AN APOLOGY FOR The Ancient Right and Power OF THE BISHOPS To SIT and VOTE IN PARLIAMENTS As the first and principal of the three Estates of the KINGDOME As Lord Coke sheweth 3. Institut C. 1. and other both learned LAVVYERS and ANTIQUARIES as Camden Spelman Selden and many others WITH An Answer to the Reasons maintained by Dr. Burgesse and many others against the Votes of BISHOPS A Determination at Cambridge of the Learned and Reverend Dr. DAVENANT B. of Salisbury Englished The Speech in Parliament made by Dr. WILLIAMS L. Archbishop of York in defence of the BISHOPS Two SPEECHES spoken in the House of Lords by the Lord Viscount NEWARKE 1641. London Printed by W. Godbid for Richard Thrale at the Crosse-Keyes at St. Paul's gate entring into Cheape-side 1660. To the READER DOctor Williams Lord Arch-bishop of York made an accurate Speech in Parliament to defend the rights of the Bishops and the learned Bishop Hall made an abstract of his reasons against which Doctor Burgesse published an Examination wherein there is little material if once the principal doubt be cleared whether Bishops had anciently Votes in Parliament and were Barons or that which is equal or superiour unto Barons being accounted Thanes in the times of the Saxons before the Conquest which I hope is so fully cleared in this following discourse as there will be little question remaining Though Parliaments began as our Histories shew long after the Conquest in this manner as now they are held yet they had Assemblies Gemots of the Estates and principal nobility whereof the Bishops and Clergy were alwayes an eminent party according to the Laws and Custome of those times and equivalent in authority to our Parliament They had several Gemots as the first was Wittena-gemott idem apud Anglo-saxones fuit quod apud nos hodie Parliamentum parumque a Folkmotto differebat nisi quod hoc annuum esset è certis plerumque causis illud ex arduis contingentibus legum condendarum gratia ad arbitrium principis indictum In Folckmotto semel quotannis sub initio Calendarum Maii tanquamin aâ—nuo Parliamento convenere Regni principes tam Episcopi quà m Magistratus liberique homines Iurantur laici omnes coram Episcopis in mutuum faedus in fidelitatem in jura Regni conservanda Consulitur de communi salute de pace de bello de utilitate publica promovenda c. Sciregemott si pluries opus non esset bis solummodo in anno indicebatur Aderat provinciae Comes aderat Episcopus aderant Magnates omnes Comitatenses Episcopus jura divina enuntiabat vindicabat Comes secularia alter alteri auxilio De causis hîc cognitum est tam criminalibus quam civilibus sed jurisdictiones postea separabat Gulielmus primus videtur hoc idem fuisse quod olim Turnum dicemus Vicecomitis non minus quam hodie nunc dicitur bis in anno tenebatur aderant que omnes unà comitatus magnates Teâ—itiâ— liberi Many other Gemots and Meetings they had but in all these publick Gemots the Clergy were principal members as appears by the laws of King Edgar Cap. 5. Gemottis adsunto locii Episcopus Aldermannus hoâ— est Comes doceatque alter jus divinum alter jus saeculare Thus the learned Glossary sheweth out of whom it was necessary to shew the several assemblies then in use that we need not contend about the French word Parliament which came in use about the time of Hen. 3. But whatsoever their Assemblies were the Bishops were alwayes principal members thereof and though once in 25. Edward 1. there is mention of a Parliament at St. Edmunebury whereby the Clergy were excluded for denying of money which they refused to grant by reason of a prohibition from Pope Boniface in regard of many Levies latel yraised upon the state Ecclesiastical As of later times there was a Parliament once held without Lawyers in 6. Hen. 4. at Coventry as both our Histories do testifie and also the Kings Writ directed to the Sheriff whereof the words are Noluâ—us autem quod in seu aliquis alius vicecomes Regni nostri praedicti aut Apprenticius aut alius homo ad legem aliqualiter sit electus Vnde Parliamentum illud laicorum dicebatur indoctorum quo jugulum Ecclesiae atrociâ—s petebatur as alearned Author saith Yet I hope notwithstanding the inconsiderate zeal of this Examiner our Histories shall never be blemished with such a reproach as to report the loss or defect in Parliament of either learned Clergy or Lawyers to direct and assist in whatsoever matters are proper to their faculties and the publick welfare of the Kingdome The most Accurate History of the ancient City and famous Cathedral of Canterbury being an exact Description of all the Rarities in that City Suburbs and Cathedral together with the Lives of all the Arch bishops of that See Illustrated with divers Maps and Rigâ—res Published by Will. Somner Author of the late Saxon Dictionary 4to And is to be sold by Richard Thrale at the Crosse-Keyes at Paul's gate entring into Cheape-side The Contents of the several Chapters CHAPTER I. COncerning Government Ecclesiastical and Civil in the state of nature from Adam till Moses which was about 2500 years the same person was both chief Magistrate and also Priest unto God CHAP. II. The government of the Church and State of Israel by Moses and Aaron and their Successors until Christ about 1500 years That there was not then two several Iurisdictions the one Ecclesiastical the other Civil CHAP. III. Concerning the Union of the Courts of Iustice in the time of the Saxon Kings after they were converted to the faith The division of the Courts being brought in by William the Conqueror as appears by his Statute CHAP. IV. Concerning the Honour and Dignity of Bishops in the time of Saxons and so continued to these times CHAP. V. Concerning Barons and the title thereof and how the Bishops became Barons being no addition of honour to them but inforced upon them by the Conqueror and since continued to this day 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 may Bishops in England be members of Parliament King David appointed Priests and Levites in all Courts of Iustice. The Clergy had many priviledges as Lord Coke sheweth upon Magna Charta 2 Instit. pag. 2 3. Ambition and Coveteousness of the Presbyterians the principal cause of all our troubles CHAP. VII In the first frame of our English Common wealth the Bishops in every Diocess were the principal Iudges The Charter of William the Conqueror for dividing the Courts The Statute of Circumspecte agatis 13. Ed. 1. and Articuli Cleri 9. Ed. 2. appointing what
