the Union of Courts in England continued till the time of William the Conquerour as the learned Antiquâ—ry Spelman sheweth in his Glossary in Cotes pag. 3. Munâ—s comitis judiciarium fuit vim injuriam prohibere latrocinia compescere pacem regiam non solum legum tramite sed armis etiam promovere jura regia vectigalia curare colligere fisco inferre Praesidebat autem foro comitatus non solus sed adjunctus Episcopo hic ut jus divinum ille ut humanum dicâ—ret alter que alteri auxiliâ— esset consilio presertim Episcopus comiti 〈◊〉 in hunc illi animadvertere saepe licuit erranteâ—â— cohibere Idem igitur â—trique territorium jurisdictionis terminus Hereby it appears that the Bishop and Earl of the Counâ—y were joint governours but the Bishop was principal for he had power to restrain the Earl if he did do amisse the Bishop being learned but the Laity in those days altogether destitute of Learning and Knowledge So that it is certain that the Bishop and the Earl or Aldermen sate both together in the same Court together with their Assistants and Surrogates and so 〈◊〉 assist each other with Counsel and authority and in the forenoon they heard Church causes and in the Afternoon temporal business This manner did preserve amity between the Clergy and the Laity that they did not clash for jurisdiction by sending prohibitions Injunctions and cross orders as in our times which do occasion great vexation to the people and prolonging of Suits and doth multiply charges extreamly It is therefore certain that the Bishops and principal Clergy were always of great authority in our Kingdome especially for making of Laws and Constitutions of all kinds and executing of them which is manifest by all the Laws themselves of the Svxon Kings for about 500. years before the Conquest Wherein they first testifie that the Laws were made by the consent suffrage and approbation of the Bishops First Ethelbert the first Christian King of the Saxons made Laws which are entituled thus Haec sunt Decreta seu Iudicia quâ— Ethelbeâ—â—us Ren conslituâ— Tempore Augustini As Sir Henry Spelman hath recorded them in his Comments pag. 127. All the Laws then made are not recited by Spelman but they are extant in the old Book called Textus Roffensis Written by Ernulph a Bishop of Rochester Beda de his scribit lib. 2. cap. 5. Mortem sepulturam Ethelberti referens Inter â—aetera iniquit bona quae genti suae cansulendo conferebat etiam decreta illi Iudiciorum juxta exempla Romanorum cum Consilio sapientum constituit Quae conscripta Anglorum sermone hactenus habentur observantur ab ea In quibus primitus posuit qualiter id emendare deberet qui aliquid rerum Episcopi vel reliquorum ordinem auferret volens scilicet tuitionemâ—â—is quorum doctrinam successerat praestare Sequuntur multa ad vitae probitatem morum Correctionem pertinentia saith Spelman in his Notes Which Laws were casually omitted by my absence from the Presse at that instant but shall be added if ever a second edition be made But certainly Augustin was the principal Bishop that did make these Laws though other names are not put down but his only being the principal Yet in other Councils following divers Bishops are mentioned as in the Laws made by King Ina. Anno 693. Ego Ina Dei gratia West-Saxonum Rex exhortatione doctrina Cennedes patris mei Heddes Episcopi mei Erkenwaldes Episcopi mei omnium Aldermanorum meorum seniorum sapientum Regni mei Constitui c. So in the beginning of King Aethelstan Ego Adelstanus Rex Consilio Wulfelmi Archiepiscopi mei aliorum Episcoporum meorum mando praepositis meis omnibus Likewise in the lawes of King Edmund Edmundus Rex congregavit magnam Synodum Dei ordinis seculi apud London Civitatem in Sancto Paschae solennis â—ui interfuit Odo Wulstanus Archiepiscopi alii plures Episcopi c. The same appears by the Subscriptions to the laws made by the Bishops and principal Clergy and Abbots of their several times which are so frequent to be observed in all ancient Charters and laws in the first Tome of our English Councils that I will forbear many particulars only one for example sake being the Custome then to testifie their approbations not by voting but by subscribing their names to approve and grant the laws made in Parliament and not to refer all to a Register or Clerk to take notice of what is granted and by what persons present The Subscriptions to a Charter of King Edgar to The Monastery of Glasten Ego Edgar Rex totius Britanniae praefatam libertatem cum sigillo sanctae Crucis confirmavi Ego Elfgina ejusdem Regis Mater cum gaudio consensi Ego Edward clito Patris mei donum cum Triumpho sanctae crucis impressi Ego Kinedrius Rex Albaniae adquievi Ego Mascusius Archipirata confortavi Ego Dunstanus Dorobernensis Ecclesiae Archiepiscopus cum Trophaeo sanctae Crucis cum suffrâ—ganeis praesulibus Regis donum