A vindication of the King's sovereign rights together with A justification of his royal exercises thereof, in all causes, and over all persons ecclesiastical (as well as by consequence) over all ecclesiastical bodies corporate, and cathedrals, more particularly applyed to the King's free chappel and church of Sarum, upon occasion of the Dean of Sarum's narrative and collections, made by the order and command of the most noble and most honourable, the lords commissioners, appointed by the King's Majesty for ecclesiastical promotions : by way of reply unto the answer of the Lord Bishop of Sarum, presented to the aforesaid most honourable Lords.

CHAP. III.

WHereas 'twas affirmed by the Bishop of Sarum to the Lords, That there never was a Time when either the Dean and Canons were exempt from all Iurisdiction of the Bishop of Sarum. The contrary to it is confessed and strongly proved by his Lordship himself in the very next Words follow∣ing, wherein his Lordship cites The Composition that was made between Bishop Waltham, Dean Mon∣tacute, and the Then Chapter of the said Church, which was no longer since than in the Year 1391. whereas the Absolute Exemption of the Dean and All the Canons from the Bishops Jurisdiction, was in the Year 1095. Between which two Dates, there was an Interval of almost 300 Years.

Which Composition, so called, was indeed a Con∣spiracy of the said Bishop, Dean and Chapter with Pope Boniface the Ninth, by whom it was con∣firmed, and for which by the Laws of England (even (c) Then in force) they did incur a Praemu∣nire: Which All the Bishops ever d since are humbly conceived to have incurred, who have presumed to Act according to That Conspiracy, I. Against the Supremacy, and Prerogative of the King; II. Against the Common, and Statute Law of the Land; III. Against the Fundamental Statute of our Subordinate Founder Osmund; IV. Against their own Souls in two respects, first in respect of the Several Oaths, whichb

have severally been Sworn by all the Bishops, Deans and Chapters. That they would keep, and cause to be kept (as much as in them lay) that Fundamental Statute of Osmund, with all the Priviledges, Dignities, Immu∣nities, and Exemptions therein contained; of which Oaths the said Conspiracy or Composition is a Professed Violation, as shall be shewn in its proper place. Secondly, in respect of the heavy Curse, which Osmund denounced against All those who should dare to pervert the said Fundamen∣tal Constitutions in any kind. V. Against its own Being, by reason of its several Inconsistences with it self, and of the several Nullities contained in it. Lastly, Against the Well-being, if not against the very Being of the whole College within the Cathedral Church of Sarum, by reason of its most scandalous and most mischievous Effects. But of each in its Order.

§. 1. First, It was a Conspiracy against the King of England and his Prerogative, who is in Law declared to be the Founder as well as Patron of all the Archibishopricks and Bishopricks in England, but took care in his Original Char∣ter granted to his Favourite Osmund, (sealed first with the Seal of Will. I. and then with the Seal of Will. II.) to exempt his Dean and All his Prebendaries or Canons from the Bishops Juris∣diction in as full and as plain a manner, as Latin words could express an Exemption by. In words so carefully contrived against all possible Affectation of Jurisdiction over the College of Dean and Chap∣ter in any succeeding Bishop of Sarum that what the present Lord Bishop of Sarum would make an Argument for himself and his Affected Juris∣diction,

makes quite against him. For the Voice and the Place which the Bishop has in Chapter (common to him with all the 52 Canons) he has as Prebendary of Pottern, not as Bishop of Sarum; nor has he so much as a Second Voice as he is Prebendary of Blewbery, because he was never ad∣mitted to it by Installation, nor lawfully could be. For when Hen. 2. had given two Prebends to One man in one Church, Pope Alexander the Third complained of it in his Letter, as Unlawful, and Uncanonical. (Not denying the King's Right of conferring Prebends, but the Evil use of it.) So that the Bishop in Capitulo has but one single Vote, and the liberty to propose what he thinks may tend to the good of the Church, or to com∣plain of what he takes to be amiss, (as every other Prebendary has as free liberty to do,) and to be punished or amended by the Authority of Dean and Chapter. Nor is it said to be the Duty, but the e Dignity of the Dean and of all the Canons, ut Episcopo in nullo respondeant, nisi in Capitulo. To which 'tis added in the next words, (what his Lordship does not mention) & judicio Tantùm Capituli pareant, where the word Tantum excludes the Bishops Iudgment or definitive Sentence of any matter, & limits it wholly to the Body of the Great Chapter (con∣sisting of All the Canons Non-Resident and Re∣sident) whereof the Dean is the Head, and the Prebendary of Pottern, a worthy Member; but the Bishop as Bishop is neither of them. Nor was this Signal Exemption only in the Foundation of the Cathedral, made at once by the Supreme and the Subordinate Founder; but it was Repeated

and Confirmed by Hen. III. and Bishop Poor, in the Removal of the same from Old to New Sarum, in the years 1220. And the same Oaths for the due observance of it, have been ever since Sworn by all the Bishops, Deans, and Chapters without Exception. All which was alledged with effect in the Chapters Accusation of Bishop Erghum to Archbishop Sudbury (1375,) whom they charged before his Grace at once with Perjury and Usurpa∣tion, for affecting a Jurisdiction over the Canons when the Dean was Dead, and the Deanry Va∣cant, at a Time wherein the Bishop had a little colour for it, which might excuse his Sin a Tanto. Much more might they have done whilst the Dean was yet Living, if such an Incroachment had been attempted. Besides it was against the Imperial Crown of this Realm, by being against the Decanal Jurisdiction, which is e for ever and inseparably thereto annexed, and granted unto the Dean under the Great Seal of England.

§. II. Next it was against the Common and Statute Law of the Land. Against the first, be∣cause the King's Prerogative is Law, and the Prin∣cipal part of the Common Law, as that from which our Statute Laws are derived; and 'tis a Princi∣ple with my Lord Coke,

The f Common Law disallows Acts done to the prejudice of any Subject of this Realm (much more of the Sovereign) by any Foreign Power out of the Realm, as things not Au∣thentick.

Such was the Power of Boniface the Ninth meerly Foreign, and Prohibited as such by several Statutes then in force, and ever since.

Against the second, because there were ab An∣tiquo (before the Petition made to the Pope by the then Bishop, Dean and Chapter for the Papal Con∣firmation of the Conspiracy aforesaid,) Acts of Parliament in force, against Appealing to, or Peti∣tioning the Bishop of Rome, or any other foreign Power, either for Grants or Confirmations of any Acts, or Combinations, or Associations whatsoever, within these Realms; and therefore one Abbot Moris in the 46 of Ed. 3. incurr'd the Pain of Praemunire, for sending to Rome to h be confirmed by the Pope in his Election to his Abby, which the Pope (forsooth) gave him of his Spiritual Grace, and at the Request of the King of England, as he fictitiously pretended. The Bull was considered of in Council, before all the Judges of England, and by them All it was resolved, that this Bull of the Pope was against the Laws of England; and that the Abbot, for obtaining it, was faln into the King's Mercy; whereupon All his Possessions were seiz'd into the King's Hands. The same Pe∣nalty was deserved by them who made the Com∣position we are upon, and petitioned the Pope for his Confirmation. And though 'tis pretended to have been done at Rich. 2. his Intercession; yet it is but pretended, according to the Usual Trick, the Practise and Policy of the Popes, to feign Re∣quests from the Kings of England, who scorned to make them; as they did often pretend to Give, what they could not deny, or durst not offer to withold, and knew they had not either

