and the Hebrew in Judges once and againe stiles them Melecks but it is because of the more lax signification of the words and not because of the strict acceptation of the thing and the knowne and now frequent notion of Kings and Monarchs The Roman Dictators Cinna Sylla Mario c. where by the Greek Writers stiled Monarchs and yet it is known they were not Monarchs as the thing strictly signifies The Dictators were but if I may say so Protectors pro tempore the wise Tacitus and indeed all Historians of note distinguish betweene the Dictators and Caesars as between two kinds of Government It is not a single person but a sole power which makes a Monarch so called and known and this the late King knew very well when upon discourses of a limited Prerogative he was wont to say It was but a designe to unking him and make him another Duke of Venice SOLENES OF POWER SOVERAIGNTY OF RVLE HEREDITARINESSE OF Title IMSPONCIBLENES OF ACTION c. have been deemed and urged as the Regalia of a Monarch and when these are not the Masters of Monarchy will tell you Kingship is wanting or at least waning and in its decay Object But how soone may the Protector assume this if he please and what absolute power hath he at present c. Ans Have we ground to thinke him a man of so much ambition and so little faith as to violate his Oath though for a Kingdome Hath not the Nation had experiments strong and sincere long enough to dash such jealous Brats in peeces For which of his good works is it that you thus suspect him Obj. But he is but a man and temptations may overcome c. Reply Let this rather fill your soule with prayers then foment in you jealousies But is not he bounded Are not the Articles of agreement like the bounds of the Sea such as if he would rage he cannot passe And whatsoever power he hath at present may not the next Parliament lessen it And his present Councel check it for how little a part of power hath he without the advise and consent of his Councel Obj. But yet he hath the sword and may breake out c. Ans Yet still we have jealousie and so make feare without grounds Is there no fidelity in the present Councel Is there no honesty in the Officers of the Army to restraine and oppresse extravagancies Or is there no power in Prayer no God in Heaven to mend all verily if the Protector should fal from grace which yet I am not so much an Arminian as to feare and should either misuse and mis-improve his power to selfe power and pride c. all that feare God would cry out let him be accursed and I should thinke my selfe worthy to share in the curse if I should not say Amen even so be it Lord. Let him be the shame of men the scorne of State the abborrency of all that feare God if be make his Protectorship a step to Kingship for himselfe or his And here let me take the liberty to say I could heartily wish and upon my knees humbly begge that as an addition unto that Article that the Protector shall not be hereditary it might be annexed that the Family of any one Protector shall be wholly cut off from being elected to the Protectorship at least unto the third Generation It would be a test of singular sincerity in the now Lord Protector to procure such an addition and it would be a great security to prevent Monarchy or other evil which may arise out of this office We know how that the Empire of Germany is not hereditary fundamentally but Elective yet for want of such a caution as I humbly motion how long the house of Austria hath perpetuated the Imperiall power in its owne Family to the grand injury of all Germany is a thing that needs no History to confirme or set forth I have heard I confesse that many have said and doe say that there is a long line of pedigree drawne up to prove the Lord Protector to be lineally descended from Cadwallador and this hath been and is still made use of by some to insinuate a design a future Kingship for himselfe or his but as I know no just ground for to beleeve the truth of this surmise so I perswade my selfe his Highnesse the Protector is more Christian and lesse Welch-man then to minde such foolish vaine Pedegrees if he draw not his line from Christ he will not be Honourable in the eyes of God or Saints and I hope his conversation will fully prove this report a lye Neither doe I doubt in the least that he will venter the perill of life and perjury upon so meane an account as an antiquated that I say not abominated peece of Heraldry There is also another idle report which yet because it s handed as from a Knight and a Bishop I le hint in a word and speake shortly unto The report is That a Knight whether errant or otherwise having little to doe at Bath should search for annosities in the Cathedrall there and at last found a certaine Story which it seemes was Jothams Apologue painted and versified and that this should be one line in the Poetry BUT WOE TO US WHEN OLIVER SHALL BE KING Hereupon it is commented and concluded that woe will be now unto England since Oliver Cromwell is King This is the Legend or Story To it I would say but this What if it be meerely as other Legends forged and the wandring Knight not to be found to verifie it Or what in case there be any truth in the Tale if the Knight wanted his Spectacles and read OLIVER instead of OLIVE or the Olivet for it is in the Apologue of Trees as the Tale confesseth or what if it were Oliver indeed who will undertake to prove the Poet an authenticke Prophet Finally what if the Poet should speake as