Statute Law as Lord Coke sheweth fully 2. Instit. pag. 693. upon the Statute of 18. Edw. 3. and 2 Edw. 6. and if the Presbyterians would not loose and foregoe Tythes they must maintain and uphold those statutes for better Laws for the true payment of Tythes and all Duties cannot be made But the Presbyterians account all humane laws but trash of humane Iuvention They will reform all according to the word of God in all points Their position is We must do nothing not so much as take up a rush or a straw without warrant from the Word of God As Cartwright affirmed and Hooker confuteth him accurately lib. 2. lib. 3. 8. 2. 3. c. He sheweth that in Scripture there is not a particular form of Church Government contained So the learned Francis Mason in his Sermon upon 1. Cor. 14. 40. Also the Learned Dr. Sanderson in the Preface to his 14. Sermons and in his 4. Sermon ad Clerum upon Rom 14. besides many others But though Hooker hath written with singular Wisdome Learning Godlinesse and Moderation yet the Puritans will not read him as Dr. Sanderson complaineth of them But what Bancroft did foresee and foretel so fully is now come to pass in our times to the great ruin and desolation of the Church King Iames in the conference at Hampton Court did something to pacifie the Puritans But in the conclusion he passed them over only with admonitions to be quiet and accepted their promise to be obedient for the time to come not to oppose the Bishops nor the Ecclesiastical Laws but to behave themselves as dutiful Subjects And the King with the Lords of his Council appointed Bancroft to write unto all the Bishops to deal moderately wiâ—h the Puritans which Letter is extant in print as full of moderation and gentle cautions as possibly could be expected But that mild proceeding of Bancroft and the Bishops and forbearing to bring them to obedience and submission by Ecclesiastical censures and other courses which might have been taken to put a final end to their wrangling humours gave the Puritans hope to find the like favour always in succeeding times as they did under Arch-bishop Abbot which Levity and forbearance occasioned the present troubles of these times in great part But the Puritans are an implacable generation who did only forbear till they had a further opportunity to promote their designs Which now they have in great part effected and verified the praediction of Bancroft and Hooker Who did foresee plainly their restless disposition and endlesse contentions not caring to set fire on the whole Kingdome as they have done these last 40. years in Germany Bohemia and France upon the same grounds and principles as our Puritans have done among us Being indeed secretly displeased because the Puritans were not preferred to the best offices and dignities in Church and Common-wealth which now they have invaded by open force and violence in most outragious manner especially the Puritan Ministers without any regard to the Laws of God or man thrusting themselves into the best preferments by way of Sequestration and then getting Acts and Orders to be continued in for their lives without any respect to the Title of the lawful patrons whose rights they set aside and suspend as well as the Incumbents most unjustly Whereas they are neither by desert for Learning nor education in the Universities capable of the best preferments they being only such as have been only poor Lecturers poor Vicars poor Schoolmasters and poor new lights such as are not qualified as the Statute requires to enjoy the best Livings of Value 13. Elizab. cap. 12. CHAP. X. The Division of the Courts in the Empire and the manner of proceeding in them by the Bishops and Ecclesiastical Lawyers under them NOw because what I have formerly said touching the uniting of the Ecclesiastical and Iemporal Courts may seem strange to many I desire not to be mistaken as if I perswaded any innovation or change of setled Laws and Courts of Justice Which would be a thing of dangerous consequence that no wise man would advise but leave all to the wisdome of Superiours to whom it properly belongeth Only I will add a few lines touching the ancient form and manner of Government in the Empire after that the Emperors became Christians from whom it is likely the example was taken both among us and in other Kingdomes Touching the division of the Courts Temporal from the Spiritual though William the Conquerour began the Separation with us in England yet there was the like done long before even by Constantine the great and first Christian Emperor who first gave leave to the Christian Bishops to meet in Councels and to make Canons to govern the Church Canones ut generalium Conciliorum ut Isidorus ait l. 6. Elym c. 16. a temporibus Constantini coeperant in praecedentibus namque annis persecutione fervente docendarum plebium minime dabatur facultas Inde Christianitas in diversas haereses scissa est quia non erat licentia Eiscopis in unam conveniendi nisi tempore supradicto Imperatoris Although ever since the Apostles held their first Council in Ierusalem Act. 15. where they made certain Canons for the pacification of the Church of Antioch there were also some provincial Councels held by the Bishops as the violence of persecutions would permit and suffer them to assemble and the necessity of the times did require as may be seen in the first Tome of the Councels before the great Nicene Councel was assembled by Constantine who being the first Christian Emperor did greatly labour to settle and advance the dignity of Episcopal government And because he knew well that superiority in the Church without power and jurisdiction was to little purpose Therefore the good Emperor in his Christian Zeal Enacted Etsi Praecipuum Pontificis sen Episcopi munus est doctrina verbi populum moderari tamen quia non omnes dicto audientes sunt nec ejusmodi persuasione ad disciplinam perduci vel in efficio retineri possunt superioritas in qua sunt Ecclesiastici atsâ—abdue imperio jurisdictione non satis habet nervorum authoritatis denique quoniam Ecclesia mater â—ultrix est Iustitiae Ideo Epâ—scopis peculiaris quaedam jurisdictio Ecclesiastica Civili dignior in personas causas legibus Imper est attributa c. Ut jus dicant Clericis c. And lest the Emperor in his Constitution in these words Ut jus dicant Clericis should seem to keep short and restrain the Bishops in their Audience or Consistories to Clergy men onely there follows a praeterea in the same title in the Code De Episcop audient Not long after this praeterea saith the Emperor there juâ— dicant laicis And as before the age of Constantine for want of power in the Church and the assistance of a Christian magistrate the Bishops could not restrain nor suppresse the many haeresies and schismes that did
arise in those first ages most of which heresies were such as were fit to be beaten down by authority rather then by reason and argument they being so impious insolent and blasphemous so after his time when he had setled the Bishops authority yet there being two Courts where did arise many differences and debates between the Bishops and the secular Judges of that time touching cognisance of some Causes Iustinian the Emperor made a lâ—w like unto that Circumspecte agatis of our King Ed. 1. agreeing with it in substance of matter and arising from the same ground and pointing to the same end The Novel is thus Si delictum sit Ecclesiasticum egens castigatione vel mulcta Ecclesiastica Deo amabiles Episcopi hoc discernant nihil commnnicantibus clarissimis provinciae Iudicibus Neque enim volumus talia negotia scire omnino Civiles Iudices cum oporteat talia Ecclesiastice examinari emendari secundum sacras divinas regulas quas etiam sequi nostrae non dedignantur leges And further for the greatness of the Bishops authority it will appear fully if we look upon the Lawes as they lye concatenaâ—ae in the same title where it is said of the Bishops Cum sint ordinarii Iudices And again Similes praefectis praetorio and further Ordinarie quoque procedant The linked Texts in that title of the Code as they stand cited do fully shew the greatness of the Bishops Coâ—â—â—â— and authority when they are compared and said to be Similes praefectis praetorio who were Illustres Iudices and so stiled in the law they being indeed the most supreme Judges in the whole Empire there being but three in that spacious Empire One in Asia Praefectus praetorio Orientis Another in Europe Praefectus praetorio Illyrici The third in Africa Praefectus praetorio legionibus militiae Africanae The Civil Magistrates were respectively Judges of the Causes which the Emperour had translated from the Empire to the Church which when the Emperour had done and made the Bishops the Judges in the Church as the praefecti praetorio were in the Empire before it appears hereby fully how great the authority of the Bishops and their Consistories were wherein they were assisted by their vicar-generals whom we now call Chancellors as a learned Civilian observes who are no upstarts in the world rising out of the Bishops Sloath as one though otherwise Learned and Eloquent mis-called them but had their original from the law it self Touching whom I will here say something out of the learned Civilians because commonly their place and original is much mistaken by the ignorantly zealous people who do now abound in the world and think nothing lawful in government unless their be express text of Scriture for it as if no calling government or subordination of officers in the Church were lawful but what is expressely and fully set down in the Scriptures and no power and authority left in the hands of Christian Kings and Magistrates to appoint Judges and Officers for Church-discipline as well as for Civil Judicature Therefore to return as the praefecti praetorio quia illustres erant antestabant caeteris dignitatibus ideo habebant vicarios suos in Civilibus causis audiendis terminandis So were the Bishops then and so are they now Illustres judices antestabant antestant caeteris dignitatibus in Ecclesia For the law parallels them in the Church with the Chief Judges in the Empire as well in this as in the rests of the Parts of their Honour wherewith the Emperour had honoured them and the Laws honour them at this day Iustinians Code hath sundry lawes some of his own some of the Emperours before him even from the dayes of Constantine the great which shew that Bishops in their Episcopal