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
of pious memory what had become of that great Work of our Reformation in this flourishing Church of England But I know before whom I speak I do not mean to dine your Lordships with Coleworts the harsh Consequences of this point your Lordships do understands as well as I. The last robe that some persons in holy orders are to be stript of hath a kind of mixture of Freehold and favour of the proper right and the graces of the King which are certain old Charters that some few Bishops and many ancient and Cathedral Churches have purchased procured from the ancient Kings before since the conquest to inable them to live quiet in their own prâ—cincts and close as they call it under a Justice or two of their own body without being abandoned upon every slight occasion to the injuries and vexations of Mechanical Tradesmen of which your Lordships best know these Countrey Incorporations do most consist Now whether these few Charters have their foundation by favour or by right I should conceive under your Lordships favour it is neither favour nor right â—o take them away without some just crime objected and proved for if they be abused in any particular Mr. Attorney General can find an ordinary remedy to repair the same by a Writ of Ad quod damnum without troubling of the two Houses of Parliament and this is all I shall speak to this point And now I come to the fourth part of this bill which is the manner of Inhibition heavy every way heavy in the penalty heavier a great deal in the incapacity the weighing of penalty will you consider I beseech you the small wyers that is poor Causes that are to induce the same and then the heavy lead that hangs upon these wyers It is thus if a natural subject of England inâ—ereâ—â—ed in the Magna Charta and petition of Right as well as any other yet being a person in holy orders shall happen unfortunately to vote in Parliament to obey his Prince by way of Councel or by way of a Commissionerâ— be required thereunto then is he presently to loose and forfeit for his first offence all his Means and Livelyhood for one year and for the second to forfeit his Freehold in that kind for ever and ever And I do not believe that your Lordships ever saw such an heavy weight of censure hang upon such thin wyers of reasons in any Act of Parliament made heretofore This peradventure may move others most but it does not me it is not the penalty but the incapacity and as the Philosophers would call it the natural impotency imposed by this Bill on men in holy orders to serve the King or the State in this kind be they otherwise never so able never so willing not never so vertuous which makes me draw a kind of Timanthes vail over this point and leave it without any amplification at all unto your Lordships wise and inward thoughts and considerations The fifth point is the Salvo made for the two Universities to have Justices of the peace amongst them of their own heads of Houses which I confess to be done upon mature and iust consideration for otherwise the Scholers must have gone for Justice to those parties to whom they go for their Mustard and Vinegar but yet under favour the reasons and inducements cannot be stronger then may be found out for other Ecclesiastical persons as the Bishop of Durhans who was ever since the dayes of K. Iohn suffered by the Princes and Parliaments of England to exercise justice upon the parties in those parts as being in truth the Kings subjects but the Bishops Tenents and therefore not likely to have their Causes more duly weighed then when the ballance is left in the hand of their own proper Landlords The Case of the Bishop of Ely for some parts of that Isle is not much different but if a little partiality doth not herein cast some mist before mine eyes the Case of the Dean and City of Westminster wherein this Parliament is now sitting is far more considerable both in the antiquity extent of Jurisdiction and the warrants whereupon it is grounded then any one of those places before mentioned for there is a clear Statute made 27. Eliz. for the drawing all Westminster St. Clemenst and St. Martins le grand London into a Corporation to be reigled by a Dean a Steward 12 Burgesses and 12 Assistants And if some salve or plaister shall not be applied unto Westminster in this point all that government and Corporation is at an end But this I perceive since is taken into Consideration by the Honorable House of Commons themselves I come now to the last point and the second Salvo of this Bill which is for Dukes Marquisses Earls Viscounts Barons or Peers of this Kingdome which is a clause that looks with a kind of contrary glance upon persons in holy orders It seems to favour some but so that thereby and in that very Act it casts an aspersion of baseness and ignobility upon all the rest of that holy profession for if no persons in holy orders ought to intermeddle in secular affairs how come these Nobles to be excepted out of that universal negative is it because they are nobly born then surely it must be granted that the rest must be excluded as being made of a rough and base piece of clay For the second part of this reason in beginning of the Bill can never bear out this Salvo that the office of the ministery is of so great importance that it will take up the whole man and all his best endevours Surely the office of the ministry is of no greater importance in a poor man then in a noble man nor doth it take away the whole man in the one and but a piece of him in the other I cannot give you many Instances herein out of Scripture because you know that in those dayes not many mighty not many noble were called c. 1 Cor. 1. 