II.

Pecock alle

gatio de

nibus suis

ensem. MS.

6. Of this sermon of our Bishop's, complaint seems like- CHAP. wise to have been made to the Archbishop of Canterbury, as if it was on a needless or unnecessary subject; that the Conclusions maintained in it could not be defended; and that they savoured, more of curiosity than of usefulness. To answer this complaint, very probably, our Bishop was cited to give his Grace an account of the reason why he thus preached. Since we have a short defence of these Conclusions, supposed to be made by our Bishop to his Reginaldi Grace, in which having repeated the seven Conclusions which were objected against, he exhibits or declares the Conclusioreasons of his drawing them up, holding and publishing ad Arch. them. The first of these is, that " the opposite or direct Cantuari"contrary of these Conclusions, had been for some time "since the opinion of a great many men, and often 66 preached by them in the pulpits: that the Bishops who, “ for reasonable causes, were absent from their dioceses, "were by this means subject to very frequent detractions "of the common people, and made vile and contemptible "to their subjects, by whom they ought to be reverenced; nay, that they were rendered so much the more unable "to correct, command and order their subjects, since they "were so much injured in their reputation by being thus "reproached; that no wise man will deny that this is an ❝evil very deserving to be remedied, since we ought to do "what we can to remove the reproach of even unworthy 66 persons, or which is undeservedly cast on them, much "more the unjust reproach which is attempted to be fixed on Bishops." A second reason given by the Bishop for his preaching thus, is, that " in many Bishops scruples of conscience were raised on this account, viz. their being

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k The reasonable causes of Priests being absent from their cures, Bernardus de Parentinis assigns as follows: 1. The affairs of the Church. 2. Being mortally hated by their subjects or parishioners. 3. If by the Pope's commandment they waited at Court, or served any Bishop. 4. If they studied Divinity at the University, provided they did not stay there above five years. Lilium Misse. fol. 22. a coll. 1.

II.

CHAP. "under the strictest obligations to preach themselves to "the people of their dioceses, and constantly to reside in "them, when in truth they were not obliged so to do; "which was of very ill consequence to them, especially to "such of them as were at the point of death." A third reason given by the Bishop for his maintaining these Conclusions is," that the laity also in judging so rashly and "untowardly of the Bishops, and becoming disaffected to ❝ them, or however in taking off their affections from them, "have very often defiled their souls, and involved them"selves in sins. From hence he inferred, that it was very "plain, it was necessary, that all these recited mischiefs, "and a great many others, should not only be prevented, "but extirpated by the publication of the above-mentioned "Conclusions, which no one was able to disprove. For "these reasons, he said, he put them into form, stated, "held, and published them, which reasons he thought no "wise and discreet man would deny, that they were ra❝tional, sound, and fitly advising, that the said Conclu❝sions should be stated, preached, and published; espe"cially since no prejudice, no impediment, no lessening of "the office of preaching is occasioned by them; but on “the contrary, on account of these Conclusions, sermons "delivered to the people are more frequented, the delivery "of them is truer, and more admired, and people are more "edified by them; as he promised the Archbishop should

appear plain enough in a book of preaching, which he "intended to write on the Conclusions themselves. These "things, he said, he set forth and alleged at present before "his Grace, reserving to himself the power to do, prose"cute, and otherwise defend himself before him, either in "his court of 1audience, or elsewhere, as it shall be thought

Audience-court is a court belonging to the Archbishop of Canterbury, in which the Archbishop heard many causes extrajudicially at home in his own palace; in which, before he would finally determine any thing, he did usually commit the causes to be discussed by certain learned men in the civil and canon laws, whom thereupon he termed his auditors. Cowel's Law Dictionary.

II.

"meet, by way of remedy against the grievances laid to CHAP. "his charge by some men, and to oppose the false notions, "lately propagated and declared from the pulpits.'

7. In this manner did our Bishop defend these Conclusions of his, from the charge of their being curious and impertinent, and not to be maintained. That it was the opinion of many, that Bishops, as Bishops, or on account of their office, were obliged to preach themselves to the common people of their dioceses, and to live and reside in their dioceses, is plain from the writers of those times. Not only Dr. Wiclif and his followers, but many others, who were in other respects opposite enough to him, assert the obligation of Bishops to preach, and not to absent themselves from their bishoprics. And how much the common people were affected by their taking little or no care to perform this duty, and what clamours and reproaches were made use of by them, we are told by Dr. Gascoigne, who lived and wrote at this time. Thus he tells us, that Arch- Dict. Theol. bishop Arundel, who, he says, was only Bachelor of Arts, p. 381. Ms. when he was made Archbishop of Canterbury, made a constitution, that no one who was not m privileged should preach to the people without a licence had of the Bishop; which licence nobody could obtain but either by the great interest or importunity of others, or by money. And thus, says he, the Archbishop tied the tongues of, as it were, all that were preachers, because of a few heretics, who were

Pope Gregory IX. A. D. 1227, under pretence of extirpating heresy, granted to the Preaching Friars his bull, whereby he allowed them the unheard of privilege, as it is called by the historian, of preaching wherever they would, and of hearing the confessions of whomsoever they pleased. This was so much to the damage and prejudice of the several Ordinaries, whom the Friars treated with all possible contempt, as both insufficient in learning, and wanting in their duty, that, instead of obeying the Pope's bull, (by which they were commanded kindly to admit the Friars to this office of preaching, to which they were deputed, and diligently to admonish the people committed to their care, devoutly to hear them, and confess themselves to them,) they gave them all the trouble they could, and did what they were able to hinder them from using this their new obtained privilege, of which the Friars complained to Pope Innocent IV. who confirmed to them the grant of this privilege. Matth. Paris Hist. p. 693, &c. ed. Watts.

pars prima,

с

MS.

c. 16. MS.