audience sate not without their Chancellors although their Chancellors sate often without the Bishops whose higher charge in Christs Church permitted not the Bishops presence in Court-Causes ordinarily And though not under the name and title of Chancellors nor alwayes vicar generals officials or Commissaries yet they had other titles but the same offices Ecclesiasticâ— or Episcoporum Ecdici as much as to say as Church Lawyers or Bishops Lawyers professed Civilians and Canonists of that age the very self same officers and office that the Bishops vicar-generals then were and now are who together with the Bishops then made and do now make but one and the same Tribunal and Consistory their Commissions they held from the Bishops but their Jurisdiction from the Law And the Cause why the Imperial power furnished the Bishops with these officers was the multitude and variety of Ecclesiastical Causes more in that age then now the decision whereof in their Consistories being left to the Bishops the Emperor doubted might have drawn them from prayers and divine exercises And a second reason was that the cause of the cognisance of their Courts were more likely to have thereby a more speedy ready and Judicious trial before Judges of the same learning which require a whole man then before Judges of another then an higher requiring as the Bishops pastoral office doth a whole man too And a third reason also may be added because the Clerks suites and quarrels should not be divulged and spread abroad amongst the secular sort which trenched many times upon the whole profession especially in capital matters wherein Princes anciently so much tendered the Clergy that if a Clerk had committed an offence worthy of death or open shame whereby he became perpetually infamous he was not first executed or put to open shame before he was degraded by the Bishop and his Clergy and so was executed and put to â—hame not as a Clerk but as a lay malefactor for the Honour and Dignity of Priesthood It were to be wished this Order were retained still that Clerks should not passe immediately when they fall into such excesses from the Altar to the Halter but hang or suffer other shame without their Priesthood which Order if it were retained still or might be restored would much honour the Church and no whit derogate from the jurisdiction of the Crown The Determination of a Question made by the right Reverend Iohn Davenant late Lord Bishop of Sarum QUEST 11 th Civil Iurisdiction is by right granted to Ecclesiastical persons IT is by the warrant of Christ himself that the Church doth claim and execute a Spiritual Jurisdiction in punishing the offences of her Children For it can admit an accusation against the inordinate courses of any Christian and hath power to chastise him being by sufficient witnesses convicted either by denying him the Sacraments or if he continue obstinate in his wickednesse by an utter exclusion of him from the fellowship and Communion of other Christians I know none so malignant or unskilful in Ecclesiastical affairs that will deny this authority which indeed goes not beyond excommunication to have been conferred upon Churchmen from the beginning by
Divine Institution But in this our Church Christian princes have further allowed the Clergy authority by virtue whereof they inflict civil punishments on Hereticks Schismaticks and other despisers of the Church As also many sage and grave Divines are in divers places endowed with the publick power of Justices of peace Concerning this jurisdiction let us inquire whether it may lawfully be granted to Churchmen which that it may lawfully be done these following reasons have induced me to beleive It is first to be considered that both these jurisdictions tend to the same end of promoting justice and brideling Vice but with this difference That that power which is meerly Spiritual makes use only of Spiritual means whereas the weapons of Civil authority be coactive and external as Imprisonment Fines and corporal punishments Here therefore would I know why it should be esteemed a wicked and unlawful Act not suiting to the holy function of a priest to correct Hereticks Schismaticks and other like and notorious disturbers of the Christian Common-wealths peace as well with civil and bodily Chastisements as those of the Spirit where power is given so to do to resist and pull down Vices c. To resist and pul down Vices by either way is a good and plausible action and of it self misbeseeming no person though never so holy The blessed Angels of heaven deem it a thing in no wise contrary to their Sanctity in the name and command of God to smite the prophane with corporal punishments why then should the Angels of the Church think it not lawful to adjudge the same Delinquents to any deserved punishments when by the Decree of their Soveraign Gods Vicegerent here upon earth it is so determined For the execution of Civil authority is not of it self repugnant to any person how holy soever nor disagreeing to the office of priesthood Again the high and absolute power of the giver perswades me that Church-men do by good right exercise this Jurisdiction For the King being by Gods appointment the Fountain of all Civil authority may without offence derive some rivolets thereof to what persons he shall think fit whether Lay or Ecclesiastical I said but some rivolets because though no Temporal office by Gods Laws are forbidden the Clergy Wisdome and Equity permit not Kings so far to burthen with State affairs as wholly to divert them from their spiritual function This power therefore is so to be intrusted to them as it may be an ornament or furtherance to the Church-Government no hinderance or obstacle thereunto But it is not for every vulgar judgement or envious piece to determine how far this Jurisdiction is to be granted to the Clergy so that it may help and not trouble them in their Ministry But what Aristotle the Life of Philosophers said concerning the mean in virtues that it is to be ordered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the wise man shall think fit may be applied to this Temporal Jurisdiction that it is so far to be communicated to Churchmen as a judicious and wise prince shall think convenient Seeing then that it hath pleased christian Kings to arm the Clergy with some civil jurisdiction and ordain that to the greater improvement of Christianity and casting down of wickednesse they should exercise both Ecclesiastical and civil jurisdiction it is most apparently lawful and pious and plainly necessary by the aid of both Jurisdictions as with a two-edged sword to preserve piety and the peace of the Church and cut off its opposers Thirdly because to many it seems unfitting the Successours of the Apostles should exercise an authority which the Apostles themselves had nothing to do with Let us observe the difference of times and thence gather that this civil Jurisdiction is as expedient and necessary to the Divines of our time as it was altogether unnecessary and unprofitable to the Apostles Civil Jurisdiction is by the cheif Magistrate to be conferred on those that are subordinate and according to his Laws to be administred As long therefore as the Rulers of the earth waged war against the truth of the Gospel neither could they assign nor the Apostles without scandal to Christ and the downfall of Religion have received any temporal power from their hands But since Kings and their Laws began to subject themselves to Christ civil Authority by them given to the Ministers of Christ might have been a great furtherance to the advancement of the Gospel and more happy Government of the Church Furthermore the Apostles and Fathers of the primitive Church were from heaven endowed with an extraordinary and miraculous power which did more avail to the confirmation of Christians in faith and obedience then any civil authority But now the government of the Church is in the hands of ordinary ministers who being disarmed of that divine and miraculous power are conveniently guarded with this Temporal and ordinary Jurisdiction Lastly When the Christian Church was in her infancy piety was more deeply rooted in the breasts of the Disciples and if they would have resisted the Discipline of the Church their rebellious minds were soon quelled by the cruelty of persecution and hourly imminent danger of violent death But now the Christian world wholly possessed and carried away with pride and Luxury hath so clean layed aside all respects of piety and modesty that all the spiritual power of the Clergy and Church-discipline if not seconded by civil jurisdiction breeds rather scorn and contempt then amendment in the malicious remorse of this present age Think then what rash and incompetent Judges they are who from the Apostles and their days conclude temporal Authority not requisite to our ordinary ministers A fourth argument may be drawn from Gods own institution and the most ancient practise of the Church God himself did annex civil jurisdiction to the office of Priesthood it is therefore no strange thing nor against the divine Law that a Clergy-man should bear sway in temporal affairs As appears fully in the former Treatise here before cap. 1. and 2. Where it is shewed that in all Courts of Iustic◠in Israel the priests and Levites were the principal Iudges both in the great Councel sitting in the Temple at Ierusalem and in the second Court of Iudgement residing in principal Cities Eli Samuel the Macchabees together with all the High-priests in the Old Testament did exercise this kind of authority But why it continued not for some hun-hundred years after the Gospel is made evident by reasons above alleadged But since Constantine the great submitted his Imperial Scepter to Christ you shall in all ages find the godly Bishops and Fathers of the Church administring Civil Jurisdiction by Religious Emperours to them imparted which if time would serve might be clearly testified out of Ecclesiastical Histories and Councels and out of the Emperours own laws but these are so sufficiently known to the learned that the citation thereof would prove an unnecessary
