or if the King dislikes of any thing in it when they shew it to him it either is razed out or mended before it be prefented to the publick view King James of blessed memory who very well understood his own power and the Forms of that Parliament describes it much to the same purpose in his Speech made at Whitehall March 31. Anno 1609. About twenty days saith he before the Parliament Proclamation is made throughout the Kingdom to deliver unto the Kings Clerk of Register all Bills to be exhibited that Session before a certain day Then are they brought unto the King and perused and considered by him and only such as he alloweth of are put into the Chancellors hands to be propounded to the Parliament and none others And if any other man in Parliament speak of any other matter than is in this sort first allowed by the King the Chancellor telleth him that the King hath allowed of no such Bill Besides when they have passed them for Laws they are presented to the King and he with his Scepter put into his hands by the Chancellor must say I ratifie and approve all things done in this present Parliament And if there be any thing that he disliketh it is razed out before So the eldest Parliament-man as he said himself at that time in Scotland This was the Form of holding Parliaments in Scotland which whosoever doth consider with a serious eye may perceive most plainly that it is wholly in the Kings power to frame the Parliament to his own will or at the least to hinder it from doing any thing to the prejudice of his Royal Crown and Dignity in that the nominating of the Lords of the Articles did in a manner totally depend on him Which being observed by the Scots they took the opportunity when they were in Arms to pass an Act during the Presidency of the Lord Burley Anno 1640. for the abolition of this Order Acts of Parliaments 16 Carol and for reducing of that Parliament to the Forms of England as being thought more advantagious to their purposes than the former was So that the violent disloyalty of the Scotish Subjects their Insurrections against their Kings and murdering them sometimes when their heels were up which makes that Nation so ill spoken of in the Stories of Christendom are not to be imputed to the three Estates convened in Parliament or to any power or Act of theirs Rivet cont tenuit but only prae fervido Scotorum ingenio as one pleads it for them unto the natural disposition of that fierce and head-strong people yet easilier made subject unto Rule and Government The three Estates assembled in the Court of Parliament when in the judgment of our Author they are most fit to undertake the business have for the most part had no hand in those desperate courses And now at last we are come to England where since we came no sooner we will stay the longer and here we shall behold the King established in an absolute Monarchy from whom the meeting of the three Estates in Parliament detracteth nothing of his Power and Authority Royal. Bodin as great a Politick as any of his time in the Realm of France hath ranked our Kings amongst the absolute Monarchs of these Western parts And Cambden as renowned an Antiquary as any of the Age he lived in Bodin de Rep. l. 1. c. 8. hath told us of the King of England supremam potestatem merum imperium habere Cambden in Britan. descript That he hath supream power and absolute command in his Dominions and that he neither holds his Crown in vassalage nor receiveth his investiture of any other nor acknowledgeth any Superiour but God alone To prove this last he cites these memorable words from Bracton an old English Lawyer omnis quidem sub Rege ipse sub nullo sed tantum sub Deo that every man is under the King but the King under none saving only God But Bracton tells us more than this and affirms expresly that the King hath supream power and jurisdiction over all causes and persons in this his Majesties Realm of England that all Jurisdictions are vested in him and are issued from him and that he hath jus gladii or the right of the Sword for the better governance of his people This is the substance of his words but the words are these Bracton de leg Angl. l. 2. c 24. Sciendum est saith he quod ipse Dominus Rex ordinariam habet jurisdictionem dignitatem potestatem super omnes qui in regno suo sunt Habet enim omnia jura in manu sua quae ad coronam laicalem pertinent potestatem materialem gladium qui pertinet ad Regni gubernandum c. He adds yet further Habet item in potestate sua leges constitutiones that the Laws and Constitutions of the Realm Id. l. 2. c. 16. are in the power of the King by which words whether he meaneth that the Legislative power is in the King and whether the Legislative power be in him and in him alone we shall see anon But sure I am that he ascribes unto the King the power of interpreting the Law in all doubtful cases in dubiis obscuris Domini Regis expectanda interpretatio voluntas which is plain enough For though he speaketh only de chartis Regis expectanda interpretatio voluntas which is plain enough For though he speaketh only de chartis Regiis factis Regum of the Kings Deeds and Charters only as the words seem to import yet considering the times in which he lived being Chief Justice in the time of King Henry the 3d. wherein there was but little written Law more than what was comprehended in the Kings Grants and Charters he may be understood of all Laws whatever And so much is collected out of Bractons words by the Lord Chancellor Egerton of whom it may be said without envy that he was as grave and learned a Lawyer as ever sat upon that Bench. Who gathereth out of Bracton that all cases not determined for want of foresight are in the King to whom belongs the right of interpretation not in plain and evident cases but only in new questions and emergent doubts and that the King hath as much right by the constitutions of this Kingdom as the Civil Law gave the Roman Emperors where it is said Rex solus judicat de causa à jure non desinita Case of the Post-nati p. 107 108. And though the Kings make not any Laws without the counsel and consent of his Lords and Commons whereof we shall speak more in the following Section yet in such cases where the Laws do provide no remedy and in such matters as concern the politick administration of his Kingdoms he may and doth take order by his Proclamations He also hath Authority by his Prerogative Royal to dispense with the rigour of the Laws and
way of a Petition to the Kings most excellent Majesty in which the Lords and Commons do most humbly pray as their Rights and Liberties that no such things as they complained of might be done hereafter that his Majesty would vouchsafe to declare that the Awards doings and proceedings to the prejudice of his people in any of the premises shall not be drawn hereafter into consequence or example and that he would be pleased to declare his Royal pleasure that in the point aforesaid all his Offieers and Ministers should serve him according to the Laws and Statutes of this Realm To which although the King returned a fair general Answer assuring them that his Subjects should have no cause for the time to come to complain of any wrong or oppressions contrary to their just Rights and Liberties yet this gave little fatisfaction till he came in person and causing the Petition to be distinctly read by the Clerk of the Crown Ibid. returned his Answer in these words Soit droit fait come est desire that is to say let right be done as is desired Which being the very formal words by which the said Petition and every clause and Article therein contained became to be a Law and to have the force of an Act of Parliament and being there is nothing spoken of the concurrent Authority of the Lords and Commons for the enacting of the same may serve instead of many Arguments for the proof of this that the Legislative power as we phrase it now is wholly and solely in the King although restrained in the exercise and use thereof by constant custom Smith de Rep. Angl. unto the counsel and consent of the Lords and Commons Le Roy veult or the King will have it so is the imperative phrase by which the Propositions of the Lords and Commons are made Acts of Parliament And let the Lords and Commons agitate and propound what Laws they please for their ease and benefit as generally all Laws and Statutes are more for the ease and benefit of the Subject than the advantage of the King yet as well now as formerly in the times of the Roman Emperors Quod Principi placuerit legis habet vigorem nothing but that which the King pleaseth to allow of is to pass for Law the Laws not taking their coercive force as judicious Hooker well observeth from the quality of such as devise them but from the Power which giveth them the strength of Laws Pooker Ecclesiast Pol. I shut up this Discourse with this expression and comparison of a late Learned Gentleman viz That as in a Copyhold Estate the Copyholder of a meer Tenant at will comes by custom to gain an Inheritance and so to limit and restrain the will and power of the Lord that he cannot make any determination of the Copyholders Estate otherwise than according to the custom of the Mannour and yet doth not deprive the Lord of his Lordship in the Copyhold nor participate with him in it neither yet devest the Fee and Franktenement out of the Lord Case of our Affairs p. 6. but that they still remain in him and are ever parcel of his Demesn so in the restraining of the Kings Legislative power to the concurrence of the Peers and Commons though the custom of the Kingdom hath so fixed and setled the restraint as that the King cannot in that point use his Sovereign power without the concurrence of the Peers and Commons according to the custom of the Kingdom yet still the Sovereignty and with it the inseparable Legislative power doth reside solely in the King If any hereupon demand to what end serve Parliaments and what benefit can redound to the Subject by them I say in the Apostles words much every way Rom. 3.2 Many vexations oftentimes do befall the Subjects without the knowledg of the King and against his will to which his Ears are open in a time of Parliament The King at other times useth the Eyes and Ears of such as have place about him who may perhaps be guilty of the wrongs which are done the people but in a Parliament he seeth with his own Eyes and heareth with his own Ears and so is in a better way to redress the mischief than he could be otherwise Nor do the people by the opportunity of these Parliamentary meetings obtain upon their Prayers and Petitions a redress of grievances only but many times the King is overcome by their importunity to abate so much of his Power to grant such points and pass such Laws and Statutes for their ease and benefit as otherwise he would not yield to For certainly it is as true in making our approaches and Petitions to our Lord the King as in the pouring out of our Prayers and supplications to the Lord our God the more multitudinous and united the Petitioners are the more like to speed And therefore said Bodinus truly Principem plaeraque universis concedere quae singulis denegarentur Bodin de Rep. l. 1. c. 8. that Kings do many times grant those favours to the whole body of their people which would be absolutely denied or not so readily yielded to particular persons There are moreover many things of greater concernment besides the abrogating of old Laws and making new which having been formerly recommended by the Kings of England to the care and counsel of their people convened in Parliament are not now regularly dispatched but in such Conventions as are altering the Tenure of Lands confirming the Rights Titles and possessions of private men naturalizing Aliens legitimating Bastards adding sometimes the secular Authority to such points of Doctrine and Forms of Worship as the Clergy have agreed upon in their Convocations if it be required changing the publick weights and measures throughout the Kingdom defining of such doubtful cases as are not easily resolved in the Courts of Law raising of Subsidies and Taxes attainting such as either are too potent to be caught or too hard to be found and so not triable in the ordinary Courts of Justice restoring to their Bloud and Honours such or the Heirs of such as have been formerly attainted granting of free and general Pardons with divers others of this nature In all and each of these the Lords and Commons do co-operate to the publick good Sir Tho. Smith de Rep. Angl. Cambden in Brit. Crompt of Courts c. in the way of means and preparation but their co operation would be lost and fruitless did not the King by his Concomitant or subsequent grace produce their good intentions into perfect Acts and being Acts either of special Grace and Favour or else of ordinary Right and Justice no way derogatory to the Prerogative Royal are usually confirmed by the Royal assent without stop or hesitancy But then some other things there are of great importance and advantage to the Common-wealth in which the Houses usually do proceed even to final sentence the Commons in the way of
Parliament that is might have the force of a Law by a civil Sanction The whole debate with all the Traverses and emergent difficulties which appeared therein are specified at large in the Records of Convocation Anno 1532. But being you have not opportunity to consult those Records I shall prove it by the Act of Parliament called commonly The Act of submission of the Clergy but bearing this Title in the Abridgment of the Statutes set out by Poulton That the Clergy in their Convocations shall enact no constitutions without the Kings assent In which it is premised for granted that the Clergy of the Realm of England had not only acknowledged according to the truth that the Convocation of the same Celrgy is always hath been and ought to be assembled always by the Kings Writ but also submitting themselves to the Kings Majesty had promised in verbo Sacerdotis That they would never from henceforth presume to attempt alleadge claim or put in ure enact promulge or execute any new Canons Constitutions Ordinances provincial or other or by whatsoever other name they shall be called in the Convocation unless the Kings most Royal Assent may to them be had to make promulge and execute the same and that his Majesty do giv his most Royal Assent and Authority in that behalf Upon which ground-work of the Clergies the Parliament shortly after built this superstructure to the same effect viz. That none of the said Clergy from henceforth should presume to attempt alleadge claim or put in ure any Constitutions or Ordinances Provincial or Synodals or any other Canons norshall enact promulge or execute any such Canons Constitutions or Ordinances Provincial by whatsoever names or names they may be called in their Convocations in time coming which always shall be assembled by the Kings Writ unless the same Clergy may have the Kings most Royal Assent and Licence to make promulge and execute such Canons Constitutions and Ordinances Provincial or Synodical upon pain of every one of the said Clergy doing the contrary to this Act and thereof convicted to suffer Imprisonment and make Fine at the Kings Will 25 H. 8. c. 19. So that the Statute in effect is no more than this An Act to bind the Clergy to perform their promise to keep them fast unto their word for the time to come that no new Canon should be made in the times succeeding in the favour of the Pope or by his Authority or to the diminution of the Kings Royal Prerogative or contrary to the Laws and Statutes of this Realm of England as many Papal Constitutions were in the former Ages Which Statute I desire you nto take notice of because it is the Rule and Measure of the Churches power in making Canons Constitutions or whatsoever else you shall please to call them in their Convocations The third and final Act conducing to the Popes Ejection was an Act of Parliament 28 H. 8 c. 10. entituled An Act extinguishing the Authority of the Bishop of Rome By which it was enacted That if any person should extol the Authority of the Bishop of Rome he should incur the penalty of a preamunire that every Officer both Ecclesiastioal and Lay should be Sworn to renounce the said Bishop and his Authority and to resist it to his power and to repute any Oath formerly taken in maintenance of the said Bishop or his Authority to be void and finally that the refusal of the said Oath should be judged High Treason But this was also usher'd in by the determination first and after by the practice of all the Clergy For in the year 1534. which was two years before the passing of this Act the King had sent this Proposition to be agitated in both Vniversities and in the greatest and most famous Monasteries of the Kingdom that is to say An aliquid authoritatis in hoc Regno Angliae Pontifici Romano de jure competat plusquam alii cuicunque Episcopo extero By whom it was determined Negatively that the Bishop of Rome had no more power of Right in the Kingdom of England than any other forreign Bishop Which being testified returned under the hands and seals respectively the Originals whereof are still remaining in the Library of Sr. Robert Cotton was a good preamble to the Bishops and the rest of the Clergy assembled in their Convocation to conclude the like And so accordingly they did and made an Instrument thereof subscribed by the hands of all the Bishops and others of the Clergy and afterwards confirmed the same by their corporal Oaths The copies of which Oaths and Instrument you shall find in Foxes Acts and Monumets Vol. 2. fol. 1203. and fol. 1210 1211. of the Edition of John Day Anno 1570. And this was semblably the ground of a following Statute 35 H. 8. c. 1. wherein another Oath was devised and ratified to be imposed upon the Subject for the more clear asserting of the Kings Supremacy and the utter exclusion fo the Popes for ever which Statutes though they were all repealed by an Act of Parliament 1 and 2 d. of Phil. and Mary c. 1. yet were they all revived in 1 Elize save that the name of supream Head was changed unto that of the supream Governour and certain clauses altered in the Oath of Supremacy Where by the way you must take notice that the Statutes which concern the Kings Supremacy are not introductory of any new Right that was not in the Crown before but only declaratory of an old as our best Lawyers tell us and the Statute of the 26 of H. 8. c. 1. doth clearly intimate So that in the Ejection of the Pope of Rome which was the firt and greatest steptowards the work of Reformation the Parliament did nothing for ought it appears but what was done before in the Convocation and did no more than fortifie the Results of Holy Church by the addition and corroboration of the Secular Power 3. Of the Translation of the Scriptures and permitting them to be read in the English Tongue THE second step towards the work of Reformation and indeed one of the most especial parts thereof was the Translation of the Bible into the English Tongue and the permitting all sorts of people to peruse the same as that which visibly did tend to the discovery of the errours and corruptions in the Church of Rome and the intolerable pride and tyranny of the Roman Prelates upon which grounds it had been formerly translated into English by the hand of Wickliff and after on the spreading of Luthers Doctrine by the pains of Tindal a stout and active man in K. Henries days but not so well befriended as the work deserved especially considering that it hapned in such a time when many Printed Pamphlets did disturb the State and some of them of Tindals making which seemed to tend unto sedition and the change of Government Which being remonstrated to the King he caused divers of his Bishops together with sundry of the Learned'st and
Elders as Josephus telleth us Antiqu. Jud. 1. cap. was no less pleasing unto God nor less valid in the eyes of all his Subjects than those of Jehosaphat and Hezekiah in their riper years and perhaps acting singly on the strength of their own judgments only without any advice Now that there should be Liturgies for the use of the Church that those Liturgies should be celebrated in a Language understood by the people That in those Liturgies there should be some prescribed Forms for giving the Communion in both kinds for Baptizing Infants for the reverent celebration of Marriage performing the last office to the sick and the decent burial of the Dead as also for set Feasts and appointed Festivals hath been a thing of primitive and general practice in the Christian Church And being such though intermitted or corrupted as before is said the King advising with his Bishops and other Church-men though not in a Synodical way may cause the same to be revised and revived and having fitted them to edification and increase of piety either commend them to the Church by his sole authority or else impose them on the people under certain penalties by his power in Parliament Saepe Coeleste Regnum per Terrenum proficit The Kingdom of Heaven said Reverend Isidore of Sevil doth many times receive increase from these earthly Kingdoms in nothing more than by the regulating and well ordering of Gods publick worship We saw before what David did in this particular allotting to the Priest the Courses of their Ministration appointing Hymns and Songs for the Jewish Festivals ordaining Singing-men to sing and finally prescribing Vestments for the Celebration Which what else was it but a Regulating of the Worship of God the putting it into a solemn course and order to be observed from time to time in succeeding Ages Sufficient ground for Christian Princes to proceed on in the like occasions especially when all they do is rathe the reviving of the Ancient Forms than the Introduction of a new Which as the King did here in England by his own Authority the Body of the Clergy not consulted in it so possibly there might be good reason why those who had the conduct of the Kings affairs thought it not safe to put the managing of the business to a Convocation The ignorance and superstition of the common people was at that time exceeding profitable to the Clergy who by their frequent Masses for the quick and dead raised as great advantage as Demetrius and the Silver-Smith by Dianas shrines It hapned also in a time when many of the inferiour Clergy had not much more learning than what was taught them in the Massals and other Rituals and well might fear that if the Service were once extant in the English tongue the Laity would prove in time as great Clerks as themselves So that as well in point of Reputation as in point of Profit besides the love which many of them had to their former Mumpsimus it was most probable that such an hard piece of Reformation would not easily down had it been put into the power of a Convocation especially under a Prince in Nonage and a state unsettled And yet it was not so carried without them neither but that the Bishops generally did concur to the Confirmation of the Book or the approbation of it rather when it passed in Parliament the Bishops in that time and after till the last vast and most improvident increase of the Lay-nobility making the most considerable if not the greatest part of the House of Peers and so the Book not likely to be there allowed of without their consent And I the rather am inclined unto that Opinion because I find that none but Tunstal Gardiner and Bonner were displaced from their Bishopricks for not submitting in this case to the Kings appointments which seems to me a very strong and convincing argument that none but they dissented or refused conformity Add here that though the whole body of the Clergy in their Convocation were nto consulted with at first for the Reasons formerly recited yet when they found the benefit and comfort which redounded by it to good Christian people and had by little and little weaned themselves from their private interesses they all confirmed it on the Post-fact passing an Article in the Convocation of the year 1552. with this Head or Title viz. Agendum esse in Ecclesiae linguae quae fit Populo nota which is the 25th Article in King Edwards Book Lay all that hath been said together and the result of all will be briefly this that being the setting out of the Liturgy in the English Tongue was a matter practical agreeable to the Word of God and the Primitive times that the King with so many of his Bishops and others of the Clergy as he pleased to call to Counsel in it resolved upon the doing of it that the Bishops generally confirmed it when it came before them and that the whole body of the Clergy in their Convocation the Book being then under a review did avow and justifie it The result of all I say is this that as the work it self I say was good so it was done not in a Regal but a Regular way Kings were not Kings if regulating the external parts of Gods publick worship according to the Platforms of the Primitive times should not be allowed them But yet the Kings of England had a further right as to this particular which is a power conferred upon them by the Clergy whether by way of Recognition or Concession I regard not here by which they did invest the King with a Supream Authority not only of confirming their Synodical Acts not to be put in execution without his consent but in effect to devolve on him all that power which formerly they enjoyed in their own capacity And to this we have a parallel Case in the Roman Empire in which there had been once a time when the Supream Majesty of the State was vested in the Senate and people of Rome till by the Law which they called Lex Regia they transferred all their Power on Caesar and the following Emperors Which Law being passed the Edicts of the Prince or Emperor were as strong and binding as the Senatus Consulta and the Plebiseita had been before Whence came that memorable Maxim in Justinians Institutes that is to say Quod Principi placuerit legis habet vigorem The like may be affirmed of the Church of England immediately before and in the Reign of K. Henry VIII The Clergy of this Realm had a Self-authority in all matters which concerned Religion and by their Canons and Determinations did bind all the Subjects of what rank soever till by acknowledging that King for their Supream Head and by the Act of Submission not long after following they transferred that power upon the King and on his Successors By doing whereof they did not only disable themselves upon concluding any thing in their Convocations
motion from Charles the Great and his Successors in that Empire it being evident in the Records of the Gallican Church that the opening and confirming of all their Councils not only under the Caroline but under the Merovignean Family was always by the power and sometimes with the Presidence of their Kings and Princes as you may find in the Collections of Lindebrogius and Sirmondus the Jesuite and finally that in Spain it self though now so much obnoxious to the Papal power the two at Bracara and the ten first holden at Toledo were summoned by the Writ and Mandate of the Kings thereof Or if you be not willing to take this pains I shall put you to a shorter and an easier search referring you for your better information in this particular to the learned Sermon Preached by Bishop Andrews at Hampton Court Anno 1606. touching the Right and power of calling Assemblies or the right use of the Trumpets A Sermon Preached purposely at that time and place for giving satisfaction in that point to Melvin and some leading men of the Scotish Puritans who of late times had arrogated to themselves an unlimited power of calling and constituing their Assemblies without the Kings consent and against his will As for the Vessallage which the Clergy are supposed to have drawn upon themselves by this Submission I see no fear or danger of it as long as the two Houses of Parliament are in like condition and that the Kings of England are so tender of their own Prerogative as not to suffer any one Body of the Subjects to give a Law unto the other without his consent That which is most insisted on for the proof hereof is the delegating of this power by King Henry VIII to Sir Thomas Cromwel afterwards Earl of Essex and Lord high Chamberlain by the name of his Vicar General in Ecclesiastical matters who by that name presided in the Convocation Anno 1536. and acted other things of like nature in the years next following And this especially his presiding in the Convocation is looked on both by Sanders and some Protestant Doctors not only as a great debasing of the English Clergy men very Learned for those times but as deforme satis Spectaculum a kind of Monstrosity in nature But certainly those men forget though I do not think my self bound to justifie all King Harries actions that in the Council of Chalcedon the Emperor appointed certain Noble-men to sit as Judges whose names occurr in the first Action of that Council The like we find exemplified in the Ephesine Council in which by the appointment of Theodosius and Valentinian then Roman Emperors Candidianus a Count Imperial sate as Judge or President who in the managing of that trust over-acted any thing that Cromwel did or is objected to have been done by him as the Kings Commissioner For that he was to have the first place in those publick meetings as the Kings Commissioner or his Vicar-General which you will for I will neither trouble my self nor you with disputing Titles the very Scottish Presbyters the mo st rigid sticklers for their own pretended and but pretended Rights which the world affords do not stick to yield No Vassallage of the Clergy to be found in this as little to be feared by their Submission to the King as their Supream Governour Thus Sir according to my promise and your expectation have I collected my Remembrances and represented them unto you in as good a fashion as my other troublesome affairs and the distractions of the time would give me leave and therein made you see if my judgment fail not that neither our King or Parliaments have done more in matters which concern'd Religion and the Reformation of this Church than what hath formerly been done by the secular Powers in the best and happiest times of Christianity and consequently that the clamours of the Papists and Puritans both which have disturbed you are both false and groundless Which if it may be serviceable to your self or others whom the like doubts and prejudices have possessed or scrupled It is all I wish my studies and endeavours aiming at no other end than to do all the service I can possibly to the Church of God to whose Graces and divine Protection you are most heartily commended in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ By SIR Your most affectionate Friend to serve you Peter Heylyn OF LITURGIES OR SET FORMS OF PUBLIQUE WORSHIP With the Concomitants thereof IN Way of an Historical Narration By PETER HEYLYN D.D. Augustin de bono perseverantiae lib. 2. c. 22. Vtinam tardi corde infirmi c. sic audirent vel non audirent in hac quaestione Disputationes nostras ut potius intuerentur orationes suas quas semper habuit habebit Ecclesia ab exordiis suis donec finiatur hoc seculum LONDON Printed for Charles Harper and Mary Clark 1680. To the Reader WHen the disputes were first raised by those of the Genevian faction against the Divine Service of this Church it was pretended that they were well enough content to admit a Liturgy so it were such an one as tended more to edification and increase of Piety than that which was imposed and established by the Laws of this Land was given out to do That which most seemed to trouble them as they gave it out was that it had too much in it of the Roman Rituals that it was cloyed with many superstitious and offensive Ceremonies the frequent and unnecessary repetition of the Lords Prayer the ill translation of the Psalms and other Scriptures the intermixture of impertinent Responsories whereby the course of the Prayers was interrupted and finally the diffeence betwixt that Liturgie and those of other reformed Churches with which they did desire to hold a more strict Communion But being beaten from these holds as by many others so more chiefly by judicious Hooker and never daring to adventure any more in pursuit of that quarrel the Smectymnians in our times resolved upon a nearer course to effect their purposes than the Martinists had done before them and rather chose to fell down Liturgie it self as having no authority from the Word of God nor from the practice of Gods people than waste their time in lopping off the branches and excrescencies of it Accordingly they reduced the whole state of the Controversie to these two Positions 1. That if by Liturgy we understand an order observed in Church Assemblies of Praying Reading and Expounding the Scriptures Administring Sacraments c. Such a Liturgy they know and do acknowledge both Jews and Christians to have used But if by Liturgy we undersTand prescribed and stinted forms of Administration composed by some particular men in the Church and imposed upon all the rest then they are sure for so they must be understood if they say any thing that no such Liturgie hath been used ancient by the Jews or Christians 2. That the first Reformers of Religion did never intend the
was the Authority of the Ephori erected in the time of King Theopompus about 130 years after the death of Lycurgus A second reason which induced those Kings to ordain these Ephori was to ease themselves and delegate upon them that remainder of the Royal power which could not be exercised but within the City For the Kings having little or no command but in Wars abroad cared not for being much at home and thereupon ordained these Officers to supply their places Concerning which Cleomenes thus discourseth to the Spartans after they had destroyed the Ephori and suppressed the Office Id in Agis Cleomenes informing them that Lycurgus had joyned the Senators with the Kings by whom the Common-wealth was a long time governed without help of any other Officers that afterwards the City having great Wars with the Messenians the Kings were always so imployed in that War that they could not attend the affairs of the State at home and thereupon made choice of certain of their friends to sit in judgment in their stead whom they called the Ephori ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and for a long time did govern only as the Kings Ministers though afterwards by little and little they took unto themselves the supreme Authority Another reason hath been given of the institution which is that if a difference grew between the two Kings in a point of judgment there might be some to arbitrate between them and to have the casting voice amongst them when the difference could not be agreed And this is that which Lisander and Mandroclidas two that had been Ephori suggested unto Agis and Cleombrotus the two Kings of Sparta declaring Id. ibid. That the Office of the Ephori was erected for no other reason ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. But because they should give their voices unto that King who had the best reason on his side when the other would wilfully withstand both right and reason and therefore that they two agreeing might lawfully do what they would without controlment that to resist the Kings was a breach of Law considering that the Ephori by Law had no power nor priviledge but only to arbitrate between them when there was any cause of jar or controversie And this was so received at Sparta for an undoubted truth that Cleomenes being sole King upon the death of Agis of the other house recalled Archidamus the Brother of Agis from his place of Banishment with an intent to make him King not doubting but they two should agree together and thereby make the Ephori of no power nor use So then we have three reasons of the institution and more than these I cannot find of which there is not one that favoureth the device of Calvin or intimateth that the Authority of the Ephori was set up to pull down the Kings And to say truth it is a most unlikely matter that the Kings of Sparta having so little power remaining should need more Officers to restrain them than they had before that they should make a new rod for their own poor backs and add five Masters more to those eight and twenty which Lycurgus had imposed upon them Which makes me wonder much at Tully who doth acknowledge that the Ephori were ordained by Theopompus as both Aristotle and Plutarch do affirm and yet will have them instituted for no other cause nisi ut oppositi sint Regibus but to oppose and curb the Kings Aristot Polit. l. 5. c. 11. Cicero de legibus l. 3. but more that Plato who had so much advantage of him both in time and place should ascribe the institution to Lycurgus and tell us that he did not only ordain the Senate ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Plato Ep. 8. edit gr lat To. 3. but that he did also constitute the Ephorate for the strength and preservation of the Regal power For out of doubt it is affirmed by Plutarch confirmed by Scaliger and may be gathered from some passages in Eusebius Chronicon and the Authority of Aristotle Plut. in Lycurgo Scalig. animadvers in Euseb Chron. who refers the same to Theopompus as before was shewed that the first Institution was no less than 130 years after the death of Lycurgus Who was the first that bore this Office hath been made a question but never till these later times when men are grown such Sceptics as to doubt of every thing Plutarch affirms for certain ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that the first Ephorus that is to say the first ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Plutarch in Lycurgo who had the name of Ephorus by way of excellency for otherwise there were five in all was called Elatus and hereto Scaliger did once agree as appears expresly pag. 67. of his Annotations on Eusebius where he declares it in these words Primus Elatus renunciatur ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã But after having a desire to control Eusebius he takes occasion by some words in Diogenes Laertius to cry up Chilo for the man first positively Primus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã fuit Chilon and next exclusively of Elatus Quibus animadversis non fuerit Elatus primus Ephorus sed Chilon To make this good being a fancy of his own and as his own most dearly cherished he produceth first the testimony of Laertius and afterwards confirms the same by a new emendatio temporum a Calculation and accompt of his own inventing The words produced from Laertius are these verbatim ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Which is thus rendred in the Latine Diogen Lat. 1. l. 1. in Chilo and I think exactly Fuit autem Ephorus circa quinquagessimam quintam Olympiada Porro Pamphila circa sextam ait primumque Ephorum fuisse sub Euthydemo autore Sosicrate primumque instituisse ut Regibus Ephori adjungerentur Satyrus Lycurgum dixit If it be granted in the first place that Chilo was not made Ephorus until the 55. Olympiad as 't is plain it was not and Scaliger affirms as much it must needs follow upon true account that either Chilo was not the first Ephorus or that the Ephori were not instituted in more than twice an hundred and thirty years after Lycurgus had new molded the Common-wealth contrary unto that which is said by Plutarch and out of him repeated by Joseph Scaliger For from the time wherein Lycurgus made his Laws which was in the 25 year of Archelaus the eighth King of the Elder House unto the death of Alcamenes which was the year before the first Olympiad Euseb Chron. lib. post p. 114. of Scaligers edit were 112 years just none under From thence unto the last year of the 55. 220 years compleat which put together make no fewer than 332 years full a large misreckoning Whereas the second year of the fifth Olympiad in which Eusebius puts the Institution of the Ephori both in the Greek and Latine Copies set out by Scaliger himself Pag. 117. of the Latin and 35 of the Greek Edition that second
negandum as if it were not fit to deny them any thing Calvin in Jerem. c. 38. ver 5. Not so saith he it rather is amarulenta Regis querimonia a sad and bitter complaint of the poor captivated King against his Counsellors by whom he was so over-ruled ut velit nolit cedere iis cogitur that he was forced to yield to them whether he would or not which he expresly calls inexcusabilem arrogantiam an intolerable piece of sawciness in those Princes and an exclusion of the King from his legal Rights Let us next take a view of such Christian Kingdoms as are under the command of absolute Monarchs And first we will begin with the Realm of France the Government whereof is meerly Regal if not despotical such as that of a Master over his Servants which Aristotle defineth to be a Form of Government ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã wherein the King may do whatsoever he list Aristot Politic. l. 3. according to the counsel of his own mind For in his Arbitrary Edicts which he sendeth abroad he never mentioneth the cosent of the People or the approbation of the Council or the advice of his Judges which might be thought to derogate too much from his absolute power but concludes all of them in this Regal Form Car tel est nostre plaisir for such is our pleasure And though the Court of Parliament in Paris do use to take upon them to peruse his Edicts View of France by Dallington before they pass abroad for Laws and sometime to demur on his Grants and Patents and to petition him to reverse the same as they see occasion yet their perusal is a matter but of meer formality and their demurs more dilatory than effectual It is the Car tel est nostre plaisir that concludes the business and the Kings pleasure is the Law which that Court is ruled by As for the Assemblie des Estats or Conventus Ordinum it was reputed anciently the Supream Court for Government and Justice of all the Kingdom and had the cognizance of the greatest and most weighty affairs of State But these meetings have been long since discontinued and almost forgotten there being no such Assembly from the time of King Charles the eighth to the beginning of the reign of King Charles the ninth Thuanus hist sui temp which was 70 years and not many since And to say truth they could be but of little use as the World now goeth were the meetings oftner For whereas there are three Principal if not sole occasions of calling this Assembly or Conventus Ordinum that is to say the disposing of the Regency during the nonage or sickness of the King the granting Aids and Subsidies and the redress of the grievances there is now another course taken to dispatch their business The Parliament of Paris which speaks most commonly as it is prompted by power and greatness appointeth the Regent Contin Thuani An. 1610. View of France the Kings themselves together with their Treasurers and Under-Officers determine of the Taxes and they that do complain of Grievances may either have recourse to the Courts of Justice or else petition to the King for redress thereof And for the making new Laws or repealing the old the naturalization of the Alien and the regulating of his Sales or Grants of the Crown-Lands the publick patrimony of the Kingdom which were wont to be the proper Subject and debates of these Grand Assemblies they also have been so disposed of that Conventus Ordinum is neither troubled with them nor called about them The Chamber of Accompts in Paris which hath some resemblance to our Court of Exchequer doth absolutely dispose of Naturalizations Andr. Du Chesn and superficially surveyeth the Kings Grants and Sales which they seldom cross The Kings Car tel est nostre plaisir is the Subjects Law and is as binding as any Act or Ordinance of the three Estates and for repealing of such Laws as upon long experience are conceived to be unprofitable the Kings sole Edict is as powerful as any Act of Parliament Of which Bodinus doth not only say in these general terms Bodin de Rep. lib. 1. cap. 8. Saepe vidimus sine Ordinum convocatione consensu leges à Principe abrogatas that many times these Kings did abrogate some ancient Laws without the calling and consent of the three Estates but saith that it was neither new nor strange that they should so do and gives us some particular instances not only of the later times but the former Ages Nay when the power of this Assemblie des Estats was most great and eminent neither so curtailed nor neglected as it hath been lately yet then they carried themselves with the greatest reverence and respect before their King that could be possibly imagined For in the Assembly held at Tours under Charles the 8. though the King was then no more than 14 years of age and the Authority of that Court so great and awful that it was never at so high an eminence for power and reputation quanta illis temporibus as it was at that time yet when they came before the King Monsieur de Rell being then Speaker for the Commons or the third Estate did in the name of all the rest and with as much humility and reverence as he could devise promise such duty and obedience such a conformity of his will and pleasure such readiness to supply his wants and such alacrity in hearking unto his Commandments that as Bodinus well observes his whole Oration was nothing else quam perpetua voluntatis omnium erga Regem testificatio but a constant testimony and expression of the good affections of the Subject to their Lord and Sovereign Id. ibid. But whatsoever power they had in former times is not now material King Lewis the thirteenth having on good reason of State discharged those Conventions for the time ensuing Instead whereof he instituted an Assembly of another temper and such as should be more obnoxious to his will and pleasure consisting of a certain number of persons out of each Estate but all of his own nomination and appointment which join'd with certain of his Council and principal Officers he caused to be called L' Assembly des Notables assigning to them all the power and privileges which the later Conventions of the three Estates did pretend unto right well assured that men so nominated and intrusted would never use their powers to his detriment and disturbance of his heirs successors But to proceed Bodinus having shewn what dutiful respects the Convention of Estates in France shewed unto their King adds this Note nec aliter Hispanorum conventus habentur that the Assembly of the three Estates in the Realms of Spain carry themselves with the like reverence and submission to their Lord the King Nay major etiam obedientia majus obsequium Regi exhibetur the King of Spain hath more obedience and observance
we that the Majesty of this Kingdom was first originally in the people and by them devolved upon the King by their joynt consent yet having given away that power by their said consent and setled it upon the King by an Act of State confirmed by Oaths and all Solemnities which that Act requires they cannot so retract that grant or make void that gift as to pass a new conveyance of it and settle it upon their Representees in the House of Commons Or if they could yet this would utterly exclude all the Lords from having the least share or portion in this new found Sovereignty in that they represent not the common people but sit there only in their own personal capacities and therefore must submit at last to these new made Sovereigns who carry both the Purse and Sword at their own girdles So then the people cannot give the Sovereignty and if they have no power to give it the Lords and Commons have no claim thereunto de jure See we next therefore how much of this Sovereignty they or their Predecessors rather have enjoyed de facto in peaceable and regular times fit to be drawn into example in the Ages following The chief particulars in which the Sovereignty consists we have seen before and will now see whether that any of them have been exercised and injoyed in peaceable and regular times by both or either of the two Houses of Parliament And first for calling and dissolving Parliaments making of Peers granting of liberty to Towns and Cities to make choice of Burgesses which antiently had no such liberty treating with forein States denouncing War or making Leagues or Peace after War commenced granting safe conduct and protection indenizing of Aliens giving of honours unto eminent and deserving persons Rewarding Pardoning Coyning Printing making of Corporations and dispensing with the Laws in force they are such points which never Parliament did pretend to till these later times wherein every thing almost is lawful I am sure more lawful than to fear God and honour the King Nor do I find that Mr. Prynn hath laboured to entitle them to these particulars For levying of Arms and the command of the Militia besides that the Kings of England have ever been in possession of it and that possession never disturbed or interrupted by any claim of right made in the behalf of the two Houses which is as sure a title as the Law can make the Houses have declared by an Act of Parliament Stat. 7. Ed. 1. Cap. 1. that of right it belongs unto the King streightly to defend that is prohibit all force of Arms and that the Parliament is bound to aid him in that prohibition Touching the Royal Navy and the Ports and Forts the Kings prescription to them is so strong and binding 3. Edw. 3. that in the 3d. of Edward III. the House of Commons did disclaim the having cognisance of such matters as the guarding of the Seas and marches of the Kingdom which certainly they had not done had they pretended any title to the Ports and Navy As for suppressing tumults and providing for the safety of the Kingdom against sudden danger the Law commits it solely to the care of the King 11 Henr. 7. c. 18. obliging every Subject by the duty of his allegeance to aid and assist him at all seasons when need shall require And for their power of declaring Law in the House of Peers wherein they deliver their opinion in the point before them in true propriety of speech they have none at all Case of our Affairs p. 4. And this is that which was affirmed by his Majesty at the end of the Parliament Anno 1628. saying that it belonged only to the Judges under him to interpret Laws and that none of the Houses of Parliament joynt or separate what new Doctrine soever might be raised had any power either to make or declare Law without his consent 3 Car. And if it be done with his consent it is not so properly the declaring and interpreting of an old Law as the making rather of a new saith a learned Gentleman Case of our Affairs p. 5. Others have found out a new way to invest the Parliament with the Robes of Sovereignty not as superior to the King but co-ordinate with him and this say they appears sufficiently in that the two Houses of Parliament have not only a power of consulting but of consenting and that too in the highest office of the Monarchy whereof they are a Co-ordinative part the making of Laws Fuller Answer to D.F. p. 2. Which dangerous doctrine as it was built at first on that former error which makes the King to be one of the three Estates in Parliament so it is super-structed with some necessary consequents whether more treasonable or ridiculous it is hard to say For on these grounds the Author of the Fuller Answers hath presented us with these trim devises Id. pag. 1. viz. that England is not a simple subordinate and absolute but a co-ordinative and mixt Monarchy that this mixt Monarchy is compounded of three co-ordinate Estates a King and two Houses of Parliament that these three make but one supream but that one is a mixt one or else the Monarchy were not mixt and finally which needs must follow from the premises that although every Member of the Houses seorsim taken severally may be called a Subject yet all collective in their Houses are no Subjects Auditum admissi risum teneatis Can any man hear these serious follies and abstain from laughter or think a fellow who pretends both to wit and learning should talk thus of a Monarchy which every one that knoweth any thing in Greek know to imply the supream government of one compounded of three to-ordinate Estates and those co-ordinate Estates consisting of no fewer than 600 persons Or that a man who can pretend but to so much use of reason as to distinguish him from a beast cauld fall on such a senseless dotage as to make the same man at the same time to be a Subject and no Subject a Subject in the Streets and in his private House no Subject when he sits in Haberdashers Hall for advance of moneys or in either of the two Houses of Parliament And yet this senseless doctrine is become so dangerous because so universally admired and hearkened to that the beginning and continuance of our long disturbances may chiefly be ascribed unto this opinion to which they have seduced the poor ignorant people The rather in regard that some who have undertaken the confutation of these brainless follies have most improvidently granted not only that the two Houses of Parliament are in a sort co-ordinate with the King ad aliquid to some Act or exercising of the supream power As in the book called Conscience satisfied that is to the making of Laws but that this co-ordination of the three Estates of which the King is yielded every where for
one is fundamental and held by the two Houses on no worse a title than a fundamental Constitution which is as much as any reasonable Parliamentarian need desire to have Therefore in Answer to the Fuller not taking notice of his foolish and seditious inferences we will clear those points 1. That the two Houses of Parliament are not co ordinate with the King but subordinate to him And 2. That the power of making Laws is properly and legally in the King alone As for the first we had before a Recognition made by Act of Parliament by which the Kingdom of England is acknowledged to be an Empire governed by one supream Head and King to whom all sorts and degrees of people ought to bear next to God a natural and humble obedience 24 H. 8. c. 12. which certainly the Lords and Commons had not made to the dethroning of themselves their Heirs and Successors from this co-ordinative part of Sovereignty if any such co-ordination had been then believed Or if it be supposed to excuse the matter that King Henry VIII being a severe and terrible Prince did wrest this Recognition from them which yet will hardly serve for a good defence what shall we say to the like recognition made in the beginning of Queen Elizabeths Reign 1 Eliz. c. 1. when she was green in State and her power unsetled and so less apt to work upon her people by threats and terrors Assuredly had the Houses dream't in those broken times of that co-ordinative Sovereignty which is now pretended they might have easily regained it and made up that breach which by the violent assaults of King Henry VIII had been made upon them which was a point they never aimed at Besides if this co-ordinative Majesty might be once admitted it must needs follow that though the King hath no Superiour he hath many Equals and where there is equality there is no subjection But Bracton tells us in plain terms not only that the King hath no Superiour in his Realm except God Almighty but no Equal neither and the reason which he gives is exceeding strong Quia sic amitteret praeceptum cum par in Parem non habeat potestatem Beacton de leg Angl. l. 1. c. 8. because he could not have an Equal but with the loss of his Authority and Regal Dignity considering that one Equal hath no power to command another Now lest the Fuller should object as perhaps he may that this is spoken of the King out of times of Parliament and of the Members of the Houses seorsim taken severally as particular persons but when they are convened in Parliament then they are Sovereigns and no Subjects first he must know that by the Statute of Queen Elizabeth all of the House of Commons are to take the Oath before remembred for the defending of all preheminences and authorities united and annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm and for bearing faith and true allegiance to the King his Heirs and lawful Successors and that if any of them do refuse this Oath Stat. 5. Eliz. 1. he is to have no voice in Parliament 2. He cannot choose but know that even sedente Parliamento both the Lords and Commons use to address themselves to his Sacred Majesty in the way of supplication and petition and certainly it is not the course for men of equal rank to send Petitions unto one another and that in those Petitions they do stile themselves his Majesties most humble and obedient Subjects Which is not only used as the common Complement which the hypocrisie of these times hath taken up though possibly it might be no otherwise meant in some late addresses but is the very phrase in some Acts of Parliament 25 Hen. 8. c. 22. c. as in the Acts at large doth at full appear 3. They may be pleased to know how happy a thing it was for the Realm of England that this Fuller did not live in former times For had he broached this Doctrine some Ages since he would have made an end of Parliaments Princes are very jealous of the smallest points of Sovereignty and love to Reign alone without any Rivals their Souls being equally made up of Pompeys and Caesars and can as little brook an Equal as endure a Superiour And lastly I must let him know what Bodinus saith who telleth us this Legum ac edictorum probatio aut publicatio quae in Curia vel Senatu fieri solet Bedin de Rep. l. 1. c. 8. non arguit imperii majestatem in Senatu vel Curia inesse viz. That the publishing and approbation of Laws and Edicts which is made ordinarily in the Court or Parliament proves not the Majesty of the State to be in the said Court or Parliament And therefore if the power of confirmation or rejecting be of a greater trust and more high concernment than that of consulting and consenting as no doubt it is the power of consulting and consenting which the Fuller doth ascribe to the two Houses of Parliament will give them but a sorry title to Co-ordinative Sovereignty This leads me on unto the Power of making Laws which as before I said is properly and legally in the King alone tanquam in proprio Subjecto as in the true and adequate subject of that Power And for the proof thereof I shall thus proceed When the Norman Conqueror first came in as he won the Kingdom by the Sword so did he govern it by his Power His Sword was then the Scepter and his Will the Law There was no need on his part of an Act of Parliament much less of calling all the Estates together to know of them after what Form and by what Laws they would be governed It might as well be said of him as in the flourish and best times of the Roman Emperors Justin Institut l. 1. c. Quod Principi placuerit legis babet vigorem that whatsoever the King willed it did pass for Law This King and some of his Successors being then ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and having a despotical power on the lives and fortunes of their Subjects which they disposed of for the benefit of their Friends and followers Normans French and Flemings as to them seemed best But as the Subjects found the Yoke to be too heavy and insupportable so they addressed themselves in their Petitions to the Kings their Sovereigns to have that Yoke made easier and the burden lighter especially in such particulars of which they were most sensible at the present time By this means they obtained first to have the Laws of Edward the Confessor contain'd for the most part in the Great Charter afterwards and by this means that is to say by pouring out their prayers and desires unto them did they obtain most of the Laws and Statutes which are now remaining of the time of King Henry the 3d and King Edward the first Many of which as they were issued at the first either in Form