a Right to confer, or a Power to hinder. Choice Examples of which are given by the Learned and Reverend Archdeacon Fullwood, in his Sub∣version of the Romanists Pleas for the Pope's Supre∣macy in England; and though Rich. 2. was so in∣comparably careless of his every thing that was his, even to his Kingdom, Crown and Dignity, which brought upon him his Deposition, as Hi∣storians are wont to call it. And although such an Act of Intercession to the Pope, as is pretended, had had an absolute Nullity in it self, had it been True; yet hardly any man can believe it, who shall consider the Statute made in the i same Kings Time against all Papal Usurpations, which to own, and to use as things of Right, is to incur a Praemunire. Besides that Rich. 2. had acted against other Parliaments also, as well as against his own, and against his Declaration, in case he had done, as is pretended. But that the Trick I now mentioned was often used by the Popes, we cannot prove by a better Testimony than that of the most Learned and most sincere Padre Paul, who speaking of the Times of Paul the Fourth, in giving that to Queen Mary which was her own long before, and inherited from her Father, King Hen. 8. concludes with this signal Observa∣tion: Cosi spesso i Papi hanno donato quello, che non hanno potuto levare a possessori; & questi per suggire le contentioni, parte hanno ricevuto le Cose proprie in dono, & parte hanno dissimulate di saper' il dono, & la pretensione del Donatore. Add to all this, that the said Conspiracy was expresly against Magna Charta, by which the Deans and Chapters Liber∣ties, Exemptions, and Jurisdictions, were confirm∣ed

and secured, and that by no fewer than k 32 Acts of Parliament. And Magna Charta is not only a Statute Law, as old as since the 17th year of King Iohn, though made more full and with more Solemnity in the 9th Year of Hen. 3. But moreover by the Act of 25 Ed. 1. 'twas adjudged in Parliament to be taken and held as The Common Law. (They are the Words of Chief Iustice Coke, in the Preface to his Comment on Magna Charta.) In a word, The Application made to the Pope at that Time against the Laws of this Realm, was a strong proof of its Corruption. For 'twas the Observation of the most wise Padre l Paolo, that None went to Rome out of Devotion, but only out of some Design against the Canons and Customs of the Church, which being unable to get approved in their own Country, they fled to Rome, where Dispensations were vendible for every thing, and the Avarice or Am∣bition covered over with an Apostolical Dispensation or Confirmation. So he in his Treatise of the Almes of the Faithful in the Primitive Church.

§. III. Thirdly, The foresaid Composition was even knowingly and professedly against The great Fundamental Statute (commonly called in our Books Magna Charta Osmundi,) of the Subordinate Founder Osmund, and by a Consequence unavoid∣able against the Sovereign Founder also, whose Royal Seal alone was affixed to it. That 'twas against the said Charter and Fundamental Sta∣tute, and against the Exemption of the Dean and Canons, and all Inferior Members also belonging

to the Kings Free Chappel, (which any man may deny whose Tongue is his own, but no Man living can disprove,) hath already been evinced, and shall be further, as Occasion shall be offered. But that 'twas knowingly and professedly against the same, is moreover to be proved from the Conclusion of the Conspiracy. For as there is a Contradiction to the Fundamental Statute and Charter both Legal and Episcopal, fol. 76. so in the next page of that Leaf there are these bold and unexcusable Words—Non obstante Statuto, & Chartapraedicta, The King himself in Parliament could not have spoken in a more Imperial strain. Archbishop Boniface on the contrary, A. D. 1262. had most tenderly provided for the Liberties of all in the Church of Sarum, according to the Tenor of m Os∣mund's Statute; though he was in all his time the most assuming Archbishop of Canterbury, even from that to this day. Whereas in the Conspi∣racy of the aforesaid Pope Boniface with the then Bishop, Dean and Chapters, there is this aggra∣vation of the astonishing design against the King; that it hath a special Salvo for the Popes and his Cardinals, and the Dean of Sarums Rights, but none at all for the Kings: Yea, as if that were not enough to affront the King by, it takes upon it to decree the whole Revenue of the Deanry, Decanatu vacante, to the Chapter; which, (as well as the Revenues of all the void Bishopricks in England,) belong by Law to The King alone. Lastly, The Goods of the Church (as the Chapter words it) which Osmund gave to the Dean and Canons, he gave them even so, as he had received them of the King, with a Libere, prout Ipse obtinueram;

(meaning his Master Will. I.) and adds a little af∣ter, in his repeated Exemption of all the Preben∣daries or Canons from all Intermedlings of any Bishop who should succeed him, Habeant etiam Curiam suam in omnibus Praebendis suis, & Digni∣tatem Archidiaconalem, ita ut nulla omnino Exigen∣tia vel in Dono, vel in Assisa, aut aliqua alia Consue∣tudine ab Episcopo vel aliquo alio fiat, &c. Sed (•• contra) omnes Dignitates, & omnes Libertates plenarie & pacifice habeant, quas Ego Osmundus Episcopus in iisdem Praebendis habui, aut aliquis n alius, cum ••as in Nostro Dominio haberemus. 'Twas in con∣tempt and relation to this Emphatical Exemption, as well as that which was instanced in before, That the Bishop, Dean and Chapter, conspired with Boniface the Ninth against the Statute they were sworn to keep inviolate, with a prodigious Non obstante Statuto, and Charta pradicta. And there∣fore.

§. IV. Fourthly, It was against their own Souls. For it follows in the same Charter, or the great Fundamental Statute, (wherewith all after Sta∣tutes must stand or fall,) that every one of the Foundation must take an Oath at his Admission, Se Dignitates & Consuetudines Ecclesiae Sarum invio∣labiliter observaturum. And if any one shall pre∣sume to violate or pervert the said Statute of the Foundation, perpetuo Anathematizetur, is the Form of the Curse used by the King and Bishop Osmund on the Transgressor. Nor is it meant

of the Lesser, but Greater Cursing, which the Old English Festival and the Articles found in St. Paul's Church at Canterbury, A. D. 1562. o do de∣fine to be

Such a Cursing, or Vengeance-taking, that it departeth a Man from the Bliss of Heaven; from Housel, Christ, and all the Sacraments of Holy Church; and betaketh him to the Devil, and to the Pains of Hell without end.

Such was the force of the word Perpetuo, when such Cur∣sings were in use. In a due fear, and for the prevention of such a Curse upon such a Perjury, the Chapter of Sarum in their Complaint to Archbishop Sudbury against Bishop Erghum, for violating his Oath by usurping a Jurisdiction, and by presuming to visit certain Prebends whilst the Deanry lay void, did present how All the Pri∣vileges which had been settled in the Foundation, were continued and confirmed in the Removal of the Cathedral, and that by a Bull from Pope Honorius, cum hac clausula in Literis Apostolicis inserta, [Salvis ipsius Ecclesiae Sarum Privilegiis, Dig∣nitatibus, & Consuetudinibus.]

Ad dictas etiam Ordinationes, Consuetudines, Libertates & Digni∣tates fideliter tenendas & inviolabiliter observandas Episcopi, Decani & Canonici Sarum Praebendarii, eorum temporibus successivis, omnes & singuli, jura∣mentis Corporalibus ad Sancta Dei Evangelia, praestitis, realiter fuerunt & sunt astricti. Where∣upon they prayed the Archbishop of the Pro∣vince, so to interpose his Metropolitical Pow∣er as that the said Bishop of Sarum, for the salvation of his Soul, might revoke and retract

the Visitation he had begun, and the Chapter enjoy their own without disturbance. Place at igitur Pa∣ternitati Vestrae taliter interponere Partes Vestras, ut dictus D. Episcopus Sarum omnia praemissa illi∣cite attentata, & praecipue Visitationem sicut prae∣mittitur Decanatu vacante de facto inchoatam, pro Salute animae suae revocet, & praefatum Capitu∣lum & Prebendarii omnes & singulos commodo Fundationis, &c.—libere gaudere, in solidum exercere, quoad omnia praemissa in Pace permittat in futurum.

