his time that had better been laid out in painfull Preaching to his flock Whereas we all know that Preaching is but a very small part of the Ministers Calling yet of late times it hath been made by some to swallow up the rest of the Ministers Duties as necessary and Essential to his Callings as that can be and have observed also that some Ministers themselves otherwise good men have been a wanting to themselves and the Church in complying too much with a sort of men amongst us whose interest it is to draw all Causes into their own Courts for the support of their own Grandeur and Faculty whereas otherwise those Suites and Causes might perhaps with little or no charge have been more speedily yea and satisfactorily determined Our last instance shall be in Gregory the Great de Cur. Past with who some close the good Popes whom we find complaining that Sub colore Episcopatus ad seculum retractus sum in quo tantis terrae curis inserrio quantis me in vita laic a nequaquam deseruisse reminiscor He was never in all his Life time so encumbred with Worldly business as after he came to be a Bishop but he afterwards adds that Et si cogamur terrenis negotiis intendere mens tamen nostra saeculari varietate non delectatur sed tota in unum currit atque confluit finem Though he was forced to do this for the good of his People yet he took no Pleasure in it and his mind was taken up with better things for all agree that these must not be undertaken out of love to them but Christian Charity and Compassion to the oppressed Aug. de Civ Dei l. 19. c. 19. Now these Imployments were conferred upon those Father 's not as Bishops but as Subjects more Eminently qualified than others both by their Prudence Experience and Integrity as well as Humane Learning But Three there are in which they did Principally engage and which may seem most agreeable to their Coat First To be in the Commission of Peace and to speak Impartially Who fitter for such a Work than they whose business and Calling it is to reconcile those that are at variance And this was the design of the Ancients though at first it began in a way of Charity yet being found profitable it was upon mature Deliberation by the Christian Emperors confirmed particularly by Constantine Zozom lib. 1. c. 9. who leaves it free to any 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Valens and Valentinian enlarged it and intrusted them with the Rates of Commodities Sold in the Market Cod. l. 1. de Aud. Ep. tit 7. Their Jurisdiction I confess hath been in several ages various sometimes more sometimes less as the Emperors were more or less favourable to the Church whoever kept the Soveraignty in their own hands Constantine was the first that passed the Royal Grant in favour of the Clergy permitting the Cognizance of all Civil matters even between Laymen to the Episcopal Tribunal if either party did require it though the other denyed his consent and their appeal was to be obeyed by the Magistrates whenever made though the action was already commenced in another Court. Arcadius and Honorius did a little retrench this unlimitted power yet still allowing it by the joint consent of both parties and making the Bishops as it were Referees l. si quis ex consensu de Aud. Episcop and their decision to be binding and final without appeal This Law was after ratified by Theodosius and Justinian l. Episc c. eod Nay this latter Emperor Justinian reposed so much confidence in them that he made them Overseers of the Secular Judges Novel Const 56. This then has been the practise of that pure and Primitive Age and the greatest Enemies the Church had could never deny but that the Bishops have had their Tribunals for above these 1300 years Erected by Constantine confirmed by Arcadius and Honorius Theodosius and Valentinian c. Only some Curiously mince the matter and allow them power to hear Causes and to become Referees and Umpires by the consent of both Parties but yet they will not hear talk of any Coercive Jurisdiction though as eminent Civil Lawyers as any are Attribute it to them and particularly Accursius interprets Audientia Episcopalis a term frequent in the Code by Jurisdictio and Constantine forbad expresly the greatest Prince in the Empire to revoke what once the Bishops had Decreed Euseb Vit. Const l. 4. c. 27. In process of time the Magistrates having encroached upon and almost outed the Clergy Charlemaine revives that good old Law of Constantine confirming the same Jurisdiction to all Bishops repeating the Charter word for word Car. Mag. in Capit. l. 6. c. 28. What the practise was in our own Country of England shall God willing be made out in what follows wherein I doubt not but to give abundant satisfaction of the Factum that the Clergy were employed as much as the Laity in the Decision of Secular Causes so far as we have good Authority and