some of the Heathen Oracles truth at unawares And should predict That when Oliver should be King that is in Jothams phrase Judge for the Apologue was in the dayes of the Judges then woe to us i. e. Cathedrals Painting and Buildings too would there be any great woe to Christians to see now Oliver is Judge or Protector the ruine of Cathedrals since they are of little use and of so great offence I will trouble my selfe no further with these or the like conceits or surmises but let me intreat thee Reader to consider seriously for thine owne satisfaction if thou doubtest or for mine if I erre for I would willingly be convinced whether or no any who feare God who are the Children of the Promises and who converse with and waite for the fulfilling of Prophesies I say whether any of those have just cause to murmure repine or oppugne the present Government upon this turne and change much lesse whether they have cause to resolve at last only to acquiesce and sit still and to gratifie the old and common
THE Grand Catastrophe OR THE Change of Government BEING A VVord about the last turn of these Times WRITTEN In a Letter to a Friend as an Essay either to give or to receive Satisfaction in the Dispute of the last CHANGE By one who takes leave to stile himself Johannes Cornubiensis .. PSAL. 75.7 God is Judge Hee putteth down one and setteth up another PROV 29.2 When the Righteous are in authority the people rejoyce but when the wicked beareth rule the people mourn LONDON Printed by R. I. and are to bee sold at the Crown in Popes-head-Alley 1654. The Grand Catastrophe or the change of Government being a word about the last turne of these times THat saying of the Psalmist hath of late times oft been in my thoughts even that Thy way is in the sea and thy path in the mighty waters and thy footsteps are not known Psal 77.19 For if ever there were an Age since Israels advance out of Aepypt when God once and againe made his path in the waters litterally at Jordan and had his way through the Sea even the red Sea and through the whole of that miraculous providence was as a ship in the sea whose way and footsteps are unknown If ever I say since that age God hath so acted again the second time to bring up his people from an Aegypt sure it hath been in this which we have seen And indeed the works of God in the midst of us have been so parallel unto those past providences as that I have often said they have been but another edition of them with some inlargements Our way out of Bondage and through the Wildernesse hath been so like that scarce can there be mentioned any particular act then which as Isaiahs phrase is hath not its mate now What God hath done for the by-past time there is scarce any so great a stranger in Israel but can tell but what God is doing or will doe is that which poseth the greatest Teachers in Israel and I had almost said we see not our signes there is no more any Prophet neither is there among us any that knoweth how long That great signe of the concurring desires and prayers and counsels of the godly which was wont never to faile us is now eclipsed by those sad divided aimes and sub-divided thoughts which cause breaking and bleeding of heart every where and how long it wil be ere the envie of Ephraim the major or ten parts of Professors and the envie of Judah the minor or two parts of them shal depart and each shal not vexe or vary one from another who can tell yet certaine the time shal come when it shal be but in the interim to see through these clouds to be able to heare the voyce of the Father in the midst of the confused noyse of his Children is the great desire and indeavour of my soule And that I might pump up the deeper and fuller discoveries of longer heads and hearts then my owne I will adventure humbly to cast in a dish of water out of my little cisterne-thus I have for some yeares eyed that place of Isa 1. 23 24 25 26. as a Prophesie which is yet to receive its accomplishment And much hath been as I humbly judge done in the midst of us as to the minatory or threatning part of it whether God be not about to enter at least upon the more positive mercy of it I would a little inquire and let that ver 26. be the basis of the inquiry the words are thus I will restore thy Judges as at the first and thy Councellors as at the beginning afterward thou shalt be called the city of righteousnesse the faithfull city From this Prophesie I would speake the words of truth with sobernesse and oh that the sons of truth and sobernesse others I desire not to deal withall would give me an answer that if I erre I might see it for verily I am unwilling my errour should abide with me teach me and I wil hold my tongue and cause me to understand wherein I have erred But yet heare me of your goodnesse yee Judges and Princes of reason while in a few words I acquaint yee with my thoughts about this Scripture in reference to these times First I have thought that God clearly intimates a resolve as it were upon the debate to change the forme of Government from what it was now corrupted by Kings and Princes unto what it was better when administred in the dayes of the Judges and Elders or as it is here phrased Counsellours Kings and Princes of a Monarchical principle and power were not ab initio i. e. not from the beginning amongst his people they were indeed at last but not at first Now tel me for I desire to learn if the context of these words joyned with the words themselves