de Tribu Levitica And if these could not determine the businesse in question thenthey did appeale to the Sanhedrim at Ierusalem When David was old and neare his death he appoynted Solomon to be king after him and caused a Parliament of all Israel to be assembled wherein he gathered together all the Princes of Israel with the Priests and Levites 1. Chron 24. 1 2. In this great Parliament the Priests and Levites were not omitted nor in any Court of Iustice in that kingdome For as it is vers. 4. there were sixe thousand of them appointed Officers and Iudges throughoutthe land of Israel Which is the thing that now many of our common people doe much dislike not well induring a few Iustices of peace to be of the Clergy whereas wee have the example of David guided and directed by the spirit of God as the text saith 1. Chron. 28. 12 13 19. so disposing and ordering the Levites that he appointed some for the outward businesse over Israel for Officers and Iudges A thousand and seven hundred were Officers of Israel on this side Iordan in all busines of the Lord and in the seruice of the King This text is very plaine to prove that the same man may be employed in Ecclesiasticall matters of the Church as also in the Kings service So verse 32. David appointed two thousand and seven hundred chiefe Fathers to bee Rulers of the Reubenites Gadites the halfe Tribe of Manasses who were beyond Jordan for every matter pertaining to God and affayres of the king And cap. 26. 14. Zecharias a Levite is commended for a wise Counsellour But that now any of the Tribe of Levi should be Counsellours Iudges or Officers unto Princes is accounted by some an unlawfullthing or at least not very commendable whereas wee see by this very law and direction of king David thatthe Levites might attend businesse belonging to the worship and service of God and instruction of the people as also the publike service affayres of the King and State And so the Commentaries doe affirme as Lavater in cap. 23. per civitates provincias judicia Ecclesiastica civilia exercuerunt Non omnes qui consolatione doctrinâ indigebant potuerunt Hierosolymam venire multi quotidie docendi et erigendi erant fuerunt igitur passim qui eos docuerunt Habuerunt autem illi sub se alios quoque Vacabant sacris literis alios instituebant et causas juxta legem divinam decernebant In cap. 24. sic Petr. Martyr in 2. Reg. cap. 11. Neither will it hinderthe study of divinity or care of preaching the Gospell if some fit men be imployed sometimes in the government of the publique for the well ordering of the publique and preservation of peace and justice will more advance the Gospell and abundantly countervaile some intermission of preaching which cannot possibly be so continually attended but that there will be some hinderances not only by sicknesse and private businesses of ones family and estate but also by publique Meetings Convocations Synods and such generall Assemblies Besides the Commonwealth and Church is a mixt government and consisteth of all manner of persons of infinitly severall conditions and trades and courses oflife and seeing the Clergy are mingled among them and infinitly intangled especially of late dayes being made subject which they were not before to all temporall lawes suits arrests executions imprisonments impositions taxes charges and subsidies it is but reasonable that the Clergy should have some of their owne tribe in place of judicature and office to see the inferiour membersdefended and faire carriage shewed to them Aristotle saith lib. 3. polit. cap. 1. Civis nulla re aliâ magis definitur quà m participatione judicij ac magistratûs Whosoever are citizens in a Commonwealth meaning properly citizens and of the better sort not labourers porters strangers or aliens they ought to have voyce and suffrage and to be capable of Magistracy and office if they shall be found worthy and fit for it by any excellent parts of learning knowledge and wisdome Wherein the Clergy have some opportunity to excell others and often doe goe beyond the ordinary sort of men that are not bred up in learning Arts and Sciences And as Sr Francis Bacon observes out of the ancient Roman law there belongs to every subject certaine common rights and priviledges which cannot be taken from any of them 1. Ius civitatis 2. Ius connubij 3. Ius suffragii 4. Ius petitionis or Ius Honorum These foure ordinary rights and freedomes are by the customes and originall principles of humane societies due to all citizens of quality such as ever the Clergy have been esteemed and still ought to be if men will professe themselves to be true Christians indeed and to honour the messengers and Embassadours of our Saviour Christ whom he hath appointed to instruct and governe his Church and people The Pope deprived his Clergy of the two former rights by accounting them separate and exempt from the common lawes of all kingdomes and forbidding marriage to them And now our zealous professours would deprive our Clergy of the two later priviledges the right of voyce and suffrage in all principall businesses and the right of honour and office whereof they would make them uncapable and render them base and equall only to the inferiour multitude and scumme of the people XV If the Clergy might now enjoy those ancient priviledges which are mentioned in scripture as Genes 47. of Pharaoh who in the time of famine and great extreamity spared the Priests lands and allowed them their portion so that they sold not their lands then men might talke of applying their studies and meddling with no common or worldly busines Artaxerxes the Persian king EZra 7. 