Record in the times of the Saxons and so downwards till our late and unhappy Divisions 1640 c. which God grant may be ever buryed in Oblivion and that we may never live to see the same again Secondly To be of the Privy Council where frequently Cases of Consciences relating to State-matters may arise As suppose there be a Consultation about a War or Marriage the Lawfulness or Unlawfulness thereof must be judged in foro Conscientiae and so is the proper Subject of a Divine or Clergyman and perhaps the thing will not bear so much delay as to Summons Prelates together for Advice nor Reason of State to be so much published for want of such Knowing and Religious Counsellours Princes may often be entangled in unjust Massacres and rash Wars and Innocent Blood be spilt which otherwise might have been prevented And for prevention whereof the Godly Prudent Princes both of our own and other Nations have ever admitted some spiritual Persons to their Counsel Tables and Closet Debates To the good advice of Bishop Fox of Winchester we owe the Union of the two Kingdoms of England and Scotland for the other Privy Counsellors advising King Henry the 7th to Marry the Eldest of his Daughters to France the more Noble and Rich Kingdom the old and wise Bishop adviseth his Majesty the contrary at which the King seeming somewhat surpriz'd the Bishop gave him this as the reason of his Opinion that by Marrying the Elder to Scotland that Kingdom would be brought to England and old Enmities reconciled and for ever buryed Whereas on the contrary England being under France we should have here been ruled by a French Liuetenant of Deputy which the English he doubted would hardly brook and perhaps our Government and Laws by reason of their unagreeableness to the French might have been attempted to have been changed into those of France which the English man his Opinion was would hardly bear Whereas those of
redress being found to their bitterest complaints from the Lay Judges who in some places made sport at their Miseries and Oppressions as if nothing had been too hard or insupportable for their shoulders now those days through Mercy are over and must be forgotten to receive almost in all places the same hard measure from their pretended well-wishers This strikes to the very heart When no regard is had of all their past sufferings First-fruits Tenths no small standing revenue of the Crown amounting as some compute to near 40000 l. per annum which they joyfully discharge but they must still be left to the arbitrary disproportionate Impositions of every Domineering insolent Officer The consideration hereof hath convinced many formerly of a different perswasion that 't is not only usefull but expedient yea necessary for the Church to have some of his own Ordering Power to protect them and to hear and redress their just grievances But what further concerns the Clergys Priviledges and just Rights being so learnedly handled by the Immortal Spelman and the general ones so fully Collected by Rebuffus de Stud. Priv. and others I shall not here any further enlarge upon them The grand concern at present and which we principally design is how far they were Priviledged as to publick Assemblies and State Consultations And that the Holy Constantine and many other famous Kings and Emperours have made use of their advice both at Home and Abroad employed them in Embassies and other important Transactions hath been already demonstrated And here in the first place if such an argument could hope to sway with us Christians it would soon be proved that those who attended the Worship of the Heathen gods were admitted in Greece the then most knowing and civilized part of the World into their Pan-Aetolium and Amphyctionian Counsels Amongst the Athenian Areopagites and Roman Senators and that the Old Gauls divided their states in Druidas who had omnium rerum immunitatem Equites Plebem as the Egyptians before did into Priests Soldiers and Tradesmen But leaving Gentilisme we will hasten to Christendome And here once for all desire our Reader to consider that by the fundamental Constitutions of the most and best settled Nations in Europe there are three States generally settled whereof the Clergy is ever one Now to make this good though we might produce variety of instances yet we shall content our selves with the single Testimony of Calvin alone knowing that it will go farther with some than a Jury of others This we find expresly asserted in his Institutions l. 4. c. 20. Sect. 31. In singulis regnis tres sunt ordines c. which how to make up without the Spiritualty will be hard and beyond my skill In our Neighbour Nation of France the practise is notoriously known the ancient stile of the Royal Edicts always running as 't is Recorded of Pepin Ann. 744. Per Consilium Sacerdotum Optimatum ordinavimus Per Consilium