speake not as if God would raise up an expectation of such a change as in which he would remove Kings and Princes whom he cals rebellious and companions of Theeves as his enemies and adversaries as those which had made the faithful City Israels Common-wealth an Harlot and which that it might become againe the city of righteousnesse should be blessed with its first Government of Judges and Counsellours After all Dispute and Comment which yet I have had the advantage to heare and read upon that 1 Sam. 8. it appeares clearly that at the first and in the beginning God did dis-approve of the change of Government from Judges to Kings and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there spoke of was to terrifie his people from their desire it being directly opposite to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The manner of Kingly Government was and hath been experienced to be no more like Gods then the violent tyranical advice of Reboboams young Counsellours unto the grave and moderate Counsel which the ancient men gave who were indeed the wiser and advised better then young Lads did yet still it hath been the manner of Monarchy to act after the young mens Councel and not according to the councel of the aged As thereby shewing it selfe to be not the government of the beginning nor that which was at first But God speaking here of reducing the state of things to that prime patterne doth to me at least clearly intimate this change of Government which we have had some experience of and which others shal in time finde for we are but as the first ripe fruit to that Harvest wherein the sickle of Providence shal be put into the Kingdomes of men to accomplish this Prophecie of Gods cutting downe Monarchs his Adversaries and making way for restoring of his Judges as at first and his Counsellours as at the beginning Secondly may it not then be thought to be not to say impious but very impolitique and imprudent in any people or person to dote upon and admire that which the great God of all the World is resolved to pull downe Certainly it 's the Creatures folly to resist
Gods Government at first or the kinde of power and rule by which Israel was governed at the beginning so that this will be the result of the inquiry that God promising here to give his people their Judges as at first and their Counsellours as at the beginning The Government which hereupon we are to expect is that forme which the people of God had at first when they were possessed of the Land of Canaan and were governed by Judges and Elders And the reason why this was called the Government as at the first and as in the beginning is because that this was the first forme or way of rule which the Jews had after the seven Nations of the Land of Canaan were destroyed and that Land was divided and injoyed by Lot till which time indeed they had not Judges i. e. not that Government as Paul tels us Acts 13.19 20. Nor were they capable till then of any setled forme of Government because till then they were not a setled Common-wealth Moses and Joshua were their Leaders from a strange Land and their Deliverers till they came unto Canaan and they guided and governed them in their march and military condition but when afterward they were setled and had their Land divided by Lot then God gave them Judges till then their state was but itinerant and unsetled but from that time they became a Common-wealth and though not freed from warres yet were setled where they were to abide and therefore this was their first and beginning estate the prime constitution of that Common-wealth Then Reader that I may apply this to our present time let me expostulate the case with male-content or dissatisfied persons about the late strange and unexpected turne that hath been amongst us Why may we not rather rejoyce and rest in it as in a mercy Prophesied than murmure at it and slander it as being a designe plotted Or if we should grant it a thing plotted by men why may we not rejoyce that God by men hath accomplished his owne intentions howbeit Assyrian like they neither meant so nor did their hearts think so Verily though the wrath or pride of men doe not directly aime at nor can therefore groundedly expect to accomplish the righteousness of God yet we have often seene and of late have had many choyse experiences of it that when or where man did but intend and appoint transactions to such or such an end God did over-rule and order them unto the fulfilling of his owne purposes Doe yee not remember the former things c. Have yee forgot the dayes of old when necessity constrained us both in Parliament and Army to resolve and doe things strange and seemingly eccentrick which albeit they startled us at first nor were intended for that end which yet was the blessed issue of them have yet been such as we have had cause to say What hath God done for us and how came he downe by terrible things which we looked not for doing and accomplishing the counsels and purposes of his owne will which we never did at first at least expect may not it be so then now againe and upon the Premises may not we conclude this as the fruit of our last change That God is now about to give us the blessing of his people and the fulfilling of a prophesie for verily a Lord Protector and Counsellors especially those of the Grand Synedrian in Triennial Parliament is much like Israels Judges at the first and their Counsellors at the beginning Object No but this