Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

310 AN ERASTIAN
from St. David's in 1414. A great deal of personal
piety did not save Chicheley from being an Erastian,
and from rendering to Caesar that which he should
have rendered to God. The clergy (1390), the
universities (1390), and lastly the House of
Commons (1416), successively petitioned the Throne
to repeal the Statutes of Provisors and Pr&munire,
which were directly contrary to the Pope's right
as chief shepherd. The king had stepped into
his place, and aimed at holding the nomination
to benefices exclusively in his own hands.
It was an attempt to supersede the Papal, by the
royal, power, and not even a successful attempt, as
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far as
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results were concerned. The universities
attested that when the Pope had granted provisions
he had made it his care to appoint university men.
Since his action had been restricted, small regard
was paid by patrons to the necessary qualifications,
hence studies languished. The Lancastrian kings
had added a new care to the already heavy responsibility
of royalty, that of a false position. At any
moment, if they relaxed their watchfulness, or became
unpopular, the Earl of March might have urged his
prior claim to the throne. Foreign war was therefore
their policy. Henry IV. bequeathed it to his
son, the young and gifted king, who, with a true
title, would have utilised his energies far more worthily
at home. His insane pretensions to the French
throne, his extraordinary fortune in upholding them,
by covering him with honour and glory, fortified his