thither out of England there being then no Universities neither Paris nor Padua nor Oxon nor Cambridge Only Rome was the principal place for Learning in these Western parts and therefore our Saxon Kings built the Colledge there for English Scholars and purchased Lands in Italy for the maintenance thereof and also gave the Peter-pence for their better allowance and encouragement which as Mr. Fuller accounteth in his late History was the sum of seven thousand and Five hundred pounds The Peter-pence was given not as a Tribute to the Pope as our Common-Chronicles do grant it and Polydor Virgilius and Baronius but as a stipend to maintain the English Colledge As Spelman sheweth clearly upon the word Denarius St. Petri which Doctor Burgesse might have observed better and not have yeilded it to the Tribute paid to the Pope as he doth grant it pag. 18. of his Reply King Henry the eighth and those about him had forgotten the true use of them and therefore in the Tempest of his Indignation swept them away among other superstitious things in a Statute but it might have been justly continued for the first intention and purpose to educate learned men beyond Seas to learn the Civil and Common Law and forraign languages also matters of State who upon their return home after some seven or eight years would deserve best to be preferred to publick places in Church or State The Kings of England well knowing the necessity of such learned men did anciently and of late send some choice Scholars out of either Universities to forraign Countries as Cambden observeth speaking of Sir Thomas Smith Anno 1577. Annis maturior selectus ut in Italiam Regiis impensis mitteretur ad nostra enim tempora nonnulli adolescentes optimae spei ex utraque Academia ad uberiorem ingenii cultum Regum sumptibus in exteris Regionibus alebantur So was Cardinal Pool in his younger years sent abroad by Henry the eighth Sir William Paget Sir Thomas Smith Sir William Peters and Sir Iohn Mason these two having been fellows of All-Souls Colledge in Oxon but being further bred abroad in forraign Countries they gained great experience and wisdome and were made either principal Officers or Secretaries of State at their return home and were principal men about the King for Counsel and disputes of businesse and guided the Kings Counsels in affairs of most importance Education in our own Universities at home is not sufficient to enable men for all publick places and offices under a King It is well known that learned young men of the best sort in the Universities being sent abroad to travail when they come home are commonly men of far better abilities then such as have only stayed at home as of late years Sir Edwin Sandys Sir Isaac Wake Sir Iohn Digby Sir Clement Edmond and Dr. Bryan Duppa now Bishop of Salisbury both these having been fellows of All-Souls Colledge and Docter Duppa specially chosen to be the Princes Tutor having been bred a Civilian in his Colledge and eminent besides for all polite Literature and proctor of the University and afterwards travailing into France and Spain upon his return home it was not long before King Charles took special notice and made choice of him for the instruction of his three Sons who are now the most accomplished Princes in Christendome notwithstanding the late disturbance and Rebellion of these present times and are likely to prove the most renowned when the present troubles shall be composed Education goes beyond nature as Aristotle sheweth 1. Ethic. Good instruction and learned Education doth add those perfections which cannot be obtained with ordinary helps and by such men as know only their own native Country and Climat The opposition that some men make against the Votes and presence of the Bishops in Parliaments and other places of Office and imployment under the King doth arise from that false principle that jurisdiction Ecclesiastical and civil ought to be distinct and separate both for persons and their imployments Which is already here confuted it being one grand error of Calvin and Beza with divers others that follow them too closely in all opinions as if they had been men free from error Our Bishops in ancient times were most part Lawyers learned in the Civil and Canon Laws and thereby also knowing much in the Canon Law and therefore they were the chiefest Judges of the Land in all Courts of Justice as Spelman sheweth in his learned Glossary for 200 years after the Conquest reckoning the Catalogue of the great Lord cheif Justices being most part men of the Church pag. 409. 410 c. and so pag. 131. Fungebantur antique cancellariatus dignitate viri tantum Ecclesiastici Episcopi qui praeterea Curam gerebant Regiae capâ—llae repositaque illic Monumenta Rotulos Recorda vocant sacra custodia tuebantur c. And so also Lord Cook sheweth 1. Instit. lib. 3. pag. 304. B. In ancient time the Lord Chancellour and Treasurer were most part men of the Church yet were they expert and learned in the Laws of the Realm as for example in the time of the Conquerour Egelricus Episcopus Cicestrousis viz. Antiquissimus in legibus sapientissimus Nigellus Episcopus Eliensis Hen. 1. The saurarius in temporibus suis incomparabilem habuit Scacarii scientiam de eadem scripsit optime Henricus Cant. Episcopus H. Dunelm Episcopus Willielmus Episcopus Eliensis G. Roffensis Episcopus Martinus de Pateshall Clericus Decanus divi Pauli London constitutus fuit capitalis Iusticiarius de Banco c. Willielmus de Raleash Clericus Iusticiarius Domini Regiâ— Iohannes Episcopus Caliolensis temp H. 3. Robertus Passelew Episcopus Cicestrensis temp H. 3. Robertus de Lexinton Clericus constitutus sapitalis Iusticiarius de Banco Iohannes Briton Episcopus Hereford Henricus de Stanton Clericus constitutus fuit capitalis Iustic ad placita With many others So also Selden affirmeth in his Notes upon Fleta Sir Iohn Eliott in his Speech in Parliament confesseth that there are among our Bishops whose profession I honour saith he such as are fit to be made example for all ages who shine in vertue and are firm for our Religion c. as Rushworth relateth in his Collections pag. 661. If Bishops be so eminent that they shine in vertue certainly they are fit men to be present in Parliaments for Parliaments ought to consist of such men as shine in vertue as are firm for Religion A Learned Knight and Courtier writing an answer to Sir Anth. Welden his Pamphlet entituled the Court and Character of King Iames pag. 178. where he speaketh of the preferment of Doctor Williams to be Lord Keeper of the great Seal sheweth That former ages held it more consonant to reason to trust the Conscience of the Clergy with the case of the Lay-men they best knowing a case of Conscience And anciently the civil Law was always judged by the Ministers of the Church and