26. but when any noble were called I do not find but they did put more of the whole man and their best endevours upon the ministery then men in holy orders are at the least in holy Scripture noted to have done I put your Lordships in mind of those noblemen of Beraea compared with those of Thessalonica in the 17. of the Acts of the Apostles So that this Salvo for the nobility must needs be under your Lordships favour a secret wound unto the rest of the ministery unlesse your Lordships by your great wisdome will be willing to change it into a Panacea commonplaister both to the one and the other and under your Lordships favour I conceive may be done upon a very forcing argument The office of the ministry is of equal importance takes up the whole man and all his best endevours in the noble born as well as in the mean born minister but it is lawful all this notwithstanding for the noble
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
Causes shall belong to the Ecclesiastical Courts CHAP. VIII Some Observations out of the Civil Law in the Empire concerning the separation of Courts and some also out of the ancient Statutes as Selden hath recited them Lord Cokes defence of the Bishops being in Parliament and of the Convocation and High Commission and other Ecclesiastical Courts CHAP. IX The example of the late wars in Bohemia and Germany and France with the ill successes thereof to the Protestants might well have forewarned us in England The goodly Covenant of Bohemia might well have given us Caution to take heed of a Covenant without the Kings consent The Church Lands taken anay formerly are restored by the Emperor in many parts of Germany The Censure of Grotius upon the Presbyterians for their raising of armes CHAP. X. The Division of the Courts in the Empire and the manner of proceeding in them by the Bishops and the Ecclesiastical Lawyers under them AN APOLOGIE FOR The BISHOPS To Sit and Vote in PARLIAMENTS CHAP. I. Concerning Government Ecclesiastical and Civil in the State of Nature from Adam till Moses which was about 2500 years The same person was both cheif Magistrate and also Priest unto God GOD had a Priesthood alwayes from the Beginning of the World to perform the duties of his Worship and the â—â—ites thereof Adam was a Priest unto God to offer Sacrifice and to execute such duties as God required in his Service But Adam was also a King or Chief Ruler over all his Children and Posterity So after Adam Seth and the tighteous Patriarchs Enoch and others were Priests unto God as well as Princes and Magistrates and they taught Noah how to call upon God and how to serve him So Noah was also a Prince and also a Preacher of righteousnesse as the Apostle saith of him so that it was not incompatible or inconsistent for the same man to be a Magistrate Prince or Governour and also a Priest Melchisedech after the Flood was the first that was called a King and a Priest and so Christ is a King and a Priest after his order So that under the Law of Nature Kings were invested with a power Ecclesiasticall both of Order and Jurisdiction Therefore these things are not incompatible by Nature and thus it continued for the space of 2500. years from Adam till Moses Princes and Priests were formerly the same both Functions residing in the same person Majorum haec erat consuetudo saith Servius ut Rex esset etiam Sacerdos vel Pontifex unde hodie quoque Imperatoresâ—Pontifices-dicimus They that had the managing of affairs of State had also the executing of Divine offices and so received divine and holy duties and oblations which use obtained in the Families of the old Patriarchs Thus the Learned Montague against Selden cap. 3. p. 537. Ante Legem datam ad primogenitos pertinebat-offerre sacrificia Levitae successerant loco eorum And again to the same purpose Cultus divinus ante legem datam pertinebat ad Primogenitos Israel And again Sacerdotium fuit annexum primogenitur â— usque ad legem datam per Mosem As Lyra says reporting the received judgements of the best Interpreters Lyra in Numb 3. 12. 8. 16. in Gen. 14. Veteribus ordinarium perpetuum fuit ut qui Reges essent iidem etiam sacerdotio fungerentur as Bertram says cap. â— De politia Iudaica The Priviledges which in the Law of Nature followed the Birth-right were these three First the Government or Principality Secondly the Priesthood Thirdly a Portion answerable to maintain these dignities The same light may appear though much darkned in the ancient Government of the Heathen for Heathen Kings are witnessed in old times to have been Priests of such Gods as they served which ancient combining of these two offices in one person came from the ancienâ— practise in the time of the Law of Nature and from the light of Nature was received among the Heathens Abraham was a Priest in his own Family and in several places of his Peregrination he built Altars and places where he did call upon God and perform all duties of Gods Worship then requisite Abraham did offer Sacrifice as appears Gen. 15 9. 22 7. 2 7 8. Abraham was a Prophet Gen. 20. 7. and received many promises from God especially concerning Christ to descend of him and God gave him the Sacrament of Circumcision and established his Covenant with him God saith of him Gen 18. 