the Union of Courts in England continued till the time of William the Conquerour as the learned Antiquâ—ry Spelman sheweth in his Glossary in Cotes pag. 3. Munâ—s comitis judiciarium fuit vim injuriam prohibere latrocinia compescere pacem regiam non solum legum tramite sed armis etiam promovere jura regia vectigalia curare colligere fisco inferre Praesidebat autem foro comitatus non solus sed adjunctus Episcopo hic ut jus divinum ille ut humanum dicâ—ret alter que alteri auxiliâ— esset consilio presertim Episcopus comiti 〈◊〉 in hunc illi animadvertere saepe licuit erranteâ—â— cohibere Idem igitur â—trique territorium jurisdictionis terminus Hereby it appears that the Bishop and Earl of the Counâ—y were joint governours but the Bishop was principal for he had power to restrain the Earl if he did do amisse the Bishop being learned but the Laity in those days altogether destitute of Learning and Knowledge So that it is certain that the Bishop and the Earl or Aldermen sate both together in the same Court together with their Assistants and Surrogates and so 〈◊〉 assist each other with Counsel and authority and in the forenoon they heard Church causes and in the Afternoon temporal business This manner did preserve amity between the Clergy and the Laity that they did not clash for jurisdiction by sending prohibitions Injunctions and cross orders as in our times which do occasion great vexation to the people and prolonging of Suits and doth multiply charges extreamly It is therefore certain that the Bishops and principal Clergy were always of great authority in our Kingdome especially for making of Laws and Constitutions of all kinds and executing of them which is manifest by all the Laws themselves of the Svxon Kings for about 500. years before the Conquest Wherein they first testifie that the Laws were made by the consent suffrage and approbation of the Bishops First Ethelbert the first Christian King of the Saxons made Laws which are entituled thus Haec sunt Decreta seu Iudicia quâ— Ethelbeâ—â—us Ren conslituâ— Tempore Augustini As Sir Henry Spelman hath recorded them in his Comments pag. 127. All the Laws then made are not recited by Spelman but they are extant in the old Book called Textus Roffensis Written by Ernulph a Bishop of Rochester Beda de his scribit lib. 2. cap. 5. Mortem sepulturam Ethelberti referens Inter â—aetera iniquit bona quae genti suae cansulendo conferebat etiam decreta illi Iudiciorum juxta exempla Romanorum cum Consilio sapientum constituit Quae conscripta Anglorum sermone hactenus habentur observantur ab ea In quibus primitus posuit qualiter id emendare deberet qui aliquid rerum Episcopi vel reliquorum ordinem auferret volens scilicet tuitionemâ—â—is quorum doctrinam successerat praestare Sequuntur multa ad vitae probitatem morum Correctionem pertinentia saith Spelman in his Notes Which Laws were casually omitted by my absence from the Presse at that instant but shall be added if ever a second edition be made But certainly Augustin was the principal Bishop that did make these Laws though other names are not put down but his only being the principal Yet in other Councils following divers Bishops are mentioned as in the Laws made by King Ina. Anno 693. Ego Ina Dei gratia West-Saxonum Rex exhortatione doctrina Cennedes patris mei Heddes Episcopi mei Erkenwaldes Episcopi mei omnium Aldermanorum meorum seniorum sapientum Regni mei Constitui c. So in the beginning of King Aethelstan Ego Adelstanus Rex Consilio Wulfelmi Archiepiscopi mei aliorum Episcoporum meorum mando praepositis meis omnibus Likewise in the lawes of King Edmund Edmundus Rex congregavit magnam Synodum Dei ordinis seculi apud London Civitatem in Sancto Paschae solennis â—ui interfuit Odo Wulstanus Archiepiscopi alii plures Episcopi c. The same appears by the Subscriptions to the laws made by the Bishops and principal Clergy and Abbots of their several times which are so frequent to be observed in all ancient Charters and laws in the first Tome of our English Councils that I will forbear many particulars only one for example sake being the Custome then to testifie their approbations not by voting but by subscribing their names to approve and grant the laws made in Parliament and not to refer all to a Register or Clerk to take notice of what is granted and by what persons present The Subscriptions to a Charter of King Edgar to The Monastery of Glasten Ego Edgar Rex totius Britanniae praefatam libertatem cum sigillo sanctae Crucis confirmavi Ego Elfgina ejusdem Regis Mater cum gaudio consensi Ego Edward clito Patris mei donum cum Triumpho sanctae crucis impressi Ego Kinedrius Rex Albaniae adquievi Ego Mascusius Archipirata confortavi Ego Dunstanus Dorobernensis Ecclesiae Archiepiscopus cum Trophaeo sanctae Crucis cum suffrâ—ganeis praesulibus Regis donum corroboravi Ego Oswald Eboracensis Ecclesiae primas consentioni subscripsi Ego Ethelnoldo Wintoniensis Ecclesiae Minister Glasten Monachus signum sanctae crucis impressi Ego Britchtelm Fontarensis Episcopns consentiens corroboravi Ego Ellslam Episcopus confirmavi Ego Oswald Episcopus adquievi Ego Elfnolde Episcopus concessi Ego Winsige Episcopus cum signo sanctae Crucis conclusi Ego Segegar abbas vexillum sanctae crucis impressi Ego Escui abbas confirmavi Ego Ordgar abbas corroboravi Ego Ethelgar abbas concessi Ego Kinword abas Concessi Ego Fideman abbas consolidavi Ego Elphets Abbas subscripsi Ego Adulf Herefordensis Ecclesiae Catascopus corroboravi Ego Elphene Dux Dominae meae sanctae Mariae Glasteniensis Ecclesiae libertatem omni devotione cum sigillo sanctae crucis confirmavi Ego Oslâ—ck dux consensi Ego Ethelwine dux hoc donum triumphale hagiae crucis propriae manus depictione impressi Ego Osnald minister confirmavi Ego Elfwurde minister corroboravi Ego Elthesie minister consensi Ego Elâ—kie minister consensi Thus first the King Queen and Prince do subscribe then the Bishops afterward the Abbots and lastly the Noble-men howsoever they were then called The Bishops in all other Christian Kingdomes as in the Empire of Germany France Spain Portugal Poland Hungary and all others as Denmark and Sweden since the Change of Religion there have place and power in all their Parliaments and publick Assembies The Bishops Electors of Germany Ments Triers and Colen have place and precedency of the Temporal Electors the Duke of Bavaria Saxony and Brandenburgh as our Bishops had place sitting on the right hand of the King in the House of Lords and the Temporal Lords on the left hand And also out of the House the Bishops had precedency of all Barons
the Chancery and Courts of Equity in charge of a Divine Minister So ran that Channel till Sir Francis Bacons Father had it from a Bishop and now a Bishop had it again from Bacon And had King Iames lived to have effected his desires the Clergy had fixed firm footing in Courts of Judicature out of the road of Common Law and this was the true cause of Williams Invitation thither To prevent many Complaints and Mischiefs there can be no better way then to follow the Example of Gods own chosen people of Israel where the chief fathers of the priests and Levites were Judges in all Courts both high and low sitting together with some chief men of the other Tribes of the Laity as they are now called And though our Law be otherwise of late years and the jurisdiction of Courts divided yet it was not so anciently and the King may put some of the Clergy in some places and Courts at least of Equity as King Iames did design if he had lived longer and that without any prejudice to the Law or Courts of Justice CHAP. IV. Concerning the Honour and Dignity of the Bishops in the time of the Saxons and so continued to these times FOr the Dignity Order and Estimation of the Clergy they were from the beginning reckoned and accounted equal with the best as appears by the Laws of divers Kings as first of the first Christian King Ethelbert who in his Laws doth provide in the first place for their rights and priviledges and what Satisfaction shall be made for any wrong done to the Church or Bishops or Clergy Quicunque res Dei vel Ecclesiae abstulerit duodecima componat solutione Episcopi res undecima solutione Sacerdotis res nona solutione Diaconi res sexta solutione Clerici res trina solutione Pax Ecclesiae Violata duplici emendetur solutione Volens scilicet tuitionem eis quos quorum doctrinam susceperat praestare saith Bede These being the first Laws of our first Christian King of the Saxons they ought to be reverenced for their Antiquity piety and Christian Justice in rendering to every man his own due though some men talk not only of taking away superfluities but of cutting up both root and branches O Tempora O Mores And afterwards about the time of King VVithred there were laws made Quomodo damna injuriae sacris ordinibus illata sunt compensanda And often elsewhere in the Councils many Laws do ordain what satisfaction shall be given to the Church and Bishops for several offences committed for then the Bishops had a great part in all fines and shared in forfeitures and penalties with the King Furthermore for point of Honour and Dignity it appears by the Laws of King Athelstan that every Archbishop was equal to a Duke of a Province Every Bishop to an Earl and so esteemed in their valuations Vide K. Athelstani Regis apud Lambardum p. 71. Concil Britannica pag. 405. cap. 13. de Weregeldis 1. capitum aestimationibus The Title of Baron was not then known or used among the Saxons but they called the Nobility Thanes Vid. K. Inae pag. 187. Sect. 9. and the Bishops were equal or rather superiour to the Thanus Major and the priest to the Thanus minor The Bishop and Earl are valued at eight thousand Theynses Messe-Theynes and Worald-Theynes id est Presbyteri secularis Thani jusjur andum in Anglorum lege reputatur aeque sacrum cùm Sacerdos Thani rectitudine dignus est The Priest was then accounted equal to a Knight or Lord of the Town and was commonly styled by the name of Sir as a Knight was though now it be derided and out of use Out of these Laws and some others doth the learned Antiquary who is so well versed in the Antiquities and Monuments of our Laws and Kingdome fully set down the ancient dignity and order of the Clergy Magno sane in honore fuit Universus clerus cum apud Populum Proceres tum apud ipsos Reges Angliae Saxonicos nec precaria hoc quidem concessione sed ipsis confirmatum legibus Sacerdos ad altare Celebrans minori Thano i. e. Villae Domino atque militi aequiparabatur in censu capitis pariter aestimatus pariterque alias honorandus quia Thani rectitudine dignus est Inquit Lex Abbas sine Câ—nobiarcha inter Thanos majores quos Barones Regis appellarunt posteri primicerius