And the two Arch-bishops of Canterbury and York had place of any great Temporal Lords Dukes Earls and Marquesses or great Officers as appears by the Statute of 31. Hen. 8. câ—p 10. and Lord Cooke 4. Instit. pag. 361. and to what end should they hold such priviledges and places of Honour in Parliament unlesse they had the right and power of voting in all Cases unlesse in cases of blood and all our ancient Parliaments and Statutes do fully reckon the Lords Spiritual in the first place and then the Lords Temporal and lastly the House of Commons These being the three estates in Parliament but the Kings person doth not make one of the three estates as some of late have affirmed but Lord Cook the great Oracle of our Common-Law doth otherwise account 4. Instit. cap. 1. Shewing of what persons the Parliament consisteth This Court consisteth of the Kings Majesty sitting there as in his Royal politick capacity and of the three estates of the Realm viz. First Are the Lords Spiritual Arch-bishops and Bishops being in number 26. who sit there by Succession in respect of their Counties or Baronies parcel of their Bishopricks which they hold also in their politick Capacity And every one of these when any Parliament is to be holden ought ex debito justitiae to have a Writ of Summons 2. The Lords Temporal Dukes Marquesses Earls Uiscounts and Barons who sit there by reason of their dignities which they hold by Descent or Creation in number at this time 106. and likewise every one of these being of full age ought to have a Writ of Summons ex debito justitiae 3. The third estate is the Commons of the Realm whereof there be Knights of Shires or Counties Citizens of Cities and Burgesses of Burroughs All which are respectively elected by the Shires or Counties Cities and Burroughs by force of the Kings Writ ex debito justitiae And none of them ought to be omitted and these represent all the Commons of the whole Realm and trusted for them and are in number at this day 493. In the beginning Romulus ordained a hundred Senators for the good Government of the Common-wealth afterwards they grew to 300. and so many were of the House of Commons in Fortescues time cap 18 fol. 40. as Lord Coke alledgeth him How the number of the Commons is increased to 500. or more let them inquire that please perhaps the number of Burgesses of Corporation and some Towns which the Kings have lately allowed to come unto the Parliaments may be a reason of their great increase Lord Coke saith that anciently when the Parliaments were holden at Westminster the Commons â—ate in the Chapter-House of the Abbot of Westminster and the Common Chronicles do mention that heretofore in the time of H. 8. The Commons sate in the Black Friers where there were many large Chambers and Rooms But since the distinction of Cottages and free-Chappells 1. Ed 6. c. 14. The Commons sit in the ancient and beautiful Chappel of St. Stephens Abbey founded by King Stephen so that they now sit in the Temple of God The learned Montague against Selden cap. 1. pag. 290 saith that Sedet in Templo Dei may be understood either Materiraliter as the great Turk doth whose palace is that which sometimes was the chief patriarchal Church built by Iustinian the Emperor the Church of sancta Sophia or spiritualiter taking it for contra Ecclesiam Dei by persecuting Christians in quantum Christians for that they profess the name of Christ Jesus who are the living Temples of the Holy Ghost c. The Bishops presence and voting in the Parliaments may well seem necessary in these times when the Parliament doth undertake to determine Controversies of Religion of the greatest difficulty as of predestination absolute Reprobation universal Grace Free-will and final perseverance Sir Iohn Eliott and Iohn Pym zealous men in Religion would not yield to the King 40 Caroli Tunnage and Poundage till they had first setled Religion touching the points of Ariminianisme they accounting that Arminius was an upstart Heretick very dangerous to the truth as Rushworth relateth in his Collections p. 659. Now if Parliaments will undertake to dispute and determine such great and difficult points of Religion as of Predestination absolute Reprobation universal Grace Free-will and final perseverance It is fit that the learned Bishops should have power to vote in such difficult matters of so great Concernment as well as any Members of the House of Lords or Commons for it is well known that many of the Bishops are men of excellent Learning judgement and abilities as being long trained up in the Universities and some of them publick professors reading Lectures in Diuinity and Heads of Colledges that they might be well informed concerning these points or any other better then Sir Iohn Eliott or Iohn Pym or any other Member of the House of Commons whosoever he be or of the House of Lords whereof very few are learned or expert in the difficult points of Gods Decrees And whosoever is wise and sober will be willing to refer these matters to the Convocation who are a part of the Parliament and have the same priviledges as other Parliament men have as Lord Cook sheweth 4. Instit. cap. 74. pap 322. c. And their proper office and duty is to debate of matters of Religion of Heresies Schismes and other like matters as Lord Cook sheweth very fully The Bishops being the principal men that Reformed our Religion made the 39 Articles both the lesser and greater Catechism Common Prayer Book and the Book of Ordination the Homilies and whatsoever else hath been setled in Religion so that they are most necessary and fit to be present in all Parliaments Dr. Burgesse having written an examination of the reasons asserted by Bishop Hall and Archbishop Williams of York And this Author having written against his examination of the reasons the Doctor made a further Reply Wherein he saith pag. 5. that if it can be made good that in the * Wetten-Gem of the Saxons the Bishops exercised a legislative power in voting of laws as our Biâ—hops have done in Parliaments the Examiner must provide him another Advocate for my part I must yeild the cause I hope it appears clearly by that is here alledged out of good Authority that the Bishop had a legislative power in voting and therefore by his own confession he must yeild the cause and contend no farther about it There is one reason further to be considered why the Bishops might well be of great Authority in all Parliaments and publick Assemblies and that is by reason of their Learning and Knowledge in languages and matters of Law and policy which they got by travail into forraign parts for most of them in their youth were bred in the English Colledge at Rome which was built and endowed by the Kings of England Ina and many others after him for the education of Learned Scholars sent
