take the rest in Order onely premising this that t is true indeed we find fewer of this See upon the Civil Stage than any other most Offices being lookt upon as below the Archiepiscopal Dignity and therefore a Nobleman upbraided Hurbert Arch Bishop 1199. when he was made Chancellour of England Chief Justice of England and high Governour of all the Dominions under King Richard the first however we shall begin with his Person and See Canterbury Hubert under Richard 1. and King John who intrusted the same Prelate with the Government of the whole Realm at his departure into Normandy Gualter Reynolds Chancellour Ann. Dom. 1310. John Stratford Chancellour under Edw. 3. And when the King Invaded France no Person thought so fit in his absence to have the Government of the Nation entrusted to him Simon Islip of the Privy Counsel to the Edw. 3. John Stafford to Hen. 5. John Morton to Hen. 6. and Edw. 4. But we need not stand upon this when in truth it hath been seldom known that any of them have been at any time omitted Nor was this proper only to the times of Propery Come to the Reformation we find Arch Bishop Cranmer of the Privy Counsel to Hen. 8. and Edw. 6. and very active in Civil matters yet a man so averse to Rome so instrumental in planting the Gospel so Laborious so Holy that a great Apocalyptical man Mr. Brightman in his Commentaries oa the Apocalypse a man no friend to the Hierarchy takes him to be that Angel pointed at by God Rev. 14. that had power over the fire Under the renown'd Queen Elizabeth John Whitgift of the Council and had the Government of the Principality of Wates given to him YORK Waler Gray Chancellour under King John had the Government of the Realm entrusted to him under Hen. 3. William de Melton Successively Treasurer and Chancellour of England 1317. William de Zouche Vicegerent to King Edw. Ann. Dom. 1346. John Kemp Ann. 1425. twice Lord Chancellour And Thomas Young Lord Precident of the North An. Dom. 1561. LONDON There was not long since to be seen in St. Pauls the Monument of William Bishop of London who obtained from the Conqueror the City Charter to which the Lord Major and his Brethren the Aldermen used in a gratefull Commemoration every year to walk on foot He was Privy Counsellor to King William the Conqueror Mauritius Chancellour under the same King Eustachius de Falconbridge one of King Rich. 1. his Justices Chancellour of the Exchequer Treasurer of England and twice Embassadour into France Henry de Wingham Chancellour under Edw. 3. Ralph Boldoc under Edw. 1. Richard Bintworth under Edw. 3. Robert Braybrook under Rich. 2. Richard Cox Dean of Westminster whom I crave leave to name here as belonging to the Diocess of the privy Counsel to Edw. 6. And Bishop Bancroft sent Embassadour to Embden to treat with the King of Denmarks Commissioners Ann. Dom. 1600. DURHAM Geoffrey Rufus Chancellour of England Ann. Dom. 1140. Richardus de Marisco Ann. Dom. 1217. Anthony Beake of the Privy Councel Ann. Dom. 1294. Richard de Bury Cancellarius Ann. Dom. 1334. and Treasurer Ann. Dom. 1336. Thomas Langley Chancellor Ann. Dom. 1406. Thomas Ruthal of the Counsel to Henry 8. and as his Monument at Westminster testifies Secretary to Hen. 7. Richard Neyle of the Privy Council A. D. 1627. And here we cannot omit that known passage of Newbrigensis who brings in K. Richard making himself merry with the Bishop boasting what a feat he had done E Vetusto Episcopo novitium Comitem ego mirus artifex feci To make a New Count of an Old Bishop a Priviledge yet continued to that Ancient See WINCHESTER Swithan Chancellour of England under K. Egbert Ann. Dom. 860. William Giffard Chancellour under the Conqueror William Rufus and K. Henry 1. Peter de la Roch. Lord Chief Justice under K. John Sendall Chancellour 1316. William Edenden Treasucr under Edw. 3. William of Wickam Founder of New Colledge in Oxon Principal Secretary of State Keeper of the Privy Seal Master of the Wards and Treasurer of the Kings Revenues in France Ann. Dom. 1360. William Wainfleet Founder of Magdalen Colledge Oxon for his great Wisdom and Integrity long Lord Chancellor of England under Hen. 6. Richard Fox Founder of C. C. C. Oxon one of the Privy Counsel to Hen. 7. as Prudent a Prince as this Nation hath known and this Bishop as wise a Privy Counsellor as he a Prince continually employed either in matters of Counsel at home or Embassies and Treaties abroad ELY William Longchamp Chancellor Ann. Dom. 1189. after Chief Justice and Protector of the Realm when K. Richard the first undertook his Journey to the Holy Land Eustacius Chancellor Ann. Dom. 1196. John Hotbam Chancellor Ann. Dom. 1317. Simon Laughan And. Dom. 1361. first Treasurer then Chancellor of England John Barnet Treasurer A. D. 1366. John Fordham Treasurer Ann. Dom. 1385. William Gray Treasurer Ann. Dom. 1469. John Alcock Chancellor Ann. Dom. 1486 And Thomas Goodrick Chancellor under Edw. 6. LINCOLN Robert Bleuet Chancellor under the Conqueror Ann. 1092. Alexander under K. Henry the I. Lord Chief Justice of England Galfridus Chancellour A. D. 1180. Hugh de Wells Chancellour Ann. Dom. 1209. Walter de Constantiis Chancellour under Hen. 6. and Dr. Williams Dean of Westminster and after Bishop of this See made Lord Keeper by the Learned K. James COVENTRY and LICHFIELD Roger de Wiseman Keeper of the Great Seal Ann. Dom. 1245. William de Langton Treasurer Ann. Dom. 1226. Roger Northbrough Clerk of the Wardrope afterwards Treasurer Ann. Dom. 1322. Geoffrey Blyth Lord President of Wales Ann. Dom. 1513. Rowland Lee his Successor in the same Office Ann. D. 1535. Richard Sampson in the same Ann. Dom. 1537. William Smith Founder of Brazen-Nose Colledge Oxon in the same under Hen. 8. SARUM Osmond Chancellor of England always of the Privy Council and seldom separated from the Court under