DE JVRE VNIFORMITATIS ECCLESIASTICAE OR Three Books OF THE RIGHTS Belonging to an UNIFORMITY in CHURCHES IN WHICH The chief things of the Lawes of Nature and Nations and of the Divine Law concerning the Consistency of the Ecclesiastical Estate with the Civil are unfolded ET EXCUTIT ICTIBUS IGNEM By HUGH DAVIS LL. B. Late Fellow of New-Colledge in Oxford and now Chaplain to the Lord Duke of BUCKINGHAM LONDON Printed by S. Simmons and to be sold by T. Helder at the Angel in Little Brittain and S. Lowndes over against Exeter house in the Strand 1669. To the HIGH and MIGHTY PRINCE CHARLES the II. By the Grace of God KING of Great Brittain France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. EXCELLENT SOVERAIGN WHile your Great Affairs are prosperously managing both abroad and at home behold here I present this Book as one meanes in its kind toward the settlement of the Peace of your Kingdomes The Rights of an Ecclesiastical Vniformity have been many times debated in the World with Fire and Sword And Your Kingdomes have been of late through the debates concerning them the dire Field of Blood Which Rights because it is of so great moment both to all Divine and Humane Affairs that they should be duely stated and because they have never yet been stated by any I have therefore here adventur'd the stating of them and that according to the evident dictates of the Lawes of Nature and Nations and of the Divine Lawes concerning them and as they make to the preserving and promoting the Publick and standing welfare both of Religion and Government and the Consistency of Religion with Government the Principal and Fundamental matters of all Humane Societies And I have made a search into the frame and fabrick of all Humane Affaires and have unravel'd the transactions of the former and present Ages of the Churches both of the Jewes and Gentiles Christians and Mahometans for the doing of it And I here Dedicate it particularly to the Peace of Your Majesties Kingdomes at least so far forth as a Book may be a means for the procuring the Publick Peace and where it may meet with men either of Reason or Conscience and not of furious Ignorance or temporal Interests Behold Great Prince I Present it at your feet most Humbly craving leave that I may light this Candle at the Sun and draw a Lustre upon this Discourse from Your Majesties Soveraign Patronage Herodotus relates it of Midas In Clio paulo post princip That of all things he chose to offer at Delphos his Regal Chair in which he was wont to sit and give Laws to his Kingdom It is because this Book concerns these great matters of Law and Publick Right that I presume to offer it thus in Duty to Your Majesty What the Church Historian tells the Excellent Emperour Theodosius Sozomen In Praefat. ad Imperatorem Theodosium That it was said of him that he spent the day and night in Councels and Causes in looking after his Religious and Civil and Military Affairs The like is said of Your Majesty that You are at all times ready at Your Councels and Deliberations That You go abroad to Visit Your Garrisons and Navies and that You spend your time in looking after the setling the Church and State the Charge committed to you by God May Religion and your Majesties Government long flourish together in your Dominions that the Divine Blessing may accompany you and there may never be wanting one to Sit upon the Throne of your Fathers so long as the Sun and Moon shall endure YOVR SACRED MAJESTIES Most Humble and most Obedient Subject Hugh Davis TO THE High Court OF PARLIAMENT AND To the rest of the Subjects of the KING of GREAT BRITTAINS Dominions THE Subject-matters of this Book Most Noble and Generous Patriots contain the summe and substance of Humane Affairs and which concerne the Peace and Tranquillity of the Dominions of Princes And they are those also which are now upon the Wheele and more particularly and principally in agitation amongst us like Balls of Fire thrown to and fro in the mid'st of us You have more then once Determin'd concerning them And Your determinations claime this Direction and Submission of them to you And the more peculiar respects which they bear to the occasions of his Majesties Subjects the like Direction of them also to them I have endeavour'd the impartial stating of them according to the dictates of the three sorts of Laws currant amongst men And where our Affairs Domestick have more particularly occurr'd have avoided what I could the intermixing with the Heats and Passions of the Times I do not presume in the least in these things Honourable and Renowned SENATOURS to interpose in your Great and Publick Councels those Soveraigne Balmes of ENGLAND Nor to undertake to instruct many of the able and sufficient minds of others those more Ethereal and Celestial Beings amongst men But only if it may be for Information if for Satisfaction where there is Occasion for the giving of it I have adventur'd the Representing of those great matters which do so highly concerne the Establishment and Preservation of the Peace of Your