the Councel of Clarendon under Hen. 2. Wherein the Clergy were inforced to appear in the Temporal Courts one Canon thereof being Clerici accusati de quacunque re summoniti a Iusticiario Regis veniant in Curiam responsuri ibidem de hoc unde videbitur Curiae Regis quid ibi sit respondendum in Curia Eeclesiastica unde videbitur quod ibi sit respondendum It a quod Regis Iusticiarius mittet in Curiam sanctae Ecclesia ad videndum quomodo res ibi tractabitur si Clericus vel confessus vel convictus fuerit non debet eum de caetero Ecclesia tueri But touching this and the rest of the Constitutions in that Council Math. Paris doth sharply inveigh against them Hanc Recognitionem five Recordationem de Consuetudinibus libertatibus iniquis dignitatibus Deo detestabilibus Archiepiscopi Episcopi clerus cum Comitibus Baronibus proceribus juraverunt And as he addeth His itaque gestis potestas laica in res personas Ecclesiasticas omnia pro libitu Ecclesiastico jure contempto tacentibus aut vix murmur antibus Episcopis potius quam resistentibus usurpabat And this appeareth also by that which Selden relateth in his notes upon Eadner pag. 268. that long after in Edward the seconds time the Clergy had so many oppositions and hinderances in their proceedings from the Temporal Courts that they exhibited a petition in Parliament wherein they recite the grant and constitution of Will 2. allowing them their own Courts by themselves and specify their complaints particularly which he calleth Gravamina Ecclesiae Anglicanae and saith they are those mentioned in the proem of Artiâ—uli Cleri And in this age we have great cause to complain of Prohibitions but thereof I will say no more now as for the Temporal Courts the Conquerour appointed them to follow his Court royal which Custome continued for many years till under King Iohn at the instant request of the nobility it was granted Ut Communia placita non sequerentur Curiam i. e. Regis sed in loco certo tenerentur That the Court of Justice for Common Pleas should not follow the Kings Court Royal but be held in a place certain as now commonly they are in Westminster-Hall Whereas before the Kings appointed one Grand Lord Chief Justice of all England who for his authority and power was a greater officer both of State and Justice then any in these last ages and ever since that the greatness of that office was abated by King Edw. 1. most of those great Justices were Bishops as Sir Henry Spelman sheweth in his Caralogue of them Glossar pag. 401. Dignitate omnes Reges proceres potestate omnes superabat Magistratus De potestate valde inter alia claret quod quatuor summorum judicum hodiernorum muneribus solus aliquando fungeretur scilicet Capitalis Iustitiarii Banci Regis id est plâ—citorum Coronae seu criminalium Capitalis Iusticiarii Banci Communis id est placitorum Civilium Capitalis Baronis Scacarii hoc est Curiae ad sâ—crum patrimonium fiscum pertinentis c. Most of these great Justices were Bishops as appears by the Catalogue of them they being the principal men for Knowledge and Learning in those dayes and had no doubt power of voting in all Parliaments Councils and assemblies of State And so in these later times Lord Coke sheweth their abilities and rights 4. Instit. pag. 321. The King is well apprised of all his Judges which he hath within his realm as well spiritual as temporal as Arch-bishops Bishops and their officers Deanes and other Ministers who have spiritual jurisdiction It is declared by the King the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in full Parliament That the spiritualty now being called the English Church always hath been reputed and also found of that sort that both for knowledge integrity and sufficiency of number it hath been alwayes thought and is also at this hour sufficient and meet of it self without the intermedling of any exterior person or persons to declare and determine of such doubts and to administer all such offices and duties as to their rooms spiritual doth appertain The Adversaries have made divers objections against our Arch-bishops and Bishops Ever since saith Coke But these pretences being in truth but meer Cavils tending to the scandal of the Clergy being one of the greatest States of the realm as it is said in the Statute of 8. Eliz. cap. 1. are fully answered by the said Statute and Provision made by authority of that Parliament for the establishing of the Arch-bishops and Bishops both in praesenti in futuro in their Bishopricks By the Statute also of 39 Eliz. cap. 8. the Arch-bishops and Bishops are adjudged lawful as by the said Act appeareth And by these two Statutes these and all other objections against our Bishops one hath answered which we have thought good to remember seeing we are to treat of their jurisdiction Ut obstruatur os iniquae loquentium saith Lord Coke Yet the fury and rage of these times have stirred up more anger which in the issue will turn to the Confusion and Dishonour of them that began these wars and broyles against the Church and Bishops and fundamental Laws and Statutes which have so fully asserted their rights and authority Thus the Lord Coke premiseth being to treat of the Ecclesiastical Courts and all the jurisdiction belonging to the Clergy and established by the fundamental Laws of the Land against both Papists and Puritans and first he beginneth with the Court of Convocation and of the high Commission in Causes Ecclesiastical which is absolutely necessary for the suppression of all manner of Errots Heresies Schismes abuses offences Contempts and enormities But upon suppression of this Court by the late long Parliament there hath broken forth such an infinite number of heresies schismes sectaries and a rascal rabble of factions as is prodigious to relate and intolerable to be suffered For as it is in the Common Law if there were not Assises and Sessions to punish Malefactors Theeves Cuâ—purses Offenders and Rogues of all sorts the Land would be so Oppressed with the Multitudes of them no man could enjoy his house or goods freehold or life therefore in London they have every moneth a publick sessions to punish Condemn and Execute all sorts of Malefactors And Corporations in principal Cities have the like authority by Commission and Patent from the King But for the high Commission to punish Offenders against Religion and the Church Lord Coke saith pag. 331. That the Kings Majesty hath and Queen Elizabeth had before him as great and ample Supremacy and jurisdiction Ecclesiastical as ever King of England had before them and that had justly and rightly pertained to them by divers other Acts and by the ancient Laws of England if the said clause of annexation in the said Statute of 1. Eliz. had never been inserted That it was a gâ—osse Error