the Conqueror Roger Chancellor 1107. and under K. Stephen Ann. Dom. 1136. John Waltham Master of the Rools Keeper of the Privy Seal and after Treasurer of England under Richard the II. Nicolas Bubwith Treasurer Ann. Dom. 1407. William Ayscoth Clerk of the Counsel Ann. Dom. 1438. BATH and WELLS Robert Burnet first Lord Treasurer then Chancellour of England and always of the Council under Edw. I. John Drokensford Keeper of the Wardrope Ann. 1309. Robert Stillington first Keeper of the Privy Seal then Chancellour Ann. Dom. 1465. Oliver King Principal Secretary of State 1492. John Clark Master of the Rolls A. D. 1523. EXETER Leofricus first one of the Privy Counsel then Chancellour of England under the Conqueror though Sir Henry Spelman reckons him of Bath at that time and possibly he might be of both William Brewster of the Privy Counsel under Henry the 3. Walter Stapledon Founder of Exon Colledge Oxon first of the Privy Counsel then Treasurer under Edw. 2. John Grandesson Privy Counsellor to Edw. 3. John Voysey Lord
sit at the Helm and are much better able to determine than my self But the consequences of that opinion seem directly to aim at the Leveling of Sovereignty and making it accountable to the other two in their esteem Coordinate Estates Now by restoring the Spiritualty the only true third Estate to its due Rights and antient Priviledges for that it is the true third Estate the Lord Chief Justice Cook saith in the Fourth of his Institutes and the Act of Parliament of the 8 of Eliz. c. 1. speaks to the same thing this may be the most ready and most natural expedient to remove that destructive and dangerous opinion out of the minds of an unlearned and fickle multitude So may the Crown be safe and the Mitre no longer trampled on Et quae Deus olim conjunxit nemo hoc sequiori saeculo seperet Faxit hoc Deus qui solus potis est CHAP. VIII Precedents of the Bishops Sitting and Voting in Capital Causes from the Reign of of King Hen. 8. till the 29th of Eliz. I shall begin with the Attainder of Cromwel Earl of Essex who was attainted in Parliament for Treason c. the Articles are every extant and may be seen the first reading of his Bill as I find it in the Journal of the Lords House was upon the 17th of June 32. Hen. 8th at which reading were present Fourteen Bishops who they were you may see in the Journal at the second reading which was the 19th of June of the said year 32. Hen. 8. were present sixteen Bishops whose Names and Sees there you may find at the third and last reading were sixteen likewise Vid. Journal ut supra the Bill it self past the Royal Assent the 24th of July following when were 14 Bishops present The next shall be the Attainder of Tho. Duke of Norf. and Henry Earl of Surry 38. H. 8. This also was an Attainder in Parliament The first reading of the Bill against these Noble Lords was on the 18th of January Anno Regis supra dicto when were present ten Bishops the second reading was the day following when were present nine Bishops The third and last reading was on the 20th of the same Moneth when were present thirteen Bishops the Bill past the Royal Assent January 27th 38. Hen. 8. the Bishops likewise then present The third instance of Hen. D. of Suffolk which indeed was an Attainder at Common Law but afterward confirm'd in Parliament A. 1 2. Phil. et Mar. at the first reading were present 12 Bishops the Bill was read 5 Jan. Anno supradicto at the 2d reading which was two days after on the 7th of January were present eleaven Bishops and on the next day the Bill had its last reading in the Lords House at which were present eleaven Bishops the Lords Spiritual were likewise present at the passing of the Bill which was on the 21 of Jan. following in each of these the Journal if consulted will satisfie any The 4th Precedent shall be in Seymore the Lord Admiral who was attainted for Treason in the 2d of Edw. 6. for that he purposed to destroy the young King and to translate the Crown unto himself for which and other Crimes objected he suffered Death on the Tower-Hill at his Attainder were Present nineteeen Bishops I might have before added the Case of the Lord Hungerfords-Attainder in Parliament who was condemned in Parliament in the 32. of Hen. the 8th at whose Tryal and Condemnation were Present no fewer than seaventeen Bishops Vid. Journal of the Lords House I will only add two more Precedents and close with them they are in the Reign of the Peaceable Queen Elizabeth in whose times if ever the Actings in Parliament were regular and orderly the first is the Case of the Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland for their Rebellion in the North and endeavour to bring in Popery at whose Condemnation were present thirteen Bishops Vid. Journal and lastly that of Pagets in the 29th of the said Queen at which were ten Bishops Vid. Journal as before I shall only add one thing more and that is the Protestation of the Bishops 11. R. 2 where they give the reason why they refused to be put in some Parliaments their words Quia in hoe Parliamento agitur de nonnullis materiis in quibus non licet nobis juxta sacrorum Canonum instituta quomodolibet personaliter interesse but they there add a Salvo to their right in the beginning of their Protestation Quod ad Archiepiscopum Cantuar. qui pro tempore fuerit nâ—c non caeteros suos suffraganeos Confratres Co-episcopos Abbates et Priores aliosque Praelatos quoscunque Baroniam de Domino Rege tâ—nentes in Parliamento Regis ut Pares praed personaliter interesse pertinet ibidemque de regni negotiis aliis ibi tractari consuetis cum caeteris dicti regni Paribus aliis consulere ordinare statuere desinire ac caetera facere quae Parliamenti tempore ibid. intendet facien ' c. t is true indeed that as they never intended but that the Appeals Pursuites Accusations