of Charters under the Great Seal or else as Proclamations of Grace and Favour so do they carry still this mark of their first procuring the King willeth the King commandeth the King ordaineth the King provideth the King grants c. And when the Kings were pleased to call their Estates together it was not out of an Opinion that they could not give away their Power or dispense their Favours or abate any thing of the severity of their former Government without the approbation and consent of their people but out of just fear lest any one of the three Estates I mean the Clergy the Nobility and the Commons should insist on any thing which might be prejudicial to the other two The Commons being always on the Craving part and suffering as much perhaps from their immediate Lords as from their King might possibly have asked some things which were as much derogatory to the Lords under whom they held as of their Sovereign Liege the King the chief Lord of all In this respect the Counsel and Consent as well of the Prelates as the Temporal Lords was accounted necessary in passing of all Acts of Grace and Favour to the people because that having many Royalties and large immunities of their own a more near relation to the person and a greater interesse in the honour of their Lord the King nothing should pass unto the prejudice and diminution of their own Estates or the disabling of the King to support his Sovereignty And this for long time was the Stile of the following Parliaments viz. To the honour of God and of holy Church Preface an 1 Ed. 3. and to the redress of the oppressions of the people our Sovereign Lord the King c. at the request of the Commonalty of his Realm by their Petition made before him and his Council in the Parliament by the Assent of the Prelates Earls Barons and other great men assembled in the said Parliament hath granted for him and his Heirs c. To this effect but with some little and but a very little variation of the words was the usual Stile in all the Prefaces or Preambles of the Acts of Parliament from the beginning of the Reign of King Edward the 3d till the beginning of the Reign of King Henry the 7th save that sometimes we find the Lords complaining 10 Ed. 3. c. 21 Ed. 3. c. 28 Ed. 3. c. or petitioning and the Commons assenting as their occasion did require and sometime also no other motive represented but the Kings great desire to provide for the ease and safety of his people upon deliberation had with the Prelates and Nobles and learned men assisting with their mutual Counsel 23 Ed. 3. And all this while there is no question to be made but that the power of making Laws was conceived to be the chiefest Flower of the Royal Diadem to which the Lords and Commons neither joint nor seperate did not pretend the smallest Title more than petitioning for them or assenting to them it being wholly left to the Kings Grace and goodness whether he would give ear or not to their Petitions or hearken unto such Advice as the Lords or other great men gave him in behalf of his people And this is that which was declared in the Parliament by the Lords and Commons and still holds good as well in point of Law as Reason that it belonged unto the regality of the King to grant or deny what Petitions in Parliament be pleaseth But as the Kings came in upon doubtful Titles 2 Hen. 5. or otherwise were necessitated to comply with the peoples humours as sometimes they were so did the Parliaments make use of the opportunities for the encrease of their Authority at least in the formalities of Law and other advantages of expression So that in the minority of King Henry the sixth unto those usual words by the advice and assent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and at the special instance and request of the Commons which were inserted ordinarily into the body of the Acts from the beginning of the Reign of King Henry the sixth was added this By the Authority of the said Parliament But still it is to be observed 3 Hen. 6. c. 2. 8 H. 6.3 c. that though those words were added to the former clause yet the power of granting or ordaining was acknowledged to belong to the King alone as in the places in the Margin where it is said Our Lord the King considering the premises by the advice and assent and at the request aforesaid hath ordained and granted by the Authority of the said Parliament 3 H. 6.2 and our Lord the King considering c. hath ordained and established by Authority of this Parliament 8 H. 6.3 And thus it generally stood but every general Rule may have some exceptions till the beginning of the Reign of King Henry the seventh about which time that usual clause the special instance or request of the Commons began by little and little to be laid aside and that of their advice or assent to be inserted in the place thereof for which I do refer you to the Book at large Which though it were some alteration of the former stile and that those words By the Authority of this present Parliament may make men think that the Lords and Commons did then pretend some Title unto the power of making Laws yet neither advising or assenting are so operative in the present case as to transfer the power of making Laws to such as do advise about them or assent unto them nor can the alteration of the Forms and stiles used in anitient times import an alteration of the Form of Government unless it can be shewed as I think it cannot that any of our Kings did renounce that Power which properly and solely did belong unto them or did by any solomn Act of Communication confer the same upon the Lords and Commons convened in Parliament And this is that which is resolved and declared in our Common Law where it is said Cited in the unlawfulness of resist p. 107. Le Roy fait les loix avec le consent du Seigneurs et communs et non pas les Seigneurs et communs avec le consent du Roy that is to say that the King makes Laws in Parliament by the assent of the Lords and Commons and not the Lords and Commons by the assent of the King And for a further proof of this and for the clearing of this point that the Lords and Commons pretend to no more power in the making of Laws than opportunity to propound and advise about them and on mature advice to give their several Assents unto them we need but look into the first Act of the Parliament in the third year of K. Charles being a Recognition of some ancient rights belonging to the English Subject An Act conceived according to the Primitive Form Statut. 3 Carol. in
't is well known that the ensuing Parliaments which they instance in moved not of their own accord to the deposing of K Edw. the 2d or K. Richard the 2d but sailed as they were steered by those powerful Councils which Qu. Isabel in the one Walsingham in Hist Angl. Hypodig Neustriae and Henry Duke of Lancaster in the other did propose unto them It was no safe resisting those as their cold wisdoms and forgotten loyalties did suggest unto them qui tot legionibus imperarent who had so many thousand men in Arms to make good their project and they might think as the poor-spirited Citizens of Samaria did in another case but a case very like the present Behold two Kings stood not before him 2 Kings 10.4 how then can we stand For had it been an Argument of the power of Parliaments that they deposed one King to set up another dethroned King Richard to advance the Duke of Lancaster to the Regal Diadem they would have kept the House of Lancaster in possession of it for the full demonstration of a power indeed and not have cast them off at the first attempt of a new plausible pretender declared them to be kings in fact but not in right whose lawful right they had before preferred above all other Titles and set the Crown upon the heads of their deadly Enemies In the next place it is objected that Parliaments are a great restraint of the Sovereign power according to the Doctrine here laid down by Calvin in that the King can make no Laws nor levy any money upon the Subject but by the counsel and assent of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament But this Objection hurts as little as the former did For Kings to say the truth need no Laws at all In all such points wherein they have not bound themselves by some former Laws made for the common use and benefit of the Subject they are left at liberty and may proceed in governing the people given by God unto them according to their own discretion and the advice of their Council New Laws are chiefly made for the Subjects benefit at their desire on their importunate requests for their special profit not one in twenty nay I dare boldly say not one in an hundred made for the advantage of the King either in the improvement of his power or the encrease of his Revenue Look over all the Acts of Parliaments from the beginning of the reign of King Henry III. to the present time and tell me he that can if he finds it otherwise Kings would have little use of Parliaments and less mind to call them if nothing but the making of new Laws were the matter aimed at And as for raising Moneys and imposing Taxes it either must suppose the Kings to be always unthrifts that they be always indigent and necessitous and behind-hand with the World which are the ordinary effects of ill husbandry or else this Argument is lost and of little use For if our Kings should husband their Estates to the best advantage and make the best benefit of such Escheats and forfeitures and confiscations as day by day do fall unto them If they should follow the Example of K. Henry VII and execute the penal Laws according to the power which those Laws have given them and the trust reposed in them by their People if they should please to examine their Revenue and proportion their expence to their comings in there would be little need of Subsidies and supplies of money more than the ordinary aids and impositions upon Merchandize which the Law alloweth of and the known rights of Sovereignty backed by prescription and long custom have asserted to them So that it is by Accident not by and Nature that the Parliament hath any power or opportunity to restrain their King in this particular for where there is no need of asking there is no occasion of denying by consequence no restraint upon no baffle or affronting offered to the Regal power And yet the Sovereign need not fear if he be tolerably careful of his own Estate that any reasonable demand of his in these money-matters will meet with opposition or denial in his Houses of Parliament For whilest there are so many Acts of Grace and Favour to be done in Parliament as what almost in every Parliament but an enlargement of the Kings favours to his people and that none can be done in Parliament but with the Kings siat and consent there is no question to be made but that the two Houses of Parliament will far sooner chuse to supply the King as all wise Parliaments have done than rob the Subject of the benefit of his Grace and Favours which is the best fruit they reap from Parliaments Finally whereas it is Objected but I think it in sport that the old Lord Burleigh used to say that he knew not what a Parliament in England could not do and that K. James once said in a Parliament that then there were 500 Kings which words were taken for a Concession that all were Kings as well as he in a time of Parliament they who have given us these Objections do either misunderstand their Authors or abuse themselves For what the Lord Burleigh said of Parliaments though it be more than the wisest man alive can justifie he spake of Parliaments according as the word is used in its proper sense not for the two Houses or for either of them exclusive of the Kings presence and consent but for the supream Court for the highest Judicatory consisting of the Kings most excellent Majesty the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Representees of the Commons and then it will not serve for the turn intended And what King James said once in jest though I have often heard it used in earnest upon this occasion was spoken only in derision of some daring Spirits who laying by the modesty of their Predecessors would needs be looking into the Prerogative or finding Errors and mistakes in the present Government or medling with those Arcana imperii which former Parliaments beheld at distance with the eye of Reverence But certainly King James intended nothing less than to acknowledg a co-ordinative Sovereignty in the two Houses of Parliament or to make them his Co-partners in the Regal power His carriage and behaviour towards them in the whole course of his Government clearly shews the contrary there never being Prince more jealous in the points of Sovereignty nor more uncapable of a Rival in those points than he But yet the main Objection which we may call the Objection paramount doth remain unanswered For if the three Estates convened in Parliament or any other popular Magistrate whom Calvin dreams of be ordained by the Word of God as Guardians of the peoples Liberties and therefore authorized to moderate and restrain the power of Kings as often as they shall invade or infringe those liberties as Calvin plainly says they were or that they know
not to be forgiven him I hope the Doctor has met with a more merciful Judge in another World than Mr. Burnet is in this If he had been a Factor for Papists Mr. Burnet should have presented one particular instance which he cannot do As we have said before in his Life he communicated that design of his History of Reformation to Arch-Bishop Laud from whom he received all imaginable encouragement by ancient Records that he perused And what benefit could any Reader receive to have quoted to him the pages of Manuscripts Acts of Parliament Records of old Charters Registers of Convocation Orders of the Council-Table or any of those out of the Cottonian Library which the Doctor made use of The Lord Bacon writ of Transactions beyond his own time living as far distant from the Reign of K. Hen. VII as Dr. Heylyn did from K. Hen. VIII who laid the first foundation of the Reformation yet I cannot find there more quotations of Authors than in Dr. Heylyns History yet I suppose Mr. Burnet will look upon the Lord Bacons History as compleat And if all this were made out 't is no more than what may be laid at the door of the Author who lately writ the History of Duke Hamilton Hist D. Ham. p. 29 30. where are reported the most abominable Scandals that were broach'd by the malicious Covenanters against the Scottish Hierarchy and they are permitted without the least contradiction or confutation to pass as infallible Truths that so Posterity as well as the present prejudiced Age might be levened with an implacable enmity and hatred against the whole Order of Episcopacy Although the Hamiltons were the old inveterate Enemies of the Stuarts and the Duke of whom the History is compiled was an Enemy as treacherous to K. Charles I. as any that ever appeared against him in open Arms. He was the cause of the first Tumult raised in Edenburgh He Authorised the Covenant with some few alterations in it and generally imposed it on that Kingdom He was the chief Person that prevailed with the King to continue the Parliament during the pleasure of the two Houses and boasted how he had got a perpetual Parliament for the English and would do the like for the Scots He aimed at nothing less than the Crown of Scotland and had so courted the common Soldiers that David Ramsey openly began a health to K. James VII yet all these things with many others are either quite smothered or so painted over by Mr. Burnet that the Volume he has writ may be called an Apology or a Panegyrick rather than a History Of all these matters the Doctor hath acquainted the world before in the Life of Archbishop Laud and the Observations that he wrote upon Mr. L'Estrange's History of King Charles I. I will be bold to aver if the Doctor had employed his great Learning and Abilities to have written but one half of those things against the King and Church of England which he wrote for them he would have been accounted by very many persons I will not say by Mr. Burnet the truest Protestant the most faithful Historian the greatest Scholar and in their own phrase the most pretious man that ever yet breathed in the Nation But he had the good luck to be a Scholar and better luck to employ his Learning like an honest man and a good Christian in the defence of a righteous and pious King of an Apostolical and true Church of a venerable and learned Clergy and that drew upon him all the odium and malice that two opposite Parties Papist and Sectary could heap upon him After the happy Restauration of the King it was high time for the good Doctor to rest a while from his Labours and bless himself with joy for the coming in of his Sovereign for now the Sun shone more gloriously in our Hemisphere than ever the Tyrannical powers being dissolved the King brought home to his people the Kingdom setled in peace the Church restored to its rights and the true Religion established every man returned to his own vine with joy who had been a good Subject and a sufferer and the Doctor came to his old habitation in Westminster of which and of his other Preferments he had been dispossest for the space of seventeen years and he no sooner got thither but according to his wonted custom he sets upon building and erected a new Room in his Prebends house to entertain his Friends in And seldom was he without Visitors especially the Clergy of the Convocation who constantly came to him for his Advice and Direction in matters relating to the Church because he had been himself an ancient Clerk in the old Convocations Many Persons of Quality besides the Clergy for the Reverence they had to his Learning and the delight they took in his company payed him several visits which he never repayed being still so devoted to his Studies that except going to Church it was a rare thing to find him from home I happen'd to be there when the good Bishop of Durham Dr. Cousins came to see him who after a great deal of familiar discourse between them said I wonder Brother Heylyn thou art not a Bishop but we all know thou hast deserved it To which he answered Much good may it do the new Bishops I do not envy them but wish they may do more than I have done Now what that great Man did so readily acknowledge to be the Doctors due was no more than what his true worth might justly challenge from all that were Friends to Learning and Virtue For his knowledge was extensive as the Earth and in his little world the great one was so fully comprehended that not an Island or Province nay scarce a Rock or Shelf could escape his strict survey and exact description Nor was he content with that degree of knowledge which did far exceed what any other durst hope or even wish for viz. A perfect familiarity with the present State of all the Countreys in the World but he was resolved to understand as well what they had always been as what they then were to be as throughly acquainted with their History as he was with their Situation and to leave nothing worth the knowing undiscovered So that what he has done in that kind looks liker the product of the most Learned and Antient Inhabitans of their respective Countreys than the issue of the industry of a Single Person Yet for all this his head was not so filled with the contemplations of this World as to leave no room for the great concerns of the other But on the contrary the main of his Study was Divinity the rest were but by the by and subservient to that For he having strictly viewed and examined all the various Religions and Governments upon Earth and coming to compare them with those under which himself lived did find the advantage both in respect of this life and another to lie so much on the side
themselves from the Jewish Synagogue exposed to all the disadvantages of scorn and danger both by Jews and Gentiles For as concerning this Sect we know that every where it is spoken against so said the Jews to Paul at his coming to Rome Acts 28. â2 Tacitus in Annal lib. XV. Homines per flagitia invisi as much about the same time the same Tacitus calls them and therefore odio humani generis convicti obnoxious to the common hatred of all men as it after followeth Persecuted upon this account by the Roman Emperors reviled by the malicious Pens of Celsus Prophyry Lucian Julian and the rest of that Rabble Thus also hath it happened to the Church of England No sooner had King Harry freed her from the Bondage of Rome but the proud Pharaohs of that City pursued him presently with their fulminations endeavouring to raise up all the Princes of the Earth against him nor had she sooner purged her self of those superstitions and corruptions which had been put upon her in the time of that Bondage but many hundreds of her children were forcibly driven through the Red Sea a Sea of their own blood to the Heavenly Canaan Persecuted after this in forein parts by the Inquisition at home by the malitious pens and practices of that dangerous Enemy And as if this had not been enough for her affliction her Bowels must be torn out by those very children which she had nourished in the faith though afterwards they scorned to own her for their Mother The first thing quarrelled on both sides is the Way and manner of her Reformation which is affirmed by those of Rome to have too little of the Pope and too much of the Parliament by those of the Genevian party to have too little of the People and too much of the Prince The Genevians or Presbyterians find themselves agrieved that in the agitating of this great Business there was no such consideration had of the common People as in other places their Lay-Elders being allowed no Vote either in the Consistory or the Convocation and consequently no care taken of the Peoples Interess which in a matter which so nearly concerned their souls was as great as any applauding for this cause the riotous proceedings in some other Countreys where the People threw down Altars defaced Images and in a pious zeal no doubt demolisht Churches laying thereby the ground-work of a more thorow Reformation than was made with us The Romanists do complain as loudly that this great Work was wholly carried on by the power of Parliaments And hereupon it is affirmed by D. Harding the first that took up Arms against this Church in Queen Elizabeths time that we had a Parliament-Religion a Parliament-Faith and a Parliament-Gospel as by Scultingius and some others that we had none but Parliament-Bishops and a Parliament-Clergy Two Clamors so repugnant unto one another that if the one of them be true the other cannot chuse but be very false And thus again the Papists generally object that in that great work of the Reformation there was no care taken of the Pope neither consulted with as the Patriarch of the Western Churches or as the Apostle at the least of the English Nation the Pope thereby unworthily deprived of that Supremacy which of antient Right belong'd unto him to the subverting of the Fundamentals of the Christian Faith Primo praecipuo Romanensium fidei articulo de Pontificis primatu immutato Hist Concil Trident. lib. 1. as my Author hath it Calvin and his Disciples on the other side are as much offended with setling the Supremacy upon the King the Master grievously complaining of it in his Comment on the 7th of Amos Calvin in Amos cap. 7. his Scholars doing the like in their several Pamphlets And though it be affirmed by Bracton one of our ancient Common Lawyers if my memory fail not that Kings are therefore anointed with holy Oyl Eo quod spiritualis jurisdictionis sunt capaces because they are capable of exercising Ecclesiastical or Spiritual Jurisdiction yet Calvin will have none of that condemning those for rash and inconsiderate Persons Qui faciunt eos nimis Spirituales who ascribe to them any such Authority in Spiritual matters His Followers will take after him in this particular none more professedly and at large than Caldwood or Didoclavius as he calls himself and his Associates in the Altare Damascenum To satisfie the Clamors of these opposite parties and to appease some Scruples raised thereby in Mr. G. A. of W a modest and ingenuous Gentleman my especial friend I set my self in the first place to justifie the Church of England as to the Way and Manner of her Reformation so loudly and so falsly clamoured on so little ground And by this Tract it will be proved that nothing was done here in the Reformation but what was acted by the Clergy in their Convocations or grounded on some Act of theirs precedent to it with the Advice Counsel and Consent of the Bishops and other learned men assembled by the Kings appointment and secondly that the Parliaments did nothing in it but that sometimes upon the Post-fact it was thought fit to add some strength to the Decrees and Determinations of the Church especially in inflicting punishments on the Disobedient by the Civil Sanctions And for the proof of this I have used none but Domestick Evidences that is to say the Edicts of the King the Records of Convocation and the Acts of Parliaments themselves the best assurances that can be devised in Law to convey the Truth unto us in all these particulars In the next place I have endeavoured to give satisfaction unto all those Doubts which do relate unto the King the Pope or the Churches Protestant the riotous actings of the Common People being no good ground to build a Right on either too little or too much look'd after as it is pretended in that weighty business Whose pretensions being well examined by the Testimony of the Fathers Councils and other Ecclesiastical Antiquities I hope it will appear as clearly that there was no wrong done either to the Pope or the Forein Churches in being excluded from our Councils in so great a work and that our Kings have exercised no other power in sacred matters than what is warranted unto them by the word of God and precedented with the best examples of the most godly Kings of Judah and the most pious Kings and Emperors in the happiest times Nothing in all the Managery of the Reformation but what is justifiable by the practice of the former Ages and may be drawn into Example for the Instruction and Direction of the present Powers in all occasions of like natue The next thing faulted on both sides is the publick Liturgy condemned by those of Rome first for abolishing the Mass and then for being published and communicated in the vulgar Tongue by those of the Genevian party for having too much in it of the Roman
we may see by what Authority they proceed in their Constitutions and then declare what was acted by the Clergy in that Reformation In which I shall begin with the ejection of the Pope and setling the Supremacy in the Crown Imperial of this Realm descending next to the Translation of the Scriptures into the English tongue the Reformation of the Church in Doctrinals and forms of Worship and to proceed unto the Power of making Canons for the well ordering of the Clergy and the direction of the people in the exercise of their Religion concluding with an Answer to all such Objections by what part soever they be made as are most material And in the canvassing of these points I doubt not but it will appear unto you that till these late busie and unfortunate times in which every man intrudeth on the Priestly Function the Parliaments did nothing at all either in making Canons or in matters Doctrinal or in Translation of the Scriptures Next that That little which they did in reference to the Forms and Times of Worship was no more than the inflicting of some temporal or legal penalties on such as did neglect the one or not conform unto the other having been first digested and agreed upon in the Clergy way And finally that those Kings and Princes before remembred by whose Authority the Parliaments did that little in those Forms and Times did not act any thing in that kind themselves but what was warranted unto them by the Word of God and the example of such godly and religious Emperors and other Christian Kings and Princes as flourished in the happiest times of Christianity This is the sum of my design which I shall follow in the order before laid down assuring you that when you shall acquaint me with your other scruples I will endeavour what I can for your satisfaction 1. Of calling or assembling the Convocation of the Clergy and the Authority thereof when convened together AND in this we are first to know that anciently the Arch-bishop of the several Provinces of Canterbury and York were vested with a power of Convocating the Clergy of their several and respective Provinces when and as often as they thought it necessary for the Churches peace And of this power they did make Use upon all extraordinary and emergent cases either as Metropolitans and Primates in their several Provinces or as Legati nati to the Popes of Rome But ordinarily and of common course especially after the first passing of the Acts or Statutes of Praemuniri they did restrain that power to the good pleasure of the Kings under whom they lived and used it not but as the necessities and occasions of these Kings or the distresses of the Church did require it of them and when it was required of them the Writ or Precept of the King was in this form following Rex c. Reverendissimo in Christo Patri N. Cantuariensi Archiepiscopo totius Angliae Primati Apostolicae sedis Legato salutem Quibusdam ardius urgentibus negotiis defensionem securitatem Ecclesiae Anglicanae ac pacem tranquillitatem bonum publicum defensionem Regni nostri subditorum nostrorum ejusdem concernentibus Vobis in Fide dilectione quibus nobis tenemini rogando mandamus quatenus praemissis debito intuito attentis ponderatis universos singulos Episcopos vestrae Provinciae ac Decanos Priores Ecclesiarum Cathedralium Abbates Priores alios Electivos exemptos non exemptos nec non Archidiaconos Conventus Capitula Collegia totumque Clerum cujuslibet Dioceseos ejusdem Provinciae ad conveniendum coram vobis in Ecclesia Sancti Pauli London vel alibi prout melius expedire videritis cum omni celeritate accommoda modo debito Convocari faciatis Ad tractandum consentiendum concludendum super praemissis aliis quae sibi clarius proponentur tunc ibidem ex parte nostra Et hoc sicut nos statum Regni nostri ac honorem utilitatem Ecclesiae praedictae diligitis nullatenus omittatis Teste meipso c. These are the very words of the antient Writs and are still retained in these of later times but that the Title of Legatus sedis Apostolicae then used in the Arch-bishops style was laid aside together with the Pope himself and that there is no mention in them of Abbots Priors and Convents as being now not extant in the Church of England And in this Writ you may observe first that the calling of the Bishops and Clergy of the Province of Canterbury to a Synodical Assembly belonged to the Arch-bishop of that Province only the like to him of York also within the Sphere or Verge of his Jurisdiction Secondly that the nominating of the time and place for this Assembly was left to the Arch-bishops pleasure as seemed best unto him though for the most part and with reference unto themselves and the other Prelates who were bound to attend the service of the King in Parliament they caused these Meetings to be held at the time and place at and to which the Parliament was or had been called by the Kings Authority Thirdly That from the word Convocari used in the Writ the Synodical Meetings of the Clergy were named Convocations And fourthly That the Clergy thus assembled in Convocation had not only a power of treating on and consenting unto such things as should be there propounded on the Kings behalf but a power also of concluding or not concluding on the same as they saw occasion Not that they were restrained only to such points as the King propounded or were proposed in his behalf to their consideration but that they were to handle his business with their own wherein they had full power when once met together In the next place we must behold what the Arch-bishop did in pursuance of the Kings command for calling the Clergy of his Province to a Convocation who on the receipt of the King 's Writ presently issued out his Mandate to the Bishop of London Dean by his place of the whole Colledge of Bishops of that Province requiring him immediately on the sight hereof and of the King 's Writ incorporated and included in it to cite and summon all the Bishops and other Prelates Deans Arch-Deacons and capitular Bodies with the whole Clergy of that Province that they the said Bishops Deans Arch-Deacons in their own persons the Capitular Bodies by one Procurator and the Clergy of each Diocess by two do appear before him at the time and place by him appointed and that those Procurators shouldbe furnished with sufficient powers by those which sent them not only to treat upon such points as should be propounded touching the peace of the Church and defence and welfare of the Realm of England and to give their counsel in the same sed ad consentiendum iis quae ibidem ex communi deliberatione ad honorem Dei Ecclesiae in praemissis contigerent
concorditer ordinari but also to consent both in their own names and in the names of those who sent them unto all such things as by mature deliberation and consent should be there ordained Which Mandate being received by the B. of London the several Bishops cited accordingly and intimation given by those Bishops unto their Arch Deacons for summoning the Clergy to make choice of their Procurators as also the Chapters or capitular Bodies to do the like The next work is to proceed to the choice of those Procurators Which choice being made the said Chapters under their common seals and the said Clergy in a publick Writing subscribed by them do bind themselves sub Hypotheca omnium bonorum suorum under the pawn and forfeiture of al their goods moveable and immoveable I speak the very words of these publick Instruments se ratum gratum acceptum habere quicquid dicti Procuratores sui nomine vice suis fecerint c. To stand to and perform whatsoever their said Procurators in their name and stead shall do determine and consent to The like is also done in the Province of York but that the Arch-bishop thereof sends out the Summons in his own name to the Suffragan Bishops the Province being small and the Suffragans not above three in number Finally as the Convocations of the Clergy in their several Provinces were called by the Arch-bishops only the Kings Writ thereunto requiring and authorizing so by the same powers were they also dissolved again when they had done the business they were called about or did desire to be dismissed to their own affairs At which time by special Writ or Mandates to the said Arch-bishops expressing the calling and assembling of the Convocation by vertue of the former Precept it is declared That on certain urgent causes and considerations moving his Majesty thereunto he thought fit with the advice of his Privy Councel that the same should be again dissolved Et ideo vobis mandamus quod eandem praesentem Convocationem hac instanti die debito modo sine ulla dilatione dissolvatis sive dissolvi faciatis prout convenit and therefore did command them to dissolve it or cause the same to be dissolved in the accustomed manner without delay Which Writ received and not before the Convocation was dissolved accordingly and so it holds in Law and practcie to this very day I have the longer staid on these publick Forms partly because not obvious unto every eye but especially to let you see by what Authority the Clergy are to be assembled in their Convocations and what it is which makes their Canons and Conclusions binding unto all those which send them thither or intrust them there Their calling by the Kings Authority makes their meeting lawful which else were liable to exceptions and disputes in Law and possibly might render them obnoxious to some grievous penalties and so would their continuance too after the Writ was issed for their Dissolution As on the contrary their breaking or dissolving of their own accord would make them guilty of contempt and consequently subject to the Kings displeasure for being called by the Kings Writ they are to continue till dissolved by the Kings Writ also notwithstanding the dissolving of the Parliament with which sometimes it might be summoned And so it was resolved in terminis by the chief Judges of the Realm and others of his Majesties Counsel Learned May 10. anno 1640. at such time as the Convocations did continue sitting the Parliament being most unhappily dissolved on the Tuesday before subscribed by Finch Lord Keeper of the Great Seal Manchester then Lord Privy Seal Littleton chief Justice of the Common Pleas Banks Atturney General Whitfield and Heath his Majesties Sergeants Authority enough for the poor Clergy to proceed on though much condemned and maligned for obedience to it Now as they have the Kings Authority not only for their Meeting but continuance also so also have they all the power of the whole National Clergy of England to make good whatsoever they conclude upon The Arch-Bishops Deans Arch-Deacons acting in their own capacities the Procurators in the name and by the power committed to them both by he Chapters or capitular Bodies and the Diocesan Clergy of both Provinces And this they did by virtue of that power and trust alone without any ratification or confirmation from King or Parliament until the 25th year of King Henry the VIII At which time they bound themselves by a Synodical Act whereof more hereafter not to enact promulge or execute any Canons Constitutions or Ordinances Provincial in their Convocations for time coming unless the Kings Highness by his Royal Assent command them to make promulge and execute the same accordingly Before this time they acted absolutely in their Convocations of their own Authority the Kings Assent neither concurring nor required and by this sole Authority which they had in themselves they did not only make Canons declare Heresie convict and censure persons suspected of Heresie in which the subjects of all sorts whose Votes were tacitely included in the suffrages of their Pastors and spiritual Fathers were concerned alike But also to conclude the Clergy whom they represented in the point of Property imposing on them what they pleased and levying it by Canons of their own enacting And they enjoyed this power to the very day in which they tendred the submission which before we spake of For by this self-authority if I may so call it they imposed and levied that great Subsidy of 120000 l. an infinite sum as the Standard of the times then was granted unto K. Henry VIII anno 1530. to free them from the fear and danger of the Praemuniri By this the Benefit of the Chapter called Similiter in the old Provincial extended formerly to the University of Oxon only was made communicable the same year unto Cambridge also By this Crome Latimer Bilney and divers others were in the year next following impeached of Heresie By this the Will and Testament of William Tracie of Toddington was condemned as scandalous and heretical and his body taken up and burnt not many days before the passing of the Act of Submission anno 1532. But this power being thought too great or inconsistent at least with the Kings Design touching his divorce the Clergy were reduced unto such a straight by the degrees and steps which you find in the following Section as to submit their power unto that of the King and to promise in verbo sacerdotii that they would do and Enact nothig in their Convocations without his consent And to the gaining of this point he was pressed the rather in regard of a Remonstraence then presented to Him by the House of Commons in which they shewed themselves aggrieved that the Clergy of this Realm should act Authoritatively and supremely in the Convocations and they in Parliament do nothing but as it was confirmed and ratified by the Royal Assent Which notwithstanding though this
Submission brought down the Convocation to the same Level with the Houses of Parliament yet being made unto the King in his single person and not as in conjunction with his House of Parliament it neither brought the Convocation under the command of Parliaments nor rendred them obnoxious to the power thereof That which they did in former times of their self-authority in matters which concerned the Church without the Kings consent co-operating and concurring with them the same they did and might do in the times succeeding the Kings Authority and Consent being superadded without the help and midwifery of an Act of Parliament though sometimes that Authority was made Use of also for binding of the subject under Temporal and Legal penalties to yield obedience and conformity to the Churches Orders Which being the true state of the present business it makes the clamour of the Papists the more unreasonable but then withal it makes it the more easily answered Temporal punishments inflicted on the refractory and disobedient in a Temporal Court may add some strength unto the Decrees and Constitutions of the Church but hey take none from it Or if they did the Religion of the Church of Rome the whole Mass of Popery as it was received and settled here in Qu. Maries Reign would have a sorry crutch to stand upon and might as justly bear the name of a Parliament-Faith as the reformed Religion of the Church of England It is true indeed that had those Convocations which were active in that Reformation being either called or summoned by the King in Parliament or by the Houses separately or convenedly without the King Or had the Members of the same been nominated and impowered by the House alone and intermixt with a considerable number of the Lords and Commons which being by the way the Case of this New Assembly I do not see how any thing which they agree on can bind the Clergy otherwise than imposed by a strong hand and against their privileges Or finally had the conclusions or results thereof been of no effect but as reported to and confirmed in Parliament the Papists might have had some ground for so gross a calumny in calling the Religion which is now established by the name of a Parliament-Religion and a Parliament-Gospel But so it is not in the Case which is now before us the said Submission notwithstanding For being the Body being still the same privileged with the same freedom of debate and determination and which is more the Procurators of the Clergy invested with the same power and Trust which before they had There was no alteration made by the said Submission in the whole constitution and composure of it but only the addition of a greater and more excellent power Nor was there any thing done here in that Reformation but either by the Clergy in their Convocations and in their Convocations rightly called and Canonically constituted or with the councel and advice of the Heads thereof in more private conferences the Parliaments of these times contributing very little towards it but acquiescing in the Wisdom of the Sovereign Prince and in the piety and zeal of the Ghostly Fathers This is the ground-work or foundation of the following Building I now time I should proceed to the Superstructures beginning first with the Ejection of the Pope and vesting the Supremacy in the Regal Crown 2. Of the Ejection of the Pope and vesting the Supremacy in the Regal Crown AND first beginning with the Ejection of the Pope and his Authority that led the way unto the Reformation of Religion which did after follow It was first voted and decreed in the Convocation before ever it became the subject of an Act of Parliament For in the year 1530. 22 Hen. 8. the Clergy being caught in a premunire were willing to redeem their danger by a sum of money and to that end the Clergy of the Province of Canterbury bestowed upon the King the sum of 100000 l. to be paid by equal portions in the same year following but the King would not so be satisfied unless they would acknowledge him for the supream Head on earth for the Church of England which though it was hard meat and would not easily down amongst amongst them yet it passed at last For being throughly debated in a Synodical way both in the upper and lower Houses of Convocation they did in sine agree upon this expression Cujus Ecclesiae sc Anglicanae Singularem protectorem unicum Supremum Dominum quantum per Christi leges licet Supremum caput ipsius Majestatem recognoscimus To this they all consented and subscribed their Hands and afterwards incorporated it into the publik Act or Instrument which was presented to the King in the Name of his Clergy for the redeeming of their errour and the grant of their money which as it doth at large appear in the Records and Acts of the Convocation so it is touched upon in a Historical way in the Antiq. Britan. Mason de Minist Anglic. and other Authors by whom it also doth appear that what was thus concluded on by the Clergy of the Province of Canterbury was also ratified and confirmed by the Convocation of the Province of York according to the usual custom save that they did not buy their pardon at so dear a rate This was the leading Card to the Game that followed For on this ground were built the Statutes prohibiting all Appeals to Rome and for determining all Ecclesiastical suits and controversies within the Kingdoms 24 H. 8. c. 12. That for the manner of electing and consecrating of Arch-Bishops and Bishops 25 H. 8. c. 20. and the prohibiting the payment of all Impositions to the Court of Rome and for obtaining all such dispensations from the See of Canterbury which formerly were procured from the Popes of Rome 25 H. 8. c. 21. Which last is builkt expresly upon this foundation That the King is the only supream Head of the Church of England and was so recognized by the Prelates and Clergy representing the said Church in their Convocation And on the very same foundation was the Statute raised 26 H. 8. c. 1. wherein the King is declared to be the supream Head of the Church of England and to have all honour and preheminences which were annexed unto that Title as by the Act it self doth at full appear Which Act being made I speak it from the Act it self only for corroboration and confirmation of that which had been done in the Convocation did afterwards draw on the Statute for the Tenths and first fruits as the point incident to the Headship or supream Authority 26 H. 8. c. 3. The second step to the Ejection of the Pope was the submission of the Clergy to the said King Henry whom they had recognizanced for their supream Head And this was first concluded on in the Convocation before it was proposed or agitated in the Houses of Parliament and was commended only to the care of the
Articles had been concluded and condescended upon by the Prelates and Clergy of the Realm in their Convocation as appeareth in the very words of the Injunction For which see Fox his Acts and Monuments fol. 1247. I find not any thing in Parliament which relates to this either to countenance the work or to require obedience and conformity from the hand of the people And to say truth neither the King nor Clergy did account it necessary but thought their own Authority sufficient to go through with it though certainly it was more necessary at that time than in any since The power and reputation of the Clergy being under foot the King scarce setled in the Supremacy so lately recognized unto him and therefore the Authority of the Parliament of more Use than afterward in Times well ballanced and established 'T is true that in some other year of that Princes Reign we find some Use and mention of an Act of Parliament in matters which concerned Religion but it was only in such Times when the hopes of Reformation were in the Wane and the Work went retrogade For in the year 1539. being the 31. H. 8. When the Lord Comwels power began to decline and the King was in a necessity of compliance with His Neighbouring Princes there passed an Act of Parliament commonly called the Statute of the six Articles or the Whip with six strings In which it was Enacted That whosoever by word or writing should Preach Teach or publish that in the blessed Sacraments of the Altar under form of Bread and Wine there is not really the natural Body and Blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ conceived of the Virgin Mary or affirm otherwise thereof than was maintained and taught in the Church of Rome should be adjudged an Heretick and suffer death by burning and forfeit all his Lands and Goods as in case of High Treason Secondly That whosoever should Teach or Preach that the Communion of the blessed Sacrament in both kinds is necessary for the health of mans soul and ought to be maintained Thirdly Or that any man ofter the Order of Priesthood received might Marry or contract Matrimony Fourthly Or that any Woman which had vowed and professed Chastity might contract Marriage Fifthly Or that private Masses were not lawful and laudable or agreable to the Word of God Or sixthly That auricular Confession was not necessary and expedient to be used in the Church of God should suffer death and forfeit Lands and Goods as a Felon 31 H. 8. c. 14. The rigour of which terrible Statute was shortly after mitigated in the said King's Reign 32 H. 8. c. 10. and 35 H. 8. c. 5. and the whole Statute absolutely repealed by Act of Parliament 1 E. 6. c. 12. But then it is to be observed first that this Parliament of K. H. 8. did not determine any thing in those six points of Doctrine which are therein recited but only took upon them to devise a course for the suppressing of the contrary Opinions by adding by the secular Power the punishment of Death and forfeiture of Lands and Goods unto the censures of the Church which were grown weak if not unvalid and consequently by degrees became neglected ever since the said K. Henry took the Headship on Him and exercised the same by a Lay Vicar General And secondly you must observe that it appeareth evidently by the Act it self that at the same time the King had called a Synod and Convocation of all the Arch-Bishops Bishops and other Learned men of the Clergy that the Articles were first deliberately and advisedly debated argued and reasoned by the said Arch-Bishops Bishops and other Learned men of the Clergy and their opinions in the same declared and made known before the matter came in Parliament And finally That being brought into the Parliament there was not any thing declared and passed as doctrinal but by the assent of the Lords Spiritual and other Learned men of the Clergy as by the Act it self doth at large appear Finally Whatsoever may be drawn from thence can be only this That K. Hen. did make use of his Court of Parliament for the establishing and confirming of some points of Popery which seemed to be in danger of a Reformation And this compared with the Statute of the 34. and 35. prohibiting the reading of the Bible by most sorts of people doth clearly shew that the Parliaments of those times did rather hinder and retard the work of Reformation in some especial parts thereof than give any furtherance to the same But to proceed There was another point of Reformation begun in the Lord Cromwels time but not produced nor brought to perfection till after his decease and then too not without the Midwifery of an Act of Parliament For in the year 1537. the Bishops and others of the Clergy of the Convocation had composed a Book entituled The Institution of a Christian Man which being subscribed by all their hands was by them presented to the King by His most excellent judgment to be allowed of or condemned This Book containing the chief Heads of Christian Religion was forthwith Printed and exposed to publick view But some things not being clearly explicated or otherwise subject to exception he caused it to be reviewed and to that end as Supream Head on Earth of the Church of Engl. I speak the very words of the Act of Parl. 32. H. 8. c. 26. appointed the Arch-Bishops and Bishops of both Provinces and also a great number of the best learned honestest and most vertuous sort of the Doctors of Divinity men of discretion judgment and good disposition to be called together to the intent that according to the very Gospel and Law of God without any partial respect or affection to the Papistical sort or any other Sect or Sects whatsoever they should declare by writing and publish as well the principal Articles and points of our Faith and Belief with the Declaration true understanding and observation of such other expedient points as by them with his Graces advice counsel and consent shall be thought needful and expedient as also for the lawful Rights Ceremonies and observation of Gods Service within this Realm This was in the year 1540. at what time the Parliament was also sitting of which the King was pleased to make this special use That whereas the work which was in hand I use again the words of the Statute required ripe and mature deliberation and was not rashly to be defined and set forth and so not fit to be restrained to the present Session an Act was passed to this effect That all Determinations Declarations Decrees Definitions and Ordinances as according to God's Word and Christ's Gospel should at any time hereafter be set forth by the said Arch-Bishops and Bishops and Doctors in Divinity now appointed or hereafter to be appointed by his Royal Majesty or else by the whole Clergy of England in and upon the matter of Christ's Religion and the Christian Faith
was only by the King's Authority by vertue of the Headship or Supremacy which by way of recognition was vested in him by the Clergy either co-operating and concurring with them in their Convocations or else directed and assisted by such learned Prelates with whom he did advise in matters which concerned the Church and did relate to Reformation By virtue of which Headship or Supremacy he ordained the first and to that end caused certain Articles or Injunctions to be published by the Lord Cromwel then his Viear General Anno 1536. And by the same did he give order for the second I mean for the saying of the Letany in the English Tongue by his own Royal Proclamation Anno 1545. For which consult the Acts and Monuments fol. 1248 1312. But these were only preparations to a greater work which was reserved unto the times of K. Edw. 6. In the beginning of whose Reign there passed a Statute for the administring the Sacrament in both kinds to any person that should devoutly and humbly desire the same 1 E. 6. c. 1. In which it is to be observed that though the Statute do declare that the ministring of the same in both kinds to the people was more agreeable to the first Institution of the said Sacrament and to the common usage of the primitive Times Yet Mr. Fox assures us and we may take his word that they did build that Declaration and consequently the Act which was raised upon it upon the judgment and opinion of the best learned men whose resolution and advice they followed in it fol. 1489. And for the Form by which the said most blessed Sacrament was to be delivered to the common people it was commended to the care of the most grave and learned Bishops and others assemby the King at His Castle of Windsor who upon long wise learned and deliberate advice did finally agree saith Fox upon one godly and uniform zOrder for receiving of the same according to the right rule of Scriptures and the first use of the primitive Church fol. 1491. Which Order as it was set forth in Print Anno 1548. with a Proclamation in the name of the King to give Authority thereunto amongst the people so was it recommended by special Letters writ unto every Bishop severally from the Lords of the Council to see the same put in execution A copy of which Letters you may find in Fox fol. 1491. as afore is said Hitherto nothing done by Parliament in the Forms of Worship but in the following year there was For the Protector and the rest of the Kings Council being fully bent for a Reformation thought it expedient that one uniform quiet and godly Order should be had throughout the Realm for Officiating God's divine Service And to that end I use the words of the Act it self appointed the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and certain of the most learned and discreet Bishops and other learned men of the Realm to meet together requiring them that having as well eye and respect to the most pure and sincere Christian Religion taught in Scriptures as to the usages in the Primitive Church they should draw and make one convenient and meet Order Rite and fashion of Common Prayer and Administration of Sacraments to be had and used in this his Majesties Realm of England Well what did they being thus assembled that the Statute tells us Where it is said that by the aid of the Holy Ghost I pray you mark this well and with one uniform agreement they did conclude upon and set forth an Order which they delivered to the Kings Highness in a Book entituled The Book of Common-Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church after the use of the Church of England All this was done before the Parliament did any thing But what was done by them at at last Why first considering the most godly travel of the King's Highness and the Lord Protector and others of his Highness Council in gathering together the said B. and learned men Secondly The Godly Prayers Orders Rites and Ceremonies in the said Book mentioned Thirdly The motive and inducements which inclined the aforesaid learned men to alter those things which were altered and to retain those things which were retained And finally taking into consideration the honour of God and the great quietness which by the grace of God would ensue upon it they gave his Majesty most hearty and lowly thanks for the same and most humbly prayed him that it might be ordained by his Majesty with the assent of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament and by Authority of the same that the said Form of Common-Prayer and no other after the Feast of Pentecost next following should be used in all his Majesties Dominions with several penalties to such as either should deprave or neglect the same 2 and 3. E. 6. cap. 1. So far the very words of the Act it self By which it evidently appeareth that the two Houses of Parliament did nothing in the present business but impose that Form upon the people which by the learned and religious Clergy-men whom the K. appointed thereunto was agreed upon and made it penal unto such as either should deprave the same or neglect to use it And thus doth Poulton no mean Lawyer understand the Statute who therefore gives no other title to it in his Abridgement publish'd in the year 1612. than this The penalty for not using uniformity of Service and Ministration of the Sacrament So then the making of one uniform Order of celebrating divine Service was the work of the Clergy the making of the Penalties was the work of the Parliament Where let me tell yu by the way that the men who were employed in this weighty business whose names deserve to be continued in perpetual memory were Thomas Cranmer Arch-Bishop of Canterbury George Day Bishop of Chichester Thomas Goodrich B. of Ely and Lord Chancellour John Ship Bishop of Hereford Henry Holbeck Bishop of Lincoln Nicholas Ridley Bishop of Rochester translated afterwards to London Thomas Thirlby Bishop of Westminster Dr. May Dean of St. Pauls Dr. Taylor then Dean afterwards Bishop of Lincoln Dr. Hains Dean of Exeter Dr. Robertson afterwards Dean of Durham Dr. Redman Master of Trinity Colledge in Cambridge and Dr. Cox then Almoner to the King afterward Dean of Westminster and at last Bishop of Ely men famous in their generations and the honour of the Age they lived in And so much for the first Liturgy of King Edwards Reign in which you see how little was done by Authority or power of Parliament so little that if it had been less it had been just nothing But some exceptions being taken against the Liturgy by some of the preciser sort at home and by Calvin abroad the Book was brought under a review And though it had been framed at first if the Parliament which said so erred not by the ayd of the Holy Ghost himself yet to comply with
the curiosity of the Ministers and mistakes of the people rather than for any other weighty cause As the Statutes 5 and 6 Ed. 6. cap. 1. it was thought expedient by the King with the assent of the Lords and Commons in Parliament Assembled that the said Order of Common Service should be faithfully and godly perused explained and made fully perfect Perused and explained by whom Why questionless by those who made it or else by those if they were not the same men who were appointed by the King to draw up and compose a Form of Ordination for the Use of the Church And this Assent of theirs for it was no more was the only part that was ever acted by the Parliament in matter of this present nature save that a Statute passed in the former Parliament 3 and 4 Ed. 6. c. 12. unto this effect that such form and manner of making and consecrating Arch-Bishops Bishops Priests Deacons and other Ministers of the Church which before I spake of as by six Prelates and six other men of this Realm learned in Gods Laws by the King to be appointed and assigned shall be devised to that purpose and set forth under the great Seal shall be lawfully used and exercised and none other Where note that the King only was to nominate and appoint the men the Bishops and other learned men were to make the Book and that the Parliament in a blind obedience or at the least upon a charitable confidence in the integrity of the men so nominated did confirm that Book before any of their Members had ever seen it though afterwards indeed in the following Parliament this Book together with the Book of Common-prayer so Printed and explained obtained a more formal confirmation as to the use thereof throughout the Kingdom but in no other respect for which see the Statute 5 and 6 Ed. 6. c. 1. As for the time of Q. Elizabeth when the Common-prayer book now in use being the same almost with the last of King Edward was to be brought again into the Church from whence it was cast out in Queen Maries Reign it was committed to the care of some learned men that is to say to M. Whitehead once Chaplain to Q. Anne Bullen Dr. Parker after Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Dr. Grindal after Bishop of London Dr. Cox after Bishop of Ely Dr. Pilkington after Bishop of Durham Dr. May Dean of Saint Pauls Dr. Bill Provost of Eaton after Dean of Westminster and Sir Tho. Smith By whom being altered in some few passages which the Statute points to 1 Eliz. c. 21. it was presented to the Parliament and by the Parliament received and established without more ado or troubling any Committee of both or either Houses to consider of it for ought appears in their Records All that the Parliament did in it being to put it into the condition in which it stood before in Kings Edwards Reign partly by repealing the Repeal of King Edw. Statutes made in the first of Q. Mary c. 2. and partly by the adding of some farther penalties on such as did deprave the Book or neglect to use it or wilfully did absent themselves from their Parish-Churches And for the Alterations made in King James his time being small in the Rubrick only and for the additions of the Thanksgivings at the end of the Letany the Prayer for the Queen and the Royal Issue and the Doctrine of the Sacraments at the end of the Catechisme which were not in the Book before they were never referred unto the Parliament but were done only by Authority of the Kings Commission and stand in force by virtue only of His Proclamation which you may find before the Book the charge of buying the said Book so explained and altered being laid upon the several and respective Parishes by no other Authority than that of the eightieth Canon made in Convocation Anno 1603. The like may also be affirmed of the Forms of Prayer for the Inauguration-day of our Kings and Queens the Prayer-books for the fifth of November and the fifth of August and those which have been used in all publick Fasts All which without the help of Parliaments have been composed by the Bishops and imposed by the King Now unto this discourse of the Forms of Worship I shall subjoyn a word or two of the times of Worship that is to say the Holy-days observed in the Church of England and so observed that they do owe that observation chiefly to the Churches power For whereas it was found in the former times that the number of the Holy-days was grown so great that they became a burthen to the common people and a great hinderance to the thrift and manufactures of the Kingdom there was a Canon made in the Convocation An. 1536. For cutting off of many superstitious and superfluous Holy-days and the reducing them into the number in which they now stand save that St. George's day and Mary Magdalens day and all the Festivals of the blessed Virgin had their place amongst them according to which Canon there went out a Monitory from the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury to all the Suffragans of his Province respectively to see the same observed in their several Diocesses which is still extant on Record But being the Authority of the Church was then in the wane it was thought necessary to confirm their Acts and see execution done upon it by the Kings Injunction which did accordingly come forth with this Form or preamble That the abolishing of the said Holy-days was decreed ordained and established by the Kings Highness Authority as Supream Head in Earth of the Church of England with the common consent and assent of the Prelates and Clergy of this his Realm in Convocation lawfully Assembled and Congregate Of which see Fox his Acts and Monuments fol. 1246 1247. Afterwards in the year 1541. the King perceiving with what difficulty the people were induced to leave off those Holy-days to which they had been so long accustomed published his Proclamation of the twenty-third of July for the abolishing of such Holy-days amongst other things as were prohibited before by his Injunctions both built upon the same foundation namely the resolution of the Clergy in their Convocation And so it stood until the Reign of King E. 6. at which time the Reformation of the publick Liturgie drew after it by consequence an alteration in the present business no days being to be kept or accounted Holy but those for which the Church had set apart a peculiar office and not all those neither For whereas there are several and peculiar offices for the day of the Conversion of St. Paul and the day of St. Barnabas the Apostles neither of these are kept as Holy-days nor reckoned or esteemed as such in the Act of Parliament wherein the names and number of the Holy-days is precisely specified which makes some think the Act of Parliament to have had an over-ruling power on the Common-prayer-Book but it is not so
