in a Statute since repealed by Queen Mary a great number of particular causes of Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical are there by the way rehearsed that Ordinaries and other Ecclesiastical Judges might and did then put in execution So 1 Mar. c. 3. 1 Eliz. c. 1. 5 Eliz c. 23 9. That Perjury or Subornation in a Court Ecclesiastical shall and may be punished by such usual and ordinary Laws as heretofore have been and yet are used and frequented in the said Ecclesiastical Courts Which proveth the usual practice of Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical hitherto used without any special assent to be lawful So 13 Eliz. c. 4. c. 10. and many more in the same Queens time and King James and King Charles the First that blessed King and Martyr I say many are the Laws that have been made for the strengthning of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and the more effectual execution of it and some of these Laws were enlarged altered and explained But never was there any Law Custom or Act of Parliament that required a several Royal assent to the executing of every particular Canon Many are the reasons which Dr. Cosens gives in the first Chapter of his Apology against that particular Assent wherein he shews his great candor and ingenuity and desire to give abundant satisfaction to all Opponents though never so unreasonable that were it not as clear as the Noon-tide light that no such particular assent is needful some might think that he fear'd his cause and be ready to say that Desensio nimis operosa reatum quasi arguit But touching the validity of the Ecclesiastical Laws there needs I conceive no more be said then what is expressed in that Act of Parliament 25 H. 8.19 the Ecclesiastical Laws that were in use and practice before that Statute are thereby established thus Provided that such Canons Constitutions Ordinances and Synods Provincial being already made which be not contrariant nor repugnant to the Laws Statutes and Customs of this Realm nor to the damage or hurt of the Kings Prerogative Royal shall now still be used and execrated as they were before the making of this Act untill such time as they be viewed c. by the 32. persons mentioned in that Act which is not yet done The Ecclesiastical Laws which have been made since that Act and all that ever hereafter shall be made so long as tht Statute stands in force the requisites in that Act being observ'd are thereby I conceive confirmed or to be confirmed The Submission and Petition of the Clergy mentioned in that Act is That they would not enact or put in ure any new Canons c. in their Convocation without the Kings Royal assent and authority in that behalf There it is said That the Convocation in the time coming shall alwayes be assembled by authority of the King Writ and that the Clergy must have the Kings most royal assent and licence to make promulge and execute such Canons Constitutions and Ordinances Provincial and Synodal else they may not enact promulge or constitute any such Canons c. And this course hath ever since been observed Every Convocation called by His Majesties Writ and the Clergy had especial license from His Majesty to enact such Canons c. and to execute them The Provision following being observed which is this Provided that no Canons Constuurions or Ordinances shall be made or put in execution in this Realm by authority of the Convocation of the Clergy which shall be contrariant or repugnant to the Prerogative Royal or the Customs Laws or Statutes of this Realm any thing contained in that Act to the contrary thereof notwithstanding If any be put in execution contrary to this Proviso and contrary to any after-Acts of Parliament whereby His Majesty hath further power acknowledged in causes Ecclesiastical then 't is illegal but that is much sooner alledged than proved The particular Ecclesiastical Laws in force have by Dr. Cosens and others been sufficiently demonstrated I humbly conceive In case any Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical or Civil within this Realm be not derived or claimed from the Crown as to the execution of it at least then the former objection were of force but another Act of Parliament 8 Eliz. c. 1. shews the contrary sufficiently where all Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction is acknowledged United to the Crown as there fully and that very clause 1 Eliz. 1. together with His Majesties Letters Patents directed forth for confirming Archbishops and Bishops is brought in the preamble thereof as a strong proof without scruple or ambiguity that the authority and jurisdiction by the Clergy executed is thereby given them from Her Majesty This also were there nothing else were sufficient to entitle them the Kings Majesties Ecclesiastical Laws as well as other Laws are called the Kings Majesties Laws But they are up and down in the Acts of Parliament called the Kings and the Queens Ecclesiastical Laws 1 Eliz. c. 2. 5 Eliz. c. 25. 25 H. 8.27 c. and even by the Note gatherer that great oppugner against whom the Doctor writeth they are called the Ecclesiastical Laws of England And in this late Act above mentioned they are called the Kings Majesties Ecclesiastical Laws Yet for executing of these Laws by the Ecclesiastical Judges what out-cries were made against them especially in the beginning of the late Long Panliament by His late Majesty of blessed memory called the Black Parliament Summa imis miscendo and what favours were then afforded to those Boutefeu's as we have since had sad experience of them God grant we may be cafeful of them for the future I am unwilling to recite Ecclesiastical Judges are not onely tyed by their offices and * Canon 117. Canon Constitut 1604. Oaths but at least in some particulars for which they have though most unjustly been much clamour'd against are most severely by Act of Parliament charged to see the execution of if not of others too yet of one especial Ecclesiastical Law for their care wherein some of them have been well-nigh ruined that is that according to that Act of Parliament 1 Eliz. c. 2. For uniformity of Prayer and Administration of Sacraments every person should diligently and faithfully resort to their Parish Church or Chappel where Common prayer and such Services of God shall be used upon every Sunday and other dayes ordeined and used to be kept as Holy-dayes and then and there to abide orderly and soberly during the time of Common prayer Preaching or other Service of God to be used and ministred c. Then follows thus And for due execution hereof the Queens most excellent Majesty the Lords Temporal and all the Commons in this present Parliament assembled doth in Gods name earnestly require and charge all the Archbishops Bishops and other Ordinaries that they shall endeavour themselves to the utmost of their knowledge that the due and true execution hereof may be had throughout their Dioceses and charges as they will answer before God for such evils and
His Majesties Prerogative or the known Laws of the Land Ecclesiastical or Temporal or the politick Government either in Church or State or which may give just offence I do hereby absolutely retract it as no wayes by me intended or thought of wishing this small taste may stir up others more able to make a further and better progress in this kind Anno 13. CAROLI II. Regis An Act for explanation of a Clause contained in an Act of Parliament made in the seventeenth year of the late King Charles entituled An Act for repeal of a branch of a Statute primo Elizabethae concerning Commissioners for Causes Ecclesiastical WHereas in an Act of Parliantent made in the seventeenth year of the late King Charles entituled An Act for repeal of a branch of a Statute primo Elizabethae concerning Commissioners for Causes Ecclesiastical it is amongst other things enacted That no Archbishop Bishop nor Micar General nor any Chancellor nor Commissary of any Archbishop Bishop or Micar General nor any Droinary whatsoever nor any other Spiritual or Ecclessastical Judge Dificer or Minister of Justice nor any other person or persons whatsoever exercising Spiritual or Ecclessastical Power Authority or Jurisdiction by any Grant License or Commission of the Kings Majesty his Meirs or Successors or by any Power or Authority derived from the King his Deirs or Successors or otherwise shall from and after the first day of August which then shall be in the year of our Lord Bod One thousand six hundred forty