Judgements had and rendred c. upon their voluntary absenting themselves they should be good and valid in the Law as their Protestation expresly granteth yet by the same their Protestation they reserve their right of being present c. doing every thing else which any other Peer though Temporal might do And that they did Vote in the 21st of this Kings Reign by their Proctor in the Condemnation of the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Yea and upon the Commons Petition too for that many judgments had been reversed for that they were not present as is before proved and Personally also in the Condemnation of the Earl of Arandel and Wardour c. the Duke of Lancaster being then Lord High Steward Vid. Plaoit Coron c. 21 Ric. 2. in the Records in the Tower The Roll marked with the Letters F. I. It is well known that out of respect to the constitution made in the Council held at Westminster that no Clergy-man should agitare Judicium Sanguinis This Council is mentioned in R. Hovenden in H. 2. p. 30. the Clergy have some time forborn to intermeddle in such matters and on the other side 't is as notorious that many of that Order have been Lord Chief Justices of England and that none have discharged that Office better more to the Content of the King and Subject and the Benefit of the whole Commonwealth FINIS Ad. Sec. 1. * Euseb Ecc. Hist 10. c. 7. Zom l. 1. c. 9. Exerc. 13. c. 5.
Dor. l. 2. p. 43. Then for Geneva it self who is so much a stranger to that Reformation as to be ignorant what a stroke Calvin and others had upon the Senate or grand Counsel which gave occasion to that complaint of some that they had expelled One Bishop and admitted many If remote Countries be to be regarded amongst the Abissines the Clergy is Paramount in Affairs of all natures and we read in Damianus a Goes of Zaga Zaba an Ethiopian Bishop Viceroy of Bagana sent Embassadour to the King of Portugal Dress Orat. In Muscovy their supreme Convention which those Inhabitants call Zabore consists of the great Duke Twenty Ecclesiasticks and as many Nobles the common People being wholly excluded and when they are met together the Patriarch and Ecclesiasticks are always first Consulted and first deliver their Opinion I shall conclude this Paragraph onely reminding that neither the Pagans nor Mahometans are so inhumane or irreligious or discourteous to their Priests as to deny them this Liberty For that Tully acquaints us that it was the appointment of the Gods that the Roman Pontifices should not only take care of their Religion but further Sumnis Reipub. praeesse voluerunt Orat. pro. dom sua Nay at this very day the Barbarous Turks never exclude their Mufti but allow him free entrance and Vote into all their Divans and Counsels yea the great Sultan himself so Honours the Mufti that as often as he comes into his Presence he rises from his Seat and according to their mode putting his hand to his breast bows his head in token of reverence and Honour which he shews not to any other Subject and will hardly vouchsafe the like honours to the mightiest Monarch upon Earth CHAP. V. Englands more particular Respect and Kindness to the Clergy I Might here be very large should I but give the World a brief account of the Honour which our Saxon Kings had for their Clergy neither was this a matter onely precarious and by the Courtesie as we say of England Sed ipsis confirmatum legibus Spelm. Concil Ep. ad Regem The Person who Ministred at the Altar was esteemed equal in all things in censu pariter Capitis to the Lord of the Mannour or any Knight Leg. Aethel c. ult de Wirgildis The Abbot was esteemed no less than a greater Thane which now we call a Baron of the Kingdom The Bishop of no inferiour Rank than the Count or Earl Qui integro fruebantur comitatu The Arch Bishop equal to any Duke who might happen to be set over and have the Rule of many Countries for that saith the Learned Spelman in these times our Kings gave always the greatest respect and honour to their Clergy for that in their keeping were the Keys of Learning and Knowledge the Seculars in the mean time addicting themselves most what to the Wars so that in those times it came to pass that the Priests mouth was the Oracle of our Common People no less than of the King and Commonwealth for that they had ever the first Place in our Commitia's and Assemblies no less than in the Kings Courts of Justice and Law Tribunals in the Kings Palace with the Nobles of his Kingdom in the Counties with the Comittees and Justices of the Counties in the Sheriffs Courts turno Vicecomites together with the Sheriffs the Bishops had their Adsessors yea in the Hundred Courts they or their Ministers sate together with the Lord of the Hundred so that one sword was ever helpfull to the other in the Administration of Justice and nothing of moment was done in these Courts of Judgment but by their advice and assistance Spelm. l. prius citat The practice of the Kingdom ran parallel with the Law for in all Antient Charters and Laws which heretofore were passed and made by signing their names cum signo crucis the Spiritual Lords ever preceeded the Temporal In a donation of Ethelbert A. D. 605. to the Monastery of St. Peter in Canterbury the first witness subscribing it is Austin the Bishop and after him several Dukes and Earls Monast Angl. Spelm. Conc. passim In a Charter of King Inas Ann. Dom. 725. To the Monastery of Glassenbury after the Bishops Boorthwald and Fordred occur Waldhere Ethelherd Ummin and Winchelin the greatest Peers in the Nation putting their Names Not long after in a Grant of King Offus to the Abby of Worcester Ann. Dom. 708. Brotdran Berthand Eadbald and Eadbald two Princes and two Dukes follows the Bishops And at the same Kings Consecration at St. Albans Ann. 793. No less than 10 Dukes besides