19. I know him that he will command his Children and his Houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgement c. And as Abraham did so likewise did Isaac and Iacob after him who built Altars unto God which was as much then as to build a Church in these dayes and to provide a Minister to preach and pray and administer the Sacraments and perform all other duties of a Pastor Hence it appears fully that in the time of Nature there was not two several jurisdictions one Ecclesiastical the other Civil as is now among us But the same persons discharged both Offices and all Duties belonging to them And further it appears that the priests being the first-born and chief men had such honourable respect and maintenance that they were not reckoned among the lowest of the people and made the off-scowring of all things as now they are If the Clergy may not enjoy any temporal office or dignity they will be crushed down and oppressed in all publick occasions as they find it manifestly in these troublesome times when the neighbours of every parish do impose all Taxes Burdens and Charges upon Ministers more then they formerly used to do or in reason can be allowed But the Clergy have no means to help themselves having none of their own tribe in authority power or place of judicature as formerly they had whereby they could help themselves and restrain the Lay-men from imposing Burdens and charges upon them in excessive manner It is easie to shew particular instances and one of many shall be mentioned When all the Judges of the Land about 20. years agoe had given their opinions and directions in writing upon particular doubts to Justices of peace incident to their offices one doubt was how much and in what proportion a Minister should be charged for Levies to the poor The Justices in the Country and the Neighbours of the parish would taxe the Glebes severally from the Tithes and so augment the Levy to a great proportion both for Glebe and Tythes But the Judges appointed in their answer that Glebe and Tithes should be both taxed together at a tenth part of the Levy in regard Tythes are abated much by small rares and much Land is discharged of Tythes in kind But now in these troubles the Committee-men and such like impose Taxes upon the Glebes severally and Tythes also imposing a sixth or seventh part of the Taxe upon the Tithes which is contrary to the resolution of
Commanders joyned as the Count of Bucquoy the Count of Tilly the Count of Papenheim the Count of Maradas Besides other great Captains of note having an Army of 40. thousand men and fought the great Battle neer Prague and prevailed powerfully Next day the City of Prague was surrendered the Palsgrave fled away and of 30. Committee-men in Prague which directed all businesse twenty seven were apprehended and the next year after they had been tryed and condemned by the Common-law of the land for rebellion and raising armies and Committees they were put to death upon one stage the same day Not long after ten thousand protestant Ministers and Churches were suppressed and the Ministers banished out of the Kingdome and the provinces annexed of Moravia Silesia Lusatia and other Countties of the Emperor The Covenanters who had seised on the Lands and Revenues of the Bishops and Deans aud other societies by way of Sequestration first which word they used in one article of their Covenant were forced to yield up those lands and to restore them to the former owners and so also in many other parts of Germany Lands and Houses of the Clergy which were taken away an hundred years before were restored to the right owners And for the Godly Covenant they renounced it aâ—d would have been glad to have enjoyed the favours which the Emperors formerly permitted them out of his Clemency But since they raised such a bloody War he would not suffer them longer to enjoy his former favours So that the Bohemians and most parts of Germany who enjoyed peace and great happinesse in all respects lost all by striving to overthrow the Bishops and the Ecclesiastical Laws and to take their Lands This miserable event might well have forewarned us in England not to offend in the same kind as they did to overthrow Bishops and all the preferments of the Church to bring in Preâ—byterian purity and lay elders and to impose a godly Covenant wich was indeed a wicked combination and Conspiracy far worse then the Covenant of the low Countries or that of France against Hen. 3. Hen. 4. which had almost confounded all France and was at length the destruction of those two great Kings who were both miserably murdered and put to death as our King Charles was in most abominable manner and in many respects more horribly then those two Kings for they were stabbed on a suddain by two villaines and without the consent of the people and severe punishments were inflicted upon them speedily But King Charles in a deliberate manner by men that pretended Justice and upright dealing who called an high Court of Justice never heard of before no Judges of the Land consenting or approving and so openly in the face of the sun and of all the world with an high hand and professed malice and outragious fiery zeal that the Emperor Maximilian did justly say that the Kings of England were Kings of Devils And though the Presbyterians would excuse themselves that they never intended the Kings destruction yet that is a frivolous and foolish excuse for as Sir Walter Raleigh saith truely Our law doth Construe all levying of war without the Kings Commission and all force raised to be intended for the Death and Destruction of the King not attending â—he sequel and so it is judged upon good reason for every unlawful and ill action is supposed to be accompanied with an ill intent Lord Coke 3. Instit. pag. 