corroboravi Ego Oswald Eboracensis Ecclesiae primas consentioni subscripsi Ego Ethelnoldo Wintoniensis Ecclesiae Minister Glasten Monachus signum sanctae crucis impressi Ego Britchtelm Fontarensis Episcopns consentiens corroboravi Ego Ellslam Episcopus confirmavi Ego Oswald Episcopus adquievi Ego Elfnolde Episcopus concessi Ego Winsige Episcopus cum signo sanctae Crucis conclusi Ego Segegar abbas vexillum sanctae crucis impressi Ego Escui abbas confirmavi Ego Ordgar abbas corroboravi Ego Ethelgar abbas concessi Ego Kinword abas Concessi Ego Fideman abbas consolidavi Ego Elphets Abbas subscripsi Ego Adulf Herefordensis Ecclesiae Catascopus corroboravi Ego Elphene Dux Dominae meae sanctae Mariae Glasteniensis Ecclesiae libertatem omni devotione cum sigillo sanctae crucis confirmavi Ego Oslâ—ck dux consensi Ego Ethelwine dux hoc donum triumphale hagiae crucis propriae manus depictione impressi Ego Osnald minister confirmavi Ego Elfwurde minister corroboravi Ego Elthesie minister consensi Ego Elâ—kie minister consensi Thus first the King Queen and Prince do subscribe then the Bishops afterward the Abbots and lastly the Noble-men howsoever they were then called The Bishops in all other Christian Kingdomes as in the Empire of Germany France Spain Portugal Poland Hungary and all others as Denmark and Sweden since the Change of Religion there have place and power in all their Parliaments and publick Assembies The Bishops Electors of Germany Ments Triers and Colen have place and precedency of the Temporal Electors the Duke of Bavaria Saxony and Brandenburgh as our Bishops had place sitting on the right hand of the King in the House of Lords and the Temporal Lords on the left hand And also out of the House the Bishops had precedency of all Barons
now there is a generation of men who do not think the Clergy necessary Men to be consulted that will interpret Scriptures remove the Ark of God as it were and do things without the presence vote and suffrage of the Chief Fathers of the Levites which how it agreeth with this pious Example of King David and King Iames's Meditations upon it I leave to be Considered CHAP. VII I◠the first frame of our English Common-wealth the Bishops in every Diocess were the principal Iudges The Charter of William the Conquerour for the dividing the Courts The Statute of Circumspectè agatis 13. Ed. 1. and Articuli Cleri 9 Ed. 2. appointing what Cause shall belong to the Ecclesiastical Courts THe first frame of our English Common-wealth was so setled and ordered by the Saxon Kings when once they became Christians That the Bishop of the Diocess together with the Aldermen of the County and so their Deputies in-inferior Courts under them should be equal Judges together upon the same Bench in the same Courts and there determine all Causes in the forenoon Church-matters and in the afternoon secular business as Selden sheweth in his notes upon Eadner p. 166. and Bishop Iewel in part observes in his Defence of the Apology Part 6. p. 522. This Course continued till William the Conquerour and perhaps it had been very happy for our Kingdome if the frame of our Laws and Courts had so still continued joyned together for many reasons that I will not now further insist upon Gulielmus primus sacrum à Civili discriminavit forum etenim florente Saxonum imperio mutuas injure dicundo veluti tradebant operas atque eodem utebantur his quotannis for◠Dioeceseos Episcopus simul provinciae Praeses seu vice-Comes quem Sheriffe nunc dicimus interdum Ealderman nominabant c. The Conquerour first separated the Temporal Courts from the Ecclesiastical yet not diminishing the authority of the Churches Jurisdiction which by his oath he confirmed and promised to preserve affirming Quod per Ecclesiam Rex regnum solidum habent subsistendi fundamentum So that he subverted rather Ecclesiastical power and jurisdiction but as formerly in the County or in the Hundred so now in the Bishops Court all Ecclesiastical Causes were heard and determined For the old manner the Laws of King Edgar do shew it Cap. 5. Intersit unusquisque Hundredi Gemoto ut superius est praescriptum habeantur burgemottitres quotannis duo vero scire-gemotti de istis adsunto loci Episcopus Aldermannus doceatque alter jus divinum alter saeculare In Hundredo aderant Thani quos Barones vocant posteri ut patet e. L. Ethelredi Cap. 1. ipsique judices Ecclesiastici cum partis illius Clero in Hundredo enim non minus quà m in Comitatu unà haec agebantur quae ad forum pertinent Ecclesiasticum quae ad saeculare donec Gulielmus Conquestor divisis jurisdictionibus hanc ab illa separavit For the Division of the Courts and the Erection of the Ecclesiastical to sit by themseves under the Bishop and Arch-deacon it appears by the Charter of King William to the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln And though it be sent in the direction by name to them only yet it seems it grew after to be a general law no otherwise then the Statute of Circumspecte agatis that hath a special reference onely to the Bishop of Norwich as Lord Coke saith 2 Instit. 