how the condemning of Heresy and proceeding against Heretics hath been, both here and elsewhere, how her Ma.tie found it abroad in the Christian world, and at home, how thereupon she settled it.  
2. The words Heresy and Heretic were in the primitive Church not always of so ill a sound as these later Ages have made them. 
c De Haereticis cap. 63.  St Augustine doth name some opinions for heretical have small affinity with Divinity; and who shall read 
d To. 4. bibliothec. patrum. cap. 54. 82.  Philastrius of Heresies, must needs approve 
e De Scriptoribus.  Cardinal Bellarmin's censure of him, that he accounts amongst them many are not properly Heresies, as the word is now taken. The first Council 
⸫ Concil. Gen. Rom. to. 1. p. 88 cap. 6.  of Constantinople held 381. expressly affirms by the name of Heretic to understand such as professing the same faith, yet did make a separation from those canonical Bishops were of their communion. But the construction what opinion was heretical, did ever, so far as I have observed, belong to the spiritual Magistrate, who, after the pattern held out in 
f Acts xv.  holy Writ, if any new erroneous opinion did peep, the neighbour Bishops and Clergy taking notice of it, did assemble, condemn it, and by their letters gave notice of what had passed them to absent Churches: if the case were difficult, the presence of any famous Clerk was desired, who for settling peace (as who would not?) was easily drawn out of his own home; so was 
g Euseb. lib. 6. cap. λζ '. al. 30.  Origen sent for into Arabia, And that this form continued in condemning Heresy till Constantine, seems to be very plain by the 
h Euseb. lib. 7. cap. κζ '. etc. ad cap. λ '. al. cap. 22, 23, 24.  proceedings against Paulus Samosatenus and divers others, remaining yet in history, and the writings of the fathers. But for the prosecution of an Heretic farther than to avoid him, I know no example, till after God having given peace to his people under Christian Emperors, they 
i Euseb. lib. 10. cap. 7. Socrat. prooem. lib. 5. vide epist. Theodosii Cyrillo apud Baron. to. 5. Anno 430. n. 64.  finding, if the Church were in trouble, the State to be seldom otherwise, did provide as well for the calling of Bishops to Counsels that might condemn Heresies, as by laws to punish Heretics.  
3. The Council of Nice therefore having in the year 325. censured the opinions of Arius for heretical, the Emperor that had formerly granted privileges to Christians 326, declared 
k Codex Theodos. lib. 16. de Haereticisleg. 1. Vide Euseb. de vita Constantini cap. 61, 62. lib. 3.  haereticos atque schismaticos his privilegiis alienos etc. and that no man might be deceived by the ambiguity of the word Heretic, 
l Cod. Theod. lib. 16. de Fide Catholica leg. 2.  Gratian and Theodosius in the year 380. did declare who only were to be so reputed, viz. all who secundum Apostolicam disciplinam evangelic amque doctrinam patris & filii & spiritus sancti unam deitatem sub parili majestate & sub pia trinitate credamus, have legem sequentes, Christianorum Catholicorum nomen jubemus amplecti, reliquos vero dementes vesanosque judicantes haeretici dogmatis infamiam sustinere: and the year following did not only in january 
m Ibid. the Heretic. leg. 6.  renew the said Edict, but in july 
n Ibid. de fide Catholica leg. 3. & ● 2.  commanded all Churches to be delivered those Bishops who held that profession, nihil dissonum profana divisione facientes, sed Trinitatis ordinem, personarum adsertionem, divinitatis ordinem etc. and for the more assurance, as a mark of their being orthodox, 
⸫ Ibid. leg. 2, 3. Annis 380, 381. & ibid. de his qui religione contendunt, leg. 6.  did hold communion with the Catholic Bishops of any one seat there remembered, as Damasus of Rome, Nectarius of Constantinople, Pelagius of Laodicea, Diodorus of Tarsus, Optimus of Antioch, etc. omnes autem qui abeorum quos commemoratio specialis expressit fide communionis dissentiunt, ut manifestos haereticos ab ecclesits expelli. Which note 
o Novel. Constii. 109. in praesat.  justinian likewise in the year 541. having prescribed, goes farther, that sacram communionem in Catholica ecclesia non percipientes à Deo amabilibus sacerdotibus, haereticos juste vocamus.  
4. Before these laws, it is not to be wondered if every one desired to be joined in communion with some one of those seats, whose Bishops were so recommended, for conserving the Apostolic faith, for the sanctity of their manners, and for keeping schism out of the Church; which being usually joined with sedition in the Common wealth, 
p Cod. Theodos. lib. 16. the his qui religione contendunt, leg. 6. 3.  Princes seem to have an especial eye how it might be avoided, but after these Edicts they certainly did it much more: and there being in the world no Bishop more famous than the Roman, nor any other named in these parts of Europe than he, every one endeavoured to live united to that Church, whose form the Council of Nice 325. (for before that, 
⸫ Aeneae Silvii Epist. 301. in edit. Lugduni 1505. ● Bellarmino epist. 288.  ad Romanam ecclesiam parvus habebatur respectus, as Pius secundus writes) approving in distribution of the ecelesiastick government, and Emperors now in point of belief, the Roman Chair became so eminent, as, for to show themselves orthodox, many, especially of the Latins, did hold it enough to live in the communion of that See, and the Fathers in that Age to give high expressions of being in union with it. 
⸬ Ambros. oratio de obitu fra●ris.  S. Ambrose showing the devotion of his brother Satyrus in a tempest, adds yet farther as a mark of it, Advocavit ad se Episcopum— percontatus. que ex eo est utrumnam cum episcopis catholicis, hoc est cum Romana ecclesia, conveniret: and S. 
',' Hieron. ad Damasum epist.  Hierom, a person very superlative in praising and reprehending, writing about the same time to Damasus, Ego nullum primum nisi Christum sequens, Beatitudini tuae, id est cathedrae Petri communione consocior etc. and in the year 602. a certain Bishop returning out of schism spontanea voluntate did swear, 
⁙ Gregor. lib. 10. epist. 31.  he in unitate sanctae ecclesiae catholicae, & communione Romani Pontificis, per omnia permansurum etc. All which in time bred an opinion, that Chair could not entertain an error, and the beginning of the mark absolutely inverted; for those men who at first were, as others, sought unto 
q Cod. Theodos. lib. 16. de fide Catholica leg. 2.  because they did conserve the religion S. Peter had planted in Rome, must in after-ages be only held to maintain the same doctrine because they are in that See; so that the Doctrine did not commend the person, but the being in that seat, and recommended from thence, be it what it will, it ought to be received: insomuch as 
r De Romano Pontif. lib. 4. cap. 5. §. Quod autem.  Cardinal Bellarmine doubts not to write, Si Papa erraret praecipiendo vitia vel prohibendo virtutes, teneretur ecclesia credere vitia esse bona & virtutes malas, nisi vellet contra conscientiam peccare: for which he was 
s Recognit. pag. 19 edit. 1608. Ingolstat.  afterward forced to an Apology; yet is not in my opinion so absurd as the 
t Regul. 13.  rule left by certain religious persons 1606. to their confidents at Padova, containing ut ipsi Ecclesiae catholicae (understanding the Pope) omnino unanimes conformesque simus: si, quod oculis nostris apparet album, nigrum illa esse definierit, debemus itidem quod nigrum sit pronuntiare etc.  
5. But to return whence I have a little digressed: it being plain by these laws, the Emperor's restrained points of Heresy to the Catholic Doctrine of the Father, Son and holy Ghost, the ground of the four first general Councils; and others not to be esteemed heretics: in which sense I conceive sundry of the ancients take the word; as 
u Hier. in jerem. 19  S. Jerome, when he says all Heretics leave God; and Socrates, when he agrees such as 
x 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Socrates lib. 6. cap. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 al. 12.  condemned Origen, finding not to blame his opinion of the holy Trinity, must confess he held the right faith: and Leo the first, when in an epistle about 449. he exhorts the Emperor Theodosius to consider the glory of S. Peter, the Crowns of the Apostles, cunctorumque Martyrum palmas, quibus alia non fuit causa patiendi, nisi confessio verae divinitatis, & verae humanitatis in Christo, doth intimate the true faith to be contained in that profession. After these restrictions in the declaration of Heresy, it is likely divers Sects grew very audacious, either conceiving themselves without the compass of law, or trusting in their friends and numbers; insomuch as Arcadius, Theodosius and Valentinian, in the year 395. were forced to declare, 
y Cod. Theodos. lib. 16. leg. 28. de Haeret.  Haereticorum nomine continentur, & latis adversus eos sanctionibus debent subcumbere, qui vellevi argumento judicio Catholicae religionis & tramite detecti fuerint deviare: which 
z August. in Psa●. 57 to. 8.  St. Augustine explains, eos utique haereticos appellant, qui non sunt communionis eorum, as the Council of Constantinople had before, taking the word in a larger sense than others had done. Upon which the Donatists, that were the most 
a Ibid. leg. 38. vide August. epist. 68 & to. 7. contra lit. Petil. cap. 83.  furious, so as neither the persons nor goods of Catholics that dwelled amongst them were safe, are more 
b Cod. Theodos. de Haeret. lib. 16. leg. 37, 38, 39, 40▪ 52, 54, 65.  severely censured in them, than others, whose opinions were certainly more dangerous, yet whom Emperors did think worthy of more favour.  
6. But whilst Princes did thus by their laws only correct Heretics, and the temporal Magistrate execute their commands, they did rarely think fit to proceed 
* I cannot but with the learned Wesembechius (in Cod. lib. 1. Tit. 5. de Haereticis etc.) understand those words, Manichaeos' de civitatibus pellendis & ultimo supplicio tradendis, not to be meant of taking away their lives; though I am not ignorant Celsus the lawyer so interprets ul imum supplicium ff. de poenis leg. 21. for to what use were the banishing them the City, if they were to be instantly executed? and that law being taken out of Cod. Theodos. leg. 65. de Haeret. where those words are altogether omitted, I conceive justinian intended by them no other but those Capitales poenae that were morti proximae, as metalli coercitio, in insulam deportatio, etc. ff. de poenis leg. 28. The like may serve for answer to those other Rescripis in Cod. Theodos. de Haeret. leg. 9 36. It is manifest by many places of S. Augustine, as to. 7. contra lit. Petiliani, lib. 2. cap. 86. that there was no law during his time against the life of an heretic; and Bellarmine himself confesseth as much, de laicis cap. 21. § Augustinus. But however the matter is not great, being only against some particular heretics, whose deportments may be thought to have been seditious as well as their Conscience erroneous  to blood, unless perhaps 
c De Haeret. leg. 8. Cod. justin.  against some seditious preacher; and the holy men of those times used earnest persuasions to deter any inclined to that severity, as not esteeming it to agree with the entire charity of a Christian. S. Augustine, whose labours no man equalled to preserve the Church from that contagion, when Donatus the Proconsul of Africa went farther than that holy man liked in that kind, 
d Epist. 127. & Retract. lib. 2. cap. 5.  professeth he had rather be himself slain by them, then by detecting the Donatists be any cause they should undergo the punishment of death. St. Prosper 
e Prosper in Chronico An. 392.  remembers four Bishops to have been excommunicated 392. for being accusers of Priscilian (the first I have read of had his opinions confuted not by Syllogisms but steel.) From whence 
f To. 4. Anno 386. n. 23. Vide johan. Royas singular. 107. n. 6. Directorium Inquisitor. 2. part. cap. 27. p. 131. col. 1. par. 3. quaest. 102. p. 702. col. 2. edit. Romae 1585. vide formulas etc. ad finem praxis judiciariae Inquisit. p. 524. & p. 526.  Baronius conceives it proceeds, that such as deliver an Heretic to the Secular for execution, to this day, effectually intercede he may not be punished with death; yet, as it were to mock God and delude the world, if the Lay having him in his power, shall defer the doing it more than ordinary, 
g Direct. part. 3. in quaest. 36. Franc. Pegn. comment. 85. p. 608. col. 2. johan a Royas singular. 107. n. 2. vide part. 2. n. 450.  it is the constant tenet of the Canonists, relying on a Bull of Alexander the 4. 1260. he is to be compelled unto it by spiritual censures, yet may not take any cognisance of the cause at all.  
7. It being then the course in the primitive times, that in the proceeding against Heretics, the Ecclesiastic did conclude what 
* Statute at Leicester 2. H 5. cap. 7. Here I cannot but observe, Possidonius in the life of St. Augustine cap. 18. no●ing the manner used then in the Catholic Church in condemnation of Heretics, conformable to what is here specified, adds, Et hoc tale de illis Ecclesiae Dei catholicae prolatum. judicium etiam piissimus Imperator Honorius audience ac sequens, s●● it eos legibus damnatos, inter haereticos haberi debere constituit. against which some had added in: the margin, Caesar pronuntiat haereticos: but that showing too apparent, the custom of those times might perhaps (when the place itself was not) be regarded. The Inquisitors therefore of Spain in their Index at Madrid 1612. p. 37. col. 1. appoint i● to be blotted out. But this edict against the Pelagians, of whom that Father speaks, is not now found either in the Codex of Theodos. or justinian. But see Baronius●om ●om. 5. anno 419. n. 57, 58.  Tenets were Heresy, and the Temporal whether the party accused were guilty of the imputation, and likewise of his punishment (as is manifest by imperial constitutions, the writings of the ancient Doctors, the custom of the Catholic Church, that never prayed against Heretics, but Heresy,) did so remain at least 800. years after Christ: but about that time the division of the Empire falling out, and Episcopal Consistories established through Europe, Bishops did begin to claim as matters ecclesiastical, and only proper for their Courts, the acting in those causes; which in some sort might be, so far as the determination what is Heresy did extend. And about the year 1000, the Christian world (as branches not bearing fruit in Christ, and therefore to be cast into the fire, john XV. 6.) began to take that way of punishing Miscreants; so in 
h Baron. to. 10. Anno 1000 n. 4.  Italy 
i Ibid. to. 11. Anno 1017. n. 4.  and France, jussu Regis & universae plebis consensu, some were thus destroyed: and in imitation of Emperors, who had by their edicts prohibited all compliance with Heresy 
k Cod. Theod. de Haeret. leg. 12, 21, 34, 36. etc.  so far, as to punish any lending for that end places to resort unto, 
l Hoved. fol. 334. a. 42. & apud Neubrigens. lib. 2. cap. 15. canon. 6.  Alexander the 3. 1163. in a Council held at Tours, & in another at Rome 1179. making very strict canons against Heretics, declared, eos & defensores eorum & receptores anathemati decernimus subjacere, & sub anathemate prohibemus ne quis ipsos in domo vel in terra sua tenere velfovere, vel negotiationem cum eis exercere praesumat. Of which the later being 
m De Haereticis cap. 8.  registered in the Canon law, is the first ecclesiastic constitution in it I have observed to condemn rather Heretics then Heresy. Soon after which 
⸬ Roger Hoveden, Anno 1182. fol. 352. b. 29. in fine anni.  Publicani comburebantur in pluribus locis per regnum Franciae, quod Rex Angliae nullo modo permisit in terra sua, licet ibi essent perplurimi.  
8. Yet the pious men of those times seem not to approve of this rigour. St. Bernard, one of the most devout persons of that Age (vir plane Apostolicus says 
n De scriptor.  Bellarmine) following the doctrine of one much more Apostolic, 
o Bernard. in Cant. serm. 6●. to. 1. col. 987. k. edit. 1586.  explaining Cantic. two. 15. Take us the little foxes that spoil the vines, writes, si juxta allegoriam ecclesias vineas, vulpes haereses, vel potius haereticos ipsos intelligamus, simplex est sensus, ut haeretici capiantur potius quam effugentur; capientur dico, non armis, sed argumentis, quibus refellantur errores eorum, ipsi vero si fieri potest reconcilientur Catholicae, revocentur ad veram fidem— hoc denique velle se per hibet, qui non simpliciter capite vulpes, sed capite nobis, inquit, vulpes parvulas; sibi ergo & sponsae suae, id est Catholicae, jubet acquiri has vulpes, cum ait capite eas nobis. and a little after, Quod si Haereticus reverti noluerit, nec convictus post primam jam & secundam admonitionem— erit devitandus. Thus the holy men of the Age in which they stopped first men's mouths not with arguments but arms, did judge of it: and indeed we have not many examples of any suffered merely for conscience till after 1216.  