other Nobles give place to the Prelates And to make an end in a Charter of King Edward the Confessor to the Monastery of Winchester immediately after the King subscribed Plegmund and Frithestan the Bishops being followed by Ethelward the Kings Brother Aethelstan Aelfweard the Kings two Sons Oredluf Orced Brorhâ—â—â—f and Heerferth Dukes many more of this nature might be produced out of the same Authors and others as standing monuments of the Clergies Reputation and the Reverence our Religious Ancestors bare to their Functions particularly the third Charter of King Edward the Confessor of the Foundation of the Abby of Westminster where more particularly we find Osberne and Peter two of the said Kings Chaplains signing the Charter before several of the Earls And furthermore here is Statute Law in the Case that this usage may not be thought to proceed meerly from the Curtesie of England 't is confirm'd by the Statute of the 31 Hen. 8. c. 10. Wherein all degrees and offices are placed in Assemblies and Conferences and there the Arch Bishop of Canterbury as primus Par regni the first Peer of the Kingdom is ranked before all the Nobility and Seated at the Kings right hand next and immediately after the Royal Blood and the Vicegerent and the rest of the Bishops follow him in their due precedency according to the Dignities and Aunciencies of their respective Sees See farther the Statute of 8. of Eliz. c. 1. where in that Statute they are called an high and one of the greatest Estates of the Kingdom nor were they ever excluded from the greatest Employments of Honours and Trust in the Kingdom and to evidence that this is not spoke without Book we will subjoin a Catalogue of Churchmen Collected out of Godwin Malmesbury Spelman Dugdale and others c. that have born all at least the most honourable Offices of State and how ever bespatter'd by some discharged them with much integrity and repute England owing more of its happiness to men of this Calling than any other though it cannot be denyed but some miscarriages might be here and there found and yet as few as can be expected in such a Multitude and if a man were disposed to find fault he might without much pains takeing two for one in Critically examining any other Profession Let us begin then with Englands Metropolitan to whom this Primacy justly appertains and
President of Wales under Hen. 8. Gervase Babington Vice Precident of Wales A. 1597. NORWICH Hen. 2. by a special Commission makes the Bishops of Norwich Winchester and Ely Lord Chief Justices of England in my Authors words Radalphus de Diceto Archi Justitiarios Angliae who there adds Clergymen were pitched upon by the Kings for this employment rather than others for that they were the likeliest persons not to oppress the poor nor to respect the face of the Rich. John Salmon Chancellour A. D. 1319. Robert Baldock Chancellour An. Dom. 1324. John Wakering Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal A. D. 1416. HEREFORD Thomas Cantelupe Chancellour A. D. 1275. Thomas Charlton Lord Treasurer 1329. John Gilbert in the same employment 1386. Thomas Melling of the Privy Counsel to Edw. 4. Charles Booth Chancellour of the Marches of Wales Ann. Dom. 1517. WORCESTER Galfridus Giffard Lord Chancellour of England Ann. Dom. 1267. Walter Reynold first Treasurer then Chancellour of England under King Edw. 2. John Barâ—â—s Lord Treasurer Ann. Dom. 1362. Henry Wakefield Treasurer An. Dom. 1376. Nicholas Heath Lord President of Wales and Chancellor of England under Queen Mary CHICHESTER Ralph Nevil Chancellor of England Ann. Dom. 1222. But Sir Henry Spelman reckons it 1226. who saith he was appointed to that Employment by Parliament John de Langton Chancellor under Edw. 1. and 2. John Stratford Lord Chancellor Ann. Dom. 1360. Adam Molins Clerk of the Privy Council Ann. Dom. 1451. And that very Learned Prelate and industrious Preacher Lancelot Andrews Privy Councellor of England and Scotland under a Prince who knew the worth of Learning and advanced it accordingly ROCHESTER Walter de Merton Founder of that Colledge that bears his name in Oxon Lord Chancellor of England Ann. Dom. 1274. John de Shepey Lord Treasurer Ann. Dom. 1358. OXFORD Hugh Curwyn Lord Chancellor of Ireland St. DAVIDS Adam de Houghton Lord Chancellor of England Ann. Dom. 1376. Lindwood the famous Canonist Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal Ann. Dom. 1440 and a person much employed in Embassies to the King of Spain Portugal c. I might here add several Deans and Arch-Deacons promoted to the same and like Dignities and with industrious Mr. Stow take notice that till the dissolution of Abbies and Monasteries the Prior of Christ Church in London was ever a Member of the Court of Aldermen and that the Dean of Westminster is by his Charter allowed no small interest in the Government of that Neighbouring City But I shall not nauseate the Reader any longer with the repetition of any more antient names but observe as others have done before me that in the Catalogue of Chancellors Recorded in Spelmans Glossery amounting to about 170 near a 100 of them were Clergymen more than all the other Professions put together can make up These then are the Honours which if any humane Testimony can make a thing certain by an uninterrupted Custome equal to Law which Wise Antiquity in the best of times gave them through all the Saxon Danes and Norman times without Controul and Dispute till within these 40 years or thereabout since which England hath groaned under the very great sin of Dispiseing the Embassadors of Christ and with some it hath been no small step to preferment to rail at them to murmure at and decry their advancements for secular ends of their own yea to rank the great Trustees of Souls with the vilest Peasants in the Nation as if