CHAP. then suspended from preaching. As a punishment of which II. wickedness, Gascoigne tells us, that "soon after his makDict. Theol.❝ing that constitution, concerning binding the word of "God, he had a stoppage in his throat, so that he could "neither well speak, nor swallow, and son died; and, that 66 men at that time believed, that God had tied his tongue, "because he had tied the tongues of, as it were, all "preachers." The same complaint was made by the WicOf Prelates, lifists; "That if Prysts wolen seye their mass, and techen "the Gospel in a Bishop's diocese, anoon he shal be for❝ boden, * but if he have leave of that Bishop, and he shall 66 pay commonly for that leave much money, or else swear "that he shall not speke against great sins of Bishops and "other Priests, and their falsnes."-They the Prelates "wollen not suffren true men to teche freely Christ's Gos"pel withouten their leave and letters, for they wolden "have money for their letters, and swearing, that men not 66 preche against their sins.-They geven leave to Sathanas prechers, the Friers, for to preche fables and flatteringe " and lesings, and to deceive the people in faith and good "life."

unless.

c. 42.

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8.. As to the Bishops themselves, Gascoigne complains of them, as so notoriously negligent and careless in discharging this office of preaching, that the common people in the open streets clamoured and murmured against them Hist. et An- to this effect: "Wo to you Bishops who are so rich, who tiq. Univ. Ox. vol. i. "love to be called lords, and to be served by others on p. 222. c. 1.“ their knees, who ride attended with so many and pompous 66 horses, and will do nothing for the salvation of souls, by preaching the word; for either they know not how to

Oct. 1413.

n This constitution was made 1408, and the Archbishop died Feb. 19, 1418, five years after. A modern writer thus represents this Archbishop's death: "Arundel, the Archbishop of Canterbury," says he, " in a little time after he "had read the sentence which condemned the Lord Cobham for a heretic, was ❝ seized with a distemper in his tongue, which swelled it so excessively, that it "quite deprived him of his speech, and quickly put an end to his life." Goodwin's History of the Reign of K. Henry V. p. 32. See Gascoigne, Dict. Theol. MS.

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preach, being entangled in worldly business and bodily CHAP. pleasures, or they cannot preach truly without preaching "against those evils, of which they themselves are guilty. "Nor do they, when they do preach, preach good works, "which are things the Bishops do not themselves, but "slight and make a jest of those who make conscience of "doing them, or however do not value them." Accordingly he tells us, that notwithstanding our Bishop's labours in the pulpit to vindicate his brethren from these reproaches, almost every body cried out væ, væ Episcopus qui primus per eorum defectum, that he was the principal offender in thus patronizing their vices. The same writer imputes the civil calamities of this troublesome and unhappy reign to the Bishops not preaching, and our Bishop's justifying this omission of theirs. "Since," says he," the "aforesaid Bishop Reginald Pecock, and other Bishops ad"vanced by the King, have asserted, that Bishops are not obliged to preach themselves, almighty God has preached " in England, to some purpose, by actually punishing the Bishops, and suffering them to be punished."

401. secun

9. The like complaint is made of the non-residency of Tho. Gascoigne,Dict. the Bishops of this time on their dioceses. "Before King Theol. pars "Henry VI." says the forementioned writer," the Kings prima, p. "of England were wont to choose for their Confessors da, p. 450. grave Doctors of Divinity, who had no other cure, and MS. "the Bishops then attended to the care of their dioceses. "Thus Henry IV. when his Confessor was made a Bishop,

• Ante Regem Henricum Sextum solebant reges Angliæ maturos doctores theologiæ exutos a cura alia, eligere in suos confessores, et episcopi suæ curæ tunc vacabant; sed in tempore Henrici Sexti, Stafford Episcopus Cantuariæ, et bastardus origine, fuit Cancellarius Angliæ. Adam Molens, Episcopus Cicestrensis, fuit custos privati sigilli, et occisus fuit. Episcopus Norwicensis, Walter Lyard, de Cornubia, fuit Confessor Reginæ, residens in curia, et Episcopus Carliolensis, et postea Lincolniensis. Marmaducus Lumley fuit Thesaurarius Angliæ; et indignus Episcopus * Cestriæ, Buth nomine, fuit tunc Cancellarius Coven* triæ. Regina Margarita Angliæ. Dict. Theol.

Nunquam invenire potui quod aliquis Rex Angliæ habuit episcopum in suum confessorem, nec episcopum in domo sua, hebdomatim manentem, excepto

Henrico Sexto.