12. speaking fully of all kinds and degrees of treason saith Preparation by some overt Act to depose the King or take the King by force and strong hand and to imprison him until he hath yeilded to certain demands this is a sufficient overt Act to prove the compassing and imagination of the death of the King for this upon the matter is to make the King a subject and to despoile him of his kingly office of royal government And so it was resolved by all the Judges of England Hill 1. Iac. Regis in the Case of the Lord Cobham Lord Gray and Watson and Clark seminary Priests and so it had been resolved by the Justices Hill 43. Eliz. in the Case of the Earls of Essex and Southampton who intended to go to the Court where the Queen was and to have taken her into their power and to have removed divers of her Councel and for that end did assemble a multitude of people this being raised to the end aforesaid was a sufficient overt Act for compassing the death of the Queen and so by woful experience in former times it hath fallen out in the Cases of King E. 2. H. 6. E. 5. that were taken and imprisoned by their subjects The Presbyterians did offend in this kind notoriously and therefore committed Treason manifesty for they imprisoned the King in divers places and at length in a remote place in the Ifle of Wight and what followed after is well known And all this done by them that were for the most part Presbyterians out of their design to compell the King to yeild to their projects to overthrow the Bishops and to take their Lands and Revenues which they account to be the flesh and bones of the whore of Babylon which they must devour and make the old whore naked bare and desolate The excellently learned Grotius who did perfectly understand and discover the practices of the Presbyterians as appears in many places of his works hath one remarkable passage in his treatise de Anti-Christo pag. 65. which shall here follow Iam vero fi illi qui dicuntur Dii intelligendi sunt Reges liber flagitiosissimus Boneherii de abdicatione Hen. 3. Galliarum Regis non argumentis tantum sed verbis desumptus est non ex Mariana aut Santarillo se ex Iunio Bruto quis is sit sat scio sed quia latere voluit lateat ex viris doctis quidem at factionis ejusdem Dictis facta congruunt haec est illa mica salis de qua infra aget Borborita quae facta est in mare salsum faetens apud Reges omnia circumsata corrumpens Circumferamus oculos per omnem historiam quod unquam saeculum tot vidit subditorum in principes bella sub Religionis titulo horum Concitores ubique reperiuntur ministri Evangelii ut quidem se vocant quod genus hominum in quae pericula etiam nuper optimos Civitatis Amstelodamensis Magistratus conjecerit nihil hic narrari opus est sapientibus dictum sat est Laudanda omnino est Regis Christianissimi prudentia virtus qui suos paris sententiae subditos tam solennia insanire vetuit Videat si cui libet de Presbyteriornm in Reges audacia librum Iacobi Britanniarum Regis cui nomen Donum Regium videbit eum ut erat magni judicii ea praedixisse quae nunc cum dolore horrore conspicimus Peter Moulin who was well versed in the Controversies of the times and suffered much in the late wars
preserve is I will not say above other Princes but above all Christian men that ever I knew or heard of a man of most upright dainty and scrupulous Conscience and afraid to look upon some actions which other Princes abroad do usually swallow up and devour I know for I have the Monuments in my own Custody what Oath or rather oaths his Majesty hath taken at his Coronation to preserve all the rights and Liberties of the Church of England And you know very well that Church-men are never sparing in their Rituals or Ceremonials to amplifie and swell out the Oaths of Princes in that kind Your Lordships then know right well that he is sworn at that time to observe punctually the laws of K. Edward The first Law whereof as you may see in Lambards Saxon Laws is to preserve entirely the peace the possessions and the rights and priviledges of the Church And truly I shall never put my Masters Conscience that I find resenting and punctillious when it is not bound up with oaths and protestations to swallow such Gudgeons as to fil it self with these doubts and scruples 2. My second Reason is that if his Majesty were free from all these Oaths and Protestations I durst not without some fair invitation from himself advise his Majesty to run shocks and oppositions against the Votes of both these great Houses of Parliament 3. And lastly if I were secretly inviâ—ed to move his Majesty â—o advise upon the passing of this Bill yet speaking mine own heart and sense and not binding any of my brethren in this opinion if I found the major part of this House to pass this bill without much qualification I should never have the boldnesse nor desire to sit any more in any judicial place in this most honourable House And therefore my Honourable Lords here I have fixt my Areopagus and dernier resort beign not like to make any further appeal Which makes me humbly desire your patience to speak for some longer time then I have accustomed in a Committee In which length I hope notwithstanding to use a great deal of brevity Some length in the whole and much shortnesse in every particular head which I mean so to distinguish and beat out that not only your Lordships but the Lords my brethren may enlarge themselves upon all the particulars which neither my abilities of body can perform nor doth my intention nor purpose aim at at this time I will therefore cast this whole bill into six several heads wherein I hope to comprehend all that I shall say or any man else can materially touch upon in this bill The first is the Rise or Motive of this Bill which is the duty of men in holy orders For the words