24. commanded that for all the Priests and Levites and Ministers of the house of God it should not be lawfull to impose toll tribute or custome upon them Whereas now the Clergy being made subject to the most sort of payments charges and impositions in a greater proportion commonly then other men it is but requisite that some of the Clergy should have voyce and suffrage in the lawes that are enacted for their government and taxation XVI Besides the course of lawes and government is not much altered from what was in those dayes when holy Fathers spake of wholy applying themselves to prayers and sacred studies and diligent preaching of the Gospell as if they were to doe nothing else not so much as to provide bread or necessaries for their families for then they lived most part single in Colledges and Monasteries and societies under the Bishops where all provisions were made by Stewards and Officers appointed for the purpose so that their cares in all those respects were lessened and abated much that they might apply their studies only and forsake all worldly businesse which now they cannot forgoe being secular and parochiall Ministers married men and thereby charged with children and
being the same in degree and substance as Barons are now Whereof the learned Glossary maketh three sorts Hodiernos itaque nostros Barones è triplici fonte triplices faciamus 1. Feodales seu praescriptitios qui à priscis feodalibus Baronibus orundi suam hodiè praescriptione tuentur dignitatem 2. Evocatos seu Rescriptitios qui brevi Regio evocantur ad Parliamentum 3. Diplomaticos qui Regio diplomate hoc fastigium ascendunt Feodalium origineminter eos collocavero quibus Willielmus senior Angliam totam dispertitus est de se tenendam quorumque nomina in Domesdei paginis recognovit Rescriptitios ab aevo Regum Iohannis Henrici tertij caput extalisse censeo Diplomaticos initium sumpsisse perhibent sub Richardo secundo qui anno regni sui 8. 1. Christi 1387. Iohannem Beauchampe de Holte in Baronem de Kiderminster suo erexit diplomate Now the Bishops may be reckoned both as Feudall Barons in regard of their estates and Baronies annexed to their Bishopricks And also they are Evocati summoned as Barons and principall persons by the Kings writ unto Parliaments But so were not all the Feudall Barons quorum ingens erat multitudo quae plus minus 30000. millia nullo lecto convocari poterat Saith the learned Antiquary page 79. And as not all the Feudall Barons so not all the Abbots and Priors but a convenient number sometimes more and sometimes lesse as in 49. Henr. 3. there were called to Parliament one hundred and two besides five Deanes Anno 1. Ed. 2. there were 56. Abbats Anno 4. Ed. 3. about 33. and at other times more or lesse yet not so few as the Examiner relateth out of Sr Ed. Cooke page 33. who though he wereagreatmaster of Law yet in matters of Antiquity must yieldtothe Authour of the Glossary Whom you may consult page 4. VII The Examiner might have done well to have observed this distinction and difference of Barons it being extant so long since before he had taken the boldnesse to talke so poorely of the Baronies of Bishops to whom William the Conquerour did not adde much to endeere them For he restrained them in many things using the power of a Conquerour and took away much from them For before his time they had part in fines and mulcts and power of coyning money as appeares by the lawes of king AEthelstan de monetariis pag. 399. and many other places But these were soone after reserved to the Crowne as principall prerogatives And till the councell of Clarendon under Hen. 2. the Clergy and Bishops enjoyed many more freedomes and priviledges which then were abated and much diminished about which contention Thomas Becket opposed the king which the learned Glossary sheweth page 82 Episcopi autem barones dici videntur propter nominis dignitatem non quòd vassalagium pendebant aut seculare servitium Hoc enim nostratibus jugum injecit amnium primus Willielmus senior An. Grat. 1070 ut in eodem tradit Matth. Paris Auxit magnopere Willielmus junior ut in historiola Ducum Normania in LL. Edwardi confess c.11. Sed post varias Collectationes aterno rebore domùm confirmavit Henr. 2 Anno Dom. 1164. in magno concilio Clarendonia habito praesidente eidem ex ipsius mandato sacellano suo Iohanne de Oxonia praesentibusque Archiepiscopis