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
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
the Judges But Ministers have no remedy to help themselves there being none of the Clergy upon the Bench in any authority CHAP. II. Of the Government of the Church and State of Israel by Moses and Aaron and their Successors until Christ about 1500 years That there were not two several Iurisdictions one Ecclesiastical the other Civil WHen God delivered his chosen people out of Aegypt and conducted them through the Wildernesse towards the promised Land of Canaan He began first to publish his Law And by Moses delivered them many Laws in Five Books Whatsoever Lawes he gave either moral ceremonial or Judicial they are all contained in the Five books of Moses and no man could better understand them then the Priests and Levites For God made his Covenant with Levy of Life and Peace The Law of Truth was in his mouth The Priests Lips should preserve knowledge and they should seek the Law at his Mouth Mal. 2. 5 6 7. and so Ezekiel 44. 23. They shall teach my people the difference between the Holy and prophane and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean and in Controversie they shall stand in judgement and they shall judge according to my Iudgements and they shall keep my Lawes and my Statutes in all mine Assemblies They being the principal Judges and Lawyers in that Common-wealth of Gods own Constitution And whereas it is now granted on all hands that there were three Courts of Justice in that Kingdome 1. The great Council of the 70. Elders 2. The Court of Judgement which was in in every good Town where there were many families 3. The Court of three or some few more The Priests and Levites were principal men both Judges and Officers in all Courts Scophtim Scoterim as 1. Chron. 23. 4. both to give sentence and judgement and also to execute the same So the Divines do affirm in their late Annotations upon 1. Chron. 26. 29 30. 2. Chron. 19. 8. 11. They did study the Judicial and politick Laws and had power to see the Law of God and Injunctions of the King to be observed and to order divine and humane affairs And they held also other honourable offices for we read that Zechariah a Levite was a wise Counsellour and Benjah a Priest Son of Iehojadah was one of Davids twelve Captains being the third Captain of the Host for the third month and in his course consisting of 24000. was his Son Amizabad Benjah also was one of Davids principal worthies having the name of the three mighties He was also Captain of the guard to David and after the Death of Ioab he was made Lord General of the Army by King Salomon in Ioabs room 1. K. 2. 35. It is recored 1 Chron. 26. 30. That of the Family of the Hebronists Levites there were a thousand and seven hundred Officers on this side Iordan westward in all businesses of the Lord and in the service of the King and two thousand and seven hundred chief Fathers and men of valour whom King David made Rulers over the Reâ—bonists the Gaditeâ—s and the half Tribe of Manasses for every matter pertaining to God and affairs of the King v. 31. 32. Whereby it manifestly appears that the same Judges and Officers being Priests and Levites most of them did hear and determine all sorts of causes pertaining to God and affairs of the King both Ecclesiastical and Temporal so that there was not several Courts the one Ecclesiastical and the other Civil as in these times some do affirm too peremptorily according to the Common practise and usage of these days as Godwin in his Moses and Aaron lib. 5. Beza Iunius and divers others with the Kirkmen of Scotland lately Rutherford Gillespie Baily and others So also the Papists generally who that they may establish the Popes Supremacy above Kings and their Common-laws do affirm that Regimen Ecclesiasticum est distinctum a politico as Bellarmine de Romano pontifice lib. 1. cap. 5. so our zealous party for the like ends and reasons would maintain a Government in the Clergy seperate from and independent upon the Civill Magistrate and such as ought to be directed and ruled only by the word of God and his Spirit ruling as they suppose in their classical Assemblies where they think the Throne of Christ is only to be advanced and all his holy Ordinances put in execution Whereas the King is Custos utriusqne tabulae and the Supremacy in causes Ecclesiastical as well as Temporal is acknowledged by our Statutes and annexed to the Crown For Execution thereof an Act was made 1. Eliz. cap. 1. But if the Statute had not been made to annexe the Supremacy to the Crown yet as the Lord Cook saith 4. Instit. p. 331. King Iames hath and Queen Elizabeth had before him as great and ample Supremacy and Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical ase ver King of England had before them and that had justly and rightly pertained to them by divers other Acts and by the ancient Law of England if the said clause of annexation in the said Statute 1. Eliz. had never been inserted But Iohn Pym in his Speech in Parliament 4. Caroli as Rushworth hath it in his late Collections saith that the high Commission was derived from the Parliament As if the Parliament gave the King the Supremacy as a gift of their own and that it was not vested in the Crown but as they gave it so they may take it away when they please and suppresse the Court of high Commission as they have done The duty of the Court was to reform and correct all Heresies Schismes Abuses Offences Contempts and Enormities But now upon Suppression of the Court all Heresies and Schismes in the world are broke out and such abominable abuses offences and enormities as never were known in this Kingdome with allowance and toleration This follow 's upon the new light and doctrine of Iohn Pym and all the rest of the Presbyterians who have stirred up all these troubles and of late they called the House of Commons the Supream power of the Nation in all Addresses and Petitions made unto them It was a great Error of Calvin and Beza and many others that follow them to affirm that there was one Court Ecclesiastical and another Civil in Israel Calvin upon Ieremiah 19. 1. pag. 152. saith Scimus duos fuisse ordines publicos vel duplex regimen ut loquuntur sacerdotes erant praefecti Ecclesiae nempe quoad legem ita ut spiritualis esset eorum gubernatio erant seniores populi qui prae erant rebus politicis utriusque vero quaedam inter se communio Calvin understood only the plain Hebrew not the Rabbins and Talmud nor the Jewish Antiquities Therefore in several places he is mistaken as upon Numb 11. 17. Where God appointed first the 70. Elders to be joyned as Assistants to Moses He doth interpret the Text I will take off the Spirit that is upon thee and put