there were no better way to shew their Love to their Redeemer and their own Christianity than by hatred to his Servants who conveyed it to them as if men had no other way to manifest their respects to the Majesty of the great God but by powring out contempt and obloquy upon those who represent his Person And thus Corah and his accomplices great complaint and grievance against Moses and Aaron was That they were too high took too much upon them Numb 16. They were advanced and honoured above the rest this was the main Eye-sore but the revengeing hand of God would not then bear it Nay have we not here in England dureing our late and unhappy troubles heard such Language as this nay have we not seen the thing reduced into practise All the Congregation is Holy and one may Preach as well as another Thus would these Sons of Confusion have brought upon us a Munster Confusion and Disorder by taking away the Distinctions of Callings The Wise God we know appointed it otherwise under the Old Testament when every one we know was not admitted to the Priesthood We cannot but think that there were 1000 in Israel who knew how to kill slay and dress a Sheep Ox or Goat as artificially as the Sons of Levi yet none ever attempted it in reference to the Altar without a severe rebuke And was Moses a more Prudent Lawgiver or Steward of Gods house than Jesus Christ the Wisdom of the Father Would it be fuffered in humane Societies in any well regulated Corporation that every man who should conceive himself fitter to discharge an Office manage a Trade Husband an Estate should presently exclude another legally possest of it and invade his propertys grant this and farewell Government and welcome Babel Let me say it once for all ' t is folly for any to expect the prosperity of the Nation whilst the Clergy of it is in Misery a Low and Despicable Condition whilst the sacred Function is deposed nay with black ingratitude revil'd to whose learned labours do we owe the Translation of our Bibles and who as before once was intimated under God were the principal Instruments of delivering us from that Egyptian Darkness our Forefathers sate in Is not this like the Deer we Read of in Plutarch who browsed on that Bush in a Calm he was glad to creep under in a Storm Certainly they are not worthy the Name of Christians or Friends of the Gospel whatever their pretences may be that despise and vilifie the Ministry than which nothing more bespeaks a vile and reprobate Heart We all know that under the Law presumptuously to rise against the Priest was punishable with no less than Death Deut. 17. for these are the Embassadors of the King of Heaven and how sacred such persons were esteemed by the Laws of all Nations all Histories do abundantly Witness 't was the shame of our Neighbour Nation of Scotland the Murder of the late learned Prelate there and that small indignities offered to persons of his Rank have been highly resented the Ammonites are a lasting testimony in the days of King David and prood Corinth was for no other reason burnt to ashes by the enraged Romans Florus CHAP. VI. The Antient Estate of our Bishops and Clergy under the times of the Britains Saxons Danes and Normans VVHat incouragement the Clergy found in the times of the Britons will appear to have been very great if we will but read Arch Bishop Usher de Primordiis Ecclesiae Britanicae through the Series
nay a small and inconsiderable part of that House voting the Temporal Lords useless and dangerous and that how they were enabled by being assisted by the help of Cromwell the late Usurper and the Army to accomplish what they had begun and the bad consequence of all we have seen with our eyes and Bishops God be thanked restored to their undoubted Rights and Privileges and that for as much as they were equally Barons nay the Bishops had usually the first in Summons they have also equal privileges to make their Proxies in Parliament as the Temporal Barons had we confess as before for that they were Spiritual persons they were not by the Council of Clarendon to sit in Capital Causes and loss of limb but then we must know that long before this they both had and exercised this Power as may be made appear out of John Crampton's Chron. c. 24. where amongst the Laws of Athelstane we read Episcopo jure pertinet omnem rectitudinem promovere Dei viz. saeculi debent Episcopi cum saeculi judicibus interesse judiciis and the ordering of all the Measures and Weights is there made of Episcopal cognizance the Standard being still left in the Bishops hands and out of Sir Henry Spelman's Glossary voce Comes Comes praesidebat foro comitatus non solus sed junctus Episcopo ut alter alteri auxilio esset consilio praesertim Episcopus Comiti nam in hunc illi animadvertere saepe licuit errantem cohibere so much confidence did the Antients repose in the Clergy that the guidance and overseeing of most temporal affairs was entrusted to them nay they had a check upon the Laity And thus lovingly with all sweetness and candor for 4 or 500 years during all the Saxons times and till that unhappy division by the Conquerour who defaced this beautiful and regular composure did the Church and State-Officers sit together in the morning determining Ecclesiastical affairs and in the afternoon Civil There were then no jars or clashings of jurisdictions heard of no prohihitions issuing out of one Court to obstruct the course of Justice in another thereby hampering the poor Client that he knew not which way to turn himself and I am perswaded there is no better expedient to prevent lasting vexatious suits and to relieve the oppressed than again to reconcile these two jurisdictions that according to the primitive usage as well Spiritual as Temporal Judges may be appointed in all Courts that Moses and Aaron may not interfere and