Lastly, The Fundamental Statutes and Customs of our Church were so confirmed By Hen. 8. in his Regal Visitation of it, An. Dom. 1535, that the Bishops of Sarum for ever are as much subject to them, as any other. The Bishop there by Name is the first bound up; and bound up to the observance of no other Statutes and Customs, than do agree with the Word of God, and with the Laws of the Land, with which the said Papal Composition hath been proved to dis∣agree; and as it professedly does oppose the Royal Charter, and the Fundamental Statute, on which our whole Endowment stands; so I set This a∣gainst That, the Fundamental Charter and Sta∣tute, against the Novel Composition or Combi∣nation.

§. V. Add to this, that the Composition hath seve∣ral other Nullities in it, arising from its several Inconsistences with it self. 'Tis inconsistent with an Episcopal Jurisdiction, 1. Not to be impower∣ed to Visit Triennially, and 2. To be interdicted a Procuration; 3. p Only once in Seven years; 4.

And then q without any Regard; 5. And in the r Chapter House only; not where he will, excepting the Archdeacons, whom 'tis said he may Visit s elsewhere: 6. A fault or default in a Prebendary at large to be corrected, (not by the Bishop, but) by Dean and Chapter, or by the Dean alone, as is usual without a Visitation; (fol. 66. b.) 7. t A Power is pretended, to inquire what is amiss among all the Secular Inhabitants of the Close, and to reform, or correct, if the Dean does not; (f. 66.) which hath an absolute Inconsistence with the Salvo made before for the Rights of the Dean, in these words, [Visitatione & Iurisdictione u De∣canali in omnibus, & per omnia Decano & Successori∣bus suis semper salvis.] Now when it shall be made to appear, not only by immemorial Practise, but by Decisions of Authority, and by the Confessions of this present Bishop, (yes, and by his earnest Contentions for the Dean against himself,) that the Close is the Dean's Peculiar, and not the Bishops; that the Dean has All the Ecclesiasti∣cal Jurisdiction, and the Bishop none at all; that all Persons and Causes of Ecclesiastical cognizance within the Close, yea, within the Bishops own Palace, are to be Tried and adjudged in the Deans Court alone, not at all in the Bishops; Then I trow 'twill be granted to be a monstrous Absur∣dity and Inconsistence, for One Ordinary to be the Visitor of Another, who hath a Co-ordinate Jurisdiction with himself in many other places of Wilts and Berks, and a Superior to him in One, and a sole Jurisdiction in that very Close wherein

the Bishop pretends to be the Deans Visitor; which is to take upon him a Regal, or Metropoliti∣cal Authority, to which two alone the Dean of Sa∣rum is subordinate in his Peculiars, as all others are who have Episcopal Jurisdiction within the Pro∣vince; even abstracting from the Relation the Deans of Sarum ever had to the King's Free Chap∣pel, whereof the Privileges remain, and were ever reserved, though the Formality is obscured in a Great Cathedral Church. This last Absurdity spoken of, may be made to appear by these fol∣lowing Degrees.

N. I. First, There never was a Time since the Foundation of the Cathedral within the Kings Castle of Old Sarum, or since its Removal to the Close of New Sarum, (which Close must be distin∣guished in all our Discourses from the City, which no body denies to be in the Bishops Jurisdiction, and in the Sub-Deans two Years in three,) where∣in the Bishop was, or wherein the Dean of Sarum was not Immediatus Loci Ordinarius. Let them name it, and prove it, who were bold enough to say there was such a Time, as the Dean has na∣med plainly, and also proved the Space of Time of almost 300 Years, between the Kings and Osmund's Charter on one side, and the Infamous Composition on the other side, by which the Bishop hath pretended some Jurisdiction over the Close, five days in seven years, though none at all before or after so great a space as seven years: Which (by the way) is another Absurdity and Inconsistence. No Instance can be given of any Will proved within the Close by any Bishop, or any Letters of Administration granted, or any matter of Instance tryed, or any Fornication punished by any Bishop since the Foundation:

but only by the Dean of Sarum, who is confessed∣ly in the Statute of Bishop Roger himself (though an high-flying Bishop) Loci Ordinarius Immediatus. See the Statute De Testamentis Decano insinuandis. Now that is clearly an Immemorial Practice and Possession of the Dean which has been a Tempore, & per Tempus, cujus contrarii memoria hominum non existit. Which Allegation to the Archbishop, for the Chapters Exemption from the Bishops Jurisdiction, Bishop Ralph Erghum could not deny, and thereupon was decreed against. 2. Next, the Decisions of Authority have been for the Dean, and against the Bishop, as often as Authority hath been appealed unto, which has been sel∣dom.

1. In the Year 1301, when the then Bishop Simon de Gaunt endeavoured to invade the Deca∣nal Jurisdiction over the Canons and other Mem∣bers of the Cathedral Church of Sarum, Petrus de Sabaudia then Dean of Sarum, did by his In∣strument in Writing, on the Third of October, Prohibit the Prebendaries or Canons, and all other Members of the said Church, and dis∣charge them from submitting to the said Bishops Visitation.

N. II. No longer since than in the Year 1665, Iohn Elliot, LL. Doctor, Chancellor then to Dr. Alexander Hyde Lord Bishop of Sarum, cited one Iohn Wickham, Servant to Mr. Chafin, living then in the Close of Sarum, unto the Bishops Con∣sistory for Incontinency, &c. Wickham not obey∣ing the Summons, was by the said Chancellor de facto Excommunicated. Whereupon Mr. Richard Kent, then Prebendary of Sarum and Sur∣rogate to the Reverend Dr. Richard Baily, Dean of Sarum, perceiving the Invasion committed

upon the Dean's peculiar Jurisdiction, by Dr. Elliot the Bishops Chancellor, in citing Wickham within the Close, Absolves the said Wickham. Whereupon the Bishop makes his complaint to the Archbishop Dr. Gilbert Sheldon. The business came to an Hearing in St. Iohn's College Gallery in Oxford, before the said Archbishop, and Edward Earl of Clarendon, Lord Chancellour of England; (the King then residing in Oxford.) And the Issue was this; That the Bishop should not intermeddle with any Ecclesiastical Censures, things, or Persons, out of his own Palace and Family; but that the whole decision of Ecclesiastical Matters within the said Close, did, and do purely, wholly and solely belong unto the Dean.

This is a True Copy of the whole Rela∣tion of the Matter from the Reverend Dr. Richard Baily, received by me the Surrogate to the said Dr. Richard Baily, Dean of Sarum. It a testor Ricard. Kent, primo Jun. A.D. 1678. Sub-Dec. Sarum.

