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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

it on him as if the gifts of the Spirit which Moses had were diminished in him and imparted to the 70. which is untruly said by Calvin for as Salomon Iarchis saith Moses in that hour wa● like the Lamp that was burning on the candlestick in the Sanctuary from which all the other lamps were lighted yet the light thereof was not lessened any whit Deus ex Mosis Spiritu tollens quod aliis distribuit ignominiae notam qua dignus er at ● fligit minime dubium est quin diminutio notetur This is spoken very harshly and untruly by Calvin as learned Authors have shewed his Error herein So upon Deut. 17. 8. 9. 10. Where the Priests and Levites were appointed Judges in great matters between blood and blood between Plea and Plea and between stroke and stroke being matters of Controversie within thy gates Calvin doth so interpret as if the Priests and Levites were only to expound the Law to the Temporal Judges but not to sit as Judges upon the bench themselves with especial authority as the other Elders and Judges did Wherein he was much mistaken For the Priests and Levites were principal Judges in all matters and causes whatsoever not only Ecclesiastical but Temporal not only for explaining of the Law but executing the same The Learned Casaubon in his Exercitations upon Baronius 13. Sect. 5. shewed that the Priests and Levites were the principal judges in the genreal Council Hujus Conciliiea fuit institutio ut si fieri posset e solis Sacerdotibus Levitis constaret qui non erant e Tribu Iuda sed Levi itaque in Bibliis aliquando apud Iosephum appellatione sacerdotum intelligitur ipsum Synedrium Si● e numero sacerdotum aut Levitarum non reperirentur qui definitum Iudicum illorum numerum imple●ent tum demum aliis Iudaeis aditus in Synedrium patuit nulla Tribus habit a ratione Hoc Maimonides declarat c. Bancroft in his Survey cap. 25. doth fully shew the error of Calvin and Beza in dividing the Courts and doth accurately con●ute them to whom I refer And further of late the excellently learned Grotius hath also accurately cleer'd the point Quod quidam arbitrantur duos fuisse senatus summos Iudeorum alterum qui civilibus alterum qui Ecclesiasticis negotiis praeesset de eo quid ●obis videatur alibi erit dicendi Locus in Mal. 2. which he doth perform upon Mal. 5. very exactly Cum pingue haberent otium non tantum omnialegis sed medicinae aliarumque artium diligenter ediscebant ut Egyptii sacerdotes ideoque primis saeculis ex illis ut eruditioribus senatus 70. virûm legi maxime solebat Grotius in Deut. 17. and so in Mal. 5. Cum sacerdotes opimo fruentes otio omnibus sapienentiae partibus prae er caeteros operam darent aequum erat ex horum numero aliquam-multos allegi in ordinem illum cui jam suprema etiam judicia credita fuisse diximus quanquam neminem fuisse qui originis dignitate eum locum sibi posset vindicare scripsit Ma●monides c. Florentibus Hebraeorum rebus fieri aliter non poterat quin in sacerdotum classe plurimi r●perirentur digni eo loco His addebantur alii qui in alii● tribubus doctrina sanctimonia eminebant Quamobrem Moses Deut. 19. 17. De falsi testimonii cognitione agens senatum hunc describens sacerdotes judices nominat alibi etiam de exploranda diligentia judicum inferiorum in cognoscendo homicida ipsi sacerdotes tanquam ejus senatus pars praecipua nominantur c. Hoc ipso in loco Deut. 17. 8 9 non distinguuntur ca●sarum genera neque vero causae ullae nominantur quae proprie videri possent sacerdotales sed si quid controversi incidisset de homicidio de lite de vulnere juben●●● adire sacerdotes c. neque vero alia fuerant judicia sacerdotis alia senatus id enim omnes Hebraeorum Magistri constanter negant And much more he addeth out of Iosephus and doth also accurately expound the Texts 2. Chron. 17. Concerning Iehosophats reformation and placing of Iudges in Ierusalem as also the Text in the prophet Ier. 26. where some priests do accuse the prophet and the Princes do absolve and free him So in his Book De imperio summarum potestatum cap. 11. Sect. 15. He doth accurately handle this Question Ubi explicantur Iudeorum tum minora judicia tum magnum ostenditur apud Iudaeos eosdem fuisse qui de sacris profanis jus dicebant quae sint negotia Dei quae Regis So Bertram a learned Lawyer De politia Iudaica cap. 9. So Sigonius de Repub. Hebr aeorum lib. 6. c. 7. So Scuetetus in his Exercitations lib. 1. cap. 54. So Schickardus de jure regio Hebraeorum c. 1. pag. 9. 