one award impose or inflict any Pain Penalty Fine Amercement Imprisonment or other corporal punishment upon any of the Kings Subjects for any Contempt Misdemeanour Crime Offence matter or thing whatsoever belonging to Spiritual or Ecclestastical Cognilance or Jucisdiction whereupon some doubt hath been made that all ordinary Power of Coertion and Proceedings in Causes Ecclessastical were taken away whereby the ordinary course of Justice in Causes Ecclessastical hath been obstructed Be it therefore declared and Enacted by the King most excellent Majesty by and with the advice and consent of the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament assembled and by the Authority thereof That neither the said Act nor any thing therein contained both or shall take away and ordinary Power or Authority from any of the said Archbishops Bishops of any other person of persons named as aforesaid but that they and every of them evercisting Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction may proceed determine sentence erecute and erecise all manner of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and all Censures and Coertions appertaining and belonging to the same before the making of the Act before recited in all causes and matters belonging to Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction according to the Kings Magesties Ecclesiastical Laws used and practised in this Realm in as ample manner and form as they did and might lawfully have none before the making of the said Act. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid that the afore recited Act of decimo septimo Caroli and all the matters and clauses therein contained ercepting what concerns the High Commission Court or the new erection of some such like Court by Commission shall be and is hereby repealed to all intents and parposes whatsoever Any thing clause or sentence in the said Act contained to the contrary notwithstanding Provided alwayes and it is hereby enacted That neither this Act not any thing herein contained shall ertend or he construed to revive or give force to the said branch of the said Statute mave in the said first year of the Reign of the said late Queen Elizabeth mentioned in the said Act of Parliament made in the said seventeenth year of the Reign of the said King Charles but that the said branch of the said Statute made in the said first year of the Reign of the said Queen Elizabeth shall stand and be repealed in such sort as if this Act had never been made Provided also and it is hereby further enacted that it shall not be lawful for any Archbishop Bishop Hicar General Chancellor Commissary or any other Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Judge Officer or Minister or any other person having or erercising Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction to tenver or administer anto any person whatsoever the Oath usually called the Oath Ex officio or any other Oath whereby such person to whom the same is tenvered or administred may be charged or compelled to confesse or accuse or to purge him or her self of any criminal matter or thing whereby he or she may be lyable to any censure or punishment any thing in this Statute or any other Law Custom or Mage heretofore to the contrary hereof in any wise not withstanding Provided alwayes that this Act or any thing therein contained shall not extend or be construed to extend to give unto any Archbishop Bishop or any other Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Judge Officer or other person or persons aforesaid any power or authority to exercise execute inflict or determine any Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Censure or Coertion which they might not by Law have done before the year of our Lord One thousand six hundred thirty and nine nor to abridge or diminish the Kings Majesties Supremacy in Ecclesiastical matters and affairs nor to confirm the Canons made in the year One thousand six hundred and forty nor any of them nor any other Ecclesiastical Laws or Canons not formerly confirmed allowed or enarted by Parliament or by the established Laws of the Land as they stood in the year of the Lord One thousand six hundred thirty and nine The Contents of the Chapters Chap. I. THe endeavours of the Innovators to change the course of Ecclesiastical proceedings That stupendious Fanatick Hackett his fearful end Mr. Cambdens judgment touching the Innovators Their perseverance in their design of Innovation in King James his time and afterwards The pretended taking away the Coercive power from the Ecclesiastical Courts how gained what use was made of it by the Innovators and how they boasted of their benefit by it Two passages in the Long Parliament touching two Inconformists Page 1. Chap. II. The two Proviso's in the late Act that takes away the doubt touching Coercive power in Ecclesiastical Courts Dr. Cosens Apologie for sundry proceedings by Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical That groundless Opinion That a several Royal assent to the executing of every particular Canon in required is confuted The validity of the Ecclesiastical Laws The clamours of Inconformists Innovators and Fanaticks against the putting of Ecclesiastical Laws in execution though the Ecclesiastical Officers and Ministers are by Act of Parliament severely commanded to do it p. 10. Chap. III. The Heads of the several Chapters in that Apologie of Doctor Cosens Part 1. p. 27. Chap. IV. By the late Act the manner of proceeding in Ecclesiastical Courts is not altered but left as it was A summary relation of what Dr. Cosens in his Apologie hath asserted and made good by Gods Word the practice of the Primitive Christians the opinion of the Father the
legi Ad recognitiones vel sacramenta praestanda Recognitionem item facere non significare testimonium perhibere vel respondere in jure sed debitum agnoscere fateri vel placita de Catalogis vel debitis tenere Juramentum ex officio in foris illis ut in aliis ex omni memoria fuisse exactum ad simoniam adulterium alia tenebrarum opera rimanda praesertim cum Insinuatio ut loquuntur fuerit clamosa Et quamvis nemo teneatur seipsum prodere tamen per famam proditum teneri oftendere utrum possit suam innocentiam defendere seipsum purgare quandoquidem poenitentia imposita non sit poena sed medicina ad peccatores curandos alios à peccato deterrendos scandalum tollendum juxta illud in Sacris Literis Pro anima tua ne confundaris dicere verum Est enim confusio adducens peccatum confusio adducens gloriam gratiam Sed qui de hiis immoror quum dissertationes Richardi Cosini Legum Doctoris Johannis Morrisii Lanceloti Andrewes eruditae hac de re utrinque praestent Regina haud ignara suam authoritatem per Episcoporum latera in hoc negotio peti adversantium impetus tacite infregit Ecclesiasticam Jurisdictionem illaesam conservavit That is Not onely these speaking of Hackett and his Complices but others also who had hitherto though in vain impugned the received Discipline of the Church of England by condemning the calling of Bishops and contumeliously slandering the Praelates having now drawn into their party some Common-Lawyers sharpned both their Tongues and Pens against their Jurisdiction and the Authority which the Queen delegated in Ecclesiasticall Causes as altogether unjust declaiming every where even in Books published that men were unworthily oppressed in the Ecclesiasticall Courts contrary to the Lawes of the Kingdom That the Queen could not by Law delegate such kinde of Authority nor others to whom it was delegated could exercise it That these Courts could not require the Oath ex officio from the defendent party when as no man is bound to accuse himself That Oath precipitates men to condemn themselves with ignominious confusion or into wilful perjury to the destruction of their Souls Besides they ought not to hold cognizance of any other causes then Matrimoniall and Testamentary according to that old Mandate of Rescript We command our Sheriff of our Counties of S. N. c. that they suffer not any in their Balive to come together in any places to make any Recognizances upon their Oaths but in Matrimoniall and Testamentary causes On the other side the Professors of the Ecclesiasticall Lawes maintain'd the Royall Authority in Causes Ecclesiasticall as vested in the Queen by Authority of Parliament To oppose this was nothing else then to offer violence to Royall Majesty and violating the Oath of obedience to insult