fuit Episcopus similiter inter Comites ipsos majores qui integro fruebantur comitatu juribusque Comitivis Archiepiscopus Duci satratrapae amplissimae Provinciae pluribus gaudenti comitatibus praeficiebatur Vt caeteri omnes Ecclesiastici comparibus suis omnibus secularibus Amplectebantur Reges universum clerum laeta fronte ex eo semper sibi legebant primos a consisiis primos ad officia Reipublicae obeunda Quippe sub his seculis apud ipsos solum erat literarum clavis scientiae dum militiae prorsus indulgerent laici factumque est interea ut os sacerdotis oraculum esset plebis Episcopi oraculum Regis Reipuâ— Primi igiâ—ur sedebant in omnibus Regni comitiis tribunalibus Episcopi in Regali quidem palatio cum Regni magnatibus in comitatu una cum comite Iusticiaerio comitatus in Turno Vicecomitis cum Viceâ—omite in Hundredo cum Domino Hundredi sic ut in promovenda justitia usquequaque gladius gladium adjuvaret nihil inconsulto sacerdote qui velut saburra in navi fuit ageretur Mutavit priscam hanc consuetudinem Gulielmus primus c. After the Conquest William the first divided the Ecclesiastical Courts from the secular not with a purpose to diminish the Ecclesiastical authority Imo jurejâ—rando confirmavit leges sanctae matris Ecclesiae quoniam per cam Rex Regnum solidum habent subsistendi firmamentum Yet the Bishops and Clergy do not now expect or desire to enjoy their ancient splendor amplitude and dignities seeing the greatnesse of their Revenue which should uphold the dignity is long since taken away So that well might Bishop Latimer in his Sermon before King Edward say We of the Clergy have had too much but that is taken away and now we have too little For there was no lesse in the whole taken away from them then many hundred thousands sterling too incredible to be here briefly expressed I will only mention one for example the Arch-bishoprick of York from which was taken 72. mannors and Lordships at one instant by one of the last statutes of Hen. 8. and the like happened to Canterbury London Lincoln and all the rest which me thinks should be enough to satisfie that men should not go about to strip them of these poor pittances that are left unto them being but small fragments in comparison of their ancient patrimony which the liberality and piety of the primitive times haâ— conferred on them when Charity
Parliament assembled and by the authority of the same ordaineth establisheth and enacteth that from henceforth the same evection and making of the same Duke and all the Names of dignity to the said George or to Iohn Nevil befor henceforth void and of none effect c. And much more the Lord Cook addeth to the same purpose as also York the Herald pag. 223. The late Lord Brook who was slain at Lichfield when he was ready to batter the Cathedral Church in his book against Bishops speaking much against them and magnifying the Temporal Barons saith that though their Honours are derived from the King yet being once made Lord their Honour is vested in their blood and cannot be taken away but his Lordship was not learned in Law or Herauldry He might have taken notice what Lord Bacon saith in his Apopthegmes That blood is no better then the blood of a black Pudding that wants Fat and Suet Honour is vested in the lands Mannors and Revenues which when they are lost and gone farewell Honour and Title Edward Lord Cromwell Grandchild to him that spoyl'd the Church sold the head of his Barony Oukham in Rutland and wasting his whole estate left himself as little land in England as his Grandfather left to the Monasteries by the Feudal Law his Barony is lost The last Edward Lord Zouch who dyed 1. Caroli who was a very great Baron anciently sold the Head of his Barony Haringworth in Northampton-shire and all the Lands which he had insomuch that Henry Howard Earl of Northampton said He was a Baron sans terre Whereupon he bought again some other lands but having no Sons his Barony his extinct Henry Daubeny Earl of Bridgewater created 20. Iuly 30. H. 8. dyed without Issue Anno ... Edw. 6. and so his Name Family and Dignity extinct This Earl was reduced to that extream poverty that he had not a servant to wait on him in his last sicknesse nor means to buy Fire or Candles or to bury him but all was done for him in Charity of his Sister Cicely married to Iohn Bourchier the first of that name Earl of Bath Many more might be alleadged but these are enough to shew that when Lords have lost their Lands and Revenues then they are not fit men to fit and vote in Parliament and many there are who though noâ— wholly impoverished yet so decayed that they are not so fit as the Bishops to be present in Parliaments who if they might have enjoyed their ancient Lands and Mannors were indeed the most able and worthy to be Members in Parliament both in regard of their great estates and their Knowledge and Learning in all kinds far beyond the Temporal Lords Lastly Whereas Dr. Burgesse saith the Bishops are Barones Eleâ—mosynarii and would thence infer that they are but as Arbitrary Almsmen like the poor Knights of Windsor who may be abated or taken away at pleasure This is but a spightful inference upon the bare word Eleemosyna without the true sense of it For as the Learned Glossary sheweth Barones Eleemosynarii apud Stanfordum in jure nostro dicuntur Archiepiscopi Episcopi Abbates Priores qui praedia suae Ecclesia a Rege tenent per Baroniam Baronias etiam suas ex Eleemosyna Regum perhibentur accepisse licet ipsa praedia aliorum saepe munificentia consequuti fuerint And sometimes not only by the gift of other noble persons but also themselves did buy and purchase many Mannors and Lands conferring them on their Successours and being so bought they cannot in justice be taken away as if all had been given by the King and others as meer Alms. Lanfranck Arch-bishop of Canterbury bought and recovered 25. Mannors and left them to his Successors Harvey the first Bishop of Ely in the time of Hen. 7. bought and left many Mannors to his Successors and so likewise did many other Bishops enriching much their Bishopricks and leaving besides many testimonies of their piety by building Colledges and Hospitals And other good works to the benefit of all men They founded also almost all the Colledges in both Universities to their eternal honor so long as Learning shall flourish in this Kingdome CHAP. VI. Concerning the Legislative power and Votes of the Bishops in making Laws Concerning the Statute 11. H. 7. Whereby Empson and Dudley proceeded and what great Treasures they brought to the King Calvin and Beza at Geneva were Members of their Chief Council of State consisting of 60. and so many Bishops in England be Members in Parliament King David appointed Priests and Levites in all Courts of Iustice. The Clergy had many priviledges as Lord Cooke sheweth upon Magna Charta 2. Instit. pag. 2 3. Ambition and Covetousnesse of the Presbyterians the principal cause of all our Troubles BUt concerning the Legislative power and Votes of Bishops in making Laws to regulate the Kingdome and to preserve peace and justice among all sorts of men there is not to be forgotten an ancient Law of King Athelstan Concil pag. 402. c. 11. That worthy King in his Laws hath one De Officio Episcopi quid pertinet ad Officium ejus Episcopo jure pertinet omnem rectitudinem promovere Dei scilicet ac seculi imprimis debet omnem ordinatum Dei instruere quid ei jure sit agendum quid secularibus judicare debeat Debet enim sedulo pacem concordiam operari cum seculi judicâ—bus qui rectum velle diligunt in compellationum adlegationem docere ne quis alii perperam agat in jurejurando vel in â—rdalio Nec pati debet aliquam circumventionem injustae mensurae vel injusti ponderis sed convenit ut per Consilium Testimonium ejus omne legis scitum Burgi mensura omne pondus ponderis sit secundum ejus institutum valde rectum Ne quis proximum suum seducat pro quo decidat in peccatum Et semper debet Christianus providere contra â—mnia quae praedicta sunt ideo debet se magis de pluribus intromittere ut sciat quomodo grex agat quem ad Dei manum custodire suscept ne diabolus eum laniet nee malum aliquid super seminet c. Christianis omnibus necessarium est ut rectum diligant iniqua condemnent saltem sacris ordinibus evecti justum semper erigant prava deponant Hinc debent Episcopi cum secularibus judicibus interesse judiciis ne permittant si pessint ut illius culpa aliqua pravitatum germina pullulaverint Et sacerdotibus pertinet in sua diocaesi ut ad rectum sedulo quemcumque juvent nee patiantur si possint ut Christianus aliquis alii noceat non potens impotenti non summus infimo non praelatus subditis non dominus hominibus suis vel servis aut liberis molestus existat secundum Episcopi dictionem per suam mensuram convenit ut servi testamentales operentur super omnem
the Councel of Clarendon under Hen. 2. Wherein the Clergy were inforced to appear in the Temporal Courts one Canon thereof being Clerici accusati de quacunque re summoniti a Iusticiario Regis veniant in Curiam responsuri ibidem de hoc unde videbitur Curiae Regis quid ibi sit respondendum in Curia Eeclesiastica unde videbitur quod ibi sit respondendum It a quod Regis Iusticiarius mittet in Curiam sanctae Ecclesia ad videndum quomodo res ibi tractabitur si Clericus vel confessus vel convictus fuerit non debet eum de caetero Ecclesia tueri But touching this and the rest of the Constitutions in that Council Math. Paris doth sharply inveigh against them Hanc Recognitionem five Recordationem de Consuetudinibus libertatibus iniquis dignitatibus Deo detestabilibus Archiepiscopi Episcopi clerus cum Comitibus Baronibus proceribus juraverunt And as he addeth His itaque gestis potestas laica in res personas Ecclesiasticas omnia pro libitu Ecclesiastico jure contempto tacentibus aut vix murmur antibus Episcopis potius quam resistentibus usurpabat And this appeareth also by that which Selden relateth in his notes upon Eadner pag. 268. that long after in Edward the seconds time the Clergy had so many oppositions and hinderances in their proceedings from the Temporal Courts that they exhibited a petition in Parliament wherein they recite the grant and constitution of Will 2. allowing them their own Courts by themselves and specify their complaints particularly which he calleth Gravamina Ecclesiae Anglicanae and saith they are those mentioned in the proem of Artiâ—uli Cleri And in this age we have great cause to