10. So Selden in his Uxor Hebraica cap. 15. Quod vero à nonnullis iisque alioquin doctissimis obtenditur Presbyterium fuisse singulare quoddam forum apud Iudaeos quod de Religione rebus saeris solùm cog nosceret qualé apud nos dicitur Ecclesiasticum ● doctrina Talmudica atque ab ipsa veritate est longe alienissimum pro diversitate jurisdictionum amplitudinis idem ipsnm ubique in ea Republica seu Ecclesia forum de rebus sacris ac Religione judicabat quod de profanis seu quae non sacrae And since this Selden hath more fully proved it in his books De Synedriis Iudaeorum to which I refer and further the learned Dr. Hamond hath most accurately proved and illustrated it in his Annotations on the New Testament as on Luke 3. and Acts 4. and other places that there needs no further proof Selden in his Preface to the first Book De Synedriis pag. 9. terms it Duplex seu Bifurcatum in Christianismo regnum seu imperium Politicum seu Magistraticum ut appellitari amat Ecclesiasticum ab illo prorsus sic distinctum quasi Binos quis fingeret soles c. 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 Conquerour as appears by his Statute THe union of Courts continued from the beginning of the World for four thousand years as Selden affi●meth lib. 2. De Synedriis in the preface p. 2. How that course came to be changed will appear by what followeth here The distinction of Courts seems to have proceeded first from Pope Nicholas the first as is mentioned in Gratian. Can. Cum ad verum 96. Dist. About 200. years before the Conquest Which was imitated among us by William the Conquerour Whose Statute to that purpose is recited and illustrated by Spelman in his Glossary and Councils and by Selden in his History cap. 14. and in his notes upon Eadnez pag. 167. and also published by Lord Cook 4. Instit. cap. 52. 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

first among us by William the Conquerour And why should there not be judges partly Spiritual as well as Temporal in all Courts As it was anciently among our Ancestors the Saxons or at least why should not the Supream Court of justice which is to give Law to all other inferiour Courts be well tempered and mingled with all sorts of men Ecclesiastical and Civil the most learned wise and choicest that can be found in the whole Kingdom Why not Priests and Levites admitted into the number as well as in the Sanedrim of the Iews which was equal to our Parliament and was first instituted by God himself And I take it there can be no just exception but that our Christian Kingdomes may most safely follow the general Rules of Policy and Government which God ordained among his own chosen people without any imputation of judaism Now among them some cheif Fathers of the Priests and Levites were not only judges and elders in their own Cities which were allowed them to the Number of forty eight in the whole but sate with the Elders of other Cities and were Iudges and Officers over Israel Yea many things by Gods law were wholly and cheifly reserved to the Knowledge and Sentence o● the Priests As Leprosie Iealousie Inquisition for Murder Falsewitnesse and such like which now among us for most part belong to the Common-law in which cases the People and Elders were to consult the Priests and take direction from them And so Bertram in his Treatise De Politia Iudaica cap. 9. doth make it manifest Prorsus est extra Controversiam judices manicipales cujusque Civi●atis ut vocantur seniores fuisse Chiliarchos Centuriones quinquag●narios decuriones tot quot esse po●erant in quaque Civitate ita ut ex illis Levitae quidam in praefectos assumerentur si modo in ea aliquot erant Levitae sin minus ex proxima urbe Levitis assignata advocab● ntur And again in his Cap. 10. David in Civili politia dicitur ex Levitis destinasse judices prafectis sexies mille Ex Leviti● judices praefecti assumpti sunt hac ratione ut primum essent ex Levitis quidam qui Adsessores essent Iudicum Ordinariorum Municipalium qui seniores dicebantur Qui aliquando de plano ut vulgo loquuntur