N. III. Yea, since the present Lord Bishops, and the present Dean's Time, there was a Crime committed within his Lordships own Pallace, and by his Lordships chief Domestick; which being a Crime of Ecclesiastical cognizance, was by consequence to be punished by the King's Ec∣clesiastical Laws. The Bishop applied himself first by Letters to the Dean and Chapter conjun∣ctim, for the Punishing of the chief Party in

that Commission; proposing the Composition to them, whereby his Lordship was in hopes a Correction de bene esse might be favourably inflicted. The Dean and Chapter met on purpose in Dr. Drake's House, to Read and to consider of the said Com∣position. Which having done, They unanimously agreed in this Judgment, (of which they sent his Lordship word,) That the whole Composition (sup∣posing it to be valid,) was wholly impertinent to the Matter in hand: And that none but the Dean alone, as the Sole Ordinary of the Close, could Summon both Parties into his Consistory Court, and put the Law in Execution. The Dean how∣ever made a delay, because the Principal Offender had committed the Fact in the Bishop's Palace, which he was willing to esteem a place Exempted from the Decanal Jurisdiction. And this he pleaded to the Lord Bishop, whom he desired to correct his own Domestick in his own Family, or in his own Court, which the Dean said, he would warrant his Lordship the doing of by Letters Dimissory, or License under the Seal of his De∣canal Office. But his Lordship urged with great strength of Reason, as well as Earnestness; (1.) That such a Liberty in the Close, was more than either the Dean could give away lawfully, or the Bishop receive. (2.) That the Party cited into his Court might appeal to the Arches from the Bishop tanquam a non Iudice, and make the very Iudge of that Court a Criminal. (3.) That the Dean might Summon a Prebendary to ap∣pear in his Court by a certain day from any part of the Kingdom; but (4.) That the Bishop could not cite him into His, however nearly an Inhabitant. Whereupon the Dean of Sarum, acknowledging the Bishop too hard for him in the Contest, was

forced to own his Unavoidable Authority in the Close, as inseparably annexed to the Imperial Crown of these Realms, (which is the language of w several Acts of Parliament,) and not without Trouble and Self denial, did satisfie the Law upon both the offending Parties.

N. IV. Since which time also, no longer since than on the 15th of September 1681. the present Dean was desired by Mr. Archdeacon Woodward, then the Bishop of Sarum's Surrogate, (Now the Chancellor of this whole Diocess,) to permit and allow the People of Broad-Chalk in Wiltshire, to ask the voluntary Benevolence of Persons living with∣in the Close of Sarum. To whom the Dean gave his leave, or permission rather, in these words following: As far as the Laws of this Realm permit, and being earnestly requested, as well as moved with the Resentment of so many mens Losses within the Parish of Broad-Chalk, I do allow the said Sufferers to try the Charity of the Inhabitants within my Peculiar of the Close of New Sarum, though not in any other Place under the Decanal Iurisdiction of

Tho. Pierce, Decan. Sarum.

Now it is to be noted, that the Parish of Broad-Chalk, is under the Bishop's Jurisdiction; and that the Lord Bishop was then at home, in his Palace within the Close; and that his Leave had been sufficient without the Deans, had he had any Jurisdiction within the Close; much more had his Jurisdiction been Archiepiscopal, or Regal, and so Superior to the Deans. Lastly, That the

Bishops Surrogate, knowing well that his Lordship had none at all within the Close, (though his Lordship and the Sub-Dean have all between them in the City,) did therefore make his Ap∣plication, to the Dean, and the Dean only. In like manner the Collection which was made with∣in the Close for the rebuilding of St. Paul's Lon∣don, the Redemption of Captives, and the like, was made and returned by the Dean only and his Officers, according to the King's Order and Direction.

N. V. If we step as far back as to the Year of our Lord 1584. we shall find the great diffe∣rence between a Bishop of Sarum, who was first Dean of Sarum, and a Bishop who never was Dean of the same Church. For Dr. Iohn Pierce, whilst Dean of Sarum, did in conjunction with his Chap∣ter, and by Command of Queen Elizabeth, (to whom he was Almoner many years,) upon the 17th of October, 1573. x begin the good work of abolishing Superstitious and Popish Statutes, without the consent or the assistance of the then Bishop Edmund Ghuest. (Though he so swept the Church, as to leave some Dust behind the Door.) But being afterwards Bishop of Sarum, (as after that, Archbishop of York,) he got a Commission from the Archbishop of the Province to visit the Church upon occasion of the Case of Dr. Zouch, and said, he was fultus Iurisdictione Metropolitana; knowing well, and confessing, that, as Bishop of Sarum, he had no right to Visit the Choral Vicars, much less the Chapter, much less the Dean; for if he had, he would not have needed any Com∣mission

from the Archbishop of the whole Pro∣vince.

N. VI. The said Exemption of All the Canons of the greater and lesser Chapter, who make a Su∣periour Corporation whereof their Dean is the Head, may be yet farther proved by the Exemp∣tion of All the Vicars, who are an Inferiour Cor∣poration, from the Bishop of Sarum's Power and Jurisdiction. For it appears by the Vicars Char∣ter, which they enjoy from the Crown of England, (as the Dean and Chapter do Theirs,) that they are only subjected to the correction of Dean and Chapter, not at all to the Bishops, who can nei∣ther put in, nor punish; much less, put out a Vicar, or a Lay Clerk, however criminal. And accor∣dingly the Vicars, (as well as the Lay Clerks) take an Oath at their Admission of paying Obe∣dience unto the Dean, and to the Dean only whilst he is present, and in the Dean's Absence to the Deans Locum-tenens, authorized under the Seal of the Decanal Office: But none at all to the Bishop, whether Present, or Absent; which was eminent∣ly acknowledged by this present Bishop in his own Palace, when in the presence of the Dean and Chapter, and all the Vicars, his Lordship protested three several times to Mr. Hardwick, the Vicars Procurator, and Prolocutor, and to his Brethren then present, That if it were in his Power, he would expel them every one, for their then Recalcitration and Opposition, both to the Bishop and to the Chapter, when good Lawyers told the Vicars, they had the Law on their Side. The Vicars were not a little pleased at his Lordship's Brutum Fulmen, and confession of his No-Power over the Vicars within the Close, three times repeated. Nor could any but the Dean bring

those Vicars to a Submission and full compliance, which he soon after did with the best effect.

N. VII. Even since my coming to keep my Re∣sidence at Sarum, the 20th. of this instant Iune, I find two Notorious and Publick Confessions in effect, of the Lord Bishop of Sarum his having no Power to Visit within the Close, whether the Dean will or no, or without the Dean's Leave, Concurrence, and Consent, under the Seal of his Decanal Office, as well as under his own Hand; which being sought, but refused (very honestly and prudently) by the Dean's Surrogate in his absence, and without his knowledge; the Dean's Locum-tenens, for the Chapter, (as the Sub Dean Mr. Kent▪ is the Dean's Surrogate for his Court and his peculiar Juris∣diction, wherewith the Chapter hath nothing to do, nor any mortal Besides the King, and the Arch-Bishop of the Great Province,) did as ab∣surdly, as unfaithfully, clap the Common Seal of the Dean and Chapter, (of the Dean chiefly as the Head, and of the Chapter as his Members,) by usurping my Name in it, and by counterfeiting my Will, against my Will, my Interest, my Juris∣diction, without asking my Consent or Permission, without so much as saying, By your Leave Sir, yea studiously and in haste without my knowledge, even when He and the Rest knew I was but few Miles from them, and even then coming (tho' not yet come) to my House at Sarum. Being come, I soon found Two Citations in the Choir, made by a Fiction of my Name, and of my Name only, beginning Thus, Thomas Pierce Sancta Theol. Professor, Ecclesiae Cathedralis Sarum Decanus, & ejus∣dem Ecclesiae Capitulum, Universis & Singulis, &c. Finding This to be done 1. Without my know∣ledge; and 2. With my very great Abhorrence;

3. Against my Judgment; 4. Against my Right of Jurisdiction; 5. Against the King, of whom I hold my Jurisdiction under the Great Seal of England, (and unto whose Imperial Crown my Iuris∣diction is annexed by 32 Acts of Parliament; 6. A∣gainst my self in mine own name, and Poetically brought in upon the stage, Citing my self, and the Bishop, as the Prebendary of Blewbery, but not as Prebendary of Pottern, (which the Bishop is also) Comically personated whether I will or no, like a Puppet y moving by Wires; 7. Against Express Statute to the contrary; 8. Against the Oaths of the Members of the Chapter, who had an Hand in the usurpation (which I am sure but few had;) 9. Against the Trust reposed in my Depu∣ty; and 10. Against the very License or Consti∣tution, whereby I had enabled him in my Absence to call Chapters for the taking care of God's worship, the keeping of Statutes and Laudable Customs of the Church, as far as they agree with the Word of God, and with the Law of the Land, and for the Correction of the Canons and Members, but so limited, as I have said, not for the using the Common Seal at all, much less at his Pleasure, without my knowledge, and con∣sent, and against my self; I say finding This, and a world of Absurdities (too many, and too great to be recounted in this Pinch of Time;) I inferred their Conviction of my sole Right, as Dean, to cite the 52 Prebendaries and all other members who had sworn obedience to me, from their conceiving themselves forced to run so great a Risque, as that of z Crimen Falsarii,