complain of Prohibitions but thereof I will say no more now as for the Temporal Courts the Conquerour appointed them to follow his Court royal which Custome continued for many years till under King Iohn at the instant request of the nobility it was granted Ut Communia placita non sequerentur Curiam i. e. Regis sed in loco certo tenerentur That the Court of Justice for Common Pleas should not follow the Kings Court Royal but be held in a place certain as now commonly they are in Westminster-Hall Whereas before the Kings appointed one Grand Lord Chief Justice of all England who for his authority and power was a greater officer both of State and Justice then any in these last ages and ever since that the greatness of that office was abated by King Edw. 1. most of those great Justices were Bishops as Sir Henry Spelman sheweth in his Caralogue of them Glossar pag. 401. Dignitate omnes Reges proceres potestate omnes superabat Magistratus De potestate valde inter alia claret quod quatuor summorum judicum hodiernorum muneribus solus aliquando fungeretur scilicet Capitalis Iustitiarii Banci Regis id est plâ—citorum Coronae seu criminalium Capitalis Iusticiarii Banci Communis id est placitorum Civilium Capitalis Baronis Scacarii hoc est Curiae ad sâ—crum patrimonium fiscum pertinentis c. Most of these great Justices were Bishops as appears by the Catalogue of them they being the principal men for Knowledge and Learning in those dayes and had no doubt power of voting in all Parliaments Councils and assemblies of State And so in these later times Lord Coke sheweth their abilities and rights 4. Instit. pag. 321. The King is well apprised of all his Judges which he hath within his realm as well spiritual as temporal as Arch-bishops Bishops and their officers Deanes and other Ministers who have spiritual jurisdiction It is declared by the King the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in full Parliament That the spiritualty now being called the English Church always hath been reputed and also found of that sort that both for knowledge integrity and sufficiency of number it hath been alwayes thought and is also at this hour sufficient and meet of it self without the intermedling of any exterior person or persons to declare and determine of such doubts and to administer all such offices and duties as to their rooms spiritual doth appertain The Adversaries have made divers objections against our Arch-bishops and Bishops Ever since saith Coke But these pretences being in truth but meer Cavils tending to the scandal of the Clergy being one of the greatest States of the realm as it is said in the Statute of 8. Eliz. cap. 1. are fully answered by the said Statute and Provision made by authority of that Parliament for the establishing of the Arch-bishops and Bishops both in praesenti in futuro in their Bishopricks By the Statute also of 39 Eliz. cap. 8. the Arch-bishops and Bishops are adjudged lawful as by the said Act appeareth And by these two Statutes these and all other objections against our Bishops one hath answered which we have thought good to remember seeing we are to treat of their jurisdiction Ut obstruatur os iniquae loquentium saith Lord Coke Yet the fury and rage of these times have stirred up more anger which in the issue will turn to the Confusion and Dishonour of them that began these wars and broyles against the Church and Bishops and fundamental Laws and Statutes which have so fully asserted their rights and authority Thus the Lord Coke premiseth being to treat of the Ecclesiastical Courts and all the jurisdiction belonging to the Clergy and established by the fundamental Laws of the Land against both Papists and Puritans and first he beginneth with the Court of Convocation and of the high Commission in Causes Ecclesiastical which is absolutely necessary for the suppression of all manner of Errots Heresies Schismes abuses offences Contempts and enormities But upon suppression of this Court by the late long Parliament there hath broken forth such an infinite number of heresies schismes sectaries and a rascal rabble of factions as is prodigious to relate and intolerable to be suffered For as it is in the Common Law if there were not Assises and Sessions to punish Malefactors Theeves Cuâ—purses Offenders and Rogues of all sorts the Land would be so Oppressed with the Multitudes of them no man could enjoy his house or goods freehold or life therefore in London they have every moneth a publick sessions to punish Condemn and Execute all sorts of Malefactors And Corporations in principal Cities have the like authority by Commission and Patent from the King But for the high Commission to punish Offenders against Religion and the Church Lord Coke saith pag. 331. That the Kings Majesty hath and Queen Elizabeth had before him as great and ample Supremacy and jurisdiction Ecclesiastical as ever King of England had before them and that had justly and rightly pertained to them by divers other Acts and by the ancient Laws of England if the said clause of annexation in the said Statute of 1. Eliz. had never been inserted That it was a gâ—osse Error
and Combustions of France when the Protestants did call and hold Parliaments there without the Kings consent as at Loudun and Rochel 1627. and did garrison the City very strongly against the King Moulin doth take occasion to speak thereof in his Anatome Missae pag. 246. Where he reckoneth up the wars of Bohemia and what was done against Hierom of Prague and Iohn Husse and the fortunate battels fought by Zisca in the end he concludeth and inferreth this Haec non ideo à nobis allata sunt quod probemus actiones Ziscae aut tumultus populorum qui ut persecutiones martyrium effugiant arma sumunt adversus dominos suos etenim veritas Evangelica non his stabilitur rationibus modis Christus ad crucem pâ—st se ferendam nos voeat Sanguis martyrum plus habet efficaciae virtutis ad ampliandam Ecclesiam quam bellorum â—ertamâ—â—a Thus it appears that 〈◊〉 doth not justify the taking up of arms against Princes to reform Religion He was sensible of the Errors and losses of the Presbyterians in France in the wars they undertook against their King Lewis 13. Who in the end suppressed them took their strong towns and reduced them to obedience though he granted them the exercise of their Religion and how much they lost by the wars Moulin then liying in France and seeing both the beginning and end of the war could not be ignorant But the principal reason why the Presbyterians do maintain these desperate opinions of taking up arms is that they may pull down the Bishops and seise upon their revenues and lands as they have done notoriously of late both in Bohemia Germany and France and now with uâ— but they were inforced to regorge and restore them as appears fully in the late Histories which might have forewarned our Puritans Si mens non laeva fuisset The Emperor hath restored not onely in his patrimonial Countries all the Lands and Estates of the Bishops and Clergy which the puritans there had seised on of late years but those also which were taken away an 100 years ago as in the Duke of Wittenbergs Country whereof there are two volumes published at Tubing in Germany 1639. The Learned French Divine Chamier Tom. 2. lib. 15. c. 8. at large disputeth the question An tolerari debeat a Christianis Rex infidelis aut haereticus Pontificii dicunt non licet Christianis tolerare Regem infidelem aut haereticum si conetur pertrahere subditos ad suam haeresin vel infidelitatem c. Haec vero fax est seditionum scaturigo parricidiorum lerna malorum quibus hisce multis annis Anglia tentata est sed tentata tantum Deo protegente regiaque capita praesentibus periculis eripieute At nostrae Galliae Theatrum jam ter misere cruentatum duorum proxime Regum sanguine sic enim ratiocinati sunt parricidae aut qui parricidis sicas tradiderunt Non esse tolerandum Christianis regem incommodum Ecclesiae itaque deponendum Quid si non possit judicio solenni tamen ipso facto qui dignum se exhibuerit depositione censerl depositum ac proinde non amplius Regem sed Tyrannum ideoque jure occidi id est tolli quacunque possit ratione Quos furores si nulla alia revinceret ratio certe tam immania sceler aabunde debent hominum animos abominatione replesse Viderint homines Deut certe non dormit If Chamier had lived to see the murther of King Charles he would have said more then he did Hisce multis Annis Anglia tentata est sed tentata tantum God did preserve Q. Elizabeth oftentimes and King Iames from the Gunpowder Treason Upon both which occasions much hath been written by learned wise and excellent men both at home and abroad Against that wicked doctrine of raising arms against Kings to reform Religion Whereof not only the Papists are guilty but the Puritans As Bancroft proveth fully against Knoxe and Buchanan Goodman Gilly Cartwright and many others lib. 2. c. 1 2 3 4 of his dangerous positions The Puritans in England could be content to second King Iames writing against the Pope and Papists for deposing and murthering of Kings But for their own parts they account Parliaments to be superiour to all Kings and therefore maintain that Doctrine of Calvin that the tres ordines Regni the three estates of Parliaments may correct and punish Kings Which Doctrine David Pareus defended But his books were burned for it at London and both Universities But of late not only the three estates of the Kingdome but the third estate the Commons the representative of the peopledome may correct and punish Kings For they have styled themselves The Supream authority of the Nation without the House of Lords whom they voted to be uselesse and cast them out and make Statutes which they call Acts of Parliament without the House of Lords or the Royal assent Contrary to all the statutes recorded in the Book of Statutes Bancroft in the very end of his Book of dangerous positions doth plainly foretell that the Puritans would never give over their Clamour for Reformation till they had utterly ruined the whole Kingdome and Church as now it appears manifestly they have effected their desires in great part But saith Bancroft there are divers-men that will needs hood-wink themselves and stop their Ears with the Serpent in the Psalm of purpose because they would gladly have these things smothered up He meaneth men in great place that were willing to think that the Puritans were no such dangerous men as he and others did take them to be only scrupulous and peevish perhaps about Ceremonies and therefore were willing to forbear them and not to censure them sharply But Bancroft doth wisely tell them that if any such mischeifs which God forbid shall happen hereafter they were sufficiently warned that both should and might in good time have prevented them and withall it would then be found true which Livy saith Urgentibus Republicam fatis Dei hominum falutares admonitiones spernuntur When the Lord for the sins of the people is purposed to punish any Country he blindeth the eyes of the wise so as they shall either neglect or not perceive those ordinary means for the safety thereof which very simple men or babes in a manner did easily foresee Which Judgement I pray God turn far away and long from this and all other true Christian Lands and Kingdoms The principal end and project of the Presbyterians was not only to reform some things amisse but to pluck up both root and branch of Episcopacy and all Ecclesiastical laws and Courts though never so ancient and Fundamental setled by Magna Charta and many other Fundamental statutes as Circumspecte agatis 13. Edw 1. Articuli Cleri 9. Ed. 2. as Lord Coke doth expound them at large 2. Institut and for payment of Tythes and all Duties belonging to the Church there is both Common Law and