over the Sacred Prerogative Royall The Ecclesiasticall Courts may hold cognizance of other Causes then Matrimoniall and Testamentary by the Statute of Circumspecte agatis and Artiouli Cleri in the time of Edward the first as they made it appeare That Rescript or Law which they produc'd was suspected because it was incertain for the time and is variously read Elsewhere I have read it To perform Recognisances and Oaths and to make recognition or recognizance doth not signifie to give testimony or to answer in Law but to acknowledge and confesse a debt or to hold plea of Inventaries or Debts That the Oath ex officio hath time out of mind been given in these Courts as in others to sift out Simonie Adultery and other works of darkness especially when the Insinuation as they call it becomes loud And though no man is bound to betray himself yet being betrayed by fame he is bound to shew himself whether he can defend his innocence and purge himself seeing the penance enjoyned is not a punishment but a medicine to cure sinners and to deter others from sinning and to take away scandall according to that in Scripture Be not confounded in speaking truth for thy souls sake for there is a confusion that brings sin and there is a confusion that brings glory and grace But what do I dwelling upon these things when the Learned discourses hereupon on both sides are extant of Richard Cosin Doctor of the Lawes and John Morris and Lancelot Andrewes The Queen not ignorant that Her Authority was in this business struck at through the sides of the Bishops tacitely crusn'd the violence of the Adversaries and conserv'd the Ecclesiasticall Jurisdiction inviolate Thus in a few words he summes up part of them marrow of these Learned dissertations and gives his sound judgement thereupon But still they went on in their design in which I believe they will ever be found immoveable We have had sufficient experience that way at what they aime and that there is no hope of bending without breaking too In their admonition to the Parliament in that Queens Reign they tell us to this effect at least that if they cannot have what they desire by fair meanes they will have it by a way shall make our hearts ake and I think they have indifferently well made their words good Yet blessed be God we are delivered again from them god give us care to beware of them and not to fall again into their snares by those blessed Titles of Mercy and Moderation heavenly good surely if rightly applied Let us but contemplate our fresh miseries and the murther of our blessed King and Martyr King Charles the First and his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 't is well to be hoped 't will prove as much or more effectual then the Pages Memento to Philip of Macedon in another case These men for they were all of the same Leaven still persisted in their design all along the Reign of Queen Elizabeth and upon King James his coming in thinking upon that change to have wrought something extraordinary upon a Prince that had a great access of Dominion and probably at his entrance would endeavour to satisfie all or most so far as with reason it could be expected and to ingratiate himself as far as fitting with his new Subjects But it was our happiness though his trouble and vexation that he was well acquainted with the factious and seditious humours of that gang in Scotland with whom and ours here of the same mould I believe ever was and will be a correspondence and co-operation Ex virids observantia this is too demonstrable They then set upon King Iames with their most humble Petition called The Lincoln-shire Ministers Petition perhaps denominatio à majori it was a complication of many parts there they desire favour for tender Consciences and thereupon was the Conference at Hampton-Court granted where their Reasons were as it were brayed in a Mortar and they or most of them seem'd satisfied but many of them at least soon returned to their vomit In that Petition they promise all obedience
not be good just and lawful and after the same Matrimony solemnized and consummate by carnal knowledge and also sometime fruit of children ensued of the same Marriage upon pretence of a former contract made and not consummate by carnal copulation for proof whereof two witnesses by that Law were onely required been divorced and separate contrary to Gods Law and so the true Matrimony both solemnized â—n the face of the Church and consummate with bodily knowledge and confirmed also with the fruit of children had between them clearly frustrate and dissolved Farther also by reason of other prohibitions then Gods Law admitteth for their lucre by that Court invented the dispensations whereof they alwayes reserved to themselves as in kindred or affinity between Cousin-germans and so to the fourth and fourth degree carnal knowledge of any of the same kin or affinity before in such outward degrées which else were lawful and be not prohibited by Gods Law and all because they would get money by it and kéep a reputation of their usurped jurisdiction whereby not onely much discord betwéen lawful married persons hath contrary to Gods Ordinance arisen much debate and suit at the Law with wrongful veration and great damage of the innocent party hath béen procured and many just marriages brought in doubt and danger of undoing and also many times undone and lawful heirs disherited whereof there had never else but for his vain-glorious usurpation béen moved any such question since fréedom in them was given by Gods Law which ought to be most sure and certain But that notwithstanding Marriages have been brought into such an uncertainty thereby that no Marriage could be surely knit and bounden but it should lye in either of the parties power and arbiter casting away the fear of God by means and compasses to prove a precontract a kindred and aliance or a carnal knowledge to defeat the same and so under the pretence of these allegations afore rehearsed to live all the dayes of their life in detestable Adultery to the utter destruction of their own souls and the provocation of the terrible wrath of God upon the places where such abominations were used and suffered Be it therefore enacted by the King our Soveraign Lord the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in this present Parliament assembled and by the authority of the same That from the first day of the Moneth of July next coming in the year of our Lord God 1540. all and every such Marriages as within this Church of England shall be contracted betwéen lawful persons as by this Act we declare all persons to be lawful that be not prohibited by Gods Law to marry such being Marriages contracted and solemnized in the face of the Church and consummate with bodily knowledge or fruit of children or child being had therein betwéen the parties so married shall be by authority of this present Parliament aforesaid déemed judged and taken to be lawful good just and indissoluble notwithstanding any Precontract or Precontracts or Matrimony not consummate with bodily knowledge which either of the parties so married or both shall have made with any other person or persons before the time of contracting that marriage which is solemnized and consummate or whereof such fruit is ensued or may ensue as afore and notwithstanding any Dispensation Prescription Law or other thing granted or confirmed by Act or otherwise And that no reservation or prohibition Gods Law except shall trouble or impeach any marriage without the Levitical degrées And that no person of which estate degrée or condition he or she be shall after the said first day of the Moneth of July aforesaid be admitted to any of the Spiritual Courts within this the Kings Realm or any his Graces other Lands and Dominions to any processe plea or allegation contrary to this foresaid Act. Rep. 1 2 P. M. 8. Rep. 1. El. 1. This Act was not many years after repealed as followeth 2 3 Ed. 6. cap. 23. Part of the Statute of Precontracts repealed WHereas in the two and thirtieth year of the reign of the late King of famous memory King Henry the eighth because that many inconveniences had chanced in this Realm by breaking and dissolving good and lawful marriages yea whereupon also sometime issue and children had followed under the colour and pretence of a former contract made with another the which contract divers times was but very slenderly proved and often but surmised by the malice of the party who desired to be dissolved