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
and a notorious offence of I. Pym to affirm as he did in his Speech in Parliament 4. Caroli That the high Commission was derived from the Parliament An impudent ignorant and seditious speech which if it had been spoken in the time of Henry the eighth when he recovered his Supremacy from the Pope the King would quickly have hanged or burnt him as he did many in his Reign upon that point of his Supremacy For though Parliaments may submit and acknowledge the Kings Supremacy yet they are not the Donors or Authors of it it is originally vested in the Crown and is a principal Flower thereof that cannot be denyed ot taken away from the King by any of their Votings or Ordinances And the King may again restore the Court of High Commission without the help of a Parliament and appoint such Judges and Commissioners as he shall think fit without direction or assistance from the House of Commons as the King doth appoint Judges in all other Courts without their consent and so may doe still in this Court Which is absolutely necessary to be done to suppresse the abominable and detestable increase of Sectaries and Schismaticks that are now risen up in this Inter-Regnum of the Kings Authority CHAP. IX The Example of the late warrs in Bohemia Germany France might well have forewarned us in England The Godly Covenant of Bohemia might well have given us Caution to take heed of a Covenant without the Kings consent The Church Lands taken away formerly are restored by the Emperour Grotius his Censure of the Presbyterians for raising Wars TO return again to our former matter of the separation of the Courts it is to be considered that the Courts being now divided in the Kingdome many hundred years since the ancient manner of their union is forgotten and unknown save only to the Learned and the scars of the Norman Conquest are so overgrown that few men are sensible what reliques of Slavery do still remain upon us by changing the order of the Courts the Language of the Law in great part with other things that I will not now mention But being so setled by the Conquerour and continued by his Successors the Temporal Courts in process of time grew too powerful for the Ecclesiastical and by their injunctions and prohibitions stopt many proceedings especially after the Councel of Clarendon under Hen. 2. Wherein the power of the Clergy was much abated and all Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction so crushed that it continued lame ever after Though the Clergy by appeals to Rome and the Popes Legats that were often sent hither did oftentimes help themselves and much molest their Adversaries At length under Hen. 8. upon his breach with the Pope the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction was much abridged and restrained in many particulars and reduced to a narrow compass becoming much more subject and obnoxious to the Injunctions Orders and prohibitions of all the Temporal Courts that now I mervail that any should complain and envy at their power and greatness there being no cause of any value or moment but by one order or other is drawn from them to the Temporal Courts And now at last there want not some that would have all Ecclesiastical authority and jurisdiction either wholly suppressed from the first Court to the last or at least so abated mingled or changed that what form or force of Government shall be left remaining seems very uncertain But if Presbyteries and such like Consistories of the forraign and new fangled devising were erected there will follow great confusion and disorder to the infinite disturbance of peace and quietnesse in the Kingdome by alteration of so many laws and customes and of the Common Law it self whereby the Kingdome hath been governed so many years and setled in peace and all mens estates and Lands held in certain possession For such great and universal changes as will follow upon the dissolution of the Hierarchy and taking away the Votes of Bishops in Parliament and other eminent parts of Government will produce such ill events and troublesome distractions as will not be pacified and composed within the compass of any mans life now living And what further mischeif may follow is uncertain but surely great troubles are like to ensue as indeed it hath happened in a most lamentable manner But if our Nation could have taken warning by the example of the late wars that happened these last 40. years in France Germany and Bohemia they might have prevented much evil for there the Wars began by men of the same spirit and humours as our Presbyterians are among us and had the same ends and purposes as ours had which is to take away the Honours Lands and Revenues of Bishops and all that belonged to them The ill sâ—ccesse of their names might well have forewarned us if there had been men among us wise and knowing of the Histories of the present age When we saw the Flame and Smoke of â—he Bohemian War ascend to heaven in our sight in most hideous manner And in the end all the zealous party were utterly undone and confounded that began the war against the Emperor to take away the lands of all the Clergy Bishops Deans and Chapters c. Which they account to be the flesh of the Whore of Babylon and the bones of the old Whore that is of the Pope So Brightman and Pareus and other zealous men do interpret the Text Revel 17. 16. All the Lands of the Church and Revenues among which they reckon Tythes are the flesh of the Pope which they must eâ—â—e and devour not Physice but Mystice saith Pareus in his Commentary For otherwise to eat the flesh of the Pope naturally being commonly an old man and perhaps full of Diseases would be no good meat or pleasing Diet But mystically to eat him that is to take away the lands revenues and riches of the Church will bring in profit and money that will provide better diet to feed upon then the body and flesh of an old Pope This Sacrilegious appetite and outragious covetousness to get the lands of the Church and Bishops proved very tragical to Bohemia and most parts of Germany And to shew a little their manner of proceeding I will digresse a little because it is so remarkable and fresh a Case within these last 40. years First therefore the Bohemians in the year 1619. assembled a Parliament without the Emperors Consent They raised a great army and put Garrisons also in all the best Towns and Castles They made a Godly Covenant consisting of an 100 articles just the same in Substance with our late Scottish Covenant they raised great Taxes and excise to maintain their armies and garrisons For two years they prevailed much and brought in a new King the Palsgrave but at the end of two years the Emperors great armies came upon them and fought the great Battle of Prague 8. Novemb. 1620. The Duke of Bavaria came with twelve thousand men and other great