487. The Bishop of Norwich is there put but for example but it extendeth to all the Bishops within the Realm And so Selden telateth in his History of Tithes Cap. 14. Sect. 1. and in his Ianus Lib. 2. Sect. 14. And in his notes upon Eadner p. 167. The words of it as they are recorded are Willielmus gratia Dei Rex Anglorum Comitibus vice comitibus omnibus Francigenis Anglis qui in Episcopatu Remigii Episcopi terras habent salutem Sciatis vos omnes coeteri mei fideles qui in Anglia manent quod Episcopales leges quae non bene nec secundum sanctorum Canonum praecepta usque ad mea tempora in regno Anglorum fuerunt Communi Consilio Cousilio Episcoporum Abbatum omnium principum regni mei emendandas judicavi Propterea mando regia authoritate Praecipio ut nullus Episcopus vel Archidiaconus de Legibus Episeopalibus amplius in Hundret placita teneant nec causam quae ad regimen animarum pertinet ad judicium secularium hominum adducant sed quicunque secundum Episcopales leges de quacunque causa vel culpa interpellatus fuerit ad locum quem ad hoc Episcopus elegerit nominaverit veniat ibique de causa sua respondeat non secundum Hundret sed seeundum Canones Episcopales leges rectum Deo Episcopo suo faciat Which I the rather transcribe saith Selden because also it seems to give the Original of the Bishops consistory as it sits with us divided from the Hundred or County Court wherewith in the Saxon times it was joyned And in the same Law it is added further Hoc etiam defendo ut nullus laicus homo de legibus quae ad Episcopum pertinent se intromittat Thus Selden Only the words of the Charter are more fully recited out of the Records by another Learned Author Si vero aliquis per superbiam elatus ad justitiam Episcopalem venire noluerit vocetur semel secundo tertio Quod si nec ad emendationem venerit excommunicetur Et si opus fuerit ad hoc vindicandum fortitudo justitia Regis vel vicecomitis adhibeatur Ille autem qui vocatus ad justitiam Episcopi veniro noluerit pro unaquaque vocatione legem Episcopalem emendabit Hoc etiam defendo mea authoritate interdico ne ullus Viceeomes aut 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 vero in nullum locum portetur nisi in Episcopali sede aut in illo loco quem ad hoc Episcopus constituerit And the punishment for disobedience to the Ecclesiastical Judges was much alike as formerly was enacted under the Saxon Kings as by King Alured Si quis Dei rectitudines aliquas deforciot reddat Lathlite cum Dacis Witam cum Anglis And the same Law is afterwards confirmed and renewed by King Canutus and by other Kings Whereby it appeareth 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 Laws of the Kingdome How they had power in their Courts to excommunicate and further by the help of the King and the Sheriffe to proceed against stubborn offenders and such as opposed or contemned their authority so that here is
arise in those first ages most of which heresies were such as were fit to be beaten down by authority rather then by reason and argument they being so impious insolent and blasphemous so after his time when he had setled the Bishops authority yet there being two Courts where did arise many differences and debates between the Bishops and the secular Judges of that time touching cognisance of some Causes Iustinian the Emperor made a lâ—w like unto that Circumspecte agatis of our King Ed. 1. agreeing with it in substance of matter and arising from the same ground and pointing to the same end The Novel is thus Si delictum sit Ecclesiasticum egens castigatione vel mulcta Ecclesiastica Deo amabiles Episcopi hoc discernant nihil commnnicantibus clarissimis provinciae Iudicibus Neque enim volumus talia negotia scire omnino Civiles Iudices cum oporteat talia Ecclesiastice examinari emendari secundum sacras divinas regulas quas etiam sequi nostrae non dedignantur leges And further for the greatness of the Bishops authority it will appear fully if we look upon the Lawes as they lye concatenaâ—ae in the same title where it is said of the Bishops Cum sint ordinarii Iudices And again Similes praefectis praetorio and further Ordinarie quoque procedant The linked Texts in that title of the Code as they stand cited do fully shew the greatness of the Bishops Coâ—â—â—â— and authority when they are compared and said to be Similes praefectis praetorio who were Illustres Iudices and so stiled in the law they being indeed the most supreme Judges in the whole Empire there being but three in that spacious Empire One in Asia Praefectus praetorio Orientis Another in Europe Praefectus praetorio