Sacerdotum optimatum ordinavit Carolamanus Thuanus passim It might farther be noted that six Prelates are here Pairee of that great and famous Kingdom three of them being stiled Dukes and three Counts See Seldens Titles of Honours and yet the whole number of the Pairee exceeds not Twelve As likewise the Arch Bishop of Paris hath a peculiar indulgence in being present in every Court of that Royal City without exception Chappinus Look we into Hungary where Thwroczius informs us that by the Fundamental Constitutions of King Stephen the Bishops in Concilio Regis primi adsistunt Poland comes behind none in its Reverence and Respect for their Clergy where the Arch Bishop of Gnesna is Primas Regni Princeps primus Stanis Kristanowick in discrip Polon whose jurisdiction is not limited to the Spirituality alone but hath the chief place in the Rank of the Senators assigned him and is of the greatest Authority in all publick Consultations And when at any time there happens an Interregnum as it frequently doth in those Elective Kingdoms it belongs to him to summon a Dyet to give Audience to Forreign Embassadours and to appoint a time and place for the Election of a New King Our Author farther enlargeth this to have proceeded from the Piety of the Popish Kings towards the Church that the Sons of it should for ever hold the highest places in their Conventions with many other Priviledges which to this day they enjoy in his own words and he no Clergyman neither but a Lawyer Maxime illius Regni commodo emolumento adjumento addo ornamento Cromerus another Historian of that Country adds that there is ever a Royal standing Council assigned the King of which there is to be two Arch Bishops and seven Bishops And how considerable a number in all the German Dyets the Ecclesiasticks are Panvinius is a Witness beyond exception who reckons thirty four Bishops that have their Votes there besides Abbots Priors c. who pass for Religious Persons and in the Septemvirate we find no less than three Clergy-men Mentz Arch Chancellour of Germany Coln of France and Triers of Italy I shall wholly out of this Collection omit Spain and Italy as being such known vassals to the Pope where the Clergy Rule the Roast But one word dashes all this with some They are Papists a doughty argument to condemn any thing though backed by never so strong reasons And let us examine how matters stand with others Andreas Bureus in his Description of Sueden acknowledges that the Ecclesiasticks were heretofore the Prime men in the Senate till the Covetousness of Gustavus the first despoiled them of their Revenues Yet since the Reformation they still to this day retain their suffrages in all Publick Dyets of the Kingdom And when the New Crowned King makes choice of his Counsellors the Arch Bishop of Upsal is still the first who is allowed a greater proportion of Attendants when he comes to the King than any Noble man in the Nation no fewer than Forty Horse being permitted him whereas the retinue of the other Noble men must not exceed Thirty And in the great Assembly at Lincopen Ann. 1600. we find both Bishops and other Ecclesiasticks And as to Denmark Pontanus recites Seven Bishops as the Ecclesiastical Nobility and these have their Votes in all Grand Meetings Jonas ab Elvervelt distributes the States of Holstein into three Orders 1. King and Princes 2. Prelates 3. The Families of the Nobles And he makes the Bishops of Lubeck and Slewick the two Prime Peers in all their Dyets In Scotland it is known that anciently the Bishops and Prelates were Essential Members of the Parliament and had their Seats as ours here in England on the Right hand of the King And in a Parliament held at Edenborough Ann. 1597. a Vote passed for restoring the Clergy to their Original Priviledges as the Third Estate in that Kingdom the Learned Prince King James Condemning that Act of Annexing their Temporalities to the Crown as Vile and Pernitious Basil
take the rest in Order onely premising this that t is true indeed we find fewer of this See upon the Civil Stage than any other most Offices being lookt upon as below the Archiepiscopal Dignity and therefore a Nobleman upbraided Hurbert Arch Bishop 1199. when he was made Chancellour of England Chief Justice of England and high Governour of all the Dominions under King Richard the first however we shall begin with his Person and See Canterbury Hubert under Richard 1. and King John who intrusted the same Prelate with the Government of the whole Realm at his departure into Normandy Gualter Reynolds Chancellour Ann. Dom. 1310. John Stratford Chancellour under Edw. 3. And when the King Invaded France no Person thought so fit in his absence to have the Government of the Nation entrusted to him Simon Islip of the Privy Counsel to the Edw. 3. John Stafford to Hen. 5. John Morton to Hen. 6. and Edw. 4. But