from the marriage which they liked not and to be coupled with another there was an Act made that all and every such marriages as within the Church of England should be contracted and solemnized in the face of the Church and consummate with bodily knowledge or fruit of children or child being had between the parties so married should be by authority of the said Parliament deemed judged and taken to be lawful good just and indissoluble notwithstanding any precontract or precontracts of Matrimony not consummate with bodily knowledge which either of the persons so married or both had made with any other person or persons before the time of contracting that marriage which is solemnized or consummated or whereof such fruit is ensued or may ensue as by the same Act more plainly appear Sithence the time of the which Act although the same was godly meant the unrulinesse of men hath ungodly abused the same and divers inconveniences intolerable in manner to Christian ears and eyes followed thereupon women and men breaking their own promises and faiths made by the one unto the other so set upon sensuality and pleasure that if after the contract of Matrimony they might have whom they more favoured and desired they could be contented by lightnesse of their nature to overturn all that they had done afore and not afraid in manner even from the very Church door and Marriage feast the man to take another spouse and the espouse to take another husband more for bodily lust and carnal knowledge then for surety of faith and truth or having God in their good remembrance contemning many times also the commandment of the Ecclesiastical Iudge forbidding the parties having made the contract to attempt or do any thing in prejudice of the same Be it therefore enacted by the Kings Highnesse the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in this present Parliament assembled that as concerning Precontracts the said former Statute shall from the first day of Day next comming cease be repealed and of no force or effect and be reduced to the estate and order of the Kings Ecclesiastical Laws of this Realm which immediately before the making of the said Estatute in this case were used in this Realm so that from the said first day of Day when any cause or contract of marriage is pretended to have been made it shall be lawful to the Kings Ecclesiastical Iudge of that place to hear and examine the said cause and
having the said contract sufficiently and lawfully proved before him to give sentence for Matrimony commanding solemnization cohabitation consummation and fractation as it becometh man and wife to have with inflicting all such pains upon the disobedients and disturbers thereof as in times past before the said Statute the Kings Ecclesiastical Iudge by the Kings Ecclesiastical Laws ought and might have done if the said Statute had never been made any clause article or sentence in the said Statute to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding Provided alwayes and be it enacted that this Act do not extend to disannul dissolve or break any marriage that hath or shall be solemnizated and consummated before the said first day of Day next ensuing by title or colour of any Precontract but that they be and be deemed of like force and effect to all intents constructions and purposes as if this Act had never been had ne made any thing in this present Act notwithstanding Provided also that this Act do not extend to make good any of the other causes to the dissolntion or disannulling of Matrimony which be in the said Act spoken of and disannulled But that in all other causes and other things there mentioned the said former Act of the two and thirtieth year of the late King of famous memory do stand and remain in his full strength and power any thing in this Act notwithstanding Stat. 1 Eliz. 1. By these the inconveniency appeareth of taking away or altering an ancient long-settled Law practised long in all Christian Countries as this way which had it not been good probably the inconveniency and hurt of it had appeared in so long a time and the Law for the Oath Ex officio and Purgation is of like antiquity and practice in all Christian Countries without inconvenience or hurt thereby arising as yet that I ever could hear of therefore such Laws ought to be deeply weighed and considered of before they be repealed or altered And now that I am speaking of repealing and altering old Laws and making new I thought fit to close this Tract with some Notes of mine drawn up almost all of them in the time of the usurped Government and some after His Majesties restauration and communicated to the sight of some of Quality touching the repealing or altering of some old Laws and making new Some are already past and effected as that for the Lords the Bishops sitting again in the Lords House in Parliament and other things These I offer with all humility to be considered of if it shall by those in Authority be thought fit otherwise to be as unsaid Protesting that I retract as before any thing which is here mentioned that shall appear contrary to Gods Word His Majesties Prerogative or the Laws of the Land or the Just policy and government of any of His Majesties Dominions Touching Parliaments AS a Parliament well constituted and acting regularly Parliament proceedings conduces much to the happinesse of King and Subject so any exorbitancy or deviation therein of which surely all unbiassed men cannot but confesse we have had too much sad experience in the Long Parliament works the contrary corruptio optimi pessima In the time of the Long Parliament some as it were idoliz'd it even almost to an opinion even of Infallibility of which they have made too much advantage to the misery of King and People Some advised then that that great Wheel that great Court should have had its sphere of activity it s known certain bounds publickly declared and not have been like a great River prodigiously overflowing all its banks and bounds Such a Parliament acting regularly is' t not probable the Members thereof would not so much have thirsted to lengthen much lesse to perpetuate it They were called up to consult may not he that calls his Counsellor forbear consulting him when he pleases and dismisse him The extent of an Ordinance of Parliament Ordinance of Parliament having by some been tentor'd then even almost to Infinity might it not have been precisely circumscribed and the exact definition of an Ordinance given As also the just privileges of Parliament explicitely have been made known Privileges of Parliament that the Subject might not then have sworn or promised or protested to have maintained and observed them and yet could not possibly know what they were That due care should have been taken that they might have been observed and kept inviolable on all sides neither diminished nor scrued too high and both the Members of the Houses and the People to have had their just rights entire and for this purpose that that Protestation then put in by the Lords Spiritual the Bishops The Bishops Protestation with their Petition to have the force removed that kept them from the Lords House should have been well consider'd on and the right of Protestation in Parliament declared and maintained being a great privilege And whether after a just Protestation unjustly rejected and the Members kept out of the House by force that so protested and petitioned whether the other Members could then have proceeded further in the House In the late Kings time in the beginning of his Reign when the Earl of Arundel was imprisoned in the Tower about his sons marriage of the Duke of Lenox's daughter being of the Bloud Royal without the Kings consent the Lords would do nothing in their House till he was restored in regard he was committed onely for a misdemeanour and neither for Treason Felony nor breach of peace in which cases they then confessed a Member of Parliament in Parliament time might be kept prisoner The King none of the three Estates And the Lords Spiritual being one of the three Estates as 1 Eliz. 3. and elsewhere and the King being none of the three Estates the contrary whereof hath been falsly held but the Head and the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons being but Members and further the Lords Spiritual being one of the greatest Estates of the Realm as 8 Eliz. 1. Some doubted whether one of the Estates can destroy another and whether that come not near the contradicting that Axiom that the Parliament cannot be Felo de se whether that concerns not the Lords Temporal and Commons as well as the Lords Spiritual As for His late Majesties assent 't is known how far the prevalent power in both Houses then carried that and other things too to the misery of the Kingdom Who knows not in what condition the King then was forced to flye by reason of the tumults from Westminster to remoter places And as touching that Act of Parliament for their expulsion out of the Lords House it is not to be forgotten that when it was first brought into the Lords House it was rejected and ought not to have been brought in again that Session yet afterwards it was contrary to the order and course of Parliament brought in again when a great part of the Lords were absent if