are persons in holy Orders oâ—ght not to intermeddle c. And this duty of ministers may be taken in this place two several wayes either for their duty in point of Divinity or for their duty in point of Convenience which we commonly call policy In regard of either of these duties it may be conceived that men in holy orders ought not to intermeddle in secular affairs c. And this is the Motive Rise and Ground of this bill The second point are the persons concerned in this bill which are Arch-bishops Bishops Parsons Vicars and all other in holy orders The third point contains the things inhibited from this time forward to such persons by this Bill and they are of several sorts and natures First Freeholds and Rights of such persons as their suffrages votes and legislative power in parliament Secondly matters of princely favours as to Sit in Star-chamber to be called to the Council-board to be Justice of peace c. Thirdly matters of a mixt or concrete nature that seem to be both Freeholds and favours of former princes as the Charters of some of the Bishops and some of the ancient Cathedrals are conceived to be And these are all the matters or things inhibited from those persons in holy orders by this present bill Fourthly the manner of this Inhibition which is of a double nature first under a high and severe penalty and secondly under a Cains mark an eternal kind of disability or incapacity laid upon them from enjoying hereafter any of these Freeholds rights favours or Charters of former princes and that which is the heaviest point of all without killing of Abel or any Crime laid to their charge more then that in the beginning of the bill it is said â—oundly and in the style of Lacedemon that they ought not to intermeddle in secular affairs The fifth point is a Salvo for the two Universities but none for the Bishop of Durham nor for the Bishop of Ely not for the Deâ— of Westminster their next Neighbour who is established in his Government by an especial Act of parliament that of the 27. of Q. Elizabeth The sixth and last point is a Salvo for Dukes Marquilses Earls Viscounts Barons or Peers of this Kingdom that either may be or are such by descent which clause I hope in God will prove not only a salvo to those honourable persons whereof if we of the Clergy were but so happy as to have any competent number of our Coat quot Thebarum portae vel divitis ostia Nili This bill surely had perisht in the womb and never come to the birth yet I hope that this clause will prove to this bill a felo de se and a murtherer of it self and intended for a Salvo for noble ministers only prove a Salvo for all other ministers that be not so happy as to be nobly born because the very poor minister for ought we find in Scriptâ—re or Common reason is no more tyed to serve God in his Vocation then these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and nobly born ministers are And therefore I hope these noble ministers will deal so nobly as to pull their brethren the poor ministers out of the thorns and briers of this bill And these are all the true heads and contents of this bill And amongst these six heads Your Lordships shall be sure to find me and I shall expect to find your Lordships in the whole tract of this Committee And now with your Lordships honourable leave and patience I will run them over almost as breifly as I have pointed pricked them down For the first the rise and motive of this bill which is the duty of men in holy orders not to intermeddle with secular affairs must arise either from a point of divinity or from point of conveniency or policy And I hope in God it will not appear to your Lordships that there is any ground either of divinity or policy to inhibit men in orders so modestly to intermeddle with secular affairs as that the measure of intermedling in such affairs shall not hinder and obstruct the duties of their calling They ought not so to intermeddle in secular affairs as to neglect their ministry no
more ought Lay-men neither for they have a calling and Vocation wherein they are to walk as ministers have they have wise and children and families to care for and they are not to neglect these to live upon Warrants and Recognizances to become a kind of Sir Francis Michel or an Ignotus nimis as Salomon calls it That place 2 Tim. 2. 4. No man that wars entangles himself with the affairs of this life will be found to be applied by all good Interpreters to Laymen as well as Church-men and under favour nothing at all to this pupose Besides that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth point at a man that is so wholly taken up with the affairs of this life that he utterly neglects the offices and duties of a Christian man and so I leave that place as uncapable of any other exposition nor ever otherwise interpreted but by Popes Legars and Canonists that make a Nose of Waxe of every place of Scripture they touch upon But that men in holy orders ought not in a moderate manner together with the duties of their calling to help and assist in the Government of the Common-wealth if they be thereunto lawfully called by the Soveraign prince can never be proved by any good divinity For in the law of nature before the Deluge and a long time after it is a point that no man will deny me that the eldest of the Family was both the priest and the magistrate Then the people were taken out of Egypt by Moses and Aaron Moses and Aaron amongst his Priests as it is in the psalm Then there was a form of a Common-wealth fetcht from heaven indeed and planted upon the earth and Iudiciary laws dictated for the reiglement of the same Nor do I much care though some men shall say that persons in holy orders ought not to intermedâ—le in secular affairs when that great God of heaven and earth doth appoint them to