we need not stand upon this when in truth it hath been seldom known that any of them have been at any time omitted Nor was this proper only to the times of Propery Come to the Reformation we find Arch Bishop Cranmer of the Privy Counsel to Hen. 8. and Edw. 6. and very active in Civil matters yet a man so averse to Rome so instrumental in planting the Gospel so Laborious so Holy that a great Apocalyptical man Mr. Brightman in his Commentaries oa the Apocalypse a man no friend to the Hierarchy takes him to be that Angel pointed at by God Rev. 14. that had power over the fire Under the renown'd Queen Elizabeth John Whitgift of the Council and had the Government of the Principality of Wates given to him YORK Waler Gray Chancellour under King John had the Government of the Realm entrusted to him under Hen. 3. William de Melton Successively Treasurer and Chancellour of England 1317. William de Zouche Vicegerent to King Edw. Ann. Dom. 1346. John Kemp Ann. 1425. twice Lord Chancellour And Thomas Young Lord Precident of the North An. Dom. 1561. LONDON There was not long since to be seen in St. Pauls the Monument of William Bishop of London who obtained from the Conqueror the City Charter to which the Lord Major and his Brethren the Aldermen used in a gratefull Commemoration every year to walk on foot He was Privy Counsellor to King William the Conqueror Mauritius Chancellour under the same King Eustachius de Falconbridge one of King Rich. 1. his Justices Chancellour of the Exchequer Treasurer of England and twice Embassadour into France Henry de Wingham Chancellour under Edw. 3. Ralph Boldoc under Edw. 1. Richard Bintworth under Edw. 3. Robert Braybrook under Rich. 2. Richard Cox Dean of Westminster whom I crave leave to name here as belonging to the Diocess of the privy Counsel to Edw. 6. And Bishop Bancroft sent Embassadour to Embden to treat with the King of Denmarks Commissioners Ann. Dom. 1600. DURHAM Geoffrey Rufus Chancellour of England Ann. Dom. 1140. Richardus de Marisco Ann. Dom. 1217. Anthony Beake of the Privy Councel Ann. Dom. 1294. Richard de Bury Cancellarius Ann. Dom. 1334. and Treasurer Ann. Dom. 1336. Thomas Langley Chancellor Ann. Dom. 1406. Thomas Ruthal of the Counsel to Henry 8. and as his Monument at Westminster testifies Secretary to Hen. 7. Richard Neyle of the Privy Council A. D. 1627. And here we cannot omit that known passage of Newbrigensis who brings in K. Richard making himself merry with the Bishop boasting what a feat he had done E Vetusto Episcopo novitium Comitem ego mirus artifex feci To make a New Count of an Old Bishop a Priviledge yet continued to that Ancient See WINCHESTER Swithan Chancellour of England under K. Egbert Ann. Dom. 860. William Giffard Chancellour under the Conqueror William Rufus and K. Henry 1. Peter de la Roch. Lord Chief Justice under K. John Sendall Chancellour 1316. William Edenden Treasucr under Edw. 3. William of Wickam Founder of New Colledge in Oxon Principal Secretary of State Keeper of the Privy Seal Master of the Wards and Treasurer of the Kings Revenues in France Ann. Dom. 1360. William Wainfleet Founder of Magdalen Colledge Oxon for his great Wisdom and Integrity long Lord Chancellor of England under Hen. 6. Richard Fox Founder of C. C. C. Oxon one of the Privy Counsel to Hen. 7. as Prudent a Prince as this Nation hath known and this Bishop as wise a Privy Counsellor as he a Prince continually employed either in matters of Counsel at home or Embassies and Treaties abroad ELY William Longchamp Chancellor Ann. Dom. 1189. after Chief Justice and Protector of the Realm when K. Richard the first undertook his Journey to the Holy Land Eustacius Chancellor Ann. Dom. 1196. John Hotbam Chancellor Ann. Dom. 1317. Simon Laughan And. Dom. 1361. first Treasurer then Chancellor of England John Barnet Treasurer A. D. 1366. John Fordham Treasurer Ann. Dom. 1385. William Gray Treasurer Ann. Dom. 1469. John Alcock Chancellor Ann. Dom. 1486 And Thomas Goodrick Chancellor under Edw. 6. LINCOLN Robert Bleuet Chancellor under the Conqueror Ann. 1092. Alexander under K. Henry the I. Lord Chief Justice of England Galfridus Chancellour A. D. 1180. Hugh de Wells Chancellour Ann. Dom. 1209. Walter de Constantiis Chancellour under Hen. 6. and Dr. Williams Dean of Westminster and after Bishop of this See made Lord Keeper by the Learned K. James COVENTRY and LICHFIELD Roger de Wiseman Keeper of the Great Seal Ann. Dom. 1245. William de Langton Treasurer Ann. Dom. 1226. Roger Northbrough Clerk of the Wardrope afterwards Treasurer Ann. Dom. 1322. Geoffrey Blyth Lord President of Wales Ann. Dom. 1513. Rowland Lee his Successor in the same Office Ann. D. 1535. Richard Sampson in the same Ann. Dom. 1537. William Smith Founder of Brazen-Nose Colledge Oxon in the same under Hen. 8. SARUM Osmond Chancellor of England always of