and then by authority of Parliament be ratified Further touching Ecclesiastical matters The Ecclesiastical Courts proceeding according to His Majesties Ecclesiastical Laws Ecclesiastical Courts to be Courts of Record sitting under the same Crown with all other Laws some advise if it shall be thought fit that to all intents and purposes of Law they should be Courts or Record as well as any other Courts By the Statute 31 Eliz. c. 12. Reading the Articles of Religion the Incumbent is to read the Articles of Religion within two moneths after his Induction and 't is said some have not taken Induction at all because they would not read the Articles Had the Statute limited it within that time after Institution it had met with that fallacy In the form for Private Baptism Signing with the Cross in Baptism when the child privately baptised is afterwards brought to the Church to have the Baptism published at the receiving the child then into the Congregation there is no Interrogatory whether in the private Baptisme it had been signed with the sign of the Crosse as commonly if not altogether they are not neither is there any mention then at the publishing of the Baptisme of so signing it And it hath been found that some persons have pretended weaknesse in the Infant when it was no so onely to avoid the signing of it with the Crosse There being no Law that allowes private Churching of women Churching of women privately it is wished it might be alwayes publick in the Church and with a Vail and if within the moneth the woman be not able to come to Church to defer it till the recovery of her health In Cathedral and Collegiate Churches usually one of the Singing-men though in orders gives the Absolution Touching Absolution and the Blessing at the end of Service which some wish might be done by the Bishop of present or Dean or some dignitary or more eminent person present And that the Anthems and other parts of the Service which are performed singing or in a singing tone may be made more intelligible to all the Auditors who many of them are scandalized by the contrary which might be helped by some small alteration in the composure so that as sometimes was practised and that without any hinderance to the harmony first one of the Singing-men to declare out of what Chapter and Verses or part of the Scripture that Anthem is taken or what Hymn or Spiritual Song it is and then immediately before the singing each Verse with a clear audible voice to read it This would help much but the best way were that the Singing-men and Choristers were taught exactly to sing most articulately clearly and plainly and not to drown the words in their mouths that they cannot be understood but openly and distinctly found forth every syllable that they might be as well or better understood then when they onely read them And this hath been most commendably done by some expert Artists that way and might by all Mr. John Frost late _____ Westminster and one of the Gentlemen of His Majesties Chappel Royal gave a most clear and most deservedly worthy to be imitated precedent hereof then whom never any man read more plain and clear and yet what he sung was if possible more plain and clear then what he read By the Statute for the tryal De Excommunicato capiendo Touching the Writ De excommunicate capiendo the person excommunicate is to be published in his Parish Church which sometimes the Minister refuses or there is no Minister In which case 't is wished it might serve to have it fixed upon the Church dore upon the Lords day or a copy left at his dwelling house and the forty dayes to commence from that time FINIS A Table of the Particulars contained in the Notes touching alteration of some Laws TOuching Parliament proceedings Page 97 Ordinance of Parliament ibid. Privilege of Parliament ibid. The Bishops Protestation Page 98 The King none of the three Estates ibid. Proceedings of the House of Commone Page 99 Age of Parliament-men Page 102 Election of Parliament-men Page 103 The great number of Boroughs and Corporations ibid. Touching the manner of proceeding in Parliament Page 104 A competent number of Parliament-men to be at every debate Page 107 The manner how it may be constantly observed ibid. Fees of the Officers of Parliament Page 108 Touching new Laws ibid. Acts of Oblivion c. Page 109 Restitution of some goods where the property is not altered Page 110 Reparation to persons spoyled Page 111 Touching the Long Parliament ibid. The keeping the Records of the Tower Page 113 The Militia ibid. Oaths of Allegeance and Supremacy explained ibid. Robbery the Law to be altered Page 114 Against condemnation upon a single testimony Page 115 Touching Juries Page 116 New Laws to be made upon new accidents Page 117 Making of Eunuchs ibid. Stealing of Winding-sheets ibid. Stealing of men Page 118 Against delayes in Courts ibid. Fees in all Courts ibid. About examination of witnesses in defence ibid. Against the examination of witnesses in the hearing of one another Page 119 Reparation to persons wrongfully accused Page 120 The Act touching the Court of Wards and Tenures to be repeated Page 120 Rates to be set for buying commodities Page 121 About dignity and precedency ibid. Against the Act for limitation of Actions Page 122 Against multiplicity of Statutes upon the same subject ibid. The Clergies Proctors in the House of Commons Page 123 About augmentation of Vicaridges ibid. Against Mensals Page 124 Touching the bounds of Jurisdictions Page 125 The Ordinaries power about distribution of portions ibid. Against concurrence of Jurisdictions ibid. Wills to be transmitted into the several Counties Page 126 Degrees of Marriage prohibited ibid. About the suppression of seditions books Page 127 Spensers Treason ibid. Goodwins book ibid. Bucks book ibid. Sir Edward Cooks writings Page 128 Illegal and seditions Speeches ibid. The illegal Preface to the Propositions at the Isle of Wight Page 129 Rectifying the Translation of some words ibid. Illegal Declarations Page 130 The Printing-press ibid. A body of the Law to be framed ibid. Ecclesiastical Courts to be Courts of Record ibid. Reading the Articles of Religion ibid. Signing with the Cross in Baptism ibid. Churching of women privately Page 131 Touching Absolution ibid. Touching the Writ De excommunicato capiendo Page 132 FINIS
Ministers are by Act of Parliament severely commanded to do it BY the late Act before mentioned where the Doubt so it is called there about the Coercive power in Ecclesiastical Courts is clear'd and taken away One Proviso is That that Act nor any thing therein conteined shall extend or be construed to extend to give unto any Archbishop or Bishop or any other Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Judge c. any power or authority to exercise c. If any be peccant that way it ought to be amended Another Proviso forbids any Archbishop Bishop c. to tender or administer unto any person the Oath usually called the Oath Ex officio or any other Oath whereby such person to whom the same is tendred or administred may be charged or compelled to confess or accuse or to purge him or her self of any criminal matter or thing whereby he or she may be lyable to any censure or punishment This being now forbidden by Act of Parliament every Subject ought to give obedience therein But some now insulting and upbraiding the Ecclesiastical Courts that all this while they have oppressed the Subject with that proceeding which the Parliament hath taken away renewing the old cry in Queen Elizabeths time and ever since against such proceedings which never till now I alwayes except what was done in the late times of usurped government were legally prohibited Though I