Rather than set up such a Citation without▪ my Name, or in Any man's Name but Mine; and for their false using the Common Seal of Dean and Chapter, for want of the Decanal Peculiar Seal, which Alone had been Authentick. Therefore under my Seal of Office belonging to me, and me only, as an Ordinary, and Judge, of the King's Ecclesiastical Court within my Peculiar the Close of Sarum, and elsewhere, I made my a Prote∣station against That usurpation of my name, de∣claring it unlawful, Null, and Void, as shall be set forth at Large in the Second part of my De∣fence, if Occasion shall serve, or Need require.

§. 6. Having shew'd the Inconsistencies of the Conspiracy with it self, and the monstrous Ab∣surdity of a Bishop's taking upon him a Regal Power, or at least an Archiepiscopal, whereby to visit the Dean of Sarum within that Close which is the Peculiar of the Dean, not of the Bishop, and whereof not the Bishop, but the Dean is the Sole Immediate Ordinary, and wherein the Dean has the whole Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction, the Bishop none, and where the Dean's Jurisdiction which was derived from the Crown is united thereunto by Acts of Parliament, which the said Composition does grosly violate: I come to shew in the last place, that 'tis against the Well-being, if not against the very Being of the whole College within the Close and the Church of Sarum, by reason of its most scandalous and most mischie∣vous Effects.

N. I. First, The Statutes which have been made by Deans and Chapters without the Bishops, and others made by several Bishops with the Permis∣sion

or Consent of Deans and Chapters, being no way obliging beyond the Time of the Con∣trivers, (nor even Then but by our Monarchs having no notice of them,) succeding Setts of Legislators, as good as Those who went before them, and as destitute of Authority to take up∣on them a Legislation, made other Statutes at their Pleasure, as inconsistent with the former as Light with Darkness. Insomuch that they who swear to keep the Statutes, as they are now, (without any distinction of Good or Evil, Valid or Invalid, Loyal or Disloyal, Protestant or Popish, made by Sovereigns or by Subjects without Commission, Obsolete or in use,) do take an Oath they will be perjured, so far forth as they are not saved by a Quatenus conveniunt cum verbo Dei & cum Statutis hujus Regni; which is a necessary help, but not suffi∣cient, because there is not added to it another Quatenus or Qousque conveniunt Statut•• inter se, & sibi invicem non repugnant. For standing All as they do, partly lawful but laid aside, partly unlawful but yet observed and in use, and flatly repugnant to one another, (as shall be demonstrated by and by) it plainly follow's that for a man of the Church of Sarum to keep one Statute, is ipso facto to break and violate another.

N. II. Before I come to prove This, by de∣scending to some Particulars, I think it useful to premise this General Observation, to wit, that the Statutes which are Authentick, both by Law, and in themselves, as having been made by our Founders, the King and Osmund, and by our Later Monarchs of England, Hen. 8. Ed. 6. and Q. Eliz. which alone are obliging both to the Bishop, Dean and Chapter, are of All other Statutes the most neglected and out of Use, (to say no more

at this time) whilst the Statutes of several Popes, and of several Popish Bishops and Deans and Chapters of Sarum, however selfish and presump∣tuous, against the Law of the Land, and the Canons of the Church, and very oppressive to Posterity, and therefore fit to have perished with Those that made them, have been hitherto ob∣served (to the hazarding of Souls) with too much strictness.

N. III. Now to demonstrate the Contradictions, and other Mischievous effects, which have been principally caused by the Infamous Composition of the said Boniface the Ninth, with the then Bishop, Dean and Chapter (Birds of a Feather every one at that Time, during the loose and weak Reign of the most careless Rich. 2. of whom Historians give This Character, That of All Coun∣sellors and Councils he did constantly take the Worst,) I cannot better begin than with the Words of Bishop Henchman, once the Chantor, and a Residentiary, and after Bishop of Sarum, and at last Bishop of London; when being con∣sulted by Dean Brideoak about the compelling of certain Prebendaries at large to confirm their Leases by the Common Seal of Dean and Chap∣ter, and also to pay the Fifth part of their Prebends for their Non-residence Thirteen Weeks in the Year, according to Osmund's Constitution, and the Statute of Bishop Iewel with the concurrence and combination of the then Dean and Chapter, sent his b Answer in these Words following.

You must also understand, that the great Vicissi∣tudes and Changes which Those c Princes ap∣plied

themselves unto, did require Rules and Statutes, fitted to the disturbed Condition of Church Affairs Then. And you may observe in your Books, that Continual Controversies did arise, partly because they did injoyn Things Contrary to each other, and partly because they were adapted to Those Times only, and were not practi∣cable in after times. I will give an Instance. Do you think that now a Prebendary not admit∣ted into Residence may be mulcted at Quinta parte Praebendae, because he doth not Reside in the Close of Salisbury Thirteen Weeks in every Year? Yet this is the Statute of Bishop Iewel. Roga∣tu Fratrum nostrorum cum consensu Capituli (the Dean was absent) statuimus veterem Antecessoris nostri Osmundi Constitutionem, quam de ea retulit, in integrum esse restituendam; hoc est Canonicos hujus d Ecclesiae nostrae Omnes & Singulos, nisi juxta formam Veterum Statutorum, adsint & re∣sideant, Quinta parte Praebendae suae mulctan∣dos esse; Pecuniam autem omnem ita collectam ad Fabricam Ecclesiae nostrae Cathedralis conferri volumus. What think you? Can a Prebendary not Residentiary be compelled now so to Reside? Indeed he that lives upon his own Land, or Farm, and not in his Parsonage with Cure; nor where his Residence is by Law allowed, is a great Offender. But if an Archdeacon or Prebendary take upon him to Reside in Sarum (being no Residentiary) he is liable to a Sore Mulct upon an Information in the Exche∣quer. Will you admit every one into Resi∣dence that shall offer himself, and protest de Re∣sidendo? You will soon be weary of that. Or

will you tax a man at Quinta parte Prebendae, be∣cause he doth not Reside, and yet you will not ad∣mit him to Reside?