the Privy Council and seldom separated from the Court under the Conqueror Roger Chancellor 1107. and under K. Stephen Ann. Dom. 1136. John Waltham Master of the Rools Keeper of the Privy Seal and after Treasurer of England under Richard the II. Nicolas Bubwith Treasurer Ann. Dom. 1407. William Ayscoth Clerk of the Counsel Ann. Dom. 1438. BATH and WELLS Robert Burnet first Lord Treasurer then Chancellour of England and always of the Council under Edw. I. John Drokensford Keeper of the Wardrope Ann. 1309. Robert Stillington first Keeper of the Privy Seal then Chancellour Ann. Dom. 1465. Oliver King Principal Secretary of State 1492. John Clark Master of the Rolls A. D. 1523. EXETER Leofricus first one of the Privy Counsel then Chancellour of England under the Conqueror though Sir Henry Spelman reckons him of Bath at that time and possibly he might be of both William Brewster of the Privy Counsel under Henry the 3. Walter Stapledon Founder of Exon Colledge Oxon first of the Privy Counsel then Treasurer under Edw. 2. John Grandesson Privy Counsellor to Edw. 3. John Voysey Lord
Dor. l. 2. p. 43. Then for Geneva it self who is so much a stranger to that Reformation as to be ignorant what a stroke Calvin and others had upon the Senate or grand Counsel which gave occasion to that complaint of some that they had expelled One Bishop and admitted many If remote Countries be to be regarded amongst the Abissines the Clergy is Paramount in Affairs of all natures and we read in Damianus a Goes of Zaga Zaba an Ethiopian Bishop Viceroy of Bagana sent Embassadour to the King of Portugal Dress Orat. In Muscovy their supreme Convention which those Inhabitants call Zabore consists of the great Duke Twenty Ecclesiasticks and as many Nobles the common People being wholly excluded and when they are met together the Patriarch and Ecclesiasticks are always first Consulted and first deliver their Opinion I shall conclude this Paragraph onely reminding that neither the Pagans nor Mahometans are so inhumane or irreligious or discourteous to their Priests as to deny them this Liberty For that Tully acquaints us that it was the appointment of the Gods that the Roman Pontifices should not only take care of their Religion but further Sumnis Reipub. praeesse voluerunt Orat. pro. dom sua Nay at this very day the Barbarous Turks never exclude their Mufti but allow him free entrance and Vote into all their Divans and Counsels yea the great Sultan himself so Honours the Mufti that as often as he comes into his Presence he rises from his Seat and according to their mode putting his hand to his breast bows his head in token of reverence and Honour which he shews not to any other Subject and will hardly vouchsafe the like honours to the mightiest Monarch upon Earth CHAP. V. Englands more particular Respect and Kindness to the Clergy I Might here be very large should I but give the World a brief account of the Honour which our Saxon Kings had for their Clergy neither was this a matter onely precarious and by the Courtesie as we say of England Sed ipsis confirmatum legibus Spelm. Concil Ep. ad Regem The Person who Ministred at the Altar was esteemed equal in all things in censu pariter Capitis to the Lord of the Mannour or any Knight Leg. Aethel c. ult de Wirgildis The Abbot was esteemed no less than a greater Thane which now we call a Baron of the Kingdom The Bishop of no inferiour Rank than the Count or Earl Qui integro fruebantur comitatu The Arch Bishop equal to any Duke who might happen to be set over and have the Rule of many Countries for that saith the Learned Spelman in these times our Kings gave always the greatest respect and honour to their Clergy for that in their keeping were the Keys of Learning and Knowledge the Seculars in the mean time addicting themselves most what to the Wars so that in those times it came to pass that the Priests mouth was the Oracle of our Common People no less than of the King and Commonwealth for that they had ever the first Place in our Commitia's and Assemblies no less than in the Kings Courts of Justice and Law Tribunals in the Kings Palace with the Nobles of his Kingdom in the Counties with the Comittees and Justices of the Counties in the Sheriffs Courts turno Vicecomites together with the Sheriffs the Bishops had their Adsessors yea in the Hundred Courts they or their Ministers sate together with the Lord of the Hundred so that one sword was ever helpfull to the other in the Administration of Justice and nothing of moment was done in these Courts of Judgment but by their advice and assistance Spelm. l. prius citat The practice of the Kingdom ran parallel with the Law for in all Antient Charters and Laws which heretofore were passed and made by signing their names cum signo crucis the Spiritual Lords ever preceeded the Temporal In a donation of Ethelbert