am far from questioning the reasons whereupon that Act passed but do humbly submit to it both in word and practice yet I hope it will be allowed to make some defence against such persons as so tax such proceedings before the passing of this Act. And herein I shall follow that most able Civilian Richard Cosin Doctor of the Laws and Dean of the Arches in that his Apology for sundry proceedings by Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical c. Mr. Cambden as before mentions him with honour as surely he well deserv'd and that work of his if nothing else evinces it Mr. Swinburn in that Work of his of Last Wills and Testaments printed at London for the Company of Stationers 1611. in the first part sect 6. numb 8. fol. 17. writes thus of him and of that Work of his that Apology I find saith he written by that learned and no less religious man Doctor Cosins at I take it in that worthy Work entituled An Apology for sundry proceedings by Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical c. and so he goes on Upon this subject he hath written so fully that I believe little can be added to it and if any should go about it excepting such additions as well may be added by reason of some emergencies since the time he wrote and some other additions and explications not derogatory from him they would be forced very much to plough with his Heyfer which would but look too much like a Plagiary I could wish the book were reprinted and haply it will be so which may serve for Topicks to this subject For as all the Poets after Homer are said to drink of his Fountain according to that picture or statue of his that denotes as much with that Inscription Ridet anhelantem post se vestigia turbam Even so must I conceive all do from Doctor Cosin that shall write upon this subject I was upon Epitomizing that Apology of his and had made some progress therein but upon second thoughts desisted thinking it better to refer the Reader to him rather then to adventure to abbreviate him and thereby perhaps wrong him an offence that too many Epitomizers are guilty of therefore I say I shall onely make use of some Notes as confessed arrows out of his quiver and sippe of some others elsewhere and point the Reader to his full stream where any that list may drink their fill Upon these words in the late Act Provided that this Act. nor anything therein contained shall extend or be construed to extend or give unto any Archbishop Bishop c. any power or authority to exercise or execute c. any jurisdiction which they might not have done before the year of our Lord 1639. or to abridge or diminish the Kings Majesties Supremacy in Ecclesiastical matters or affairs nor to confirm the Canons made in the year 1640. I say upon these words some are ready mistaking questionless the words and meaning of that Act to renew that old exploded Opinion or rather groundless Fancy That a several Royal assent to the executing of every particular Canon is required Hereto Doctor Cosin answers That admitting This were true then all the other opinions of those that oppugn the ordinary Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical stand in no stead and might be spared because this would cut off all at once For none that exercise ordinary Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical have it in particularity which by the oppugners seems to be meant otherwise then by permission of Law to every of their proceedings and impossible were it by reason of the infinity of it and troublesomness to procure such particular assent to the execution of every Canon His Majesties Delegates when Appeals are made to His Majesty in Chancery would signifie nothing could not exercise the power to them delegated by reason of the want of such particular assent and it is a gross absurdity to grant as even the Oppugners and Innovators do That Testamentary and Matrimonial causes are of Ecclesiastical cognizance to say nothing of the rest of Ecclesiastical causes and yet cannot by reason of this want be dispatched nor can be dealt in by any other authority according to any Law in force This would speak a defect in the publick Government that the Subject should have a right but no likely or ready mean to come by it and great offences by Law punishable and yet no man sufficiently authorized to execute these Laws Since the abrogation of Papal pretended Supremacy when the ancient rights of the Kings of England of being Supreme Governors over all persons within their Dominions as well in all spiritual or Ecclesiastical things or causes as Temporal and that no forreign Prince Person Prelate State or Potentate hath or ought to have any jurisdiction power superiority preeminence or authority Ecclesiastical or Spiritual within this Realm and so forth as in the Act and the Oath Since these rights were as it were ex postliminio restored and declared to have been as they ever ought to have been in the Kings of England many Laws have been made in several Parliaments for the strengthning of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and the more effectual execution thereof and some of the Ecclesiastical Laws were enlarged altered and explained * 25 H. 8.19 The Statutes for Delegates upon Appeals †27 H 8 130. 32 H 8.7 Not long after two Statues for assistance of ordinary Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and for the speedier recovery of Tithes in Courts Ecclesiastical * 34 35 H. 8 19. The like for the recovery of Pensions Procurations c. †1 Ed. 6. c. 2. In the time of Edw. 6.
examineth Gehazi his servant (c) Gen 43.3 Joseph in AEgypt gave an oath to his brethren (d) Ezek. 7.13 Zedekiah took an oath of Subjection and is blamed and punished for breaking of it (e) 1 Sam. 21.2 The oath given to the Gibeonites was to be kept and the violation of it punished For the manner of proceeding or the cause of questioning we see many instances First in flagranti crimine * John 8.4 if a party be taken in the manner as we say or the fact is manifest as (f) Num. 25 8 Zimri's was (g) Deut. 21.3 Or though the fact be manifest the person committing it is unknown or the question is of the person the fact being unknown as in (b) John 7.18 Achans case Or by indicia suspected signs so (i) Gen. 3.8 Adam hiding himself So against (k) Gen 4.6 Cam Abel not appearing Adam impeacht Eve and Eve the Serpent and both were punished upon it Or upon infamy and cry (l) Gen. 18.10 The cry of the Sodomites being great I will descend saith the Lord. And such kind of Enquiries are made both in the Law (m) Deut. 17.4 If a report shall come to thee or thou shalt hear as also in the Gospel as against the incestuous person (n) 1 Cor. 5.1 It is reported Or by suggestion or complaint as in (o) Job 1.11 Jobs cause where the Devil was Accuser Joseph onely upon suspicion gave his brothers the oath Evangelical denunciation as Mat. 18.7 when Church or state are in danger as in the Valley of Achor that is against the troublers of Israel so signifies the word Achor When Peter and John were examined in the great Council By what power Acts 4.7 or in what name they had done that miracle Peter full of the Holy Ghost answered plainly and truly though it might have been capital to him What spirit are they of who being required by lawful Authority to answer in matters not capital yet will not answer at all for upon a mans own confession judicial though not upon oath he may be equally convicted In the proceedings against St. Acts 6. Stephen there were no Accusers in truth but those who by Subornation denounced him to the Priests and who are twice-called witnesses because they deposed against him yet he refused not to make answer though capital to him When the Captain asked St. Paul Acts 22. whether he were not that AEgyptian that made a Sedition c. he answered directly and denied it Likewise the same Saint Paul in all other his conventings before Authority mentioned in the Acts even at the suit and accusation of a p arty refused not particularly and truly to answer to all that was objected Acts 4.25 c. And all this is done to the sifting out truth and punishing crimes either truly so or at least thought to be so and criminous persons are questioned as well of the fact as circumstances or fame (a) Gen 3.9 Hast thou eaten of the fruit of the ferbidden tree So the Princes questioned Baruch about Jeremiahs book (b) Jer. 36.17 Tell us how didst thou write these words So (c) Ezra 10.11 Esras examined the questioned persons concerning