Illyrici The third in Africa Praefectus praetorio legionibus militiae Africanae The Civil Magistrates were respectively Judges of the Causes which the Emperour had translated from the Empire to the Church which when the Emperour had done and made the Bishops the Judges in the Church as the praefecti praetorio were in the Empire before it appears hereby fully how great the authority of the Bishops and their Consistories were wherein they were assisted by their vicar-generals whom we now call Chancellors as a learned Civilian observes who are no upstarts in the world rising out of the Bishops Sloath as one though otherwise Learned and Eloquent mis-called them but had their original from the law it self Touching whom I will here say something out of the learned Civilians because commonly their place and original is much mistaken by the ignorantly zealous people who do now abound in the world and think nothing lawful in government unless their be express text of Scriture for it as if no calling government or subordination of officers in the Church were lawful but what is expressely and fully set down in the Scriptures and no power and authority left in the hands of Christian Kings and Magistrates to appoint Judges and Officers for Church-discipline as well as for Civil Judicature Therefore to return as the praefecti praetorio quia illustres erant antestabant caeteris dignitatibus ideo habebant vicarios suos in Civilibus causis audiendis terminandis So were the Bishops then and so are they now Illustres judices antestabant antestant caeteris dignitatibus in Ecclesia For the law parallels them in the Church with the Chief Judges in the Empire as well in this as in the rests of the Parts of their Honour wherewith the Emperour had honoured them and the Laws honour them at this day Iustinians Code hath sundry lawes some of his own some of the Emperours before him even from the dayes of Constantine the great which shew that Bishops in their Episcopal audience sate not without their Chancellors although their Chancellors sate often without the Bishops whose higher charge in Christs Church permitted not the Bishops presence in court-Court-Causes ordinarily And though not under the name and title of Chancellors nor alwayes vicar generals officials or Commissaries yet they had other titles but the same offices Ecclesiasticâ— or Episcoporum Ecdici as much as to say as Church Lawyers or Bishops Lawyers professed Civilians and Canonists of that age the very self same officers and office that the Bishops vicar-generals then were and now are who together with the Bishops then made and do now make but one and the same Tribunal and Consistory their Commissions they held from the Bishops but their Jurisdiction from the Law And the Cause why the Imperial power furnished the Bishops with these officers was the multitude and variety of Ecclesiastical Causes more in that age then now the decision whereof in their Consistories being left to the Bishops the Emperor doubted might have drawn them from prayers and divine exercises And a second reason was that the cause of the cognisance of their Courts were more likely to have thereby a more speedy ready and Judicious trial before Judges of the same learning which require a whole man then before Judges of another then an higher requiring as the Bishops pastoral office doth a whole man too And a third reason also may be added because the Clerks suites and quarrels should not be divulged and spread abroad amongst the secular sort which trenched many times upon the whole profession especially in capital matters wherein Princes anciently so much tendered the Clergy that if a Clerk had committed an offence worthy of death or open shame whereby he became perpetually infamous he was not first executed or put to open shame before he was degraded by the Bishop and his Clergy and so was executed and put to â—hame not as a Clerk but as a lay malefactor for the Honour and Dignity of Priesthood It were to be wished this Order were retained still that Clerks should not passe immediately when they fall into such excesses from the Altar to the Halter but hang or suffer other shame without their Priesthood which Order if it were retained still or might be restored would much honour the Church and no whit derogate from the jurisdiction of the Crown The Determination of a Question made by the right Reverend Iohn Davenant late Lord Bishop of Sarum QUEST 11 th Civil Iurisdiction is by right granted to Ecclesiastical persons IT is by the warrant of Christ himself that the Church doth claim and execute a Spiritual Jurisdiction in punishing the offences of her Children For it can admit an accusation against the inordinate courses of any Christian and hath power to chastise him being by sufficient witnesses convicted either by denying him the Sacraments or if he continue obstinate in his wickednesse by an utter exclusion of him from the fellowship and Communion of other Christians I know none so malignant or unskilful in Ecclesiastical affairs that will deny this authority which indeed goes not beyond excommunication to have been conferred upon Churchmen from the beginning by