A. D. 605. to the Monastery of St. Peter in Canterbury the first witness subscribing it is Austin the Bishop and after him several Dukes and Earls Monast Angl. Spelm. Conc. passim In a Charter of King Inas Ann. Dom. 725. To the Monastery of Glassenbury after the Bishops Boorthwald and Fordred occur Waldhere Ethelherd Ummin and Winchelin the greatest Peers in the Nation putting their Names Not long after in a Grant of King Offus to the Abby of Worcester Ann. Dom. 708. Brotdran Berthand Eadbald and Eadbald two Princes and two Dukes follows the Bishops And at the same Kings Consecration at St. Albans Ann. 793. No less than 10 Dukes besides other Nobles give place to the Prelates And to make an end in a Charter of King Edward the Confessor to the Monastery of Winchester immediately after the King subscribed Plegmund and Frithestan the Bishops being followed by Ethelward the Kings Brother Aethelstan Aelfweard the Kings two Sons Oredluf Orced Brorhâ—â—â—f and Heerferth Dukes many more of this nature might be produced out of the same Authors and others as standing monuments of the Clergies Reputation and the Reverence our Religious Ancestors bare to their Functions particularly the third Charter of King Edward the Confessor of the Foundation of the Abby of Westminster where more particularly we find Osberne and Peter two of the said Kings Chaplains signing the Charter before several of the Earls And furthermore here is Statute Law in the Case that this usage may not be thought to proceed meerly from the Curtesie of England 't is confirm'd by the Statute of the 31 Hen. 8. c. 10. Wherein all degrees and offices are placed in Assemblies and Conferences and there the Arch Bishop of Canterbury as primus Par regni the first Peer of the Kingdom is ranked before all the Nobility and Seated at the Kings right hand next and immediately after the Royal Blood and the Vicegerent and the rest of the Bishops follow him in their due precedency according to the Dignities and Aunciencies of their respective Sees See farther the Statute of 8. of Eliz. c. 1. where in that Statute they are called an high and one of the greatest Estates of the Kingdom nor were they ever excluded from the greatest Employments of Honours and Trust in the Kingdom and to evidence that this is not spoke without Book we will subjoin a Catalogue of Churchmen Collected out of Godwin Malmesbury Spelman Dugdale and others c. that have born all at least the most honourable Offices of State and how ever bespatter'd by some discharged them with much integrity and repute England owing more of its happiness to men of this Calling than any other though it cannot be denyed but some miscarriages might be here and there found and yet as few as can be expected in such a Multitude and if a man were disposed to find fault he might without much pains takeing two for one in Critically examining any other Profession Let us begin then with Englands Metropolitan to whom this Primacy justly appertains and
Scotland were not so much differing from the Laws and Customes of England and t was to be hoped the two Nations would better accord together than the English and French would The good event of which Counsel we have seen with our own Eyes and may it long continue It is recorded of Constantine that he would not in any wise dispense with the absence of his Bishops from him who had he lived in our Prophane age the Churches Enemies would have said that the good Emperour had been Priest ridden a well-meaning man but not overwise But the good Emperors joy it was to see His Court to be as it were a Church Nay so much use of these Holy men he made that he made them follow him in his journeys and warlike Expeditions Euseb de vit ejus l. 1. c. 35. Idem l. 4. c. 56. So that we read in Peter Blesensis Ep. 84. ad Alex. 3. how he proves at large there That it is not only lawfull but very expedient for Prelates to be in the Courts and Counsels of Princes upon such like important reasons as those are and therein excuses the Bishops of Winchester Ely and Norwich Thirdly To be employed in Treaties and Negotiations of Peace and Commerce and this both the Ancient and Modern practise will justifie that none have been more frequently or more successfully used and employed in such Messages than the Ambassadours of Christ Solemn Embassies cannot be expected before the Magistrate embraced the Gospel But in the very beginning of the 4th Century we have Maruthas Bishop of Mosopotamia sent Embassador from the Emperor of Rome to the King of Persia Socrat. l. 7. c. 8. Presently after Theodorick dispatcht Epiphanius Bishop of Ticinum or Pavia to Gunebald King of the Burgundians Eunoch Tisin vit Epiphan who at his request released great numbers of poor Christian Captives Then we have St. Ambrose sent by Valentinian to Maximus that commanded the British