9 In which year, as some write, Innocentius 3 us. 
p Paramo de origine Inquisit. lib. 2. Tit. 1. cap. 1. n. 7. p. 90. Simanca Cathol. Institut. Tit. 25. n. 4. p. 182. Romae 1575.  on the ignorance or remissness of Bishops in prosecution of Heretics, did give beginning to the 
q Paramo de origine Inquisit.  erection of a new Court, called since the Inquisition: of whose institution and use, because it hath highly served to the raising the Papacy, it will be necessary to say something. He therefore at that time appointing Dominicus a Spaniard, founder of the Dominican Order, by a Commission delegated from him, his Inquisitor against the Albigenses in France, (without abrogating the power of Episcopacy in that kind) gave to him, only a private Friar, such a power, as caused divers of them to be destroyed by that authority in another Prince's Dominions. Though such as 
r Franciscus Pegna, Ludovicus à Paramo, Famianus Strada de bello Belgico lib. 2. p. 41. in foi. Romae 1640.  I have seen do conclude the authority he exercised to have been from Innocentius 3 us. yet of the time when it was granted they do somewhat disagree. Franciscus Pegna, a Spanish Doctor, who published his annotations on the Directorium Inquisitorum at Rome 1585. yet it seems 
s Ossat. Epist. 59 Romae 5. jun. 1596.  could not secure himself from them, 
t In Director. part. 3. comment. 32. p. 495. col. 1. b.  holds it to have been first committed unto him about 1200. on the otherside Paramo of the same nation, that was himself an Inquisitor in Sicily, and expressly writes of that subject, is 
u De origine Inquisit. lib. 2. Tit. 1. cap. 1. n. 13. cap. 2. n. 3. p. 96. col. ●.  clearly of an opinion it could not be before the conclusion of the Council of Lateran; and for proof gives in my judgement a very probable reason, viz. That no Papal Decretal, or History preceding, did ever name any such Inquisitor, that very 
x Cap. 6, 7, 8.  Council when it treats of Heresy speaks of no other Judge then the Bishop: now it ending about Easter 1216. (
y Cap. 8. n. 36.  as I shall show hereafter) if granted by Innocentius, it must be at some time between March and the 16. july 1216. when that 
z Urspergenlis p. 321. obiit apud Perusium 1216. 16. Calend. August.  Pope died. Yet I cannot omit that 
a Edit. Romae 1579. p. 149. concilio absoluto Bernardus presbyter cardinal. ipsum legationis officiumobtinuit, qui praedecessorum exemplo B. Dominicum Inquisitorem similiter instituit.  Camillus Campegius, in his additions to Zanchinus, speaks as if after that Council Friar Dominick had not his authority from the Papacy immediately, but from one Bertram or Bertrand a Cardinal Priest: but who that Bertram was, I confess I have not been able to satisfy myself. 
b Alphonsus. Ciaconius de Cardinalibus, Romae 1630. p. 650. col. 1. & pag. 663. ol. 1.  Ciaconius remembers one of the name employed against the Albigenses, promoted to that honour by Innocentius 3 us. 1212. but he styles him only a Cardinal Deacon; as he hath another so called that was a Priest, but he was no Cardinal, till Honorius 3 us in December 1216 preferred him to the honour, so was not capable of serving Pope Innocent in that degree.  
10. But whosoever first began it, Frederick the 2d. certainly much augmented their power, 
c Vide Bull. Innocent. 4. da●. 11. Kalend. junii Pontific. anno 11. 1254. in. Bullario a Francisco Pegna edit. ad calcem Directorii, p. 16. & Alexandri 4. ibid. p. ●4. ●●lementis 4●i. ibid. p. 57 etc.  publishing the 22. of February 1224. three laws at Milan, by which he did constitute the Dominicans Inquisitors through the Empire, yet taking all others under his protection; and appointing such as should be convict of Heresy, ut vivi in conspectu hominum combur antur, flammarum commissi judicio, etc. That these edicts were published at the only instance of Honorius 3 us. is very probable, in that they are not any way 
d In sexto de haereticis cap. 18. Glossa ad leges quasdam.  recorded but in papal bulls quoad verba, (
⸫ n. 18.  as I shall show hereafter.) After which, several persons in divers parts proceeded against them by commission from Rome: so as the Bishop, who was the ordinary detector of Heresy, had little to do, and became daily to have less and less; that although his power be not in those cases absolutely taken off, yet it is so impaired, as it gives place to the Inquisitor; insomuch as if one suspected of Heresy be cited by him and the Bishop 
e Paramo de potestate delegatae lib. 3. Quaest 2. n. 109. p. 536. col. 1.  at the same time, his appearance must first be in the Inquisition: and the reason given is, because they have a power by a delegated commission from the Pope, 
f Ibid. lib. 2. cap. 2. n. 11. p. 133. col. 1.  whereas to the other jure divino haec cura incumbit in haereticos inquirere; and 
g Instit. Cathol. Tit. 25. n. 5.  Simanca yet more plain, Cum Episcopi non habeant secretum car●erem, nec ministros idoneos ad procedendum adversus haereticos, non possunt servare ordinem illum qui praefinitus est Inquisitoribus: quam ob remusque eo tantum procedere debent, ut in haereticos vel suspectos inquirant, & summariam probationem Inquisitoribus secreto mittere debent. So that what power the Bishop hath in this kind from Christ, he is now become little other then agent or substitute to the Inquisitor in point of Heresy.  
11. But these Commissioners exercising their authority with Fire, Tortures, and the like, in short time found themselves infinitely mistaken, in expecting by such violence to render that peace in the Church, and obedience in the world, the primitive Fathers by the truth of their Dictates, evidence of reason, and piety of their lives, drew men unto: for in some places they were 
h Vide additiones ad Lambertum Schasnaburgensem anno 1232. Tritem. Chronic. Hirsaug. anno 1214. p. 223. & anno 1233. p. 235. Mat. Paris Anno 1236. p. 429. anno 1238. p. 482. Munsteri Cosmograph. p. 477.  expelled by the people's fury, hardly any where continued but by strong hand; their carriage being so full of Scandal, as Clement the 5. in the Council of Vienna could not but acknowledge they had so exceeded the power committed to them by the Apostolic See, 
i In Clement. de Haereticis, cap. 1.  ut quod in augmentum fidei per circumspectam ejusdem sedis vigilantiam salubriter est provisum, (dum sub pietatis specie gravantur innoxii) cedat in fidelium detrimentum. For these men took upon them under the Pope, not only to construe what was heresy, or complying with it, but on those imputations to imprison, fine, confiscate men's goods, to the destruction of honest people, and families; which forced some States 
k Vide Giovanni Villani lib. 12. cap. 57  to limit their proceedings, bar them of prisons proper to themselves, and the wise Venetian appoint three Senators to supervise their actions: insomuch as this delegated power did so decline, as notwithstanding the many constitutions of Innocentius 4tus Alexander, the fourth, and several other pope's yet extant for regulating of it, out of Italy it was little taken notice of; 
l Paramo de origine Inquisit. lib. 2. Tit. 2. cap. 2. n. 13. p. 133. & cap. 3. n. 5. p. 136.  in Spain it remained obscurum debilitatumque, till Ferdinand and Isabel 1479. by agreement with Xistus 4. or, as 
m Francis. Pegna in Director. part. 3. come. 32. p. 49●. col. 1.  others, 1484. with Innocentius 8, did so renew it, as 
n Cathol. Instit. Tit. 34. n. 5. See Pegna ubi supra,  Simanca doubts not to write, they did introduce it into that Kingdom: which I conceive to be in respect of the alterations in the proceedings now used to those were formerly; for that tribunal, in preceding times committed from the Papacy to Friars regulars (who most depended on Rome,) and therefore said to be the Pope's Court, is since by this concord become in effect no other than the Kings, being recommended to the care of Clerks secular and Lawyers, the Dominicans who formerly governed it altogether excluded, unless where the Inquisitors require their counsel.  
12. The style or manner there used being, that his Ma.tie 
o Vide Paramo de origine Inquisit. lib. 2. Tit. 2. cap. 4. per totum: & Simanca ubi supra, Tit. 34. n. 6, 7.  names an Inquisitor general, whom the Pope approves, and after is not at all admitted to interpose; for that Inquisitor nominates a Council, of which himself is Precedent, for number and persons as the King likes (as sometimes five to which Philip the 2. added two more,) and these be of the gravest divines of Spain, ever residing at or near the Court, who compose all differences arising in particular Courts, receive all appeals, punish the defect of agents, and relates to none but the King. Of this Council, as I said, the Inquisitor general is Precedent, whose authority is very ample; for he nominates all provincial Inquisitors and their Officers, (who yet enter not on their charges but by the King's allowance) whom on occasion he removes and punishes, releases all penances, appoints visitors over particular Courts, and though he be directed by the rule of the Canon Law and papal bulls, yet on occasion varies from them, as is manifest by 
p Instruct. Hispal. cap. 28. ut citatur à Paramo p. 146. col. 2. n. 4.  these Instructions, Relinquendum est arbitrio & prudentiae Inquisitorum, ut procedant juxta juris dispositionem in his quae hic non expresse d●clarantur, is answerable to none but the King, admitting the Pope either very little or not at all: insomuch as 
q Adriani Hist. lib. 19 p. 1341. & ibid. lib. 18. p. 1●73. ●●escas Hist. Pont. Madriti 1606. lib. 6. in Pio 4. fol. 342. a. col. 2.  Pius 4tus. 1565. sending the Cardinal Buon compagno into Spain, upon the cause of the Archbishop of Toledo, committed by the Inquisition there six years before on an imputation of heresy, the King's counsel liked not he should alone examine that Prelate, without joining two Spaniards both in the process and sentence. Neither did that State receive the Council of Trent 1564. by other authority than the Kings only, who by his edict of the 12. of july commanded the Cardinals and others of his Clergy to observe it, without making any mention of the Pope. So that in that Kingdom this Catholic Prince doth not take on him much less over Ecclesiastic Courts and causes then the King of England, however he do not style himself Head of the Church. And therefore 
r Cathol. Instit. Tit. 34. n. 5.  Simanca speaking of this Inquisition, plainly says, Ferdinand and Isabel judicii ordinem quo etiam hodie utimur magna ex parte instituerunt. Insomuch as if we meet it at any time termed the Pope's Court there, it is, no question, but a nominal appellation, of that is neither subject to his rules, nor to follow his commands, but as another will.  
13. But this Court in Spain, and other places conforming themselves much to the papal interest, is become very infamous, things being carried in it, as we read in 
s Hist. lib. 3. p. 81. Anno 1547.  Monst the Thou excellent history, praepostera judictorum forma, contra naturalem aequitatem, & omnem legitimum ordinem,— tum etiam immanitas tormentorum, quibus plerumque contra veritatem, quicquid delegatis judicibus libebat, à miseris & innocentibus reis, ut se cruciatibus eximerent, torquebatur. And indeed the directions Popes have set them, do not agree I think with the practice of any standing Court of Justice the world ever saw: as that of 
t Apud Eymericum Director. Inquisit. par. 2. p. 145.  Innocentius 4 us and 
u Bulla ●●ii 4. cui initium cum sicut. à Francisco Pegna post Directorinm edita p. 162.  Pius 4 us, that no man shall know the names either of his accuser or that testifies against him, which 
x Constanter asserere a●● deo, quoth nec ipsis peritis tot s process●s integraliter c●m nominib●s & circ●mstantiis publicandus est, etc. Additiones ad cap. 14. Zanchini p. 104. Romae 1579. edit.  Camillus Campegius will not have communicated to those learned men th' Inquisitors shall call to their assistance in judgement. Another 
y Bulla pii 5ti, cui initium Inter multiplices curas. dat. Romae 21. December. 1566. ubi supra, p. 169.  of Pius 5 tus, that no declaratory or definitive sentence in favour of the accused, though after a canonical purgation, posse facere transitum in rem judicatam, but that they may again proceed tam de antiquis quam noviter super eisdem articulis: which in effect is no other, but that a man once accused before them can never be freed. Of a third of the 
z Bulla Pii 5ti, cui initium Si de protegendis, dat. Romae 1. April. 1569. ibid. p. 174.  same Pope, that whosoever should strike or terrify any belonging to the said Office, (even a Notary or servant) should assist any to escape, imbezzle any writings of that Court, besides the being by that Bull declared Anathema, should be guilty of treason, and suffer according as men found culpable in primo capite dictaelegis, their children subject to the paternal infamy, to be not only incapable of succeeding in the father's inheritance, but of receiving any legacy from friend or stranger, or attaining any place of dignity whatsoever; and others of the like nature, too long to be insisted on.  
14. Certain it will not be easy (at least to my understanding) to prove these proceedings of a Court Christian to agree with those rules and examples Christ himself hath left us in holy Scripture: but the pursuing these Maxims, and the like, hath brought a great obloquy upon this Court, so as it is held an undoubted truth, the Inquisition under the Spaniard hath an eye rather to 
a Adriani lib. 17. p. 1258. c. Hist. Concil. di Trent. lib. 8. p. 776.  empty the purse, and is upholden more for temporal ends, then to cure the conscience. And to this purpose it may not be here unfitly remembered, that a Spanish Inquisitor, employed by Philip the 2. into Sicily, writes, it is found amongst the records of that Kingdom, 
⸬ Paramo de origine Inquisit. lib. 2. cap. 11. n. 17. p. 203.  quod quando in anno 1535. fuit limitata seu suspensa jurisdictio temporalis hujus sancti officii in aliquibus casibus per invictissimum Carolum 5 tum faelicis memoriae, jurisdictio spiritualis causarum fidei fuit in suspenso, & quasi mortua: which I take no other than a confession, the Church, which it maintains, without the temporal power would fail and come to nought; as indeed 
b Risposta ad fol. 22. Apolog. del Padre Paolo p. 85.  Cardinal Bellarmine somewhere in effect confesseth, that to restrain ecclesiastic jurisdiction to spirituals, that pertain to the soul, is to reduce it to nothing.  
15. But because I am here entered upon this fining or confiscation of the goods of a Lay person by a spiritual judge, on the conviction (or rather imputation) of Heresy, it will not be amiss to see how the ecclesiastics have gained that addition to the power left them by Christ; which is so necessary, as without it, that only was committed to them from him, which the ancient Fathers practised, would be as it were dead. It cannot be denied, Princes did in former times by their edicts impose pecuniary penalties on some actions concerned religion; so did 
c Cod. Theod. de Haeret. leg. 21.  Theodosius 392. on such as did ordain or were ordained in Haereticis erroribus; which law a 
d Concil. Afric. cap. 60. & Baron. to. 5. Anno 404. 11. 123.  Council held in afric about 404. (provoked by the inhumanity of the Donatists) did petition th' Emperor Honorius might be of force against them: but never any holy Bishop of those times took upon him to confiscate any man's estate for his opinions, much less to damnify the son for the father's tenets; and the lawyers do expressly resolve, 
e ff de poenis leg. 20.  si poena alicui trrogatur— ne ad haeredes transeat, and give this reason, 
f Ibid. & leg. 26,  Poena constituitur in emendationem hominum, quae, mortuo eo in quem constitui videtur, desinit; again, no man is alieni criminis successor: and accordingly, many 
g Cod. Theod. de Haereticis leg. 40. lata Anno 407. in Cod. Iust. tit. eodem leg. 4. 19 lata Anno 530. & in Authenticis Novel. 115. cap. 3. §. 14. lata Anno 541. etc.  imperial constitutions do expressly provide, the Catholic children of heretical parents (though the father were deprived of them) should succeed in their paternal goods; and thus it stood for aught I know for above a 1000 years, the Christian world thinking it hard the son should suffer for an erroneous persuasion of the father, neither did ever any holy Bishop for that space (unless as Deputy to some Prince) take upon him that way of punishing, and if any did, it was not approved in him.  