and Combustions of France when the Protestants did call and hold Parliaments there without the Kings consent as at Loudun and Rochel 1627. and did garrison the City very strongly against the King Moulin doth take occasion to speak thereof in his Anatome Missae pag. 246. Where he reckoneth up the wars of Bohemia and what was done against Hierom of Prague and Iohn Husse and the fortunate battels fought by Zisca in the end he concludeth and inferreth this Haec non ideo à nobis allata sunt quod probemus actiones Ziscae aut tumultus populorum qui ut persecutiones martyrium effugiant arma sumunt adversus dominos suos etenim veritas Evangelica non his stabilitur rationibus modis Christus ad crucem pâ—st se ferendam nos voeat Sanguis martyrum plus habet efficaciae virtutis ad ampliandam Ecclesiam quam bellorum â—ertamâ—â—a Thus it appears that 〈◊〉 doth not justify the taking up of arms against Princes to reform Religion He was sensible of the Errors and losses of the Presbyterians in France in the wars they undertook against their King Lewis 13. Who in the end suppressed them took their strong towns and reduced them to obedience though he granted them the exercise of their Religion and how much they lost by the wars Moulin then liying in France and seeing both the beginning and end of the war could not be ignorant But the principal reason why the Presbyterians do maintain these desperate opinions of taking up arms is that they may pull down the Bishops and seise upon their revenues and lands as they have done notoriously of late both in Bohemia Germany and France and now with uâ— but they were inforced to regorge and restore them as appears fully in the late Histories which might have forewarned our Puritans Si mens non laeva fuisset The Emperor hath restored not onely in his patrimonial Countries all the Lands and Estates of the Bishops and Clergy which the puritans there had seised on of late years but those also which were taken away an 100 years ago as in the Duke of Wittenbergs Country whereof there are two volumes published at Tubing in Germany 1639. The Learned French Divine Chamier Tom. 2. lib. 15. c. 8. at large disputeth the question An tolerari debeat a Christianis Rex infidelis aut haereticus Pontificii dicunt non licet Christianis tolerare Regem infidelem aut haereticum si conetur pertrahere subditos ad suam haeresin vel infidelitatem c. Haec vero fax est seditionum scaturigo parricidiorum lerna malorum quibus hisce multis annis Anglia tentata est sed tentata tantum Deo protegente regiaque capita praesentibus periculis eripieute At nostrae Galliae Theatrum jam ter misere cruentatum duorum proxime Regum sanguine sic enim ratiocinati sunt parricidae aut qui parricidis sicas tradiderunt Non esse tolerandum Christianis regem incommodum Ecclesiae itaque deponendum Quid si non possit judicio solenni tamen ipso facto qui dignum se exhibuerit depositione censerl depositum ac proinde non amplius Regem sed Tyrannum ideoque jure occidi id est tolli quacunque possit ratione Quos furores si nulla alia revinceret ratio certe tam immania sceler aabunde debent hominum animos abominatione replesse Viderint homines Deut certe non dormit If Chamier had lived to see the murther of King Charles he would have said more then he did Hisce multis Annis Anglia tentata est sed tentata tantum God did preserve Q. Elizabeth oftentimes and King Iames from the Gunpowder Treason Upon both which occasions much hath been written by learned wise and excellent men both at home and abroad Against that wicked doctrine of raising arms against Kings to reform Religion Whereof not only the Papists are guilty but the Puritans As Bancroft proveth fully against Knoxe and Buchanan Goodman Gilly Cartwright and many others lib. 2. c. 1 2 3 4 of his dangerous positions The Puritans in England could be content to second King Iames writing against the Pope and Papists for deposing and murthering of Kings But for their own parts they account Parliaments to be superiour to all Kings and therefore maintain that Doctrine of Calvin that the tres ordines Regni the three estates of Parliaments may correct and punish Kings Which Doctrine David Pareus defended But his books were burned for it at London and both Universities But of late not only the three estates of the Kingdome but the third estate the Commons the representative of the peopledome may correct and punish Kings For they have styled themselves The Supream authority of the Nation without the House of Lords whom they voted to be uselesse and cast them out and make Statutes which they call Acts of Parliament without the House of Lords or the Royal assent Contrary to all the statutes recorded in the Book of Statutes Bancroft in the very end of his Book of dangerous positions doth plainly foretell that the Puritans would never give over their Clamour for Reformation till they had utterly ruined the whole Kingdome and Church as now it appears manifestly they have effected their desires in great part But saith Bancroft there are divers-men that will needs hood-wink themselves and stop their Ears with the Serpent in the Psalm of purpose because they would gladly have these things smothered up He meaneth men in great place that were willing to think that the Puritans were no such dangerous men as he and others did take them to be only scrupulous and peevish perhaps about Ceremonies and therefore were willing to forbear them and not to censure them sharply But Bancroft doth wisely tell them that if any such mischeifs which God forbid shall happen hereafter they were sufficiently warned that both should and might in good time have prevented them and withall it would then be found true which Livy saith Urgentibus Republicam fatis Dei hominum falutares admonitiones spernuntur When the Lord for the sins of the people is purposed to punish any Country he blindeth the eyes of the wise so as they shall either neglect or not perceive those ordinary means for the safety thereof which very simple men or babes in a manner did easily foresee Which Judgement I pray God turn far away and long from this and all other true Christian Lands and Kingdoms The principal end and project of the Presbyterians was not only to reform some things amisse but to pluck up both root and branch of Episcopacy and all Ecclesiastical laws and Courts though never so ancient and Fundamental setled by Magna Charta and many other Fundamental statutes as Circumspecte agatis 13. Edw 1. Articuli Cleri 9. Ed. 2. as Lord Coke doth expound them at large 2. Institut and for payment of Tythes and all Duties belonging to the Church there is both Common Law and