Armys to desire Peace which he happily effected to the great contentment of his Master Ambros Ep. 27. l. 5. where he mentions an other Embassy wherein he was imployed I might add St. Chrysostome imployed to treat with Gainas as Baronius informs us John Bishop of Rome commissioned by Theodorick to Justine the Emperor Niseph with multitudes of others in latter times whereof if I should give instance some perhaps would reply upon me that those were times of Popery and Ignorance yet perhaps of more candid simplicity and honesty than the times wherein we live and for the Moderns the time would fail me to speak of our own and Neighbour Nations for this continued the Universal practise of Christendome till Sincerity gave place to Hypocrisie and that new Definition of an Embassadour came up that he was Vir peregre missus ad spetiose mentiendum Reipub. causa A good man sent abroad to tell specious lies for his Countries service Then indeed it was high time for these Holy men to resign up these Employements to others whose Education and course of Life better became them Thus we have seen both Ancient and Modern Usage on the Clergys side the uninterrupted practise of the World for above 5000 years before and under the Law in the purest times since the Gospel all sorts of men both Pagan Jewish and Christian allowing it in their practise and none ever questioning it save some late and those few Innovators who though they have disclaimed the infallibility of the Church of Rome seem to stick a little to close to that of Geneva or Scotland we have heard the most eminent amongst the Fathers engaged by their Princes in Secular Employments and if yet still this must be an Error sit Anima mea cum patribus I dare cast my Lot on that side 'T is confest 't is pitty that any should be misled by Authority but 't is most miserable not to be moved by Authority This then being the Factum or usance as is Evident let us a little in the next place examine the Jus of it and for any Fanatick to except against it is a self-contradiction since their avowed Principles and dayly Practise allow their Teachers to follow any other Calling either of Camp Country or City without control But it is the rigid Disciplinarian who takes the most Offence at it and therefore to him we shall address our selves and for once suppose him to be of the little Commonwealth of Geneva and to have the best parts and to be Master of the best head-piece amongst them If the Senate or Syndiâ— should commission him to decide a difference between his quarrelling Neighbours or send to him to advise with him about a War with their great Enemy the Duke of Savoy or engage him to Solicite at the Court of France or at the Suisse Cantons as a Publick Agent there being none more likely to prevail in such an Embasie than himself and the little Commonwealth otherwise would be in danger to be lost In this case should he be heard pleading the inconsistency of his Holy Profession with such an imployment and thereupon return a denyal if so then the Magistrate will be an ill condition who must be obeyed in nothing more than the others Calling enjoins him whether commanded or no and his being a spiritual Person will make the Civil Magistrate loose the service and use of his Subject A thing yet which the most eminent amongst them have not declined for that neither Mr. Calvin formerly in the one nor Mr. Henderson of later times in the other have not scrupled greater matters But let matters be made never so clear it may be feared that the Vulgar have taken up such prejudices from the inexcuseable business of some late Preachers here amongst us interesting their very Pulpits in State matters dureing our late Troubles a practise never sufficiently to be condemn'd that all perhaps may be bound to their good Behaviour for a while for the Miscarriages of these men who have been so notoriously guilty of the supposed crime they have been guilty of in their Preaching against it and chargeing it upon other men who never as they did engaged in any thing of that nature but when they were commanded to it by the Magistrate Though 't is hoped that all learned and judicious Persons will be more considerate and distinguish between the frantick madness of a few giddy Pates and the sober actings of Eminent Prelates commission'd by lawfull Authority and not take an advantage from the miscarriages of this other sort of men to bring an irreparable injury on Posterity by debarring others more sober than they It is a true saying and confirmed by the experience of many hundred of years Laici sunt semper inimici Clero When the World was Pagan the Devil taught the multitude to cry out if any publick Calamity hapens that the Christians were in the fault and they must to the Lyons but now the cunning Sophister hath changed his note and if any thing be amiss either