there being a specification of the Holy-days in the Book it self with this direction These to be observed for Holy-days and none other in which the Feasts of the Conversion of St. Paul and the Apostle Barnabas are omitted plainly and upon which specification the Stat. 5 6. Ed. 6. cap. 3. which concerns the Holy-days seems most expresly to be built And for the Offices on those days in the Common-prayer Book you may please to know that every Holy-day consisteth of two special parts that is to say rest or cessation from bodily labour and celebration of Divine or Religious duties and that the days before remembred are so far kept holy as to have still their proper and peculiar Offices which is observed in all the Cathedrals of this Kingdom and the Chappels Royal where the Service is read every day and in most Parish Churches also as oft as either of them falls upon a Sunday though the people be not in those days injoined to rest from bodily labour no more than on the Coronation-day or the Fifth of November which yet are reckoned by the people for a kind of Holy-days Put all which hath been said together and the sum is this That the proceedings of this Church in the Reformation were not meerly Regal as it is objected by some Puritans much less that they were Parliamentarian in so great a work as the Papists falsly charge upon us the Parliaments for the most part doing little in it but that they were directed in a justifiable way the work being done Synodically by the Clergy only according to the usage of the Primitive times the King concurring with them and corroborating what they had resolved on either by his own single Act in his letters Patent Proclamations and Injunctions or by some publick Act of State as in times and by Acts of Parliament 6. Of the power of making Canons for the well ordering of the Clergy and the directing of the People in the publick Duties of Religion WE are now come to the last part of this design unto the power of making Canons in which the Parliament of England have had less to do than in either of the other which are gone before Concerning which I must desire you to remember that the Clergy who had power before to make such Canons and Constitutions in their Convocation as to them seemed meet promised the King in verbo Sacerdotij not to Enact or Execute and new Canons but by his Majesties Royal Assent and by his Authority first obtained in that behalf which is thus briefly touched upon in the Ant. Brit. in the life of William Warham Arch Bishop of Canterbury Clerus in verbe Sacerdotij sidem Regi dedit ne ullas deinceps in Synodo ferrent Ecclesiasticas leges nisi Synodus authoritate Regia congregata constitutiones in Synodis publicatae eadem authoritate ratae essent Upon which ground I doubt not but I might securely raise this proposition That whatsoever the Clergy did or might do lawfully before the act of Submission in their Convocation of their own power without the Kings Authority and consent concurring the same they can and may do still since the act of their Submission the Kings Authority and consent co-operating with them in their Councils and giving confirmation to their Constitutions as was said before Further it doth appear by the asoresaid Act 25 H. 8. c. 19. That all such Canons Constitutions Ordinances and Synodals Provincial as were made before the said Submission which be not contrary or repugnant to the Laws Statutes and Customs of this Realm nor to the damage or hurt of the Kings Prerogative Royal were to be used and executed as in former times And by the Statute 26 H. 8. c. 1. of the Kings Supremacy that according to the Recognition made in Convocation our said Soveraign Lord his Heirs and Successors Kings of this Realm shall have full power and authority from time to time to visit repress reform order correct c. all such Errours Heresies Abuses Offences Contempts and Enormities whatsoever they be .c as may be most to the pleasure of Almighty God the increase of virtue in Christs Religion and for the peace unity and tranquillity of this Realm and the confirmation of the same So that you see these several ways of ordering matters for the publick weal and governance of the Church First by such ancient Canons and Constitutions as being made in former times are still in force Secondly by such new Canons as are or shall be made in Convocation with and by the Kings consent And thirdly By the Authority of the Sovereign Prince according to the Precedents laid down in the Book of God and the best ages of the Church concerning which you must remember what was said before viz. That the Statutes which concern the Kings Supremacy are Declaratory of an old power only not Introductory of a new which said we shall the better see whether the Parliament have had any thing to do either in making Canons or prescribing Orders for the regulating of Spiritual and Ecclesiastical matters and unto whom the same doth of right belong according to the Laws of the Realm of England And first King Henry being restored to his Headship of Supremacy call it which you will did not conceive himself so absolute in it though at the first much enamoured of it as not sometimes to take his Convocation with him but at all times to be advised by his Prelates when he had any thing to do that concerned the Church for which there had been no provision made by the ancient Canons grounding most times his Edicts and Injunctions Royal upon their advice and resolution For on this ground I mean the judgement and conclusions of his Convocation did he set out the Injunctions of the year 1536. for the abolishing of superstitious Holy-days the exterminating of the Popes Authority the publishing of the Book of Articles which before we spake of num 8. by all Parsons Vicars and Curates for preaching down the use of Images Reliques Pilgrimages and superstitious Miracles for rehearsing openly in the Church in the English tongue the Creed the Pater noster and the Ten Commandments for the due and reverend ministring of the Sacraments and Sacramentals for providing English Bibles to be set in every Church for the use of the people for the regular and sober life of Clergy-men and the relief of the poor And on the other side the King proceeded sometimes only by the advice of his Prelates as in the injunctions of the year 1538. for quarterly Sermons in each Parish for admitting none to Preach but men sufficiently Licenced for keeping a Register-book of Christnings Weddings and Burials for the due paying of Tythes as had been accustomed for the abolishing of the commemoration of St. Thomas Becket for singing a Parce nobis Domine instead of Ora pro nobis and the like to these And of this sort were the Injunctions which
begin to intrench upon the Churches Rights to offer at and entertain such businesses as formerly were held peculiar to the Clergy only next to dispute their Charters and reverse their privileges and finally to impose some hard Laws upon them And of these notable incroachments Matthew Parker thus complains in the life of Cranmer Qua Ecclesiasticarum legum potestate abdicata populus in Parliamento coepit de rebus divinis inconsulto Clero Sancire tum absentis Cleri privilegia sensim detrahere juraque duriora quibus Clerus invitus teneretur Constituere But these were only tentamenta offers and undertakings only and no more than so Neither the Parliaments of K. Edward or Q. Elizabeths time knew what it was to make Committees for Religion or thought it fit that Vzzah should support the Ark though he saw it tottering That was a work belonging to the Levites only none of the other Tribes were to meddle with it But as the Puritan Faction grew more strong and active so they applyed themselves more openly to the Houses of Parliament but specially to the House of Commons putting all power into their hands as well in Ecclesiastical and Spiritual Causes as in matters Temporal This amongst others confidently affirmed by Mr. Pryn in the Epistle to his Book called Anti-Arminianism where he avers That all our Bishops our Ministers our Sacraments our Consecration our Articles of Religion our Homilies Common-prayer Book yea and all the Religion of the Church is no other way publickly received supported or established amongst us but by Acts of Parliament And this not only since the time of the Reformation but That Religion and Church affairs were determined ratified declared and ordered by Act of Parliament and no ways else even then when Popery and Church men had the greatest sway Which strange assertion falling from the pen of so great a Scribe was forthwith chearfully received amongst our Pharisees who hoped to have the highest places not only in the Synagogue but the Court of Sanhedrim advancing the Authority of Parliaments to so high a pitch that by degrees they fastened on them both an infallibility of judgment and an omniotency of power Nor can it be denied to deal truly with you but that they met with many apt Scholars in that House who either out of a desire to bring all the grist to their own Mill or willing to enlarge the great power of Parliaments by making new precedents for Posterity or out of faction or affection or what else you please began to put their Rules in practice and draw all matters whatsoever within the cognizance of that Court In which their embracements were at last so general and that humour in the House so prevalent that one being once demanded what they did amongst them returned this answer That they were making a new Creed Another being heard to say That he could not be quiet in his Conscience till the holy Text should be confirmed by an Act of theirs Which passages if they be not true and real as I have them from an honest hand I assure you they are bitter jests But this although indeed it be the sickness and disease of the present Times and little to the honour of the Court of Parliament can be no prejudice at all to the way and means of the Reformation amongst sober and discerning men the Doctrine of the Church being settled the Liturgy published and confirmed the Canons authorized and executed when no such humour was predominant nor no such power pretended to by both or either of the Houses of Parliament But here perhaps it will be said that we are fallen into Charybdis by avoiding Scylla and that endeavouring to stop the mouth of this Popish Calumny we have set open a wide gap to another no less scandalous of the Presbyterians who being as professed Enemies of the Kings as the Popes Supremacy and noting that strong influence which the King hath had in Ecclesiastical affairs since the first attempts for Reformation have charg'd it as reproachfully on the Church of England and the Religion here established that it is Regal at the best if not Parliamentarian and may be called a Regal Faith and a Regal Gospel But the Answer unto this is easie For first the Kings intended by the Objectors did not act much in order to the Reformation as appears by that which hath been said but either by the advice and co-operation of the whole Clergy of the Realm in their Convocations or by the Counsel and consent of the Bishops and most eminent Church men in particular Conferences which made it properly the work of the Clergy only the Kings no otherwise than as it was propouned by him or finally confirmed by the Civil Sanction And secondly had they done more in it than they did they had been warranted so to do by the Word of God who hath committed unto Kings and Sovereign Princes a Supreme or Supereminent power not only in all matters of a Temporal or Secular nature but in such as do concern Religion and the Church of Christ And so St. Augustine hath resolved it in his third Book against Cresconius In hoc Reges sicut iis divinitus praecipitur pray you note that well Deo serviunt in quantum Reges sunt si in suo Regno bona jubeant mala prohibeant non solum quae pertinent ad humanum societatem verum etiam ad Divinam Religionem Which words of his seemed so significant and convincing unto Hart the Jesuite that being shewed the Tractate writ by Dr. Nowel against Dorman the Priest in the beginning of Q. Elizabeths time and finding how the case was stated by that Reverend person he did ingenously confess that there was no Authority ascribed to the Kings of england in Ecclesiastical affairs but what was warranted unto them by that place of Augustine The like affimed by him that calleth himself Franciscus de S. Clara though a Jesuite too that you mjay see how much more candid and ingenuous the Jesuits are in this point than the Presbyterians in his Examen of the Articles of the Church of England But hereof you may give me opportunity to speak more hereafter when you propose the Doubts which you say you have relating to the King the Pope and the Churches Protestant and therefore I shall say no more of it at the present time SECT II. The manner of the Reformation of the Church of England declared and justified HItherto I had gone in order to your satisfaction and communicated my conceptions in writing to you when I received your Letter of the 4th of January in which you signified the high contentment I had given you in condescending to your weakness as you pleased to call it and freeing you from those doubts which lay heaviest on you And therewithal you did request me to give you leave to propound those other scruples which were yet behind relating to the King the Pope and the Protestant-Churches either too little
or too much looked after in the Reformation And first you say it is cvomplained of by some Zelots of the Church of rome that the Pope was very hardly and unjustly dealt with in being deprived of the Supremacy so long enjoyed and exercised by his Predecessors and that it was an Innovation no less strange than dangerous to settle it upon the King 2. That the Church of England ought not to have proceeded to a Reformation without the Pope considered either as the Patriarch of the Weftern world or the Apostle in particular of the English Nation 3. That if a Reformation had been found so necessary it ought to have been done by a General Council at least with the consent and co-operation of the Sister-Churches especially of those who were engaged at the same time in the same designs 4. That in the carrying on of the Reformation the Church proceeded very unadvisedly in letting the people have the Scriptures and the publique Liturgy in the vulgar tongue the dangerous consequents whereof are now grown too visible 5. That the proceedings in the point of the Common-prayer Book were meerly Regal the body of the Clergy not consulted with or consenting to it and consequently not so Regular as we fain would have it And 6. That in the power of making Canons and determining matters of the Faith the Clergy have so fettered and intangled themselves by the Act of Submission that they can neither meet deliberate conclude nor execute but as they are enabled by the Kings Authority which is a Vassalage inconsistent with their native Liberties and not agreeable to the usage of the Primitive times These are the points in which you now desire to have satisfaction and you shall have it in the best way I am able to do it that so you may be freed hereafter from such troubles and Disputants as I perceive have laboured to perplex your thoughts and make you less affectionate than formerly to the Church your Mother 1. That the Church of England did not Innovate in the Ejection of the Pope and settling the Supremacy in the Royal Crown And in this point you are to know that it hath been and still is the general and constant judgment of the greatest Lawyers of this Kingdom that the vesting of the Supremacy in the Crown Imperial of this Realm was not Introductory of any new Right or Power which was not in the Crown before but Declaratory of an old which had been anciently and originally inherent in it though of late Times usurped by the Popes of Rome and in Abeyance at that time as our Lawyers phrase it And they have so resolved it upon very good reasons the principal managery of affairs which concern Religion being a flower inseparably annexed to the Regal Diadem not proper and peculiar only to the Kings of England but to all Kings and Princes in the Church of God and by them exercised and enjoyed accordingly in their times and places For who I pray you were the men in the Jewish Church who destroyed the Idols of that people cut down the Groves demolished the high places and brake in pieces the Brazen Serpent when abused to Idolatry Were they not the godly Kings and Princes only which sway'd the Scepter of that Kingdom And though 't is possible enough that they might do it by the counsel and advice of the High-Priests of that Nation or of some of the more godly Priests and Levites who had a zeal unto the Law of the most high God yet we find nothing of it in the holy Scripture the merit of these Reformations which were made occasionally in that faulty Church being ascribed unto their Kings and none but them Had they done any thing in this which belonged not to their place and calling or by so doing had intrenched on the Office of the Priests and Levits that God who punished Vzzab for attempting to support the Ark when he saw it tottering and smote Osias with a Leprosie for burning Incense in the Temple things which the Priests and Levites only were to meddle in would not have suffered those good Kings to have gone unpunished or at least uncensured how good soever their intentions and pretences were Nay on the contrary when any thing was amiss in the Church of Jewry the Kings and not the Priests were admonished of it and reproved for it by the Prophets which sheweth that they were trusted with the Reformation and none else but they Is it not also said of david that he distributed the Priests and Levites into several Classes allotted to them the particular times of their Ministration and designed them unto several Offices in the publick Service Josephus adding to these passages of the Holy Writ That he composed Hymns and Songs to the Lord his God and made them to be sung in the Congregation as an especial part of the publick Liturgy Of which although it may be said that he composed those Songs and Hymns by vertue of his Prophetical Spirit yet he imposed them on the Church appointed Singing-men to sing them and prescribed Vestments also to these Singing-men by no other power than the regal only None of the Priests consulted in it for ought yet appears The like Authority was exercised and enjoyed by the Christian Emperors not only in their calling Councils and many times assisting at them or presiding in them by themselves or their Deputies or Commissioners but also in confirming the Acts thereof He that consults the Code and Novelles in the Civil Laws will find the best Princes to have been most active in things which did concern Religion in regulating matters of the Church and setting out their Imperial Edicts for suppressing of Hereticks Quid Imperatori cum Ecclesia What hath the Emperor to do in matters which concern the Church is one of the chief Brand-marks which Optatus sets upon the Donatists And though some Christians of the East have in the way of scorn had the name of Melchites men of the Kings Religion as the word doth intimate because they adhered unto those Doctrines which the Emperors agreeable to former Councils had confirmed and ratified yet the best was that none but Sectaries and Hereticks put that name upon them Neither the men nor the Religion was a jot the worse Nor did they only deal in matters of Exterior Order but even in Doctrinals matters intrinsecal to the Faith for which their Enoticon set out by the Emperor Zeno for settling differences in Religion may be proof sufficient The like Authority was exercised and enjoyed by Charles the Great when he attained the Western Empire as the Capitulars published in his Name and in the names of his Successors do most clearly evidence and not much less enjoyed and practised by the Kings of England in the elder times though more obnoxious to the power of the Pope of Rome by reason of his Apostleship if I may so call it the Christian Faith being first preached unto the English
Saxons by such as he employed in that Holy work The instances whereof dispersed in several places of our English Histories and other Monuments and Records which concern this Church are handsomely summed up together by Sir Edward Cook in the fifth part of his Reports if I well remember but I am sure in Cawdries Case entituled De Jure Regis Ecclesiastico And though Parsons the Jesuite in his Answer unto that Report hath took much pains to vindicate the Popes Supremacy in this Kingdom from the first planting of the Gospel among the Saxons yet all he hath effected by it proves no more than this That the Popes by permission of some weak Princes did exercise a kind of concurrent jurisdiction here with the Kings themselves but came not to the full and entire Supremacy till they had brought all other Kings and Princes of the Western Empire nay even the Emperors themselves under their command So that when the Supremacy was recognized by the Clergy in their Convocation to K. H. 8. it was only the restoring of him to his proper and original power invaded by the Popes of these latter Ages though possibly the Title of Supream Head seemed to have somewhat in it of an Innovation At which Title when the Papists generally and Calvin in his Comment on the Prophet Amos did seem to be much scandalized it was with much wisdom changed by Q. Elizabeth into that of Supream Governour which is still in use And when that also would not down with some queasie stomacks the Queen her self by her Injunctions published in the first year of her Reign and the Clergy in their book of Articles agreed upon in Convocation about five years after did declare and signifie That there was no Authority in sacred matters contained under that Title but that only Prerogative which had been given always to all godly Princes in holy Scriptures by God himself that is That they should rule all Estates and degrees committed to their charge by God whether they be Ecclesiastical or Temporal and to restrain with the Civil Sword the stubborn and evil doers as also to exclude thereby the Bishop of Rome from having any jurisdiction in the Realm of England Artic. 37. Lay this unto the rest before and tell me if you can what hath been acted by the Kings of England in the Reformation of Religion but what is warranted unto them by the practice and example of the most godly Kings of Jewry seconded by the most godly Emperours in the Christian Church and by the usage also of their own Predecessors in this Kingdom till Papal Usurpation carried all before it And being that all the Popes pretended to in this Realm was but Usurpation it was no Wrong to take that from him which he had no Right to and to restore it at the last to the proper Owner Neither prescription on the one side nor discontinuance on the other change the case at all that noted Maxim of our Lawyers that no prescription binds the King or Nullum tempus occurrit Regi as their own words are being as good against the Pope as against the Subject This leads me to the second part of this Dispute the dispossessing of the Pope of that Supream Power so long enjoyed and exercised in this Realm by his Predecessors To which we say that though the pretensions of the Pope were antient yet they were not primitive and therefore we may answer in our Saviours words Ab initio non fuit sic it was not so from the beginning For it is evident enough in the course of story that the Pope neither claimed nor exercised any such Supremacy within this Kingdom in the first Ages of this Church nor in many after till by gaining from the King the Investiture of Bishops under Henry the First the exemption of the Clergy from the Courts of Justice under Henry the Second and the submission of King John to the See of Rome they found themselves of strength sufficient to make good their Plea And though by the like artifices seconded by some Texts of Scripture which the ignorance of those times incouraged them to abuse as they pleased they had attained the like Supremacy in France Spain and Germany and all the Churches of the West Yet his Incroachments were opposed and his Authority disputed upon all occasions especially as the light of Letters did begin to shine Insomuch as it was not only determined essentially in the Council of Constance one of the Imperial Cities of High germany that the Council was above the Pope and his Authority much curbed by the Pragmatick Sanction which thence took beginning But Gerson the learned Chancellor of Paris wrote a full Discourse entituled De auferibilitate Papae touching the total abrogating of the Papal Office which certainly he had never done in case the Papal Office had been found essential and of intrinsecal concernment to the Church of Christ According to the Position of that learned man The greatest Princes in these times did look upon the Pope and the Papal power as an Excrescence at the best in the body mystical subject and fit to be pared off as occasion served though on self ends Reasons of State and to serve their several turns by him as their needs required they did and do permit him to continue in his former greatness For Lewis the 11th King of France in a Council of his own Bishops held at Lions cited Pope Julius the 2d to appear before him and Laustrech Governour of Millaine under Francis the 1st conceived the Popes Authority to be so unnecessary yea even in Italy it self that taking a displeasure against Leo the 10th he outed him of all his jurisdiction within that Dukedom anno 1528. and so disposed of all Ecclesiastical affairs ut praefecto sacris Bigorrano Episcopo omnia sine Romani Pontificis authoritate administrarentur as Thuanus hath it that the Church there was supreamly governed by the Bishop of Bigor a Bishop of the Church of France without the intermedling of the Pope at all The like we find to have been done about six years after by Charles the Fifth Emperor and King of Spain who being no less displeased with Pope Clement the 7th Abolished the Papal power and jurisdiction out of all the Churches of his Kingdoms in Spain Which though it held but for a while till the breach was closed yet left he an example by it as my Author noteth Ecclesiasticam disciplinam citra Romani nominis autoritatem posse conservari that there was no necessity of a Pope at all And when K. Henry the 8th following these examples had banished the Popes Authority out of his Dominions Religion still remaining here as before it did the Popes Supremacy not being at the time an Article of the Churistian Faith as it hath since been made by Pope Pius the 4th that Act of his was much commended by most knowing men in that without more alteration in the face of the Church
or putting their results into execution without his consent but put him into the actual possession of that Authority which properly belonged to the Supremacy or the Supream Head in as full manner as ever the Pope of Rome or any delegated by and under him did before enjoy it After which time whatsoever the King or his Successors did in the Reformation as it had virtually the power of the Convocations so was it as effectual and good in Law as if the Clergy in their Convocation particularly and in terminis had agreed upon it Not that the King or his Successors were hereby enabled to exercise the Keys and determine Heresies much less to preach the Word and administer the Sacraments as the Papists falsly gave it out but as the Heads of the Ecclesiastical Body of this Realm to see that all the members of that Body did perform their duties to rectifie what was found amiss amongst them to preserve peace between them on emergent differences to reform such errors and corruptions as are expresly contrary to the Word of God and finally to give strength and motions to their Councils and Determinations tending to Edification and increase of Piety And though in most of their proceedings towards Reformation the Kings advised with such Bishops as they had about them or could assemble without any great trouble or inconvenience to advise withal yet was there no necessity that all or the greater part of the Bishops should be drawn together for that purpose no more than it was anciently in the Primitive Times for the godly Emperors to call together the most part of the Bishops in the Roman Empire for the establishing of the matters which concerned the Church or for the godly Kings of Judah to call together the greatest part of the Priests and Levites before they acted any thing in the Reformation of those corruptions and abuses which were crept in amongst them Which being so and then withal considering as we ought to do that there was nothing altered here in the state of Religion till either the whole Clergy in their Convocaton or the Bishops and most eminent Church-men had resolved upon it our Religion is no more to be called a Regal than a Parliament-Gospel 6. That the Clergy lost not any of their just Rights by the Act of Submission and the power of calling and confirming Councils did anciently belong to the Christian Princes If you conceive that by ascribing to the King the Supream Authority taking him for their Supream Head and by the Act of Submission which ensued upon it the Clergy did unwittingly ensnare themselves and drew a Vassallage on these of the times succeeding inconsistent with their native Rights and contrary to the usage of the Primitive Church I hope it will be no hard matter to remove that scruple It 's true the Clergy in their Convocation can do nothing now but as their doings are confirmed by the Kings Authority and I conceive it stands with reason as well as point of State that it should be so For since the two Houses of Parliament though called by the Kings Writ can conclude nothing which may bind either King or Subject in their civil Rights until it be made good by the Royal Assent so neither is it fit nor safe that the Clergy should be able by their Constitutions and Synodical Acts to conclude both Prince and People in spiritual matters until the stamp of Royal Authority be imprinted on them The Kings concurrence in this case devesteth not the Clergy of any lawful power which they ought to have but restrains them only in the exercise of some part thereof to make it more agreeable to Monarchical Government and to accommodate it to the benefit both of Prince and People It 's true the Clergy of this Realm can neither meet in Convocation nor conclude any thing therein nor put in execution any thing which they have concluded but as they are enabled by the Kings Authority But then it is as true withal that this is neither inconsistent with their native Rights nor contrary unto the usage of the Primitive Times And first it is not inconsistent with their native Rights it being a peculiar happiness of the Church of England to be always under the protection of Christian Kings by whose encouragement and example the Gospel was received in all parts of this Kingdom And if you look into Sir Henry Spelman's Collection of the Saxon Councils I believe that you will hardly find any Ecclesiastical Canons for the Government of the Church of England which were not either originally promulgated or after approved and allowed o either by the Supream Monarch of all the Saxons or by some King or other of the several Heptarchies directing in their National or Provincial Synods And they enjoyed this Prerogative without any dispute after the Norman Conquest also till by degrees the Pope in grossed it to himself as before was shewn and then conferred it upon such as were to exercise the same under his Authority which plainly manifests that the Act of Submission so much spoke of was but a changing of their dependance from the Pope to the King from an usurped to a lawful power from one to whom they had made themselves a kind of voluntary Slaves to him who justly challenged a natural dominion over them And secondly that that submission of theirs to their natural Prince is not to be considered as a new Concession but as the Recognition only of a former power In the next place I do not find it to be contrary to the usage of the Primitive times I grant indeed that when the Church was under the command of the Heathen Emperors the Clergy did Assemble in their National and Provincial Synods of their own Authority which Councils being summoned by the Metropolitans and subscribed by the Clergy were of sufficient power to bind all good Christians who lived within the Verge of their jurisdiction They could not else Assemble upon any exigence of affairs but by such Authority But it was otherwise when the Church came under the protection of Christian Princes all Emperors and Kings from Constantine the Great till the Pope carried all before him in the darker times accompting it one of the principal flowers as indeed it was which adorned their Diadems I am not willing to beat on a common place But if you please to look into the Acts of ancient Councils you will find that all the General Councils all which deserve to be so called if any of them do deserve it to have been summoned and confirmed by the Christian Emperors that the Council of Arles was called and confirmed by the Emperor Constantine that of Sardis by Constans that of Lampsacus by Valentinian that of Aquileia by Theodosius that of Thessalonica National or Provincial all by the Emperor Gratian That when the Western Empire fell into the hands of the French the Councils of Akon Mentz Meldun Wormes and Colen received both life and
erant omnia simpliciter tractabantur Petrus enim ubi conseeraverat oratione Pater noster usus erat Auxit haec mysteria Jacobus Episcopus Hierosolymitanus auxit Basilius auxere alii Nam Celestinus missae introitum dedit Gregorius KYRIE-ELEISON Gloria in excelsis Telesphorus c. These things saith he at first were but plain and naked For Peter when he Consecrated used the Pater noster James Bishop of Hierusalem much increased the mysteries the like did Basil and some others Celestine made the Introite Gregory added to it the Kyrie eleison Telesphorus the Gloria in excelsis Xistus the first put to it the trisagion or Holy holy holy Lord God of Hosts Gelasius the Collations perhaps the Collects The Gospel and Epistle were brought in by Hierom the Allelujah borrowed from Hierusalem the Creed from the Council of Nice the Commemoration of the dead by Pope Pelagius the kissing of the Pax by Innocent the first and Agnus Dei was not sung saith he till the time of Sergius If so then as not Rome it self so neither was the Liturgy of Rome made in one day It took up longer time than so to come unto that bulk and greatness in which now it stands But out of doubt a Liturgy it had in the best times of it So had the Church of Millain those of France Spain England not every where the same nor much different from it Facies non omnibus una Nec diversa tamen qualem decet esse Sororum as once the Poet said in another case And so it stood until the Western Empire was conferred on the Kings of France who by their power and the importunity of the Popes of Rome setled the Roman or Gregorian Missal over all the West Till those times they had several Liturgies as before was said That of the Church of Millain called commonly Officium Ambrosianum not because made by him originally but because he reduced it to a better and more setled Form is extant still and used by special sufferance in the Church of Millain to this very day So also for the antient Liturgy of the Church of Spain which they call the Mosarabick Liturgy Bellarm. de Missa lib. 2. c. 18. which received great increase both for Form and Order from Isidorus Hispalensis and therefore is most commonly ascribed to him it is still used in Toledo by the like permission Id. Ibid. By whom the Liturgy of Spain was first composed or setled it is hard to say that Countrey yielding but few Writers whose works have come unto our hands But sure a Liturgy they had long time before the birth of Isidore and that most punctually observed in the Cathedrals or Mother-Churches From which when the Parochial Churches began to vary as it seems they did the Council of Girona Concilium Gerundense the Latines call it An. 517. recalled them to their antient duty enjoyning them to hold conformity in all the acts of publick worship with the Mother-Church the chief Cathedral of the Province and that as well for the order of the service the Psalmody the Canon as the use and custom of the ministration Concil Gerund Can. 1. Sicut in Metropolitana Ecclesia agitur ita in Dei nomine in omni Tarraconensi Provincia tum ipsius Missae ordo quam psallendi vel ministrandi consuetudo servetur So the Fathers ordered By which it doth appear most fully that antiently the Church of Spain had its proper Liturgy a prescribed Form of ministration and that not only fitted for the use of the Cathedrals or Mother-Churches but such to which the Parish Churches were to yield conformity And for the Gallick Church though they have now no other Liturgy than that which they received from Rome power and practice of the Emperours of the Caroline race being most operative at home in their own dominions yet antiently she had a Liturgy of her own for which see Beda's History of the Church of England l. 1. c. 27. as had other Churches Concerning which it was thus ordered at the Council of Vannes a City of Gallia Lugdunensis Concil Veneticum Can. 15. ut intra Provinciam nostram sacrorum ordo or rather ordinis Psallendi una sit consuetudo That in that Province there should be one Uniform course in all sacred Offices and in the order of singing from thenceforth observed This was in An. 453. or thereabouts Not that there had not been before those times a setled and established Liturgy in the Church of France but that too many had presumed as is since done in other places to neglect their rules and venture on new Forms of their own devising Finally for the Liturgy of the Church of England for of the British Rites or Forms there is nothing certain it seems to be coeval with the Church it self whether we look upon the same as Reformed or Planted not borrowed or derived from Rome as both the Papist and the Non-conformist bear the world in hand but fitted to the best edification of this people ex singulis quibusque Ecclesiis Beda in bist Eccl. l. 1. c. 27. our of the Rituals and received Forms of the most flourishing Churches at that time in being when first the Gospel was made known to the English Nation The passage is at large in Beda and thither I refer the Reader Nor was it otherwise than thus in the African Churches in case we should not reckon them as they are most commonly among the Churches of the West For besides what was noted from S. Cyprian in the former Chapter we find some fragments of the antient Liturgies in S. Augustine also Take this although not all as a taste for all Quod ergo in sacramentis fidelium dicitur ut Sursum corda habeamus ad Dominum August de bone perseverant c. 13 munus est Domini de quo munere ipsi Domino Deo nostro gratias agere à Sacerdote post hanc vocem illi quibus hoc dicitur admonentur dignum justum esse respondent Wherefore saith he that in the Sacraments of the Faithful it is said That we lift up our hearts unto the Lord is the Lords own gift for which all they who have affirmed so of themselves are after admonished by the Priest to give thanks to God which they acknowledge in their answer to be meet and right See to the same effect Epist 156. and in other places Which with the rest before observed out of other Fathers make it clear as day with what an high injustice they proceed against this blessed Church of England who have accused her for prescribing Responsories to be said by the people the Minister being as they say ordained by Scripture to be the peoples mouth to God Which Responsories I am sure Smectymn p. 12. I dare boldly say it are freer of Impertinencies and Tautologies though they charge this on them than any of the best of their extemporary prayers be
had any thing to do in the Land at all For as I am informed by Sir Edward Coke in his Comment upon Littletons Tenures lib. 1. cap. 9. Sect. 73. fol. 58. It appeareth by the Laws and Ordinances of ancient Kings and especially of King Alfred that the first King of this Realm had all the lands of England in Demesne and les grands manours royalties they reserved to themselves and with the remnant they for the defence of the Realm enfeoffed the Barons of the Realm with such jurisdiction as the Court Baron now hath So he the professed Champion of the Common Laws And at this time it was when all the Lands in England were the Kings Demesne that Ethelwolph the second Monarch of the Saxon race his father Egbert being the first which brought the former Heptarchie under one sole Prince conferred the Tithes of all the Kingdom upon the Church by his royal Charter Of which thus Ingulph Abbot of Crowland an old Saxon Writer a Anno 855. Rex Ethelwulfus omnium Praelatorum Principum suorum qui sub ipso variis Provinciis totius Angliae praeerant gratuito Consensu tunc primo cum decimis terrarum bonorum aliorum sive catallorum universam dotavit Ecclesiam per suum Regium Chirographum Ingulph Anno 855. which was the 18. of his Reign King Ethelwulph with the consent of his Prelates and Princes which ruled in England under him in their several Provinces did first enrich the Church of England with the Tithes of all his Lands and Goods by his Charter Royal. Ethelward an old Saxon and of the blood Royal doth express it thus b Decimavit de omni possessione sua in partem Domini in universo regimine Principatus sui sic constituit Ethelward He gave the Tithe of his possessions for the Lords own portion and ordered it to be so in all the parts of the Kingdom under his command Florence of Worcester in these words c Aethelwulphus Rex decimam totius Regni sui partem ab omni Regali servitio tributo liberavit in sempiterno Graphio in Cruce Christi pro Redemptione Animae suae Praedecessorum suorum uni trino Deo immolavit Florent Wigorn. King Ethelwolfe for the Redemption of his own soul and the souls of his Predecessors discharged the tenth part of his Realm of all Tributes and Services due unto the Crown and by his perpetual Charter signed with the sign of the Cross offered it to the three-one God Roger of Hovenden hath it in the self same words and Huntingdon more briefly thus d Totam terram suam propter amorem Dei Redemptionem ad opes Ecclesiarum decimavit Henr. Huntingd. That for the love of God and the redemption of his soul he tithed his whole Dominions to the use of the Church But what need search be made into so many Authors when the Charter it self is extant in old Abbot Ingulph and in Matthew of Westminster and in the Leiger Book of the Abbey of Abingdon which Charter being offered by the King on the Altar at Winchester in the presence of his Barons was received by the Bishops and by them sent to be published in all the Churches of their several Diocesses a clause being added by the King saith the Book of Abingdon That whosoever added to the gift e Qui augere voluerit nostram donationem augeat omnipotens Deus dies ejus prosperos siquis vero mutare vel minuere praesumpserit noscat se ad Tribunal Christi redditurum rationem nisi prius satisfactione emendaverit God would please to prosper and increase his days but that if any did presume to diminish the same he should be called to an account for it at Christs Judgment-seat unless he made amends by full satisfaction In which as in some other of the former passages as there is somewhat savouring of the errour of those darker times touching the merit of good works yet the authorities are strong and most convincing for confirmation of the point which we have in hand Now that the King charged all the Lands of the Kingdom with the payment of Tithes and not that only which he held in his own possession is evident both by that which was said before from Sir Edward Coke and by the several passages of the former Authors For if all the Lands in the Kingdom were the Kings Demesnes and the King conferred the Tithes of all his Lands on the Church of God it must follow thereupon that all the Lands of the Realm were charged with Tithes before they were distributed amongst the Barons for defence of the Kingdom And that the Lands of the whole Realm were thus charged with Tithes as well that which was parted in the hands of Tenants as that which was in the occupancy of the King himself the words before alledged do most plainly evidence where it is said that he gave the tenth of all his Lands as Ingulph the Tithe of his whole Land as Henry of Huntingdon the tenth part of his whole Kingdom as in Florence of Worcester the tenth part of the Lands throughout the Kingdom in the Charter it self And finally in the Book of Abingdon the Charter is ushered in with this following Title viz. Quomodo Ethelwolfus Rex dedit decimam partem regni sui Ecclesiis that is to say how Ethelwolf gave unto the Church the tenth part of his Kingdom This makes it evident that the King did not only give de facto the Tithe or the tenth part of his whole Realm to the use of the Clergy but that he had a right and a power to do it as being not only the Lord Paramount but the Proprietary of the whole Lands the Lords and great Men of the Realm not having then a property or estates of permanency but as accomptants to the King whose the whole land was And though it seems by Ingulph their consents were asked and that they gave a free consent to the Kings Donation yet was this but a matter of Form and not simply necessary their approbation and consent being only asked either because the King was not willing to do any thing to the disherison of his Crown without the liking and consent of the Peers or that having their consent and approbation they should be barred from pleading any Tenant-right and be obliged to stand in maintenance and defence thereof against all pretenders And this appears yet further by a Law of King Athelstanes made in the year 930 about which time not only the Prelates of the Church as formerly but the great Men of the Realm began to be setled in Estates of permanency and to claim a property in those Lands which they held of the Crown and claiming so begun it seems to make bold to subduct their Tithes For remedy whereof the King made this Law commanding all his Ministers throughout the Kingdom that in the first place they should pay the Tithes
it continue still from this time forwards even to the days of Dioclesian Gildas de excidio Brit. in initio sure I am Gildas doth expresly say it that howsoever the Gospel was received here but very coldly at the first apud quosdam tamen integre apud alios minus usque ad persecutionem Diocletiani tyranni novennem yet it continued amongst some in greater with others in a less perfection until the nine years Persecution raised by Dioclesian Balaeus descriptor Cent. 1. c. 27.28 Antiq. P. it alii And questionless from this old brood of Christians Eluanus and Meduinus before remembred whereof the one is called Avalonus the other Belga this being the old name of that sept or nation to which the Isle of Avalonia in those times belonged receive their first affections to the Faith of Christ But of this little question hath been raised amongst our Antiquaries The greatest scruple is concerning Lucius and the number of Episcopal Sees by him erected whom the opposers of this story allow not to be King of Britain which was reduced at that time to a Roman Province and so by consequence of no ability to build so many Christian Churches and endow the same for the advancement of a Religion not publickly allowed of in the Roman Empire But this as I conceive is no such objection but what may easily be answered considering what was vouched out of Bede before the ancientest writer of the English Nation and no great friend unto the British For they that know the customs of the Roman Empire Tacit. de vit Agââc know this well enough that nothing was more usual with them quam habere instrumenta servitutis Reges than to permit Kings in the conquered Countries making them to be helps and instruments for bringing the People into bondage And they that know the passages of the present times cannot choose but tell that Lucius Verus living in the times whereof we speak having put an end unto the War against the Parthians Capitolinus in Vero. regna Regibus provincias vero Comitibus suis regendas dedisse did give those Kingdoms which he had subdued to be ruled by Kings the Provinces to be ruled by Earls or Counts So that our Lucius might be very well a King in Britain notwithstanding the reduction of it to a Roman Province especially considering that besides his birth-right he was confirmed in the same Balaeus de scrip Brit. Cen. 1. c. 29. M. Antonini Veri tum benevolentiâ cum authoritate both by the power and favour of M. Antoninus Verus then the Roman Emperour A King then Lucius was and a King in Britain in Britain as a King of some part thereof such as Pratusagus and Cordigunus Tacit. Annal. l. 14. l. de Vit. Agric. of whom Tacitus speaketh had been before but not a King of Britain as of all the Island it being probable that there were other petty Kings and Roytelets as well as he But as it hapned after in the Saxon Heptarchie that he which was more eminent than the rest for power and puissance was called commonly Rex Gentis Anglorum the King or Monarch of the English Nation So I conceive that of these tributary Kings in Britain such as were in their several times of more power than others assumed unto themselves the stile or title of Reges Britannorum the Kings of the Britains by which name of Rex Britannorum and not Rex Britanniae Lucius is called in Beda as before was said And thus then the seeming difficulty may be better solved than by running out I know not whither beyond the territories of the Romans to look for Lucius in the North parts of the Isle which we now call Scotland only because it is affirmed by Tertullian Tertul. li. adv Judaeos cap. 7. Britannorum inaccessa Romanis loca Christo esse subdita that those remoter parts of Britain which never had been Conquered by the Romans were subdued to Christ which might well be after the Gospel had been first received in the Southern Countreys In which as I can no way blame the Scots for seeking to appropriate this honour to their own part of the Island so can I not but wonder at our Learned Camden Camden in Bâl. deseript that without seeing better cards he should so easily give up such an hopeful game As for the name of Lucius it is meerly Latine and that derived upon him either from the British Llos fashioned on the Roman anvil as in that language he is called or taken up from Lucius Verus one of the partners in the Empire at that very time unto which family he stood indebted for his Crown and dignity or given him else upon the post-fact after the glorious light of truth had shined on him in which regard the Britans call him Lever Maur a man of great splendor and renown Addit in Nin. ap Armacan de Primordies c. 3. propter fidem quae in ejus tempore venit by reason of the faith which in his time was brought into this Island But to go forwards with our story Lucius and his Nobles being thus Baptized Faganus and Deruvianus return to Rome giving to Eleutherius an account of their great success of whom being joyfully received and their Acts applauded they returned back again to Britain accompanied with many others Matth. Westm hist in an 186. quorum doctrina gens Britonum in fide Christi in brevi fundata refulsit by whose assiduous preaching the whole British Nation became in very little time to be well setled and confirmed in the faith of Christ Now at this time of their repair unto the Pope I conceive it was that they received instructions from him for dealing with that godly King to found Episcopal Sees in the most convenient places of his Dominions themselves receiving at that time in all probability the Episcopal Character For after this I find them honoured with the name of Bishops being by Rodburn in his Chronicle called Antistites Citat ap Ar. l. de Primor c. 6. Id ibid. cap. 5. and by the Author of the book entituled De Antiquitatibus Ecclesiae Wintoniensis in plain terms Episcopi Faganus being further said by some to have been made the first Arch-Bishop of the See of York Being returned into Britain and the King throughly established in the faith of Christ it was no difficult matter to persuade him to turn the Temples of the Idols into Christian Churches and to appropriate the revenues of them to more pious uses And this he did as Matthew of Westminster observes Matth. westmor hist in An. 187. although he differ from us in his calculation the very next year after their return from Rome Gloriosus Rex Britonum Lucius c. Lucius the glorious King of the Britains when he had seen the faith of Christ dispersed and propagated over his dominions possessiones territoria Ecclesiis viris Ecclesiasticis abundanter
the Levites were appointed in the times before to bear about the Tabernacle as occasion was the Tabernacle now being fixed and setled in Hierusalem there was no further use of the Levites service in that kind 1 Chron. 23.4 5. Therefore King David thought it good to set them to some new employments and so he hid some of them to assist the Priests in the publick Ministery some to be Overseers and Judges of the people some to be Porters also in the house of God and finally some others to be Singers to praise the Lord with instruments that he had made with Harps with Viols and with Cymbals Of these the most considerable were the first and last The first appointed to assist at the daily Sacrifices Verse 31. as also at the Offering of all Burnt-offerings unto the Lord in the Sabbaths in the months and at the appointed times according to the number and according to their custom continually before the Lord. Those were instructed in the songs of the Lord. Cpap. 25.7 The other were chiefly which were made for the Sabbath days and the other Festivals and one he made himself of his own enditing entituled a Song or Psalm for the Sabbath day Psalm 92. Calvin upon the 92 Psalm is of opinion that he made many for that purpose as no doubt he did and so he did for the Feasts also Josephus tells us Antiq. Jud. l. 7. c. 10. that he composed Odes and Hymns to the praise of God as also that he made divers kinds of instruments and that he taught the Levites to praise Gods Name upon the Sabbath days ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and the other Festivals as well upon the Annual as the weekly Sabbath Where note that in the distribution of the Levites into several Offices there was then no such Office thought of as to be Readers of the Law which proves sufficiently that the Law was not yet read publickly unto the people on the Sabbath day Nor did he only appoint them their Songs and Instruments but so exact and punctual was he that he prescribed what Habit they should wear in the discharging of their Ministery in singing praises to the Lord which was a white linnen Rayment such as the Surplice now in use in the Church of England 2 Chron. 5.12 13. Also the Levites saith the Text which were the singers being arrayed in white linnen having Cymbals and Psalteries and Harps stood at the East end of the Altar c. praising and thanking God for his Grace and wercies And this he did not by commandment from above or any warrant but his own as we find and that he thought it fit and decent David the Prophet of the Lord knew well what did belong to David the King of Israel in ordering matters of the Church and setling things about the Sabbath Nor can it be but worth the notice that the first King whom God raised up to be a nursing Father unto his Church should exercise his regal power in dictating what he would have done on the Sabbath day in reference to Gods publick Worship As if in him the Lord did mean to teach all others of the same condition as no doubt he did that it pertains to them to vindicate the day of his publick service as well from superstitious fancies as prophane contempts and to take special order that his name be glorified as well in the performances of the Priests as the devotions of the people This special care we shall find verified in Constantine the first Christian Emperour of whom more hereaster in the next Book and third Chapter Now what was there ordained by David was afterwards confirmed by Solomon whereof see 2 Chron. 8.14 who as he built a Temple for Gods publick Worship for the New-moons and weekly Sabbaths and the solemn Feasts as the Scripture tells us so he or some of his Sucessours built a fair feat within the Porch thereof wherein the Kings did use to sit both on the Sabbath and the annual Festivals The Scripture calls it tegmen sabbati the covert for the Sabbath that is saith Rabbi Solomon 2 Kings 16. locus quidam in porticu templi gratiose coopertus in quo Rex sedebat die sabbati in magnis festivitatibus as before was said So that in this too both were equal From David pass we to Elijah from one great Prophet to anotyher both persecuted and both fain to flie and both to flie upon the Sabbath Elijah had made havock of the Priests of Baal and Jezebel sent a message to him that he should arm himself to expect the like The Prophet warned hereof arose and being encouraged by an Angel 2 Kings 19.8 he did eat and drink and walked in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights until he came to Horeb the Mount of God What walked he forty days and as many nights without rest or ceasing So it is resolved on Elijah as we read in Damascen De fide Orthod l. 4. c. 24. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã disqueting himself non only by continual fasting but by his traveling on the Sabbath even for the space of forty days ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã did without question break the Sabbath yet God who made that Law was not at all offended with him but rather to reward his vertue Andae qu. 122.8.15.4 appeared to him in Mount Horeb. So Thomas Aquinas speaking of some men in the old Testament qui transgredientes observantiam subbati non peccabant who did transgress against the Sabbath and yet did not sin makes instance of Elijah and of his Journey Wherein saith he it must needs be granted that be did travel on the Sabbath And where a question might be made how possibly Elijab could spend forty days and forty nights in so small a Journey Tostatus makes reply that he went not directly forwards but wandred up and down and from place to place ex timore inquiectudine mentis In locum partly for fear of being sound and partly out of a disquieted and afflicted mind Now whiles Elijab was in exile Benbadad King of Syria invaded Israel and incamped near Aphek where Ahab also followed him and sat down by him with his Army And saith the Text they pitched one over against the other seven days 1 Kings 20.29 and so it was that in the seventh day the Battel was joyned and the children of Israel slew of the Syrians an bundred thousand footmen in one day Ask Zanchius what this seventh day was and he will tell you plainly that it was the Sabbath 14 4 Mandat For shewing us that any servile works may be done lawfully on the Sabbath if either Charity or unavoidable necessity do so require he brings this History in for the proof thereof And then he adds Illi die ipso sabbati quia necessitas postulabat pugnam cum hostibus commiserunt c. The Israelites saith he fighting against their Enemies