born mininster to intermeddle with secular affairs and therefore it is likewise lawful for the mean born so to do And so in my Conscience I speak it in the presence of God and great noble men it is most lawful for them to intermeddle with secular affairs so as they be not intangled as the Apostle calls it with this intermedling as to slight and neglect the office of their calling which no minister noble or ignoble can do without grievously sinning against God and his own Conscience It is lawful for persons in holy orders to intermeddle it is without question or else they could not make provision of meat and drink as Beza interprets the place It is not lawful for them to be thus intangled and bound up with secular affairs which I humbly beseech your Lordships to consider not as a distinction invented by me but clearly expressed by the Apostle himself And thus my noble Lords I shall without any further molestation and with humble thanks for this great patience leave this great Cause of the Church to your Lordships wise and gracious consideration Here is my Mars-Hill and further I shall never appeal for justice Some assurance I have from the late solemn vote and protestation of both Houses for the maintaining and defending the power and priviledges of Parliament that if this Bill were now to be framed in the one House it would never be offered without much qualification as I perswade my self it will not be approved in the other Parliaments are indeed omnipotent but no more omnipotent then God himself who for all that cannot do every thing God cannot but perform his promise A Parliament under favour cannot unswear what it hath already vowed This is an old Maxime which I have learned of the Sages of the Law a parliament cannot be felo de se It cannot destroy or undo it self An Act of parliament as that in the 11. and another in the 21 Rich. 2. made to be unrepealable in any subsequent parliament was ipso facto void in the constitution why Because it took away the power and priviledges that is not the plumes and feathers the remote accidents but the very specifical forme essence and being of a parliament So if an Act should be made to take away the Votes of all the Commons or of all the Lords it were absolutely a void Act. I will conclude with the first Epistle to the Corinthians Cap 12. Vers. 15. If the Foot shall say because I am not the hand I am not of the Body is it therfore not of the body Vers. 20. But now are they many Members yet but one Body Vers. 2â— And the Eye cannot say unto the Hand I have no need of thee nor again the Head unto the Feet I have no need of you Some Annotations upon the Arch-Bishops SPEECH WHereas the Arch-bishop saith Sect. 3. That the Bishops sate in parliaments and all publick Assemblies of State a thousand years it is certainly true as appears fully by the Subscriptions of their names to all constitutions Laws and Ordinances made in the several great Councels of the Kingdome in the times of the Saxon Kings the manner being then to give their assent not by verbal voting but by subscribing their names as fully appears in Sir Henry Spelmans Edition of the Councells at the end of all such Assemblies and Councells as were then held And whereas the Arch-bishop saith that the princes of the Norman race erected the Bishopricks into Baronies it is very true as Cambden sheweth in his Britannia pag. 170. And so the great Abbots also heretofore by right and custome were peers of the Kingdome and did sit in parliaments to order decree and determine But the Conquerour ordained both Bishops and Abbots to be under military Service erecting every Bishop and Abbey at his Will and pleasure and appointing how many Soldiers he would require of them to be furnished for him and his Successors in times of Hostility and War So that the Tenure and Title of Barons being imposed on them it was no addition of honour to them they being superiour to Thanes or Barons though as Cambdon saith out of Mathew Paris That which was then complained of by the Cleagy and accounted as a burden in the age ensuing was accounted as the greatest honour And so it hath continued as a Title of Honour â—o the Bishops Whereas the Archbishop saith That the Word and Sacraments the means of our Salvation will not be effectually received from those Ministers whose persons shall be so vilified and dejected as to be made no parcels or fragments of the Common-wealth This doth certainly prove too true Religion it self is vilified and the Word of God and his Sacraments neglected almost in every parish because the persons that should perform the duties and offices are become contemptible for want of that Honour and Respect which they enjoyed legally heretofore Therefore God anciently in the Kingdome of Israel did greatly honour the Tribe of Levi when he made the priests Levites the principal officers Judges in every Court to whom the people were to be obedient upon pain of Death Deut. 17. 12. The Administration of law and Justice throughout the Kingdome depended oâ— them principally For God made his Covenant with Levi of Life and Peace The Law of Truth was in his Mouth The Priests Lips should preserve knowledge and they should seek the Law at his Mouth Mal. 2. 5 6 7. and so Ezekiel 44. 23. They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and prophane and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean and in Controversie they shall stand in iudgement and they shall iudge according to my Iudgement and they shall keep my Laws and my Statntes in all my Assemblies They beiâ—g the principal Judges and Lawyers in that Common-wealth of Gods own Constitution And whereas it is now granted on all hands that there was three Courts of Justice in that Kingdome 1. The great Councel of 70 Elders 2. The Court of Judgement consisting of 23. 3. The Court of some three or some few more The Priests and Levites were principal men both Judges and Officers in all Courts both Scophtim Schoterim as 1. Chron. 19. 8 11. both to give Sentence and Judgement and also to execute the same So the Divines do affirm also in their late Annotations upon 1 Chron. 26 29 30. 2. Chron. 19. 8 11. They did study the Judicial and â—olitick Laws and had power to see the Law of God and injunctions of the King to be observed and to order divine and humane affairs And they held also other Honourable offices for we read that Zechariah a Levite was a wise Councellour and Benajah a priest son of Iehojadah was one of Davids twelve Captains being the third Captain of the Host for the third moneth and in his course consisting of 2400 was his son Amizabad Benajah was also one of David's principal worthies
degree then in the time of Hen. 8. Iohn Pym in another Speech 4. Caroli would have the Arminian points setled and determined in parliament viz Concerning Predestination Absolute Reprobation Universal Grace Free-will and Final perseverance before the King should have Subsidies granted Tunnage or poundage But if they would give no money to the King till those difficult poins be cleared and resolved the King must never have any Subsidies granted For those Questions are so mysterious and abstruse that all the Divines in the world cannot yet resolve fully upon them But these and such like difficult questions in Divinity belong to the Convocation of the Clergy as Cook sheweth Instit. pag. 322. and they are to be called in time of parliaments by the Kings Writ and are to proceed juxta legem divinam Canones sanctae Ecclesiae saith Cook ibid. And they are divided into two parts viz. The Upper House where the Arch-bishops and Bishops sit and the lower House where the rest do sit And they have two prolocutors one of the Bishops of the Higher House chosen by that House another of the lower house and presented to the Bishops for their prolocutor Cook ibid. The Convocation of the Clergy made the thirty nine Articles of Religion the Common prayer Book and the Book of ordination of Bishops priests and Deacons and the Book of Canons To all which what subscription is required by Law Lord Coke sheweth pag. 323. But in the late long parliament all these Books and good orders are cast aside and neglected and nothing established in stead thereof But it is hoped that the most excellent and gracious King Charles the Second will so confirrm the Truth of our Religion and all good orders Laws Customes and Rights as there shall be a full and happy Conclusion of all differences and the peace of the Kingdome and Church established to the advancement of Gods glory and the rejoycing of all that are truly wise and religious Lord Cook sheweth pag. 325. How the Commission Court for causes Ecclesiastical was setled That such Iurisdiction Spiritual or Ecclesiastical as by any Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Power or Authority hath heretofore been or lawfully may be exercised or used for the Uisitation of the Ecclesiastical State and Persons And for Reformation Order and Correction of the same and of all manner of Errors Heresies Schisms Abuses Offences Contempts and Enormities shall for ever be