16. In the year 1148. 
h Vide Gervas'. Dorobern. col. 1363, 1364, 1366. 1. 1666. 20. Willielmus Thorn col. 1807. 52. &c  th' Archbishop of Canterbury called by Eugenius 3 us to a Council at Reims, the King denied him passage; yet he stole thither; for which on his return he was expelled England: into which notwithstanding he got, shrouding himself, as it seems, in those tempestuous times, and to make himself the more formidable, interdicted divine service through the Kingdom (which is the first experience the nation ever had of that censure.) To this the Prior of S. Augustine's refused to yield obedience: and th' Archbishop having now made his peace with Stephen, got the sentence confirmed from Rome; upon which 
i Thorn, col. 180●, 63.  omnes seculares in hoc monasterio servientes, praeter censuram ecclesiasticam, ad gravem pecuniae redemptionem, contra juris aequitatem & sanctorum patrum decreta, cocgit. On this complaint being made to the Pope, he writ unto him, 
k Thorn, 1809, 55.  Sicut nobis significatum est, homines ejusdem monaster●i, pro participatione excommunicatorum, praeter ecclesiasticam poenam fuerunt ad redemptionem coacti; and thereupon commands him, quatenus omnia quae hac occasione sunt eye ablata sine vexatione restitui facias, nolumus enim ut nova in vestra ecclesia inducantur etc. so that certainly it did but then begin to bud: & after 1160, Alexander the 3. 
l De poenis, cap. 3.  condemns the use of the Archdeacon's of Coventry, who pro corrigendis excess●bus & criminibus puniendis, à clericis & laicis poenam pecuniariam exigunt, affirming it seemed to proceed de radice cupiditatis & avaritiae: yet the same Pope in a 
m Apud Rogerum Hoveden fol. 334 B. 3. & council. general. Romae cap. 3. p. 33. col. 2.  Council at Rome 1179. appoints the goods of heretics to be confiscated, but gives not at all any authority to the spiritual judge in the execution of it; and at the compiling of the decretals by Gregory the 9 
n De Haereticis cap 8.  that particular is omitted.  
17. But not long after Innocentius 3, that vere stupor mundi and immutator seculi, as 
o Hist. minor. Anno 1217.  Matthew Paris styles him, about the year 1200 
p De Haeret. cap. 10 & Regist. Innocent. 3. lib. 3. epist. 1.  appointed the goods of Heretics under his jurisdiction should be confiscated, and out of it the like to be done by the secular magistrate, upon pain of Ecclesiastic censures; adding from certain 
q Cod. Theod. de sicariis leg. 3. & Cod. Just. ad legem juliam Majestatis leg. 5. §. Filii.  imperial constitutions, that it being only an act of mercy, that the children of such as commit treason have their lives spared, when they lose their goods, and the crime far greater to offend God then man, that the severity should not give scandal to the faithful, in seeing children exposed to misery for the parent's offence, there being many cases wherein according to the divine justice sons may be punished for the father's fault, which he leaves the Canonists to justify by th' examples of Chanaan, the children in Sodom, of Achan etc. as I do the reader to 
r Alphonsus à Castro de just ● haereticorum punitione, lib. 2. cap. 11. Simancas Instit. Cathol. Tit. 9 n. 5. 6. johan. Royas' singular. 66. n. 5, 6. Vide St. August. lib. 6. Quaestion. 8. super jos. 10. 4.  seek in them. But it seems to mean hard gloss, from prophetic speeches of the primitive times, or extraordinary examples, when God himself directed what he would have done, for us now to conclude a practice lawful contrary to express precept, Deut. xxiv, 20. ler. xxxi, 30. Ezech. xviii, 20. made good likewise by the ordinary 
s 2 Kings xiv, 6. 2 Chron. xxv, 6.  use of those times. Besides, I am not satisfied with the reason, that temporal Lords punishing treason with the heirs loss of Estate, Heresy being an offence of the same or a worse nature against the Divine Majesty, children ought so to suffer: For doubtless all treason against a Prince presupposeth malice to his person or government, (and therefore we do not read that for merely casual misfortunes, such as Tirrells in England, or Mongomeries in France, men have been so punished) and for that they take away the offenders life upon the first fact, which th' Ecclesiastic 
t De Haeret. cap. 9  pardons: now questionless Heresy is out of an erroneous opinion the holder hath of pleasing God.  
18. This of Innocentius 3 us I take to be the first papal constitution in the kind; yet some 16. years before it, divers of several qualities being discovered in that part of the Netherlands was then within the province of Reims, the Archbishop and Earl of Flanders joined in an edict, 
u Chronicon Aquicinctinun à Miraeo 1608. editum ad calcem Sigeberti Gemblacensis & aliorum, p. 236. anno 1183.  ut deprehensi incendio trader entur, substantiae vero eorum sacerdoti & principi resignarentur. After this in 
x Concil. Lat. cap. 3. & de Heretic. cap. 13.  the Council of Lateran 1215. under the same Pope it was again established, bon a damnatorum [de haeresi] si laici fuerint, confiscentur; si vero Clerici, applicentur eccles●is à quibus stipendia perceperunt etc.  
Nine years after which Fredericus 2 does published those laws at Padova, of which before, in which he did especially establish the confiscation of their goods, and is the first imperial constitution of that kind; which remain no where now entire save in some 
y Eduntur à Francisco Pegna, ad finem Directorii.  papal bulls, as of Innocentius 4. Alexander the 4. and Clement the 4. as is noted in Gloss. de Haeret. cap. 18. in sexto ad verb. leges quasdam: yet some part of them are now inserted into 
z De Episcopali audientia, cap. Statuimus, & de Haeret. Manichaeis, cap. Gazaros etc.  the Codex of justinian, under the titles of Authenticae or nova constitutio Frederici 2. de statu & consuetud. etc. as I have touched before.  
19 But these laws, though they confiscated the goods of Heretics, did not appoint how they should be employed; insomuch as the same Emperor, being that very year 1224. at Palermo in Sicily, 
a Apud Paramum de origine Inquisit. lib. 2. tit. 2. cap. 11. n. 8. p. 198.  expressed his intent to all his Officers through the Empire, but more especially in that Kingdom, that whereas formerly his Exchequer did receive the benefit of those confiscations, they should be divided into three parts, viz. one third Fisco, another Apostolicae sedi, & the other third eisdem Inquisitoribus. After which 
b Bul. Innoc. 4. dat. idibus Maii 9 Pontif. cui initium Ad extirpanda etc. in bullario. et à Francisco Pegna ad finem Directorii, p. 11. §. Teneantur.  Innocentius 4 us 1252. did appoint a distribution in some sort imitating him, as did likewise 
c Ibid. p. 37. §. Teneatur. dat. Anagniae 2. Kalend. Decem. 1259.  Alexander the 4th, including as liable to the same punishment such as were receivers of Heretics: to 
d Ibid. p. 65. §. Teneatur. bulla Clem. 4. dat. Perusti 3. Non. Novemb. 1. Po●tificat.  which Clement the 4. 1265. added, that the houses in which Heretics were found, to be destroyed without hope of re-edifying, the materials sold, and a threefold division made, etc. These deprivations confined hitherto to Italy only, Boniface the 8. 1295, or rather 
e Annal. ecclesiast. Renaldi to 14. Anno 1297. n. 41.  1297, publishing the sixth book of the decretals, made general, decreeing, 
f De haereticis in sento cap. 19 vide cap. 17, 18.  bona Haereticorum ipso jure decernimus confiscata: whereupon, and some other by him then inserted into the Canon law, Bishops laboured to draw from th' lnquisitors part of the profits thus distributed; but 
g Extrav. common. cap. 1.  Benedict the 11. 1303. did absolutely prohibit that, tanquam juri absonum. After which, because (as it seems) the Clergy were not free from prosecuting men only for their estates, Clement the 5th in the Council of Vienna 1311. strictly 
h In Clem. de Haereticis cap. 2.  enjoined, ne praetextu officii Inquisitionis, quibusvis modis illicitis ab aliquibus pecuniam extorqueant; and likewise, ne scienter attentent ecclesiarum bona, ob clericorum delictum, praedicti occasione officii fisco etiam ecclesiae applicare; changing what the Council of Lateran had before established.  
20. Yet notwithstanding this grave admonition of the Pope, their Agents did not carry themselves without scandal in this kind, by reason of an 
i Giovanni Villani lib. 12. cap. 57  outrage arising from a Franciscan Inquisitor 1346. in Florence; a Scrutiny was had of his actions, and found he had raised from the Citizens 7000 florins of gold in two years, as compositions, or fines, upon the imputation of Heresy, yet never less in the town; but any erroneous or less cautelous word was censured as criminal. This drew the Florentine to conform themselves to the usages of Perugia, Spain, and other parts, in making a law, no Inquisitor should condemn any Citizen or borderer pecuniarily, but if an heretic, send him to the fire. By which we may gather, these bulls were not generally received in the world; for then in Spain th' Ecclesiastic did not fine men, and now the King there hath the benefit of those confiscations. In 
k Arrest de la court de Parliament a Paris 27. jun. 1542. habetur in libro des preuves des libertes del' esglise Gallicane cap. 38. n. 9 p. 1082.  France they do not to this day impose on the Laics amends pecuniares, but only on the Clergy, which must be expended en aumosnes and ovures pitoiables, not to the enriching themselves, etc. Neither doth the wise Venetian permit confiscating of estates to arise from any sentence of theirs, but that is to devolve to the next heir. I do not here mention the constitutions of Boniface Archbish. of Cant. 1260. nor of Stratford 1343. in this kind; because of the first little reckoning was made, and the second did only refer to commutation of penance, which the law allows: he that would may find them in Lyndwood lib. 3. de immunitate ecclesiae cap. Accidit, and lib. 5. de poenis cap. Evenit.  
21. If any ask a cause, why the ancient Fathers did proceed with so great lenity against blasphemous heretics, as the Arrians, Nestorians, etc. why, when the 
l August. Epist. 68  Emperor would have punished the furious Donatists with a pecuniary mulct, the holy men of those times so earnestly interceded as to procure the remission, and did requite their fury with such love & meekness, 
m August, contra literas Petiliani Don●t, lib. 2. cap. 83.  as to be able to say, no one of them had paid what th' imperial edicts might challenge▪ when of late years' men have been brought to the fire, children exposed to misery by the loss of their parents estates, even by Bishops and other of the Clergy, whose opinions were neither so blasphemous as the Arrians, nor their comportments so inhuman as the Donatists: why they preached, men 
n 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Socrates de Chrysostomo lib. 6. cap. κα ', lat. 19  relapsed, even to a thousand times, might yet live reconciled to the Church; when as now such as have renounced an opinion Rome calls heresy, being after found to hold it, is 
o De H●reticis cap. 9 & tit. eodem cap. 4. in Sexto. Simanca Instit. Cathol. Tit. 57 n. 10.  seculari judicio sine ulla penitus audientia relinquendus; which yet is not observed if he be a Prince, as was Henry the 4. or perhaps a private man out of their power:  
22. To these demands I can give no other answer, but, that their offences being against the holy Trinity, the pious Bishops of those times, as men who watched for souls, did content themselves to denounce what was heresy, but having done that, finding it not received, to leave the punishment to him who assures it shall go worse with Sodom and Gomorrah then those refused their instructions, and under him to the Secular magistrate; did likewise follow his precept, in forgiving even to 
p Mat. xulii, 22.  seventy times seven times: when on the other side, the opinions of these later heretics (as they call them) be rather against men and their Institutes, than God, as that 
q Aeneas Silvius histor. Bohemica cap. 35.  Romanum praesulem reliquis episcopis paremesse, Purgatorium ignem non inventri, Celebritates sanctorum rejiciendas, jejuntis ab ecclesia institutis mhil inesse meriti etc. and a persuasion gained, none but the Ecclesiastic can 
r Cognitio haeresis & ipsius punitio pertinet ad episcopos. Lyndwood de H●reticis cap. Item quia, verbo Ordinarii.  punish Heresy, who judge the opposer by the law of man, howbeit they style it Christian, yet how it agrees with divinity Iremit to the Canonists decision. In the mean time I cannot but observe, 
s Cathol. Instit. Tit. 57  Simanca finds nothing out of holy writ, but only in divine Plato lib. 10. de legibus, to maintain the position that semel tantum haereticis poenitentibus parcitur etc.  
23. This being then the proceeding against Heretics in general, it will be necessary to see how it was formerly in England, and how the Queen found it. First, it will not be unfit to premise, 
t Neubrigensis lib. 2. cap. 13.  that from the Conversion of the Saxons to the year 1166. no heresy was ever known to have been in England; insomuch as we may safely conclude, whatever doctrine we meet with in the public homilies of the Church, or other writers of elder times, must be esteemed catholic, however it now stand censured: but in that year about XXX Dutch came hither, that detested baptism, the Eucharist etc. who being convict by Scripture in an episcopal council called by the King at Oxford, were remitted to his disposition, that caused them to be whipped, and burnt in the face, and a command given none should either receive or relieve them, so that they miserably perished: which severity his Ma.tie did not think fit afterward to extend to those were then called Publicani, as I have before 
u n. 7.  showed, though there were many in his dominions.  
24. For the punishment of Heretics, it cannot be doubted by the common Law (that is the custom of the Realm) of England to have been here, as in other parts of the world, by consuming them by fire. 
x De script. Brit. Cent. 3. cap. 65. in Appendice.  Balaeus, from the testimony of a chronicle of London, reports one of the Albigenses to have been so made away there 1210. to which the 
⸬ Apparat. Elizab.  learned Camden seems to allude, when he says more died in Queen Mary's time, than this nation had seen ex quo regnante johanne Christiani in Christianos apud nos flammis saevire coeperunt. The same Paramo saith is made good by an epistle of Tho. Waldensis to Martin the 5. but I have not seen it; I am sure in that Waldensis I use it is not found. But of the truth of the thing there is no question; for 
y Lib. 3. de corona cap. 9 n. 2. fol. 124. a. Britton cap. 9  Bracton writes of an Apostate Deacon, that in a Council held at Oxford 1222. by Stephen Langton was first degraded, and then by the Lay committed to the fire: with whom for the thing agrees 
z Lib. 1. cap. 29. in fine, p. 46.  Fleta; yet, by the way, where you read in him per manum comburentur clericalem, it is to be Laicalem, for so is Bracton, out of whom he transcribed it, agreeing with the continual practice both of this and other nations; for the Clergy meddles not with execution.  
25. In Edward the 3 ds days, about the year 1347. 
a Hist. Angl. lib. 19 p. 382, 39  Polydore Virgil testifyes two Franciscans to have been burnt, quod de religione male sentirent. Neither did William Sautry, a relapsed priest, die by any statute-law 2. H. 4. but convicted in a provincial council of th' Archbishop of Cant. the writ de haeretico comburendo, bearing date the 26. February was by th' advice of the Lords Temporal sent to the Major of London to cause him be executed, 
b Rot. Parl. 2. Hen. 4. n. 29.  attendentes, says it, hujusmodi haereticos, sic convictos & damnatos, juxta legem divinam, humanam, canonica instituta, & in hac parte consuetudinaria, ignis incendio comburi debere etc. But where 
c Ypodigma Neustriae anno 1401. p. 158, 9  Walsingham speaks as if he died during the sitting of the Parliament, by virtue of 
d 2. Hen. 4. cap. 15.  the law then made against heretics, the historian is without peradventure mistaken; for that Parliament, begun about the 20. january, ended the 10. March following, did expressly provide, on the petition of the Commons, 
e Rot. Parl. 2. Hen. 4. n. 116.  qe touse les estatutz & ordenances faitz ou affaire en cest Parliament qe sont penalz, ne tiegnent lieu ne force devant le feste de Peatecoste prochin venant, les queles en le mesme temps puissent estre proclamez: to which the answer is, le roil voet. So that certainly he could not die by that law, which was not to take effect till so long after.  
26. But I confess I did a little doubt of two particulars: The one, whether by the common Law a Lay man could be sent to the fire for any conviction by the Ecclesiastic; for all the undoubted precedents I have met with (unless that of the Albigenses were otherwise) were of some Clerks, within the pale of the Church, that were so punished; and Bracton and Fleta both agree, Clerici Apostatae comburantur; whose words being penal, I conceived stricti juris not to be construed by equity. But indeed Fleta elsewhere speaks more generally, Christiani Apostatae 
* I read it detrectari, not, a● the print, detractari.  detrectari debent & comburi; and 
f Cap. 9 fol. 16. b.  Britton of Miscreants so to be served, without distinction of the quality; with whom Sr. Edward Cook concurs. Another thing I questioned, whether any Bishop within his Diocese alone could convict one of heresy before 2. Hen. 4. cap. 15. (of which hereafter:) for whatever the power of the Ordinary was, there is very little example of his putting it in exercise before the times of Wickliff.  