done afterwards in pursuit hereof consisted specially in beating down the opposition of the common people who were not easily induced to lay by their business next in a descant as it were on the former plain-song the adding of particular restrictions as occasion was which were before conteined though not plainly specified both in the Edicts of the former Emperours and Constitutions of the Churches before remembred Yet all this while we find not any one who did observe it as Sabbath or which taught others so to do not any who affirmed that any manner of work was unlawful on it further than as it was prohibited by the Prince or Prelate that so the people might assemble with their greater comfort not any one who preached or published that any pastime sport or recreation of an honest name such as were lawful on the other days were not fit for this And thereupon we may resolve as well of lawful business as of lawful pleasures that such as have not been forbidden by supream Authority whether in Proclamà tions of the Prince or Constitutions of the Church or Acts of Parliament or any such like Declaration of those higher Powers to which the Lord hath made us subject are to be counted lawful still It matters not in case we find it not recorded in particular terms that we may lawfully apply our selves to some kind of business or recreate our selves in every kind of honest pleasure at those particular hours and times which are left at large and have not been designed to Gods publick service All that we are to look for is to see how far we are restrained from labour or from recreations on the Holy days and what Authority it is that hath so restrained us that we may come to know our duty and conform unto it The Canons of particular Churches have no power to do it further than they have been admitted into the Church wherein we live for then being made a part of her Canon also they have power to bind us to observance As little power there is to be allowed unto the Declarations and Edicts of particular Princes but in their own dominions only Kings are Gods Deputies on the Earth but in those places only where the Lord hath set them their power no greater than their Empire and though they may command in their own Estates yet is it extra sphaeram activitatis to prescribe Laws to Nations not subject to them A King of France can make no Law to bind us in England Much less must we ascribe unto the dictates and directions of particular men which being themselves subject unto publick Order are to be hearkned to no further than by their life and doctrine they do preach obedience unto the publick Ordinances under which they live For were it otherwise every private man of name and credit would play the Tyrant with the liberty of his Christian Brethren and nothing should be lawful but what he allowed of especially if the pretence be fair and specious such as the keeping of a Sabbath to the Lord our God the holding of an holy convocation to the King of Heaven Example we had of it lately in the Gothes of Spain and that strange bondage into which some pragmatick and popular man had brought the French had not the Council held at Orleans gave a check unto it And with examples of this kind must we begin the story of the following Ages CHAP. V. That in the next six hundred years from Pope Gregory forwards the Lords day was not reckoned of as of a Sabbath 1. Pope Gregories care to set the Lords day free from Jewish rigours at that time obtruded on the Church 2. Strange fancies taken up by some about the Lords day in these darker Ages 3. Scriptures and Miracles in these times found out to justifie the keeping of the Lords day holy 4. That in the judgment of the most learned in these six Ages the Lords day hath no other ground than the Authority of the Church 5. With how much difficulty the people of these times were barred from following their Husbandry and Law-days on the Lords day 6. Husbandry not restrained on the Lords day in the Eastern parts until the time of Leo Philosophus 7. Markets and Handierafts restrained with no less opposition than the Plough and Pleading 8. Several casus reservati in the Laws themselves wherein men were permitted to attend those businesses on the Lords day which the laws restrained 9. Of divers great and publick actions done in these Ages on the Lords day 10. Dancing and other sports no otherwise prohibited on the Lords day than as they were an hindrance to Gods publick Service 11. The other Holy days as much esteemed of and observed as the Lords day was 12. The publick hallowing of the Lords day and the other Holy days in these present Ages 13. No Sabbath all these Ages heard of either on Saturday or Sunday and how it stood with Saturday in the Eastern Churches WE are now come to the declining Ages of the Church after the first 600 years were fully ended and in the entrance on the seventh some men had gone about to possess the people of Rome with two dangerous fancies one that it was not lawful to do any manner of work upon the Saturday or the old Sabbath ita ut die Sabbati aliquid operari prohiberent the other ut dominicorum die nullus debeat larari that no man ought to bathe himself on the Lords day or their new Sabbath With such a race of Christned Jews or Judaizing Christians was the Church then troubled Against these dangerous Doctrines did Pope Gregory write his Letter to the Roman Citizens stiling the first no other than the Preachers of Antichrist Epl. 3. l. 11. one of whose properties it shall be that he will have the Sabbath and the Lords day both so kept as that no manner of work shall be done on either qui veniens diem Sabbatum atque dominicum ab omni faciet opere custodire as the Father hath it Where note that to compell or teach the people that they must do no manner of work on the Lords day is a mark of Antichrist And why should Antichrist keep both days in so strict a manner Because saith he he will persuade the people that he shall die and rise again therefore he means to have the Lords day in especial honour and he will keep the Sabbath too that so he may the better allure the Jews to adhere unto him Against the other he thus reasoneth Et si quidem pro luxuria voluptate quis lavari appetit hoc fieri nec reliquo quolibet die concedimus c. If any man desires to bathe himself only out of a luxurious and voluptuous purpose observe this well this we conceive not to be lawful upon any day but if he do it only for the necessary refreshing of his body then neither is it fit it should be forbidden upon the
holy the Lords day and you have not kept it neither repented of your sins c. I caused Repentance to be preached unto you and you believed not Thent sent I Pagans amongst you c. and because you did not keep the Lords day holy I punished you a while with famine c. Therefore I charge you all that from the ninth hour on the Saturday until Sun rising on the Monday no man presume to do any work but what is good or if he do that he repent him of the same Verily I say and swear unto you by my Seat and Throne and by the Cherubins that keep my seat that if you do not harken to this my Mandat I will no more send to you any other Epistle but I will open the heavens and rain upon you stones and wood and scalding water c. This I avow that you shall die the death for the Lords day and other festivals of my Saints which you have not kept and I will send amongst you Beasts with the heads of Lyons and the hair of Women and the tailes of Camels and they shall eat you and devour you There is a great deal more of this wretched stuff but I am weary of abusing both my pains and patience Only I cannot choose but wish that those who have enlarged their Lords day Sabbath to the same extent would either shew us some such letter or bring us any of the miracles which hereafter follow or otherwise be pleased to lengthen out the Festivals of the Saints in the self same manner as by this goodly Script they are willed to do But to procced the said Eustathius thus furnished and having found but ill success the former year in the Southern parts where he did Angliae Praelatos praedicatione sua molestare disturb the Prelates by his preachings as my Author hath it he went up to York There did he preach his doctrins and absolve such as had offended conditioned that hereafter they did shew more reverence unto the Lords day and the other Holy days doing no servile works upon them nec in diebus Dominicis exercerent forum rerum venalium particularly that on the Lords day they should hold no Markets The people hereunto assented and promised they would neither buy nor sell on the Lords day nisi forte cibum potum praetereuntibus excepting meat and drink to passengers Whereby it seems that notwithstanding all this terrour men were permitted yet to travel on the Lords day as they had occasion This coming to the notice of the King and Council my men were all fetched up such specially qui in diebus Dominicis forum rerum venalium dejecerant which had disturbed the Markets and overthrown the Booths and Merchandize on the Lords day and made to fine unto the King for their misdemeanour Then were they fain to have recourse to pretended miracles A Carpenter making a wooden Pin and a Woman making up her Web both after three on Saturday in the afternoon are suddenly smitten with the Palsey A certain man of Nafferton baking a Cake on Saturday night and keeping part until the morrow no sooner brake it for his breakfast but it gushed out blood A Miller of Wakefield grinding Corn on Saturday after three of the clock instead of Meal found his Bin full of Blood his Mill-wheel standing still of its own accord One or two more there are of the same edition And so I think is that related in the Acts and Monuments out of an old Book entituled de Regibus Angliae which now I am fallen upon these fables shall be joyned with them King Henry the Second saith the story being at Cardiffe in Wales and being to take horse there stood a certain man by him having on him a white Coat and being barefoot who looked upon the King and spake in this wise Good old King John Baptist and Peter straightly charge you that on the Sundays throughout all your Dominions there be no buying or selling nor any other servile business those only except which appertain to the preparation of meat and drink which thing if thou shalt observe whatsoever thing thou takest in hand thou shalt happily finish Adding withal that unless he did these things and amend his life he should hear such news within the twelve-moneth as would make him mourn till his dying day But to conclude what was the issue of all this Hoveden this terrible letter and forged miracles That the Historian tells us with no small regret informing us that notwithstanding all these miracles whereby God did invite the people to observe this day Populus plus timens regiam potestatem quà m divinam the people fearing more the Kings power than Gods returned unto their Marketting as before they did I say that the Historian tells it with no small regret for in that passionate discontent he had said before that inimicus humani generis the Devil envying the proceedings of this holy man so far so possessed the King and the Princes of darkness so he calls the Council that they forthwith proceeded against them who had obeyed him Which makes me think that this Eustathius was a familiar of the Popes sent hither for the introducing of those restraints which had been formerly imposed on most parts of Christendom though here they found no entertainment the Popes had found full well how ill their justlings had succeeded hitherto with the Kings of England of the Norman race and therefore had recourse to their wonted arts by prodigies and miracles to insnare the people and bring them so unto their bent And this I do the rather think because that in the following year Anno 1203. there was a Legate sent from Rome to William King of Scots with several presents and many indulgences Quae quoniam grato accepit animo Hect. Boet. lib. 13. eodem concilio approbante decretum est c. Which he accepting very kindly it pleased him with the approbation of his Parliament at that time assembled to pass a Law that Saturday from twelve at noon should be counted holy and that no man should deal in such worldly businesses as on the Feast-days were forbidden As also that at the sounding of the Bell the People should be busied only about holy actions going to Sermons hearing the Vespers or the Evensong idque usque in diem Lunae facerent and that they should continue thus until Monday morning a penalty being laid on those who should do the contrary So passed it then and in the year 1214 some eleven years after it was enacted in a Parliament at Scone Lex aquarum cap. 16. §. 2. under Alexander the third King of the Scots that none should fish in any waters à die Sabbati post vesperas usque ad diem lunae post ortum solis from Saturday after Evening prayer until Sun-rising on the Munday This after was confirmed in the first Parliament of King James the first and is to this day called the
that many an honest and well-meaning man both of the Clergy and the Laity either because of the appearance of the thing it self or out of some opinion of those men who first endeavoured to promote it became exceedingly affected towards the same as taking it to be a Doctrin sent down from Heaven for encrease of Piety So easily did they believe it and grew at last so strongly possessed therewith that in the end they would not willingly be persuaded to conceive otherwise thereof than at first they did or think they swallowed down the hook when they took the bait An hook indeed which had so fastned them to those men who love to fish in troubled waters that by this Artifice there was no small hope conceived amongst them to fortifie their side and make good that cause which till this trim Deceit was thought of was almost grown desperate Once I am sure that by this means the Brethren who before endeavoured to bring all Christian Kings and Princes under the yoke of their Presbyteries made little doubt to bring them under the command of their Sabbath Doctrines And though they failed of that applauded parity which they so much aimed at in the advancing of their Elderships yet hoped they without more ado to bring all higher Powers whatever into an equal rank with the common people in the observance of their Jewish Sabbatarian rigours So Doctor Bound declares himself pag. 171. The Magistrate saith he and Governours in authority how High soever cannot take any priviledg to himself whereby he might be occupied about worldly business when other men should rest from labour It seems they hoped to see the greatest Kings and Princes make suit unto their Consistory for a Dispensation as often as the great Affairs of State or what cause soever induced them otherwise to spend that Day or any part or parcel of it than by the new Sabbath Doctrine had been permitted For the endearing of the which as formerly to endear their Elderships they spared no place or Text of Scripture where the word Elder did occur and without going to the Heralds had framed a Pedigree thereof from Jethro from Noahs Ark and from Adam finally so did these men proceed in their new devices publishing out of holy Writ both the antiquity and authority of their Sabbath day No passage of Gods Book unransacked where there was mention of a Sabbath whether the legal Sabbath charged on the Jews or the spiritual Sabbath of the Soul from sin which was not fitted and applied to the present purpose though if examined as it ought with no better reason than Paveant illi non paveam ego was by an ignorant Priest alledged from Scripture to prove that his Parishioners ought to pave the Chancel Yet upon confidence of these proofs they did already begin to sing Victoria especially by reason of the enterteinment which the said Doctrines found with the common people For thus the Doctor boasts himself in his second Edition Anno 606. as before was said Many godly learned both in their Preachings Writings and Disputations did concur with him in that Argument and that the lives of many Christians in many places of the Kingdom were framed according to his Doctrine p. 61. Particularly in the Epistle to the Reader that within few years three several profitable Treatises successively were written by three godly learned Preachers Greenhams was one whoseever were the other two that in the mouth of two or three witnesses the Doctrine of the Sabbath might be established Egregiam verò laudem spolia ampla But whatsoever cause he had thus to boast himself in the success of his new Doctrines the Church I am sure had little cause to rejoyce thereat For what did follow hereupon but such monstrous Paradoxes and those delivered in the Pulpit as would make every good man tremble at the hearing of them First as my Author tells me it was preached at a Market Town in Oxfordshire that to do any servile work or business on the Lords day was as great a sin as to kill a man or commit adultery Secondly preached in Somersetshire that to throw a Bowl on the Lords day was as great a sin as to kill a man Thirdly in Norfolk that to make a Feast or dress a Wedding Dinner on the Lords day was as great a sin as for a Father to take a knife and cut his childs throat Fourthly in Suffolk that to ring more Bells than one on the Lords day was as great a sin as to commit Murder I add what once I heard my self at Sergeants Inn in Fleetstreet about five years since that temporal death was at this day to be inflicted by the Law of God on the Sabbath-breaker on him that on the Lords day did the works of his daily calling with a grave application unto my Masters of the Law that if they did their ordinary works on the Sabbath day in taking Fees and giving Counsel they should consider what they did deserve by the Law of God And certainly these and the like conclusions cannot but follow most directly on the former Principles For that the fourth Commandment be plainly moral obliging us as straitly as it did the Jews and that the Lords day be to be observed according to the prescript of that Commandment it must needs be that every wilful breach thereof is of no lower nature than Idolatry or blaspheming of the Name of GOD or any other deadly sin against the first Table and therefore questionless as great as Murder or Adultery or any sin against the second But to go forwards where I left my Author whom before I spake of being present when the Suffolk Minister was convented for his so lewd and impious Doctrine was the occasion that those Sabbatarian errours and impieties were first brought to light and to the knowledg of the State On which discovery as he tells us this good ensued that the said books of the Sabbath were called in and forbidden to be printed and made common Archbishop Whitguift by his Letters and Visitations did the one Anno 1599. and Sir John Popham Lord Chief Justice did the other Anno 1600. at Bury in Suffolk Good remedies indeed had they been soon enough applyed yet not so good as those which formerly were applied to Thacker and his fellow in the aforesaid Town of Bury for publishing the books of Brown against the service of the Church Nor was this all the fruit of so bad a Doctrine For by inculcating to the people these new Sabbath speculations teaching that that day only was of Gods appointment and all the rest observed in the Church of England a remnant of the will-worship in the Church of Rome the other holy days in this Church established were so shrewdly shaken that till this day they are not well recovered of the blow then given Nor came this on the by or besides their purpose but as a thing that specially was intended from the first beginning from
in his Understanding Will Affections and all his other faculties that so he may be able to understand think will and bring to pass any thing that is good according to that of St. John 15.5 Without me you can do nothing IV. Of the manner of Conversion The Grace of God is the beginning promotion and accomplishment of every thing that is good in us insomuch that the Regenerate man can neither think well nor do any thing that is good or resist any sinful Temptations without this Grace preventing co-operating and assisting and consequently all good works which any man in his life can attain unto are to be attributed and ascribed to the Grace of God But as for the manner of the co-operation of this Grace it is not to be thought to be irresistable in regard that it is said of many in the holy Scripture that they did resist the Holy Ghost as in Acts 7. and in other places V. Of the uncertainty of Perseverance They who are grafted into Christ by a lively Faith and are throughly made partakers of his quickning Spirit have a sufficiency of strength by which the Holy Ghost contributing his Assistance to them they may not only right but obtain the Victory against the Devil Sin the World and all infirmities of the flesh Most true it is that Jesus Christ is present with them by his Spirit in all their Temptations that he reacheth out his hand unto them and shews himself ready to support them if for their parts they prepare themselves to the encounter and beseech his help and are not wanting to themselves in performing their unties so that they cannot be sedoced by the cunning or taken out of the hands of Christ by the power of Satan according to that of St. John No man taketh them out of my hand c. Cap. 10. But it is first to be well weighed and proved by the holy Scripture whether by their own negligence they may not forsake those Principles of saving Grace by which they are sustained in Christ embrace the present World again Apostatize from the saving Doctrince once delivered to them suffer a Shipwrack of their Conscience and fall away from the Grace of God before we can publickly teach these doctrines with any sufficient tranquility or assurance of mind It is reported that at the end of the Conference between the Protestants and Papists in the first Convocation of Queen Maries Reign the Protestants were thought to have had the better as being more dextrous in applying and in forcing some Texts of Scripture than the others were and that thereupon they were dismissed by Weston the Prolocutor with this short come off You said he have the Word and we have the Sword His meaning was That what the Papists wanted in the strength of Argument they would make good by other ways as afterwards indeed they did by Fire and Fagot The like is said to have been done by the Contra Remonstrants who finding themselves at this Conference to have had the worst and not to have thrived much better by their Pen-comments than in that of the Tongue betook themselves to other courses vexing and molesting their Opposites in their Classes or Consistories endeavouring to silence them from Preaching in their several Churches or otherwise to bring them unto publick Censure At which Weapon the Remonstrants being as much too weak as the others were at Argument and Disputation they betook themselves unto the Patronage of John Van Olden Burnevelt a man of great Power in the Council of Estate for the Vnited Belgick Provinces by whose means they obtained an Edict from the States of Holland and West-Friezland Anno 1613. requiring and enjoying a mutual Toleration of Opinions as well on the one side as the other An Edict highly magnified by the Learned Grotius in a Book intituled Pietas Ordinum Hollandiae c. Against which some Answers were set out by Bogerman Sibrandus and some others not without some reflection on the Magistrates for their Actings in it But this indulgence though at the present it was very advantageous to the Remonstrants as the case then stood cost them dear at last For Barnevelt having some suspition that Morris of Nassaw Prince of Orange Commander General of all the Forces of those Vnited Provinces both by Sea and Land had a design to make himself the absolute Master of those Countreys made use of them for the uniting and encouraging of such good Patriots as durst appear in maintenance of the common liberty which Service they undertook the rather because they found that the Prince had passionately espoused the Quarrel of the Contra Remonstrants From this time forwards the Animosities began to encrease on either side and the Breach to widen not to be closed again but either by weakning the great power of the Prince or the death of Barnevelt This last the easier to be compassed as not being able by so small a Party to contend with him who had the absolute command of so many Legions For the Prince being apprehensive of the danger in which he stood and spurred on by the continual Sollicitations of the Contra Remonstrnats suddenly put himself into the Head of his Army with which he march'd from Town to Town altered the Guards changed the Officers and displaced the Magistrates where he found any whom he thought disaffected to him and having gotten Barnevelt Grotius and some other of the Heads of the Party into his power he caused them to be condemned and Barnevelt to be put to death contrary to the fundamental Laws of the Countrey and the Rules of the Union This Alteration being thus made the Contra Remonstrants thought it a high point of Wisdom to keep their Adversaries down now they had them under and to effect that by a National Council which they could not hope to compass by their own Authority To which end the States General being importuned by the Prince of Orange and his Sollicitation seconded by those of KIng James to whom the power and person of the Prince were of like Importance a National Synod was appointed to be held as Dort Anno 1618. Barnevelt being then still living To which besides the Commissioners from the Churches of their several Provinces all the Calvinian Churches in Europe those of France excepted sent their Delegates also some eminent Divines being Commissioned by King James to attend also in the Synod for th eRealm of Britain A Synod much like that of Trent in the Motives to it as also in the managing and conduct of it For as neither of them was assembled till the Sword was drawn the terrour whereof was able to effect more than all other Arguments so neither of them was concerned to confute but condemn their Opposites Secondly The Council of Trent consisted for the most part of Italian Bishops some others being added for fashion-sake and that it might the better challenge the Name of General as that of Dort consisted for the most part
the excellency of Divine Grace so the Second being that maintained by the Franciscans was plausible and populare and cherished humane presumption c. The whole passage we have had before in the Second Chapter Numb 4. but we shall answer to no more of it than the former Clause Concerning which it may be said that though Father Paul the Author of the History hath filled the Christian World with admiration yet it is obvious to the eye of any discerning Reader that in many places he savoureth not so much of the Historian as he doth of the Party and that being carryed by the Interest of his Native Countrey which was the Signory of Venice he seldom speaks favourably of the Jesuits and their adherents amongst which the Franciscans in these points are to be accounted Secondly that either Father Paul did mistake himself or else that his Translator hath mistaken his meaning in making the Second Opinion to be more pleasing to the Preaching Fryers than the understanding Divines the name of Preaching Fryers being so appropriated in common speech to those of the Dominican Order that it is never applyed unto any other And Thirdly That the Authority of Father Paul is no otherwise to be embraced in Doctrinal matters what credit soever may be given to him in point of History than as it is seconded by Reason And certainly if we proceed by the rule of Reason that Doctrine must needs more cherish humane presumption which puffeth men up with the certainty of their Election the infallibility of assisting and persisting Grace and the impossibility of falling from the attaining of that salvation which they have promised to themselves than that which leaves these points uncertain which puts a man to the continnal necessity of calling on God and working out the way unto his salvation with fear and trembling He that is once possessed with this persuasion that all the sins which he can possibly commit were they as many as have been committed by all mankind since the beginning of the World are not able to frustrate his Election or separate him from the love and favour of Almighty God will be too apt to swell with Pharisaical pride and despise all other men as Heathens and Publicans when such poor Publicans as have their minds humble and relying on God will stand aloof not daring to approach too near the Divine Majesty but crying out with God be merciful unto me a sinner and yet shall be more justified in the sight of God than the others are For this we need produce no proof we find it in the supercilious looks in the haughty carriage of those who are so well assured of their own Election who cannot so disguise themselves as not to undervalue and despise all those who are not of the same party and persuasion with them A race of men whose insolence and pride there is no avoid by a modest submission whose favour there is no obtaining by good turns and benefits Quorum superbiam frustra per modestiam obsequium effugeris as in another case was said by a Noble Britain And finally it is objected but the Objection rather doth concern the men than the Doctrine that the Arminians are a Faction a turbulent seditious Faction so found in the Vnited Provinces from their very first spawning not to be suffered by any Reason of State in a Commonwealth So saith the Author of the pamphlet called the Observator observed and proves it by the wicked conspiracy as he calls it of Barnevelt Obf. Observed p. 46. who suffered most condignly as he tells us upon that account 1619. And afterwards by the damnable and hellish plot of Barnevelts Children and Allies in their designs against the State and the Prince of Orange P. 37. This Information seconded by the Author of the Book called The Justification of the Fathers c. who tells us but from whom he knows not that the States themselves have reported of them that they had created them more trouble than the King of Spain had by all his Wars And both these backt by the Authority of King James who tells us of them in his Declaration against Vorstius That if they were not with speed rooted out no other issue could be expected than the Curse of God infamy throughout all the Reformed Churches and a perpetual rent and destraction in the whole body of the State This is the substance of the Charge So old and common that it was answered long since by Bishop Ridly in Qu. Maries days when the Doctrine of the Protestants was said to be the readiest way to stir up Sedition and trouble the quiet of the Commonwealth wherefore to be repressed in time by force of Laws To which that godly Bishop returns this Answer That Satan doth not cease to practice his old guiles and accustomed subtilties He hath ever this Dart in a readiness to whirl against his adversaries to accuse them of Sedition that he may bring them if he can in danger of the Higher Powers for so hath he by his Ministers always charged the Prophets of God Ahab said unto Elias art thou he that troubleth Israel The false Prophets complained also to their Princes of Jeremy that his words were seditious and not to be suffered Did not the Scribes and Pharisees falsly accuse Christ as a seditious person and one that spake against Caesar Which said and the like instance made in the Preachings of St. Paul Confer between Kidley and Latimer he concludes it thus viz. But how far they were from all sedition their whole Doctrine Life and Conversation doth well declare And this being said in reference to the Charge in general the Answer to each part thereof is not far to seek And first it hath been answered to that part of it which concerns King James that the King was carried in this business not so much by the clear light of his most excellent understanding as by Reason of State the Arminians as they call them were at that time united into a party under the command of John Olden Barnevelt and by him used for the reasons formerly laid down to undermine the power of Maurice then Prince of Orange who had made himself the Head of the Contra-Remonstrants and was to that King a most dear Confederate Which Division in the Belgick Provinces that King considered as a matter of most dangerous consequence and utterly destructive of that peace unity and concord which was to be the greatest preservation of the States Vnited on whose tranquillity and power he placed a great part of the peace and happiness of his own Dominions Upon which reason he exhorts them in the said Declaration To take heed of such infected persons their own Countrey-men being already divided into Factions upon this occasion as he saith which was a matter so opposite to Vnity which was indeed the only prop and safety of their State next under God as of necessity it must by little and little
Archbishop Cranmer Bishop Ridley Bishop Hooper c. 9. The Doctrine delivered in the Book of Articles touching the five controverted points 10. An answer to the Objection against these Articles for the supposed want of Authority in the making of them 11. An Objection against King Edwards Catechism mistaken for an Objection against the Articles refelled as that Catechism by John Philpot Martyr and of the delegating of some powers by that Convocation to a choice Committee 12. The Articles not drawn up in comprehensive or ambiguous terms to please all parties but to be understood in the respective literal and Grammatical sense and the Reasons why I Have the longer stood upon the answering of this Objection to satisfie and prevent all others of the like condition in case it should be found on a further search that any of our godly Martyrs or learned Writers who either suffered death before the Reign of Edward VI. or had no hand in the carrying on of the Reformation embraced any opinions in Doctrine or Discipline contrary to the established Rules of the Church of England For otherwise as we must admit all Tyndals Heterodoxies and Friths high flying conceits of Predestination which before we touch'd at so must we also allow a Parity or an Identity rather in Priests and Bishops because John Lambert another of our Godly Martyrs did conceive so of it In the primitive Church saith he there were no more Officers in the Church of God than Bishops and Deacons that is to say Ministers as witnesseth beside Scripture S. Hierom in his Commentaries on the Epistles of S. Paul Whereas saith he that those whom we now call Priests were all one and no other but Bishops and the Bishops no other but Priests men ancient both in age and learning so near as could be chosen nor were they instituted and chosen as they be now a days the Bishop and his Officer only opposing them whether they can construe a Collect but they were chosen also with the consent of the people amongst whom they were to have their living as sheweth S. Cyprian But alack for pity such elections are banished and new fashions brought in By which opinion if it might have served or a Rule to the Reformation our Bishops must have been reduced to the rank of Priests and the right of Presentation put into the hands of the people to the Destruction of all the Patrons in the Kingdom If then the question should be asked as perhaps it may On whom or on whose judgment the hrst Reformers most relied in the weighty business I answer negatively First That they had no respect of Calvin no more than to the judgement of Wicklef Tyndal Barns or Frith whose offered assistance they refused when they went about it of which he sensibly complained unto some of his friends as appears by one of his Epistles I answer next affirmatively in the words of an Act of Parliament 2. 3. Edw. 6. where it is said That they had an eye in the first place to the more pure and sincere Christian Religion taught in the Scriptures and in the next place to the usages of the Primitive Church Being satisfied in both which ways they had thirdly a more particular respect to the Lutheran Plat-forms the English Confession or Book of Articles being taken in many places word for word out of that of Ausberg and a conformity maintained with the Lutheran Churches in Rites and Ceremonies as namely in kneeling at the Communion the Cross in Baptism the retaining of all the ancient Festivals the reading of the Epistles and Gospels on Sundays and Holy-days and generally in the whole Form of External Worship Fourthy in reference to the points disputed they ascribed much to the Authority of Melancthon not undeservedly called the Phoenix of Germany whose assistance they earnestly desired whose coming over they expected who was as graciously invited hither by King Edward the Sixth Regiis literis in Angliam vocari as himself affirms in an Epistle to Camerarius His coming laid aside upon the fall of the Duke of Sommerset and therefore since they could not have his company they made use of his writings for their direction in such points of Doctrine in which they though it necessary for the Church to declare her judgment I observe finally That as they attributed much to the particulars to the Authority of Melancthon so they ascribe no less therein unto that of Erasmus once Reader of the Greek Tongue in Cambridge and afterwards one of the Professors of Divinity there whose Paraphrases on the four Evangelists being translated into English were ordered to be kept in Churches for the use of the People and that they owned the Epistles to be studied by all such as had cure of souls Concerning which it was commanded by the injunctions of King Edward VI. published by the advice of the Lord Protector Somerset and the Privy Council Acts and Mon. fol. 1181. in the first year of the said Kings Reign 1. That they should see provided in some most convenient and open place of every Church one great Bible in English with the Paraphrase of Erasmus in English that the People might reverently without any let read and hear the same at such time as they listed and not to be inhibited therefrom by the Parson or Curate but rather to be the more encouraged and provoked thereunto And 2. That every Priest under the degree of a Batchellour of Divinity should have of his own one New Testament in English and Latine with the Paraphrases of Erasmus upon the same and should diligently read and study thereupon and should collect and keep in memory all such comfortable places of the Scripture as do set forth the Mercy Benefits and Goodness of Almighty God towards all penitent and believing persons that they might thereby comfort their flock in all danger of death despair or trouble of Conscience and that therefore every Bishop in their Institution should from time to time try and examine them how they have profited in their studies A course and care not likely to have entred into the thoughts of the Lord Protector or any of the Lords of the Council if it had not been advised by some of the Bishops who then began to have an eye on the Reformation which soon after followed and as unlikely to be counselled and advised by them had they intended to advance any other Doctrine than what was countenanced in the Writings of that Learned man Whereupon I conclude the Doctrine of the points disputed to be the true and genuine Doctrine of the Church of England which comes most near to the plain sense of holy Scripture the general current of the Fathers in the Primitive times the famous Augustane Confession the Writings of Melancthon and the Works of Erasmus To which Conclusion I shall stand till I find my self encountred by some stronger Argument to remove me from it The ground thus laid I shall proceed unto the Reformation
from time to time though possibly a great part of them might be present and consenting also 1552. Nor stood this book nor the Article of Freewill therein contained upon the order and authority only of this Convocation but had as good countenance and encouragement to walk abroad as could be superadded to it by an Act of Parliament as appears plainly by the Kings Preface to that Book and the Act it self to which for brevity sake I refer the Reader But if it be replyed that there is no relying on the Acts of Parliament which were generally swayed changed and over-ruled by the power and passions of the King and that the Act of Parliament which approved this Book was repealed the first year of King Edward the sixth as indeed it was we might refer the Reader to a passage in the Kings Epistle before remembred in which the Doctrine of Freewill is affirmed to have been purged of all Popish Errors concerning which take here the words of the Epistle Epist Ded. viz. And for as much as the heads and senses of our people have been imbusied and in these days travelled with the understanding of Freewill Justification c. We have by the advice of our Clergy for the purgation of Erroneous Doctrine declared and set forth openly plainly and without ambiguity of speech the meer and certain truth of them so as we verily trust that to know God and how to live after his pleasure to the attaining of everlasting life in the end this Book containeth a perfect and sufficient Doctrine grounded and established in holy Scriptures And if it be rejoyned as perhaps it may that King Henry used to shift Opinion in matters which concerned Religion according unto interest and reason of State it must be answered that the whole Book and every Tract therein contained was carefully corrected by Archbishop Cranmer the most blessed instrument under God of the Reformation before it was committed to the Prolocutor and the rest of the Clergy For proof whereof I am to put the Reader in mind of a Letter of the said Archbishop relating to the eighth Chapter of this book in which he signified to an honourable Friend of his that he had taken the more pains in it because the Book being to be set forth by his Graces that is to say the Kings censure and judgment he could have nothing in it that Momus himself could reprehend as before was said And this I hope will be sufficient to free this Treatise of Freewill from the crime of Popery But finally if notwithstanding all these Reasons it shall be still pressed by those of the Calvinian party that the Doctrine of Freewill which is there delivered is in all points the same with that which was concluded and agreed on in the Council of Trent as appears Cap. de fructibus justificationis merito bonorum operum Can. 34. and therefore not to be accounted any part of the Protestant Doctrine which was defended and maintained by the Church of England according to the first Rules of her Reformation the answers will be many and every answer not without its weight and moment For first it was not the intent of the first Reformers to depart farther from the Rites and Doctrines of the Church of Rome than that Church had departed from the simplicity both of Doctrine and Ceremonies which had been publickly maintained and used in the Primitive times as appears plainly by the whole course of their proceedings so much commended by King James in the Conserence at Hampton Court Secondly this Doctrine must be granted also to be the same with that of the Melancthonian Divines or moderate Lutherans as was confessed by Andreas Vega one of the chief sticklers in the Council of Trent who on the agitating of the Point did confess ingenuously that there was no difference betwixt the Lutherans and the Church touching that particular And then it must be confessed also that it was the Doctrine of Saint Augustine according to that Divine saying of his Sine gratia Dei praeveniente ut velimus subsequente ne frustra velimus ad pietatis opera nil valemus which is the same of that of the tenth Article of the Church of England where it is said That without the grace of God preventing us that we may have a good will and working with us when we have that good will we can do nothing that is acceptable to him in the ways of piety So that if the Church of England must be Arminian and the Arminian must be Papist because they agree together in this particular the Melancthonian Divines amongst the Protestants yea and St. Augustine amongst the Ancients himself must be Papists also CHAP. XIII The Doctrine of the Church of England concerning the certainty or uncertainty of Perseverance 1. The certainty of Grace debated in the Council of Trent and maintained in the Affirmative by the Dominicans and some others 2. The contrary affirmed by Catarinus and his adherents 3. The doubtful resolution of the Council in it 4. The Calvinists not content with certainty of Grace quoad statum praesentem presume upon it also quoad statum suturum 5. The bounds and limits wherewith the judgment in this point ought rationally to be circumscribed 6. The Doctrine of the Church of England in the present Artìcle 7. Justified by the testimonies of Bishop Latimer Bishop Hooper and Master Tyndal 8. And proved by several arguments from the publick Liturgy 9. The Homily commends a probable and sted-fast hope But 10. Allows no certainty of Grace and perseverance in any ordinary way to the Sons of men OF all the Points which exercised the wits and patience of the School-men in the Council of Trent there was none followed with more heat between the parties than that of the certainty of Grace occasioned by some passages in the writings of Luther wherein such certainty was maintained as necessary unto justification and an essential part thereof In canvasing of which point the one part held that certainty of grace was presumption the other that one might have it meritoriously The ground of the first was Hist of the Coun of Trent fol. 205. c. that Saint Thomas Saint Bonaventure and generally the School-men thought so for which cause the major part of the Dominicans were of the same opinion besides the authority of the Doctors they alledged for reasons that God would not that man should be certain that be might not be lifted up in pride and esteem of themselves that he might not prefer himself before others as he that knoweth himself to be just would do before manifest sinners and a Christian would so become drowsie careless and negligent to do good Therefore they said that uncertainty was profitable yea and meritorious besides because it is a passion of the mind which doth afflict it and being supported is turned to merit They alledged many places of the Scripture also of Solomon that a man knoweth not
University For if it had been so appointed by the University he would have been rewarded for it by the same power and authority which had so appointed when he appeared a Candidate for the Professorship on the death of Whitacres but could not find a party of sufficient power to carry it for him of which see also Chap. 21. Numb 4. And thirdly as for the not Priting of the Sermon it is easily answered the genius of the time not carrying men so generally to the Printing of Sermons as it hath done since But it was Printed at the last though long first And being Printed at the last hath met with none so forward in the Confutation as Mr. Wotton is affirmed to be when at first it was Preached And therefore notwithstanding these three surmises which the Author of the Perpetuity c. hath presented to us it may be said for certain as before it was that Mr. Harsnet was never called in question for that Sermon of his by any having Authority to convent him for it and much less that he ever made any such Recantation as by the said Author is suggested In the next place we will behold a passage in one of the Lectures upon Jonah delivered at York Anno 1594. by the right learned Dr. John King discended from a Brother of Robert King the first Bishop of Oxon afterwards made Dean of Christ Church and from thence presented by the power and favour of Archbishop Bancroft to the See of London A Prelate of too known a zeal to the Church of England to be accused of Popery or any other Heterodoxies in Religion of what sort soever who in his Lecture on these words Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown cap. 3. verse 4. discoursed on them in this manner The only matter of Question herein Bishop King's Lecture upon Jonath Lect. 33. p. 450. is how it may stand with the constancy and truth of eternal God to pronounce a Judgment against a place which taketh not effect within one hundred years For either he weas ignorant of his own time which we cannot imagine of an omniscient God or his mind was altered which is unproble to suspect Numb 23. Heb. 13. Rev. 1. For is the strength of Israel a man that he should lie or as the Son of man that be should repent Is he not yesterday and to day and the same for ever that was that is and that which is to come I mean not only in substance but in Will and Intention Doth he use lightness Are the words that he speaketh yea and nay Doth he both affirm and deny too 2 Cor. 1. Are not all his Promises are not all his Threatnings are not all his Mercies are not all his Judgments are not all his Words are not all the titles and jots of his words yea and amen so firmly ratified that they cannot be broken Doubtless it shall stand immutable When the Heaven and the Earth shall be changed Mal. 3. and wax old like a garment Ego Deus non mutor I am God that am not changed Aliud mutare voluntatem aliud velle mutationem Aquin 1. qu. 19. art 7. The School in this respect hath a wise distinction It is one thing to change the will and another to will a change or to be willed that a change should be God will have the Law and Ceremony at one time Gospel without Ceremony at another this was his Will from Everlasting constant and unmoveable that in their several courses both should be Though there be a change in the matter and subject there is not a change in him that disposeth it Our Will is in Winter to use the fire in Summer a cold and an open air the thing is changed according to the season but our Will whereby we all decreed and determined in our selves so to do remain the same Sometimes the Decrees and purposes of God consist of two parts the one whereof God revealeth at the first and the other he concealeth a while and keepeth in his own knowledge as in the action enjoyned to Abraham the purpose of God was twofold 1. To try his Obedience 2. To save the Child A man may impute it inconstancy to bid and unbid Mutat seo tentiam non mutat consilium lib. 10. mor. cap. 23. but that the Will of the Lord was not plenarily understood in the first part This is it which Gregory expresseth in apt terms God changeth his intent pronounced sometimes but never his Counsel intended Sometimes things are decreed and spoken of according to inferiour cause which by the highest and over-ruling cause are otherwise disposed of One might have said and said truly both ways Lazarus shall rise again and Lazarus shall not rise again if we esteem it by the power and finger of God it shall be but if we leave it to nature and to the arm of flesh it shall never be The Prophet Esay told Hezekias the King put thy house in order Esa 38. for thou shalt die considering the weakness of his body and the extremity of his disease he had reason to warrant the same but if he told him contrariwise according to that which came to pass thou shalt not die looking to the might and merecy of God who received the prayers of the King he had said as truly But the best definition is that in most of these threatning there is a condition annexed unto them either exprest or understood which is as the hinges to the door Jer. 18. and turneth forward and backward the whole matter In Jeremy it is exprest I will speak suddenly against a Nation or a Kingdom to pluck it up to root it out and to destroy it But if this Nation Jer. 18. against whom I have pronounced turn from their wickedness I will repent of the plague which I thought to bring upon them So likewise for his mercy I will speak suddenly concerning a Nation and concerning a Kingdom to build it and to plant it but if yet do evil in my sight and hear not my voice I will repent of the good I thought to do for them Gen. 20. it is exprest where God telleth Abimeleck with-holding Abrahams Wife Thou art a dead man because of the Woman which thou hast taken the event fell out otherwise and Abimeleck purged himself with God With an upright mind and innocent hands have I done this There is no question but God inclosed a condition with his speech Thou art a dead man if thou restore not the Woman withoput touching her body and dishonouring her Husband Thus we may answer the scruple by all these ways 1. Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown and yet forty and forty days and Nineveh shall not be overthrown Wy Because Nineveh is changed and the unchangable will of God ever was that if Nineveh shewed a change it should be spared 2. There were two parts of Gods purpose the one disclosed
tres solum inventi fuere qui edicto resisterint that is to say the Word of God is not made the weaker by my sole appearing in defence thereof no more than when there were but three he means the three Hebrew Children in the Book of Daniel which durst make open opposition to the Kings Edict Liberius thought himself sufficient to keep possession of a truth in the Church of Christ till God should please to raise up more Champions in all places to defend the same not thinking it necessary to return any other answer or to produce the names of any others of his time who turned Athanasius as much as he which brings into my mind a passage in the conference betwixt Dr. Ban Featly and Sweat the Jesuite in which the Jesuite much insisted on that thred-bare question viz. where was your Church before Luther which when the Doctor went to shew out of Scriptures and Fathers some of the Papists standing by cried out for names those which stood further of ingeminating nothing but Names Names whereupon the Dr. merily asked them if nothing would content them but a Buttery book And such an Answer I must make in the present case to such as take up testimony by tale not weight and think no truth is fairly proved except it come attended with a cloud of witnesses But what we want in number now he shall find hereafter when we shall come to take a view of King James his Reign to which now we hasten CHAP. XXII Of the Conference at Hampton Court and the several encouragements given to the Anti-Calvinians in the time of King James 1. The occasion of the conference at Hampton Court and the chief persons there assembled 2. The nine Articles of Lambeth rejected by King James 3. Those of the Church being left in their former condition 4. The Calvinian Doctrine of Predestination decryed by Bishop Bancroft and disliked by King James and the reasons of it 5. Bishop Bancroft and his Chaplain both abused the inserting the Lambeth Articles into the confession of Ireland no argument of King James his approbation of them by whom they were inserted and for what cause allowed of in the said Confession 6. A pious fraud of the Calvinians in clapping their predestinarian Doctrines at the end of the Old Testament An. 1607. discovered censured and rejected with the reasons for it 7. The great incouragement given by King James to the Anti-calvinians and the increasing of that party both in power and number by the stirs in Holland 8. The offence taken by King James at Conradus Vorstius animateth the Oxon. Calvinists to suspend Dr. Houson and to preach publickly against Dr. Laud. 9. The like proceedings at Cambridge against Mr. Simpson first prosecuted by King James and on what account that the King was more incensed against the party of Arminius than against their persuasions 10. Instructions published by King James in order to the diminishing of Calvins Authority the defence of universal Redemption and the suppressing of his Doctrines in the other points and why the last proved so unuseful in the case of Gabriel Bridges 11. The publishing of Mountagues answer to the Gagger the information made against it the Author and his Doctrine taken by King James into his protection and his appeal licensed by the Kings appointment 12. The conclusion of the whole discourse and the submission of it to the Church of England NOw we come unto the Reign of King James of happy memory whose breeding in the kirk of Scotland had given some hopes of seeing better days to the English Puritans than those which they enjoyed under Queen Elizabeth Upon which hopes they presented him at his first coming to the Crown with a supplication no less tedious than it was impertinent given out to be subscribed with a thousand hands though it wanted many of that number and aiming at an alteration in many points both of Doctrine and Discipline But they soon found themselves deceived For first the King commanded by publick Proclamation that the divine service of the Church should be diligently officiated and frequented as in former times under pain of suffering the severest penalties by the Laws provided in that case And that being done instead of giving such a favourable answer to their supplication as they had flattered themselves withal he commended the answering of it to the Vice-Chancellour Heads and other Learned men of the University of Oxon from whom there was nothing to be looked for toward their contentment But being thirdly a just Prince and willing to give satisfaction to the just desires of such as did apply themselves unto him as also to inform himself in all such particulars as were in difference betwixt the Petitioners and the Prelates he appointed a solemn Conference to be held before him at Hampton Court on Thursday the 12th of January Anno 1603. being within less than ten moneths after his entrance on the Kingdom To which Conference were called by several Letters on the Churches part the most Reverend and right renowned Fathers in God Dr. John Whitgift Arch-bishop of Canterbury Dr. Richard Bancroft Bishop of London Dr. Tobie Matthews Bishop of Durham Dr. Thomas Bilson Bishop of Winchester Dr. Gervase Babbinton Bishop of Worchester Dr. Anthony Rudd Bishop of Davids Dr. Anthony Walson Bishop of Chichester Dr. Henry Robbinson Bishop of Carlile and Dr. Thomas Dove Bishop of Peterborough as also Dr. James Mountague Dean of the Chappel Dr. Thomas Ravis Dean of Christ Church Dr. John Bridges Dean of Sarum Dr. Lancelot Andrews Dean of Westminster Dr. John Overald Dean of Saint Pauls Dr. William Barlaw Dean of Chester Dr. Giles Tompson Dean of Windsor together with Dr. Joh King Arch-Deacon of Nottingham and Dr. Richard Field after Dean of Glocester all of them habited and attired according to their several ranks and stations in the Church of England And on the other side there appeared for the Plantiff or Petitioner Dr. Reynolds Dr. Spark Mr. Knewstubs and Mr. Chatterton the two first being of Oxon and the other of Cambridge Con. at H. C. p. 27. apparelled in their Turky Gowns to shew as Bishop Bancroft tartly noted they desired rather to conform themselves in outward Ceremonies with the Turks than they did with the Papists The first day of the Conference being spent betwixt the King and the Bishops the second which was the 16th of the same moneth was given to the Plantiffs to present their grievances and to remonstrate their desires amongst which it was named by Dr. Reynolds Con. at H. C. p. 24. as the mouth of the rest That the nine Assertions Orthodoxal as he termed them concluded upon at Lambeth might be inserted into the Book of Articles which when King James seemed not to understand as having never heard before of those nine Assertions Pag. 40. c. He was informed that by reason of some Controversies arising in Cambridge about certain points of Divinity my Lords Grace
