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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	aaron_n	child_n	father_n	27	3	4.9794	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61451	An apology for the ancient right and power of the bishops to sit and vote in parliaments ... 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.	Stephens, Jeremiah, 1591-1665.; Davenant, John, ca. 1572-1641.; Williams, John, 1582-1650.; Newark, David Leslie, Baron, d. 1682.	1660 (1660)	Wing S5446; ESTC R18087	87,157	146

God as they pronounced or prescribed Thus the reverend and Learned Bishop Bilson in his perpetual Government cap. 4. Besides in every City there were private and peculiar Rulers 21. in number as Iosephus saith and also to every Magistracy in those Cities there was allotted two of the Tribe of Levi for assistance as Iosephus witnesseth and if those could not determine the bus●nesse then they did appeal to the great Council And so Grotius sheweth most accurately upon Mat. 5. 21. Now God appointed these offices and dignities and power of Judicature to the Priests and Levites besides their attendance upon Gods service and the Course of every Priest and Levite was but one Week in half a year to attend at the Temple as Iosephus and Scaliger and Selianus doth shew with other accurate Chronologers so that beside their attendance upon Gods Service they had time and leisure enough to be helpful in the Government of the Kingdome Yea sometimes the principal Judges were chosen out of the Tribe of Levi as at the beginning of their Common-wealth Moses himself of that Tribe the greatest prophet prince that ever was among them So after in succeeding times Ely the high Priest was made Judge in his time So also Samuel a Levite was cheif Judge in Israel as 1 Sam. 7. 15. who judged Israel all the dayes of his life And he went from year to year in circuit to Bethell and Gilgal and Mispeh and judged Israel in all those places much alike as our judges do go their Circuits every year throughout the Land p. 17. And his return was to Ramah for there was his House and there he judged Israel and there he built an Altar to the Lord. And his three Sons after him Samuel made them being Levites Iudges over Israel though they did not walk in their Fathers ways but turned aside after lucre and took bribes and perverted judgement After the Captivity of Babylon for some 500 years till the coming of Christ the Priesthood had the greatest stroke in the Government As Ezra the Priest and brother to Iesus the high priest that returned from the Captivity whose memory is honourable among the righteous as learned Montague sheweth against Selden pag. 377. He had Commission from the Persian Emperor Artaxerxes to govern and order the Controversie Ezra 7. 12 25. and gave him authority to set Magistrates and judges which might judge the people and power to execute the laws of God and the King pag. 26. and to inflict punishments unto death or banishment or to confiscation of goods or imprisonment So that Ezra had great authority and full power given him and his worthy Acts are there recorded So afterwards under the Maehabees who were priests the Common-wealth was governed and it pleased God to make that Family victorious as any other almost that ever governed that Common-wealth as Sir Walter Raleigh sheweth lib. 2. cap. 15. If thus it were anciently among the chosen people of God why then should any in these dayes be so much displeased that a Bishop or a Clergy man should have any part in the Government of the Common-wealth or assistance of Government for the better Ordering and Directing of judgment or to be Counsellor to a Prince as Zechariah the Levite was a wise Counsellor 1 Chron. 26. 14. Benajah a Priest son of Iehojadah was one of David's twelve Captaines being the third Captain of the host for a moneth and in his Course consisting of 2400 was his son Amizabad Benajah also was of David's principal Worthies 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 Kings 22. 