Country and of all Humane Societies THE PROLEGOMENA TO THE Three Books ENSUING DIverse have written of the diverse sorts of Laws amongst men Of the Laws of Nature and Nations and of the Divine Laws And that both more generally and particularly Diverse also have applyed those Laws diversly And that both in respect to the Civil and Ecclesiastical part of Humane Affairs But none yet hath applyed them to the Rights of an Ecclesiastical Vniformity viz. those of the Prince the Priest and the People belonging to it Nor digested those Rights into any due connexion and order viz. as they make to the preserving and promoting the publick welfare both of Religion and Government and the Consistency of Religion with Government And yet scarce any thing next to the Divine Law it self is of greater moment to Humane Societies Right is the Publick Cement of all Humane Affairs and that which all men contend about and expect even from God himself And Religion and Government and their mutual consistency are the things primarily fundamental to the very being and welfare of all Humane Societies besides what respects they have to another world Wherefore Plato calls In Gorgiā prope fin all preparations both of War and Peace which are made in a City Toys if Justice and Temperance be not preserved in it In Hercule furent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 paulò post princip And Amphitryo in Euripides cryes out to Jupiter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But dost thou not know how to save thy Friends Either thou art an unskilful God or else thou art not just And Cicero in his Books of Laws Nihil tam aptum est ad jus conditionemque naturae quam Imperium sine quo nec Domus ulla nec Civitas nec Gens
nec hominum Vniversorum Genus stare nec Rerum Natura omnis nec ipse Mundus potest There is nothing is so suitable to the Right and condition of Nature as Government without which neither any private Family nor City nor Nation nor all Mankind nor yet the whole nature of things nor the very world it self can subsist R. Simeon in Pirke Avoth Cap. 4. Talmud L. Jucasin Fol. 13. Plaut Pers 5. And the Jewes Celebrate a three-fold Crown which made Israel to flourish The Crown of the Law and of the King and of the Priest And the acute Comedian Quid id quod vidisti ut munitum muro tibi visu ' st oppidum c. What is that thou sawest which seemed to be like a Town fortified with a wall P. If the Inhabitants be well manner'd I think it to be very well fortified If Perfidiousness and Theft and Covetousness be banished out of the City If the fourth thing Envie the fifth Ambition the sixth Slander The seventh Perjury T. Ha well said P. The eight Idleness The Ninth Oppression and the Tenth the worst of wickedness Vnless these things be absent from it an hundred-fold wall will be but a small matter for the preservation of it's Affairs In the Kingdome of Israel God himself distributed those Rights of an Uniformity amongst the several Estates And that at diverse times and in diverse manners according to the several occasions of that Society But yet there are no foot-steps to be found of any Humane Collection that ever was made of them The first Governments of Greece were fetch'd from other Countries but most of all from Egypt which was then of most Fame and Note for learning and wisdom and the better ordering of mankind and whether all who would be men of Renown were wont first to Travel and from whence the Aegyptians boast that Moses the Hebrew and Orpheus and Homer and Lycurgus and Solon and the other men of Fame of those times derived their Knowledge And the like is to be said of the Roman State that the most ancient setled Laws of the Ten Tables afterwards made Twelve in the time of the first Consuls were fetch'd from Greece Placuit Publica Authoritate D. De Origine Jur. L. 2. ¶ Exoctis sayes Pomponius decem constitui viros per quos peterentur Leges a Graecis Civitatibus That it was thought fit that Ten men should be appointed by Publick Authority by whom Laws should be fetch'd from the Cities of Greece And in the remainders of the many excellent both Greek and Romane Writers of several sorts there are diverse of the Rights of an Ecclesiastical Uniformity and of the matters relating to them dispersedly mentioned especially those belonging to the Prince and Priest But yet none of them as reduced to their certain Title or head of things nor under the notion of such Rights so belonging to such Persons and as concerned in such an Uniformity Last of all in the Christian Church all Canons of Councels Bodies of Lawes Ecclesiastical Histories Systemes of Civil Policy and the like are full of the recitals and assertions of them and the things belonging to them also but yet still not under their specifical Notion and there are many defences which have been made of the Doctrine of the several subdivided Professions and many Rationales which have been written upon Liturgies both in the Roman and other Churches And several Irenicums which have been occasionally published especially in