thirty sixth Canon Directions to the Vice-Chancellor Heads c. Jan. 18. 1616. that no man in the Pulpit or Schools be suffered to maintain Dogmatically any point of doctrine that is not allowed by the Church of England that none be suffered to preach or lecture in the Towns of Oxon or Cambridg but such as were every way conformable to the Church hoth in doctrine and discipline and finally which most apparently conduced to the ruin of Calvinism that young Students in Divinity be directed to study such books as be most agreeable in doctrine and discipline to the Church of England and excited to bestow their time in the fathers and Councils Schoolmen Histories and Controversies and not to insist too long upon Compendiums and abbreviations making them the grounds of their study in Divinity This seemed sufficient to bruite these doctrines in the shell as indeed it was had these directions been as carefully followed as they were piously prescribed But little or nothing being done in pursuance of them the Predestinarian doctrines came to be the ordinary Theam of all Sermons Lectures and Disputations partly in regard that Dr. Prideaux who had then newly succeeded Dr. Rob. Abbot in the Chair at Oxon had very passionately exposed the Calvinian Interest and partly in regard of the Kings declared aversness from the Belgick Remonstrants whom for the reasons before mentioned he laboured to suppress to his utmost power And yet being careful that the Truth should not fear the worse for the men that taught it he gave command to such Divines as were commissionated by him to attend in the Synod of Dort An. 1618. not to recede from the doctrine of the Church of England in the point of Vniversal Redemption by the death of Christ A point so inconsistent with that of the absolute and irrespective decree of Reprobation and generally of the whole Machina of Predestination and the points depending thereupon as they are commonly maintained in the Schools of Calvin that fire and water cannot be at greater difference But this together with the rest being condemned in the Synod of Dort and that Synod highly magnified by the English Calvinists they took confidence of making those disputes the Subject of their common discourses both from the Pulpit and Press without stint or measure and thereupon it pleased his Majesty having now no further fear of any dangers from beyond the Seas to put some water into their Wine or rather a Bridle into their mouths by publishing certain Orders and directions touching Preachers and preaching bearing date the 4th of August 1622. In which it was enjoyned amongst other things Directions of preaching and Preachers That no Preacher of what Title soever under the degree of a bishop or Dean at least do from henceforth presume to teach in any popular Auditory the deep points of Predestination Election Reprobation or of the Vniversality Efficacy Resistability or Irresistability of Gods Grace but rather leave those Theams to be handled by learned men and that modestly and moderately by use and application rather than by way of positive Doctrine as being fitter for Schools and Vniversities than for simple Auditors The violating of which Order by Mr Gabriel Bridges of Corpus Christi Colledg in Oxon by preaching on the 19. of January then next following against the absolute decree in maintenance of universal Grace and the co-operation of mans free-will prevented by it though in the publick Church of the University laid him more open to the prosecution of Dr. Prideaux and to the censure of the Vice-Chancellor and the rest of the Heads than any preaching on those points or any of them could possibly have done at mother time Much was the noise which those of the Calvinian party were observed to make on the publishing of this last Order as if their mouths were stopped thereby from preaching the most necessary doctrines tending towards mans salvation But a far greater noise was raised upon the coming out of Mountagues answer to the Gagger in which he asserted the Church to her primitive and genuine doctrines disclaimed all the Calvinian Tenents as disowned by her and left them to be countenanced and maintained by those to whom they properly belonged Which book being published at a time when a Session of Parliament was expected in the year 1624. The opportunity was taken by Mr. Yates and Mr. Ward two of the Lecturers or Preachers of Ipswich to prepare an Information against him with an intent to prosecute the same in the following Session A Copy whereof being come into Mountagues hands he flies for shelter to King James who had a very great estimation of him for his parts and learning in which he had over-mastred they then though much less Selden at his own Philologie The King had already served his own turn against the Remonstrants by the Synod of Dort and thereby freed the Prince of Orange his most dear Confederate from the danger of Barnevelt and his faction Archbishop Abbot came not at him since the late deplorable misfortune which befell him at Branzil and the death of Dr. James Mountague Bishop of Winton left him at liberty from many importunities and sollicitations with which before he had been troubled so that being now master of himself and governed by the light of his own most clear and excellent Judgment he took both Mountague and his dectrines into his Protection gave him a full discharge or quietus est from all those Calumnies of Popery or Arminianism which by the said Informers were laid upon him iucouraged him to proceed in finishing his just Appeal which he was in hand with commanded Dr. Francis White then lately preferred by him to the Deanry of Carlisle and generally magnified not long before for his zeal against Popery to see it licensed for the Press and finally gave order unto Mountague to dedicate the book when printed to his Royal self In obedience unto whose Command the Dean of Carlisle licensed the book with this approbation That there was nothing contained in the same but what was agreeable to the publick Faith Doctrine and Discipline established in the Church of England But King James dying before the book was fully finished at the Press it was published by the name of Appello Caesarem and dedicated to King Charles as the Son and Successor to whom it properly belonged the Author touching in the Epistle Dedicatory all the former passages but more at large than they are here discoursed of in this short Summary And thus far we have prosecuted our Discourse concerning the Five Points disputed between the English Protestants the Belgick Remonstrants the Melancthonian Lutherans together with the Jesuits and Franciscans on the one side the English Calvinists the Contra Remonstrants the Rigid Lutherans and the Dominican Fryers on the other side In the last part whereof we may observe how difficult a thing it is to recover an old doctrinal Truth when overborn and almost lost by the
Thine always to be commanded in the Churches service P. H. Lacies Court in Abingdon Decemb. the 29th 1659. FINIS THE STUMBLING-BLOCK OF DISOBEDIENCE AND REBELLION Cunningly laid by Calvin in the Subjects way Discovered Censured and Removed By PETER HEYLYN D. D. ROM xiv 13. Offendiculum fratri tuo ne ponas Let no man put a Stumbling-block or an occasion to fall in his brothers way ISAM xxiv 6. And David said to his men The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my Master the Lords anointed to stretch forth my hand against him seeing he is the anointed of the Lord. LONDON Printed by M. Clark for C. Harper 1681. THE PREFACE IT will appear to any who shall read this Treatise that it was written in the time of Monarchical Government but in the later and declining times thereof when the change of that Government was in agitation and in part effected In which respect I doubt not but the publishing of this Discourse at this present time may seem unseasonable unto some and yet it may be thought by others to come out seasonably enopugh for these following Reasons 1. To give warning to all those that are in Supreme Authority to have a care unto themselves and not to suffer any Popular and Tribunitian Spirits to grow amongst them who grounding upon Calvins Doctrine both may and will upon occasion create new disturbances 2. To preserve the Dignity of the Supreme Power in what Person soever it be placed and fix his Person in his own Proper Orb the Primum Mobile of Government brought down of late to be but one of the three Estates and move in the same Planetary Sphere with the other two 3. To keep on foot the claim and Title of the Clergy unto the Reputation Rights and Priviledges of the Third Estate which doth of right belong unto them and which the Clergy have antiently enjoyed in all and to this day in most Christian Kingdoms 4. To shew unto the World on whose authority the Presbyterians built their damnable Doctrine not only of curbing and restraining the power of Princes but also of deposing them from their Regal Dignity whensoever they shall please to pretend cause for it For when the Scotch Commissioners were commanded by Queen Elizabeth to give a reason of their proceedings against their Queen whom not long before they they had deposed from the Regal Throne they justified themselves by those words of Calvin which I have chosen for the Argument of this Discourse By the Authority of Calvin as my Author hath it they endeavoured to prove that the Popular Magistrates are appointed and made to moderate and keep in order the excess and unruliness of Kings and that it is lawful for them to put the Kings that be evil and wicked into prison and also to deprive them of their Kingdoms If these reasons shall not prove the seasonableness of this Adventure I am the more to be condemned for my indiscretion the shame whereof I must endure as well as I can This being said in order to my Justification I must add somewhat of the Book or Discourse it self in which the canvasing and confuting of Calvins Grounds about the Ephori of Sparta the Tribunes of Rome and the Demarchi of Athens hath forced me upon many Quotations both Greek and Latin which to the Learned Reader will appear neitehr strange nor difficult And for the sake of the Vnlearned which are not so well verst and studied in foregin Languages I have kept my self to the direction of St. Paul not speaking any where in a strange Tongue without an Interpreter the sense of every such Quotation being either declared before or delivered after it Lastly whereas the Name of Appius Claudius doth many times occur in the History of the Roman Tribunes it is not always to be understood of the same Man but of divers men of the same Name in their several Ages as the name of Caesar in the New Testament signifieth not one man but three that is to say the Emperour Tiberius in the Gospels Claudius in the Boo of the Acts and that most bloody Tyrant Nero in the Epistle to the Philippians Which being premised I shall no longer keep the Reader in Porch or Entrance but let him take a view of the House it self the several Rooms Materials and Furniture of it long Prefaces to no long Discourses being like the Gates of Mindum amongst the Antients which were too great and large for so small a City The Argument and occasion of this following Treatise Joh. Calvini Institution Lib. 4. cap. 20â Sect. 31. NEQVE enim si ultio Domini est effrenatae dominationis correctio ideo protinus demandatam nobis arbitremur quibus nullum aliud quam parendi patiendi datum est Mandatum De privatis hominibus semper loquor Nam siqui nunc sint Populares Magistratus ad moderandum Regum libidinem constituti quales olim erant qui Lacedaemoniis Regibus oppositi erant Ephori aut Romanis Consulibus Tribuni Plebis aut Atheniensium Senatui Demarchi qua etiam forte potestate ut nunc res habent funguntur in singulis Regnis tres Ordines cum primarios Conventus peragunt adeo illos ferocienti Regum licentiiae pro officio intercedere non veto ut si Regibus impotenter grassantibus humili plebeculae insultantibus conniveant corum dissimulationem nefaria perfidia non carere affirmem qua populi liberiatem cujus se Dei ordinatione tuiores positos norunt fraudulenter produnt NOR may we think because the punishment of licentious Princes doth belong to God that presently this power is devolved on us to whom no other warrant hath been given by God but only to obey and suffer But still I must be understood of private persons For if there be now any popular Officers ordained to moderate the licentiousness of Kings such as were the Ephori set up of old against the Kings of Sparta the Tribunes of the people against the Roman Consuls and the Demarchi against the Athenian Senate and with which power perhaps as the World now goes the three Estates are seized in each several Kingdom when they are solemnly assembled so far am I from hindring them to put restraints upon the exhorbitant power of Kings as their Office binds them that I conceive them rather to be guilty of a perfidious dissimulation if they connive at Kings when they play the Tyrants or wantonly insult on the common people in that they treacherously betray the Subjects Liberties of which they knew they were made Guardians by Gods own Ordinance THE STUMBLING-BLOCK OF Disobedience and Rebellion c. CHAP. I. The Doctrine of Obedience laid down by CALVIN and of the Popular Officers supposed by him whereby he overthroweth that Doctrine 1. The purpose and design of the Work in hand 2. The Doctrine of Obedience unto Kings and Princes soundly and piously laid down by Calvin 3. And that not only to
Kings than of the Thief that steals thy goods or the Adulterer that defiles thy marriage-bed or the Murderer that seeks thy life all which are reckoned for Gods curses in the holy Scripture The point we purpose to make proof of goeth not down so easily that is to say That in the vilest men and most unworthy of all honour if they be once advanced to the publick Government there doth reside that excellent and divine Authority which God hath given in holy Scripture to those who are the Ministers of his heavenly Justice who therefore are to be reverenced by the Subject for as much as doth concern them in the way of their publick duties with as much honour and obedience as they would reverence the best King were he given unto them And first the Reader must take notice of the especial Act and Providence of Almighty God SECT 26. not without cause so oft remembred in the Scriptures in disposing Kingdoms Dan. 2 21 37. and segging up such Kings as to him seems best The Lord saith Danicl changeth the times and the seasons he removeth Kings and setteth up Kings And in another place That the living may know that the most High ruleth in the Kingdoms of men and giveth them to whomsoever he will Which kind of sentences as they are very frequent in the Scriptures so is that Prophesie most plentiful and abundant in them No man is ignorant that Nebuchadnezzar who destroyed Hierusalem was a great spoiler and oppressor yet the Lord tells us by Ezechicl that he had given unto him the land of Egypt for the good service he had done in laying it waste on his Commandment Dan. 2.37 And Daniel said unto him thus Thou O King art a King of Kings for the God of Heaven hath given thee a Kingdom power and strength and glory And wheresoever the children of men dwell the beasts of the field and the fowls of heaven hath he given into thy hand and hath made thee Ruler over them all Again to Belshazzer his son Dan. 5.18 The most high God gave unto Nebuchadnezzar thy father a Kingdom and majesty and glory and honour and for the majesty that he gave him all people nations and languages trembled and feared before him Now when we hear that Kings are placed over us by God let us be pleased to call to mind those several precepts to fear and honour them which God hath given us in his Book holding the vilest Tyrant in as high account as God hath graciously vouchsafed to estate him in When Samuel told the people of the house of Israel what they should suffer from their King 1 Sam. 8.11 he expressed it thus This will be the manner of the King which shall reign over you he will take your sons and appoint them for himself for his Chariots and to be his Horsemen and some shall run before his Chariots And he will appoint him Captains over thousands and Captains over fifties and will set them to ear his ground and to reap his harvest and to make his instruments of War and instruments of his Chariots And he will take your daughters to be his Confectionaries and to be Cooks and to be Bakers And he will take your fields and your Vineyards and your Olive-yards even the best of them and give them to his servants And he will take the tenth of your seed and of your Vineyards and give to his Officers and to his Servants And he will take your men-servants and your maid-servants and your goodliest young men and your Asses and put them to his work He will take the tenth of your sheep and ye shall be his Servants Assuredly their Kings could not do this lawfully whom God had otherwise instructed in the Book of the Law but it is therefore called Jus Regis the right of Kings upon the Subject which of necessity the Subjects were to submit unto and not to make the least resistance As if the Prophet had thus said So far shall the licentiousness of your Kings extend it self which you shall have no power to restrain or remedy to whom there shall be nothing left but to receive the intimation of their pleasures and fulfil the same But most remarkable is that place in the Prophet Jeremy SECT 27. which though it be somewhat of the longest I will here put down because it doth so plainly state the present question Jer. 27. â I have made the earth saith the Lord the man and the beast that are upon the ground by my great power and by my out-stretched Arm and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me And now have I given all these Lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon my Servant and the Beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him and all Nations shall serve him and his Son and his Sons Son until the very time of his Land come and it shall come to pass that the Nation and Kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the King of Babylon that Nation will I punish saith the Lord with the sword and with the famine and with the pestilence wherefore serve the King of Babylong and live We see by this how great a measure of obedience was required by God towards that fierce and cruel Tyrant only because he was advanced to the Kingly Throne and did by consequence participate of that Regal Majesty which is not to be violated without grievous sin Let us therefore have this always in our mind and before our eyes that by the same decree of God on which the power of Kings is constituted the very wickedest Princes are established and let not such seditious thoughts be admitted by us that is to say that we must deal with Kings no otherwise than they do deserve and that it is no right nor reason that we should shew our selves obedient subjects unto him who doth not mutually perform the duty of a King to us It is a poor objection which some men have made viz. that that command was only proper to the Israelites for mark upon what grounds the command was given SECT 28. I have given saith the the Kingdom unto Nebuchadnezzar wherefore serve him and ye shall live and thereupon it needs must follow that upon whomsoever God bestows a Kingdom to him we must address our service and that assoon as God hath raised any to the Regal Throne he doth sufficiently declare his will to be that he would have that man to reign over us Some general testimonies of this truth are in holy Scripture For thus saith solomon For the transgression of a Land many are the Princes thereof Prov. 24.2 and job He looseth the band of Kings and girdeth their loins with a girdly Job 12.18 Which if confessed there is no remedy at all but we must serve those Kings if we mean to
live There is another Text in the Prophet Jeremy by which the People are commanded to seek the peace of Babylon Jer. 29.7 whither God had caused them to be carried away captive and to pray unto the Lord for it for in the peace thereof was their peace to be Behold the Israelites being despoiled of their Estates driven from their houses carried into exile and plunged in a most miserable thraldom are yet required to pray for the prosperity of the Conqueror not only as we are commanded in another place to pray for them that persecute us but that his Empire might continue in peace and safety that they themselves might quietly enjoy the protection of it Thus David being appointed King by the Lords own Ordinance and anointed with his holy Oyl when undeservedly he was persecuted and pursued by Saul would not give way that any corporal hurt should be done to that sacred person whom God had raised unto the Kingdom The Lord forbid saith he 1 Sam. 24.6 that I should do this thing unto my Master the Lords Anointed to stretch forth my hand against him seeing he is the Anointed of the Lord. Again But mine eye spared thee and I said I will not put forth my hand against my Lord for he is the Lords Anointed And again who can stretch forth his hand against the Lords Anointed and be guiltless As the Lord liveth the Lord shall smite him or his day shall come to die or he shall descend into battel and perish The Lord forbid that I should stretch my hand against the Lords Anointed This reverence and dutiful regard we ought to carry towards our Governors SECT 29. to the very end however they may chance to prove Which therefore I repeat the oftner that we may learn not to enquire too narrowly into the men but to rest our selves content with this that they sustain that place or person by the Lords appointment in which he hath imprinted and ingraved a most inviolable character of sacred Majesty But some will say that Rulers owe a mutual duty to their Subjects That hath been formerly confessed from which if any should infer that no obedience must be yielded but to their just and legal power he were a very sorry disputant Husbands are bound in mutual bonds unto their Wives and so are Parents to their Children Suppose that both neglect their duties that Parents who are prohibited by God to provoke their Children unto wrath be so untractable and harsh to them that they do grieve them above measure with continual sourness and that Husbands who are commanded to love their Wives and to give honour to them as the weaker vessel should use them with contempt and scorn should therefore Children be the less obedient to their Parents or Wives less dutiful to their Husbands We see the contrary that they are subject to them though both lewd and froward Since therefore nothing doth concern us more than that we trouble not our selves with looking into the defects of other men but carefully endeavour to perform those duties which do belong unto our selves more specially ought they to observe this rule who live under the authority and power of others Wherefore if we are inhumanely handled by a cruel Prince or by a covetous and luxurious Prince dispoiled and rifled if by a slothful one neglected or vexed for our Religion by a lewd and wicked let us look back upon our sins which God most commonly correcteth with this kind of scourges the thought whereof will humble us and keep down the impatience of our angry spirits Let us consider with our selves that it appertains not unto us to redress these mischiefs that all which doth belong to us is to cry to God Prov. 21.1 in whose hands are the hearts of Kings and be turneth them whithersoever he will He is that God which standeth in the Congregation of the mighty and judgeth amongst the Gods before whose face all Kings shall fall and be confounded and all the Judges of the earth who do not reverence his Christ but make unjust Laws to oppress the Poor and offer violence to the man of low condition and make a spoil of Widows and a prey of Orphans And here we may as well behold his goodness SECT 30. as his power and providence For sometimes he doth raise Avengers from amongst his servants and furnisheth them with power sufficient as well to execute vengeance on such wicked Rulers as to redeem his People so unjustly vext from the house of bondage and sometimes useth to tht end the fierce wrath of others who think of nothing less than to serve his turn Thus he redeemed his People Israel from the Tyranny of Pharaoh by the hand of Moses from Cushan King of Syria by Othoniel from other thraldoms by some other of their Kings and Judges Thus did he tame the pride of Tyre by the arms of Egypt the insolence of Egypt by the Assyrians the fierceness of Assyriah by the Chaldeans the confidence of Babylon by the Medes and Persians after that Cyrus had before subdued the Medes Thus did he sometimes punish the ingratitude of the Kings of Judah and Israel and that ungodly contumacy which they carried towards him notwithstanding all his benefits conferred upon them by the Assyrians first the Babylonians after But we must know that though these several instrunents did the self same work yet they proceeded not in the self same motives For the first sort being thereto lawfully authorized and called by Almighty God by taking up Arms against their Kings did nothing less than violate that sacred Majesty which is inherent in King by Gods holy Ordinance but being armed from Heaven did only regulate and chastise the lesser power by the help of the greater as Princes use sometimes to correct their Nobles The later sort though guided by the hand of God as to him seemed best so that they did unknowingly effect what he had to do intended only the pursuit of their own designs But what soever their designs and intentions were the Lord did justly use them to effect his business SECT 31. when by their means he broke the bloody Scepters of those insolent Kings and overthrew their wicked and tyrannical Empires Hear this ye Princes and be terrified at the hearing of it But let not this afford the least encouragement unto the Subject to violate or despise the Authority of the Magistrate which God hath filled so full of majesty and fortified by so many Edicts from the Court of Heaven though sometimes an unworthy person doth enjoy the same and such a one as doth dishonour it by his filthy life Nor may we think because the punishment of licentious Princes doth belong to God that presently this power of executing vengeance is devolved on us to whom no other precept hath been given by God but only to obey and suffer De privatis hominibus semper loquor Nam si qui nunc sint
populares magistratus ad moderandum Regum libidinem constituti quales olim erant qui Lacedaemoniis Regibus oppositi erant Ephori aut Romanis Consulibus Tribuni Plebis aut Atheniensium Senatui Demarchi qua etiam foric potestate ut nune res habent funguntur in singulis Regnis tres Ordânes quunt primarios conventus peragunt adeo illos ferocienti Reguin licentiae pro officio intercedere non veto ut si Regibus impotenter grassanttbus humili plebeculae insultantibus conniveant eorum dissimulationem nefariâ perfidiâ non carere affirmem quia populi libertatem cujus se Dei Ordinatione tutores positos norunt fraudulenter produnt But still I must be understood of private persons For if there be now any Popular Officers ordained to moderate the licentiousness of Kings such as the Ephori of old set up against the Kings of Sparta the Tribunes of the people against the Roman Consuls and the Demarchi against the Athenian Senate and with which power perhaps as the World now goes the three Estates are furnished in each several Kingdom when they are solenmly assembled sofar am I from hindering them from putting a restraint on the exorbitant power of Kings as their Office binds them that I conceive them guilty rather of a persidious dissimulation if they connive at Kings when they play the Tyrants or wantonly insult on the common people in that they treacherously betray the Subjects Liberty of which they know they were made Guardians by Gods own Ordinance and appointment But this must always be excepted in the obedience which we have determined to be que to the commands of our Governors and first of all to be observed that it draw us not from that obedience which is due to him to whose will all the commands of Kings must be subordinate to whose decrees their strongest mandates must give place and before whose Majesty they are bound to lay down their Scepters For how preposterous were it to incur his anger by our compliance with those men whom we are bound no otherwise to obey than for his sake only The Lord is King of Kings who when he speaks is to be heard for all and above them all We must be subject to those men who have rule over us but in him alone If against him they do command us any thing it is to be of none account Nor in such cases is the dignity of the Magistrate to be stood upon to which no injury is done if in regard of the more eminent and supream power of God it be restrained within its bounds Dan. 6.22 In this respect Daniel denied that he had trespassed any thing against the King in not obeying his prophane and ungodly Edict because the King had gone beyond his proper limits and being not only injurious against men but lifting up his horns against God himself had first deprived himself of all Authority The Israelites are condemned on the other side for being so ready to obey their King in a wicked action when to ingratiate themselves with Jeroboam who had newly made the Golden Calves they left the Temple of the Lord and betook themselves to a new superstitious worship And when their Children and posterity with the like facility applied themselves unto the humours of their wicked Kings the Prophet doth severely rebuke them for it So little praise doth that pretence of modeâly deserve to have with which some Court parasites do disguise themselves and abuse the simple affirming it to be a crime not to yield obedience to any thing that Kings command as if God either had resigned all his rights and interess into the hands of mortal men when he made them Rulers over others or that the greatest earthly power were a jot diminished by being subjected to its Author before whom all the powers of Heaven do trembling supplicate I know that great and imminent danger may befall those men who dare give entertainment to so brave a constancy considering with what indignation Kings do take the matter when they once see themselves neglected whose indignation is as the messenger of death saith the Wise man Solomon But when we hear this Proclamation made by the heavenly Cryer that we ought to obey God rather than men let this consideration be a comfort to us Acts 5.29 that when we yield that obedience unto God which he looks for from us when we rather choose to suffer any thing than to deviate from the way of godliness And lest our hearts should fail us in so great a business St. Paul subjoyns another motive 2 Cor. 7 2â that being bought by Christ at so great a price we should not re-inthral our selves to the lusts of men much less addict our selves to the works of wickedness These are the very words of Calvin from which his followers and Disciples most extreamly differ both in their doctrine and their practice First for their practice Calvin requires that we should reverence and respect the Magistrate for his Office sake and that we entertain no other than a fair esteem an honourable opinion both of their actions Sect. 2â and their Counsels His followers like silthy dreamers as they are do not only dispise dominion but speak evil of dignities that is to say Jude 8. they neither reverence the persons of their Supream Magistrate nor regard their Office and are so far from cherishing a good opinion of those higher powers to which the Lord hath made them subject that their hearts imagine mischief against them all the day long and though they see no cause to condemn their actions they will be sure enough to misconstrue the end Calvin requires that we should manifest the reverence and respect we bear them by the outward actions of obedience Sect. 23. and to the end that this obedience should proceed from the very heart and not to be counterfeit and false he adds that we commend there health and flourishing estate in our prayers to God Ibid. His followers study nothing more than to disobey them in every one of those particulars which their Master speaks of refusing to obey their laws and to pay them tribute and to undergo such services and burdens as are laid upon them in reference to the publick safety and spare not as occasion serves to manifest the disaffection of their hearts by such outward acts as disâbedience and disloyalty can suggest unto them and are so far from praying for them that many times they pray against them blaspheming God because he will not curse the King and making that which they call Prayer so dangerous and lewd a Libel that their very prayers are turned to sin Calvin requires such moderation in the Subject that they neither intermeddle in affairs of State nor invade the Office of the Magistrate and that if any thing be amiss in the publick Government which stands in need of Reformation they presume not to put their hands unto the work
Sect. 23. or be tumultuously active in it His followers will not trust the Magistrates in the performance of their own Office but are all Counsellors and Statesmen and think that nothing is done well but what is done as they would have it and by their own hands too â one other Whether things be amiss or not they must needs be doing Not by presenting their desires for a Reformation and making known the fault if such fault there be to their Supream Magistrates which was the way their Master taught them but by raising tumults to affright them The attempt of the French Hugonots at Ambois upon Charles the ninth and the two tumults at Edenburgh the one about the year 1593. against the person of King James and the other in the year 1637. against the Ministers of King Charles whill not be forgotten whilst Calvin and his Institutions are in print amongst us Calvin requires that we should yield obedience not only to such Kings and Princes Sect. 25. which faithfully and as they ought do discharge their Office but even to all those also which do nothing less than perform their duties not only to the meek and gentle but even unto the fiercest and most cruel Tyrant if any such be raised by God to the Kingly Throne Sect. 27. His followers resolve not to yield obedience to their Kings and Princes though they can charge them with no fault but their too much lenith unless it be that they have caused them to surfeit upon peace and plenty or that the people grew too rich and lived too happily and drove too great a Trade under their command and are so far from yielding obedience to a Tyrant or a severe and cruel Prince call him which you will that neither the innocent minority of Charles the ninth nor the moderate Government of the Dutchess of Parma in the Netherlands nor the mild peaceable temper of King James when he reigned in Scotland could save them from their insolencies and insurrections Finally Calvin doth declare that though we be inhumanly handled by a cruel Prince or by a covetous or luxurious Prince dispoiled and rifled though by a slothful one neglected or vexed for our Religion by a lewd and wicked yet it pertains not unto us to redress these mischiefs that all the remedy that we have is to cry to God Sect. 29. Sect. 31. Sect. 27. and till God takes the work in hand to obey and suffer and absolutely condemns those seditious thoughts which some men are too apt to harbour that we must deal with Kings no otherwise than they shall deserve His Followers if they think themselves oppressed though indeed they are not or that Religion is in danger though indeed it be not or the honour of the State neglected though never of so much repute nor so bravely managed will not descend so low as to cry to God or be so pusillanimous and so poorly minded as only to obey and suffer that were a weakness fit for none but the primitive Christians but take the Sword into their hands be it right or wrong to force their Kings to come unto a reckoning with them as if they would have reparation from them for their former sufferings and would have reparation no way but that And as for dealing with their Kings no otherwise than they do deserve although the maxim be unsafe and the very though thereof seditious as their Master tells them would they would hold themselves to that which had they done so many Kings in Christendom had not been so unjustly handled driven from their Palaces expelled their Cities robbed of their Fortresses and Revenues assaulted in the open Fields and forced sometimes to change both their Council and their Guards the ordinary practice by the Hugonots in France the Presbyterians in Scotland the Calvinists in the Netherlands and indeed where not had they been dealt withal no otherwise than they deserved Next let us look upon them in their points of Doctrine and we shall find the Scholars and their Master at a greater distance than before we saw them at in point of practice Calvin determines very soundly that Kings h ave their Authority from none but God non nisi à se habere imperium Sect. 2â that the supream Magistracy is a jurisdiction devolved from God upon the person of the Magistrate or delegata à Deo jurisdictio Sect. 22. that it is the singular work or act of God to dispose of Kingdoms and to set up such Kings as to him seems meet which he calls Singularem Dei actionem in distribuendis Regnis statuendisque QVOS ILLI VISVM FVERIT REGIBVS and finally that in every King or Supream Governor ther is inviolabilis majestas Sect. 2â and indelible character of Majesty imprinted by the hand of God His Scholars tell us that Kings are only creatures of the peoples making and that whatever power they have is derived from them The Observator and the Fuller Answer unto Dr. Fern and almost all our later Scriblers do resolve it so They tell us secondly which must needs follow from the former that the people have the sole power of disposing Kingdoms and setting up such Kings as they list themselves and being so set up that there is no more Majesty no brighter beam of Gods divinity in them than in other men Buchanan so affirms for certain Populo jus est imperium cui velit deferat Buchanan de jure regni and confidently reckoneth those reverend Attributes of Majesty and Highness which usually are given to Kings and Princes inter soloecissimos barbarismos Aulicos Id. in Epist ad amongst the Solecisms and absurdities of Princes Courts Calvin determins very Orthodoxly that though the King degenerate and become a Tyrant though he infringe the Subjects liberties and invade their fortunes persecute them for their piety and neglect their safety and be besides a vitious and libidinous person yet still his Subjecs ae to look upon him in all things which pertain to their publick duties was as much honour and obedience as they would do the justest and most vertuous Prince that was ever given unto a people Eadem in reverentia dignatione habendum Sect. 25. quantum ad publican obedientiam attinet qua optimum Regem si daretur habituri essent His Scholars sing another Song and use all arts imaginable to excite the people to rise against them and destroy them The Author of that scandalous and dangerous Dialogue entituled Eusebius Philadelphus doth expresly say that of all good actions the murther of a Tyrant is most commendable Buchanan accounts it a defect in Polities Euseb Philadelph Dial. Buchanan de jure regni proemia eorum interfecoribus non decerni that publick honours and rewards are not propounded unto such as shall kill a Tyrant and some late Pamphleters conclude it lawful to rebel in the case of Tyranny because forsooth If a King exercising
Tyranny over his Subjects may not be resisted that is to say if the Subject may not take up Arms against him he and his followers may destroy the Kingdom And and we are fallen upon the business of Resistance Calvin allows of no case for ought I can see in which the Subject lawfully may resist the Sovereign Sect. 23. quandoquidem resisti magistratui non potest quin simul resistatur Deo forasmuch as the Magistrate cannot be resisted but that God is resisted also and reckoning up those several pressures whereof Samuel spake unto the Jews and which he calls jus Regis as himself translates it he concludes at last Sect. 26. cui parere ipsi necesse esset nec obsistere liceret that no resistance must be made on the Subjects part though Kings entrench as much upon them both in their liberties and properties as the Prophet speaks of His Scholars are grown wiser and instruct us otherwise Paraeus saith that if the King assault our persons or endeavour to break into our Houses we may as lawfully resist him as we would do a Thief or Robber on the like occasions And our new Master have found out many other Cases in which the Subject may resist and which is more than so is bound to do it Paraeus in Rom. cap. 13. as namely in his own behalf and in Gods behalf in behalf of his Countrey and in behalf of the Laws and in so many more behalfs that they have turned most Christian Kings out of half their Kingdoms But to go on Calvin determins very rightly that notwithstanding any Contract made or supposed to be made between a King and his people yet if the King do break his Covenants and oppress the Subject the Subject can no more pretend to be discharged of his Allegiance than the Wife may lawfully divorce herself from a froward Hisband or Children throw aside that natural duty which they owe their Parents because their Parents are unkind and it may be cruel Those which do otherwise conclude from the foresaid Contract he calls insulsos ratioeinatores Sect. 29. but sorry and unsavory Disputants and reckoneth it for a seditious imagination that we must deal no otherwise with Kings than they do deserve nec aequum esse ut subditos ei nos praestemus qui vicissim Regem nobis non se praestet Sect. 27. or to imagine that it is neither sense nor reason that we should ââew our selves obedient subjects unto him who doth not mutually perform the duty of a King to us His Scholars are grown able to teach their Master a new Lesson and would tell him if he were alive that there is a mutual Contract between King and Subjects and if he break the Covenant he forfeiteth the benefit of the Agreement and he not performing the duty of a King they are released from the duty of Subjects As contrary to their Masters Tenet as black to white and yet some late Pamphleters press no doctrine with such strength and eagerness as they have done this Nor have the Pulpits spaâed to publish it to their cheated Auditories as a new Article of Faith that if the Ruler perform not his duty the Contract is dissolved and the people are at liberty to right themselves What excellent uses have been raised from this dangerous Doctrine as many Kings of Christendom have fest already so posterity will have cause to lament the mischiefs which it will bring into the World in succeeding Ages Finally Calvin hath determined and exceeding piously that if the Magistrate command us any thing which is contrary to the Will and word of God we must observe Saint Peters Rule and rather choose to obey God than men and that withal we must prepare our selves to endure such punishments as the offendd Magistrate shall inflict upon us for the said refusal Sect. 32. Et quicquid potius perpeti quam à veritate deflectere and rather suffer any Torments than forsake the way of Gods Commandments The Magistrate as it seems by him must at all times be honoured by us either in our active obedience or in our passive if we refuse to do his will we must be content to suffer for it His Scholars are too wise to submit to that and are so far form suffering for the testimony of the Gospel and a good conscience that they take care to teach the people that it is lawful to rebel in behalf of God to preserve the true Religion when it is in danger or when they think it is in danger by force of Arms and to procure the peace of Hierusalem by the destruction of Babylon Which being so the difference being so great and irreconcileable between the Followers and their Leader in the point of practice between the Master and the Scholars in the points of Doctrine me thinks it were exceeding fit the man were either less admired or better followed that they who cry him up for the great Reformer would either stand to all his Tenets or be bound to none that they would be so careful of the Churches peace and their own salvation as not to swallow down his Errors in his points of disciplines and pass him by with a Magister non tânetur when he doth preach Obedience to them and doth so solidly discourse of the powers of Government Tilly Philip. 2. Aut undique religionem suam toliant at usquequaque conserent as Tully said of Antony in another case But of this no more Hitherto CALVIN hath done will few better of the Genevian Doctors none ne unus quidem not so much as one But there 's an herb which spoils the pottage an HERB so venomous that it is mors in olla unto them that taste it The figs in the next basket are evil Jerem. 24. very evil not to be eaten as it is in the Prophets words they are so evil In that before he did exceeding soundly and judiciously law down the doctrine of obedience unto Kings and Princes and the unlawfulness of Subjects taking Arms against their Sovereign In this to come he openeth a most dangerous gap to disobedience and rebellions in most States in Christendom in which his name is either reverenced or his works esteemed of For having fully expressed the points before delivered unto the conscience of the Subject and utterly disabled them from lifting up their hands against the Supream Magistrate on any occasion whatsoever he shews them how to help themselves and what course to take for the asserting of their Liberties and the recovery of their Rights if the Prince invade them by telling them that all he spake before was of private persons Sect. 31. but that if there were any popular Officers such as the Ephori of Sparta the Tribunes of Rome the Demarchi of Athens ordained for the restraint of Kings and Supream Governours it never was his meaning to include them in it And such power he doth suppose to be in the three Estates of
every Kingdom when they are solemnly assebled whom he condemns as guilty of perfidious dissimulation and the betrayers of the Subject Liberties whereof they are the proper and appointed Guardians if they connive at Kings when they play the Tyrants or wantonly insuit on the common people This is the gap through which rebellions and seditions have found to plausible a passage in the Christian World to be dethroning of some Kings and Princes the death of others For through this gap broke in those dangerous and seditious Doctrines that the inferiour Magistrates are ordained by God and not appointed by the King or the Supream Powers that being so ordained by God that are by him inabled to compel the King to rule according unto justice and the Laws established that if the King be refractory and unreclaimable they are to call him to account and to provide for the safety of the Common-wealth by all ways and means which may conduce unto thepreservation of it and finally which is the darling Doctrine of these later times that there is a mixture in all Governments and that the three Estates convened in Parliament or by what other name soever we do call their meeting are not subordinate to the King but co-ordinate with him and have not only a supplemental power to supply what is defective in him but a coercive also to restrain his Actions and a Corrective too to reform his Errors But this I give you now in the generals only hereafter you shall see it more particularly and every Author cited in his own words for the proof hereof Many of which as they did live in Calvin's time and by their writings gave great scandal to all Sovereign Princes but more as to the progress of the Reformation so could not Calvin choose but be made acquainted with the effects and consequences of his dangerous principles Which since he never did retract upon the sight of those seditious Pamphlets and worse than those those bloody tumults and rebellions which ensued upon it but let it stand unaltered to his dying day is a clear argument to me that this passage fell not from his Pen by chance but was laid of purpose as a Stumbling-block in the Subjects way to make him fall in the performance of his Christian duty both to God and man For though the Book of Institutions had been often printed in his life time and received many alterations and additions as being enlarged from a small Octavo of not above 29 sheets to a large Folio of 160 yet this particular passage still remained unchanged and hath continued as it is from the first Edition of it which was in the year 1536 not long after his first coming to Geneva But to proceed in our design What fruits these dangerous Doctrines have produced amongst us we have seen too plainly and we may see as plainly if we be not blind through what gap these Doctrines entred on what foundation they were built and unto whose Authority we stand indebted for all those miseries and calamities which are fallen upon us Yet to say truth the man desired to be concealed and not reputed for the Author of such strange conclusions which have resulted from his principles and therefore lays it down with great Art and caution Si qui and Fortè and ut nunc res habent that is to say Perhaps and as the World now goes and if there be such Officers as have been formerly as the three disguises which he hath masked himself and the point withal that he might pass away unseen And if there be such Officers as perhaps there are or that the world goes here as it did at Sparta or in the States of Rome and Athens as perhaps it doth or that the three Estate of each several Kingdom have the same authority in them as the Ephori the Demarchi and the Tribunes had as perhaps they have the Subject is no doubt in a good condition as good a man as the best Monarch of them all But if the Ephori the Demarchi and the Tribunes were not appointed at the first for the restraint and regulating of the Supream Powers as indeed they were not and if the three Estates in each several Kingdom have not that authority which the Ephori and the Tribunes did in fine usurp and the Demarchi are supposed to have as indeed they have not perhaps and peradventure will not serve the turn The Subject stands upon no better grounds than before he did Therefore to take away this stumbling-block and remove this rub I shall propose and prove these three points ensuing 1. That the Ephori the Demarchi and the Roman Tribunes were not instituted at the first for those ends and purposes which are supposed by the Author 2. If they were instituted for those ends yet the illation thereupon would be weak and childish as it relates of Kings and Kingdoms And 3. That the three Estates in each several Kingdom without all peradventures have no such authority as the Author dreams of and therefore of no power to controul their King Which If I clearly prove as I hope I shall I doubt not but to leave the cause in a better condition than I found it And in the proof of these the first point especially if it be thought that I insist longer than I needed on the condition of the Spartan Ephori the Roman Tribunes and the Demarchi of Athens and spend more cost upon it than the thing is worth I must intreat the Reader to excuse me in it I must first lay down my grounds and make sure work there before I go about my building And being my design relates particularly to the information and instruction of the English Subject I could not make my way unto it but by a discovery of the means and Artifices by which some petit popular Officers attained unto so great a mastery in the game of Government as to give the Check unto their Kings Which being premised once for all I now proceed unto the proof of the points proposed and having proved these points I shall make an end Haec tria cum docuero perorabo in the Orators Language CHAP. II. Of the Authority of the Ephori in the State of Sparta and that they were not instituted for the ends supposed by Calvin 1. The Kings of Sparta absolute Monarchs at the first 2. Of the declining of the Regal power and the condition of that State when Lycurgus undertook to change the Government 3. What power Lycurgus gave the Senate and what was left unto the Kings 4. The Ephori appointed by the Kings of Sparta to ease themselves and curb the Senate 5. The blundering and mistakes of Joseph Scaliger about the first Institution of the Ephori 6. The Ephori from mean beginnings grew to great Authority and by what advantages 7. The power and influence which they had in the publick Government 8. By what degrees the Ephori encroached on the Spartan Kings 9. The
insolencies of the Ephori towards their Kings altered the State into a Tyranny 10. The Spartan Kings stomach the insolency of the Ephori and at last utterly destroy them 11. An application of the former passages to the point in hand I Know it is conceived by some that the Kings of Sparta were but titular that they were little more than Subjects at best of no more power and influence in the publick Government Unlawfulness of resistance p 90. than the Duke of Venice at this day in that Republick And to say truth they were but little better in the latter times though not altogether so restrained after Lycurgus first and the Ephori afterwards had by their power and practices intrenched upon them and pared away so many of the fairest Jewels in the Regal Diadem But ab initio non fuit sic it was not so from the beginning the Spartan Kings being at first as absolute Monarchs as any other of those times Tacit. Annal. ubi addictius regnabantur when men were most devoted to the will of Princes For if we look into the ancient stories of the States of Greece it will there be found that at the return of the Heraclidae into Peloponnesus under the conduct of Temenus Ctesiphon and Aristodemus the sons of Aristomachus of the race of Hercules Temenus possessed himself of Argos Ctesiphon of Messene and Aristodemus conquered the City and Dominion of Sparta which dying very shortly after he left unto his two sons Eurysthenes and Procles Pausanias in Lacon l. 3. with the authority and name of Kings So that acquiring the Estate by Conquest and claiming by no other Title than by that of Arms there is no question to be made but that they governed in the way of absolute Monarchs it being not the guise of such as come in by Conquest to covenant and capitulate with their Subjects but to impose their will for a Law upon them In the first times and in Dominion so acquired Justin hist l. 1. Arbitria Principum pro legibus erant as we read in Justin 'T is true the Royal Family was divided from the very first into two Regal Stems or Branches both honoured with the name of Kings both ruling the Estate in common by their mutual Councils of which the eldest House was that of Agidae so called from Agis son and Successor unto Eurysthenes the second that of the Eurypontidae denominated from Eurypon Pausanius l. 3. the third from Procles It was appointed so to be by Aristodemus confirmed by the Oracle of Apollo and so continued till the subjugating of all Greece to Macedon But this concludes no more against absolute Monarchie than if it should be said on the like occasion that the Roman Emperors were no Monarchs or that State to Monarchy because Carus and Numerianus Diocletian and Maximianus Constantius and Maximinus ruled the same together as after Valentinian and his Brother Valens and the two sons of Valentinian and Theodosius did by their Example And so it seems it was conceived by Cleomenes who having rooted out the Ephori and being grown almost as absolute in the State of Sparta as any of his Predecessors caused his Brother Euclidas upon the expiration of the Eurypontidae to be made King with him âââtarch in Agis Cleemeâ which certainly he would not have done had he believed that the assuming of a partner would have made him less For that the Spartan Kings were as absolute Monarchs as any others of those times when there was almost no Form of Government in the World but that doth appear by Plutarch where speaking of the condition of that Government in the time of Eurypon whom he calls Eurytion he saith that it was ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã sufficiently Montarchical if it were not more Plutarch in Lycurgo And hereto Aristotle doth agree who stiles the Government of Sparta under Charilaus before whose times by reason of the negligence and connivence of some former Kings the People were become too head-strong to be kept in order Aristot Polit. lib. 5. cap. 12. by the name of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Tyranny or absolute command of Charilaus in the State of Sparta But whatsoever it was in the first foundation it held not very long in so good condition For Eurypon the Nephew of Procles ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Plutarch in Lycurg affecting to be plausible and gracious with the common people improvidently let loose the reins of Government and was the first that laid aside that sole and absolute power of a King whereupon followed great disorder and distraction which continued long For the People finding themselves at liberty became very bold and disobedient some of the Kings which did succeed being hated to the very death because they did indeavour the recovery of their old authority others being forced to dissemble and wink at any thing either in hope thereby to gain the love of the People or because indeed they were not strong enough to rule them And this did so increase the stomach of the dissolute and rebellious multitude that Eunomus the Father of Lycurgus being the fifth King from Procles and the third from Eurypon was slain amongst them in a tumult As such a dear and costly rate did Eurypon procure the favour and good will of the rascal rabble by which he purchased nothing but the loss of Royalty besides the empty honour of having the second house of the Royal Family to be called by his name the Eurypontidae Things growing thus from bad to worse and both the Kings and People waxing weary of that disorder and confusion which did reign amongst them both parties cast their eyes upon Lycurgus of whose integrity and wisdom they had conceived a great opinion For the People finding that their Kings had nothing but the name and title ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and nothing else whereby they differed from the rest sent many a several message to him to require his counsel And on the other side the Kings were as desirous that he should return being then gone abroad to travel in hope that the authority of his presence would bridle and restrain the People from their insolency and disobedience towards them But herein they were both deceived Id. ibid. For Lycurgus seeing how things stood resolved to apply himself to neither party but presently began to project and cast how he might change and alter the whole frame of Government which to effect he armed himself and his Associates and possessed the market-place and so proceeded to the alteration which he meant to make Id ibid. et in Agis Cleomen Charilaus who was then King being forced to flie for sanctuary to the Temple of Juno But Plato saith there was another motive which induced him to attempt this change which was the ill success the other Kings his kindred of the house of Hercules had found at Argos and Messene where by degrees degenerating from a
year I say being added to the 112 before-remembred in which King Alcamenes died makes up the full number of 130 which we find in Plutarch and agrees punctually with the time of Theopompus who as it is confessed by Scaliger did first ordain them Nor doth Laertius say if you mark him well either that Chilo was the first that was ever Ephorus or the first that joyned the Ephori to the Kings of Sparta both which absurdities are by Scaliger imposed upon him For unto any one who looks upon Laertius with a careful eye it may be easily discerned that he speaks no otherwise of the Ephorate than of an Office instituted a long time before with the condition of the which Chilo was well acquainted and therefore thought himself more fit to undergo it than his Brother was who very earnestly desired it Laertius in vita Chilon All that Laertius saith is no more but this that Chilo was made Ephorus first not the first Ephorus which was made as Scaliger would have it under Euthydemus and that as Satyrus affirmed who therein questionless was misled by Plato Lycurgus was the first who joyned the Ephori to the Spartan Kings which words viz. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã he hath left out of purpose to abuse his Author and make him speak the thing which he never meant His other blunderings and mistakes to make good this business first laying the dissolution of the Ephorate by Cleomenes Pag. 67 of the Animadvers non multo ante vel post initium Philippi either not long before or shortly after the beginning of the reign of Philip the last King of Macedon but one which indeed is true and within nine Lines no more laying it in the 13. year of the self-same King Philip most extreamly false the changing of his Authors words from Fuit autem sub Regibus Lacedaemon annis 350 as they occur in the Translation of S. Hierom printed at Basil into Fuit sub Regibus Lacedaemoniorum Annis 350. against the Authors mind and the Rules of Grammar only to bring about his device of Chilo and blind his Readers eyes with a new Chronology and others I could point to if my leisure served I purpose to forbear at the present time Nor had I been so bold with Scaliger at all or at least not now but that the proud man is more bold with the Antient Fathers whom he is pleased to look on with contempt and scorn as often as they come before him for which see pag. 255. of his Annotations And so I leave him with that Censure which he gives Eusebius as learned and industrious an Antiquary as any Scaliger of them all no man dispraised Erratis hujus Autoris enumerandis charta non suffecerit Animadvers in Euseb p. 255. and so sare him well But to proceed the Ephori being thus ordained by Theopompus became not presently of such authority and power as by degrees they did attain to For being chosen by the Kings as their proper Ministers as before was said and many times ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã even from their very nearest Friends Plutarch in Agis Cleomen as we read in Plutarch they were hard thrust at by the Senate and forced to put up many an affront from that mightier Body And this was it that Chilo aimed at when he told his Brother who at the same time desired the Office Laertius in vita Chilon and seemed offended that he lost it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that he was better skilled in bearing injuries and affronts than his Brother was But this continued for no longer than whilest the Kings served their turns upon them to oppose the Senate and kept the nomination of them in their own hands For afterwards the Kings relinquishing the Election to the common people upon a forlorn hope of gaining their affections by so great a benefit they began to set up for themselves and in a very little time gained all the custom of the City And of this new Election I am apt to think that Chilo whom before we spake of was the first ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Which I propose not so much out of a desire to comply with Scaliger who for ought I can see aimed at no such matter as on the credit of Eusebius whom he so much lighteth For in Euebius Chronicon of Josephus Scaligers own Edition after he hath put down the institution of the Ephori in the second of the fifth Olympiad as before I told you he gives this Item in the third of the five and fiftieth which is the very same that Laertius speaks of Chilo qui de Septem Sapientibus fuit Lacedaemone Ephorus constituitur Euseb Chronic. lib. poster p. 127. dispositione communis gentis that Chilo one of the seven wise Masters was ordained Ephorus at Sparta by the general consent of all the people But whether this were so or not I am not able to determine absolutely All I observe from hence is this that it is past all question that from this time they took upon them more than they had done formerly and were intent on all advantages to improve their power For whereas at the first they were appointed by the Kings to sit in Judgment in their steads as before was said by little and little ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã they drew that power unto themselves Plutarch in Agis Cleom. and exercised it in their own name by their own authority not as the Ministers of the Kings they would none of that but as the Officers of the Common-wealth And to that end they did erect a Court of Judicature which for power and greatness of authority was little inferiour to the Senate drawing unto them all such businesses as were ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã most worthy of care and consideration Pausan l. 3. in Laconicis Aristot Polit. lib. 3. cap. 1. By means whereof as they drew many of the people to depend upon them whose businesses and suits of Law were brought to be determined by them so they encreased that dependance by husbanding such difference as did oft arise between the Senate and the Kings to their own advantage For it is well observed by Aristotle that as long as the Senate and the Kings did agree together they kept all the power in their own hands ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã but when they jarred amongst themslves Id. ibid. l. 2. c. 9. they gave the people opportunity to become their Masters But that which raised them to the height and made them terrible at last both to King and Senate was the mutual tie and correspondence which was between them and the people by whom they were not only chosen and therefore cherished by them as their own dear Creatures but for the most part chosen ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã out of the body of the people and sometime ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã out of the very meanest and neediest of them Aristot Polit. l. 2. cap. 7. which