their own fact So the (d) Acts 23.20 High-Priest having committed Saint Paul examined him further for oftentimes Accusers as the Heathen could observe fall off all cannot some will not accuse what then many crimes being the deeds of darknesse cannot be (e) Eph. 5.11 revealed (f) Prov. 16.5 Because hand is in hand and they will not bewray themselves Because the name of Doeg founds harsh and to come forth to accuse a man is accounted poor and odious a matter of cost danger and (g) Prov. 25.8 Infamy must Villany therefore be hid and scattered abroad and get strength till they break out to the destruction of the Commonwealth Or because none can or will for 't is all one whether one will not accuse or cannot accuse therefore it is not lawful to question and without an Oath 't is to little purpose therefore God commands that way of Adjuration or giving an oath * 2 Kings 22. So the King adjured Micheas †Mat. 26.93 so the High-Priest our Saviour and both of them answered But should any question Adjuration even a clear oath was lawfully given even to the actor as Exod. 22.8 1 Kings 8.3 and therefore more then permitted to the Magistrate For surely it were hard if every private man might require an oath of the questioned and not the Magistrate should it be lawful in the cafe of a Pawn and not of a Kingdom An oath is an end of controversie Heb. 6.16 saith St. Paul then an oath to be taken for that end In a case Matrimonial which is meerly ecclesiastical Interrogatories were administred with oath as in a cause of Incontinency Num. 5. and the proceedings being by Enquiry without any accuser at all And this which is to be noted in the case in Esdras Esdras 1.8 9. they are no wayes forced to it but desire to take their oath first and to be examined after then which there is no cause more suitable then to the proceedings in Ecclesiastical Courts before the Passing of the late Act and against which the Innovators heretofore used to take exceptions In some of these above-mentioned instances we see how oaths were administred even in capital causes much more may they be where there is not that danger nay no danger of losse of Goods Liberty or any other losse but onely for a medicine to the soul for reformation of manners and taking away scandal and offence given They were questioned too we set upon small su7spicions signs presumptions or any other causes of question nay nothing at all as to the person questioned upon whom no true colour of suspicion lay something like our Coroners proceedings in some cases but onely a fact was committed that was apparent whereof it was possible that he was not guilty as in the case of a person found slain then much more ought it to be upon great suspicions presumptions or publick fame thereof proved This being thus by Gods Word in the next place we may look into the practice and opinion of the primitive Christians hereupon CHAP. VI. That the Opinion and Practice of the Primitive Christians and the Fathers of the Church was to administer such Oath Ex officio and upon Accusation and for Purgation Canonical with the practice at Geneva IT is well said by an ancient and learned * Cromatius in 5 Mat. Facit canon 36. concil Tolet. quart Writer Dominus inter juramentum loquelam nostram nullam vult esse differentiam And Aquinas saith †Thom. 2.2 qu. 69. art 3. If he which is brought into question and interrogated by the Judge without his oath shall answer untruly that therein he sinneth deadly The old Christians in the primitive Church were far
Parliaments accounting what has been once done there quo jure qua injuria right and good and to be deduced into practice even those strange irregular acts in the tumultuous times of Richard the second and Henry the fourth nay we have seen how Spensers Treason distinguishing the person and office of the King so declared to be Treason by Act of Parliament many ages since even urged for right to instance no more Some have advised that such precedents acts and proceedings should have been examined and by publick Declaration by Act of Parliament purged or abolished or declared illegal And that Acts of Oblivion c. if but for that reason of preventing that male construction of citing ill precedents for Law that an inspection should have been made into the Acts of Amnesty and Oblivion passed in the first years of the Long Parliament and also that passed this last Parliament We have seen especially if we looked Northward how soon after such Acts of Indempnity and Amnesty the Delinquents as though they thought themselves justified in their former crimes fell again into the same And that there should in those past and due care be had for the same in the future have been a specification made of the crimes and offences intended there to have been pardoned and put into oblivion lest otherwise implicitely and insensibly they might have been taken not to be crimes and Loyalty and Fidelity tacitly at least accounted crimes and so creep into precedent and example for the future And that the first Paragraphs in the late Act of Pardon Indempnity and Oblivion might if thought fit be considered of where in the first place are pardoned All and all manner of Treasons Misprisions of Treason Murthers Felonies and Offences crimes c. counselled commanded acted or done since the first day of January 1637. by any persons before the 24 day of June 1660 c. by vertue or colour of any command power authority commission warrant or instructions from His late Majesty King Charles or His Majesty that now is Though there might be some obliquity error or abuse in the execution of Commissions from their Majesties yet some stumble at these expressions of Treasons Murther c. to be committed by Commission from the King as without all question was committed by Commissions granted by others and yet here they look like equal and eaven crimes which no loyal man can own It neither hurts nor hinders the pardon but rather more strengthens it that the crimes pardoned are specified and let the application be made onely to them that are guilty of them not to the guiltlesse and such as deserve honour and reward for that which some would at least imply to be criminal much lesse no ignominy or reproach Surely the Loyal party that acted according to the known Laws for so acting needed not His Majesties pardon Facinus quos inquinat aequat Some men cannot think themselves cleared except they can taint others guiltlesse with the imputation at least of these crimes whereof they themselves onely are culpable and it is a question whether their true meaning be not that they would have an Exculpation a term we have more lately had from the North and even a justification from their known crimes at least to be accounted no greater crimes then the actions of those that acted by the Kings authority according to the known Laws of the Land which they well know are no crimes but the contrary It is obvious to every eye how some have sweat to have justified all the illegal Acts of the Long Parliament Some make little or nothing of the endeavours that then were to have killed the late King in Battel but onely of putting him to death in cold bloud And that Restitution of some goods where the property is not altered if thought fit that such goods whereof the property is not altered as Houshold-stuff Plate Furniture of beds Pictures Hangings eminent Jewels or such like plundered or taken away wrongfully either by pretended Sequestrations spoil or otherwise should be restored to the owners or in some cases a just value repaid for them with a just consideration to be had of the parties from whom they were taken and of their actings and not to remain as they do in the view of the owners perhaps purposely in despight exposed to such publick view This works contrary to His majesties pious intention and that Act of Oblivion it continues does not abolish the memory of our former divisions when the spoiled shall see as a continual Eye-sore their proper goods in the possession of the spoiler whilest the spoiled for want of them perhaps is ready to starve and perhaps the spoiler makes his livelyhood out of them if not steps of preferment too The Heathen Poet could say of the Civil wars of Rome Bella geri placuit nullos habitura triumphos But surely this looks like a continued triumph after the Warre Some have wished that that motion in the last Parliament Reparation to persons spoyled or Assembly or Convention that ended in December 1660. made in the Lords House