is more like a King and his Lords it s more like that which we have fought and prayed against then like that which we have desired and expected Ans But are you not mistaken in your selves or were you not misguided in your aymes Did you or durst you pray or fight for any thing inconsistent with or opposite to any thing Prophesied of or promised in the Scriptures of truth And is not one single person assisted by a Councel and concluded by yea and responsible to a Synedrian of Elders Heads of our Tribes in Parliament I say is not this like Judges of old and Counsellours at the beginning Obj. But a Protector is but one single person and God speakes of Judges and so it is Monarchy and not that c. Ans It is a mistake as hath been hinted to thinke there were more Judges then one at a time Though the expression in the Prophesie be plural yet the power and place in the exercise of it was single and therefore though it be called the time when the Judges ruled as Ruth 1.1 yet was there but one Judge who judged at a time One Jephtah one Tola c. and no more Besides it is a grosse mistake to thinke and say that this is a Monarchicall or Kingly Government and that hereby the Act and Declaration for the abolishing of Kingly power is transgressed for know and consider It is one thing to be governed by one and another thing to be governed by a Monarch though every Monarch be one yet every single one is not a Monarch The Duke of Venice is but one yet no Monarch the State holden in Holland was but one yet no King the Judges for the time being were but one at a time yet no Kings It is true in the time of their interval it is said Then was there no King in Israel but that was rather from the general use of the word King then from their power or rule as Kings and this will appeare evidently by two things besides that all Authors do specifically distinguish the times of that Government of Kings and Judges which they could not in case they were the same 1 The People when they desired a King in opposition to Samuel who was the last Judge did certainly know that there was a very cleare and vast difference between a Judge and a King otherwise they would not have desired and contested for that which they had already 2 God himselfe when he speakes of that businesse doth more then intimate what a difference there would be between the persons and powers of Kings which they desired and Judges which they had so that to say that a King and a Judge or Protector being no more then a Judge is all one bids very faire and goes very facre to cleare the Israelites from sin in their desire of a King and to charge God with folly that he was so offended with them when they desired no more in effect then his owne promise of Judges Adde to this that God in this place of Isaiah doth oppose his Judges and Counsellours to Kings and Princes the government of the one unto the government of the other which had they not been divers need not be for God might have said I will destroy Kings and Princes my enemies and give them my Kings and Princes No but I le give my Judges instead of those Kings It is true indeed Josephus cals the Judges in Greek Monarchs
the Creators counsel who ever set himselfe either in desire or designe against the Lord and did receive the one or accomplish the other without doubt if the most high rule in the Kingdomes of men and doe whatsoever he pleaseth there can be no resisting of his wil. I am apt to thinke that the time hastens in which God wil make all the Princes of the earth Nebuchadnezzar-like to graze with the Beasts and to wander in the Wildernesse that they may see and know and understand and consider that he is resolved to deale with them as rebels and that their power and pride and pomp shal be so stained as that all their blood in their owne and vassels veines shal never be able to recover their splendor any more Whatsoever God will in Heaven or Earth that does he And though Monarchy lift up it self above the Skies though it fixe it selfe amongst the Starres yet even thence shal it tumble down by that power which dissolves the Host of Heaven and causeth the Stars to fall as the leaves from the Vine and sith this appears to be his determined purpose upon the whole Earth I perswade my selfe it wil be but a vaine thing for the Kings of the earth and the Princes to take councel together to resist the Lord and his Christ surely when he strikes they 'le be but as a Potters vessel and when God is breaking of them why should not they be to us as a vessel wherein there is no pleasure Nay why rather should not all entertaine with delight the change which God is about to make since it is from the worse to the better from the unrighteous and tyrannous power of Monarchies and Princes into his Government of Judges and Counsellours which were from the beginning which indeed were the first and shal be last in this world till David himselfe doe come againe and the Lord Christ be exalted in his day Thirdly it hath been in my thoughts to consider whether this Prophesie hath received its accomplishment or be yet to be fulfilled Though some Expositors seem to be confident of the past impletion the already fulfilling of this Prophesie yet many doubt it True it is that there was a Tanquam-accomplishing of this Prediction after the returne of the Jewes from the Babylonish captivity but yet I cannot be convinced at present that then there was a total accomplishment of it so as to rest therein and