the European Churches late called Reformed But all these things or any other the like either in the Christian or Mahometan communion have not reached the common occasions of Churches nor given the last and general grounds for pacification And the interiors belonging to the explication of the Rights of an Ecclesiastical Uniformity especially of those on the peoples part have never yet been touch'd upon by any And these then are those Rights which are here unfolded and stated according to the dictates of the several sorts of Laws mentioned and digested into their due Connexion and Order This then being the more general matter of this work the manner of handling it is accordingly When we inscribe it of the Consistency of the Ecclesiastical estate with the Civil or of Religion with the Government which is all one it is because that is the thing which we do most principally and designedly treat of The welfare both of Religion and Government as separately and singly taken being suppos'd to it and as alwayes co-incident with it And the consistency of Government with Religon being touch'd upon but by the by And when we entitle it Of the Rights belonging to an Vniformity in Churches it is because such an Uniformity in some kind of it or other is the necessary and only means for the effecting and preserving of that Consistency of Religion with Government and the Rights belonging to such an Uniformity are the bounds within which all ought to acquiess for that effecting and preserving of it which when they are Transgressed and Invaded either by the Prince on his part then either the Priest or People are injured or else by the Priest or People on their parts then there is undutifulness and Rebellion practis'd towards the Prince and mutual Religious Feuds are created and contested amongst the People Et ruptis inter se Legibus Vrbes Arma ferunt So that it is very much for the Common peace and welfare of all affairs amongst men that those Rights be duely stated and unfolded both on the Prince's part and in order to his affording the Priest and People their due and also on the Priest and People's parts and in order to their enjoyment of and acquiescence under the Liberties both external and internal belonging to them And the work it self then is accordingly divided into three Books to each of them being assigned it 's proper subject matter In the first Book after the explications and distinctions of things laid down which are common to the whole I have treated of the Divine Original both of Religion and Government which things being so primarily Fundamental to the whole body of this Discourse I did suppose that men would expect a rational account of them And I have treated of them more immediatly and principally in order to the stating the Consistency of Religion with Government in the general and whose charge and Right the Tuition of all three of them viz. of Religion and Government and the consistency of Religion with Government is And within the compass of these things there are many things co-incident with them which are common to the whole And as to Religion in my discoursing over the distinction of true and false particularly I have laid down the general grounds of all Religions And as to Government I have done one thing remarkeable and that is I have absolutely denied the Jus ad arma the right of rising in Armes and particularly in defence of matters of Religion and in
with it He said that in Scotland he was a King without State and that he was kept as a Ward by the Puritans there That he was without Honour without Order and brav'd to his face by every beardless Boy of the Ministers That if the same Presbitery that was in Scotland should come into England it would agree as well with Monarchy as God with the Devil And then Jack and Tom and Will and Dick said he meaning the Lay Elders of the Consistories p. 79. even in very pittiful Country Parish shall meet and at their pleasures censure me and my Councel and all our proceedings Then Will shall stand up and say it shall be thus Then Dick shall reply and say No marry But we will have it thus And therefore here said he I must once again reiterate my former Speech Le Roy S'avisevá Stay I pray you for one seven years before you demand that of me It is not for no cause then that the bringing in of this Government hath been so much opposed by the late Kings of England See the first second Admonitions and a Directory of Church Government found in the study of Mr. Cartwright And the reformation of Discipline c used in the Engl. Church at Geneva who are bound both to God and their People and as their Established Government is both their Right and their Charge not to part with those Rights with which God hath invested them for the common welfare and especially since the Government endeavoured would turn their Scepter into a straw and the hand that wields it into the hand of a child Let the form of the Government as it hath been published under several hands be consulted Let its parity of Ministers it s deferring particular affairs