quarrel but walk hand in hand Though I know this design does not rellish with many of the Long Robe yet 't is feared that attempting some such thing purchased the late Archbishop Laud no few enemies and was one especial cause of hastening his ruine yet we find Mr. Selden a Lawyer too lib. 2. de Synedriis proving that for the first 4000 years and better the Civil and Ecclesiastical Courts continued united and the first distinction proceeded from Pope Nicholas Gratian. Distinct 96. c. cum ad verum and that the Clergy do not meddle personally to vote in loss of life or limb proceeds from the Canons of the antient Church which forbad their presence in cases of blood but I hope that no sober man will hence argue that they being Barons of this Realm they must lose their Priviledges which belong to the Spiritual Lords as well as to the Temporal viz. To make Proxies though in Capital Causes when by the antient Canons of the Church they are forbid to be present which they have done and still have right to doe comes next to be discoursed of And first I shall make use of Mr. Selden's authority though no friend to the Bishops for reasons he best knew of who expressly saith in his Book of the Priviledges of the Barons of England Printed 1642. that omnes Praelati Magnates c. has this Priviledge Introduct Though he says there they had lost it by the Parliament 17 Car. 1. 1641. I hope now they are restored to it again that they had before he gives you sundry instances Cap. 1. these are his words § 2. That the course of Elder time was not that Barons onely made Proxies but other men as Bishops and Parliamentary Abbots and Priors who gave their Letters usually to Parsons Prebendaries and Canonists In the Parliament of Carlisle under Edw. 1. the Bishop of Exeter sent to the Parliament Henry de Pynkney Parson of Houghton as his Proxy The Bishop of Bath and Wells sent William of Cherlton a Canon of his Church and in like sort other of the Spiritualty of that time in the beginning of the 17th year of King Richard the Second the Bishop of Norwich made Richard Corqueaux being then Deane of the Arches Thomas Hederset being Archdeacon of Sudbury and John Thorp Parson of Epingham his Proxies by the name of Procuratores sive Nuntii and in the same time the Bishop of Durham ' s Proxies were John Burton Canon of Bewdley and Master of the Rolls and John of Wendlingborough Canon of London and other like in the same time By which also that of the preamble of the Statute of Praemunire is understood where it is said that the advice of the Lords Spiritual that was present and of the Procurators of them that were absent was demanded The like under Henry the 4th and 5th are found in the Rolls and under Henr. 5. the Archbishop of York gives the Proxies to the Bishop of Durham and to two other Clerks of his Province Nay farther that the Bishops used to give their Proxies in Cases of Attainder the said Mr. Selden expresly saith in the place forecited and also what sort of persons they used to make their Proxies he there likewise tells you adding withal this unhandsom reflexion That the Lords Spiritual had so much mistaken of late the Laws of the Kingdom and the Original of their own Honours by endeavouring to enlarge the Kingdom of Antichrist that they had now he means A. D. 42 lost both Priviledge and Vote in Parliament All sharp Reply to which I shall purposely forbear And secondly proceed to shew you express Precedents wherein they have Voted either Personally or by Proxies in Capital Causes and here I will produce Mr. Selden himself the Bishops adversary become their advocate who saith expressly p. 125. lib. cit That though in the Case of Appeal of Treason in a Parliament of the 11 of Richard the Second commenced by Thomas Duke of Gloucester and others against Alexander Archbishop of York Robert de Vere c. they absented themselves I mean the whole Spiritualty in that Parliament and would make no Proxy in their room for that time yet afterwards they agreed to do it in Cases of Judgments of Death Rot Parl. 2. Henr. 4. Rot. Parl. 2. Henr. 5. But he there saith that the first use of such Proxies was 21 Ric. 2. so that we have him confessing the Bishops sitting in cases of blood
by their Proxies the next authority I shall make use of is a Parliament Roll it self of that year as I find it in Sir Robert Cotton's Collections intituled as followeth Placita Coronae coram Domino Rege in Parliamento suo apud Wegmonast diae Lunae proximae post Festum Exaltationis Sanctae Crucis Anno regni Regis Ric. 2. Post Conquestum 21. The Roll it self you may see in the Tower among the Records there kept It is of an Impeachment of the Earl of Arundel and Warr. c. for Treason c. the Articles were exhibited against him by several Lords as Edward Earl of Rutland Thomas Earl of Kent John Earl of Huntington c. which the said Lords were ready to prove the Crimes objected and demanded the Prisoner to be brought to the Bar which the Lord Nevil then Constable of the Tower did and the aforesaid Lords in their own Persons appeared also His Articles being read the Earl of Lancaster Lord Steward of England by the King's commandment and assent of the Lords declares the whole matter And thereupon the said Earl's answer to the Articles was demanded who pleaded two Pardons and prayeth they may be allowed but they were not whereupon Sir Walter Clopton Lord Chief Justice demands of him what he had farther to say for that if nothing more to say the Law would adjudge him guilty And the said Earl not pleading any thing else the Lords Appellants in their proper persons require that Judgment may be given against the said Earl as Convict of the Treason aforesaid Whereupon the Lord Steward of England by the assent of the King Bishops and Lords adjudged the said Earl Guilty and Convict of