to expect no more from this Scripture for let it be considered whether ever after that returne ever in their best and quietest estate Jerusalem were so ordered and established as that it might in the fulnesse of the Letter and in the whole latitude of the intendment of the phrase be called the city of righteousnesse the faithfull city certainly sacred word wil not give my faith a footing to beleeve it Ezra and Nehemiah in their workes and writings speake at another rate Nehemiah contests about Oppression which was amongst them rife and ridged and that in the prime of their reformation and returne makes me thinke then their state did not deserve the glory of being called The city of righteousnesse and the posture or rather preposterous and disorderly state of affaires which some yeares after he found at Jerusalem doth give little ground to call it all that time the faithfull citie c. This makes me to think that this Prophesie is but parallel to that of Jeremiah 31.23 and therefore it received not its accomplishment at their returne from Babylon but is to be fulfilled when God shall bring them up and back from the North when not only Judah the two Tribes which alone returned from Babylon but likewise Israel the ten Tribes with them should rejoyce in that Government of Judges and Counsellours as at first until they come to their Kingdome-state under the reigne of the Messias and David their King And in case there were a fulfilling of this Prophesie after their returne from Babylon I am apt to thinke it was but such a fulfilling as hath been of some others which was rather in part and in assurance of the truth then in whole and full perfection of the Prophesie Fourthly supposing then this Prophesie as yet not to be fulfilled Why may not the Isles of the Gentiles as well looke after and expect the fulfilling of it amongst them I say as well as the remnant of the Jewes Is God only the God of Jewes or is he not equally the God of the Gentiles In the Prophesie of Gods restoring and setting judgement in the earth are not the Gentiles expresly mentioned to share therein Isa 42. And are not they said to be expecttants waiting for his Law Nay doth not the connexion of this and the next chapter import that this Prophesie relates to the times of the Nations flowing into the light and Law of the Messias certaine I am the Rabbins who use to make advantage of all Scriptures to the utmost for their owne Nation and are not favourers of us sinners of the Gentiles doe understand this Scripture of the times of the Messiah who shal prevaile over the wicked so Kimchies phrase is for us Gentiles And clear it is that the Gentiles are promised and so Prophesied of to partake with to share in and suck of the same breasts of consolation with the Jewes now whether it be a consolation to have good Judges and righteous Counsellours as Israel had at the first and in the beginning let those speake who have felt the burthen and tasted the bitternesse of the tyranny of rebellious Princes and Monarchs Since then this Promise or Prophesie call it as we please referres to the Jewes expresly as a mercy to come in its season let us not bind our selves with the cords of feare and diffidence from coming in to participate with them in the same for as much as we are now of the same body and fellow heires of the same hopes and partners in the same promises with them that being destroyed which made the difference Neither let it be thought too great ambition for us Gentiles to precede them in the injoying of those Prophesies since we doe goe before them in greater matters And why may not God hereby provoke the Jewes to jealousie and emulation when they shal see us to love and enjoy what once they had as yet want and yet this wil not hinder but that the Jewes shal have in time a gradual though not specificall preheminence above us the Gentiles for albeit we be the first in the injoyment of the fulfilling yet may they be the chiefe in the perfection of this promised mercy though they come in last yet may they be advanced to highest place and so the first shal be last and the last shall be first they the first in the Promise last in the performance we the last first in the fulfilling and yet they the last come up to be the chiefe in the injoyment And so Christ who is first our salvation
and settlement may yet be the glory of his people Israel in both sending and setling amongst us his Judges and Counsellours till himselfe alone shal come to sit upon the Throne of his father David that by us as by a light may be seen what shal be the glory of the Jewes and so the final advantage of the Jew above the Gentile shal be much every way when they shal though last and after us enjoy their Judges as at first and their Counsellours as in the beginning in a beauty as farre exceeding us as that of Rachel the younger did that of Leah the elder and so they be the prime in beauty though we the first in birth or beginning of this Prophesie Fifthly in case these things be thus let us a little consider what is this Government of Judges and Counsellours which upon the change of Government we may expect and should acquiesce in as a mercy promised And here it must be promised as an indubitable conclusion That the government of Judges was but of one Person as chiefe Judge at one time The great space of time after the division of Canaan by Lot which is the Epocha from which the giving and governing of Judges is reckoned as