judicar●nt de rebus levi●ribus quales erant pecuniariae vel soli vel assumpto uno aliquo ex loci vel Vrbis se●ioribus Deinde ut essent etiam quidam alii qui judicatas res exequerentur Vel certe quod verisimilius est qui assessores erant judicum ordinariorum qui ut ipsi de rebus pecuiariis cognoscerent judicarent ipsamque rem judicatam exequerentur c. Ex eadem familia adhibiti sunt ad regendam ad Civilem politiam gubernandam Ita tamen ut nulla esset utriusque politiae confusio permixtio Et cap 11. Ad utrumque judicium tam civile quam Ecclesiasticum adhibiti sunt Levitae in praefectos eodem videlicet modo quo eos ad id muneris desig naverat David c. Thus and much more to this purpose Bertram doth often throughout his Book deliver his judgement that the priests and Levites were Judges in the civil Courts of Justice and not only in the Ecclesiastical To this Sigonius agreeth lib. 6. Repub. Hebrae●rum cap. 7. speaking of the Sanedrim Inivêre hoc Concisium Rex cum principibus populi ac septu●aginta senioribus populi Pontifex cum principibus sacerdotum scribis id est legis doctoribus ut per spicere liqueat ex Evangeliis ubi agitur de judicio Christi Voco autem principes populi duodecim princ●pes tribuum qui Reg● assidebant Quare Ioseph ab Arimath Senator sive decurio nobilis idem Concilii particeps fuit siquidem scriptum ●st ipsum cum caeteris assensum damnationi Christi non praebuisse Principes autem sacerdotum dico illos qui vicenis quaternis sacer dotum classibus seu vicibus singuli singulis praeerant Scribas vero ipsos legis Doctores quos Prophetas Iosephus vocavit It is manifest hereby and by the reasons alledged already in cap. 2. that is a gross error of Doctor Burgesse who affirmeth that in Numb 11. There is no foot-step appears that the Priests were any of the 70. Elders appointed by Moses Now seeing David appointed no lesse then six thousand Levites for the outward businesses it could not be but that many of them were employed in their secular and civil affairs whereas now there is not one hundred of the Clergy imployed throughout our whole Kingdome there being not above two or three Justices of peace in a whole Shire But their presence and assistance at publick meetings of Justices as at the Assises and Quarter-sessions and other occasions is very necessary to the rest of the inferiour Clergy who wil otherwise be crushed and trampled on in many businesses debates and contentions that do happen continually from the perverse and obstinate party of the Laity For Laici semper sunt infesti Clericis is a true saying in the Common Law The Priests the Sons of Levi saith God shall come neer or forth out of the Cities where they were placed in every Tribe and by their word shall all stri●e and plague be tryed Remembring alwayes that doubtful and weighty matters were reserved to the great Council of Priests and Judges that sate in the place which the Lord did chuse for the Ark to rest in as Deut. 17. 8. 9. c. If there come a matter too hard for thee in judgement between blood and blood cause and cause plague and plague of matters in question within thy gates thou shalt arise and go up to the place which the Lord thy God shall chuse and shalt repair unto the Priests and Levites This Council or Senate of the Elders residing at Ierusa●em in Iehosophats time who no doubt did not infringe but rather observe the Tenour of the Law consisted of Levites and of Priests and of the heads of the Families of Israel And had Amazias the high priest cheif over them in all matters of the Lord as Zebediah a Ruler of the House of Iudah cheif for all the Kings affairs and was a Continuance of the 70. Elders which God adjoyned unto Moses and bare the burden of the people with him And this Court cannot be better resembled among us then to our Parliament for there was but one Council of that nature in the whole Land of Iury and that consisting of some of the cheifest of every Tribe and they not only debated and concluded the highest affairs of that Realm as War peace appeals from all inferiour Courts punishments of whole Cities and Tribes and such like but also ruled and rectified all cases omitted or doubted in Moses Law and were obeyed throughout the Land ●pon pain of loosing goods or life or being for ever excluded from the people of