35. So and much rather may a Clergy men now be an Officer in great place or a Justice of Peace in the Country who handles Matters of Equity and good Conscience for preserving of publick peace order and quietness among neighbours wherein happen many businesses that depend much upon the Conscience of a Justice and the Equitable rules of Scripture whereof Clergy men are the most competent interpreters As also many Causes happen touching the Estates and persons of the Clergy who have little reason to be subject onely to secular Judges without some of their own tribe on the bench to see fair carriage and indifferent dealing But for matters of Religion concerning God and his Worship and difficult points of Divinity the Clergy then were and so ought now to be the principal men to be imployed as may clearly appear by the doings of K. David about removing of the Ark to the place that he had provided for it upon which text King Iames hath written a very pious and excellent Meditation Pag. 81. upon the 1 Chron. 15. some of those words are fit to be here recited When the Ark of God whereunto they sought not in the dayes of Saul had continued long at Kiriah-jearim David out of his Zeal and Piety was moved to prepare a Tent for it in the City of David and when he began to remove it he called a great assembly of principal Men but did not make that use of the Priests and Levites as he ought to have done and therefore the Action prospered not but there happened a terrible judgment upon Uzzah which hindered the progresse of the good work and David was afraid of God that day saying How shall I bring the Ark of God home to me so the Ark rested in the House of Obed-Edom But afterwards upon better advice David perceived his Errour and confesseth it Cap. 15. 12 13. Speaking to the Chief of the Priests and Levites Sanctify your selves both ye and your brethren that you may bring up the Ark of the Lord God For because you did it not at the first the Lord God made a breach upon us for we sought him not after the due order This was a great and a godly work that was then intended and therefore King David called a great Assembly about it 1. Of the Elders of Israel 2. Of the Captaines of thousands and hundreds whose Names and Praises are recorded 3. The Priests and Levites Who did it not at the first But now upon better advice King David assembled at first the Children of Aaron and the Levites v. 4. So that men of all Estates were now present in this godly work This is to be marked well of Princes and of all those of any high Calling or Degree that have to do in Gods Cause David doth nothing in matters pertaining to God without the presence and especiall Concurrence of Gods Ministers appointed to be spiritual rulers in Gods Church And at the first meant to convay the same Ark to Ierusalem finding their absence and want of their Counsel hurtful therefore he saith to them Ye are the Chief Fathers of the Levites because ye did it not at the first Thus saith King Iames of blessed memory but

the Chancery and Courts of Equity in charge of a Divine Minister So ran that Channel till Sir Francis Bacons Father had it from a Bishop and now a Bishop had it again from Bacon And had King Iames lived to have effected his desires the Clergy had fixed firm footing in Courts of Judicature out of the road of Common Law and this was the true cause of Williams Invitation thither To prevent many Complaints and Mischiefs there can be no better way then to follow the Example of Gods own chosen people of Israel where the chief fathers of the priests and Levites were Judges in all Courts both high and low sitting together with some chief men of the other Tribes of the Laity as they are now called And though our Law be otherwise of late years and the jurisdiction of Courts divided yet it was not so anciently and the King may put some of the Clergy in some places and Courts at least of Equity as King Iames did design if he had lived longer and that without any prejudice to the Law or Courts of Justice CHAP. IV. Concerning the Honour and Dignity of the Bishops in the time of the Saxons and so continued to these times FOr the Dignity Order and Estimation of the Clergy they were from the beginning reckoned and accounted equal with the best as appears by the Laws of divers Kings as first of the first Christian King Ethelbert who in his Laws doth provide in the first place for their rights and priviledges and what Satisfaction shall be made for any wrong done to the Church or Bishops or Clergy Quicunque res Dei vel Ecclesiae abstulerit duodecima componat solutione Episcopi res undecima solutione Sacerdotis res nona solutione Diaconi res sexta solutione Clerici res trina solutione Pax Ecclesiae Violata duplici emendetur solutione Volens scilicet tuitionem eis quos quorum doctrinam susceperat praestare saith Bede These being the first Laws of our first Christian King of the Saxons they ought to be reverenced for their Antiquity piety and Christian