27. Who began to be taken notice of about the end of Edward the 3. or rather the beginning of Rich. the 2. in whose doctrine, at least that they fathered on him, though there were good Corn, yet was it not without Tares. But when it grew common, and to be harkened unto, the Prelates laboured to procure 
g 5. Ric. 2. cap. 5. stat. 2.  a law, his Ma.tie Commissions should be directed to the Sheriffs and other his Ministers, to arrest all preachers, their fautors etc. to hold them in prison, till they will justifis themselves according to reason, and the laws of the holy Church. How this past I should be glad to learn; for not only 
h 5. Ric. 2. cap. 1.  the printed statutes, but 
i Rot. Parl. lendemain jehan port Latin. 5. Ric. 2. n. 13.  the Roll of Parl nt expressly mentions the Commons agreeing to those Acts, yet the 
⸫ Rot. Parl. Octaves St. Michael. 6. Ric. 2. n. 52,  next meeting they do disclaim to have given any assent unto it, quiel ne fust unques assentu ne grante parles coens, mes ce qe fust parle de ce fust sanz assent, de lour qe celuy estatut soit anntenti: to which the King's answer is, y plest au Roy. How it fell out this latter was not counted an Act, 
k Cook Inst. 3. p. 41.  Sr. Edward Cook hath showed, which tells us why it passed again without opposition in 
l 1 & 2. P. & M. cap. 6.  Queen Mary's days. I wish that learned Gentleman had given his opinion how the record came to be so faulty, as to affirm a concurrence of the lower House to that they never assented.  
28. In King Hen. the 4 this time his successor, that 
m 2 Hen. 4. cap. 15.  law past, which greatly increased the power of the Ordinary, allowing him to imprison, fine, determine all causes of heresy, according to the canonical Decrees, within three months: on which words Canonical Sanctions the Bishops so behaved themselves, 
n 25 Hen. 8. cap. 14.  That the most learned man of the realm, diligently lying in wait upon himself, could not eschew and avoid the same act and Canonical Sanctions, if he should be examined upon such captious interrogatories as is and hath been accustomed to be ministered by the Ordinaries of this realm, in cases where they will suspect of heresy etc. Upon which, if any did refuse obedience to his Diocesan in aught, 
o Cook Instit. 3. cap. 5. p. 42.  as paying a legacy etc. there would be means found to bring him within the suspicion of heresy. And certainly the proceeding of some Diocesans upon this statute gave quickly scandal: for only nine years after, we find the Commons petition, 
⸪ Rot. Parl. 11. Hen. 4. n. 29.  qe please a nre sovereign Seigr le Roy grantier, qe si ascun soit ou serra arreste par force de l' estatute fait l' an de vostre regne seconde, all request des Prelates & Clergy de vostre Royalme d' Engleterre, q' il purra estre less a mainprize, & fair sa purgation franchement sanz destourbance d' ascun en mesme le Conteou il est arrestu, & qe tieles arrestes soient desore en avant faitz en due form de ley, par les Viscount, Mairs, Baillifs ou Conestables nostre Seigneur le Roy, sanz violent affray, our force & arms, en depredation de leur biens, ou autre extortion ou injurye queconcque en celle affaire. But to this, le Roy se voet ent aviser is all the answer given. But whereas 
⸫ Walsing. Anno 1410. p. 422.  Walsingham speaks of this Parl nt. as infected with Lollardy, certainly to me there is no such thing appears in the Roll, but rather the contrary. But I confess I did think before that law of H. 4. no Bishop in his Diocese, without a Provincial Council, could have convicted any man of heresy, so as to have caused him been burnt; for man's life being a point of so high concernment in the law, and heresy laying so great an imputation on the party, it seemed not to me probable, every angry Bishop in his Court should alone have power of determining what was by the canonical Sanctions so esteemed, and whose words or writings could admit no other sense then heretical: and with this it seemed to me the practice did concur, for the Deacon burnt at Oxford suffered after conviction in a Provincial Synod; and the conviction of William Sautry shows plainly to have been after the same manner, 
p Rot. Parl. 2. Hen. 4. n. 29.  the Writ running, Cum vener abilis pater Thomas etc. de consensu & assensu, ac consilio coepiscoporum, ac confratrum suffragancorum suorum, nec non totius cler● Provinciae suae, in concilio suo provinci ili congregato, juris ordine in hac parte requisito in omnthus observato etc. intimating (as it seemed to me) if otherwise, the Order of law had not been observed. And I did ever conceive this Law had increased the Power of the Ordinary, as well in permitting him singly to pursue the canonical Sanctions in convicting an heretic, as in sinning and imprisoning of him; especially the statute 
q 1 & 2. P. & M. cap. 6.  of Q. Marry, that gave it life after the repeal of Hen. the 8, affirming, before such revival the Ordinary did want authority to proceed against those that were infected with Heresy. But I have since found, 
r Cook Inst. 3. cap. 5. p. 39  better opinion it was otherwise.  
29. After this 2. Hen. 5. 
s Stat. 2. Hen. 5. cap. 7.  a Parliament at Leicester enacted, The Chancellor, Treasurer, Justices of the peace, Sheriffs, etc. should take an Oath for destroying all manner of Heresies, commonly called Lollardries, to be assistant to the Ordinary therein; Persons convict of Heresy to lose their fee-simple land; justices of the King's Bench, of the Peace and of Assize, to inquire of all holding any errors or heresies as Lollards, their maintainers, receivers, fautors, etc. and for that end a clause to be put into the Commissions of justice of the Peace: yet forasmuch as the cognizance of heresy, errors, and Lollardries belonged to judges of holy Church, and not to the secular, the indictment taken by them not to be evidence, but for information before the spiritual judge, into whose hands the person suspected to be delivered within ten days after his indictment; every man empanelled in the Enquest for the trial of them to have in England 5 pounds, in Wales forty shillings in land by the year etc. Which three laws were each repealed by Hen. the 8th or Ed. the 6. and again restored by Q. Mary, under whom, by virtue of them, had in less than three years been spoilt for religion more Christian blood of her subjects, then in any Prince's reign since Lucius.  
30. Things standing thus when Queen Elizabeth came to the Crown, the Ecclesiastic authority exercised at home and abroad with rigour and austerity, rather than Christian mildness; still to permit that, was the continuing a fire to consume her people, and yet for every one to think and do without control what him list, was to let loose all reins of government, to leave open a door for sedition to disquiet her Kingdom, and the Commonwealth perhaps not to be ever in peace: her Ma.tie therefore took a middle way to agree with the primitive times, and yet not let every profane humour disturb the Church, by 
t Stat. 1. Eliz. cap. 1.  erecting a Court with power to visit, reform, redress order, correct and amend all such errors, heresies, schisms etc. which by any spiritual or ecclesiastical power, authority, or jurisdiction can or may lawfully be reform, ordered, redressed, corrected, restrained or amended; yet restraining them from adjudging any thing to be heresy, that had not been heretofore adjudged such by the plain words of the canonical Scriptures, or by any one of the first four general Counsels, or by any other general Council, wherein the same was declared heresy by the express and plain words of the canonical scripture, or that should hereafter by the Parliament with the assent of the Convocation etc.  
From whence ariseth a question of some intricacy, how it came to pass those times spoke with so great submission to the four first general Counsels, and yet so restrained the other, without expressing which they were, nor any other particular concerning them. For the solution of which, we are to know, those have been ever looked on by the Catholic Church with more reverence than any other that ever yet were held. The 
u Novel, 131. cap. 1. & in Cod. de summa trinitate & side Catholica leg. 9  Emperor justinian 541. declared which they were, and that he did receive earum dogmata sicut sanctas scripturas, & regulas sicut leges observamus; who made not the like mention of the fifth, though 
x Concil. gen. Romae, to. 2. p. 524, col. 1. E.  called by him, and held in his time. Neither did Gregory the great, who did reverence them, 
y Gregor. lib. 1. epist. 24.  sicut sancti Evangelii quatuor libros, make the same esteem of the fifth; for having made honourable mention of it in a letter to a Queen of Lombardy, sent by a Bishop of Milan, the Bishop gave it her not, on an opinion she might be scandalised at his naming of it: upon which 
z Gregor. lib. 3. epist. 37.  St. Gregory sent him word he did well, and in that altered his epistle. And the year following, viz. 596, 
⸫ Lib. 5. ●ndict. 14. epist. 2.  the People of Ravenna opposing one Maximianus in being their Bishop, as not of sound belief, in that he did not carry so great veneration to the Council of Chalcedon, hodoth assure them of the contrary, that he did receive those four Counsels, but makes no mention of the fifth. I do not deny but 
a Beda lib. 4. cap. 17. Concil. Calcuth. cap. 1. apud Spelm. p. 293.  the faith of the fifth and sixth were by this Church approved, yet never any of them had that great reverence yielded their dictates the first four had, which are therefore said to have been 
b Canon's Aelsrici ad Wulfinum apud Spelman. Concil. Can. 33. p. 581. vide Egberti Archiepise. de sacerdotali jurecap. 4. ibid. p. 278.  Synodi firmissimae by Elfrick, in his Canons to Wulfin.  
32. But these, however of this high esteem, yet had not the name of general appropriated unto them till long after; for certainly that distinction was not suddenly brought into the Church, at least in that sense it is now taken, many Synods by our writers being styled general, to which yet th' obligation was never of that nature, as if they did not or could not err. 
c p. 24, 7.  Eadmerus writes, Anselm told William the 2, generale concilium Episcoporum ex quo Rex factus fuisti non fuit in Anglia celebratum: and the like phrase is used very frequently for English counsels not only in him, but in our other eldest and best historians, as 
d Anno 1044. p. 405.  Flor. Wigorniensis, 
e Anno eod. fol. 180, 23.  Simeon Dunelmensis, 
f Hunt. fol. 226. b. 3.  Huntingdon, 
g Ger. Dor. col. 1369, 62.  Gervas'. Dorobernensis, 
h Hoved. Anno 1044. fol. 252, a. 35. Anno 1200. fol. 458, b. 18.  Hoveden, etc. 
i Hist. minori & majori, p. 131. 19  Mat. Paris speaking of a council held at Westminster 1175. calls it Concilium generale, which in 
k Diceto col. 585, 63.  Diceto is changed to Concilium Regionale, and in the margin added (out of the Mss. copy sometimes belonging to St. Alban, and now at Saint James', (the best and fairest I ever saw) and which I conceive Mat. Paris himself used) solius Papae est concilium generale, Romanae ecclesiae & Constantinopolitanae est concilium universale: which I know not how he will make good, having 
l To. 1. Concil. Con. Carth. 3. cap. 7. concil. 4. in prooem.  the 3d and 4th Council of Carthage, 
m Ibid. Honor. Augusto & ●umorido C●ss.  and one held there 403. the Council 
n Tom. 2. Concil. Crab. c. 20.  of Matiscon and others to contest with, which being no other than particular, as we now esteem them, have in their acts the titles of being universal Counsels. So the 4th Council 
o Ibid. in proaemio.  of Toledo is said to have been general; as by Eymericus a 
p Director. par. 2. quaest. 5. 6. in sine p.  Council in Tarragona.  
33. Now of such as have been so called, it is manifest the value set on them is altogether vanished, and was so long since. 
q De vit. Pont. in Anselmo. fol. 129, b. 30.  Malmsbury records, the Counsels held by Anselm were in his time become obsoleta, their credit lost: and so we may say of the rest, for 
r De poenis, cap. ad haec, verbo minime admittantur.  Lyndwood is very clear no English Counsels oblige this Church, before 1222. Stephen Langton held one at Oxford. As for those which the Popes called as Patriarches of the West, which Diceto conceives were properly general, the rite of former times was, never to send hence more than four Bishops unto them; which when it came in question 1179. 
s Hoveden fol. 332. a. 55.  Episcopi Angliae constanter asseruerunt, quod ad generale concilium Dom. Papae quatuor Episcopi de Anglia tantum Romam mittendi sunt: which is so full a testimony of his having no absolute power over our Bishops, not so much as to cause them meet in council, as there cannot well be a greater; and therefore when he imposed the oath (of 
t Cap. 3. n. 50, 51.  which before) on them, one clause was, Vocatus ad Synodum veniam, nisi praepeditus fuero canonica praepeditione. Yet in after Ages the going thither did only remain at the Prince's pleasure, 
u Vide Seld. ad Eadmer. p. 214. ex. Archivis potestatem commissam Ambasciatoribus ad interessend. concilio Basisiliensi.  who gave them authority consentiendi, &, si opus fuerit, dissentiendi his quae juxta deliberationem dicti concilii inibi statui & ordinari contigerit. All which I have spoke of general Counsels, that the Reader may know, when he meets that phrase in any author, he is not necessarily to conclude him to have conceived an obligation of following whatever they said, nor that he held it to have been void of Error; for it is unquestionable, they and we give the name to such Synods as were esteemed full of imperfections, far from that freedom ought to be in General Counsels, to whose Canons they did not hold themselves tied.  
34. But because in these cases examples of former times do more convince men's judgements, then present affirmations, to give some instances, not of other then of such as have been 
x 1608 & 1612. Rom.  lately printed, and with that title, at Rome; as the Council of Vienna 1311. Which by 
⸫ Gualterus Hemingford Gisburnensis.  Gisburnensis, who lived about that time, is noted to have been nothing less than a free Council: the book is not printed, I will give you the whole therefore as I find it in him.  
Dominus Papa Clemens tennit concilium suum Viennae Anno Dom. Mccexi. primo die mensis Octobris: in quo quidem conciliotres fecit sessiones.  
I. In prima sessione, facto sermone, exposuit Clero tres artioulos super quibus erat principaliter tractandum, & consulendum; super negotio terrae sanctae, quomodo posset recuperari & tueri, & super ordine Templariorum, qui pro nullo habebatur; praecepitque omnibus Praelatis, & singulis qui convenerant, quod super praemissis articulis usque ad secundam sessionem deliberarent.  
II. In secunda sessione facta est long a disputatio de ordine Templariorum, utrum stare posset, vel deleri de jure deberet. Et erant pro ordine Templariorum praelati quasi omnes, praeter praelatos Franciae, qui propter timorem Regis Franciae (per quem, ut dicebatur, totum illud scandalum fuerat) aliud facere non audebant. Erant in toto Concilio (quod Concilium dici non merebatur, quia ex capite proprio omnia fecit Dominus Papa, non respondente neque consentiente sacro Concilio) baculi pastorales circa cxxx.  
III. In tertia sessione Dominus Papa [sedit] pro tribunali, & ab uno latere Rex Franciae, ab altero Rex Naverniae filius ejus: surrexit que quidem Clericus, & inhibuit sub poena excommunicationis majoris, ne aliquis loqueretur verbum in concilio, nisi licentiatus vel requisitus à Papa. Recitatoque processu Templariorum, adjecit Papa, Quod licet ex processu praehabito ipsum Ordinem de jure delere non posset, tamen ex plenitudine potestatis Ordinem delevit, nomen & habitum, terras eorum & possessiones Hospitalariis conferendo, aggregando, & uniendo.  
35. The like may be said of the Council of Lateran under Innocentius 3. in which there was only recitata (as what the Pope had before concluded on) capitula 
y Sic Mat. Paris Anno 1215. p. 272, 26. lege tamen capitula lxx.  lx, quae aliis placabilia, aliis videbantur onerosa, etc. Which with the great extortion then exercised on the prelates appeared in it, the little credit it gained in England, might justly cause 
z p. 151, 19 edit. Lond.  th' Antiquitates Britannicae Ecclesiae write it to end in risum & scomma: which words are none of Mat. Paris, but of the author's; though the marginal note against them in 
a p. 158, 47.  the edition of Hanaw 1605. hath given an occasion of mistake, which should have been placed five lines lower, as it is in that 
* p. 151, 23.  of London 1572. for that he there speaks of the prelates borrowing to satisfy the papal avarice, is as Archbishop Parker, or whosoever else composed those lives, thus delivered in 
b Mat. Paris. hist. minor. Ms. p. 172. & fol. 86. sive 89. col. 2. Anno 1216. Vide Abbatum vitas pag. 117, 39, 43.  Historia minori; Tunc autem temporis solutum est concilium generale: Papa vero praelatis petentibus licentiam repatriandi minime concessit, immo à singulis auxilium in pecunia postulavit, quam recessurt cum viaticis cogebantur à Mercatoribus curiae Romanae duris conditionibus mutuare, & sic cum benedictione papali ad propria remearunt— per idem tempus instante festo Paschali, etc.  