intermeddle with all the principal affairs of that estate witnesse the exorbitant power of the High priest in secular matters the Sanedrim the 23. the Judges of the Gate which were the most of them Priests and Levites And the Church-men of that estate were not all Butchers and Slaughter-men For they had their Tabernacle their Synagogues their Prayers Preaching and other exercises of piety In a word we have Divinius but they had operosius ministerium as St Augustin speaketh Our Ministry takes up more of our thoughts but theirs took up more of their Labours and Industry Nor is it any matter that this Common-wealth is no more in beingâ— in sufficeth it hath been once and that planted by God himself who would never have appointed persons in holy orders to intermeddle with things they ought not to intermedle withall I will go on with my Chronology of persons in holy orders and only put you in mind of Ely and Samuel amongst the Judges of Sadocks imployment under King David of Iehojadas under his Nephew King Ioash and would fain know what hurt those men in holy orders did by intermedling in secular affairs of that time Now we are returned from the Captivity of Babylon I desire you to look upon the whole race of the Macchabees even to Antigonus the last of them all taken prisoner by Pompey and crucified afterwards by Mark Anthony And shew me any one of those Princes a woman or two excepted that was not a Priest and a Magistrate We are now come to Christs time when me thinks I hear St. Paul in the 23. of the Acts excuse himself for reviling of the high priest I wist not Brethren that he was the high priest for it is written Thou shalt not speak evil of the Ruler of thy people Where observe that the word Ruler in the Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very same word that is used by St. Paul Rom. 13. 3. where this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is translated by Peza Magistrates Then you must be pleased to imagine the Church asleep or almost dead under rersecution for almost 300. years until the happy days of the Emperor Constantine and not expect to find many Magistrates among the Christians Yet shall you find St. Paul 1 Cor. 6. 5. offend against this Bill and intermeddle knuckle-deep with secular affairs by inhibiting the Corintbians very sharply for their Chicanery their petty-foggery and Common battery in going to Law one with another Besides that as all learned men agree both the Apostles and Apostolical men that lived presently after them had a miraculous power of punishing exorbitant crimes which supplied the power of the ordinary Magistrate as appears in Ananias and Saphyra the incestuous Corinthian and many others But then from Constantines age till the Reformation begun by Luther Church-men were so usually imployed in managing of secular affairs that I shall confesse ingenuously that it was too much there lying an appeal from the Courts of the Empire to the Bishops judicatory as you shall find it every where in the Code of Iustinian So was it under Carolus Magnus and all the Carolovingian Line of our neighbour Country of France So and somewhat more it was with us in the Saxon Heptarchy the Bishop and the Sheriffe sitting together cheek by joule in their Towns and Courts But these exorbitant and vast imployments in secular affairs I stand not up to defend and therefore I will hasten to the Reformation Whereas Mr. Calvin in the Fourth Book of his Institutions and eleventh Distinction doth confesse that the holy men heretofore did refer their Controversies to the Bishop to avoid troubles in Law you shall find that from Luther to this present day in all the Fluxe of time in all Nations in all manner of Reformations persons in holy orders were thought fit to intermeddle with secular affairs Brentius was a privy Counsellour to his Duke and Prince Functius was a Privy Counsellour to the great Duke of Borussia as it is too notoriously known to those that are vers'd in Histories Calvin and Beza whilst they lived carried all the Council of the State of Geneva under their own Gowns Bancroft in his Survey cap. 26. observeth that they were of the Councel of State there which consisteth of threescore And I have my self known Abraham Sculteius a privy Councellour to the Prince Palatine Reverend Mousieur du Moulin for many years together a Councellour to the Princesse of Sedan His Brother in Law Mounsieur Rivel a great learned personage now in England of the Privy Councel of the Prince of Orange You all hear and I know much good by his former writings of a learned man called Mr. Henderson and most of your Lordships understand better then I what imployment he hath at this time in his kingdome And truly I do beleive that there is no reformed Church in the World setled and constituted by the State wherein it is held for a point in divinity that persons in holy orders ought not to intermeddle with secular affairs
of all the Clergy out of Temporal offices is a motion of the first impression and was never heard of in the English Common-wealth before this Bill I come in the third place to the main part of this cause the things to be severed from all men in holy orders which are as I told you of three kinds First matters of Freehold as the Bishops votes in parliament and Legislative power Secondly matters of favour as to be a Judge in Star-chamber to be a privy Counsellour to be a Justice of peace or a Commissioner in any Temporal affairs Thirdly and mixt matters of Freehold and Favour too as the Charters of some Bishops and many of the ancient Cathedrals of this Kingdome who allow them a Justice or two within themselves or their Close as they call it and exempt those grave and learned men from the rudenesse and insolency of Tapsters Brewers Inn-keepers Tailours and Shoomakers