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
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
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 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 Câ—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 Reipuâ— Primi igiâ—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 Viceâ—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 jurejâ—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 haâ— conferred on them when Charity
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
trouble Lastly let us out of our adversaries own grants and confessions prove what themselves deny They grant the Clergy a jurisdiction whereby they can cite before their Courts Hereticks Drunkards Adulterers and such like infamous persons admit accusations against them hear and examine witnesses and give sentence of excommunication on those that are lawfully convicted If by vertue of spiritual jurisdiction from Christ received they can do these things why shall they not by the accession of secular jurisdiction by the King conferred imprison the same malefactors or by such like civil punishments restrain their base incontinencies This Act of correction is no less warrantable in its own nature then that of excommunication both being put in execution by just and legitimate authority niether do corporal punishments lesse conduce to the Reformation of delinquents and the Churches good then those meerly spiritual Therefore by the allowance of superiour authority it is no less expedient that Clergy-men should inflict one kind of chastisement rather then another In a word learned M. Calvin doth grant that what Controversies soever happened between Christians to avoid strife and division they were wont to referre them to their Bishops by their judgment to be decided And St. Austin tells us that he dayly spent some time in secular affairs either by his sentence determining and setling them or cutting them off by his interposition Furthermore he records that St. Paul employed Church-men in such troublesome matters If private Christians do lawfully commit their civil Controversies to the arbitrement of Bishops surely Christian Kings may to the same Bishops lawfully commit the judgment of the like Causes if at the request of private men it be nor unlawful for Church-men to intermedle with secular businesses it cannot be unlawful to do the same by the appointment of the King For as the matter stands he doth no less interest himself in state affaires who decides controversies as an Elect Arbitrator then he who decides the same as a Iudge ordained by the Prince Let us conclude that ambitiously to hunt after or with prejudice to the Function of Priesthood to exercise Civil Jurisdiction from the hand of a King and to administer the same to the better establishing of the peace and discipline of the Church is an Act lawful and praise-worthy most agreeable to the ancient practice of the Church and no wayes repugnant to the Divine Scriptures To this Determination of the learned Bishop Davenant there is nothing replied by Dr. Burgesse but in an insolent manner he terms him onely a speculative Divine as if such a famous professor in the university and a most learned Bishop for twenty years together who was highly reputed for learning and piety should be so scornfully neglected by one that never spent seven years in the university nor ever enjoyed any fellowship a place of continuance in any Colledge to gain more then common learning in a trivial way as appeared fully when he came back to the University to go out Doctor and would needs take upon him to answer the Divinity Act which he performed so contemptibly that he was hissed and scorned publickly by all the Auditors and accordingly censured by Doctor Prideaux who reprehended him sharply in publick for his ignorance and insuffiency and some Papists who are commonly present at such publick Acts among the multitude hearing him to be so destitute of Latine Logick and distinctions upon the state of his questions publickly were heard to say Alass poor black sheep what maketh thee here Whereof I was both an eye and ear witnesse But as is formerly affirmed if some principal men of the Clergy be not in places of Authority and Judicature and some be not Justices of the Peace in every Shire the ordinary Clergy will be trampled on by the vulgar people in most vile manner taxed and assessed unreasonably by Constables and Committee-men