Episcopis Abbatibus Prioribus Comitibus Baronibus Regni in hunc tonorem So that the Bishops besides that they are called by the kings writ to Parliament and thereby have the same right that others have yet since the Conquest they may be reckoned also among the Feudall Barons 〈…〉 ejus in respect de leur possessions S. L' auncient Barones annexes a leur dignites Whereas therefore the Examiner saith pag. 45. albeit the Bishops are usually said to hold of the king per Baroniam Yet this happily may be meant rather of the Honour affixed to their plaees which works it up into a dignity then of the lands pertaining to them This is but grosse ignorance for like feudall Barons suas sortiuntur Baronias solâ fundorum in vestitur â. In like manner I take it as the Earles of Arondell both formerly and of late being possessed of the Castle of Arondell Honour and Seignory without other consideration or creation to be an Earle became Earles of Arondell and the name state and Honour of the Earle of Arondell peaceably enjoyed As Cambden relateth out of the Parliament Rolls in Sussex VIII Further the Examiner saith that the Bishops ought not to have the same legislative power as the Temporall Barons because these are for their sonnes and heires and the others for their successours only This objection is frivolous because the Bishops are as carefull for the preservation of the publique wherein standeth the safety of themselves and their successours as any Temporall Lords can be and perhaps the more because temporall Lords doe often fall into great wantand poverty selling sometimes thevery head of their Baronies and so may become very obnoxious and also ambitious to recouer and rayse themselves to higher Honours titles or offices whereas the Bishops move not much higher though they may get a better Bishoprick which is not so great a temptation asto make them forget themselves or the trust reposedin them but rather layes a greater obligation on them IX Lastly whereas the Examiner saith the Bishops are Barones eleemosynarij and would thence inferre that they are but as arbitrary almsemen like the poore Knights of Windsor which may be abated or taken away at pleasure This is but a spightfull inference upon the bare word eleemosyna without the truesense of it For as the learned Glossary sheweth Barones eleemosynarij apud Stanfordum in jure nostro dicuntur Archiepiscopi Episcopi Abbates Priores qui praedia suae Ecclesiae à Rege tenent per Baroniam Baronias enim suas ex eleemosyna Regū perhibentur accepisse licèt ipsa praedia aliorum saepe munificentiâ consequuti fuerint And sometimes not only by the gift of other noble persons but also themselves did buy and purchase many Mannours and Lands conferring them on their successours being so bought they cannot in justice be taken away as if all had been given by the King and others as meere almes X. Further it is not to be forgotten that the Kings and Benefactours who gave lands didlay heavy burdens curses and imprecations upon any that should everattemptto alilenate thē And touching the nature of these curses and imprecations when lands are thus devoted unto God much might be said to affrighten any one from attempting it Levit. 27. 28. No devoted thing might be sold or redeemed every devoted thing is most holy unto the Lord For when things are once promised consecrated and confirmed unto God it is not afterwards lawfull to take them away as peter told Ananias Acts 5. Who had given or at least made a shew to give
Praepositus aut minister Regis nec aliquis Laicus homo de legibus quae ad Episcopum pertinent se intromittat nec aliquis laicus homo alium hominem sine justitia Episcopi ad judicium adducat Iudicium verò in nullum locum portetur nisi in Episcopali sede aut in illo loco quem ad hoc Episcopus constituerit And the punishment for disobedience to the Ecclesiasticall Iudges was much alike as formerly was enacted under the Saxon Kings As by King Alured Si quis Dei rectitudines aliquas disforciet reddat Lashlite cum Dacis Witam cum Anglis And the same law is afterwards confirmed and renewed by King Canutus by other Kings whereby it appeares how before the Conquest and likewise after for a long time the authority and jurisdiction of the Church was maintained and upheld by the setled lawes of the Kingdome How they had power in their Courts to excomunicate and further by the helpe of the King and the Sheriffe to proceed against stubborne offendors and such asopposed or contemned their authority so that here is the present practise and law confirmed by many hundred yeares continuance And this is according to that which Iustinian saith of all spirituall causes in the Novell 123. si pro criminal si Ecclesiasticum negotium sit nullam communionem habento civiles Magistratus cum ea disceptatione sed religiosissimi Episcopi negotio finem imponunto If it be an Ecclesiasticall suite let the civill Magistrates have nothing to doe there with that plea but let the Bishops end it Whereby it