made them on the other side to court the people and to apply themselves unto them upon all occasions And though it happened many times that some of them being indigent and needy men where easily wrought upon by money and apt to sell as well the justice as the honour of the Common-wealth to enrich themselves and raise their Families whereof Aristotle much complains and that deservedly Id. ibid. c. 8. yet this corruption served to advance their power and put them into a condition to be the better able to oblige the people So that the common sort of people doing all they could to advance the power and reputation of the Ephori whom they accounted for their own as indeed they were and the Ephori striving by all possible means to gratifie the people by obtaining new Laws and large immunities to be enacted for them as they saw occasion they altered the whole frame of Government and made it of an Aristocrasie to become an Ogligarchie and in conclusion a plain Popular Tyranny For trusting to the power and interess whic they had in the Commonalty and the support they were assured from them if the case required it they drew unto themselves the managery of the State-affairs and grew so powerful at the last that if they did not all things of their own authority yet they had such an hand on the Kings and Senate that nothing could be done without them Were any Laws to be Enacted who but the Ephori must propound them Or any Taxes to be levied for the necessary uses of the Common-wealth who but the Ephori must impose them Plutarch in Agis Cleomen When Lysander had reduced the City of Athens unto such extremities that they were glad to yield unto such conditions as the Conquerors were pleased to impose upon them from whom must the Capitulations come but from the Ephori It was the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the final resolution of the Ephori Id. in Lysandro from which they were to expect either bonds or liberty Cynado is accused of Treason against Agesilaus and the State of Sparta the Ephori must take the information and proceed accordingly Xenophon in vita Agesilai Thucydides l. 1. and if Pausanias be accused of holding correspondence with the King of Persia the Ephori send out their commands ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and commit him presently to Prison When any Ambassadors were sent forth on the publick service from whom must they receive their power from whom be furnished with instructions but from the Ephori alone Plut. in Nicias and who but they must appoint Comminders for the Wars require account of their employments and either punish or reward them as they haved served When Cleonymus was displeased because Areus was preferred before him in his pretensions to the Kingdom the Ephori did not only take upon them to sweeten and demulce the man by great gifts and presents ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã but also to confer upon him the command of the Army Pausan l. 3. in Lacon though of right belonging to the Kings When Mindarus the Admiral of their Navy was miserably beat by the Athenians in the straight of Hellespont an Express is presently dispatched to Sparta Plutarch in Alcibiades Idem in Lysandro to give unto the Ephori an account thereof Lysander had no sooner revenged this quarrel and beat the Fleet of the athenians near the self same place but he acquaints the Ephori with his good success with all speed that might be And if the Wars prove fortunate and the spoil so great that part thereof be sent to Sparta to be laid up in the publick Treasury the Ephori and none but they must have the fingering of the money Id. ibid. Finally there was no Commander of the Armies or other Officer employed by the Common-wealth whom they called not to an accompt as their stomachs served not staying till the Office was expired and the Commander or the Officer become a private man again as in other States but even in the midst of their Command and Magistracy whatsoever it was and whom they did not punish when they come before them Xenophon de Repâb Lacedaem either by imprisonment or death as to them seem'd best Thus have we brought them to their height and seen them absolutely possessed of the Supream Power in making peace or war as they thought convenient and in disposing of the goods the liberties yea and the lives too of the Spartan subject It had been a strange temper in them had they tarried there and not encroached as much whilest the Tide went with them upon the persons and the power of the Kings themselves For howsoever at the first they were ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Ministers of the Kings as before was told you and accomptable to none but them yet after they were reckoned for the Officers of the Common-wealth they cast off all relation to the Kings their Masters and thought themselves their Equals at the best and at last their betters A point which Theopompus did but little dream of when first he set them up to oppose the Senate although his Queen a wise and understanding Lady did evidently see and tell him what would follow on it Of which we find this story in the works of Aristotle and from him borrowed by Plutarch if I guess aright that his Wife seeing what design he was bent upon and how unluckily he was carried on to effect the same advised him to take heed that by erecting this new Magistracy he did not leave the Kingdom in a worse condition to his Heirs and Successors than he received the same from his I redecessors and that he answered thereunto ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Apistot Polit. l. 5. c. 11. that by this means he hoped to leave it stronger and more durable than it was before But the event declared unto all the World that the Woman was the better Prophet and had the greater insight into things to come The power of Sovereignty when once communicated to the common people or otherwise usurped by such popular Officers as depend wholly on the people for their place and being is seldom time recovered into Regal hands And though some Kings may be persuaded by some subtle Artifices as it seems Theopompus was that by this means the Chair of State will stand the faster yet the proceedings of the Ephori in the State of Sparta will inform us otherwise and easily lay open the apparent danger of such weak surmises For being made Officers of State one of the first points they obtained was that the Kings made Oath unto them once in every month ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Xenophon de Kepub Laced that they would govern the Estate according to the Laws established in the Common-wealth and that they would preserve the Kingdom in the best condition that they could the Ephori making Oath to them in the name of the City whose Officers
exactly though at the first he seemed to think that it was very well compounded of the three good Forms yet upon full debate thereof he concludes at last ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Aristot Polit. l. 2. c. 4. that the Dominion of the Ephori was an absolute Tyranny Assuredly had they lived to have seen that day wherein the Ephori embrued their hands in the blood of their Princes under pretence of safety to the Common-wealth they would have voted it to have been a Tyranny in the highest degree and then the most unsufferable Tyrants that ever wretched State groaned under For though the Kings of Sparta were so lessened by Lycurgus Laws that little more was left unto them than the name and Title yet they were Kings and held so sacred by their Neighbours even their very Enemies that none did ever offer to lay hands upon them in the heat and fury of their fights Plutarch in Agis Cleom. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã out of the reverence they did bear to those beams of Majesty which most apparently shined in them The Ephori being grown to this height of Tyranny were the more ready for their fall which followed not long after that most barbarous fact upon the persons of their Princes The Kings had long since stomached them and their high proceedings Id. in Agesil bearing ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a kind of Heritable grudge betwixt them as my Author calls it ever since they took upon them to controul their Masters but either wanted opportunity or spirit to attempt any thing to their prejudice and therefore thought it safer to procure their favours than run themselves upon a hazardous Experiment Pausanias the 20. of the Elder House was the first that ever did attempt either by force or practice to subvert the Office the insolencies of the which were then grown so great that being a stout and active Prince he was not able to endure them That he had entertained such thoughts is affirmed by Aristotle where he informs us that Lysander had a purpose to take away the Kingly Government or rather to acquire it to himself as we find in Plutarch ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Id. in Lysandâo Aristot Polit. lib. 5. c. 1. and that Pausanias had the like to destroy the Ephorate But what he failed to bring about his Successors did at last accomplish Of which Cleombrotus and Agis joyning their hands and heads together did proceed so far that going into the Market place well attended by their Friends and followers they plucked the Ephori from their seats and substituted others in their rooms whom they conceived would be more pliant to their prefent Enterprises which was the first actual attempt Plutarch in Agis Cleom. that ever had been made against them by the Kings of Sparta But evulgato imperii Arcano when so great a mystery of State was once discovered that the Ephori were but mortal men and might as easily be displaced and deposed as any of the other Magistrates Leonidas immediately upon his restitution to the Kingdom made the like removal and displaced those who had taken part against him with the former Kings Id. ibid. So that the ice being broken and the way made open Cleomenes son unto Leonidas had the fairer way to abrogate the Office utterly which at last he did For being a brave and gallant Prince and seeing that the project he was bent upon for the reduction of the Common-wealth to its primitive honour could not be brought about but by their destruction he fell upon them with his Souldiers as they sat at supper and killed four of them in the place the fifth escaping shrewdly hurt to the nearest Sanctuary Id. ibid. That done he went into the Market place and overthrew all the Chairs of the Ephori saving only one which he reserved for himself as his Chair of State and sitting in the same in the sight of the people gave them an account of his proceedings and the reasons which induced him to it Declaring how the Ephori were at first appointed by the Kings themselves that for long time they governed only ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as the Kings Ministers and no otherwise that many years after this Asteropus one of the Ephori building upon a new foundation and being the first Author of that dangerous change they took the Government unto themselves and exercised the same in their own names only that though they had usurped a power which belonged not to them yet had they managed it discreetly the might perhaps have held it longer and with better liking but that licentiously abusing the authority which they had usurped by suppressing the lawful Governors ordained of old by taking upon them to banish some of the Citizens and to put some to death without law and justice and finally by threatning those who were desirous to restore the Government to its antient Form they were no longer to be suffered that for his part he should have thought himself the happiest King that ever was if possibly he could have cured his Countrey of that foul affection withou grief or sorrow but being it was not to be done that way he thought it better that some should be put to death than the whole Common-wealth run on to a swift destruction This said he presently dissolved the Assembly and seriously betook himself to the Reformation which formerly he had projected and in short time reduced the people to the antient Discipline the staee and reputation of the Common-wealth to its ancient height Thus have we made a brief discovery of the Spartan Ephori upon what grounds first instituted and on what destroyed by what foul practices and unlawful means they gained the Sovereignty of the State and by what they lost it how and by what degrees they came from low and mean beginnings to so strange a Tyranny and with what suddenness they lost their power and their lives together But in all this there is not any shew or colour for that which is affirmed by CALVIN no ground for nor verity at all in that Assertion that the Ephori were at first ordained to oppose the Kings to regulate their proceedings and restrain their power but rather that they were ordained as indeed they were to curb the Senate to be the Ministers of the Kings and subservient to them to sit in Judgment for them and discharge such Offices as the Kings pleased to trust them with in their times of absence If Calvins popular Magistrates have no more Authority than the Spartan Ephori according to the rules of their Institution they will have little colour to controul their Princes and less for putting a restraint on the Regal power The most they can pretend to must be usurpation and that will hold no longer if it hold so long than they have power to make it good by blood and violence which I hope Calvin did not aim at And if they have no other ground
than an unjust Title prescription will not serve the turn for nullum tempus occurrit Regi as our Lawyers tell us when a couragious Prince is concerned in it and oppressed by it If any Popular spirits entertain such hopes if nothing else will satisfie their vast ambitions but to be equal with their Kings and Supream Governours and at last above them let them remember what became of the Spartan Ephori and that there was a Cleomenes which called them to a sad account for all those insolencies and affronts which they had put upon himself and his Predecessors And let all Kings and Supream Governors take heed by the example of these Spartan Princes how they let loose the reins of Government and lay them on the necks of the common people which if unbridled once and left at liberty will not be easily induced to receive that Bit into their mouths which before they champed on and that they give no way to such popular Magistrates as Calvin hath presented to us who whatsoever colour and pretence they make aim at no other mark than the Royal power though out of too much modesty they disclaim the Title and must be either Kings or nothing Of which invasions and encroachments on the Supream Power our Author gives another hint in the Roman Tribunes the truth and fitness of which supposition must be looked on next CHAP. III. Of the Incroachments of the Tribunes on the State of Rome and that they were not instituted for the ends supposed by Calvin 1. The Tribunes of the People why first Instituted in the State of Rome 2. And with what difficulty and conditions 3. The Tribunes fortifie themselves with large immunities before they went about to change the Government 4. the Tribunes no sooner in their Office but they set themselves against the Nobility and the Senate contrary to the Articles of their Institution 5. The many and dangerous Seditions occasioned by the Tribunes in the City of Rome 6. The Tribunes and the people do agree together to change the Government of the State 7. By what degrees the people came to be possessed of all the Offices in the State both of power and dignity 8. The Plots and Practises of the Gracchi to put the Power of the Judiciature and Supream Majesty of the State into the hands of the People 9. The Tribunes take upon them to commit the Consuls and bring all the Officers of the State under their command 10. The Office and authority of the Tribunes reduced unto its antient bounds by Corn. Sylla and at last utterly destroyed 11. An application of the former passages to the point in hand ALthough the reasons which induced the people in the State of Rome to desire some Officers of their own and the considerations which induced the Senate to give way unto it are obvious to the eyes of every Reader which hath perused the Roman stories yet I shall briefly lay it down the better to remove the intimation which we find in Calvin that they were purposely ordained to oppose the Consuls The hory then in brief is this The people having not long before expulsed their Kings and got some reputation by their prowess in those petit States which bordered nearest to the City found quickly that the liberty which they expected was nothing but a golden dream not able to protect them from the common Gaols and that their reputation in the Wars would not pay their Debts or save them from the hands of their cruel Creditors For serving in the Wars at their own proper charges and having little else to subsist upon but their Trades or labor they were fain sometimes to take up money upon Usury And though they did return from the Wars with Victory and shewed those honourable scars which they had received fighting in defence of their Countrey and the Common-wealth yet this did edifie but little with their hungry Creditors Plutarch in M Coriolano who did not only sell their goods if they were not solvent but apprehended their persons also and either laid them up in the common Prisons or made them serve instead of Bondmen and made them subject to the whip and other base corrections fit for none but Slaves And somewhat to this purpose the old man complained as we read in Livy declaring to the people who were apt to hear it how his Patrimony had been seized on by the merciless Usurers his person apprehended by them and that he was not only made a Slave but marked out for slaughter Livit. hist l. 2. Inde ostentare tergum foedum recentibus vestigiis verberum shewing withal upon his back the miserable prints which the whip had left This made the people murmur and at last to mutiny and in tumultuous manner minaciter magis quam suppliciter rather with threats than supplications to require the Senate to take some course for their relief resolving otherwise to go no more unto the Wars serve the State who would The Senate promised fair as there was good cause the Volsci pressing hard upon them to their very gates and by that promise won the people and obtained a Victory But when the Wars were done and performance looked for instead of finding a redress of their former grievances the rigour of the Law took place creditoribus tradebantur and they were seised on by their Creditors as in former times the Senate thinking it unreasonable to make the Law submit to the necessities of particular men and against Law to defraud any man of the Debts which were due unto them Dionys Halicreass lib. 6. But a new War approaching a new promise made and that neglected also when the Wars was ended the people seeing no relief was like to come from the hands of the Senators Longè aliâ quam primè instituerant viâ grassabantur began to lend an ear to some desperate Counsels and fell to contertain such hopes as formerly they durst never dream of For drawing themselves into a body under the conduct of Sicinius a troublesome and seditious person they forsook the City and encamped upon an Hill adjoyning resolving as they gave it out to seek new dwellings and that there was no place in Italy but would afford them air and water ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ground in which they might be buried There is no question to be made but if the Senate had beheld the action with neglect and scorn as Appius and C. Martius did advise they should Dionys Halicarn l. 6. Platarch in Corlolano the People out of love to their Wives and Children would have returned to their Houses or if they had presented them in time with any tolerable mitigations of the former Laws they might have taken off their edge and appeased the Tumult But giving way unto their fury till it grew too high and shewing in their resolutions far more fear than courage the people got the better of them and thought they stood upon the higher ground as indeed
rely upon Calvins word He saith the Tribunes were set up to oppose the Consuls but the best Writers do affirm that they were instituted only to protect the people and to protect the people in such cases only when they did suffer any Tort or unjust oppression He reckoneth them for instances of such popular Magistrates as were ordained to moderate and restrain the vast power of Kings and other Supream Magistrates but the best Writers do affirm that the Tribunes were not instituted till the Kings were outed nor instituted at the first to restrain the Consular power though by degrees they did restrain it as they pleased and finally that they were again abridged of their power and Tyranny as soon as Monarchy were restored and the State brought to be obedient to one Sovereign Prince He seems to intimate that the Consuls were not wronged by such oppositions as the Tribunes daily made against them and that the Tribunes did no more in such oppositions than by their place and Office they were bound to do But the best Writers do affirm that the Consuls made complaint from time to time of those wrongs and insolencies which those proud creatures of the people did afflict them with and they complained not without cause as their stories tell us So that there is but little ground for the supposition touching the first creation of these mighty Tyrants which Calvin trimly puts upon us less for the application of it to his end and purpose What other power soever they enjoyed or exercised more than the power of interceding when any Bill at Ordinance was to pass the Senate by which the people might have suffered in their goods and liberties was an incroachment on the Consuls and wrested from them by strong hand sometimes with blood but never without dangerous Tumults The best use can be made of such false surmises especially when they are false and factious too and some good uses may be made of the strongest poysons is that an Item may be taken by all Kings Princes and Supream Governors to have a care of their Estates and neither suffer any Tribunes or men of Tribunitian spirits or such as challenge to themselves Tribunitian power to grow up under them or live within the verge of their Dominions The Tribune and the Tribunitian spirit are no friend to Monarchy and have so much of Pompey in them who restored the Office that they will never be content to endure an Equal much less to suffer a Superior For further proof of which if more proof be requisite and for discovering to the World with what Arts and practices those factious and seditious spirits did attain their height it would be a most excellent piece of service to all Sovereign Princes if a just Tribunitian History were composed by some man of judgment for the recovery of this Age from the present maladies and a Memento to the future But this I leave to those who have time and leisure and other fit abilities to go through with it I have another Task in hand and the Demarchi call upon me to pass on to Athens where we are like to find worse work than we met with hitherto Worse work I mean in this respect that we are like to find less ground for the Supposition for otherwise we are like to find no work at all as will appear more evidently by that which followeth CHAP. IV. Of what Authority the DEMARCHI were in the state of ATHENS and of the danger and unfitness of the instances produced by CALVIN 1. Athens first governed by Kings and afterwards by one Sovereign Prince under other Titles 2. The Annual Magistrates of Athens what they were and of what Authority 3. By whom and what degrees the State of Athens was reduced to a Democratie 4. Of the authority of the Senate and the famous Court of the Areopagites 5. What the Demarchi were in the State of Athens and of what Authority 6. The Demarchi never were of power to oppose the Senate nor were ordained to that end 7. Calvins ill luck in making choice of three such instances which if true would not serve his turn 8. The danger which lieth hidden under the disguise of such popular Magistrates as are here instanced in by Calvin 9. What moved Calvin to lay these dangerous Stumbling-blocks in the Subjects way 10. The dangerous oppositions and practices which have hence ensued in most parts of Europe 11. The sect of CALVIN professed Enemies to Monarchy and the power of Princes THE State of Athens as were all others at the first was under the Government of Kings and of them of the race of Cecrops from whom his Successors were called Cecropidae Tacit. Annal. lib. 3. and they as other Kings in those antient times ut libitum imperitabant governed the people under them by no other Rule than their own discretion Theseus the tenth from Cecrops was the first King of Athens which let go his hold and parted with so many of the Regal rights as made the Kings weak and the Subjects wanton For having a desire to incorporate all the Inhabitants of Attica into the City of Athens the better to unite them against forein force and to assemble them together as occasion served he was fain to win them to it by large promises of giving them some share in the publick Government without which bait the wealthier sort and such as had authority in their several Burroughs could not be drawn into the City Plutarch in Theseo Yet still he kept unto himself and to his Successors ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as we find in Plutarch the chief Commandery in the Wars and the preservation of the Laws together with a superintendency in matters which concerned Religion the main points of Soveraignty And in this state things stood till the death of Codrus the seventh from Theseus who giving up his own life to preserve his Countrey became so honoured and admired amongst his people that they resolved for his sake to have no more Kings for fear they should never meet with any who might be worthy to succeed him which was one of the prettiest wanton quarrels that ever was picked against a Monarchy The Princes which succeeded after his decease they called not Kings but ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or Governors but the change was only in the name and in the manner of their getting the Supream Authority For being once invested with the Supream Power they held it during life without check or censure as is affirmed by Africanus an ancient Writer who laying down the succession of the King of Athens African apud Euseb Chron. edit Scaliger Euseb in Chro. to the death of Codrus adds this ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that after them succeeded the perpetual Archontes who held the Government during life The like Eusebius doth affirm and all Authors else which treat of the affairs of Athens The difference was that formerly the Kingdom was successive meerly entailed upon the
Princes of the line of Cecrops now it began to be Elective Tacit. hist l. 1. and to be given to them who best pleased the people Et loco libertatis erat quod eligi coeperunt and it was some degree of liberty and a great one too that they had power to nominate and elect their Princes But long they did not like of this although no doubt a great intrusion on the Regal dignity The Princes were too absolute when they held for life not so observant of the people as it was expected because not liable to accompt nor to be called unto a reckoning till it was too late till death had freed them from their faults and the peoples censure And therefore having tried the Government of thirteen of these perpetual Archontes of which Medon the son of Codrus was the first and the last Alemaeon In decem annos Magistratuum consuetudo conversa est they introduced another custom Euseb in Chr. Asrican apud Euseb Chronâ and every tenth year changed their Governors These they called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or Decennial Archontes of which they had but seven in all and then gave them over and from that time were governed by nine Officers or Magistrates chosen every year who for that cause were called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or the Annual Magistrates And yet it is to be observed that in both these changes the Archon whosoever he was and whether he was for term of life or for ten years only had all the power which formerly was belonging to the Kings save the very name in which regard Eusebius doth not stick to call them by the name of Kings where speaking of the institution of these Annual Magistrates he doth thus express is Euseb Chron. Athenis Annui principes constituti sunt cessantibus Regibus as S. Hierom renders it Now for these Annual Magistrates they were these that follow that is to say ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Jul. P. ãâã in Onomast l. 8. c. 9. which we may call the Provost who ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã was called the Archon the Bishop or High Priest the Marshal and the six Chief Justices Of these the Provost was the chief ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of whom they did denominate the ensuing year and by whose name they dated all their private Contracts and Acts of State Id ibid. Sect. 2. To him it appertained to have a care of celebrating the Orgies of Bacchus and the great Festival which they termed Thargelia consecrated to Apollo and Diana as also to take cognizance of misdemeanors and in particular to punish those who were common Drunkards and to determine in all cases which concerned matter of inheritance and furthermore to nominate Arbitrators for the ending of Suits and private differences to appoint Guardians unto Orphans and Overseers unto Women left with child by their Husbands The ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã whom we call the Bishop or High Priest had the charge of all the sacred mysteries ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Id. ibid. Sect. 3. and the administration of the usual and accustomed Sacrifices together with the cognizance of sacriledg prophaneness and all other actions which concerned Religion as also power to interdict litigious persons or Common Barretters as we call them from being present at the celebration of the holy Mysteries And he retained the name of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã because that anciently their Kings as in all places else had the chief hand in matters which related to the publick service of the Gods and the solemn Sacrifices On the which reason and no other the Romans had their Regem Sacrificulum whom Plutarch calls ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in imitation of the Latine but Dionysius ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Plutarch in Problemat Dionys Halicarnas hist l. 5. Livie hist Roman lib. 2. in the true Greek phrase of which Livie thus Rerum deinde divinarum habita cura quia quaedam publica sacra per ipsos Reges factitata erant necubi Regum desiderium esset Regem Sacrificulum creant But to proceed the Polemarchus whom we English by the name of Marshal sat Judg in cases of sedition and such whereby the grandeur of the State might suffer detriment as also in all actions which concerned either Denizens or Merchant-strangers and unto him it appertained to sacrifice to Diana and to Mars the two military Deities Jul. Pollux in Onomast l. 8. c. 93. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and to prescribe the funeral pomp for such as lost their lives in their Countreys service Each of these had their two Assessors Id. ibid. Sect. of their own Election but so that they were bound to chuse them out of the Senate of five hundred from no lower rank Finally for the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã who we call Chief Justices they were six in number ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Suidas in Lex and had authority to give Judgment absolutely in all Civil pleas to judg of strangers which abused the priviledges which they had in the City of Bribery Conspiracies false inscriptions in cases of Adultery and publick crimes in points of Trade Jul. Pollux in Onomast ll 4. c. 9. sect 1. and actions which concerned the Stannaries as also to review the sentence of the Provost and the decrees of the Senate if occasion were and to give notice to the people ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as Julius Pollux if any man preferred a Law which was not profitable and expedient for the Common-wealth Such were the Officers and such the duty of those Officers ordained at Athens upon the last alteration of the Government which before we spake of and amongst these we find not any popular Magistrate who was to have a care of the common people and to preserve them in their rights and liberties from the oppression of the greater and more powerful Citizens much less set up of purpose to oppose the Senate And to say truth we must not look for any such amongst the Nine nor in these times in which this alteration of the Government was first established They could not fall immediately from a Regal State to a Democratical but they must take the Aristocratie in the way unto it They had been under Kings at first or such as had the power of Kings although not the name And when they chose these Annual Officers they chose them ex nobilibus urbis out of the Nobles only Euseb Chron. Scaliger in Aâimadveâs as Eusebius hath it which Scaliger is forced to grant to be so at first though out of a desire to confute his Author he would very fain have had it otherwise Whether or no they had such Officers as Calvin dreams of when they had setled their Democratie we shall see anon having first shewn by whom and by what degrees the Government of the State was cast on the peoples shoulders and the form thereof made meerly popular or Democratical For certainly it is most true that never
people or actually did make head against them in behalf of the people if at any time they were oppressed and injured by it cannot be found I dare with confidence affirm in any Author of good credit either Greek or Latine 'T is true there were some People-pleasers in the State of Athens whom they called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã who by applying themselves to the peoples humour and seeming zealously assected to their power and profit could lead them whither they would and to what they lifted and sometimes did oppose themselves for the people sake not only against the Senate but all other Magistrates Of these it is that Arstotle doth make frequent mention in his books of Politicks and seems to prophecy that if not looked into in time ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã they would change the State into a Tyranny But these were neither of Officers of State nor Justice Aristot Politic l. 5 c. â nor indeed any Officers at all though many times they did ill Offices to the Commonwealth the better to advance the hopes of the popular faction and by it themselves And it is true which Aristotle tells us in another place ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that the people had not only power to elect their Magistrates Id. ibid. l. 2. c. 12. but to call them also to accompt in case of mal-administration and had their proper Officers appointed to that end and purpose But then it is true withal but amongst them we meet not these Demarchi of whom Calvin dreams or any others which stood up in behalf of the common people but only in behalf of the Common-wealth Of this sort were the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã superadded to the nine Archontes and of authority to call them to an after-reckoning if they found them guilty of extortion Jul. Pollux l. 8. c. 9. sect 16. Id. ibid. sect 13. and of this sect were also those whom they called Logistae some of the which ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã saith mine Author were purposely appointed to observe and enquire into the Acts of the Senate and to proceed against them when their time was out according as they saw occasion which kind of Overseers had an eye also on the Areopagites And this is that which is observed by Aeschines the famous Orator where speaking of the Fundamental constitutions of the Common-wealth he tells us that it was ordained by the Legislators ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Aeschin in Orat Contra Demosth Ctesiphon that even the Senate of five hundred should give up an account of their ministration and that the holy Council of the Areopagites should be obnoxious to the censure of the Logistrae for by that very name he calls them Of any account they were to give to these Demarchi or any thing they did de facto or might do de jure with reference to the case and benefit of the common people nothing but silence to be found in all Antiquity And to say truth it was not necessary that any popular Magistrates should be made of purpose to save the people from the pride and Tyranny of the higher Courts which were accountable to the people upon all occasions and were to be accountable to them according to the fundamental institution of the Common-wealth The State of Athens being one of the absolutest Democraties which was ever exant and so accounted of by all who write of Politicks had little need or use of such popular Magistrates which Calvin fancieth in that place which may be serviceable to the people in an Aistocratie but in a popular estate of no use at all Which makes we wonder by the way why Plato should affirm against right and reason that the State of Athens in his time and the times before ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã was an Aristocratie Plato in Meneximo when by the current of all Writers and the course of story it appears most evidently that it was not only a Democratie but ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Plutarch in Cimone the purest and most unmixt Democratie that was ever read of Thus have we proved the first of the three points propounded in the beginning of this work viz. that the Ephori the Demarchi and the Roman Tribunes were not ordained at first for those ends and purposes which are supposed by the Author but more particularly that neither the Ephori of Sparta were first instituted to oppose the Kings nor the Tribunes first ordained to oppose the Consuls nor the Demarchi of Authority to oppose the Senate And we have proved which is directly contrary unto Calvins aim that the Ephori were at first ordained to ease the Kings and to be aiding to them against the Senate who began sensibly to encroach on the Regal power that the Tribunes were first instituted to no other end but to preserve the people from unjust oppression and that their opposition to the Consuls was accounted always to be against the rules of their Institution and a breach of Articles And as for these Demarchi whom we spake of last that neither by their Institution nor by Usurpation they did oppose against the Senate in behalf of the people but executed their commands upon the people as their duty bound them So that the great imagination which the Author had of shewing to the World a view of such popular Magistrates as might encourage men of place and eminence to think themselves ordained after these Examples to moderate the licentiousness of Kings and Princes is fallen directly to the ground without more ado as being built upon a weak nay a false foundation not able to support the building And more than so in case the instances proposed had been rightly chosen and that the Ephori in Sparta had been first ordained to oppose the Kings the Tribunes to oppose the Consuls and the Demarchi to keep under the Athenian State yet these would prove but sorry instances of such popular Officers as were ordained ad moderandum Regum libidinem to moderate the licentiousness of Kings and Sovereign Princes for proof of which they were produced The Ephori were not instituted in the State of Sparta till the Kings were brought under the command of the Senate and the State become an Aristocratie in which the Kings had very little left them of the Royal dignity but the empty name and were in power no other than the Dukes of Venice save that they were to have the command of the Armies which those Dukes have not And for the Tribunes 't is well known to every one who hath perused the Roman story that there were no such creatures to be found in Rome till the Romans had expulsed their Kings and were under their command of Consuls Monarchy being changed to an Optimatie and the peoplebound by solemn Oaths never to admit of a King amongst them The like may be affirmed also of the Demarchi of Athens supposing that they were of as great Authority as either the Ephori or the Tribunes
himself that whatsoever had been done in the alteration suffragio meo comprobavi he had confirmed and approved as a thing well done Calvin in Eplstola ad Cardinal Sadolet and therefore thought himself to be no less obliged to defend the action than if it had been done at first bh his own command For doubtless that of Tully is exceeding true Nil refert utrum voluerim fieri vel gaudeam factum Cicero in Philip 2. between the doing of a soul and disloyal act and the approbation of it when it is done is but little difference But to proceed our Author being thus made a party in the cause and quarrel of Geeva thought himself bound not only to justifie unto others what himself approved but also to lay down such grounds whereby the Example might be followed and their disloyalty and rebellion the less observed because they did not go alone without company In which respect and 't is a thing to be observed althoughthat Book of Institutions hath been often printed and received many alterations and additions as before was noted yet this particular passage still remains unaltered and hath continued as it is from the first Edition which was in the year 1536. when the Rebellion of Geneva was yet fresh and talked of as an ill Example Nor was the man deceived in his expectation For as he grew into esteem and reputation in the World abroad so he attained at last to that power and Empire over the souls and consciences of his followers that his Errors were accounted Orthodox his defects Perfections and the revolt of the Genevians from their natural Prince must by no means be called Rebellion because projected and pursued by such popular Officers to whom it appertained of common course to regulate the Authority of Kings and Princes And though he doth not say expresly that there either are or ought to be such popular Officers in every Realm or common-wealth but brings it in upon the by with his ifs and ands yet ifs and ands are not allowed of in the Laws to excuse Rebellions Bacons History of King Henry the seventh and by the setting up of that dangerous Si quis si qui sintâpopulares Magistratus as his words there are he seems to make a Proclamation that where there were such Popular Officers it was their bounden duty to correct their Princes after the manner of Geneva where there were none the people were God help them in an ill condition unless some other means were thought of for their ease and remedy Upon which Principles of his his folowers raised such Positions and pursued such practices as have distracted and embroyled the most parts of Europe and made it of a Garden to become a Wilderness For finding that they could not easily create such popular Magistrates to lord it over Kings and Princes who had not been accustomed to the like Controlments they put that power of regulating the Supream Authority either upon the body of the people generally whereof you were told before from Buchannan or upon such to whom they should communicate or transser their Power as occasion served whereof you may hear further in that which followeth And that not only in the case of civil Liberty for which the Examples of the Ephori and the Roman Tribunes were at first found out and that of the Demarchi thrust upon the Readers for the like foul end but specially in such matters which concerned Religion wherein the extraordinary calling of some men in the holy Scriptures must serve for Precedents and Examples to confirm their practices From hence it was that Buchannan doth not only subject his King unto the Ordinary Judges and Courts of Justice as before was noted but fearing that Kings would be too potent to be so kept under adviseth this Buchann de jure Regni Eorum interfectoribus praemia decerni that Rewards should publickly be decreed for those who kill a Tyrant and Kings and Tyrants are the same as heretofore in the word and notion so now in the Opinion of the Presbyterian or Calvinian faction as usually are proposed to those who kill Wolves or Bears From hence it was that the inferiour or subordinate Magistrate is advanced so high as to be entituled to a Power adversus Superiorem Magistratum se Rempub. Ecclesiam etiam armis defendere Paraeus in Epistola ad Rom. cap. 13. of taking Arms against the King or Superiour Magistrate in defence of himself his Countrey and true Religion which though they are the words of Paraeus only yetthey contain the mind and meaning of all the rest of that faction as his son Philip doth demonstrate In Append. ad Cap. 13. Epist ad Rom. Cambden Annal Eliz. An. 1559. Hence was it that John Knox delivered for sound Orthodox doctrine Procerum esse propria autoritate Idololatriam tollere Principes intra legum rescripta per vim reducere that it belonged unto the Peers of each several Kingdom to reform matters of the Church by their own Authority and to confine their Kings and Princes within the bounds prescribed by Law even by force of Arms. Hence that Geselius one of the Lecturers of Roterdam preached unto his people Necessaria Respons Jean de Serres inventnire de Fr. History of the Netherlands Thuan. hist l. 114. Camden Annal An. 15 59. Laurea Austriaca Continuati Thuan. hist l. 8. that if the Magistrates and Clergy did neglect their duty in the reformation of Religion necesse est id facere plebeios that then it did belong to the common people who were bound to have a care thereof and proceed accordingly And as for points of Practice should we look that way what a confusion should we find in most parts of Europe occasioned by no other ground than the entertainment of these Principles and the scattering of these positions amongst the people Witness the Civil Wars of France the revolt of Holland the expulsion of the Earl of East-Friezland the insurrections of the Scots the Tumults of Bohemia the commotions of Brandenburg the translation of the Crown of Sweden from the King of Pole to Charles Duke of Finland the change of Government in England all acted by the Presbyterian or Calvinian party in those several States under pretence of Reformation and redress of grievances And to say truth such is the Genius of the Sect that though they may admit an Equal as parity is the thing most aimed at by them both in Church and State yet they will hardly be persuaded to submit themselves to a Superiour to no Superiours more unwillingly than to Kings and Princes whose persons they disgrace whose power they ruinate whose calling they endeavour to decry and blemish by all means imaginable First for their calling they say it is no other than an humane Ordinance and that the King is but a creature of the peoples making whom having made they may as easily destroy and unmake again Which as it is the
darling Doctrine of this present time so is it very eagerly pursued by Buchannan who affirms expresly Quicquid juris populus alicui dederit Buchann de jure Regni idem justis de causis posse reposcere that whatsoever power the people give unto their King or Supream Magistrate they may resume again upon just occasions Their Power they make so small and inconsiderable that they afford them very little even in matters of Temporal and no Authority at all in things Spiritual Calvin professeth for himself that he was very much agrieved to hear that King Henry the eighth had took unto himself the Title of Supream Head of the Church of England accuseth them of inconsiderate zeal nay blasphemy who conferred it on him and though he be content at last to allow Kings a Ministerial power in matters which concern the Reformation of Gods Publick Worship yet he condemns them as before of great inconsiderateness Calvin in Amos cap. 7. Qui facerent eos nimis spirituales who did ascribe unto them any great authority in spiritual matters The designation of all those who bear publick Office in the Church the calling of Councils or Assemblies the Presidency in those Councils Ordaining publick Fasts and appointing Festivals which anciently belonged unto Christian Princes as the chief branches of the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction which is vested in them are utterly denied to Kings and Princes in their Books of Discipline Insomuch that when the Citizens of Embden did expel their Earl they did it chiefly for this reason Thuan. hist l. 114. Quod se negotiis Ecclesiasticis Consistorialibus praeter jus aequitatem immisceret that he had intermedled more than they thought fit in Ecclesiastical causes and intrenched too much upon their Consistory As for their power in Temporal or civil Causes by that time Knoxes Peers and Buchannans Judges Paraeus his inferiour Magistrates and Calvins popular Officers have performed their parts in keeping them within the compass of the Laws arraigning them for their offences if they should transgress opposing them by force of Arms if any thing be done unto the prejudice of the Church or State and finally in regulating their Authority after the manner of the Spartan Ephori and the Roman Tribunes all that is left will be by much too little for a Royd'Ivitot or for a King of Clouts as we English phrase it Last of all for their persons which God held so sacred that he gave it for a Law to his people Israel not to speak evil of their Princes saying Thou shalt not speak evil of the Ruler of thy people Let us but look upon these men and we shall find the basest attributes too good for the greatest Kings Calvin calls Mary Queen of England by the name of Proserpine Calvin in Amos cap. 7. and saith that she did superare omnes Diabolos that all the Devils of Hell were not half so mischievous Beza affords Queen Mary of Scotland no better Titles than those of Medea and Athaliah Beza in Epist ad Jo. of which the last was most infamous in divine the other no less scandalous in humane stories the one a Sorceress and a Witch the other a Tyrant and Usurper The Author of the Altare Damascenum whosoever he was can find no better attribute for King James of most blessed memory than infensissimus Evangelii hostis Didoclaviuâ in Epistola ad ââctor the greatest and deadly Enemy of the Gospel of Christ And Queen Elizabeth her self did not scape so clear but that the zealous Brethren were too bold sometimes with her Name and Honour though some of them paid dearly for it and were hanged for their labour How that seditious Hugonot the Author of the lewd and unworthy Dialogue entituled Eusebius Philadelphus hath dealt with three great Princes of the House of France and what reproachful names he gives them I had rather you should look for in the Author than expect from me being loath to wade too far in these dirty puddles save that I shall be bold to add this general Character which Didoclavius gives to all Kings in general viz. Naturâ insitum est in omnibus Regibus Christi odium that all Kings naturally hate Christ which may serve for all This is enough to let us see how irreconcileable an hatred these of the Calvinian faction bear against Kings and Princes how well they play the part of the very Antichrist in exalting themselves against whatsoever is called God and that the special reason why they affect so much to be called the Saints is out of a strong probable hope to see the day in which they shall bind Kings in chains and all the Princes of the earth in fetters of iron Finally such is their disaffection unto sacred Monarchy which they have sucked out of the grounds and principles here laid down by Calvin that we may justly say of them what was most truely said of the ancient Romans quasi nefas esset Regem aliquem prope eorum terminos esse Jâstin hist l. 29. they have bestirred themselves so bravely in defiance of the Regal Government as if they did account it an unpardonable sin to suffer any King though most good and gracious to border near them Which lest they should not be of power to compass by their popular Magistrates or by the Judges or the Peers or the People severally which make the main Battel for this Combat let us next look on the Reserve and see what hopes they have to effect the business by the three Estates conjoyned in Parliament or by what other name soever we shall call their meeting which Calvin in the last place doth reflect upon but cautiously with a qua forte or a peradventure as in that before CHAP. V. What are the three Estates in each several Kingdom in which CALVIN speaks and what particularly in the Realm of England 1. Of the division of a People into three Estates and that the Priests or Clergy have been always one 2. The Priests employed in Civil matters and affairs of State by the Egyptians and the Persians the Greeks Gauls and Romans 3. The Priests and Levites exercised in affairs of Civil Government by Gods own appointment 4. The Prelates versed in Civil matters and affairs of State in the best and happiest times of Christianity 5. The Clergy make the third Estate in Germany France Spain and the Northern Kingdoms 6. That antiently in the Saxon times the Ecclesiasticks of this Realm were called to all publick Councils 7. The Prelates an essential fundamental part of the English Parliament 8. Objections answered and that the word Clerus in the Legal notion doth not extend unto the Prelates 9. That the inferior Clergy of the Realm of England had anciently their Votes in Parliament to all intents and purposes as the Commons had 10. Objections answered and that the calling of the Clergy to Parliaments and Convocations were after different maners and by several Writs
great ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Philo de vita Mosis or Court of Sanhedrim And this is that which Casaubon doth also tell us from the most learned and expert of the Jewish Rabbins Non nisi nobilissimos è sacerdotibus Levitis caeteroque populo in lege peritissimos in Sanhedrim eligi Casaub Exercit in Baron 1. Sect. 3. that is to say that none but the most eminent of the Priests the Levites and the rest of the People and such as were most conversant in the Book of the Law were to be chosen into the Sanhedrim But to return again to the Book of God the power and reputation of this Court and Consistory having been much diminished in the times of the Kings of Judah was again revived by Jehosaphat Of whom we read that he not only did appoint Judges in the Land throughout all the fenced Cities of Judah 2 Chron. 19.5 but that he established at Hierusalem a standing Council consisting of the Levites and of the Priests and of the chief of the Fathers of Israel for the judgments of the Lord Ibid. r. 8. and for controversies according to the model formerly laid by God himself in the Book of Deuteronomy Which Court or Council thus revived continued in full force authority and power during the time of the captivity of Babilon as appears plainly by that passage in the Prophesie of Ezekiel where it is said of the Priests even by God himself Ezek. 44. v. 24. in controversie they shall stand in judgment compared with another place of the same Prophet where he makes mention of the Seventy of the Antients of the House of Israel Id. c. 8. v. 11. and Jaazaniah the Son of Shaphan standing in the midst as Prince of the Senate And after their return from that house of bondage they were confirmed in this authority by the Edict and Decree of Artaxerxes who gave Commission unto Ezra to set Magistrates and Judges over the People not after a new way of his own devising Ezra 6.7 v. 25. but after the wisdom of his God declared in the foregoing Ages by his Servant Moses In which estate they stood all the times succeeding until the final dissolution of that State and Nation with this addition to the power of the holy Priesthood that they had not only all that while their place and suffrage in the Court of Sanhedrim as will appear to any one who hath either read Josephus or the four Evangelists but for a great part of that time till the Reign of Herod the Supream Government of the State was in the hands of the Priests In which regard besides what was affirmed from Synesius formerly it is said by Justin Morem esse apud Judaeos ut eosdem Reges sacerdotes haberent that it was the custom of the Jews for the same men to be Kings and Priests Justin hist l. 36. and Tacitus gives this general note Judaeis Sacerdotu honorem firmamentum potentiae esse that the honour given unto the Priesthood amongst the Jews did most espeeially conduce to the establishment of their power and Empire And yet I cannot yield to Baronius neither Tacit. hist l. 3. where he affirms the better to establish a Supremacy in the Popes of Rome Summum Pont. arbitrio suo moderari magnum illud Concilium Baron Annal. An. 57. c. that the High Priest was always President of the Council or Court of Sanhedrim it being generally declared in the Jewish Writers that the High Priest could challenge no place at all therein in regard of his offence and descent but meerly in respect of such personal abilities as made himself to undergo such a weighty burden for which see Phagius in his notes on the 16 of Deuteronomy Thus have we seen of what authority and power the Priests were formerly as well amongst the Jews as amongst the Gentiles we must next see whether they have not been employed in the like affairs under the Gospel of Christ and that too in the best and happiest times of the Christian Church In search whereof it is not to be looked for by the ingenuous Reader that we should aim so high as the first 300 years after Christs Nativity The Prelates of the Church were suspected then to have their different aims and interesses from those who had the government of the Civil State and therefore thought uncapable of trust and imployment in it But after that according to that memorable maxim of Optatus Deschismat Donatist l. 3. Ecclesia erat in Republicâ the Church became a part of the Common-wealth and had their ends and aims united there followed these two things upon it first that the Supream Government of the Church depended much upon the will and pleasure of the Supream Magistrate Scorat Eccl. hist lib. 5. c. 1. insomuch as Socrates observeth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that the greatest Councils have been called by their authority and appointment And 2ly That the Governours and Rulers of the Church of God came to have place and power in disposing matter that appertained to the well ordering of the Civil State And this they did not our of any busie or pragmatical desire to draw the cognizance of secular causes into their own hands or to increase their power and reputation with the common People but meerly for the ease and benefit of those who did repair unto them for their help and counsel and to comply with the command of the Apostle who imposed it on them S. Austin tells us of S. Ambrose with how great difficulty he obtained an opportunity of conversing with him privately and at large as his case required Secludentibus eum ab ejus aure atque ore catervis negociosorum hominum August Confes l. 6. c. 3. the multitude of those who had business to him and suits to be determined by him debarring him from all advantages of access and conference Which took up so much of his time that he had little leisure to refresh his body with necessary food or his mind with the reading of good Authors And Posidonius tells us of S. Austin causas audisse diligenter pie that he diligently and religiously attended such businesses as were brought before him not only spending all the morning in that troublesome exercise Posidon in vita August c. 19. but sometimes fasting all day long the better to content the suitor and dispatch the business The like S. Austin tells us of himself and his fellow Prelates first that the Christians of those times pro secularibus causis suis nos non raro quaererent August in Psal 118. serm 74 Epist 147. did ordinarily apply themselves unto them for the determining of secular causes and chearfully submitted unto their decisions next that the Prelates did comply with their earnest solicitations and desires therein Tu multuosissimas eausarum alienarum perplexitates patiendo Id. de opere Monach. c. 29. by