might be renewed that the spoyed party might at least in some good measure be repaired by some publick Tax made for that purpose and due consideration to be had of such suffering spoyled persons that constant never-changing Loyalty may have some encouragement and comfort besides that of a good conscience Some have wished that it might have been by Act of Parliament declared Touching the Long Parliament if thought fit that the Long Parliament notwithstanding that Act for the continuing of it till it should be dissolved by Act of Parliament was dissolved or declared void and null from such a day as should have been by advice of the Judges and learned in the Laws agreed upon And that also if thought fit consideration should have been had particularly from what time that dissolution annulling or making void should have commenced whether from the time that His late Majesty was driven from the Parliament by tumults and riots which as is known some if not many Members especially of the then Commons House in that Long Parliament that took up Arms against the King were so far from causing to be suppressed though His Majesty desired it that they were set on by them as is notorious And also if thought fit that if not from that time yet from the time they voted to live and dye with the Earl of Essex by them voted to be their General against the King and upon the matter causing those Members to leave the House that would not vote with them And whether that His Majesty calling them afterwards a Parliament as they alledged when they were in Arms against him though perhaps His Protestation to the contrary was entred in the Council-book could any wayes entitle them to a lawful Parliament And also if thought fitting that it should have been by Act of Parliament declared that any Member of Parliament offending
against 25 E. 3. in raising or bearing Arms or maintaining them against the King ipso facto ceases to be a Member of Parliament for that a Rebel and a Parliament-man are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And also if thought fit that the Judges of the Land consulting together should have declared as they did in King James his time in that case about Watson and Clerk the Seminary Priests that the Kings Coronation was but a Ceremony and that without it the King was a complete King that that Long Parliament was dissolved from such a day as they should have found by Law that it was dissolved or annulled whether it was from the time of His late Majesties expulsion from his Parliament as before or from the time of voting to live and dye with the Earl of Essex or of their Votes of no further addresses to the King who called them to consult with him whether they did not then openly dissolve themselves by refusing to consult with him or from his death when they could consult no more with him And also if thought fit that it should have been so declared and enacted that though the King had passed an Act that the Parliament should sit till they were dissolved by an Act of Parliament and that if it had been expressed that it should be so notwithstanding that His Majesty should dye in the interim yet such an Act could not bind him nor his Successor especially when in that Act for continuing that Parliament till by such Act it should be dissolved there is no such mention that it should continue after his death that called it and that the King cannot be concerned at leastwise concluded any wayes in any Act of Parliament to his damage prejudice or diminution of his royal Prerogative or Authority except at least he explicitely and freely consent to it be specially comprized and named in that Act to that purpose or whether he can though he so consent it following plainly that if by taking up Arms or bearing Arms against the King a Parliament-man ceases to be so nor can sit any longer in the House Then in that case none ought truly to be accounted secluded or excluded Members but onely these that would uot then vote to live and dye with the Earl of Essex nor would assent to the raising of arms against the King but thereupon left the House or were expelled thence either by the Votes of the rest or by menaces just fear that might incidere in constantem virum or by tumultuous force so that if the Parliament if not by the reasons aforesaid yet at least by the death of the King being dissolved as to think the contrary is most void of reason or truth if I say it had not been so dissolved then those secluded or excluded Members they onely ought to have been restored and none of the rest that acted against the King by taking up Arms against him or acting against him ought to have been restored Such offended against the Act of 25 E. 3. raising Arms against the King c. counterfeiting or making a new Great Seal c. and their being Members of Parliament being as before inconsistent and for the void places His Majesty to issue out Writs for free legal and new Elections And also that the keeping of the Records in the Tower The keeping of the Records in the Tower should be in the hands of a known trusty Loyalist and none other in regard of the danger of imbezelling or corrupting them by any person of other principles not affected to Monarchical government by Law established to the great damage of the King and his Subjects And also that the Militia The Militia and all Offices and places of trust and concernment for the peace and safety of the Kingdoms and for the prevention of future Faction Sedition and disturbance of such peace and endangering such safety should be committed onely to the hands and especially for a competent space of time as by such free and legal Parliament or by His Majesty shall be agreed upon of known experienc'd Loyalists and not to any that may be reasonably presumed or suspected to be otherwise That rule may somtimes hold and not be rejected Qui semel est malus semper praesumitur esse malus presertim in eodem genere delicti And also if thought fit Oaths of Allegeance and Supremacy explained that the Oaths of Allegeance and Supremacy should have had some explanation alteration or emendation especially in that point of not resisting the King In the second Homily of Obedience which book is confirmed by Act of Parliament it is there expressed in terminis as the Doctrine of the church of Engl. that it is not lawful in any case to resist the King That this should expresly have been put into these Oaths and that all persons whatsoever which are to take the Oaths of Allegeance or Supremacy or that have taken them may take them with such emendations it being too notorious what strange interpretations have been made of these Oaths as that they were made onely against the Papal power and as though nothing else were to be resisted And in the beginning of the Rebellion in Scotland the orthodox Divines of Aberdeen maintaining according to that Doctrine of the Church of England That in no case the King is to be resisted and that so to do was contrary to Gods Words and to the opinion and practice of the primitive Christians The other Divines fomentors of that Rebellion expresly denied this and alledged that the reason why the primitive Christians resisted not was because deerant illis vires the very same reason that Bellarmine gives for he same so well do these two Factions concur Though by the History of those times it appears and Tertullian openly pleads it against the Emperor that it was not for want of strength for they had enough but that it was contrary to their conscience guided by Gods Word so to resist And therefore why not much need that all persons whatsoever should take this Oath to declare their opinion in this point And also Robbery the law to be â—â—tered if thought fit that the Law concerning Robbery ought to be in many cases and especially for the first offence mitigated and not made capital but that restitution be made to the party robbed and if the Robber be not able to do it then to be forced to work it out Which course some think would probably more terrifie idle persons that turn thieves who had rather dye desperately then lead perhaps a long and wearisom life Hereby many may repent and amend and do good service to their King and Countrey The party robbed also hereby gets restitution which seldom or never happens as the Law now is Our Law contrary to the practice in other parts of the Christian world hereby becomes harder then the Levitical Laws Some have hereupon said that the Gospel the Spirit killeth and the Letter giveth