Thus far Bishop Henchman exposed those Statutes to ridicule, by which All the Canons (in number 52) are obliged to Resi∣dence, yet not allowed to Reside; Have a Right to be Residents, yet no permission to enjoy it. 'Tis their Duty and their Crime, to Reside in the Close and the Cathedral Thirteen weeks every Year. They must, and yet they may not perform the Will of the Founder, confessed by Bishop Iewel to be expresly the Subordinate Founder's Will, and by consequence the Will of the Sovereign Founders, Will. 1. and Will. 2. whose Seals were set to Osmund's Charter. Men are punishable for That, for which they ought to be rewarded. Not permitted to keep a Residence, to which by Statute they are compelled, and compelled to pay money for Not doing That which they must not do. The work is incumbent on 52 Canons or Preben∣daries; but Six of their Number ingross the Wa∣ges unto themselves. This Absurdity is so great, that hardly any can be greater, unless it be That which follows. For

N. IV. In flat contradiction to the Fundamen∣tal Statute, and Oath of Residence, and to the late repeated Statute of Bishop Iewel with the then Chapter, the present Bishop and the then Chapter made a New Statute (Octob. 3. 1672, Sethi Anno sexto) to this effect, That if they who have taken the Oath of continual Residence, keep not so much as Three Months Residence, they shall pay Five Pounds for each Months Non-Resi∣dence, or 15 l. for the Non-Residence of the Year: so that for 15 l. per annum they may be Residents good enough without Residing, and save 100 l. per

annum (which any mans Residence will cost him,) by paying only Fifteen Pounds. So as the Resi∣dentiaries are tempted, (not to keep, but) to vio∣late their Oath of Residence, (if such a Titulary Statute can have any force in it,) by Compounding or Commuting for breach of Oath, the Price of which Sin is but Fifteen Pounds. I do not know if Men are Taxed for the Sins by them commit∣ted at so favourable a Rate in the Court of Rome. Now considering, that the Residents were shrunk and reduced long before, from 52 or 53, (for the Prebendary of Pottern was e bound to Re∣sidence at first,) to the Dean and 12, and after that to the Dean and 6, and now at last by this last Statute (so called) to None at all, if each of the Residents will redeem himself from that Du∣ty, or buy out his Residence for the said Sum of 15l. (as some have done, and all may do,) here seems to be a way made to the very Dissolution of the whole College, if not in Time of the whole Ca∣thedral Church of Sarum, notwithstanding his Majesties Ecclesiastical Laws, which do oblige unto the Residence of 90 Days, or 3 Months. And all Local Statutes have a Nullity in the mak∣ing, which are repugnant to the f Prerogative of the King, to the Law of the Land, or the Word of God.

N. V. Another Statute has been made since his Majesties Restauration, enjoyning Prebendaries to bring their Leases to be Confirmed by the Com∣mon Seal of the Dean and Chapter, to which they cannot be compelled, unless by the King,

or an Act of Parliament. Of whieh the afore∣said Bishop Henchman in his Letter to the said Dean, did write these words—[And I must add, That since Prebendaries and their Tenants have understood, that Leases Demised by Sole Corporations (according to the Statutes of the Realm) receive no strength by Capitular Confirmation, you shall do well to perswade and invite the Members of your Church to observe the good Rules lately made concerning Leases; but be not hasty to compel by Censures or Penalties, &c.—A little after, touching the Statute en∣joyning Prebendal Contributions, by way of Tax towards the Repairing of the Church, the Reverend Bishop adds thus,—Take the best and surest course you can to have the Help of the Prebenda∣ries; but take heed you adventure not to compel them, lest you meet with Consequences which may to a good degree frustrate a Work of so high Importance.]

N. VI. All the Oaths which have been Admini∣stred, much more those which have been imposed, by Bishop, Dean and Chapter upon Prebendaries or Vicars, in any Matter not belonging to their Spiritual Jurisdictions, or not in a way of Ad∣ministring Justice, have been against Law, and the King's Prerogative. The power to give and impose Oaths being so peculiar to the Prerog∣ative Royal, that 'tis punishable to do it, without, or beyond the bounds of the King's Commission, by way of Indictment or Information, as an high Misdemeanor: Nor can any Custom legitimate such an invented Oath, unless it had a Lawful and just beginning. The House of Commons are so sensible of the want of this Power, not only to impose, but administer Oaths to Witnesses, (who, being voluntary, are as ready to Swear, as to appear,) that they often accept of Evidence

upon bare Averments. Nor can the Voluntary Submission of the Prebendaries or Vicars create unlawful Power in the Bishop, Dean and Chapter conjoyned, which otherwise by Law they have not, either to impose or to administer an Oath, nor excuse them in so doing. For however such Oaths so administred and taken, not to lett a Lease upon such or such Terms as the Law allows, (as for Example for Three Lives without Li∣cense,) do bind the Takers of them in Conscience, yet in Law they are illegal, null, and void. And so 'twas declared by the late Lord Chancellor upon occasion of a Suit in that Court depending.

N. VII. By a Statute or a Decree of the Bishop, Dean and Chapter of Sarum, made in October 1671. no Lease is to be Lett by any Prebenda∣ry (however he is singly a Corporation,) without three Conditions, (by Law allowed, but prohibited by them,) and all Three under the pain of Excom∣munication; which yet ('tis well known) cannot lawfully be inflicted for any matter or crime which is not made to be so punishable by some Statute of the Land: Nor can any thing less than the King or Parliament de novo create, or make a thing criminal. And though the breach of such Conditions in the letting of a Lease (which Conditions are wholsom) be supposed to be a Crime in such as have consented to them, yet the Matter being Temporal it is not punishable in Law by an Excommunication. Yet this is ano∣ther of the sore Mischiefs, whereof the aforesaid Composition hath been the Occasion of the Cause.

N. VIII. But there are other effects of it, where∣by Simony seems plainly not only to be allowed, but even established by a Law, (such as a Bishop

and the Chapter can make de facto by the afore∣said Composition, which owes its chief force to Pope Boniface the Ninth;) whilst men are made to pay dearly for their Places of Preferment, which by the King are freely granted. For no sooner have the Residents in the Church of Sarum taken their Oaths, That they neither have given, nor will give any Sum or Sums for those Places unto which they are admitted; but presently, by the g Statute of Pope Eugenius the Fourth, even af∣ter he was deposed by the Council of Basil (when for Money he would do any thing,) there is (besides all other payments by way of customary Fees) a great Fine for Entrance, Finis pro Introitu, to be paid in ready Money, or well secured by Obligation. And though at first no more was paid than Forty shillings to the Fabrick, (A. D. 1319.) yet by the Statute of Dean Sydenham, and his then Chapter, (1428.) Authorized at Florence by the said Titular Pope, (1442.) each Resident with Dignity is to pay for his Entrance 105 l. and each without Dignity is to pay for the same 71 l. 13s. 4d. (besides a greater Sum required by a much younger Statute, of which hereafter.) This Statute is bad enough; but the Custom is worse: For besides that the Fines for Entrance are diverted from the Fabrick, and divided among the Residents of the Chapter; the Custom hath violated the Statute, in exacting no more from men with Dignity, than without it; so that the latter pay too much (though less than the Statute does require,) and the former too little, because much less than is due by Statute, which yet they

pretend (and that with Contention) to be in force. Only the Dean of all four Dignities must be excepted, who pay by Custom to the heighth of what the Statute does enjoyn, and by Custom much more. Nor is this all: For Tyrant Cu∣stom which keeps up that Statute, does beat it down at the same time in five remarkable degrees, for which no Creature was ever yet able to give a Reason. Yet these are Customs and Statutes, which they who take to be Obliging do Swear to keep. But as if this were not enough, for a Learned poor man to be beggared by in his Ad∣vancement, (as how many the most deserving have the least Portion of Mony, and none to spare, and often dye without Re-imbursement?) there was another Statute made by a Bishop, Dean and Chapter, as well without the King's as the Pope's concurrence, and without the concurrence of Common Sense: For by force of that Statute (another effect of the Composition) every Resident who is living, must fast a Year from all Commons; and every Resident when he is dead, must eat a Years Commons in his Grave. At least in Ari∣stotle's sense, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 for what he does by his Executor, he interpre∣tatively does; and accordingly 'tis said (with as much Pithiness, as Impropriety,) to be the Dead Resident his Annus post Mortem; that is, his U∣nius anni proficua undecunque Provenientia. 'Twas not the Christian Self-denial of those Usurping Legislators, who first invented this Law in their own behalf. A Law resented very deeply by some Publick-spirited Bishops of other Churches, who have expressed their Resentments to the now Dean of Sarum, with a great deal of holy

Indignation; and heartily wished for a Remedy of this and other Impositions.