regulated by the three Estates 6. Of what Authority they have been antiently in the Parliaments of Scotland 7. The King of England always accounted heretofore for an absolute Monarch 8. No part of Sovereignty invested legally in the English Parliaments 9. The three Estates assembled in the Parment of England subordinate unto the King not co-ordinate with him 10. The Legislative power of Parliaments is properly and legally in the King alone 11. In what particulars the power of the English Parliament doth consist especially 12. The Kings of England ordinarily over-rule their Parliaments by themselves their Council and their Judges 13. Objections answered touching the power and practice of some former Parliaments and the testimonies given unto them 14. No such Authority given by God in Holy Scripture to any such Popular Magistrates as Calvin dreams of and pretends 15. The Application and Conclusion of the whole discourse I Have been purposely more copious in the former Chapter because I thought it necessary to declare and manifest who made the three Estates in each several Kingdom which are pretended by our Author to have such power of regulating the Authority and censuring the actions and the persons of their Sovereign Princes And this the rather in regard it is thought of late and more than thought presented to the world in some publick writings especially as it relates to the Realm of England that the King the Lords and Commons make the three Estates which brings the King into an equal rank with the other two in reference to the business and affairs of Parliament A fancy by what accident soever it was broached and published which hath no consistence either with truth or ordinary observation or with the practice of this Realm or of any other For the proof of this my position that the King is none of the three Estates as is now pretended if all proofs else should fail I have one from Calvin whose judgment in this point amongst many of us will be instar omnium Calvin instit 4. cap. ult For where he saith in singulis Regnis tres esse Ordines that there are three Estates in each several Kingdom and that these three Estates convened in Parliament or by what other name soever they call their meeting are furnished with a power Regum lididinem moderandi of moderating the licentiousness of Kings and Princes and that they become guilty of perfidious dissimulation si Regibus impotenter grassantibus c. If they connive at Kings when they play the Tyrants or wantonly insult on the common people I trow it cannot be conceived that the King is any one of the three Estates who are here trusted or at least supposed to be intrusted with sufficient power as well to regulate his authority as to control his actions If Calvin be allowed to have common sense and to have wit and words enough to express his meaning as even his greatest Adversaries do confess he had it must be granted that he did not take the King of what Realm soever to be any of the three Estates or if he did he would have thought of other means to restrain his insolencies than by leaving him in his own hands to his own correction Either then Calvin is mistaken in the three Estates and if he be mistaken in designing the men he aims at may he not be mistaken in the power he gives them or else the King is none and indeed can be none of the three Estates qui primarios conventus peragunt who usually convene in Parliament for those ends and purposes before remembred But not to trust to him alone though questionless he be ideoneus testis in the present case Let us behold the Assembly of the three Estates or Conventus Ordinum in France from whence it is conceived that all Assemblies of this kind had their first Original and we shall find a very full description of them in the Assembly des Estats at Bloys under Henry III. Anno 1577. of which thus Thuanus Rex in sublimi loco sub uranisco sedebat Thanus in histor sci temp l. 63. c. The King saith he sate on an high erected Throne under the Canopy of State the Queen-Mother and the Queen his Wife and all the Cardinals Princes Peers upon either hand And then it followeth Transtris infra dispositis ad dextram suam sacri Ordinis Delegati ad laevam Nobilitas infra plebetus ordo sedebat that on some lower forms there sate the Delegates of the Clergy towards the right hand of the King the Nobility towards the left and the Commissioners for the Commons in the space below We may conjecture at the rest by the view of this Of those in Spain by those Conventions of the States which before we spake of at Burgos Monson Toledo and in other places in which the King is always mentioned as a different person who called them and dissolved them as he saw occasion For Scotland it is ordinary in the stile of Parliaments to say the King and the Estates do ordain and constitute for which I do refer you to the Book of Statutes which clearly makes the King to be a different person from the Estates of that Kingdom And as for England Statutes of Scotland besides what may be gathered from the former Chapter we read in the History of Titus Livius touching the Reign and Acts of King Henry V. that when his Funerals were ended the three Estates of the Realm of England did assemble together and declared his Son King Henry VI. being an Infant of eight months old to be their Sovereign Lord Tit. Liv. M. S. in Bibl. Bodl. as his Heir and Successor And in the Parliament Rolls of King Richard III. there is mention of a Bill or Parchment presented to that Prince being then Duke of Glocester on the behalf and in the name of the three Estates of this Realm of England that is to wit of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and of the Commons by name which forasmuch as neither the said three Estates nor the persons which delivered it on their behalf were then Assembled in form of Parliament was afterwards in the first Parliament of that King by the same three Estates Assembled in this present Parliament I speak the very words of the Act it self and by Authority of the same enrolled Ap. Speed in K. Rich. 3. recorded and approved And at the request and by the assent of three Estates of this Realm that is to say the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons of this Land Assembled in this present Parliament and by Authority of the same it be pronounced decreed and declared that our said Sovereign Lord the King was and is the very and undoubted Heir of this Realm of England 1 Eliz. cap. 3. c. And so it is acknowledged in a Statute of 1 Eliz. cap. 3. where the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in that Parliament assembled being said
expresly and in terminis to represent the three Estates of the Realm of England did recognize the Queens Majesty to be their true lawful and undoubted Sovereign Liege Lady and Queen This makes it evident that the King was not accounted in the times before for one of the three Estates of Parliament nor can be so accounted the present times For considering that the Lords and Commons do most confessedly make two of the three Estates and that the Clergy in another Act of Parliament of the said Queens time are confessed to be one of the greatest States of the Realm which Statute being still in force Statut. 8. Eliz. cap. 1. doth clearly make the Clergy to be the third either there must be more than three Estates in this Kingdom which is against the Doctrine of the present times or else the King is none of the Estates as indeed he is not which was the matter to be proved But I spend too much time in confuting that which hath so little ground to stand on more than the dangerous consequences which are covered under it For if the King be granted once to be no more than one of the three Estates how can it choose but follow from so sad a principle that he is of no more power and consideration in the time of Parliament than the House of Peers which sometimes hath consisted of three Lords no more or than the House of Commons only which hath many times consisted of no more than eighty or an hundred Gentlemen but of far less consideration to all intents and purposes in the Law whatever than both the Houses joyned together What else can follow hereupon but that the King must be co-ordinate with his two Honses of Parliament and if co-ordinate then to be over-ruled by their joynt concurrence bound to conform unto their Acts and confirm their Ordinances or upon case of inconformity and non-compliance to see them put in execution against his liking and consent to his foul reproach And what at last will be the issue of this dangerous consequence but that the Lords content themselves to come down to the Commons and the King be no otherwise esteemed of than the chief of the Lords the Princeps Senatus if you will or the Duke of Venice at the best no more which if Sir Edward Dering may be credited as I think he may in this particular seems to have been the main design of some of the most popular and powerful Members then sitting with him for which I do refer the Reader to his book of Speeches Which dangerous consequents whether they were observed at first by these who first ventured on the expression or were improvidently looked over I can hardly say Certain I am it gave too manifest an advantage to the Antimonarchical party in this Kingdom and hardned them in their proceeding against their King whom they were taught to look on and esteem no otherwise than as a Joint-tenant of the Sovereignty with the Lords and Commons And if Kings have partners in the Sovereignty they are then no King such being the nature and Law of Monarchy that si divisionem capiat interitum capiat necesse est Laciant Institut Div. l. 1. c. if it be once divided and the authorities thereof imparted it is soon destroyed Such is the dangerous consequence of this new Expression that it seemeth utterly to deprive the Bishops and in them the Clergy of this Land of all future hopes of being restored again to their place in Parliament For being the Parliament can consist but of three Estates if the King fall so low as to pass for one either the Bishops or the Commons or the Temporal Lords must desert their claim the better to make way for this new pretension and in all probability the Commons being grown so potent and the Nobility so numerous and united in bloud and marriages will not quit their interesse and therefore the poor Clergy must be no Estate because less able as the World now goeth with them to maintain their Title I have often read that Constantine did use to call himself ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Bishop or superintendent of his Bishops Euseb de vita Constant and I have often heard our Lawyers say that the King is the general Ordinary of the Kingdom but never heard nor read till within these few years that ever any King did possess himself of the Bishops place or Vote in Parliament or sat there as the first of the three Estates as anciently the Bishops did to supply their absence By which device whether the Clergy or the King be the greater losers though it be partly seen already future times will shew This Rub removed we next proceed to the examination of that power which by our Author is conferred on the three Estates which we shall find on search and tryal to be very different according to the constitution of the Kingdom in which they are For where the Kings are absolute Monarchs as in England Scotland France and Spain Bod in de Repuô l. 1. c. the three Estates have properly and legally little more Authority than to advise their King as they see occasion to present unto his view their common grievances and to propose such remedies for redress thereof as to them seem meetest to canvass and review such erroneous judgments as formerly have passed in inferiour Courts and finally to consult about and prepare such Laws as are expedient for the publick In other Countreys where the Kings are more conditional and hold their Crowns by compact and agreement between them and their Subjects the reputation and authority of the three Estates is more high and eminent as in Polonia Denmark and some others of the Northern Kingdoms where the Estates lay claim to more than a directive power and think it not enough to advise their King unless they may dispose of the Kingdom also or at least make their King no better than a Royal Slave Thus and no otherwise it is with the German Emperors who are obnoxious to the Laws Thuan. hist sui temp l. 2. and for their Government accomptable to the Estates of the Empire insomuch that if the Princes of the Empire be persuaded in their consciences that he is likely by his mal-administration to destroy the Empire and that he will not hearken to advice and counsel ab Electorum Collegio Caesaria potestate privari potest Anonym Script ap Philip. Paraeum in Append ad Rom. 13. he may be deprived by the Electors and a more fit and able man elected to supply the place And to this purpose in a Constitution made by the Emperor Jodocus about the year 1410. there is a clause that if he or any of his Successors do any thing unto the contrary thereof the Electors and other States of the Empire sine rebellionis vel infidelitatis crimine libertatem babeant Goldast Constit Imperial Tom. 3. p. 424. should be at liberty
without incurring the crimes of Treason or Disloyalty not only to oppose but resist them in it The like to which occurrs for the Realm of Hungary wherein K. Andrew gives Authority to his Bishops Lords Bonfinius de Edict publ p. 37. and other Nobles sine nota alicujus infidelitatis that without any imputation of Disloyalty they may contradict oppose and resist their Kings if they do any thing in violation of some Laws and sanctions In Poland the King takes a solemn Oath at his Coronation to confirm all the Priviledges Rights and Liberties which have been granted to his Subjects of all ranks and Orders by any of his Predecessors and then adds this clause quod si Sacramentum meum violavero incolae Regni nullam nobis obedientiam praestare tenebuntur which if he violates his Subjects shall no longer be obliged to yield him Obedience Which Oath as Bodin well observeth Bodin de Rep. lib. 2. cap. 8. doth savour rather of the condition of the Prince of the Senate than of the Majesty of a King The like may be affirmed of Frederick the first King of Danemark who being called unto that Crown on the ejection of K. Christian the 2d An. 1523. was so conditioned with by the Lords of the Kingdom that at his Coronation or before he was fain to swear that he would put none of the Nobility to death or banishment but by the judgment of the Senate that the great men should have power of life or death over their Tenants and Vassals and that no Appeal should lie from them to the Kings Tribunal nor the King be partaker of the confiscations nec item honores aut imperia privatis daturum Id. ibid. c. nor advance any private person to Commands or Honours but by Authority of his great Council Which Oath being also taken by Frederick the second made Bodinus say that the Kings of Danemark non tam reipsa quam appellatione Reges sunt were only titular Kings but not Kings indeed Which Character he also gives of the King of Bobemia Id. ibid. p. 88. But in an absolute Monarchy the case is otherwise all the prerogatives and rights of Sovereignty being so vested in the Kings person ut nec singulis civibus nec universis fas est c. that it is neither lawful to particular men nor to the whole body of the Subjects generally to call the Prince in question for Life Fame or Fortunes Id. ibid. p. 210. and amongst these he reckoneth the Kingdoms of France Spain England Scotland the Tartars Muscovites omnium pene Africae Asiae imperiorum and of almost all the Kingdoms of Africk and Asia But this we shall the better see by looking over the particulars as they lie before us But first before we come unto those particulars we will look backwards on the condition and Authority of the Jewish Sanbedrim which being instituted and ordained by the Lord himself may serve to be a leading Case in the present business For being that the Jews were the Lords own people and their King honoured with the Title of the Lords Anointed it will be thought that if the Sanhedrim or the great Council of the seventy had any Authority and power over the Kings of Judah of whose jus Regni such a larger description is made by God himself in the first of Sam. cap. 8. the three Estates may reasonably expect the like in these parts of Christendom Now for the Authority of the Sanhedrim it is said by Cardinal Baronius that they had power of Judicature over the Law the Prophets and the Kings themselves Baron Annai Eccl. An. 31. sect 10. Erat horum summa autoritas ut qui de lege cognoscerent Prophetis simul de Regibus judicarent Which false position he confirms by as false an instance affirming in the very next words horum judicio Herodem Regem postulatum esse that King Herod was convented and convicted by them for which he cites Josphus with the like integrity I should have wondred very much what should occasion such a gross mistake in the learned Cardinal had I not shewn before that as he makes the Sanhedrim to rule the King so he hath made the high Priest to rule the Sanhedrim which to what purpose it was done every man can tell who knoweth the Cardinal endeavoureth nothing more in his large Collections than to advance the dignity and supremacy of the Popes of Rom. But for the power pretended to be in the Sanhedrim Id. in Epist dedicator and their proceedings against Herod as their actual King Josephus whom he cites is so far from saying it that he doth expresly say the contrary For as Josephus tells the story Hyrcanus was then King not Herod and Herod of so little hopes to enjoy the Kingdom that he could not possibly pretend any Title to it But having a command in Galilee procured by Antipater his Father of the good King Hyrcanus he had played the wanton Governor amongst them and put some of them to death against Law and Justice For which the Mothers of the slain ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã did often call upon the King and people in the open Temple ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. that Herod might answer for the murther before the Sanhedrim Joseph Antiq. Judic l. 14. cap. 17. Which being granted by the King he was accordingly convented by them and had been questionless condemned had not the King who loved him dearly given him notice of it on whose advertisement he went out of the Town and so escaped the danger This is the substance of that story and this gives no Authority to the Court of Sanhedrim over the persons or the actions of the Kings of Judah Others there are who make them equal to the Kings though not superiour Magnam fuisse Senatus autoritatem Regiae velut parem saith the Learned Grotius Grotius in Matth. cap. 5. v. 22. And for the proof thereof allege those words of Sedechias in the Book of Jeremy who when the Princes of his Realm required of him to put the Prophet to death Jerem. 38.5 returned this Answer Behold he is in your hand Rex enim contra vos nihil potest for the King is not he that can do any thing against you Which words are also cited by Mr. Prynne to prove that the King of England hath no Negative Voice but by neither rightly For Calvin who as one observeth composed his Expositions on the book of God according to the Doctrine of his Institutions would not have lost so fair an evidence for the advancing of the power of his three Estates Prynne of Parl. pt 2. p. 73. Hookers Preface had he conceived he could have made it serviceable to his end and purpose But he upon the contrary finds fault with them who do so expound it or think the King did speak so honourably of his Princes ac si nihil iis sit
from his three Estates than that which is afforded to the Kings of France Id. ibid. which being but general and comparative is yet enough to let us see that the Assembly of Estates in the Realms of Spain which they call the Curia is very observant of their King and obsequious to him and have but little of that power which is supposed by our Author to be inherent in the three Estates of all the Christian Kingdoms But this Bodinus proveth more particularly ascribing to the King and to him alone the power of calling this Assembly when he sees occasion and of dissolving it again when his work is done according as is used both in France and England And when they are assembled and met together their Acts and Consultations are of no effect further than as they are confirmed by the Kings consent Which he declareth in the same Form eadem formulâ quâ apud nos that hath accustomably been used by the Kings of France which is authoritative enough that is to say decernimus statuimus volumus We will and we appoint and we have decreed The Kings of Spain Id. ibid. p. 90. though not so despotical in their Government as the French Kings are are as absolute Monarchs and have as great an influence on the three Estates to make them pliant to their will and to work out their own ends by them as ever had the French Kings on their Courts of Parliament a touch whereof we had before in the former Chapter And this we may yet further see by their observance of the pleasure of King Philip the 2d Who having maried the Lady Elizabeth Daughter of Henry the 2d of France Convocatos Castellae reliquarum Hispaniae Provinciarum Ordines calling together the Estates of Castile and his other Provinces of Spain Thuan. hist sui temp l. 23. he caused them to swear to the succession of his Son Prince Charles whom he had by the Lady Mary of Portugal and after having on some jealousies of State put that Prince to death caused them to swear to the succession of another Son by the Lady of Austria And for the power of his Edicts which they call Pragmaticas they are as binding to the Subject as an Act of Parliament or any kind of Law whatever Examples of the which are very obvious and familiar in the Spanish Histories For though there be a body of Laws in use amongst them partly made up of some old Gothish Laws and Constitutions and partly of some parts of the Law imperial yet for the explanation of the Laws in force if any doubt arise about them or for supplying such defects which in the best collection of the Laws may occur sometimes the Magistrates and Judges are to have recourse to the King alone and to conform to such instructions as he gives them in it And this is it which was ordained by Alfonso the tenth qui etiam magistratus ad judices Principem adire jussit quoties patrio jure nihil de proposita causa seriptum esset as Bodinus hath it Bodin de Rep. lib. 1. cap. 8. 'T is true that for the railing of supplies of money and the imposing of extraordinary Taxes upon the Subject the Kings of Spain must be beholden to the three Estates without whose consent it cannot legally be done But then it is as true withal Id. ibid. p. 90. that there are customary Tributes called Servitia which the King raiseth of his own Aurhority without such consent And their consenting to the extraordinary is a thing of course the Spanish Nation being so well affected naturally to the power and greatness of their Kings whom they desire to make considerable if not formidable in the opinion of their Neighbours that the Kings seldom fail of moneys if the Subjects have it Finally that we may perceive how absolute this Monarch is over all the Courts or Curias of his whole Dominions take this along according as it stands verbatim in the Spanish History Spanish Hist 67. by Iyrannel The King of Spain as he is a potent Prince and Lord of many Countreys so hath he many Councils for the managing of their affairs distinctly and apart without any confusion every Council treating only of those matters which concern their Jurisdiction and charges with which Councils and with the Presidents thereof being men of chief note the King doth usually confer touching matters belonging to the good Government preservation and increase of his Estates and having heard every mans Opinion he commands that to be executed which he holds most fit and convenient Next let us take a view of Scotland and we shall find it there no otherwise I mean in reference to the point which is now in question than in France or Spain For besides that Bodinus makes it one of those absolute Monarchies ubi Keges sine controversia omnia jura Majestatis habent per sese Bodin de Repub l. 2. c. 7. Cambden in Britan. descript in which the Kings have clearly all the Rights of Majesty inherent in their own persons only it is declared in the Records of that very Kingdom that the King is directus totius Dominus the Sovereign Lord of the whole State and hath all authority and jurisdiction over all Estates and degrees as well Ecclesiaestical as Lay or Temporal And as for those Estates and Degrees convened in Parliament we may conjecture at their Power by that which is delivered of the Form or Order which they held it in Form of holding the Parl. in Scotland which is briefly this As soon as the Kings Writ is issued out for summoning the Estates to meet in Parliament he maketh choice of eight of the Spiritual Lords such on whose wisdom and integrity he may most rely which eight do chuse as many of the Temporal Lords and they together nominate eight more out of the Commissioners for the Counties and as many out of the Commissioners for the Towns or Burroughs These 32 thus chosen are called Domini pro Articulis Lords of the Articles and they together with the Chancellor Treasurer Keeper of the Privy Seal and principal Secretaries of State and the Master of the Rolls whom they call Clerk Register do admit or reject every Bill but not before they have been shewn unto the King if they pass there they are presented afterwards to the whole Assembly where being throughly weighed and examined and put unto the Votes of the House such of them as are carried by the major part of the Voices for the Lords and Commons sit together in the same House there are on the last day of the Sessions exhibited to the King who by touching them with his Scepter pronounceth that he either ratifieth and approveth them or that he doth disable them and make them void But if the business be disliked by the Lords of the Articles it proceeds no further and never comes unto the consideration of the Parliament
sometimes to pass by a Statute with a non obstante as in the Statute 1 Hen. IV. cap. VI. touching the value to be specified of such Lands Offices or Annuities c. as by the King are granted in his Letters patents But these will better come within the compas of those jura Majestatis Cambden in Brit. or rights of Sovereignty which our Lawyers call sacra individua Sacred by reason they are not to be pried into with irreverent eyes and individual or inseparable because they cannot be communicated unto any other Of which kind are the levying of Arms Case of our Affairs p. suppressing of tumults and rebellions providing for the present safety of his Kingdom against sudden dangers convoking of Parliaments and dissolving them making of Peers granting liberty of sending Burgesses to Towns and Cities treating with forein States making War Leagues and Peace granting safe conduct and protection Indenizing giving of Honour Rewarding Pardoning Coyning Printing and the like to these But what need these particulars have been looked into to prove the absoluteness and sovereignty of the Kings of England when the whole body of the Realm hath affirmed the same and solemnly declared it in their Acts of Parliament 16 Rich. 2. c. 5. In one of which is affirmed that the Crown of England hath been so free at all times that it hath been in no earthly subjection but immediatly to God in all things touching the regality of the said Crown and to none other And in another Act that the Realm of England is an Empire governed by one Supream Head and King having the Dignity and Royal Estate of the Imperial Crown of the same unto whom a Body politick compact of all sorts and degrees of people divided in terms and by names of Spiritualty and Temporalty be bounden and ought to bear next to God a natural and bumble obedience 24 Hen. 8. c. 12. And more than so That the King being the supream Head of this Body Politick is instituted and furnished by the goodness and sufferance of Almighty God with plenary whole and entire power preheminence authority prerogative and jurisdiction to render and yield justice and final determination to all manner of Subjects within this Realm and in all causes whatsoever Nor was this any new Opinion invented only to comply with the Princes humour but such as is declared to have been fortified by sundry Laws and Ordinances made in former Parliaments Ibid. and such as hath been since confirmed by a solemn Oath taken and to be taken by most of the Subjects of this Kingdom Which Oath consisting of two parts the one Declaratory and the other Promissory in the Declaratory part the man thus taketh it he doth declare and testifie in his conscience that the Kings Highness is the only supream Governour of this Realm and of all other his Dominions and Countries as well in all Spiritual or Ecclesiastical things or causes as temporal c. And in the Promissory part 1 Eliz. c. 1. they make Oath and swear that to their power they will assist and defend all Jurisdictions Priviledges Preheminencies and Authorities granted or belonging to the Kings Highness his Heirs and Successors or united and annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm Put all which hath been said together and it will appear that if to have merum imperium a full and absolute command and all the jura majestatis which belong to Sovereignty if to be so Supream as to hold immediatly of God to have all persons under him none but God above him if to have all authority and jurisdiction to be vested in him and proceeding from him and the material sword at his sole disposal for the correcting of offenders and the well ordering of his people if to have whole and entire power of rendring justice and final determination of all causes to all manner of Subjects as also to interpret and dispence with Laws and all this ratified and confirmed unto him by the solemn Oath of his Subjects in the Court of Parliament be enough to make an absolute Monarch the Kings of England are more absolute Monarchs than either of their Neighbours of France or Spain If any thing may be said to detract from this it is the new device so much pressed of late of placing the chief Sovereignty or some part thereof in the two Houses of Parliament concerning which Mr. Pryn published a discourse entituled The supreme power of Parliaments and Kingdoms and others in their Pamphlets upon that Argument have made the Parliament so absolute and the King so limited that of the two the Members of the Houses are the greater Monarchs But this is but a new device not heard of in our former Monuments and Records of Law nor proved or to be proved indeed by any other Medium than the Rebellions of Cade Tiler Straw Kett Mackerel Prynns book of Parl. c. pt 3. and the rest of that rascal rabble or the seditious Parliaments in the time of King Henry III. King Edward II. and King Richard II. when civil war and faction carried all before it For neither have the Houses or either of them enjoyed such Sovereignty de facto in times well setled and Parliaments lawfully assembled nor ever could pretend to the same de jure Or if they do as many have been apt enough to raise false pretences it would much trouble them to determine whether this Sovereignty be conferred upon them by the King or the People whether it be in either of the Houses severally or in both united If they can challenge this pretended Sovereignty in neither of these capacities nor by none of these titles it may be warrantably concluded that there is no such Sovereignty as they do pretend to And first there is no part nor branch of Sovereignty conferred upon them by the King The Writs of Summons which the Deelaration of the Lords and Commons assembled at Oxon. 1643. doth most truly call the foundation of all power in Parliament Declaration of the Trtaty p. 15. tell us no such matter The Writ directed to the Lords doth enable them only to confer and treat with one another consilium vestrum impendere and to advise the King in such weighty matters as concern the safety of the Kingdom But they are only to advise not compel the King to counsel him but not controll him and to advise and counsel are no marks of Sovereignty but rather works of service and subordination Nor can they come to give this Counsel without he invite them and being invited by his Writ cannot choose but come except he excuse them which are sure notes of duty and subjection but verry sorry signs of power and sovereignty 'T is true that being come together they may and sometimes do on a Writ of Error examin and reverse or affirm such judgments as have been given in the Kings Bench and from their sentence in the case there is
no appeal but only to the whole body of that Court the King Case of our Assairs p. 7 8. and both the Houses the Head and Members But this they do not as the upper House of Parliament but as the distinct Court of the Kings Barons of Parliament of a particular and ministerial jurisdiction to some intents and purposes and to some alone which though it doth invest them with a power of judicature confers not any thing upon them which belongs to Sovereignty Then for the Commons all which the Writ doth call them to is facere consentire to do and consent unto such things which are ordained by the Lords and Common Council of the Kingdom of England and sure conformity and consent which is all the Writ requireth from them are no marks of Sovereignty nor can an Argument be drawn from thence by the subtlest Sophister to shew that they are called to be partakers of the Sovereign power or that the King intends to denude himself of any branch or leaf thereof to hide their nakedness And being met together in a body collective they are so far from having any share in Sovereignty that they cannot properly be called a Court of Judicature as neither having any power to minister an Oath Id. p. 9. or to imprison any body except it be some of their own Members if they see occasion which are things incident to all Courts of Justice and to every Steward of a Leet insomuch that the House of Commons is compared by some and not incongruously unto the Grand Inquest at a general Sessions whose principal work it is to receive Bills and prepare businesses Review of the Observat p. 22. and make them fit and ready for my Lords the Judges Nay so far were they heretofore from the thoughts of Sovereignty that they were lyable to sutes and punishments for things done in Parliament though only to the prejudice of a private Subject until King Henry VIII most graciously passed a Law for their indemnity For whereas Richard Strode one of the company of Tinners in the County of Cornwall being a Member of the Commons House had spoken somewhat to the prejudice of that Society and contrary to the Ordinances of the Stanneries at his return into the Country he was Arrested Fined Imprisoned Complaint whereof being made in Parliament the King passed a Law to this effect viz. That all suites condemnations 4 Hen. 8. c. 8. executions charges and impositions put or hereafter to be put upon Richard Strode and every of his Complices that be of this Parliament or any other hereafter for any Bill speaking or reasoning of any thing concerning the Parliament to be communed and treated of shall be void and null But neither any reparation was allowed to Strode nor any punishment inflicted upon those that sued him for ought appears upon Record And for the Houses joyned together which is the last capacity they can claim it in they are so far from having the supream Authority that as it is observed by a learned Gentleman they cannot so unite or conjoyn as to be an entire Court either of Sovereign or Ministerial jurisdiction no otherwise co-operating than by concurrence of Votes in their several Houses for preparing matters in order to an Act of Parliament Case of our Affairs p. 9. Which when they have done they are so far from having any legal Authority in the State as that in Law there is no stile nor form of their joynt Acts nor doth the Law so much as take notice of them until they have the Royal Assent So that considering that the two Houses alone do no way make an entire Body or Court and that there is no known stile nor form of any Law or Edict by the Votes of the two Houses only nor any notice taken of them by the Law it is apparent that there is no Sovereignty in their two Votes alone How far the practice of the Lords and Commons which remain'd at Westminster after so many of both Houses had repaired to the King c. may create Precedents unto Posterity I am not able to determine but sure I am they have no Precedent to shew from the former Ages But let us go a little further and suppose for granted that the Houses either joynt or separate be capable of the Sovereignty were it given unto them I would fain know whether they claim it from the King or the People only Not from the King for he confers upon them no further power than to debate and treat of his great Affairs to have access unto his person freedom of speech as long as they contain themselves within the bounds of Loyalty authority over their own Members Hakewell of passing Bills in Parliament which being customarily desired and of course obtained as it relates unto the Commons shews plainly that these vulgar priviledges are nothing more the rights of Parliament than the favours of Princes but yet such favours as impart not the least power of Sovereignty Nor doth the calling of a Parliament ex opere operato as you know who phrase it either denude the King of the poorest robe of all his Royalty or confer the same upon the Houses or on either of them whether the King intend so by his call or otherwise For Bodin whom Mr. Prynn hath honoured with the title of a grand Politician Prynn of Parliament par 2. p. 45. Bodin de Repub doth affirm expresly Principis majestatem nec Comitorum convocatione nec Senatus populique praesentia minui that the Majesty or Sovereignty of the King is not a jot diminished either by the calling of a Parliament or Conventus Ordinum or by the frequency and presence of his Lords and Commons Nay to say truth the Majesty of Sovereign Princes is never so transcendent and conspicuous as when they sit in Parliament with their States about them the King then standing in his highest Estate as was once said by Henry VIII who knew as well as any of the Kings of England how to keep up the Majesty of the Crown Imperial Nor can they claim it from the People who have none to give for nemo dat quod non habet as the saying is The King as hath been proved before doth hold his Royal Crown immediately from God himself not from the contract of the People He writes not populi clementia but Dei gratia not by the favour of the People but by the grace of God The consent and approbation of the People used and not used before the day of Coronation is reckoned only as a part of the solemn pomps which are then accustomably used The King is actually King to all intents and purposes in the Law whatever immediatly on the death of his Predecessor Nor ever was it otherwise objected in the Realm of England till Clark and Watson pleaded it at their Arraignment in the first year of King James Speeds History in K James Or grant
times the Kings did graciously vouchsafe to pass the whole Bill in that Form which the Houses gave it or to reject it wholly as they saw occasion yet still the Privy Council and the Judges and the Council learned in the Laws have and enjoy their place in the House of Peers as well for preservation of the Kings Rights and Royalties as for direction to the Lords in a point of Law if any case of difficulty be brought before them on which occasions the Lords are to demand the Opinion of the Judges and upon their Opinions to ground their Judgment As for Example In the Parliament 28 of Hen. VI. The Commons made suit that William de la Pole Duke of Suffolk should be committed to Prison for many Treasons and other Crimes and thereupon the Lords demanded the Opinion of the Judges 28 Hen. 6. whether he should be committed to Prison or not whose Answer was that he ought not to be committed in regard the Commons had not charged him with any particular offence but with generals only which Opinion was allowed and followed In another Parliament of the said King held by Prorogation one Thomas Thorpe the Speaker of the House of Cemmons was in the Prorogation-time condemned in 1000 l. damages upon an Action of Trespass at the suit of Richard Duke of York and was committed to Prison for execution of the same The Parliament being reassembled the Commons made suit to the King and Lords to have their Speaker delivered to them according to the Privilege of Parliaments The priviled of the Barons p. 15. the Lords demanded the Opinion of the Judges in it and upon their Answer did conclude that the Speaker should stilll remain in Prison according to Law notwithstanding the privilege of Parliament and according to this resolution the Commons were commanded in the Kings name to chuse one Tho. Carleton for their Speaker which was done accordingly Other Examples of this kind are exceeding obvious and for numbers infinite yet neither more in number nor more obvious than those of our Kings serving their turns by and upon their Parliaments as their occasions did require For not to look on higher and more Regal times we find that Richard the 2d a Prince not very acceptable to the Common people could get an Act of Parliament 21 Ric. 2. to confirm the extrajudicial Opinion of the Judges given before at Notingham that King Henry IV. could by another Act reverse all that Parliament entail the Crown to his posterity 1 Hen. 4. and keep his Dutchy of Laneaster and all the Lands and Scigneuries of it from being united to the Crown that King Edward the 4th could have a Parliament to declare all the Kings of the House of Lancaster to be Kings in Fact but not in Right 1 Ed. c. 1. and for uniting of that Dutchy to the Crown Imperial notwithstanding the former Act of separation that King Richard the 3d could have a Parliament to bastardize all his Brothers Children Speeds Hist in K. Richard 3. Verulams Hist of K. Hen. 7. 11 Hen. 7. c. 10. to set the Crown on his own Head though a most bloody Tyrant and a plain Usurper that K. Henry VII could have the Crown entailed by an Act of Parliament to the issue of his own body without relation to his Queen of the House of York which was conceived by many at that time to have the better Title to it another for paying a Benevolence which he had required of the Subject though all Benevolences had been damned by a former Statute made in the short but bloudy reign of King Richard the 3d that King Henry VIII could have one Act of Parliament to bastardry his Daughter Mary in favour of the Lady Elizabeth 65 Hen. 8. c. 22 28. c. 7. 35 H. 8. c. 1. another to declare the Lady Elizabeth to be illegitimate in expectation of the issue by Queen Jane Seymour a third for setling the succession by his Will and Testament and what else he pleased that Queen Mary could not only obtain several Acts in favour of her self and the See of Rome but for the setling of the Regency on the King of Spain 1 Mar. ses 2. c. 1 2. 1. 2 Ph. M. c. 8.10 in case the Children of that Bed should be left in non-age And finally that Queen Elizabeth did not only gain many several Acts for the security of her own Person which were determinable with her life but could procure an Act to be passed in Parliament for making it high Treason to affirm and say That the Queen could not by Act of Parliament bind and dispose the Rights and Titles which any person whatsoever might have to the Crown 13 Eliz. c. 1. And as for raising moneys and amassing Treasures by help of Parliaments he that desires to know how well our Kings have served themselves that way by the help of Parliaments let him peruse a book entituled the Privilege of Parliaments writ in the manner of Dialogue between a Privy Counsellor and a Justice of Peace and he shall be satisfied to the full Put all that hath been said together and sure the Kingdom of England must not be the place in which the three Estates convened in Parliament have power to regulate the King or restrain his actions or moderate his extravagances or where they can be taxed for persidious treachery of they connive at Kings when they play the Tyrants or wantonly insult on the Common-people or otherwise abuse that power which the Lord hath given them Calvin was much mistaken if he thought the contrary or if he dreamt that he should be believ'd on his ipse dixit without a punctual enquiry into the grounds and probability of such a dangerous intimation as he lays before us But against this it is objected that Parliaments have disposed of the Militia of the Kingdom of the Forts Castles Ports and the Navy Royal not only without the Kings leave but against his liking that they have deposed some Kings and advanced others to the top of the Regal Throne And for the proof of this they produce Examples out of the Reign of King Henry III. Edw. II. and King Richard the second Examples which if rightly pondered do not so much prove the Power as the Weakness of Parliaments in being carried up and down by the private conduct of every popular pretender For 't is well known that the Parliaments did not take upon them to rule or rather to over-look K. Henry III. but as they were directed by Simon Montfort Earl of Leicester who having raised a potent faction in the State by the assistance of the Earls of Glocester Matth. Paris Henr. 3. Hereford Derby and some others of the great Lords of the Kingdom compelled the King to yield unto what terms he pleased and made the Parliaments no other than a means and instrument to put a popular gloss on his wretched purposes And
things are commanded to all men both Priests and Monks and not to temporal men only which he declareth in the beginning when he said Let every soul be subject to the highest powers although thou be an Apostle although thou be an Evangelist although thou be a Prophet although thou be whatsoever thou art Which said he gives this reason for it That Religion is not overthrown by this subjection If no Apostle could pretend to an exemption from those common duties which Subjects owe unto their Princes then certainly the Pope who pretends to sit in Peters Chair and to challenge all the priviledges which belonged unto him must needs be in as great subjection to a Christian Emperor as the Apostles were in their times to any Heathen King If those things were required of Priests and Monks as he says they were then must the Papal Clergy whether they be Monastick or secular Priests perform those duties and yield that due obedience unto those Kings and Princes under whom they live which are here required But so it is that partly by strong hand and partly by taking their opportunities in the darker Ages of the Church the Pope hath not only freed his Clergy from the power of Princes in matters even of Civil nature and concernment but challengeth for himself a power above them and exercised it for a long time with great pride and Tyranny contrary to the Apostles Rule and the Fathers Commentary If to Evangelist or Prophet could challenge any such exemption as the Father plainly saith they could not then much less can the Presbyterian Minister pretend unto it though he be both a Prophet and an Evangelist also in his own conceit Which notwithstanding the Scotish Presbyterians had got unto so great a head in the minority of King James in all matters which related to Ecclesiastical congnizance and to that cognizance they reduced all matters they commonly declin d the Kings judgment and his Courts of Judicature as altogether incompetent appealing from them either to their own Presbyteries or to the next general Assembly of their own appointing and standing so wilfully to those Appeals that some of them had like to have paid dear for it after that Kings coming into England if the King had not been more merciful to them than that they deserved at his hands If no man whatsoever he be can lawfully acquit himself from this subjection as is said by Chrysostom what will become of Calvins popular Magistrates and of the great Authority which he gives them over Kings and Princes those popular Officers being included equally with the rest of the people in St. Pauls injunction It s true that Calvins popular Officers may seem to have some colour for it both from our English Translation and the vulgar Latin by which obedience is required sublimioribus potestatibus to the higher powers and all such popular Officers whatsoever they be may warrantably be lookt upon as higher powers in respect of the residue of the people But first the words in the Original viz. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã do not so properly signifie the higher as the supream powers and so the word is rendâed in the first of S. Peter cap. 1. ver 13. in which submission is required to every Ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be unto the King ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as to the Supream or unto such as are sent by him c. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã saith S. Peter in the singular ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã saith S. Paul in the plural number both words proceeding from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the Nominative Case and consequently being of the same sense and signification But secondly permitting them the benefit of these Translations yet will they find but little colour for that coercive power that Sovereign Authority and Jurisdiction which Calvin hath assigned to the three Estates or any other popular Officers over Kings and Princes For though such popular Officers may warrantably be lookt upon as higher powers in respect of the residue of the people as before was said yet are they lower powers in respect of the King from whom as they receive all the Authority which they have whatsoever it be so unto him they are to render an accompt of their actings in it whensoever he pleaseth So that these popular Officers may be compar'd not unntly unto the Genera subalterna in the Schools of Logick each of them being subordinate to one another the Constable to the Mayor or Bayliff in a Corporate Town or to the Justices of the Peace in the County at large the Mayors and Justices to the Judges in their several Circuits the Judges in their several Circuits and their Courts of Judicature to the Lord Chancellor for the time being and he unto the three Estates when convened in Parliament till they end all in genus summum in that supream power which is subordinate to none and unto which the rest are Species subalternae as the Logicians phrase it in their several Orders till they end all in Specie infimâ even in the lowest of the People Less comfort can I give them from the Apostle of the Jews from the words of St. Peter in which submission is required as before was said to every ordinance of man whether it be unto the King as unto the Supream or unto Governors as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers and for the praise of them that do well Now those which are thus authorised and sent by Kings to the ends and purposes before mentioned may very properly be resembled unto Jehosophats Commissioners in the Kingdom of Judah or the itinerary Judges in the Realm of England 2 Chron. 17.7 and can neither claim nor exercise any other Authority than what in their Commissions and instructions is assigned unto them And certainly no King did or will ever grant any such Commission whereby his Under-officers and Inferior Magistrates may challenge any power above him or exercise any jurisdiction or Authority over him If any thing in this Text may be thought to favour Calvin in this strange opinion it is that Kings are said to be ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã humana creatura saith the vulgar Latin an Ordinance of Man as the English read it and being but a Creature of the Peoples making the rest may think themselves as good men as he The Rhemists will have Kings to be called humane Creatures because Elected by the people or holding their Sovereignty by birth and carnal propagation ordained for the wealth peace and prosperity of the Subjects to put a difference betwixt that humane Superiority and the spiritual Rulers and Regiments guiding and governing the people to an higher end and instituted by God himself immediately Christ having expresly constituted the form of Regiment used ever since in the Church Whereunto Dr. Fulk for want of a better doth return this Answer viz. That though there be great difference between the government of
Princes and Ecclesiastical Governors yet the Apostle calleth not Princes an humane Creation as though they were not also of Gods Creation for there is no power but of God but that the form of their Creation is in mans appointment All the Genevians generally do so expound it and it concerns them so to do in point of interesse The Bishop of that City was their Sovereign Prince and had jus utriusque gladii as Calvin signified in a Letter to Cardinal Sadolet till he and all his Clergy were expelled the City in a popular Tumult Anno 1528. and a new form of Government established both in Church and State So that having laid the foundation of their Common-wealth in the expulsion of their Prince and the new model of their Discipline in refusing to have any more Bishop they found it best for justifying their proceedings at home and increasing their Partizans abroad to maintain a parity of Ministers in the Church of Christ and to invest the people and their popular Officers with a chief power in the concernments and affairs of State even to the deposing of Kings and disposing of Kingdoms But for this last they find no warrant in the Text which we have before us For first admitting the Translation to be true and genuine as indeed it is not the Roman Emperor and consequently other Kings and Princes may be said to be an humane Ordinance because their power is most visibly conversant circa humanas Actiones about ordering of humane Actions and other civil affairs of men as they were subjects of the Empire and Members of that Body politick whereof that Emperor was head Secondly to make Soveraign Princes by what name and Title soever called to be no other than an humane Ordinance because they are ordained by the people and of their appointment must needs create an irreconcileable difference between St. Peter and St. Paul by which last the Supream Powers whatsoever they be are called the Ordinance of God The Powers saith that Apostle are ordained of God and therefore he that resisteth the Powers resisteth the Ordinance of God Upon which words Deodate gives this gloss or comment That the Supream Powers are called the Ordinance of God because God is the Author of this Order in the world and all those who attain to these Dignities do so either by his manifest will and approbation when the means are lawful or by his secret Providence by meer permission or toleration when they are unlawful Now it is fitting that man should approve and tolerate that which God approves and tolerates But thirdly I conceive that those words in the Greek Text of St. Peter viz. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã are not so properly translated as they might have been and as the same words ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã are rendred by the same Translators somewhat more near to the Original in another place For in the 8th Chapter to the Romans vers 22. we find them rendring ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by the whole Creation and why not rather every Creature as both our old Translation and the Rhemists read it conform to omnis Creatura in the vulgar Latine which had they done and kept themselves more near to the Greek Original in St. Peters Text they either would have rendred it by every humane Creature as the Rhemists do or rather by all Men or by all Man-kind as the words import And then the meaning will be this that the Jews living scattered and disperst in Pontus Galatia Cappadocia and other Provinces of the Empire were to have their conversation so meek and lowly for fear of giving scandal to the Gentiles amongst whom they lived as to submit themselves to all Man-kind or rather to every Man unto every humane Creature as the Rhemists read it that was in Authority above whether it were unto the Emperor himself as their supream Lord or to such Legats Prefects and Procurators as were appointed by him for the govenment of those several Provinces to the end that they may punish the evil-doers and incourage such as did well living conformably to the Laws by which they were governed Small comfort in this Text as in any of the rest before for those popular Officers which Calvin makes the Overseers of the Sovereign Prince and Guardians of the Liberties of the common people If then there be no Text of Scripture no warrant from the Word of God by which the popular Officers which Calvin dreams of are made the Keepers of the Liberties of the common people or vested with the power of opposing Kings and Sovereign Princes as often as they wantonly insult upon the people or willingly infringe their Priviledges I would fain learn how they should come to know that they are vested with such power or trusted with the defence of the Subjects Liberties cujus se Dei oratione Tutores positos esse norunt as Calvin plainly says they do If they pretend to know it by inspiration such inspiration cannot be known to any but themselves alone neither the Prince or People whom it most concerneth can take notice of it Nor can they well assure themselves whether such inspirations come from God of the Devil the Devil many times insnaring proud ambitious and vain-glorious Men by such strange delusions If they pretend to know it by the dictate of their private Spirit the great Diana of Calvin and his followers in expounding Scripture we are but in the same uncertainties as we were before And who can tell whether the private Spirit they pretend unto and do so much brag of 1 Ring 22.22 may not be such a lying Spirit as was put into the mouths of the Prophets when Ahab was to be seduced to his own destruction Adeo Argumenta ex absurdo petita ineptos habent exitus as Lactantius notes it All I have now to add is to shew the difference between Calvin and his followers in the propounding of this Doctrine delivered by Calvin in few words but Magisterially enough and with no other Authority than his ipse dixit enlarged by David Paraeus in his Comment on Rom. 13. into divers branches and many endeavours used by him as by the rest of Calvins followers to find out Arguments and instances out of several Authors to make good the cause For which though Calvin scap'd the fire yet Paraeus could not Ille Crucem pretium sceleris tulit hic Diadema For so it hapned that one Mr. Knight of Brodegates now Pembroke Colledge in Oxford had preach'd up the Authority of these popular Officers in a Sermon before the University about the beginning of the year 1622. for which being presently transmitted to the King and Council he there ingenuously confessed that he had borrowed both his doctrine and his proofs and instances from the Book of Paraeus above mentioned Notice whereof being given to the University the whole Doctrine of Paraeus as to that particular was drawn into several Propositions which in a full and frequent Convocation