Acts 13.19 20. compared with Judges 3.9 had its course in the succession of Judges one after another and in all that time there were never more then one Judge at a time The Government is expressed in the plurall of Judges by reason of their successive turnes one after the death of another and not because there should be or were many at once Consult the Book of the Judges and you will not in the least hesitate herein Othoniel Elon Deborah Gideon and the rest governed or judged by turnes during the time of their lives and not any two of them at one time This being cleare beyond contradiction consider we a little the use of the Judge at any time what it was for and upon which any came to that place and consider we the rule and power of a Judge so inabled Now as for his rise It is evident it was upon a Martiall or Military account he that was the deliverer was therefore and thereupon the Judge the person which providence raised up unto Israel in the time of any of their streights to deliver them out of the hand of their enemies was Eo nomine eademque ratione the Judge afterward during terme of life Jephtah therefore did upon these termes covenant to undertake the Office of being their Generall in Warre that he might be their Judge in peace Had not the people promised that and called God to witnesse as the seale and security of that Promise he had not gone forth either against the malignant Ammonites first of the male-contented Ephraimites afterward but being assured of being Judge after the warre he ingaged in the warre and according to the ingagement of the Elders unto him he judged or governed as chiefe sixe yeares afterward upon whose death Ibzan succeeded him in the Judicature of Israel and judged seven yeares even till he dyed Now albeit it appeares not by the sacred History what was the ground upon which the Judge for the time being was elected in time of peace for neither in the dayes of Elon who succeeded Ibzan nor of Abdaon who came to be Judge after Elon was there any vvars albeit I say therefore it appeare not what was the particular worth or merit eminency or desert for which the election in those times was made yet still it is evident that in times of warre and streights the valiant and succesful management of the affaires then was alway the ground which gave the rise and reason of the particular election unto the power and honour of the chief Judicature afterward Having passed thus farre in our inquiry let us now consider whether or no that during this government of Judges there was not also annexed unto it the Synedrian of the Elders and so at the same time there was the JVDGE and the COVNSELLOVRS as having an hand in and authority with the Judge to manage the government of Israel And there are besides many conjecturall evidences three things which may be of weight and sufficiency to attest and carry us to plenary beleife hereof 1 That no History either sacred or prophane doth or can make it appeare That from the first institution or foundation of the Synedrian which was by Moses there was not an abolition or dissolving of that power which they had and exercised in the Government of Israel Cunaeus is cleare and positive in this his words are Id concilium cum constitutum a Mose esset semper deinde sub judicibus regibusque pontificibus usque ad extremam Judaeae desolationem fuit mansitque c. neither have I as yet met with any Author of name or note indeed with none at all that ever denied this but that still during the time of Judges as afterwards there were also the Counsellours the seventy Elders who did alway manage the affaires of Government especiall in Civil things as in matters of Fact and fault between man and man throughout all the Tribes of Israel 2 The frequent mention of the Elders in the Booke of Judges is so obvious that it must be granted that even in that time the Elders were And that they were of power appeares cleare enough both by their calling of Jeptath to be Generall of their Forces and covenanting with him that he should be Judge upon his successe Judg. 11.9 10. And why should it be doubted or questioned whether or no this conjunction of Judges and Counsellours were together at Mizpeh at that time when as its constitution was but yet new and nothing appeares why it should be thought either to be altered or abrogated 3 The particular story of the Levite and his Concubine is of evidence enough by it self to constrain us to conclude that there were Counsellours in the times of the Judges To whom but to the Elders did he addresse himselfe Who but they did do him justice indeed in those days there was no Judge in Israel as there was not at some other times but yet it appeares then there were these Counsellours and a very strong argument it is that they were when and while there were Judges because they were when there were none In Jephtabs case they elected him Generall and constituted him Judge and now in the Levites case they heare his in jury and doe him Justice Besides had there been a Judge at that time in Israel its questionable whether or no the complaint should have been made to him unlesse the extraordinariness of the case had made him to take cognizance of it for in Civil affaires as one wel observes the Judges did but rarely appeare and when is was the occasion or affaire was weekly Upon all this it wil appeare That indeed the Government by Judges was mixed with the Synedrian of Elders and Judges and Counsellours were