all the Articles aforesaid and thereby a Traitor to the King and Realm and that he should be therefore Hanged Drawn and Quartered and forfeit all his Lands in fee c. though the Punishment in regard he was of Noble Blood was changed and he was ordered to be Beheaded which was done by the Lieutenant of the Tower and this is a short account of that Trial for Blood in Parliament Where 't is plain and evident that the Bishops were there present for 't is said that the said Earl was adjudged Guilty and Convict by the assent of the King Bishops and Lords Q. E. D. Next we will produce another Instance and Precedent of the Condemnation of Thomas Arundel Archbishop of Canterbury who was accused by the Commons in full Parliament die loco praedictis where we find the Commons by their Speaker Sir John Bussy Petitioning the K. in manner following For that divers Judgments were heretofore undone for that the Clergy were not present the Commons prayed the King that the Clergy would appoint some to be their common Proctor with sufficient authority thereunto Whereupon the Clergy appoint Thomas de la Percy by their Instrument their Proctor who together with the King and the said Lords adjudged him the said Archbishop guilty of Treason and himself a Traitor The Crimes objected to him was his traiterous obtaining a Commission from the King whereby the Kings Royal Power was encroached his Subjects put to death without Royal Assent c. for all which he was found guilty as aforesaid What I observe in brief is this from this Trial. 1. That there had been divers Errors in Judgment which Judgments were in Law void for that the Bishops were not present 2. That hereupon the Commons Petitioned the King that the Bishops would appoint their Proxy and which accordingly they did Thomas de la Percy 3. He was Condemned by the said Court wherein sate Percy accordingly 4. That the said Bishops did not Vote there personally for that the Arch-bishop their Primate was Arraigned and it might not be seemly for them so to do And here we have the Case adjudged Judgments in Parliament Revers'd for that the Bishops were not Present by themselves or Proxys the Commons Petitioning the King that they would make Proxys a Judgment obtained for that the Bishops had made their Proxys Q. E. D. And if any be not satisfied they may see the Roll of Parliament as before among the Records in the Tower to which they are Referred Furthermore to make another discovery of the Inconstancy of the said Mr. Selden I find him in his Titles of Honour in the latter end of his Book Confessing that Thomas Becket Arch-bishop of Canterbury was Condemned by the Bishop of Winchester in Case of High Treason Vid. Titles of Honour And if any person would but a little reflect upon the Reason why the Bishops have not sometimes Voted in Cases of Blood but by their Proxies viz. Their respect they had to the Canons of the Primitive Church which might give them umbrage for their so doing And together with this what hath been said before of their being frequently appointed by the King and acting as Lord Chief Justices of England any person of an ordinary Capacity may guess at the Reason of their forbearing to Judge in Matters of Blood for the Reason aforesaid and their ready and chearfull compliance with their Princes Command when by the Law of this Land they were enabled so to do and which is a sufficient Supersedeas to the former Canon of the Church Another Precedent we have of the Bishops Personally sitting in Parliament held at Westminster on Monday next after the Feast of All Saints in the 3d of Hen. 5. wherein Henry Bishop of Winton was Chancellour wherein was Tryed Richard Earl of Cambridge and others for Treason for having Levyed men against the King and procured Edmund Earl of March as Heir to Rich. 2. to take upon him to be King of England and had Proclaimed him such in Wales and set one Thomas Trompington an Ideot and Scotchman to Personate Rich. 2. where the said Earl and others his adherents in that Action were Tryed and found Guilty the Lords Spiritual in Parliament being Present c. See the Records in the Tower Parl. 3. H. 5. p. 2. M. 4. Many other Precedents of a later Date and Time might be here Ex superabundanti added but I shall referr them for the matter of another Chapter they being all of them taken out of the Journals of the Lords House beginning in 32 Hen. 8. and ending 29. Eliz. 2. I might have enlarged in these which I have taken out of the Tower but I have purposely forborn to do it for that I find Mr. Selden himself in the days of 1642. granting me the Matter of Fact as clear and evident from the Ancient Records in the Tower of the Spiritual Lords Priviledges in this Matter And will now proceed to another Argument that the Bishops have Right to sit in all Cases as well Capital as Civil For that 4. they are undoubted Peers of the Realm which also I find Mr. Selden himself granting in his Priviledges of the Barronage of England p. 192. For there he saith Though some have doubted we know whom he means