Justice in rendering to every man his own due though some men talk not only of taking away superfluities but of cutting up both root and branches O Tempora O Mores And afterwards about the time of King VVithred there were laws made Quomodo damna injuriae sacris ordinibus illata sunt compensanda And often elsewhere in the Councils many Laws do ordain what satisfaction shall be given to the Church and Bishops for several offences committed for then the Bishops had a great part in all fines and shared in forfeitures and penalties with the King Furthermore for point of Honour and Dignity it appears by the Laws of King Athelstan that every Archbishop was equal to a Duke of a Province Every Bishop to an Earl and so esteemed in their valuations Vide K. Athelstani Regis apud Lambardum p. 71. Concil Britannica pag. 405. cap. 13. de Weregeldis 1. capitum aestimationibus The Title of Baron was not then known or used among the Saxons but they called the Nobility Thanes Vid. K. Inae pag. 187. Sect. 9. and the Bishops were equal or rather superiour to the Thanus Major and the priest to the Thanus minor The Bishop and Earl are valued at eight thousand Theynses Messe-Theynes and Worald-Theynes id est Presbyteri secularis Thani jusjur andum in Anglorum lege reputatur aeque sacrum cùm Sacerdos Thani rectitudine dignus est The Priest was then accounted equal to a Knight or Lord of the Town and was commonly styled by the name of Sir as a Knight was though now it be derided and out of use Out of these Laws and some others doth the learned Antiquary who is so well versed in the Antiquities and Monuments of our Laws and Kingdome fully set down the ancient dignity and order of the Clergy Magno sane in honore fuit Universus clerus cum apud Populum Proceres tum apud ipsos Reges Angliae Saxonicos nec precaria hoc quidem concessione sed ipsis confirmatum legibus Sacerdos ad altare Celebrans minori Thano i. e. Villae Domino atque militi aequiparabatur in censu capitis pariter aestimatus pariterque alias honorandus quia Thani rectitudine dignus est Inquit Lex Abbas sine C●nobiarcha inter Thanos majores quos Barones Regis appellarunt posteri primicerius fuit Episcopus similiter inter Comites ipsos majores qui integro fruebantur comitatu juribusque Comitivis Archiepiscopus Duci satratrapae amplissimae Provinciae pluribus gaudenti comitatibus praeficiebatur Vt caeteri omnes Ecclesiastici comparibus suis omnibus secularibus Amplectebantur Reges universum clerum laeta fronte ex eo semper sibi legebant primos a consisiis primos ad officia Reipublicae obeunda Quippe sub his seculis apud ipsos solum erat literarum clavis scientiae dum militiae prorsus indulgerent laici factumque est interea ut os sacerdotis oraculum esset plebis Episcopi oraculum Regis Reipu● Primi igi●ur sedebant in omnibus Regni comitiis tribunalibus Episcopi in Regali quidem palatio cum Regni magnatibus in comitatu una cum comite Iusticiaerio comitatus in Turno Vicecomitis cum Vice●omite in Hundredo cum Domino Hundredi sic ut in promovenda justitia usquequaque gladius gladium adjuvaret nihil inconsulto sacerdote qui velut saburra in navi fuit ageretur Mutavit priscam hanc consuetudinem Gulielmus primus c. After the Conquest William the first divided the Ecclesiastical Courts from the secular not with a purpose to diminish the Ecclesiastical authority Imo jurej●rando confirmavit leges sanctae matris Ecclesiae quoniam per cam Rex Regnum solidum habent subsistendi firmamentum Yet the Bishops and Clergy do not now expect or desire to enjoy their ancient splendor amplitude and dignities seeing the greatnesse of their Revenue which should uphold the dignity is long since taken away So that well might Bishop Latimer in his Sermon before King Edward say We of the Clergy have had too much but that is taken away and now we have too little For there was no lesse in the whole taken away from them then many hundred thousands sterling too incredible to be here briefly expressed I will only mention one for example the Arch-bishoprick of York from which was taken 72. mannors and Lordships at one instant by one of the last statutes of Hen. 8. and the like happened to Canterbury London Lincoln and all the rest which me thinks should be enough to satisfie that men should not go about to strip them of these poor pittances that are left unto them being but small fragments in comparison of their ancient patrimony which the liberality and piety of the primitive times ha● conferred on them when Charity