and all such officers as is well-known by many instances which might be alledged and are commonly known to say nothing of the insolency of Souldiers and Quarter-masters who will be sure when they come to any parish to set first upon the Ministers house and furnish him with company enough to consume all that he hath in barnes or buttery without any mercy or compassion which may be easily proved but that it is a thing notoriously known past denial so that the Clergy may complain with the Apostle that they are made the fisth of the world and are the off scouring of all things to this day And all this done by the Parliament-members and officers who pretended to advance religion to maintain and uphold Ministery as well as Magistracy But the Laws being taken away or suspended whereby Ministers should be preserved and maintained there is risen up such a swarm of Sectaries Anabaptists Quakers and a rascal rabble of others who deny the calling of ministers and are as ready to oppress them in as violent manner as those Rebels that did rise in the 5. Rich. 2. Wat Tyler Iack Straw Iack Shepherd Tom Millar Hob. Carter and such like fellows as Cowper relateth them in his Epitome of Chronicles and as Iohn Stow reporteth in the Confession of Iack Straw at his death They would have destroyed all Bishops Monks Canons and Parsons and would have dispatched them all Only begging Friers should have lived that might have sufficed for ministring the Sacraments in the whole Realm Poor begging Friers having no good Lands or Revenues were not the object of the peoples malice but all rich men Lords and Gentlemen especially Clergy men should have been made a prey And so or worse is the Case of the Clergy in these times All principal al learned Divines if they have any Estates are miserably cast out of their houses and livings Bishops Deanes and Doctors or others of any eminent note are shamefully persecuted Only poor Curats poor Lecturers poor New-lights poor Schoolmasters who are like the begging Friers are suffered to continue and yet the Anabaptists and Quakers and such like are ready to cashier them to pull down Churches Steeple-houses and Stone-houses as they call Churches in derision but as Solomon saith there is no new thing under the Sun from the beginning of the world to the end it is so that necessitous men theeves and beggars will seise upon the estates of rich men if they have once power in their hands and can but lay hold on them The Speech of Doctor WILLIAMS Lord Arch-bishop of York in defence of the Bishops Rights to Sit and Vote in Parliaments I Shall desire as much water or time of your Honorable Lordships as your Lordships can well afford in a Committee because all that I intend to speak in this business must be to your Lordships onely as Resolved for mine own part to make hereafter no Remonstrance at all to his most excellent Majesty for these several reasons 1. That I have had occasion of late to know that our Soveraign whom God bless and
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
Causes shall belong to the Ecclesiastical Courts CHAP. VIII Some Observations out of the Civil Law in the Empire concerning the separation of Courts and some also out of the ancient Statutes as Selden hath recited them Lord Cokes defence of the Bishops being in Parliament and of the Convocation and High Commission and other Ecclesiastical Courts CHAP. IX The example of the late wars in Bohemia and Germany and France with the ill successes thereof to the Protestants might well have forewarned us in England The goodly Covenant of Bohemia might well have given us Caution to take heed of a Covenant without the Kings consent The Church Lands taken anay formerly are restored by the Emperor in many parts of Germany The Censure of Grotius upon the Presbyterians for their raising of armes CHAP. X. The Division of the Courts in the Empire and the manner of proceeding in them by the Bishops and the Ecclesiastical Lawyers under them AN APOLOGIE FOR The BISHOPS To Sit and Vote in PARLIAMENTS CHAP. 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 cheif Magistrate and also Priest unto God GOD had a Priesthood alwayes from the Beginning of the World to perform the duties of his Worship and the â—â—ites thereof Adam was a Priest unto God to offer Sacrifice and to execute such duties as God required in his Service But Adam was also a King or Chief Ruler over all his Children and Posterity So after Adam Seth and the tighteous Patriarchs Enoch and others were Priests unto God as well as Princes and Magistrates and they taught Noah how to call upon God and how to serve him So Noah was also a Prince and also a Preacher of righteousnesse as the Apostle saith of him so that it was not incompatible or inconsistent for the same man to be a Magistrate Prince or Governour