N. IX. But hardly can a Remedy be brought about, but by the long and mighty Arm of Sa∣cred Majesty, which in a Royal Visitation can abolish Old Statutes, and make us New Ones; Statutes suitable to our Religion, by Law estab∣lished. Statutes not repugnant to the King's Honour and Prerogative. Statutes agreeable with themselves, and to be sworn to the safety of all mens Consciences and Souls. Lastly, Statutes not expiring with the Breath of them that make them, like those Royal Statutes which were made heretofore for the Church of Sarum: For those of Edw. 6. and Q. Elizab. were never yet so much as entred into the Statute Book; insomuch that the former and present Dean could never get a sight of them. And those of King Hen. 8. by one of his Masters of Requests, Sir Iohn Tregon∣well, (Commissioned under the Great Seal of En∣gland,) were only enter'd like an Old Almanack, and stand as a Monument of Contempt, which for many years past have been put upon them; no more regarded than the Great Charter both of the Sovereign and Subordinate Founders. Not∣withstanding our Monarchs are declared by Acts of Parliament to have all such h Iurisdictions, Pri∣vileges, Superiorities, and Preeminences Spiritual and Ecclesiastical, as by any Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Power or Authority hath heretofore been, &c. And have full Power by Law to Commission whom they please, and for so long time as they please, to Visit

Reform, Redress, Order, Correct, and Amend what∣soever is amiss in any Ecclesiastical State or Persons, and over All to exercise all manner of Iurisdictions, Privileges, and Preeminences, which by any manner of Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Power, Authority or Iu∣risdiction, can or may lawfully be Reformed, Redressed, Corrected, Restrained, or Amended. Which Right and Power being united and annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm, and that for ever, may be extended unto the Visiting even the Vi∣sitors themselves, (and that with an endless Visi∣tation, and by any mean Subject commission'd under the Great Seal of England,) especially such as take upon them to Visit the Ordinaries themselves, and that within the Iurisdictions which are exempt and peculiar to them, which none can Visit by Law in a Protestant Kingdom, who is not a King, or a Metropolitan.

N. X. Now because the Dean of Sarum's Ec∣clesiastical Court and Jurisdiction over the Close of New Sarum and the Liberties thereof, and elsewhere in four Counties, is for ever united and annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm, even as firmly and as fully, as the Courts and Ju∣risdictions of any Bishops. (those of Sarum, Exe∣ter, and Bristol in particular;) it concerns the Bishop of Sarum, as much as all he hath in the World is worth, not to usurp the King's Authori∣ty, nor to invade the Metropolitan's Right, by invading the Dean's; nor to attempt a New Do∣minion (from Pope Boniface the Ninth) without a new Act of Parliament, which none were ever yet able (in almost 600 years) to prevail with any King, or any Parliament to endure.

N. XI. upon the whole matter, All the Pre∣misses being consider'd, there can be nothing

more desirable, if 'tis not absolutely necessary, than that His MAJESTY now in being, will be graciously pleased with the Assistance and Ad∣vice of the Archbishop of the Province, (if His Majesty thinks fit) to make and Authenticate such a Body of Statutes for His Majesties Free Chappel and Cathedral Church of Sarum, as King CHARLES the First, of Glorious Memory, did make and constitute for the Cathedral Church of Canterbury, with the Assistance and Advice of Archbishop Laud. The Church of Sarum having as much, if not a much greater need. For,

The Statutes there at present are partly i Popish; partly Injurious to k the King's Pre∣rogative and Supremacy; partly inconsistent with the l Laws of the Land, and common Honesty; partly Repugnant to one m another, and so a snare to their Souls who are Sworn to keep them; partly impertinent and impracticable, as the state of the Church now stands; partly impossible to be observed, without a very great detriment to the Service of God, and the credit of the Choir, or else without a most grievous and most scanda∣lous Violation of the Kings Ecclesiastical Laws, to wit, the Canons of the Church. Besides that such as they, they are Tumultuary, and Imme∣thodical, according to the different Times where∣in, the different Occasions whereupon, and the different Authorities whereby they were made. n Some are antiquated and grown out of use,

by the Deans and Chapters ceasing to live toge∣ther, as in a College, to eat and drink together upon the Common Revenue, in one common Re∣fectory, or Hall, (as in Oxford and Cambridge those of Colleges do still,) and by converting Meat and Drink into Mony, whereof all have their Proportions, and wherewith they keep their Families apart. The like Change is made in the Corporations of Vicars Choral. All oc∣casioned (as I suppose) by Marriage permitted to the Clergy. None of our Statutes can be oblig∣ing to any beyond the Contriver's Time, unless as made or confirmed by the Law of the Land, or the Kings of England. But our Royal Sta∣tutes, which alone are Authentick, are most des∣pised, as hath been shew'd.

N. XII. Without a Body of Authentick and Reasonable Statutes, such as may be agreeable to the Word of God, the King's Right of Prero∣gative, the Law of the Land, the Church of En∣gland as it is by Law Established, and our pre∣sent Metropolitans Provincial Letter, Aug. 23. 1678, (the Vindication of which hath cost the present Dean great Pains and Trouble, to say no more,) it will be hard, if not impossible to break the Old Popish Custom of thrusting the most unqualified and most scandalous Singing-men, (not so much into Holy, as) unholy Orders, be∣cause unlawfully conferred, and sacrilegiously re∣ceived. The mischievous consequences of which are too many and too great, within these last Twenty years, to be expressed without a Volume. Whereas our Two Universities can furnish us with men of very good Learning and Degrees, who have much better Voices and greater Skill in Musick, than our Illiterate and Ungraduated

Songsters. And it is but too evident, how sadly the Church is overstocked with men of Learning and Degrees: the Universities sending out yearly many more of such Men, than the Church hath Employments, (I do not say Preferments) to en∣tertain.

N. XIII. We need say no worse of the Composition, made on purpose to overthrow the Fundamental Charter and Statute, than what was said by Paolo Sarpi of the Concordat, purposely made by Leo the Tenth to overthrow the Pragmatic Sanction. If the Bishop of Sarum had no Jurisdiction with∣in the Close, without, or before that Composition, why was it not Invented almost 300 years sooner? And if he had it from the Foundation, or at any time after, before and without that Composition, to what purpose was the Invention? and why was it ever made at all? and why with a Salvo to the Dean's Right, whereof it is a Violation? And why with no Salvo to the King's Right, to which it is an Opposition? and why with a Non obstante Statuto & Charta Praedicta? These were evident Confessions, that what it sought to legitimate, was illegitimate till then, and utterly unlawful for al∣most 300 Years. Lastly, Why was it called a Com∣position, or a Compromise, a Concord made between Parties Litigant? A Superior having a clear Right of Jurisdiction, treats his Inferiors as a Iudge, by executing Law; not as a Party, Compounding for a Law, and a Jurisdiction, which before he had not, The very word Composition confesses Novelty, and Guilt, and Usurpation; from which, according to his Oath, his bounden Duty, and Allegiance, appellat Caesarem Decanus; in imitation of St. Paul, and a Case like his, the Dean appealeth unto Caesar; and immediately after Caesar, to the Arch∣bishop