appeares that Prohibitions from the temporall courts were not then allowable which certainly came not into use till after the Councell of Clarendon under Hen. 2. Wherein the Clergy were inforced to appeare in the temporall Courts one Canon thereof being Clerici accusati de quacunque re summoniti à Iustitiario Regis veniant in Curiam responsuri ibidem de hoc unde videbitur Curiae Regis quid ibi sit respondendum et in Curia Ecclesiastica unde videbitur quod ibi sit respondendum Ita quod Regis Iustitiarius mittet in Curiam sanctae Ecclesiae ad videndum quo modo res ibi tractabitur Et 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 Councell Matth Paris doth sharply inveigh against them Hancrecognitionem sive recordationem de consuetudinibus et libertatibus iniquis et dignitatibus Deo detestabilibus Archiepiscopi Episcopi et Clerus cum Comitibus Baronibus et proceris juraverunt And as he addeth His itaque gestis potestas laica in res et personas Ecclesiasticas omnia pro libitu Ecclesiastico jure contempto tacentibus aut vix murmurantibus Episcopis potius quà m resistentibus usurpabant And this appeareth also by that which Mr Selden relateth in his notes upon Eadmer pag. 168. that long after in Ed. 1. time the Clergy had so many oppositions and hinderances in their proceedings from the temporall Courts that they exhibited a petitionin Parliament wherein they recitethe grant and Constitution of Will 1. allowing them their owne Courts by themselves and specify their complaints particularly which hecalleth Gravamina Ecclesiae Anglicanae and saith they arethose mentioned in the Proeme of Articuli cleri And in this age we have great cause to complaine of Prohibitions but whereof I will say no more now as for the temporall Courts the Conquerour appointed them to follow his Court Royall which custome continued for many yeares till under King Iohn at the instant request of the Nobility it was granted Vt communia placita non sequentur curiam 1. Regis Sed in loco certo tenerentur That the Courts of Iustice for common pleas should not follow the Kings Court Royall but be held in a place certaine as now commonly they are in Westminster Hall Whereas before the Kings appointed one Grand-Lord chiefe Iustice of all England who for his authority and power was a greater Officer both of State and Iustice then any in these last Ages ever since that Office was diminished by King Ed. 1. and most of those great Iustices were Bishops till at length the Pope forbad it XXIIII But the Courts being now divided in the kingdome many hundred yeares the Ancient manner is forgotten and unknowne save only to the learned and the scarres of the Norman Conquest are so overgrowne that few men are sensible what reliques of slavery doe still remaine 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 Conqueror and continued by his successours the Temporall Courts in processe of time grew too powerfull for the Ecclesiasticall and by their Injunctions and prohibitions stopt many proceedings especially after the Councell of Clarendon under Hen. 2. Wherein the power of the Clergy was much abated And all Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction so crushed that it continued lame ever after although the Clergy by appeales to Rome did oftentimes help themselves and much molest their adversaries At length under Hen. 8. upon his breach with the Pope the Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction was much abridged and restrained in very many particulars and reduced to a narrow compasse becoming much more subject and obnoxious to the Injunctions orders and prohibitions of all the Temporall Courts that now I marvell that any should complaine or envy at their power or greatnes there being no cause of any value or moment but by one order or other isdrawne from them to the Temporall Courts And now at last there want not some that would have all Ecclesiasticall Authority and Iurisdiction either wholy suppressed from the first Court to the last or at least so abated mingled or changed that what forme or force of government shall be left remaining seems very uncertaine But if Presbyteries and such like consistories of the forraigne 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 ofso many lawes and customes and of the common law it selfe whereby the kingdome hath been governed so many yeares and setled in peace and all mens estates and lands held in certaine possession For such great and universall changes as will follow upon the dissolution of the Hierarchy and taking away their votes in Parliament and other eminent parts of government will produce such ill events and troublesome distractions as will not be pacified within the compasse of any mans life now in being Which I heartily pray God to prevent and by his good spirit so to direct and blesse the endeavours and counsells of the supreame Court of Iustice now assembled that all our feares and doubts may bee quieted and the voice of peace and truth restored to our dwellings