whether the Spiritual Barons are Peers he saith there that they are so is true and plain and the Testimonies many various as in the Bishop of Winchester ' s Case who departed from the Parliament at Salisbury about the beginning of Edw. 3. and was questioned for it afterwards in the Kings Bench he pleaded to the Declaration Quod ipse est unus e Paribus Regni Prelatus and in that short Disputation of the Case which is left in the Year Books he is supposed both by the Court and Council to be a Peer But for this if his Authority be not good the Year Books themselves may be seen Bishop of Winchesters Case Year Book 3 of Edw. 3. And Pas 3. Edw. 3. coram Rege Rot. 9. Rep. So afterwards see the Bishop of Londons Case in the Year Book 3 Edw. 3. in a Writ of Wards brought against the Bishop of London he pleaded to Issue and the Defendant could not have a day of Grace for he said as the words of the Books are That a Bishop is a Peer of the Land Haec erat causa Year Book 3 Edw. 3. fol. 186. pl. 28. And in a like Case an Action of Trespass against the Abbot of Abington who was one of the Lords Spiritual day of Grace was denyed against him because he was Peer de la terre 13 Edw. 3. Titulo Enquest So expresly upon a question of having a Knight returned into a Jury where a Bishop was Defendant the Rule of the Court was that it ought to be so because the Bishop was a Peer of the Realm Plowden Comment pl. 117. So the Judgment given against the Bishop of Norwich in the time of Rich. 2. he is in the Roll expresly allowed to be a Peer We find also Stafford Arch Bishop of Canterbury upon his being excluded the Parliament under Edw. 3 thus challenging his place Ego tanquam major par Regni post Regem vocem habens jurae Ecclesiae meae tantum vendico ideo ingressum in Parlimentum peto The same may be made out farther by an Assignment of Errors under Hen. 5. for the revearsal of the Attainder of the Earl of Salisbury one Error is Assigned that Judgment was given without the Assent of the Prelates which were Peers in Parliament which is clearly allowed in the Roll and Petition too that they were Peers So also in an Act of Parliament under the same King Staâ— 4. Hen. 5. c. 6. where the Arch-Bishops and Bishops are called Peers of the Kingdom But of the truth of this Mr. Selden himself saith That no scruple could ever be made till the unhappy Act of the 17 Car. 1641. And how that Act was procured we all know How full of tumults and uproars were those Times to how great a distress was Majesty then brought How many Repulses did it meet with Was it not Past to serve the present Interest and by what subtile contrivance was it at last carried it is very well known Have we not reckoned the Date of our late Embroilments and wild Confusions from this fatal Apocha Under what Miseries Violencies and Rapins hath not our native Country for 20 years time from hence to be reckoned with so much pitty from all true-hearted English-men long laboured and groaned and the whole Christian-world about us stood amazed and agasht All the Wealth which the Piety of our Forefathers had been so many years in heaping up all their Priviledges which their prudence had so deliberately conferred being in a few days Passion swallowed up Had those good men the then Bishops unadvisedly acted any thing against their Prince or Kingdom could no Personal-fine or punishment expiate their Crime and fault must the whole Order be raized and Episcopacy it self destroyed root and branch must so many merits of their worthy Predecessors be buryed in the grave of ungrateful Oblivion It were an easy matter to produce a large Catalogue of eminent Prelates who by their prudent advice have oftentimes prevented Bloodshed preserved Peace saved a sinking Kingdom and a dying Religion many good works have they done amongst us many Colledges and Schools erected and endowed many material Churches by their munificence and living Temples of the Holy Ghost built by their Ministry and for which of these must they now be thus dealt withal thus disfranchised That they who heretofore carried the principal stroke in all Cabinet Counsels and publick Diets are acknowledged in several recorded Statutes of this Kingdom an high and one of the greatest Estates of this Kingdom as particularly 8 Eliz. c. 1. that they are Peers of this Realm 25 Edw. 3. c. 6. before recited and 4 Henr. 5. c. 6. must now be debarred those immunities of which our Nation hath ever reaped the greatest benefit they must be curtailde in or excluded from what is their just right to Vote as Peers in the higher House of Parliament certainly 't is now high time if ever for men to relent of their merciless cruelty to to learned Industry the crafty Jesuite who is now at our Doors thinks his day is coming this will make him keep a Jubile to see England fall again by her own hands How much ground hath he got by debasing and pouring contempt on our English Clergy of all the World whom he most dreaded Let us but enquire of other Nations our Neighbours and they will tell us That the English Divine is the terrour of the Papal world aud that they have wrote more and better against Rome than all the World besides We ought not to take pleasure in upbrading an ungrateful Nation But is this the reward of their unwearied pains incessant studies early rising and late watching beating their brains wasting their bodies and contracting incurable diseases neglecting their families relations and accquaintance for the glory of God and good of their Countrey Must they onely have discouragements heaped upon them bread and water and raggs if some men had their will thought to good for them Must another Profession of which a Forreiner by way of disdain said Causidâ—â—i Angli gens indoctissima ultra Doroberniam nihil sapiunt Must they get honour riches and preferments without the regret and frowns of any nay more in 60 years last past than Divinity in 600 preceding and if the matter was not invidious I could easily make appear 't was an old saying Nulli sua pietas debet esse damnosa in earnest This is not for the honour of the Gospel neither doth it become the Reformation Of late years some of the Long Robe no well wishers to the Church whose names I forbear have started a very unhappy and destructive notion and not over beneficial to the English Scepter and there yet want not those who with much industry keep this notion up that the three Estates of this Nation consist of King Lords and Commons which how far it may countenance former actings and endanger future disturbances I humbly submit to the prudence of those who