of Congregations to the wild body of the People in them but the Ministers having a superintendency over them in the mean time be considered of and whither these and the like things do tend The common saying is to the setting up of a Pope in every Parish And the Government order of the Church of Scotland And Ley's Platform of the Government called Presbyterial And the form of Church government agreed upon by the Lords and Commons An. 1648 compared with certain considerations and cautions agreed upon by the Ministers of Lond. and Westminst See the discipline of the Dutch Churches and the Laws and Statutes c. See Pro. Dr. Whitgift's Answer to the Admonition to the Parliament Con Cartwright's reply made to him Pro. Dr. Whitgifts Defence of his Answer Con. Mr. Cartwrite's second reply to it Pro. The Bp. of Rochester's Sermon concerning the Antiquity superiority of Bps. at Hampton Court and the perpetual Government of the Church by Tho. Bilson and Bp. Halls Episcopacy by Divine Right And Episcopacy asserted by Jer. Taylor c. Con. Bayne's Diocesan's Tryal and assertion of the Government of the Church of Scotland Edit 1641. And the Lord Brook against Episcopacy 42. And Rutherfords Plea for Pauls Presbytery 42. c. C. De Legib. constitutionibus L. qui Imperatore D. De recept Arbitris L. non distinguimus ¶ Sacerdotio obveniente ubi Paulus And then by that opportunity will be given the weaknesses of some men and the corruptions of others being considered to those who by wit and cunning can outstrip the rest to divide the Empire amongst them And whither such Latitudes and Confusions may tend in the end who can foresee The Magistrates hands being manacl'd and the Ecclesiastical person being so independent upon him they that can out-strip the rest may turn into a Conclave and he that can out-strip them into an Universal Pope at last if he will If the instances of Presbitery practised in other Countries be made against these things and how they have consisted with the State it is evident that there are none such practised neither in the Low Countries nor at Geneva nor elsewhere as in the particulars up and down in this Discourse mentioned have been proposed for England And yet not any one of the patterns for England hath attained the general liking of its friends neither And then what will be the end of these things who can foresee Last of all as to the present established Episcopacy in England the controversie concerning it as well as that concerning the Ceremonies hath been also largely handled The many writings both Pro Con concerning it may be seen And so far forth as the order and office of Episcopacy in the general is concern'd in this Discourse and an Ecclesiastical Uniformity as we have spoken of it heretofore so also we shall speak of it hereafter And if the concession of Baronies to the persons of those that discharge the Episcopal function in England be thought much of what reason is there why the King should not have his Church-men and the Clergy their part in Parliament And this also the particular constitution of the Government of England being considered The Emperour Leo in the Civil Law calls the Superiour Clergy-men Ecclesiae Defensores The Defenders of the Church And all Laws and Countries have ordinarily ever priviledged Church-men beyond others if it were but for Gods sake to whose Service they are more particularly devoted and for the Honour of Religions sake which ought alwayes to be supported Sacerdotio obveniente sayes Paulus in his Digests Videamus an cogatur arbiter sententiam dicere Id enim non tantum honori personarum sed Majestati Dei indulgetur cujus sacris vacare Sacerdotes oportet The Priesthood coming in the way let us see whether the Vmpire be constrained to pronounce Sentence For that is not only indulg'd to the Honour of their persons but also to the Majesty of God whose service it behoves the Priests to be at leasure for And it was Padre Paulo's complaint concerning the Affairs of Venice That the Common Wealth See the History of the Inquisition Cap. 28. See Hist of the Counc of Trent Fol. 721. as well as other Catholick Kingdoms found it self between two Contraries the Protestants who had no other aim but to diminish Ecclesiastical Authority and the Court of Rome which would too much encrease it and make the Temporal her Servant In the last place as to those in any Society whatsoever that cry out in these latter times to have every punctilio in the mode of the exercise of Church Government reduc'd to what they do at uncertainties fancy to have been heretofore Apostolical they are to be answered as Laynez in the Tridentine Councel answered perhaps truly concerning some things in the Court of Rome That many did call those things abuses which if they were examined and sounded to the bottom would be found to be either necessary or profitable And that some would make the Sea of Rome to be as it was in the time of the Apostles and the Primitive Church without distinguishing the times not knowing what doth belong to those and what to these