united and annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm But not to the House of Commons or any others but by the dissolution of the high Commission and all other Courts Ecclesiastical there is risen up such an infinite and prodigious number of sectaries factions divisions in Religion enormities and disorders as is lamentable to behold and all scandalous sins as adultery fornication incest and such as ought not to be named among Christians go unpunished dayly If a bastard Child be gotten the Justices of the peace do only take care for keeping of the bastard but for the offence and scandal given to Religion they do nothing that belongeth to the Ecclesiastical Court to injoyn what pennance is fitting according to Ecclesiastical Laws which have been neglected too much of late though they are ancient and fundamental as well as any Common Laws But it is testified fully by the best learned Divines in forraign Countries that our Church of England was the onely Church reformed by peaceable means and gracious Princes whereas others in France Germany and other places were reformed most part by tumults and violent wars Beza from Geneva said of the Reformation by Queen Elizabeth Doctrinae puritas viget in Anglia pure sincere so said Peter Martyr and Zanchy and Damens when they saw the Confession of our faith in the thirty nine Articles and others parts of our Reformation so excellently defended by the Renowned Bishop Iewell in his Apology and Defence thereof against Harding the Papist books far more excellent and pious then ever Cartwright or any Presbyterian published and of late times the learned Deodatus professor at Geneva doth magnifie the Church of England as the most eminent of all the Reformed Churches stiling it Florentissima Anglia ocellus ille Ecclesiarum peculium Christi singulare Perfugium afflictorum imbellium Armamentarium inopum promptuarium spei melioris vexillum splendidae Domini Caulae and much more he addeth speaking of our happiness before these troubles and so it might have continued still if the Clergy might have enjoyed those rights and priviledges which the priesthood of God did anciently enjoy in all ages for in the Law of nature before Moses the priesthood was honourable Priests being then the first born and eldest sons of the Family not younger Brethren or poor fellows of the basâ—st of the people How honorable the Priesthood was in the tribe of Levi is well known Sir Iames Sempill a learned Knight of Scotland doth shew it fully in his book of Sacriledge in many places Cap. 6. Sect. 4. speaking of the dignity of the Church ministry of old For tithes inheritance in the person of one Royal Melchisedeck Royal I say in regard of the great odds between that and this our age now For of old as writeth Iosephus the true mark of nobility was to derive a mans Pedigree from the Priesthood so Iosephus was a Gentleman because 〈◊〉 sanguine sacerdotali And in our time the onely best Tenure and Holding of Possessions was to hold of the Church but now all to the contrary For Rome hath frustrate her ministry of Matrimony and we at home ours of their patrimony She can bring forth no well begotten Children and we but few well beneficed Church men No Iosephs in her and all Iobs with us and instead to hold of the Church we hold all from the Church both much amiss And as he saith in his preface to King Iames Truely it never goeth better then when the Church Courteth it and the Court Churcheth it for Moses and Aaron were Brothers Well might the Learned and Religious Knight complain that things are much amiss when in the times of the light of Learning and Religion reformed hath in great measure flourished among us but of late been so defaced and deformed that it is lamentable to report more of it the Enormities being so great and scandalous that unless the Kings Majesty out of his singular piety and wisdome do resume the ancient Jurisdiction of his Crown Who onely hath the proper power and authority to reform and correct all manner of Heresies Schismes Abuses Offences Contempts and Enormitie as are the express words of the Statute 1 Eliz. as they are recited and inforced by Lord Coke 4. Instit. Pag. 325. there can be little hope of Redress but as the Queen then did assign and authorise Commissioners to execute this Jurisdiction so it may be now done Commissioners may be appointed by the King to perform and execute his power in as full and ample manner as Queen Elizabeth did and
as Lord Coke saith it may be done without the help of a Parliament as the King appointeth Judges and great Officers in all the Courts in Westminster-hall without consent of Parliaments The Learned Lord Herbert in his History of Hen. 8. relating some passages of the Kings Reformation of some abuses affirmeth that the first fatal blow the English Church received was when the Redress of her was referred to the House of Commons Complaint was made for probate of testaments and mortuaries of pluralities non-residence and priests that were farmers of Lands c. But the King lost or let go for the present a principal point of his Supremacy whereby he might have reformed what was fit to be done in these and many the like businesses without referring to the House of Commons and we find that they never left off reforming till they have utterly deformed all and wholly suppressed all Ecclesiastical Law Courts and Jurisdictions The King by his Supremacy might have reformed and prescribed Laws for probate of Wills non-residence pluralities and many more such matters the Concurrence of the Metropolitan had been sufficient to regulate such matters according to the Laws Ecclesiastical for there are Laws Ecclesiastical in this Kingdome as well as Temporal and as ancient and fundamental as any part of the Common Law and therefore fit to be duly kept and observed Linwood doth gloss upon the Constitutions made by the Archbishops of Canterbury which are accepted for good Laws by the Common Lawyers in Ecclesiastical matters and so there are also Constitutions for the province of York and the Northern parts all which are allowed for good Laws Ecclesiastical by those that are truely learned in the Laws Two SPEECHES spoken in the House of Lords by the Lord Viscount Newarke The first concerning the right of BISHOPS to sit and vote in Parliament May 21. 1641. MY LORDS I Shall take the boldness to speak a word or two upon this subject first as it is in it self then as it is in the consequence For the former I think he is a great stranger in Antiquity that is not well acquainted with that of their sitting here they have done thus and in this manner almost since the conquest and by the same power and the same right as the other Peers did and your Lordships now do and to be put from this their due so much their due by so many hundred years strengthened and confirmed and that without any offence nay pretence of any seems to me to be very severe if it be jus I dare boldly say it is summum That this hinders their Ecclesiasticall vocation an argument I hear much of hath in my apprehension more of shadow then substance in itâ— if this be a reason sure I am it might have been one six hundred years ago A Bishop my Lords is not so circumscribed within the circumference of his Diocesse that his sometimes absence can be termed no not in the most strict sense a neglect or hindrance of his duty no more then that of a Leiutenant from his County they both have their subordinate Ministers upon which their influences fall though the distance be remote Besides my Lords the lesser must yield to the greater good to make wholsome and good Laws for the happy and well regulating of Church and Common-wealth is certainly more advantagious to both then the want of the personal execution of their office and that but once in three years and then peradventure but a moneth or two can be prejudicial to either I will go no further to prove this which so long experience hath done so fully so demonstratively And now my Lords by your Lordships good leave I shall speak to the consequence as it reflects both on your Lordships and my Lords the Bishops Dangers and inconveniences are ever best prevented elonginquâ— this precedent come near to your Lordships and such a one that mutato nomine de vobis Pretences are never wanting nay sometimes the greatest evils appear in the most fair and specious outsides witness the Shipmony the most abominable the most illegal thing that ever was and yet this was painted over with colour of the Law what Bench is secure if to alleage be to convince and which of your Lordships can say then he shall continue a member of this House when at one blow twenty six are cut off It then behoves the Neighbour to look about him cum proximus ardet Ucalegon And for the Bishops my Lords in what condition will you leave them The House of Commons represents the meanest person so did the Master his Slave but they have none to do so much for them and what justice can tie them to the observation of those laws to whose constitution they give no consent the wisdome of former times gave proxies unto this House meerly upon this ground that every one might have a hand in the making of that which he had an obligation to obey This House could not represent therefore proxies in room of persons were most justly allowed And now my Lords before I conclude I beseech your Lordships to cast your eyes upon the Church which I know is most dear and tender to your Lordships you will see her suffer in her most principal members and deprived of that honour which here and throughout all the Christian world ever since Christianity she constantly hath enjoyed for what Nation or Kingdome is there in whose great and publick Assemblies and that from her beginning she had not some of hers if I may not say as essential I am sure I may say as integral parts thereof And truly my Lords Christianity cannot alone boast of this or challenge it onely as hers even Heathenisme claims an equal share I never read of any of them Civil or Baâ—barous that gave not thus much to their Religion so that it seems to me to have no other original to flow from no other spring than Nature her self But I have done and will trouble your Lordships no longer how it may stand with the honour and justice of this House to pass this Bill I most humbly submit unto your Lordships the most proper and only Judges of them both The Second SPEECH about the Lawfulness and Conveniency of their intermedling in Temporal Affairs MY LORDS I Shall not speak to the preamble of the Bill that Bishops and Clergy men ought not to intermeddle in temporal Affairs For truly My Lords I cannot bring it under any respect to be spoken of Ought is a word of Relation and must either refer to humane or divine Law To prove the lawfulnesse of their intermedling by the former would be to no more purpose then to labour to convince that by reason which is evident to sense It is by all acknowledged The unlawfulnesse by the latter the Bill by no means admits of for it excepts Universities and such persons as shall have honour descend upon them And your Lordships know that circumstance and chance alter not the