which is all I shall say of the duty of ministers in point of divinity Now I come to the second duty of men in holy orders in point of conveniency or policy and am clearly of opinion that even in this regard and reflexion they ought not to be debarred from modestly intermedling in secular affairs For if there be any such inconveniency it must needs arise from this that to exercise some secular jurisdiction must be evil in it self or evil to a person in holy orders Which is neither so nor so For the whole office of a subordinate civil Magistrate is most exactly described in Rom. 13. 3 4. and no man can add or detract from the same The civil power is a divine ordinance set up to be a Terror to the evil and an incouragement to good works This is the whole compass of the civil power And therefore I do here demand with that most learned Bishop Davenant that within a few dayes did sit by my side in the eleventh Question of his Determinations What is there of impiety what of unlawfulnesse what unbecoming either the holynesse or calling of a priest in terrifying the bad or comforting the good Subject in repressing of sin and punishing of sinners For this is the whole and intire Act of civil jurisdiction It is in its own nature repugnant to no person to no function to no sort or condition of men let them hold themselves never so holy never so seraphical it becomes them very well to repress sin and punish sinners that is to say to exercise in a moderate manner civil jurisdiction if the Soveraign shall require it And you shall find that this doctrine of debarring persons in holy orders from secular imployments is no doctrine of the Reformed but the Popish Church and first brought into this Kingdome by the Popes of Rome and Lambiths Lanfranc Anselme Stephen Langton and the test together with Otho and Othobon and to this only end that the man of Rome might withdraw all the Clergy of this Kingdome from their obligations to the King and Nobility who were most of them great Princes in those times and thereby might establish and create as in a great part he did regnum in regno a Kingdome of Shaâ—elings in the midst of this Kingdome of England And hence came those Canons of mighty consequence able to shoot up a priest at one shot into heaven as that he must not meddle with matters of blood that he must not exercise civil jurisdiction not be a Steward to a Noble man in his house and all the rest of this Palea and Garbage That is in plain English the Priest must no longer receive obligations from either King or Lords but wholly depend upon his holy Fathers the Pope of Rome and the Pope of Lambeth or at least wise pay him soundly for their Dis ensations and Absolutions when they presume to do the contrary In the mean time here is not one word or shew of Reason to inform an understanding man that persons in holy orders ought not to terrifie the bad and comfort the good to repress sin and chastise sinners which is the summa totalis of the civil Magistracy and consequently so fat forth at the least to intermeddle with secular affairs And this is all that I shall say touching the motive and ground of this Bill and that persons in holy orders ought not to be inhibited from intermedling in secular affairs either in point of divinity or in point of conveniency and policy The second point consists of the persons reflected upon in this Bill which are Archbishops Bishops Parsons Vicars and all others in holy orders of which point I shall say little only finding these names hudled up in an heap made me conceive at first that it might have some relation to Mr. Bagshawes reading in the middle Temple which I ever esteemed to have been very inoffensively delivered by that learned Gentleman and with little discretion questioned by a great Ecclesiastick then in place For all that he said was this That when the Temporal Lords are more in voices then the Spiritual they may passe a Bill without consent of the Bishops which is an assertion so clear in reason and so often practised upon the Records and Rolls of Parliament that no man any way vers'd in either of these can make any doubt of it nor do I Though I humbly conceive no President will be ever found that the Prelates were ever excluded otherwise then by their own folly fear or headinesse For the point of being Justices of peace the Gentleman confesseth he never medled with Arch-bishops nor Bishops nor with any Clergy man made a Justice by his Majesties Commission In the Statute made 34. Ed. 3. c. 1. He finds assignees for the keeping of the Peace one Lord and with him 3. or 4. of the most valiant men of the County the troublesome times did then so require it and if God do not bless us with the riddance of these two armies the like provision will be now as necessary He finds these men included but doth not find Church-men excluded no not in the Statute 13. Rich. 2. cap. 7. that requires Justices of peace to be made of Knights Esquires and Gentlemen of the Law of the most sufficient of each County In which words the Gentleman thinks Clerks were not included and I clearly say by his favour they are not excluded Nor do the learned Sages of the Law conceive them to be excluded by that Statute If the King shall command the Lord Keeper to fill up the Commissions of each County with the most sufficient Knights Esquires and Gentlemen of the Law shall the Lord Keeper thereupon exclude the Noble-men and the Prelates I have often in my dayes received this Command but never heard of this interpretation before this time So that I cannot conceive from what ground this general sweep-stake of Arch-bishops Bishops Parsons Vicars and all others in holy orders should proceed I have heard since the beginning of my sicknesse that it hath been alledged in this House that the Clergy in the sixth of Edw. the third did disavow that the custody of the peace did belong to them at all and I beleive that such a thing is to be found amongst the Notes of the priviledges of this House But first you must remember that it was in a great storm and when the waters were much troubled and the wild people unapt to be kept in orders by Miters and Crosiersstaves But yet if that noble Lord shall be pleased to cast his eye upon the Roll it self he shall find that this poor excuse did not serve the Prelates turns Fot they were compelled with a witnesse to defend their parts of the preservation of the peace of the Kingdome as well as the Noble men and Gentry And you shall find the ordinance to this effect set down upon that Roll. I conclude therefore with that Noble Lords favour that the sweeping
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