and also a Priest Melchisedech after the Flood was the first that was called a King and a Priest and so Christ is a King and a Priest after his order So that under the Law of Nature Kings were invested with a power Ecclesiasticall both of Order and Jurisdiction Therefore these things are not incompatible by Nature and thus it continued for the space of 2500. years from Adam till Moses Princes and Priests were formerly the same both Functions residing in the same person Majorum haec erat consuetudo saith Servius ut Rex esset etiam Sacerdos vel Pontifex unde hodie quoque Imperatoresâ—Pontifices-dicimus They that had the managing of affairs of State had also the executing of Divine offices and so received divine and holy duties and oblations which use obtained in the Families of the old Patriarchs Thus the Learned Montague against Selden cap. 3. p. 537. Ante Legem datam ad primogenitos pertinebat-offerre sacrificia Levitae successerant loco eorum And again to the same purpose Cultus divinus ante legem datam pertinebat ad Primogenitos Israel And again Sacerdotium fuit annexum primogenitur â— usque ad legem datam per Mosem As Lyra says reporting the received judgements of the best Interpreters Lyra in Numb 3. 12. 8. 16. in Gen. 14. Veteribus ordinarium perpetuum fuit ut qui Reges essent iidem etiam sacerdotio fungerentur as Bertram says cap. â— De politia Iudaica The Priviledges which in the Law of Nature followed the Birth-right were these three First the Government or Principality Secondly the Priesthood Thirdly a Portion answerable to maintain these dignities The same light may appear though much darkned in the ancient Government of the Heathen for Heathen Kings are witnessed in old times to have been Priests of such Gods as they served which ancient combining of these two offices in one person came from the ancienâ— practise in the time of the Law of Nature and from the light of Nature was received among the Heathens Abraham was a Priest in his own Family and in several places of his Peregrination he built Altars and places where he did call upon God and perform all duties of Gods Worship then requisite Abraham did offer Sacrifice as appears Gen. 15 9. 22 7. 2 7 8. Abraham was a Prophet Gen. 20. 7. and received many promises from God especially concerning Christ to descend of him and God gave him the Sacrament of Circumcision and established his Covenant with him God saith of him Gen 18. 19. I know him that he will command his Children and his Houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgement c. And as Abraham did so likewise did Isaac and Iacob after him who built Altars unto God which was as much then as to build a Church in these dayes and to provide a Minister to preach and pray and administer the Sacraments and perform all other duties of a Pastor Hence it appears fully that in the time of Nature there was not two several jurisdictions one Ecclesiastical the other Civil as is now among us But the same persons discharged both Offices and all Duties belonging to them And further it appears that the priests being the first-born and chief men had such honourable respect and maintenance that they were not reckoned among the lowest of the people and made the off-scowring of all things as now they are If the Clergy may not enjoy any temporal office or dignity they will be crushed down and oppressed in all publick occasions as they find it manifestly in these troublesome times when the neighbours of every parish do impose all Taxes Burdens and Charges upon Ministers more then they formerly used to do or in reason can be allowed But the Clergy have no means to help themselves having none of their own tribe in authority power or place of judicature as formerly they had whereby they could help themselves and restrain the Lay-men from imposing Burdens and charges upon them in excessive manner It is easie to shew particular instances and one of many shall be mentioned When all the Judges of the Land about 20. years agoe had given their opinions and directions in writing upon particular doubts to Justices of peace incident to their offices one doubt was how much and in what proportion a Minister should be charged for Levies to the poor The Justices in the Country and the Neighbours of the parish would taxe the Glebes severally from the Tithes and so augment the Levy to a great proportion both for Glebe and Tythes But the Judges appointed in their answer that Glebe and Tithes should be both taxed together at a tenth part of the Levy in regard Tythes are abated much by small rares and much Land is discharged of Tythes in kind But now in these troubles the Committee-men and such like impose Taxes upon the Glebes severally and Tythes also imposing a sixth or seventh part of the Taxe upon the Tithes which is contrary to the resolution of