36. This I have the rather transcribed, because some are of opinion that Council ended 1215; which certainly it did not till towards Easter the year following; and then too abruptly, the Pope called away on a sudden for appeasing the wars growing in Italy, the 16 july 1216. died: which makes it without either time when it began or ended, nothing being fully concluded but th' expedition against the Saracens, for the recovery of the Holy land. Of this I have made the more particular mention, for that having given advertisement of it to Doctor Wats (who hath with great sincerity and judgement put out Mat. Paris,) that he might clear the Archbishop in his Adversariis, I know not by what fate he applies his note to pag. 138, 5. which refers to the Council held there by Alexander the 3. 1179. when it should have been to pag. 272. or pag. 274. 6. and thinks he called the lives of the Abbots the Historia minor; who I am persuaded 
* See the preface to Mat. West. pag. 5.  never saw that book, but did write candidly what he found in Historia minori.  
37. But that this Council was never received generally here is manifest, in that divers Canons in it were not of force in England, as the 3, the 41, the 46, to which I may add the very first; for though 
c Lyndwood, de summa Trinitate & fide Catholic â, cap. Altissimus.  Peckham 66 years after did make a constitution in that point; yet he did, to my understanding, not speak of Christ's presence in the Eucharist so grossly, nor determine it to be by Transubstantiation, as the first chapter of the other doth: but of that hereafter. And whosoever shall pursue 
d ibid. de poevitentiis & remissionibus.  Simon Sudburies' constitions 1378 touching confession, will find so much variation from the 21 chapter of that Synod, as he cannot think he took that for a rule not to be varied from. To which I may add, that 
e De custodia Eucharist. cap. 2.  Peckham provides the punishment of the negligent conserver of the holy Sacrament to be secundum regulam concilii generalis, meaning the 20th chapter of this I speak of; which had it been of force otherwise, he had no doubt commanded the due observance of it, not by his command added strength to the rule there given. It is true, Stephen Langton, to ingratiate himself with Rome (whom he had so much displeased, as 
f Mat. Paris Hist. minor. Anno 1216. § Barones, p. 172. col. 2.  the Pope intended to remove him from his Archbishopric on the King's desire, but stopped on the intercession of the Court, and his being a Cardinal) did at the end of his Synod at Oxford 1222 enjoin the Council 
⸫ Which Council of Lateran this was, is uncertain, whether that under Innocentius 2. or this by Innocentius 3. but most likely that under Innocent 3. at which himself was present.  of Lateran held under Pope Innocent, in the paying of Tithes and other litigious 
* Binius reads, & aliis capitulis, thereby adding strength to every chapter of that Council: when certain the reading should be, according to ancient copies, in praestatione Decimarum & aliis causis, referring only to what passed there touching Tithes, and the payment of them by the Cistertiam order, for land acquired after that time, which several Acts of Parl. confirmed afterwards. As for the other constitutions there propounded, he after gives the rule with what caution they were to be expounded and recited, as they should be held expedient, and not otherwise.  causes, to be observed, & in Synodis episcopalibus constitutiones illius concilii, una cum istis, prout videbitur expedire, [exponi volumus & recitari:] which last words Binius hath changed, I know not on what authority, to volumus observari, when questionless th' English took them for advise, not a precept: and their little regard of them appears by the particulars mentioned. Neither doth Lyndwood make any mention of this part, though he have, I think, all the rest were agreed there: & is itself altogether omitted in some old copies of that Council I have seen; one of which is joined with the Mss. Annals of Burton Abbey in Sr Thomas Cottons Library. But the Acts of this Council being, with divers others, printed at the end of the constitutions of Otho and Othobon at Paris 1504, and since by Binius transferred into his third tome the second part, this is alleged by some men, as if what past at Lateran had been of undoubted validity with us; when no question, what was done there hath never been taken here as the decrees of a general Council, like that of Nice or etc. but of Innocentius 3 us, as they stand in the decretals (compiled by Gregory the 9th his Nephew) with this title, Innocentius 3. in Concilio Lateranensi, as those by him propounded, but not fully concluded in council, according to Plantina, and from which this Church varied as occasion served. Yet if any shall insist this conclusion of 1222. to have been of greater validity than I speak, I must add, that if it really were made with such an intent by the ecclesiastics, it cannot be thought to have obliged us more than that declaration of the Bishops 1615 did the French; who 
g Preuves des libertes de l' Esglise de France p. 325.  having meurement delibere sur la publication du concile de Trente, ont unaniment recognu & declarè, & recognoissent & declarent, estre obligez par leur devoir, & conscience, a recevoir, come de fait ils ont receu & recoivent, le dit concile, & promettent l'observer entant qu' ils peuvent par leurs fonctions, & authority spirituele, & pastorele, and caused the same to be printed. Yet that of Trent had never validity in France, nor the other in England, notwithstanding what thus past the Clergy.  
38. Neither was that other Council of Lateran under Innocentius 2. ever received here: though the Pope there 
h Ordericus Vitalis lib. 13. p. 919. B.  insignem sacrorum Decretorum textum congessit, yet nimis abundans per universum orbem nequitia terrigenarum corda contra ecclesiastica scita obduravit: from whence it proceeded, that when they were divulged they did no good, quoniam à principibus & optimatibus regnorum, cum subjectis plebibus, parvi pensa sunt. Now that it was never received here appears, (besides this testimony) in that the marriage of a professed Nun was 
i Regist. Islep. fol. 166. b.  adjudged valid, contrary to the 7. Canon of it, and that too after it was registered in the 
k Apud Gratian. caus. 27. q. 1. cap. 40.  Canon Law: which shows, this Church did neither admit the Canons of foreign Counsels, nor the Canon Law itself to alter their ancient customs; as is farther manifest by the statute of Merton cap. 9 Neither was the Council of Sardis ever allowed in England, as is manifest by what before of Appeals, which yet by the Capitulars of 
l Carol. & Lud. Capit. lib. 7. cap. 323.  Charles the great and Ludovicus Pius was even in that particular in France; which made 
2 Bern. de consideratione ed Eugenium, lib. 3. cap. 2.  St. Bernard write of them, in multas posse eas devenire perniciem, si non summo [moderamine actitentur: Appellatur de toto mundo ad te] id quidem etc. for so the place is to be read, as I have seen in two very good Mss, and one late printed, not as in the former editions of him, as at Paris 1586. By these precedents the Reader may judge how necessary it was for the Parliament to make a distinction of Counsels. Now in these, with sundry of as doubtful credit, being of late 
l Concil. gen. Romae, 1608, 1612.  printed at Rome, as if they were of equal value with the first, I have thought fit to instance. And here having made mention of receiving Counsels, as if that added strength unto them, it will be necessary to say something of that too, for the fuller clearing of this Church.  
39 The Apostles as they showed a pattern for 
m Acts the xy.  holding Counsels to settle disputes amongst Christians; so Paul and Silas in their travels delivering the 
n Acts xuj, 4.  Decrees by them ordained to be kept by several Churches, showed it to be reasonable, such as were absent should receive what was done in any Synod, before they were obliged by it; and accordingly, in the primitive times, those were not present at the holding a synod, had the results sent or brought unto them after the conclusion taken, who did in their own Churches subscribe (finding them just and pious) what the others had in Council agreed upon, and then reposed them amongst their Records, called by St Hierom 
o Hieron. adversus Luciferianos to. 2. fol. 52. a. Paris 1534.  Scrinia publica, Ecclesiarum arcae etc. So 
p Con. 6. Carthag. cap. 9  Cecilian, being present at Nice, brought to Carthage the Decrees there concluded, who submitted unto them; and 
q Epist. ad Aphto; interpret Petro Nannio. Paris 1572. col. 537. c.  S. Athanasius of that Council says, Huic Concilio universus orbis assensum praebuit; & quanquam multae habitae sunt Synodi, hujus tamen omnes sunt memores, tumper Dalmatiam, Dardaniam, aliasque insulas, Siciliam, etc. & plerique in Arabia hanc agnoverunt, & subscriptione approbarunt, etc. And of the 
r Concil. gen. p. 64. c.  Council at Sardis it is recorded, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which I English thus; Osius the Bishop subscribed, and so did th● rest. These things being copied out, the Synod●n Sardis sent to those could not be present, who were of the same mind w●th what had been determined of those subscribed in the Synod; and of the other Bishops these are the names.  
40. After which 
s Epist. ad Aegyp. ios etc. col. 424. a. b.  Athanasius (from whom this epistle is taken) adds, qui igitur decretis 〈…〉 sunt isti— in universum 344. Hence it grew, that though some Counsels had but few at the holding of them, yet the subscriptions were numerous. 
t Tom. 5. ann● 419. ●. 59  Baronius observes the 5th Council of Carthage to have been held by 22 only, (I conceive it should be 72.) yet had 217. subscribers, which was after the ending of it, by Bishops in their own Churches, when they admitted of it. So the 
u Concil. Antioth. to. 1. Concil. in pro●●in.  Synod of Antioch about 341. sending their conclusions to absent Churches, writ unto them, they did believe they would assent to what they had done, et ca quae visa sunt recta roborantes cum consensu sancti Spiritus consignabitis. It is of no use to dispute here, whether this were an Arrian or a Catholic Council: be it either, it still denotes the manner then used; as doth the 
x Concil. Tolet. 3. §. Consuemur. to●. concil. 2.  third Council of Toledo held Anno 589. which speaks thus, Constitutiones sanctorum conciliorum, Niceni, Ephesini, Constantinopolitaniss vel Chalcedonensis, quas gratissima aure audivimus, & consensione nostra veras esse probavimus, de toto cord & de tota anima & de tota mento nostra subscripsimus: and another held there, having received with the letters of Pope Leo the 2. the sixth general Council, invited all the Prelates 
* Baron to. 8. Anno 685. n. 25.  of Spain, ut praedicta synodalia instituta quae miserat, nostri etiam vigoris manerent auctoritate suffulta, omnibusque per nos sub regno Hispaniae consistentibus patescerent divulganda.  
41. By all this it is plain, the manner of former times was to disperse the Decrees of Counsels to absent Churches, who by subscriptions were said to have confirmed, and, so far as lay in them, by suffrage, to have given strength to that such meetings had agreed unto. And as Popes did thus confirm what other Bishops had concluded in their Synods, so did they in like manner his. In the year 1095. Vrban the 2. held a Council at Clermont in Auvergne, at which were present several Prelates of Normandy, who at their return brought letters from the Synod, upon which William Archbishop of Rouen caused the Norman Bishops to meet there, 
y Ordericus Vitalic lib. 9 p. 721. ●.  who capitula Synodi quae apud Clarum-montem facta est unanimiter contemplati sunt, scita quoque Apostolica confirmaverunt. It is true, the Pope being the Patriarch of most note in the world, and of greatest dignity in the West, usually the Acts of foreign Counsels were directed unto him, 
z Vide Eu●eb. ●ediolanens. post epist. 52. Leon●s.  which he dispersed through Italy and other parts of Europe; but his approbation was not enough to oblige other Churches, till what came from him was by themselves allowed: neither was this dispersing so appropriated to his Papacy, as if there were never any other divulging of them; the second Council of Nice held 787, or 788 as Di●eto accounts, was sent from Constantinople to Charles the great, then only Rex Francorum, and by him 792. hither, where it was rejected.  
42. From hence it proceeded, that part of the Acts of one Council did not bind some Churches, which did others; as some parts of the Council of Chalcedon and Ephesus seem not to have been received in Rome in 
a Gregor, lib. 6. epist. 31. & lib. 7. epist. 47. Indict. 2.  S. Gregory's time, to which may be added some 
b General. Council Rom●, tom. 3. p. 684, 685. in margin.  Canons of the 7th Council. But I believe it will be hardly showed from the ancients, that any Church, neither intervening in Council by proxy, nor that did after admit of it, were ever held concluded by any, though never so numerous. Certainly none was ever held of greater esteem amongst Catholics then the Council of Nice; yet 
c ●ontra Maximinum Arrianorum epist. lib. 3. cap. 14. to. 6. vide etiam de unitate Eccles. cap. 16. to. 7.  S. Augustine, in his dispute with an Arrian, confesses neither the Council of Nice aught to prejudice the Arrian, not that held at Ariminum him, sed utrisque communibus testibus, res cum re, causa cum causa, ratio cum ratione concertet. And 
c De Synodis advers 〈◊〉 Arrianos prope finein. p. 243.  St. Hilary, comparing two Counsels, one of 80. Bishops which refused the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, with that of Nice which received it, says, si contraria invicem senserunt, debemus quasi judices probare meliora: so not only taking from them all infallibility, but allowing others to judge of their doings, before they submitted unto their determinations.  
And this hath been the so constant observance in all times, as no age ever held the Latin obliged by the Grecian Synods which they have not received; neither doth the Greek Church to this day hold themselves tied by the determinations of Florence, or to the many other of the Latin touching the procession of the holy Ghost, and other points in difference, to which they have not submitted.  
43. But for that the Acts of Counsels, without temporal authority to enforce the observance of them, were no other than persuasive, Princes (either on the incitation of their Bishops, or convinced of the justness and piety of what had passed in those Ecclesiastic Assemblies) did often by their letters exhort, or by their laws command the observance of what resulted from them. So Constantine, after the Council of Nice, wrote that letter remains recorded in 
d Socrat. lib. 1. cap. 6. Theodor. lib. 1. cap. 10.  Socrates and Theodoret to some absent Churches, for their admitting the resolutions of it: in which he tells them he had undertaken that what the Romans had already, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that their judgement would willingly receive. 
e Cod. Theodos. de fide Cathol. leg. 3. & de Haeret. leg. 6.  And Gratian, Valentinian, Theodosius did in the year 381. by their rescripts establish the same Council, as 
f n. 31.  justinian by the law before mentioned did all the fourfirst; which I take to be the same 
* To. 8. in Psal. 57  St Augustin calls inserting them acts proconsularibus.  
44. Of later times Popes, having by several arts acquired the greatest part of Episcopal power to be devolved to them, have likewise claimed it as a right belonging to the Papacy, not only to call Counsels, but to determine which are general, who are to vote in them; and therefore 
g Bellarm. de council. lib. 1. cap. 15. §. At Catholicorum.  though properly, or dinarie, none but Bishops have there (say they) jus suffragii, yet ex privilegio & consuetudine Cardinals, Abbats, and Generals of Orders are to be allowed voice; and that there needs no other than the Pope's confirmation in Rome, to oblige all Christians to the observance of any he shall hold out for such, as Pius 4tus by his bull of the 18 july 1564. declared, all in the Council of Trent juris positivi did the world from the first of May before, etc. And though all History agree, and the very Counsels themselves assure us, the causing the East and West to meet in those assemblies, to have been ever done by Emperors, and that Princes on occasions have called the Clergy within their estates together for composing disputes in religion; yet the bare affirmation, without any real proof, hath so far prevailed with some men, as to esteem him little other than an heretic shall maintain the contrary.  
45. But Kings have not so easily parted with these rights: for the State of France, notwithstanding the many solicitations of Pope● from abroad, and their Clergy at home, hath no hitherto been induced to approve what was determined at Trent; however you shall hardly meet with any of the Roman party, but he will tell you that the points of faith there agreed upon, are received in France, but not of manners, and government: which is in a kind true, yet contains a notable fallacy; for the ecclesiastics of that kingdom finding the difficulty of procuring that Council to pass, have in their provincial Synods, 
h Bochellius 〈◊〉 operis ratio.  conspiration quadam, venia in quaque Dioecesi cogendi Synodos impetrata, inserted the greatest part of the doctrinal points of it into those Counsels; so that it is truth, they are indeed there received, yet not for that they were concluded upon in Trent, but because Episcopal Counsels have each in their Dioceses established what they could persuade nec regibus, nec supremis Parlamentorum curiis, ut Synodi istius Canon's in acta sua referrent, & observandos publicarent. Neither hath the Council of Florence under Eugenius 4tus, or of Lateran held by julius the 2. and Leo the 10, been hitherto allowed by France, or England, where the most zealously affected to Rome, as Sr Thomas Moor, have 
i See his letter to Cromwell at the end of his works, and the original in Sr Thom. Cottons Library.  maintained the superiority of a general Council above the Pope 
k Concil. Florent. Sess. 25. Concil. gen. Romae. tom. 4. p. 584. ibid. Concil. Later. sub julio 2. & Leone 10. Sess. 11. p. 175. col. 2.  in opposition to either of them; though 
l Bellar. de council. lib. 2. cap. 17. §. 〈…〉.  that be a point rather of faith than manners. Upon which grounds, those Counsels before spoken of did not bind here, farther than what was in them hath been made good by provincial Synods within the Nation.  