having the name among the three mighties He was also Captain of the Guard to David and after the Death of Ioab he was made Lord General of the Host by King Solomon in Ioabs room 1. King 2. 35. And this is fully to be proved by excellent learned men As Sigonius Bertram Casaubon Moulin especially by the learned Hugo Grotius upon Mal. 5. 21. Where he doth accurately shew out of the Text Iosephus Philo and other Monuments of the Jews that there was no distinction of Courts the one Ecclesiastical the other Civil as Calvin and Beza and some others that follow them would have it but the Judges and Courts were united and the Priests and Levites the principal Judges and Officers in every Court to whom the people were to be obedient upon pain of Death Deut. 17. 12. They being appointed to hear every cause between blood and blood between plea and plea and between Stroke and Stroke being matters of Controversie within thy Gates And as our Laws call them Pleas of the Crown and Common pleas or whatsoever else did arise among them pertaining to God and the King 1 Chron 26. 30. 32. for which purpose God did scatter them in every Tribe and turned the curse of Iacob into a singular blessing to be divided in Iacob and scattered in Israel Appointing 1700 to be on the West-side Iordan and 2700 on the East-side The ancient frame of our Kingdome for 500. years beforre the Conquest was thus disposed and governed As Spelman sheweth fully in his learned Glossary and Councels and happy had it been if things had continued so still But now the Law being otherwise setled and the Courts divided it is not safe or easie to make alteration Only without change of Law or Courts the Benches may continue as they are though some more Judges be added in most Courts and some Eclesiastical persons among them as in the Saxon times Comes praesidebat foro Comitatus non solus sed adjunctus Episcopo hic ut jus divinum ille ut hnmanum diceret alterque alteri anxilio esset Consilio Praesertim Episcopus Comiti nam in hunc illi annimadvertere saepe licuit errantem cohibere Idem igitur utrique territorium jurisdictionis terminus Glossarium in Comes pag. 111. The Bishop and Earl of the County were joint Magistrates in every Shire and did assist each other in all Causes and Courts and so Mr. Selden in his History cap. 14. Sect. 1. By this means there was great union and harmony between all judges and officers whereas now there is great contention for jurisdiction and intollerable clashing in all Courts by Injunctions prohibitions Consultations and crosse orders to the great Vexation of the Clients and Subjects And by multiplying several Courts the number of Lawyers is greatly increased as Lord Cook sheweth 4. Instit. p. 76. Where he gives divers reasons of the increase of Suits in Law and in the same Book reckoneth up no lesse then 74. Courts of Law and justice of all sorts in the Kingdome besides the Ecclesiastical Courts Which are not many for the number and had little businesse to do when they were in greatest power For commonly two or three proctors were enough to dispatch the businesse of any Bishops Court without Advocates But in the Courts of Common Law there is a farâ— greater number of Lawyers in these times whereas there was but an 140. Lawyers and Attorneys appointed by that Martial and Legislative King Edw. 2. When he distinguished the Courts and appointed the number of Lawyers and Attorneys for the whole Kingdome whereof the Writ is referred unto by Lord Cook 4. Instit. pag. 76. But the writ it self is put down by Spelman in his Glossary pag. 44. 58. Sed hodie forte in uno Comitatu tot solummodo Atlornati reperiantur But the Division and Separation of the Ecclesiastical Courts from the Temporal seems to have proceeded first from Pope Nicholas the first as is mentioned in Gratian. Com. Cum ad verum 96. Distinct. about two hundred years before the Conquest which was imitated among us by William the Conquerour whose Statute for that purpose is recited and illustrated by Spelman in his Glossary and lately also published by Mr. Selden and Lord Cook 4. Instit. c. 52. So that as the Pope hath been the Authour of much evill in the World oftentimes so in this particular when he came to the height of his greatnesse having de facto the Supremacy in all Ecclesiastical matters he made the Clergy subject only to himself and his Deputies and Legates and such officers as he sent among us But at length Hen. 8. Contested with the Pope and recovered the Supremacy of his Crown though it cost much blood and opposition in his time But he having recovered it and it being approved by Parliament it is fully setled upon the King and vested in his Crown And as Lord Cook saith 4. Instit. pag. 331. His Majesty hath and Queen Elizabeth before him had as great and ample Supremacy and Iurisdiction Ecclesiastical as ever King of England had before them and that had justly and rightly pertained to them by divers other Acts and by the ancient Laws of England if the Clause of annexation in the said Statute of 1 Eliz. had never been inserted Wherefore the Speech of Iohn Pym as in Rushworths Collections 4. Caroli That the Supremacy was given by parliament to the Crown and as he seemeth to understand it may be taken away by parliament is a dangerous opinion not to be endured Lord Cook saith 4. Instit. pag. 325. The Act 1. Eliz is an Act of Restitution not a gift meerly given which was not formerly due and belonging to the jurisdiction of the Crown If therefore the King hath his Supremacy vested in his Crown so firmly and is Custos ntriusque Tabulae by the Word of God as the Arch-bishop sheweth Then this Ecclesiastical Head must be allowed to have some Ecclesiastical Sences to be consulted withal excellently learned and principal persons of the Clergy And as he addeth truly If Cranmer the Arch-bishop had been thus dealt withal and suppressed in the minority of our young Iosias Ed. 6. What had become of the great work of our Reformation and also if Ridley Latimer Hooper and the rest of the protestant Bishops Martyrs afterwards had been set aside and neglected the Reformation could not have been effected Therefore unlesse the King have good choice of Ecclesiastical persons excellently Learned Bishops both in the ancient Councels Fathers Histories and Controversies and in Canon and Civil Laws requisite to determine of great difficulties that will continually happen in the Church whereof the Conusance belongeth to the Spiritualty as Lord Cook sheweth out of the Statute 25. H. 8. cap. 21. and commendeth them for their Knowledge Integrity and Sufficiency and if so then much more at this day I saith Coke When all kind of Learning is eminently advanced to an higher
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