which do integrate and make up the bodies of our Country Cities and Incorporations And now is the Axe laid to the very root of the Ecclesiastical tree and without your Lordships justice and favour all the branches are to be lopt off quite with those later clauses and the Stock and root it self to be quite grâ—bb'd and digged up by that first point of abolishing all Vote and Legislative power in all Clergy men leaving them to be no longer any part of the people of Rome but meer Slaves and Bondmen to all intents and purposes And the priests of England one degree inferiour to the priests of Ieroboam being to be accounted worse then the Tayle of the people Now I hope no English man will doubt but this Vote and Representation in Parliament is not only a freehold but the greatest freehold that any Subject in England or in all the Christian world can brag of at this day that we live under a King and are to be governed by his Laws that is not by his arbitrary Edicts or Rescripts but by such Laws confirmed by him and assented to by us either in our proper persons or in our Assignees and Representations This is the very Soul and Genius of Magna Charta and without this one spirit that great Statute is little lesse then Littera occidens a dead and uselesse peice of paper You heard it most truly opened unto you by a wise and judicious Peer of this House that legem patere quam ipse tuleris was a Motto wherein Alexander Severus had not more interest then every true born English man No forty shillings man in England but doth in person or Representation enjoy his freedome and liberty The prelates of this Kingdome as a Looking-glass and Representation of the Clergy have been in possession hereof these thousand years and upwards The princes of the Norman race for their own ends and to strengthen themselves with men and money erected the Bishopricks soon after the Conquest into Baronies and left them to sit in that House with their double capacities about them the later invented for the profit of the prince not excluding the former remaining always from the beginning for the profit and concernment of the poor Clergy Which appears not only by the Saxon Laws set forth by Mr. Lambard and Sir Henry Spelman but also by the Bishops Writs and Summons to parliament in use to this very day We have many preceedents upon the Rolls that in Vacancy of Episcopal Seas the Guardian of the Spirituals though but a simple priest hath been called to sit in this Honourable House by reason of that former Representation and such an officer I was my self over that Sea whereof I am Bishop some 25 years agoe and might then have been summoned by Writ unto this Honourable House at that very time by reason of the Spiritualty of that Diocesse which then as a simple priest I did by virtue of the aforesaid office represent And therefore most noble Lords look upon the Ark of God representative that in this time floates in great danger in this deluge of waters If there be any Cham or unclean Creature therein out with him and let every man bear his own Burthen but save the Ark for God and Christ Jesus his sake who hath built it in this Kingdome for saving of people and your Lordships are too wise to conceive that the Word and Sacraments the means of our Salvation will be ever effectually received from those ministers whose persons shall be so vilified and dejected as to be made no parcels or fragments of this Commonwealth No saith Gregory the last trick the Devil had in this world was this that whâ—â— he could not bring the word and Sacraments into disgrace by errors and Heretical opinions he invented this project and much applanded his wit therein by casting slight and contempt upon the preachers and ministers And my Noble Lords you are too wise to beleive what the Common people talk that we have a vote in the election of Knights and Burgesses and consequently some Figure and Representation in the Noble House of Commons They of the Ministry have no vote in these elections they have no Representation in that Honourable House and these contrary assertions are so slight and groundlesse as I will not offer to give them any answer And therefore right Honourable Lords have a special care of the Church of England your Mother in this point and as God hath made you the most noble of all the peers of the Christian World so do not you give way that our Nobility shall be taught henceforth as the Romans were in the time of the first and second Punick wars by their Slaves and Bond-men only and that the Church of God in this Island may come to be served by the most ignoble Ministers that ever have been seen in the Christian Church since the passion of our Saviour And so much for the first thing which this Bill intends to sever from persons in holy orders viz. votes representations in parliament The next thing to be severed from them by this Bill is of a much baser mettal and alloy sittings in Star Chamber sittings at Councel-Table sitting in Commissions of the peace and other Commissions of secular affairs which are such favours and graces of Christian princes as the Church may have a being and subsistence without them The Fortunes of our Greece do not depend upon these Spangles and the Soveraign prince hath imparted and withdrawn these kind of favours without the envy or regret of any wise Ecclesiastical persons But my Noble Lords this is the Case Our King hath by the Statute restored unto him the Head-ship of the Church of England and by the Word of God he is Custos utriusque Tabulae And will your Lordships allow this Ecclesiastical Head no Ecclesiastical Sences at all No Ecclesiastical person to be consulted withal not in any Circumstances of time and place If Cranmâ—r had been thus dealt withal in the minority of our young Iosias King Edward the sixth