held on the 25th of June 1622. were severally condemned to be erroneous scandalous and destructive of Monarchical Government Upon which Sentence or determination the King gave order that as many of those books as could be gotten should solemnly and publickly be burnt in each of the Universities and St. Pauls Church-yard which was done accordingly An accident much complained of by the Puriten party for a long time after who looked upon it as the funeral pile of their Hopes and Projects till by degrees they got fresh courage carrying on their designs more secretly by consequence more dangerously than before they did The terrible effects whereof we have seen and felt in our late Civil Wars and present confusions But it is time to close this point and come to a conclusion of the whole discourse there be no other Objections that I know of but what are easily reduced unto those before or not worth the answering 15. Thus have we taken a brief survey of those insinuations grounds or principles call them what you will which Calvin hath laid down in his book of Institutions for the incouragement of the Subjects to rebellious courses and putting them in Arms against their Sovereign either in case of Tyranny Licentiousness or Mal-administration of what sort soever by which the Subject may pretend that they are oppressed either in point of Liberty or in point of Property And we have shewn upon what false and weak foundations he hath raised his building how much he hath mistaken or abused his Authors but how much more he hath betrayed and abused his Readers For we have clearly proved and directly manifested out of the best Records and Monuments of the former times that the Ephori were not instituted in the State of Sparta to oppose the Kings nor the Tribunes in the State of Rome to oppose the Consuls nor the Demarchi in the Common-wealth of Athens to oppose the Senate or if they were that this could no way serve to advance his purpose of setting up such popular Officers in the Kingdoms of Christendom those Officers being only found in Aristocraties or Democraties but never heard or dreamt of in a Monarchical Government And we have shewn both who they are which constitute the three Estates in all Christian Kingdoms and that there is no Christian Kingdom in which the three Estates convened in Parliament or by what other name soever they do call them have any authority either to regulate the person of the Sovereign Prince or restrain his power in case he be a Sovereign Prince and not meerly titular and conditional and that it is not to be found in Holy Scripture that they are or were ordained by God to be the Patrons and Protectors of the common people and therefore chargeable with no less a crime than a most perfidious dissimulation should they connive at Kings when they play the Tyrants or wantonly abuse that power which the Lord hath given them to the oppression of their Subjects In which last points touching the designation of the three Estates and the authority pretended to be vested in them I have carried a more particular eye on this Kingdom of England where those pernicious Principles and insinuations which our Author gives us have been too readily imbraced and too eagerly pursued by those of his party and opinion If herein I have done any service to supream Authority my Countrey and some misguided Zealots of it I shall have reason to rejoyce in my undertaking If not posterity shall not say that Calvins memory was so sacred with me and his name so venerable as rather to suffer such a Stumbling-block to be laid in the Subjects way without being censured and removed than either his authority should be brought in question or any of his Dictates to a legal tryal Having been purchased by the Lord at so dear a price we are to be no longer the Servants of men or to have the truth of God with respect of persons I have God to be my Father and the Church my Mother and therefore have not only pleaded the cause of Kings and Supream Magistrates who are the Deputies of God but added somewhat in behalf of the Church of England whose rights and priviledges I have pleaded to my best abilities The issue and success I refer to him by whom Kings do Reign and who appointed Kings and other Supream Magistrates to be nursing Fathers to his Church that as they do receive authority and power from the hands of God so they may use the same in the protection and defence of the Church of God and God even their own God will give them his Blessing and save them from the striving of unruly people whose mouth speaketh proud words and their right hand is a right hand of iniquity FINIS De Jure Paritatis Episcoporum OR A BRIEF DISCOURSE ASSERTING THE Bishops Right of Peerage WHICH EITHER By Law or Ancient Custom DOTH Belong unto them WRITTEN By the Learned and Reverend PETER HEYLYN D. D. In the Year 1640. When it was Voted in the Lords House That no Bishop should be of the Committee for the preparatory Examination of the EARL of STRAFFORD He being dead yet speaketh Heb. xi 4. LONDON Printed by M. Clark for C. Harper 1681. A PREFACE ALthough there are Books enough writ to vindicate the Honours and Priviledges of Bishops yet to those that are fore-stalled with prejudice and passion all that can be said or done will be little enough to make them wise unto sobriety to prevail with them not to contradict the conviction of their mind with absurd and fond reasonings but that Truth may conquer their prepossessions and may find so easie an access and welcome unto their practical judgments that they may profess their faith and subjection to that order which by a misguided zeal they once endeavoured to destroy Many are the methods that have been and are still used to rase up the foundation of Episcopacy and to make the Name of Bishop to be had no more in remembrance For first some strike at the Order and Function it self And yet St. Paul reckons it among his faithful sayings 1 Tim. 3.1 that the Office of a Bishop is a good work And the order continued perpetually in the Church without any interruption of time or decrees of Councils to the contrary for the space of many Centuries after the Ascension of Christ and the Martyrdom of the Apostles For they ordained Bishops and approved them Before St. John died Rome had a succession of no less than four viz. Linus Anacletus Clemens and Evaristus Jerusalem had James the just and Simeon the Son of Cleophas Antioch had Euodius and Ignatius and St. Mark Anianus Abilius and Cerdo successively fill'd the See of Alexandria All these lived in St. Johns days and their order obeyed by Christians and blessed by God throughout the whole world for the Conversion of Jews and Gentiles for the perfecting of the Saints and the edifying of
the Body of Christ Nay their labour was blessed by God first for the Conversion and then for the Resormation of this Church and Kingdom and therefore I hope there is no sober Protestant in England but will heartily say Amen to that Prayer of Mr. Beza's who although no great Adorer of Episcopacy yet considerdering the Blessings that God brought to this Nation by their Ministry put up this devout Petition Si nunc Anglicanae Ecclesiae instauratae suorum Episcoporum Archiepiscoporum auctoritate suffultae perstant quemadmodum hoc illi nostra memoria contigit ut ejus ordininis homines non tantum insignes Dei martyres sed etiam praestantissimos pastores ac Doctores habuerit fruatur sane istâ singulari Dei beneficentia quae utinam sit illi perpetua Theod. Bez. ad Tract de min. Evang. Grad ab Hadr. Sarav cap. 18. Fruatur Anglia ista singulari Dei Beneficentiâ quae utinam sit illi perpetua Let England enjoy that singular Blessing of God which I pray to God may be perpetual to it There are others that envy them their Honours and Dignities For though the Holy Spirit of God does oblige all Christians to esteem their Bishops very highly or more than abundantly ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in love for their work sake 1 Thes 5.12 13. and reason it self dictates that the honours confer'd upon Representatives and Embassadors redound to the Prince that delegates and imploys them though Jews Heathens and Mahomâtans ever paid the profoundest Veneration to their Priests Caliphs and Musti's and our Relig ous Ancestors in the Saxon Danish and Norman times set the highest value upon their Bishops yet the Religion of this Age is to load them with all possible Calumnies and Reproaches and with Corah and his Complices to charge them with taking too much upon them and to disdain to set them with the Dogs of their Flocks The Priests were Judges in Egypt and so were the Magi and Areopagites who were sacred persons in Persia and Athens and it was no other wise with the Druids amongst the Ancient Britains and Gauls For Caesar tells us how their Office extended to things Temporal as well as Religious Sacrificia publica privata procurant religiones interpretantur Druides a bello a besse consueverunt ni que tributa una cum reliquis pendunt St quod admissum est facinus si caedes facta si de haereditate de finibus controversia est iidem decernunt Caesar Com. lib. 6. that they did not only order publick and private Sacrifices and expound Religion and instruct Youth but were free from Contribution and Warfare and all burthens of State and determined all Controversies both publick and private and executed the place both of Priests and Judges for if any offence were committed as Murther or Man-slaughter or any Controversie arose touching Lands or Inheritance they sentenced it rewarding the Vertuous and punishing the Wicked The Patricii the noblest Romans were ambitious to be admitted into the College of the Priests and when the Government became Monarchical the Emperors took upon them the pontifical Dignity thinking it no diminution of them Grandeur to be imployed about the Service of the gods but rather conceiving the Priesthood too noble an imployment to be confer'd upon a Subject But we need no other Testimonies to convince us of the Rights of Church-men for the management of the civil concerns of human Society that the holy Scriptures Amongst the Jews the Civil and Ecclesiastical power were not so distinguished but one and the same person exercised both For not to expatiate upon particular instances Melchisedeck Eli Samuel Ezra Esdras were all Priests and had the power not only of Ecclesiastical but Civil jurisaictior Neither could Samuel have hewed Agag in pieces with his own hand 1 Sam. 15.33 if it had been unlawful for persons dedicated to the sacred Offices of Religion to havè intermeddled in causes of blood Which very instance proves that Clergy-men are not excluded from managing the highest secular concerns by any immutable Laws of God or Nature And if there are any Canons or Councils that forbid them to meddle in things of that kind that so they may the better attend upon the sacred Offices and Exercises of Religion let those be obligatory to the persons unto whom they were delivered but not be pleaded or produced to the prejudice of English Bishops who have distinct Priviledges and Laws For there have been Constitutions that have forbidden Church-men to Marry to make Wills to be Executors of mens Wills and Testaments to be the Wards of Orphans c. And these Constitutions are of as great force to bind the Clergy of England as the Council of Toledo to thrust the Bishops out of the House of Lords in Causes of Attainder and Blood Let the Archbishops of Ments and Colen with other Princes of the Empire look to it if it be unlawful for Ecclesiastical persons to adjudge Criminals to death It will be infinite to shew how St. Ambrose St. Augustin and the Godly Bishops of all Ages had no Supersedeas given them to intermeddle in things civil and secular because of their Wisdom and Knowledge in things Sacred and Divine Certainly the Holy Spirit of God did not conceive it unfit that Worldly matters and Controversies should be committed to Church-men for it is highly reasonable to think that those who are the Pastors of mens Souls will be the best Judges in determining their civil Rights It could not indeed be expected whilst the Empire was Heathen that Bishops should be busied and employed in Secular affairs unless it were in those Controversies which arose among the Christians themselves wherein St. Paul gives direction that they should rather determine their Contentions by a private Arbitrement of their own than by the publick judgments of their Enemies 1 Cor. 6. But when Kings became Christians Soz. lib. 1. c. 9. we find persons making their Appeals from the Tribunals of Princes to the Consistory of Bishops For then Bishops had power to reverse the sentence of death and to stay the hands of Executioners when the poor Criminals were going to receive the reward of their Iniquities just as the Praetors and Consuls of Rome would submit their Fasces those Ensigns of Authority when they did but casually meet with some of the Priests Constantine granted the Bishops this priviledge that condemned Malefactors might appeal unto their Courts and when such appeals were made the Bishops had power as well to deliver them over into the hands of Justice as to extend unto them a Pardon or Reprieve For the priviledge confer'd on them was as well for the punishment and terror of the Wicked as for mitigating the rigour of Justice and encouraging Criminals to Vertue and Repentance Mr. Selden himself who was none of the best Friends to Church-men grants that for four thousand years the Civil and Ecclesiastick jurisdiction went always hand in hand
must needs follow thereupon that all which held their Lands of the Crown in Capite were capable in those times of a place in Parliament And so it seems they had in the Reign of King John and afterwards in the Reign of King Henry the 3d but in the last years of the said King Henry and by the power and prudence of King Edward the first were brought into a narrower compass none being admitted to appear and attend in Parliament but such as he thought fit to summon by his Royal Mandate And hereunto as well our choicest Antiquaries as our most eminent Lawyers do consent unanimously But here is to be noted saith Chief Justice Coke that if the King give Lands to any one tenendum per servitium Baronis de Rege he is no Lord of Parliament till he be called by Writ to the Parliament which as he there declares for a point of Law so is it also verified in point of practice out of the old Record entituled Modus tenendi Parliamentum in which it is affirmed Ad Parliamentum summoniri venire debere Archiepiscopos Episcopos Abbates Priores alios majores Cleri qui tenent per Comitatum aut Baroniam ratione hujusmodi Tenurae that all Arch-bishops Bishops Priors and other Prelates of the Church who hold their Lands either in right of their Counties or in right of their Baronages were to be summoned and come to Parliament in regard of their Tenures Where we may see that though they had a jus ad rem in regard of their Tenures yet they had no pretence to their Jus in re but only by the Writ of Summons And secondly whereas the Modus speaks of some Bishops which were to be called to the Parliament in the right of their Counties I think he means it of the Bishops of Durham and Ely which enjoyed all the Rights and priviledges of a County Palatine in their several Circuits By which we see that to the making of a Baron or a Lord of Parliament it is not only necessary that he hold by Barony but that he have his Writ of Summons to attend the service which puts a signal difference between Lords of Parliament and such as are called Lords in respect of their birth or in regard of some great Offices which they hold in the State of the first sort whereof are all the eldest sons of Earls and upwards who are not only honoured with the name of Lords but challenge a precedence by the Rules of Herauldry before all the Barons of the Realm and yet can lay no claim to the Rights of Peerage unless perhaps they may be summoned to the Parliament in their fathers life time And so it hapned in the Case of the Earl of Surrey the eldest son of Thomas Lord Howard Duke of Norfolk arraigned in the last days of King Henry the eighth and tried by a Jury of twelve men because not being called to Parliament in his fathers life-time he could not be considered as a Peer of the Realm And in the last sort we may reckon the Lord Chancellor the Lord Treasurer the Lord Privy Seal the Lord President of his Majesties Council the Lord High Chamberlain the Lord Admiral the Lord Steward and the Lord Chamberlain of his Majesties Houshold the Lord Warden of the Cinque-ports and the three Chief Judges who if they be not otherwise of the Rank of Barons can plead no Title to their Peerage nor to Vote in Parliament and so it hapned in the Case of Sir William Stanly Lord Chamberlain to King Henry the seventh tried by a Jury of twelve men in a case of Treason without relation to his great Office or Title of Lord. Most true it is that some of these great Officers have their place in Parliament and so have all the Judges of the Courts of Westminster the Master of the Rolls the Masters of the Chancery the Kings Attorney General and perhaps some others all summoned to attend the service by Especial Writs but they are only called to advise the Court to give their Judgment and Opinion when it is demanded but not to canvass or debate and much less to conclude in any business which is there discoursed of as both the Bishops and the Temporal Lords are impowred to do Which difference appears in the Writs themselves For in the Writ of Summons to the Judges and the rest here mentioned the words run thus viz. Quod intersitis nobiscum cum caeteris de concilio nostro and sometimes nobiscum only supra praemissis tractaturi vestrumque consilium impensuri But in the Writ of Summons to the Bishops and the rest of the Peers we shall find it thus viz. quod intersitis cum praelatis magnatibus proceribus super dictis negotiis tractaturi vestrumque consilium impensuri c. which Writs of Summons to the Bishops and the Temporal Peers are the same verbatim but that the Bishops are required to attend the service sub fide dilectione the Temporal Peers sub fide ligeantia quibus nobis tenemini Upon which Premises it may be rationally inferred that the Bishops of this Church were reputed Barons a Baron and a Barony being conjugata and being Barons have as good a Claim to the right of Peerage as any of the Temporal Lords who hold as well their Peerage as their place in Parliament by no other Tenure for that a Baron of Realm and a Peer of the Realm are but terms synonymous and that the Bishops of the the Church of England are both Peers and Barons hath been proved before and may be further evidenced from that which they affirmed to the Temporal Lords convened in Parliament at Northampton under Henry the 2d for the determining of the differences betwixt the King and Thomas Becket Arch bishop of Canterbury which the Temporal Lords would fain have thrust upon the Bishops as more competent Judges to which the Bishops thus replied viz. non sedemus hic Episcopi sed Barones nos Barones vos Barones Pares hic sumus We sit not here say they as Bishops only Seldens Titles of Honour pag. â18 but as Barons also we are Barons and you are Barons here we sit as Peers Their sitting in the Parliament was in a right of their Baronies And in the right of their Baronage they were also Peers and Peers to all intents and purposes as well as any others whether Earls or Barons who had Vote in Parliament This appears further by the words of Arch-bishop Stratford who being suspended from his place in Parliament by King Edward the 3d came boldly to the Doors of the House and turning towards those that attended there thus maintained his Claim Amice Rex me ad hoe Parliamentum scripto sua vocavit Antiq. Brittan ego tanquam major Par regni post Regem primam vocem habere debens in Parliamento Jura Ecclesiae meae Cantuariensis vendico ideo Ingressum in Parliamentum peto Which
too much to our ancient Martyrs c. exemplified in the parity of Ministers and popular elections unto Benefices allowed by Mr. John Lambert Page 547 2. Nothing ascribed to Calvins judgment by our first Reformers but much to the Augustine Confession the Writings of Melancthon Page 548 3. And to the Authority of Erasmus his Paraphrases being commended to the use of the Church by King Edward VI. and the Reasons why ibid. 4. The Bishops Book in order to a Reformation called The institution of a Christian man commanded by King Henry VIII 1537. correcied afterwards with the Kings own hand examined and allowed by Cranmer approved by Parliament and finally published by the name of Necessary Doctrine c. An. 1543. ibid. 5. The Doctrine of the said two Books in the points disputed agreeable unto that which after was established by King Edward VI. Page 549 6. Of the two Liturgies made in the time of King Edward VI. and the manner of them the testimony given unto the first and the alterations in the second Page 550 7. The first Book of Homilies by whom made approved by Bucer and of the Argument that may be gathered from the method of it in the points disputed ibid. 8. The quality and condition of those men who principally concurred to the Book of Articles with the Harmony or consent in judgment between Archbishop Cranmer Bishop Ridley Bishop Hooper c. Page 551 9. The Doctrine delivered in the Book of Articles touching the five controverted points ibid. 10. An Answer to the Objection against these Articles for the supposed want of Authority in the making of them Page 552 11. An Objection against King Edwards Catechism mistaken for an Objection against the Articles refelled as that Catechism by John Philpot Martyr and of the delegating of some powers by that Convocation to a choice Committee Page 553 12. The Articles not drawn up in comprehensible or ambiguous terms to please all parties but to be understood in the respective literal and Grammatical sense and the Reasons why ibid. CHAP. IX Of the Doctrine of Predestination delivered in the Articles the Homilies the publique Liturgies and the Writings of some of the Reformers 1. The Articles differently understood by the Calvinian party and the true English Protestants with the best way to find out the true sense thereof Page 555 2. The definition of Predestination and the most considerable points contained in it ibid. 3. The meaning of those words in the definition viz. Whom he hath chosen in Christ according to the Exposition of S. Ambrose S. Chrysostom S. Jerom as also of Archbishop Cranmer Bishop Latimer and the Book of Homilies Page 556 4. The Absolute Decree condemned by Bishop Latimer as a means to Licentiousness and Carnal living ibid. 5. For which and making God to be the Author of sin condemned as much by Bishop Hooper ibid. 6. Our Election to be found in Christ not sought for in Gods secret Councils according to the judgment of Bishop Hatimer Page 557 7. The way to find out our Election delivered by the same godly Bishop and by Bishop Hooper with somewhat to the same purpose also from the Book of Homilies ibid. 8. The Doctrine of Predestination delivered by the holy Martyr John Bradford with Fox his gloss upon the same to corrupt the sense Page 558 9. No countenance to be had for any absolute personal and irrespective decree of Predestination in the publique Liturgie ibid. 10. An Answer to such passages out of the said Liturgie as seem to favour that opinion as also touching the number of Gods Elect. CHAP. X. The Doctrine of the Church concerning Reprobation and Universal Redemption 1. The absolute Decree of Reprobation not found in the Articles of this Church but against it in some passages of the publick Liturgie Page 560 2. The cause of Reprobation to be found in a mans self and not in Gods Decrees according to the judgment of Bishop Latimer and Bishop Hooper ibid. 3. The Absolute Decrees of Election and Reprobation how contrary to the last clause in the seventeenth Article Page 561 4. The inconsistency of the Absolute Decree of Reprobation with the Doctrine of Vniversal Redemption by the death of Christ ibid. 5. The Vniversal Redemption of man-kind by the death of Christ declared in many places of the publick Liturgie and affirmed also in one of the Homilies and the Book of Articles Page 502 6. A further proof of it from the Mission of the Apostles and the Prayer used in the Ordination of Priests ibid. 7. The same confirmed by the Writings of Archbishop Cranmer and the two other Bishops before mentioned Page 563 8. A Generality of the Promises and an Vniversality of Vocation maintained by the said two godly Bishops ibid. 9. The reasons why this benefit is not made effectual to all sorts of men to be found only in themselves ibid. CHAP. XI Of the Heavenly influences of Gods grace in the Conversion of a Sinner and a mans cooperation with those Heavenly influences 1. The Doctrine of Deserving Grace ex congruo maintained in the Roman Schools before the Council of Trent rejected by our ancient Martyrs and the Book of Articles Page 564 2. The judgment of Dr. Barns and Mr. Tyndal touching the necessary workings of Gods grace on the will of man not different from that of the Church of England Page 565 3. Vniversal grace maintained by Bishop Hooper and approved by some passages in the Liturgie and Book of Homilies ibid. 4. The offer of Vniversal grace made ineffectual to some for want of faith and to others for want of repentance according to the judgment of Bishop Hooper ibid. 5. The necessity of Grace Preventing and the free co-operation of mans will being so prevented maintained in the Articles in the Homilies and the publique Liturgie Page 566 6. The necessity of this co-operation on the part of man defended and applied to the exercise of a godly life by Bishop Hooper ibid. 7. The Doctrine of Irresistibility first broached by Calvin pertinaciously maintained by most of his followers and by Gomarus amongst others Page 567 8. Gainsaid by Bishop Hooper and Bishop Latimer ibid. 9. And their gain-sayings justified by the tenth Article of King Edwards Books Page 568 And 10. The Book of Homilies ibid. CHAP. XII The Doctrine of Free-will agreed upon by the Clergy in their Convocation An. 1543. 1. Of the Convocation holden in the year 1543. in order to the Reformation of Religion in points of Doctrine Page 569 2. The Article of Free-will in all the powers and workings of it agreed on by the Prelates and Clergie of that Convocation agreeable to the present Doctrine of the Church of England ibid. 3. An Answer to the first Objection concerning the Popishness of the Bishops and Clergie in that Convocation Page 571 4. The Article of Free-will approved by King Henry VIII and Archbishop Cranmer Page 572 5. An Answer to the last Objection concerning the Conformity of
doctrins An Answer to the Objection touching the paucity of those who opposed the same ibid. 10. Possession of a truth maintained but by one or two preserves it sacred and inviolable for more fortunate times the case of Liberius Pope of Rome and that the testimonies of this kind are rather to be valued by weight than tale Page 627 CHAP. XXII Of the Conference at Hampton Court and the several encouragements given to the Anti-Calvinians in the time of King James 1. The occasion of the conference at Hampton Court and the chief persons there assembled Page 628 2. The nine Articles of Lambeth rejected by King James Page 629 3. Those of the Church being left in their former condition ibid. 4. The Calvinian Doctrine of Predestination decryed by Bishop Bancroft and disliked by King James and the reasons of it Page 630 5. Bishop Bancroft and his Chaplain both abused The inserting the Lambeth Articles into the confession of Ireland no argument of King James his approbation of them by whom they were inserted and for what cause allowed of in the said Confession ibid. 6. A pious fraud of the Calvinians in clapping their Predestinarian Doctrines at the end of the Old Testament Anno 1607. discovered censured and rejected with the reasons of it Page 631 7. The great incouragement given by King James to the Anti-Calvinians and the increasing of that party both in power and number by the stirs in Holland ibid. 8. The offence taken by King James at Conradus Vorstius animateth the Oxon Calvanists to suspend Dr. Houson and to preach publickly against Dr. Laud Page 632 9. The like proceedings at Cambridge against Mr. Simpson first prosecuted by King James and on what account that King was more incensed heainst the party of Arminius than against their perswasions ibid. 10. The Instructions published by King James in order to the diminishing of Calvins Authority the defence of universal Redemption and the suppressing of his Doctrines in the other points and why the last proved so unuseful in the case of Gabriel Bridges Page 633 11. The publishing of Mountagues Answer to the Gagger the information made against it the Author and his Doctrine taken by King James into his protection and his Appeal Licensed by the Kings appointment Page 634 12. The conclusion of the whole discourse and the submission of it to the Church of England ibid. A Postscript to the Reader concerning some particulars in a Scurrilous Pamphlet Entituled A Review of the Certamen Epistolare c. Page 635 The Stumbling-Block of Disobedience and Rebellion c. CHAP. I. The Doctrine of Obedience laid down by Calvin and of the Popular Officers supposed by him whereby he overthroweth that Doctrine 1. THe purpose and design of the work in hand Page 645 2. The Doctrine of Obedience unto Kings and Princes soundly and piously laid down by Calvin Page 646 3. And that not only to the good and gracious but even to cruel Princes and ungodly Tyrants Page 647 4. With Answer unto such Objections as are made against it Page 649 5. The Principles of Disobedience in the supposal of some particular Officers ordained of purpose to regulate the power of Kings Page 650 6. How much the practice of Calvin's followers doth differ from their Masters Doctrine as to the point of Obedience Page 651 7. Several Articles and points of Doctrine wherein the Disciples of Calvin are departed from him Page 653 8. More of the differences in point of Doctrine betwixt the Master and the Scholars ibid. 9. The dangerous consequences which arise from his faulty Principles in the point or Article of Disobedience Page 654 10. The method and distribution of the following work Page 655 CHAP. II. Of the Authority of Ephori in the State of Sparta and that they were not instituted for the ends supposed by Calvin 1. The King of Sparta absolute Monarch at the first Page 656 2. Of the declining of the Regal power and the condition of that State when Lycurgus undertook to change the Government Page 657 3. What power Lycurgus gave the Senate and what was left unto the Kings ibid. 4. The Ephori appointed by the Kings of Sparta to ease themselves and curb the Senate Page 658 5. The blundering and mistakes of Joseph Scaliger about the first Institution of the Ephori Page 659 6. The Ephori from mean beginnings grew to great Authority and by what advantages Page 660 7. The power and influence which they had in the publick Government Page 661 8. By what degrees the Ephori incroached on the Spartan Kings Page 662 9. The insolencies of the Ephori towards their Kings altered the State into a Tyranny Page 663 10. The Spartan Kings stomach the insolency of the Ephori and at last utterly destroy them Page 664 11. An application of the former passages to the point in hand Page 665 CHAP. III. Of the Incroachments of the Tribunes on the State of Rome and that they were not instituted for the ends supposed by Calvin 1. The Tribunes of the People why first Instituted in the State of Rome Page 666 2. And with what difficulty and conditions Page 667 3. The Tribunes fortifie themselves with large immunities before they went about to change the Government Page 668 4. The Tribunes no sooner in their Office but they set themselves against the Nobility and the Senate contrary to the Articles of their Institution Page 669 5. The many and dangerous Seditions occasioned by the Tribunes in the City of Rome Page 670 6. The Tribunes and the People do agree together to change the Government of the State Page 671 7. By what degrees the People came to be possessed of all the Offices in the State both of power and dignity Page 672 8. The Plots and Practices of the Gracchi to put the power of the Judicature and Supream Majesty of the Senate into the hands of the People ibid. 9. The Tribunes take upon them to commit the Consuls and bring all the Officers of the State under their command Page 673 10. The Office and Authority of the Tribunes reduced unto its antient bounds by Corn. Sylla and at last utterly destroyed Page 674 11. An Application of the former passage to the point in hand Page 675 CHAP. IV. Of what Authority the Demarchi were in the State of Athens and of the danger and unfitness of the instances produced by Calvin 1. Athens first governed by Kings and afterwards by one Sovereign Prince under other titles Page 676 2. The Annual Magistrates of Athens what they were and of what Authority Page 677 3. By whom and what degrees the State of Athens was reduced to a Democratie Page 678 4. Of the Authority of the Senate and the famous Court of the Areopagites Page 679 5. What the Demarchi were in the State of Athens and of what Authority Page 680 6. The Demarchi never were of power to oppose the Senate nor were ordained to that end ibid. 7. Calvins ill
luck in making choice of three such instances which if true would not serve his turn Page 681 8. The danger which lyeth hidden under the disguise of such popular Magistrates as are here instanced in by Calvin Page 682 9. What moved Calvin to lay these dangerous stumbling-blocks in the Subjects way Page 683 10. The dangerous positions and practices which have hence ensued in most parts of Europe Page 684 11. The sect of Calvin professed Enemies to Monarchy and the power of Princes Page 685 CHAP. V. What are the three Estates in each several Kingdom of which Calvin speaks and what particularly in the Realm of England 1. Of the division of a People into three Estates and that the Priests or Clergy have been always one Page 687 2. The Priests employed in Civil matters and affairs of State by the Egyptians and the Persians the Greeks Gauls and Romans Page 688 3. The Priests and Levites exercised in affairs of Civil Government by Gods own appointment Page 680 4. The Prelates versed in Civil matters and affairs of State in the best and happiest times of Christianity Page 690 5. The Clergy make the third Estate in Germany France Spain and the Northern Kingdoms Page 692 6. That anciently in the Saxon times the Ecclesiasticks of this Realm were called to all publick Councils Page 694 7. The Prelates an essential fundamental part of the English Parliament ibid. 8. Objections answered and that the word Clerus in the Legal notion doth not extend unto the Prelates Page 698 9. That the inferior Clergie of the Realm of England had anciently their Votes in Parliament to all intents and purposes as the Commons had Page 700 10. Objections answered and that the calling of the Clergie to Parliaments and Convocations were after different manners and by several Writs Page 703 11. The great Disfranchisement and Slavery obtruded on the English Clergy by the depriving of the Bishops of their Votes in Parliament Page 705 12. A brief discussion of the question whether any two of the three Estates conspiring or agreeing together can conclude any thing unto the prejudice of the third Page 706 CHAP. VI. That the three Estates of every Kingdom whereof Calvin speaks have no Authority either to regulate the power or controll the Actions of the Sovereign Prince 1. The Bishops and Clergy of England not the King make the third Estate and of the dangerous consequences which may follow on the contrary Tenet Page 708 2. The different influence of the three Estates upon conditional Princes and an absolute Monarch Page 710 3. The Sanhedrim of no Authority over the Persons or the actions of the Kings of Judah Page 711 4. The three Estates in France of how small Authority over the actions of that King Page 712 5. The King of Spain not over-ruled or regulated by the three Estates Page 713 6. Of what Authority they have been antiently in the Parliaments of Scotland Page 714 7. The King of England always accounted heretofore for an absolute Monarch Page 715 8. No part of Sovereignty invested Legally in the English Parliaments Page 716 9. The three Estates assembled in the Parliament of England subordinate unto the King not co-ordinate with him Page 719 10. The Legislative power of Parliaments is properly and legally in the King alone Page 720 11. In what particulars the power of the English Parliament doth consist especially Page 723 12. The Kings of England ordinarily over-rule their Parliaments by themselves their Council and their Judges Page 724 13. Objections answered touching the power and practice of some former Parliaments and the testimonies given unto them Page 726 14. No such Authority given by God in Holy Scripture to any such Popular Magistrates as Calvin dreams of and pretends Page 727 15. The Application and Conclusion of the whole Discourse Page 728 De jure Paritatis Episcoporum The Right of Peerage vindicated to the Bishops of England Page 739. FINIS
holy Trinity than by this Form and in the constant uniformity of that antient Gesture which hath been recommended to us from the purest Ages and the most glorious lights of the Christian World CHAP. VIII Touching the Dedication of Churches and the Anniversary Feasts thereby occasioned 1. Dedication of Religious places used antiently by all Nations and the Reasons why 2. A Repetition of some things that were said before with reference and application to the point in hand 3. The Tabernacle consecrated by Gods own appointment and the consequents of it 4. Antiquity of the like Dedications amongst the Romans and by whom performed 5. The Form and Ceremonies used in those Dedications by the Antient Romans 6. The Antiquity and constant usage of such Dedications in the Church of Christ 7. Titulus and Encoenia what they signifie in the Ecclesiastical notion 8. The great Solemnities and Feasts used by the Jews and Gentiles in the Dedication of their Temples 9. As also by the Primitive Christians 10. Dedication Feasts made Anniversary by the Roman Gentiles 11. And by the Christians in the times of their greatest purity 12. Continued till our times in the Church of England 13. The Conclusion of the whole and the Authors submission of it to the Supreme Powers HAving thus found out Liturgies and set Forms of Worship in the best and purest times of the Christian Church together with certain places and appointed times for the performance of those Offices of Religious Worship in the said Liturgies prescribed It remains now that we speak somewhat as by way of Corollary touching the Dedication of those places in which those Acts and Offices of Religious Worship were to be performed it being consonant to Reason that holy Actions should be celebrated in an holy place and places are not otherwise hallowed than by the Dedication of them unto holy Use For howsoever in themselves they be but ordinary Houses made of Lime and Stone and may be put to any use which the Founder pleaseth yet being once consecrated by the Word and prayer they become forthwith Holy Ground and carry with them such an awful reverence in Religious minds as is not given to other houses houses to eat and drink in as the Scripture calleth them And so we are to understand that of Thomas Aquinas who in the stating of this Question hath resolved it thus Quod Ecclesia Altare alia hujusmodi inanimata consecrantur non quia sunt gratiae susceptiva Thom. 3. par qu. 83. Artic. 3. sed quia ex consecratione adipiscuntur quandam spiritalem virtutem per quam apta redduntur divino cultui Churches saith he Altars and things inanimate are not therefore consecrated because they are susceptible of any divine Grace conferred upon them but because they do obtain thereby some spiritual fitness which before they had not and which doth render them more proper for Religious Offices Besides which influence which they gain by these Consecrations on the minds of such who piously refort unto them they are thereby exempted also from the power of those by whom they were first built or founded who otherwise might challenge a propriety in them That which the ground and charge of building made the house of Man is made by Consecration the House of God and being once dedicated to his holy Service the property thereof is vested in him and in him alone The Founder cannot take it back or reserve any part of it for his own private use or pleasure without sin and sacriledg Such was that of Ananias Acts 5.2 who when he sold his House kept back part of the money as if he would divide the sum betwixt God and himself The Gentiles by the light of Nature had discerned thus much and therefore in the Consecration of their Temples they did use these words Se ex profano usu humano jure Templum cellam Alex. ab Alex. Gen. Dier l. 6. c. 14. mensas arulas quaeque eo pertinent eximere That is to say That they exempt from the right of Men and all profane and common usage the Temple Table Vaults and Altars and all things which pertained unto them appropriating them unto the service of that God to whom the Fabrick was intended in the Dedication A matter of such general use that it was commonly observed both by the Patriarchs before the Law by the Jews under the Law by the Gentiles without the Law and finally by the Christians being a body made up both of Jews and Gentiles in the times of the Gospel In looking over whose proceedings touching this particular and thereby justifying the right use of those Dedications we will first search into the Antiquity Universality and first Authors of them next into the great Solemnities and magnificent Feasts accustomably observed in them and finally on the Annual Revolution of those solemn Feasts appointed by all sorts of Men in memorial of them And first for laying down the Antiquity and first Authors of them it is necessary that we look back on something which was said before touching the practice of the Patriarchs and some of the godly Princes of the House of Jacob. And first whereas the Scripture telleth us of Abraham that he planted a Grove in Beersheba and called there on the Name of the Lord Gen. 21.33 the everlasting God The meaning of which place is by Expositors left uncertain as before we noted yet the succeding practice both of Jews and Gentiles in consecrating Groves for superstitious and Idolatrous Uses mention whereof is very frequent in the Scriptures makes it plain and evident that they concdeived this planting of a Grove by Abraham was but the consecrating of it to the service of God for invocating on the Name of the Lord Jehovah Greater Antiquity than this as we need not seek so a more holy Author of those Dedications we can hardly find And yet the practice and Authority of Jacob is not much short of it either in point of reputation or respect of time of whom it is recorded that he took the Stone which he had put for his Pillow Gen. 28.17 and set it up for a Pillar and poured Oyl on the top of it and then and not till then that it was thus consecrated he called the name of the place BETHEL which by interpretation is the House of God Look what effect this Act of Jacob did produce and we shall find first that God took unto himself the name of the God of Bethel as a place dedicated for his Worship Gen. 31. v. 13. And secondly that in reference to this Consecration it was thought the fittest place for Jacob even by God himself to offer sacrifice to the Lord and to pay his vows Gen. 35.16 Nor can I doubt but that when Jeroboam the Son of Nebat made choice of Bethel 1 Kings 12.9 to be the seat for one of his Golden Calves he had respect unto the consecration of this place by the
Patriarch Jacob there being otherwise many places in his new gotten Kingdom of more convenience for his Subjects and less obnoxious to the Power of the Kings of Judah than this Bethel was The Act of Jacob in consecrating the Stone at Bethel gave the same hint to Jeroboam to profane the place by setting up his Golden Calves as Abrahams Grove gave to the Idolatrous Jews and Gentiles for polluting the like places with as impure abominations And probable enough it is that by these Acts of Abraham and Jacob the Macchabees proceeded to the Dedication of the Altar when profaned by Antiochus though they made use only of their own Authority in honouring that work and the celebration of it with an Annual Feast of which see Macc. 1. Chap. 4. v. 59 c. Which Feast being countenanced by our Saviour as is elsewhere said gave the first ground unto the Anniversary Feasts of Dedication used in the best and happiest times of Christianity De Eccles Officiis l. 1. c. 3. of which thus Isidore of Sivil Annuas Festivitates dedicationis Ecclesiarum ex more veterum celebrari in Evangelio legimus ubi dicitur facta sunt Encoenia c. Where we have both the custom and the reasons of it that is to say the antient practice of Gods people amongst the Jews occasionally mentioned and related too in the holy Gospel This being repeated and applyed we must next see by what Authority Gods people afterward proceeded on the like occasions Greater Authority we find for the Dedication of the Tabernacle than for the consecrating the Grove or Pillar which before we spake of even the command of God himself who though he had appointed it to be made prescribed as well the matter as the Form thereof descending even unto the nomination of the Workmen that were to take care of the Embroydery of it did not think fit it should be used in his publick Worship till it had first been dedicated to that end and purpose For thus saith God to Moses in the way of Precept And thou shalt take the anointing Oyl and anoint the Tabernacle and all that is therein and shalt hallow it and all the Vessels thereof and it shall be holy and thou shalt anoint the Altar of the Burnt-offering and all his Vessels and sanctifie the Altar Exod. 40.9 1. and it shall be an Altar most holy c. And thus did Moses in conformity to the Lords Commandment of whom it is affirmed Thus did Moses according to all that the Lord commanded him so did he That is to say he reared up the Tabernacle Verse 16 and disposed of every thing therein in its proper place hallowing the Tabernacle and the Altar and the Vessels of it as the Lord commanded and then and not till then was it thought fit for the Acts of Sacrifice and to be honoured with the presence of the Lord their God For as it followeth in that Chapter first Moses offered on the Altar so prepared and consecrated a Burnt-Offering and a Meat-Offering as the Lord commanded ver 29. And secondly A Cloud then covered the tent of the Congregation and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle v. 34. No Fathers need be called in here to explain these Scriptures which every one can understand who is able to read them and every one who understandeth them may conclude from hence that God had never took such order for consecrating of the Tabernacle the Altars and other Vessels of it had he not meant to leave it for a Document and Example to succeeding times that no place should be used for his publick Worship till it was sanctified with Prayer and set apart by some Religious Ceremonies for that holy purpose According to which great Example we find a solemn dedication of the Temple when first built by Solomon performed by Prayer and Sacrifices in most solemn manner 1 Kings 8. A second Dedication of it when first restored by Zorobabel in the time of Ezra where it is said That the children of Israel Ezra 6.16 the Priests and the Levites and the rest of the children of the Captivity kept the Dedication of this House of God with joy And finally Josephus telleth us Antiq. Juda. l. 15. c. 14. that when Zorobabels Temple was pulled down by Herod and built again after a more magnificent manner than before it was with what alacrity and pomp the Jews did celebrate the Dedication of the same A Temple gloriously set out to the outward view immensae opulentiae Templum it is called by Tacitus as before was said and dedicated by the Founder with as great magnificence of which more hereafter Sufficient evidence to prove that whether the Temple be considered as a House of prayer or a place for Sacrifice it was not to be used for either not sanctified and set apart for those holy Actions Having thus seen what was done in those solemn Acts of Dedication by the Lords own people as well before as under the Law of Moses let us next see how far those Actions of Gods people have been followed by the antient Gentiles who though without the Law of Moses yet were instructed well enough by the light of Nature that Sacred Actions were not to be used in unhallowed places And here to go no further than the Roman story being the best compacted and most flourishing estate among the Gentiles we have in the first Infancy thereof a Temple dedicated by Romulus unto Jupiter Feretrius of which thus Livy Jupiter Feretri inquit Romulus haec tibi victor Rex Regia arma fero Templumque iis Regionibus quas meo animo metatus sum dedico sedem opimis spoliis quae Regibus Ducibusque hostium caesis me Autorem sequentes posteri ferent Unto which words of Romulus being the formal words of the Dedication Livy adds his own Hist Rom. Dec. 1. l. 1. Haec Templi est origo quod omnium primum Romae sacratum est That is to say this is the Original of that Temple which first of all was dedicated in the City of Rome Concerning which we are to know that Romulus having vanquished Tolumnius a poor neighbouring King in the head of his Army and brought his Armour into Rome in triumphant manner designed a Temple unto Jupiter from hence named Feretrius for the safe keeping and preserving of those glorious Spoils And having so designed the Temple thus bespeaks the gold viz. O Jupiter Feretrius I by this favour made a Conquerour do here present unto thee these Royal Arms and dedicate or design a Temple to thee in those Regions which in my mind I have marked out for that great purpose to be a seat for those rich Spoils which Posterity following my example having slain Kings or such as do command in chief shall present unto thee Which formal words did so appropriate that place to the service of Jupiter that afterwards it was not to be put unto other uses This done by Romulus
Clergy Mr. John Hooker Bishop of Gloucester and Martyr of whose Exposition of the Ten Commandments and his short Paraphrase on Romans 13. we shall make frequent use hereafter a man whose works were well approved of by Bishop Ridley the most learned and judicious of all the Prelates who notwithstanding they differed in some points of Ceremony professeth an agreement with him in all points of Doctrine as appears by a Letter written to him when they were both Prisoners for the truth and ready to give up their lives as they after did in defence thereof Now the words of the Letter are as followeth But now my dear Brother forasmuch as I understand by your works which I have but superficially seen that we throughly agree and wholly consent together in those things which are the grounds and substantial points of our Religion Acts and Mon. fol. 1366. against the which the world now so rageth in these our days Howsoever in times past in certain by-matters and circumstances of Religion your wisdom and my simplicity and ignorance have jarred each of us following the abundance of his own sense and judgment Now I say be you assured that even with my whole heart God is the witness in the bowels of Christ I love you in truth and for the truths sake that abideth in us and I am persuaded by the grace of God shall abide in us for evermore The like agreement there was also between Ridley and Cranmer Cranmer ascribing very much to the judgment and opinion of the learned Prelate as himself was not ashamed to confess at his Examination for which see Fox in the Acts and Monuments fol. 1702. By these men and the rest of the Convocation the Articles of Religion being in number 41 were agreed upon ratified by the Kings Authority and published both in Latine and English with these following Titles viz. Articuli de quibus in Synodo Londinens A.D. 1552. ad tollendam opinionum dissentionem consensum verae Religionis firmandum inter Episcopos alios eruditos viros convenerat Regia authoritate Londin editi that is to say Articles agreed upon by the Bishops and other learned men assembled in the Synod at London Anno 1552. and published by the Kings Authority for the avoiding of diversities of opinions and for the establishing of consent touching true Religion Amongst which Articles countenanced in Convocation by Queen Elizabeth Ann. 1562. the Doctrine of the Church in the five controverted points is thus delivered according to the form and order which we have observed in the rest before 1. Of Divine Predestination Predestination to life is the everlasting purpose of God whereby before the foundations of the World were laid he hath constantly ordered by his Council Artic. 17. secret unto us to deliver from curse and damnation those whom be hath chosen in Christ out of man-kind and to bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation as vessels made to honour Furthermore we must receive Gods promises in such wise at they be generally set forth to us in holy Scripture and in our doing the will of God that is to be followed which we have expresly declared to us in the Word of God 2. Of the Redemption of the World by the faith of Christ The Son which is the Word begotten of the Father begotten from everlasting of the Father c. and being very God and very Man did truly suffer was Crucified Dead and Buried Artic. 2. to reconcile his Father to us and be a Sacrifice not only for Original guilt but also for the actual sins of men The Offering of Christ once made Artic. 31. is this perfect Redemption Propitiation and Satisfaction to all the sins of the whole world both Original and Actual 3. Of mans will in the state of depraved nature Artic. 9. Man by Original sin is so far gone from Original righteousness that of his own nature be is inclined to evil so that the flesh lusteth always contrary to the Spirit and therefore Works done before the grace of Christ Artic. 13. and the inspiration of his Spirit are not pleasant to God forasmuch as they spring not of faith in Jesus Christ neither do they make men meet to receive grace or as the School Authors say deserve grace of Congruity 4. Of the manner of Conversion The condition of man after the fall of Adam is such that he cannot turn and prepare himself by his own natural strength and good works Artic. 10. to faith and calling upon God wherefore we have no power to do good works pleasant and acceptable to God without the grace of God by Christ preventing us that we may have a good will and working with us when we have that good will 5. Of the uncertainty of Perseverance The Grace of Repentance is not to be denied to such as fall into sin after Baptism in regard that after we have received the Holy Ghost Artic. 16. we may depart from grace given and fall into sin and by the grace of God we may arise again and amend our lives and therefore they are to be condemned which say they can no more sin as long as they live here or deny the place of Repentance to such as truly repent Now in these Articles as in all others of the book there are these two things to be observed 1. What Authority they carried in respect of the making And 2. How we are to understand them in respect of the meaning And first for their Authority it was as good in all regards as the Laws could give them being first treated and agreed upon by the Bishops and Clergy in their Convocation and afterwards confirmed by the Letters Patents of Edw. VI. under the Great Seal of England But against this it is objected That the Records of this Convocation are but a degree above blanks that the Bishops and Clergy then assembled had no Commission from the King to meddle in Church business that the King durst not trust the Clergy of that time in so great a matter on a just jealousie which he had of the ill affections of the major part and therefore the trust of this great business was committed unto some few Confidents cordial to the cause of Religion and not unto the body of a Convocation To which it hath been already answered That the Objector is here guilty of a greater crime than that of Scandalum magnatum making King Edward VI. of pious memory no better than an impious and lewd Impostor in fathering those children on the Convocation which had not been of their begetting For first the Title to the Articles runneth thus at large Articuli de quibus c. as before we had it which Title none durst adventure to set before them had they not really been the products of the Convocation Secondly the King had no reason to have any such jealousie at that time of the major part of the Clergy but that he might
trust them with a power to meddle with matters of Religion this Convocation being holden the sixth year of his Reign when Gardiner Bânner Day and Tunstall and others of the stiffest Romanists were put out of their places most of the Episcopal Sees and Parochial Churches being filled with men according unto his desires and generally conformable to the Forms of Worship here by Law established Thirdly the Church of England for the first five years of Queen Elizabeth retained these Articles and no other as the publick tendries of the Church in point of Doctrine which certainly she had not done had it been recommended to her by a less Authority than a Convocation lawfully assembled and confirmed And fourthly that it is true that the Records of Convocation during this King and the first years of Queen Mary are very defective and imperfect most of them lost amongst others those of this present year And yet one may conclude as strongly that my Mother died Childless because my Christening is not to be found in the Parish Register as that the Convocation of this year was barren because the Acts and Articles of it were not entred in the Journal Book To salve this sore it is conceived by the Objector that the Bishops and Clergy had passed over their power to some select Divines appointed by the Kings in which sense they may be said to have made these Articles themselves by their delegates to whom they had deputed their Authority the case not being so clear Id. Ib. but that it occasioned a Cavil at the next Convocation the first of Queen Mary when the Papists therein assembled renounced the legality of any such former transactions And unto this it shall be answered That no such defect of legality as was here pretended was charged against the book of Articles it self but only against a Catechism which was bound up with it countenanced by the Kings Letters Patents prefix'd before it approved by many Bishops and learned men and generally voiced to be another of the products of this Convocation And therefore for so much as concerns this Catechism it was replyed by Mr. John Philpot Archdeacon of Winchester who had been a member in the former and was now a member of the Convocation in the first of Queen Mary That he thought they were deceived in the Title of it Acts and Monum fo 1282. in that it owned the Title of the last Synod of London many which were then present not being made privy to the making or publishing of it He added That the said former Convocation had granted the Authority of making excellent Laws unto certain persons to be appointed by the Kings Majesty so as whatsoever Ecclesiastical Laws they or the most part of them did set forth according to a Statute in that behalf provided might be well said to be done in the Synod of London though such as were of the house had no notice thereof before the promulgation And thereupon he did infer That the setters forth of the Catechism did not slander the House as they went about to persuade the World since they had the Authority of the Synod unto them committed to make such Spiritual Laws as they thought convenient and necessary for the good of the Church In which Discourse we may observe that there was not one word which reflects on the Book of Articles all of it being made in reference to the Catechism before remembred though if the Objection had been made as indeed it was not against the Articles themselves the defence of that learned man and godly Martyr would have served as fully for the one as it did for the other But whatsoever may be said in derogation to the Authority of the Book of Articles as it was published in the time of King Edward the sixth Anno Dom. 1552. certain I am that nothing can be said unto ââe contrary but that they were received and the far greater part of them agreed upon in full Convocation Anno 1562. And therefore for avoiding of all Disputes I am resolved to take them in this last capacity as they were ratified by Queen Elizabeth Anno 1563. confirmed by King James An. 1604. and finally established by the late King Charles with his Majesties Royal Declaration prefixt before them Anno 1628. Less doubt there is concerning the intent of this Convocation in drawing up the Articles in so loose a manner that men of different judgments might accommodate them to their own Opinions which I find both observed and commended in them by the former Author by whom we are informed that the Articles of the English Protestant Church Chur. Hist lib. 9. fol. 72. in the infancy thereof were drawn up in general terms foreseeing that posterity would grow up to fill the same meaning that these holy men did prudently discover that differences in judgment would unavoidably happen in the Church and were loth to unchurch any and drive them off from any Ecclesiastical communion for petty differences which made them pen the Articles in comprehensive words to take in all who differing in the branches meet in the root of the same Religion This hath been formerly observed to have been the artifice of those who had the managing of the Council of Trent and is affirmed to have been used by such men also as had the drawing up of the Canons at the Synod of Dort But the Composers of the Articles of the Church of England had not so little in them of the Dove or so much of the Serpent as to make the Articles of the Church like an upright shoe which may be worn on either foot or like to Theramenes shoe as the Adage hath it fit for the foot of every man that was pleased to wear it and therefore we may say of our first Reformers in reference to the present Book of Articles as was affirmed of them by Dr. Brancroft then Bishop of London in relation to the Rubrick in private Baptism that is to say that those reverend and learned men intended not to deceive any by ambiguous terms for which see Conf. at Hampton Court Confer p. 15. And to this supposition or imagination it is also answered That the first Reformers did not so compose the Articles as to leave any liberty to diffenting judgments as the said Author would fain have it in some words preceding but did not bind men to the literal and Grammatical sense they had not otherwise attained to the end they aimed at which was ad tollendam Opiniorum Dissentionem consensum in vera Religione firmandum that is to say to take away diversity of Opinions and to establish an agreement in the true Religion Which end could never be effected if men were left unto the liberty of dissenting or might have leave to put their own sense upon the Articles as they list themselves For where there is a purpose of permitting men to their own Opinions there is no need of definitions and