nature and essence of a thing nor can except any particular from an universal proposition by God himself delivered I will therefore take these two as granted first that they ought by our Law to intermeddle in temporal affairs Secondly that from doing so they are not inhibited by the Law of God it leaves it at least as a thing indifferent And now my Lords to apply my self to the business of the day I shall consider the conveniency and that in the several habitudes thereof but very briefly first in that which it hath to them meerly as men qua tales then as parts of the Common-wealth Thirdly from the best manner 〈◊〉 constituting Laws and lastly from the practise of all 〈◊〉 both Christian and Heathen Homo sum nihil humanum á me alienum puto was indeed the saying of the Comedian but it might well have becom'd the mouth of the greatest Philosopher We allow to sense all the works and operations of sense and shall we restrain reason Must only man be hindered from his proper actions They are most fit to do reasonable things that are most reasonable For Science commonly is accompanied with conscience So is not ignorance They seldome or never meet And why should we take that capacity from them which God and Nature have so liberally bestowed My Lords the politick body of the Common-wealth is analogical to the body natural Every Member in that contributes something to the preservation of the whole the superfluity or defect which hinders the performance of that duty your Lordships know what the philosopher calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Natures sin And truly my Lords to be part of the other body and do nothing beneficial thereunto cannot fall under a milder term The Common-wealth subsists by Laws and their Execution and they that have neither head in the making not hand in the executing of them confer not to any thing the being or well being thereof And can such be called Members unlesse most unprofitable ones onely fruges consumere nati Me thinks it springs from Nature it self or the very depths of Justice that none should be tyed by other laws then himself makes for what more natural or just then to be bound only by his own consent to be ruled by anothers will is meerly tyrannical Nature there suffers violence and man degenerates to beast The most flourishing estates were ever governed by Laws of an universal constitution witnesse this our Kingdome witnesse Senatus Populusque Romanus the most glorious Common-wealth that ever was and those many others in Greece and elsewhere of eternal memory Some things my Lords are so evident in themselves that they are difficult in their proofs Amongst them I â—â—ckon this Conveniency I have spoken of I will therefore 〈◊〉 but a word or two more in this way The long experienâ—â— that all Christendome hath had hereof for these 1300. years is certainly argumentum ad hominem Nay my Lords I will go further for the same reason runs through all Religions never was there any Nation that employed not their religious men in the greatest affairs But to come to the businesse that now lyes before your Lordships Bishops have voted here ever since Parliaments began and long before were imployed in the publike The good they have done your Lordships all well know and at this day enjoy For this I hope yee will not put them out nor for the evil they may do which yet your Lordships do not know and I am confident never shall suffer A position ought not to be destroyed by a supposition à passe ad esse non valet consequentia My Lords I have done with proving of this positively I shall now by your good favours do it negatively in answering some inconveniencies that may seem to arise For the Text No man that wars entangles himself with the affairs of this life which is the full sense of the word both in Greek and Latine it makes not at all against them except to intermeddle and intangle be tearms equivalent Besides my Lords though this was directed to a Church-man yet it is of a general nature and reaches to all Clergy and Laity as the most learned and best expositors unanimously do agree To end this Argumentum symbolicum non est argumentativum It may be said that it is inconsistent with a spiritual vocation truly my Lords Grace and Nature are in some respects incompossible but in some others most harmoniously agree it perfects nature and raiseth it to a height above the common altitude and makes it most fit for those great works of God himself to make laws to do Justice There is then no inconsistency between themselves it must arise out of Scripture I am confident it doth not formally out of any place there nor did I ever meet with any learned Writer of these or other times that so expounded any Text. But though in strict terms this be not inconsistent yet iâ— may peradventure hinder the duty of their other calliâ—g My Lords there is not any that sits here more for prâ—aching than I am I know it is the ordinary means to salvation yet I likewise know there is not that full necessity of it as was in the primitive times God defend that 1600. years acquaintance should make the Gospel of Christ no better known unto us Neither my Lords doth their office meerly and wholly consist in preaching but partly in that partly in praying and administring the blessed Sacraments in a godly and exemplary life in wholsome admonitions in exhortations to virtue dehortations from vice partly in easing the burdned conscience These my Lords compleat the office of a Church man Nor are they altogether tied to time or place though I confesse they are most properly exercised within their own verge except upon good occasion nor then the omission of some can be termed the breach of them all I must add one more an essential one the very form of Episcopacy that distinguisheth it from the inferiour Ministry the orderly and good government of the Church and how many of these I am sure not the last My Lords is interrupted by there sitting here once in 3. years and then peradventure but a very short time And can there be a greater occasion than the common good of the Church and State I will tell your Lordships what the great and good Emperor Constantine did in his expedition against the Persians he had his Bishops with him whom he consulted about his military affairs as â—uscbius has it in hâ—s life lib. 4. c. 56. Reward and punishment are the greatest negotiators in all worldly businesses these may be said to make the Bishops swim against the stream of their consciences and may not the same be said of the Laity Have these no operations but only upon them Has the King neither â—rown honour nor offices but only for Bishops Is there nothing that answers their translations Indeed my Lords I must needs say that in charity it is a supposition not to be supposed no nor in reason that they will go against the light of their understanding The holinesse of their calling their knowledge their freedome from passions and affections to which youth is very obnoxious their viciniâ—y to the Gates of death which though not shut to any yet always stand wide open to old age these my Lords will surely make them steer aright But of matter of fact there is no disputation some of them have done ill crimine ab uno discant omnes is a poetical not a logical argument Some of the Judges have done so some of the Magistrates and Offiâ—ers and shall there be therefore neither Judge Magistrate nor officer more A personal crime goes not beyond the person that commits it nor can anothers fault be mine offence If they have contracted any filâ—h or corruption through their own or the vice of the times cleanse and purge them throughly But still remember the great difference between reformation and extirpation And be pleased to think of your Triennial Bill which will save you this labour for the time to come fear of punishment will keep them in order if they should not themselves through the love of vertue I have now my Lords according 〈◊〉 my poor ability both shewed the conveniencies and answered those inconveniencies that seem to make against them I should now propose those that make for them as their falling into a condition worse than slaves not represented by any and then he dangers and inconveniencies that may happen to your Lordships but I have done this heretofore and will not offer your Lordships Cramâ—en bis coctam FINIS Pag. 314. â— 2. part Caus. in dors n. 4 1. Chr. 16. 14. 1. Chr. 27. 5. 1. Chr. 11. 22. Pag. 659. 〈…〉 Lambard pag. 1. Council p. 186. Lambard pag. 57. Council p. 402. Council p. 423. Concil p. 486. 4. Instit. Lib. 5. p. 197. Concil Britannica Concil p. 127. Bede â— 2. c. 5. Concil p. 206. H. Edw. Confessor c. 3. Decanus Episcopi reliquas decem partes habeat K. Athelstani pag. 406. Epist. ad Regem Tum in vita tum in favore Concil Thansam pag. 525. K. Edw. Confes. c. 3. K. Gulielm in proaem 37. H. 8. cap. 16. pag. 42. pag. 43. pag. 44. Concil in Sussex p. 309. pag. 40. pag. 45. 〈…〉 Cap. 11. Hist. H. 7. Centur Magdeb. 4. p. 371. Haeres 75. De Rom. Pontifice l. 1. cap. 5. pag. 19. 1 Chr. 19. 1 Chron. 27. 5. 1 Chron. 11. 22. 2 Sam. 6. 1 Chron. 11. 26. Proem â—ul 1. Glossar p. 315. Lambar p. 80. Concil p. 568. c. 17. pag. 110. An 1164. If so then much more at this day saith Coke 4. Instit. C. 20. Sect. 31. Lib. 2. Doc. 2. Quae fuit plenaria Conciliarum forma Novel 83 Cap. 10. Bacon Argum. 1 2. Cor. 10. 4 5 6 Act. 12. 23. Apoc. 2. 1. Argum. 2. 1 Pet. 2. 13 14. 2 Tim. 3 4. 1 Tim. 2 2. Rom. 13. 3 4. Argum. 3. Argum. 4. Argum. 5. De opere Monachâ—r 28. 1 Cor. 3. 13. Sect. 1. Sect. 2. Sect. 3. Sect. 4. Sect. 5. Sect. 6. Sect. 1. Sect. 2 Sect. 4. Sect. 5â— Sect. 6. 1 Chron. 26. 14. 1 Chron. 27. 5 1 Chron. 11. 22. Gen. 49. 7 Object 1. Object 2. Object 4. Object 5.