of the Province, whose Metropolitical Prero∣gative and Jurisdiction, as well as that of the o King himself, the Bishop of Sarum (whilst I am writing) is Now presuming to Usurp; which I can prove he does wilfully, and against his own Light, because he knows he hath earnestly, and to my Face, disclaimed all Pretences of Jurisdiction in the Close, and cast it wholly upon Me, as on the p Ordinary of it, (and as having within it solely the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction,) when he refused perseveringly to punish a Fornication committed in his own Palace, the Correction of which I sought to cast upon his Lordship. His Lordship knows the Determination of my Lord Chancellor Hyde Earl of Clarendon, and of Archbishop Sheldon, for Dean Baily, against the then Lord Bishop of Sarum. He knows that none but the Deans Court could ever Try or Condemn any One Person within the Close, in any one Case or Cause of Ecclesiastical cognizance. He knows, q an Oath of Obedience to the Dean is ever Sworn, and to be Sworn, by every Prebendary or Canon at his Admission; and this ac∣cording to the Statute, (not only of the King and Bishop Osmund, but) even of Bishop r Roger Himself. But no such Oath unto the Bishop (through∣out the whole Statute-Book) is to be taken by any Member of our Cathedral. His Lordship knows, that All are liable to the Corrections s of the Dean within the Church, but not One unto the Bishop. Decanus omnibus Canonicis & Vicaries prae∣est,

quoad Regimen Animarum, & Correctionem Mo∣rum. His Lordship knows, that at Morning and Evening Prayers, after the Tolling of the Bell, no t Person is to be staid for, (ne Episcopus quidem Ipse) except the Dean. His Lordship knows, in de∣fect of Residence, the Canons were to be Mulct or Fined u secundum Consilium Decani, (not Epis∣copi,) and that by a Statute which was confirmed ('tis an Argument ad hominem) Autoritate Apostol∣ica. His Lordship knows, that the Dean (as w Petrus de Subaudia) made Statutes of himself, ap∣roved of, and ratified, by the Bishop and the Chapter ex Parte Post. But never any Bishop pre∣sumed to make any Statute, without the Concur∣rence of Dean and Chapter. His Lordship knows, the Dean's Power x to give leave of Absence, or to deny it, without the least notice ever taken of the Bishop. His Lordship knows, or should know, that the Dean was acknowledged by Bishop y Iewel, to be Totius Collegii Pater, & Sanctae Socie∣tatis vinculum; that the Dean, (not the Bishop) has Power by Statute, to admit the Clergy of the Church of the higher and lower Degree, to Posses∣sion and Commons, z suo Iure, in one place, and (in another) sua sola Autoritate; and to receive a an ounce of Gold from every Canon whom he Installs, though now 'tis dwindled into a Mark; and to challenge for Himself and his Retinue b, de Iure & Dignitate sua, from every Preben∣dary

or Canon, by whose Corps he shall pass in any Journey, one days plentiful Entertainment, with a laute percipiet, & ad Libitum. Briefly, Our Sta∣tutes give more respect unto the Dean, than the Dean can desire, or look for; and such as I am loath to mention. But it c appears by the Old Statute-Book, lent by Dean Brideoak to the present d Lord Bishop, Iuly 10. 1672, by whom it is not yet restored, as D. Brideoak left it under his hand, when he went hence to the See of Chichester. That, and Bishop Poor's Register are to this day concealed from me.

I will Conclude with this one signal Observa∣tion, That of All the Monarchs of England, who have deprived the Bishops of Sarum of many Jewels in their Mitres; not any One of them ever took any thing from the Deans, because Originally the Deans of their Royal Chapel, and Virtualiter ever since.

Notes

• d

  Judge Ienkins, p. 24. say, 'Tis Treason to pay Obedience to the Pope, or to any other than to the King. For which he cites 23 Eliz. cap. 1. and 3 Jac. cap. 4. §. 22, 23.
• b

  25 Ed. 3. c. 22. 7 Rich. 2. c. 12.
• e

  Dignitas est Decani, & omnium Can••nicorum, &c.
• e

  Dignitas est Decani, & omnium Can••nicorum, &c.
• f

  1 Ed. 6. cap. 2. §. 3. 1 Eliz. cap. 1. §. 17, 18, & 8 Eliz. cap. 1.
• (g) Cok•• 1. Inst. l. 2. cap. 11. 134.
• h

  27 Ed. 3. Cit. Praem. cap. 1. With which Statute compare 25 Ed. 3. cap. 22. and 7 Rich. 2. cap. 12. where that King de∣lares•• against his granting any such Licence as is pretended.
• i

  16 R. 2. cap. 5. Hist. Concil. Trident. l. 5. pag. 101. An. 1551.
• k

  Of the 32 Acts are those of 50 Ed. 3. cap. 1. & 2. A. D. 1376. & 1 Rich. 2. cap. 1. & 34 Ed. 1. St. 4. cap. 4. & 4 H. 4. cap. 3.
• l

  Paolo Sarpi. N. 74. p. 22.
• m

  Lib. Statut.
• n

  That is, The Conqueror himself, from whom Captain Os∣mund had all he had in the World, and did hold by Knights Ser∣vice, or any whom ••he said Osmund might have entrusted or em∣ployed.
• o

  Sir T. Ridley's View of the Civil Law, part 3. cap. §. 2. pag. 172, 173.
• p

  De Septe••nio in Septennium dunta••at.
• q

  Fol. 67. 2.
• r

  Fol. 65.
• s

  65.
• t

  Fol 63.
• u

  Fol 63.
• w

  See 25 Hen. 8. 20. & 26 Hen. 8. 1. & 1 Eliz. 1. §. 17. n. I. & §. 18. n. 1. and other Statutes recited 8 Eliz. cap. 1.
• x

  Testante Blacker Notar. Publ. f. 89.
• y

  St. fol. 44. b.
• z

  D. D. Longland. Harwards Acts. pag. 61. 125.
• a

  Dated Jun. 20. 1683.
• b

  From London House, May 7. 1668.
• c

  H. 8. Ed. 6. and Q. Eliz. Of whose Visitations the Bishop had written a little before.
• d

  Subaudi Residentiâ.
• e

  Per Stat. Decani Richardi & Capituli, à Rogero de Morti∣val Episcopo confirmati. 1214.
• f

  Modò Verbo Dei, aut Praerogativae Regiae non repugnent, Can. 42.
• g

  De Finibus Canonicorum ad Residentiam Receptorum. St. fol. 58, 59.
• h

  This is a short account of the Statute at large 1 Eliz. cap. 1. §. 17, & 18. compared with 25 Hen. 8. cap. 19. & 26 Hen. 8. cap. 1.
• i

  Stat. fol. 62, 63. bought at Rome of P. Boniface the IXth, 1392. and Stat. fol. 59, 60. bought of a Pope and no Pope, Eu∣genius the IVth, 1442.
• k

  See §. 1.
• l

  §. 2.
• m

  §. 6, n. 3.
• n

  E. g. those of Hen. 8. Stat. fol. 72, 73, 74. which com∣pare with fol. 12 & 13. and with that made lately, An. Dom. 1672.
• o

  Nullus alius, praeter Regem, potest habenti Iurisdictionem Episcopalem, demandare Inquisitionem. A Maxim somewhere in my Lord Coke.
• p

  Stat. fol. 21, & fol. 86. Rog. St. de Test. Dec. insinuandis.
• q

  St. de Admissione & Residentiâ Cano∣nicorum. cap. 2.
• r

  Stat. Com. fol. 9.
• s

  Vet. Charta Osmundi ubi supra.
• t

  Fol. 12. b.
• u

  Fol. 13. 2.
• w

  Fol. 8. fol. 12. fol. 21. & fol. 25. b. & alibi passim.
• x

  Vet. Regist. fol. 3. & Antiqu. St. 89. & Prancisc. D. Bridges, p. 175.
• y

  Stat. de M••niis Clausi reparand. p. 60.
• z

  Reg. Bridg. 172.
• a

  Ibid. pag. 175. & in Cod. Originali fol. 3. Stat. Rog. fol. 9. b. 1319.
• b

  St. Com. fol. 47. a. Lib. Statut. Nigr. pag. 93.
• c

  Pag. 89
• d

  Bishop Ward.