By all which it being certain, neither this Church nor Kingdom hath ever been tied by the Acts of any foreign council not admitted here, and being perhaps a thing of some intricacy, what determinations the Realm had received after the four first general Counsels, her Majesty took the way of receiving them as absolutely necessary, but others with such limitations as are in 
m 1 Eliz. cap. 1.  the statute, and for the future, nothing to be heresy, but what should be determined to be such by the Parliament, with th' assent of the Convocation.   

CHAP. IX.  
Of the farther proceeding of Queen Elizabeth in the Reformation.  
1. THings thus settled in 1ᵒ Eliz. the Parliament ended, the Liturgy of the Church, commonly called the book of Common prayer, reform, and published, the Queen, 
a Canon's dati sub Eadgaro & legibus ejus annexi. p. 67. Leg. Canut. cap. 22. p. 105. See before cap. 4. n. 6. §. iij.  following the examples of her predecessors, and relying on the ancient Symbols as the doctrine of the Catholic Church, gave command the Creed, the Paternoster and ten Commandments (as the grounds for a Christian to believe, and frame his life after) should be taught her subjects, and none to presume to come to the Lords table before they could perfectly say them in English.  
2. Hitherto to my understanding her Majesty had not done any thing not warranted by the practice of her predecessors, not that could be justly interpreted a departing from the Apostolic faith, or indeed from Rome itself; where she kept an Agent. 
b Camden. Annal. Anno 1559.  till Paulus 4 ●s during the Parliament commanded him to relinquish the title of Ambassador, and not to stir out of Rome. So that if there were any departure, it must needs be the Pope made it, not the English; (who was so incensed, he would not at first acknowledge her Queen, nor after permit any from her in the quality of Ambassador to reside with him, though she had not done any thing but according to the ancient rights of the Kingdom, and the usages of former Princes.) But suppose (which will never be proved) her Ma.tie to have gone farther than was fit for a Christian Prince in settling Religion, certainly she had just cause to conceive she might do it, having so many precedents of her ancestors in the case. Yet Paulus 4tus breaks off all intercourse: some of his party first would not Crown her, than spoke of excommunicating of her; indignities no Prince but must be sensible of.  
3. Yet it seems, the first heat past, the Queen's moderation was better received at Rome then at home: where the Pope, however a violent heady man, considering no doubt his own loss in breaking off all commerce with so potent a Kingdom, 
c Tortura Tor●i, p. 142.  began to hearken to terms of accommodation, and was content things should stand as they are, the Queen acknowledging his primacy, and the reformation from him. But his death ensuing the 18 August 1559. left the design to be prosecuted by his successor Pius 4tus, who by letters (sent by Vincentius Parpalia, a person of great experience, employed by Cardinal Poole in his former negotiations, and of late in that hither,) of the 5th of May 1560. directed charisimae in Christo filiae Elizabethae Reginae Angliae, did assure her, 
d In Camdeni Annal. Anno 1560.  omnia de nobis tibi polliceare, quae non modo ad animae tuae salutem conservandam, sed etiam ad dignitatem regiam stabiliendam & confirmandam, pro authoritate, pro loco acmunere quod nobis a Deo commissum fuit, a nobis desiderares, etc. Upon this, and their relations who then lived, and had part in the action, the English affirm Pius 4tus would have confirmed the liturgy of the Church of England: and indeed how can any imagine other? for doubtless nothing could have been more to her dishonour, than so suddenly to have changed what she had with so great consideration established; and the Pope assuring her, she might promise herself from him all he could do, I know not what less or other he could expect she would ask. But where Sr Edward Cook, in his charge at Norwich, as it is now printed, says this offer came from Pius 5 tu●, I conceive it a mistake, and should have been Pius 4tus, (as in another place he names Clement the 9 who yet never was, for Clement the 8.) and the rest of the narration there not to be without absurdities, and to be one of those deserves the author's censure, when he says, 
e Praesut. lib. 7. relat.  there is no one period in the whole expressed in the sort and sense that he delivered it; for certainly Pius 5 tus from his coming to the Popedom 1566, rather sought by raising against her foreign power abroad, and domestic commotions at home, to force her to his obedience, then by such civil ways as we now speak of to allure her; though the thing itself is no question true, how ever the person that offered it be mistaken in some circumstances.  
4. They 
f Parallel. Torti & Tortoris, p. 241.  that make a difficulty in believing this, object it to have been first divulged 1606. 46 years after the proffer of it. That Sr Edward Cook averred to have received it from the Queen herself, not then alive to contradict him. But for my part I confess I find no scruple in it, for I have ever observed the wisdom of that Court, to give what it could neither sell nor keep; as Paulus 4tus did the Kingdom of Ireland to Queen Mary, admitted the five Bishoprics erected by her father, approved the dissolution of the Monasteries made by him, etc. of which nature no question this was. For the being first mentioned 46 years after, that is not so long a time but many might remember; and I myself have received it from such as I cannot doubt of it, they having had it from persons of nigh relation unto them who were actors in the managing of the business. Besides, the thing itself was in effect printed many years before; for he 
g Servi fidelis subdito in●ide li responsio, apud johannem Dayum 1573.  that made the answer to Saunders his seventh book de visibili monarchia, 
h p. 121.  who it seems had been very careful to gather the beginnings of Queen Elizabeth, that there might be an exact history of her, tandem aliquando, qui omnia act a diligenter observavit, qui summis Re●p●blicae negotiis consulto interfuit, 
i Ibid. p. 70. 71. the book is not printed with pages, but they are added with a pen.  relates it thus.  
5. That a nobleman of this Country being about the beginning of the Queen's reign at Rome, Pius 4tus asked him of her Ma.tie casting his authority out of England, who made answer that she did it being persuaded by testimonies of Scripture, and the laws of the realm, nullam illius esse in terra aliena jurisdictionem. Which the Pope seemed not to believe, her Majesty being wise and learned, but did rather think the sentence of that Court against her mother's marriage to be the true cause; which he did promise not only to retract, sed inejus gratiam quaecunque possum praeterea facturum, dum illa ad nostram Ecclesiam se recipiat, & debitum mihi primatus titulum reddat. and then adds, extant apud nos articuli Abbatis 
* Sancti Salvatoris Camden Anno 1560. calls him. who in the year 1562. seems to have been employed by the said Pope into France. Hist. Concil. Trid. lib. 6. p. 501. and of whom mention is made in the life of Cardinal Poole.  Sanctae salutis manu conscripti, extant Cardinalis Moronae literae, quibus nobilem illum vehementer hortabatur, ut eam rem nervis omnibus apud reginam nostram sollicitaret. Extant hodie nobilium nostrorum aliquot, quibus Papa multa aureorum millia pollicitus est, ut istius amicitiae atque foederis inter Romanam cathedram & Elizabetham serenissimam authores essent. This I have cited the more at large, for that Camden seems to think, what the Abbot of St. Saviour propounded was not in writing, and because it being printed seven years before the Cardinal Moronas death, by whose privity (as Protector of the English) this negotiation past, without any contradiction from Rome, there can no doubt be made of the truth of it. And assuredly, some who have conveniency and leisure may find more of it then hath been yet divulged: for I no way believe the Bishop of Winchester would have been induced to write, it did constare of Paulus 4tus; nor the Queen herself, and divers others of those times, persons of honour and worth, (with some of which I myself have spoken) have affirmed it for an undoubted truth, did not somewhat more remain (or at least had formerly been) than a single letter of Pius 4tus, which apparently had reference to matters then of greater privacy. And here I hold it not unworthy a place, that I myself talking sometime with an Italian gentleman (versed in public affairs) of this offer from the Pope, he made much scruple of believing it; but it being in a place where books were at hand, I showed him on what ground I spoke, and asked him if he thought men could be Devils, to write such an odious lie, had it not been so. Well (says he) if this were heard in Rome amongst religious men, it would never gain credit; but with such as have in their hands the Maneggi della corte, (for that was his expression) it may be held true.  
6. Indeed, the former author doth not express, (as perhaps then not so fit to be published) the particulars those articles did contain were writ with the Abbots own hand; (which later pens have divulged) but that, in general, it should be any thing lay in the Pope's power, on her acknowledging his primacy: and certain no other could by him have been propounded to her, nor by her with honour accepted, then that of his allowing the English Liturgy: so that they who agree he did by his Agent (according to his letter) make propositions unto her, must instance in some particulars, not dishonourable to herself and Kingdom to accept, or allow what these writers affirm to have been them. And I have seen and heard weighty considerations, why her Majesty could not admit her own reformation from Rome; some with reference to this Church at home, as that it had been a tacit acknowledgement it could not have reform itself, which had been contrary to all former precedents; others to the State of Christendom as it then stood in Scotland, Germany, and France: but with this I have not took upon me to meddle here.  
7. Yet what the Queen did upon this message, seems to have given no very ill satisfaction; for 
i Hist. Concil. Trident. Ann● 1560. p. 446.  Sr Edw. Carne, then in Rome, advised the Pope the same year to invite her to the Council of Trent, promising him half the Kingdom with her own liking would receive his messenger; which yet was found otherwise: the reasons why, are some touched by Historians, and may more at large be seen in Sr Nicholas Throgmortons' negotiations, than her Ambassador in France. Certainly 
k Ib. p. 522. p. 528.  the French were not altogether out of an opinion (or at least would have it thought so) of her sending to the Synod; which the Pope however he invited her, was not a little troubled at. But the great combination of the Popish party, supported by France against England, made her see she could expect no good where they were predominant: upon which she caused the divines of her Kingdom in council to consider of a just and lawful reformation; who meeting 1562, reviving the Acts of a Synod held at London ten years before under Ed. the 6th, and explaining some few expressions, and omitting some points rather of dispute then faith, did conclude on 39 articles so just, so moderate, so fully agreeing with the doctrine of the primitive fathers, and with the ancient tenets and practice of this very Church in the times of the Britons and Saxons, as if any shall say no Clergy in any age or place have held out a more exact rule, he may be easilyer contradicted, then justly blamed, or confuted.  
8. For having laid their ground, that 
l Art. 6.  holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation, so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of Faith, etc. they do upon that Basis establish the doctrine of the three Creeds, the Nicen, Athanasian, and Apostles, heretofore ever held to contain Ecclesiarum omnium fidem, and that the 
m Art. 22▪  Romish doctrine of Purga- of Purgatory, Pardons, worshipping & adoration of Images, relics, Invocation of Saints, etc. is not warranted by Scripture, that is, are no articles of faith: and then proceed to settle such other things as are juris positivi, with so just a moderation, as is hardly elsewhere to be found; changing nothing for the general, but where the practice of their own ancestors did justify their doings, without at all extending themselves to any thing where they had not antiquity their warrant.  
9 Following which, they restored the cup, having the Council of Clermont under Vrban the 2, that 
n Apud Ordericum Vitalem Anno 1095. p. 720. a.  Corpus Dominicum & sanguis singulatim accipiantur, the command of 
o Apud Baron. to. 12. Anno 1118. n. 2. in nonnullis in Appendice.  Paschalis the 2. and the practice of the English Church, where sickly people, women as well as men, were to be provided of a pipe to receive it by; as was 
p Statu●a Gilbertinorum Ms. de canonicis cap. 33. vide adversaria Doctoris Watsii ad Mat. Paris p. 9 lin. 6.  expressly enjoined the order of the Gilbertines about ●200. The thing being already printed, I need here repeat no more, but only add, that this permission of theirs was no other but a restoring to minores ecclesias, that is Parochial or Country Churches, that liberty Peckham had deprived them of not 300 years before. For I do not find any prohibition, but the Lay might ever have been partakers of it with us in majoribus, that is Cathedral Churches; for 
q De summa Trinita●e & fide Catholica, cap. Altissimus, verbo minoribus ●cclesiis.  Lyndwood in his gloss upon the English constitutions about 1430, propounds this question, Sed numquid in istis ecclesiis Cathedralibus, & aliis majoribus, liceat non celebrantibus dum communicant recipere sanguinem Christiin specie vini? videtur ex hac litera, quod sic, argumento sumpto à contrario sensu, quod est in jure fortissimum, ut etc.— & hoc bene putarem verum; saltem quoad ministrantes sacerdoti ministranti etc.  
10. For the permitting of Matrimony to the Clergy, it is undoubted all here had the liberty of marrying, before 
r Antiquit. Britan. p. 98, 10. in Lanfran●i vita.  Lanfrank in a Council at Worcester 1076. did rather advise then command the contrary; which Huntingdon (who was himself the 
s Hunt. fol. 217, b. 26. & a. 10.  son of one in holy orders) says was first prohibited by Anselm 1102. But 
t Eadmer, p. 94, 48.  multi presbyterorum statuta Concilii Londoniensis— post. ponentes, suas soeminas retinebant, aut certe duxerant quas prius non habebant etc. so that his constitutions came quickly neglected, Priests both marrying, and retaining their wives. At which though the King were 
u Eadmer. p. 105, 27.  somewhat displeased, yet soon after 
* Hunt. fol. 220, a. 26. Saxon. Chron. Petroburg. Ms.  he took a piece of money of them for it, and they kept them by his leave. Divers constitutions were after made by several Archbishops and Legates in the point, as by Steph. Langton at Oxford 1222, registered by 
y De cohabitatione cleric, & mulierum, & de Clericis conjugatis.  Lyndwood: 
⸫ Constit. Otho●is cap. Innotuit.  yet it is manifest they did secretly contract marriage, which some are of opinion they continued till towards the end of Edward the 3 ds reign. This I am the rather induced to believe out of that in 
z Col. 2584, 7. Clericus apud Leicestri●m.  Knighton, that 
⸪ Quaere whither this were not the Priest of the town that was thus inhabiting there.  john de Alithwerl Clerk was slain by his wife and servant in his own house at Leicester 1344. for which fact she was burnt, and he hanged. Now I conceive, had she been only his concubine, not his servant, she had not suffered by the judgement of burning for the murder, but hanging only: neither can I interpret the word Clericus for other than one in holy Orders, prohibited marriage by the Canons of Rome; though I know, large loquendo, as our 
a De locato & conducto, cap. Vendentes, verbo Si quis Clericus..  Lyndwood hath it, omnes in Ecclesia ad divinum officium ordinati are sometimes so styled, 
b Lynd. de clericis conjugalis, cap. 1. Vide Monasticum Anglicanum, p. 899. & p. 100L.  of which such as were infra subdiaconatum might retain their wives, but those were in subdiaconatu or above were to quit them. But the Canons yet remaining made at sundry times, from Lanfrank even to Chichly, by the space of more than 300 years, enough assure us this point of Celibat was not easily imposed on the English Clergy, and assures us such▪ as laid it might take it off again.  
11. For Images, if the Saxons had any use at all of them in their Churches (for ornament, for history, 
c Greg▪ lib. 7. epist. 109. & lib. 9 epist. 9●.  to which end S. Gregory holds they might be permitted, for memorials of holy men departed, (as we have of late seen) & they being only thus applied, I conceive, 
d Reply to Harding▪ Art. 14. in principi●.  with the Bishop of Salisbury, the weight of the question not so great,) yet it was a thing voluntary, no command of the Churches enjoining it, till after the Conquest. And here the question is not, whether Augustine might or did bring the picture of our Saviour's Cross in his banner, as most Protestants yet retain it; but whether he placed them in the Church, with an intent to have worship of any kind attributed unto them: for which purpose, I confess, I have not heard of them till many years after; for the vision of Egwinus, and the Council of London setting up of Images being made good (so far as I know) by no author of any antiquity, I cannot but take it 
e To. ●. anno 714. ●. 2.  with Baronius for a meerfigment.  
12. It is certain, 
f Simeon D●nelm. col. 111, 50. Hoyeden fol. 232. b. 3. Mat. West. Anno 793. p. 283.  792 the Bishops of England declared their dissent from the second Council of Nice in point of Images, held only 4 years before, according to 
g Anno 788. At Baron. anno 787. tom. 9 ●. 1●. 38.  Diceto: and where some interpret that they did only condemn the worship the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, by using the Latin word adorare; it cannot be denied but they did reject that 
h Concil. gen. Rom. Synod. 7. p. 661, lin. ult.  〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Oriental Bishops had established, in which sense they used the word adorare, which is often, as well in holy writ as by humane authors, taken for that reverence is given a creature, as for the religious duty we only owe to the Divine Majesty: see Gen. xxiii. 7, 12. Ingulphus, a writer not long after, 
m Ingulph. fol. 514. a. 17.  Constantinopolim pervenimus, ubi Alexim imperatorem ador ants etc. So Arundel in his constitutions, 
* Lyndwood de Haeret. cap. Nullus quoque.  adorationem crucis gloriosae.  
13. To this narrative 
n Seculo 8. cap. 5. p. 126. 9  Harpsfield gives the title of commentitia & insulsa fabula, and thinks it not writ by Sim. Dunelmensis or Mat. Westminster (he might have added Hoveden, the Ms. 
o I● bibliotheca Cotton.  history of Rochester,) but that it was anciently inserted into them. For answer to which, he would be desired to produce any one old copy without it, not mangled, so as it doth prodere furtum by wanting it: I have seen divers of Hoveden Mss. some of Math. West. but never did one wherein it was not found, not in the margin but in the text itself, and so it is in Dunelmensis his Ms. at Bennet College in Cambridge. For my part, I do not know how any thing we mislike in History, may not after this manner be rejected, if a relation gathered from monuments of an elder date, which are perished, yet cited by one who lived not so long after the time he speaks of, but they might well come to his hands, whom we find very sincere in such citations as yet remain out of more old authors than himself, ever esteemed of good credit in the Church of God, and in his narration followed ad verbum by those who writing of the same matter succeeded him, I confess, I say, if this may be cast away, as a lying & foolish fable, I know not what shall gain credit. But what will men not lay hold on in a desperate shipwreck? I remember 
p To. 10. anno 963. 2, 3. Anno 968, 10.  Baronius pressed with the testimony of Luitprandus in the deposition of john the 12. by imperial authority, makes no question of denying the five last chapters of his 6. book to have been written by him, though never doubted for more than 600 years since he lived.  
14. Another 
q Richard Smith Archiepisc. Chalcedon. Flores▪ hist. Anglic. lib. 2. cap. 7. p. 134.  Doctor, I confess, seems to give a more difficult objection; that 
r De Divinis officiis, die Pa●rasce●.  Al●uinus, who is said to have writ against the second Nioen Council in the point of Images, doth in his book de divinis officiis say, prosternimur corpore ante crucem, ment ante Deum; veneramur crucem per quam redempti sumus etc. and this from an author had written against Images, he would have imply a veneration of them (even in his time who opposed them) by the English Church. But what hath the reverence of the Cross to do with the worship of Images? It is not to be denied but Christians, in their talk and writings, did extol and magnify the Cross, forced thereunto by the Gentiles, who spoke ignominiously of him that died upon it; yet I believe it will be difficult to show any Law or Canon before the Conquest, enjoining the use, much less that attributed any religious worship unto Images.  
15. It is true, the 
s Concil. Spelm. cap. 2. p. 328.  Council of Celicuith 816. did charge unicuique Episcopo, ut habeat depictam in pariete oratorii, aut in tabula, vel etiam in altaribus, quibus sanctis sint utr aque dedicata, etc. which was clearly for memorial and ornament; as it hath been very common, in some Churches, to have on the wall the Image of Queen Elizabeth, and such as have built an Isle or window, to have their statue or picture set up in it, which in some parts perhaps remain to his present; yet no man ever held any religious duty fit to be given them, nor any man compelled to set them up. Now that there was no precept of the Church commanding their use, I speak 
t Institutiones Mss. beati Gilber●i & successorum ejus per capitula generalia institutae; de exordio, ordinatione, institutione ordinis Canonicorum, Sanctimonialium, fratrum & sororum laicarum ordinis de Sempringham. de ●anonicis cap. 15. § Sculp●urae.  from the rules of Sempringham about 1148. that doubtless did not vary from the general practice of Christians here, yet hath this express statute; Sculpturae vel picturae superfluae in Ecclesiis nostris seu in officinis aliquibus Monasterii ne fiant interdicimus, qui● dum talibus intenditur, utilitas bonae meditationis vel disciplina religiosae gravitatis saepe negligitur: cruces tamen pictas quae sunt ligneae habemus. So that it seems to me they did account all pictures so superfluous as not to have them, but only painted crosses: & this was one of the first foundation. And in another 
u De fratribus cap. 13.  place, which I take to be somewhat after, the buying of them and silk, as things indifferent, are alike interdicted; yet a direction how to bestow any thing of that nature should be left them: but see the words; Nihil de serico ematur à nostris vel de nostro ad nostrorum opus, vel ad aliquid religioni contrarium, & seculi vanitatibus amminiculum, ●nec etiam ad quodlibet sacerdotale indumentum, nisi constet esse necessarium: Si vero datur, secundum arbitrium Prioris omnium communi utilitati & usui mancipetur. hoc idem de Yconiis vel aliis sculptilibus dicimus, quae adbeatae Mariae Virgins vel aliorum sanctorum sunt fabricata memoriam; quae tamen gratis 
* Sic Mss. sed lege gratis data, as it is in other places (as you will see here after) repeated.  grata, prout de serico praediximus, ad sororum altar, vel hospitium, vel alio apto loco honeste ponenda decernimus. So that it is apparent than their use was esteemed no other than that of silk; and these two articles seem to have been resolved on nigh the first foundation (being in an hand differing from some other I shall mention) by the Founder himself.  
16. In the year 1200 the house of Sixle or Sixhill in Lincolnshire was visited by the Abbot of 
* Wardon or Wardun was a monastery of the Cist●rtian Order in Bedfordshire.  Waredune, as Commissioner of 
x Quaere whether this were that Otho was after Cardinal, viz. in September, 1227.  Otho the Pope's Legate; where about 20 articles were concluded for the government of the Order: the fifth of which, though it gave some more liberty than the former, yet was not without restraint: but take it from an hand of those times. Anno gratiae MCC in visitatione facta de Sixl ' per Abbatem de Wardunn auctoritate Domini Otonis Legati, statuta sunt haec firmiter observanda. Inprimis, etc. cap. 5. Item inhibetur ne picturarum varietas aut superflu●tas sculpturarum de caetero fieri permittatur, nec liceat alicubi yconias haberi, nec imagines, praeter ymaginem Salvatoris, & y. beatae Mariae, & Sancti Johannis Evangelistae. Hitherto questionless, the Church of England following the doctrine of 
y Lib. 9 Epist. 9 Indict. 4.  St Gregory, had been taught by testimonies of holy writ, that omne manufactum ● adorare non liceat; and though they might be lawfully made, yet by all means to avoid the worship of them: but see the progress.  
17. Sixty eight years after this, Othobon, being the Pope's Legate in England, did in his own person visit the chiefhouse of this Order, and committed the others to Rodulphus de Huntedune, the said Cardinal's Chaplain, and penitentiary; who associating to himself one Richard 
* Gen●rali e●●sdem ordinis de Semplingham scrutatore.  general inquisitor of the Order of Semplingham, did in the year 1268. conclude upon 74 or 75. heads or chapters for the government of them; the 54 of which, under the title de ymaginibus habendis, is this:  
Item, cum secundum Johannem Damascenum, ymaginis honour ad prototypum, id est, ad eum cujus est ymago pertineat, ad instantiam Monialium, & earum devotionem ferventius excit andam, conceduntur eye ymagines crucifixi & beatae Mariae & sancti Johannis Evangelistae, & quod possint habere in quolibet altari dedicato ymaginem ipsius sancti in cujus honore altare dedicatum est. Sitamen gratis detur eisdem, sicut beatus 
* Gilber●us.  G. de serico & de ymaginibus duxit statuendum, & celebretur ipso die festivitatis illius sancti, & die dedicationis ejusdem altaris, missa ad dicta altaria, etiamsi sint infra clausuram monial●um. Thus they.  
18. By which it is manifest, this Kingdom had not then received 
* Concil. Nicen. 2.  the 7th Council; for if they had, there can be no thought they would have built their Article upon Damascens opinion only. But by all these we may see, Images were brought into this Church by degrees, by little and little: First they were to have none, only wooden crosses were tolerated; then they might not buy any, but being given they might accept the image of our Lady and other Saints; then an inhibition of all Saints, except our Saviour, the Blessed Virgin, and St john the Evangelist, to which was added the image of that Saint their Altars were dedicated unto, and these only by concession, not bought, but given. So that it is plain, they were then taken for things only indifferent, as silk, which they might use or be without, no processions, bowings, kissing, etc. of them prescribed; but how the practice was afterward, that chapter of Arundel registered by Lyndwood may tell you, which because it is long, I shall not farther repeat, it being printed, then to add that it is in him, lib. 5. de Magistris, cap. Nullus quoque: and in another place he propounds this question, 
z Lyndwood de Ecclesiis ●dificandis cap. ut parochiani, verbo Imaginis.  Numquid ymago Christi sit ador anda cultu latriae? and resolves, si consideretur ut ymago, tunc quia idem motus est in ymagiginem in quantum est ymago & ymaginatum, unus honor debetur ymagini & ymaginato; & ideo cum Christus latria adoretur, ejus imago debet similiter latria adorari. Nec obstat Exod. xxvi. ubi dicitur, non facies tibi ymaginem nec sculptam similitudinem; quia illud pro eo tempore erat prohibitum quo Deus humanam naturam non assumpserat, etc.  
19 The Synod at Westminster finding things in this posture, and their retention in many parts to have been joined with a great abuse, if not impiety, took a middle course; first to condemn all manner of adoration or worship of them, (and therefore every Sculptile had been removed out of Churches) but whereas some use might be made of them for remembrance of histories past, to retain in sundry parts such windows and pictures, as might without offence instruct the ignorant in several passages not unworthily preserved: which if any man have since been offended at, it must be on other grounds than I understand.  
20. As they proceeded with this circumspection, not to depart from the primitive Church in matters juris positivi, so did they take no less care in points of opinion; for having declared which were the books of holy Scripture, they did not absolutely reject the use of the other, though they had been 
a johan. Sarisb, Epist. 172. p. 281. 285. Waldensis tom. 1. lib. 2. Art. 2. cap. 23. n. 2. ●ol. 203. a. col. 2. edit. Venet. 1571.  taught by the doctrine 
b Prae●at. in proverb. Salomonis to. 3. sol. 9 c.  of St Hierom and 
c S. Gregor. Moral. lib. 19 cap. 17.  St Gregory, not to repute them in Canone, but to admit them quia fidem & religionem aedificant, or, as they 
d Art. 6.  say, for example of life, and instruction of manners.  
21. For praying to Saints, however the Saxons might honour holy men departed, ●o cultu dilectionis & societatis quo & in hac vita coluntur homines, as 
e Contra Fa●●slum Manichaeum lib. 20. cap. 21. to. 6.  S. Augustine speaks, (which what it is he explains elsewhere) yet I am hardly persuaded to think they did admit any public praying to them in the Church; for I have seen and perused three ancient Saxon Psalters full of prayers, but no one petition to any Saint whatsoever. 
f Lib. 2. p. 48, ●.  Eadmerus says the report went of W ● the second, that crederet, & publica voce assereret, nullum sanctorum cuiquam apud Deum posse prodesse; & ideo nec se velle, neo aliquem sapientem debere beatum Petrum interpellare: yet he doth not censure this as heretical, but only mentis elatio. 
g In Canon. Missae lect. 3. D.  Gabriel Biel long after confesseth in his time, some Christians as well as Heretics were deceived, in thinking Saints departed nobis auxiliari nec meritis possunt nec precibus. The Church of England therefore, following 
⸫ August, de vera religione cap. 55. to. 1.  S. Augustine, condemns all religious invocation of them, as those were non adorandi propter religionem; yet in respect they were honorandi propter imitationem, to retain their commemoration, by appointing a set service for the days on which it celebrated their memorials; thereby to provoke us to imitation of their piety, and to thank God that left such lights, who by their doctrine instructed us, and whose lives were examples for us to follow: and in respect there are sundry Saints for whom there is no proper office, to retain one day to praise God for the generality of all, and beg of him that we may follow their pattern in all virtuous and godly living. This if any mislike, I entreat him to pardon me if I join not with him; and if he will add more, to give me leave to think he attributes to them (by what name so ever he style it) that is only due to the Divine Majesty.  
22. For Purgatory, however it might be held a private opinion, yet certainly as an Article of Faith it could not be; for the Greeks, who have ever 
h Errores Graecorum in fasciculo Zizaniorum Mss. per Thomam walden's. fol. 156. b. col. 1. in bibliotheca Archiepisc. Armach.  constantly denied it, were in communion with the Church of Rome till 
i Mat. Paris hist. minor. Ms. Ann. 1237. & 1238. Vide Hist. major. Anno 1237, p. 457, 16. p. 465, 22.  1238. after which only they began to be accounted schismatics, not so much for their opinions, as denying subjection to the See of Rome; for some of them coming to Rome 1254 
k Mat. Paris. Hist. major. p. 892, 28.  de articulis fidei & sacramentis fidei satis toler abiliter responderunt: so that questionless the Historian could not then hold Purgatory an Article of Faith, when those who did affirm Nullum Purgatorium est, did give a tolerable account of their Faith. Our Divines therefore charge these opinions 
l Art. 22.  only as fond inventions, grounded on no warrant of Scripture, but rather repugnant to the word of God; that is, as I have said before, they deny them to be Articles of faith.  
23. In like manner, having first 
m Art. 28.  declared the bread we break in the holy Communion to be a partaking of the body of Christ, and the cup of blessing of his blood, they censure Transubstantiation, or the change of the substance of bread and wine, as 
n Vide Bellarmin. de Euchar. lib. 3. cap. 23. §. secundo dicit.  what is not proved by holy writ, and therefore no Article of faith etc. And indeed how could they say less of so doubtful a tenet, so newly crept in, that had burnt so many, was so contrary to the ancient doctrine even of the English Church, as the Saxon Homily yet remaining in an old Mss, with this title, 
o Liber Cath●licorum sermonum per annu●● recitandus. p. 355.  A book of Catholic sermons to be repeated each year, doth undoubtedly assure us? It is true, some of late have striven to give an answer to it; as he that styled himself 
p Flor. Hist. Eccles. etc. lib. 1. cap. 24. p. 91.  Bish. of Chalcedon will have the author perhaps to have been an heretic; but that the time and title confutes, all 
q Ab hac & aliis pestibus Haereticis immunis semper exstitit Anglia,— ubi hanc insulam expulsi● Britonibus natio possedit Anglorum, ut non jam Pritannia sed Anglia diceretur, nullius unquam ex ca pestis haereticae virus cbullivit: sed nec in eum aliunde usque ad tempora Regis Henrici secundi— introivit. Newbrigensis lib. 2. cap. 13. Vide Pitseum de scrip. Anno 1159. p. 220.  writers agreeing England to have been free from any heresy after S. Gregory, till about the year 1166. If that therefore will not do, he hath another, viz. the Sermon to make more for Transubstantiation then what the protestants cite doth against it; yet is silent both where the words are in it, and who are the citers of them. For my part, to speak once for all, take the whole Homily as it lies, not one piece torn from the other, and if the doctrine of it be such as he can digest, I know not why we differ. As for those two miracles, which some dislike so far as to think them infarced into the work, I confess them not to displease me at all; for if they were inserted to prove the verity of Christ's body in the Sacrament, against those who held it bare bread, yet it must be after such a ghostly and spiritual manner as is there represented, without any other change in the substance of the bread and wine than is in the water of Baptism, 
r Editionis johannis Dayi● in octavo, ●  p. 33. not bodily but ghostly pag. 38. 36. a remembrance of Christ's body offered for us on the Cross. p. 46.  
24. And this may serve for answer to that his Achilles, by which his doctrine of Transubstantiation 
s p. 90. vide Malms. de pont. lib. 1. in vita Odonis fol. 114, b. 36.  manifestius patebit, of Odo Archbishop of Canterbury about 940. converting miraculously the Eucharist in formam carnis, ad convincendum quosdam, qui suo tempore coeperunt de ea dubitare: to which I shall first remember, that when 
t De unitate Eccles. cap. 16. tom. 7.  St Augustine was pressed with certain miracles of Donatus and Pontius, which the Donatists urged to prove the truth of their doctrine, he gives this answer, Removeantur ista vel figmenta mendacium hominum, vel portenta fallacium spirituum; aut enim non sunt vera quae dicuntur, aut si haereticorum aliqua mira facta sunt, magis cavere debemus; and after a learned discourse, he tells of some in the Catholic Church had happened in the time of St Ambrose at Milan, upon which he gives this grave censure, Quaecunque talia in catholica fiunt, ideo sunt approbanda, quia in catholica fiunt; non ideo ipsa manifestatur catholica, quia haec in ea fiunt. Ipse Dominus Jesus cum resurrexisset à mortuis, & discipulorum oculis videndum manibusque tangendum corpus suum offerret, ne quid tamen fallaciae se pati arbitrarentur, magis eos testimoniis Legis & Prophetarum & Psalmorum confirmandos esse judicavit, ostendens ea de se impleta, quae fuerant tanto ante praedicta, etc. and a little after, Hoc in Lege & Prophetis & Psalmis testatus est, hoc ejus ore commendatum tenemus, Haec sunt causae nostrae documenta, haec fundamenta, haec firmamenta.  
25. To apply this to our case; the Church Catholic hath ever held a true fruition of the true Body of Christ in the Eucharist, and not of a sign, figure, or remembrance only, but as the French confession, 
u Vide Chamier. de Sacramentis lib. 10. cap. 1. 2.  que par la virtue secret & incomprehensible de son Esprit, il nous nourrit & vivify de la substance de son corpse & de son sang, etc. and therefore we can agree to these verses: 
Christ was the Word that spoke it,  
He took the Bread and broke it:  
And as that Word did make it,  
So I believe and take it.  Here is then a Catholic Sermon, commanded to be read in the Church many years before the word Transubstantiation was heard, as the doctrine of it, teaching me this participation with Christ, however true, yet is not fleshly, but spiritual: if therefore this miracle were not to convince those held the communicating of Christ in the Sacrament, to have been no other then fantastical, and the bread to have been, and conveyed no other to us then bare bread, must not I, according to St Augustine, avoid it as the fancies of lying men, or the operation of deceiving spirits? etc. And this as it may serve in general for all miracles, so in particular for that of late divulged, of a poor man's leg cut off in Spain and buried, yet four years after restored: which if it be not some imposture, as the golden tooth in Silesia, or of Arnald Tilly (taken in Francis the 2 ds time not only by others, but by the very wife of Martin Guerre, for her husband, and which held the Parliament of toulouse so much perplexed to resolve) we must not (according to this holy man's doctrine) believe for that or any of the like nature, farther than is proved by the Law and the Prophets, etc. Yet there is one thing in my opinion very considerable; what the Apostles did, were such, and in those places, no man could deny them: but these the Church of Rome holds out for confirmation of their religion, are either in corners, as Garnets' Face in the Ear, with so dark proofs, as when they are looked into, res tota cum contemptu dimissa est; or else done in Italy, or Spain, where the Inquisition will suffer none but themselves to examine the fact: whereas if they followed th' Apostles example, they should be in England or Germany, that the Protestants might say, indeed a notable miracle hath been done by our Lady, is manifest to all, and we cannot deny it. Acts iiij. 16.  
26. 
x I. R. his spectacles to Sir Humphrey Lind, p. 135. §. 4.  Another will have that homily, at lest what he takes on him to confute, to contain no other then Catholic doctrine; and then falls upon the Archbishop of Armach, whom he conceives to have ill translated it out of the Latin, in which language there is not now found any ancient copy of it; 
y p. 143. cap. 9 §. 10.  insisting, that though it were printed at London 1623. it was not to be heard of when he writ, which was about 1631. insinuating as if more might be said, if he could see the author himself. For the first of these, it must be said to contain Catholic Doctrine on the grounds 
z N. 23.  before; but if it be that the Church of Rome admits for such, I am glad to understand that from him. For the Primate of Ireland's translating the Latin to the disadvantage of the Romish, I shall give no answer, but that his English are indeed some parts of that sermon, but the Latin pieces of Bertram so agreeing with them, as they were undoubtedly taken out of him, (by which he gives a far elder testimony to that author than Oecolampadius) who was, no question a Catholic Doctor; but being so why is he prohibited 
⸪ Index cerrorum auctorum. Romae.  by the Roman Index? why if at all permitted, must it be excogitato commento? For the other, that it could not be had in London only eight years after it was printed, I can say nothing, but some men will not hear that they mislike: for that Homily, of which (if he say any thing) he speaks, first set out by john Day, with the subscription of 15 Bishops attesting the truth of the Copy, after 1623. reprinted by Henry Seal, always in the book of Acts and monuments etc. 
a Tom. 2. p. 450.  in the life of Hen. the 8, and of late by Mr. Whelock put into Latin, and taken without any intervening transcription from the original Saxon, (that he might not vary in a tittle) was with his translation of it printed at Cambridge 1644. 
b p. 462.  amongst divers other excellent notes of that learned man upon Beda, that such as understand not the language, may in that point see the doctrine of our forefathers.  
27. A third 
c Malon his Reply to the Archbishop of Armach, p. 320.  Doctor, who cannot deny but it makes directly against Transubstantiation, gives an answer I could not have expected, yet in my opinion more ingenuous; That it is unreasonable to produce the forceless authority of these Saxon Homilies, which have no warrant of truth from any other but from ourselves; and the margin, These Homilies were never heard of, but now of late amongst Protestants, only framed and printed by themselves, without the warrant of any one indifferent witness. This is, I say, what I could not have looked for. Can any man imagine two Archbishops, thirteen Bishops, besides divers other personages of honour and credit, could have been induced to subscribe so palpable a lie? as it must be, if this and the other passages, by them there testified to be found in the ancient monuments of this Church, were lately framed. But the old books that yet 
d In bibliotheca publica Cant.  remain, writ above five hundred years since, do enough vindicate the Protestants, in that which I dare say no one of them who allege it do in their hearts believe, not to have been extant in them, as the Archbishop first sent them to the Press.  
28. Of the little credit the Council of Lateran in this point gained here, I have 
e Chap. 7. n. 37.  touched before: neither did Peckham's constitution, sub panis specie simul dari corpus etc. speak home, nor was the thing ever absolutely determined with us till 1382: so that the opinion of Transubstantiation, that brought so many to the stake, had not with us 140 years' prescription before Martin Luther began; for in that year Wickliff having propounded, 
f In fasciculo zizaniorum Mss. per Thom. walden's. & Hen. Knighton, qui tunc vixit scripsitque, col. 2648, 8. & 2654, 44.  quod substantia panis materialis aut vini manet post consecrationem etc. the Archbishop taking it into 
g Knight, col. 2649, 31.  consideration, did not think fit to condemn the Tenet, without farther advice with the University of Oxford, 
h Col. 2650, 49.  where libratis singulis, every saying weighed, (and in especial, as it seems, those 
i Col. 2654.  concerned the Eucharist) he did condemn some as heretical, others as only erroneous, and farther, singulos defensores eorum imposterum sententia excommunicationis innodatos fore, and gave command, 
k 2652, 67.  ne quis de caetero cujuscunque status etc.— haereses seu errores praedictos vel corum aliquem teneat, doceat, praedicet seu defendat. The 
l Col. 2653.  Chancellor likewise of the Academy repeating Wickliffs opinions touching the holy communion, shows they had been diligently discussed by Doctors in Divinity, and professors in the Canon Law, ac tandem finaliter est compertum atque judicio omnium declaratum, ipsas esse erroneas, fidei orthodoxae contrarias, & determinationibus Ecclesiae repugnantes: and then after all this search, delivers the doctrine of Transubstantiation as the conclusion agreed to be held, Quod per verba sacramentalia à sacerdote prolata, panis & utnum in altari in verum corpus Christi & sanguinem transubstantiantur, seu substantialiter convertuntur sic, quod post consecrationem non remanent in illo venerabili sacramento panis materialis & vinum secundum suas substantias, sed secundum species earundem. And this I take to have been the first plenary determination of the Church of England in the case, which yet how well it will be liked by such as hold the manner of conversion to be by a 
m Vide Bellar. de Eucharistia lib. 4. cap. 24. §. ult.  succession of Christ's body to the substance of the bread, I leave others to dispute. But certainly the Archbishop not 
n Noluit Arch. plenary procedere.  adventuring to proceed in it alone, nor by his own council, by 
o Imposterum, de caetero teneat.  his extending what he did only to the future, both for punishment and Tenet, and after 
p Tandem ●inaliter.  long enquiry concluding the truth of it, enough proves it not to have been in former times fully resolved on in this Church; so that we may say of our Ancestors, as 
q A sparing discourse pag. 13. writ by a secular Priest against the Jesuits Anno 1601.  the Jesuits here about some 60 years since did of the Fathers, rem Transubstantiationis ne attigerunt. And it may not here unfitly have a place that 
⸫ In Confess. contra Wickliff. in bibliotheca Archiepisc. Armach. Mss.  john Tissington a Franciscan, whom Pitseus (from Baleus, not Leland, as he would have us think) affirms to have been an assistant in this dispute at Oxford 1382, or as some 1381. cannot deny the truth of the assertion, quod panis & vinum remanent post consecrationem in naturis suis, adhuc servatur Laicis, & antiquitus servabatur. And here it is not unworthy the remembering, that by the law of the 6 Articles 31. Hen. 8. cap. 14. (containing in effect the body of Popery) no man was to die as an Heretic but he who denied this Tenet; all others only as felons, or men endangering the peace of the Kingdom, by teaching contrary to what was publicly received. By which it likewise appears, in fixing th' imputation of Heresy, the English looked on their home Determinations, not those of any foreign Church.  
29. But I do not take upon me to dispute matters controversal, which I leave as the proper subject to Divines; it shall suffice only to remember, the Church of England having with this great deliberation reform itself in a lawful Synod, with a care as much as was possible of reducing all things to the pattern of the first and best times, was interpreted (by such as would have it so) to depart from the Church Catholic; though for the manner, they did nothing but warranted by the continual practice of their predecessors, and in the things amended had antiquity to justify their actions: and therefore th' Archbishop of Canterbury, in a provincial Synod begun in S. Paul's the 3 of April 1571, and all other Bishops of the same Province, gave especially in charge to all preachers, to 
r The book of Canons of the same Synod printed by John Day 1571.  chiefly take heed, that they teach nothing in their preaching, which they would have the people religiously to observe and believe, but that which is agreeable to the doctrine of the old Testament and the new, and that which the Catholic Fathers and ancient Bishops have gathered out of that doctrine. So that nothing is farther off truth, then to say, such as reform this Church made a New religion; they having retained only that which is truly old and Catholic, as Articles of their faith.  
30. Thus was Religion reform, and thus by the Queen established in England, without either motion, or seeking any new way not practised by our Ancestors, but using the same courses had been formerly traced out unto them, for stopping profaneness and impiety, when ever they peeped in the Church. And certainly, to my understanding, there can be none that will with indifferency look upon those times, but he must (however he mislike the thing done) approve the manner of doing it. Yet the favourers of Rome ceased not to proclaim all had thus past to have been heretical (without instancing any particular, as to say such a carriage was after the manne● of Heretics, ever condemned by the Catholic Church, and by orthodox writers in former times, or such a Tenet in your confession was held heresy from this place of Scripture anciently, by such holy Fathers met in general Council) and to raise stirs and commotions in the Commonwealth, 
s Bulla Pii 5ti March 28. 1569.  to excommunicate the Queen as flagitiorum serva, free her subjects of their allegiance, to give out we had 
t Harding his confutation of the Apol. part 6.  a Parliament-religion, Parliament-Gospell, Parliament-Faith, and this before ever the 39 Articles, one main pillar of the English reformation, were confirmed by Parliament.  
31. Upon the whole, it is so absolutely false that the Church of England made a departure from the Church, which is the ground and pillar of truth, as I am persuaded it is impossible to prove she did make the separation from the Roman itself; but that having declared in a lawful Synod certain opinions, held by some in her communion, to be no articles of faith, and according to the precedent of former times, and the power God and nature had placed in herself, redressed particular abuses crept into her, the Pope and his adherents, without ever examining what was the right of the Kingdom in such like cases, that had from all antiquity done the same, would needs interpret this a departing from the Church, because he resolved to maintain as articles of faith, & thrust on others as such, some ambiguous disputable questions the English did not think fit to admit into that number. To make a departure from Christ's Church is certainly a very heinous offence, she never commanding aught but what is conformable to his will, nor 
* Bellarm. de justif. lib. 3. cap. 8. §. prima ratio. & ibid. lib. 1. cap. 10. §. prima ratio.  requiring her children to believe any thing as matter of faith, but what is immediately contained in the word of God, or by evident consequence drawn from it: and as she excludes no Christians from being her children, who by their own demerits deserve not to be out of the divine favour; so in opposing those who endeavour to procure some tenets to be admitted for hers, which cannot be deduced from that ground, we do not depart from her, but gainsay humane errors, and conceits, which they would infer to be her commands who acknowledges them not. But as St Augustine in a dispute with a Donatist, 
u Contraliteras l'etilianis lib. 2. cap. 85. tom. 7.  utrum schismatici nos simus an vos, non ego, nec tu, sed Christus interrogetur, ut judicet Ecclesiam suam: so may I, whether we are the schismatics or the Church of Rome, Christ himself be the judge. But whether divided from the other, being matter of fact, let the histories of former times, the extraordinary proceedings of the See of Rome of late against the Queen and this Commonwealth be compared, and I am confident the judgement may be referred to any indifferent person (though of that belief) who made the separation, and whether this Kingdom on so high provocations, did any thing would not have been paralleled by former times, had they met with the like attempts.  
32. Neither can the Crown in this reformation be any way said to have enterprised on the papal primacy, which (for aught I know) it might have acknowledged so far as is expressed or deduced from holy Scripture, or laid down in the ancient sacred Counsels, or the constant writings of the orthodox primitive Fathers, and yet done what it did;) but to have exercised that authority always resided in it, for conserving the people under it in unity and peace, without being destroyed by the Canons and constitutions of others; not suffering a foreign power ruin them to whom it owed protection. In which it did not trench upon the rights of any, but conserved its own; imitating therein the Imperial edicts of several Princes, and of those were in possession of this very diadem, conformable to their Coronation oath.  
33. And from hence may be answered that which Rome brings as her Achilles, touching the succession and visibility of the Protestants Church and doctrine in all ages since Christ: for if theirs have been, it is impossible to say the others have not; the former adding only more articles for a Christian to believe, which the latter will not embrace as needful: so that if theirs (as they so much glory) have had the continuance from the Apostles, these needs must, which only denies some part of that they hold. 
a Fortress of faith, at the end of Bedas Hist. fol. 47. b.  Protestants (says Stapleton) have many things less than Papists, they have taken away many things which Papists had, they have added nothing. And here to my understanding the Romanists require of us what lies on their part to prove; for we denying in the succession of Bishops from Cranmer, Warehom, even to Augustine, and so of the Britons, ever any one to have held the points we differ in to have been points of faith, in that degree of necessity they are now required, and for proof cite not only the Apostles, Nicen, Athanasian Creeds, but even that of Peckham, which we find so to differ from the late one set out by Pius 4tus, as we cannot but say it is unjust in them to press us to a profession in religion farther than our ancestors were; they on the contrary affirming all those holy Bishops preceding, not only believed them as these now do, but did require them of others with the like necessity they now are; ought certainly to prove what they thus boldly affirm, which when they have done, truly for my part I shall think fit to yield: but till they do it, let them cease from proclaiming us heretics, who hold no other than the ancient faith at first delivered unto us.  
But this as a point rather dogmatic for Divines, then historical, the subject I undertook, I shall not here farther wade into.   
FINIS.   

Errata. correct. P. 1. lin. 1. more than read almost  10 Christian  Christians 5 15 genenerale  generale 7 18 they address  they did address 9 1 know  knew Cap. 3. 7. Precetor  precentor 47 1 prius de fidelitate &  prius Romano Pontifiel de fidelitate & 52 4 find at all  find it at all 67 10 suffer for  suffer death for 79 13 Episcopus & clerus  Episcopi & clerus 81. in margin ad lit. f. Cap. 23.  cap. 3. 141 2 whethe  whither 151 3 Glass  Gloss 157 4 Albigenses  Albigensi●  31 qui el  que il.  39 Assent, de lour.  auferatur comma 173 2 of Pope  of the Pope